Chapter 388: Sudden Summons (2)

Eun & Ok Co., Ltd., the Sky Blue Shield meeting room.

In a five-pyeong space where five male and female Hunters had gathered, the members of the Sky Blue Shield shared their opinions about the Crystal Spider Cave they would be entering shortly.

Specifically, it was about the plan to conquer the White Crystal Spider Queen’s nest, known as one of the most powerful entities within the Crystal Spider Cave.

“If we’re going to deal with it without using fire magic, Sung Taekyung has to be the main damage dealer, right? With Yuri Unnie’s wind magic, you can’t pierce the White Crystal Spider Queen’s outer shell, can you?”

“Yeah. If I concentrate and gather my mana, it’s not impossible, but… for a single strike that could work against it, it takes about 20 minutes to use.”

“If it were about 10 minutes, we could somehow buy time and attempt it, but 20 minutes is definitely a bit too long, I think.”

“As expected, it seems best for me to take the main damage dealer role and for Cha Yuri-ssi to take on the support role. Like last time, Min-ah will mainly draw the White Crystal Spider Queen’s attention, with my protection and Cha Yuri-ssi’s support magic…”

Although most of the Hunters gathered here are A-class Hunters with three or more years of experience, fighting in a dungeon was always inherently dangerous. Especially when the target was an S-class monster, higher than their own rank, it was even more necessary to plan meticulously. There was a need to devise strategies with extra caution.

It would be great if everything went according to plan, but battles inside dungeons always tended to go awry in unexpected ways. When the frontline fell due to more enemies than expected, when magic became unusable due to curses, silence, or mana depletion, or when a comrade was in danger, considering various variable situations, they had to prepare for as many scenarios as possible. As a result, the higher the party’s rank, the longer the meeting time naturally became.

“…Kuuul.”

Occasionally, to the point where someone couldn’t focus on the meeting like this.

“…Jihee-ssi?”

“……”

“…Uh, Jihee-ssi?”

“Huuup…!”

At the sudden appearance of Kang Hye-eun’s face before her eyes, with a surprised expression, Cheon Jihee jumped up from her seat. Shaking her head back and forth, as much as she had been in a light sleep, being startled was a natural reaction.

“Jihee-ssi, are you okay?”

“…I’m sorry. I must have dozed off for a second.”

“If you’re perhaps tired, please tell me in advance. Depending on Jihee-ssi’s condition, we might not proceed with conquering the White Crystal Spider Queen today.”

“No, I’m fine. I won’t be sleepy anymore, so don’t worry.”

“If Jihee-ssi says so, then I’m relieved, but since this was an unscheduled summons, you don’t need to push yourself too hard.”

At Kang Hye-eun’s slightly worried gaze directed at her, Cheon Jihee felt a subtle pain, as if her chest was being pricked. At the same time, she mentally scolded herself for foolishly dozing off just moments before.

‘It’s a day when Hye-eun called us all together, and I went and did this… I must be crazy….’

Of course, having worked a part-time job as a security guard at an event venue until the day before, I can’t say I wasn’t tired from the accumulated fatigue, but that alone couldn’t excuse her inability to focus during the meeting just now. Showing up to an unscheduled summons in such a condition was, after all, her own responsibility. More importantly, the security guard part-time job wasn’t even the kind of strenuous work that typically accumulated fatigue for Cheon Jihee.

‘It wasn’t like I was tackling an all-night dungeon raid, and I’d never been this exhausted from a single day’s part-time job before, so… it must be…’

In truth, she had vaguely realized it in her heart as well. That the frequency of feeling fatigue in her body was increasing as time went by. This wasn’t a symptom that had only recently begun. The precursors themselves had been felt little by little since about two years ago. From her first year as an active Hunter, Cheon Jihee’s steadily growing awakened abilities had begun to weaken little by little about two years ago, and she had been somehow compensating for the shortcomings with her experience and effort up to that point, but Cheon Jihee herself, the one whose awakened abilities were involved, was most acutely aware that even that compensation was starting to reach its limit.

“Cheon Jihee Sunbaenim didn’t seem like the type to doze off during meetings, so this is an unexpected side.”

“It’s the first time I’ve seen it too. Jihee Unnie falling asleep during a meeting.”

“Rather, if it were Han Min-ah, who had slept through classes all through her school days, it wouldn’t be that surprising.”

“What the hell?! At least when I’m active as a Hunter, I’m always on high alert?!”

“Alright, alright, that’s enough. Taekyung, Min-ah, stop chatting and focus on the meeting again. I’ll re-explain from where we got stuck, so Jihee-ssi, please focus too.”

“…Yeah. I’ll focus properly from now on.”

After that brief commotion, the Sky Blue Shield’s meeting to hunt the White Crystal Spider continued until lunchtime. However, contrary to her words, Cheon Jihee couldn’t quite focus on the discussion throughout the meeting. It wasn’t just simple fatigue, but due to other troubling reasons.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

「A-class Dungeon. Crystal Spider Cave.」

After spending the entire morning finishing the preliminary meeting, we immediately entered the Crystal Spider Cave after lunch. If it had been a battle like before, linking my fire magic with Cha Yuri’s wind magic, there wouldn’t have been much need for a meeting. Because this time, we decided to engage in battle without using that method.

