The Female Lead Saves the World - Chapter 417

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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 3, Episode 21

“Just now….”
It wasn’t my imagination.
Ryu Sang Eun, who had been about to unzip the Tent entrance, also stopped and turned to look at me.
I too had frozen in place.
My heart had sunk, leaving me unable to move.
When we found card fragments. When injuries or emergencies occurred and help was needed.
Those were the situations we had agreed to always inform each other about via radio.
But the moment I heard that crackling sound, an ominous premonition crept up my spine.
Beep—.
And as if to urge me, who couldn’t bring myself to pull out the radio, a soft call signal sounded.
“Should I… check it for you?”
Ryu Sang Eun asked cautiously, but I shook my head.
“No, I… I should do it.”
I pulled out the radio with hands gone cold.
“It’s Team B.”
The screen showed Team B’s channel was lit up.
“Ahem, this is Yeo Joo.”
Unlike the Residential District with its clear objective of the Government Building, or the Commercial District where defeating monsters yielded card fragments at a fairly high rate, the Ecological Preservation District offered no hints, no information whatsoever.
“Is something… wrong?”
[ “Yeo Joo.” ]
“Sa Ma Young?”
[ “What are you doing right now? Busy?” ]
His casual tone, as if calling during idle hours, suddenly drained the strength from me.
I wiped my face with the hand not holding the radio and answered.
“No, I’m just resting… Why?”
[ “I have something to show you.” ]
“Something to show me?”
I tilted my head in confusion when Sa Ma Young’s soft laughter came through the radio.
[ “Look toward the Ecological Preservation Zone right now.” ]
Since there were no streetlights in the Dungeon, which was pitch dark, I turned my body to face the direction vaguely.
“There’s nothing there… What am I supposed to see… Huh?”
The sky, which had been completely black, brightened.
No, that wasn’t it.
What brightened was not the sky, but the Ecological Preservation District.
Even from this distance, brilliant flames blanketed the vast land so vividly that my eyelids stung.
“That, right now.”
No, I was wrong again.
As if to show me, what danced while devouring the darkness was not firelight.
It was blue flame.
[ “Beautiful, isn’t it?” ]

* * *

Moments earlier, in the Ecological Preservation District.
The Ecological Preservation Zone, nestled deep within the forest where daylight faded early, had already grown dark as midnight.
Because of this, the only light source illuminating the surroundings was a lamp item that Bang Ri Ri had suspended in the air.
And beneath that faint glow, a crocodile larger than a cargo truck, engulfed in violet toxic mist, let out a cry of anguish.
“Kraaaaaagh!”
Yet Sa Ma Young’s eyes watching the creature writhe and oxidize into black ash were merely cold and indifferent.
“Too slow.”
“My apologies, my lord. It is our lack of skill that is to blame.”
At Sa Ma Young’s bored murmur, Woo Jun Kyung bowed his head deeply.
Following him, the other hunters offered their apologies as well, while only Yang Hwa Yeon and Lee Dan Woo exchanged awkward glances.
‘It actually seemed quite fast to me….’
‘Woo Jun Kyung took care of an A-rank monster with a single skill, so why is he apologizing?’
Bewildered by the blind devotion shared between Sa Ma Young and his inner circle, I had no time to dwell on it and had to quicken my pace.
Since entering the Ecological Preservation Zone, the mages and healers who had never once enjoyed proper rest gasped for breath, yet Sa Ma Young, walking at the very front, paid them no mind.
Rather, he idly considered abandoning those two stragglers and moving faster with his subordinates.
“Nothing but trivial creatures.”
Though combat was frequent, the purely animal-type monsters offered him no stimulation whatsoever.
Chimeras synthesized from multiple life forms would have been far more interesting.
Had I known that “Ecological Preservation District” meant this, I would not have conceded the Commercial District to Team B’s weaklings.
Sa Ma Young’s steps, which had been flicking away the crimson blood of monsters from his blade, suddenly halted.
The atmosphere of the surroundings, which had been no different from any other forest, had shifted unnaturally.
“There it is.”
Following the artificially created, warm and gentle air that flickered in his crimson eyes, a vast grassland devoid of trees soon appeared.
The grass, grown to ankle height, was densely packed with beings lying upon it.
“…Humans?”
Lee Dan Woo, the last to enter the grassland, gasped in shock.
“People, right?”
Dozens of people dressed in simple garments reminiscent of hospital gowns lay clustered in sleep within the forest—a sight both eerie and uncanny.
Without proper bedding, they lay haphazardly tangled together, resembling beasts in hibernation.
“But why are people here….”
“Monsters.”
“Pardon?”
“They’re not human. They’re monsters.”
Bang Wi Jin nudged the nearest body with his toe as he spoke.
“What do you mean by that?”
“The information window confirms it. They’re monsters.”

[ Humanoid Sample A-011 (D)
: A protected species raised for purposes of ecological preservation. ]

