108 – New Possibilities – 2

The leveling of the Gi-jun party without Gi-jun was extremely smooth.

“I’m driving them in from the 11 o’clock direction again, nya—!”

“Yes.”

Hearing Nabinya’s shrill voice, Scintilla, who was leading the party in Gi-jun’s stead, nodded and turned to the party members as she said,

“Let’s just catch the ones coming in now and take a rest. Everyone can do it, right?”

“We can hold out as long as needed, Scintilla-nim!”

“I’m fine, of course, since I’m just casting magic from the back.”

Though they might have been exhausted from the breathless, non-stop battles, Gin and Ji-hye replied energetically, showing they were still going strong.

In particular, Ji-hye, who was on the verge of a species rank advancement, had been in high spirits ever since they began hunting in this dungeon.

“Isn’t this place seriously amazing? If we keep going like this, I feel like it won’t even take a week for my rank to rise.”

“Since this is my first dungeon… is it really that amazing, Miss Ji-hye… Noona?”

“Of course it is! I’m telling you, it really feels like this place was deliberately designed for this.”

Currently, the Lumen party was in a plaza created inside the dungeon, which was a location optimized for leveling where they could hunt steadily and stably by utilizing a large-scale trap that spawned a large number of specific monsters at regular intervals.

If they were not monopolizing the dungeon, it was a place where it would not have been strange for countless people to claim it as their own and try to take it.

“You know that gaining experience doesn’t automatically mean your species rank will advance, right?”

Scintilla cautioned her to calm her down as Ji-hye seemed overly excited, but Ji-hye still replied with a confident attitude.

“I’ve already finished calculating how to raise my rank to Unique-grade, so it’s fine, Sister.”

“S-Sister…”

“I obtained a spellbook in the tutorial that serves as my growth guide, so you don’t have to worry about my species rank. I would like to get some advice on advancing my mana rank, though.”

“Y-Yes. I can help with that much anytime— They’re coming! Everyone, get ready!”

Scintilla, who had been nodding while feeling embarrassed by Ji-hye’s friendly form of address, suddenly raised her voice sharply.

Because Scintilla’s level was too high compared to the other party members, she pulled out of the party when they were leveling, and she rarely participated in actual battles under normal circumstances.

She was, after all, an insurance policy who led the party and protected the party members in case of unexpected situations.

“Lora, will you be okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

Therefore, the one who held the front line in the current party was basically only Lora, the former priestess.

Of course, since Gin was learning both axe techniques and hand-to-hand combat, he would help her when it was hard for her to hold out alone.

Considering the party balance when Gi-jun joined, it was better for Gin to focus on marksmanship, so in order to get used to each other’s positions, they were unintentionally putting a burden on Lora.

“There’s a ton of them, nya—! I’ll keep them in check from behind as much as possible, so do your best, nya!”

Nabinya shouted as she ran, skillfully driving the monsters that had emerged from the trap.

At her oddly deflating shout, everyone gripped their weapons and prepared to fight.

“Phew—”

Lora, too, let out a long breath as she drew and gripped her elegantly shaped longsword.

She glanced at Scintilla, who was waiting and ready to step in at any time from a spot slightly away from the party.

To Scintilla, who noticed her gaze and tilted her head as if asking what was wrong, Lora shook her head to indicate it was nothing.

Lora was still uncomfortable around Scintilla.

“Here comes a big one—!”

With a highly excited voice, Ji-hye cast the magic she had prepared from behind.

The moment the discharging sphere she fired hit, it turned into a storm that swept away everything in all directions, and more than half of the monsters Nabinya had skillfully driven in were caught in it, either dying or losing their fighting capability.

—Kkueeeek!

—Kihek!

“Hup—!”

As Gin began firing at the monster horde falling into confusion, Lora also did not miss the opportunity and charged forward.

What she pictured in her mind was the appearance of the cursed vampire, Carmilla.

Moving as naturally as flowing water, slipping through the gaps between countless monsters, slashing all of their vital points, and then leisurely escaping—that sight, though she hated to admit it, was deeply etched in her mind and was influencing her even to this moment.

Having lived a life with absolutely no connection to swords all her life, the fact that she could wield a blade so skillfully now was surely because of that.

‘So annoying, really.’

She pierced the necks, armpits, and hollow chests of the monsters stumbling in the aftermath of Ji-hye’s magic with her blade to silence them, and then pulled back leisurely, just as Carmilla had done.

Although there were monsters that targeted and lunged at her, most of them fell to Gin’s gunfire or collapsed under the surprise attack of Nabinya, who suddenly appeared at their feet to thrust her rapier, and Lora killed the rest by personally slicing their necks.

Their party play, forged through endless group sparring, had reached maturity after going through several actual battles.

“—Phew.”

