Chapter 79

As soon as Sa-yoon fell, hundreds of little people who had been lying in wait like hyenas rushed at him. Though called “little people,” each monster was about the size of Sa-yoon’s forearm, and there were hundreds of them. It was only natural that Sa-yoon was instantly overwhelmed and had his entire body bitten.

Teeth like those of sharks tore at his flesh. Careful not to accidentally knock them away and kill them, Sa-yoon endured the pain and released a faint frost energy.

Even if he didn’t hit them, killing them with a skill would still accumulate hit counts. He had to use the skill just enough to not kill them, but enough to hinder their movements.

―Pieek!

The little people’s bodies began to freeze. Noticing this anomaly, one of them called out to its comrades with an even louder voice.

Beolkeok!

The closed door opened, and an incomparably larger number of little people rushed in through it. At least a thousand. Sa-yoon expanded the range of his frost even further.

He expanded his domain and stood up from his fallen position. Little people clung thickly to Sa-yoon’s neck, back, arms, and legs.

Kadeuk kadeuk.

They finally tore off and swallowed pieces of his flesh. The feeling of one’s body being eaten by someone else was something that, no matter how many times experienced, never became pleasant, even if one got used to it. Sa-yoon clenched his fist tightly, suppressing his violent impulses, and raised his frost energy.

―Kieek!

Perhaps it was too much, as some immediately screamed and died on the spot.

“Are you sunfish or something, you damn bastards.”

It was beyond Sa-yoon’s control that his expression twisted unpleasantly.

His mind raced quickly. Sa-yoon’s eyes scanned the surroundings, gauging how strong the boss might become if he killed just enough little people to escape. Roughly estimating, about a hundred little people had died. Considering that he needed to hit the guard to get the map, fighting would become difficult if he killed more than a thousand.

He’d take down up to five hundred.

Thinking there were about fifty clinging to his body, Sa-yoon increased his limit to ten times that. He grabbed the head of a little person biting his arm and crushed it. One burst, then two. In the meantime, three hundred froze, and thirty died of cardiac arrest.

Still, there were many little people.

There were over a thousand of them, after all.

They kept swarming, and Sa-yoon, having barely shaken them off, attempted to fly. However, since void steps wasn’t a skill that immediately shot upward upon use, his legs were caught by their vines in just two steps. It wasn’t a vine he could break free from with strength alone.

Jureuk.

While cutting the vines that had caught his legs, his body, which had moved away by two hand spans, was pulled back into the group of creatures.

This was endless.

Shit.

Just as he was swallowing a curse and striking down another little person.

He thought he heard the sound of water from somewhere, and then a large amount of water rushed in like a wave. A current as fierce as a sea hit by a typhoon engulfed Sa-yoon and the little people.

―Kieek!

If even Sa-yoon, a human, was being swept away, there was no way the little people could resist.

“Kheok!”

Sa-yoon frowned as water entered his mouth, nose, and ears, and struggled not to be completely swept away. He took out his sword and struck downward, then used the momentary parting of the water to throw his body and escape. The little people, unable to perform such a feat, were helplessly swept away.

Kwang!

The ferocious current pushed through and passed the closed door. The little people went with it.

“Kheok, kheok!”

Sa-yoon, having barely escaped the water, sat down on the soaking wet floor, coughing and spitting out the water he had swallowed. Just as he was wondering where this sudden deluge came from.

“…As long as we don’t attack them, it’s okay, right?”

Hearing a familiar voice, Sa-yoon turned his gaze towards its source. Geon-joo was standing in front of a water tank with a large hole, holding a knife.

After a brief dazed expression, Sa-yoon quickly grasped the situation.

The pipes were connected to the water tank, and Han Geon-joo was standing in front of it with a knife. This meant that the pretty boy he had thrown upwards had safely moved along the pipes and split the water tank to help him.

Despite the considerable distance, Geon-joo’s chest heaved roughly as if he had run hard. It couldn’t have been easy to move to where the water tank was and pierce its thick outer wall.

“……”

Sa-yoon hadn’t thought for a moment that he could receive help. He looked around at the surroundings, now clear of little people, and touched the corner of his mouth. His lips were curved in a clear arc.

Well, well, look who’s doing something nice for a change.

Deciding to gladly buy him a high-grade flight skill when they returned, Sa-yoon shook his wet hair a few times and stood up.

“How did you come up with that idea?”

“…Anyone with a brain would think of it.”

“Still, most people couldn’t do it. Well done.”

“Just dry your clothes.”

Though Geon-joo retorted curtly, Sa-yoon could see the corner of his mouth twitching. Seeing that he was clearly pleased with the praise, Sa-yoon chuckled and put his arm around Geon-joo’s shoulder. Feeling the damp clothes, Geon-joo startled and snapped at him to dry his clothes first with the item he had given him earlier. Then, noticing the bitten areas, he frowned.

“Is it okay not to treat those?”

“New flesh is already growing. This much is fine without treatment.”

If he had been exposed a bit more, he would have needed to pour a potion, but fortunately, Geon-joo’s timely support prevented it from reaching that stage. Sa-yoon’s gaze returned to Geon-joo. The more he thought about it, the more impressed he was. He couldn’t fathom how Geon-joo had come up with such an idea.

Seeing the still worried look, Sa-yoon waved his arm vigorously to show he was fine, causing Geon-joo to sigh and nag for the third time to dry his clothes. Pretending to give in, Sa-yoon took out an artifact to dry his clothes, then looked around the clean surroundings and started walking.

