EFME 33

When he finally came to his senses, Sunyul felt like he was going to lose his mind for a different reason. It was because Muyoung was holding him in a tight embrace. Sunyul’s hands were also clutching Muyoung tightly, though he had no idea when that had happened.

This wasn’t the first time Muyoung had hugged him. But…….

“Whoa…….”

“What the, who’s that guy.”

“It’s getting hot, so hot.”

……It was the first time he’d been held like this in the spotlight.

Sunyul gently pushed Muyoung away. As he did, a system window that had popped up came into view.

ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴇɴᴛᴇʀᴇᴅ ᴀɴ s-ᴄʟᴀss ᴅᴜɴɢᴇᴏɴ.

ᴄᴜʀʀᴇɴᴛ ɴᴜᴍʙᴇʀ ᴏғ ᴇɴᴛʀᴀɴᴛs: 𝟷𝟸 (ᴄᴀᴘᴀᴄɪᴛʏ 𝟷𝟸)

ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴜɴɢᴇᴏɴ ᴇɴᴛʀᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴄʟᴏsᴇ ɪɴ 𝟹 ᴍɪɴᴜᴛᴇs ᴀɴᴅ 𝟸𝟶 sᴇᴄᴏɴᴅs.

Since they were given 10 minutes before the entrance closed after entering, even subtracting the time it took for the person before him to come in… that meant they had been hugging for five or six minutes.

His face burned. He was embarrassed that everyone was staring, but Muyoung was composed. Seeing how composed he was, Muyoung certainly was a broad-minded person. Thinking he wanted to learn from him, Sunyul avoided their gazes and subtly hid behind Muyoung’s back.

“Stop gawking and get ready.”

The guild members who had been watching started to move their hands.

Sneak.

Muyoung, having driven away the guild members’ stares, turned back to Sunyul.

“Are you cold?”

“No, I’m not co- no, it is cold……. I’m okay.”

It was too cold to pretend he wasn’t. The frigid wind of the white snowfield was truly biting.

Muyoung placed a hand warmer into Sunyul’s hand.

“Wait here for a moment. I’ll be right back.”

Sunyul nodded.

Muyoung went to an open area and took out several large boxes from his inventory. The hunters began to diligently assemble the things that came out of the boxes.

Watching them for a moment, Sunyul opened the system window, just as he had in the Gwacheon dungeon last time.

[Dungeon Conquest Quest]

Condition 1: Destroy the 12 evil god worship statues that exist inside the dungeon.

Condition 2: Offer the correct tribute at the temple that exists inside the dungeon.

Condition 3: Annihilate the Kandiva swarm that exists inside the dungeon.

Condition 4: After completing conditions 1 and 2, hunt the boss monster that appears in the dragon’s lair.

Seeing the conquest conditions, Sunyul tilted his head.

“What is it?”

Yoonjae, who had been on standby, approached and asked.

“I was looking at the conquest conditions, and I have a question. Besides hunting the boss monster, there are up to three other conditions, but it says the boss monster will appear after completing only conditions 1 and 2.”

“Ah, conditions that are not mandatory will cause differences in the progression and results depending on their success. If successful, the boss monster’s difficulty might decrease, the dungeon’s stabilization period after conquest might be longer, or the rewards might be better.”

“Ah, then here… what happens if we annihilate the Kandiva swarm?”

“The boss monster, the Silver Dragon, will not summon a Kandiva swarm. If even one remains, it will summon 100 Kandivas. The difficulty of the boss monster conquest changes.”

“Then we must annihilate them.”

“Yes. The summoning is quite a tricky pattern, so we usually annihilate them before proceeding.”

Sunyul nodded at the very kind explanation. Then he cautiously asked another question.

“But the monsters could be hiding. How do you annihilate all of them?”

“A search-type hunter accompanies us. I heard that when the Cheongyeon Guild attempts a conquest, they always have Hunter Song Jihyun accompany them.”

“Did you call me?”

Jihyun, who had been looking far away, approached the two as soon as his name was called. Yoonjae averted his gaze as if annoyed.

“I didn’t call you, so go back to work.”

“You did call me.”

“I merely said your name. Work.”

“I’m almost done. Why’d you call?”

At Jihyun’s persistent attitude, Yoonjae sighed.

“I was just explaining the quest. Lim Sunyul-ssi asked how we find the Kandiva swarm.”

“Aha… this noona has some killer skills. When it comes to finding things, I’m the best in the country.”

“Wow.”

As Sunyul sent him a look of respect, Jihyun strutted. He was about to show off his skills but was grabbed by another guild member and dragged away again.

Before long, the assembly of the item was complete. The item was none other than a large snow sled. The plan was for the raid party to split in half and ride on two large, boat-like sleds.

Shim Chaeyoung summoned the summoned beasts that would pull the sled. One summoned beast was a Jindo dog, and the other was a Sapsali. However, their size was several times larger than a typical dog. Those creatures wagged their tails wildly in front of Chaeyoung, their summoner.

