“Mr. Choi Gang-hu!”

 

With that shout, Choi Gang-hu began descending at a speed as fast as lightning striking. Ryu Seo-ha held onto his arms wrapped around Choi’s neck tightly and opened his eyes wide.

 

Boom!

 

Another explosion sound rang out. As they got closer to the ground, they could see acrid smoke thickly blanketing the area around the hotel. It was literally a scene as if a bomb had gone off.

 

Modern weapons are automatically rejected upon entering dungeons. If a real bomb had exploded, it must have been an item made from dungeon materials. An expensive item based on magical power.

 

“Aaaagh!”

 

As soon as they entered the third floor of the hotel where a hole had been blown in the outer wall, they saw the figure of a person running out screaming. Close behind was a B-rank monster, the Flame Skunk.

 

Without time to consider the situation, Ryu Seo-ha immediately launched himself forward. He grabbed the collar of the other person, who seemed to be in a panic with no awareness of their surroundings, pulled them into his arms, and activated his trait.

 

Trait ‘Sanctification’ is activated.

 

As a safe zone just barely large enough to cover the half-overlapping bodies of the two people spread out,

 

Thud!

 

The Flame Skunk, denied entry, bounced off the translucent barrier.

 

Screech─!

 

It let out an irritated scream and rammed its head into the boundary of [Sanctification] again. Wham! Wham! With each headbutt, Ryu Seo-ha could clearly feel the amount of mana consumed to maintain the barrier increasing significantly.

 

“Wh-who…”

 

Ryu Seo-ha lifted the collar of the trembling man in his arms to check his face. It was an employee from the VIP waiting room.

 

“What happened? Where are the others?”

 

“Uh, uh…?”

 

Even when asked about the situation, the employee just stammered with a blank expression, unable to continue speaking.

 

“Get a hold of yourself and answer!”

 

As Ryu Seo-ha lightly slapped his cheek and pressed him, some light returned to his dazed eyes.

 

“F-fire…”

 

“Fire? You lit a fire?”

 

“To smoke… I thought it’d be okay for a moment, but suddenly monsters… I got startled and threw the lighter…”

 

He was still rambling incoherently. There’s always a reason for prohibitions, but why do people always regret it only after doing it? Something welled up inside Ryu Seo-ha, but he tried hard to calm himself down.

 

Blaming what’s already happened won’t change anything. Meanwhile, Choi Gang-hu, who had approached, grabbed the back of the Flame Skunk’s neck as it was ramming its head into the barrier and threw it far away through the hole in the outer wall.

 

It was like shooing away an annoying fly. Then he shook off the employee’s hand that was clinging to Ryu Seo-ha’s shoulder. As if dusting off dirt.

 

Glancing at his expressionless face, Ryu Seo-ha deactivated [Sanctification] for now. He had learned that mana consumption increased when attacked from outside the safe zone. Not knowing how long the battle would last, he needed to conserve mana first.

 

“What about the bomb? Why did they set it off?”

 

All the monsters in the vicinity were rushing here. Even with his Sense stat at just 1, he could feel the ground vibrating. Probably a decoy lure bomb used by tanks had exploded.

 

“I-I don’t know. Some hunter took something out of a space expansion pouch and threw it…”

 

Whoever it was, they didn’t seem to be someone with much field experience. Perhaps the type who applied to be a national hunter to avoid frequent dungeon raids. In any case, it was clear that person had made an absurd mistake.

 

“Mr. Choi Gang-hu. Can you locate the others’ positions?”

 

Judging that no more answers would come from holding onto this employee, Ryu Seo-ha turned to Choi Gang-hu and asked. The situation had already gone beyond what he could handle alone. He needed his help.

 

“Two on the first floor, seven on the second floor, four on the fourth floor, six on the fifth floor.”

 

Without even using a skill, Choi Gang-hu instantly pinpointed everyone’s location with just his Sense stat. People were scattered much more than expected.

 

“What about monsters?”

 

“There’s one more of those Flame Skunks each on the second and fourth floors.”

 

It seems after the problem occurred here on the third floor, half the people fled upwards and half downwards. With two Flame Skunks on their tails, excluding the one that remained here.

