A S-Class Hunter With Great Agility - Chapter 85

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 85: Elf Dungeon (6)

 

The reason we withdrew on the first day was a map error. And the reason for the second day was a broken compass.

The third day was… what was it again. I was so pissed off that I couldn’t remember.

 

“You want to go back again?”

【S-sorry…】

“No, does saying sorry fix everything?”

 

I held my throbbing head.

 

“Does that hideout even exist in the first place?”

【Of course! I’m certain! We send raid parties periodically too. Though they fail every time…】

“But it’s been five days now and we haven’t seen any cave, just these damn wolves…”

“H-Hae-dam. Just calm down first.”

 

Choi Yu-il broke out in a cold sweat as he stopped me. Josephine squeezed her eyes shut and kept bowing her head repeatedly.

I utilized the stress management method I’d honed through years of empty bank account balances.

 

Inhale… Exhale.

 

“…Let’s stop for a moment and try reasoning out why this is happening.”

 

When problems arise, finding solutions should always be the top priority.

I spoke while dipping my Spirit General Sword in the lake to wash off the blood. Purple light rippled briefly across the transparent lake.

 

“We couldn’t find this lake yesterday, right? We’re definitely not going in circles. Right?”

【Y-yes! That’s right. Our raid parties always encounter this lake when heading to the cave.】

 

According to the Elf Tribe, the Lycan boss mainly hides in a large cave. So we were advancing toward that cave as our goal.

They encounter the lake every time… Then this area really is correct.

 

‘Even if I activate Spiritual Sight. There’s nothing that catches my senses.’

 

No matter what skill I tried, I couldn’t sense the boss monster’s mana. Only Lycans appeared endlessly.

Thanks to that, my bank account was getting fuller, but my heart grew more frustrated.

 

‘The achievement rate and mana stats are rising too slowly too.’

 

Even killing dozens or hundreds, the improvement speed was different from the beginning.

Even for A-rank, it seemed like a handicap was applied if you only defeated the same type of monster for several days.

 

‘I want to go home… I’d be happy to breathe in Seoul’s fine dust.’

 

I looked up at the sky with an enlightened expression. I wanted to see sunlight. I missed the blazing sun.

 

‘If we really can’t find it like this, it’s all over.’

 

Getting lost repeatedly aside, I couldn’t help but worry at this point.

About the possibility that the boss monster might never be found.

 

“Ugh…”

 

Just imagining it made my brow furrow. The return gate wouldn’t open either, and the reward the Lord promised would be lost.

If things went wrong, a dungeon break might even occur.

 

“What do we do about this?”

“…”

“…Hey, are you okay?”

“Ah… yeah.”

 

Even Choi Yu-il had heavy dark circles under his eyes.

 

“…For now, how about we move around this lake as the center and look around? I think it’d be better to split up the group. We’ll stay together.”

 

The guy suggested splitting up temporarily to search. His face looked tired, but his tone remained gentle.

Josephine nodded.

 

【Let’s do that! Then how should we divide the groups…】

“We three will go around together, so the knights can go separately.”

【N-no!】

“?”

【W-well, we know the geography of this forest better. How about this?】

“…”

【You two and me, and our knight order with this young man…】

 

I reflexively furrowed my brow. What nonsense is this?

 

“That won’t work.”

“What? You guys are going to dump me over there?! Seriously?”

 

It was ridiculous. What family would just hand over their youngest to strangers?

I patted Baek Kyul’s shoulder as if to calm him down.

Don’t worry. No matter how much I want to go home, I’m not crazy enough to abandon you among monsters.

 

“Forget it. If that’s the case, it’s better if we all look around together.”

【Ah… Yes…】

 

Josephine immediately drooped her eyebrows.

 

‘What exactly is she so eager about?’

 

I raised the corner of my mouth crookedly and gripped the now-clean Spirit General Sword again.

 

“Let’s go.”

 

And.

On this fifth day too.

 

We couldn’t find the Boss Monster. Damn it.

 

* * *

 

Choi Yu-il stared blankly at Josephine’s back. His eyes, strained from overwork, had reached the point where tears wouldn’t even come out.

 

‘I’m tired…’

 

While aching from combat inside dungeons was a common occurrence, being tired from lack of sleep like this was unprecedented.

But it was all something he had to endure. He pressed his eyes once.

 

“So which direction this time?”

【I think it’s to the left! The knights say that direction looks familiar too.】

“It better be right before we get too familiar with it…”

【Pardon?】

“Nothing. Let’s go.”

 

Choi Yu-il slightly turned his head to look at his friend.

He didn’t have dark circles either, but he definitely looked like fatigue had accumulated.

 

‘Dungeons… He must hate staying long.’

 

Choi Yu-il scratched his cheek. But Eun Hae-dam probably wouldn’t show it. Because of that excessive sense of responsibility.

 

‘Should I tell him.’

 

That we probably won’t find the Boss Monster tomorrow either.

 

‘…No.’

 

No. Not yet… It was still too early.

Choi Yu-il steeled his resolve while putting the retrieved arrows into his quiver.

 

However, Choi Yu-il had momentarily forgotten that his friend was someone with particularly developed intuition.

 

* * *

 

Stab.

 

I stabbed down at the steak with my fork.

 

“Doesn’t something seem strange?”

“Huh? What?”

 

Dinner time. I crushed the damn Lycan Steak in front of food I couldn’t even bring myself to eat.

We were managing meals well enough with the food supplies from Baek Kyul’s subspace hood pocket, but facing monster meat every day was no easy task.

 

“This meat.”

