Chapter 50 : Adventure Level 35 (5)

Do Yugeon pushed himself out of the water after a breath-holding contest with Yu Mina.
The blocked breath cleared, and he felt alive again.

“Ugh, I lost, I lost.”

As he gasped for air, Yu Mina also surfaced.

“You keep beating me—how are you so good at this?”
“Magical girls undergo water torture training.”
“Really?”
“Half joking.”

Yu Mina giggled.
She said things where you couldn’t tell if she was joking or serious.

“Since I won, buy me ice cream. Not right now—you can get it for me when we go home.”
“Ha, I can’t believe I lost this.”

He tilted his head to drain the water from his ear.
The stuffiness inside his ear cleared.
Along with it, he felt a slight chill.

“I was in the water too long—it’s a bit cold. I need to get some sun.”
“Really? Then I just thought of something fun. Want to do it together?”
“What?”

Yu Mina pointed toward Cha Haneul, who was lounging under a parasol reading a book.

“We’re leaving tomorrow, and our young lady hasn’t even gone into the water.”
“I know what you’re suggesting. If we throw her in the sea, how will you handle the aftermath?”
“It’s fine, it’s fine.”

Yu Mina grinned mischievously and waved her hands.

“Our lady will overlook something like this with her vast generosity.”

Yu Mina seemed afraid of Cha Haneul sometimes, but at times like this, she was fearless.
According to her, Cha Haneul was surprisingly benevolent as long as you didn’t cross the line, so there was nothing to fear.
When asked where the line was, she just smiled, so he never got a concrete answer.

“I’m out. I don’t want to deal with the consequences just for a moment of fun.”
“Suit yourself.”

As he stepped onto the sandy beach, Cha Haneul got up and handed him a towel.
He used it to dry his wet hair.

Yu Mina approached Cha Haneul with a wide grin.

“Hey, Miss. Listen up.”
“Hm?”
“Isn’t it a waste not to go into the sea when it’s right in front of you?”
“Not at all.”
“Aren’t you tempted?”
“I don’t need to.”
“No, no. Need arises from supply. Our lady needs to experience the sea.”
“Don’t try to force it.”

Yu Mina swiftly scooped up Cha Haneul, starting from her legs, and lifted her effortlessly.
She wobbled for a moment, then held her steadily.

Cha Haneul was flustered.

“What the— What are you doing?”
“I’m trying to impart some wisdom to my poor friend.”

As Yu Mina walked toward the sea, Cha Haneul started struggling frantically, clearly terrified.
She disliked it so much she even tried using magic to escape.
But Yu Mina somehow managed to subdue Cha Haneul and keep holding her.

“Aren’t you putting me down? I’m getting angry, I’m telling you.”
“Hmph, so scary. Okay, okay. I’ll put you down.”

Reaching the water’s edge, Yu Mina lowered her stance so Cha Haneul’s feet got wet.
Cha Haneul shrieked in surprise.
Changing her tune, Cha Haneul started yelling not to put her down.

“Wow! Our lady is so cute!”

It was true.
Every time the water touched her, Cha Haneul panicked, asking why they were doing this to her.

“You’ll catch flies if you keep gaping like that. Or are you lacking nutrients?”

Laplace, who had approached unnoticed, spoke from beside him.

“Well, watching Cha Haneul, one might react that way.”
“…Ah.”

Laplace looked flustered for a moment, then took a gulp of her lemonade.

“There’s something I want to talk about. Do you have time?”
“I was just taking a break, so now is fine. What is it?”
“I heard you’ve cleared Rifts before?”
“A few times.”
“Perfect timing. There’s a bit of a problem with Magical Girl duties right now, and we needed an experienced newcomer.”

He looked at Laplace.

“I can’t use magic, and I’m not a girl.”
“Outsourcing doesn’t require a name tag. You just need to clear the designated Rifts. You can keep whatever drops there too.”

Clearing Rifts, huh.
Rifts were good hunting grounds, effective for gaining EXP and acquiring items from treasure chests.
He was currently using the free daily item draw, but even scraping together fragments to barely complete an item usually resulted in low-grade, useless stuff left neglected.

“Explain in detail.”
“For the past few months, the police have been cracking down hard on criminal organizations. Didn’t you see the news?”
“I vaguely remember seeing it.”
“It worked, weakening the organizations’ power and making things a bit easier, but now it seems the criminals have formed some consensus to pull off one last job and flee, because clashes have suddenly become frequent.”
“I don’t really know the details of Magical Girl work, but that sounds dangerous, right?”
“Correct! We handle the public safety gaps the police miss. To make matters worse, someone modified the Explorer Federation’s Slime Tracker and is using it as a Magical Girl tracker, so the damage is even more severe.”
“Isn’t the Slime Tracker based on AI big data? How can it track Magical Girls?”
“You still believe that? You’re really smart!”

Laplace clapped her hands.

“Since it first came out, rumors circulated that the technology was impossible. It’s obvious the white cat met the Explorer Federation Head and gave it to them.”

It was a plausible guess.

“Anyway, disappearances of Magical Girls have increased, leading to a severe personnel shortage. We can recruit as many Magical Girls as we want, but training takes time, which is very inconvenient. Rift management is now stretched thin, so we need to clear them quickly to reduce the number. We’re too busy to do it ourselves, so we’re outsourcing. What do you say—are you interested?”
“I was planning to catch up on leveling I’d postponed, so it’s a good offer, but I can’t clear Rifts alone.”

