005. Camela Forest (1)
005. Camela Forest (1)
A Nakey is a monster classified as more dangerous than a goblin.
Because it carries a deadly poison, if an ordinary person is bitten they die within ten seconds, and even hunters who protect their bodies with Mana can suffer serious injuries if left untreated.
But the Nakey's notoriety didn't just come from its venom.
It was its stealth.
Small in size and camouflaged with protective coloration, it moves by blending into its surroundings.
The Nakey's ability in that area is so abnormally developed that even hunters with superhuman senses often have trouble detecting it.
However, if you could spot its presence beforehand—
SWISH—
SWISH—
"Scree!"
"Squeak!"
—it turned out to be a very easy monster to deal with.
Go Yoon-seo kicked off the ground and lunged out, taking down two Nakeys in an instant.
She collected the Magic Stones and hides from the Nakey corpses and ambled back.
Go Yoon-seo's face still held a look of disbelief as she returned.
"Wow, seriously, what the...? Jin Yu-ha! How did you know that?! When you said it earlier, I thought you were spouting some bullshit about chewing grass...."
"Go Yoon-seo. You're talking without thinking again."
"Hnk!"
When Lee Yu-ri shot her a glare, Go Yoon-seo nervously clamped her mouth shut.
I chuckled and answered.
"I have the Detection trait."
"...Whoa. You had something that rare!?"
"Yeah, but I only got it recently."
"Heh, so Gukbap was right after all! They sure don't let men into Velvet Academy for free!"
My quota-system conscience pricked me for a second.
"Ah, well, um... I—I was just lucky."
"Come on, you don't get a trait through luck! It reflects your habits and attitude! That takes serious effort!"
Go Yoon-seo, who had looked anxious just moments before, was now making a huge fuss.
Yu-na and Choi So-yeon were also looking at me with fresh eyes.
And Lee Yu-ri.
"...You had Detection?"
"Yes, team leader. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."
When I gave a slight bow and apologized, Lee Yu-ri waved her hands in a fluster.
"Oh, no. I wasn't trying to criticize you. It's, well, true that status window information should be kept private. We haven't known each other long, and we just met today for the first time!"
"But if it's you, team leader, I'd be happy to show you my entire status window?"
"...Seriously?"
At that, Lee Yu-ri gulped and her eyes went round.
"Just kidding."
"...."
She bit her lip hard and narrowed her eyes.
Given her personality, she wanted to say something, but since it was our first meeting things were still awkward, and we weren't on informal speaking terms yet.
'Ah, I shouldn't do this. This is bad. When I look at her, I just keep wanting to tease her.'
Gukbap was originally famous as a Tank who was satisfying to hit, after all.
I suppressed a laugh that threatened to leak out.
"...So, how many meters can your Detection reach? Or is that a secret too?"
Lee Yu-ri spoke in a sulky voice.
"Ahem, about a hundred meters."
"...That's going to be a huge help."
"It's only a hundred meters, though."
From what I'd heard, Detection is considered a decent trait because it lets you identify monsters early and prepare for them,
but honestly, from my position of having seen plenty of game-breaking traits in Velvetsra, it was just average.
'Its limits are pretty clear too.'
Range: 100m.
Most hunters could spot enemies within 100 meters anyway.
It was just that the trait had good synergy with this dungeon, Camela Forest.
Because it's a forest, sightlines are short, and the Nakey monster itself is a stealth-specialized mob, making it a bit tricky for newbies without a Detection character.
'Still, if you have Gukbap, she could detect almost any Nakey the moment it got close, anyway.'
Even earlier, hadn't Lee Yu-ri noticed the Nakey as soon as it entered a 10m radius?
Probably, even if I hadn't told her, she would have spotted it just the same.
But Lee Yu-ri shook her head, as if she didn't think so.
"No. This clearly takes a load off my shoulders as the Tank. I can tell you for sure now."
"Yes?"
"When this subjugation is over, I'll put you down as emergency reinforcement personnel and make sure you can take a little more from the settlement."
Lee Yu-ri spoke with a stern attitude, as if she wasn't taking any arguments.
When I glanced around, the other party members were nodding as if they agreed.
I grinned and accepted.
"Yes, thank you for taking care of it."
"Then, let's move out again."
* * *
Once they learned I had Detection as a trait, the dungeon clearing picked up momentum.
It was only natural, since one of the biggest headaches slowing down progress in Camela Forest had vanished.
"One Nakey. Coming from a hundred meters ahead, diagonal right."
"Yep!"
"Two Nakeys. Left side."
"Got it!"
"One Nakey. It's tailing us from behind."
"On it!"
Whenever a Nakey approached within a 100m radius, I would call it out without fail, and Go Yoon-seo would sortie to that spot.