“Come here.”

As Sunyul was watching them, mesmerized, Muyoung called him. Sunyul immediately ran to Muyoung.

The raid party felt that Sunyul running to Muyoung was similar to the summoned beasts wagging their tails for Chaeyoung, but they held their tongues, afraid of Muyoung.

Muyoung, who was sitting in the very front seat of the sled, had Sunyul sit next to him.

“Do you always ride a sled like this in dungeons?”

“We mostly walk. This is a special case where we can ride a sled.”

Muyoung added that it would have been difficult to bring Sunyul if it were a place where they had to walk. Indeed, it would have been physically difficult for Sunyul, a non-Awakened, to walk all day following S-class hunters.

“Here we go!”

With Chaeyoung’s cheerful shout, the sled began to race across the snowfield. At the faster-than-expected speed, Sunyul staggered, and Muyoung wrapped his arm tightly around Sunyul’s waist to hold him. Muyoung’s embrace was not only stable but also warm, so Sunyul, conscious of those around them, snuggled in close.

After riding for about 10 minutes, the sled gradually slowed and came to a stop. Not far from where it stopped, a pure white lily of the valley was blooming.

“Wow…….”

The lily of the valley, with its pale sky-blue leaves, emitted a faint white light. As Sunyul stared at it, fascinated, Muyoung’s large hand covered his eyes.

“Don’t stare at it too intently. It will bewitch you.”

“…It bewitches you?”

“Yes. It’s a type of man-eating plant that bewitches people and devours them.”

Even though Muyoung’s hand was covering them, Sunyul squeezed his eyes shut. Feeling it from within his palm, Muyoung let out a chuckle. Pisik.

“You just have to not look at it directly. Even if you get bewitched, I’ll save you, so don’t worry.”

When Sunyul nodded, Muyoung let go of the hand that had been covering his eyes. Sunyul averted his gaze as he watched the gatherer go to dig up the lily of the valley.

“Monsters are coming.”

From far away, a monster was flying toward them. It was a bird with a large eyeball instead of a head above its neck, and a gaping mouth on its belly. At its grotesque appearance, Sunyul narrowed his eyes.

“Stay right here.”

After saying that, Muyoung stepped forward with a few other hunters. Sunyul took a step back and watched, extremely tense.

To get straight to the point, there was no need to be tense at all.

Jaehoon used his signature skill, [Gravity], to crush the entire flock of approaching monsters. Under the pressure of gravity multiplied several dozen times, the monsters couldn’t fly properly and flapped weakly. Haneujak.

Taking advantage of the opening, the hunters who could attack from a distance stepped forward. Muyoung was one of them.

Muyoung’s signature skill was [Erase], which literally erased the target. Muyoung manifested the Erase skill in only a small area. Only on the eyeball above the monster’s neck, where its brain was.

The instantly killed monsters fell to the ground with a thud. Hudeudeuk. Blood flowed from the erased cross-section, dripping below. Ttuk-ttuk.

—It’s that guy! Kill that guy!

—The one in black clothes!

—Go around him!

The monsters’ cries echoed from a distance. Sunyul felt a chilling fear. It was truly a mystery why he could hear the monsters’ words so naturally.

[The ‘Traveler of the Eternal Night’ comforts you, asking if it isn’t convenient and good that you can hear them.]

It’s not good at all.

Sunyul averted his gaze and ignored the monsters’ cries.

While the hunt was in full swing, Yoonjae suddenly approached Sunyul. In one hand, he held a monster with its wings clipped. Sunyul was horrified at the gruesome sight.

“Kill it.”

“Ex-excuse me?”

“You have to kill at least one monster to make a contribution and receive the contribution reward, so kill it.”

—No, die, die…….

A shiver ran down Sunyul’s spine. Ossak. As Sunyul backed away slowly, Yoonjae stared at him with sharp eyes. Seulgeum-seulgeum.

“Hurry.”

Sunyul was about to turn to look at Muyoung but stopped himself. This was probably something that had been agreed upon with Muyoung. He didn’t want to trouble Muyoung by needlessly asking for help.

In the end, Sunyul took out the gun he had been carrying at his side for a while. Then, with a trembling hand, he aimed the gun at the bird and fired.

Bang!

As he shot directly at the eyeball on its neck, the monster’s body went limp at once. Yoonjae observed Sunyul’s body trembling slightly.

“You’re soft-hearted.”

He glanced at him, wondering if he was being teased, but Yoonjae’s face was too serious to be teasing.

“That’s a compliment. I said it because you were hesitating too much, Lim Sunyul-ssi. Monsters don’t feel pity.”

“Ah, right.”

“Of course, the monster could have been acting.”

Yoonjae threw cold water on Sunyul, who had momentarily brightened up at being treated like a human. Seeing the again-dejected Sunyul, the corners of Yoonjae’s mouth lifted.

“I’m joking.”

“…….”

It was the brightest smile he had seen from him so far. This person might have a worse personality than I thought, Sunyul mused.