The Followers of the Blue Eye
I thought about the Blue Eye cultists for a moment before shaking my head. The fight I had worried might be too much had ended smoothly, and that success had given me confidence.
"Well, even if a few monsters catch our scent and come running, we should be able to handle them, right?"
"Clack clack!!"
In the end, we decided to butcher both corpses and got to work. Yeonhee sat down beside me and rolled up her sleeves, offering to help. When I stared at her, she scratched her head sheepishly.
"I've watched you do it a few times. I think I can manage."
I had meant to ask what about staying on guard, but she only looked embarrassed. I ended up taking more time than usual so she could follow along. Despite our tension, no additional monsters appeared.
"We're lucky today."
Just as she said, it was pure luck. Eight out of ten times, monsters would have swarmed us after catching the scent.
"Speak of the devil. Monsters."
A pack of earth puppies stood at a distance, panting and watching us. Their presence actually reassured us—predators would have driven them away. We finished the work without worry, gathered plenty of bones for Wangwang, and left. The moment we stepped away, the earth puppies rushed in, drooling, and began stripping the remains.
"Let's head back to that stream we saw earlier."
I nodded. My body was soaked in blood; I needed to clean up before the next hunt. We stopped at the small stream we had passed on the way. Since my body was nothing but bones, washing took almost no time at all.
While moving, I invested the stat points from the level-up into Strength, Agility, and Constitution. I had reached the level 15 range now, so leveling would slow down, but focusing on Big Bores—which gave more experience than goblins—should keep my growth steady.
Skills: Strike, Stealth, Dagger Throw, Acid Spray, Basic Transformation, Reckless Charge
Equipment: Roughly Carved Wooden Club
The stat boosts from the level 5 interval made my body feel noticeably more refined. I shivered.
"Washing is so convenient. You really do have a handy body, Ilwol. Hehe."
"Clack clack—"
"More importantly, I think I'll hit level 20 soon. Probably level 19 before the day ends..."
Oh? So she was level 18. Reaching 18 in five months isn't particularly fast, but she couldn't spend many hours in dungeons while her mother was still around...
Her real growth had only just begun to pick up speed.
Come to think of it, I'm already level 15. Compared to Yeonhee, my growth as a summon seems much faster. Why is that?
If I thought of it like a game, maybe higher-grade characters simply required more experience to level up.
My grade is so low that the experience needed is tiny... Thinking that makes me depressed again!!
To shake off the gloom, I suddenly started doing an awkward shoulder dance. Yeonhee burst out laughing, clutching her stomach. Just then, a party came into view, descending from upstream.
"Clack clack!!"
"Heehee— Huh? Ah! Sh-should we hide?"
No need to run.
Four people had entered my sensory web. Even though they outnumbered us, their levels were lower. We could escape easily if we wanted. The real issue was their clothing.
Black cloaks fluttered, revealing a vertical eye symbol slashed down the inner lining. Only one group wore that uniform: the organization called Blue Eye. They called themselves the Crusade—a bunch of chuunibyou lunatics. At first, they seemed like a pathetic gathering of weirdos, but they rapidly grew in power. By the time I died, they had over a million followers in Korea alone.
Their goal was singular: to merge the world inside the dungeons with our own. It had sounded absurd, and they had achieved nothing before my death. Yet now that I was like this, I could almost believe they might succeed.
I don't want to get involved, but I should look into them if the chance arises.
I slowly drew my club and prepared for a fight. The cultists paused, then turned and walked in another direction.
"Whew... The Big Bore Dungeon has way more hunters than the Goblin Dungeon. We might run into them again soon."
Yeonhee wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand, eyes still fixed on the direction they had disappeared. After a moment of stillness, she started walking again.
I walked half a step ahead, gradually guiding her off the normal route. Surprisingly, she followed without suspicion. Any other hunter would have noticed we were straying long ago.
Directionally challenged... Confirmed.
Yeonhee had chattered a lot while we traveled. One of the things I learned was that she had no sense of direction. It wasn't only her mother's fault that she hadn't grown much in the Goblin Dungeon before meeting me—she had simply walked back and forth in a straight line from the entrance. After meeting me, she had grown used to following my lead and no longer questioned it.
Especially since this is her first time in this dungeon. I can afford to take a bigger detour.
I began leading her more boldly toward my target. The path had no proper trail, and we kept encountering monsters, so she stayed too busy to notice. Other hunters wouldn't come this way, so plenty of monsters remain untouched...
People naturally moved toward comfort and efficiency, yet we were trudging through rough terrain, steep slopes, and dense undergrowth—hardly ideal for fighting. By the time our directionally challenged Yeonhee finally grew suspicious and asked worriedly if we should turn back, we had reached the highest hill in the forest.
The slope suddenly leveled out into a wide plateau with a small lake. Two parties were already fighting monsters on the far shore. They were only looking for untouched hunting spots; none of them were here for artifacts like I was.
"Wow~ There's a place like this? I didn't see anything about a lake on the internet. Hardly any hunters around... Maybe it's a secret honey spot only a few people know?"
Something like that. No point spreading the word about a good restaurant if it just means waiting in line.
One of the parties left as soon as we appeared. The other finished their fight, packed up, and moved on as well. While they were leaving, we hunted a few goblins that had been hiding near the shore.
"Ah, everyone's gone. There looked to be a Big Bore pack over there—let's go check—"
While Yeonhee chattered and scanned the area, I stored my club in my inventory and dove straight into the lake.
Splash—!
—Ilwol—?!
Her voice reached me distorted through the water, but I pushed deeper. No need to hold my breath. This is easy.
The memory of nearly panicking while exploring this place in my past life made my shoulders twitch. I spread my sensory web as far as the distance limit from Yeonhee would allow and eventually found a tiny cave. It was just large enough for a person to crawl through. Inside, resting on the floor, was a small jar the color of blood. Strangely, it stayed fixed in place despite the current. I grabbed it without hesitation and stored it in my inventory.
Immediately, I felt a pull from behind—Yeonhee must have reached the edge of our range while worrying about me. I quickly exited the cave and surfaced. The moment I appeared, she flailed and stretched out a branch toward me.
I could get out on my own...
Still, I took the branch and climbed ashore. Her eyes were glistening with unshed tears.
Hmm. She's changed a lot... Is this really okay?
Her once-cold face was still deeply etched in my mind; this expression still felt unfamiliar.
"Hngh... Ilwol! Why did you suddenly jump into the water?!"
I handed the red jar to the sniffling girl.
"Sniff— Huh? What's this?"