SWNOVELXO 83.
83.
“Don’t you need to drink more recovery potions? You’ve used your abilities quite a lot.”
Thanks to Sehun’s performance, the advance team was progressing through the Tower more smoothly than expected.
He must have used a lot of mana, but while others drank three bottles of potion, Sehun only drank about one.
It was important to replenish health and mana as much as possible during breaks to be prepared for unexpected situations during battle.
When Jian asked out of concern, a fleeting look of embarrassment crossed Sehun’s face.
‘What was that?’
He couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was, but a chilling feeling ran down his spine.
“I’ll drink one now.”
However, when Sehun immediately got up and cleanly emptied a bottle of mana recovery potion from his inventory, the strange feeling disappeared.
“You’re not pushing yourself too hard, are you?”
“No. Using my abilities is fun.”
Jian asked just in case, but Sehun smiled broadly and hugged Jian’s waist affectionately. As Jian stroked Sehun’s clinging head as usual, he felt a gaze from somewhere.
When he turned his head, there was Yongho with his hood pulled down low. His unreadable appearance exuded a gloomy atmosphere.
Although Jian was used to receiving curious glances when with Sehun, this felt oddly unsettling.
Why was he looking at them like that? As Jian stared at him quizzically, Yongho got up and headed towards where the hunter police were gathered. Naturally, their gazes broke.
‘Am I being too sensitive?’
As the time to enter the 5th floor dungeon approached, all his senses were on high alert. Jian let out a small sigh, trying to calm his restless mind.
All preparations were complete. He was also mentally prepared. Now, all that was left was to change the course of the original story once again.
* * *
“This time, Sehun and I will enter first.”
“…It could be dangerous.”
After the short but sweet break ended, Team 1 gathered in front of the portal leading to the 5th floor. As usual, when Yongho was about to jump into the portal first, Jian stopped him.
“We can’t let the team leader take all the risks. We all came in prepared.”
“That’s true. Sehun is S-rank too, so there shouldn’t be any danger.”
Jungsu, who had been quiet, took Jian’s side. Moreover, from what he had seen, Jian’s barrier skill was exceptionally good even among A-rank abilities.
With Sehun and Jian’s combination, they could handle any unexpected situation sufficiently.
“Alright. Then let’s entrust the vanguard to you two this time.”
Having obtained Yongho’s permission, Jian stood in front of the portal with Sehun. Sehun was just staring at the blue light of the portal without saying anything.
Jian fiddled with the flash artifact in his pocket. His palm was damp with cold sweat.
“I’ll go in first. Follow carefully.”
“Let’s go together.”
Sehun shook his head and grabbed Jian’s hand. As he narrowed his eyes at the overly tense Jian, Jian stepped one foot into the portal.
* * *
The bright light disappeared. Immediately, darkness that seemed to blind them enveloped the two. Sehun tightly squeezed Jian’s hand.
For the first time since entering the Tower, an eerie chill ran down his spine. Just as cold sweat began to form on Sehun’s palm from the fear of possibly losing Jian, he heard it.
Swish…
A faint noise like insects crawling reached his ears. Although he was ready to use his skills at any moment, he couldn’t be sure if he could attack properly without being able to see.
Just as he bit his lip in frustration, Sehun felt as if someone was controlling his body. As if invisible threads were wrapping around various parts of his body, he gradually lost control.
“Sehun, close your eyes. Quickly!”
When he closed his eyes as instructed by Jian’s urgent voice, an intense light poured over his closed eyelids.
Flash!
Screech!
A bone-chilling scream reverberated in their eardrums. At the same time, his body, which had felt unnaturally constrained as if shackled, returned to normal.
“Stay still until I tell you to open your eyes.”
As he listened to Jian’s calm voice, Sehun pondered. He didn’t know about all monsters, but he felt that the monster they were facing now was different from the previous ones.
Even he, who rarely blinked at most things, was this flustered, so how could Jian respond so easily?
