The Tone-Deaf Healer Kills with a Song - Chapter 178

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

Tone-Deaf Healer Kills with Song – Episode 178
A few hours had passed since then.
The scale was incomparable to the monster waves I’d experienced outside the Dungeon.
A terrifying force surged forward as if that previous encounter had been nothing but a tutorial.
“Merciless creatures.”
“What mercy do you expect from things that appear to destroy the world itself?”
“You’re cracking jokes in the middle of all this?”
Sung Mi-ju’s fingertips had turned pink as if dyed with flower petals.
It was the result of summoning far too many flowers at once.
While it wasn’t straining her mana reserves, the mental fatigue was considerable.
And there was no telling when this would end.
“Do we need to go deeper?”
“No, this is the end!”
After the eighth monster wave, the suggestion came to approach the terrain itself.
The strategy of driving the monsters back into corners proved quite effective.
After all, they were a species with weak individual firepower that relied on numbers.
“But why can’t we see the respawn point?”
“Right? They just suddenly pop in… ugh.”
Of course, calling their firepower weak was only possible because everyone here was a Ranker.
Even after driving the monsters to the edge of this terrain, the respawn location remained invisible.
If there was no respawn mechanism visible, at least a mid-boss should appear.
Sung Mi-ju, who’d drunk another stamina recovery potion, wiped the sweat from her brow.
“Noona, are you tired?”
“Yeah.”
Sung Mi-ju let out a hollow laugh as Sung Ji-wook’s golden buff washed over her.
Here she was literally showering in sweat—who was she to worry about whom?
“Come on, Mi-ju. Think. If you were So Yi-yoon, where would you spawn the monsters?”
“Think about what conditions his skill requires for activation.”
“Ack!”
Sung Mi-ju nearly struck her Assigned Staff Member, who’d suddenly thrust her face close, and let out a shriek instead.
Dia chuckled mischievously, stepped to the front, and removed her sunglasses.
In an instant, the monsters that had been rushing forward turned to stone.
“By regulations, we can’t help you find that, but I’ll buy you time to think.”
“I won’t refuse.”
At the signal, the hunters exhaled in unison.
Sung Mi-ju turned her body and brushed off her hands as she observed the group.
‘He can cast if an object makes sound. But only objects that touch his body. And the target has to be able to hear it.’
This place is So Yi-yoon himself.
Any sound produced from within this space can be interpreted as coming from an object touching his body.
It’s a sound occurring within the Dungeon, and everyone in the group can hear it.
“Kim Kyung-hoon, So Yi-yoon’s skill activation condition is creating sound with an object. Find the connection to this terrain.”
“A connection to So Yi-yoon?”
In an instant, as if by agreement, the surroundings fell silent.
As though they wouldn’t miss a single sound occurring in this space except for themselves.
“What about the sound of monsters rushing toward us?”
“That happens after the fact, so it doesn’t seem to apply.”
“Ah, I see….”
Sounds that would naturally occur from the terrain before the monster wave arrives.
Sung Mi-ju’s brow furrowed slightly. What could it be?
I glanced back at the Assigned Staff Members, but their expressions turned regretful—as if they couldn’t reveal that much.
Even with enhanced authority, there were clearly minimum restrictions in place.
Come to think of it, if the staff could prevent catastrophe by stepping in themselves, they wouldn’t bother summoning Awakeners in the first place.
“Stone.”
From somewhere, someone’s murmur reached us.
“Stone?”
One of the hunters belonging to the Sung Mi-ju Team nodded and raised a hand.
“I’m not sure if it’s coincidence, but every time a monster wave came, I heard the sound of stone cracking.”
Now that I thought about it.
We’d heard it too—that sharp, cracking sound of stone splitting.
It was so distinct, almost as if deliberately created, that I’d found it absurd at the time.
This place was filled with piles of rocks.
After destroying stones throughout our battles, only about ten massive boulders remained.
Few as they seemed, if this hypothesis was correct, there could be ten more monster waves coming.
“The incoming monster waves will be handled by the Sung Mi-ju Team from Hanttae. Everyone else, destroy the rocks!”
The decision came quickly.
Since the rocks were so firmly consolidated, we needed to concentrate firepower to destroy them in a short time.
Within the window where the Sung Mi-ju Team—barely five members—could hold their ground against the monster wave with full force.
Would it be possible?
Sung Mi-ju herself couldn’t be certain.
“Noona.”
Then golden starlight enveloped Sung Mi-ju’s body and began healing her minor wounds.
Sung Ji-wook, who’d come to stand beside her without expression, shrugged his shoulders.
“It’ll be fine.”
“I know. Dia, I think we need to fight alongside you now instead of just buying time—is that okay?”
Those who’d been holding the front lines turned back as if they’d been waiting, smiling.
“Of course.”
‘Eyes That Overcome Fear’ grants you divine power.
The same message likely appeared for the others as well.
From somewhere, the sound of stone cracking echoed.
Sung Mi-ju gently ruffled Sung Ji-wook’s hair.
“You stubborn little brother, be careful.”
“I’ll be right beside you.”
He didn’t say to be cautious, nor did he tell me to watch out.
He simply said he’d be there with me.
It wasn’t just Sung Ji-wook—the other team members felt the same way.
“Hold the line! Understood?”
“Yes!”
Massive tree roots burst through the ground, piercing through the monsters’ bodies.
At the same moment, a deafening explosion rang out and a massive boulder crumbled.
The hunters surrounding it poured their mana without reservation.
‘We have to win.’
‘We can win.’
Even with death looming, there was now a reason not to retreat.
Monster Wave Group—final battle commenced.

