The Ability I Desired

The thing I wanted most? There was only one reason Wraiths were such a pain: they carried a skill that could drop a hunter's level. Any levels lost to them would recover once you left the dungeon, but until then you'd be forced to keep fighting in a weakened state. In the worst cases it could even lock you out of skills you'd gained at certain levels, which made them absolutely lethal to hunters.

If a Spectre went straight for the kill while draining your stamina, a Wraith was more like a slow executioner, randomly stealing from any one of your stats until you withered away. The Wraiths living in this dungeon were low-grade, so each time they used their skill they only absorbed one or two points. But if you lost three or more, your level would drop temporarily. Higher-grade Wraiths that didn't appear here could keep draining until your level hit rock bottom at 1, then turn you into their subordinate. A monster that commanded hunters... Just imagining it was horrifying.

The Wraith's crimson eyes burned as they darted busily, deciding which prey to claim. Once it settled on a target, its cloak-like body writhed and it shot through the air without hesitation.

"Urgh...! What the—!"

It wasn't even a single one. Three Wraiths appeared—the very monsters said to be extremely rare in this dungeon.

"I can't dodge this...!"

"Uwaaa— We're totally screwed! We're out of holy water too!"

"You already used both bottles?! Did you drink them because you were thirsty?"

"No I didn't!!"

Riding on the Lizardmen and now right in their faces, the Wraiths left the party with nothing but despair. They were completely helpless. The creatures tore open their mouths from ear to ear, looking down at their chosen prey.

"Ugh! Stop laughing like that, you creepy bastard!"

Whoosh—! Accompanied by that skin-crawling laugh, the three Wraiths began attacking indiscriminately with five slender fingers that trailed gray smoke.

The horrifying messages kept flashing through the women's minds without pause. With three Wraiths attacking at once, at least one of them was losing levels with every strike.

"Uwaaaaa!! Just disappear already, you damn things!!"

They sprinkled their last remaining holy water evenly across the Wraiths. The creatures flinched and retreated for a moment, but soon resumed their assault. With their mental strength and stamina already drained to the limit, they couldn't deal any meaningful damage.

The abandoned school was only a short distance away now, but the Wraiths' attacks sweeping over their bodies only grew fiercer.

30 meters. 20 meters. 10 meters.

"We're here!! Move! Move out of the way!!"

"Somebody help us!!"

The barrier installed at the entrance of the abandoned school where the boss fight took place. Several people who looked just as ragged as their own party were collapsed in front of it. They seemed to have finished their business and passed out on the spot, but right now that didn't matter—they screamed at them to get out of the way.

When four Lizardmen suddenly came charging with murderous momentum, the hunters sprawled on the ground panicked and scrambled aside.

"Ugh! My summons...!"

Crash—!!

Unfortunately, right in front of the barrier, the summons they'd been barely maintaining ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠were forcibly canceled. The Lizardmen scattered into particles of light and vanished. Arin and Yeonhee landed safely, but Jua and Eunyeong tumbled across the ground several times, getting covered head to toe in sand.

"Hurry, hurry!!"

Yeonhee and Arin each grabbed one person by the arm and yanked them inside with all their strength. Only then did all four manage to cross into ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the barrier.

Crackle—!

The Wraiths that had clung right up to the barrier, stubbornly draining their stats, let out eerie chuckles as they watched the women. Then they left to find their next prey.

"You son of a bitch!! I won't forget your face!!"

Bae Jua couldn't hold back and hurled curses at the Wraiths. One of them that had been turning away paused, its body wriggling like a caterpillar as it taunted her. The motion looked exactly like a drunk old man thrusting out his belly and throwing a tantrum.

"Ugh... How humiliating...!"

"That guy is seriously the worst. What the hell is that movement even supposed to be?"

Anyway, they'd overcome the major crisis, so everyone let out sighs of relief. Their levels had dropped several stages, making the boss fight much harder, but they could ask other hunters for help on the way back.

"Baek Arin, how many levels did you lose?"

"Heuuung... Seven levels..."

