Choi Hyena briefly wondered if there was something wrong with her hearing.
"…What?"
"From now on, instead of saying 'you' or 'hey you,' call me 'honey' affectionately."
Seeing the wide grin on Kang Hyunwoo's face made her stomach churn.
"Have you finally lost it? Just because I'm showing you respect as my benefactor doesn't mean you can walk all over me."
"Then starve."
Ha! Threatening her with food was so cheap. Born as the sole heir of the Seongbuk Choi family, she had cultivated self-restraint. This kind of shoddy threat wouldn't work on her.
"That's low…!"
But she was so hungry.
It felt like she hadn't eaten dinner that long ago, but her stomach was roaring for food.
She felt a sour taste rising in her throat because of the emptiness, and her stomach felt like it was shrinking. And that damned guy was even boiling instant noodles beside her.
"…Gulp."
The smell of the noodles, stimulating her sense of smell, was driving her crazy.
"Looks like you want some?"
He was being so infuriating, deliberately lifting the perfectly cooked noodles with his chopsticks and showing them off. Hyena felt something snap inside her.
"I won't eat it! I won't!! You eat it all, you pig…"
At that moment, Hyunwoo tossed the noodles far away and rushed towards her.
'Uh, uh?? Did he really hate being called a pig that much…??'
His momentum was so intense that she instinctively squeezed her eyes shut.
"Dodge!!!"
"…Huh?"
*CRASH!* A gigantic, hideous arm ripped through the cloth covering the cave entrance and lunged at Hyena.
'Too slow!'
In the rapidly accelerating thoughts of the moment, Hyunwoo judged that casting a spell wouldn't be fast enough, so he threw away his wand.
In a fleeting instant that wouldn't even take 0.1 seconds, he drew his sword from his inventory.
Magic swirled intensely in the hand holding the sword hilt.
[Imperial Army's Magic Sword]
[Rank: Rare]
[Increased cutting power when imbued with magic]
He poured most of his magic into the sword to maximize its cutting power.
Due to the limitations of its rare rank and his magic reserves, it wouldn't be powerful enough to cut through diamonds, but it was enough to sever a monster's arm.
"Hah!"
*Swish-* The monster's hand and wrist were cleanly severed, and blood gushed out.
-KRAAAAAAA!!!
Ignoring the monster's scream of agony, Hyunwoo immediately pulled Hyena into his arms and dashed out of the cave.
Outside, a monster covered in white fur was clutching its severed wrist in pain. It looked like a yeti.
Barely having time to be surprised by its massive size, at least 4 meters tall, he realized now was the opportunity while it was writhing in pain and exposing its back.
He set Hyena down on the snowy ground and quickly ran towards the monster.
He channeled magic into his toes and thighs to enhance his jumping power, and then plunged his sword into the monster's neck.
*Thwack-* The blade went in more easily than expected.
But that wasn't the end.
Even if his spellcasting speed was slow without his wand, it still wouldn't take even two seconds.
[Flame Circle]
*KA-BOOM!!* A fiercely rotating and exploding flame erupted from the end of the blade, blowing off the yeti's head.
The headless body collapsed to its knees.
In an instant, the pure white snowfield became stained with dark red blood.
"…What the heck is that?"
It was a monster he had never seen before.
All he knew about monsters was the fragmented knowledge the school had taught him and the contents of a few highly viewed posts on the community forum.
"Wh, White Yeti…"
Hyena, her red hair covered in white snow, stared at the monster's corpse with a pale face.
"White Yeti?"
"…It's a C-rank monster."
Hearing those words, an uncontrollable curse rose from the depths of his gut.
"…Shit."
*Ding-*
[You have defeated the White Yeti]
[First Kill Reward: 200 Coins]
It seemed to be pretty deep in, but considering the size of a normal gate, this was still just the entrance.
For a C-rank monster to appear in a place like that meant that this gate was at least C+ or higher.
If they were unlucky, it could even be B-rank.
"…I used too much magic."
Even if it wasn't an elite creature, he thought the blade went into it too easily for a C-rank. Sure enough, he had unknowingly squeezed out too much magic.
Besides, the magic that went into Flame Circle was considerable.
"Do you have a wand or staff with you?"
"…No."
Well, it would be strange for someone to bring something like that to a matchmaking meeting.
Of course, just because a mage didn't have equipment didn't mean they would turn into a useless freeloader, but the overall power and casting speed of their magic would inevitably decrease.
In a real battle where lives were at stake with a difference of 0.1 seconds, it was a critical problem.
"Use this for now, at least."
He handed Hyena the wooden wand and magic ring he had been using.
"Then what about you…?"
"One of us has to be on the front lines. Who's going to draw the monsters' aggro if we're both in the rear?"
No matter how strong mages were, they were still ultimately rear-line fighters.
Continuing to hunt monsters without a front-line fighter was like building a sandcastle that could collapse at any moment.
Since Hyena, a 3rd circle mage, was stronger than him in terms of firepower, it was right for him to be on the front lines.
"What kind of mage is on the front lines!"
"Then you want to do it?"
"That's…"
If there was a mage with an aptitude for alchemy or summoning, the situation would have been much easier.
They could just send a golem or familiar to the front lines.
But Hyena's family was known for generations for having an excellent aptitude for elemental magic, especially fire, and he hadn't learned anything about summoning magic yet.