 

“Let’s go down to the first floor first.”

 

If they let them escape outside the building, who knows what variables might arise. Most likely, they’d all end up dead.

 

Choi Gang-hu readily accepted Ryu Seo-ha’s suggestion and wrapped an arm around his waist again. With his remaining hand, he grabbed the back of the VIP waiting room employee’s neck. Then he descended straight through the broken outer wall.

 

Aaaagh! The employee’s scream reverberated through the surrounding air.

 

“Bleurgh!”

 

As soon as they arrived on the first floor, the employee thrown to the ground kept retching face down. Just then, two people escaping from the lobby paused when they saw them.

 

“Go into the building on the right, fifth floor shopping area.”

 

“Wh-what?”

 

“Hurry!”

 

There was no time to explain why there were no monsters in there. Ryu Seo-ha practically dragged the VIP waiting room employee face down on the floor to his feet and pushed his back towards the shopping area, then immediately jumped into the lobby.

 

Trait ‘Sanctification’ is activated.

 

Whoosh, instantly expanding the range of the trait. The translucent barrier let seven people desperately fleeing down from the second floor pass right through, then

 

Thud!

 

Only after pushing away the Flame Skunk chasing them far away did it stop expanding.

 

Buff ‘Increased Fire Resistance (1 minute)’ is applied to designated targets (3 non-awakened individuals).

 

Buff ‘Burn Healing’ is applied to designated targets (3 non-awakened individuals).

 

“Water! Water! …Huh?”

 

“Wh-what’s this!”

 

People rushing out flapping their burning white gowns widened their eyes in surprise. Not only had the fire consuming their clothes gone out, but even the burns on their skin had subsided completely.

 

“This… did you do this…”

 

“Go out right away and enter the building on the right, fifth floor.”

 

“But…”

 

“Mr. Choi Gang-hu, could you take them to the rooftop?”

 

After giving them only the minimum necessary information, Ryu Seo-ha immediately turned around and deactivated [Sanctification]. Choi Gang-hu, who had leisurely followed and observed the situation, silently smiled and held out his hand at Ryu Seo-ha’s request.

 

“Thank you.”

 

Ryu Seo-ha took that hand without hesitation. He conveyed sincere gratitude to Choi Gang-hu for willingly granting his request.

 

In fact, from Choi Gang-hu’s perspective, there was no rush at all. Although it wasn’t his intention, he probably saw it as an opportunity to explore the dungeon at his leisure. He likely didn’t care about people’s safety at all. Yet he readily stepped up.

 

Choi Gang-hu, holding Ryu Seo-ha like a precious doll in his arms, stepped outside the building and lightly kicked off the ground, soaring into the sky. His graceful landing on the hotel rooftop was like that of a blue falcon.

 

Mana 209

 

The mana stat increased at a slower rate than before. He could also confirm that as the stat rose, the consumed mana amount recovered along with it.

 

Looking down, the hotel was already half surrounded by a horde of monsters. Insect-type and plant-type monsters made up the majority, with rare mammalian or reptilian forms also visible.

 

‘This might be for the best.’

 

There were many uncertainties in tomorrow’s planned dungeon core destruction operation. First, the balance of the raid team was a mess, and there was also the issue of moving while leaving behind non-awakened individuals.

 

Seeing how quickly an accident like this occurred, trolling would have happened in some form anyway. Ryu Seo-ha clearly observed the thick roots of the presumed boss, the A-rank monster Giant Iron Tree, undulating closer.

 

“Mr. Choi Gang-hu.”

 

The presence of Choi Gang-hu right behind him felt incredibly reassuring. He had never relied on others in crisis situations throughout his life. The touch of arms tightening around him, as if to say he was listening, felt strangely welcome.

 

“You know that the corpse of the Giant Iron Tree is the main material for the latest passenger planes and ships, right?”

 

Ryu Seo-ha could feel Choi Gang-hu, who had been resting his chin lightly on top of Ryu Seo-ha’s head near the crown, tilting his head. Well, he had only returned recently after all. His suit fit him so well that Ryu Seo-ha almost forgot.

 

“It seems like it would be quite helpful for our guild’s finances. What do you think?”

