Chapter 29

< Chapter 29: The Second Ruins (4) >

The Ha Si-yeon talent bus was cruising along. The ride was amazing. There was no need for a limousine.

“It’s easy, so easy~”

Ha Si-yeon was walking ahead of me, humming a tune.

She looked like a different person from the one who was trembling with anxiety an hour ago, wondering if we were really going to raid the ruins by ourselves.

“This place is great. It’s easy. And it gives a lot of experience points.”

Ha Si-yeon turned her body around and looked at me.

“Of course it does. They’re high-rank monsters.”

“Them? They’re too easy to be high-rank monsters.”

“I told you. It’s because you have a good compatibility with them.”

“Even if I take into account that they’re weak to ice, they’re still too easy.”

This ruin, ‘The Shelter of Flame’, was as everyone expected, a fire attribute dungeon. Its weakness was the water attribute. Especially, since it was very vulnerable to freezing attributes.

“You also have the advantage of your close-range specialization trait.”

“Why close-range specialization?”

Ha Si-yeon tilted her head and looked at me.

“Let’s assume that another freezing attribute mage participated in this raid. What do you think would happen?”

“Well, they would kill them easily like me. They just have to stab them with ice spears.”

Ha Si-yeon created a one-meter-long ice spear in her hand.

She had really improved her skills in a day, thanks to her trait registration.

“No. They would probably have a hard time.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Look at the surroundings.”

She looked around as I told her. There were occasional bursts of magma, and flames were shooting up everywhere.

It was very hot.

If we didn’t have the heat-resistant coats that we got from Yuhwa beforehand, we might have suffered burns all over our bodies.

“Do you think freezing magic would work properly in this environment?”

“Ah!”

She seemed to realize it.

“That’s right. Normal freezing magic would start to melt as soon as it was created.”

“But why not me······?”

“Your freezing magic doesn’t melt.”

But Ha Si-yeon was different.

Her close-range freezing specialization magic, ‘Sanctuary of Freezing’, prevented any external interference within three meters.

Her freezing magic didn’t melt. That’s why her ice wings didn’t melt either.

This ruin was powerless against Ha Si-yeon.

“I didn’t know my trait had that effect too.”

“I told you. If you fight within three meters, no one can beat you.”

“Did you really mean that······?”

“Of course.”

“Oh, I see.”

She seemed flustered by my firm answer and scratched her head.

“Okay. If you’re done with your questions, let’s get going. We have to get back today. We can’t sleep here.”

“Okay!”

We continued our way.

* * *

About four hours passed.

The end of the ruin began to appear.

“Level up! Wow! I went up two levels in a day!”

Ha Si-yeon’s level had gone up by two levels in the meantime.

“······Congratulations.”

Of course, I didn’t have anything like that.

Leveling up was like a unicorn to me. Something that only existed in fantasy.

“Huh? Seoyul, look at that door! Is that the guardian’s room?”

She pointed to a place with her finger.

“That’s right.”

It was a majestic door that seemed to say, ‘A boss is living here.’

“Then this is the end?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm. I’m sad.”

“What are you sad about?”

“This honey hunting ground. There won’t be anything like this again.”

Aha.

She was intoxicated by the taste of gaining experience points.

“Don’t be sad. There are plenty of fire attribute monsters in the world anyway.”

“Well, that’s true.”

She nodded her head.

“But can I really kill the guardian by myself?”

“Yes. The guardian is also weak to freezing attribute, just like the others. If you stab him with about ten ice spears, he’ll bow his head on his own.”

“Hmm. Ten spears sound pretty tough.”

“Well, he’s a guardian after all.”

The guardian of this place, ‘Lava Lizard’, was characterized by its agility that did not match its size and the destructive power of its lava breath.

“Well, as long as you don’t make any weird mistakes, you should be able to win easily.”

Her expression, which was slightly tinged with anxiety, completely relaxed at my words.

“If you say so, Seoyul, it must be true.”

She looked like she trusted me 100%. Well, it was natural since I had done everything so far.

“Then let’s go in as soon as we’re ready. As soon as we enter, a lava breath will fly at us, so be ready to dodge it.”

“Okay.”

I took out my dagger, ‘Horn of the Black Dragon’, and held it in my hand. At that moment, the Wind Path was activated. It was insurance for emergencies.

That was all I needed to prepare.

“Let’s go.”

Squeak-

We entered the guardian’s room.

And at that moment

Whooosh-!

A lava breath spewed out from far away. We split up and dodged the breath. I could feel the hot air through the air.

“Number one!”

At my shout, another lava spewed out from far away.

This time it was a breath aimed at me.

I flew my body in the direction that the Wind Path indicated.

Whooosh-

“Damn it.”

The tip of my shoe was slightly burned.

This is expensive.

But I dodged it anyway.

“Number two!”

The red light of lava flickered again.

This time it spewed lava breath at Ha Si-yeon, who was approaching him.

Ha Si-yeon dodged his breath with a very smart move.

“Okay, number three done! About 15 seconds until recharge!”

“Got it!”

This was how to raid the Lava Lizard.

The Lava Lizard spewed three consecutive breaths and then had a 15-second recharge time.

We attacked during that time and focused on dodging when the recharge was complete.

It was a very simple but effective raid method.

Splash-!

Before I knew it, Ha Si-yeon had run up to the Lava Lizard and held an ice spear in both hands.

He dodged all of his counterattacks and stabbed an ice spear precisely into his annoying tail.

“Keeeeeek!”

The Lava Lizard’s scream echoed throughout the guardian’s room.

Five seconds so far.

He eventually chose to run away.

He used his innate agility to dig into the ground.

