How a D-Class Alchemist Avoids Death

[Entering B-rank Dungeon Break]

[Rank: B-rank]

[Clear Time: 02:59:57]

“Wave?”

I looked at the message before me with a hollow laugh. Unlike dungeons, towers, and rifts, randomly generated waves had clear times. If you did not defeat the boss within the clear time, the monsters inside the wave would spill out into the outside world, which is how Woo Hanseong originally died from an exploding wave.

“She probably didn’t know about the wave. Couldn’t be helped.”

Unless you were directly involved like me, there was hardly a way to know when a wave was created.

Especially considering the remote place where Woo Hanseong lived, where despite me coming and going for over a week, there was no one else passing by.

Even if someone had noticed and reported it to the Hunter’s Association, it would have taken quite some time to respond.

“Either way, she was doomed to die.”

“Ppi?”

“Yeah. No, not anymore.”

Whether I was lucky or Woo Hanseong was lucky, I wasn’t sure. But anyhow, since I entered the wave, Woo Hanseong was able to escape her fated death. The rank of this place was B. Although I was merely a D-rank hunter.

“Should we start clearing this place?”

I lifted up Salt in my hand and drew my mana gun from the Infinite Pouch. Having gone through many guild and public dungeons, I was at a level where I could handle a B-rank difficulty, though not easily.

Since I had plenty of mana stones, I wouldn’t run out of bullets.

“Salt.”

“Ppi?”

“Right, left?”

Now that I was prepared, all that was left was to choose which direction to go.

‘Will there be more on the right? Or on the left?’

Every wave always begins with a fork in the road. Regardless of the direction chosen, you would eventually face the boss room at the end. The reason for the choice was the differing number of monsters on each path.

If the clear time was short, you would want to choose the path with fewer monsters. But with three hours, it was plenty. So much so that I could even take a nap and still make it.

“I should gather a lot of experience points since I’m here anyway.”

Once a path was chosen, the remaining path disappeared, so the choice had to be made carefully.

“Ppi!”

“Alright. Let’s go right.”

As soon as Salt and I set foot on the right path that was chosen, the left path disappeared. As I walked down the path, an intimidating presence began to envelop my body. A countless number of eyes stared at me from the end of the tranquil country road.

I smirked at the monsters.

“My EXPs, come to me.”

As soon as I finished speaking, the monsters in front of me started charging at me.

Woo Hanseong bit her lip at the wave of monsters unfolding before her eyes.

“You see that I wasn’t lying, right? Now scram.”

“Could he really be inside?”

“I don’t know. You need to go in to find out.”

As Seo Taeju walked towards the monster wave, Woo Hanseong followed behind.

“Hey. Why are you following?”

“I’m going in too.”

“Why the hell would a blacksmith go in? Hey, aren’t you leaving?”

Seo Taeju’s face hardened. 

But Woo Hanseong, as if she hadn’t heard her, thrust herself into the wave.

“This damn lunatic…”

Seo Taeju, holding back his rising anger, followed Woo Hanseong into the wave. Upon opening his eyes after the blinding light, he was met with a message about the wave and a single path.

“Damn. Seems like my brother really did get sucked in here.”

“Huh? You mean, Go-Woon-ssi is really here?”

“Yeah. There’s only one path, right?”

“Path?”

Ignoring Woo Hanseong’s question, Seo Taeju pulled out a sword from his Infinite Pouch.

“Don’t get in the way, and keep your distance.”

Since monster waves don’t have entrance gates and can only exit through the boss room’s escape gate, the only way for Seo Taeju to get Woo Hanseong out of here was to reach the boss room together. Reminded of his helpless days as a child when he had to let go of two dear people, he gritted his teeth. Suddenly, he felt a warmth holding his arm.

“Please explain. What did you mean when you said there’s only one path?”

“Hey, will you let go? I don’t have time to—”

“This happened because of me, shouldn’t I know what’s going on?”

This time, it was Woo Hanseong who snapped at the annoyed Seo Taeju. She was breathing out a fierce aura, but her eyes held a steadfast resolve as if she wouldn’t let go until she got an explanation.

Seo Taeju eventually sighed and hurriedly began his explanation as if there was no time.

“Waves always have a fork in the road. You can choose a path, but the path chosen by the first party or hunter to enter will always disappear. So the next party or hunter to enter will only see one remaining path.”

“So, there’s only one path because Go-Woon-ssi made a choice?”

“Yeah. But one of the two paths has more monsters, and the other has fewer. I don’t know which one my brother chose, but you can only proceed by killing the boss in the boss room. So don’t interfere, and just carefully follow.”

