#75: Nonhyeon-dong Dungeon Explosion Incident (11) — The Constellation Hunting Life of an S-Class Porter

“…….”

At the message saying the monster had been buffed, Hyeonseong had ground her teeth.

[‘Prankster of the Beginning’ pretended to pat your shoulder, saying you were allowed to swear if you wanted to.]

[‘Hands Faster Than Eyes’ said that if you really swore, it would hurt their feelings, so they might absentmindedly “slip” you something.]

‘I just want all of you to shut down.’

Flicking the messages aside, Hyeonseong checked Red Horse’s info.

‘Either way, the Immortality buff already triggered, and the time limit is…… one minute?’

According to the system’s information, the buff duration was shorter than expected. The moment she saw the sponsorship message, Hyeonseong had guessed three minutes, or maybe five.

‘At this rate, I don’t even need to switch targets.’

[‘Steel’ complained that one measly minute was ridiculously stingy.]

[‘Authority of Fusion Life Sciences’ said you thought invincibility-type reinforcement magic was something that could be mass-produced easily and cheaply, or what…….]

“What should we do?”

A few Awakened who had been fighting Red Horse asked Hyeonseong.

“Nothing changes. We hold as-is until the Immortality timer runs out.”

Hyeonseong answered into the megaphone.

Not dying no matter what you took was definitely a powerful buff. But being “immortal” didn’t mean you couldn’t feel pain.

In other words, Red Horse would still react the same to attacks that hurt.

[‘Aesthetics of Division’ asked if this meant the attempt to make it look away had failed.]

[‘Information Broker of B-1st Street’ said one minute was, admittedly, too short.]

[‘Legendary Monster Hunter’ cut in, saying one minute on a battlefield was a very long time, so don’t talk like an amateur.]

“Keep separating Red Horse and the Enemy Knight like before and hold.”

After passing on the order, Hyeonseong checked the combat situation again.

‘Nothing major changed?’

When the invincibility buff landed on Red Horse, there had been a brief wave of panic. But it only lasted a moment. Now, everyone had regained their composure and returned to the same routine of exchanges as before.

‘That part is a relief, but…….’

That didn’t make this situation good. Most people here had been fighting continuously from the moment the dungeon exploded to now. Their stamina and their nerves would both be chewed up.

‘And every time we’re about to win, the Constellations drop buffs and bring them back. It’s more stressful than just tracking and killing monsters.’

In that sense, the timing to bring Red Horse down was obvious: right after the Immortality buff wore off.

Hyeonseong checked Red Horse’s info again to watch the remaining time.

‘It just dropped under thirty seconds.’

She kept checking the countdown while tossing potions from Infinite Corridor to anyone who needed them.

At the same time, she nudged the team positions little by little as they worked on Red Horse. The movement was calculated based on each team’s average damage output and taunt-skill level.

‘From here, move the A-ranks so they’re facing Red Horse’s head, and spread out the solo Awakened according to their firepower…….’

After shifting them around, the displayed time fell under ten seconds. At that moment, Hyeonseong summoned Nemesis.

[Push the Enemy Knight back and stick to Red Horse.]

She sent the message to Song Jiwoo through Nemesis, then lifted the megaphone.

“A-ranks! Get ready to take Red Horse’s head off! Piercing-type attacks! Everyone else, taunt Red Horse as hard as you can and keep pressure on!”

At Hyeonseong’s command, all the Awakened except the three A-ranks unleashed various attacks and taunts at Red Horse.

The directions of impact split into three main angles—and the levels of firepower and taunting from those three angles were roughly equal.

Red Horse stopped in place, as if confused, and jerked its gaze left and right. With the damage so evenly matched, it seemed unable to decide which direction to prioritize for retaliation.

“Hah—!”

And right then, Song Jiwoo also succeeded in shaking off the Enemy Knight’s sword. After creating distance, she leveled her blade at Red Horse.

Up to this point, nine seconds had passed.

‘Everyone still had stamina and mana……. Good.’

Then the final one second passed. The Immortality buff vanished from Red Horse’s status.

“Now! Fire!”

Hyeonseong shouted to the three A-ranks and Song Jiwoo. At the same time, she opened the entrance of Infinite Corridor in front of the Enemy Knight charging toward Red Horse.

KWAANG—!

TUUNG—

Four lines of piercing attack skills shot toward Red Horse’s head.

All four attacks fired from the front bored straight through where its brain would be.

At the same time, the Enemy Knight ricocheted off the suddenly erected wall of space and staggered backward.

[You have successfully slain the Red Horse.]

[‘Authority of Fusion Life Sciences’ hurled the flask they were holding.]

[‘Creator of the Four Fiends’ threw their head back and roared with laughter while looking down at Red Horse’s corpse.]

