A Suitable Reward

The five C-rank hunters each targeted what they judged to be the monster's weak points and unleashed their skills. [Card That Must Cut], [One Flash - Second Step], [Exploding Hammer], [Fierce Thrust], [Triple Smash].

Dozens of cards first traced strange arcs through the air, slicing through the monster's outer shell as cleanly as if it were tofu. That was the signal. The close-combat warriors followed with heavy skills brimming with mana, and in a single instant, they all detonated.

KIIIEEEEEEK—!!

No matter how many times it had been struck before, the monster's body—once seemingly unbreakable—now shattered, ruptured, and came apart. With a dull thud, the arms that had been gripping the lizardman's corpse were severed by the card user and the spearman, dropping to the ground. The other skills concentrated on the explosion-damaged areas and obliterated more than half of the monster's head.

Gurgle—

If the monster had simply died right there from the skills, it would have made for a perfect picture. But the creature possessed the stubborn vitality of a cockroach.

It twitched. It flailed wildly. The hunters, sickened by the sight of it writhing like a live fish, hammered it with rough, unrefined basic attacks that matched their twisted expressions.

"You disgusting bastard!! Die! Just die already!"

Whoosh— Thunk—!Whoosh— Thud! Thud!!

And Yeonhee kept firing arrows into the monster's head, which was now so thoroughly destroyed that it was impossible to recognize. It was almost pitiful.

'······.'

Only after the hunters had spent a long while slashing and smashing did a message finally rise in her mind.

"Holy shit!! It was a boss-class monster?!"

"Uahaha!! So this is how it works?"

"I guess you could call it lucky… but when I think about the victims, it feels wrong to say that out loud."

A raid. An event that occurred with low probability inside C-rank or higher dungeons. Another dungeon within a dungeon. If you entered and defeated the boss monster, there was a high chance of an artifact dropping. And since every participating hunter received an artifact unless it was a complete dud, raid dungeons were treated like winning the lottery.

Even in the case of a 'dud' with no artifact, they still gave out a 'crystal' worth hundreds of millions of won by default.

So this monster had been one of those raid-exclusive creatures? Then there should be a reward, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠right?

"There iiiiiis—!!! Kyahahaha!!"

A cheer loud enough to shake the mountains rang out. Even though the situation hardly called for it, the hunters grabbed the objects slowly floating toward them with hearts pounding in excitement.

"A crystal… Well, it's a little disappointing, but still—this is pretty great!! Kyahahaha!"

"Shh— You're laughing too loudly."

"Hehe, still, it feels like we came out to help and hit the jackpot. I'm pretty happy too."

"Same here, honestly. But there are eyes watching, so let's show some restraint… ahem."

The five C-rank hunters were in a state of great excitement after receiving rewards equivalent to more than half a year's income.

'Crystal…'

Just as its description said, the Ancient Crystal drew in ambient mana. It could be considered a higher version of the mana stones that had replaced electricity as an energy source. While mana stones could only use the energy stored within them, crystals were completely different. They were closer to semi-permanent self-generating power plants that supplied their own energy, making them far more useful than artifacts in terms of practicality.

That was why their prices varied wildly depending on size, which was determined by contribution according to dungeon law.

The crystal floating in front of Yeonhee's face was the size of a lizardman's fist—easily worth at least two hundred million won. Its size was noticeably larger than the ones the others had received, so anyone could tell she had the highest contribution.

Even so, Yeonhee simply put the item into her inventory with a calm expression, showing no particular reaction.

'…Ilwol…'

"Wow~ You really hit the jackpot. Well, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you were the most active, so it's only natural."

"Was that first explosion from your summon? If so, that's amazing."

"No way. Wasn't it the flame mage who detonated it before retreating?"

"Probably. But was there even a flame mage?"

"Anyway, thanks to the summoner we managed to kill it without getting hurt. As a token of gratitude, how about we grab a cup of tea after we're done?"

"We really should treat you to a meal, but time is tight, haha."

"If you're getting coffee, let's all go together! There's a nice new place right next door!"

'······.'

But Lee Yeonhee's unfocused, dazed eyes made it clear she had no intention of accepting their invitation.

"Ahem— It seems she's not interested…"

"Then let's just go by ourselves. After a day like this, the mood calls for at least a drink, right?"

"By the way, that fighting style of throwing your summons into the fray… I'm so jealous. If you join our guild, we can treat you as well as a White Knight! Would you consider it?"

Yeonhee flinched.