After confirming that all the monsters had fallen in that manner,

Lora, exhaling her held breath all at once, shook the filth off her blade and sheathed it.

Exceedingly to her annoyance, her fluid movements from charging to sheathing her sword were the spitting image of Carmilla.

“Let’s rest now. Nabinya, you worked hard.”

“Nyaat—!”

Scintilla, who was hugging Nabinya, declared a rest.

Lora glanced at that sight, let out a faint sigh again, and sat down on a clean spot on the ground nearby.

She took out a chocolate bar from her pocket, peeled off the foil, and took a big bite.

At the sweetness melting deliciously on her tongue, a strange exclamation escaped her lips of its own accord.

“Hyaa…”

Was it a reaction to her blood power growing as she leveled up?

Even she herself could feel that the frequency with which she looked for chocolate was increasing.

She was relying on this chocolate so much that it was a bit frightening to think of what would have happened if Gi-jun had not smuggled chocolate from the factory for her.

Perhaps, at this rate, one day…

‘No, no. That can’t be.’

To shake off the bizarre and horrific thoughts, she closed her eyes tightly and tried hard to think of something else.

In the past, when things were difficult, she used to offer prayers to the goddess she served, Ishtar—but now she naturally recalled the appearance of another person.

It was the image of the person who had saved Turis and saved her.

A person who always moved for others rather than himself, a person who calmly sacrificed himself, and a person who proudly defeated matchless enemies and returned.

And…

She ended up bowing her head deeply.

She was afraid that the sound of her violently beating heart would be heard by the others.

—Fufu, you want to suck that man’s blood after all, don’t you? You’ve already got his permission, so is there any need to hesitate?

‘Shut up.’

She replied coldly to Carmilla’s voice whispering in her ear, but…

In truth, she already knew.

She knew that this voice, which she heard every time an uncontrollable impulse welled up, actually had nothing to do with Carmilla.

She was merely pretending not to know because she hated it terribly and wanted to deny it.

All of this was Lora’s—

“Lora, are you okay?”

At the voice that rang out from behind just then, Lora snapped her head up.

Scintilla was looking at her with concern, her hand resting on Lora’s shoulder.

“Was fighting on the front line by yourself too much of a burden, after all?”

“No… I’m fine. Really.”

Avoiding her gaze filled with genuine worry, Lora slightly turned her head away, feeling a pang of guilt.

Since the day of the decisive battle against the Species Alliance, Scintilla had moved away from her attitude of only caring about Gi-jun and was treating the party members with sincerity.

It was obvious that she was acting especially friendly and trying to take care of Lora, which was probably because Lora had been the first to run to Scintilla when she was in danger.

“I see. It’s fine if you’re okay, but tell me anytime if it gets hard.”

“Understood.”

“Fufu, alright.”

At Scintilla’s affectionate voice, Lora’s guilt deepened even further.

What had Lora answered when Scintilla asked why she had risked danger to come and save her?

Although she had been blocked by the enemy and couldn’t say it all, she had definitely intended to reply like this at the time.

“Because we’re in the same party—”

—What a joke.

The voice that only she could hear chuckled and said,

—Lo—ra, you were thinking of something else back then.

‘Shut up.’

—If I save this person, how much will Jun-nim praise me?

‘Shut up.’

—I want to let Jun-nim know that I am someone who can save others. I want to prove that I am a person similar to him, a person worthy of getting closer to him—

‘Shut up!’

—Even though you moved to save someone in crisis, you didn’t worry about that person’s safety at all. You were just thinking about how your image of saving Scintilla would look to your beloved.

‘Stop it—!’

—After all, you suit being a vampire more than a human, Lo—ra. You move only for your own goals, and others are merely pawns to be used in the process. Isn’t that right?

Unable to bear it any longer, Lora sprang up from her seat.

Not only Scintilla but also the others were startled and asked if she was okay.

“My leg suddenly went numb.”

Despite the clumsy excuse, the party members merely believed it and nodded.

Although they believed in and treated her as a precious companion, and even Scintilla, who had only been obsessed with Gi-jun, was opening her heart and approaching her, Lora actually felt that they were growing further and further away.

Feeling terribly sorry and guilty about that fact, she couldn’t even compose herself properly.

“Lora, come over here for a moment.”

At that moment, Ji-hye gestured for Lora to come over.

Wearing a playful expression, Ji-hye took Lora’s hand as she approached, led her to a corner of the plaza, and whispered.

“It’s tough without Gi-jun Oppa, right?”

“Ah?!”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. I know that feeling very well.”

Ji-hye patted the back of Lora’s hand as if she understood her feelings completely, and let out a small sigh.

“I’m your senior in this field, you know. A whopping twenty years… Ah, suddenly I feel even sadder.”

“T-Twenty years…?”

