Chapter 294: The Colleague Sunbae Who Hates Me (6)

It had already been about an hour since I started exploring the deep parts of the Shadow Underground Graveyard, chasing after Cheon Jihee Sunbae, who had entered first.

Even after facing the Shadow Wraiths for the first time, and after several more battles, I soon became quite familiar with how to deal with them.

First of all, it was most efficient to deal with these A-rank monsters immediately as soon as they appeared.

The first moment they were reconstructing their form around the core was when they moved the slowest, so there was no hunt more efficient than swinging my sword to slice them down in that situation.

It felt strangely guilty, like attacking a transforming magical girl, but regardless, rapid progress was a more important factor for me.

If, by any chance, even after their form was complete, using the recovery magic Sacred Wave could temporarily slow their movements, so dealing with them wasn’t particularly difficult even after their form was complete.

At first, I didn’t want to use recovery magic as much as possible, worried about being seen by others, but it seemed that currently, the only people who had entered this dungeon were Cheon Jihee Sunbae and I.

Moreover, since that Sunbae was far ahead of me, my inner conflict was inevitably bound to lean towards efficient movement.

In the first place, if I couldn’t catch up to Sunbae, the reason I entered the dungeon alone would be reduced by about half.

For now, thinking only about joining her, I quickly moved my steps deeper into the dungeon.

Fortunately, Sunbae’s movements, which had been sprinting at full speed at first, began to slow down gradually from a certain moment, and conversely, as I dealt with monsters and moved forward, my own progress began to accelerate.

It didn’t take long for the distance between her and me to narrow to within about 100 meters.

Of course, the graveyard itself was so dark and had many forks that I still couldn’t confirm Sunbae’s figure.

Still, the arrow shimmering before my eyes was accurately indicating the direction Cheon Jihee Sunbae had passed, so there was no need to get lost.

As expected, perhaps because it’s a navigation system based on an awakened ability, the performance is certainly reliable.

As I went deeper into the underground graveyard to some extent, from a certain moment, a completely different atmosphere began to tickle my spine chillingly.

If the atmosphere until now was merely eerie and heavy, the current feeling was a chilling sensation, like a cold touch stroking my heart.

…Did Sunbae really enter this inner part alone?

Unlike me, who can use holy spells and magic, I inadvertently thought that it might be a bit dangerous for Cheon Jihee Sunbae, a bare-handed fighter, to enter alone if things got serious.

‘……Srrrreung.’

…Well, I’m probably not in a position to worry about Sunbae right now.

Chang. Along with the sound, the noise of two blades sharply colliding in the air echoed within the graveyard.

A ghost in a black cloak, floating in the air and swinging a disproportionately large scythe at me.

It was the appearance of an A-rank monster, the Soul Reaper.

Despite being a ghost-type monster, physical attacks are its main method, making it quite a tricky monster for some hunters.

It was common for even holy-type awakeners who specialize in ghost-type monsters to form a proper party when entering, starting from the Soul Reaper.

Because simply creating a holy barrier and fighting while preventing ghost-type monsters from approaching wouldn’t be enough to block that Soul Reaper’s massive blades.

Conversely, for hunters like me whose main method is physical attacks… it was actually an easier opponent compared to the Shadow Wraith.

Because I knew that if only those annoying blades could somehow be removed, its main body would become nothing, no different from a scarecrow.

I was getting sick of fights that involved dodging and running away, looking for openings, or taking lives with surprise attacks.

Finally, I swung my Mithril Greatsword towards an opponent worthy of properly wielding it.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

And, a few minutes later.

‘Kieeeek…!’

The Soul Reaper, its body split in half by my greatsword, disappeared with a scream.

Despite having entered the deeper parts of the dungeon, the battle with the monster itself ended with absurd ease.

As soon as a few sword strikes were exchanged from the first exchange, the guy whose scythe broke against my greatsword couldn’t put up any decent resistance, and just like that, like a paper doll, it reached its death while only dodging my attacks.

‘Tuk.’

Only the Soul Reaper’s core, obtained as a result of the battle, fell to the floor with a quiet sound.

Ghost-type monsters certainly had this aspect as a slightly disappointing point.

Because they generally leave no parts worth mentioning as materials other than the core.

Of course, to that extent, this core itself is utilized in many ways, so the price wasn’t cheap, but.

After picking up the core that fell on the floor and putting it in my subspace pocket, I thought while walking deeper into the dungeon.

“…I wonder if Cheon Jihee Sunbae is okay.”