Having finished his explanation, Seo Taeju moved towards the entrance of the path, but Woo Hanseong was still staring blankly into space.

“Hey, didn’t you understand? Hurry up, will you?”

“Just a moment.”

Woo Hanseong sighed deeply and reached out her arm.

Then she swiped through the air as if wiping a glass window.

“Hey! The time is—”

“[Storage Open]”

A door in the shape of a golden dial safe appeared along with a sprinkle of sparkling dust. Woo Hanseong spun the dial attached at the center of the door. With each alternate rotation to the right and left, a pleasant clicking sound was heard.

Then, at one point, a clear ‘ding’ resonated and the safe door swung open.

“What’s your power?” Woo Hanseong, eyes fixed on the opened safe, asked Seo Taeju. 

“You said we have to strategize quickly. What’s your ability?”

“…Electricity.”

Woo Hanseong reached her hand into the safe. When her hand, which had been moving around as if searching for something, came out, it was holding a sword.

“It’s not the best, but it will withstand magic better than ordinary swords. Including electricity.”

At the sight of Seo Taeju just staring at the extended sword, Woo Hanseong frowned for a moment.

“Hurry up and take it.”

Under her continued urging, Seo Taeju finally took the sword.

‘This is…’

The slender blade of the black sword faintly gleamed with a reddish hue. Besides, although it was slightly lighter than the sword he usually wielded, the feel when gripped was clearly different from any other sword.

It was such a good sword that he felt sorry for being difficult until now.

Meanwhile, Woo Hanseong, who had closed and made the opened safe disappear, extended one hand.

“[Locksmithing]”

A light appeared in Woo Hanseong’s hand and began to take shape. And when all the light was gone, she held a hammer with a thick metal head and wooden handle.

After a few practice swings with the hammer, Woo Hanseong said, “You said we’re short on time, let’s get going.”

“Can you… fight?”

Without answering, Woo Hanseong took the lead. Unlike the shifting dungeon, the Wave, which recreates the outdoor environment, showed the countryside path where Woo Hanseong used to live.

Woo Hanseong, striding forward, paused and spoke, “There’s a misconception people have.”

—Kieee.

Something sprang out as the wild underbrush of weeds rustled.

“Watch out!”

Since only the monster appeared and not Go-Woon, it seemed the regeneration time had already passed.

‘How far did he go?’

The fact that the regeneration occurred meant that a significant amount of time had passed since Go-Woon passed by. At that moment, when Seo Taeju, whose mind was filled with worry for Go-Woon, was about to rush forward to defeat the monster. The handle of the hammer that Woo Hanseong was holding elongated and struck the monster’s body.

“Blacksmiths are also combat-class.”

With a single hit from the hammer, the monster exploded, and the debris fell heavily onto the ground.

“What are you doing? Aren’t we going?”

Woo Hanseong, who hoisted the shortened hammer over her shoulder, signaled with her chin.

At that sight, Seo Taeju burst into a snicker.

“Hey, you’re kind of amusing, huh?”

“But why have you been speaking informally to me since earlier? Do you know me?”

Frowning deeply, Woo Hanseong twirled her hammer before hurling it. The hammer flew out like a boomerang, made a ‘thwack’ noise and returned to Woo Hanseong’s hand.

“If it bothers you, speak informally too.”

Woo Hanseong, looking at Seo Taeju with an incredulous expression, swung her hammer to kill a monster.

“Alright. Can we stop messing around and start killing?”

“Alright.”

As if he had been waiting for it, Seo Taeju rushed out and began slaying monsters. Behind Seo Taeju, who was eliminating incoming monsters with his sword and current, Woo Hanseong was swinging her hammer. Woo Hanseong would sometimes kill multiple monsters in a single strike, and occasionally threw his hammer to kill distant enemies.

“Have you been to dungeons before? You seem to be quite skilled at killing monsters.”

“Yeah. I had to gather the necessary materials for crafting myself. Roaming dungeons was routine for me.”

“Aren’t you an SS rank blacksmith?”

“Yeah. I am an SS rank blacksmith. The sword you’re carrying right now is also something I made.”

Seo Taeju looked at Woo Hanseong with a look of disbelief.

There was only one reason why production job hunters like potion makers and blacksmiths joined guilds.

In the case of production jobs, the experience gained from making items fitting their skills was higher than the experience gained from dungeons, so they joined to reduce the time spent collecting material items.

It was natural even for blacksmiths of lower rank to receive support.

