Week 13 Conquest Battle (2)

Hundred Poisons Cannot Invade.

A trait that granted immunity to a wide range of poisons. Being C-Rank, it could still be pierced by rare or high-grade deadly toxins, but the basic plant poisons that appeared in this F-Rank dungeon were nothing it couldn't brush aside with ease.

"Still, watch yourselves, everyone—don't let anything scratch you."

"Poison is the only thing we need not fear, after all."

Go Hyeon-woo nodded. There was no need to worry about poison, but thorn pricks, physical blows, and other types of attacks would still land their damage—and with the rather strict condition of keeping our average HP above 95 percent, we couldn't afford to be careless.

"Shall we go find the crystals, then?"

Charging a crystal meant securing one first, naturally, and the crystals had to be somewhere in the dungeon. I turned to Seo Ye-in and spoke in my most courteous tone.

"Lady Lucky Charm, bestow a direction upon us, we humbly pray."

"……."

Seo Ye-in looked left, then right, then turned all the way around to peer behind us. And then, slowly, she raised a hand and pointed in one direction.

"That way."

"Excellent. Go Hyeon-woo, move out."

"Mm, I shall return."

Go Hyeon-woo and I both knew our Lucky Charm's 'abilities,' so neither of us harbored the slightest doubt.

- Whooosh—

Wind coiled around Go Hyeon-woo in a rounded shell as he strode off at a brisk pace. I had cast Wind Barrier on him.

"And where would be good next?"

At my question, Seo Ye-in tilted her head this way and that, then pointed in a different direction this time.

"That way."

"Let's be off, then."

"Move out."

There were two crystals in total to collect and charge. I had sent Go Hyeon-woo after one, so the remaining one was for the two of us. And so I led the way, with Seo Ye-in following at much the same pace.

Walking along the botanical garden's visitor course, the crystal soon came into view—precisely where the Lady Lucky Charm had divined it would be. When it came to anything involving hunches or luck, leaving it to Seo Ye-in had a way of working out.

The one problem was the crystal's location. An abnormally enormous Venus flytrap stood with its maw gaping wide, and the crystal sat right in the middle of it.

When Seo Ye-in looked to me, I demonstrated with a gesture.

"Shwip in, shwip out. Really easy, right?"

All she had to do was dart her hand in, snatch the crystal, and dart back out just as fast.

Seo Ye-in stared at the flytrap for a few seconds, then reached her hand in.

"Shwip."

- Chomp.

The flytrap snapped shut with terrifying speed and bit down on her arm.

"……Help."

"I told you—shwip it back out."

"Won't come out."

"Well, obviously not right now."

If it let go of its prey just because it squirmed, what kind of Venus flytrap would it be?

"……Help."

Part of me wanted to tease her a little longer, but her HP had dipped a bit further, so I decided this was the point to step in. I heaved the shut flytrap open from both sides, and Seo Ye-in pulled out her trapped arm along with the crystal.

"……."

Seo Ye-in glared at the Venus flytrap as though it were a worthy rival. Before long she began slowly bringing her hand toward it again, apparently intent on a rematch, but I caught that hand and stopped her.

"We're leaving now. No time."

"Okay……"

Go Hyeon-woo would be retrieving his crystal and heading back about now, so we couldn't waste another minute.

Even if she tried again, she'd only fail again anyway.

Which would mean shaving off more of her precious HP for nothing. Taking the slightly reluctant Seo Ye-in by the hand, I started back the way we had come.

The return trip turned a good deal more treacherous, because the plant-type monsters that had only been swaying in the distance were now converging on us. They looked like walking lollipops, or bean sprouts. The difference was that their heads were great fat flower buds instead of candy, and thick plant stems held up their bodies instead of sticks.

- Whooosh—

From that point on I kept Wind Barrier up and picked up the pace. Seo Ye-in drew her mana pistols as well, but I stopped her.

"Back to the greenhouse first."

"Roger."

The best way to fight was to return to the greenhouse, take up position near the Sanctuary, and do battle there. Our main objective was, above all else, charging the crystals. So we focused on nothing but running, ignoring the monsters entirely.

- Ting.

Every now and then something struck the barrier and bounced off—long, slender projectiles, poison stingers by the look of them.

- Hisssss—

Another time, acrid smoke suddenly billowed up across the path ahead, but we charged straight through rather than detour. It couldn't pierce the barrier, and even if it had, Hundred Poisons Cannot Invade would have stopped it cold.

Running without a single pause, we finally spotted the greenhouse.

Charging had already begun. As we approached the very center of the greenhouse, a beam of light stretching out from the Sanctuary came into view, connected to Go Hyeon-woo's crystal.

"Ah, there you both are."

"That was quick."

"Thanks to her, I found it in no time."

Go Hyeon-woo, crediting the Lucky Charm. But a moment later he drew his golden talisman sword and looked behind us—the bean sprout monsters were swarming in. Just as I'd intended, they were filing toward us in a neat single line along the narrow paths.

I gave Go Hyeon-woo his orders.

"Defense only for now. Herd them together so Seo Ye-in can take them all down."

"Understood."

He agreed without hesitation. He must have wondered why, but that could wait until later.

He wreathed his talisman sword in a ribbon of wind, then swung it diagonally at the monster charging in at the head of the line.

- WHAM!

It sounded like a club coming down full force. The giant bean sprout toppled backward and tangled up with the ones behind it—and Seo Ye-in's Magic Bullets came pouring down on that very spot.