Not that I was doubting her skills, I meant this.

I had already confirmed Cheon Jihee Sunbae’s abilities countless times in the Crystal Spider Cave.

One or two A-rank monsters… no, depending on the type, she must have the skill level to deal with five or six or more at once.

In the first place, her training experience in this Shadow Underground Graveyard must be much longer than mine, so me worrying about her itself would be arrogant, but.

…Nevertheless, something felt off.

The monster itself, the Soul Reaper, probably wouldn’t be a monster that’s too difficult for Cheon Jihee Sunbae to handle within her capabilities, right?

With her skills, dodging the monster’s swinging scythe and smashing it with her fists would probably be child’s play.

Seeing as she had entered this far, she probably knew the method of finishing off ghost-type monsters as well.

However, even for Cheon Jihee Sunbae, I wonder if she could truly handle monsters like these if five or six or more attacked at once.

It’s just that, that part is slightly worrying.

Monsters like Crystal Spiders might be possible to handle by mixing evasion and defense and reducing their numbers one by one, but defending against the Soul Reaper monster deeper inside with bare hands would probably not be easy.

No matter how much she coats her body with energy and assumes a defensive stance, blocking an A-rank monster’s blades without any damage would probably be difficult.

If it were one or two, she could sufficiently handle them just by moving her body to evade, but if more than that, multiple monsters attack her at once….

It was unavoidable that the thought, ‘Even for Cheon Jihee Sunbae, wouldn’t it be a bit difficult?’, entered my mind.

Furthermore, unlike the Shadow Wraiths, Soul Reapers are also monsters that rarely ‘cooperate’.

Unlike the Shadow Wraiths that attack while targeting the physical body, their objective was simply to collect as many souls as possible.

Considering these various factors, the thought that even Cheon Jihee Sunbae might be in danger briefly crossed my mind, but.

“…It’s probably unnecessary worry.”

I truly hoped that it would be so. As a fellow close-combat hunter Sunbae and a comrade of the Sky Blue Shield.

Perhaps because of the unsettling feeling entering my mind for no reason, my speed of clearing the dungeon also sped up accordingly.

From here on, there were essentially only monsters that were good for me to swing my sword against, so I could move forward even faster.

After that, after defeating several more Soul Reapers and entering deeper into the dungeon, a faint light began to flicker deeper inside the graveyard.

And even a familiar silhouette illuminated by that light.

“…Cheon Jihee Sunbaenim?”

If I wasn’t mistaking her for someone else, it was undoubtedly her.

In the first place, she was Sunbae with such distinctive features that mistaking her itself was difficult.

Her ragged old dobok, long limbs, and navy blue ponytail fluttering long behind her were elements that symbolized Cheon Jihee Sunbae to anyone.

…The problem was that even from afar, her condition wasn’t very good, enough to recognize at once.

Surrounded by four Soul Reapers, clutching one arm, she was desperately twisting her body and enduring the situation.

From the arm she was clutching, dark red blood was dripping little by little onto the floor below.

There was no time to hesitate.

If I were any later, it seemed Sunbae’s life would truly be in danger.

After taking out a spear from my subspace pocket, I shouted towards Sunbae, surrounded by monsters, as if commanding.

“Lower your head, Sunbae!”

“……Kuh, huck?”

Fortunately, she turned her gaze towards me once and lowered her stance without any particular suspicion.

Immediately, my spear, taken from my subspace pocket, cut through the air.

Of the four scythes, one that was swung aiming for Cheon Jihee Sunbae’s neck hit my thrown spear and bounced off.

“……!”

‘……Kek!’

With a flash in her eyes, noticing the monster’s opening now that its weapon was gone, Sunbae immediately reached out her left arm towards its chest, and.

Just like that, with her grip tightened, she pulled the Soul Reaper’s core out in mid-air.

Admiring her amazing mental fortitude to find the weak spot even while injured like that, I immediately grabbed my greatsword and joined her, who was surrounded by monsters.

“…Just now, what was that spear?”

“I’ll explain later! Let’s take care of these guys first!”

It wasn’t the time to spout fortunate talk like ‘I can’t believe it yet, so I have to hide it’.

…I also had the thought, ‘For my own slight convenience, what meaning does hiding my full power even have?’

If I couldn’t save people I could have saved because of that, there wouldn’t be a more foolish act.

After this fight ends, let’s explain everything to Cheon Jihee Sunbae too.

Because frustratingly hiding it and just swinging my sword was something I couldn’t stand doing anymore.