Thanks to someone doing a proper clean-up job, it seemed they wouldn’t need to travel along the pipes to the next section.

After comfortably passing through the first and second sections thanks to Geon-joo, they finally encountered the long-awaited mid-boss, the guard, in the third section. It was a little person larger and more muscular than the others. Wearing a shark mask on its head, it struck the ground with a large sword. After confirming its position, Sa-yoon looked at Geon-joo from atop the pipes.

The current Han Geon-joo was quite skilled, and the little people were weak.

Although the guard might be strong, it wasn’t as strong as himself, and certainly not as strong as the Worm King. Thinking it was slightly weaker than the Twin-headed Bee, Sa-yoon made a decision.

It seemed okay to let Geon-joo handle this mid-boss.

“Why don’t you try taking that one down, pretty boy?”

“…What did you say?”

“You didn’t come into the dungeon just to burst a water tank, did you? You should try defeating a guard-level enemy to gain some experience.”

His expression, initially bewildered by the sudden proposal, gradually softened as Sa-yoon continued his explanation. Sensing that Geon-joo was being persuaded, Sa-yoon deliberately added one more thing.

“If you can take that one down, you’re practically A-rank.”

“…Really?”

“Have you ever seen me lie?”

“……”

He had misspoken. Sa-yoon briefly reflected as Geon-joo gave him a look that seemed to say, “How dare you say that with that loose mouth of yours?” Yeah, I’ve lied a lot, okay.

But not this time.

“I might have tricked you other times, but I don’t cheat on things like this. Trust me.”

As Sa-yoon coaxed him to give it a try even if he thought he was being tricked, Geon-joo gripped his sword more firmly.

“…What level is it?”

“You now, or that guy?”

“The guard.”

“Weaker than the Twin-headed Bee.”

“I didn’t fight that one, so how am I supposed to know?”

“Then let me put it another way. Weaker than the Imugi.”

“……”

“What?”

Seeing Geon-joo staring at him without answering, Sa-yoon responded, and Geon-joo opened and closed his mouth with an expression that seemed to have a lot to say before sighing. It felt like a sigh of giving up on something, which was strangely unpleasant. It was because Sa-yoon was certain that what Geon-joo had given up on wasn’t about him, but about himself.

“The way you explain things, you might be suited to be a professor…”

Geon-joo muttered to himself. Sa-yoon just blinked at Geon-joo’s incomprehensible words.

I didn’t go to university, so I don’t know what he’s talking about. Is being called a professor a compliment?

As Sa-yoon was pondering Geon-joo’s words, trying to interpret their meaning, Geon-joo, having finished his deliberation, crouched down on the pipe.

“Should I do it?”

“Yes. Don’t help me.”

He wasn’t planning to help anyway. After all, he couldn’t keep Geon-joo in his arms forever. Sa-yoon finished his brief advice and watched with satisfaction as Geon-joo jumped down from the pipe.

Geon-joo, who talked back to him bluntly and didn’t hesitate to call him crazy or a lunatic, was equally bold in his actions. The place where he landed after kicking off the pipe wasn’t the ground.

It was on top of the guard’s head.

Kwaaang!

Geon-joo’s feet stomped on the guard’s head. It was a violent collision right from the start.

―Gueek!

The guard, hit on the head by a human suddenly descending from above, rolled back about two turns, and Geon-joo, taking advantage of this opening, successfully landed on the ground and rushed at it. The creature, gripping its large sword, planted it in the ground to stabilize itself and confronted the charging Geon-joo.

The guard was strong but not agile. As large as it was, its movements were slow. While each strike of its sharp large sword was fearsome, it didn’t matter if they didn’t hit. Sa-yoon inwardly laughed as he watched Geon-joo, who avoided the sword before it could even reach him, retreating and then rushing in to bite when he saw an opening.

His fighting style was becoming more like Sa-yoon’s. Even from a distance, one could tell at a glance that he was Sa-yoon’s disciple.

The Night Rat guys would find this amusing.

Sa-yoon looked forward to hearing what Jongsik and the other guild members who had closely observed his fighting would say about Geon-joo.

Buwung!

The large sword grazed Geon-joo’s hair, and Geon-joo’s sword dug into the guard’s neck. It was a completely different reflex from when he first entered the field.

His judgment had also improved greatly. Realizing that engaging in close combat with an opponent with a muscular body wasn’t very effective, Geon-joo never once faced the creature with hand-to-hand combat. When things seemed about to get dangerous, he immediately withdrew, not giving the enemy a chance to strike. His skill in gauging distance was almost artistic.

This was all thanks to having fought multiple times against opponents stronger than himself. Sa-yoon watched Geon-joo’s battle, realizing that his training method had not been wrong.

Kwaaang!

After a few more collisions accompanied by loud noises, Geon-joo’s sword and the guard’s large sword met. As Geon-joo deflected the sword instead of forcefully receiving it, confusion could be seen on the guard’s face.

The guard probably felt like it was trying to cut water.

When fighting an opponent stronger than oneself, the most important thing is not to receive the sword, nor to attack properly, but to deflect it. Geon-joo was demonstrating the meaning of those words with his body.

Jureureuk, blood flowed along the blade of the sword. Anticipating the winner of this battle, Sa-yoon laughed softly.