The Girl I Saved Came Back As An S-rank Hunter

EP.11 The Price of Complacency

“It seems like quite some time has passed, but nothing has appeared yet.”

“Usually, in C-rank dungeons, monsters don’t show up that often.”

We’d been walking for about an hour. So far, we’ve simply followed the path without incident.

Thanks to that, Soo-jung, who had been slightly tense, already looked bored.

Since Soo-jung probably started with B-rank dungeons, the leisureliness of a C-rank dungeon could be harder for her to adapt to.

Though there’s only a one-grade difference, the number of monsters and traps and their levels are incomparable.

“But it’s a problem if there’s no battle like this. We need to check how much your skills have recovered, Mr Won-woo.”

“They’ll show up soon. No need to be impatient. And I know it’s ridiculous to say this to an S-rank hunter, but you know you should never let your guard down in a dungeon, right?”

“Hey, I know! Besides, I’m pretty strong, you know?”

I already knew she wasn’t just pretty strong, but extremely strong. However, her relaxed appearance worried me.

Since it was a C-rank dungeon, the probability of something happening to S-rank Soo-jung was close to 0%, but if various factors overlapped, a crisis could definitely arise.

Being an S-rank doesn’t mean one is invincible or omnipotent.

In the past, I had experienced tackling a C-rank dungeon without any issues and yet still having a big accident, so being complacent was strictly forbidden.

“Wait a moment. There’s something around here.”

Soo-jung stopped and spoke as if she sensed something from afar, although it wasn’t visible.

I pointed in one direction and said,

“Really? Then it’ll probably come from that direction.”

“How did you know?”

Soo-jung’s eyes widened as she asked me with a surprised expression.

“It’s nothing special. All the traces were concentrated in this direction. Like the large clumps of grass being crushed or bite marks.”

“Ah! I didn’t know. I never paid attention to that.”

It didn’t matter for someone like Soo-jung, who was actually skilled enough not to need to pay attention. No matter what monster appeared, she could just defeat it with overwhelming power.

“In my case, focusing on these small details often gives me an advantage in fights or provides opportunities to turn the tide even if it’s unfavourable. So, it’s become a habit, I guess.”

“I see. I should learn this from you later, Mr Won-woo.”

It was slightly surprising to see an S-rank who wasn’t arrogant and had a mindset to learn.

In the past, I met people who would usually just ignore everything a D-rank had to say.

It was an attitude that showed she didn’t become the youngest S-rank solely based on her talent.

“Here it comes, Mr Won-woo.”

As Soo-jung, who was on guard, spoke, we saw dark figures in the direction I pointed.

The figures that were running from afar suddenly approached us and stared at us.

With unkempt black fur and a slightly smaller size than a human, they were C-rank monster Dire Wolves, as written in the advance party report.

There were three of them. They weren’t much different from ordinary wolves except for their size, so they weren’t very difficult opponents.

Grrr

They bared their scary fangs and growled but didn’t rush at us easily. Instead, they stealthily moved to surround us and catch us off guard.

“Mr Won-woo, can you handle it alone?”

Her voice, which sounded bored earlier, was now filled with concern.

“Alright, I’ll try it alone.”

For some reason, a sense of pride arose in me in response to Soo-jung’s worried question, a desire to show off a good performance.

“Okay, I’ll stand by then.”

As if trusting me, Soo-jung just stood still and glared at the Dire Wolves. She didn’t take any further action.

I gently grasped the silver gauntlet in my hand, raised my guard, and took my usual fighting stance.

Then I slowly drew the magic power from within my body.

The Dire Wolves reacted to the magic, shifting their attention from Soo-jung to me.

They probably judged that they could deal with her later since she didn’t seem to have any intention to attack.

Howl!

As the Dire Wolf in the middle let out a howl, the two on the sides charged at me simultaneously.

‘I need to reduce their numbers.’

Since it was obvious that I would be in trouble if I just stood still and took the hits, I approached the Dire Wolf that was closest to me first.

The Dire Wolf leapt, baring its fangs as if to bite my neck.

I moved diagonally and dove in, landing a punch on its jaw.

Boom!

The gauntlet in my hand…

With the effect of the ‘Gloves of Destruction,’ an explosion left a scorch mark on the Dire Wolf’s body, and it floated into the air before falling back to the ground.

At that moment, another Dire Wolf attacked from behind, aiming for my back.

‘I reacted too slowly.’

I had anticipated it, but my body didn’t move as I had thought, making it too late to dodge.

To minimise the damage, I twisted my body so that the Dire Wolf’s attack would hit an area protected by my armour.

The Dire Wolf’s sharp front paw reached my chest.

As I prepared for the impact, my armour began to emit light.

Whimper

Surprisingly, the Dire Wolf that extended its front paw to my armour let out a weak sound and then landed, retreating.

