The Way of Life for a Terminal S-Class Hunter - C18
“What’s going on? I definitely couldn’t feel any power.”
The voice of the succubus who had lost reason became sharply pitched. The elements that had seemed seductive faded. As my skills started working, resistance to the succubus’s seduction skill developed.
I lightly stretched my neck, which had become stiff from lying on the ground for a moment.
“That’s not what’s important right now.”
“Ugh!”
[Using A-class skill, Rain of Fire. The blessing of flame imbues the rain you bring down.]
I illuminated the dark dungeon with the rain of fire. As I let it fall barely grazing the succubus’s skin, he glared at me without moving. Standing still like that, he looked like a demon trapped in a prison with orange bars.
“I asked if you find it so fun to play with people.”
“Why? Wasn’t it quite fun?”
As if giving up on escaping, the succubus answered with a sneer. It was typical of their kind, approaching as if to offer the sweetest thing in the world, then revealing their true nature the moment they find what they want. They were terrible monsters that fed on human suffering and felt pleasure from it.
“Not at all.”
“You’re in a pitiful love. How pathetic.”
It felt strange to see him quickly regain composure and enjoy himself even in the face of death, as it was so unlike humans.
“If it were me, I would have spent at least one night with that man. Then you’d realize love is nothing special.”
I clenched my fist. There were many things I wanted to ask the succubus who wore a mocking expression. Monsters capable of conversation were very rare, and there was an overflow of things to investigate about this dungeon. There might be information I could obtain through him.
However, I instinctively felt that I shouldn’t let this succubus meet Seo-heon.
“Don’t pity unrequited love.”
[Using A-class skill, Song of Flame. While the song continues, everything your hands touch will burn.]
The succubus’s body started swelling from where my hand touched, then exploded and burst. The ashes of what was once a monster fluttered down to the ground, mixing with the rain of fire. Basically, succubi weren’t monsters with strong physical bodies. Being a noble didn’t make much difference.
As long as skills resistant to poison and mental attacks were activated, it wasn’t a difficult opponent to deal with. I only used the Flame of Life to forcibly activate the dormant skills; in a normal state, I would have handled it easily.
“Ah…”
[Deactivating S-class skill, Flame of Life. Used time: 5 minutes, no additional penalty.]
However, unfortunately, my body was now too late to return to its “normal state”. I let out a faint groan and bent my knees to sit on the floor. Belatedly, I felt the heat in my mouth and throat where I had touched the succubus.
Did it poison me? It seems there’s no reaction since the resistance skill has returned.
As I was racking my brain with blurry vision, the opposite wall shattered like glass with a loud noise. Through the hazy sand, a large figure walked steadily towards me. I knew who it was just from the silhouette.
“Why are you crudely breaking through the wall?”
He must have exploded the air between the rocks to collapse the wall. It could have been dangerous, but there was no need to worry because Seo-heon always carefully calculated to destroy only as much as the dungeon could withstand without collapsing.
“I heard a loud noise and wondered what happened.”
Just as I thought there was a musty smell, I saw a monster’s head clutched in Seo-heon’s hand as he approached closely. He seemed to have come more urgently than I had thought. Seeing where my gaze was directed, Seo-heon said “Ah” and froze the monster’s head. Soon after, the head shattered and rolled on the ground.
Seo-heon mainly used two types of elemental skills when attacking: one was ice-based, and the other utilized air waves.
While the power of each strongly elemental skill was strong, Seo-heon’s truly frightening point was his excellent ability to apply combinations. His diverse attack patterns were enough to instill fear in enemies.
Such strength from Seo-heon was mostly reassuring, but sometimes it made me question my own necessity.
Now there’s no need to think like that anymore.
There was no need to dwell on dusty emotions.
“It’s all over here.”
I reported the situation, pretending to be fine. My still-burning throat was bothersome, but there hadn’t been any major issues so far. Moreover, since there was no change in my status window, I judged it wasn’t a big problem.
“By the way, there was a succubus following the incubus, huh?”
“How did you know?”
The succubus turned to ashes without leaving a trace. Did you hear me talking to it?
My voice, suppressed by anxiety, trembled slightly. Whether he knew this or not, Seo-heon approached me and stroked my neck with his long fingers. The fine hairs stood on end as if not wanting to miss a single small movement of Seo-heon’s. I thought I had already given up my feelings, but my disgusting body wouldn’t listen.
