The Human Form's Temptation
The day before entering the dungeon, maybe I should refrain from any physical contact...
Maintaining composure was the most fundamental virtue a hunter could possess. If a single kiss on the forehead could reduce her to this state, and if she remained like that inside the dungeon tomorrow, it would be wiser to exercise restraint going forward.
Ugh... Now that I have a body capable of this, it's complicated in all sorts of ways.
Still, if the situation demanded it, I had to endure.
I could hold out. After all, enduring was one of my strengths.
Mmm... Why did you do that? Why, haa—
But the moment Lee Yeonhee's delicate voice slipped into my ears, that confidence shattered instantly. I wanted to fling the door open and leap to her side right then and there.
You crazy bastard, get a grip... I'm a monster. A hideous, terrifying undead monster. Clack clack. Clack clack.
Repeating it like a mantra inside my head helped me calm down somewhat.
Come to think of it, there wouldn't be many opportunities to appear before her in my human form. If she specifically wanted that appearance, there would be no helping it, but judging from the way she was kicking her blankets in her room, it seemed unlikely.
Still, when heading out to eliminate enemies, my human form would be more effective.
Which meant facing her in that form again... which meant holding her once more, and then...
Damn it, why does my brain only operate in that direction!
I deliberately steered my thoughts elsewhere.
Mimicry. Especially the third perk I'd gained thanks to Tania's fragment. That ability came with far more considerations than I'd anticipated.
Even if I used it to identify sinister individuals, there was no guarantee they would be weaker than me. It only provided real-time location data without any means to actually control the targets.
On top of that, the distance restriction preventing me from straying too far from Yeonhee meant I wouldn't always be able to benefit from this ability. I should simply consider myself lucky that the previous two times I'd raised my stats had gone smoothly.
Hmm. For anyone more than a kilometer away, I'll just note their location information.
The growing list of factors to consider made my head ache, but today was a day to be endlessly grateful that my relationship with Yeonhee hadn't gone off track. Everything else felt secondary.
Step—
I stood before the door, savoring the memory of that moment with her a little longer.
The sensation was clearer than I expected...
The feeling of my lips against her forehead still lingered vividly.
......
My gaze fell on the doorknob. Smashing through that door would be easier than drinking cold porridge.
......
Dark thoughts kept rearing their heads.
It was troublesome. If transforming once a day left me this shaken every time, I was in trouble.
Composure, why aren't you activating already.
Composure
That's right.
With this ability, I wouldn't cross any lines. I comforted myself as best I could, pulled a wooden rod from my inventory, and began swinging it.
When my head was this tangled, sword training was the perfect remedy.
Lee Yeonhee kept wriggling her toes beneath the blanket. She gnawed anxiously on her thumbnail while her other hand wandered before settling between her thighs. Even then, something still felt empty.
Woof—!
Ah... Wangwang isn't here...
She finally noticed the sound of Wangwang diligently scratching at the door. She had been that distracted.
What do I do...
"Ugh..."
She had never once considered that Ilwol might transform into a man, so from the moment she first saw it, she seemed to have lost her mind entirely.
Why hadn't she thought he would turn into a man? Had she been that foolish?
A man in a suit standing inside her home was an image she had never even dreamed of, but what shocked her just as deeply was—
He was a modern person...
She had assumed Ilwol must have come from another world or belonged to some humanoid monster race, yet his appearance and clothing were unmistakably Korean.
Of course, he could have been from another country, but given the circumstances, that seemed unlikely.
So he could read because he was Korean from the start?!
She had been misunderstanding everything alone ever since she first named him.
Her face burned as she recalled proudly telling her party members multiple times that he was a monster who shared her knowledge.
"Haa..."
The image of Ilwol walking calmly out of the blue light floated before her eyes like fluffy clouds, rising and falling.
She had never in her life judged another person based on their appearance.
Ilwol... He must have been really popular when he was alive, huh? Tch...
She was experiencing everything for the first time, but Ilwol must have had plenty of such experiences. Yet he had said he possessed no memories from his previous life.
Then perhaps Ilwol was the same as her?
Regardless, his past appearance had been devastatingly handsome. Especially those eyes that curved gently when he smiled while looking at her were truly...
Boom—
It felt like something hot was exploding inside her head.
Haa— He kissed my forehead. What could that possibly mean...
Her memories had grown hazy from the moment he suddenly approached and wrapped his arms around her waist. She had wondered if it was all a dream.
Chu—
"Hwaaaang! N-no! I-it must have been my imagination!"
Of course she knew it wasn't her imagination, but she desperately wanted to deny reality.
Her wildly racing heart, the burning heat in her cheeks that refused to fade—everything pointed to one truth.