"Fuck... I lost six. The fact that my position in the front changed is what really pisses me off. Ha... What about you, Yeonhee?"

"I lost five."

"What about Eunyeong unni?"

"I... I didn't lose any..."

"...Huh? Why? Wait, why not?"

"Eh? Why-yong?"

"I don't... know......"

Now that they thought about it, Eunyeong really hadn't been attacked much at all. Thanks to that, the Wraiths had focused their assault on the other three.

The party members' eyes naturally drifted down to Eunyeong's mirror. She flinched and quickly hugged it tight to her chest.

"......"

It was obvious that mirror had done something, but they couldn't figure out exactly what. Since it supposedly had its own ego, if it was a higher existence than the Wraiths... maybe it could drive them away?

The party members excluding Eunyeong nodded in understanding. It wasn't a bad thing for a teammate to have a good item. They deliberately chose to think of it that way.

"Whew... Let's rest for a bit."

They moved to a secluded corner of the castle wall where there was open space and collapsed against it, occasionally glancing at the castle where lights kept flashing. Wondering what was happening inside.

"...Should we stay quiet and rest until Ilwol comes out?"

"Sounds good. We've been hit with Depression dozens of times... I heard it's best to sleep even for a little while at times like this."

"Then should we take turns getting some shut-eye until Ilwol appears?"

"Sure thing! I'll keep watch ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠first!"

Starting with Bae Jua, who was suffering from mana exhaustion, the four of them took turns sleeping. Jua pulled a pillow out of her inventory like it was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the most natural thing in the world and fell asleep the moment her head touched it.

"She must have been really tired."

"She's the type who only gets energetic when she's making money, but today we didn't get a single rune, so that must be why-yong!"

Just as Arin said, the rune drops had completely dried up. It was the worst situation in history—not a single rune obtained. Could this anomaly also be because of the Mimic's appearance? They couldn't be sure, but the possibility seemed very high.

The sweet rest time passed by quickly.

"Oh, it's opening!"

"We're saved, hehe~"

"......"

Oooong—

The massive gate summoned by Yeonhee's incantation slowly began to open.

'It's been a while since I've seen these messages.'

It was a shame that defeating that incredible Werewolf had only raised me by two levels, but reaching level 50 still felt refreshing.

'Ninety-five lives left... They're steadily decreasing one by one.'

Could I still think of my remaining lives as having some breathing room?

'Well... If I've already lost 5% of my Life Points right at the start of D-rank, this is definitely something to think about.'

Still, knowing a route to obtain the Elixir of Life was at least some comfort. The swirling mix of excitement and worry soon settled like a calm lake. After shaking the thoughts from my head, I decided to check my status window first.

It had been a while since I'd last opened my status window, and it was packed with new additions. The one that caught my eye most was obviously the newly acquired skill called Mimicry.

'Mimicry... Yeah, that makes sense.'

They'd said they'd give me what I wanted most, and it seemed this was it. Living as a skeleton had turned out surprisingly comfortable, so I had no desire to become human again, but I did occasionally feel the need to operate in human form. This ability to temporarily transform into a different appearance was definitely close to what I'd been hoping for.

A highly dangerous skill that let me transform into the appearance of any person I remembered, provided certain conditions were met. An ability granted to only an extremely small number of hunters across the entire world. It was known that some of the top-ranked hunters possessed Mimicry, but actual footage of it being used was extremely rare.

That was only natural. Who would want to get close to someone capable of Mimicry? Hiding it as much as possible was the sensible thing to do.

I was a little overwhelmed by the reward that far exceeded my expectations, but when I thought of it as compensation for defeating the Mimic, it made sense.

When I focused on Mimicry, the skill explanation unfolded instantly.

'Ugh, my head... Damn...'

The skill explanation was just as long as the status window, and it made my head spin for a moment.

'Just how many abilities does one skill have...?'

Every single line was astonishing, but the most surprising thing was that Yeonhee was on the list of possible transformations.

'Me turning into Yeonhee's appearance... Hmm...'

I briefly imagined what I would look like as her.

'......'