Chapter 72 – Dungeon Exploration by Jena and 3 Others (Party Name Undecided) – 4

“Yena! Head down!”

Yena, who had been attacking from squid-shaped monsters in front of her, quickly crouched down and lowered her upper body.

Freezing bullets from her rifle pierced and froze the heads of her monsters attacking her.

“Keep crouching. Understand?”

Harin completed her spell and spread her hand in the direction of the enemy. Even though she was away, fireballs that felt a lot of heat poured down towards the squid monster.

Her magic was much stronger than when she first met and captured the goblin. By the time the monster burns to death like this, and we think we’re going to die of steam. Jiyoon looked at me and smiled kindly.

“Do not worry about it. I have a potion that cools the surroundings. I did an experiment with Harin, so don’t worry!”

Before the fireball could get any closer, she took out a blue glass bottle, unstopped her, and sprayed it in the air over her. A blue film appeared, and cold air surrounded us inside.

Fierce flames scorched the passageway and stretched out in the direction we were supposed to go. All the squid-shaped monsters in sight shook their bodies in agony and turned red.

When the flames subsided and the attack ended, the dungeon was filled with the smell of grilled squid that could be sold as a snack at a bar.

“I want to drink beer.”

Everyone nodded at the muttering of someone.

We hesitated for a moment at the strong smell attack, but before the smell of grilled squid was absorbed, Harin’s magic created a strong wind and moved forward.

“Did you practice anything after the first goblin fight? Do you think your magic skills have gotten better?”

As if feeling better about my question, Harin answered with a confident smile and an excited voice.

“Whoops. Did you just notice? Aren’t the non-magic kids realizing it too late?”

Harin did not hide her delight and she explained this and that to the magical theory, but unfortunately she couldn’t understand what she was talking about.

Perhaps this is basic content, but I wondered if I was the only one who didn’t come from the academy, so I glanced at Yena and Jiyoon.

“To think that just by understanding this, his magic skills improved, as expected, that person was… Hehe. Anyway, that’s why the power of magic has become stronger.”

Learning from someone is not something to be ashamed of, but I looked at my eyes and forced my words back. As I tilted my head, Jiyoon smiled and dug between us.

“Isn’t this amazing too? Thanks to someone I know, I was able to enter the basics of alchemy.”

Jiyoon shook the potion that prevented the side effect of Harin’s magic attack.

“Because Harin likes to be strong, flashy, and explosive.”

Every time Jiyoon subtly put her accent on, Harin blatantly avoided her gaze and moved next to Jena.

Yena stroked her Harin’s head without saying anything to her, which made her look pretty cute as it was the opposite of how Harin usually shows her. Jiyoon must have been the same. She said with a smile.

“My teacher told me to learn this first.”

Jena also seemed to have found great teachers for all three, as her shield shone for a moment. Looking at them who have become stronger, she thought that she should try not to fall behind.

On the other hand, although it was also a confrontation, the basics were definitely reconnaissance missions, so Jena opened her notebook and wrote down the things worth reporting, such as the monsters she encountered in the dungeon.

“…The density of monsters is higher than the previous information.”
“Originally, how many of those grilled squids come out?”

Harin’s cheeks rubbed as he pressed against Jena’s face. She told me to leave, but she glanced away. When Jiyoon saw that, she quickly occupied Jena’s other cheek and laughed happily.

“You guys are really good. They look like couples on the street.”

She just expressed her impressions, but the atmosphere suddenly turned cold. I could hear her gulping saliva. They exchanged glances without speaking for a while, then looked at me one last time.

“…Did I make a mistake?”
“…No, we’re on good terms.”
“It’s just not a good relationship. Right?”
“Harin. Not yet…”

Jiyoon whispered in a low voice, and Harin became quiet. After the small talk, Yena came up to me with the two of them next to each other.

“Previously, there were two groups of five squid, but what we just witnessed was 30 even if we caught less. The reconnaissance cycle is the same, but there must be a reason for this difference.”

