Was Happy Being a Despised F-Rank Healer, You Know? - Chapter 63

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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9. Final Dungeon (11)

 

Three sword strikes connected precisely.

 

All three times, the sound of space tearing echoed.

 

And behind that, a thin line was finally revealed.

 

I shouted.

 

“There!”

 

Yuhan Seong brought his sword down.

 

The line was severed.

 

This time, a slightly larger resonance struck the entire dungeon.

 

The movements of both monsters stopped simultaneously.

 

Their bodies swayed and fell to the floor.

 

Like dolls whose power had been cut off.

 

Lee Hae-sol knelt down and caught his breath.

 

“Is it… over?”

 

I still couldn’t be certain.

 

But no more strings were visible.

 

The patterns on the floor also quietly settled down.

 

As the reversal effect of the potion ended, the colors quickly returned to normal.

 

Yu Hee sat down and rested her chin on her hand.

 

“This isn’t… a Final Dungeon difficulty issue. Someone tampered with the whole thing.”

 

Hyun I-seo leaned against the wall and said.

 

“Hali. What you just sprayed, that’s… experimental, isn’t it.”

 

I avoided his gaze.

 

“Yeah. But… it’s not dangerous. Probably.”

 

Yuhan Seong looked at me.

 

His expression was complex.

 

It mixed wariness, surprise, and a bit of relief.

 

“How much do you actually know.”

 

I shook my head.

 

“No. I… just know what I know.”

 

“That ‘what’ is the problem.”

 

Yuhan Seong’s voice was low.

 

“What you know is too accurate.”

 

Just as I was about to answer.

 

A low cry-like vibration echoed again from above the dungeon.

 

A different tone from before.

 

It was a deeper, sharper signal.

 

Hyun I-seo looked up.

 

“…Here comes another one.”

 

It wasn’t over yet.

 

The strange intrusion still remained.

 

And judging by the flow so far, we would soon face the reason behind it.

 

The vibration from the floor echoed again.

 

This time it was a bit deeper and heavier.

 

Rather than a rattling feeling, it sounded like someone knocking on the walls from below.

 

It was even more chilling that it wasn’t an alarm sound from the control room.

 

Lee Hae-sol looked at me.

 

“What does… that mean.”

 

“I don’t know.”

 

I spoke very honestly.

 

“I never expected anything like this.”

 

As soon as I said those words, the inside of my throat felt cold.

 

Being outside the range of information I knew meant the current situation was taking a completely different route.

 

Yuhan Seong looked around and said.

 

“Let’s move for now. It’s dangerous to stay here too long.”

 

Hyun I-seo added.

 

“And that sound… it sounds like floors being modified. Someone’s changing the map.”

 

The Final Dungeon is for testing purposes.

 

It doesn’t change the map significantly.

 

It was limited to slight alterations in floor patterns or different monster spawn locations.

 

But vibrations strong enough to shake an entire room meant external control was being implemented almost comprehensively.

 

I gripped my bag tighter.

 

‘If it’s this severe in the Final Dungeon, the entire Academy must be in chaos.’

 

But no sounds from outside could be heard.

 

Yu Hee said.

 

“Hali. Your complexion looks really bad right now.”

 

“I’m fine.”

 

I spoke as calmly as possible.

 

“It’s just… there’s not much we can do in this situation.”

 

Yuhan Seong looked at me a bit longer.

 

He didn’t speak, but his eyes seemed like he wanted to ask something.

 

However, he soon turned his head to examine the passage.

 

“Let’s go forward. We need to check the next area.”

 

We carefully started walking again.

 

As we left the room where the two monsters had fallen, the mist grew thicker.

 

The air became heavier and the temperature dropped further.

 

It was a misaligned airflow, as if someone had grafted only certain areas with another dungeon submerged in cold air.

 

Lee Hae-sol muttered.

 

“At this level, shouldn’t the surveillance room intervene? Why aren’t they doing anything.”

 

I answered quietly.

 

“Maybe… the signals are blocked.”

 

“Blocked?”

 

Yu Hee asked back.

 

“If there’s this level of external manipulation, the Final Exam System could be temporarily paralyzed.”

 

I pressed down on the bottles in my bag with my palm to keep them from rattling.

 

“Right now, our priority is to endure from inside.”

 

The students nodded, but their expressions were anxious.

 

Until now, it had been things like monsters getting stronger or patterns getting twisted.

 

But now it was a slightly different kind of fear.

 

The feeling that ‘someone is watching from inside.’

 

The strange cries, reversed mana patterns, multiple strings.

 

All of it seemed like calculated intervention.