[The Constellations who participated in the betting wondered how the wager outcome should be judged if it ended like this…….]

“Yes!”

“Enemy Knight! Get the Enemy Knight!”

The instant the message confirming Red Horse’s fall appeared, the Awakened who had been fighting it snapped their attention to the Enemy Knight. Before Hyeonseong could even give the order, attacks flew toward it from all directions in a rush.

Jjaeaeng—

Song Jiwoo also spun around quickly and resumed trading blows with the Enemy Knight.

This time too, the strikes carried heavy force—each clash of steel rang out with a loud, sharp metallic screech.

“Calm down! Don’t burn that much strength!”

Hyeonseong shouted into the megaphone.

They did need to keep the Enemy Knight pinned down so it didn’t bolt in an unexpected direction now that its partner was gone. But there was no need to go wild like this.

‘If all we need is to stop it from running, there’s no reason to hit that hard…….’

With a headache brewing, Hyeonseong pressed her fingertips hard against her temple.

They still had a decent number of recovery potions left. But potions weren’t something you wanted to chug in large amounts.

Strictly speaking, potions supported a human’s own recovery. The basic principle of Earth-made potions was accelerating things like restoring vitality, regenerating mana inside the body, or drawing in ambient mana from outside.

In a way, it was similar to borrowing from your future stamina. That was why—even with top-quality potions—if you took them too frequently and then stopped, there was a risk your stamina would crash all at once from the rebound.

‘They’ll all short out and collapse tomorrow, and only then they’ll come to their senses……. No—if they were the type to learn that way, they wouldn’t be rampaging like this in the first place.’

She could understand putting monster kills first even if they collapsed tomorrow. You could only lie down after you made it back alive.

Still, it was hard not to feel frustrated watching them waste strength when there were corners they could have saved.

‘Fine. What’s done is done.’

Since it had already happened, she decided to clean up first.

‘Before that, I need to remove Red Horse’s corpse.’

Hyeonseong opened Infinite Corridor over Red Horse’s body. The synthetic beast’s corpse got sucked into the section where she stored synthetic-beast remains.

‘If we leave the corpse out, who knows what they’ll try to do with it again.’

[‘Authority of Fusion Life Sciences’ glared daggers at you as you took the Red Horse’s corpse.]

[‘Space-Time Designer in His Room’ stared down at your skill with a strange look.]

[‘Creator of the Four Fiends’ teased ‘Authority of Fusion Life Sciences,’ saying not to be stingy over a single carcass.]

No matter what kind of tantrum the synthetic-beast owners threw, Hyeonseong didn’t care at all. The only thing she needed to care about was whether more reinforcement buffs would get sponsored into the fight. She had no interest in their little wagers.

‘The next one we should drop first really is the Enemy Knight…….’

After clearing away Red Horse’s corpse, Hyeonseong’s gaze flicked briefly to Do-ol.

Do-ol was still thrashing around and attacking the Awakened. Just looking at it, it seemed to have plenty of body and stamina left.

The monster-info window backed that up. Do-ol wasn’t suffering any notable status ailments yet.

‘I thought it being a synthetic would make it less sturdy than the original, even if it’s S-rank…….’

After confirming the info in an instant, she turned her eyes back to the Enemy Knight.

A lot of attacks were being thrown at it. But the only thing meaningfully pinning it in place was Song Jiwoo’s sword from the front.

‘Even earlier, the only one who really tied its feet down was her.’

Song Jiwoo didn’t lose much in raw strength even against an overwhelmingly larger giant. Seeing that, it seemed better to leave it to Song Jiwoo alone than to bunch up and attack sloppily.

‘Strictly speaking, it’ll be two people, though.’

Having decided, Hyeonseong raised the megaphone.

“Hey! Everyone except Song Jiwoo, back off!”

She shouted at the people attacking the Enemy Knight.

“What?”

“Why?”

Questions came back immediately. Some even showed displeasure.

“Song Jiwoo will handle the Enemy Knight alone! Everyone else, take down Do-ol!”

[‘Creator of the Four Fiends’ snickered, then abruptly went serious, asking what the hell that was supposed to mean.]

[‘Steel’ burst into loud laughter, saying they knew it would come to this.]

[‘Lucky White Rabbit’s Foot’ timidly clapped along after ‘Steel.’]

At Hyeonseong’s words, most people understood the purpose of the order.

Of course, understanding didn’t stop everyone from being unhappy. The reasons would vary.

‘Maybe they think we have to kill the Enemy Knight first no matter what, or maybe they just hate the idea of Song Jiwoo being the one who stands out.’

She didn’t fail to understand the thought process behind their resentment. But she couldn’t indulge it—and there was no reason to.

“Move, now! Teams that can pull out immediately, pull out first and reposition!”

