No.490 Winterhalt (1)
The moment Hong Yeon-hwa accepted my proposal, I immediately picked a dungeon we could clear in a single day trip.
A D-rank with no pending bids, ice-themed, and easy to grind ranks in.
Then, come evening, I met up with Shin Byung-cheol and Hong Yeon-hwa, and we started down the stairs to the underground levels.
Shin Byung-cheol took the lead, clearing the way while chattering nonstop.
"Hey, how come you never take a break during dungeon-run weeks? You're down here more often than most third-years."
"Because I stick to the easy ones."
"That doesn't seem to be all of it, though? On Friday you—"
"Shut it."
"Ah, sorry."
If I hadn't cut him off in time, word would have gotten out that I'd entered a B-rank dungeon.
Shin Byung-cheol froze for a moment, but soon picked up right where he'd left off as if nothing had happened.
"By the way, hyung, this guide job really comes with no pay?"
"You lost the bet, remember."
The bet in question had been whether Shin Byung-cheol would pull D-grade or better from the random box, or something below it.
And out came, in all its glory, an E-rank tea set—so this guide duty was unpaid labor.
"Well, yeah, but the thing is, I keep pulling nothing but tea sets lately and life's gotten downright destitute, you know? If you could show a little mercy, I'd be much obliged—"
At that point, Hong Yeon-hwa seemed to hit the limit of her patience and threw out a single word.
"Hey."
"Hm?"
"Shut up."
"Yes, ma'am. Zipping it."
Shin Byung-cheol zipped his mouth shut.
Since I'd also felt the need to adjust the audio, I said nothing to her about it.
Still, I figured I should at least finish the conversation we'd been having, so I added one more thing.
"I might spare you a box or two, depending."
"……!"
Shin Byung-cheol protested his gratitude with wild gestures of his hands and feet.
Truthfully, I'd be needing his help to get my fifth stamp.
Thanks to the sudden appearance of a reward, Shin Byung-cheol threw himself into his guide role with renewed enthusiasm, and we reached Floor D and the dungeon entrance without any real trouble.
[No.490] Winterhalt Fortress
"When should we come back?"
"Morning. We'll be staying quite a while this time."
"Okay, see you then."
Hong Yeon-hwa and I gave Shin Byung-cheol a casual wave and stepped through the teleport portal one after the other.
The next moment, we emerged inside what looked like a barracks.
It had a generally medieval atmosphere, and the facilities weren't great.
Even indoors, a chill hung in the air—you could only imagine how much colder it would be outside.
- Bwooooong—!
Then, from somewhere, a deep, heavy horn call rolled out across the air.
It was joined by the bustling of hurrying people, shouts, and the clamor of voices all tangling together.
Hong Yeon-hwa and I exchanged a glance and walked out of the barracks.
- Whiiiing—
A blizzard smacked us in the face the instant we stepped out.
'Cold, all right.'
My uniform had built-in cold protection, and I had Elemental Resistance on top of that, but cold was still cold.
Granted, it wasn't freezing-to-death territory, so I endured it well enough and scanned our surroundings.
'Winterhalt Fortress.'
This was the setting that gave the dungeon its backdrop.
As the word "fortress" suggested, the main rule was defense—hold the walls.
- Bwoooong—!
And the horn blasting away at our ears was announcing that that defense battle would begin shortly.
Soldiers came pouring toward the walls, marshaled by centurions.
"Everyone to your posts—!"
"Move it, move it, you snails—!"
Having watched the spectacle for a moment, I said a word to Hong Yeon-hwa and took the lead.
"Follow me."
"Okay."
We started up the stone stairs toward the wall, and stopped a passing centurion in his tracks.
"Let's ask a few questions."
"I said move, you worthless—yes, honored mage."
He'd been barking at his soldiers with a voice as gruff as his rough face, but the moment our eyes met, he flinched and turned abruptly, deeply respectful.
A testament to just how absolute a mage's standing was in these parts.
'Not that that's the only reason.'
The centurion was likely sensing an untouchable aura of authority radiating from me.
One of the smaller perks of Sovereign.
It made asking questions and giving orders remarkably convenient.
"Where are we supposed to go?"
"Ah, if you head this way……. No, allow me to escort you personally."
The centurion started to point out the direction, then changed his mind and began walking ahead of us instead.
"???"
Trailing behind, Hong Yeon-hwa glanced back and forth between me and the centurion, confusion written all over her face.
Apparently it felt surreal to watch that gruff centurion turn so friendly the instant he laid eyes on me, as if he were a different man entirely.
"This way, honored mages."
The centurion led us to one corner of the wall.
It sat higher than the rest, offering a sweeping view of the whole battlefield.
'A prime spot.'
The one flaw was that it drew every eye of the soldiers stationed there—but that was easily fixed.
I looked at them and deliberately furrowed my brow, as though annoyed.
"This is distracting. I'd like you all to clear out of this spot."
"But honored mage, then we can't protect you in an emergency."
"We'll handle that ourselves."
The centurion tried to object, but when I insisted again, he had no choice but to comply.
In situations like this, a mage was the authority of authorities.
He herded his soldiers away in a clump, and the once-crowded stretch of wall emptied out.
Having rented out a whole section of the wall, we turned our attention properly to the battlefield.
Rugged terrain stretched out white beneath the snow, and an army of monsters marched across that snowy expanse toward us.
