Chapter 30: Quest (3)

"Oh, my God!"

If the monsters managed to pierce us with their claws or wound us deeply, we would die. There was a chance that we would also die if we went too close or got entangled with them.

The reason this party was able to hold their defenses until now was because they were maintaining their formation, despite the relentless attacks they were receiving.

As Jung Jinho's group had also done their fair share of hunting, they surely knew of this. That was why they were able to bear the hordes of rampaging monsters.

"Sh*t!"

Those guys weren't backing down and were still doing their best to fight off the burning monsters. It was a fascinating sight for me.

"Sorry, I'm so sorry!"

Only trash like me could enjoy such horrendous circumstances.

As the number of monsters decreased, the actual burden on us was supposed to be reduced, but those guys still did their best to stave off an entirely new kind of monster, which was definitely heartbreaking to see. Although they were pushing the burning monsters as far away from themselves as possible, the problem was that they couldn't do anything about the flames that burned their bodies.

The considerable physical exhaustion and the burning heat continued to eat away at their stamina.

The temperature was rising in the dungeon.

There was no telling how much direct flames or heat Jung Jinho's group was facing.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!"

[Checking the status window of the Monster Burning Maw.]

[Name: None]

[Title: None. You should try a little harder.]

[Age: 5]

[Disposition: Burning Instinct]

[Class: None]

[Stats]

[Strength: 12]

[Agility: 15]

[Stamina: 05]

[Endurance: 15]

[Luck: 10]

[Magic Power: 01]

I wasn't sure what was happening, but I could see some changes in the monster's status window.

Their health seemed to be decreasing rapidly, but their magical power had increased by one point. It could have been due to the flame that I had fired at them.

"Extinguish the fires, motherfucker!"

Even Buddha, could not help but swear furiously in such a situation.

"Sorry! Just a little bit now! Please hold on a little!"

It felt as if some kind of holy warriors were fighting against armies sent directly from hell.

After some time, it became clear that they had to sacrifice something in order to get rid of the monsters for good.

It depended on their stamina, or on the tricks that Jung Jinho was hiding from the rest.

As I couldn't hear him cast any spells, Jung Jinho had probably decided to keep them hidden for the time being.

'He will hide his skills until the right opportunity comes.'

It was good judgment on his part to hide the true extent of his powers until the very end.

And it wasn't just me. Kim Hyunsung also knew about these things already.

'Such pitiful behavior!'

He was acting so stupidly that I actually wanted to laugh out loud. Of course, Kim Hyunsung knew that Jinho could use magic.

I didn't know what kind of class he would have been promoted to in the future, but he must have achieved a higher level of the same Battlemage class that he had now.

I had come to know about his class as a Battlemage through my ability, and the guy from the future was, of course, already aware of his secrets.

The cards that Jinho thought he was hiding right now were those that some of us knew about. It was like playing poker when all of your cards were already known to the opponent.

Even though I knew that he had more than one card up his sleeve, it made me laugh whenever I saw him biting his teeth while trying his best to hide his abilities.

Kim Hyunsung's idea was really worthy of him being a time-traveler.

As if making fun of his judgment, the situation began to get even worse.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"Damn! Kichul!"

"Please hold on!"

Lee Kichul was the name of one of Jung Jinho's lackeys. We didn't know that before now.

Then a Burning Maw caught him.

They were screaming and trying to grab his arm to get him away from the monster, but of course, there was nothing they could do to save him.

In the end, Lee Kichul was dragged into the mass of the fiery monsters.

The sight of him being swallowed up by the monsters, who were filling up the narrow corridor, made me frown unknowingly.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! Help me! Help me!"

"Kiyoung! Hayan!"

It was impossible to use my precious magical power again to protect Jung Jinho's partner as I could only use it once more.

I was a little nervous, but…

"A little bit! Just a bit more!"

'I will not falter.'

As long as Jung Jinho was present, I couldn't falter.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! Stop! Stop! Oh, you son of a bitch! Stop!"

There was no way to check from here whether his intestines were being eaten or his limbs were being ripped apart.

One thing was for sure; it was very painful to hear his voice. He let out blood-curling screams.

The pain of being eaten alive and the pain of burning flesh would be torturous to feel at the same time when you fell to the monsters, so I thought his reaction was quite natural.

'One guy is done for.'

Even in the midst of all this, the thought that I had just killed a person still disturbed me, but I didn't feel any guilt either. It was probably because of the excitement or the battle circumstances.

Rather, this was something that I very much wanted to see.

The edge of my lips rose up to form a smile.

"We can do this!"

'It's going to get better.'

His death had made the situation even more favorable for us.

"Ahhhhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhhhh!"

"Sh*t! Sh*t! Kichul!"

"Hyung-nim, isn't this getting too dangerous?"

"Never mind that. The monster won't be able to get through their formation."

We were going to watch this massacre until the end.

If we could fight off the monsters, we would definitely be able to survive. Unlike Jung Jinho, Kim Hyunsung wasn't nervous at all. I thought I knew why.

"Hey!"

My attacking style was simple and repetitive, which consisted of just aiming at the blocked monsters and then stabbing them with the spear.

I started feeling exhausted.

Not only did my spear hand start trembling, my breathing also got rough and unsteady. My whole body was covered with sweat, and it was increasingly getting difficult to breathe.

I wanted to lay down on the ground and rest for a moment, but those monsters that kept running towards us did not give me that time to take a breath.

'Will we survive?'

