Swordmaster Healer - Episode 78
TL: Boko
Editor: Ren
Chapter 26: S-rank Dungeon (2)
Eun Joo woke up in an unfamiliar room.
"I guess I drank too much…"
She got a hold of herself, simultaneously feeling a migraine, and furrowed her eyebrows heavily.
Even Hunters who had transcended the limits of humanity couldn't avoid hangovers from heavy drinking.
She was able to drive out the migraine with her strong willpower and examined her surroundings. She was in the bedroom of a wide room; someone was beside her.
The blanket was covering their entire body, so she couldn't tell who it was.
"M-Mr. Sung Joon…?"
Eun Joo recollected her final memory, assumed that it was Sung Joon, and cautiously called his name. She had mixed feelings.
"Mr. Sung Joon?"
She called for him again, but there was no response. She carefully removed the blanket and looked. Sung Joon wasn't there, but Seol Ah was, sleeping.
The disappointment was clear on her face.
Sung Joon had dumped the two women into the hotel and left; he got into his car without looking back once and returned to his studio apartment.
"Aren't you disappointed?" Rishubalt asked.
He didn't explain further, but Sung Joon could tell what he was referring to.
He spoke with a calm expression.
"I'm not interested in voyeurism."
As always, Rishubalt followed beside him. He was a helpful and loyal subordinate, but there were times when he made things uncomfortable.
"Wouldn't it be alright if you just sent me to scout somewhere else?"
That was a clear solution that Sung Joon hadn't thought of.
"I can't let you make such a fruitless effort."
"Thank you, my lord."
The next day, Sung Joon got a message from Eun Joo. It was regarding the practice schedule with the 10th place S-Rank Hunter, Park Ha Yeon's regular assault team, 'Royal Cross'.
She must've not remembered what had transpired in the hotel, or she may be playing dumb, but she didn't mention it.
Sung Joon thought it was the latter.
"Practice for the attack, huh…"
It would be a first for Sung Joon, but when facing a high difficulty dungeon, if there were at least two regular assault teams working together, they would often have to practice their teamwork.
It was his first time practicing for a dungeon attack, so Sung Joon browsed Hunter.com for information; this way, he wouldn't be confused on site.
'It's not much compared to what I had expected…'
There was a lot of information regarding it on Hunter.com. Sung Joon was anxious, but there was nothing special about it.
He exited Hunter.com and stood up. As soon as he stood up, he heard his message alarm ring.
[Mr. Kang Sung Joon, I had a good time because of you. Thank you.]
It was Seol Ah. It was a message containing multiple meanings. Sung Joon checked his messages; since he didn't reply, Seol Ah sent him another message.
[I'll soon come and meet you 'formally'. It's because grandpa's pressure has been severe.]
[I have an appointment for a dungeon run. I'll contact you when I'm finished.]
[I'll be waiting.]
And their conversation was finished. Sung Joon took an early break.
Before long, it had become the day that he would meet Ha Yeon and Eun Joo.
Sung Joon, Eun Joo, and Ha Yeon decided to meet first and converse briefly before their practice.
The agreed upon place was the cafe nearby the Iron training center. When it was time, Sung Joon drove his car towards Iron.
'They're not here.'
After he finished parking, he went inside the cafe and scanned the inside, but he couldn't see Eun Joo or Ha Yeon. Sung Joon ordered an Americano and he waited for the two while drinking his coffee.
After five minutes had passed, the two came inside the cafe.
Eun Joo found Sung Joon first and briefly, just briefly flushed. Fortunately, she was able to collect herself before Sung Joon saw her.
"M-Mr. Sung Joon…!"
Eun Joo walked towards Sung Joon while waving her hand, and Ha Yeon followed behind her. Ha Yeon's long hair was dyed red and when she looked at Sung Joon, she smiled softly and bowed slightly.
"It's nice to meet you. My name is Park Ha Yeon, Mr. Kang Sung Joon."
He didn't know the reason, but there was goodwill mixed into her joyful voice. The two ordered Americanos and brought them with them, and sat in front of Sung Joon.
"Before we start talking, I want to say thank you for killing Cha Kyu Tae," Ha Yeon said.
Sung Joon took a sip of his coffee and opened his mouth.
"Did you have a personal grudge?"
"Yes. There will be other people besides me that'll thank you when they see you," Ha Yeon replied, smiling bitterly.
She didn't explain the circumstances in detail, but he could assume that she had a deep grudge.
All this time, he had thought that there wouldn't be just one or two people with a grudge against Cha Kyu Tae, but he didn't think he'd personally meet one of them.
"I can't tell you what happened between Cha Kyu Tae and us 'yet', but Ha Yeon is really thankful to you Mr. Sung Joon." Eun Joo added a short explanation.
He hadn't really been after him. Sung Joon seemed bashful and just nodded.
When they saw him, both Eun Joo and Ha Yeon smiled.
"Then shall we move on the main subject?" Ha Yeon began.
Ha Yeon led the meeting. They discussed the party's configuration, as well as primary formations that they would use in the dungeon. The meeting took an hour, but it felt short.
After they were finished with their meeting, the three people walked to the training center's lobby, and decided to gather with the rest of their party members there.
"It looks like everyone had already gathered."
When Eun Joo saw her teammates, she expressed her joy. Ha Yeon also smiled as she gathered with her teammates from 'Royal Cross'.
There were fifteen team members that had gathered for the S-rank dungeon assault, including Sung Joon, Eun Joo and Ha Yeon. There was one Mage, one Supporter, two Healers including Sung Joon, and eleven Combat Hunters.