“It’s really frustrating and hard, right? You want to just confess everything, but you worry about what if things go wrong, so in the end, you can’t even say a word. And you also wonder if the current situation is really the time to be playing love games. Yet, even so, you sometimes just want to go and hug him, and every other woman feels like a rival…”

“S-Sister Ji-hye.”

Although she didn’t know what Ji-hye wanted to say, Lora found herself nodding in agreement, especially at the last part.

“So, Sister Ji-hye, do you… to Jun-nim…?”

“Huh? No way. If I liked Oppa, I wouldn’t be here like this with you.”

Ji-hye, who shook her head flatly, muttered, ‘Though he does seem a bit cool lately…’ but stopped and, feeling Lora’s gaze staring at her intently, hurriedly denied it, saying it was not like that.

“Seriously, I’m not a rival, so rest assured. Actually, the one you really need to watch out for isn’t me or Sister Scintilla, but someone else… but let’s talk about that later. Anyway, I know because I’ve had an unrequited love for a long time, but mind control is really important here. Otherwise, you won’t last long.”

“Could it be, Sister Ji-hye, that the twenty years you mentioned earlier was…”

Annoyed for no reason at Lora’s expression as she looked at her with disbelieving eyes, Ji-hye poked her forehead with her finger.

“Ouch.”

“Anyway, I’m saying don’t waste your energy on the wrong things. Do you know that you and Sister Scintilla look seriously awkward together?”

“Ugh…”

“There’s no need to think so complicatedly. Gi-jun Oppa isn’t even here right now, is he? We just need to face each other, just us.”

“It’s just that… it’s a bit difficult.”

“Heh.”

Believing she had succeeded in hearing Lora’s true feelings, a smile hung on Ji-hye’s lips.

“In times like this, there’s another special remedy.”

“What is it? …Could it be Jun-nim’s portrait or something?”

“Nothing like that.”

Ji-hye pulled Lora along as she headed toward the party members, clapping her hands.

“Alright, rest is over! Everyone up!”

“Huh? Already?”

“Ji-hye Noona?”

The companions, who had been resting comfortably, got up, albeit puzzled.

Lora was equally puzzled.

“Sister Ji-hye.”

“Once we run ourselves ragged together, you’ll realize that such idle thoughts are a luxury!”

Ji-hye, who made a confident declaration, pulled Nabinya—who had been purring on Scintilla’s lap—and ordered her to herd the monsters again.

“Nabinya, let’s increase the number of monsters we face at one time. Honestly, it’s been too easy so far.”

“Nyaat!”

“Did the two of you discuss and decide this? Then it’s fine.”

“Of course. We’re going to start crazy grinding now, so everyone, keep up with the pace!”

Watching this, Lora thought that maybe Ji-hye just wanted to advance her species rank quickly, but since it was true that she had many idle thoughts, she decided to comply without resisting for now.

* * *

“Puhah!”

In the dungeon monopolized by Ye-min’s party, at the site where a round of hunting had just ended,

Mok-su, who had vigorously emptied a bottle of water, shouted energetically.

“Now there really isn’t much left until the max level!”

“Well, since we’re focusing entirely on you, Uncle, of course it should be.”

Ye-min, speaking in a coy voice, confirmed that all the monsters were dead and pulled out her Letaphone from her pocket to check it.

“Still no message from Oppa…”

“No, Min-ah.”

Since Eun-shin was already scouting the next group of monsters to hunt, the only one who could call her out here was Mok-su.

“Why don’t you stop checking it every time we hunt a pack of monsters?”

“But we don’t know when and what kind of message Oppa will send.”

“Good grief.”

To think he would have to worry about smartphone addiction even after coming all the way to the continent of Leta.

While Mok-su shook his head, wondering how on earth he should speak to get Ye-min to shed that obsession,

“Ah, it came!”

Ye-min, wearing a bright smile, clutched her Letaphone.

In Ye-min’s appearance, holding and lifting the phone carefully with both hands as if handling a holy relic imbued with a sacred blessing, Mok-su felt a trace of madness.

“Is it from Jun?”

“Yes! I told you, we never know when it’ll come! I’m telling you, Jun-i Oppa and I are connected!”

It was terrifying.

They said time dilutes emotions, but why was it that every single person in this party was only getting worse…

“So, what does it say?”

“Uncle, are you trying to eavesdrop on the sweet whispers of lovers right now?”

“No, since when were you two lovers… Never mind.”

Survival instinct shut Mok-su’s mouth.

No longer disturbed by anyone, Ye-min opened the messenger with a bright smile and checked the message from Gi-jun…

[Master Devotee (Leta): Min-ah, could you tell me in detail about what happened when you or Shin-i advanced to a Rare-grade species?]

“…Huh?”

At Gi-jun’s message, which was about a million light-years away from what she had hoped for, she ended up frowning terribly.