 

Choi Gang-hu seemed to immediately understand that this was a cute plea for help hunting the boss monster, as a chuckling sound was heard. Just then, the rusty rooftop door burst open with a bang, and people with heavily scorched appearances tumbled out, panting.

 

One, two, three… nine. Quickly counting by eye, one person was missing. C-rank psychokinetic hunter Kwon Se-jeong, a main supporting character in the original work, was nowhere to be seen.

 

“Gasp! Wh-what is this!”

 

Someone let out a cry of shock upon witnessing the scene of monsters swarming below the hotel. Almost simultaneously, a large flame rose from the stairway leading down to the lower floors.

 

Flames bending in an unnatural direction. An ability presumed to be psychokinesis was making the fire spewed by the Flame Skunk curve. Kwon Se-jeong was facing the monster alone on the lower floor.

 

“So I just need to catch that one?”

 

Choi Gang-hu pointed at the Giant Iron Tree with his chin, showing no interest even though the heroine candidate was in danger. He’d regret it later when he learns that Kwon Se-jeong’s rank gets corrected to A-rank.

 

“Please help Kwon Se-jeong.”

 

“Hm?”

 

Choi Gang-hu raised his elegant eyebrows as if to say, “What are you suddenly talking about?”

 

“I’m begging you.”

 

As Ryu Seo-ha detached himself from Choi Gang-hu’s embrace and made a polite request, Choi stared down at him.

 

“…Do you like that woman?”

 

What nonsense. Ryu Seo-ha quickly shook his head, lest he be unnecessarily treated as a rival later.

 

“Psychokinetics don’t have good compatibility against Flame Skunks, you know.”

 

Moreover, with her current mana quality at C-rank level, Kwon Se-jeong would have difficulty handling a B-rank monster alone. He knew it was already too late to hope for all events to proceed according to the original work’s flow. But he couldn’t just let a major character die pitifully.

 

As if trying to discern the truth of his statement, Choi Gang-hu looked at him with coldly sunken eyes and clicked his tongue low.

 

“Don’t move an inch from here.”

 

After warning him thus, Choi flung himself towards the stairs.

 

Trait ‘Sanctification’ is activated.

 

Ryu Seo-ha let out a sigh of relief and immediately spread his trait to envelop the people on the rooftop. Thud! Thud! Thud! Just then, monsters that had reached the rooftop began bouncing off one by one.

 

Due to the increased number of enemies, the rate of mana depletion also became much faster. Even though he was at level 200 with an extreme build focused solely on mana, it seemed difficult to sustain the mana consumption for long. It appeared that the higher the potential, the lower the initial efficiency.

 

Ryu Seo-ha gauged his remaining mana amount. While glaring at the boss monster’s thick metallic tree roots rapidly climbing the hotel’s outer wall.

 

A level 1 healing-type hunter solo hunting an A-rank monster. Normally, it would seem like reckless bravado. But succeeding to this extent might be necessary for his intention to join an S-rank dungeon raid within a month to be accepted.

 

“Aaaagh! It’s coming in!”

 

The Giant Iron Tree’s roots, granted entry by him, smoothly penetrated the barrier without any resistance. The people who had been feeling secure in the safety zone scattered in panic, retreating backward.

 

As if instinctively recognizing its target, the monster’s roots aimed their sharp tips at Ryu Seo-ha. Along with the feeling of mana draining like an ebb tide,

 

Debuff ‘Weakened Defense’ is applied to designated target (1 A-rank Giant Iron Tree).

 

Debuff ‘Structure Destruction’ is applied to designated target (1 A-rank Giant Iron Tree).

 

The monster’s branches that had reached right in front of him crumbled like dried leaves in an instant. Even the main body connected to the roots collapsed all at once.

 

Level has increased.

 

Level has increased.

 

A-rank dungeon conquest successful.

 

Individual rewards will be distributed according to contribution.

 

System messages popped up as if they had been waiting. However, he had no time to check the rewards. It was due to mana depletion.

 

“I told you not to move an inch.”

 

A large hand supporting his staggering body and a voice resembling a sigh. Leaning against that broad chest that gave a deep sense of relief, Ryu Seo-ha lost consciousness.