CHAPTER 20
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As we first stepped into the cave, I had the impression it was devoid of life. However, the moment I lowered my guard, Jehee's Light item cast a revealing glow, unveiling creatures that, camouflaged against the cave walls, erupted into flight. It was a nightmarish tableau I hoped never to see again.
[Party member 'Kim Hana' activates the attack skill 'Sure Shot'.]
[Party member 'Han Chorok' activates the attack skill 'Sword Wind'.]
[Party leader 'Lee Jehee' activates the attack skill 'Wind Breath'.]
The cave transformed into a maelstrom of chaos as our party unleashed a torrent of skills. Winds, sharpened to a razor's edge, screamed in every direction; arrows poured down like a relentless storm, and in the midst of this tumult, Chorok, ever the wild one, danced his deadly swordplay.
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[Party member 'Baek Taera' activates the support skill 'Efficiency Enhancement'.]
[The 'Efficiency Enhancement' skill boosts the attack power and movement speed of the party members.]
[Party member 'Baek Taera' activates the support skill 'Healer's Touch'.]
[Under the 'Healer's Touch' skill, the party members experience continuous health regeneration.]
Even Taera, who until then had remained an observer, sprang into action, deploying his skills. His intervention accelerated our monster-slaying pace, and soon, the onslaught of creatures began to thin noticeably.
"Hey, are you just going to stand there forever?" Taera, who had been fervently casting support skills at the forefront, spun around.
The cave, illuminated as bright as day by Jehee's Light item, highlighted the scorn in his gaze directed at me. However, his look of disdain wasn't enough to spur me into action.
"I might as well be invisible here."
"You're racking up experience points without lifting a finger, and now you complain? Aren't you going to join in?"
"I'm a rock, a mere rolling stone in this cave."
"Rock, indeed."
That's right, I'm the rock, and you're the thick-headed one. Just leave this unresponsive stone be. I tuned out Baek Taera, embodying someone utterly deaf to the world.
Jehee cut in. "Just ignore him. It's a miracle he's not knocked out yet."
Hearing a hint of amusement in his tone, I shot Jehee a sharp look. While the ever-active Chorok and Hana whirled about, he remained stationary, content with just deploying his skills. Nonetheless, he had an air of self-satisfaction, probably because his magic had accounted for over half of the fallen monsters.
"It looks like we've nearly cleared it out." Hana, joining us, gestured towards the now-open path deeper into the cave.
Taera, feeling slighted by the lack of support from his allies, turned his head away abruptly.
He's behaving like a petulant child. Maybe this will help him cool down.
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[Party member 'Yeon Seonwoo' activates the support skill 'Refresh'.]
As I cast Taera's preferred Refresh skill, he finally looked back with a somewhat softened expression. I offered him an awkward smile, hoping to defuse any lingering tension.
"Let's keep moving and take them down as we go."
Hana, following Chorok's lead as he continued his unrestrained swordplay at the front, rallied the party.
Taera, still feigning sulkiness, beckoned us with a flick of his fingers.
As I rose to my feet, Jehee motioned for me to join him. "Come over here."
"Right!"
I realized the safest spot was nestled between Baek Taera and Jehee. Hurrying to my designated place, the party gradually resumed its advance.
"Such disloyalty," Taera muttered under his breath.
"That comment wasn't meant for me, right?" I asked, half-joking.
"Who else here embodies disloyalty as you do?" he retorted.
"But coming from Baek Taera, that seems a bit rich..."
How could he, notorious for dissolving a party over minor disagreements and turning former comrades to foes, have the audacity to lecture about loyalty?
"What about me then?"
"People often fail to see their true selves. I understand."
Hana, leading the way ahead of us, couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle. Her laughter echoed off the cave walls, drawing a raised eyebrow from Taera.
"Hey, don't laugh at that!"
"I wasn't laughing," she replied, her face straight.
Despite having clearly seen her giggle, Hana denied it flatly. Her poker face redirected Taera's suspicious gaze towards me, the usual suspect.
Amidst our playful bickering, we continued forward, the cave's ceiling arching higher above us. We followed the straight path until it opened into a large, circular area under a vast dome-like ceiling.
The cavern's round expanse, sealed at the rear, signified the end of our path. To anyone familiar with such adventures, it unmistakably resembled the arena for a final boss confrontation.
"This must be the last area to clear," Hana observed, pausing to dispatch her mouse scouts across the vast space. These tiny creatures, her loyal scouts, had been with us since we first stepped into the cave.
"It's starting." Her words, spoken with a hint of weariness, were the prelude to the sudden tremor that rocked the ground.
