The Second Wave
Kim Isol approached me with a rather refreshed look on her face.
Blood spattered across her features had been wiped away with her hand, leaving smeared stains behind, and she looked so commendable I almost wanted to clean her up myself if only I'd had a wet wipe.
She came right up and stared at me head-on.
She looked for all the world like a child angling for praise, and I nearly rested my hand on her head to stroke it without thinking.
"How was it?"
"What?"
"The werewolves."
"Only five out of the eight were one-hit kills. Still a long way to go."
Apparently not the answer she'd wanted to hear. Kim Isol narrowed her brows and shot me a sharp look.
I smiled inwardly at the sight.
Not yet.
Praising her comes later.
That devouring glare of hers had become pretty familiar by now, anyway.
The fear I'd felt before had vanished without a trace.
It was more like watching a foul-tempered cat that was a little hard to handle.
"It's still too early to let your guard down. In a moment, that many again—or more—will come. Get into position quickly."
"What? It's not over yet?"
"No. Take a page from Jang Yong. He's still focused, isn't he?"
The moment I praised someone other than her, her expression crumpled all at once.
If I can properly use that inexplicable pride of hers, she'll be quite useful going forward.
She's still an unpolished double-edged sword, though.
I added one more line to provoke her.
"Aren't you taking an F-rank dungeon a little too lightly? You'll die that way. Especially a regular person like me would die first—without even getting to see the footage stored in the cloud."
"Don't worry, you dumbass! I'll take them all out."
Looks like the last fight pumped her full of confidence.
But the next one's going to be way tougher, so brace yourself, missy.
I carefully observed her.
Unlike before, she wasn't particularly tense—but she didn't look careless either.
If she could keep that up steadily, it would be more than enough to take her into an E-rank dungeon.
The stench of blood reeked from the werewolf corpses strewn across the ground.
A smell on a completely different level from when I'd tossed a single head.
With their keen noses, they'd pick up this scent even from deep in the forest.
Jang Yong, unable to bear the tension, sought me out again.
"Team Leader. Shouldn't we run? Lee Donggeul's heals are all used up, aren't they?"
"No need to be that scared. Trust me and just do like before."
As if Jang Yong's anxiety had hit the mark, the number of werewolves appearing in the second wave exceeded all imagination.
Hard to count with the naked eye.
At least thirty, right?
Even I felt my tension rising for no good reason.
Even if the forest was their base, it made no sense for so many to be waiting nearby.
On top of that, three or four other teams were participating in this dungeon right now.
Compared to the Red Devil Cave, the monster numbers looked far too high.
I heard Baek Hwayeon and Lee Donggeul swallow hard beside me.
They had to be tense too.
Jang Yong out in front even more so.
But if he didn't tank, our team would be wiped out right there.
"Jang Yong. Don't worry—just draw their attention. I'll give you heals."
Jang Yong clenched his teeth and slammed his sword against his shield.
Unable to endure that noisy metallic clang, the wolf monsters charged at him one by one.
"Donggeul. Every time I give the signal, cast heal on Jang Yong."
"Yes!"
"One... two... now!"
Jang Yong didn't even have the leeway to be surprised that a heal came in again when he'd only ever had two before.
He was busy batting away the monsters charging in sequence with his shield.
He had to stab the ones biting his legs with his sword and twist his body to shake off the ones chomping on his shoulders.
The term "meat shield" fit his situation perfectly right now.
Lee Donggeul only used heals when I signaled.
I calculated her remaining heal counts and regulated the pace.
It wasn't infinite, so I had to conserve as much as possible until things got truly critical.
On the other hand, even with four or five times the mass of monsters compared to before, Kim Isol was very calm.
She cut them down one by one, starting from the outermost ones.
To her, nothing else would be on her mind right now except cutting down the enemies before her eyes.
Thanks to this battle, she'd become quite useful.
But then—
"Kim Isol! Watch your back!"
A werewolf charged from behind her.
Busy cutting down the enemies in front, she completely failed to notice the one approaching from her back.
She hastily turned her gaze at my shout, but couldn't block or dodge and got rammed straight on.
The werewolf's skull collided head-on with Kim Isol's side.
The impact sent her tumbling several meters sideways.
"Kim Isol, are you all right?"
"Ah, fuck! This is pissing me off!"
The fact that curses came out instead of a scream meant she luckily didn't seem seriously injured.
No need for a heal.
Fortunately she didn't drop her weapon even while rolling on the ground.
Kim Isol, who picked up her sword and stood, was somewhat agitated.
Her old habits were coming out again.
She couldn't cut down the werewolf that charged her in a single stroke, and was thrashing it into pulp several times over.
"Kim Isol, snap out of it! Jang Yong's going to die at this rate!"
I had no choice but to use the second heal on Jang Yong.
Thinking he'd died, Jang Yong turned his head toward Lee Donggeul in surprise when the heal went in.
But there was no time for that now, so he immediately started dealing with the enemies again.
Once Kim Isol regained her senses, it became a battle of time.
While she cut down the enemies, Jang Yong held on for dear life.
And as time passed, when Lee Donggeul's heals had gone in a total of six times, we were able to take down all the werewolves.
"Whew..."
We almost ran short on heals.
Well, if that had happened I was planning to raise Lee Donggeul's mana further—but that was truly a last-resort, trump-card measure.
I approached the two who were panting and exhausted this time.
Having taken down this many, the monsters wouldn't show up for a while.
Even if they did, it'd be one or two.
"Are you all right?"
