A Man and a Woman: 2 Days 1 Night in a Dungeon (3)
A Man and a Woman: 2 Days 1 Night in a Dungeon (3)
—Bang!
A short, explosive crash rang against my eardrums.
Shards of golden aura scattered across my field of view.
The force that traveled up from her fist to her shoulder was considerable.
Atra's body rode the impact easily, sliding backward.
She shook out her slightly numbed wrist and stared ahead.
—Hoo...
The one who had pushed her back, Lee Ha-yul, stood still instead of pursuing her.
He adjusted the posture he had thrust from, steadied his breath, and tilted his spear.
Wooong! The golden spear blade flashed with a menacing resonance.
Sensing that momentum, Atra tucked a bittersweet feeling deep inside.
The menace was not for show.
That golden spear blade had demonstrated ferocious, overwhelming power throughout the sparring session.
When it came down like a blunt weapon, the solid ground cratered; when it swung or thrust, it cleanly sheared through even Atra's own aura.
Such powerful energy was... deeply familiar and close to Atra.
It was the same as what she always carried—because it was her own mana.
'...Where on earth does he snatch things like that from?'
Lee Ha-yul did originally possess an extraordinary talent for imitating other people's mana and internalizing their techniques as his own.
But that was not his technique—it was the spear's function.
That spear—or more precisely, the staff that doubled as a spear—was a top-grade artifact.
Its two most conspicuous features:
A function to construct a spear blade from various types of mana and materials.
A function to discharge mana and magic stored in the crystal orb at high speed.
Intuitive and simple, but using those functions well was entirely up to the wielder.
And Lee Ha-yul used them exceptionally well.
"That is all for today."
—Whoosh...
Atra's murmur spread across the sparring ground where taut energies had clashed.
Only then did Lee Ha-yul, who had been holding his stance and waiting for an opening, relax his momentum. The formless pressure that had filled the sparring ground subsided.
Lee Ha-yul released the tension in his shoulders.
His arms fell slack, and the spear tip that had been leveled at Atra drooped downward.
Wooong...
As if strumming an instrument, the golden spear blade emitted a crisp resonance and melted limply away.
Atra studied him and spoke.
"Matters to point out... well, calling them corrections would be rather embarrassing."
Atra, who had been speaking calmly, let out a soft laugh at the flaw in her own words.
There were no mistakes to address. From the start, Lee Ha-yul had committed nothing resembling an error in this sparring session.
Regrets? Those were no longer things Atra could dispense by herself; they had become subjects to exchange together.
Of course, if only pure striking technique were considered, Atra still held the advantage, but Lee Ha-yul's talent wasn't limited to that alone.
"I find it difficult to advise you on magic since I don't wield it myself, but would it suffice if I mainly gave you my impressions as your opponent?"
"Yes, please."
"Very well. Then..."
In this spar, Lee Ha-yul had emphasized magic to a noticeable degree.
And Atra had spent the time re-experiencing exactly why she hated dealing with mage types.
An unseasoned mage was easy to handle. The gaps between their spell manifestations were empty, so you just needed to slip into those gaps and smash them.
A skilled, prepared mage was a troublesome opponent.
Throughout this spar, Lee Ha-yul had been a skilled, prepared mage.
He had handled magic well before, but the magical prowess he demonstrated after returning from external training stood on an entirely different level.
All manner of spells deployed at super high speed in precisely the right places were more than enough to make things difficult for Atra.
Moreover, Lee Ha-yul was also a warrior who could never be taken lightly, so closing the distance as you would against an ordinary mage hardly let you seize the advantage.
Even if Atra fought in earnest, he was an awkward type to face.
"...Hoo."
"Master?"
And yet, somehow.
Even while watching Lee Ha-yul grow so much, the worry would not fade.
Wearing an expression of unmistakable complexity, Atra looked down at Lee Ha-yul, who had pattered briskly up beside her and was tilting his head.
He was different from before.
No, perhaps his earlier appearance had been the unusual one.
The ferocious momentum he had scattered in all directions had vanished entirely, and his sharply angled eyes had softened into rounded curves.
