Chapter 56
Performance record.
Mostly C- to D-rank monsters.
And those were monsters taken down outside the Gate, not inside it.
But over the course of about ten years, she had steady results.
She saved countless people and took care of countless monsters.
“We’ve also secured statements from the teammates who worked with her then. The unusual part is…”
“The unusual part?”
“They say the team oddly started to fall apart whenever Hunter Yumia was absent.”
“What?”
There are people like that.
An all-rounder who, simply by being there, makes up for others’ shortcomings and smooths things over.
No matter how outstanding an Awakened ability was, it meant nothing without that aptitude.
‘She’s the kind of talent you can put to use right away?’
“There’s also a record of handling criminals, and what’s surprising is that she even took down a C-rank criminal solo.”
“…What?”
Combat against people is different from fighting giant monsters.
Because you have to grasp all of that person's habits, intelligence, personality, and so on, it's far more complicated than fighting giant monsters.
But if you can use all of that to create openings,
nothing would be impossible.
In fact, to bridge the gap between a non-Awakened and an Awakened, how much combat talent would you need?
In other words, her combat sense itself had reached the extreme.
That was Yumia before she Awakened.
“…If that’s the case, it’s confirmed.”
“Yes?”
“The guild Yumia joins will become Korea’s number one. No—one that can aim for the world stage.”
“…We definitely have to find her. Conveniently, we’ve found the shop where she sold the mana stones.”
An employee brought over more documents.
“If we track this, wouldn’t we at least be able to pin down her residence?”
“I see.”
If they secured her residence, they’d only have to wait there.
She’d come eventually.
“All right, get to work! We can’t let those Blue Wolf bastards find her first!”
And so the staff in the situation room dispersed.
And only his direct subordinate remained.
“Haaah, what a pain, all this trouble just because we can’t find one person.”
He took his subordinate and went out to the smoking room.
After lighting a cigarette, his subordinate brought up a story.
“There’s apparently a B-rank criminal targeting young female Awakened. Supposedly he kidnaps them and hands them over to a criminal organization.”
What kind of case is that now?
It seemed to be one of the jobs he was handling.
“Then why are you telling me this?”
“Well, the bastard just won’t get caught. Rumor says he’s around mid-B rank. Couldn’t you do something about him, senior?”
“Hey, I’m busy too. Handle your own business.”
Come to think of it, Yumia, the person everyone was looking for, had also been a new Awakened.
‘As for whether Yumia might be targeted... hard to say.’
***
“T-this is... Yumia’s hometown!!”
“Hehe, amazing, isn’t it!”
“Amazing!! There are iron carriages rolling around without any horses! W-what are those flying lumps of metal!?”
I feel like a big shot.
So, how did I cross the Gate.
The secret was in the inventory.
“What’s it like inside the inventory?”
“Hmm... not bad, but I wouldn’t want to go in there often.”
The inventory can store non-hostile living beings.
That’s why I put Aris inside and crossed the Gate.
“W-what is that! Amazing!! How can buildings be that tall!?”
No, the dorm and the central training hall are tall too.
And what she was pointing at wasn’t even a very tall building.
Once Aris saw the city, she was like that no matter what she looked at.
She’d probably find a fallen leaf rolling by fascinating too.
“W-what are these blades of grass! They’re piled up! Amazing!!”
“Let’s go.”
For now, there were three goals.
Tower climbing, mana stone farming, and sightseeing.
Especially the Tower—I planned to push through to the 10th floor.
“First, let’s quickly get the things we came to do out of the way.”
“…But if you’re working, why are you carrying that board?”
Aris looked at me strangely.
“Huh? I’m calling a taxi.”
“Pardon?”
Ah. Aris only knew that as some kind of arcade machine, didn’t she.
“This is how you’re supposed to use a smartphone.”
I made a call to someone.
[…What?]
A blunt voice, but somehow it sounded pleased to hear from me.
“Chuncheon, the foot of that mountain. Take two people.”
[Sigh, I’ll come get you. But why two?]
“There’s a reason.”
30 minutes later.
Sera drove up in a supercar.
***
[Blessing of Language].
An absurdly overpowered trait that guarantees perfect translation even for Imperial and Korean.
Today was the first time I learned it also applies to other people.
More precisely, any “conversation” happening near me is automatically translated and conveyed.
As expected of an SSR trait.
Sera and Aris sat side by side in the driver’s and passenger’s seats.
Thanks to the trait, they were able to chat pleasantly.
But...
