Chapter 21: Second Floor – 3

After knocking out the one who seemed to be their leader, I signaled my comrades.

Not that the signal was anything elaborate—just shooting an arrow into a safe spot and attaching a note to it.

“Quite the brutal way to send a message.”

“But not a bad one. We have no idea what could happen once Yuseong leaves this place.”

“What kind of situation are you talking about?”

“For example, the Hobgoblins tossing you to the Arachne as food?”

“…Ah.”

Theresa nodded in agreement and handed me an arrow.

I examined the tip—it had worn down.

‘This is getting risky.’

The bow and arrows crafted by the Dwarven artisan were sturdy, but after so many battles, they were starting to show signs of wear.

‘This is why being an archer sucks.’

In a game, it wouldn’t be an issue, but in reality, there were all kinds of problems.

High-quality arrows were expensive.

A missed shot could lead to friendly fire.

Still, thinning out the enemy from a distance was a huge advantage, so I wasn’t about to stop using my bow anytime soon.

“So, what are we doing with these guys?”

“There are about three survivors.”

Aside from the leader, I had spared two others.

For a simple reason.

If their leader turned out to be blindly loyal to the underground organization, I’d have to kill him and interrogate someone else instead.

‘Hopefully, they just give up and start spilling information on their own.’

If not… silencing them afterward would be the safest option.

As I gazed at them coldly, one of them flinched.

Heh.

Noticing his reaction, Erme flashed a rather sinister smile.

“You did an excellent job, Yuseong.”

With that, she deliberately let her footsteps echo through the space.

Click, clack.

The man trembled violently.

“Thanks to you, we get to interrogate these guys now. So… what should we make them confess?”

Her voice was sweet, but her words dripped with menace.

“I have quite an interest in this field. I may not be on the level of the Execution Princess, but I’m fairly confident in my skills.”

She smiled sweetly—but there was nothing innocent about it.

Theresa and Glasses had already backed far away.

“I’m quite confident when it comes to interrogating scum like this.”

Erme spoke with a bright smile, her words unusually ruthless.

‘Do Sword Hero Candidates even learn this kind of thing…?’

It was terrifying.

I reaffirmed my decision not to become a Hero Candidate.

“Alright then, keep watch, everyone. Even if they start begging for death, don’t actually kill them—unless absolutely necessary.”

Fortunately, we didn’t run into any passersby during the process.

I moved a bit away from Erme and the others, my mind shifting to something else.

The Sub Quest Reward.

What could it be?

Hopefully, it was something useful.

So far, every reward I had received had been practical.

‘No, not just practical.’

Judging by how others reacted, some of them might have been too good for me.

More than anything…

“An S-class Gift is rare even across the entire continent. Even A-class or B-class makes someone an elite.”

That was something a certain lore-obsessed guy had once said.

It wasn’t much different from what Erme had told me, or what Rishiel had implied when she called me a promising talent.

‘But there are a few things that bother me.’

The Main Quests and Encounter Quests felt like they were preparing me for something in the future.

And some rewards seemed directly influenced by my actions.

If that pattern held…

‘Then this time…’

With anticipation, I finalized the Sub Quest completion.

[Sub Quest Completed.]

[As a reward, you have obtained the Gift: Sharpshooter (B) and the Skill: Charging Shot (B).]

[New Skill Category: Archery Unlocked.]

[Gift: Sharpshooter (B)]

You can use archery with expert-level precision.

Enhanced vision, hearing, and agility.

Skill boost: Archery (Lv 3).

[Skill: Charging Shot (B)]

Gather mana to unleash a powerful shot.

As soon as I closed my eyes, information flooded my mind.

Just like when I first learned swordsmanship, my weaknesses as an archer were quickly filling in.

You there?

Rishiel called out to me.

But I was too immersed to hear her.

I melted into the darkness.

No, rather—it felt like the darkness was wrapping around me, embracing me gently.

‘Let’s see…’

I quietly drew my bow, vanishing into the shadows.

Unlike before, my movements were completely silent.

Nothing had really changed.

I was simply applying Thief’s Pinnacle (S) to enhance my accuracy.

But this time.

‘Let’s be stealthy.’

I silenced my presence.

I silenced the sound of my bowstring.

All traces of my movements disappeared, swallowed by the darkness.

It was just a slight adjustment in technique.

And yet, the sound itself was consumed by the shadows.

Even if someone knew how this worked, they wouldn’t be able to replicate it without Thief’s Pinnacle.

They could understand it as information—but they could never reach the same mastery.

‘This is ridiculous…’

My eyes gleamed as I focused on a distant point.

A distance where I shouldn’t be able to see.

500 meters away, a group of Hobgoblins came into view.

Hoo…

I took a deep breath and concentrated.

Charging Shot.

As I activated the skill, I felt power condensing at the tip of my arrow.

At the same time.

Something within me drained away.

A stillness settled over me.

An extreme level of focus and dexterity suppressed any recoil and amplified my accuracy.

I compressed the energy of Charging Shot to its absolute limit.

And then.

Fwip.

I released my fingers.

The arrow vanished.

No.

It moved so fast that even with my Sharpshooter-enhanced vision, I lost track of it.

A streak of blue light shot forward, faster than even I could perceive.

BOOOOOOOM!!!

A massive explosion obliterated the entire Hobgoblin horde.

‘Wow.’

This felt less like firing an arrow and more like launching a bomb from long range.

And yet, its effective range exceeded 500 meters.

‘But the cost is pretty steep.’

My mana had drained even more than when I used Dark Moon.