Thump thump.
I wanted to tear out my noisy heart.
“The succubus’s seal remains here. How did you let it get this far?”
I turned my head following Seo-heon’s finger, but I couldn’t see it since it was near my nape. However, I could recognize the seal’s presence due to the burning pain. It was my first time experiencing the mark that succubi usually leave when they find prey they like.
It was curious and annoying, but what bothered me more was Seo-heon, who was still caressing the seal. I thought he would withdraw his hand soon, but Seo-heon was stroking my neck with furrowed brows.
“Don’t worry about it.”
“How can I not worry when you’re walking around with something like this on your neck?”
His eyes were as serious as a doctor looking at a huge burn scar.
“It’s not on your neck. There’s nothing wrong with my body, and the succubus is dead, so it’ll disappear in a week. It might be a bit different since it was a noble succubus, but that’s how it usually is.”
“…I see.”
Seo-heon’s voice deepened.
“But are you not going to answer why you let it leave a seal?”
A sharp question like a well-honed blade came back. I couldn’t give an honest answer, and it was impossible to think of a creative lie good enough to deceive Seo-heon.
“I just let my guard down. I thought it was an ordinary succubus. I realized it was a noble one too late.”
It was a flimsy excuse since we both knew each other’s abilities well. Seo-heon immediately realized that I had lied poorly because I wanted to avoid answering.
“That’s an eyesore, so cover it up.”
Seo-heon took off the turtleneck he was wearing and threw it to me. Wearing just a T-shirt didn’t suit the chilly weather.
Even though I knew he had strong immunity to cold, it was hard to shake off the thought that he looked cold.
“Is it that unpleasant to look at?”
I asked, barely slipping my hand into the clothes thrown at me as if discarding them. Seo-heon didn’t give any particular answer. Instead, as I hesitated and dawdled, he gestured for me to put it on quickly.
He had never given me such a direct hint of dislike before.
My mouth turned bitter. Since I started dating Kwon Ho-jun, Seo-heon had sometimes hurt me subtly with cold words, but he never spoke negatively in such a direct manner.
For Seo-heon to speak so firmly, I worried if it was that unpleasant for him to see. I unnecessarily pulled up the clothes Seo-heon had given me once more.
“So what are you going to do?”
Seo-heon asked, staring intently at my hand. As expected, since it wasn’t a fully restored official dungeon or boss, there were no special changes like notification windows popping up despite dealing with monsters.
“We still need to look around more. Let’s examine the dungeon interior more thoroughly today, and finish up by exploring the surroundings tomorrow and the day after.”
It was easier to talk about work like this. There was nothing as convenient as a rigid topic of conversation for pretending to be calm.
“Then we should first find the nest where this succubus lived. That side was a dead-end alley.”
“Is there no possibility of something behind the wall?”
“No. I’ve knocked it all down.”
Seo-heon indeed deserved to be called “a hunter who uses quite violent tactics unlike his delicate face” as the media described.
“I see. Since it came from over there, it shouldn’t be too far.”
***
Seo-heon and I walked silently. With the person who usually led the conversation not opening his mouth, there was no way for the conversation to continue. Seo-heon’s eyes, examining the soil condition and checking for monster footprints, were businesslike.
“As expected, there aren’t as many monsters inhabiting here as in existing dungeons. Seeing that the dungeon system isn’t operating, there probably isn’t a boss monster with a core either.”
I was the one who couldn’t bear the weight of the silence. Seo-heon was surely observing too, but I wanted to break the subtly chilly atmosphere.
“Although the grade of monsters appearing in the dungeon has increased, it’s not explosive, which means dungeon recovery will take quite some time. It seems even more so for lower grades.”
Fortunately, Seo-heon didn’t ignore my words and responded well. After that, the conversation continued naturally. It was mostly reporting to each other while observing the dungeon, but even that made my heart feel much lighter.
Maybe I was the only one worrying about it from the start.
It was a reasonable deduction, as there was no way his mood would be upset just because I let my guard down and got stamped with a succubus’s seal.
“This looks like where the succubus lived.”
Seo-heon, who had somehow taken a step ahead, stopped. At the end of a dead-end path, there was a round nest made of various grasses and cloths.