“Hahap!”

But there was a reason why I stabbed his tail with an ice spear.

The sensory disorder of his tail distorted his movements.

Splash-! Splash!

“Kieeeeek!”

She didn’t miss that small gap.

“Nice.”

That’s it for his right front leg.

That took about 12 seconds.

“For now, dodge!”

“Okay!”

She left her spot at my shout.

Lava breaths are hard to dodge at close range.

You have to keep some distance.

Whooosh-!

Exactly three seconds later.

Fire flickered in the Lava Lizard’s mouth again.

Another three consecutive breath patterns.

One.

Two.

Three.

Exactly three breaths ended and

“Another 15 seconds! Attack!”

“Okay!”

Ha Si-yeon ran in again.

At the same time, ice coated the sword she was holding.

She probably wanted to take out one more leg too.

She didn’t want to give him any more time and decided to end it this time.

It was a good decision.

Whoosh-

That’s when it happened.

The wind’s movement became strange.

The guardian’s room was completely closed.

The wind should have moved according to Ha Si-yeon and the Lava Lizard’s movements.

But it started to twist in a strange direction.

As if something else was moving it.

The wind was moving from top to bottom.

No way!

I quickly looked up.

“······!”

There was another Lava Lizard hanging from the ceiling with lava in its mouth.

Why are there two Lava Lizards?

I was flustered, but I didn’t have time to think.

If he shoots a breath from that position, Ha Si-yeon won’t be able to dodge it.

I have to stop it somehow.

Fortunately, he was still assessing the situation. He wanted to finish off Ha Si-yeon for sure.

And he was waiting for the timing when his breath wouldn’t hurt the other Lava Lizard.

He didn’t seem to notice that I was looking at him.

There was still a chance.

This crisis could be turned into an opportunity!

I quickly took out the bow, ‘Elysium Bow’, that I had on my back and held it.

The Elysium Bow that Jia prepared for me.

The special effect of this bow was very simple.

“Focus.”

The magic stored in the gem called Elysium, which was decorated in the center of the bow, could be transferred to the arrow and fired.

In other words, a one-time destructive power amplification effect.

Zing-

Magic concentrated on the arrowhead.

And I waited for the timing.

The moment when the lava breath would shoot out of the Lava Lizard’s mouth.

Whooosh-!

Now!

I shot the arrow right away.

Squeeeek!

A close call.

My arrow hit the Lava Lizard’s mouth precisely.

Kwaaaaak!

Even with the amplified power of the arrow, I couldn’t pierce through the thick skin of the Lava Lizard with my strength.

But that was enough.

I didn’t intend to pierce it in the first place.

The shock turned the Lava Lizard’s face sideways.

Whooosh-!

At the same time, the lava breath flew in a different direction.

“Bingo!”

It was none other than where the other Lava Lizard was standing.

“Kieeeeek!”

Lava Lizards are not completely immune to lava just because they are lava lizards.

Their internal structure may be adapted to spew lava breaths, but their external skin is not immune.

The powerful destructive power of lava breaths also worked on them.

Splash, splash!

“Kie···eek, ack···”

Thud-

The Lava Lizard, who had already lost his strength due to Ha Si-yeon’s continuous freezing magic, finally lost his life and collapsed.

“….”

She looked at his melted corpse with a blank face and then

“Ah.”

She seemed to realize that there was still one left and flinched her shoulders and turned her head toward me.

Click-

I smiled and gave her a thumbs up and then spread my ‘Ice Wings’.

She flew up toward the remaining Lava Lizard.

“I survived….”

I let out a sigh of relief from the bottom of my heart.

“Hey! You scared me because of you!”

Ha Si-yeon’s shout came from the ceiling.

By the way, why are there two Lava Lizards?

Did the settings change this time?

I watched Ha Si-yeon and the remaining Lava Lizard fight and sank into thought.

* * *

The battle ended with Ha Si-yeon’s overwhelming victory.

“I really thought I was going to dieeeeee…”

Ha Si-yeon lay down on the floor.

“Sorry.”

“Huh? Why are you sorry, Seoyul?”

“I didn’t expect there to be two of them. It was dangerous.”

This was entirely my fault.

I should have assumed the worst beyond the worst, thinking of the last incident at the Golden Ruins.

“It’s okay. There was no problem in the end.”

“But because I was careless…”

Suddenly, Ha Si-yeon covered my mouth.

“It’s fine.”

She smiled brightly.

“And anyway, You were going to unseal it if it was dangerous. I wasn’t worried at all.”

“…”

That made me feel more sorry.

I don’t have any sealed power like that.

“Let’s just get the reward and go back. I’m hungry.”

I smiled bitterly.

“…Okay. Let’s do that.”

We passed through the guardian’s room and moved deeper into the ruin.

“Wow.”

On the altar, there was a red staff.

An ancient relic that only fire spirits among the elemental races could handle, ‘Whisper of Fire’.

It was a pretty beautiful staff.

There was a strange reddish flame flickering on top of the staff, adding to its mystery.

“It’s so pretty.”

Ha Si-yeon admired it.

“…Really?”

But I was shocked.

“Why, Seoyul?”

“No, this. Wow. What is this?”

Of course, I wasn’t shocked by the Whisper of Fire.

There was another reason.

“…Why is this here?”

The strange red flame flickering on top of the Whisper of Fire.

If I remember correctly, that’s not just an effect.

It’s a kind of item in itself.

“Flame of Engraving…”

A villain belonging to the Savior of Truth, who will emerge two years later.

The item that symbolizes ‘The Devil of Fire’ Nasher, Flame of Engraving.

“Why?”

It was flickering on top of the altar.

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