- Ratatatatat!

The bullets detonated the instant they struck, wiping out the tangled monsters in one clean sweep.

"……."

Seo Ye-in swung her muzzles around at once, intercepting the ones advancing along another path.

- Ratatatat!

Hunting really is best done from a prime spot.

We didn't even need to drive the monsters; they lined themselves up of their own accord. All we had to do was plug a few of those choke points in turn, and the defense was complete. It couldn't have been easier—and for Seo Ye-in's quest, it was the perfect setup.

Enemy kills and headshots would fill themselves in naturally as she mowed down more monsters, but 'consecutive kills' was the relatively demanding one. The moment even a single bullet went astray, the count reset and started over from one. With Seo Ye-in's marksmanship, she could surely have managed thirty consecutive kills in any other dungeon as well, but for something like this, easy and certain was the better way to go.

- Ratatatatat!

That takes care of the tricky part.

The crystal was charging along nicely, too. With every approach blocked by Go Hyeon-woo and every advance intercepted by Seo Ye-in, the bean sprout monsters seemed to decide it was time to change tactics.

About time the next pattern showed up.

- Whirrr!

Like a cowboy, one of them spun something round and round before letting fly—a large lump shaped like a palm fruit came hurtling toward us. It burst open, spreading a thick haze of purple pollen. It was obviously laden with poison, but I said, perfectly composed:

"What are we?"

"Hundred Poisons Cannot Invade."

As if a pathetic toxin like that could work on us. Still, having our vision smothered wasn't exactly welcome, so I swept the poisonous pollen away with Wind Force.

- Flash!

At last, Go Hyeon-woo's crystal reached full charge. The beam pouring from the Sanctuary cut off for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a heartbeat, then linked itself to Seo Ye-in's crystal instead. The charge gauge began its slow climb.

- Whirrr!

The giant bean sprouts kept up their steady ranged assault. Apparently they still hadn't caught on that the poison pollen was doing nothing. Of course, besides the pollen fruit, some of them hurled cacti bristling with spikes or shot out slender poison stingers—though either way, the result was the same. Everything broke against the Wind Barrier. The cost of upgrading it to C+ Rank was paying for itself many times over.

- Ratatatat!

And Seo Ye-in paid back every last one of them in full. Go Hyeon-woo did the herding, I handled the defense, and the occasional plumes of toxic smoke were nullified by Hundred Poisons Cannot Invade—so she could devote herself entirely to the shooting, without a thought for anything else.

- Ratatatatat!

Then, at some point, the Magic Bullets abruptly felt dramatically stronger. Enough that Go Hyeon-woo flinched and glanced back. I threw a question at Seo Ye-in as well.

"Done?"

"Done."

She had completed the sub-quest and acquired Marksmanship. Every ranged skill and trait she owned ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠would have picked up a bonus of its own, so her overall firepower was bound to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠leap.

Seo Ye-in's firepower had grown by a whole tier. What's more, from that point on, Go Hyeon-woo no longer needed to herd anything and threw himself ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into the offense.

Before long—

- Flash!

The second crystal finished charging as well. The bean sprouts' relentless offensive stopped as though it had all been a lie, the greenhouse shuddered as if struck by an earthquake, and an exit opened its mouth.

Soon after, the replay crystal orb we had set to one side began its scoring.

The three of us gazed upon the results with satisfaction. In the midst of it, a question seemed to occur to Go Hyeon-woo, and he asked Seo Ye-in:

"But tell me, Miss Seo—when exactly did you lose HP?"

"Shwip fail."

"……?"

Translated: she had tried to shwip the crystal out of the Venus flytrap and gotten herself caught instead. Go Hyeon-woo was still a beginner in Sloth, so it was only natural he couldn't follow. It wasn't important, so we let it pass.

Thunderbolt Gorge, despite being the same F-Rank dungeon, had yielded only a single box as its reward. The Herb Botanical Garden, on the other hand, was a three-person dungeon, and its terrain was far more cramped than others of the same rank. If not for Hundred Poisons Cannot Invade, we would have been poisoned every time the bean sprouts hurled their toxic fruit—it would have been quite an ordeal. For those reasons, two random boxes had dropped.

"……."

"……."

Go Hyeon-woo and I turned to look at Seo Ye-in at the exact same moment, as if we had planned it, and Seo Ye-in gave the slightest tilt of her chin before opening both random boxes at once.

- Click.

For F-Rank random boxes, it was another fairly respectable showing. I handed one Random Rank-Up each to Go Hyeon-woo and Seo Ye-in.

"Now then, give them a try, both of you."

"But Brother Kim, does this not leave you with nothing to gain?"

"So what if it does?"

I managed all the rewards from the other dungeons anyway; there was no need to insist on my share at F-Rank too. And as for whether I was truly walking away with nothing—well, not quite.

The sub-quest had been wrapped up at maximum achievement, and this was the reward: a coupon that could collect stamp after stamp. The C-Rank Stamp Coupon could hold up to ten stamps, and upon collecting five and ten, it granted 'an even more special reward.'

And how did one go about collecting stamps?

By failing, of course.

To be more precise, a stamp was banked every time the holder—or a party member—received a 'failure' judgment from a random-type item. Say, pulling an E-Rank-or-below reward from a D-Rank random box, like a certain Mr. Shin, the future owner of a tea house.

Or by failing with a Random Rank-Up.

So go on, then. Fail already.

[230] The Support Ate It All