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Translator: penny
Chapter: 177
Chapter Title: Lee Eun-jung
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'Was Lee Eun-jung originally supposed to participate in this special trial?'
It was information I didn't know.
Then again, she was the quiet type who rarely talked about her past even on normal days.
'Ugh, what now.'
It was an unexpected variable.
For both Nana and Lee Eun-jung.
If our party hadn't joined this trial like in the first playthrough, the difficulty would have dropped two or three levels from what it was now, and she probably would have survived inside it.
Kim Jin-woo, Hao Zifeng, the Jeju Alliance, Cheongbang—none of them were in my memories, but she had made it to the end of the trial and played a solid role in taking down the Destruction Dragon.
But if things stayed like this, we'd lose one S-Rank firepower source.
'Of course, we can still beat the Destruction Dragon without her.'
In this playthrough, Shin Seo-yeon would thoroughly avoid any nerfs, and at the final trial, she'd unleash her full abilities.
"Min-jun?"
"Oppa?"
Hmm, so what to do.
"Min-jun? Are you thinking about how to save everyone right now?"
As I stared down at Lee Eun-jung, lost in thought, the Saintess misinterpreted it on her own, her eyes sparkling brightly. Her deeply moved expression practically screamed, 'As expected, Min-jun is the best!'
Song Ha-na's affection toward you increases.
What could I do?
'I shouldn't be taking on risks like this, but I'll adjust the plan thinking of it as saving one S-Rank.'
The moment I made my decision, I bought rope and anchor nuts from the general merchant and connected them. Then I looped it around Dracalon's scales and dropped the line down below.
"Done!"
"Hey, climb up! Hurry!"
I hadn't summoned the shopkeeper specifically for this, but once the line was quickly secured and dropped, people started scrambling up it desperately.
"Whoa, Oppa, you're amazing!"
"Min-jun's rope skills never cease to amaze me."
Well, I'd climbed cliffs so many times.
Guild members had wind mages or items to whisk them away with their guildmates, but bottom-feeders like me had to handle everything from scratch.
While others flew through the sky, I ran from monsters. While they drank and partied in rest areas, I learned every skill I could to boost my survival.
That was ten years. Ten years of daily effort just to live. It'd be weirder if I couldn't do it.
'That makes twenty now. Let's see, should I set one over here.'
I deliberately nodded toward Lee Eun-jung and dropped one line off to the side separately.
"..."
Her suspicious eyes lingered on me briefly at the gesture of giving her a separate line, but since it was farther from the center and closer to the bushes, no one dared use it out of fear.
Not even the Jeju Alliance or the Chinese guys.
But with Lee Eun-jung's abilities, there was no need to fear, so she'd be the only one to use it.
Sure enough, when no one used it and the line stayed empty, Lee Eun-jung led her group rushing over. The moment they decided, the group latched on like lightning and climbed up swiftly.
Crunch.
It was a full fifty meters up, so for anyone who hadn't climbed ropes before, reaching the top wasn't easy.
In fact, out of the other twenty lines, seven were filled with screams.
"Hey, you bitch! Climb faster! Don't just wriggle in place!"
"I can't climb! What do you want me to do?!"
"Then get down! Can't you see everyone's stuck because of you?!"
"That's why I said I can't climb!"
"Move!"
Maybe because lives were on the line, the yelling and arguments escalated fiercely.
"Eek! Where are you touching?!"
"Shut up and stay still! Whether you climb or not, I'm passing you!"
Squawking men and women. Finally, the middle-aged guy right below couldn't take it and tried to overtake her. But at that moment, blood sprayed.
"Argh! You crazy bitch, you stabbed me?!"
"You touched my body without permission!"
The chaos grew as people stuck on the lines couldn't go up or down, and fights broke out.
There were twenty lines, but the ascent speed was painfully slow. In comparison, Lee Eun-jung's side was terrifyingly fast.
The first man to reach the top grabbed my hand as he stepped onto Dracalon and gave a slight nod of thanks.
"Thank you. You saved my life. Name's Kim Jong-su."
North Korean dialect? So they were all from the North after all.
'Well, it's about time North Korea joins the fray.'
Their numbers were small, but not to be ignored. They had that elite few vibe like us.
And something about them felt... extraordinary.
The fine wrinkles like a man in his fifties and those hollow eyes held not just hardship, but a story of indifference even to death.
Not the eyes of someone merely starving or struggling to survive.
'Let's check his stats.'
Solid stats.
Not quite Lee Eun-jung level, but impressively high.
The average total stats of everyone here were around 120. Jeju Alliance and Cheongbang were about 210, but this guy was a whopping 261. Way above the others.
'With teammates like this, that's how Lee Eun-jung survived the special trial.'
North Koreans climbing up one by one.
"Thank you, comrade."
"You saved our lives."
And now only Lee Eun-jung remained. After assisting her comrades and staying vigilant of her surroundings, she finally grabbed the rope last.
She climbed swiftly, then paused. Lee Eun-jung whipped her head toward the bushes. The foliage shook violently right after.
'Damn, of course. Things weren't going to go smoothly.'
I gripped the rope tightly.
"Hey, everyone, don't let go of the lines. Hold on tight."
Then I yanked the rope upward with all my strength. Whoosh! At that moment, the bushes parted, and a massive reptile burst out, jaws wide toward Lee Eun-jung.
