The Female Lead Saves the World - Chapter 326

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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
Part 2, Episode 147

Most of Ji Sung’s deductions had been correct.
But not about it being a factory.
The monsters that poured from the Tunnel at regular intervals weren’t finished products from a factory—they were ‘failed prototypes.’

[ God Frame – v. 0452 (A)
– Released failed prototype. ]
[ God Frame – v. 0112 (S)
– Released failed prototype. ]
[ God Frame – v. 0774 (A)
– Released failed prototype. ]

This was why the status windows of these mechanical golem-like monsters looked this way.
Yet they were all S-rank and A-rank nonetheless.
Then what on earth did the successful versions look like?

[ ! Warning ! ]
The Volcano will erupt shortly, and the supreme entity will reveal itself.
Time remaining until eruption: 04 : 45 : 10

I glanced at the Quest window, catching a brief exchange between Ji Sung and Sung Ro Sa.
“I’ll mark our way back. You rest for a bit, Ji Sung. You’ve been pushing yourself too hard.”
“Yeah, maybe I will.”
It was oddly striking to see Ji Sung conversing so comfortably with Sung Ro Sa—in reality, he would have immediately rejected anything related to Fantasia Guild.
But that wasn’t the only difference.
Without the Darkness consuming him, without the experience of being driven out of a guild where he’d desperately clung to survival, Ji Sung moved without hesitation.
Unlike the cautious, careful version I knew—the one who held back and only unleashed precise skills at critical moments—this Ji Sung was different.
He engaged actively in forward attacks, and because of it, he wielded mana with greater finesse and speed.
But apparently, I’d been staring too obviously.
“Is there something you want to say to me, Healer Yeo Joo?”
“No, it’s just… you’re impressive. Ever since I entered this Dungeon, I’ve been nothing but dead weight—just cargo being hauled along.”
“Dead weight.”
Ji Sung repeated my words under his breath, then nodded.
“That might be true.”
“Ha.”
I found myself missing the real Ji Sung—the warm, gentle one who’d been so pleased about finally having a proper Research Lab.
“But if a healer has nothing to do, that’s a good thing. It means no one’s been hurt yet.”
“…Are you comforting me right now?”
Even if this was a virtual person created by the Dungeon, was the essence really the same?
“If you need comfort, you can take it as comfort.”
No, that’s not it.
His personality was completely different from the real Ji Sung.
“I’m joking.”
The way he smiled so easily with that joke, despite us being practically strangers—
The Ji Sung I knew was extremely introverted and uncomfortable even being in the same space as people he didn’t know well.
How much trauma must the real Ji Sung have endured to change so much, if he’d lived without such hardship?
“And I’m in the same boat as dead weight right now too.”
Ji Sung’s face darkened as he murmured this.
“I’ve never felt this useless before.”
It seemed like wounded pride, yet also like helplessness creeping in.
“The Flame Dungeon is quite disadvantageous for ice-type abilities.”
The matchup was simply unfavorable—there was no helping it.
He soared through the Glacier Dungeon and the Ure Dungeon, but in this scorching environment, mana consumption was severe and skill effectiveness plummeted.
“Ugh, disgusting! What are those eyeballs?!”
I heard Gye Young Ho’s voice, and before I knew it, Kang Han had returned.
“Everything went smoothly?”
“Yes, fortunately.”
Though I’d been separated briefly, the Dungeon hadn’t attacked me—thankfully.
I’d thought it would charge at me without warning, like it did in the Side Passage.
“The new guild member seems to get along really well. Is it because she’s a healer?”
“It’s a dangerous Dungeon, after all.”
“I’m just joking, joking. It’s the first time I’ve seen the Sub-guild leader of Kang Han being so attentive to someone, so don’t take it too seriously.”
Ji Sung chuckled as he made the joke, even giving Kang Han’s shoulder a light tap.
Yet Kang Han didn’t dodge that touch—instead, he shot him a sharp glare.
“You two seem quite close.”
When I asked, Ji Sung looked at Kang Han with a mischievous expression, as if wondering the same thing.
“…I’ve received a lot of help from him.”
“Kang Han went through quite a rebellious phase. Even after awakening as an S-rank, he said he didn’t want to be a Hunter and ran away so much…”
“Hyung.”
“It just so happened that when I was doing community service as a mentor for young Hunters after causing an accident during an experiment, I had to deal with quite a bit because of him.”
Kang Han refused to be a Hunter?
The Kang Han who seemed to have been born with a Hunter registration certificate stamped on his forehead?
The same Kang Han who awakened while rescuing civilians despite being unawakened?
As I stared in surprise, Kang Han covered his mouth with his large hand and quickly averted his gaze.
But then, with a resounding “Bong—”, everything changed.
The bell that shook the skull came from a massive clock whose hand had just reached the hour.

