Chapter 109:
Seo Jae-yi, who had no shame, readily agreed with them, nodding enthusiastically.
“Sigh. My Guide is so worried about me. He was whining about wanting to come too.”
“Stop. I don’t want to hear the details of your relationship. That’s enough. So, are we focusing on taking down the Gatekeeper with Esper Seo Jae-yi as the main attacker?”
Lee Hae-min, stopping Seo Jae-yi from speaking further, asked.
“I’ll handle the Gatekeeper alone. You guys just provide cover.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Lee Hae-min, knowing Seo Jae-yi’s abilities well, didn’t ask twice and returned to her Guild members, explaining the situation.
Those who knew Seo Jae-yi nodded silently, while those who didn’t looked confused, but they accepted it, as it was the deputy guild leader’s order.
“Let’s go.”
Not wanting to leave Baek Joo-won alone outside for too long, Seo Jae-yi kicked open the door to the Gatekeeper’s chamber and charged in.
And then she froze.
“…Seon-min Unnie, didn’t you say the monster was crocodile-shaped?”
“I did. It’s a crocodile, isn’t it?”
It was. She had also heard it was five times larger than the regular monsters.
But that thing…
“Isn’t that a dinosaur?!”
Its hide looked like steel, perhaps because of the murky, blue-gray water coating it, its back was covered with countless sharp spines, and its teeth, visible between its dripping jaws, were even sharper than a shark’s.
It looked like a dinosaur straight out of a movie.
“If the Gatekeeper is this big, I can’t even imagine how much more dinosaur-like the boss monster will be. My heart is racing.”
Seo Jae-yi shuddered.
As if responding to her voice, the Gatekeeper’s yellow eyes, slitted like a reptile’s, turned towards her.
Raaaaaar! A deafening roar erupted from its gaping jaws. Even the Sunghwa Guild members froze, overwhelmed by its imposing presence.
“It’s quite strong. It must have a pretty good magic stone.”
But Seo Jae-yi’s eyes gleamed. To her, the Gatekeeper was nothing more than a magic stone.
A magic stone to gift to the foxy dungeon master, who would be waiting for her safe return outside.
The Gatekeeper, having roared, charged towards her with its jaws open. Splash, splash. The water, which reached her waist, only reached its feet, splashing everywhere and creating waves.
“Protect Seon-min Unnie!”
After giving orders to the Sunghwa Guild, Seo Jae-yi fired her gun.
But its hide was like steel; the bullets bounced off instead of penetrating. Only a few spines on its hide broke when she infused her bullets with heat.
Seo Jae-yi holstered her gun without hesitation.
She jumped high and slammed her fist down on the charging Gatekeeper’s snout.
Thump!
The giant Gatekeeper’s face slammed into the ground, shaking the entire cave. The water, pooling on the floor, surged like a tsunami, and Lee Hae-min shouted,
“The cave will collapse if you keep doing that! Be careful!”
Even though this chamber was the size of a soccer field, the Gatekeeper’s massive body could cause a cave-in if it kept slamming into the ground.
So she would have to exclude her fist, her most effective weapon, this time.
‘I can’t set it on fire either, as it would be troublesome if it went berserk.’
Even with Seo Jae-yi’s exceptional heat control, it was impossible to incinerate a monster of this size instantly in such a confined space without it thrashing around first.
‘Then let’s make it immobile.’
Seo Jae-yi dodged the crocodile monster, which was glaring at her, and leaped into the air.
The Earth Manipulation Esper hadn’t created platforms only on the ground. Espers could jump onto buildings, so why would he limit himself to the floor?
Hundreds of platforms were scattered across the cave walls. He hadn’t exhausted himself for nothing.
Seo Jae-yi landed on a platform and took out a spatial pouch from her pocket. She jumped from platform to platform, tossing the contents of the pouch into the water.
Her movements were so light and agile that the Gatekeeper couldn’t even touch her clothes.
“What are you doing?”
Lee Hae-min, who was protecting Joo Seon-min while staying ready to assist Seo Jae-yi, asked curiously.
“Who knows. She’s probably up to something crazy again.”
Joo Seon-min chuckled, watching her actions.
Seo Jae-yi had successfully circled the entire Gatekeeper’s chamber. She was relieved that she had brought enough, just in case.
‘It would have been much easier with Logi or Baek Joo-won…’
But she could handle it without them.
Seo Jae-yi, standing on a platform on the wall, jumped into the water.
The Gatekeeper, which had been dodging her attacks, snorted and glared at her, now that she was finally on the ground. Those sharp teeth would be a threat even to her.
But Seo Jae-yi smiled, facing the Gatekeeper, which exuded an even more oppressive aura than the Greenroll boss monster.
“You’ve never seen fireworks before, have you? I’ll give you a good show!”
