CH 53

Chapter 53 — Dungeon Practicum (3)

Kim Jina. Park SungWoo.

JaeHyun rolled their names on his tongue for a moment, then bit on his lip.

‘…This was what the Nornir System wanted from the start. That’s why it gave me a quest like that.’

Not long ago, the Nornir System had given JaeHyun the special quest 《First Junction》.

Giving him a distinctive reward depending on whether he chose to do the same thing as in the past or something different, it was a unique quest that he didn’t know the meaning of.

‘What the hell does the system want from me?’

JaeHyun wondered but could not come to a conclusion easily.

Moreover, now was not the time to focus on this.

JaeHyun put on the calmest expression he could as he greeted the two people who were approaching.

Because of her shyness, Ina hid behind JaeHyun and merely peeked out at them.

“…Nice to meet you. I’m Min JaeHyun, a Magician. And this is Seo Ina, also a Magician. Let’s get along.”

JaeHyun did the introductions for Ina.

He pointed behind him and continued.

“As you can see, she’s pretty shy.”

“Haha, that’s fine. We should be getting along more as we spend time with one another.”

“True. Fortunately, we’re not that shy, so we should get along quickly.”

‘Everything’s the same as before. Both of them.’

JaeHyun watched as the two tried to pull Ina into a conversation.

With innocent faces and warm consideration, the two he had met in his previous life were both kind to the point of stupidity.

Unbefitting of the raider lifestyle, they were trying to find their own way amidst all the competition.

And before time regressed, the two did not blame JaeHyun even as they watched him run away.

Merely thankful that at least someone survived, they just made the same silly face as now.

JaeHyun tried his best to relax his stiff expression and scanned all three of his teammates as he spoke.

“Then, shall we strategize first?”

JaeHyun had decided not to run this time.

His eyes were filled with resolve.

‘I don’t plan to lose my teammates again.’

He had already come to an answer for the system’s question.

***

“In dungeons, you have to keep one thing in mind. No matter what pops up, never falter. If the Warriors in the vanguard in particular start to falter, the whole party will end up annihilated.”

JaeHyun naturally became Team 3’s leader with the impact of what he had shown during the Freshmen Hunt. He didn’t lose to a Warrior one-on-one and also had a peculiar leadership trait.

JaeHyun pointed out some parameters for the dungeon.

A, B, C until F.

He explained all the plans he’d made to his teammates in detail. It was a guide of sorts for what to do when a monster suddenly appeared.

This was the manual JaeHyun had created to survive against monsters back when he was a Warrior.

His teammates listened to him explain his plans in a daze and soon exclaimed in admiration.

“Wow… As expected of the person who got first place in the Freshmen Hunt. The details of your strategy are no joke.”

“There’s six in total, right? Wait a sec. I’ll memorize them quickly.”

JaeHyun’s strategy was so close to perfection that it was hard to find a single flaw.

A manual designed to deal with monsters using optimized movements, no matter when and where they popped out.

His teammates admired his ability to formulate a plan with their jaws dropped.

On the other hand, JaeHyun let out a sigh of relief as he looked at his teammates who were agreeing to his scheme.

‘Thank god.’

Although this Dungeon Practicum would be intense, if they listened to his words, everyone would make it out alive. After all, he had knowledge from the future and was the strongest among the cadets.

But even so, it would have been a pain in the ass if his own teammates didn’t trust his judgment.

An ally who liked to pick out faults or a fight was more dangerous than an enemy. As far as JaeHyun knew, they were the ones who died first in dungeons.

‘There’s no problems with Park SungWoo and Kim Jina. They won’t cause any trouble at the very least.’

Their virtuous nature was probably why they tried to save even just one person when their team was being annihilated by a Kobold Lord.

But JaeHyun knew what kind of features a dungeon had.

Since it was an evil lair where you didn’t know when and where something would pop out from, he analyzed his capabilities precisely.

‘The dungeon itself isn’t difficult for me. It’s easy, in fact. But my skills lack diversity right now. I can’t help but be at a disadvantage.’

Disregarding strength, a team’s synergy was important when dealing with enemies.

Fortunately, the boss monster that would appear here was a D-ranked Kobold Lord, something that JaeHyun wouldn’t have much trouble with.

A single strike of 《Lightning Chain》 would probably be enough to take care of it.

‘Even so, I shouldn’t become careless.’

A dungeon was a dangerous place.

It wasn’t like JaeHyun could take all the aggro either.

In the end, it would also depend on how actively the other three participated in the raid.

Of course, JaeHyun still planned to do everything in his power so that everyone would come out of this alive.

‘For now, I have to finish it off with the skills that I already have.’

He currently didn’t possess a single blank card.

Although he had learned a few skills through his own efforts, they were all low-level skills.

In terms of power, they couldn’t compare to 《Lightning Chain》 or 《Light’s Judgment》.

On top of that, 《Light’s Judgment》 could not be used unless it was against undead monsters. The scope of his techniques would thus inevitably shrink.

However—

‘I’ll save them no matter what.’

JaeHyun looked at his teammates with a face full of resolve.

“If you can’t keep the aggro, I’ll do whatever I can. So don’t worry too much about it.”

“Yeah. I feel oddly reassured…”

Seemingly feeling awkward, Jina scratched the bridge of her nose as she said so. SungWoo also appeared happy.

It was to be expected.

JaeHyun was strong and a cadet that could be leaned upon.

They had probably concluded that their lives wouldn’t be in danger at the very least.

As JaeHyun was thinking about the dungeon raid and directing his teammates, Instructor Kim JiYeon’s high-pitched voice echoed through the underground hall.

“Attention, everyone. The planning period is over. From now on, we will officially begin the Dungeon Practicum. Team leaders, please come forward.”

JaeHyun took a step forward at Instructor Kim’s words.

