Chapter 41
The Fire Rabbit twisted its body and broke free from Lag.
It immediately raised a paw to attack Han Siwoo.
THUNK!
An arrow struck the Fire Rabbit's front leg, stopping its movement.
“Don't forget about us.”
“Screeeeeeech!”
The Fire Rabbit let out a deafening scream.
Then it swung its other paw.
The woman blocked it.
“Get back!”
Han Siwoo met her eyes and nodded.
He immediately carried Kang Woohyuk away.
The woman swung her scythe again.
But as expected of a dungeon boss, the Fire Rabbit wasn't an easy opponent.
Now that its mouth was free, it tried a new attack.
Its jaws opened impossibly wide.
A massive stream of fire began pouring from its mouth.
It was like the Breath attack used by dragons in fantasy novels.
The woman tried to retreat.
But the Fire Breath was faster.
Just as she tightly shut her eyes...
FWOOSH!
My brother grabbed her.
The two of them rolled across the grass.
The woman looked shocked.
My brother twisted his lips proudly.
“You...!”
“Told you not to look down on people. You should live kindly, you know? Right?”
Was she really that shocked that my brother had saved her?
The woman stared at him with a completely blank expression.
In front of them, the Fire Rabbit increased in size.
Its mouth became nearly twice as large.
Seriously.
This wasn't the time to talk!
“Watch out!”
But my warning turned out to be unnecessary.
WHIP!
The grass around the Fire Rabbit suddenly grew at incredible speed and wrapped around its body.
It was Yoo Aeri.
Apparently, her ability was plant manipulation.
Unfortunately...
FWOOSH.
The elemental matchup was terrible.
Fire burned grass.
“Get out of there!”
The grass restraining the Fire Rabbit slowly burned away and lost its strength.
Once it was free, the Fire Rabbit began rampaging again.
The woman and my brother tried to move away.
But just like before, the Fire Rabbit opened its mouth wide to use Breath again.
[Skill 'Shield Lv.9' activated.]
This was only the boss of a D-rank dungeon.
My Shield should be strong enough to block its ultimate attack.
Still, my brother looked terrified, as if he didn't trust my skill at all.
At that moment, someone's shout cut through the tense air.
“Get down!”
Everyone instinctively flattened themselves.
At the same time...
FWOOOOOSH!
A powerful wind carrying intense heat shot toward the Fire Rabbit.
The creature had already opened its mouth and prepared to release its Breath.
It couldn't avoid the sudden fiery gust.
The wind forced the Fire Rabbit's own Breath back down its throat.
Startled, the Fire Rabbit snapped its mouth shut.
Then...
BOOOOOOM!
A massive explosion swallowed the field.
The deafening roar shook the earth.
A powerful blast wave threw everyone off balance and sent them crashing to the ground.
My brother and the woman had been the closest to the Fire Rabbit.
They took the worst of the explosion.
The durability of my Shield dropped rapidly.
Then it shattered.
“Aagh!”
“Aaah!”
Their bodies rolled several times across the field.
Eventually, Hanjun caught the woman while Han Siwoo caught my brother.
I sighed in relief and looked around.
The once-green field was now engulfed in massive flames.
At the center was an enormous blaze feeding on the remains of the exploded Fire Rabbit.
For a moment, I wondered whether this was another of the Fire Rabbit's skills.
I tensed.
Then...
Ding.
[Dungeon Raid Successful.]
At the notification that everything was over, the tension drained from my body.
I turned my head, half in disbelief.
Standing there proudly was Lee Junhyuk.
He was holding the Staff of Wind I had given him before.
“Whoa. This thing is seriously awesome.”
He stared at his staff with sparkling eyes.
Everyone else looked half-stunned as they stared at him.
The silence didn't last long.
My brother shook his head a few times, jumped to his feet, and broke it.
“W-Was that you just now?”
“Well... I suppose you could say that.”
“Huh...”
“What's with that suspicious expression? It's kind of offensive.”
“No, it's just... surprising?”
I silently nodded at my brother's words.
It might have been closer to luck than skill.
But still...
It was basically true that Lee Junhyuk had defeated the Fire Rabbit by himself.
Han Siwoo also stared at him in amazement.
“That's impressive. How did you do it?”
“Ahem. I remembered hearing that you can stop fire by fighting fire, so I tried it. I didn't expect it to work this well.”
Lee Junhyuk scratched the bridge of his nose.