+++

Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash!
Tangled golem-type monsters poured out from the Tunnel.
The battlefield, which had been gradually settling into a lull, grew hot once more from the heat they radiated and the sweat of the Hunters.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Each time the fist of a golem the size of a shipping container struck the ground, the earth cracked open.
It was already a battle that far exceeded human limits—a single fragment would be fatal to an ordinary person.
“Justice Guild, focus only on striking from the head down!”
Kang Young Won shouted with veins bulging in her neck.
Targeting the neck was the most dangerous task because of the beams shot from the golem’s eyes, yet no guild member raised an objection.
The Justice Guild stood at the front line while other Hunters provided support.
The only one who didn’t follow that rule, which had been maintained ever since the Gate appeared, was Sa Ma Young, who was raging wildly.
The situation was even more dire now, unable to receive combat support from the mages in the rear.
Dozens of Magma Eyes rushed at them, who had left the safe zone in front of the Tunnel to avoid the monsters being discharged, firing red beams.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The ice wall that Ji Sung had erected while sweating profusely shattered and crumbled from a single beam of the Magma Eye.
It was when Yoon Ki Baek, witnessing that sight, was about to rush forward in shock.
Boom, crackle—!
Beyond the collapsing ice wall, the eyeballs swept up by the wave of electricity extending from Kang Han sparked and rained down like hail.
“Let’s go, let’s go!”
With Gye Young Ho’s cry, who had been preparing in advance, the bodies of all the rear personnel lifted into the air and landed on the empty ground in front of the Tunnel.
“Phew, we made it.”
“Those damn bird-brained idiots with their laser eyes! Looking like absolute garbage! I’m going to destroy every last one of them!”
Sung Ro Sa usually managed to maintain a semblance of composure, but after nearly dying to laser beams countless times, he finally snapped.
Flash! Flash!
“Explode! Die in an explosion! You bastards!”
Accompanied by his frenzied roar, arrows of light brought down several Magma Children, but his offensive couldn’t sustain itself for long.
He had already consumed far too much mana.
“Haa, haa, dammit!”
It was while Sung Ro Sa, unable to contain his frustration, was unleashing a barrage of crude curses forward for about three seconds.
“Ugh!”
Sa Ma Young’s body, which had been rampaging like an unleashed monster without regard for his own condition, finally gave way.
He, who ranked second only to Kang Young Won in single-combat power, had already defeated over twenty golems on his own.
Thanks to his rampage, many hunters had narrowly escaped death in precarious situations.
But even such divine strength had its limits.
“My lord!”
Woo Jun Kyung, his face drained of color, rushed forward and pulled Sa Ma Young from the front lines just before he became a pulp beneath a golem’s fist.
“Bring him over here!”
Ah, this raid party had a healer.
Relief flickered across Woo Jun Kyung’s face.
The moment Sa Ma Young was laid on the ground and lost consciousness, a small pool of blood formed around his body.
But as the healer activated a skill, the wounds began to close rapidly.
“Phew.”
As Sa Ma Young’s condition visibly improved, Woo Jun Kyung wiped his face, caked with sweat and dust.
But that respite was short-lived—another casualty was brought to the safe zone.
“Jung Woo! Chae Jung Woo!”
Whether from the golem’s laser or something else, Chae Jung Woo’s arm was sliced so deeply that it hung limp, the wound cauterized so that no blood flowed, and Ha Young Hyun, the guild master, screamed at his condition.
She herself had lived a turbulent life and had a history of various crimes, yet she had brought awakeners with criminal records both large and small into the sanctuary of Utopia, rehabilitating them as members of society and legitimate hunters.
Perhaps because of this, she was a guild master with particularly deep affection for her members.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
Yeo Joo, the healer, finished treating Sa Ma Young and spoke while emptying a high-grade mana potion, her complexion ashen.
The abilities of an A-rank healer exceeded imagination.
After some time had passed, Chae Jung Woo’s arm, which seemed like it would have been better to amputate entirely, returned to its complete form.
“I’m exhausted.”
Yeo Joo, looking more sickly and pale than the peacefully sleeping Chae Jung Woo, except for his torn clothes, muttered while wiping cold sweat from her brow.
“Please drink this at least.”
“Ah, thank you….”
It was just as Ji Sung handed over a mana potion that Yeo Joo accepted with trembling hands.
“This all happened because Kang Han, the sub-guild master, didn’t participate in combat!”
Ha Young Hyun suddenly burst out shouting.

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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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