The Female Lead Saves the World - Chapter 425

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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 29

“Sigh.”
A heavy exhaustion washed over me, drawing an involuntary breath from my lips.
The more I used my purification skill, the more my stamina drained—a symptom I couldn’t ignore.
“Master, are you alright?”
“Your complexion looks quite poor….”
Moon Na Rin and Lee Dan Woo, who had taken over treating the hunters’ wounds in my stead while I worked to lower the darkness addiction rate, asked with worried expressions.
“I’m fine.”
I pulled out one of Im Chung Soo’s stamina potions and drank it down.

[ Detected: Consumption of ‘Stamina Elixir (A)’. ]
[ Overuse of medicine is dangerous. ]
[ Excessive potion consumption may result in penalties. ]

The System sent its warning right on cue, but I dismissed it from my vision with an unbothered expression.
‘That’s four bottles now.’
I simply reminded myself mentally that I couldn’t drink any more stamina potions.
There was no choice.
I couldn’t afford to show weakness—not now.
The situation was far too dire.
Boom! Crash! Thud!
Deafening explosions that shook the entire Dome erupted across the battlefield in rapid succession.
Without the barrier, the roar alone would have shattered my skull—but every thunderous impact came from Bio-Mother’s attacks on the Justice Guild hunters.
More precisely, the sound came each time an attacked hunter was driven into the ground.
The skill that hardened parts of the body alongside raw strength to amplify destructive power—that was Oh Young In’s ability.
“Damn it….”
Just as Sa Ma Young had done, Oh Young In—who had been pierced by tentacles, gone berserk, and lost consciousness—cursed the moment his eyes opened.
He had witnessed the monster using the skill it had copied from him to attack his comrades.
“…Thank you.”
Oh Young In’s eyes blazed with barely contained fury as he glared at Bio-Mother.
After offering a brief word of gratitude, he immediately rose and threw himself back into combat.

[ The stamina maintenance effect of ‘Stamina Elixir (A)’ has ended. ]

“Phew.”
I swallowed a half-formed sigh while tucking my trembling fingers into my sleeve.
So far, four Hunters had their skills copied from them.
Sa Ma Young, Lee Tae Yoon, Bang Ri Ri, Oh Young In.
I had purified four people who had entered a state of complete rampage—their darkness addiction not merely elevated, but utterly uncontrolled.
‘That I’ve held out this long is remarkable, Yeo Joo.’
I offered myself a quiet word of praise, then thrust my hand into my uniform pocket.
A mana stone I’d placed there earlier rolled into my palm.

[ Will you absorb the stored mana using the skill ‘Even a Dried Squid Yields Water When Squeezed’? ]

Moments later, I felt the distinctive cool essence of the mana Ji Sung had infused into the stone seeping through my body.
Now that I’d absorbed the mana, it was time to convert it into stamina.

[ Using skill ‘Hymn of Life’. ]