In other words...
It had been a lucky accident.
“Um...”
I turned around.
The members of the other party had gathered nearby.
Kang Woohyuk was unconscious on Hanjun's back.
For a moment, I wondered why they had approached us.
Then I remembered something.
“Ah. I promised I'd treat him.”
I was about to activate Healing when the woman shook her head.
“No. It's fine. Woohyuk just passed out. Maybe because you helped, he isn't seriously injured. More importantly... thank you.”
She bowed.
The rest of her teammates followed.
Suddenly being thanked like that made me scratch my cheek awkwardly.
“No, well... I did promise to help.”
“And this.”
The woman held something out to me.
It was a red orb.
“What is this...?”
“An item dropped by the Fire Rabbit. Take it.”
I hesitated briefly before accepting it.
The moment I held the item, an information window appeared.
[Red Orb]
[The heart once carried by the Fire Rabbit. Strengthens the user's defense.]
[When equipped, allows the use of 'Fire Shield'.]
[Defense +100]
As I had mentioned before, items that granted skills were expensive.
I swallowed and asked again.
“...You're really giving this to us?”
“Yeah. You guys were basically the ones who defeated the Fire Rabbit.”
Her voice sounded far less forceful than when we first met.
It was difficult to believe she was the same person who had picked a fight with us earlier.
“Ahem. And... sorry about what I said earlier. I was too harsh. With you around, your party should be able to handle D-rank dungeons easily.”
“...We're not really that strong...”
“No. I think you'll manage just fine. And this is the payment I promised.”
Now I had both an item and our promised compensation.
For a moment, I wasn't sure what expression I should make.
Honestly, I was extremely happy.
But I also felt a tiny bit guilty.
For the sake of maintaining my image, I had to desperately hold back the corners of my mouth from rising.
“...And.”
Hmm?
She had something else to say?
I looked up.
But she wasn't looking at me.
“...?”
My brother stared at her as though wondering what she wanted now.
“Thanks for earlier.”
The woman smiled and took something from her pocket.
It was a note.
My brother accepted it and tilted his head.
“What's this?”
“My contact information. If you ever need help, call me. Or... even if you're just bored, that's fine too.”
Whoa.
My brother just got a woman's number.
Since I had assumed he would remain single his entire life, my eyes naturally widened to an unbelievable degree.
Maybe embarrassed by her own boldness, the woman immediately turned around and practically ran out of the gate.
“Ahaha... She might not look like it, but she's actually really shy around people... Anyway! Thank you for today.”
“Thank you very much, Jia-ssi.”
Hanjun and Yoo Aeri bowed before following her toward the gate.
Now only our party remained inside the dungeon.
All of us slowly turned toward my brother, who looked completely dazed.
Even after returning home, one thing kept filling my mind.
Lee Junhyuk, an E-rank Hunter, had killed a D-rank boss.
Come to think of it... how did he do that?
At the time, I had assumed it was luck.
But looking back, there was no way luck alone could explain it.
More importantly, I hadn't even used Enhancement on him.
He had defeated the boss purely with his own strength.
What that meant was obvious.
Growth.
In the novel, my teammates became stronger after my death.
Because of that, I had wondered whether my death itself was some important key to their growth.
But thinking about it now...
What if my death had only been one possible trigger that pushed them to grow stronger?
The moment that thought crossed my mind, a hollow laugh escaped me.
Don't be ridiculous.
This was my life.
My future.
It wasn't something that could be defined by a few lines in a novel.
I'm going to live.
My teammates would live too.
And I had absolutely no intention of obediently following the future written in the novel.
To make that happen...
Becoming stronger came first.
Would this help me become stronger too?
I took out the item the other party leader had given me.
[Red Orb]
[The heart once carried by the Fire Rabbit. Strengthens the user's defense.]
[When equipped, allows the use of 'Fire Shield'.]
[Defense +100]
The Red Orb was an item that increased defense.
It looked like an ordinary red bead from the outside.
As far as equipment went, I already had 'Elian's Tear,' which Lee Dohyun had given me one year ago.
That item increased my mana recovery speed by fifty percent.
For someone like me, who constantly needed to manage mana, it was incredibly useful.
Compared to that...
I couldn't immediately think of a good use for the Red Orb.
Maybe I should just sell it.
Or give it to Junhyuk.
Since it was called an Orb, I figured it might suit a magic-type Hunter better than a physical-type Hunter.
