Corpses were piled up everywhere, randomly tangled with each other, and stacked up to my waist. Of the original twenty, the monsters were now down to three, and the rest of them had to jump over their fellows’ bodies to attack me.

[Woo Yeon-Hee has used Physical Healing.]

[Your injury will be slightly recovered.]

I hurdled the pile first by scattering the notification message that popped up and rushed into the remaining three. They had no choice but to face me.

BAAAAAM!

I used Iron Skin on my left fist and punched one of them, then dealt with the other two swiftly.

“Clear.”

Woo Yeon-Hee was already covered in blood as she had to go across the corpses to reach the door. She grimaced but didn’t close her eyes as this wasn’t her first time stepping over dead bodies. We circled the entire room along the wall to be cautious. Shit, there was no door. She checked the map.

“We have to get back to the first room. It’s all blocked here,” I said.

There were four doors in the first room. One opened into the corridor that led back to the entrance room, and the other led to another corridor that ended at the room we were in now. The best-case scenario was getting to the boss room by the first route we had explored, but all we could do was be satisfied with completing the extermination and one-on-one quest.

“It was fortunate that the route was short.”

I told her honestly, and Woo Yeon-Hee nodded.

“We have enough food and water for two weeks,” she responded.

It took one day to clear one room.

“In the meantime, we must either secure the Escape Insignia or destroy the dungeon by then,” I said.

She asked, “Do we have enough time?”

I had calculated on the premise that we would carefully ration our food for four weeks, so it had been two weeks since we had entered the dungeon.

***

Strictly speaking, Woo Yeon-Hee wasn’t even treated as an F-class since she only had three types of stats. No one considered traits or skills when calculating a hunter’s class in my previous life, as basic stats with no cooldown time were more significant. Even if the skill and trait class were high, they were useless if the hunter didn’t possess the minimum stats.

Even hunters who possessed A or S-class skills were evaluated based on their basic stats, and these were basically monsters who were challenged to open higher-class boxes such as the master box. They were already powerful in the first place. Therefore, hunters decided on the average of four stat categories, and healers were no exception.

Currently, we, an F-class hunter and another hunter even below that class, were trying to conquer a dungeon that at least five E-class hunters barely handled in the past. Woo Yeon-Hee was referring to that fact before the boss fight.

“The boss monster must be on a different level, right?”

I could guarantee that fighting against the boss monster without knowing its weakness was suicide. However, such an assumption could be ignored as it was my fourth time coming here. I barely survived the first attempt the military forced me into, and it was then I saw the end of the dungeon on my second entry. I was thrown into this hell with a party of ten and fought with the surviving four over the rewards.

“It’s not the boss monster we should worry about. We should be careful choosing which door to open since the wrong one will lead us to death,” I said.

“...This is luck, right?” she questioned.

“Yes, follow me.”

I had to convince myself that our fortunes were at their peak. Woo Yeon-Hee carried a backpack, and we both walked towards a door. The first corridor of the first route was quiet, the second room required a day, and after five days, we were back in the second room. We both smelled terrible and all the clothes we had were nasty. We had been wiping our faces with a handkerchief soaked in a small amount of water, as there was no water supply in the dungeon.

“How do you feel?” I asked.

Woo Yeon-Hee looked miserable as if she would offer her soul if she could take a shower in warm water. She answered with a nod. Although we had to wander around in the two paths of the second room, we had gotten some rewards. There was a dungeon box, and I received the Escape Insignia which was now carved on my chest. Woo Yeon-Hee opened another bronze box with her points and increased her Health by eight, so her Health stat was now F(20). She now had the stamina and energy of an athlete.

“Let’s return to the entrance room. We should choose a new route,” I said.

“There’s one more route here,” she replied.

No, I was suspicious of that unopened door.

“We haven’t encountered any mutts or warriors. Things don’t work like this here. It might be a trap,” I responded.

She asked, “Can I tell you my opinion?”

“Go ahead.”

“I feel like the dungeon was luring us away from this door. Since you’ve secured an Escape insignia, why don’t you recharge yourself and bring some more supplies? Your parents might be waiting for your call, too,” she said.

“So, you’ll stay alone in the dark?” I asked.

“Isn’t it safe since the alarm didn’t go off? I’m fine with that.”

Woo Yeon-Hee was pretending to look calm, and while she was brave, I couldn’t use the Escape Insignia before the food became scarce. The insignia was considered the same as my life. I then turned my gaze to the unopened door and remembered what she said. There had been cases where the dungeon lured the Awakened away from their objectives.

Woo Yeon-Hee was correct. There was a monster with red eyes, two Declan warriors protecting it, and regular mutts in the fourth room. This wasn’t an empty room and had dozens of small burrows dug toward the underground. Lucky hunters called this a treasure room, and I would call it that as well since I was fortunate enough to tag along with a healer.

Anyway, this meant we were on the right track. The boss’s room would be opened up if we cleared the bodyguards! In a single glance, we could see all the mutts, and their intense murderous eyes targeted me. My body trembled, but I needed to do something.

[You have used the ‘Blockade’ Insignia.]

The room was filled with a reddish web and strange vibes swayed the space. The color of blood triggered the rage of all the mutts, and they went frantic.

Aaaargghhhh!

My ears rang with their screams, and this room had turned into hell.

[You have used ‘Speed-up’ Insignia.]

[Number of use remaining: 1]

[Your Agility class has changed: F → E]

Woo Yeon-Hee did what she had to do before I said anything. I had confirmed her ability to use the skill while we recharged ourselves. Her Bravery skill was like drinking a hunter drug in my previous life.

[Woo Yeon-Hee has used Bravery.]

[Your will to fight has slightly increased.]

The tremors on my fingertips disappeared, probably as my temperature increased. But my heart was still pounding.

[You have used Iron Skin.]

[You have used Odin’s Wrath.]

I was ready. If it was hell, either way, I would kill them all and choose hell.

“I’m going to slice you all! Ahhhhhh!”

I forgot the taboo of the dungeon that I had emphasized to Woo Yeon-Hee. Agonizing screams burst from everyone in this room, including myself. They roared louder when I howled as if they were suffering from the harsh pain.

***

From Woo Yeon-Hee’s perspective, Seon-Hu was eating up his life to kill monsters. She had experienced a lot of things, and every day, more frightening scenes happened in front of her. She had given up on hoping that things would become better. It was like that now. The limbs of the monsters were flying in the air. Even though the corpses were piling up, more monsters that desired to kill Seon-Hu swarmed around him, frenetic and savage. It was like he was struggling to survive in hell.

“How…”

He had told her that the fear that Seon-Hu had sent her right after opening the door to hell and the fear she was feeling at the moment was natural. It was like breathing to survive. Therefore, she couldn’t understand his behavior. This man was sublimating fear and pain into strength. It had been three weeks since they came here. Woo Yeon-Hee was barely holding herself together with each passing day, but Seon-Hu’s eyes grew sharper. He feared the dungeon but didn’t let it stop him and continued to move.

“How can he do that…?”

She had to trust and wait for him to survive. As he always said, she had to stay alive to heal him.