As if he had known in advance that this type of monster would appear.
Flash! Flash!
Screech! Screech!
The sound of continuous flashes mixed with screams like nails on a chalkboard. How long had they been backing away, led by Jian’s hand? Their backs hit a hard wall.
Just as a blue light was vaguely sensed amidst the bright flashes, Jian raised his voice.
“Everyone close your eyes and use flash artifacts! It’s a shadow-type monster!”
“Hunter Lee Jian?”
“Team leader, please set up the safety stone first!”
Jian urged as Yongho voiced his confusion. As the team members who entered after them followed Jian’s instructions, the safe zone was finally established.
Flash.
“What on earth is going on…”
Jihwan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and used a light artifact. A lamp-like artifact was placed on the ground.
The concentric circles of light spreading from the artifact softly illuminated the surroundings. Those who sensed that the situation had calmed a bit slowly opened their eyes.
Thanks to the light artifact, it was bright enough to distinguish each other’s faces, but the area around the safe zone was still engulfed in pitch-black darkness.
The darkness, where one literally couldn’t see an inch in front of them, sent chills down the spines of those looking at it.
Swish… Swish…
From where the light didn’t reach, a faint sound like cloth dragging on the floor could be heard. Yongho knelt on one knee and picked up a gray magic stone lying on the ground.
“…It’s a monster I’ve never seen before. Seems to be of the darkness type.”
Feeling the evil energy from the magic stone, he put it into his inventory.
“I’ve never seen such a dark dungeon before. Even dark dungeons had some light around the entrance.”
People’s expressions grew serious at Yongho’s words. Indeed, the blue light of the portal was noticeably weaker than on other floors. Due to the dark floor, it was at a level where one might miss it if not looking carefully.
Everyone swallowed dryly. Unlike before, the appearance of unfamiliar monsters was enough to bring back the forgotten tension.
“How was Hunter Lee Jian able to respond so quickly? I’m also a bit curious about how you figured out so quickly that flash artifacts were effective against those monsters.”
Yongho straightened up and looked at Jian. At this reasonable question, others also began to send questioning looks at Jian one by one.
Only Sehun, Jihwan, and Jungsu frowned, as if displeased. Thanks to Jian, they had identified the type of monster and set up a safe zone without any significant casualties.
But as the atmosphere turned strange, the three gradually moved closer to Jian’s side. Especially Sehun’s gaze towards Yongho was so cold that even the hunter police clustered around Yongho.
“I was lucky. I thought that since it was a monster hiding in darkness, it might be weak to strong light. Fortunately, my guess was correct. As for the flash artifacts, as I said at the beginning, I brought them just in case. Our guild had recently raided a dark dungeon, so we had many flash artifacts left over.”
Jian spoke in a calm voice while fiddling with the now ineffective stick. He had anticipated this to some extent.
However, he didn’t expect Yongho to ask directly, and in such a public setting.
Contrary to his first impression, he was quite perceptive. As if proving that his experience as a hunter police wasn’t in vain.
“But team leader, your words sound a bit aggressive. Didn’t Jian ultimately prevent a major crisis? Shouldn’t you be praising him instead of interrogating him like a criminal?”
Even Jungsu, who usually didn’t speak up, expressed his displeasure. Hearing this, the hunters from the Hanbaraum Guild, who had been neutral, subtly turned towards the Darknet Guild side, realizing he had a point.
“…I apologize. Due to the nature of my job, I’m in the habit of being suspicious and interrogating. If I offended you, I apologize.”
“It’s fine.”
Jian, the person in question, didn’t have any particular feelings towards Yongho. He knew better than anyone that his actions could seem suspicious, even though he had tried to act as naturally as possible.
“Do you happen to have more flash artifacts? I know there’s one light-related skill user in Team 4 and one in Team 5. Until those two join us, I think it’s best to deal with the monsters using artifacts. What do you all think?”