Chapter 53
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 53
Chapter Title: E-Rank Gate (2)
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Squelch... squelch...
The first monster to appear before us was a slime. The infamous beginner-friendly monster that always shows up in RPG games.
"Flame Spear."
Pfoosh-!!
Kieee...
True to its image as a beginner monster, the slime melted away effortlessly under Park A-young's attack, crumbling into a handful of ash and leaving behind a mana stone and an item...
"Everyone, get back!!"
But there was something to watch out for.
It wasn't for nothing that so many accidents happened in newly formed E-Rank Gates.
Underestimating slimes because of their "weak" stereotype could get you seriously hurt.
Sizzle-!!!
A jet of liquid from the slime punched a hole straight through the head of one of Lee Ji-hyun's summoned skeletons, sending it crashing to the ground.
And not only that—the acidic fluid kept coming right toward us after piercing the skeleton's skull.
We threw ourselves aside, and the cave wall behind us bubbled and melted away.
Compared to its flimsy durability that couldn't even withstand a single sword strike, its attack power was utterly ridiculous.
This was the true terror of the beginner hunter killer: the slime. A glass cannon in every sense of the word.
Let your guard down, and you'd take massive damage. And with not just one or two, but at least ten showing up together, any careless hunters were bound to run into big or small accidents.
"Everyone, stay back!!"
The moment Lee Ji-hyun shouted, we all retreated.
The slime's attacks were powerful, but only if you got within range!!
"Flame Spear!!"
Paak-!! Paak-!!
Using her overwhelmingly long range, Park A-young picked off the slimes one by one with her fiery spears.
"Above us!!"
But if it were this easy, it wouldn't be an E-Rank Gate. As a dungeon meant to instill vigilance in hunters, every imaginable situation was unfolding!
While we focused on the slimes, giant spiders had crept up unnoticed on the ceiling, staring down at us.
Thanks to my warning before they could strike, Baek Hwa's swords gleamed and shot into the air.
Whirr-!! Whirrr-!!
Paak-! Paak-!!
The swords, propelled by the mystique of her flying sword technique, pierced the giant spiders precisely, turning them into specimens on display.
"Kieeeek!!"
But the spiders thrashed wildly with eerie screeches, as if refusing to die from that alone. The sight made us grimace.
Sizzle-!!
"Acid spiders!! Dodge!!"
The fluid dripping from the wounds inflicted by her swords sizzled with potent acidity, boiling against Baek Hwa's blades.
The team members shifted positions once more.
No one said a word, but we all instinctively moved to where the slimes had been.
The spot where the cold corpses had vanished, leaving only mana stones and items behind, was the safest place right now.
No traps would trigger there since monsters had already been present.
Whirr-! Whirrr-!!
"The blades aren't damaged..."
Baek Hwa recovered her swords before the acid could do more harm and sighed in relief upon inspecting them.
Each blade cost hundreds of millions of won. It was only natural they wouldn't be badly corroded by mere acidic spider fluids.
"Kiek-!! Kieek..."
The human-sized spiders, freed from impalement and crashing to the ground, writhed nonstop, oozing fluid from the sword wounds.
Was it because Baek Hwa had struck their vitals?
The spiders could only screech at us without advancing.
"Flame Spear."
"Dark Arrow."
Pook-! Pook-!
Our team's damage dealers delivered the finishing blows to the immobilized spiders.
"Ugh... I'm gonna puke."
Even I, a guy, grimaced at the giant spiders' appearance, so I could only imagine how the women felt.
Cha Yu-rin showed the strongest reaction among them.
As someone who made food, she probably had an extra aversion to spiders and bugs.
In contrast, the other team members—excluding me and Cha Yu-rin—seemed unfazed.
"Yu-rin. Looks like acidic monsters are coming out. Can I get some resistance-boosting bread?"
"...Ugh... Okay."
Even though they were now dust, we'd just witnessed grotesque human-sized spiders impaled and gushing fluids.
