The Hidden Passage
The next day, after a simple meal, the hunt resumed. The food was still dry rations, and the filth of the surroundings had turned everyone's stomachs enough that they were only picking at it — until I made them eat. You can't fight hungry. They chewed through the jerky with resigned faces.
"...I miss warm food..."
Nam Eun-ju muttered it under her breath. I understood. They'd barely escaped, barely sat down to a proper hot meal, and now they were back in this Underground Waterway. I was used to it. That didn't mean I liked it.
I paced our progress according to the route I'd mapped out the day before.
Squeeeak!
"Hiyah!"
The longer Na Seoyun fought, the more she proved with her own two hands why her potential was ranked Supreme.
"...Seoyun's growing by the day..."
"...I'm jealous."
Joo Ha-yeon and Nam Eun-ju watched her dual-wield with growing ease, their expressions somewhere between awe and envy. The moment I locked a Ratman's attention, she would slip to the side, cut at its legs to cripple its mobility, and pull the ones that tried to ignore me. Then she'd peel their aggro back onto me as naturally as breathing, hunt down whatever slipped through, or hobble the rest — over and over.
I wasn't a dedicated tank, and I had no taunt skill, so this was the only way it could work. Once the aggro was more or less locked, Na-yeon would take out the Slimes, and if she had mana to spare, she'd support the rest of us.
I focused on defense as much as I could, giving Na Seoyun room to rack up experience. I made sure she landed most of the killing blows. Getting used to taking a life was something you wanted to do early.
She didn't hesitate. She'd already fought goblins before we even entered the Underground Waterway, so it wasn't entirely foreign to her. But after that first fight her hands had trembled — just slightly. Some reluctance had still been there. By the second day, that hesitation was gone. Her adaptation was frighteningly fast.
"Let's start rotating roles. This time Seoyun takes tank, and Ha-yeon, you'll handle melee damage and off-tank."
Everyone needed combat experience. Na Seoyun had been the priority, but the others had to grow too.
"...So the easy part's over?"
"Everything ends eventually. Once I think you're ready, you'll swap with Eun-ju."
"Oh dear. I'd better work hard, then."
Joo Ha-yeon giggled at the light jab.
By the end of the second day we'd cleared seventy percent of the dungeon, and the party cheered. Thirty percent remaining. Joo Ha-yeon had been fighting since the first floor, so by evening I judged her ready and swapped her with Nam Eun-ju.
It was late, so Nam Eun-ju only fought twice — and she was so clumsy that the tanks ended up getting worked to the bone covering for her. Even when she made mistakes, I didn't help her beyond a certain point.
"Unni, Seoyun... I'm sorry... I messed up..."
"It's okay, Eun-ju. I let plenty of them through at first too, didn't I?"
"This much is fine, Unni."
In truth, Joo Ha-yeon hadn't let nearly as many through as Nam Eun-ju, but I kept my mouth shut. Nam Eun-ju wasn't the type who improved by being ground down. She was simply too afraid. Even when I pointed things out, she didn't change much — and honestly, there wasn't much to be done about it. Her talent was low, and by now even her physical stats were the weakest in the party.
At this rate we'd be out of the dungeon tomorrow, and the secret storehouse was already close.
The next day, I stationed a struggling Nam Eun-ju at my side without mercy.
"Um... I'm not very good at this. Couldn't I just stay as tank?"
"No. I can't leave the most important role to someone with no experience. You can't stay like this forever. You know that, Eun-ju. There's no telling what the Tower will throw at us. You need to get stronger."
It wasn't wrong. Nam Eun-ju hung her head and said nothing, which meant she knew it too.
"I'll help you as much as I can. Don't worry — we'll take it one step at a time."
"...Okay."
I kept her at my side on purpose as we continued fighting. She was grateful that I taught her patiently, one thing at a time — but she kept making the same mistakes over and over, and her confidence kept draining away. Eventually I even had the back line fall back, or deliberately left a few Ratmen alive so she could get more practice.
I had no choice but to teach her with everything I had. If she fed while I wasn't around and got the party wiped, then what?
We were already near the secret storehouse, but I deliberately looped around, using the extra time to train her. After lunch, as evening approached, Nam Eun-ju started looking halfway decent. More precisely, she clearly wasn't cut out for dealing damage, so I'd focused on teaching her to tank — and that was paying off. Repeated live-fire drills had raised her stats enough that she could at least pull her own weight.
Getting her up to melee-DPS standards would take another three days at least, but I had no intention of forcing that role on her. It didn't suit her personality either. Being a coward was a disadvantage even as a tank, honestly, but at this level I figured she'd be fine. The dungeon wasn't that hard.
I decided it was time to execute the plan. Mid-fight, I shoved a Ratman into the wall as if by accident.
The wall I'd slammed it into crumbled, and the creature punched through into the space beyond.
A hidden space has been revealed.
Squeeeak!
I could feel the party — Nam Eun-ju especially — freeze in confusion. They'd just started getting comfortable, and now a sudden variable had appeared. I finished off the Ratman that had fallen through the wall and shouted.
"Clean this up, now!"
The party had gotten reasonably used to working together, and using the sudden variable as an excuse, I switched to dealing damage myself and ended the fight in a single burst.
"Whoa..."
