Was Happy Being a Despised F-Rank Healer, You Know? - Chapter 54
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
9. Final Dungeon (2)
The dungeon’s paths were not uniform.
Ahead, the path split into three directions, with a signpost lying on the ground, half-broken.
It was strange for a marker intentionally installed by the Administration Bureau to be damaged this badly.
Dungeons like this were usually only assigned to groups mixed with S-rank examinees.
But we were a mixed group.
This was an anomaly that didn’t appear in the original work.
Yuhan Seong picked up the signpost and briefly checked it.
“Left side is a trap section. Middle is a continuous combat section. Right side is an exploration section.”
“Then the middle?”
Yu Hee asked.
Yuhan Seong pondered for a moment.
“Speed takes priority.”
Everyone nodded at those words.
I ran quietly to keep up with the pace.
I could feel subtle vibrations trembling beneath my feet.
The middle path was a route where monsters appeared continuously.
Still, it was safer than traps.
The exploration route was too long and would drain too much stamina.
Energy tangled like straw swayed ahead.
The first monster revealed itself.
Combat began again.
Yu Hee took the vanguard while Lee Hae-sol provided support.
I-seo attacked from the rear, adjusting angles.
Yuhan Seong handled gap coverage.
I followed all their movements with my eyes from behind.
But something was strange.
The pattern wasn’t exactly as I’d seen in the original work.
The monsters’ appearance tempo was slightly faster and their aggression higher.
Who had changed the design?
Had the Final Dungeon itself changed?
Or was this the real nature of this world from the beginning?
My body instinctively leaned forward.
As I-seo slipped past an attack, his right arm got slightly grazed.
It wasn’t a blood wound, but his expression hardened momentarily.
I immediately pulled out a potion.
“I-seo.”
“Yeah, I know.”
He quickly took the potion and drank it.
Meanwhile, Yuhan Seong struck down the last monster’s head.
The ground rumbled and fell silent.
We caught our breath and stopped for a moment.
Yuhan Seong glanced in my direction.
He said nothing, but the meaning was clear.
My movement just now had caught his attention.
Not someone who just quietly followed from behind, but someone who moved precisely when needed.
That gaze felt unfamiliar.
‘Did I stand out too much?’
But I couldn’t help it.
I couldn’t just stand by and watch someone get hurt right in front of me.
The path continued.
Only our group’s footsteps echoed lightly over the rough stone path.
The Final Dungeon had only just begun.
Not long after the battle ended, the air changed.
A desolate energy flowed from ahead.
This was a section that was only mentioned in the original work with almost no actual description.
‘This is… really the Abyss Route.’
My chest slowly tightened.
Yuhan Seong was the first to sense it.
He stopped walking and raised the back of his hand, quietly signaling.
We all stopped immediately.
Without a single footstep.
We even controlled our breathing.
The passage ahead trembled very slightly.
More precisely, it felt like space itself flinched and folded.
This was a unique reaction that only occurred in Abyss sections.
In the original work, when this phenomenon appeared, a major battle would soon follow.
It seemed like that would happen now too.
“Prepare.”
Yuhan Seong said in a low voice.
I pulled my bag forward and hugged it close.
I rechecked the arrangement of potions I’d already memorized.
Detox.
Emergency.
Stamina.
Special potion for stabilizing breathing flow.
This was the lineup that sold the most among what I’d made.
Right at that moment.
Darkness clumped together and dropped from the end of the passage.
It seemed to have no substance yet moved distinctly.
Lee Hae-sol raised his hand and fired ice, but the ice’s trajectory bent midway.
This was the phenomenon where magic trajectories slightly curved due to Abyss influence.
“Wait.”
Yuhan Seong stepped forward.
He pointed his sword ahead and took a close combat stance.
I-seo moved simultaneously.
His speed was much faster than before.
If he had just awakened, he would soon explode with power.
I steadied my breathing and quickly surveyed the surroundings.
The characteristic of Abyss sections was that the environment was more dangerous than the monsters.