“Ah, now I can breathe again.”
The exhaustion that had plagued me—an aftereffect of repeatedly drinking stamina potions—vanished effortlessly.
‘Did I just… not seem like an addict?’
But the three-combo chain of Ji Sung’s mana stone, the Dried Squid skill, and Hymn of Life for stamina recovery was truly a masterstroke.
It was fortunate I hadn’t relied solely on the improved abilities from my S-rank re-awakening.
I didn’t even want to imagine what would have happened without this combo.
As my body recovered, my mind naturally cleared as well.
“Thank you both.”
I expressed my gratitude to the exhausted novice healers.
No matter how much they’d trained using healing skills in the Emergency Room, these two were entering a Gate for the first time.
It would be understandable if they panicked amid the cascading emergencies, yet these young ones were holding their own admirably.
“Please don’t, Master—it’s embarrassing,” Moon Na Rin protested, tousling her hair frantically.
“We’re just assisting….”
Lee Dan Woo also waved his hands dismissively.
“No, thanks to you and Healer Moon Na Rin, I can focus entirely on the purification skill. Thank you.”
“W-well, if you put it that way….”
Faced with my firm words, they exchanged surprised glances before nodding reluctantly.
Yet they couldn’t hide the pleased smiles creeping across their faces.
No matter how composed they tried to appear, that irrepressible cuteness shone through, and I found myself attempting a small smile in return—
when it happened.
“No—!”
A piercing scream tore through the air.
“Yo Na?”
That voice unmistakably belonged to Sung Yo Na.
I had only glanced away from the battlefield for a moment while speaking with the healers.
My heart plummeted, and in the instant I turned my head toward the source of the sound.
Whoosh—!
As if all the air were being torn from my lungs, the surrounding chaos seemed to unfold in slow motion.
Sung Yo Na, bleeding and collapsed at a distance, reaching her hand toward me; Kang Han and Sa Ma Young gritting their teeth as they rushed toward me; and Bang Wi Jin, his face contorted in shock, pressing his hand to the ground to reinforce the protective barrier.
“What on earth….”
What was happening?
Before I could finish the question, Bio-Mother answered by tearing through the empty air and materializing before me.
Watching the pitch-black eyes drawing closer at a speed the wind itself couldn’t match, and the elongated claws extended toward me, I finally understood.
‘She took Sung Yo Na’s skill.’
That skill which compresses space at will.
She was using it to close in on me.
‘But the defensive item Jung Je Hwa made for me won’t be able to withstand an SS-rank attack, will it?’
In that fractured moment, I thought numbly.
Crack! Boom—!
“Huh?”
Bio-Mother’s right hand, which had drawn dangerously close, was struck by something moving faster than the space compression skill itself, and exploded like a poorly constructed firecracker.
It was Lee Yu Chan’s arrow.
“Yeo Joo!”
With his urgent cry, time began to flow at normal speed again.
In place of the shattered arm, the opposite hand with elongated claws thrust forward, nearly grazing my face.
“Hah!”
I accepted the stumble and pulled my body back as far as possible.
Merely doing this wouldn’t let me evade an SS-rank monster’s attack, but it was the result of my survival instinct belatedly kicking in.
Yet that brief opening I had forced myself to create saved me.
Of course, it was truly Sa Ma Young, utilizing the effect of his shoe item to fly in, who saved me.
Thud!
His massive white hand seized Bio-Mother’s arm aimed at me and threw his entire body weight into it.
With his sword wreathed in flames, he desperately swatted away the tentacles lunging toward me.
Crack!
In the process, his defenseless ribs and shoulder were mangled, yet Sa Ma Young blocked Bio-Mother with his entire body.
The villain who had lived each day out of curiosity, charging himself with dopamine through dangerous combat, no longer existed.
There was only Sa Ma Young, desperately protecting me.
Squelch, squelch, squelch!
In the end, the tentacles he couldn’t block pierced through Sa Ma Young’s entire body.
“Cough!”
Sa Ma Young bared his blood-stained teeth in a savage grin.
“Since you’ve already stolen what you wanted, why not take more?”

[ Sa Ma Young – Darkness Addiction Rate 91% ]
[ Sa Ma Young – Darkness Addiction Rate 93% ]
[ Sa Ma Young – Darkness Addiction Rate 96% ]
…

Even as the addiction rate climbed without end, Sa Ma Young refused to release Bio-Mother.
With his back to me, bleeding dark crimson from dozens of wounds, he held firm. Absolutely.
Crack—!
Kang Han’s spear, infused with savage force, plunged down upon the monster pinned helplessly in Sa Ma Young’s grip.
Immediately after, skills from Han Ji Sung and the other hunters followed in succession.
They refused to waste this first genuine opportunity to strike Bio-Mother—an opening purchased by Sa Ma Young’s sacrifice.
“Yeo Joo, it’s dangerous. Please fall back….”
Ryu Sang Eun moved to relocate me to safety, lest I be caught in the barrage.
“No, wait.”
I understood his concern—my safety was paramount to him—but I couldn’t afford to miss this chance either.
As if possessed, I grasped Bio-Mother’s hand, still held fast by Sa Ma Young.
And I activated my skill.

[ You have used the skill ‘Darkness Purification’. ]

A desperate gamble.
I attempted it on the mere chance—the faintest hope—that it might work.
The effect was instantaneous.
[ “Kiiiiaaaaahhh—!” ]
Bio-Mother shrieked.
The creature that had remained unmoved even under the relentless assault of Kang Han, Sa Ma Young, and the other S-rank hunters suddenly convulsed violently, its hundreds of razor-sharp teeth bared in a gaping maw as it thrashed uncontrollably.
“Ugh!”
Unable to withstand the force, Sa Ma Young collapsed.
The SS-rank monster had regained its freedom, yet despair did not follow as before.
[ “Kek, kekk!” ]
It had hurled itself back against the dome’s ceiling, where it clung while spewing black blood in agony.
Thud, thud.
Unable to resist gravity, the viscous liquid fell, staining the floor black, and I felt a chill run through me—followed by laughter.
“I had a feeling it would be like this.”

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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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