"It's better for me to do it than you, so shut up and support me with magic from behind."
The hideout they had found was no longer habitable due to the monster's blood. Unfortunately, they had to pack up their tent and move.
"And put this on before we go."
"Huh?"
He tossed a completely dried fur coat to Hyena.
He still didn't understand why the sole heir of the Seongbuk Choi family, famous for fire magic, was more vulnerable to the cold than him, but there was no time to slowly listen to the details.
For now, it was fortunate if she didn't collapse from the cold on the way.
"…Thank you."
"If you're thankful, call me 'honey'."
"Get lost."
***
After encountering the White Yeti, their goals were twofold.
One was to find a cave that was deep enough and had a narrow entrance to barricade themselves in.
The other was to create a kind of safe zone by clearing out the monsters in a certain area.
"White Yetis are monsters that live in groups. We were lucky that there was only one just now, but they usually form groups of anywhere from ten to thirty."
Hyena's explanation made the plan to create a safe zone at the place where they had hunted the White Yeti impossible.
Creating a safe zone in a place where there might be over 20 C-rank monsters was too reckless.
In the end, they had no choice but to head back to the starting point where they had first opened their eyes when they entered the gate.
"It's damn cold."
Haa…
The icy cold air that stung her teeth entered her lungs with every breath.
In six days, the gate's entrance would open at the starting point.
They had to leave as soon as the gate break happened, so it would be best to make a hideout around there. But there was no suitable place in the empty snowfield, and they didn't know how many monsters would be gathering there to cross over to Earth.
Logically, it was a crazy choice, but now they had to go back near the entrance, even knowing that.
First of all, stronger monsters appeared inside the gate as they got closer to the core. Conversely, relatively weak monsters lived around the starting point.
Now that they knew this was a C+ or higher gate, they had to set up camp around the starting point if they wanted to avoid encountering mid-boss level monsters.
'For now, we should stay near there and move the hideout again when there are only one or two days left.'
If they encountered a monster they couldn't handle, they couldn't guarantee their survival.
"…That's what I thought."
What appeared in front of them as they were crossing the blizzard-swept snowfield was a bear.
It was incomparably larger than a normal bear.
Its ferocious appearance and the brutal claws were so sharp that they could tear his body into dozens of pieces.
*KWAANG!*
Without even a chance to exchange greetings, the giant bear cub swung its claws at him.
Thanks to his quick dodge, there was no damage, but the impact created a deep indentation in the snow.
"Ice Bear!"
"What's its rank?!"
"C-rank!"
What, another C-rank.
'Should I take comfort in the fact that it's not C+?'
It wasn't comforting at all.
The fact that a C-rank monster had appeared now that they were getting closer to the starting point meant that the possibility of this gate being B-rank was also increasing.
Shit.
"I'll draw the aggro, so prepare your magic!"
He charged towards the Ice Bear. Close combat was dangerous, but if Hyena got involved, an even more dangerous situation could arise.
The straight sword imbued with magic was emitting a blue light, but he shouldn't expect the same cutting power as before.
In the first place, a C-rank monster was still too much for his level.
Even though the monsters in the underground dungeon they had faced before were all elite creatures, they were still around C-rank.
If he was alone, he probably wouldn't be able to avoid a hard fight against the Ice Bear. Especially if the opponent didn't give him an opening like the Yeti had.
The distance between him and the Ice Bear was getting closer. As if it had no intention of letting him go, the Ice Bear was running towards him at a much faster speed than he had expected, forcing him to roll across the snowfield to avoid it.
He quickly regained his footing and slashed at the Ice Bear's hind leg.
*Swish-*
'Shit.'
It was too shallow.
The Ice Bear was in pain from the burning sensation in its hind leg. Then, with murderous eyes, it slammed its front paw down on him.
In a situation where he could be torn apart by its claws if he dodged clumsily, he had long since abandoned the option of dodging.
*BANG!* He blocked the Ice Bear's claws with the flat of his sword.
'Ugh…!!'
The tremendous impact made his head ring and throb. If he hadn't reinforced his whole body with magic in advance, something would have definitely broken.
"No…w!! Shoot quickly!!"
He felt an enormous wave of magic coming from behind him, the high-powered magic created by a 3rd circle mage fully concentrated.
[Water Cannon]
*KA-BOOM!!*
A cannon of highly compressed water flew at high speed and blew away the Ice Bear's forehead.
*Thump-* The Ice Bear, with a large hole in its head, spat out blood and collapsed.
[You have defeated the Ice Bear]
[First Kill Reward: 200 Coins]
Like with the White Yeti, the snowfield was stained red with the dark red blood pouring out of the corpse.
He collapsed onto the snowfield and gasped for breath.
"Are you okay…?"
Hyena rushed over, her face full of worry.
"…Wasn't I supposed to be a noble?"
If everything had gone according to plan, he would be a member of a stable C-rank party by now, lazily casting spells from the rear.
But what was he doing now?
He was holding a sword and fighting monsters head-on?
The reality that he had become an untouchable warrior again made him want to cry.
If this wasn't hell, what was it?
While he was wallowing in self-pity, Hyena tapped him.
"What."
"…I think you should look at that."
But the real hell was just beginning.
Far away, a huge wolf was leading a pack and running towards them.