And the rest were goblins.
Lee Yu-ri spotted the goblins first before I even needed to detect them.
"Three goblins confirmed. Go Yoon-seo, standby."
"Yes!"
I stood next to Yu-na and watched the battle.
Lee Yu-ri charged forward alone with her shield raised.
The goblins who saw her swung their crude weapons with all their might.
Whoosh—
The weapons swung with heavy whooshing sounds.
But Lee Yu-ri never pulled her body back.
Instead, she pushed in deeper and took up a position right in close range.
As a result, the three goblins' attack patterns tangled with each other, and because the distance was so short, their weapon swings couldn't carry proper force.
Lee Yu-ri performed the art of redirecting the incoming attacks with only small movements.
She dodged attacks she could dodge, blocked attacks she couldn't with her shield, and kept the goblins pinned down.
In the meantime, whenever a gap appeared among the goblins—
Go Yoon-seo, who had been erasing her presence, dashed out.
Slice—!
"SKREEE!"
Slice—!
"Ghk!"
In an instant, Go Yoon-seo dispatched two of them. But because of that, the aggro of the last remaining one shifted to her.
At that moment—
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang—!
Lee Yu-ri struck her shield with the dagger in her hand.
"Look at me!!!"
'Ah, that's a taunt skill.'
It was a familiar motion and shout.
A wide-area taunt skill. 《Shield's Echo》
Because the skill utilized Mana, the goblin's gaze and attack that had been headed for Go Yoon-seo turned helplessly back toward Lee Yu-ri.
Slice—
And in that moment, the last one was finished off by Go Yoon-seo's sword as well.
That was how the battle was wrapped up cleanly.
As I took this in, I felt a fresh shock.
'So this is how you actually fight.'
I felt the difference between the game and reality once again, you could say.
No matter how flashy the battles on a phone screen are made, they ultimately can't escape repeating the same patterns.
'Because dodging isn't actually the character dodging—it's just glossed over with a "miss" marker.'
But in reality, monsters don't use fixed patterns; they employ diverse attacks.
And the way you deal with that naturally adjusts in response to the monsters' movements—
turning your head, twisting your body, even swinging your shield and other complex motions.
'Gukbap is even more amazing than I thought.'
As I was admiring this—
"My sister is really incredible, isn't she?"
A voice came from beside me that sounded like it had read my thoughts.
When I turned my head, Yu-na was there, smiling cheerfully.
"Yeah, to not get hit even once at such close range."
"Heh-heh! My sister is a genius! I bet she wouldn't be outclassed even at Velvet Academy, where all the geniuses gather!"
As Yu-na boasted about her sister, her own face looked even prouder.
"Definitely, she would be."
I agreed as well.
She's a 3-Star rampaging among innate 5-Stars, so of course she is.
That evasive ability and taunt ability—
these two were so powerful they didn't suit her innate rating as a 3-Star.
"Yu-na! The Magic Stones and goblin fangs!"
"Okay, bring them here!"
Like that, we continued the clearing, losing track of time.
* * *
Before we knew it, time had passed and it was lunchtime.
Our party set up base camp.
"Haah. I'm beat—!"
Go Yoon-seo buried her face in the dirt and sprawled out flat on the ground.
Smack—!
"Ack!"
"Sit still! You're going to be the death of me. Go Yoon-seo, why do you keep messing around and getting hurt?"
Choi So-yeon smacked Go Yoon-seo's back and scolded her.
"Heh heh, I did it in case our Healer was getting too bored—!"
Go Yoon-seo answered sluggishly.
"Good grief, how does a Damage Dealer come back more injured than the Tank that faces the monsters head-on."
"I was amazing today! Isn't this the first time we've run this fast and free? If that bitch Hye-ji saw this she'd be sick with jealousy? Our haul today is seriously legendary!!! Just how many of those expensive Nakeys did we get!"
"...Well, that's true."
As Go Yoon-seo shouted, unable to hide her excitement, Choi So-yeon looked at me with an odd expression.
'Hmm, she definitely looks tired now.'
Whether it was accumulated battle fatigue or the absence of one Damage Dealer,
Go Yoon-seo's frequency of getting injured had increased.
On the other hand, Lee Yu-ri still looked composed.
It seemed like this party couldn't fully support her specs.
'Maybe it's time I start stepping in.'
Originally, my role was to guard Yu-na.
But in the end, all I'd done so far was Detection—
just alerting them beforehand when a Nakey appeared.
Of course, the party members had praised me, saying even that alone was a huge help, but as far as I was concerned, I was no different from having been carried.
And hadn't the goal of coming to this dungeon been to get experience killing monsters in the first place?
