The Female Lead Saves the World - Chapter 158

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Yeo Joo Saves the World – Episode 158

“H-hick, ugh. U-uncle…”
A child’s voice called out to Kang Han from behind.
It was an incredibly small, trembling whisper of pure terror.
Kang Han’s eyes fixed on the monster before him as his mind raced.
What had I said back then?
‘Run away.’
I’d spoken those words in fear.
‘You have to survive.’
Yes, that’s what I’d said.
And now, fighting against the C-rank monster I’d come to know as ‘Scaler’, I’d sustained critical injuries.
It was because my newly awakened S-rank body and my locked skills weren’t being utilized properly.
But this time was different.
Kang Han sent an electric current surging through the steel rod gripped in his hand.

[ Unable to activate skill ‘Electric Current’. ]

A lie.
All of this was nothing but a terrible nightmare.
The rebar had transformed into a spear crackling with brilliant yellow electricity.
Kang Han, gripping the familiar black spear in his hand, spoke to the child behind him.
“Don’t cry.”
Even in dreams, I cannot forget.
That I am no longer as helpless as I was back then.
“I will protect you.”
He drew the spear wrapped in electricity in a long diagonal slash.
“Kek?”
Just as Kang Han had moments before, the Scaler didn’t even understand what had happened.
It simply split along the spear’s trajectory and oxidized.
A single attack.
That was all it took.
As the Scaler before him oxidized, the world surrounding him crumbled into ash and began to scatter.
Kang Han turned around.
The child was no longer there.
Within the slowly collapsing nightmare, Kang Han closed and opened his eyes once, slowly.
“Ugh!”
“No, this can’t be…!”
Suddenly, he found himself back at the campsite within the Maze Dungeon where a bonfire burned.
Kang Han gently patted Baek Young awake from his nightmare, then turned his head.
And he froze there, thinking.
He must still be trapped in the nightmare.
Yeo Joo.
She was gone.

* * *

“Hehe, here it is. Found it.”
This is the true privilege of possession.
When I saw the weathered chest sitting in the secret chamber of the Maze Dungeon, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Na Baek Ho, do you know what this is?”
“Meow?”
“When you open the lid like this—ta-da!—treasure appears!”
I said this while opening the chest.
Inside lay a single pouch, sitting alone.
At first glance, it was even more worn and tattered than the chest itself.
I slowly reached out and carefully lifted the heavily deteriorated pouch with both hands.
“I’m a bit bothered about leaving those people trapped in nightmares, but how am I supposed to explain this being here?”
This secret chamber had been thoroughly concealed.
Following the path I’d memorized beforehand, I walked toward the entrance, and when I pushed the unusually smooth wall with all my strength, another passage appeared.
Following that passage, going up and down, wandering this way and that, the room that eventually appeared was this very secret chamber.
“Look, Na Baek Ho. This is the potion that permanently increases your stamina.”
Fortunately, unlike the decrepit pouch, the glass vial inside remained intact.

[ Stamina Surge Potion (A)
: Permanently increases stamina by +50. ]

There are many items that increase stamina, but only when wearing accessories like rings or earrings.
If it had been that kind, I wouldn’t have gone through all that trouble to come here.
“This one you just gulp down and drink, leaving no evidence behind.”
I’d drink it quickly, return to the campsite, and tell everyone I’d simply gotten lost.
“Perfect, right?”
“Meow!”
Honestly, looking at the condition of the chest and pouch, I couldn’t even guess how old the potion was, so the idea of drinking it felt unsettling.
‘What’s the worst that could happen—I drink it and die?’
I squeezed my eyes shut and chugged the potion straight from the bottle.
The effect was immediate.

[ Your stamina has permanently increased due to the Stamina Surge Potion. ]
[ Current Stamina: 65/150 ]

Ah, now this is it!
Unlike when I drank Im Chung Soo’s potion that boosted maximum health—where strength suddenly surged through my body—this one didn’t work quite the same way.
But now I could cast more Heal and Dark Purification in a single go.
“Perfect. Shall we head back?”
My mood lifted, so I flashed a bright smile at Na Baek Ho and retraced my steps.
Fortunately, I didn’t lose my way.
I thought I’d make it safely back to the Campsite.
“Aaaah!”
As I walked slowly through the dark Maze Dungeon, relying on the beam of my prepared flashlight, something seized my ankle with tremendous force.
The ivy vines that had been perfectly fine just moments before suddenly surged with rapid growth.

[ Green Swamp ( D )
: A vine-type monster. It hangs prey upside down with whip-like vines and desiccates them to death. ]

Wait, I didn’t know this was a monster!
Before I could even exert strength to resist, I found myself dangling upside down in the air.
“Kyaaah—!”
Na Baek Ho jolted in surprise and enlarged his body.
But at merely the size of a full-grown tiger, he was still too small to pull me down from such a height.
“Na Baek Ho! I’m fine! Calm down!”
“Roar! Growl!”
At my shout to soothe him, Na Baek Ho stopped jumping in place.
But I couldn’t stop him from pacing anxiously back and forth, restless with worry.
I thrashed about trying to free my bound feet, thinking I might fall anyway, but it only drained my stamina.
This was probably how this monster hunted.
I finally relaxed my body and went limp.
“Sigh. What do I do now.”

* * *

Defeating the Nightmare was easy.
One blast of Yang Hwa Yeon’s flame sphere and it burned to nothing.
It happened before Kang Han had even finished waking everyone up.
“What do you mean, Yeo Joo is missing?”
Yoo Jin Rok asked Kang Han while wiping his face, which was streaked with tears from witnessing his daughter’s death in the nightmare.
“I don’t know. Whether it was the Nightmare’s influence or if she was dragged away by another monster.”
“Wait, why would a monster leave its own territory in the first place? This is a C-rank dungeon!”
“Damn it. Let’s start by finding Hunter Yeo Joo.”
Jung Yi Do, the shield of the Magma Guild, spoke while calming down Jang Su Ho, who had begun to panic.
That was when it happened.
Yoo Jin Rok, who had been silent for a moment, pointed toward a path leading away from the campsite.
“That way.”
“You set a tracking skill on her!”
Jang Su Ho’s face brightened.
It was a skill primarily used in A-rank dungeons and above to catch fleeing monsters, and he knew of Yoo Jin Rok’s tracking skill, which allowed him to see the movement path of any target he had marked once.
Yoo Jin Rok’s face was rigid as he walked at the front, using his skill.
Yeo Joo’s safety was his responsibility.
Yet he had lost track of her because of an attack from a mere C-rank Nightmare.
Thud, thud.
No one spoke as everyone from the Magma Guild and Justice Guild walked through the maze.
And shortly after, Kang Han, who had been walking one step behind Yoo Jin Rok, suddenly began to run.
“What, what is it?”
“I can hear Yeo Joo’s voice from that direction.”
When Han Ji Sung, also S-rank like Kang Han, answered instead, the rest of the group began running as well.
After turning several corners, a sound became distinctly audible to everyone’s ears.
“Save Yeo Joo!”
Everyone’s faces went pale.
Save her?
What kind of situation was this?
And finally, faced with the scene before them, everyone fell silent.
“Guild Master, hurry! The blood is rushing to my head and I’m dying!”
“Just wait a moment.”
Yeo Joo dangling in mid-air, Kang Han climbing upward along a vine, and Baek Ho watching anxiously.
“That unni… how did she even get up there?”
Lee Yu Eul muttered in a daze.

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