🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 9
[Cooldown]
00:29:57
I had expected there to be some limit on how often I could use my skills.
I just hadn’t expected there to be a cooldown.
Biting my lower lip, I hurriedly checked the melee fighter’s wounds.
“Urgh…!”
As he groaned in pain, the golden light surrounding his injuries grew brighter.
Restoring just ten points of HP wasn’t much. It barely managed to stop the bleeding.
But even that was enough to make me breathe a sigh of relief.
Once my panic eased a little, I remembered the leader’s earlier question and quickly looked up.
“Oh, right! This skill is both a buff and a heal. Your attack and defense should each increase by fifty percent. It’ll also provide gradual healing for the next ten minutes.”
[Current Synchronization Rate]
56%
The moment I explained the skill’s effects, my Synchronization Rate increased.
Apparently, someone had decided I was an innocent fool.
At least I learned something new.
I didn’t need to explain every little detail about my skills.
The leader glanced over the party before making a swift decision.
“Even with the increase in attack and defense, our melee fighter is effectively disabled. We can’t take on an A-rank Dullahan in our current state. Retreating is possible… but defeating it isn’t.”
His gaze briefly landed on the injured swordsman.
The coldness in his eyes made me instinctively step in front of the wounded man.
“If we retreat while carrying an injured member, it’ll catch us.”
His meaning couldn’t have been clearer.
Abandon the melee fighter.
The swordsman listened to those words with a face twisted in pain, yet he made no attempt to object.
Taking his silence as agreement, the leader gave his orders.
“We leave the melee fighter behind and retreat. Once the Dullahan moves elsewhere, we’ll return.”
“W-Wait! What if I use the plants like before to hold it in place?”
The suggestion escaped my lips before I could think.
“How do you expect ordinary plants, without enhancement from your skills, to restrain a Dullahan?”
His reply was ice cold.
Even as my Synchronization Rate continued climbing, I couldn’t bring myself to accept his decision.
We called each other by game roles.
Tank.
Mage.
Healer.
Melee DPS.
But this wasn’t a game.
This was reality.
The melee fighter was still alive.
And as much as everyone here saw me as a complete beginner on my first dungeon run, I wasn’t prepared to leave someone behind to die.
Unable to openly oppose the leader—or agree with him—I simply stood there hesitating.
Then someone came to my rescue.
“If we retreat now, the Dullahan will attack our backs,” the mage said firmly, gripping his staff. “It’s an intelligent magical beast. Once we expose our backs, it’ll know exactly how to hunt us.”
The tank stroked his chin, clearly deep in thought.
After silently assessing the situation, he nodded.
“Besides, there’s no guarantee it’ll move away from the exit if we wait. It’ll realize sooner or later that we have to come back this way. I’d rather break through and secure the exit now.”
I nodded so hard my neck almost hurt.
“And the Wraiths aren’t here right now,” the mage continued. “If they rejoin that group later, things will only get worse. This may be our last chance.”
While we argued, time continued to pass.
The melee fighter’s wounds slowly closed under the lingering healing effect.
But the moment he struggled to his feet using his sword for support, fresh blood immediately began dripping from the half-healed injury.
“Ah! It’s bleeding again! You’re bleeding!”
“Whether we move forward or retreat, I have to walk either way. I’ll get proper treatment once we’re out.”
As he spoke, he looked directly at the leader.
Ultimately, he was the one holding the party together.
To prevent an argument, the final decision belonged to him.
The leader looked at each member in turn before brushing back his hair.
“…Fine.”
“We’ll secure the exit first.”
I couldn’t hide the smile that spread across my face.
The tank and the mage noticed it immediately…
…and politely pretended they hadn’t.
Yeah.
I know I looked ridiculous.
I know.
“Healer.”
At the leader’s call, I snapped my head toward him.
“Use that skill from earlier. Hold down as many skeletons as possible.”
“Yes!”
“Tank, you’re with me. Stall the Dullahan, even if it’s only for a moment. Our goal is to push it away from the exit.”
“Understood.”
“Mage, once we create an opening, blast a path straight to the exit. Pour every bit of firepower into breaking through the center.”
Finally, he looked at the melee fighter.
He hesitated, uncertain whether it was right to give him another assignment.
Although the continuous healing was slowly mending his injuries, it was only enough to keep him from dying immediately.
“I’ll help the two of you keep the Dullahan occupied,” the swordsman said, noticing the hesitation. Spitting a mouthful of bloody saliva onto the ground, he raised his sword. “After the mage attacks, I’ll clean up any skeletons left blocking the path.”
The leader gave him an approving nod before raising his shield.
“Move!”
The leader, the tank, and the melee fighter charged together.
The instant they moved, I slammed my hand onto the ground.
“Little flowers… hold our enemies!”
