A Day Cursed With Bad Luck (7)

Hyeonseong shouted at the two who still couldn’t seem to get their heads straight. Only then did they snap out of it.

The juvenile Flightless Wyvern that had been thrown onto the ground whined as it hauled itself up, then let out an enraged roar.

KRAAAANG—!

Even if it was still wobbling, it was huge, so its voice alone was terrifying. Worse, the roar carried a shockwave. It seemed shockwaves could be triggered by magic.

“Urgh…!”

Hyeonseong’s body was shoved backward by the surprise shockwave. She barely kept from falling.

The Destroyer and the Mage—now fully alert—immediately aimed for the wyvern’s neck.

Frost formed again on the stripped neck. Wind began whipping up around the juvenile Flightless Wyvern.

The wind it summoned didn’t fire at Hyeonseong’s group. It was probably a defensive skill it used in place of the barrier from earlier.

‘If it’s just looks, that should work too.’

After stepping closer, Hyeonseong opened Infinite Corridor right up against the gale wrapping the wyvern. Since she’d stolen the barrier, she figured stealing this was possible too.

As expected, Infinite Corridor devoured the wind surrounding the juvenile Flightless Wyvern. An A-rank defensive skill card was generated again.

KYAAAaAAAK!

After losing a defensive skill a second time, the monster flared up again. This time, its roar included Fear—something that stiffened the body via shockwave.

A message popped up in front of Hyeonseong: a slow debuff had been inflicted.

The Destroyer also faltered under the Fear. He’d been charging the instant the defense dropped.

The white aura clinging to his axe edge suggested he’d intended to use momentum to take the head in one swing.

‘That was perfect timing.’

While Hyeonseong was clicking her tongue, the juvenile Flightless Wyvern started casting again.

This one was a long, straight-line shot.

The wind looked tighter, harder, and thinner than Wind Spear—probably an upper-tier version.

‘What a cheap bastard.’

Hyeonseong complained while blocking the attack aimed at her with Infinite Corridor.

Its mana recovery should’ve been slowed, yet the wyvern was still spamming magic like it didn’t care. Meaning it had mana to burn even without accounting for recovery.

‘There’s a reason everyone hates dragons and wyverns.’

In the meantime, the Destroyer canceled the skill he’d layered on the axe and batted the wind spell aside with the axe itself.

The Mage raised an ice shield to block.

That kind of exchange repeated about three times.

Whenever the debuffs were about to wear off, the wyvern fired Fear again. When their movement slowed, a magic attack followed.

Each blocked in their own way: Hyeonseong kept opening Infinite Corridor, the Destroyer deflected or shifted to evade, and the Mage mostly blocked with shield- or wall-type skills.

‘This will never end.’

Stamina and mana weren’t infinite. Hyeonseong was at least only spending stamina, but the Destroyer and the Mage were burning a lot of mana.

Meanwhile, the juvenile Flightless Wyvern kept spraying spells.

At this rate, they’d collapse first from exhaustion.

‘So dumping everything at once is the only play with any chance, right?’

Hyeonseong pulled out the card holding Wind Claw from Infinite Corridor.

The Fear effect was only mild slow. It didn’t induce panic or mental damage.

Meaning—as long as she didn’t let the situation control her—she could still use magic.

‘Magic control works with the mind alone.’

Hyeonseong consumed five uses at once and fired five Wind Claws simultaneously.

Razor-like streams of condensed wind raked across the wyvern’s torso.

‘Just surface scratches?’

The effect wasn’t impressive. Even as a juvenile, it was still dragon-kind—and a wind user. Scraping wind against its own wind-aligned scales wouldn’t do heavy damage.

But even that was enough to irritate it. The juvenile Flightless Wyvern turned its gaze toward Hyeonseong.

The moment their eyes met, Hyeonseong brazenly raised the skill card and burned every remaining use.

On her mental command, a massive number of Wind Claws launched all at once toward the wyvern.

WHOOOOOOONG—

A storm of Wind Claws whipped around the monster like a bladed gale.

The base skill wasn’t meant to coil around a target like that—this was the result of Hyeonseong forcing the spell’s shape and motion.