"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Kang Sung Joon. I'm 'Royal Cross' Vice Team Leader, Lee Ki Hoon."
A man wearing blue robes and round glasses approached Sung Joon and offered a handshake. He had introduced himself as the vice team leader and was also an executive in the Imperial guild.
"It's also nice to meet you," Sung Joon replied.
The two men gently shook hands. Eun Joo and Ha Yeon introduced Sung Joon to their respective assault team members.
"We've already reserved the large-scale simulated combat system. Let's go up."
There were also facilities in the Iron training center that were provided for party training.
"Aside from Mr. Lee Ki Hoon, we'll check your fighting strength one by one first, before going in!" Eun Joo said.
Due to technical problems*, the Mage Hunter, Ki Hoon, couldn't utilize the large-scale simulated combat system. (*Reminder: Mages can't use the combat system because the Blue Dragon Group hasn't figured out how to program the system for magic.)
Excluding him, the other party members would go in one by one, and fight the simulated monsters. The other party members activated spectator mode and watched the situation inside as they waited for their turn.
"It's your turn now, Mr. Kang Sung Joon," Ha Yeon said.
At long last, it was Sung Joon's turn. Sung Joon activated the large-scale simulated combat system's spectator mode and went inside.
The monster that spawned would be random, as it was set up that way from the outside. As he gripped and lifted a training sword, an rank humanoid monster, a Warlock, appeared.
"Summon."
The Warlock, wearing a blue robe and a hood over its head, appeared and simultaneously shook his staff and summoned four Flaming Guards.
When the four Flaming Guards, lifting their blazing swords and shields, saw Sung Joon, their scarlet eyes shone.
'They look as real as ever.'
Sung Joon briefly admired them.
The more time passed while fighting a Warlock, the more difficult the fight became. Since there was no reason for him to buy time, Sung Joon rushed towards the Warlock without delay.
It seemed as though the Warlock was in the middle of casting as he couldn't immediately summon the second set of guards after his first summoning..
"Ha!"
Sung Joon instantly closed the distance to the Flaming Guards and swung his training sword with a brief battle cry. The simulated aura cut through the Flaming Guard's shield, severing its upper body.
The remaining Flaming Guards died futilely.
"Ugh…!"
The Warlock's face showed his embarrassment underneath his hood. Sung Joon was astonished by the technical skill involved in materializing these detailed appearances with the large-scale simulated combat system.
"Sum… AH!"
In an instant, the Warlock attempted to complete its casting and yell 'summon', but Sung Joon's training sword had already pierced his chest.
The Summoner vomited a handful of blood, shivered, and died. The Warlock's blood had stained his clothing, but when he killed him, the stained blood also neatly disappeared.
"You're amazing!"
"This is the first time I've seen someone hunt down an rank monster this quickly!"
As soon as Sung Joon left the training area, the party members who had been spectating through the monitors connected to the inside of the training area applauded and admired him.
"It seems like killing Cha Kyu Tae wasn't luck," Ha Yeon said.
Though she was a Supporter Hunter, she was still an S-rank Hunter. Just now, she had watched for only a short time, but she was able to at least recognize that Sung Joon's skills weren't at the level of an rank.
Eun Joo was also the same.
'No matter how low I rate him, he's at least rank top tier…'
It hadn't been long since she had known Sung Joon, but he was shrouded in mystery.
"We'll begin practicing teamwork now."
When Ha Yeon finished speaking, the party members immediately went into the large training area and started practicing.
'Dike' and 'Royal Cross' had occasionally gone through dungeons together, so their teamwork was good.
Sung Joon had worked together with Dike before, but it was his first time with Royal Cross. However, because of his ample combat experience, he was able to sync naturally with them, as if he had been part of their team from the beginning.
"You're amazing, Mr. Kang Sung Joon. You looked as if you were part of our team from the beginning," a 'Royal Cross' team member said at dinner, following their training.
The others also nodded their heads. Sung Joon's sense and his adaptability were so high that they were astonished.
Sung Joon just wordlessly tilted his wine glass.
They finished their dinner, and a few days later, they gathered at the S-rank dungeon entrance.
There were three people in charge of the joint assault team.
Eun Joo took command in front, while Ha Yeon was in charge of the middle. Lastly, Sung Joon was in command of the rear, as well as responsible for their safety.
"Everyone, don't be so tense," Eun Joo comforted softly, but the heavy silence still remained.
Amongst the party members, the only ones who had 'formally' experienced an S-rank dungeon were Eun Joo and Ha Yeon.
If they added an informal S-rank dungeon assault, then Sung Joon would be included, but despite that, there still weren't many who had experienced an S-rank dungeon. Therefore, they all had no choice but to be tense.
However, they were just tense, not afraid; since all of them were Hunters with ample experience attacking dungeons.
"We'll enter the dungeon now!"
The dungeon entrance opened and they went underground. Contrary to other dungeons, there wasn't a vast clearing underground, but a single gate.
"It seems like a field-type dungeon. If we go through the gate, we'll be transported to a field."
As the attack difficulty increased, the dungeon would also greet them with various forms. Dungeons that transported them to different fields were uncommon, but they certainly did exist.
Everyone looked tense, but they went through the gate. And they were covered in a radiant white flash, as if he had manifested a powerful 'Heal'.
When he opened his eyes, he was in the middle of a vast plain.
"Team Leader! What do we do in this kind of situation?" someone asked.
"The Boss will be at the place where we feel the strongest mana, so we just need to go there," Eun Joo responded.
It was a relief that Eun Joo and Ha Yeon had experience attacking S-rank dungeons.
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