I felt much better knowing that I had forced her off her high horse. As people from Palludian’s continent went to console her, Ellos had a bit of an awkward look on his face, but he soon clapped his hands to liven up the mood.

“Then I’ll take it that no one has any problems with Mister Kang Shin joining the party. Once Mister Kang Shin is rested from his fight with the orcs, we will leave right away.”

“Roger.”

“Got it.”

“Take good care of me, mate.”

“Take good care of me too.”

I greeted the other party members, then glanced at Palludia. My eyes had inadvertently met  hers when she briefly raised her head, but because she glared at me so intently, I hurriedly looked away. Other than my younger sister and mother, I had no other experience in interacting with females, so I felt awkward making eye contact with girls for more than two seconds.

“Then we’ll enter.”

“Ahhhh, I hope we succeed this time.”

“Not being able to come back here for a week…it’s too cruel.”

As the party members murmured and prepared themselves, Ellos slowly pushed open the door. A familiar sight greeted my eyes. There were fourteen orcs in the room and the Orc Lord was still at the very end of the room, biting on a piece of meat.

You bastard, you’re going to become a pig at this rate. Ah wait, you already are.

“Commence battle! We’re going to kill the other orcs first! Paul, hold off the Orc Lord!”

“Roger!”

“Miss Palludia, focus your healing on Paul! Miss Esis, support Paul! Everyone else, we’re going after the orcs one by one, starting from the left!”

I ran out to engage the monsters. Unlike last week, I now had comrades to support me as the orcs attacked me. In this party, we had two archers. One aimed at the Orc Lord and the other aimed at the orcs attacking me. I made use of the time he earned me, and shot my spear out, quickly killing an orc.

“Next!”

“Wow, you’re doing great, mate!”

“Haaaap!”

“Rawwwrr!”

As the party members and I fiercely fought off the attacking orcs, the Orc Lord’s cry resounded throughout the room. The fact that I had even thought I could fight against him alone really showed that I was too foolish.

I could hear Paul, the warrior, letting out several grunts as he fought against the Orc Lord.

“My HP is going down fast! Miss Palludia!”

“I know! Healing!”

No way, are they talking about the same healing as THE one from the games my friends play? The urge to turn and see real healing magic in action was quite tempting, but I realized that it might cause trouble for the other party members. I focused back on the orc that I was facing; there was no way in hell I’d leave myself open to attack!

“Hap!” I grunted.

“Another one-hit kill. I’ve never seen anything like it!”

“You can do it too!”

“I can’t. Ah, here comes another one!”

“Haaaaap!”

“Kuhahahaha! Orcs, RISE!”

[Orc Lord used ‘Warcry’! All orcs have been cleared of any negative status effects! All orcs have temporarily become super-armored. Their attack power increases by 50%!]

“Bullshit! A mere orc is able to use Warcry?”

A female swordsman who was swinging her sword next to me yelled out and cursed when the notification came out. She was one of the women from Palludia’s Luka continent. She was using a rapier and had an elegant appearance. It was then that I realized the saying ‘you can’t judge a book by its cover’ was true, so I silently continued to attack with my spear.

I didn’t know what super-armor was, but I could still kill orcs with a single blow. Right after I diligently killed my sixth orc, I suddenly heard Ellos’ shout in surprise.

“Paul!”

“Cough! I’ll go on ahead, see you at the palace.”

[Party member Paul Von Cravis has died.]

Seeing the notification use the ominous word “died” made me complain to the message noona. This was the first time I had fought in a party in the dungeon, so I definitely did not want it to be a bad experience. Ellos seemed to be more in shock than me by this unexpected development, which made sense considering that he and Paul seemed to be from the same continent and had even climbed to the 5th floor together.

“Argh, they have super-armor now. Damn it…I’ll tank! Miss Shuna, help me! It’ll be difficult with just me alone!”

“G-Got it!” weakly answered a delicate girl. She had been using her wooden shield to barely fend off the orcs’ attacks. Then, as she ran towards Ellos, she tripped on a dead orc’s glaive and fell.

“Ow! Ughhhh…”

“Miss Shuna!”

“Wahhhhh!”

How did a girl like her end up with a shield…? As I pierced my spear through the eighth orc, an expression of disbelief appeared on my face when I noticed Shuna running towards Ellos while crying. 

As if she could read my thoughts, the woman with the rapier looked at me with a bitter smile. “Shuna is a princess of a small kingdom. According to her, everyone in her lineage is blessed by their guardian god to have an abnormally strong constitution. But because she had no talent with any weapons, she was left with no other choice than to wield a shield.”

“Wow, a blessing?”

It really was like a fantasy world. Well, I guess my life wasn’t that different.

“Don’t look away!” she exclaimed.

“Ah, sorry!”

There was only one orc left other than the Orc Lord. Because of the super-armor buff, it seemed unfazed by incoming attacks as it charged forward. As such, another party member got kicked out. It was Palludia’s job to heal him, but she was preoccupied with healing Ellos and Shuna.

“Grwarrr! Die!”

“Argh! Miss Palludia!”

“Ahhhh, Ludiaaaa!”

“I’m doing my best! Healing!”