Controlling dozens of projectiles to swirl like a vortex wasn’t easy, but luck helped. The pattern held.

The roar of wind and the screech of sharp gusts scraping scales rang out loudly.

KAK! KAKAK! KAKAK!

Some scales took real damage. Not fully stripped, but a few spots were now hurt enough to become openings.

All that headache manipulating the spell paid off—at least a little.

When the Wind Claw card finished its job and vanished, Hyeonseong pulled out the Wind Arrow card.

Arrow-type magic was a beginner spell many casters learned early, but it stayed useful—veteran mages used it all the time.

Its main use was harassment and exploiting small gaps.

‘Poke a few spots, make it lose focus…’

Calculations spun in Hyeonseong’s head as her feet slid her closer.

The slow debuff from Fear had worn off, letting her approach at full speed.

She closed in until Wind Arrows could land exactly where she wanted.

She had to watch out for stomp shockwaves and tail strikes at this range, but she couldn’t back off.

From any farther, she couldn’t guarantee the arrows’ power or accuracy.

The juvenile Flightless Wyvern lifted its head slightly, as if preparing Fear again.

Hyeonseong immediately issued a command to the card and generated seven Wind Arrows.

SHRAAAK—!

The arrows shot together into one of the damaged scale spots—where cracked scales had exposed a sliver of flesh beneath.

A dragon’s “bare” flesh wasn’t soft, but even tough hide couldn’t shrug off being stabbed in the same place again and again.

KRAAANG!

When seven Wind Arrows punctured the same opening, the monster let out a short scream.

More violent than expected. It actually hurt.

“Hurry up!”

Hyeonseong shouted to the Destroyer and the Mage as she spent ten more uses to summon ten Wind Arrows.

Since she’d interrupted the monster’s attack pattern, their slow from Fear should’ve worn off too.

Hearing her, the two started preparing their next attacks.

Seeing them move, Hyeonseong fired those ten arrows into the same spot she’d just punctured.

Whoosh—arrows cut through the air and stabbed into the wyvern.

KYAAAaAAAK!

It screamed again. This time it sounded less like pain and more like raw irritation.

Hyeonseong checked the two C-rank Hunters. The Mage’s casting had just finished—but the timing felt awkward.

She probably needed to distract the wyvern one more time.

Wind Arrow’s remaining uses dropped by another ten.

She only confirmed that thirty uses remained and ignored the rest of the messages.

SHRAAAK—!

The arrows flew back toward the same wound— but this time they failed to pierce.

Before the arrows could bite, the wyvern deployed a barrier over the targeted area.

It narrowed the coverage and boosted durability: all ten Wind Arrows ricocheted.

After deflecting them, the juvenile Flightless Wyvern raised its head again—about to fire Fear.

Hyeonseong pulled out the Wind Blade card.

‘Whatever else happens, I can’t get stuck slowed.’

The Mage’s rapid-freeze magic was already coiling around the wyvern’s neck. It wasn’t a “shot” spell, so the monster’s movement or barriers didn’t seem to matter.

The real issue was the Destroyer.

After watching him fight, Hyeonseong could tell his style depended heavily on running and jumping momentum.

A physical fighter already, and one who used acceleration and drop energy. If he got slowed here, he’d be the most crippled.

‘We barely get openings as it is—if he gets clipped at the wrong moment, we’re screwed.’

Hyeonseong created a single Wind Blade and fired it at a different damaged area—near where the leg connected.

Even with just one shot, the monster reacted instantly and raised a barrier only over the expected impact area.

As expected, the blade got blocked.

But Hyeonseong didn’t care. She could still summon thirty-eight more.

‘That barrier was thin.’

The moment she saw it block, she pulled ten more blades from the card and threw them all into the same spot.

The crescent blades hammered the lingering narrow barrier. A metallic clang rang once, twice— and the small-area barrier shattered.

Wind Blades carved ruthlessly into the damaged scales beneath.

‘It saw one shot and went cheap on thickness, huh.’

As soon as she confirmed the hit landed, Hyeonseong looked for the Destroyer.

The Destroyer—already sprinting—leapt high.