The floor patterns were irregular, distant sounds could be heard nearby, and vibrations spread unpredictably.
Even now, the subtle trembling suddenly grew louder.
“Watch out for the right wall.”
I spoke instinctively.
Immediately after, the wall tore open as if bursting upward.
A mirror-like black surface was revealed, and from within, shapes like beast claws extended.
Yuhan Seong twisted his body to let those claws pass by.
Lee Hae-sol changed the density of his ice and attacked at that timing.
This time it half-hit.
‘At this level, formal monster appearance is imminent.’
Abyss monsters usually emerge after the second shock.
The ground shook as if it would collapse.
Yu Hee maintained her balance but struggled quite a bit.
Prolonged exposure to such terrain causes significant stamina drain.
I quickly pulled out a stamina potion and handed it to Yu Hee.
“Drink it.”
Yu Hee silently took it and immediately downed it.
The third tremor came.
This time, even the intensity was different.
It was a vibration that seemed to shake one’s heart.
At the end of the passage, darkness tore apart and something fell out.
A bulky form.
It wasn’t small.
Hyun I-seo’s eyes flashed.
“It’s coming out.”
At those words, the abyss monster revealed itself.
A creature with a form like torn fragments of the world rather than what looked like skin.
Even in the original work, this monster had quite a high difficulty level.
And now that difficulty was probably even higher.
I took a deep breath.
My position was always in the rear, but there was too much to protect from that rear position.
This was a section where I couldn’t move around carelessly.
I tightened the strap of my potion bag again.
Just before the battle began, Yuhan Seong looked at me very briefly.
There were no words, but the meaning was clear enough.
It meant he would trust my movements here too.
The abyss monster dragged its twisted body toward us.
Its movement was indistinguishable between walking and sliding.
Black fragments scattered, and wherever they touched, the ground was gouged out.
Yuhan Seong moved first.
Silver mana burst briefly from his blade.
It was an assault.
Space twisted as if it were being torn apart with a crack.
The abyss itself seemed to cause confusion.
Hyun I-seo followed after.
Her mana flow was much more natural than before.
Movement that suggested she had just finished adapting.
Even in a section where directional sense warped, she maintained a straight line.
Light sparked from her fingertips, and that light sliced past the monster’s flank.
Yu Hee prepared magic with higher accuracy.
He was good at adjusting attribute changes and angles according to each situation.
In the abyss, such flexibility determined survival.
While he condensed his magic power, I held an antidote potion in one hand beside him.
Abyss monsters intermittently spew toxic mist.
“Hali.”
Yuhan Seong called me briefly.
Instead of answering, I threw the potion I was already holding to him.
He raised his hand at perfect timing and caught the potion mid-air.
Soon after, his sword collided with the monster’s front.
Black debris that burst out momentarily grazed Yuhan Seong’s arm.
He had an unconcerned expression but immediately opened a recovery potion and poured it on the wound.
My heart sank with a thud.
‘Even that level of grazing is dangerous…’
Abyss monsters aren’t fast.
However, their form isn’t consistent, making it difficult to read their attack patterns.
The direction of their attacks also varies each time.
Yu Hee’s calculated trajectory was wrong once.
Yu Hee’s expression hardened slightly.
“Don’t go far!”
Lee Hae-sol created an ice barrier to protect Yu Hee’s flank.
I followed everyone’s movements with both eyes while continuously preparing necessary potions.
This section was a battle where positions collapsed and reorganization repeated.
Han Seong never looked in my direction, but he still moved with me at the center.
The abyss monster shook greatly.
Suddenly its back flipped over and a new dimension protruded out.
Hyun I-seo quickly leaped forward.
It was a completely unconscious reaction.
At that moment, black energy spread out from what looked like the monster’s mouth.
Yuhan Seong’s expression changed immediately.
“Get back!”
I reflexively twisted open the cap of an antidote potion with my fingers.
And threw three toward the people nearby.
Toward Yu Hee, Lee Hae-sol, and Hyun I-seo.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————