Chapter 294 – Senior at Work Who Hates Me (6)

About an hour had passed since they followed Cheon Ji-hee, who had entered first, and searched deep into the shadow catacombs.

After the first encounter with the shadow specter, several more battles continued, and soon after, I also got used to how to deal with them.

First of all, it was most efficient to deal with these A-class monsters as soon as they appeared.

The first moment of restructuring the shape around the core was the moment they moved the slowest, so there was no hunting more efficient than swinging a sword and cutting them in that situation.

I felt strangely guilty because I felt like I was attacking a transforming magical girl, but in any case, moving forward was more important to me.

By any chance, even after the shape was completed, if you used the holy wave, a recovery magic, you could temporarily slow down the guy’s movement, so it wasn’t particularly difficult to deal with it even after the shape was complete.

At first, I didn’t want to use recovery magic as much as possible because I didn’t want to be noticed by others, but it seemed that the only people in this dungeon were me and Cheon Ji-hee.

Besides, that senior was ahead of me by a long way, so in the end, the conflict in my mind tended to lean toward more efficient movement.

If I couldn’t catch up with my seniors in the first place, the reason I entered the dungeon by myself would be cut in half.

A group of her hurriedly moved her steps deeper into her dungeon, thinking only of joining her.

Fortunately, the senior’s movement, which was running fast at first, started to slow down at some point, and on the contrary, I started to accelerate in my own way when I dealt with the monsters and moved forward.

It didn’t take long for the distance between me and her to be less than 100 meters.

Of course, the cemetery itself was so dark and there were many crossroads, so I still couldn’t confirm the senior’s shape.

Still, the shimmering arrows in front of her eyes were still pointing to the exact direction Cheon Ji-hee had passed, so there was nothing to get lost in.

As expected, the navigation is based on the awakening ability, so the performance is certain.

As I entered the depths of the catacombs to some extent, at some point, a completely different atmosphere began to tickle my back.

If the atmosphere until now was just an eerie and stuffy feeling, the feeling now is a chilling sensation, like a cold hand caressing your heart.

… Did you really enter this place alone?

Unlike me, who can use divine spells and magic, I inadvertently thought that it might be a bit dangerous for senior Cheon Ji-hee, a bare-handed fighter, to enter alone.

‘… It’s soreureung.’

… Well, I’m not in a position to worry about seniors right now.

Visor. Along with the sound, the sound of two blades colliding sharply in the air echoed through the graveyard.

A ghost in a black cloak floating in the air wielding an oversized scythe at me.

It was a class A monster, the appearance of a soul reaper.

Although it is a ghost-type monster, it is a very difficult monster for some hunters because physical attacks are the main means.

It was common for divine Awakeners who specialize in Ghost-type monsters to form a proper party starting with the Soul Reaper.

Simply creating a divine barrier and preventing the ghost-type monsters from approaching the surroundings by fighting was not enough to block the bloated blade of the soul reaper.

Conversely, in the case of a hunter who mainly uses physical means of attack like me… Rather, compared to the shadow specter, he was an easy guy to deal with personally.

He knew that if he could somehow get rid of that annoying blade, his body would become nothing like a scarecrow.

I was tired of avoiding and running away, looking for gaps, and dying in a surprise attack.

Finally, he swung his mithril greatsword at an opponent who could wield it properly.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

And after a few minutes.

‘Kieek… !!’

A soul reaper whose body splits in half with my greatsword and disappears with a scream.

Despite entering the deep part of the dungeon, the battle itself with the monster ended with a little absurd ease.

The guy whose scythe was broken by my great sword as soon as he took a few sword strikes from the first match didn’t show any resistance, just dodged my attacks like a paper doll and ended up dying.

‘Tuk.’

Only the Soul Reaper’s core obtained as a result of the battle fell to the floor with a quiet sound.

Ghost-type monsters were definitely regrettable if this part was a little disappointing. After all, it doesn’t leave anything that can be called material other than one core.

Of course, because this core itself is used in many ways, the price did not go down.

After taking the core that had fallen on the floor and putting it in the subspace pocket, I thought as I walked deep into the dungeon.