Clearing Rifts was good, but he had no intention of dying recklessly.

“The Archmage is right over there.”

Laplace pointed toward the sea.
Yu Mina was spinning around while holding Cha Haneul.
Then, perhaps tripping, Yu Mina stumbled and dropped Cha Haneul into the sea.
Cha Haneul flailed, and Yu Mina, her face pale, backed away and then fled.
It seemed she hadn’t intended to actually drop her.

“Cha Haneul doesn’t like dangerous things.”
“Then how did she level up?”
“Somehow or other.”
“Somehow or other?”
“Things like finding a reasonable excuse and acting impulsively. Once I start moving, she usually follows.”
“If it’s an excuse you need, a suitable one will appear soon. I heard from Schrödinger that the 2nd Job Advancement quest update is scheduled, and apparently, it involves clearing Rifts.”
“That doesn’t sound like an excuse at all.”

Laplace shrugged.

“That’s for her to figure out. So, are you in or out?”
“I’m in.”
“Great—contract, zap!”

Magic activated, and a contract fluttered down.

“Isn’t using magic for stuff like this a waste of your lifespan?”
“If I die, I die. Come on, fingerprint here.”

He pressed his thumbprint onto the contract.

“But if things are this busy, shouldn’t you not have come here?”
“It’s because I’m busy that I came. Why make things harder for myself?”

Yu Mina’s scream was heard.
Cha Haneul, looking like a drowned rat, was repeatedly dunking Yu Mina into the sea.
This needed intervention.

As the system transitioned to Open Beta, hunting grounds beyond level 25 were opened.
Up to level 25, it was a forest—familiar yet unfamiliar—but beyond level 25, it was a maze.

Whether underground or a cave, the maze had a ceiling, forcing reliance on torches mounted intermittently on the walls for visibility.
Thanks to the solution called Logout, the typical maze pressure of getting lost means death was reduced, but the dark, seemingly damp air itself created tension.

Furthermore, the appearing mobs being Skeletons made it even more frightening.
Though they were weaklings that could be taken out in one hit with magic if they didn’t swarm you.

And there was someone diligently fighting those weaklings right before my eyes—Do Yugeon.

“Would it kill you if I took care of them?”

I asked, but Do Yugeon was too busy swinging his sword to answer.
A diagonal slash cleaved through a Skeleton.
The Skeleton was cut from skull to ribs, but the bones instantly reattached, and it charged again.
Its teeth aimed for Do Yugeon’s arm.
The Skeleton was kicked away.
Do Yugeon took a ragged breath and faced the Skeleton charging at him again.

It was constantly like this.
The Skeleton’s attacks weren’t that threatening, so he could easily counter them, but his sword slashes weren’t effective enough to kill them.
Other explorers either had mages kill them or used blunt weapons to bash them, but since Do Yugeon only had a sword, neither method was possible for him.

I told him if he wanted to fight alone, he should at least use a shield to bash them, but all I got was the absurd reply that shields weren’t cool.
He stammered and looked embarrassed when he said it, so he must know how ridiculous it sounds, but he’s just stubborn.

“Ugh! I can’t do this!”
“Then move aside. I’ll use magic.”

Do Yugeon didn’t move—instead, he readjusted his grip on the sword and struck the Skeleton with the flat of the blade.
The skull shattered, and the Skeleton died.
So that works.

“If you could kill it like that, why did you struggle so much?”
“Hitting them like this damages the sword.”
“Oh…”

I hadn’t expected such a sensible answer.
I underestimated him too much.

“There’s something unpleasant about the look in your eyes.”
“No, that’s just my usual expression.”

Do Yugeon looked unconvinced, then walked toward the neglected treasure chest.

“Wait. That could be a Mimic.”

Do Yugeon stopped and shook his head.

“What Mimic? We just hit level 35.”

Mimics are level 40 mobs.

“Exceptions can happen, and there’s no harm in tapping a stone bridge before crossing.”

I flicked mana toward the treasure chest.
The impact sent the chest rolling.

Do Yugeon muttered glumly.

“I’m tormented by the worry that the item might get damaged.”

Items came from treasure chests, but only very, very, very rarely.
It was questionable whether gathering fragments from the item draw wasn’t actually a higher probability.

“There won’t be an item.”
“You just said exceptions can happen.”
“Let the small things slide.”

Approaching and examining it, there was indeed no item.

“Good thing it wasn’t damaged then.”
“I don’t know if it’s fortunate or unfortunate that it’s empty.”
“It’s fortunate.”

The sound of rushing footsteps echoed, and Skeletons swarmed toward us.
There were enough to fill the maze corridor.
Do Yugeon looked horrified.
This wasn’t a number meant to be fought.
Even for parties with many mages, the standard procedure when Skeletons swarmed was to run, as magic use had its limits.

“Are you going to try and fight those without magic too?”
“As if!”

Should have said that sooner.

“I’ll take care of them if you shout, ‘I can’t do anything without Cha Haneul by my side!’”

After a moment’s hesitation, Do Yugeon turned and ran away.
What the— Why is he running?

“You’re running away because you can’t say that?”
“This isn’t running away—it’s a tactical retreat!”
“It’s the same thing.”

Eventually, tired of running, I wiped them all out with magic.
Running might be the standard approach, but just fighting them was also possible, it turned out.