The gaze that had coolly fixed on her was now bright and limpid.
Such a harmless, innocent aura surrounded him that his earlier form felt almost like an illusion.
"Master."
Then it happened.
Lee Ha-yul, who had been tilting his head vacantly, suddenly let a smile touch the corner of his lips.
"Setting aside that this is a Siyoram dungeon, I've grown much stronger now. Nothing you need to worry about will happen!"
And what he said was this.
Puffing out his chest brimming with confidence, he spoke as though he knew exactly what Atra was worried about.
"...I see. Yes... that is so..."
Her worry had been seen straight through by her disciple.
Atra gave a wry smile and reached out, gently stroking Lee Ha-yul's cheek.
Smiling softly, Lee Ha-yul pressed his cheek into her touch.
'How... complicated.'
Even that sight was adorable one moment, and the next it stirred such worry.
What had been the reason Atra had imposed harsh, overwhelming training on Lee Ha-yul when he had just become a superhuman at the start of the semester?
In these days, with ominous signs stirring beneath the surface,
she had felt she could not rest easy if the Lee Ha-yul she taught died a meaningless death.
Had it not been to raise his level swiftly so that he could survive on his own even in such times?
That goal had long since been surpassed.
Lee Ha-yul had now become a powerhouse you'd expect to survive even if dropped into the Demon Realm.
Beyond that, he had become the sort of powerhouse who could readily extend a hand even to those around him in trouble.
He had already exceeded the level Atra had worried about... and still, the anxious feeling would not fade.
'Is this foolish of me...'
Lee Ha-yul was going to enter a dungeon.
Regardless of its grade, location, or type, the mere fact alone filled Atra's heart with unease.
She found her own feelings rather absurd as well.
She was worrying over Lee Ha-yul's safety even within Siyoram itself, of all places.
...Her reason reached that judgment, but her heart could not help itself.
It was the same even now, with Lee Ha-yul insisting she needn't worry.
In truth, Lee Ha-yul's assurances that she needn't worry were also not entirely credible.
—Fixedly...
It was around the time she was unpicking those tangled thoughts.
Atra felt a gaze pressing against her body.
A gaze imbued with a certain desire... with heat.
It was focused intently on one particular area.
"......"
Before she knew it, Lee Ha-yul was staring intently at Atra's chest, which loomed right before his nose.
If she shifted her body slightly, his gaze followed and clung to her chest as though pulled by a magnet.
He was concentrating so hard that his mouth was slightly agape.
At the openly unguarded look, as if he had forgotten to manage his gaze, a corner of Atra's mouth twitched.
"Child."
"...I'm not a child."
"Hm."
At his pouting retort, Atra shrugged.
Her chest rose and fell with the motion, and Lee Ha-yul's gaze bobbed up and down in tandem.
Atra, staring straight at him, silently spread both arms wide.
Even to an outsider, it was wordless permission the world over, and Lee Ha-yul's eyes sparkled.
Then, without the faintest hesitation, he flung himself into her embrace.
They had just finished sparring.
The warm body heat from rough exertion, and the rich, sweet scent wafting up, filled Atra's nostrils.
Feeling deep satisfaction at being filled, Atra hugged Lee Ha-yul tightly in return.
"Ehehe."
—Sniff sniff.
And the same was true for Atra.
She had also moved strenuously, and her own heated body gave off a deepened scent.
In the midst of that, Lee Ha-yul burrowed into her embrace, burying his nose all over her chest and breathing in her scent... It was an extremely embarrassing and mortifying thing.
But it also came with a strange guilty pleasure, and it felt nice.
'...I am worried.'
Holding Lee Ha-yul tightly, Atra exhaled a deep sigh inwardly.
In truth, that was not the only thing Atra was worried about.
He was not entering the dungeon alone.
She'd been told that, as part of a mentoring class, he would be entering with the Successor of Taesan.
By coincidence, all of the heirs who will succeed the Three Great Houses in this generation are women.
The Successor of Taesan, too, had previously been invited to dinner by Lee Ha-yul and received rather extraordinarily cordial treatment...
