The Perilous Cliff Ascent

After confirming one last thing, we crossed the winding narrow canyon that began at the entrance and walked for about twenty minutes before arriving at the base of a sheer cliff that seemed to slice endlessly into the sky. We looked up with troubled expressions.

"The stairs look wide enough at the start, but you're saying it gets narrower toward the top?" The first step was roughly two meters wide—enough for three or four adults to move comfortably.

"Yeah. By the time you reach the top, you'll have to press your back tight against the cliff just to squeeze through."

"How are we supposed to fight like that?"

Jua growled at A-rin, complaining that it was worse than she'd heard. "We just kind of wing it with our bodies. The Neos Harpies have weak attack power, right? And once we get that far, the boss room isn't much farther, so we can just sprint the rest of the way."

Jua looked utterly fed up with A-rin's reckless answer. "This is completely different from what you told us yesterday, you rockhead! You said to just trust you!"

"This is the right answer. It's all over the internet if you look it up..."

"Aigoo... I was an idiot for believing you."

A-rin insisted again that it was no big deal, looking wronged, but even to me there wasn't much more to add.

If we just avoid getting poisoned by the toxin on their claws, there's hardly any real danger.

Even that poisoning rarely happened unless the wound was deep. That was why almost no hunters actually died to the harpies here. Still, quite a few struggled in this dungeon, and the reason was more likely internal than external.

The percentage of people with acrophobia was known to be around seven percent of the population. And awakening didn't magically fix something like that. So this dungeon essentially started with seven out of every hundred hunters already eliminated before it even began. That was why, despite its average difficulty, it was classified as a place people avoided.

"Shall we head up then? I'll have the summons form a wall on the outer edge."

"That would make me feel a lot safer!"

Who wouldn't be scared of climbing stairs along a cliff face? But with Ilwol beside her, Yeonhee somehow didn't feel afraid at all. Especially after the skinship she'd shared with him yesterday while he was using Mimicry, the emotional distance between them had shrunk dramatically.

Of course, she still felt a little self-conscious about how she'd lost her mind and pressed him afterward. Even as she unconsciously took his hand, she kept glancing at him nervously. Ilwol, however, simply held her hand as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

There was still one thing she needed to confirm once they got home today, but unless the result was the absolute worst-case scenario, her feelings toward Ilwol wouldn't change.

...If I teach him how to speak for just a few days, we might reach the point where we can chat together. Then at night, we could lie next to each other...

She was already lost in such fantasies, a whole flower garden blooming inside her head.

Squeeze—

It wasn't just Ilwol. The lizard troop, the orcs, and every single one of her summons—reliable friends who would risk their lives to protect her. With them around, she couldn't allow herself to tremble in fear.

Step—

When Yeonhee took the lead, Jua, A-rin, and Eun-yeong quickly fell in behind her. Strictly speaking, they didn't want to stray more than a certain distance from Ilwol rather than from Yeonhee herself.

Puhuhup— This buff is seriously broken...! I absolutely cannot let my mana drop. Hehe~

Bae Jua made that firm resolution as she read the message. Having suffered so badly from mana depletion yesterday, this felt like a gift from the heavens.

...Ah... It's still giving me goosebumps...

The memory of recovering after drinking that unidentified water yesterday resurfaced. She shivered.

Ha... Just thinking about it makes my body heat up.

That mysterious water. She wanted it so badly.

...That kettle. The artifact seems like only Ilwol can use it... But couldn't we sell the water separately? Why doesn't he even consider selling it?

From Jua's perspective, it made no sense. If he simply opened a potion shop and sold only that, he could earn money steadily. Why was he going through all this trouble?

...What a waste. Ha— I want it too...

If she had that artifact... No, if she had someone like Ilwol by her side, she wouldn't have to suffer through days like yesterday ever again. Jua licked her lips and stuck even closer to Ilwol as they walked. She had a strong feeling that staying near him would keep bringing good things.

Of course, to Jua, "good things" meant anything that smelled like money.

- Kyaaaaak!!

- Chaaaak!!

"Ugh, these things are seriously annoying!"