“Right? She really is completely selfish.”
“She’s a real jerk. I even ditched work to come here today, and she didn’t even say thank you once.”
I really had no idea how the conversation had turned into them trash-talking me.
Sera and Aris became friendly surprisingly fast.
“This is the Tower’s entrance.”
Sera had something to do, so she gave us White Tiger Guild’s private lodging pass and left.
Well, good is good.
“Mana is rippling. It’s a little scary to go in...”
The regular entrance was crowded at this hour, so we came to the VIP entrance.
“Hmm, if I think of it as a hidden ruin... maybe I can manage.”
For now, I decided to tackle the Tower first.
Before that, I needed to confirm whether Aris could climb the Tower too.
[!! Outsiders cannot climb the Tower!]
“…What?”
Then this doesn’t work either?
[Would you like to register a party?]
[Users: Yumia, Aris]
[Y/N]
This seemed to work.
[User: Aris has been registered to your party!]
[Checking whether the user is suitable for Hell difficulty...]
[User: Aris is suitable for Hell difficulty! Entry granted!]
As expected.
I figured Aris’s talent would open the option up to Hell difficulty too.
Then Linia and Robert should be able to too.
“Let’s try partying up for now.”
“Y-yes!?”
“Let’s go in, Aris.”
It was a shame she got dragged along and made to work all of a sudden, but...
Let’s fight while using a healer for once.
[Entering the 8th Floor, Floor of the Skeleton Legion!]
[This floor consists of a single room!]
[Hell Difficulty Special! Enemies are powered up!]
We were standing on a wooden palisade that looked ready to collapse at any moment.
And we were surrounded by what looked like a thousand skeletons!
“E-e-eek!?? How are there this many monsters!?”
Aris screamed in surprise.
But she quickly regained her composure.
“…I’ll hear the explanation later. Casting, Shield, Wide!”
A wide-area defensive spell.
The arrows flying in were blocked by the defensive magic.
I activated the trait [Observer (SR)].
Just the voice chat function.
“Aris, I’ll open a path, so support me.”
“Yes!”
I planned to raise Aris as both a healer and support.
If I had a healer, the things I could do would increase enormously.
For now, I needed to cut down the one commanding those skeletons.
‘That bastard’s deploying a barrier too.’
An enormous amount of mana was leaking from that guy’s staff.
That bastard must be the key!
“Casting, Bullet, Penta!!”
I heard Aris’s voice, and the spot I was about to land on opened up.
I surged forward, cutting down the skeleton horde.
—Pazzzzt!!
The wounds didn’t matter.
I cut that guy down with aura.
“Good, now for a barrage attack...!”
[8th Floor, Floor of the Skeleton Legion cleared! Rewards granted!]
[Party Play Bonus! Reward: Stat Selection Ticket (R) granted to user: Aris Script!]
[Hell Difficulty Special! Choose your Arcana!]
Ah.
So that must have been the clear condition.
“D-did we do it!!”
“That was anticlimactic.”
I thought I’d get to feel the thrill of wiping out a thousand skeletons at once.
But if I had, the staff probably wouldn’t have survived.
For now, let’s look at the rewards.
[Stat Enhancement Selection Ticket (SR, 8th Floor), Priest’s Earrings (SR)]
…?
“A healing item dropped?”
“Yumia! What is this!?”
Aris’s Stat Selection Ticket also appeared.
“Let’s leave that for later.”
I put the Priest’s Earrings on Aris.
“I-is it okay for me to accept something like this?”
“It’s useless to me.”
[Priest’s Earrings (SR)]
An item once used by an old priest.
Increases the efficiency of healing.
Of course, I wasn’t the one using it, so I didn’t know how effective it really was.
But Aris was grinning from ear to ear, so that was fine.
***
We cleared Floors 9 and 10 really quickly.
Aris had gotten the hang of fighting monsters, and her base specs were quite high to begin with.
Floor 9 spawned a large number of undead mages that applied a slowing debuff.
“In Code, Cleanse!”
It was solved with a click of her unique spell.
Floor 10 had a lich, but...
“Leokan.”
[Yes.]
As Leokan swung his needle sword,
with a sound like the air being torn apart, the lich was split in two.
[Kraaaagh!! How dare you, how dare you, you bastard!!!]
Leokan’s attack seemed to carry holy power.
The lich cast magic and Leokan took damage, but Aris healed even that right away.
Since they say it gets quite difficult from Floor 11 onward, I have something to look forward to.
