Chapter 261: First Day at Work (5)

Barely taking its first steps from the entrance, Sky Blue Shield moved its steps further inside the Crystal Spider Cave.

After fully entering the dungeon, not long after, the scout announced their first encounter with a monster.

“It’s approaching from the front right.”

Twitching her gray cat ears and surveying the surroundings, Han Min-ah announced the first battle in the Crystal Spider Cave.

At the same time, the other members, including me, began preparing for battle individually.

“What kind and how many?”

“Judging by the footsteps, they sound like Red Crystal Spiders or Amethyst Crystal Spiders. There doesn’t seem to be a leader, and there are five or six of them.”

“Formation 1! Shield in front! Greatsword and Brawler on the sides! Magic is small-scale area-of-effect magic!”

Hearing Hye-eun’s booming voice, as soon as everyone adjusted their formation, a group of Red Crystal Spiders revealed themselves from the right flank.

From the rear, Cha Yuri began chanting small-scale area-of-effect magic to deal with A-rank monsters.

As for me, who was experiencing party hunting as a formal A-rank party for the first time, I, with a slight tension, readjusted my grip on my Mithril Greatsword.

“Aaaargh!!”

With a loud roar that instantly drew the attention of all six monsters, Kang Hye-eun immediately slammed down the greatshield she held in front of her.

Right around her greatshield, a translucent shield wall formed.

True to her title as a warrior of the Guardian Shield, becoming a massive shield herself, she drew all the monsters’ attention to herself.

Just before the monster pack stepped in front of the shield, Hye-eun’s next order followed.

“Brawler, engage!”

“Roger!”

The translucent shield wall on the right momentarily became transparent, creating an opening just large enough for one person to pass through. Cheon Jihee Sunbae slipped through the gap and confronted the monsters from beyond the shield.

Paak!

‘Kkieeeek!’

As soon as she engaged, one of the six Red Crystal Spiders was sent flying with a scream from a single punch. It was a heavy blow, worthy of being called the ‘Giant’s Strike’.

As expected of an A-rank monster, it didn’t seem to be instantly killed, but judging by the distance it flew, the impact it received couldn’t have been light.

Ppeok!

‘Kkeheek…’

Then, hit by the Brawler Sunbae’s second attack, another spider was crushed flat on the ground and met its end. The remaining spiders’ attention naturally shifted from the shield to other targets.

“Greatsword, engage!”

“Got it!”

This time, the shield fissure on my side opened slightly, creating a gap large enough for me to pass through. As soon as I entered, I used a Iaido slash aiming for the head of the nearest spider.

Kkang!

“Keuk?!”

As if its name, Crystal Spider, wasn’t just for show, the creature was harder than I expected. Even though I attacked with my Mithril Greatsword, it managed to deflect the blow once.

“Aim for the joints, not the head!”

After hearing Min-ah’s voice amidst the battle, I swung my greatsword again, and this time, I severed the right leg joint of the Red Crystal Spider.

‘Kkeugeuk, kkeeeek!’

Having lost its balance on one side, the creature flipped onto its back and flailed helplessly on the floor.

Puuk!

‘Kkieueuk….’

After piercing the monster’s defenseless belly to finish it off, Cheon Jihee Sunbae then finished off another spider she had previously left near death, slicing it from behind.

The group of six spiders, thanks to her and my attacks, was instantly reduced to three.

‘Kkigek!’

‘Kkieek!’

As soon as half their number was gone in an instant, sensing the danger, the remaining monsters shifted into a retreat formation.

Just when I thought the battle might end like this, Min-ah’s voice came again from the party’s rear.

“Lower the shield!”

“Roger!”

The moment Min-ah spoke, Hye-eun’s shield, which had split the cave in half, vanished. Hye-eun, who had been standing with her greatshield, also threw herself to the left.

Luckily, I was nearby and caught her so she wouldn’t fall to the ground. Immediately after, from the rear, the chant of the wind mage could be heard.

“Arcane Wind Arrow!”

The wind arrow, made of crimson mana, sliced through the gaps between the other party members, flying straight towards the fleeing monster pack.

The three arrows, slightly veering at the end, pierced the bodies of three fleeing monsters each, from behind.

‘…!!’

The monsters, unable to even scream properly, collapsed onto the floor.

As much as it bought us enough time, the effectiveness was undeniable. It was a power befitting an A-rank mage.

“Battle’s over. Let’s just rest and collect the materials, and then we’ll proceed.”

“Roger.”

“Yep.”

“Okay~.”

From beginning to end, the process unfolded as if it were natural. It was a smooth party hunt.

In many ways, it made this man’s heart race. It was an ideal coordinated hunt.

After the hunt ended, and after a round of checks to ensure no one was injured, Sky Blue Shield immediately moved on to the most crucial final stage of monster hunting.

“Sung Taekyung, follow me. I’ll show you how to dismantle Crystal Spider-type monsters.”

“Okay.”

The remaining party members, excluding the mage Cha Yuri, each approached the corpses of the Crystal Spiders and began dismantling them and separating the materials.

Han Min-ah, skilled in dismantling with a sword, immediately began explaining the order in which to cut and separate the Crystal Spider carcasses.

