Chapter 37
Chapter 37
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Rescue Team (4)
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The room had two more doors besides the one they'd come through: one straight ahead and one to the left. Both were open.
Nam Soyul stepped inside and examined the floor and walls. Faint traces of battle. This hadn't been a monster-free room. Someone had arrived first, cleared the monsters, and even collected the magic stones.
It couldn't have been the rescue team, so there was only one possibility. Traces of the attack team. Nam Soyul alternated her gaze between the two doors, piecing together what had happened.
The attack team entered through one door. After a battle that didn't seem too fierce judging by the marks, they collected the magic stones. Then they opened the previously closed door and left the room.
The leftover footprints pointed the way. Nam Soyul turned.
"Left."
The trail stretched on for quite a ways. It wasn't hard to imagine the attack team wandering lost, unable to grasp the layout. With the first visitors having cleared all the monsters, no unnecessary fights broke out after that.
They followed the passage for a long stretch, passing through open doors. The room had three doors, none of them open. Instead, there was an unfamiliar structure in the center of the room.
"Stairs?"
The man in plate armor let out a bewildered sound.
This wasn't information they could brush off as a guess, so Han Yujin hadn't shared it recklessly. The party's faces soured at the realization that the labyrinth was far from over.
Nam Soyul sketched a mental map. The labyrinth of nine by nine cubic rooms, as Han Yujin had hypothesized. Overlaying their path so far, her keen spatial awareness led to one conclusion.
The central room.
It was obvious the attack team had gone down the stairs, so she didn't hesitate.
"Let's go down."
A familiar darkness welcomed the rescue team. A passage between rooms. Much like right after crossing the gate. The group stood in the middle of the passage, with doors at either end. The stairs had vanished once everyone descended.
There was one difference, though.
"The right door is open!"
Unlike the random passage they'd dropped into after the gate, there was only one path connected to the stairs.
No more wandering around to track the attack team.
Bright light widened their field of view. The underground second-floor room was identical to those above. Which meant the structure would be the same.
They could tell the attack team had realized this as they passed through the rooms. The path led straight without detours, toward the labyrinth's corner.
If the structure matched the upper floor, stairs would be in the central room. They knew the layout and how many rooms there were. The path reflected the realization that they could start from the corner and head to the center.
Nam Soyul's foot halted just as she moved smoothly to the next room. A few blue stones lay scattered on the floor.
"Magic stones?"
None of the rooms they'd tracked through so far had any. There had been battle traces, so monsters had been present. That meant they'd waited the few minutes for the corpses to turn into stones, collected them, and moved on.
But not here. What did that imply? Nam Soyul narrowed her eyes.
"Looks like something happened nearby."
The mage reached the same conclusion. He picked up a stone, examined it, then tossed it against the wall.
The rescue team wasn't here to farm, so they hadn't bothered collecting stones. But the attack team was different. Their goal was conquest and farming—there was no reason to suddenly stop.
The inevitable conclusion: At this point, the attack team hadn't had the luxury of collecting magic stones.
"Full speed from here on out."
No time for rest. The group shifted from a brisk walk to a run, pushing through rooms without slowing. Magic stones flickered into view and vanished in the rushing scenery.
Nam Soyul, at the lead, charged ahead without regard for the rear. She shoved through a half-open door, crossed the room—then stopped dead.
The opposite door stood open, magic stones scattered on the floor. But it didn't end there.
—Ehehehehehe...
A strange laugh accompanied a translucent figure hovering in the air. A single ghost remained, cackling unpleasantly.
The party, arriving late to the room, slowed as they saw Nam Soyul halted. Their puzzled expressions turned to follow her gaze. Faces hardened.
A spirit monster: Soul Devourer.
It didn't attack directly, but it was far trickier than most beasts.
Left alone, it'd siphon mana, so it needed quick disposal. But its habit of flying and fleeing the moment you approached made it hard to eliminate.
Even worse was the curse it unleashed upon vanishing. An unavoidable mental attack targeting the killer. Unless you had special mental protection, you'd have to tank it with mental resistance.
Han Yujin, at the rear, had just entered the room. Nam Soyul, waiting for him, spoke up.
"Han Yujin. Cast a mental barrier on me."
As an S-rank, she could shrug off a curse or two. But there was no need to push it when countermeasures existed.
