Rookie: Baek Jaesung 15
To escape the dungeon, we first needed to map out our route. In a normal dungeon, we wouldn't have to go through all this hassle, but Level House was an exceptionally bizarre one even among dungeons, so we had no choice but to proceed with caution.
Level House was a labyrinth of intricately tangled corridors inside. On top of that, the paths shifted around, making it crucial to set a proper route. We had to reach our destination in one straight shot with minimal detours.
We had two possible paths back. One was the route our party had taken, and the other was the one Jang Hana's party had come from.
"It's a bit late, but let me introduce myself. I'm Jang Hana. This is Seonuk Kim, our party leader and healer."
"Are you two... together or something?"
I asked point-blank. I had a rough idea of their relationship, but it was important to confirm these things outright.
"R-relationship!?"
"The way the healer was looking at you earlier wasn't ordinary. It felt like more than just party members. Oh, was that too personal? You don't have to answer if you don't want to."
Don't say it if you don't want to.
Paradoxically, there was no better way to prod someone into spilling than that. It pretended to offer a choice while magically forcing their mouth open.
"Ah... Seonuk is my fiancé."
Fiancé, huh.
That's one hell of a death flag. And calling your fiancé 'Mr. Seonuk' feels a bit stiff, doesn't it? She might be more refined than she looks. Women like that have their own appeal when you bed them.
"Which way back is safer?"
Jang Hana and I put our heads together. She was the vice party leader of the Seonuk group. With their leader in critical condition, she held the deciding vote.
One key factor in choosing a route was room difficulty.
Level House had wildly varying monster levels from room to room. The Frost Boars and Blaze Boars we'd seen in the first room were top-tier 7-rank monsters, but the ones in the other rooms were mostly middling 8- to 9-rank fodder.
Even if we tried to avoid fights, we couldn't completely dodge powerhouses like Blaze Boars or Frost Boars charging at us recklessly. The smart play was to take the path through the easiest rooms possible.
"What was the monster level on your route, Hana?"
"Around 8-rank."
"Our path had some pretty tough ones. Looks like we'll go your way back."
Jang Hana nodded. Her expression showed clear relief. She probably figured the familiar path would be quicker.
"Alright. Let's head straight along your party's route. We've got an injured guy, so we'll avoid combat as much as possible and push through without breaks."
No one objected to my words—not from our party, nor hers.
In this situation, I was the absolute top dog. And since I wasn't wrong, no one with a straight head could argue.
"Sounds good. Everyone, let's move!"
Jang Hana rallied her party. They packed up quickly and were ready to go.
Jang Hana hoisted Kim Seonuk onto her back. She was about average height for a woman, while he was a bit taller than average for a man.
The size difference made it look awkward, but Jang Hana was an 8-rank dungeon hunter. She carried her boyfriend without issue.
We descended from the department store. Luckily, no zombies around. According to Jang Hana, they only stirred when it got dark.
Makes sense—zombies active in broad daylight are rare even in fiction. Their terror came not just from their melting flesh, but from lurking in dank darkness. The trope of zombies bursting from shadows with foul stench had been recycled in countless horror flicks and novels.
We hurried out of the commercial district. Instead of shops, we saw clusters of small houses in a residential neighborhood.
A crow perched on a snapped power pole, cawing ominously. Were those crows monsters too?
Screeech—!
A thin, high-pitched bird cry pierced the air, nothing like the crows. I instinctively glanced toward the sound.
"Huh!?"
"Jaesung? What's up?"
Sujin tapped my shoulder, startled by my gasp. I shook my head hurriedly.
"Nah, just thought I saw something."
"Saw something?"
"Yeah. A bird."
"A bird?"
There it was, plain as day where the shrill sound came from. As soon as I looked, it flapped its wings and flew off—or at least, it looked like a baseball with wings. A bizarre bat.
The same bat that scarfed my donut outside the dungeon and flew away.
Was that bat a monster too?
"Those crows are cawing so ominously. Like they're watching us or something," Jisu said.
Yeonji chucked a rock at the crows on the pole. They flapped away in a flurry, leaving a single black feather drifting down.
"How much farther?"
Jang Hana eyed the approaching wall ahead.
"At this pace, about an hour."
We passed through the neighborhood.
Sunset was still far off, but we couldn't slack. Kim Seonuk was the reason.
I hadn't fully healed him. If I wanted to, it would've been easy— I had premium emergency potions in my inventory.
But I wasn't kind enough to waste valuables on some random guy. Plus, keeping him injured was leverage over Jang Hana. Sure, healing her fiancé would make her indebted, but that alone wasn't enough.
The wall was so massive it messed with distance perception. No matter how close we got, it felt like it was running away.
We finally reached it after trudging past the houses for a while. Their vanguard tanker opened the door on the wall. Beyond it: a desert.
"A desert?"
Yeonji crossed cautiously. The others followed one by one.
A vast expanse of ochre sand greeted us, with a massive dune looming like a mountain right ahead.
The sand floor bore multiple footprints—likely from Jang Hana's party on their way in. Little wind meant the clear prints were barely erased.
"This is the biggest room we passed. Straight shot takes nearly 10 hours. Once we clear it, the rest are easier."
Deserts weren't fun for dungeon hunters. Scorching heat drained stamina, and sinking sand hampered mobility.
Worse, the monsters here were optimized for it. Dealing with desert natives required skill and experience. Well, we planned to run anyway.
Still, 10 hours just for this room? Our path might've been faster, even with the high-level field monsters. Not that I minded the delay—Jang Hana was the one getting antsy.
"Keep moving."
Our march didn't stop in the desert.
Snake-like and scorpion monsters ambushed us. Scorpions reminded me of the Giant Scorpions from that Solari World dungeon—high mobility over defense.
These were Sand Knights. Only 90cm tall, but their small size made them tricky. They hid in the sand, bursting out at passing prey—a sneaky habit.
Unlike Giant Scorpions, they had insane agility, hard to hit, and their venom wasn't mild paralysis.
Giant Scorpions slowed you down. Sand Knights' neurotoxin caused respiratory distress in a minute, death in five without antidote—deadly stuff.
Even hunters with toxin resistance could last 10+ minutes, but combat incapacity during that time meant we had to avoid poisoning.
"S-Suddenly Sand Knights!"
Jang Hana panicked hard. They must not have encountered any on the way in—or got lucky. Good luck or bad?
Sand Knights were a pain. Hard to spot buried, but they popped out as we passed, forcing fights.
Not too tough sans speed and poison, but they slowed us. Our goal was minimal combat, but we had to respond each time.
Best to skirt their ambush zones, but spotting them wasn't easy. For me, though? Piece of cake. Darkness Radar.
The slower we go, the more anxious Jang Hana gets. Makes her easier to handle.
I enjoyed her troubled face as we trekked three hours—without much distance covered.
"Ugh... it's so sticky. Sweating buckets from fighting."
Jisu's grumble started the complaints. Sand combat drained stamina way more than flat ground.
"Better take a break."
We halted for an unexpected rest. Marching a Sand Knight minefield was exhausting—everyone felt it.
Even Jang Hana, desperate to exit ASAP, nodded. Carrying her lover made her the most fatigued.
"Yeah. I'll set up a spot."