Chapter 53

Chapter 53

Otherworld Cheat Harem.

Episode 53: The Most Beautiful One In This Universe (4).

Dungeon, 25th floor. It was a level they had given up on and fled from when Seoyoon was with them, but even this floor couldn’t stop a party brimming with determination to move forward.

“35 degrees. 22 meters. Three.”

“Descend, O Lightning.”

Orion’s ears perked up, and simultaneously, Raize’s staff began to glow a bright blue.

The most powerful calamity found in nature descended from the tip of her staff.

Screech?

A grotesque monster with limp limbs appeared, but Raize’s spell, which was ready beforehand, struck it first.

Even a monster that surpassed human physical abilities couldn’t evade the speed of lightning.

Boom! Thunder echoed belatedly, and all that remained where the monster once stood were ashes and a mana stone.

Fwoosh…

Raize looked at the mana stone attached to the tip of her staff. She pulled out the mana stone that started cracking and looked at Dojin.

“It’s all used up.”

“Here, swap it out.”

Raize placed the mana stone handed by Dojin at the end of her staff and felt the magic flowing through it.

It wasn’t extraordinary. The mana stone would be depleted after one or two uses of magic. However, it meant that as long as there were monsters, she could continuously use magic.

‘It’s getting faster and faster…’

Raize glanced at Dojin’s back. Initially, she didn’t understand why he was doing this. But as time passed, she began to understand his thoughts.

The amount of magic she used today exceeded what she used in the past month, and the spells she cast in a week surpassed the magic she used throughout an entire year.

Magic does not grow through repeated practice. She had always thought so, but when it reached this number of times, it couldn’t be ignored.

‘Even at the Magic Tower, this would be considered a waste of money… right?’

A mage’s mana is limited. Therefore, most mages could cast magic only five or six times a day at most.

For this reason, mages studied how to use stronger and larger spells within those few attempts, or how to use them more effectively.

They wouldn’t try to use magic recklessly in this way. Dojin said it was like spending hundreds of thousands of won on a single bullet.

Although she didn’t know what bullets were, she could tell without being told that it was an absurdly high price.

“Ugh… Is there any way to reduce the noise? My ears are ringing.”

“…Sorry.”

“No, Raize, it’s not something you need to apologize for. What can we do about how you were born?”

Orion said while twitching her ears. Raize felt sorry for her, but she couldn’t help it, as the most powerful magic she could unleash was a lightning strike.

“Didn’t I give you earplugs?”

“Are you telling a scout to wear earplugs now? You might as well say we should all get ambushed and die together.”

“Well, it’s all the same since you can’t hear anything anyway…”

Dojin argued with Orion. Raize chuckled at the sight of them.

A foreign-looking human and an elf with an exotic appearance arguing—it was like watching a play unfold.

Raize, who had been giggling softly, felt something amiss and turned around. Eunha was quietly watching the two of them. She tilted her head, looking at her.

“…Eunha?”

“Ah, yes. Why…?”

“No, you seemed out of it for a moment… And you can speak informally. I do too.”

“I’m comfortable like this…”

Seeing Eunha nod her head, Raize turned away, saying she understood.

Then she recalled the expression she had just seen on Eunha’s face.

‘Something was odd… like…’

Yes, it was like the expression of a fragile woman abandoned by her lover. Of course, she knew that couldn’t be the case.

Even when asked, both of them denied being lovers, and there was no such atmosphere between them.

Then what was the expression Eunha showed, something more primal…

“Ah, wait! In front. 30 meters. Rear 3 meters…?”

At that moment, Orion turned around slightly shocked. Yes, there were times like this—monsters suddenly appearing in the empty space they had passed by.

In fact, as soon as Orion’s ears caught the monster, its arm flew at them at a bizarre angle.

Raize, startled, fell back and shut her eyes tight.

Bang!

“…Are you okay?”

Eunha, who had deflected the arm with her fist, asked Raize. Raize felt embarrassed about having fallen in surprise and brushed off her backside as she got up.

“…I’m fine. Dojin, what should we do?”

“Orion, keep watching the surroundings, and Raize, prepare for any enemies coming from the front.”

“Okay.”

Upon hearing this, Raize immediately ignored the monster lingering behind and began chanting.

Using the mana contained within the mana stone as a focal point, she drew upon the natural mana and prepared her magic.

It was a task so strenuous that it felt like her brain nerves were about to snap. If she were to be disturbed even slightly, her nerves would burst…

‘Trust.’

She trusted her companions and immersed herself completely. In an extreme combat situation, withdrawing into one’s own world required immense concentration.

Yet, she had done it countless times.

Crackle. Sparks started flying from the mana stone. An overwhelming current was discharged from the tip of the staff.

As she had used it tens of times, hundreds of times. Now, it was a magic she was all too familiar with.

‘This is…’

However, she realized that there was a change in the magic. No, it wasn’t the magic that changed, but herself.

‘Yes, like this.’

