When the mutt ran out of the darkness, Woo Yeon-Hee felt her world crumble for the first time. She had realized how insufficient her imagination was. She had thought she was ‘prepared,’ but she had not considered the metallic smell of blood, ear-blasting shrieks and terrifying speed of these creatures.

The drawing in Seon-Hu’s notes became a real horror and popped out into reality, and she could feel their extreme thirst and rage toward Seon-Hu, which was frightening. Her world crumbled for the second time when Seon-Hu sat on the mutt and endlessly stabbed its chest. It was not a battle between good and evil as the dungeon was a war of survival.

There was no standard to distinguish between humans and monsters, and the man who survived after being soaked with blood was a stranger to Woo Yeon-Hee. When the man approached her with blood pouring down his face, her mind went blank.

Now, her world was collapsing for the third time due to the guy standing at the door and the nightmare she could see beyond his shoulder. The room was filled with monsters, and her mental preparations were useless. She thought she was facing hell as the roars and the savagery of the creatures hammered to her how much they wanted to kill her. In hell, there was darkness instead of fire, shrieks of monsters instead of sinners, and piles of dead demons in front of Seon-Hu.

“Heal!”

Seon-Hu shouted, and Woo Yeon-Hee used her skill. She remembered how desperate he was when he said that if he died, she would die too. If he died, the monsters would jump over his body and rush into her. She could no longer focus on Seon-Hu who was protecting her. The glowing yellow eyes through the small gap between Seon-Hu and the door caught her attention. They were filled with the instinct to kill. Woo Yeon-Hee had managed to calm down before entering, but she began to shudder again. Her teeth chattered and her ears rang. Her world was on the verge of complete destruction.

“Argh!”

A human scream filled her ears, and it was from Seon-Hu!

[You cannot use the skill.]

[Cooldown time: 03:30]

Woo Yeon-Hee could still use Mary’s Hand skill, but a monster that squeezed out from the gap was jumping towards her when Seon-Hu stumbled for a second. She made eye contact with it, and the monster’s movements were too fast as it avoided Seon-Hu’s dagger and charged at her.

“No!”

Woo Yeon-Hee shouted at Seon-Hu, not the monster. The moment he left the door, it was obvious that a crowd of monsters would pour in.

“...”

She looked down at the monster’s body on the ground with an arrow sticking out of it. She remembered screaming at Seon-Hu but didn’t recall what happened after that as it happened so suddenly. She came back to her senses as she stabbed a dagger into a monster's chest.

“Woo Yeon-Hee!”

She was startled when Seon-Hu shouted at her, and looked at him. Seon-Hu turned his head as soon as he looked at the monster under her feet, and she could read in that brief instant that he was complimenting her.

“Good job.”

Woo Yeon-Hee’s world was restored again, and she placed an arrow on the crossbow while looking at his back.

***

[Declan Extermination: Defeat Declan scout 54/60]

[Total points: 184]

There were nineteen in the first room, and now there were six left before completing the quest. Nothing else had appeared since the last death notification. While the mutts had intelligence, they were not smart enough to lurk in the dark while facing the death of enemies and friends.

“Clear.”

I came back to Woo Yeon-Hee. We returned to the first room as there were disgusting corpses everywhere in the corridor. We sat on the ground when we saw none, and her small bloody fist came into my view. Inside her palm, there was a pill that she prepared. Although my dagger was laced with Odin’s Wrath and my left arm still had the Iron Skin effect, it was impossible for us to enter the next corridor. I swallowed the pill down without any water and lay down.

“Continue healing me. I’ll rest for a bit.”

I couldn’t fall asleep right away as pain remained despite using narcotic analgesics, and the new injuries from the mutts made it more arduous. Every time I had a burning sensation from wounds, the scenes I just saw flew by. The idea of protecting Woo Yeon-Hee was a luxury, and I erased her from my mind the moment I started the battle. From then on, I risked my life as I fought hand to claw and suffered from bites, stings and scratches. It was a fight over food between weaklings, but I wouldn’t have to deal with this chaos anymore when my class increased. Until then…

[Woo Yeon-Hee has used Physical Healing.]

[Your injury will be slightly recovered.]

Although I had closed my eyes, the System’s message would pop up as she did her job as a healer. Healers would shine the most during maintenance times like this, especially when parties were in a low class. I suddenly remembered the moment I missed one mutt. It was almost near death, but it had managed to avoid my attack and jumped towards Woo Yeon-Hee. I knew she could handle it, so I didn’t leave my spot. As expected, she cut it down and I was proud of her for what she had screamed at the time.

“No!”

She was definitely yelling at me not to move. Anyway, the battle ended successfully and the victory meant a lot. I couldn’t call it ‘hunting,’ but it confirmed that I could clear a room with nineteen mutts without using The Man Who Overcomes Adversity or an insignia.

How long had it been? I could no longer feel any pain. The narcotic analgesics finally worked, and I could sleep at last.

***

I heard Woo Yeon-Hee’s voice right by the bedside and opened my eyes.

“What?” I asked.

“I keep getting a message that I can’t apply my skills anymore,” she replied.

I was in much better shape. My right arm didn’t have Iron Skin applied to it, so it was injured to the extent that I couldn’t hold the sword properly. Even the strong narcotics didn’t help, but now I could move it easily. When I clenched and opened my fist, Woo Yeon-Hee added, “The treatment ended, and I got a silver box for healing an injured party member for the first time.”

In her empty hand was a necklace that I had never seen before. She held it out to me as if she had been waiting.

[Medal of Restraint (Item)

Effect: Restricts the target.

Class: E

Cooldown Time: Seven days]

I took it silently and hung it around my neck. The feeling of cold metal touching my skin was quite nice, and we didn’t need a word between us. Seeing that she remained quiet, she must have recalled the contract. She was to give me any items that she could hand over, but I didn’t expect her to react this way. She was looking at me without a smile but it wasn’t a sign of dissatisfaction.

“If we go back alive, right?”

I nodded as I agreed that I would give her the money as stated on the contract. I would have to give her enough money to compensate for her time and effort of risking her life in the dungeon. However, was she this greedy for money? Or did the cash in the bag elicit her desires?

Oh well, it was stupid and dangerous to judge someone by their appearance. What mattered was that she had a strong goal, whether it was money or points. Then, Woo Yeon-Hee said, “There’s a dungeon box in this room.”