Park Deokgu's condition was remarkably good. The same was true for Kim Hyunsung.

Jung Jinho could also be counted among them, although he had holes burnt into his clothes.

Yoo Seokwoo and the remaining archer seemed to be struggling a lot, but they didn't look like me yet.

The monsters' corpses were beginning to pile up like a wall, but still, more monsters stepped over the corpses and attacked us.

Park Deokgu blocked them, and I stabbed them repeatedly.

'How much longer can we hold on?'

I pretended to be okay, but on the inside, I was feeling quite anxious. I couldn't figure out how many monsters were still left.

But one thing was certain; the roars that could be heard were getting lesser.

Instead, a loud voice rang in my ears.

Something like, 'Please hold on!'

I didn't know who had said that in all the commotion.

"Whew!"

I struck a spear into a monster, squeezing all of my remaining strength into it.

Park Deokgu also pushed back with his shield with a loud roar.

"Kie-e-e-e-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee!"

Finally, when Kim Hyunsung slowly put his arms down to his sides, I realized that the hellish trial was over at last.

"They are finished."

"It's over, it's over…" I sank to the ground without even thinking about it.

It was Kim Hyunsung who spoke at this moment while everyone was still breathing roughly.

"We have to move away immediately."

'Damn it…'

"The quest we are on hasn't been completed yet. I think it would be better to start moving right away."

"No… Hyung-nim. If you can't walk, I'll help you."

"Stop, Deokgu. I can walk. Hayan…"

"Thank you but I'm alright, Oppa."

At that moment, another problem presented itself in front of them.

The body of the guy named Kichul, who had been dragged and killed by the monsters, was barely recognizable.

The badly mangled body was a truly horrific sight to witness.

As I saw the terribly torn up body of a dead colleague, I eventually lowered my head, but I couldn't forget his hostility to our group.

Jung Jinho was standing expressionless.

Yoo Seokwoo was wearing an extremely hostile expression.

"Do you see this!"

Most of his hair had burned, and the body was covered with scars. It didn't need any confirmation that the guy named Kichul had died a very miserable death.

Looking at his body's state, it could be said that it had been pretty painful for him.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Do you think it can be forgiven by simply apologizing? Bastard! "

"That, but… Uh, I couldn't help it."

"What?"

"It was an unavoidable situation. I am not familiar with magic other than flame magic yet, and if my magic spell hadn't been cast correctly then that would have caused even more casualties. Hayan didn't have enough time to use her magic powers, and I didn't think the monsters would stick to each other and spread the flames. It was the best option at that time. That and… the number of monsters was also significantly reduced because of it."

I spoke calmly, but the message behind my words was clear.

If it weren't for me, they wouldn't even have been able to survive up to this point in the first place.

Of course, only Hayan and I had the magical ability to get us all out of that sticky situation, but using magical powers to save them would have been more detrimental to us than beneficial.

Jung Jinho would have arrived at the same conclusion.

Of course, Jung Jinho's point of view, he hadn't known that Kichul would die so quickly. That was his mistake.

The magic was a little too powerful, and it was true that Kichul died because of the spreading fire.

It was also true that I spread the fire on purpose, however…

He didn't know that.

"Now what are we going to do…?"

"We can't help it. Kichul's death is a pity for me too… But now…"

The other guy in Jinho's group was getting angry. It wasn't completely unreasonable of him to feel that way.

It seemed like he wanted nothing better than to aim a bow or a spear at me right now. Thus, it was a bit scary to see the guy approaching me with a frown.

I shook my head while glancing at Park Deokgu.

Park Deokgu nodded. I had signaled him not to intervene.

"I'm really, really sorry. Nevertheless… It was inevitable."

"I… this… "

Whatever I said, it appeared as total bullsh*t to him. I knew the characteristics of these sorts of guys very well.

'Angry weaklings.'

They were weak people controlled by their anger, and they only attacked those in their fury who they considered to be weaker than themselves.

"I'm really sorry for your loss and everything that happened. We don't have to fight."

He raised his fist to the highest point he could, and then he fiercely swung down.

Of course, I did not avoid it.

Some degree of acting was necessary on my part too.

The blow landed on my face, and I fell to the side with tremendous force.

I felt dizzy, and I was spitting blood.

In that instant, I didn't even have to act. My body, which was too fragile, fell to the ground by itself.

"Hyung-nim!" Park Deokgu was startled.

"It's okay, Deokgu. I made a mistake."

I tried as hard as I could to play the victim and stopped Park Deokgu.

"Jaejoon, let's go."

"But…"

"It's time to go. Everyone understands what happened, but more fighting will avail nothing."

'Right. Conflict won't amass to anything.'

Even from Jung Jinho's point of view, it was a really bad idea to start fighting in such a dangerous place right now.

I coughed and spat out one tooth along with some clotted blood.

'Ah…'

"Are you okay? Kiyoung-ssi…"

Only

"Ah. It's okay, Hyunsung-ssi. This was my fault. I couldn't help them."

The punch had been really painful, I'll admit that.

However, I could not say that to Kim Hyunsung. I knew that I wasn't at fault, and the other group's level of vigilance towards me had dropped by now.

I sensed warmth and protection in the eyes of the people around me. This alone gave me confidence, and momentarily, it felt as if I was in the world's safest place.

And now I could see death in one of their eyes.

'Ah…'

It was Jung Hayan, who was staring at Jung Jinho's lackey, Kim Jaejoon, with an expressionless face.

'What the hell is going to happen now?'