Ignoring her surroundings entirely, she immersed herself in her own world. The most important quality for a mage.

She was a genius.

Given enough time and experience, a genius could break through the world’s shell over and over.

The shell cracked once more.

Breaking through the shell of human limitations, from head to toe, everything evolved one step further.

Boom!

“Kyaaaah?!”

Orion, who was watching Dojin and Eunha deal with the monsters, screamed at the thunderous noise that erupted right next to her. The sound was so excessive that it nearly deafened her. Why? The monsters were still quite a distance away…

Sensing something odd, she turned around to see a streak of lightning heating up the space, a spear piercing through the world.

“Congratulations.”

“…Thank you.”

Raize leveled up.

Objectively speaking, there was a slight sense of being a bit late. Considering the number of monsters he had taken down with his magic, it wouldn’t have been surprising if he had leveled up sooner.

“With this, everyone in our party has leveled up at least once.”

“Is that so? That’s amazing.”

“Do other parties usually not do that?”

“Umm… not exactly.”

Orion opened her mouth as she sipped her drink. Maybe it was because of the alcohol, but she started talking about things she usually wouldn’t.

“Typically, everyone starts at the same point and hunts together until everyone levels up. It’s rare for people with different levels to form a party like this.”

“What kind of situations are those?”

“They hire mercenaries to gather rare materials that can only be found inside the dungeon, or they attach an instructor to train talent for an organization or group… or, well, other such things.”

“Other such things?”

“Yes, well. You know those. People who level up without knowing how to fight. Those fools.”

I could quickly figure out who she was talking about.

The female adventurers often seen on the first floor of the adventurer’s guild. Wearing provocative bikini armor not for battle, but to seduce promising male adventurers, these parasites.

In such cases, they mostly don’t fight and cling to men, draining them dry. If they’re lucky, they might level up, but leveling up without gaining any experience doesn’t lead to any growth.

As soon as I went up to the second floor, the first lesson I received from Pion was that. Beware of parasites. Fortunately, since I was always with women, I never experienced such a thing…

“Anyway, since it’s a celebration for Raize’s growth. Let’s drink. I’ll treat you today.”

“Oh my, are you really sure about that?”

“Absolutely.”

“Hehe, in that case…”

At that moment, I didn’t realize the meaning of her words. And shortly after, I was shocked to see the barrel of alcohol brought in by the waiter.

“Haha, elves don’t get drunk easily because of their constitution…”

According to her, it takes a mountain of grains to get elves, the fairies of nature, drunk with natural ingredients.

As an elf, she was naturally a heavy drinker, and it required a significant amount of money to get such a heavy drinker intoxicated.

“Thank you for the meal.”

With squinted eyes, Orion started gulping down the alcohol from the oak barrel. I followed along initially, but it wasn’t long before I was half-passed out from the alcohol and returned home in a daze.

“Ugh… wateeeeer.”

“…Here it is.”

Someone, whom I couldn’t identify, handed me water. I took the glass and started gulping it down.

However, my drunken body couldn’t easily shake off the intoxication. Hoo, hoo, I kept exhaling rough breaths. Each exhale filled my nose with a strong alcohol smell, intoxicating me further.

“…Are you okay?”

“I’m okay, I’m okay…”

I was not okay at all. But there was nothing more embarrassing than making a fool of myself after drinking, so I waved my hand to prove I was fine.

“Uh…”

And then, I collapsed onto the bed due to the dizziness that struck my head. My head hurt. The pillow and bed, made of who-knows-what, were too soft.

I needed something to completely stabilize me. I flailed my arms to find it and grabbed onto something hard, pulling it strongly.

“D-Dojin?”

“Phew.”

There was something small and soft, but soon enough, something hard supported my head. I rubbed my head against it to find comfort.

“Um, um… I want to leave.”

“Where… don’t go…”

The hard pillow moved on its own. I wrapped my arms around it and hugged it tightly. Only then did the pillow stay still and settle down.

With my head fixed and not moving, the headache started to lessen. I continued to breathe in and out, trying to fall asleep.

Swoosh. Something began to stroke my head.

“…Dojin, why don’t you abandon me?”

“Hmm…?”

“I’m so flat-chested, short, and I can’t do anything… why?”

“Shut up…”

A faint tremor kept coming from the pillow I was resting on. I frowned and pressed down on the pillow hard. A small whimper echoed.

“Stay still… don’t move… you’re mine.”

“…What value is there in someone like me?”

“Quiet… don’t talk… stay still…”

With those words, I fell asleep. Even in sleep, the buzzing in my head didn’t stop.

Chirp chirp, the birds were singing. The morning sunlight shone strongly on my eyes, and with the overflowing brightness, my eyes opened naturally.

I have a headache. I drank so much last night that if I could turn back time, I would go back to yesterday and kill myself.

And the second thought that came to mind was.

‘…Why is she here?’

I’m screwed.

I thought as I looked at Eunha lying beneath me.