* * *
Pene’s flames melted the ice and surged forward.
As if to incinerate this entire land and destroy everything beyond it.
By sheer power alone, we should have held the advantage. But the situation was far from simple.
“That thing really isn’t a monster?”
“Technically speaking, it is a monster.”
The Ice Zone conquest team, primarily composed of Nike hunters, sighed.
Shortly after entering, they’d realized the real problem wasn’t the ice itself.
‘Not a monster made of ice, nor changes in the ice terrain.’
The moment they entered this place, the hunters faced a powerful pulling force.
A single box beyond, its lid open as if possessed by consciousness, shaking violently with its entire body.
Opposite to the pulling force, ice poured out from within it like waves.
“Wasn’t Pandora originally the type to spill things out of a box? Why is it so desperate to swallow us?”
“If I knew, I’d be a hunter, not a god.”
Dante muttered while wiping sweat from his brow.
Sweat had accumulated despite the temperature being well below freezing.
All manner of hunters held their weapons planted in the ground, resisting the pull.
Gun barrels lodged in the earth, one hand supporting their entire bodies.
Aiming a gun with a body thrashing wildly in the wind was no simple task.
Especially now, when they were supporting and holding each other up.
It was obvious that once pulled into that threatening space, there would be no escape.
“Dante! Rosalind! Give us orders!”
Behind them stood countless hunters awaiting their command.
A method to counter such a boss.
Extreme cold numbs thought itself.
Until now, those who could manipulate fire—Pene included—and the buffs maintaining body heat had sustained us.
Reaching this point owed much to Rosalind Brown’s buffs as well.
The buff from ‘Hands That Burn the Past’ is being renewed.
Before Yeom Ye-ah appeared, she was the world’s greatest healer and buffer.
Just watching her ceaselessly renew buffs protecting the body temperature of dozens of people speaks volumes.
‘But Rosalind Brown is no iron woman.’
Naturally, she would grow exhausted eventually.
Saving others while sacrificing her own sibling as the first casualty?
Dante Brown refused to do such a thing, even if it meant his own death.
“Wow, you’re asking me for orders?”
Though she feigned nonchalance, I could already see the fatigue creeping into Rosalind Brown’s expression.
How long had we been in combat?
Perhaps the actual time elapsed was far less than it felt.
“Nia, is there no other way?”
“Pandora’s greatest regret was spreading despair throughout the world. So she desperately wished to undo whatever she had released, no matter which Awakener she encountered.”
Always.
Nia gazed at the enormous box with a sorrowful expression before stepping forward.
Massive golden wings unfurled, and simultaneously, a brilliant wave of light cascaded outward.
The divine power of ‘Goddess of Victory’ shields the Awakeners.
For a moment, the overwhelming force pulling at them weakened.
Standing before the hunters with her enormous wings spread, Nia spoke quietly.
“My precious Awakener. That is Pandora’s regret.”

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