“As expected, up to the 10th Floor really can be cleared quickly.”
In fact, I’d heard the other difficulties also get pushed through quickly up to Floor 10.
In fact, it was a little late.
If only that bastard Leokan hadn’t shown up, I could’ve pushed through faster without breaking the staff.
“By the way, I didn’t know you could even use summoning magic.”
The rewards from Floors 9 and 10 were Stat Enhancement Selection Tickets of SR and SSR grade respectively, along with a handful of miscellaneous artifacts.
And the Hell Difficulty Special.
The Arcana from Floors 8 and 9 each gave two cards.
[Holy Sword Manifestation (SSR)]
Summons a holy sword at the cost of a huge amount of mana.
The summoned holy sword exists physically and will not disappear unless it takes damage beyond a certain threshold.
It is impossible to summon more than one holy sword in a single world.
[Ability, Overclock (R) is enhanced!]
Overclock is upgraded to SR grade!
You can choose between a Stage 1 boost lasting two minutes or a Stage 2 boost lasting thirty seconds!
‘Hmm...’
Both are very good.
In the end, if I went this route, my mana would definitely surpass A.
Overclock is... too risky.
For now, I chose Holy Sword Manifestation.
[Ability [Holy Sword Manifestation (SSR)] has been added to your abilities!]
And the Arcana from Floor 9.
[Artemis’s Golden Rule (SR)]
After firing ranged attacks three times, one of them is guaranteed to hit.
However, it may be hindered by the opponent’s magical defenses.
[Holy Brooch (SSR)]
The wearer’s magic is imbued with divinity.
The effectiveness of healing magic increases.
‘Could it be that because Aris is here, priest items are dropping too?’
Both were so-so good, but I passed since I had something I originally planned to do.
[Nature Affinity (SSR) has been enhanced to Nature Affinity (SSR+)!]
The thing from last time that added a monster-taming option with a 30-day cooldown to Nature Affinity.
That came first.
Since I had more than seven cards in hand, I discarded the unnecessary card [Flame Demon Orb (R)].
And then, the long-awaited 10th Floor.
[Hell Difficulty Special ends on the 10th Floor!]
[Arcana will no longer appear from this floor onward!]
“What?”
[You may choose three cards from the remaining Arcana!]
“Hmm... not bad, but...”
The ability and trait copy event was over.
But honestly, everything up until now had been ridiculous.
“What’s wrong?”
“Three cards.”
Among the Arcana I had now, the usable ones were...
Red Moon’s Grimoire (SSR) and the Overclock enhancement.
I didn’t need the staff either...
So it’d be one of Red Moon Earrings or the Holy Brooch.
I looked at Aris.
And then I took Red Moon’s Grimoire, the Overclock enhancement, and the Holy Brooch.
Then I handed the brooch to Aris.
“Huh? You’re giving me another one?”
I gave all the other minor artifacts to Aris as well.
As a result, Aris ended up carrying an armful of artifacts.
“Let’s head out.”
I wanted to check Floor 11 too, but the clearing and reward-checking took longer than expected.
Let’s go to the guild and eat dinner.
***
“Eh, still a little underwhelming.”
After dinner, we left the guild lodging.
Aris must have been tired, because she fell asleep as soon as she lay down on the bed.
“It would’ve been nice if there had been at least one tough opponent.”
In the end, every monster below Floor 10 was weaker than even B-rank on an individual basis.
Even the boss monsters were all handled by Leokan.
Since it was a lich and had multiple lives, I used a few potions, but it wasn’t anything burdensome.
No dopamine rush.
It would be nice if there were someone I could fight at full power.
‘Should I pick a fight with Sera or something?’
“That would be a pointless thing to do.”
Sera has Strength at S and Agility close to A.
No matter what I did, winning would be hard.
Maybe I should look for a decent tavern for a change.
Thinking that, I went into an alley.
And then.
“Ugh. I’m lost.”
I’d completely taken the wrong turn.
This area is ridiculously complicated.
Then.
My pupils automatically constricted, filling with red mana.
—KAKAKANG!!
The daggers all bounced off the sword I swung instinctively.
“Heh, you’ve got good instincts.”
Someone’s voice came from above.
“I sensed mana and thought you were a mage, but your reflexes are impressive too.”
“Huh?”
They’re even critiquing me.
They clearly think they’re above me.
Are they planning to kidnap me or something?
I looked up and smiled.
“You, I’ve got you now.”
Big brother will go easy on you.
Ah, so now it’s big sis.