“Think of the Crystal Spider’s entire outer shell as money. It’s not all just about grabbing the core. Of course, the core is the most valuable, but…”

Explaining about the head structure, the leg shells, and so on, rather than just the dismantling process, focusing on which parts were more expensive, after listening to Han Min-ah’s collection theories and dismantling all six Red Crystal Spider corpses, we divided the materials into our respective monster material pouches and moved further into the cave.

The subsequent battles that followed proceeded relatively smoothly.

When we discovered the Yellow Crystal Spider nest, Cheon Jihee Sunbae and I distracted the spiders to buy time, and Kang Hye-eun weakened the exoskeleton of the isolated boss spider using Shield Break.

Then, right through the cracked opening, Cha Yuri’s Wind Cutter struck accurately, killing it instantly. The remaining Yellow Crystal Spiders were finished off using the same combat method as before.

In the Amethyst Crystal Spider nest, Cha Yuri immediately used area-of-effect magic with a quick cast, wiping out almost all the young Amethyst Crystal Spiders, which were weaker than the adults despite their high reproductive rate.

Afterward, the remaining three combatants – Kang Hye-eun, myself, and Cheon Jihee Sunbae – focused their attacks on the lone remaining boss spider to finish it off.

It was a display of familiarity and natural movement, as if they had done this many times before. Their movements were so practiced and seamless. It was clear why they were an A-rank party that had trained together for so long.

The small argument from this morning seemed to have been unfounded worries. Seeing everyone fight so seriously once the battle began, it was clear they were focused.

Then again, they had been training as a party long before I awakened as a Hunter. So, it made no sense for the atmosphere to turn awkward just because one guy joined.

Rather, thinking I was something special was just overconfidence. It was excessive self-awareness. In a way, it was fortunate that it was so.

After destroying two Crystal Spider nests and taking another break, Min-ah’s voice suddenly called out to me.

“It’s definitely different before and after getting one more combatant. With just Sung Taekyung joining, the battles are much easier.”

“Huh? I don’t feel like I did much of anything specific. I just followed Hye-eun’s orders and felt like I was just assisting the other party members.”

“What the party needed right now was exactly the role you played, Sung Taekyung. Even when we fought the Yellow Crystal Spider just now, you and Jihee Unnie worked together to split its attention, didn’t you?”

“Why is that? Isn’t that naturally the role of the frontline fighter like me?”

“If things were normal, that was my role.”

“…You did that, Min-ah?”

Since completely unexpected words came out of Han Min-ah’s mouth, I tilted my head and asked again about what she had said.

“To approach the Yellow Crystal Spider boss, the rest of the party needs to split its attention, but Jihee Unnie alone couldn’t fully draw its aggro. Yuri Unnie had to deal with monsters approaching from behind, so obviously she couldn’t. So, I had to do it, what else could I do?”

“Isn’t it hard to fight A-rank monsters directly? You have to fight at least three or four at once, right?”

“That’s why you have to be prepared to die. If you run while keeping just enough distance so the aggro doesn’t drop, it’s surprisingly easy. …If you misjudge the distance by mistake, it gets a little tough then, but nothing major has happened yet.”

“……”

“Anyway, now that Sung Taekyung is doing that role, things have become much easier! Thanks to that, I can also use my spare capacity to help Yuri Unnie deal with the monsters coming from behind! Ah, it’s gotten so convenient, so convenient~.”

In the air that was about to become heavy for a moment, Han Min-ah tried her best to lighten the mood with a cheerful voice. Then, Cha Yuri immediately looked at me and continued with her praise.

“…Me too, Sungchul… Thanks to you, Tae-kyung, joining our party, the burden has lessened.”

“Yuri-ssi, why is that? I don’t recall specifically assisting you in today’s battles…”

“The Amethyst Crystal Spider nest battle we just had, normally requires me to cast magic continuously, which is quite taxing. It’s a bit of a burden for me. I have to start by using large-scale magic to take out the young spiders, and even when facing the lone Amethyst Crystal Spider boss, our firepower would be insufficient without me.”

“But you didn’t participate in the boss battle just now?”

“Sungchul… Tae-kyung, because you took on the role of a combatant in my place. I could just recover my mana during that time.”

Considering Sky Blue Shield, it’s a party that’s been together for quite a while, I thought they always had smooth sailing, but hearing the reality, it seems everyone was always fighting dangerous battles in precarious situations.

“You were running the party like this, on the edge? Even if it wasn’t me, you should have found another party member.”

“It’s hard to recruit new members who are B-rank or higher Hunters. Most Hunters increase their rank with their affiliated party, but around B-rank, most are nearing retirement age, so they often retire together with their colleagues. Even if someone occasionally doesn’t retire, their awakened abilities usually weaken, and their skills decline. In that case, they’re not quite strong enough to be added to an A-rank party…”

“…I see. If that’s the reason, then I understand.”

Hye-eun, the party leader, also explained the difficulty of supplementing personnel and welcomed my presence.

“I’m really glad Tae-kyung is here. We can allocate personnel more easily, and everyone’s burden has significantly decreased. …You think so too, don’t you, Jihee-ssi?”

“……”

Cheon Jihee Sunbae, who was leaning against the wall pretending not to hear, responded to Hye-eun’s words with a reluctant attitude.

“…That’s true.”

It was a short answer, but just that alone was enough for me to feel fully recognized by all the party members.

All the effort I put into wanting to join Sky Blue Shield was finally being rewarded in this moment.