Hyeonseong shouted again. At the renewed order, the teams farthest from the Enemy Knight were the first to turn their blades toward Do-ol.

[‘Authority of Fusion Life Sciences’ shoved a handkerchief back into ‘Creator of the Four Fiends’’ hand.]

[‘Creator of the Four Fiends’ told them to get lost and…….]

“Do I seriously have to fight this alone? Isn’t that a bit much?”

Song Jiwoo shouted while continuing to trade blows with the Enemy Knight.

“Who said you’re alone? Wait.”

Right after answering, Hyeonseong ordered the unaffiliated Awakened who had been buying time to withdraw. With that, every Awakened except Song Jiwoo moved to new positions.

“If I’m not alone, does that mean you’re coming, Hyeonseong?”

While Hyeonseong issued movement orders to complete the formation around Do-ol, Song Jiwoo shouted again.

“Then who else would it be?”

The moment she finished the order, Hyeonseong opened Infinite Corridor above Song Jiwoo’s head. A sword aimed at her head bounced off the opened space and ricocheted away.

In that opening, Song Jiwoo slashed into the gap between the Enemy Knight’s armor plates. Her greatsword bit slightly into its waist.

“Looks like it’s tougher than I thought.”

Confirming the blade hadn’t even gone in halfway, Song Jiwoo withdrew it quickly.

“Of course it is. Didn’t you see all those buff sponsors raining down?”

Hyeonseong knocked aside the Enemy Knight’s sword again as it fell toward Song Jiwoo’s head, deflecting it with Infinite Corridor.

“More importantly—what about the cards you took last time?”

In the brief lull, Hyeonseong checked the Do-ol hunt again. For now, the formation and attack-defense routine were holding steady.

“Those? I used them all that same day.”

Song Jiwoo answered, batting the Enemy Knight’s sword aside with her own weapon.

“No—wasn’t that dungeon A-rank? Why would you burn through all the S-rank skill cards in there?”

Hyeonseong asked in disbelief.

Some time ago, Song Jiwoo had shown up at the Ten Thousand Swords Guild out of the blue, looking for Hyeonseong—so she could use Infinite Corridor to make skill cards.

That ability had already been made public, so it wasn’t strange for Song Jiwoo to come for that reason.

‘It was absurd that Hyeonyeong went to the guild saying she didn’t have her contact info, but…….’

Anyway, absurd or not, Hyeonseong had been paid well, so she converted several of Song Jiwoo’s S-rank aura skills into skill cards.

‘It can’t have been that long ago, and she’s saying she used them all—not over several days, but in one go?’

“Sometimes, life just goes that way.”

“Ah. Sure…….”

She hadn’t heard anything about major trouble related to that A-rank dungeon. So she decided to assume they’d needed to shorten the run time, or there’d been a minor issue that hadn’t escalated.

“But why are you asking?”

“Because for dumping burst damage, your skills are more useful.”

They were both S-ranks who fought with blades, but Hyeonyeong and Song Jiwoo had a clear difference in style. Put simply, Hyeonyeong was a finesse type, and Song Jiwoo was a firepower type.

At S-rank, even a finesse type didn’t lack firepower. But compared to someone whose focus was pure output, their burst damage tended to be relatively lower.

‘If not, I’ll have to use Hyeonyeong’s.’

Rather than trying on-site resupply, it was far better to empty what they already had.

“If you’re in a hurry, I can make them right now.”

“No. I’ve got something I can use.”

“Ugh.”

At Hyeonseong’s answer, Song Jiwoo sounded disappointed.

“Turning that into cards was pretty fun—”

“Stop talking nonsense.”

Hyeonseong pulled out a bottle of stamina potion from Infinite Corridor and threw it to Song Jiwoo. After trading blows nonstop, she needed to top off.

After tossing it, Hyeonseong opened Infinite Corridor in front of the Enemy Knight’s blade. While Hyeonseong deflected the blade for a moment, Song Jiwoo drank the potion.

“Then the target is the head again?”

Jjaenggang—

Flinging the empty bottle far away, Song Jiwoo asked.

“The head. More precisely, the neck.”

The entire head was covered by a helm. There were narrow eye slits, but the gap at the neck—where the armor didn’t fully cover—was wider.

“So this time it’s not stalling or buying time. It’s a takedown, right?”

Song Jiwoo went back into a full exchange with the Enemy Knight.

“Right.”

“Now that’s what I wanted to hear!”

Song Jiwoo shouted, smashing hard into the Enemy Knight’s sword.

Behind her, Hyeonseong floated several of the drone feeds Nemesis had brought, projecting them in all directions. Every feed was filming the fight with Do-ol.

‘No more formation changes needed. We blocked the Enemy Knight’s mounted charge, too, so we don’t need to juggle priorities like before. We take them both down like this.’