But an SS rank blacksmith gathering materials themselves was completely absurd.

“Are you by any chance an idiot?”

At Seo Taeju’s question, Woo Hanseong shrugged her shoulders and threw her hammer. Along with a loud bang, the hammer returned to her.

“I know I’ve been acting like an idiot.”

“Wow. You’re the first idiot I’ve ever met like this.”

“Cut it out.”

Seo Taeju chuckled at Woo Hanseong’s gritted retort.

“Don’t make such slave-like contracts in the future.”

“No. There won’t be a need. I won’t be a blacksmith anymore.”

Seo Taeju spoke as he stabbed his sword into a lizard about to spit poison, “You won’t be a blacksmith?”

“Yeah. I’m fed up.”

When she had summoned the vault earlier, or when she had summoned the hammer, the corners of Woo Hanseong’s mouth had been slightly raised. There was no reason for someone claiming to be fed up to look as if she had met a long-lost friend.

“Did you quit blacksmithing because of being betrayed? You must have been hurt. Ah, damn. What to do.”

Recalling the mumbling words of Seo Go-woon, Seo Taeju struck lightning down on a monster making a squeaking noise.

“What? I thought you could only control electricity,” Woo Hanseong tilted her head.

“Can’t I make lightning since it’s similar to electricity? But there’s something you’ve misderstood.”

Woo Hanseong spoke as she threw her hammer at a charging monster, “What?”

“The reason my brother sought you out was indeed because you were a blacksmith, but the reason he helped you wasn’t because of that.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“He did it because you’re a kid.”

“What?”

As Woo Hanseong caught the returning hammer, Seo Taeju cast a spell on his sword and swung it. The crescent-shaped magic flew out, cutting the charging monsters in half.

“It’s as I said. Initially, he went to ask you to make a single sword, but seeing you struggle more than he had expected, he couldn’t just let it go.”

“……”

As Seo Taeju plunged his sword into the ground while watching the approaching mantises, he let out a groan.

“[Electrocution]”

A high-voltage current originating from the sword flowed into the ground, turning the mantises into ash in an instant.

“Is it sympathy?”

“I wouldn’t know. But you might not know this. My brother isn’t usually like this.”

“What kind of person is he?”

“A total loser. Until recently, he was called other things. Worthless trash, a life form not worth the oxygen it breathes. He used to set the mood awkwardly, but he has changed now.”

“He’s changed?”

“How should I put this… it’s like he’s changed from a curt father to a nagging mother.”

Woo Hanseong made a face of disbelief.

“That can’t be true, can it? But it is. He’s matured recently, my brother is a famous loser in the hunter community. He’s so well-known that you can even find him if you search the portals.”

“Even if he’s a screw-up, he’s a Hunter. He might actually need a sword.”

“No. The sword that you were going to make, it’s for me.”

At that unexpected response, Woo Hanseong’s eyes widened.

“He uses guns. He doesn’t even know how to wield a sword.”

“I don’t understand.”

Woo Hanseong couldn’t comprehend any of it—that the person who had come to her wanting to make a sword for his younger brother was also the same person who had helped her out for reasons unrelated to that initial purpose.

“I didn’t ask you to understand. I just asked you not to misunderstand my brother.”

“But didn’t you dislike the fact that I was meeting with Go-Woon?”

“Yes, you did cause some trouble for my brother. I don’t like seeing him have a hard time, even if it frustrates him to be overprotective.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to just let him misunderstand then? If you dislike it, why bring up such a conversation?”

Alongside the sharp sound, the monster’s blood was scattered.

“Because I want him to clear up the misunderstanding.”

“You really care about your brother, don’t you?”

“Of course. He’s the only family I have.”

“That’s a nice sentiment.”

At the words spat out by Woo Hanseong, Seo Taeju chuckled bitterly. “I’m glad it seems that way.”

“It doesn’t?”

“I hope it is. And you too… you seem like a nicer guy than I thought. I think I have a rough idea of what you mean.”

At his vague response, Woo Hanseong rolled her eyes.

“There’s no need to be conscious. I meant what I said. We’re almost there. There are fewer monsters than I thought. Did we get here faster than their respawn rate?”

Just as Seo Taeju said, they could see the door to the boss room at the end of the path.

The wooden door was wide open.

“The fact that we haven’t seen him till now…”

“Must mean Go-Woon-ssi is inside.”

The pace of the two quickened once more.

And when they entered,

“Why are the two of you here? Together?”

They were able to find Seo Go-Woon, sitting on top of a huge corpse, taking a break.