She waved her hand, and hundreds of shimmering sparks appeared in the air. They were warm, delicate lights, like dandelion seeds.
“Those tiny flames can’t possibly pierce its hide…!”
One of the Sunghwa Guild members exclaimed, seeing the flames that looked like they would be extinguished by a single breath.
The Gatekeeper, startled by the sudden appearance of the lights, swung its massive front paws and tail, scattering the flames.
But none of them disappeared or went out.
Seo Jae-yi dodged the Gatekeeper’s tail and stomped her foot. The delicate, dandelion-like lights, which had been illuminating the dark cave, plunged into the water.
They didn’t go out. The flames, still burning brightly in the murky, blue-gray water, reached the bottom.
And touched what Seo Jae-yi had scattered around.
A faint tremor shook the cave. It wasn’t an earthquake.
The water, which had been waist-deep, started receding at an incredible speed, as if being sucked away.
The water disappeared, revealing the bottom, covered in… grass?
“How did that get there…?”
The Sunghwa Guild members were confused.
The Earth Manipulation Esper had been able to create platforms in the cave because it was made of soil.
There had been no grass when they surveyed the area, so where did it come from?
“And it’s still growing!”
As someone pointed out, the grass continued to grow.
It grew rapidly, absorbing all the nutrients from the cave water, and soon surpassed human height.
Kraaagh! Kyaaagh!
The Gatekeeper, startled by the sudden change in environment, looked around and swung its tail wildly.
But its movement was short-lived.
Crack!
The grass didn’t just get swept away by its thick tail; it entangled the tail, immobilizing it. The more it struggled, the more the grass tightened its grip, like a fly caught in a spiderweb.
“It’s effective.”
Seo Jae-yi, who had jumped onto a platform on the wall when the water disappeared and the grass grew, smiled, satisfied with the sight.
What she had thrown into the water were the bulbs of a certain dungeon plant.
It was a type of carnivorous plant that normally looked like ordinary grass, but it would instantly grab anything that moved nearby and absorb its nutrients, storing them in its roots.
It was highly reproductive and could be easily propagated by dividing the nutrient-rich roots and planting them in water and soil.
That was why Seo Jae-yi had brought them, leaving behind the other plants.
‘And if I add a bit of the energy Baek Joo-won infused into me before entering the dungeon, they’ll grow even faster.’
The lights she had created weren’t just weak, dandelion-like flames.
They were a concentrated form of energy, a mixture of an S-rank Esper’s power and a dungeon master’s power.
Kyaaagh! Kraaagh!
The Gatekeeper thrashed even more violently as its tail was caught. But the more it struggled, the more the grass entangled its entire body, immobilizing it.
This was the moment Seo Jae-yi had been waiting for.
She took out two weapons from her combat uniform pocket. They were rolled up, fist-sized, weapons she rarely used.
‘But they’re the best weapons for this situation, considering guns don’t work.’
She gripped the handles of the weapons and swung her arms wide. The two blades, extending from the handles, gleamed brightly even in the darkness.
They were flexible swords, crafted by Seo Won-yeong using materials provided by Seo Jae-yi.
Flexible swords, made with dungeon byproducts, were easy to store because they could be bent. And unlike the common belief that they lacked destructive power, these swords had a special ability.
Seo Jae-yi heated the blades. They glowed red, responding to her S-rank heat.
It was a special option of the flexible swords, crafted with the steel hide and magic stone of a Rank 2 dungeon boss monster Seo Jae-yi had subjugated.
Their destructive power doubled when exposed to heat.
Seo Jae-yi, having heated the blades to their maximum, jumped onto the Gatekeeper’s back. It couldn’t move, its entire body, including its tail, entangled by the grass.
It couldn’t escape, no matter what she did to it now.
“Where is your magic stone?”
Seo Jae-yi grinned, stomping on its head.
The Gatekeeper’s screams, echoing through the cave, were so horrifying that even the Sunghwa Guild members paled.
‘I wonder how she’s holding up.’
Baek Joo-won, leaning against the car they had arrived in, silently observed the gate.
Even though Seo Jae-yi possessed his energy, the gate was a completely separate space from reality. He couldn’t sense anything here.
So he didn’t know if she was leisurely taking down the monster or struggling.
‘She should be able to handle the Gatekeeper with those bulbs.’
She would be fine, considering her improved condition.
…He knew that, but he couldn’t shake off his annoyance.
The thought of having to wait outside like this every time Seo Jae-yi entered a dungeon frustrated him.
Was there a way to solve this?
“Huh?”
He was staring at the gate, his face slightly sullen, when…
Baek Joo-won turned his head sharply, sensing something familiar yet irritating.
It was a scent he had smelled somewhere before, though he couldn’t place it.