“This… what on earth…”
While Lee Dan Woo involuntarily stepped backward, Sa Ma Young stretched his long legs and walked into the heart of the Grassland.
His crimson eyes flickered with intrigue as he confirmed that not a single creature stirred—this was no mere sleep state.
“Now this is getting interesting.”
“Interesting? Sa Ma Young, surely you’re not…”
Yang Hwa Yeon’s brow furrowed as an ominous premonition struck her.
“Surely not?”
“Perhaps sharing the same flame element means our minds work alike in certain ways?”
“You’re insane.”
Yang Hwa Yeon’s eye twitched as she watched Sa Ma Young’s crimson lips curl into a prolonged smile of delight.
“Just because we’re in a Dungeon doesn’t make everything a monster. Look around—they’re human, they’re people!”
“And?”
“You’re actually considering setting fire to people? Are you a psychopath?”
“Hah!”
Only then did Lee Dan Woo catch up to the exchange between Yang Hwa Yeon and Sa Ma Young, swallowing hard.
‘Set fire here? Then… wouldn’t all these people die?’
True, the information window displayed them as monsters, but their appearance was unmistakably human.
An instinctive revulsion surged through him as he studied the others’ faces.
Yang Hwa Yeon wore a frown like his own, Sa Ma Young was smiling, and his entourage stood with blank, emotionless expressions, their eyes fixed solely on Sa Ma Young.
“Yang Hwa Yeon, when was the last time you truly unleashed your full power?”
“…”
Yang Hwa Yeon remained silent in response to Sa Ma Young’s question.
She couldn’t answer.
The same applied to other elemental skills, but fire demanded the utmost caution.
The slightest carelessness could spread it to unintended places, risking injury to her allies.
“Don’t you want to burn it all at least once?”
“Regardless of that…”
“Forget about everything else and just pour it out recklessly, without restraint. The more fuel there is, the more the flames will surge and grow.”
Sa Ma Young spoke like a demon whispering wicked desires.
“If you want to use the excuse that these monsters merely look human, then step back. I’m going to burn this Forest.”
“The entire sector?”
“I’m sick of this.”
Sa Ma Young pulled out a top-tier mana potion and drank it.
“I need to find the card fragments. That way, I won’t die caught up in a Dungeon Break, and I can protect the ‘real’ people outside the Gate too, right?”
If it were Yeo Joo, she would have said something like that.
She would have hesitated, certainly, but she wouldn’t have been swayed by the monster’s appearance.
‘But I just want to set fire to everything.’
My lips curved into a smile.
“…Understood.”
The imitation of Yeo Joo seemed to work, as Yang Hwa Yeon reluctantly answered and I heard her leaving the Grassland.
It seemed she truly couldn’t bring herself to burn a human.
“How pathetic.”
I found myself missing Yeo Joo, watching Yang Hwa Yeon’s weak and predictable attitude.
The more I acted kindly to seduce a woman who gave herself to those beside her, the more I had to obediently follow Kang Han’s orders, and as a result, I had ended up this far away.
Suppressing the desire to embrace Yeo Joo and explode together with the Dungeon, regardless of strategy, Sa Ma Young reached for the radio he had placed in his suit’s chest pocket.
When I pressed the button to call Team A, Yeo Joo’s voice came through immediately.
[ “Is something… wrong?” ]
Her concern for me sent a chill down my spine.
“Yeo Joo.”
[ “Sa Ma Young?” ]
Feeling the long thirst finally quenched, Sa Ma Young took a deep breath.

[ Abnormal Status ‘Desire’ has been activated. ]
[ All abilities increase by 60%. ]

As the System Message arrived and scorching energy began to ripple around Sa Ma Young, Bang Wi Jin hastily unfurled the Heavenly Protection Holy Formation
(防天護聖陣)
to shield his teammates.
“What are you doing right now? Busy?”
His eyes, burning crimson red, soon ignited azure ghost flames along the blade’s edge.
[ “No, I was just resting… Why?” ]
“I want to show you something.”
As he swung the sword lightly, the azure flames crept slowly across the Grassland.
“Look toward the Ecological Preservation Zone right now.”
[ “There’s nothing there?” ]
Her gaze turned toward me.
Sa Ma Young gripped the blade in reverse with one hand and raised it above his head as power surged forth with a whoosh.
In the instant the blade descended, the hair that had been scattering in the sudden heat and the clothes that had swollen as if about to burst all settled down together.
Thump!
Kabooooom—!
[ “What am I supposed to… huh?” ]
The ghost flames produced no smoke; they devoured everything.
Sa Ma Young, staring with wide eyes at the azure inferno rising like a ferocious tidal wave and spreading in all directions, laughed fiercely and asked.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

* * *

Pretty, you say?
The flickering blue flames did possess a certain captivating quality.
Like an aurora rising from the earth itself.
But there was no way I could appreciate such things right now.
“We’re not in danger, are we?”
Even for Sa Ma Young, summoning flames of that magnitude would require tremendous power.
What if he was forced to expend such energy because of a critical situation?
But the low chuckle emanating from the radio speaker eased my anxiety.
[ “I promised you earlier, didn’t I?” ]
What did he say?
[ “I’ll finish this quickly and come to you.” ]
And what did I say?
A wry laugh escaped me at his typical remark, but my mind—which had been mesmerized by the blue flames—suddenly snapped back to clarity.
“Wait, you’re setting the entire Dungeon on fire just for that?!”
Burning only monsters and indiscriminately incinerating everything around him consumed vastly different amounts of mana.
[ “…Why do you sound angry?” ]
“How could I not be angry?! You’ll exhaust yourself like this! Can’t you just clear it more carefully?!”
[ “But if I finish quickly…” ]
“Stop showing off needlessly and find another way. Otherwise, I won’t even pretend to acknowledge you when I arrive. And keep the fire under control!”
I issued my threat and cut off the communication unilaterally.
Since I’d confirmed that Sa Ma Young and the other hunters were safe, I felt there was nothing more to worry about.
Then, moments later, the raging inferno that had spread endlessly suddenly extinguished all at once.
“Honestly…”
It was my mistake.
I should have placed someone like Lee Yu Chan or Han Ji Sung—chronic complainers—in C Team.
With no one to restrain Sa Ma Young’s impulsive actions.
“I can’t survive this, truly.”
I was shaking my head and monitoring whether flames might suddenly erupt again when—
“I wondered what was happening, so I came up to check.”
Kang Han, who had returned to my side at some point, glanced toward the Ecological Preservation District and asked.
“If I did something like that, would Yeo Joo scold me too?”

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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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