"...When Shin-hoo actually tries, it's that easy..."
"I already knew, but you're really something, Shin-hoo. Seoyun's amazing too, but compared to you..."
"Oppa, you're incredible..."
Nam Eun-ju, Joo Ha-yeon, and Na Seoyun especially couldn't help but be even more impressed — they'd learned the basics of combat from me. Before, they would have just been blindly amazed. Now they understood: what I'd just done was the textbook they were supposed to follow. Clean aggro management. Swift execution. Even rushing, our paths never overlapped, and not a single monster slipped through. I'd even created the opening for Na-yeon to land her spirit magic. They were probably wondering if combat had always been this easy.
"We've got a variable. I didn't expect the wall to collapse... This space isn't on the map."
I showed them the map as I spoke, and the party wiped the awe off their faces and listened seriously.
"A message window popped up too. It said 'hidden space.' There might be something in there."
"...Do we really have to go in? We just need to clear the Underground Waterway, don't we...?"
Current progress: ninety-four percent. The end of the raid was in sight. We didn't actually need to go in — the Fifth Floor trial was just to clear the dungeon, and the commission never said we had to scour every last corner. On top of that, the passage radiated a distinctly ominous aura, and every woman in the party looked uneasy. It was barely wide enough for one person to squeeze through.
"I don't know what's in there, but given this dungeon's difficulty, I don't think it'll be that dangerous. I don't see the harm in checking. It's a dungeon — there might be a decent reward."
"That's true. This dungeon does seem pretty low difficulty."
The party had grown. Average level was now six, and their stats were climbing steadily. They weren't exploding like Na Seoyun, but every one of them was noticeably stronger than when we'd entered.
"Then... let's go. Honestly, after seeing what you can do, Shin-hoo, I don't think we have much to worry about."
Joo Ha-yeon's teasing drew a smile from everyone.
"Let's head in, then."
I took the lead into the passage. It wasn't particularly long. After a while, the space began to open up. Faint traces of collapse marked the walls.
Sssrrr—
I froze. I immediately signaled the party behind me to halt. Something being dragged. Leaving the others behind, I moved carefully forward.
A dark space. Beyond the reach of our torchlight.
Splash. Splash.
The sound of footsteps in water — the others realized something was coming toward us. I could feel the tension radiating off the party. Every one of them gripped their weapons and stared ahead.
At last, the thing stepped into the light.
Black scales. Rotting flesh. One eyeball was gone, and its movements were slow. Gouged wounds pocked its body, and the innards visible through them were as black as the scales themselves.
An Undead Lizardman.
I heard the women in the party suck in their breath at the grotesque, hideous sight. The Lizardman stopped at a distance, as if pausing. But then—
SKREEEEEEE!
The moment it spotted us, it charged like a thing possessed.
"Eun-ju, fall back! The three of us will keep it! There's only one!"
I immediately swung my sword to meet the rusted kukri the Lizardman brought down.
CLANG!
A heavy blow. Manageable. But I deliberately let myself be pushed back a little.
"Damn it! It's strong!"
Strength around the high twenties. And it was fast, too — for a party of our level, this was razor-thin. Without me, one or two of them would have been badly hurt here, or worse, killed. As it stood, though, a hit or two wouldn't be enough to drop anyone.
"Shin-hoo!"
At Na-yeon's shout, I leapt hard to the side.
"Casa! Fireball!"
Fireball — Casa, Lowest-tier Fire Spirit
WHOOSH—BOOM!
Na-yeon's spirit magic struck the Undead Lizardman square in the head. Most undead were weak to fire and holy attributes. The problem was that Na-yeon's current level was far too low.
SKREEEE!
It only made the thing angrier. The Lizardman seemed to recognize the magic as a threat and immediately lunged at Na-yeon.
It's fine.
I put on a show of panic and sprinted after it. The Lizardman swung its rusted weapon in a wide arc without breaking stride.
The one who stepped in front of it was Joo Ha-yeon. She set her stance, stepped in slightly, and angled the block to bleed off the force. Good technique. But the stat gap was far too wide.
BOOM!
"Kyah!"
A single blow wrecked her shield nearly in half and sent Joo Ha-yeon flying backward. She staggered two or three steps and went down.
"Unni!"
Nam Eun-ju cried out and threw herself into the Lizardman's path.
Not bad.
A coward, but she came through when it counted. The training was paying off.
"Hiyah!"
Na Seoyun didn't miss the opening and slashed at the Lizardman's leg. The tutorial dagger couldn't pierce its hide — but the shortsword managed to cut the leg.
SKREE!
The Lizardman immediately counterattacked, but Na Seoyun had expected it. She slipped back, and the blow missed. I immediately swung at the back of its head.
The Lizardman's reaction was too fast for something undead. As if it had known I was coming, it simply stepped forward two paces, let the attack pass, and swung its weapon behind it.
Is this thing even undead?
I ducked the swing and went for its legs, but it whipped its tail at me and I had to pull back. Having missed, the Lizardman charged the one standing in its way — Nam Eun-ju. Aggro management was completely shot. As if it had identified the weakest point, it brought its weapon down on her.
"Hyaaah!"
Nam Eun-ju let out a fierce shout, as if trying to shake off her fear, and met the Lizardman head-on.