The most numerous were E-grade monsters: orcs.
Though these ones had been color-adjusted to suit the environment, their skin turned a pale white.
Ice Orcs, E+ grade monsters, ranging from warriors to archers to shamans.
Mixed in among them were medium-sized monsters like Ice Trolls and golems.
And at the very center of the ice army stood a woman shrouded in a snow-white robe.
The way blue ripples pulsed from her again and again marked her as a mage of considerable power.
The commander of this army—and a boss-class entity.
'The Ice Witch.'
Clearing this dungeon came down to one of two conditions.
Hold out for a set time, or slay the Ice Witch.
Naturally, lingering as long as possible to grind ranks beat rushing the kill.
The ice monster army kept advancing.
There was still a fair margin of time before they entered allied archer range—but some spells outranged any bow.
And when you had the range, the obvious move was to use it.
I gave Hong Yeon-hwa the order.
"Go ahead."
"……."
Hong Yeon-hwa answered with a small nod, then drew a staff from her inventory.
"You changed weapons?"
"Y-yeah……."
She used to favor a short, mobile wand, but now she'd switched to a long two-handed staff.
The ruby set at its tip was bigger, too.
"Going full Artillery-type, then?"
"It's just……. I think it suits me better."
Only a few weeks ago, Hong Yeon-hwa had been agonizing over whether to go All-Rounder or Artillery-type.
I'd expected her to waver a while longer, but apparently she'd made up her mind faster than I thought.
"Good call."
With these things, the sooner you commit, the better.
When I nodded, a faint smile touched Hong Yeon-hwa's lips.
She seemed pleased to have earned approval.
But only for a moment—her expression hardened into seriousness, and she turned her gaze to the battlefield.
Then she began chanting, steady and unbroken.
The ruby in her staff glowed a vivid crimson, and a vast magic circle unfolded beneath her feet.
What took shape moments later was the grand-scale spell she'd deployed as a trump card in the Cloud Stairs PvP.
Phoenix Flutter
- Fwoooosh,
A great flame surged up from the magic circle and took the shape of a phoenix.
When the phoenix beat its wings once, hundreds of flaming feathers scattered across the field ahead.
The burning feathers crossed the great distance and rained down on the monster army, and countless small fires bloomed across the line.
On its own, the spell didn't hit especially hard,
'But with Aqua Flame, that's a different story.'
- Fwoooosh!
Monsters touched by the embers—orc, troll, golem, it made no difference—melted away with a sizzle.
Fire magic laced with Aqua Flame was, for ice-attribute monsters, the ultimate counter of counters.
- Oooooh—!
The soldiers watching let out a roar of mingled awe and cheers.
Hong Yeon-hwa couldn't hide her swelling pride.
The corners of her mouth kept twitching upward.
I threw in another word.
"Keep it going just like that."
"Okay."
Hong Yeon-hwa summoned the phoenix again, and hundreds more flaming feathers swept the battlefield.
Even so, a sizable stretch of the ice monster army remained, still marching forward.
'There's no better hunting ground than this.'
The ideal environment for honing Aqua Flame and a whole repertoire of fire magic.
Unlike Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron, the density wasn't high, but ice-attribute monsters came swarming without end.
It was a matter of winning on quantity over quality.
After casting the large-scale spell a couple of times, Hong Yeon-hwa seemed to have gotten a feel for it.
Perhaps ready to start her rank grind in earnest, she pulled a bundle of rolled-up spell scrolls from her inventory.
They bore the word 'Boost' and several arrows pointing upward.
'Rank Boost.'
Simply put, an EXP buff item—nearly identical to the event buff I'd received back during the mentoring sessions.
It granted the user a buff for a set duration, during which the same practice would raise ranks much faster.
Unlike Rank Up, it worked at any rank, and you could grind multiple skills and traits at once—a major advantage.
I spoke my honest feelings aloud.
"I'm jealous."
Anything rank-related in this game was prized beyond measure, because it translated directly into specs.
Rank Boosts in particular lasted only a few hours, so people rarely cracked one open unless they were in a situation where their rank-grinding efficiency would be exceptionally high.
And here was Hong Yeon-hwa, planning to use them from her very first dungeon trip like it was nothing—a glimpse of just how deep the Ruby Magic Tower's pockets went.
But however she'd interpreted my remark about being jealous, Hong Yeon-hwa's eyes darted this way and that.
Then she cautiously held out a Rank Boost.
"I-I'll give you one……?"
I hadn't said hand it over because you're envious.
Now I just looked like the bad guy.
I shook my head.
"No, I'm good."
"I-It's fine. I have plenty."
Hong Yeon-hwa pulled more Rank Boosts from her inventory.
Most people struggled to get even one, and she was hauling them around by the bundle.
The Ruby Magic Tower must really be pushing her hard.
As I thought that and simply stared at her in silence, Hong Yeon-hwa trembled.
And held out one more Rank Boost.
"Th-then two……?"
Had she taken my silence to mean one wasn't enough?
At this rate the pile would keep growing, so I decided to just accept the kindness.
Besides, I was the type who never refused a gift in the first place.
"One's plenty. I'll make good use of it."
"Okay……."
- Whiiing—
Maybe it was the blizzard howling down on us.
Somehow, Hong Yeon-hwa looked more shrunken than usual.