Chapter 69

SMH 69

Swordmaster Healer – Episode 69

TL: Boko

Editor: Ren

Chapter 23: Summoner Riduke (2)

“A new type?” Sung Joon asked.

Hyun Sung replied, “To be exact, it seems like the ‘Eroding Dungeon’ has evolved. We call this the ‘Invading Dungeon’.”

“You seem busy but you gave it a good name.”

“It’s because headquarters likes naming things,” Hyun Sung replied and sighed briefly.

It’d always be busy on site, but headquarters was relaxed.

“So to put it simply, are you saying that monsters poured out of the Eroding Dungeon?” Sung Joon asked and Hyun Sung nodded his head.

‘It’s just as I expected…’

His expectations had hit the mark. However, he hadn’t fully sated his curiosity yet.

Sung Joon looked at Hyun Sung and said, “You obviously wouldn’t know the cause… You’ve already experienced the Eroding Dungeon once… but your initial response was this poor?”

“We haven’t set a standardized response for the Eroding Dungeon yet. It seems that’s why we weren’t able to repress it from the start.”

Agencies like the Hunter Bureau or the Dungeon Bureau heavily stressed the importance of procedure. In other words, it meant that if they didn’t go through the corresponding procedures, they couldn’t act easily.

“So that’s why you need my help?”

“That’s correct.”

“What’s the reward?” Sung Joon asked, and after Hyun Sung quickly examined his surroundings, he opened his mouth.

“The Bureau will buy magic stones at double the price today for the Hunters that were formally requested for aid.”

If there was a raid outbreak, nearby Hunters were obliged to accept if they were called upon, due to the laws. However, the Eroding Dungeon had no such law in place, so they had to request aid from Hunters.

Since they had pulled out the double reward, a card that they rarely used, Sung Joon could tell how serious the situation must be.

“It seems like if you just sent S-rank Hunters through the entrance, they’d be able to take care of it… Aren’t you taking this too seriously?”

“The Eroding Dungeon progressed too far. There are too many entrances and each has their own difficulty. It seems like they appeared at the same time as the first Eroding Dungeon… We didn’t notice it and were negligent,” Hyun Sung replied.

The situation was urgent so Hyun Sung hadn’t explained in detail, but aside from the Eroding Dungeon that Sung Joon had attacked, his other dungeon matching had been delayed by chance. As a result, by the time the investigators responsible had grasped the truth, they had already reached a point of no return.

“Before I give you my answer, let me ask you one thing,” Sung Joon said, and Hyun Sung gazed at Sung Joon.

“About you asking me for help… Is this a formal request for aid?” Sung Joon asked.

Hyun Sung smiled and opened his mouth.

“Of course.”

“What do you need me to do?”

“Could you please look over here?”

Hyun Sung spread out a map.

“You’ll know by roughly looking at it, but we’ve marked the presumed locations of the entrances of the Invading Dungeon.”

There were eleven places marked. Sung Joon nodded his head. With a calm expression, Hyun Sung continued speaking.

“We’ve temporarily named them entrances one through eleven. In order to proceed with their dungeon assault, nine parties have already gone through the entrances to enter the dungeon.”

“What’s the difficulty?”

“They’re all different. Based on the temporary investigation, it varies from C-rank all the way to A-rank. To be honest, these also aren’t precise.”

Hyun Sung’s voice was filled with anxiety.

The Eroding Dungeon and the Invading Dungeon.

The Bureau barely had any information on the two new dungeons that had appeared. The information that they did have was mostly new.

Everything was fraught with uncertainty so the Bureau had no choice but to be cautious.

“Five hours ago we sent a party consisting of one A-rank, three B-ranks, and one C-rank to the seventh entrance.”

“What was the expected difficulty?”

“We estimated that it was at a lower B-rank difficulty.”

“Wasn’t sending that force excessive?”

“It’s possible, but there are many things that are uncertain, so we had no choice but to commit enough forces.”

Sending an excessive force was inefficient, but if they had sent an insufficient force, they could be annihilated; thus, it was a better choice. Sung Joon also thought that way, so he nodded at Hyun Sung’s response.

“We used a drone to scout and we saw that the monsters that had assembled nearby had returned inside the dungeon using the seventh entrance.”

“You’re saying that the monsters that came outside went back down?” Sung Joon asked.

Hyun Sung nodded his head with a serious expression.

“It was the same with the Eroding Dungeon before and it seems that these monsters possess a different intellect than the ones in normal dungeons. Headquarters also recognizes the situation as serious.”

“It seems like the party that went down the seventh entrance could be ambushed from behind.”

“That’s correct. I would like you to stop them, Mr. Kang Sung Joon.”

Hunters that were accustomed to normal dungeons wouldn’t expect monsters to ambush them from behind. An unexpected ambush would cause considerable damage.

“Please give me the map. I’ll go immediately.”

“There’s a party that will go with you, Mr. Kang Sung Joon. They should arrive in twenty minutes.”

Sung Joon shook his head.

“I can’t wait for twenty minutes. Please send the party somewhere else. I’ll go support the party in the seventh entrance first.”

“Will you be alright?”

“You haven’t forgotten my nickname, have you?” Sung Joon said in an overwhelmingly confident voice.

Hyun Sung looked at him and smiled. Sung Joon had soloed the dungeons with barely any rest to the point that he got the nickname, ‘Unlimited Power’ and he had never failed in those dungeon runs.

Thus, Sung Joon’s rating was extremely high.

“We’ll provide you with an armored vehicle.”

A normal car would be shredded to bits by the monsters and wouldn’t reach its destination.

