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“Oh? Song-yeon-ah!”
Hae Song-ha exclaimed with a happy face. The 190cm tall woman who approached us looked at me with a cold expression.
“Hunter Han Yi-jin, this is my little sister Song-yeon. Song-yeon-ah, this is…”
“I know him.”
Hae Song-yeon, who cut off Song-hae’s sentence bluntly, bowed to me.
“I’m Hae Song-yeon from the 1st Battalion of Valkyrie in the Freya Guild.”
“Oh, I’m… Han Yi-jin…”
I almost said that I was affiliated with the guild, but then I realised that I am currently unaffiliated. It’s hard not to talk unnecessarily since I haven’t officially joined the Odin Guild yet. I subconsciously glanced at Kang Yoo-hyun, but he didn’t say anything.
“…The vice guild master is looking for you.”1
“Oh? Really?”
“Yes… and all of you from the Odin Guild, please come this way.”
Hae Song-yeon’s way of speaking was slightly different when she treated Hae Song-ha and when she treated us. But it doesn’t really bother me. It was because Hae Song-yeon, who had a physique comparable to the inattentive guys around me, looked very proficient in taking care of the fairy-like Hae Song-ha.
How could there be such a difference between siblings? It was as if I was examining the differences in genetic inheritance with my own eyes.
Hae Song-yeon led us to the end of the deck. All the key members of the Freya Guild were gathered there. The vicemaster Song Yul, who escorted us to the cabin after boarding, approached us.
“Hunter Hae Song-ha, I look forward to working with you again.”
“Yes! Of course!”
Hae Song-ha replied energetically to Song Yul’s soft words. The two looked close, as if they had known each other for a long time. Perhaps Hae Song-ha has been in charge of guiding the Sæ dungeon raid for a while.
In fact, this part was not mentioned in detail in the novel. This was because Kang Yoo-hyun, the main character, was intensely indifferent to his surroundings, and the description was extremely brief with many details omitted unless one was a major character. Now that I think about it, it seems that Hae Song-ha was only mentioned a few times in the novel as a ‘guide’. So of course I don’t remember. As I clicked my tongue inwardly, Song Yul’s gaze reached us.
“Everyone from the Odin guild, did you have any inconveniences?”
“…
“…”
No one answered Song-yul’s question about the inconveniences. So I had no choice but to speak first again.
“There were no inconveniences. Vicemaster-nim.”
“Understood.”
Song Yul nodded her head, glanced somewhere, and then turned to us again.
“You can join our guild’s main unit, the 1st Valkyrie Battalion. However, the Valkyrie’s leader, Sung Yoo-bin, is currently… not in very good condition, so please understand.”
“…?”
Sung Yoo-bin?
Somehow as soon as I got on the ship, I remembered Sung Yoo-bin, who looked a little under the weather. She can’t be nervous about entering the dungeon, is there something going on? I asked secretly out of concern.
“Did something happen with Hunter Sung Yoo-bin?”
“…You don’t have to worry about it. Hunter Han Yi-jin.”
“…”
She seemed to be hiding something for some reason. Is this dungeon raid going to be okay? As soon as I became suspicious, Song Yul opened her mouth again.
“This ship docks at a nearby island where the dungeon entrance opens. In order to get to the entrance, we have to travel separately in several small boats.”
The dungeon entrance to the SĂŚ dungeon opens in the middle of the sea. I wondered if this was even possible, but it is. In the novel, a small hole appears in the middle of the sea, and there is a blue entrance to the dungeon.
""
It is said that it is impossible to find the dungeon entrance unless you have an item enhanced ship and a skilled pilot, as whirlpools appear around the entrance and the waves rapidly become rough.
It took a long time to move these large numbers of personnel to smaller ships. I was once again impressed with the Freya Guild because they’ve managed to conquer many such complicated dungeons so far.
“Fortunately, this entrance is close to the island we purchased. I think we can enter the dungeon without much damage, so there’s no need to worry.”
“…I see.”
Normally, on land, the dungeon entrance continues to open where it opened the first time. When it is cleared, it is deactivated for a while and then reactivates after some time. In that way, a dungeon was much easier to manage if it was repeatedly activated and deactivated in the same place.
However, the SĂŚ dungeon was unusual, and the dungeon entrance was always different each time. So, the Freya guild acquired all the uninhabited islands near the dungeon entrance. As a joke, it was said that the Incheon sea, where the SĂŚ dungeon was opened, should be recognized as an autonomous area of the Freya Guild.