Since these feelings were entirely new to her, she had instinctively activated her defense mechanisms in case she might be rejected later.
Ilwol is my summon... I can't do this. I need to pull myself together...
He was the first truly complete being that belonged entirely to her.
The one who had taken the slime's acidic spray in her place. The one who had risked his life in that desperate struggle against goblins to help her grow.
The one who found paths with unnatural precision and brought ancient artifacts as casually as picking up coins on the street, presenting them to her without fanfare.
Ilwol was special in every single aspect.
"Yeoni—"
That low, resonant voice calling her name while gazing at her with worry-filled eyes echoed from every direction.
Though the pronunciation had been badly slurred, to her ears it had clearly sounded like Yeonhee.
She replayed the scene in her mind again and again. The moment he called her name... when he held her waist and kissed her forehead... when he gently brushed her bangs aside.
Boom— Boom— Boom—
"Huu— Why is it so hot..."
Her body felt sticky, as if she had stepped into a steam bath.
What if Ilwol approached her like that again tomorrow? Would things progress even further than today?
"Hic... I'll die of embarrassment..."
Before she realized it, she was staring at Ilwol's floating face with her mouth slightly agape.
"Huh...? Hic! N-no! Go away!"
She wasn't even sure what she was denying, but it was definitely a no. Realizing this couldn't continue, she decided she needed to do something and reached for her phone.
"The... the hunter bulletin board or something..."
Yet what she ended up opening was the hunter community website.
She had no hobbies like shopping or watching videos to distract herself at times like this.
The moment she reached the main page, a post seized her attention.
Name: Irola
Rank: Upper mid to upper D-rank
Class: Mage
Abilities: Fireball (significantly larger and more powerful than standard), Bone Bomb (seems to be the primary ability over fireball), Acid Spray (should this even count as magic?), Basic Dagger Arts (uses daggers as secondary weapons), Fly (some reports say limited floating, others claim full flight)
Overall Evaluation: A magic-type monster with an enormous mana pool that allows for constant spell spam, paired with an unusually powerful fireball. Uses Bone Bomb, which appears to be a unique ability. Capable of close-range checks with acid spray from the mouth (be careful) and surprisingly skilled with daggers. An absurdly overpowered monster that excels in both one-on-one and group combat. How the hell do you even beat this thing? lololololol
"Wh-wh-what?! What is this nonsense! Why are you people talking about beating our Ilwol? And the name is completely wrong!!"
She had come to the site specifically to shake off thoughts of Ilwol, yet there the post was, sitting proudly at the top of the best rankings.
Total Comments: 1,002
"... What did we even do..."
She already knew. She understood that her ability inherently provoked rejection in people.
Hunters could at least protect themselves, so their reactions stayed in the realm of half-joke, half-serious teasing. Ordinary people would be entirely different.
"In the end, I have no choice but to become stronger..."
If movements to ostracize them ever arose, she needed faster growth to avoid being forced onto the defensive. Besides, Yeonhee had also been sensing that the current situation surrounding dungeons was far from ordinary.
The anxiety that a great crisis might descend upon the world. Even without considering the Great Calamities said to slumber across the globe, the world was already overflowing with threats.
"No... I still have to go on a world trip with my children."
Yeonhee unsummoned Wangwang, who had been waiting outside the door, then immediately resummoned him.
"Woof!! Hehe—"
Her sweet child who always greeted her with joy. She played with him, watching his plump body jiggle, then placed her hand on his belly.
Whooooong—
A violet light poured from her palm, and something began to take shape on Wangwang's stomach.
And moments later...
A new material personally implemented by Summoner Lee Yeonhee. It possesses properties similar to a slime that has entered a defensive state and can be crafted into armor for summons.
"Woof...?"
Wangwang tilted his head at the soft, belt-like material now wrapped around his belly.
"Hehe... It's almost done."
Even while wearing artifacts, the only times she fell into mana depletion were when she had to resummon her creatures in rapid succession.
Therefore, she had continued developing this ability to make her summons more durable and reduce the need for resummoning, believing it would prove more effective in combat. Now she was on the verge of tangible results.
Just as she had wrapped Lime around herself to block multiple attacks, she planned to equip all her summons with defensive gear so they could withstand a certain level of physical attacks.
Of course, she couldn't expect the same performance as Lime, but since it was an ability that could still be improved, she would keep refining it no matter how lacking it seemed now.
She was also considering purchasing additional armor besides the shield she'd commissioned from the forge, but once the number of summons grew far beyond its current count, quickly replacing broken equipment would undoubtedly become difficult.
Therefore, she had to enhance this ability by any means possible to prepare for what lay ahead.