It looked like I should join in starting from the next battle.
'I should tell Gukbap beforehand.'
I didn't want to act alone for no reason and get on her bad side.
"Unnis! Oppa! Lunch is ready!"
Lee Yu-na, who'd tied on an apron, called out, and we flocked together.
As she used her small hands to dish out this and that onto our trays, I couldn't help but smile like a proud dad.
"Enjoy your meal, oppa."
Yu-na said as she ladled out some soup.
"Huh? But where's the team leader?"
Among those who came to get their food, Lee Yu-ri was missing.
"...Hmm, my sister always eats lunch by herself. She says she can't settle down if she eats anything other than what she always eats inside a dungeon. Here, stir-fried sausages."
"Ah, I see. Thank you, I'll enjoy it."
I took my tray and walked away.
'Gukbap isn't here. I needed to ask her about joining the fight.'
I turned on Detection.
Then I sensed Lee Yu-ri sitting alone a short distance away.
I turned my steps in that direction.
And the scene that met my eyes—
Lee Yu-ri, sitting alone behind a big tree, blankly staring up at the sky.
In her hand was a transparent plastic bag.
It was what people in the military call "plastic-bag rice."
At a glance, it looked like the only things inside the plastic bag were gochujang and rice.
Even at a glance, it was a meager meal.
'...Oh, dear. She's even doing this here.'
I'd assumed that since this wasn't Velvet Academy with its high cost of living, she'd be eating better here, but I guess that wasn't the case.
'She saves on food money to take care of her party members' pay, pays off her debts, and then tells them she'll eat alone and keeps it a secret. Sigh, this girl really doesn't take care of her body.'
No matter how much debt her family has, she doesn't need to hand over every single bit of money she earns.
Personal food expenses aren't that big a deal unless you go to expensive restaurants.
But she skimps and saves even on her living expenses and sends it all home.
'It's not like eating one proper meal would noticeably increase the debt she has to repay.'
Gukbap was chewing for a long time, as if ruminating over what she'd put in her mouth.
I quietly walked over and plopped—sat down right next to her.
At that, Lee Yu-ri's head slowly turned toward me.
Chew chew—
"...."
With her cheeks puffed out from the food inside and her mouth constantly chewing, she stared at me blankly.
Chew chew—
Tilted her head slightly to the side once.
"...!?"
After staring at me blankly for a few seconds, her eyes grew as large as lanterns.
"Cough!!!"
As if her throat had suddenly seized up, she abruptly started pounding her own chest.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
But because she was wearing clothes reinforced with steel plates over her chest, only the sound of striking metal rang out.
'You dummy.'
I patted her on the back a few times and handed over the water I'd brought.
Lee Yu-ri took the water, hurriedly unscrewed the cap, and drank.
Gulp gulp gulp—!
Pwah!
"J-Jin Yu-ha!? Wh-what brings you here!?"
Lee Yu-ri wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and spoke in a flustered voice.
It was a scene that felt like a replay of our first meeting.
Gukbap being reliable is nice, but truly, this kind of goofiness is the real charm.
"I came because I have something to tell you, team leader."
"S-something to tell me...?"
At that, her face stiffened and she grew tense.
She probably thought I was going to ask for something more or make some kind of demand.
"Hmm, before that, first—."
Snatch—!
I snatched the plastic bag she'd been holding in her hands.
"M-my rice—!"
Gukbap wore a despairing expression like a raccoon that'd had its cotton candy washed away in water.
Enjoying that expression, I put half of my own meal into her plastic-bag rice—the side dishes and rice I'd gotten.
Well, the soup couldn't be helped. If I put the soup in here too, it wouldn't be Gukbap anymore; it'd be mixed slop.
"...?"
"I can't eat this much. I think Yu-na gave me extra because I'm a guy."
"E-even so, you must be tired today... for replenishing your stamina...."
"I'm a guy. I need to watch my figure."
I threw out the joke because this was a gender-reversed world. I wondered if it would land.
I handed the plastic-bag rice back to her.
Lee Yu-ri cautiously took back the plastic-bag rice, which had become much heavier.
"I-is that right? Ah, still though...."
"It's fine. You worked the hardest today, team leader."
She held the food preciously, and the twitching corners of her mouth looked very pleased.
"Eat well."
"...Thank you."
Lee Yu-ri's face reddened, and she nodded her thanks.
"But you said you had something to tell me?"
Lee Yu-ri said as she kneaded the plastic-bag rice with her hands.
"Yes, I'd like to participate in the clearing starting from the next battle too."
"...? You're already participating fully, aren't you?"
"Ah, I mean in taking down goblins."
"...Excuse me?"
Lee Yu-ri's eyes went round as she asked again.