Chapter 52
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: Is It Your First Time Seeing a Saintess This Good at Magic?
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Including Kang Dojun, who had bellowed at the top of his lungs to turn the tables,
the thieves vanished one by one, activating their stealth skills.
As a result, the remaining people began showing all sorts of different reactions.
“Damn it, where’d they go?!”
“I-I can’t sense them at all?”
Some frantically scanned their surroundings.
“Over here!”
“Stop hiding and fight fair, you cowards!”
Others wildly swung spears and swords at empty air, wasting their stamina.
But for all the thief leader’s shout, nothing had happened yet.
“P-Professor! W-What do we do?!”
Areum cried out in a trembling voice.
Just moments ago, she’d felt a surge of immense joy watching her allies suddenly rampage.
It wasn’t obvious on the surface that the professor had used a skill.
But the effects were undeniable.
It was as if everyone’s rank had jumped a level—they were putting on a ferocious display.
But the moment the thieves vanished, the situation shifted again.
The two C-rank men calmly assumed their stances.
The D-rank men, however, plunged into chaos, throwing anxious glances every which way.
“Areum, you know what usually happens in situations like this, right?”
“Y-Yes?”
The professor’s lovely voice finally rang out.
Areum’s gaze snapped back to Sihyun.
Right at that moment.
“Gahk!”
“You really thought we’d be easy pickings and targeted us, huh.”
Sihyun reached into empty air and gripped something tightly.
It was as if she’d seized hold of something invisible.
‘W-What... what is that...?’
Areum stared wide-eyed at the professor’s movements.
Sihyun slammed whatever she held onto the ground with all her might.
“Kyaaak!”
A massive thud echoed as the thief’s form reappeared.
He bounced violently off the ground.
Tumble tumble—
He rolled across the floor several times before flopping face-down, motionless.
Areum covered her mouth with both hands as she watched.
And that wasn’t even the end of it.
Swaek—!
Suddenly, the sharp sound of something slicing through the air.
Startled, Areum whipped her head around.
“Hup.”
“Whoa...”
The professor had caught a dagger’s blade between two fingers.
Areum was speechless, simply staring.
“C-Crazy?!”
A terrified man’s voice came from empty air.
At the same time, Sihyun launched herself forward.
She leaped lightly, driving her knee ahead.
Puk!
“Guk!”
The thief who took the blow to his gut doubled over in a -shape, his form revealed.
Drool spilled from his mouth as his body tilted.
Thud! He passed out cold.
Areum blinked her wide eyes over and over.
“Let’s see...”
Sihyun lightly flicked the dagger upward with two fingers.
The blade spun whirling into the sky.
A moment later, she precisely caught the handle as it fell back down.
She gave her wrist a casual shake.
Swaaek—!
Then hurled the dagger sharply backward.
“Kyaak!”
Areum startled and turned around.
A short distance away, the C-rank male thief was rolling on the ground.
The dagger from moments ago was buried deep in his calf.
“P-Professor! You’re amazing!”
“Hehe...”
“T-The absolute coolest—!”
“Mm, mm.”
Areum couldn’t help but bounce with cheers.
Honestly, she hadn’t even seen the dagger fly.
She’d only realized it was thrown because she’d been looking at the professor.
‘How did she hit someone she couldn’t even see?!’
The direction the man had been heading was clearly aimed at luring over a monster horde.
Leaving him be would’ve turned this clearing into chaos.
Areum gazed at her professor with eyes full of admiration.
Perfect with buffs, perfect in combat!
She was the ultimate all-rounder, a true multi-position player.
“Areum, this is the bare minimum to call yourself a proper full-party supporter. Got it?”
“...Aha! Right!”
Areum nodded vigorously up and down.
Whether she herself could ever pull it off in the future was another matter.
Right now, the professor shone with a brilliance that seemed to gather all the light in the world.
She was literally glowing.
‘D-Dream big...!’
A new image of the ideal support-type hunter was etched into Areum’s mind.
Her feelings showed plainly on her face and in her gestures.
Sihyun nodded in satisfaction at her disciple.
