Chapter 292: The Colleague Sunbae Who Hates Me (4)

「A-Rank Dungeon, Shadow Underground Graveyard」

Crossing over the company’s Dungeon Gate, the place I arrived at was an underground cave with an eerie atmosphere.

The atmosphere itself was thick with darkness and shadows, giving off a stuffy feeling, making it definitely not a dungeon I’d want to enter frequently.

The faint passage leading deeper into the dark cave was illuminated by a weak light that seemed like it would flicker out any moment, so it seemed like a difficult dungeon for hunters not accustomed to darkness itself to adapt to.

As for me, since I entered the Necromancer’s Graveyard so often when raising my Hunter rank in the Guild, I was reasonably accustomed to fighting in the darkness itself.

Still, the complete lack of light made me a bit uneasy, so I used the low-tier blessing spell ‘Dark Vision’ to secure my vision, but…

With this, I could secure my vision in the darkness without using direct light.

If by chance another hunter were to witness it, I could much more easily brush it off compared to using holy spells or fire magic.

The sense of vision was different compared to usual, so I had to adapt a little, so for now, relying on Dark Vision, I advanced little by little.

The cave walls were made of sharp and pointed obsidian surfaces, making it difficult to even grip the walls and move forward. Therefore, I just kept advancing, only trusting the vision revealed by Dark Vision.

I couldn’t even find Cheon Jihee Sunbae’s figure. As a result of searching using the ‘Find Nearby Hunter’ function, I could only discover that she was much further inside.

How she, a hand-to-hand combatant unable to use skills like Dark Vision, could have entered so quickly was unknown, but for now, I concluded that the top priority was to chase after her.

At least I had to prove that I wasn’t a coward who ran away out of fear because of the reputation of being an A-rank dungeon.

Walking about fifty meters from the dungeon entrance and entering deeper, some faint light in the darkness began to form before my eyes, gradually taking shape.

‘……, …….’

Accompanied by a chilling sound like thin fabric rustling in the wind, a monster slowly took form before my eyes.

The faint figure of a legless human, like a silhouette, floated in mid-air surrounded by a band of light.

An A-rank monster, the Shadow Wraith.

To face the monster looming before me, the moment I drew my greatsword, the Shadow Wraith charged as if flying towards me.

At the same time as its movement, its faint outline also disappeared as if extinguished, but to me, who was using Dark Vision, its figure was still faintly visible.

Towards that faint silhouette, where only the Shadow Wraith’s vague presence could be felt, I instinctively swung my greatsword.

Wheee. A sound like cutting the air echoed within the underground graveyard, but at least the ‘sensation’ of definitely cutting something remained in my fingertips.

It didn’t take long to realize that I had only cut the monster’s amorphous form, but…

‘……, …….’

Once again, with a sound like rustling fabric, the Shadow Wraith materialized.

As with most amorphous monsters, it was logical to target its core to kill it. Monsters with high fluidity like that cannot maintain their remaining form the moment their core is attacked.

A faint light pulsing in a translucent state from the center of the Shadow Wraith’s body.

It was hidden, camouflaged by the surrounding colors, but that part was probably undoubtedly its core.

The problem was that the Shadow Wraith monster itself was so fast and could freely change its shape, making it difficult even to pinpoint its core, let alone cut it.

On the other hand, I had to either dodge such a monster’s attacks or keep slashing it to buy time.

Despite how it looked, it was, in name at least, an A-rank monster. Even three of them gathered were monsters on par with an average A-rank hunter.

Until I dealt with it properly, complacency was forbidden, so I even prepared to use holy spells if necessary.

Holy spells of the recovery type would exhibit high efficiency against A-rank monsters was hard to expect, but…

Wheeeing. With a sound, the monster’s meaningless form was cut again by the greatsword. As the monster’s form scattered, I bought time to think, but this time too, it was a blow far from victory.

Somehow, even just once, stopping its movement or just diverting its attention elsewhere would be good.

After several times, perhaps, while swinging meaningless sword strikes and dealing with the Shadow Wraith, I felt a sensation of something faint shimmering and appearing before my eyes.

It wasn’t exactly a sensation of a good method coming to mind for dealing with the monster. Rather, it was closer to the opposite.

‘……, …….’

‘…, …, ….’

“Haa, really….”

I was struggling, not knowing how to deal with just one Shadow Wraith, and the fact that it increased to two was despair-inducing.

Moreover, if I continue struggling here, it’s possible they might increase further.

This isn’t the time to be wasting time here; I need to hurry to where Cheon Jihee Sunbae is and join her.