"Oh come on, at least take my business card!"

The woman who had paused for a moment pressed a card into Yeonhee's hand.

"No, they said it was a new class, but it's seriously overpowered. Hey, Mr. Gyu-tae, the one fiddling with those cards over there? Has the Card Catcher class become an outdated relic now? Puhaha!"

"What are you talking about?! It's still a rare class, okay?!"

They quickly brushed the filthy residue off their weapons and shared the lingering excitement of battle. Amid their conversation, one remark made Yeonhee tremble violently.

Throwing summons into the fight…

Yeonhee clenched her eyes shut for a moment, dismissed all her summons, then tried to call Ilwol back.

'Tsk…!'

In the end, she only resummoned Lizard No. 1 and the slime. As she dismissed the large number of summons she had called earlier, she felt her mana rapidly recovering and surging through her veins, reaching every corner of her body.

She tried to focus on that flow, but her heart kept pounding so violently that she couldn't concentrate at all.

'Ninety-seven lives… I-It's okay… I still have plenty left… I need to raise my domination power quickly so I can…'

Yeonhee clasped her trembling hands together and tried ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to calm herself. She reflected once more on her combat style.

The battle just now had looked quite impressive even to the C-rank hunters who had watched it. She could tell the difference between empty compliments and genuine praise.

Her summons, including Ilwol, had thrown their bodies forward to block attacks while the damage dealers focused solely on offense from behind. She didn't think she would find a better method than this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠going forward.

If so—

'I just need to make it so Ilwol doesn't have to sacrifice himself! If I create a ton of summons! Yeah, if I have about a hundred lizardmen, Ilwol won't have anything to do!'

Her mind was still too hazy to realize just how difficult it would be to summon a hundred lizardmen.

Thanks to this battle, Yeonhee had reached level 30 and now had four brownish-gray summon scrolls saved up. Assuming she used all four right now, she would have eleven lizardmen.

She ran a mental simulation of fighting that monster again.

'······.'

The result was a crushing defeat. Even though Ilwol had identified its position and blocked the path, they couldn't stop the monster that moved with terrifying speed and power. The summons were eliminated one by one. In the end, the image that formed was Ilwol charging out of stealth to self-destruct together with the monster.

It was even more inefficient than the battle they had just fought.

'No!! T-This isn't it…'

She needed to find another way. But no sharp ideas came to mind. In the end, it seemed she would have to surpass level 40 and obtain higher-grade summon scrolls.

'How can I get experience faster and in larger amounts? …Oh, right! What if I just live and sleep inside the dungeon?'

Still unable to calm down and lost in wild thoughts, she was approached by the large man who had shown off that powerful hammer attack earlier.

"Let's get rid of the rest of them too. If we have the energy, that is."

"…I'll do it."

She had only one thought: catch even one more monster and grow stronger quickly. In truth, if she quit being a hunter, she wouldn't need to worry about any of this—but that idea never seemed to cross her mind.

She wrapped the slime around her arm like a bracer and joined the five hunters in clearing out the remaining 'Speaker' monsters.

"Because of that damn thing, seriously!"

The 'Speaker' held a strange weapon with a completely hollow middle. It had a hideous appearance resembling a misshapen fish with multiple short limbs. It had played the most annoying role in this disaster.

Stab—!KIIEEK!!

"Just look at that thing… wow."

Aside from its sonic attacks, its body itself was extremely weak. The only problem was that the surrounding monsters stubbornly protected it, forcing them to endure the horrible noise until the very end.

"I've never seen monsters take care of each other like this before… Do the monsters that come out during a dungeon break normally have this kind of teamwork?"

The female hunter holding a rapier tilted her head, and the others simply shrugged. Stopping a dungeon break wasn't something even C-rank hunters experienced often.

And when they had killed every monster in sight, four hunters radiating powerful mana appeared through the poisonous smoke as if they had been waiting.

"Took them long enough, damn it…"

"Oh, the honored high-rank hunters have arrived? The atmosphere feels pretty grim, though."

"Looks like the second alert has been triggered. All four have B-rank badges… They'll probably want to hear what happened, so they're coming to us. This is going to be exhausting…"

It was common to call F- and E-ranks low-tier, D- and C-ranks mid-tier, and B- and A-ranks high-tier hunters. S-ranks were simply called S-rank without any other label.

One of the approaching high-rank hunters was carrying the monster's corpse encased inside a massive orb.

"Is this the one you people killed?"