"Y-Yes...?"
He'd heard her fine. He just looked a mess from sprinting at full tilt.
Ragged breaths, body soaked in sweat, legs trembling.
Even without physical enhancement, stats improved with rank. A D-rank like Han Yujin couldn't match S- or A-rank stamina.
Nam Soyul gave him a moment to catch his breath, then repeated herself.
"Mental barrier."
Only then did he seem to notice the ghost, his eyes widening slightly. Nam Soyul coated her blade in aura. The moment his mental protection took hold, she'd strike.
She waited for his ability to activate—but instead of magic, words came.
"I can handle it."
Nam Soyul shot him a glare. What nonsense at a time like this?
Han Yujin offered no excuses. He simply pointed at the ghost. A spirit with resistance to physical hits—and notably vulnerable to mental attacks.
Nam Soyul's eyes followed his finger. The grinning ghost in midair, flailing its hands to invoke mana drain, and then—
Bang!
The ghost's body burst apart. Nam Soyul didn't show it, but she was mildly surprised. Killing a Soul Devourer meant taking the curse full-force—a blow that would knock out an average D-rank in one hit.
But... Han Yujin was fine. One hand on his knee, wiping sweat from his brow—though that was exhaustion, not the curse.
"...That's an odd ability."
Catching her off-guard, Nam Soyul slipped into her natural, weightless tone. No one noticed amid their own surprise.
No time to gawk. The party hurried on, slowing slightly to accommodate Han Yujin.
As they passed through passages, Nam Soyul pondered the attack team. Skipping stones for speed made sense in a pinch. But ignoring a monster entirely?
Soul Devourers were tricky enough to justify bypassing. But if not... the situation might be graver than thought.
That unease proved more than mere worry as they sped through rooms. One monster became two, two became three.
Crash!
The next room offered no excuses. It lay in a state that brooked no denial.
The attack team's trail continued to the opposite side. No magic stones on the floor. Instead, a full pack of monsters blocked the rescue team's path intact.
"What the hell..."
The frontline member's face went pale at the sight. As fellow Arang Guild members, this made it all the more incomprehensible.
Arang Guild's strategy was safety-first. They prioritized thorough progress, even if it took longer.
But this room—what was it? The trail across meant they'd ignored the monsters entirely.
Blasting past small fry for a quick core run—the so-called 'speedrun.' A risky tradeoff for haste, the polar opposite of Arang Guild's way.
Even Nam Soyul soloing the second underground floor was inefficient. For the first time, the full party engaged in combat. With their overwhelming power, it didn't last long.
"I'll heal you up."
A trivial fight, save for one tank bleeding a bit. Or put another way: the kind where injuries could happen even fighting properly.
...And they'd skipped it altogether?
If deaths had thinned their ranks, they should've aborted the raid. Halted, waited for rescue—that was protocol.
The attack team hadn't.
Something had gone wrong at some point. Yet they'd pressed on recklessly, in a way Arang Guild would never countenance.
Why? What desperate reason forced such haste, risking wipeout?
The mood grew heavier as they advanced. A few more skirmishes led them to the stair room; they descended immediately.
Underground third floor.
They dropped into another dark passage. Light leaked through a half-open door; the group headed there wordlessly.
Crash!
There they were. After the long pursuit, they'd finally found them.
"Soyul unnie...?"
The attack team's healer, Seo Aram.
The tanks walking behind Nam Soyul surged forward at the voice.
"Kids!"
"...You got here sooner than expected."
A man slumped exhausted on the floor. Attack leader Oh Seung-hoon raised a weary hand in greeting.
Han Yujin scanned the room.
Nearly half lay unconscious on the floor. The awake ones radiated deep fatigue.
No calling this good condition, even politely. But far better than feared—no visible corpses.
One stood out: a man collapsed in the corner with severe wounds, separated from the central group.
The oddity lingered only a moment before a rescue tank's shout snapped him back.
"Why only nine? Where's the tenth?!"
At the cry, he scanned the room again. The raid party had launched with ten—but only nine here.
One, two, three. With each face, his heart pounded faster,
four, five, six. His mind rejected the reality.
Seventh—you're not it.
Eighth—where the hell are you?
Ninth,
Why...?
A scream echoed through the room.
A brutal verdict leaving no room for illusion.
"Where's Seohyun!!!?"