There wasn’t even time to whisper.
The activation words rang out loudly.
Plants burst from the earth, glowing faintly as they surged upward.
Following my command, they wrapped themselves around the skeletons’ legs…
…and even the Dullahan’s.
They coiled through empty ribcages, tangled around bones, and spread across the ground to hinder every movement.
Even when cut apart or trampled, new vines immediately burst forth to continue restraining the skeletons.
Only one enemy ignored them entirely.
The Dullahan.
It marched through the plants as though they didn’t exist and swung its massive sword toward the tank.
The tank raised his shield, knocking the blade upward and creating an opening for the melee fighter.
But slowed by his injuries, he couldn’t capitalize on it.
Instead, the leader was faster.
He drove his shield into the gap and slammed into the Dullahan.
BOOM!!
The collision between shield and armor exploded like thunder.
The impact shoved the Dullahan backward several meters—
while the leader’s shield shattered into countless fragments.
Exactly as planned.
The mage thrust his staff skyward.
Flames erupted around him, distorting the air itself.
“O flames… overflow!”
Fire surged forward like a tidal wave, swallowing the skeleton horde.
The instant the flames touched the skeletons and my plants alike, everything was consumed.
Not even bones remained.
Even if their magic cores somehow survived, regeneration was no longer possible.
“I’ve opened a path! Secure the exit!”
Grabbing my hand, the mage sprinted through the blazing corridor.
Since the exit wasn’t far away, we shoved aside the few remaining skeletons and reached it without much trouble.
“The exit’s secure!”
At my shout, the others immediately disengaged from the Dullahan.
Clang!
The Dullahan pursued them relentlessly, swinging its sword as they withdrew.
The tank stopped retreating.
He blocked the attack.
Then, sliding his shield along the enemy’s blade, he slammed the shield directly into the Dullahan’s chest.
It was astonishingly fast.
But even that couldn’t penetrate the monster’s armor.
The Dullahan simply endured the strike.
Then it grabbed the tank’s shield with both hands.
Creeeak—!
The shield crumpled under its grip.
The tank immediately let go and jumped backward.
The Dullahan didn’t waste the opportunity.
It hurled the crushed shield straight at the wounded melee fighter.
“Tch!”
He desperately swung his sword, knocking it aside.
But he couldn’t completely absorb the impact.
Fresh blood once again dripped onto the dungeon floor.
The problem was…
He wasn’t the only injured one anymore.
As they continued holding back the Dullahan, both the leader and the tank accumulated wound after wound.
“Haa… haa…”
“Damn it… these skeletons again…”
The skeletons had already begun closing the path once more.
“…Damn.”
“We’re screwed.”
At last, curses slipped from everyone’s lips.
Retreating had become nearly impossible.
I hurriedly turned toward the mage.
“Mage! Is there any way to suppress the Dullahan from long range?”
“I’m out of mana!” he shouted. “That last spell used everything I had left! I need time to recover even a little!”
The melee fighter suddenly stepped in front of the leader and the tank.
“I’ll block it once.”
“Run.”
The leader and the tank stared at him in surprise.
Then they silently nodded.
There wasn’t even time for me to speak.
The two of them immediately turned and sprinted toward the exit.
The Dullahan lunged after them.
The melee fighter raised his sword to intercept it.
Of course…
Even the tank had struggled to stop the monster.
He never stood a chance.
I watched in slow motion as the Dullahan’s strike snapped the melee fighter’s sword clean in half.
Flutter—
Strange.
A faint sound reached my ears.
Like a thin sheet of plastic flapping rapidly in the wind.
But there wasn’t any plastic anywhere.
“Hah…!”
“Healer!”
Before I even realized what I was doing, my hand had grabbed the back of the melee fighter’s neck and yanked him backward.
I didn’t even know how I’d gotten there.
The whole world simply…
…felt slower.
Within that slowed world, I caught sight of something fluttering beside me.
A pair of impossibly thin wings.
Perhaps because of that movement…
The Dullahan’s attention shifted to me.
Its sword flashed toward my neck.
Yet…
I knew with absolute certainty…
…it wouldn’t hit.
Flap.
The plastic-like sound echoed behind me.
My body moved diagonally.
Not sideways.
Upward.
The Dullahan’s blade sliced harmlessly beneath my feet and the melee fighter’s.
Behind us, I heard the stunned voices of my party members.
“…What kind of skill is that?”
“I thought you were the healer!”
Flash.
[Current Synchronization Rate]
90%
The Synchronization Rate skyrocketed by more than thirty points in an instant.
Was what I did really that stupid?
Come on… I just saved someone’s life, and now everyone thinks I’m an idiot.
Still…
That was enough to satisfy the skill’s activation condition.
“Bloom!”
