Chapter 12
Chapter 12
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: The Beautiful Half-Elf
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Indeed, the saying that all elves were handsome men and beautiful women wasn't a lie.
The woman standing before him right now was more beautiful than any woman Kang Jin-hyuk had ever seen.
Perhaps sensing his piercing gaze, she furrowed her brow.
"What are you staring at like that?"
Realizing his behavior was rude, Kang Jin-hyuk quickly averted his eyes.
Maintaining his awkward averted gaze, Kang Jin-hyuk tossed a question her way.
"Um, by any chance... are you an elf?"
It might have seemed like a random question.
But since there was a dwarf in this dungeon, an elf wouldn't be all that strange.
Her reaction to Kang Jin-hyuk's question was neither affirmation nor denial.
"Half right. I'm a half-elf."
She added an explanation that while she looked like an elf on the outside, her eating habits and lifestyle were no different from a human's.
"You've at least heard the name Lucia the Half-Elf, right?"
"No. I haven't."
"R-Really? I thought I was pretty famous, but I guess not yet."
Lucia scratched her cheek with an embarrassed look.
The pride with which she'd spoken made the embarrassment hit back twice as hard.
"Anyway, that's my name. Platinum-rank adventurer."
Along with her self-introduction, she held out a platinum medal adorned with ornate decorations.
Kang Jin-hyuk had no idea what it meant.
Given that it was made of precious platinum, it was probably no ordinary item, so Kang Jin-hyuk pretended to be impressed.
"Wow, that's impressive."
"...If you're going to act, at least do it properly."
Lucia sighed and tucked the medal back into her bosom.
"Fine, I can understand not knowing my name, but not knowing what this emblem means? You definitely aren't from around here."
"That's what I said. It's a different world from the one you know."
Hearing Kang Jin-hyuk's words piqued Lucia's interest.
"How different, exactly?"
"For starters, the language we speak is completely different."
"You're talking to me just fine, though."
"That's probably thanks to this."
Kang Jin-hyuk pulled the necklace he was wearing out from under his clothes.
Seeing it, Lucia immediately grimaced.
"Don't tell me that's the one made by that dwarf geezer from the upper floors?"
"Huh? You two know each other?"
"Know each other... yeah."
Lucia replied in a sullen tone, openly showing her discomfort.
"Don't get involved with that dwarf. He's exhausting."
"Huh? Why?"
"Why? Because whenever you meet him, he just spews curses like you're his mortal enemy."
Hearing that, Kang Jin-hyuk felt something was off.
"He does curse a bit, but it's not that bad."
"That's because you're human. For me, just because I have half-elf blood, he hits me with fat-shaming and double curses...!"
Recalling the past made her blood boil, and Lucia's face gradually flushed.
Just before she could launch into a long rant about the dwarf, she realized the topic had strayed and exercised her patience.
Lucia took deep breaths repeatedly to calm her rising emotions.
"Anyway, the language barrier isn't a big deal. Magic can handle that."
"There is no such thing as magic in my world. No elves like you either, Miss Lucia."
Technically a 'half-elf,' but now wasn't the time to nitpick.
Lucia widened her eyes, doubting the credibility of the information she'd heard.
"No elves? Then how do you know about elves?"
"Well... I guess I read about them in books...."
"A race that appears in books but doesn't exist in reality? Did they go extinct or something?"
"Uh, well."
Kang Jin-hyuk was at a loss for how to explain.
How could they describe races from another world so accurately?
He wanted to ask fantasy novel authors directly.
While Kang Jin-hyuk hemmed and hawed without answering, Lucia pieced together the situation in her own way.
'Elves must have existed long ago, so they wrote about them in books. If they find out elves have reappeared, that'd be bad.'
Lucia imagined herself captured by researchers from another world.
Having rediscovered an extinct race, they'd surely subject her to all sorts of experiments and investigations.
The more she imagined, the paler her face grew, and she shuddered, shaking her head.
"I should hold off on going outside. Too risky."
For her own safety, she thought she shouldn't impulsively venture out.