She wanted to focus on Jena’s words, but her eyes kept going as the three of them rubbed their cheeks in front of her eyes. It didn’t seem like the relationship was usually good.

Feeling a little left out, she nodded as if she understood Jena’s words.

“After the confrontation, I will have to report to the Hunter Association as a major matter.”
“…Yes.”

When Yena deliberately closed her notebook so that she could hear it loudly, Harin and Jiyoon rubbed their cheeks before falling apart. It was a look of regret.

“…Now it’s about 60% past. Let’s hurry.”

As Jenna got ahead, she hurried her steps so as not to fall behind.

We continued on, but there was no group of monsters that looked unusual enough to report, like the group of squids earlier. After walking for a long time, I finally began to see the end of the first floor, the turning point.

“Are we going to come first? If there were squids over there, it would have taken time to deal with it.”
“Right. It seemed that no one could use magic like Harin.”

The thought of safely clearing the first floor of the dungeon made me feel relaxed. When I turned the corner, I saw the stairs going down from the first floor to the second floor, and four members of the Sons of Beach party who had been grabbed by giant tentacles and pushed against the wall.

“…Suck!”

Jena held her breath and pressed her shield close to her body. A heavy sound was heard, and she was pushed back a little. She opened her eyes and saw that something like a giant octopus leg had struck her shield.

“…Yuna!”

Hearing Jena’s call, he aimed at the octopus leg and fired. Her bullets, given her fire attribute, acted like an incendiary bullet, severing her octopus legs that struck her Jena’s shield.

With that, she did not stop shooting and aimed in the direction where the Son of Beach party members were. Through the scope, I could see the people’s distressed expressions.

A soggy feeling deep in my heart welled up asking why I should help someone who hadn’t helped me, but I remembered Ispin’s boundless interest and her helping hand. At moments like this, she was a memory so bright and warm that she was not swallowed up by soggy emotions.

“Whoa…”

Exhale briefly and then pause. I fired carefully so that her bullets would not ricochet. After a few short threes, the legs of the octopus holding them down were severed.

“Cheuk! Ugh!”

She breathed heavily and hurriedly ran this way, clutching the dropped weapon.

“…Thanks.”

Instead of answering with a small nod at the words of the bald-headed hunter with a crumpled expression, I decided to ask what I was curious about.

“What happened?”
“When we arrived here, there was a strange sound coming from the stairs leading to the second floor. The moment I reached out to check it, octopus legs spilled out from the stairs.”
“…But, there are no monsters like that on the 2nd floor. Only the bosses in this dungeon have anything like that-“

Before Jenna came out of our office, she was in denial, recalling the dungeon briefing she had done, then choked her speechless. The dungeon boss was far below. Even if her legs were long, they were never long enough to reach the first floor.

“Yes. Something seems to have happened. It’s an emergency. The confrontation is stopped. We have to go out right now and inform the association.”

When we agree with that idea and try to turn around. Suddenly, the dungeon shook with a loud sound.

“I’m sorry…!”

The moment I tried to lower my body and wait for the shaking to stop. The floor started to collapse in front of 5m.

When you tried to pull yourself out after realizing that the floor was collapsing. The scaffolding on which our party as well as the Son of Beach were resting collapsed.

I couldn’t even lift a finger in fear of falling into the black darkness. His mind turned completely white. I didn’t know what to do or how to do it.

“… Harin! Jiyoon! Yuna! Come here!”

Hearing Jena’s voice, he reflexively moved her body. As she flinched, she stretched out her hand, and Jena’s gloved hand reached out and pulled at her blade.

Harin flew with Jiyoon as a counterforce using her magic. When all three of us grabbed Jena’s body, we began to see a gray floor in the pitch black darkness.

Every time I take a breath, my heart approaches so fast that my heart stops.

Jena shouted, pointing her shield straight at her ground.

“Shield of protection!”

The shield turned white, and four pairs of wings protruded from the side. The wings hugged us as if they were wrapping us tightly behind Jena. And the moment you inhale and exhale.