It seemed to have injured its front paw as it limped slightly.

“Looks like I got lucky with the reflective effect, huh?”

The ability of the armour I was currently wearing, the ‘Beaded Cuirass,’

It had a chance to reflect a certain amount of damage, but relying on this chance often referred to as luck, was difficult.

The reason for choosing it was that it was lightweight and had a high defence against armour. It also carried a slight element of luck in a superstitious sense.

However, since the reflection happened from the very beginning, I couldn’t help but see it as good luck.

Growl.

Now there were only two left.

Although it wasn’t as great as during my best times, I could confirm for myself that my combat sense hadn’t completely died from my recent movements.

The one that had landed and the one that had been howling moved stealthily again to surround me from the front and back.

Of course, I had no intention of letting them have their way, so I kept dragging my feet, not giving them an angle to attack.

Instead of initiating an attack myself, which carried a high risk, it was better for me to wait for the moment they switched to an attack and exploited the opening.

We had both fully grasped each other’s moves, so from now on, it was a battle of patience.

As long as I could dodge their attacks, I certainly could bring them down in a single attack, so the situation wasn’t bad.

Howl!

In this battle of patience, the Dire Wolves seemed unable to hold back any longer and rushed at me again.

As they charged simultaneously from the front and side at a similar distance, I decided to wait until just before they reached me, realising that the previous method would be difficult.

Barely avoiding them at the last moment, the Dire Wolves leapt at the same time.

“Now!”

With the strength enhanced by the ‘Fairy Boots,’ I put power into my feet and leapt backwards, casting Aerial Spin.

I ascended higher and faster than usual, narrowly escaping the charging Dire Wolves.

The Dire Wolves tried to stop their bodies in the unexpected situation, but due to inertia, they collided with each other in mid-air.

Not missing this opportunity, I landed on the ground, charged, and struck a punch at the abdomens of the Dire Wolves, who were falling to the ground off balance.

Bang! Bang!

Whimper. Squeal.

With the sound of explosions and the desperate cries of the Dire Wolves, the long-awaited return to battle came to an end.

“Good job, Mr Won-woo.”

Soo-jung approached, acknowledging my efforts.

“Ah, yeah.”

“How was it? Battling after such a long time?”

I hesitated for a moment on how to answer Soo-jung’s question. Should I be honest or put it in a positive way?

While I was pondering, Soo-jung covered her mouth with her hand, chuckled, and said,

“Hehe. You’re still the same: strict with yourself. You’re not satisfied, are you?”

“How did you know?”

“Why wouldn’t I know about my man? You think you won just now because of the equipment I gave you, right?”

It was surprising as if she had mastered some kind of mind-reading technique.

“Your expression says it all, Mr Won-woo. You just won a battle after a long time, but instead of being happy, you looked unsatisfied, you know?”

“But how did you know what I thought about the equipment?”

“It’s obvious. If you remember the past, you should’ve easily defeated a C-rank monster like a Dire Wolf, but there were mistakes in your movements. Yet, you won easily, so you think you relied solely on the equipment, and that doesn’t make you feel good. Isn’t that it?”

I had nothing to say since she pinpointed my feelings accurately.

Certainly, utilising equipment well was a skill, but the fact that I struggled this much against C-rank monsters meant I still had a long way to go.

“Hehe, am I a true expert on Lee Won-woo with this level of understanding? What do you think? About my charm in knowing your inner thoughts so deeply.”

“Alright, stop it. It’s embarrassing…”

It felt strange as if she had genuinely understood me.

“I know so much about you, Mr Won-woo, so don’t think about leaving me behind and going astray. You know that, right? I’ll catch on to everything.”

Although she said it playfully with a smile on her face, her reddish eyes conveyed her sincerity.

I was about to argue that it wouldn’t lead to any misunderstandings, but I held back, thinking it might create an awkward situation.

“Alright, then, let’s move on. The magic stones that drop from C-rank monsters aren’t worth much, but I’ll collect them as a celebration of your comeback.”

In no time, the corpses of the Dire Wolves disappeared, leaving only small, purple-glowing magic stones scattered on the ground.

Soo-jung put those magic stones into her item bag.

“So, shall we continue?”

“Sure.”

The two of us started walking along the path again.

*

After that, Dire Wolves appeared from time to time, but unlike the first encounter, they appeared one by one, so I could deal with them quickly and without much difficulty.

As I continued fighting, it seemed that my past memories and senses were gradually returning, allowing me to move more freely.

“But Mr Won-woo, you’re really good at using the equipment.”

As we walked for a while and no more monsters appeared, Soo-Jung, perhaps bored, struck up a conversation with me.

“Really?”

“Most of them are rare-grade equipment, but it seems like you’ve chosen the most capable ones among them and used them effectively according to the situation.”

“Well, it turned out this way because I had to survive.”