She'd need to go out at least once for investigation, but she needed more preparation first.
"Either way, this dungeon is connected to another dimension, right?"
"Yeah... I guess?"
He wasn't entirely sure, but since it was connected to the attic, this dungeon wasn't isolated.
Hearing Kang Jin-hyuk's answer, Lucia patted her chest in relief.
"Good. That mad mage's ritual succeeded, at least."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"What else? There's a lunatic who sent this dungeon to your dimension."
Kang Jin-hyuk looked at Lucia in shock.
"Why on earth?"
"Who knows?"
Mage thinking was incomprehensible to sane minds.
Especially the higher their realm.
"If the ritual succeeded, reversing it should be possible too.... Now I see a path forward."
Hearing Lucia's mutter, Kang Jin-hyuk's stomach dropped.
It seemed this woman's goal was to return the dungeon to its original dimension.
"C-Could you go back right now, by any chance?"
"I'd need to investigate more. That's why I came here in the first place."
"What's here?"
"A hidden place cut off from the outside."
"A hidden place?"
"Yeah, I only found it recently."
After finishing, Lucia stared intently at Kang Jin-hyuk.
The sudden gaze made him uncomfortable, and he unwittingly stepped back.
"You seem pretty useful. Help me out."
"Help? With what?"
"Catching the boss monster."
"Boss monster...?!"
Hearing "boss monster," Kang Jin-hyuk's mouth watered.
Boss monsters were several times stronger than regular monsters of the same grade.
They were hard to hunt, but the huge rewards made hunters light up with fervor in search of them.
Seeing Kang Jin-hyuk's reaction, Lucia knew he'd bitten the bait.
"I could do it alone, but there are tons of small fries on the way, and it's annoying."
"So you want me to handle the trash mobs?"
Lucia grinned, pleased at how quickly he caught on.
"I'll give you the rewards, so help with the investigation. Deal?"
Of course, there was no reason to refuse.
Lucia's skills were proven by sight, and traveling with her would let him learn more about her goals.
"Got it. I'll help."
"Good, that's the spirit."
* * *
After agreeing to cooperate,
Lucia led Kang Jin-hyuk deeper into the labyrinth, into the temple interior.
At the center of the crumbling temple stood a statue of a goddess with both arms broken off.
When Lucia pushed aside the statue resembling a Venus figure, stairs hidden beneath were revealed.
"You're strong."
"Is that your idea of a compliment to a woman?"
Lucia pouted and descended the stairs first.
Following her, Kang Jin-hyuk was astonished at the vast space beneath the temple.
Knight statues lined up in rows, ornate patterns decorating the walls.
It was a fitting place for a boss monster to lurk.
"The boss is up ahead, right?"
"No, we have further to go. This place is bigger than it seems."
"How much further? One or two hours?"
"A day."
"Huh?"
"With breaks, it'll take about a day."
Kang Jin-hyuk's jaw dropped at her words.
"It's not a march; it takes a whole day?"
"I told you, monsters pop up along the way. There are stages to clear too."
As befitting a boss monster, reaching it required considerable hardship.
Lucia explained that factoring in hunting time and distance, it might take even longer.
After a moment of shock, Kang Jin-hyuk decided to take it positively.
"I'm here to level up anyway, so it's not bad."
He'd prepared thoroughly to stay long in the dungeon, so starvation wasn't an issue.
"But how do you know all this? Have you been here before?"
"Two days before it got flung to another dimension."
"Then why come back now...?"
"The ritual that mage left behind is likely still here."
Kang Jin-hyuk prayed desperately that whatever this ritual was, it wasn't here.
Sorry to Lucia, but he didn't want her returning the dungeon to its original dimension.
* * *
As they headed toward the boss monster, the abilities Lucia displayed were truly astonishing.
One moment she'd nock an arrow alone, and by the time she loosed it, at least two monsters would fall.
Even armored monsters met the same fate.
Her arrows precisely targeted gaps in the armor, piercing vital points.
Monsters had no way to block arrows flying from unseen distances.
Without his enchanted-enhanced stats, Kang Jin-hyuk wouldn't have even noticed what she was shooting.