There were several reasons for not using fire magic in the Crystal Spider Cave, but the biggest issue was undoubtedly safety. The White Crystal Spider Queen’s nest where we used fire magic last time had a large space and high ceiling, so the premise was that it would be okay to use large-scale fire magic, but most Crystal Spider Queen nests are formed in quite narrow spaces, typical of cave terrain. If you use large-scale fire magic in a confined space, the consequences are obvious. The entire party could collapse from carbon monoxide poisoning, or burn to death along with the swarm of crystal spiders. There were also minor issues like severe damage to materials, but the most important reason was, after all, for the safety of the entire party. It was necessary to try various joint operations for the future, for tackling other monsters.

That’s how the new role-swapped positions for this party sortie were created. Cha Yuri’s position, which was originally the main damage dealer, was boldly shifted to support and sub-damage dealer, and I, who had been playing a support and frontline support role, took on the role of main damage dealer. As one person advances to the frontline, Hye-eun and Cheon Jihee Sunbae’s burden will increase slightly, but Cha Yuri’s remaining capacity will reduce the number of monsters attacking the two of them, so it should probably be fine. Han Min-ah had no particular reason to change positions, so she maintained her roles of scouting and combat support as before. Since I only joined the party allowing Han Min-ah to barely escape the temporary frontline role, her current position shouldn’t be too burdensome.

“…If you turn right here, it’s immediately the White Crystal Spider Queen’s nest. Probably, even taking just one or two more steps will alert it to our presence, so it’s important to go straight in and secure our positions like last time.”

“Got it.”

“Then, I’ll enter first and distract the lesser monsters. Yuri Unnie, please prepare your area-of-effect wind magic so it can be used immediately.”

“Okay.”

“Here I go, one, two…”

Following Han Min-ah’s cue, the Sky Blue Shield entered the White Crystal Spider Queen’s nest together. It was the moment the second attempt to conquer the White Crystal Spider Queen’s nest began.

The first to move, as planned, was Han Min-ah, the fastest among us. So light and quick, it could be called the footsteps of a cat, with truly nimble and swift steps, she darted through the cave. As planned beforehand, she moved around the cave, starting the preliminary work. To the untrained eye, it might have looked like she was just wandering around the dungeon, but she wasn’t simply moving quickly through the dungeon.

-Tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk.

‘Kkiiiiik!’

Unlike the White Crystal Spider Queen with her quick senses, the adult White Crystal Spiders began to grasp the situation a beat later. Han Min-ah passed in front of or above such monsters, striking them with kicks and her dagger to draw their attention. The process of reducing the monster count, the most basic step in conquering the Crystal Spider Queen’s nest, had begun.

Normally, when a Hunter party enters the Crystal Spider Queen’s nest, the other adult spiders tend to spread out evenly among all party members, but if there’s a target that initiates an attack like that, the attention of the attacked monsters naturally gets drawn to one side. Around the time the number of adult White Crystal Spiders following her exceeded a dozen, the next signal came from Min-ah’s mouth.

‘Kkigigigik!’

‘Kiiiiiiik!’

“Yuri Unnie, now!”

In response to Han Min-ah’s signal, a Screw Tornado shot out from Cha Yuri’s staff. Cha Yuri’s 5th Circle magic, which displayed considerable power despite being an area-of-effect spell, wrapped the swarm of White Crystal Spiders following Han Min-ah in a sharp vortex of wind. Most of the monsters caught in her wind magic met their demise collectively, their legs, the weakest part, being severed first. However, not all the monsters whose attention Han Min-ah had drawn fell to Cha Yuri’s wind magic.

“Cheon Jihee Sunbae, let’s go!”

“…I know.”

These were the few adult White Crystal Spiders that either weren’t caught in Cha Yuri’s wind magic, were caught but not significantly injured, or had newly aggroed onto Han Min-ah after being drawn in late. These were the ones that I, as a close-combat damage dealer, and Cheon Jihee Sunbae had to handle from now on.

“Haaahap!!”

Holding the Mithril Greatsword, three monsters fell, cut in half vertically in one go by a horizontal draw-cut strike. Indeed, since leveling up to 9, I’d felt the increased power even in simple draw-cut strikes more than once recently. The moment the thought crossed my mind that at this rate, I was practically equivalent to an A-class Hunter, a dull thudding sound came from my left.

-Kwajik, kwak!

Along with the sound of a hearty kick, two crystal spider corpses collapsed, twitching beneath her feet. The two monsters that had strayed out of my sword’s range were subdued with just a few punches and kicks by Cheon Jihee Sunbae, who had also taken up a frontline position.

-Kwaaang!

Finally, Hye-eun, who was relatively slower, slammed her massive greatshield onto the ground, completing the Sky Blue Shield’s basic formation.

“Let’s not rush things and just stick to the plan.”

“Okay.”

“Got it.”

The two responded by nodding simultaneously at the tactical command from Hye-eun, the party leader. The plan for the preliminary preparations had gone smoothly without any issues, and all members’ conditions were definitely good, so up until that point, I was confident of an easy victory in this White Crystal Spider Queen conquest.

…Up until that point, that is.