There was no other reason for this.

After being forcibly unable to use magic, my perspective changed as a result of countless studies and experiences in A-rank dungeons.

If it had been the old me, I would have never researched or thought so thoroughly like this.

The [Fairy Boots] I was wearing, as Kang So-young explained, were said to have the effect of increasing strength and attack power when equipped.

However, upon experimenting, I found that depending on how they were used, they could be utilised not only for attack but also for increasing speed and jumping ability.

I realised that by thinking creatively and not just focusing on what was in front of me, I could achieve better results in other directions.

“Ah! Mr Won-woo, look over there!”

It was then that Soo-jung pointed to a spot and exclaimed,

Focusing on the pointed spot, I saw a low hill and a gaping hole that seemed to be a cave.

“It seems like there might be a dungeon core inside.”

“Let’s go check it out!”

She must have been bored by simply following and not doing anything.

It wasn’t like we could just chat while we were in a dungeon.

As we approached, we confirmed that it was a cave. Cautiously peeking inside, we saw torches installed along the path, making it not too bad for walking.

“Hey, isn’t that the dungeon core?”

Following Soo-jung’s words and taking a closer look inside, I saw the dungeon core embedded in the wall, which seemed to be a large cluster of the magic stones we had seen earlier.

Fortunately, it wasn’t a maze-like cave, so we wouldn’t have to suffer more.

“Then I’ll go and grab it quickly. If we have time left, I’ll play with Mr Won-woo.”

Soo-jung, seemingly excited, carelessly tried to enter the cave.

I was also about to enter without any suspicion when I suddenly hesitated, feeling familiar with the situation.

In the incident where all the top hunters except me were wiped out, I had to stop the excited Soo-jung first.

“W-wait a moment!”

I shouted belatedly, but I couldn’t catch up with Soo-jung’s swift movement.

The memories of the past came to mind one after another: the kindly installed torches and the conspicuously displayed dungeon core.

Although the place and situation were different from back then, I was convinced that something was off.

I deployed my magic power and focused the abilities of [Fairy Boots] on speed.

However, Soo-jung, an S-ranked hunter, was too fast for me to catch up.

“Soo-jung, come back. It could be dangerous!”

“Ugh, Mr Won-woo, you worry too much! I appreciate your concern, but it’s really unnecessary!”

Soo-jung ignored my words and kept moving forward.

My position was still halfway between the entrance and Soo-jung, who was far ahead of me.

“I’ll get it, Mr Won-woo. Just go out and wait.”

Unaware of my concern, Soo-jung had already arrived at the dungeon core and reached out to pull it from the rock.

That’s when I felt a chilling sensation.

I felt someone’s gaze on me.

I looked around and then suddenly up at the ceiling, where Soo-jung was.

There, in the darkness, yellow eyes were staring at Soo-jung.

“Don’t pull it, Soo-jung!”

I shouted at her while using all my strength to run towards her.

She glanced back for a moment and slightly lowered her head. Then she tried to pull the core again, putting more strength into her posture.

Soo-jung was off guard at this moment and didn’t notice anything. If she were attacked in this state, her life could be in danger.

The complacency came from being in a C-ranked dungeon, being an S-ranked hunter, and thinking this was the end.

As a result of using the best speed I could muster, I finally reached Soo-jung. Just a little bit more, and I could stop her from pulling the dungeon core.

Ding

That’s when I heard a sound as if something was being pulled out.

At that moment, I quickly removed one of the ‘Gloves of Destruction’ I was wearing and threw it, using [Psychokinesis] to strengthen the throw as it flew towards something hanging from the ceiling.

A little delay would be good enough. If I could just buy some time, I could save her.

However, the gauntlet flying through the air seemed to be caught by something invisible and hung in mid-air, motionless.

‘Damn it!’

Soo-jung, holding the dungeon core, turned to look at me.

‘I have no choice now. I hope it’s not too late for Soo-jung, at least!’

I converted all my speed into jumping power and leapt towards Soo-jung with all my strength.

“Mr Won-woo?”

Soo-Jung looked dazed, and as I pushed her away, she was thrown off the spot.

And then I fell to the ground with a thud.

GAAAAAAARRGG

In the meantime, a bizarre voice echoed throughout the cave, and a sticky green liquid covered my back.

Hiss.

The liquid, which melted not only my armour but also my clothes in an instant, dug into my back with a burning sound.

“…!”

Pain surged through my back as if countless needles were being stuck into it simultaneously. I couldn’t do anything due to the unbearable pain, which even prevented me from screaming.

“Mr Won-woo!”

Soo-jung’s desperate voice reached my ears, but I couldn’t respond because of the pain.

I tried to stretch out my hand to signal her to prepare for a fight, but even that took more strength than I had.

My vision gradually blurred as if covered by fog, and as it grew darker, I lost consciousness.