"......"
Was this worry merely pointless foolishness as well?
Or was it a reasonable concern?
Atra could not be sure.
Even though Lee Ji-yeon had promptly agreed to accompany me into the dungeon, we could not enter right away.
Entering a dungeon was not to be taken lightly.
On top of that, the dungeon we were entering was Grade 2—a high-grade dungeon.
Both Lee Ji-yeon and I needed to enter fully prepared.
And since it would be one night and two days, we also had to coordinate our schedules.
Thus, the dungeon entry date we settled on was the Thursday of the following week.
The planned itinerary was one night and two days.
Enter on Thursday morning and return around Friday evening... but variables can always arise in any schedule.
Even ordinary travel plans often go awry—how much more so for a dungeon?
We included the weekend to account for the possibility that trouble inside the dungeon might delay us by a day or two.
Time flowed on and on, and the entry day arrived.
Leaving the worried gazes at the mansion behind, I arrived at the appointed meeting place—the plaza.
I arrived first and waited, and before long, Lee Ji-yeon's presence drew near.
Lee Ji-yeon was dressed in her own casual clothes instead of her cadet uniform.
She had not come wearing any special equipment.
Her outfit was moderately thick, long, and black.
She wore gloves covering her arms, and thick army-boot-style shoes.
On her back, despite the subspace spell applied to it, she had a large rucksack.
The pouches hanging clustered like fruit from her belt were all products with subspace magic as well.
A properly prepared appearance in many respects.
Compared to her, I was in relatively light traveling attire.
Thanks to my own subspace, I had no need to pack cargo hanging in bunches like that.
Of course, in case my subspace malfunctioned, I too had several separate pouches fastened around my waist filled with survival supplies.
Lee Ji-yeon, who had approached composedly from afar, softened the corners of her eyes when she saw me.
"Oh my, today it seems I'm the late one. I apologize."
[No, you don't need to be sorry.]
[I just got here myself and was organizing my gear.]
I shook my head at Lee Ji-yeon, who wore an expression that clearly said she felt sorry for making me wait.
It was still a comfortably early time, a good twenty minutes before our appointed meeting time—far too soon to apologize for lateness.
Only after I said that did Lee Ji-yeon relax her expression, and then she abruptly bent down to examine my complexion.
"Then I'm relieved. Did you sleep well last night?"
[Yes, I slept soundly.]
Held in my master's arms, I slept deeply.
Even now, my body is steeped in my master's warmth and scent, so my heart feels snug as well.
My condition is at its peak.
...Though Seo-yul's gaze directed at me when I left the mansion had stung a little...
"Did you eat before you came?"
[Yes, yes, I had a good enough meal before coming.]
"It's still earlier than our appointment time, but shall we head in right away?"
[Yes.]
If this were an ordinary engagement, we would spend time together while sharing a meal, but today's meeting was for entering a dungeon.
We had each finished our preparations before leaving home, so we could enter immediately.
Nodding to each other, Lee Ji-yeon and I headed to the dungeon without delay.
Siyoram's dungeons are mostly clustered around the island's outskirts.
The dungeon we were heading for this time was situated almost at the very edge among them.
"Cadet Lee Ha-yul, Cadet Lee Ji-yeon... your same-day entry is confirmed."
So after a while we reached the vicinity, received confirmation from the personnel managing and supervising the dungeon,
and at last arrived at the dungeon entrance.
As always, the dungeon entrance was undulating like a whirlpool.
But it was nearly four or five times larger than the entrances of any dungeon I had entered so far.
It was large enough to stuff a five-story commercial building inside it whole.
'Hm.'
The intensity of the churning was also far stronger. If it possessed physical force, it felt as though any building inserted would be ground away.
It was not merely a feeling. When I discreetly operated my Authority and perceived space, I truly sensed a massive current that made space itself resound.
"I will enter first, so please wait a moment and then follow."
[Yes, I'll follow right in.]
While I was feeling the spatial current against my skin,
Lee Ji-yeon, having taken a final check on her luggage and her own condition, pulled her gloves up and stepped forward.