“No. It’ll actually get in the way. It’s much faster if I just run,” Sung Joon replied.

Since this area was now similar to the outbreak of a raid, he could run at full speed without any impediments.

An A-rank Hunter was no different from a walking weapon. He was so fast at full speed that even if he raced a car, he wouldn’t lag behind.

If he rode in an armored vehicle, he wouldn’t consume any stamina, but it’d be difficult to react to a concentrated attack from the monsters.

Hyun Sung asked, “Will you be alright?”

“You know about an A-rank Hunter’s physical abilities. I may be a Healer, but my physical abilities are similar to a Combat Hunter’s,” said Sung Joon.

After Sung Joon finished his brief explanation, he was passed the map. Then he started to sprint towards the seventh entrance. Whenever he moved a set distance, he would send Rishubalt to scout and find the shortest route.

Eventually, Sung Joon arrived at the seventh entrance that Hyun Sung had shown him on the map.

“Did they all go down…?”

Sung Joon examined his surroundings with an cold expression and spoke to himself. He couldn’t find any monsters nearby the entrance.

There also weren’t any presences at all.

Sung Joon grasped ‘Roel’s’ hilt, being vigilant of his surroundings, and quickly and calmly went down the stairs.

“There are traces of several monsters moving,” Rishubalt said.

While Sung Joon was walking, Rishubalt checked the monsters’ traces.

“I cannot tell you what type of monsters there are, but there are at least over fifty of them,” Rishubalt reported.

Sung Joon started to run. If fifty monsters ambushed the party from behind while they were in the middle of a fight, even veteran Hunters wouldn’t get away unscathed.

He heard the sound of battle from not far away. Sung Joon ran as fast as he could and arrived quickly.

Five drones flew around dizzyingly inside of the vast clearing, illuminating the darkness. The Hunters were surrounded by dozens of monsters and were being attacked.

The monsters were all Living Armors.

“It seems like it’s been quite a long time since the battle has commenced,” Rishubalt said.

Of the five in the advance party, three had collapsed. It seemed like the other two were injured also, as their bodies were bloodied. Sung Joon threw himself towards the group of monsters and stretched his left hand towards an injured Hunter.

“Heal!”

“R-Reinforcements?”

The white light permeated through the Hunter raising an aura-clad spear and his wounds were healed. He was happy that a Hunter had come to help, but he soon looked disappointed when he saw that Sung Joon was alone.

However, that was only for a moment.

“Ha!”

Sung Joon let out a brief battle cry and swung his sword, which undulated with aura like a storm. The Hunters saw him cut down four Living Armors and their expressions brightened once again.

“He’s at least an A-rank Hunter!”

“W-We’re going to live!”

The Living Armors moved as if they were under someone’s command. Half of the Living Armors formed an elaborate perimeter around him and began to counterattack; the rest of the Living Armors remained encircling the party and attacked the two remaining party members.

“AH!”

While Sung Joon was busy breaking through the perimeter, one of the Hunters, unable to avoid the Living Armors’ spears, was pierced on all sides and died gruesomely.

“Argh!”

Sung Joon saw that the spear-wielding Hunter was steadily being pushed back. Due to his Heal, the spear-wielder’s injuries were quickly being healed, but the Living Armors didn’t give him time to rest, and constantly attacked him. Therefore, it wasn’t easy for the Hunter to endure.

“Slash!”

Sung Joon recited the activation words and swung his sword in a large arc.

The aura slash destroyed all the Living Armors that had been blocking his front and Sung Joon dashed towards the spear-wielding Hunter. With a single leap, he ran atop the Living Armors’ helmets and destroyed the Living Armors that were surrounding him.

Due to Sung Joon’s intervention, all the Living Armors had been destroyed.

“T-Thank you…”

When the battle finished, the Hunter bowed their head and thanked Sung Joon.

“My name is Kang Sung Joon.”

“Ah! My name is Park Jung Chul! I’m a Hunter that was ordered to attack this dungeon.”

Jung Chul introduced himself simply. However, Sung Joon didn’t look at him; rather, he turned his sights to the end of the long, connecting corridor.

“Mr. Kang Sung Joon…?”

“I know you’re tired. But the strong mana that I feel in front of me seems to be from the Boss Room. I’m planning on collecting the magic stones and moving immediately after but… What will you do, Mr. Park Jung Chul? If you retreat, I’ll support you until you get above ground.”

A strong mana also signified that there was a Boss. Of all the places, it seemed like the seventh entrance was a direct path to the Boss Room.

So long as the Boss Room was right before him, he couldn’t just leave it be.

“Hm…”

Jung Chul looked as if he were pondering Sung Joon’s question, but he soon gazed at Sung Joon with an expression of resolute determination and opened his mouth.

“It was tough getting here, so we can’t just back down now. We have to take down the Boss before Seoul is damaged any further.”

He raised his spear.

“I’m also an A-rank Hunter. I won’t get in your way.”

“Very well then.”

Sung Joon looked at the manly Jung Chul and smiled.

“Then let’s keep going. I’ll take the lead.”

Sung Joon released his aura to save on his mana and looted the magic stones with Jung Chul.

“How would you like to distribute them?” Sung Joon asked.

“You should obviously get 100% of it, Mr. Kang Sung Joon,” Jung Chul responded, as if it were obvious.

“Is that really alright?”

“You saved my life. Please let me get a head start on paying off my debt,” Jung chul said firmly.

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He wanted to repay Sung Joon for saving his life.

“Of course, I’m not trying to get even with just magic stones. If we get out of this alive, I’ll surely repay you.”

“That’s a death cliche.”

“I heard that twisting around cliches is the trend nowadays.”