On top of that, I couldn’t retrieve my arrow.

‘Well, considering the sheer power…’

That was hardly a loss worth complaining about.

However, there was one problem.

Theresa, Glasses, and Erme were rushing toward me, looking completely panicked.

They had clearly jumped to some unnecessary conclusions.

‘How the hell do I explain this?’

Should I just say I was testing a new Gift and Skill and somehow… this happened?

Y-you… That… What was that?!

‘Just something new I tried. What do you think?’

What do I think…?

Rishiel stared at me, speechless.

This power is absurd. It’s something a Level 3 mage would be capable of…

‘A Level 3 mage?’

I was still a Level 1 Thief.

And yet, I had just pulled this off?

‘I get that it’s impressive…’

But I had no real frame of reference for just how impressive it was.

“Yuseong! Yuseong!”

Erme called my name in a frantic voice.

She was right in front of me and still couldn’t see me.

‘Is it because she’s flustered?’

I unveiled myself from the shadows.

The sensation was… strange.

Like I had truly become part of the darkness.

“Yuseong, where are y—KYAAA!”

“What’s with the overreaction?”

As Erme stumbled in shock, I caught her by the waist.

Now, we were face to face.

Her cheeks flushed red as she stared at me.

“I-I mean… w-we’re not at that stage yet, so maybe… take it a little slower…”

“…?”

What the hell was she talking about?

I helped Erme back up and brushed off my clothes.

“H-huh?”

“So, did you finish interrogating them?”

“Y-yes, for the most part… but just now… um, what was that?”

“What?”

“You… grabbed me.”

“I was just stopping you from falling.”

“…I wouldn’t have fallen that easily.”

Honestly, it felt more like I had caused her to stumble.

She had been trying to regain her balance, after all.

‘I was just trying to maintain my dignity as the leader…’

But somehow, this just made things feel even more awkward.

By then, Theresa and Glasses had caught up to us.

“You okay?”

Theresa asked with a blank expression.

But the slight arch of her eyebrow told me she was genuinely concerned.

“Step back, Han Yuseong.”

“…Don’t talk behind me, Glasses.”

“Protect me well. In return, I shall protect all of you—with the power of this shield I obtained yesterday—!”

“…That’s not the issue here. A blast that big… That’s on the level of a high-ranking Elementalist.”

“…About that explosion… I was the one who did it.”

“Yeah! Even you should be worried about something that massive—…Wait, what?”

Erme blinked at me in disbelief.

“…Yuseong, are you serious?”

“…Yeah.”

“…I see. So it was probably a Flash.”

Glasses muttered to himself.

Flash?

What the hell was that?

“Sometimes, when someone refines a new skill or elevates an existing ability into a full-fledged skill, we call it a Flash.”

Erme answered my unspoken question.

So that’s what it was.

“Well, this is reassuring. The only thing our party was lacking was burst firepower.”

Glasses seemed genuinely pleased.

Normally, if someone other than a mage showed this level of firepower, they’d get some strange looks.

‘Ah, right—Glasses is a Support Mage.’

A support mage who could boost an entire party’s combat prowess by several levels wouldn’t be as reliant on an Elementalist.

Thinking about it that way, this wasn’t bad at all.

“Then, should we head out? Normally, we’d hunt for a few more days, but thanks to the ones Yuseong captured, we’ve gotten quite a lot.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, this should earn us several gold coins.”

Erme smiled smugly, looking quite satisfied.

And with that, we left the labyrinth.

Fortunately, there were no incidents on our way out.

Before we knew it, we had stepped outside.

We had only been in the labyrinth for two days, yet it had been exhausting.

“Well, our schedule was a bit extreme. Most clans only enter two or three times a week.”

“We went in twice… I’m done.”

Theresa pouted, her shoulders slumping.

I felt the same.

Pulling my hood up, I sank into thought.

‘Still, we made a lot of money.’

Damon, was it?

We looted his group completely.

On top of that, we had also taken down a significant number of Hobgoblins.

‘I should be able to get a decent payout.’

Unfortunately, the Hobgoblin Champion’s spoils had been divided among the party, so I wouldn’t be getting too much from that.

‘Well, I still have Whisper of the Wind, so I can let that slide.’

Surprisingly, I wasn’t in a bad mood.

Maybe it was because I had gained so much from this run.

But as I looked at the massive crowd of people exiting the labyrinth, my stomach churned.

‘I still don’t like crowded places.’

I looked around, searching for Erme.

She was standing in line near the guild’s reception desk.

I walked over to her.

“W-what?!”

Why was she looking so startled?

I wasn’t sure, but I got straight to the point.

“Is it okay if I head in first?”

“…I’ve been wondering—what would you do if I cheated you on the payout?”

Glasses and Theresa both nodded in agreement.

Theresa, looking like she was imparting some great wisdom, began lecturing me.

“Yuseong, money is something you should even be cautious about with family.”

“It’s fine. I trust Erme more.”

“…Huh?”

Erme’s expression went blank—like she had just been smacked awake from a deep sleep.

Honestly, if she really wanted to scam me, there wasn’t much I could do about it.

I didn’t think she would, but if she did.

‘Then that’s the end of it.’

That was all there was to it.

Theresa’s gaze lingered on me.

A guy with zero trust in his family.

She recalled that Erme and I hadn’t known each other for long.

And yet, we seemed to hold each other in high regard.

‘…I see.’

Theresa watched my back with sad eyes.

With my hood pulled low, my figure looked smaller than usual today.

‘Yuseong… is an orphan, isn’t he?’

She looked at me with quiet sympathy.