The villain group had crashed the party today, but the results were gratifying in the end.
Thanks to that, the displeasure from Kang Do had washed away clean.
“I’ll wrap up that Kang Do guy over there, so can you gather the fainted ones in a pile?”
“Y-Yes!”
Areum straightened up and shouted her reply.
She headed toward the man who’d tumbled a short ways off.
Grunting with effort, she somehow dragged him over.
She dropped him next to the filthy, drooling man.
“Whew—!”
She exhaled lightly and turned toward the C-rank thief.
The dagger must have sunk deep.
He couldn’t stand and was crawling away on his belly.
‘W-What do I do about that one...?’
He looked pathetic, but he was still a C-rank hunter.
She was a fragile E-rank support hunter.
Areum hesitated for a moment.
The professor had specified the fainted ones, so maybe it was fine to leave him.
But letting an escaping thief slink away felt unseemly.
Areum’s eyes hardened with resolve as she crept toward him stealthily.
The crawling thief was too desperate to flee to notice her approach.
‘I’m screwed, fuck! Hide for now and chug a potion!’
He focused everything on crawling with all his strength.
Then he sensed killing intent and looked up.
“Hik?!”
A woman loomed over him coldly, gripping a long wooden staff.
It was a weapon she hadn’t drawn before, having never joined the front lines.
Staff or not, it might as well have been a club.
Areum swung at the man with all her might.
Puk! Puk! Puk!
“S-Stop! Kyak!”
The thief tried to resist.
Injury aside, he attempted to block the staff.
But.
‘Why...? Why won’t my body move all of a sudden?!’
His body refused to obey, as if bound by something.
He couldn’t even resist, taking a one-sided beating.
In that instant, the endurance gap from their rank difference twisted the situation into outright torture.
“Hueeng! Stop, please stop!”
“Haa..., why won’t you just faint? Hiyah!”
“Kyak! Please! Stop!”
The thief screamed, wishing he could black out.
Meanwhile, for Sihyun.
She’d given Areum just enough support to handle things her way.
Now she turned her gaze to Jihan and Kang Do’s side, stepping toward them.
Kang Do, still in stealth, slowly closed in on Jihan from behind.
The moment he tried a cowardly ambush, Jihan whipped around and blocked.
“Predictable!”
“Kuh...!”
Jihan sneered at Kang Dojun.
Hunter senses grew keener with higher rank.
And right now, they were sharper than ever.
He could handle an ambush just fine—unless the enemy was fleeing.
‘Damn...’
Kang Dojun took a step back, scowling as he sized up the situation.
What the hell had happened in this short time?
His comrades lay unconscious all around.
At the edge of his vision, an idiot woman approached.
He switched targets.
‘Grab a hostage first...!’
His comrades might be down, but he was a B-rank hunter.
Time to prove he was different.
“Idiot!”
“Eh?!”
Kang Dojun faked an attack on Jihan before spinning his body in a flash.
He charged straight at Sihyun, activating stealth again.
Jihan hadn’t seen it coming and yelled in shock.
“N-Noona! Watch out!”
“...Noona, seriously.”
Sihyun sighed deeply and casually sidestepped.
She nimbly reached into the air.
“C-Crazy?!”
She precisely seized the invisible Kang Do’s wrist.
Whooong—!
Without a second’s hesitation, she spun a full 360 degrees at blinding speed.
Kwang!
Using momentum and inertia, she swung her arm overhead and slammed him into the ground.
“Kuaak!”
The horrific impact made him drop his dagger.
Unable to bear the pain, he rolled on the ground clutching his face.
Blood pooled on the floor amid several broken teeth.
The whole thing happened in an instant.
Jihan’s jaw dropped, hanging open.
“F-Fucking insane... so damn cool...”
Admiration leaked out unbidden.
Smooth, refined movements in perfect sequence.
And that casual head-turn, like it was nothing.
Jihan stared at Sihyun, forgetting to even breathe.
In the meantime, Sihyun surveyed her surroundings.
The Wings Guild men were regrouping now that the fight was over.