 

The next area door came into view.

 

It wasn’t wide.

 

But the mist was so thick that the inside was barely visible.

 

Yuhan Seong stopped in front of the door.

 

“I-seo, try reading the wind currents.”

 

Hyun I-seo carefully raised his palm.

 

Mana rippled subtly and moved along the air currents.

 

A moment later, his eyes widened.

 

“There’s… something inside. But its movement isn’t consistent. It seems like its form isn’t completely fixed.”

 

Yu Hee swallowed a curse.

 

“If it’s a pattern-type monster, that’s still okay… but something with an unstable form is really the worst.”

 

I felt the inside of my throat tighten even more.

 

‘Form not being fixed’ was something that absolutely couldn’t appear in the Final Dungeon.

 

That was an experimental subject, a manipulated entity, or something that devoured the dungeon itself.

 

Yuhan Seong said quietly.

 

“Hali.”

 

I reflexively grabbed my bag.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Before we go into the room… which potion would be best?”

 

I took a short breath.

 

“One for fainting prevention. One for stamina enhancement. And… a little bit of sensory sharpening too.”

 

Yu Hee said.

 

“Those were made for exams. Are they okay?”

 

“It just makes your senses a little sharper. It helps read monster movements faster.”

 

I handed out small bottles to each of the students.

 

“There are no side effects. Probably.”

 

“‘Probably’ again…”

 

Lee Hae-sol muttered quietly.

 

I smiled.

 

“Since they’re experimental, it’s hard to say for certain.”

 

Yuhan Seong opened his bottle and said.

 

“Hali. We’ve made it this far thanks to what you’ve created.”

 

His tone was calm but not light.

 

He downed the bottle in one gulp and readjusted his grip on his sword.

 

Hyun I-seo, Lee Hae-sol, and Yu Hee also drank their bottles.

 

“Let’s go in.”

 

Yuhan Seong said.

 

The door slowly opened.

 

Mist flowed out like a stream.

 

The smell was cold and metallic.

 

Something that hadn’t yet revealed its form was breathing inside.

 

Its movement wasn’t consistent.

 

Every moment its shape scattered and then came back together.

 

I swallowed.

 

‘This isn’t just a monster.’

 

And I could instinctively tell.

 

The identity of those rattling vibrations too.

 

The intent behind the external interference too.

 

We were now standing not in the Final Dungeon, but at ‘a point where two different dungeons overlap.’

 

The air inside the door was colder.

 

The moment it touched my skin, I felt mana flowing slightly in reverse.

 

Perhaps due to the sensory sharpening potion, even breathing sounds were unusually clear.

 

The distance between the students could be felt even through the smallest sounds.

 

As the door opened completely, the figure inside slowly took shape.

 

At first it was just something shadow-like swaying, but it gradually began to lift its head and take form.

 

A head-like part appeared and disappeared, and arm-like things stretched out and then became fluid.

 

It was incomplete, as if the dungeon’s mana condensation process had been forcibly pulled and attached from outside.

 

Lee Hae-sol held his breath.

 

“What… is that thing?”

 

I couldn’t answer.

 

Not because I didn’t know exactly, but because I felt that opening my mouth would make the fear spread even more.

 

Right now, only one thing was certain.

 

‘That’s not a Final Dungeon monster.’

 

Beings whose forms couldn’t be properly fixed were usually remnants of dungeon bosses or ‘corrupted entities’ created by external interference.

 

Both were things students shouldn’t have to face.

 

Yuhan Seong stepped forward first.

 

His sword made almost no sound.

 

There are times when extreme tension makes even metal overwhelm the air.

 

This was one of those times.

 

“Pattern analysis first.”

 

He said quietly.

 

Hyun I-seo raised his hand to read the mana.

 

But suddenly his eyes shook greatly.

 

“…I can’t read it.”

 

Hyun I-seo’s voice trembled slightly.

 

“The mana flow isn’t consistent. It keeps reversing.”

 

Yu Hee gritted her teeth.

 

“If the form isn’t fixed and the mana is unstable too… this is really the worst.”

 

I swallowed.

 

“Don’t get too close. Right now, the more we touch it, the more it might distort.”

 

Before I finished speaking, that being suddenly moved.

 

It was closer to ‘spreading’ than movement.

 

It stretched forward while simultaneously spreading sideways, swept across the floor like a shadow, then surged toward the students.

 

Yuhan Seong quickly swung his sword.

 

Light flashed and instead of a cutting sound, there was a sound like severed air currents, but it wasn’t sliced.

 

Instead, the form split briefly and then came back together.

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