And now bread? I had to admire her iron stomach.
Munch munch.
Of course, separately from that, the green-tinted loaf was delicious.
Starch Bread consumed. Gain resistance to poison and acid attacks for a set duration.
The effect was outstanding too.
Cha Yu-rin's support abilities were top-tier. The only drawback was the time it took to bake bread in a dungeon, so with time limits like now, pre-preparation was key.
But the new equipment designed to maximize her support covered that weakness substantially.
Max capacity 1000KG, max load on user 10KG, preservation magic included... and more. The bag, crafted with care by S-Rank creator Lee Hye-ryeong, allowed her to carry countless types of bread.
As a result, she'd baked and stored breads for fire resistance, freeze resistance... and every other kind, plus basics like mana recovery and stamina recovery.
"Summon Skeleton. Let's move out again. Give me some mana bread too."
Thanks to that, with no worries about Lee Ji-hyun running out of mana, we pressed forward.
"Hm? What's this bread...? Not fresh cream or choux... weird taste..."
"Oh! That one. Baek Hwa brought some mana-recovery ingredients recently, so I made it! Is it okay? When I tried it, it was kinda meh—not tasty enough to call good, not bad enough to call bad."
"The taste... I like it. The chestnut flower scent is nice. And my mana’s recovering fast."
I glanced at Baek Hwa as Lee Ji-hyun munched on the mana bread while advancing.
Unable to withstand my gaze, Baek Hwa sent a telepathic message.
-A-hem... Don’t look at me like that! It was necessary for clearing the gate.
-No, what if it gets out you ate semen later! You crazy bitch! Of course your stats would go up!
-Don’t worry about that. I had Cha Yu-rin make one for me in advance and tested it. No stat increases—just pure mana recovery.
-And what about me! If they tell me to eat it!
Baek Hwa had finally done it. Lately, she'd been raving about the mana efficiency of my semen, collecting nearly a boxful in condoms, and now she'd actually made semen bread.
Having to eat that for mana recovery...
"Oh! Sorry, A-jun. Baek Hwa said absolutely not to give it to you... Even though this one’s more effective, I’ll give you the regular ingredient one."
"Haha...! W-well, can’t be helped. I should’ve done better... Just the regular mana bread’s fine."
"Thanks for understanding!"
But my worries were short-lived. Baek Hwa must’ve insisted strongly while making the semen bread.
The team thought she hated me, so they didn’t bat an eye.
"Baek Hwa. She’s officially supposed to support me, right? Isn’t it a bit much to hog the super-effective mana bread?"
"Young Lady. Absolutely not. Do you know how precious the ingredient is...? Feeding it to a man? No way!"
Good job, Baek Hwa...
Keep up that man-hating act...
But as team leader, Lee Ji-hyun wanted to improve our relationship and meddled unnecessarily.
When we were already way past "good terms"—we’d even had sex.
"Young Lady. I’m fine, really. Don’t worry about it."
"Why the sudden formal speech? We agreed to be friends when it’s just us~"
Lee Ji-hyun suddenly seemed pleased.
I’d figured her out by now. Her "let’s be friends" line was just to show off how generous she was!
Even her mood souring after I got Bianca... it was because I’d been casual with her!
It revealed her true character.
Of course, she’d invested heavily in a seemingly useless guy like me, so I had no real complaints about following her.
"It’s hard to be casual around others, so I decided to always show my loyalty with formal speech to you, Young Lady!"
"What...? Hey, did you do something wrong?"
Park A-young looked at me like I was crazy.
Did I do something wrong?
Yeah, I did.
Sticky... sticky.
The viscous fluid at the corner of Lee Ji-hyun’s mouth from the mana bread.
It was semen.
I didn’t do it myself, but she was consuming my semen without consent, so I shared some blame.
As the master raising his bitch.
Oblivious to my thoughts, the pleased Lee Ji-hyun started handing out blank checks.
Yeah.
As long as she was happy... happy...