Chapter 129
Chapter 129
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 129
Chapter Title: The Healer's Accidental Finishing Blow
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And of course, Kwak Ho-young was among them.
Even so, Kwak Ho-young, leveraging his A-rank agility, landed safely on his feet. He gritted his teeth at the sight of his guildmates groaning from burns around him.
'It's all their own fault.'
No one here was unaware of that fact.
Yet instead of calming his excitement and thinking rationally even now, Kwak Ho-young vented his anger on the guild members who hadn't been injured yet.
"You able-bodied ones, get back in there! Can't you see it's obvious we just need to target its legs?!"
"Guild Master! We should fall back first and let Justice Guild wear it down a bit..."
"It'll be over by then!"
Having apparently forgotten about the cameras, veins bulged in Kwak Ho-young's neck as he bellowed.
"It won't kill you, so charge in, you cowards!"
Kwak Ho-young, seething with rage, finally noticed Jeong Myeong-ho the hunter, who was guarding me and the Taesan healer.
"Hey, Jeong Myeong-ho!"
Jeong Myeong-ho's shoulders jerked at Kwak Ho-young's shout.
He was B-rank, but he looked utterly terrified—probably from how harshly his guild master usually treated people.
"Can't you see we're fighting the boss?! Join in now, you bastard!"
"N-no, we're protecting the healers..."
"Quit your nonsense and get over here!"
What a temper.
I clicked my tongue and glanced at Jeong Myeong-ho.
How does he even endure working under a guild master like that?
But I wasn't worried.
Jeong Myeong-ho and I had a contract.
A promise between hunters in a dungeon was on a whole different level from casually saying "let's grab a meal sometime."
It was a formal verbal agreement made in front of the broadcast cameras.
In exchange for me healing his wounds, Jeong Myeong-ho would protect us during the boss fight.
But then the unbelievable happened.
"N-Nayeo-ju Hunter, sorry."
With those irresponsible words, Jeong Myeong-ho ran off toward Kwak Ho-young.
No, that jerk!
I was stunned for a moment, and before I could call out to him, disaster struck.
"M-Myeong-ho! Jeong Myeong-ho!"
The panicked Taesan healer shouted the name of the guild member who'd abandoned him.
I reached out and covered the Taesan healer's mouth.
He flinched, finally realizing his mistake too late, his body going rigid.
But it was already too late.
Gr-r-r-ind.
With a sound like massive rocks grinding together, the magma golem turned its head.
The boss's gaze fixed on the basin where the Taesan healer and I had been left defenseless without protection.
Our eyes met.
Its eyes, rippling as if filled with bright red magma, stared straight at me.
And I could tell.
'It's smirking?'
The monster was laughing.
"Sis! Run!"
Yu-chan screamed at the top of his lungs.
I immediately grabbed the Taesan healer by the collar and turned to flee.
But we were healers, after all.
On this unstable terrain covered in volcanic ash and flowing lava everywhere, we couldn't move as quickly as the other hunters.
"Rwaaaargh-!"
Booom!
The dungeon boss's roar echoed from behind, followed by a massive boom that shook the entire volcano.
"Ugh!"
In the end, the Taesan healer and I couldn't run any farther and collapsed to the ground.
My hands burned from touching the hot ground, but the earthquake-like tremors made it impossible to stand.
"B-behind us!"
At the Taesan healer's groan-like shout, I looked back.
The ground split where the magma golem had slammed down, and magma surged toward us like a wave.
Fortunately, it didn't seem like it would reach us.
As I thought that and tried to get up again—
"Nayeo-ju!"
I heard Kang Han's voice calling me.
Amid the lava shooting upward and falling back down, defying gravity, I saw Kang Han, Yu-eul, and Jang Su-ho rushing toward me—their images stretched unnaturally, like forced slow-motion footage.
Ridiculously, my first thought in that moment was 'Why?'
Why do they look so pale?
Why are they so terrified?
And the answer came in the next instant.
Something was flying toward me faster than the three of them.
A massive boulder hurled by the magma golem from afar, still ablaze with fierce flames.
Splat!
Instinctively, I shoved the Taesan healer away with all my strength.
And curled up.
'Please, please!'
Of course, I had something to rely on.
The necklace Jeong Je-hwa had given me before entering the dungeon.
The one that would block any single physical or non-physical attack.
I'd trusted it would activate—that was why I'd acted.
"Please!"
I'd never prayed so desperately in my life.
And just then, I felt a hot gust of wind.
Booom!
"Ugh!"
A skull-rattling impact crashed into me.
Before I could even register what it was, my body was sent flying backward.
"Kuhk!"
My back slammed into the ground at tremendous speed, dull pain overwhelming me.
'Did the necklace fail?'
That's what I thought.
Until a massive wail echoed from afar.
"Kreeeeh!"
It wasn't my voice.
At the same time, my tightly shut eyes—dark vision—flashed bright with a window.
"Huh?"
What did this mean?
The boss monster died in the meantime?
I opened my eyes in shock.
There were the three from Justice Guild, frozen in place exactly as they'd been rushing toward me, now turning to look at the volcano's core.
My heart skipped a beat from the sheer surprise.
'Did Taesan do it?! Kwak Ho-young?!'
But the Taesan hunters looked equally stunned.
'...Then who?'
I sought someone to answer my question.
The Taesan healer lying nearby.
He pointed at me with a trembling finger and muttered.
"N-Nayeo-ju-ssi took down the boss..."
"Me?!"
My voice echoed loudly through the now-silent volcano, as if the fierce battle had never happened.
"N-no way..."
I slowly lowered my head to check the necklace.
The black gem was cracked and shattered.
There was no way Master Jeong Je-hwa's creation had cracked from mere volcanic heat.
"N-no..."
With a hunch, I pulled up the info window.
"Th-this damn...!"
Jeong Je-hwa! You bastard!
I flopped flat on the ground right there and covered my face.
What the hell is this!
What is this?!
"I stole the finishing blow!"
Lee Gi-dae let out a hollow laugh too.
"W-well... this is unexpected. Haha."
He could hardly believe his eyes.
Speaking for Jo Tae-seok, who was still reeling in shock and disbelief, Lee Gi-dae opened his mouth, fighting back bursts of laughter.
"So... Nayeo-ju Hunter... she's a healer, right?"
"Ah, of course. Healers are hunters too."
"The Awakener Association's data showed no attack skills... It must be an item effect."
Jo Tae-seok, finally snapping out of his shock and forcing down his laughter, clenched his teeth and explained.
"Anyway... With Nayeo-ju Hunter's attack, the Ansan City C-rank dungeon boss... has fallen. Yes."
"Pfft!"
At Lee Gi-dae the caster's words, Jo Tae-seok finally burst out laughing.
"Khk, ahem. Jo Tae-seok Hunter! You can't laugh, heh—!"
"Ah, y-yes. S-sorry... Khk!"
The two finally gave up on the broadcast amid their uncontrollable laughter, hurriedly bowing their heads.
But their shaking shoulders gave them away.
For a good while after, the screen showed only the broadcast team desperately holding back laughter and the chat flooded with "lolololol."