"Haa, haa... Of course... I am."
Kim Isol answered while panting, continuously pouring sweat from her face.
It wasn't visible because of the suit, but it must have been flowing from her whole body.
Meanwhile Jang Yong stared wide-eyed, looking back and forth between Lee Donggeul and me.
This guy's pretty tough, huh?
"Team Leader. What's with Lee Donggeul? The heals kept..."
"Yeah. Well, it turned out that way. She grew too."
"But suddenly... from using it twice to several times..."
"Because she worked hard. You did well too, Jang Yong. Holding out against over thirty of them is truly remarkable. Take pride in it."
"Ah... Yes! Thank you."
Curious what face she was making seeing me praise only Jang Yong, I snuck a glance at Kim Isol's face.
The moment my gaze turned to her, she whipped her head the other way.
Cute thing.
Who would've thought that devil bitch would get this cute.
I poured excessive praise on Lee Donggeul right in front of her, as if to show her.
Even lightly stroking her head,
"Donggeul, you did really well. As expected, Heal Goddess! You're an indispensable presence on our team."
"R-really? Hehe... It's all thanks to you, Team Leader."
But rather, the intense reaction started from Baek Hwayeon's side—differently from what I wanted.
She was the only one who hadn't made any contribution in this battle, after all.
Was my consideration lacking?
Baek Hwayeon, who had a cold impression with her haughty and glamorous looks, was dropping tears one after another.
I extremely dislike women crying—especially the sniveling kind.
But well, this is still way better than bitching and throwing fits.
"Baek Hwayeon. Why are you crying? You did well too. You protected me, didn't you?"
"...Yes."
Haa.
I was planning to do something about her on this expedition too, but I needed to come up with some means quickly.
Kim Isol was fine at that level, Jang Yong had held out pretty well against thirty, and Lee Donggeul's heal count had increased.
If I could just do something about Baek Hwayeon, our team could head to higher dungeons.
"Let's move for now. This is enough for today. It's dangerous here, so let's relocate."
"Yeah."
"Yes, Team Leader."
It was a much earlier time than planned, but the number of monsters taken down in that short time far exceeded the original plan.
So that was it for today.
Time to return to the lodging.
Hmm?
But there was a whimpering dog sound, as if one still had breath left.
I looked around, searching for the source of the sound.
"Team Leader, aren't you going?"
"Ah, yes. Just a moment."
Everyone was waiting, looking at me.
I needed to hurry.
Ah! I finally found it.
A werewolf with one arm severed, having taken a hit to the shoulder from Kim Isol's sword.
But it still had breath left.
I immediately approached it.
There was one thing I wanted to test, and the opportunity came at just the right time.
I brought my right hand to the body of the werewolf collapsed on the ground, panting.
"Tch."
But there was none of the reaction I wanted at all.
If I stayed sitting any longer the blood stench would make me puke, so I was about to give up and stand when it hit me.
My ability doesn't work through suits or clothes.
It only activates when hair or bare skin touches.
I couldn't rub my face against this dying wolf monster's body, and taking off the suit inside the dungeon was suicide, so I was at a loss for what to do.
Moreover Jang Yong approached.
"Team Leader. What are you doing right now?"
"Ah, it's nothing. This one's still alive. Wait just a moment."
I drew the dagger at my waist.
An ordinary dagger without mana coating.
"Isn't that a regular dagger? Even if it's dying, it'll be hard for you."
I know that too.
Piercing the flesh of a creature imbued with mana with this dagger is difficult.
But what if I shove it into the wound on the shoulder where the arm was severed?
Squelch!
I thrust the dagger in my hand deep into its shoulder stump.
With a nasty sensation, blood flowed out in a stream.
"Huh?"
And I came to realize one surprising fact.
A pleasant walk home from work.
My steps were light as feathers.
It was only three in the afternoon, but I'd completed everything planned for today.
If I could just do something about Baek Hwayeon in the remaining period, our team could go to E-rank dungeons.
Enough that Manager Im and Deputy Manager Park would pass us without any complaints.
And enough clear improvement in skill that all the company's D-rank and C-rank team leaders would agree—so the next meeting was as good as already passed.
We hadn't even filmed the combat footage yet, but I was already looking forward to the day I showed them the video.
We were heading back along the meadow we'd passed earlier to the place where the gate was.
On the way back, one or two werewolves charged without fail, but Kim Isol took them out simply by herself.
She looked quite cocky, greatly satisfied with her own skills.
It felt fresh recalling how for the past week she'd lost her ability and come clinging to me every day.
If I take away her mana again, she'll try to kill me, right?
The tents installed by the equipment company gradually came into view.
Having to room and board inside here where wolf monsters come out, when hotels lined the area right in front of the gate—both Awoken and I had quite a twisted fate.
Well, it was something I chose myself.
"We have quite a bit of free time. What will you all do? It's still early for dinner."
"Do we absolutely have to eat dinner together?"
"Jang Yong. Why do you ask that? Don't you want to eat together?"
"No. It's just... I have something to talk about with Lee Donggeul, so I was thinking of eating just the two of us."
"With Donggeul?"
I hurriedly turned my head to look at Lee Donggeul.
She seemed startled by her name coming out of nowhere, eyes wide and mouth shut in a flustered look.
From her expression it didn't seem prearranged, so what was this?
Jang Yong continued.
"Ah, I was just thinking it on my own. I haven't brought it up to her yet."
What? Her? Heeer?
What the fuck is this bastard scheming right now!?
How dare he try to make a move on what's mine.