“We should take care of him quickly and go help!”

“Huff, this coming from someone who killed more than half the orcs… it sounds like a taunt…”

I defeated the last orc with the other party members. Now, only the Orc Lord was left. Despite having an advantage in numbers, the situation didn’t seem any brighter. Unsurprisingly, Shuna was kicked out because she was unable to handle the Orc Lord’s attacks.

“Shunaaa!”

“Kuaaaaa!”

When Shuna’s body scattered into small particles, Palludia’s eyes rolled back and she charged toward the Orc Lord as she swung her staff. She almost looked like Joan of Arc. In other words, it seemed like she would be whisked away with fire.

“T-This mad princess!”

“No, why is our healer charging forward!?”

The similarities between this dungeon and regular RPGs became apparent to me now. If our healer got kicked out, it was obvious what would happen next. As such, I charged toward the crazy girl. Thankfully, it seemed like the super-armor buff had ended as Ellos managed to hold off the Orc Lord’s attacks. However, Palludia would still be in danger if she entered the Orc Lord’s attack range.

“You pig!!!!”

“Grawrrr!”

Palludia charged forward, swinging her staff. The Orc Lord seemed to respond, as it raised its fists up.

“Damn it, I’m going to be late!”

I ran forward as fast as I could.

“Diiiieeee!”

“Grawrrr!”

“You crazy…!”

Right before the Orc Lord’s fist fell on Palludia, I managed to reach her and pushed her to the side. As I saw the Orc Lord’s fist about to pummel into me, I could only think of one thing: ‘Gee, that’s one big fist’.

Kwang!

I died.

Of course, I couldn’t re-enter the dungeon for a week.

The week where I couldn’t enter the dungeon always went by in a breeze. Compared to my life in the dungeon, where I sweated blood and used my spear against the monsters, my days in school where I talked with my friends seemed like a peaceful oasis.

If being a dungeon explorer was casting forth my life, then my school life was like dreaming of peace and happiness.

Dreams were nice. They were happy, not painful, and fun. But it wasn’t enjoyable when it continued for a whole week. There was no meaning to such a mundane life. It felt suffocating and irritating. I had become accustomed to the intense life of fighting monsters, so a life of no danger and pain was…terrifying.

Although my father only entered the dungeon to earn money nowadays as the head of the household, his initial goal must have been different. Just like me, he must have been full of excitement as he charged into the dungeon to show off his prowess.

I had devoted my entire life to my spear technique. It was powerful enough to send any slime, honey bee, goblin, or orc flying. Using it gave me a sense of pleasure that was hard to describe with words. It was almost like…a drug.

“I wonder if they succeeded.”

A week later, I once again stood in front of the boss room. I had thrown away any thought of trying to kill it by myself. A sigh came out of my mouth. Just as I was about to open the party recruitment window, a voice tickled my ears. In the corner of my eyes, I noticed that a small window had appeared.

[Ellos Von Kasina invited you to a party. Would you like to accept?]

“Eh…?”

What’s this? Don’t tell me they couldn’t finish it off? I tilted my head and accepted the invite. Just like before, I felt a tinge of dizziness engulf me. In the blink of an eye, I was surrounded by all the members of the previous party.

“Ah, you accepted, Mister Kang Shin.”

“Mister Ellos…”

I stared at him with a look of bewilderment. He reached out with his hand and I met it with my own. I looked around and concluded that everyone from the previous party was here. Although I would have preferred otherwise, Palludia and the others of the Luka continent were also here. However, unlike her past confident self, she was looking down, dejected. It wasn’t hard to understand why.

“Did you guys…fail?”

Ellos replied sheepishly, “Mm, it’s embarrassing to admit, but yes. We were wiped out.”

“Wiped out…”

“Hahaha, floor masters are said to be extremely strong. It would be weird if we succeeded on our first or second try.”

Although Ellos was trying to laugh it off, Palludia wasn’t buying it. This time, however, the target of her resentment was different.

“It’s my fault…”

“Haha, it’s not just Palludia-nim’s fault.”

“It’s my fault. I got too heated and let Orc die…”

I butted in, “If by Orc, you’re referring to me, it looks like you haven’t learned your lesson yet.”

“Eeek! …sigh.”

Palludia seemed like she would burst after what I said, but she calmed herself back down when the rapier-wielding woman poked her side. When I looked at Ellos, he smiled bitterly as he shook his head. I knew she wasn’t really feeling apologetic, but it would be fine as long as she didn’t repeat the same mistake from last time. I let out a sigh.

“I don’t have to prove myself first by killing two orcs again this time, right?”

“Haha, of course not. We’re fully aware of how capable you are. If you perform like last time, we’ll do our best to fulfill our roles.”

“Ah…”

“Please, mate. We all believe in you!”

“You were amazing last time.”

“T-Take care of us.”

“Mm, you’re reliable[1] just like your looks. Oppa, you would be my type if you lose some weight. Your face is handsome too…”

The last comment was from the rapier-carrying woman. But it was obvious that I was the younger one, so why was she calling me oppa?  Also, there’s not a speck of fat on this body; it’s all muscle!

1. In Korean, the word for reliable is also used to describe someone with a heavy frame. ☜