At the same time, the juvenile Flightless Wyvern tried to roar Fear and swing its tail.

Hyeonseong pocketed Wind Blade and pulled out another card: Wind Thorn Spear, an upper-tier version of Wind Spear she’d swallowed earlier.

‘B-rank… that should be enough.’

She summoned three Wind Thorn Spears.

Two were fired at other damaged scale spots. The last one she gripped in her hand.

“Hey, you damn lizard! Over here!”

Hyeonseong ran the opposite direction of the Destroyer’s leap while cursing and waving the spear.

Forced to choose between targeting Hyeonseong or the airborne Destroyer, the juvenile Flightless Wyvern hesitated.

Its half-swinging tail stopped awkwardly mid-motion.

“HAAAAAH!”

The Destroyer used that opening to apply a skill to his axe.

With a battle cry longer than before, he swung the empowered axe down hard.

KIIIEEEK!

The axe blade struck the wyvern’s neck.

The monster screamed its death cry.

As the third juvenile Flightless Wyvern’s head fell, system messages poured out.

Finally, they could leave this damned dungeon.

Before exiting, Hyeonseong collected the corpse first.

She tossed it into the partition where she stored dungeon spoils, and the Destroyer and Mage approached.

“Good work.”

The Destroyer spoke first. His words were still short, but his tone wasn’t unpleasant.

“Yeah. You two also went through a lot.”

Hyeonseong returned the greeting lightly.

“Leaving right away?”

“Yeah. You can’t do anything meaningful in one minute anyway.”

One minute was only enough to grab any dropped loot or a forgotten weapon.

There wasn’t time to harvest more or investigate, and there was no need to search for anyone who’d fallen behind—once you left, you’d meet them immediately.

Exiting teleported you back to where the entrance had been.

Dungeon-clear rewards could be received whether you stayed inside or left.

Since there was nothing left to collect, the three decided to head out.

When Hyeonseong thought about exiting, the system asked.

She mentally answered yes. Her vision darkened and she sank into a strange floating sensation.

It faded quickly. The moment she felt the ground underfoot change, her sight returned.

She saw the abandoned building that served as the dungeon entrance.

‘The other people…’

She looked for the gatherers as soon as she got out.

It wasn’t hard—because a loud shout stabbed into her ears the moment she emerged.

“What, punk?”

“What, I said something wrong?”

Two gatherers were shouting at each other.

Other gatherers were trying to hold them back, but the fight wasn’t stopping.

“Just because you’re one rank higher, you think you’re all that?”

“Jihwan, honestly… that wasn’t even a rank issue. You were the one at fault…”

“Hey, shut it. A freakin’ F-rank, talking back— guh!”

“Grab him, now!”

The gatherer who’d been mocked as F-rank kicked the gatherer called Jihwan in the stomach.

Even with others holding her from behind, she still managed to land a kick loaded with an attack skill—impressive…

‘No—wait. This is not the time to admire that!’

Hyeonseong finished reading the situation and sprinted toward the group.

“Sto—ooop! What do you think you’re doing?!”

Hyeonseong yelled.

Behind her, the Destroyer and Mage hurried after her.

“What happened?”

The Destroyer asked as he caught up.

The gatherers trying to break it up explained in stammering pieces.

In short: gatherers who should’ve stayed hidden inside a cave came out because of Jihwan’s strong insistence, nearly got stranded, and only avoided disaster because the dungeon closed.

That sparked an argument.

Then—when someone pointed out Jihwan’s fault—Jihwan started mouthing off because the other person was F-rank.

“…The mountain was more dangerous than it looked. Like cliffs suddenly appearing…”

“So that guy almost died—not to a monster, but falling off a cliff…”

“It was lucky the dungeon closed before something truly bad happened, but that’s what started the fight. And then…”

“The one who pointed out the mistake got called F-rank and Jihwan started running his mouth. Right?”

After hearing it, Hyeonseong said that and glared at Jihwan.

Jihwan was still clutching his kicked stomach.

‘…Wait.’

That guy got punched—well, kicked—for not watching his mouth. No sympathy there.

But there was a different problem.