It would have been great to rely on her endlessly, but sadly, arrows weren't infinite.
She reused intact ones when possible, but arrows couldn't be recovered 100% after firing.
When only ten arrows remained, Lucia drew the rapier from her waist.
"From here on, you'll need to help. I want to save arrows for the boss."
"Leave it to me."
Kang Jin-hyuk gripped his bat confidently and stepped forward.
He'd been itching to move after just watching her performance.
The opponents were ghouls, half-rotted corpses even in armor.
No better than skeletons, so dealing with them wasn't hard.
"Hyah!"
Kang Jin-hyuk swung his bat cleanly at the head of a ghoul shambling straight at him.
The ghoul's head crumpled along with its helmet on impact.
"Grraaah...."
Unlike skeletons, ghouls couldn't move once their heads were destroyed.
His stats had only risen a bit, but in this regard, they were easier than skeletons.
"Not bad."
The ghoul's armor was made of quality iron, impressive as it looked.
Crushing it in one hit wasn't easy with ordinary gear.
A normal person might think it was Kang Jin-hyuk's strength, but Lucia knew better.
"That bat— the dwarf uncle reinforced it, right?"
"You knew?"
"Yeah, he bragged about it last time I was there."
A weapon made of orichalcum and enchanted by a dwarf.
Anyone would covet it.
That's why Kang Jin-hyuk worried Lucia might eye his baseball bat too.
Sensing his concern first, Lucia smiled and said,
"Don't worry. I heard it's bound to you, so no funny ideas."
"Meaning you'd go after it if it wasn't bound?"
"Of course. Do you know how much that's worth?"
Her smiling honesty was even scarier.
This woman apparently hadn't learned the art of white lies.
"...."
After that, Kang Jin-hyuk couldn't stop feeling eyes on his back.
Worried she'd find a way to stab him in the back, he advanced bit by bit.
Feeling his sidelong glances, Lucia chuckled inwardly.
'Cute guy.'
A platinum-rank adventurer was proof of strength, but also of trust.
It was given only to upright adventurers who'd committed no crimes, serving as ID anywhere in her world.
Even flung to another world with the dungeon, Lucia had no intention of breaking that trust now.
The platinum emblem was a proud testament to her adventuring life.
But unaware of this, Kang Jin-hyuk truly suspected she might target his gear.
His rabbit-like fear tickled Lucia's sadistic side.
"Suddenly curious about something."
"W-What?"
"That bat. Would the binding effect remain even if you died?"
"...I'll go on alone from here."
"Hahaha, kidding. Don't freak out."
As Kang Jin-hyuk hurried ahead, Lucia quickly followed.
While striding at a pace indistinguishable from running, Lucia spotted something and yanked Kang Jin-hyuk's nape.
"Gah!"
Suddenly grabbed, his neck constricted, Kang Jin-hyuk coughed dryly and turned.
"What the hell?"
"Not trying to kill you, so calm down and look."
Where Lucia pointed was a large door.
Engraved with a lion motif, it looked ominous at first glance.
"What's this? We there already?"
"No, this is the first stage to meet the boss monster."
"First stage...? What's that?"
"Catching the guy guarding the seal beyond this door."
In other words, a mid-boss.
Not to be underestimated, Lucia nocked an arrow she'd planned to save for the boss.
"Ideally one-shot it, so the moment I open the door, charge forward."
"You're not gonna shoot me from behind, right?"
"That could work, but not now. Too much left that's tough solo."
"Good to know."
As Lucia drew her bow and signaled with her eyes, Kang Jin-hyuk flung the door open with all his might.
Behind the double doors glowed a blue magic circle, guarded by a knight-shaped golem.
"Now!"
Before Lucia finished, Kang Jin-hyuk was charging the golem.
The golem swung its sword at the intruder.
But Lucia's arrow struck first, embedding in the golem's joint.
As the unbalanced golem staggered into a defenseless state, Kang Jin-hyuk instinctively knew what to do.
His eyes locked on the core embedded in the golem's chest center.