Glancing to the side, he saw YooJung together with HoYeon.

They were Team 4.

‘At least YooJung won’t get hurt here.’

JaeHyun smiled in relief.

With a tanker like HoYeon, there was no chance of her getting hurt with him not being able to keep aggro.

If things went like they did before, nothing unfortunate would happen. YooJung was also a genius Magician placed in the top 3 herself.

Instructor Kim JiYeon called all the team leaders over and explained the things they had to be careful about, then initiated the Dungeon Practicum.

“Please head on over to the dungeon assigned to you. I wish you good luck.”

“Shall we get going?”

Ina was the first to stick behind him, while Jina and SungWoo quickly followed after her.

It was the official start of the Dungeon Practicum.

***

Reaper Scans

Translator - Rainypup

Proofreader - Lyze

*** 

A rectangular area filled with an old, musty smell,

it was an old underground dungeon with E-rank monsters like Kobolds and ones that looked like moles.

Currently, this place was being explored by Team 4 which was composed of HoYeon, YooJung, Magician Ha YeonJu and Warrior Kim Seho.

Team 4 was slowly moving deeper into the dungeon while scrutinizing their surroundings as Instructor Kim JiYeon had told them.

“By the way, why is this place so damp? Is a ghost going to pop up or something?”

“Yeah… it smells musty, too. It’s making it so hard to breathe. What a pain.”

YooJung and YeonJu grumbled from the rear.

HoYeon, who was walking in front, turned back for a moment and chuckled.

“It can’t be helped. We’re inside a dungeon, after all. Everyone else is probably in similar surroundings.”

“That’s true, but…”

HoYeon didn’t get mad at YooJung and YeonJu’s complaints.

He was silently looking at the floor and the walls, wary that an enemy would pop up out of nowhere.

‘I need to focus. If a single thing goes wrong, my teammates may get hurt.’

Of course, this was just a mock test in the end. There was probably not going to be a monster that fell in the higher-level.

‘But that doesn’t mean we’re completely safe.’

“Kobolds will probably come out, right? It’s an underground dungeon and all.”

“Yeah. That’s probably not far off the mark.”

Seho agreed with YooJung.

Although it wasn’t a dungeon that was a replica of one of the other 8 realms, this was also a place where you could get pretty good materials.

Sapphires, rubies, diamonds, and a diverse variety of ores could be mined here.

“There might be a diamond somewhere, ri—

Ack!”

YeonJu, who was mumbling as she muttered, screamed.

Shlink!

Without missing the weak mana that flowed in with the wind, HoYeon quickly retreated back and shouted toward his teammates.

“Something’s coming! Positions!”

YooJung reacted immediately and found her position. Her ability to cooperate with others was better in general, owing to her time with JaeHyun in the demi-plane.

YeonJu and Seho shuffled around a bit but soon found their places. The two then quickly readied themselves up for battle as they awaited HoYeon’s orders.

Kieriik?

The monster that appeared in front of them was a kobold like they’d expected.

Weak against the light attribute, with insignificant physical damage.

‘They’re still difficult to deal with if they ambush us in a group, though.’

Tadada!

Seho stayed in position. Since there was a chance that the Magicians in the rear could be attacked, this was something they had discussed beforehand.

“Oh Light of Alfheim, explode in holy force!”

一 Active Skill 《Flash Bomb》 has been activated.

Without hesistating, YooJung immediately cast Flash Bomb and blocked the enemies’ line of sight. Soon after, YeonJu cast 《 Haste 》 on her teammates to increase the speed of everyone’s movements and attacks.

Slice!

With more refined swordsmanship, HoYeon swiftly took care of three Kobolds.

He rotated his body and crushed the enemy’s cervical spine, arms, legs, and lumbar spine as he turned back to the front.

But it didn’t stop there.

Not falling behind, YooJung started to cast.

“Wind of Helheim, sweep away all foes before me.”

一 Active Skill 《Air Blaster》 has been activated.

Wind flowed out and wrapped around YooJung’s body before it began to compress into a small sphere soon after.

YooJung smirked and immediately launched the sphere at the monsters.

Kiiiieeeeek!

Keureuk!

In an instant, three kobolds were eliminated with visibly overwhelming talent.

HoYeon looked at YooJung’s actions in awe.

‘Even though she’s a Magician, she’s making moves and eliminating monsters without fear…’

HoYeon immediately realized that she didn’t get 2nd place in the Freshmen Hunt just because of JaeHyun’s help.

‘I can’t lose.’

He fixed his grip on his sword and looked around, but he couldn’t see any more enemies nearby.

He then sighed and checked to see if his teammates were alright.

“Is everyone okay?”

“Oh, yeah. Thanks to you.”

“I’m also totally fine.”

YooJung and YeonJu didn’t seem to be hurt anywhere.

However—

Seho’s expression seemed a bit strange.

His face had turned blue, and his whole body had stiffened. When the strangely-bent arm and leg made a cracking sound as if a bone had broken, his teammates’ faces turned somber.

“S-Seho! Are you okay?!”

“Wh-What? I never heard anyone say that kobolds used poison!”

“Calm down, first…!”

Whiiiiiiirrrrr…

Before HoYeon could finish his words, his companions were left in panic… as impure mana started to flow through the dungeon.

A foul stench filled the air.

Boom! Boom!

At the sound, the three turned to look at where the mana was leaking from.

Grraaaa…

They were able to see the visage of the monster with the help of the faint lighting in the cave.

HoYeon’s, YooJung’s, and YeonJu’s faces were filled with horror.

“Wh-What the fuck! How could a boss monster like the Kobold Lord appear in a place like this?!”

____

Editor: Sorry for the delay again! I got busy with my sister's wedding and also fell a little sick, but we should be back on track again now