As Jua climbed the stairs step by step, her nerves grew sharper. She didn't have full-blown acrophobia, but she was the most vulnerable to heights among the party. On top of that, her rock magic was useless against aerial monsters. Yesterday's main damage dealer had been reduced to a wall shuttle whose only job was keeping them from getting too close.

It's not like it's only been a day or two! This much is fine.

She tried hard to stay positive. Aside from being annoying, there weren't any real difficulties. Compared to those damned wraiths from yesterday, this felt almost cute.

Oh! I finally landed one!

It wasn't just Jua who struggled to attack. Whether it was fireballs or Yeonhee's arrow shots, hitting monsters that flew around unpredictably in the air was no easy feat.

That's right! So it was a skill with a fixed range after all. But isn't ten meters way too short?

Come to think of it, the red-hooded mutant I'd fought before had only moved quickly in short bursts. The distance had been limited then too.

I won't have any immediate use for this, but it's still unique. Flight-related skills are rare.

Satisfied with the new skill, I nodded and continued moving. After climbing the stairs for a full hour, we had reached the midpoint between the base and the top. The harpies were now attacking in earnest to protect their spawning ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ground.

"It's best to just hurry up and climb, y'know! Right now they're only trying to intimidate us from afar, but once we get near the spawning area right below the top, they'll come close on their own!"

I nodded at A-rin's words, and the rest of the party followed suit. We had more than enough summons to form living barricades, and we were getting used to the pattern of luring them in with provocation before taking them out.

Hmm. There's a huge difference in accuracy between using the Dagger Throw correction and not.

As A-rin had said, the higher we climbed, the more aggressively the monsters tried to stop us. Naturally, our bombs and fireballs landed more often. On top of that, the Dagger Throw skill I had been using for so long had reached level six, boosting its accuracy even further.

Maybe I should try making throwing knives out of bone.

Heavy objects like bombs and fireballs couldn't reach their target as quickly, so I needed a clean, short-to-mid-range attack. It felt like a waste to let the increased attack power from Dagger Throw go unused. I'd check the efficiency of making bone knives once we got home. For now, I calculated the remaining distance to the top.

Not much left. The harpies' attacks aren't landing on us at all.

Maybe my quiet wish for things to go smoothly last night was paying off.

"Be careful of the worms popping out of the walls soon, y'know!"

At that moment, A-rin warned us about the creatures that would attack from inside the cliff. The Cliff Worms that lived only near the harpies' spawning ground. They primarily ate harpy eggs but also dragged hunters off the cliff to devour their corpses. Because they burst out of the wall without warning, attempting the boss fight in this dungeon without a guide with highly developed senses would be impossible.

They're coming. Three... four...

"Clack clack clack!!"

At my signal, the party members immediately distanced themselves from the spot I indicated. These creatures had a habit of locking onto a target from a distance and charging in a straight line. If you knew where they were going to emerge, dealing with them was surprisingly easy.

Kwaaaa—!

Rumble—!

Four cliff worms burst out of the cliff at the same time, almost as if they'd coordinated. They had the typical ring-shaped body of annelids—one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠meter ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in diameter and over three meters long. At that size, they were more than enough to inspire pure terror.

"Kyaaaaak!! Gross—!"

Jua immediately sealed off two of the emergence points with rock barriers and hurried toward the top. The remaining two were sliced apart by me and A-rin the instant they emerged.

The dagger tore through their soft shells, and the disgusting fluid they carried sprayed everywhere along the arc of the blade.

Splaaaash—!

Green bodily fluid shot high into the air. But the orcs and lizard troop took the filthy spray for us, allowing us to continue upward in relatively clean condition.

These monsters had no skills—only traits. Because of that, the success chance for Thievery received a 5% boost. Even so, the probability was still only 18%, so the first attempt ended in failure.

Over the next forty minutes as we climbed toward the top, we encountered three more cliff worms. Eventually, we managed to steal its trait as well.

It was asking whether I wanted to fuse the newly obtained trait with the Tunnel Digging trait I'd gained from the mole cricket before. Cliff Destroyer seemed like the higher-tier trait, but I was curious what the result would be.

Fuse them.

Whoa... It turned into a pretty decent trait.