 

I said while tearing the steak into small pieces. The Lord had stepped away saying he had some business to attend to.

I felt like I needed to resolve these doubts quickly before then.

 

“It’s too bizarre to eat.”

“…In what way?”

“They supposedly hate this species tremendously. But how can they eat this so nonchalantly?”

“….”

“For us, wouldn’t it be like eating cannibalistic pigeons that attack people?”

 

It was strange. This wasn’t something ‘intelligent beings’ would do. First of all, they wouldn’t be able to because it would turn their stomach.

 

“Besides, the guest hasn’t touched the food they served, but they haven’t said anything about it until now.”

 

Even on Earth where dining etiquette differs by country, there was no custom of leaving a guest’s fasting alone.

 

“Sir. Leave that and eat this instead.”

 

Baek Kyul handed me kimbap he took out from his subspace hood pocket.

I began chewing it aggressively. Once I started suspecting, doubts arose endlessly.

 

Creak.

 

Then the cafeteria door opened again. The Lord who said he was going to handle business was returning with a smile.

 

【Ah, sorry about that. Heroes! Please continue eating comfortably. Oh, what’s that? It looks delicious!】

 

I glanced at him with indifferent eyes.

 

“Hmm… Is that so…?”

 

Choi Yu-il didn’t add any particular words and soon closed his mouth. He couldn’t understand at all why I was acting like this.

 

“Are you really tired? Are there actually ghosts appearing? Should I take a look for you?”

“Ah, no. What ghosts.”

“Come sleep in my room for a bit at dawn. You’re going to get properly bitten by a wolf at this rate.”

“Kyul will heal me…”

“Says the guy who already had three more treatment uses deducted just yesterday.”

 

From the third day, Choi Yu-il stopped listening well to my advice to aim for 7 points. He was definitely breaking three or four magic stones every day.

Thanks to that, three scratches from Lycan claws still remained on Choi Yu-il’s cheek.

At my words, Choi Yu-il smiled awkwardly while fiddling with his fork.

 

‘This really won’t do.’

 

“Baek Kyul. You’ll have to sleep alone today.”

“Eh?”

 

‘It’s just going to the next room for a bit, so there shouldn’t be a problem.’

 

I put down the fork I was using to tear the steak.

Setting aside that Choi Yu-il looked abnormally tired… This was definitely an issue I needed to discuss with Choi Yu-il.

 

These elves are definitely strange somehow.

 

I glared at the Lord eating the eyeball-shaped vegetable.

 

* * *

 

“Hey, are you sleeping?”

 

I flung open Choi Yu-il’s door. The lights were off.

However, the purple light coming in from the window dimly illuminated the interior, so I could roughly make out the outlines.

 

“Finally sleeping, huh. Wake up, I need to talk to you.”

 

I muttered while looking around the room.

 

‘They praised him as a Hero. His room is huge too.’

 

It was much larger than the room Baek Kyul and I were using. All the furniture was gleaming with gold.

 

‘Why can’t he sleep in a place like this?’

 

I wondered if there really was a ghost and concentrated my five senses.

Though the probability of finding spirits inside a dungeon would be slim.

 

“As expected, there’s nothing here…”

 

Right. There was nothing.

 

The problem was…

Choi Yu-il wasn’t there either.

 

“Where did this guy go?”

 

I pulled back the blanket on the bed with a bewildered expression. It was completely empty inside.

I hurriedly searched even the wardrobe, but Choi Yu-il was nowhere to be found in the room.

 

“This is crazy…”

 

I opened my mouth slightly at the unexpected situation. Then I immediately left his room.

After closing the door and coming out into the corridor, only silence lingered in the hallway.

 

‘…Let me look for him briefly.’

 

I glanced at the room where Baek Kyul was sleeping and started walking.

While Choi Yu-il wasn’t the type to cause trouble everywhere, this clearly meant he was hiding something. I needed to catch him in the act.

 

Step, step.

 

I passed through the corridor with quick steps, trying not to make noise.

The elf servants were hardly visible at this hour.

 

“Where did he go.”

 

The castle was far too large. Compared to the run-down castle we experienced in the Skeleton Dungeon, this was like searching for the Wronged King Spirit in the Heavenly Realm.

He wouldn’t have gone far. He was someone who knew that unity meant survival and separation meant death.

 

‘Where is he wandering around without even sleeping…’

 

I soon stopped in a corridor with large windows.

Purple light was coming in from outside the window. Thanks to that, the surrounding scenery became a bit clearer.

Sure enough, I could see someone standing there.

Bright platinum hair due to albinism. It was definitely Choi Yu-il.

 

“Hey, you…!”

 

I reflexively called out to Choi Yu-il. The guy spotted me and showed a surprised expression.

 

‘…What?’

 

I was more surprised. What the hell is he doing.

The guy looked like he had just come out of some room after closing the door.

 

Creak, click.

 

Choi Yu-il carefully finished closing the door and then walked toward me step by step.

 

“Why are you out at this hour?”

“What do you mean this hour. Look outside, can you even tell what time it is. And what are you doing here anyway?”

“….”

“I came because I have something to talk about. These Eight-Foot Ghost guys here are really strange, way too strange…”

 

Click.

 

I heard movement from behind. Choi Yu-il put his index finger to his lips as if telling me to be quiet. Then he quietly pointed to a corner.

It was a small exit leading outside the castle, to the garden.

 

“Let’s go outside and talk?”

 

Nod.

I had no choice but to follow behind the guy.

 

‘Does he… know something.’

 

Somehow I had a bad feeling about this.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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