Crunch!
Luckily, my powerful pull prevented it from getting what it wanted, and the eight North Koreans on the rope floated into the air before landing safely on Dracalon.
Screeeeech!
Enraged at the sight, the 10-meter monster leaped toward the top.
Like a dinosaur—specifically a Spinosaurus—with its crocodile-like jaws snapping clack-clack-clack! in regret over its missed prey.
To cut to the chase, this guy wasn't a scavenger. Not the strongest, but technically one of the predators.
In other words, its appearance meant predators were now seriously pushing into this area.
'Still just this one for now. If I draw its attention and buy some time...'
"Kyaaaaaaaah!"
...Yeah, no way it'd go as planned.
I don't get why people scream first at danger. Shouldn't you stay silent and still like a mouse? How have these idiots survived this long?
"Kyaaaaak! Kyaaaaak!"
"Uwaaaak! M-Monster!"
At the commotion, the monster looking up at us turned its head toward the screamers. Funny thing was, they went quiet the instant it did. Talk about sweet potatoes.
Screeeeech!
The moment it charged at the people, similar ones erupted from the bushes all around. Clearly rushing out to avoid losing all the prey.
Skreee!
Screeeeech!
They raced in competitively, starting to hunt the people.
"Argh!"
"S-Save me!"
Realizing they'd die before climbing at this rate, the Jeju Alliance and Cheongbang exchanged glances and confronted the charging monsters.
Thud!
"Die!"
"How dare you bare your fangs!"
Screeeeech!
The two groups resisted fiercely.
Seemed like they were holding for a bit, but maybe due to the huge gap in size and stats?
"Argh!"
"Let go! Get off me!"
"Cheon-woo! You bastard! Drop that jaw right now?!"
One by one, they got snatched in the monsters' jaws, wriggling before vanishing into their bellies. Severed limbs from comrades mid-chew rained down with blood, enough to crush morale.
"H-Huh? Seo-jun...?"
Crunch!
And that wasn't the end of the problems.
Thud-thud-thud!
"Y-You bastards, where you going!"
"Those damn chinks are running?!"
As the situation turned overwhelmingly one-sided contrary to expectations, the Chinese fought a bit before retreating without hesitation.
The front line collapsed, and the precarious balance tipped completely. Immediately, the remaining Jeju elites became monster snacks.
"Aaaah!"
"S-Save me!"
Those who stepped up to buy time started getting massacred.
Resistance to that selfish alliance structure ended in an instant, and no one fought back after. Just desperate scrambles to climb first.
"Eek! R-Run!"
"Damn it!"
Eventually, the surviving Jeju Alliance turned and bolted for the ropes.
But despite heavy sacrifices, the rope area was still swarmed.
"What?! Why are so few up after all this time? We've held for minutes!"
They'd planned to run from the start.
Such selfish bunch.
They'd yank climbers down to go first, only to get yanked themselves if they made it on.
So that's why.
At some point, the number climbing up plummeted.
There were about five hundred survivors and twenty lines, so five to ten minutes should've sufficed for escape.
But after five minutes, barely 20% had escaped or were on the lines.
"Move! I'm climbing!"
"Kyaaak!"
Pandemonium unfolded. Fights broke out as everyone vied for the ropes first.
The initial calm coaxing and orderly waiting turned to total anarchy.
"Die! Die! Die!"
"Gahk."
They seized spots by force. Stabbed those grabbing ropes to climb first, slashed from below at slow climbers to knock them off.
The spreading blood scent made the monsters frenzy more.
'...Should I jump in to protect them?'
The answer was a resounding no.
My place was with my party. No guarantee these reckless fools wouldn't cause trouble up here too.
Especially since they'd forcibly shoved us aside and chased us out before.
'I can't prioritize strangers over my own people.'
Remember the Jeju Nohyung Alliance.
If Kim Jin-woo had stuck with veterans instead of minding newbies, managing comrades properly, the guild wouldn't have crumbled like this.
"Dickhead!"
Above all, I'd seen it.
The endless [Primordial Forest]. Amid the vast jungle waving green waves in the wind, massive movements appeared unlike before.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Trees swayed heavily, signaling approaching presences.
I activated the [Magic Engineering Goggles].
Navy, purple, yellow...
Even orange ones among them.
For reference, yellow and orange were stronger than me.
In short, playing hero now meant risking my life and my comrades' too.
"Everyone, gather up."
"Huh?"
"Stop what you're doing and group up now!"
No time left. Time to run.
"Hey, I was about to ask you. Not just the numbers, but the blood scent's drawing even bigger ones. Atmosphere's turning bad."
"Seo-yeon's right. Plus, this spot's wide open. Air mobs could be risky."
After months in the selection process, my party keenly sensed blood, read battlefield shifts easily.
"That's exactly why I called you."
"What's the plan?"
"We're escaping from here now."
"Now?"
Shin Seo-yeon glanced at the forest-encircled surroundings, questioning feasibility with her eyes.
Anyone could see we were surrounded.
But I moved without hesitation. My party followed without question.
"Escaping where?"
"Tail."
"The tail? Why there?"
Prey fears a predator's waste. Dead bodies often shit themselves postmortem.
Sure enough, even as monsters charged from all sides, the area near the giant monster's vital spots was eerily empty.
'So while everyone's drunk on blood down there, we slip out.'
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