“… Senior Cheon Ji-hee, are you okay?”

It wasn’t that I doubted her abilities. I’ve already checked Cheon Ji-hee’s abilities countless times in the Crystal Spider Cave.

One or two A-class monsters… No, depending on the type, it must have been enough to deal with five or six or more at once.

It would be arrogant for me to care about her, since her career in her training in this shadowy catacombs is much older than mine in the first place.

… Even so, something had a subtle premonition.

The monster itself, called the soul reaper, is probably not a very difficult monster to deal with in the line of Cheon Ji-hee.

With her skills, avoiding the scythe wielded by monsters and crushing them with her fists would probably not be a problem.

Considering that she had reached this point, there was a high possibility that she also knew how to finish off ghost-type monsters.

However, no matter how senior Cheon Ji-hee is, when more than five or six of these guys rush at once, will she be able to properly deal with them? I’m just a little worried about that part.

It would be possible to deal with a crystal spider-like monster if you reduce the number one by one by mixing evasion and defense, but it would not be easy to defend against this monster called the Soul Reaper with bare hands.

No matter how much energy you put on your body and prepare for a defensive stance, it would probably be difficult to block the blades of A-rank monsters without taking any damage.

If it’s just one or two of hers, just moving her body to evade will be enough to deal with, but if more than that, if several of hers attack her at once…

No matter how hard it was for Cheon Ji-hee, it was inevitable for her to have the same thoughts in her head.

Besides, unlike the shadow specter, the soul reaper was also a monster that rarely ‘cooperated’.

Unlike the shadow specters that aim for the body, their purpose was to collect even one more soul.

Considering these and other factors, she thought for a moment that even if she was Cheon Ji-hee, she would not be in danger.

“… It must be worrying for nothing.”

She hoped so too. She is the same melee Hunter senpai and Azure Shield colleague.

The speed at which I broke through the dungeon also became faster, perhaps because of the mixed feelings in my head.

From here on, there were only monsters that I could wield a sword with, so I was able to move forward even faster.

As a result of defeating a few more soul reapers and entering the deep dungeon, a faint light began to flicker inside the graveyard a little deeper.

And even the familiar silhouette reflected in the light.

“… Senior Cheon Ji-hee?”

She must have been her, if she wasn’t mistaken for someone else.

She was also a senior with certain characteristics, to the point where it was hard to see her wrong in the first place.

The frayed old uniform, long limbs, and long dark blue ponytails flying back were elements that symbolized Cheon Ji-hee senior.

… The problem, though, was that it was in such poor condition that one could tell at a glance from afar.

Surrounded by four soul reapers, holding onto one of her arms and struggling desperately to hold on to her body.

Dark red blood dripped down the floor from the arm he was holding onto.

There was no time for hesitation. If it was delayed even a little longer, it seemed that the senior’s life would be in danger.

Ah, after taking out a spear from her pocket, she shouted at the senior surrounded by monsters as if giving an order.

“Keep your head down, senior!”

“… Big, black?”

Fortunately, she turned her gaze to me once and lowered her stance without much doubt.

Immediately, a spear I took out of my subspace pocket crossed the air.

Among her four scythes, one that was swung aiming at Cheon Ji-hee’s neck bounced off after being hit by my javelin.

“… !!”

‘… Keek!’

Seeing the gap in her monster with her weapon gone along with her flashing eyes, the senior immediately stretched her left arm to the guy’s chest.

She pulled the core of her Soul Reaper out of her air, still holding full power in her grasp.

Admiring her great mental strength to find her weakness even in the midst of her wounds, she immediately took up her greatsword and joined her surrounded by her monsters.

“… Just now, what is that window?”

“I’ll explain later! Catch these guys first!”

It wasn’t the time to talk about the need to hide it because I couldn’t believe it yet.

… The same thought flashed through my head, what the hell would it mean to hide my power just to make myself a little more comfortable?

There could be nothing more stupid than that if it made it impossible to save someone who could be saved.

After this fight, let’s explain everything to Cheon Ji-hee.

It was because it was something I couldn’t do anymore to hide and wield a sword.