However, it was also true that this made it easier to manage the dungeon. Even if the Freya Guild wasn’t concerned in the matter of the Sæ dungeon, the Odin Guild would be able to handle the Sæ dungeon alone.
“The ship will dock in an hour. I think guildmaster Park Yoon-sung has given you all enough information about the dungeon, but the Sæ dungeon likely has more variables than we expect. It’s a short amount of time, but I think it would be good to talk with the combatants of the 1st Battalion in advance.”
“I understand.”
After I nodded, Song Yul turned her attention to someone else. Then a group of women wearing the same combat uniforms rushed towards us.
“Hello! I’m Han Yeo-reum, the commander of the 1st Battalion of the Freya Guild’s Valkyrie. Please feel free to call me Yeo-reum!”
“My name is Cha Min-hee, also from the same Valkyrie 1st Battalion. You can call me by my name as you like.”
“…I’m Hae Song-yeon.”
Soon the surroundings became noisy. There were 13 Valkyrie members in the 1st Battalion. There were 13 combatants, and if you add those with detection skills like Hae Song-ha and those with auxiliary skills like me, there were more than 20 people.
Usually, there are dozens of core personnel in a raid party, so it was not a small number. And they were all S-class or A-class hunters. Moreover, they must have always been fighting on the frontlines as a core combat unit, so they must all be highly skilled. I greeted them a little nervously.
“My name is Han Yi-jin, dispatched by the Odin Guild. My ability is an auxiliary skill that buffs the stats of a hunter. And…”
“Uh, I have a question!”
Han Yeo-reum, who raised one hand, looked straight at me with sparkling eyes.
If Sung Yoo-bin, the leader of Valkyrie, was one wing of the Freya guild, then Han Yeo-reum was the other wing. Han Yeo-reum has a straightforward personality, so she’s a refreshing person to interact with.
The problem was that she was a famous combat fanatic in Valkyrie and a serious person when it came to combat. I unknowingly asked her nervously.
“Um, what is it?”
“Is there an activation condition for Hunter Han Yi-jin’s auxiliary skill? How long does it last? To what extent exactly does the ability get enhanced?”
“…”
Those are very important questions. They are also pretty good questions to ask a colleague whom you’re soon going to be raiding a dungeon with. I glanced at Kang Yoo-hyun.
In order to prevent rumours about my secondary and primary skills from spreading as much as possible, the Odin Guild made a contractual condition to keep information about me and my skills concealed in the contract with the Freya Guild, who requested cooperation. Therefore, members of the Valkyrie wouldn’t be able to casually reveal what they had heard or seen from me about my skills.
I made eye contact with KangbYoo Hyun. Although I was paired with him, an SS-class, I expected that the Sæ dungeon would be a very dangerous place and I would have to apply my auxiliary skill to the Valkyrie members as I had no idea what variables would appear. Therefore, I think it would be better to reveal everything about my ability here–except one thing.
“…”
Kang Yoo-hyun, whom I made eye contact with, nodded quietly. He was telling me to do it my way, and that he’d follow.  I was relieved and looked at Han Yeo-reum and the other Valkyrie members and said—
“Actually, my auxiliary skill has a special activation condition. I have to make bare skin contact with the person I’m applying the skill to.”
“…Bare skin… contact?”
Han Yeo-reum frowned as if she had heard something disgusting. I had to hastily add a few words before I was branded as a pervert.
“I can activate the skill with a simple handshake. The skill duration is 1 hour, and it takes 24 hours before I can re-apply the skill to the same target. There is no limit to how many people I can apply it to.”
“Hmmm.”
“It is said that the stats can increase up to 20%, but I’m not sure. I haven’t cast my skill on many hunters yet.”
I thought it would be better not to say that the more contact you have, the more the stats are amplified. It’s a method I would never, ever use on the Valkyrie members.
“Since it’s a skill that lasts for an hour, once a day, rather than casting the skill on many people from the start, I think it’s better to give buffs continuously by dividing the number of people.”
""
“That’ll do.”
Han Yeo-reum nodded her head and looked back at Cha Min-hee. They whispered to each other in small voices. I heard them mention Sung Yoo-bin’s name, but I couldn’t hear exactly what they were talking about.
Han Yeo-reum, who turned to look at me again, opened her mouth with a refreshed face.
“Then we’ll decide the order and let you know!”
“Yes, please.”
Until then, I was thrilled by the dungeon raid that seemed to progress smoothly, or started smoothly.
T/N: Thank you for the waiting and it’s been edited. Sorry for the delay ?
Footnotes
This is HSY speaking to HSH.