Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Han Siwoo led them into the mid-boss room.

Unlike the narrow entrance, the inside was spacious.

“Goblin again?”

[Red Goblin]

The word 'Red' in front of its name made it obvious that this wasn't quite the same as the goblins we usually fought.

“Goblins are easy. Fire Ball!”

Lee Junhyuk fired his skill.

The goblin swung the iron club in its hand.

His Fire Ball scattered instantly.

Lee Junhyuk looked surprised for a moment, but quickly raised his voice again.

“You blocked that? Then how about this! Fire Flash!”

He brought both hands together.

Flames exploded outward in every direction.

The goblin took the blast directly.

Smoke rose around its body.

Fire Flash was one of Lee Junhyuk's stronger skills.

It consumed quite a bit of mana, but its power was considerable.

And yet...

“What...?”

A hollow voice escaped Lee Junhyuk's mouth.

Even after taking Fire Flash head-on, the goblin looked perfectly fine.

It might have been the mid-boss of an E-rank dungeon, but until now, no monster had ever remained completely unharmed after taking Fire Flash.

Except under one condition.

“Noona! Don't tell me that thing is...”

Lee Junhyuk looked at me with a stunned expression, as though he had realized something.

I took out an item the Center had recently provided.

[Monster Analyzer]

[Usage: Point the magnifying lens toward a monster to analyze its strengths and weaknesses.]

At first glance, the Monster Analyzer looked like an ordinary magnifying glass.

It was consumable, but otherwise it was a very useful item.

[Monster Analyzer activated. One use has been consumed.]

[Remaining Uses: 4/5]

[Red Goblin]

[Characteristics: Commonly appears in E-rank dungeons. Displays a strong attachment to the iron club it carries.]

[Strength: Highly resistant to flames.]

[Weakness: Crown of the head.]

“...Fire resistance.”

Lee Junhyuk's face twisted.

At the same moment, my brother's lips shot upward into a huge grin.

“Looks like fighting it alone might be a little difficult, huh?”

He swaggered toward Lee Junhyuk.

“Well, if you beg me for help, maybe I'll think about it.”

“...I can defeat one measly mid-boss without some F-rank tanker helping me.”

“Of coooourse you can.”

The expression on my brother's face...

Well.

Even though he was my own brother, he looked incredibly annoying.

Maybe Lee Junhyuk didn't want to deal with him anymore.

Or maybe he simply had nothing left to say.

Either way, he turned his head and completely shut his mouth.

Unfortunately, he didn't appear to have any real plan.

His confused eyes kept darting around.

Then his gaze met Han Siwoo's.

His face instantly brightened as if he had found a savior.

He was clearly planning to ask Han Siwoo for help.

That was a smart choice.

Unlike my brother, Han Siwoo would definitely help him.

But just as Lee Junhyuk opened his mouth...

“Si...”

“Oppa, aren't you being a little harsh?”

I stepped in front of Han Siwoo and interrupted Lee Junhyuk.

Then I naturally turned toward my brother.

“Even if that goblin has fire resistance, Junhyuk is E-rank. You really think he can't defeat one little mid-boss?”

“...What?”

My brother stared at me as if I had eaten something strange.

I complained about how stupid my brother was all the time, but family was still family.

Seeing Lee Junhyuk look down on him didn't exactly make me happy.

I'm the only one allowed to insult my brother!

Besides, Lee Junhyuk had repeatedly claimed he could handle everything himself.

If he suffered a little here, maybe he would be quieter during future raids.

“You're acting weird.”

Maybe my reaction surprised him.

Han Siwoo quietly tried to stop me.

I pretended not to hear.

“E-rank is on a completely different level from F-rank, right? Why would Junhyuk ever need to ask Oppa for help? Right?”

“...O-Obviously!”

Lee Junhyuk nodded despite looking as though nothing about this situation was obvious.

What a simple idiot.

I felt a little bad for him, but he had dug his own grave.

Well then.

Let's enjoy the show.

I was looking for the perfect place to watch Lee Junhyuk struggle when my brother quietly approached.

“...Never thought I'd live to see the day you actually looked like my little sister.”

Excuse me?

I was always your little sister.

“Our Jia, is there anything you want? Your big brother will buy you anything.”

Had he gone insane?

Why was he acting so disgustingly sweet?

And what exactly was someone who earned less money than me planning to buy?

“No thanks. If you really want to do something for me, you can become my servant.”

“Are you crazy? Why would I become your servant?”

Seriously.

If I said something, he complained.

If I didn't, he complained.

What exactly was I supposed to do with this guy?

“Still, will he really be okay?”

Han Siwoo looked worriedly at Lee Junhyuk, who was sweating heavily while facing the goblin alone.

“What could possibly happen? He'll throw a few skills at it and then ask for help.”

I ignored my brother and checked the Party Window.