Farther off, Areum was grunting as she dragged another thief.
“Hm...”
As she sorted her thoughts, Hankyeol approached.
Sihyun stared at Kang Do, still writhing in agony, and spoke.
“Hankyeol-ssi, you can take down the boss without me, right?”
“...Yes, of course! My condition’s perfect thanks to you, Sihyun-ssi!”
“Then take Areum and head to the boss room. I’ll handle things here.”
“Pardon?”
Hankyeol blinked in confusion, but Sihyun pointed down the path they’d come from.
“A monster horde’s inbound. I’ll hold them off and catch up, so take out the boss in the meantime.”
Hankyeol glanced between Sihyun, the thieves, and Areum.
After a brief moment’s thought, he nodded.
“Understood!”
The other men who’d overheard hurried into motion.
They took Areum and headed toward the presumed boss room.
Sihyun grabbed Kang Do by the hair and hauled him up.
“Kyaak...! I-I’m sorry, p-please stop!”
Ignoring his screams, she dragged him along.
She headed to where the other three thieves were gathered and channeled her holy power.
Soon, the fainted men began stirring back to consciousness one by one.
“Hik?!”
“Huek!”
The first thing they saw upon waking was their leader—broken, blood streaming from nose and mouth.
They grasped the situation in a heartbeat and dropped to their knees in terror.
They kowtowed on the ground, eyes darting fearfully to Sihyun.
Sihyun crouched down and gave them an order.
“...Empty your pockets. Everything.”
“Pardon?”
“You said you looted other parties clean? Time you went through the same.”
“T-That’s...”
“Tch.”
They were low posture, but they didn’t get it.
Sihyun clicked her tongue and lifted the boss’s face for clear view.
Then—
Kwang!
—slammed it back into the ground.
Blood sprayed, adding fresh tooth fragments to the dungeon floor.
“Huek!”
“W-We’ll hand it over!”
“P-Please, just spare our lives!”
The terrified thieves fumbled with their status windows.
They pulled out items one by one and offered them to Sihyun.
Everything had already been cleared out—only potions remained.
Even threatening them for hidden stashes felt like a hassle.
Sihyun pocketed a few daggers and potions into her bracelet.
Then she spoke in a low voice.
“Guess you’ve got karma to pay too, huh?”
“Pardon?”
Ignoring their confusion, she stood.
She bound the thieves tight with magic and headed toward the monster horde.
Realization dawned, and they wailed desperately against being dragged.
But their bodies wouldn’t budge.
In the end, all they could do was howl.
“P-Please spare us!”
“Our lives—please, just our lives!”
Sihyun ignored their pleas.
She reached the edge of the undead-infested area.
“All the things you did to other parties in the meantime.”
She gazed at the men impassively.
“Experience it exactly the same.”
One by one, she grabbed their collars and hurled them into the horde.
“Kkireok?”
“Hihi?”
This dungeon wasn’t just skeletons.
Zombies and other undead were plentiful too.
The undead caught the scent of the living and let out eerie, chilling laughs.
“Kihihi—!”
“Kkekekeke!”
Instinctively thrilled, they lunged at the thieves.
They sank teeth relentlessly, ripping into living flesh.
Claws tore out meat and guts.
“Kuaaaaak!”
“N-Nooo—!”
Sihyun’s binding spell wore off and vanished.
But it meant nothing to the hunters already swarmed by undead.
They were devoured alive.
Sihyun gave a slight frown and turned away.
She hadn’t wanted Areum seeing this, so she’d sent her off with the Wings Guild men.
But to ensure their absolute safety, she planned to rejoin them quickly.
She left without a backward glance.
Meanwhile, for Areum.
“W-Wow...”
She watched the Wings Guild men battle in the boss room.
Another gasp of admiration escaped her—countless for the day.
“S-Skeleton Mage...”
The monster the professor had mentioned upon first entering the dungeon appeared.
The professor’s prediction had hit perfectly.
‘As expected of Professor Jeong Sihyun!’
Areum’s eyes sparkled as she eagerly awaited her professor’s return.