Lee Ji-yeon's role was the vanguard.
She specialized specifically in blocking enemy attacks, so she would step into the dungeon first.
And so Lee Ji-yeon extended her foot toward the whirlpool.
Immediately, Lee Ji-yeon's body was swept by the whirlpool and disappeared, swallowed into it.
Even her presence scattered cleanly away. She had entered the dungeon.
I too stood in place, and after a brief interval, I reached my hand into the whirlpool.
A strange spatial resonance swept from the crown of my head to the tips of my toes and vanished.
Directly after,
my distant consciousness gradually surfaced, and before I knew it, I was feeling entirely different sensations against my skin than before.
I kept Observation switched off for the moment.
Instead, what I sensed were presences.
Lee Ji-yeon, blocking in front of me and sharply scanning every direction—her breathing, her heartbeat, the sound of her swallowing, her eyes rolling, the squirming of her internal organs...
The chirping of birds, the trickling of river water flowing downward and colliding against rocks to carve its path, the cries of monsters, the sounds of them dying...
Abundant mana soaking thickly into my skin.
After perceiving the world through my senses for a moment, I switched Observation back on.
The map, which had been dyed black, was now filled with blue-tinted greenery spreading everywhere.
The dungeon's name—Hansaek Dongsan, "Cool-hued Garden"—was a fitting one.
【Entering Grade 2 Dungeon ｢Hansaek Dongsan｣】
Deep within a vivid, blue-hued forest.
A woodland densely packed with trees whose leaves, branches, and even trunks flowed with a blue tinge.
Likewise, a being concealed inside the vivid blue undergrowth was holding its breath.
It deliberately cut off its breathing, and even covered its mouth with both hands lest a single breath should leak from its throat.
"Grrrrr..."
'Eeep...'
Even after doing so, it nearly burst out a gasp anyway. Its two thinly open eyes trembled pitifully.
It tensed its quivering hands and blocked its mouth even more tightly.
It must not let out a scream. Must not let even a small breath slip.
If it gave any kind of identifiable presence, it would be devoured by that thing.
Fear spread through its whole body at the imagined future.
In a way, that was a blessing.
Thanks to the fear, its body had frozen, allowing it to keep from leaking any presence.
—Huuuuh... Thud!
For how long had it been holding its breath?
The rough breathing that had been shaking the vicinity turned its head.
—Thud! Thud! Thud!
Soon, the footsteps striking roughly against the ground grew further and further away.
Even as they faded, it kept its breath blocked.
Even long after the footfalls had vanished into the distance, it continued holding its breath.
In case it was a feint, in case a carelessly exhaled breath might cause those footsteps to return—it held its breath to its limit.
"Whooosh, haaaah..."
Only after a great deal of time had passed did it expel the breath it had been swallowing.
[Gone...?]
While it was still taking a long moment to catch its breath, a voice flowed into its head.
—Nod nod.
[Gone.]
Gasping in breaths, it weakly nodded its head.
—Rustle... Plip.
"Puhaaah..."
A writhing came from beneath the earth, and a head popped up from within.
[W-we're alive...!]
[Hssst... how does that thing keep chasing after us...?]
[Waaah... I'm scared...]
—Plip. Plip. Plip.
It wasn't just one head.
As if playing a game of whack-a-mole, heads poked up one after another.
Then, arms and legs also sprouted out, and these figures pressed against the ground, grunted, and pulled their bodies out from the dirt.
The bodies of those who had been buried in the soil were revealed.
Two arms and two legs.
Hair grown on the scalp, and eyes, noses, ears, and mouths.
With no outer shell and no armor, their pure white skin was smooth.
At a glance, they looked no different from humans.
But the one thing different from humans was their size—far too small to be called people.
And then—
[We'll have to move to another spot, right? Those things will be roaming this area now.]
[Yeah...]
—Flutter flutter.
The wings on their backs fluttered weakly, shaking off the dust from the dirt.
A pair of wings gleaming with a muted, five-colored sheen came into view.