[Party Window]

[Kim Jihoon] [Remaining Mana: 60%] [Remaining Health: 85%]

[Han Siwoo] [Remaining Mana: 73%] [Remaining Health: 84%]

[Lee Junhyuk] [Remaining Mana: 43%] [Remaining Health: 66%]

“Fire Ball!”

[Lee Junhyuk] [Remaining Mana: 38%] [Remaining Health: 66%]

I could see his mana dropping in real time.

The Party Window was a skill created by a famous A-rank alchemist.

It was such an essential ability that practically every party leader carried one.

Lee Junhyuk continued using Fire Ball several more times.

Naturally, it couldn't even scratch a goblin with fire resistance.

“Damn it! Why isn't anything working?! Stick Bolt!”

Screeech!

“Huh...? See?! I can do this by myself!”

Lee Junhyuk panted heavily but still spoke proudly.

Apparently, Stick Bolt wasn't a fire-element attack, so it had worked.

Unfortunately, landing that hit wasn't necessarily a good thing.

BANG!

“Gah! Are you insane?! Why are you taking your anger out on us after he hit you?!”

The furious goblin had thrown its iron club toward us.

If my brother hadn't blocked it with his shield, one of us might have been hit.

“You should've dodged something that obvious yourselves!”

His usual arrogant tone hadn't changed.

Still, Lee Junhyuk looked far less relaxed now.

He pulled out the Blue Elixir allotted to him and gulped it down while firing skill after skill.

Do you have any idea how expensive those are?!

He'd rather die than ask for help.

Seriously.

What was so important about pride?

Still, I figured this was enough.

Maybe after today, he'd stop bragging so much about his rank.

Apparently, spending a year together had made me somewhat attached to him despite everything.

Watching him get beaten one-sidedly wasn't particularly pleasant.

Also, seeing him waste expensive Blue Elixirs because of childish pride physically hurt me.

Maybe we should help him now.

I turned my head to ask the others.

At that exact moment...

“Whoa?!”

RUMBLEEEEE!

The ground suddenly began shaking violently.

At the same time, an ominous energy settled heavily over the entire area.

For a second, I wondered if it was an earthquake.

But something like that couldn't naturally happen inside a dungeon.

It was also unlikely to be the monster's skill.

An E-rank dungeon's mid-boss shouldn't possess such a massive area-of-effect ability.

That left only one possibility.

“Hey... Don't tell me...”

My brother looked up at the shaking cave ceiling with a horrified expression.

Han Siwoo caught me as I nearly lost my balance.

He stared at the cave wall with a grim face.

“I think it is...”

The entire dungeon didn't shake often.

Back when our party had just formed, I had experienced something like this exactly once before.

It was the sign that a 'Dome' phenomenon was beginning.

People commonly called this stage the Transitional Phase.

At the same time, I remembered what the Center employee had said before we entered.

“What else can we do? Judging by the mana reading on the Wave Detector, if we delay much longer, the Transitional Phase might begin...”

Hey.

We hadn't even been inside for an hour!

Wasn't this too much?!

A dungeon underwent many changes during the Transitional Phase.

And the biggest change was...

“Aaaaagh!”

Every monster inside became roughly 1.5 times stronger.

I wanted to cry.

My luck really is terrible.

Most people never even experience a Transitional Phase once, and I've already gone through it twice.

BOOOOM!

The goblin, now roughly one and a half times larger than before, swung its iron club.

Lee Junhyuk screamed and ran.

My brother's eyes widened.

“Huh...? Hey! You crazy bastard! Why are you running this way?!”

Behind Lee Junhyuk, the Red Goblin chased him with a huge lump on its forehead and murder in its eyes.

Apparently, it was extremely angry after being beaten by Lee Junhyuk.

Maybe because it had become much larger, the sight of the Red Goblin charging toward us was so intimidating that all of us instinctively flinched.

SWISH!

Han Siwoo threw a dagger at it.

TING!

The sharp blade bounced harmlessly off the goblin's skin.

My brother backed away in horror.

“C-Can we even kill that thing?”

“That's not the important part right now! It's coming this way!”

I grabbed my dazed brother's shoulder and shook him.

There was no way we could kill it like this.

Which meant...

“RUN!”

“Aaaaaaagh!”

We immediately turned around and sprinted out of the room.

Fortunately, unlike the final boss room, the mid-boss room allowed us to leave even after entering.

But escaping from the strengthened goblin wasn't easy.

Apparently, all its stats had increased because its running speed had become terrifyingly fast.

That wasn't our only problem.

The ground was still shaking from the ongoing Transitional Phase.

It was absolute hell.

Thanks to that, we barely managed to maintain a dangerous distance from the goblin.

Eventually, we escaped the mid-boss room.

We stood there catching our breath and began an emergency strategy meeting.

“...What do we do now?”

My brother sat down, clutching his head.