My original plan to get closer by hunting together might have become compromised, but at least I had to clear the stigma of being a coward who ran away out of fear of an A-rank dungeon.

However, contrary to my wishes, the two Shadow Wraiths blocking my path didn’t seem like they would yield the path anytime soon.

At least to catch up, I had to defeat these two as quickly as possible and move forward.

‘……, …….’

‘…, …, ….’

Tracing their own paths, the two Shadow Wraiths charged at me and repeatedly disappeared.

As I read the movements of both of them at once, I had now become accustomed enough to know in what order they would charge at me.

‘If I bend my body forward to cut one, they’ll probably aim for my back and charge. If I swing my sword to the right, they’ll probably come in aiming for the blind spot on the left,’ with that kind of feeling.

Anticipating that, twisting my body on instinct, the moment I swung my sword, the Shadow Wraith charging from behind was torn apart in mid-air, just as expected.

Still, seeing that the two of them didn’t coordinate their attacks at once, cooperation between monsters itself seemed impossible.

Then again, what they aim for must be my body itself, so two monsters cooperating to defeat me wouldn’t make sense.

Having already lost their ego with only the obsession for life remaining, they charge to possess the bodies of the living, but they lack the memories from when they were alive, so after possessing a body, they cannot control it and lead it to death.

That was the general characteristic of Ghost-type monsters in this world. There might be occasional exceptions, but…

…Wait a moment, this.

The fact that they charge with determination whenever they see an opening to possess my body, and the fact that cooperation between the two monsters rarely happens.

If I utilize these two points, can’t I somehow stop their movements for a moment?

To try out the brilliant idea that came to mind, after distancing myself from them once, I maintained a certain distance from each of the two Shadow Wraiths.

“Hoo, hoo….”

Intentionally, as if for show, letting out tired breaths after provoking their reaction, I extended my leg forward and took short, quick steps.

Tak.

“Ugh?!”

Tripping on an obsidian shard stuck in the dungeon floor, my body instantly tilted forward.

‘……, ……!’

‘…, …, …!’

As soon as they saw me about to fall, the two monsters charged simultaneously towards my head, as if an opportunity had arrived.

Betraying their expectations, I braced my sword on the floor and quickly got up right there.

I pretended to be tired and made a show of falling on purpose because I induced the current situation.

Normally, where my head should have fallen, the two Shadow Wraiths collided head-on with each other.

”……!!”

In mid-air, the moment their bodies collided, a faint whistling sound echoed in my ears, and each shocked Shadow Wraith lit up its core and froze momentarily.

It was a brief flash, but that moment was enough.

To extract the cores of the two Shadow Wraiths with my sword.

Pak! With a sound, this time, not the feeling of cutting air, the sensation of hitting the core properly was felt at the tip of my sword.

The remaining one too, before it could recover, I swung my sword again and annihilated it in a way that extracted its core.

“Haa, haa, haa….”

Only after fighting a rather long battle could I barely exhale the breath I had held.

Although I had somewhat expected it, perhaps because they were indeed A-rank monsters, they were difficult to deal with.

I’ve only just defeated two, yet I already feel a bit tired. Of course, I couldn’t find the way to deal with them early on, so I struggled in vain, which led to this situation, but…

The memory from the sparring session I had with Eunyoung Noona was very helpful. More precisely, it was the memory about the material of the training greatsword used then.

Training weapons made from the White Slime’s bodily fluid and Ghost-type monster cores cannot cut other living beings, but training weapons using the cores of the same Ghost-type monsters create repulsion among themselves, so they were often used for sparring between hunters.

I couldn’t control their movements with my sword or magic, but I predicted that if I made the same monsters collide, they would surely receive impact from each other.

And this time, that prediction was the moment it hit the mark correctly.

“Really… you’re an amazing Sunbae in many ways.”

As I confirmed Cheon Jihee Sunbae’s location, who was far ahead of me, admiration naturally spilled out from my mouth.

The fact that she had already advanced this far meant that monsters like these Shadow Wraiths were dealt with instantly and she moved on.

As a fellow close-combat hunter, respect for her naturally bloomed.

Moreover, since she probably couldn’t use Dark Vision like me, it meant she advanced in reality, relying solely on her pure physical strength in this darkness.

If a place like this is chosen as a training ground, her skills couldn’t help but improve. It wasn’t for nothing that, as Hye-eun said, she had maintained her A-rank Hunter skills for a long time.

Picking up the two Shadow Wraith cores that had fallen on the floor, I quickly followed, as if chasing after her.

This time, not just to prove I was a coward, but with the thought of truly building a proper connection with her held in my heart.