I struggled to maintain my balance, teetering until Jehee's firm grasp on my arm steadied me. Raising my eyes from the quivering earth, I watched as a sinister black mist began to coalesce in the center of the chamber, slowly taking form.
The sudden system notification jolted us.
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[A nightmare monster 'Nightmare (S-Rank)' has appeared.]
[With the arrival of 'Nightmare', the 'Time of Nightmares' begins.]
[Special Clear Quest: End the 'Time of Nightmares' and clear the dungeon!]
From the swirling black mist, a humanoid monster with two horns and a sinuous tail emerged. It resembled a human in its basic shape, but its purplish skin, glowing red eyes, and a grotesquely wide mouth tearing to its cheeks marked it as unmistakably otherworldly.
"What? An S-rank? In a C-rank dungeon boss fight?"
"Something's off here!"
"Brace yourselves, it's coming!"
Taera's voice trembled with alarm as Hana swiftly notched an arrow.
Chorok, signaling readiness, positioned himself protectively in front of us, sword aloft.
Confusion rampant, Jehee enveloped me in a protective hold.
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[The nightmare monster 'Nightmare' activates the attack skill 'Nightmare's Roar'.]
[Party member 'Baek Taera' activates the defense skill 'Healer's Sacrifice'.]
[A mana-based shield is formed by 'Healer's Sacrifice'.]
[The shield from 'Healer's Sacrifice' is shattered by 'Nightmare's Roar'.]
"Ugh!" the party collectively groaned.
"...Baek Taera!"
The Nightmare's ferocious attack was thwarted by an invisible yet impenetrable shield. In that very moment, Taera, his mana draining to an ominous zero, clutched at his eyes, his legs wobbling beneath him.
The 'Healer's Sacrifice,' a signature defensive maneuver unique to healers, utilized the caster's mana to absorb an equivalent measure of damage. The disintegration of such a shield indicated that Baek Taera had exhausted his mana reserves completely.
Consequently, the skill that had been our beacon of light in the dark abyss ceased. This was the reason why Taera's eyes, now shrouded in darkness, lost their usual spark, staring blankly into the void.
"Are you okay?!" I darted towards Taera, his form teetering on the edge of collapse, and encircled his shoulders with my arm. Just then, a spectacle of blue light burst forth before us, painting the scene in an ethereal glow.
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[Party member 'Kim Hana' unlocks her awakening trait.]
[The Divine Archer, Dongmyeong the Strong, reveals himself.]
[The Divine Archer, Dongmyeong the Strong, unleashes the awakening skill 'First Strike of the Army's Banner'.]
Enveloped in a cyclone of blue luminescence, Hana's eyes transformed, her pupils adopting the color of the deepest oceans. Before her materialized a crossbow of celestial magnificence, its glow a testament to its power.
As Hana, now levitating amidst the swirling azure, positioned herself upon the crossbow's stirrup, her frame stretched like a bowstring at its limit. A spectral arrow, infused with the essence of the blue energy, appeared, ready to unleash its fury. The concentrated energy, now resembling a celestial boulder, hurtled forward as Hana released the bowstring. The arrow, a comet trailing a ribbon of sapphire light, impaled the Nightmare's abdomen with lethal precision.
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[Nightmare monster 'Nightmare' suffers a catastrophic wound.]
[Party member 'Han Chorok' initiates the secret technique 'Moonlight Slash'.]
"Chorok, no!"
In a heartbeat, the tide of battle shifted.
While I steadied Taera, Hana, in a majestic display of power, unleashed her awakening skill upon the Nightmare. In tandem, Chorok, ever the bold warrior, readied his secret technique.
Jehee, assisting me in supporting Baek Taera, wore an expression of deep concern, his eyes reflecting a turmoil I hadn't witnessed in our week-long journey together.
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[Nightmare summons the attack skill 'Nightmare's Dominion'.]
"Chorok!"
Hana, our team's stalwart ranged damage dealer, and Chorok, the intrepid melee fighter, were at starkly different vantages in the battlefield. Chorok, in his audacious charge towards Nightmare to deploy his secret technique, had ventured perilously close to the beast. The gravest concern was that Nightmare, even in its grievously wounded state, remained a formidable adversary.
As Hana's cry, laden with a mix of fear and determination, pierced the air, Nightmare's unleashed skill enveloped Chorok in its malevolent embrace.
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[Han Chorok's attempt to launch 'Moonlight Slash' is thwarted.]
[Han Chorok succumbs to the 'Sleep' status effect under 'Nightmare's Dominion'.]
[Han Chorok is rendered helpless in the fray.]