I Became The Only Healer In The Academy [EN]: Chapter 43

By the time Ha-yeon and Seong-wook arrived, the others had warmed up with the Rank 4 monsters and even engaged in some one-on-one sparring matches.

Time passed, and the two finally arrived.

“Today, we’re hunting a Rank 3 gate monster. Everyone, prepare yourselves thoroughly.”

He didn’t plan to use the Divine Marks in this hunt.

There was no point, as he couldn’t think of any other way to utilize them effectively.

“A Rank 3 gate monster…”

Everyone seemed a bit nervous; the only sound was that of them swallowing nervously in silence.

“As we discussed, Seong-wook, as soon as the monster appears, immediately identify its ability and prepare to seal it until I give further instructions.”

“Okay.”

Seong-wook nodded with a determined expression.

Even though he wasn’t directly engaging in combat, he seemed well aware that his role was by no means insignificant.

“Ha-yeon, please don’t use the damage-sharing ability until Sang-yeon goes berserk.”

“Yes.”

“Sang-yeon, you know what to do, right?”

“Of course.”

Goo Sang-yeon looked quite excited after a long time.

He’d had a similar expression right before hunting the Rank 4 monster, but the fight hadn’t been as challenging as he’d expected, so he’d quickly lost interest. But now, that excitement was sustaining itself.

“In-hwan, as always, attack when you see an opening. You know when the best time to strike is without me having to tell you, right?”

“Of course. It’s not like we’re coordinating for the first or second time.”

Having not only hunted monsters but also sparred together, they had all grasped each other’s habits and combat styles. In-hwan wore his usual confident expression.

“Then, let’s summon it.”

Seong-hyeon deliberately avoided looking at the description of the Rank 3 monster right before summoning it.

He wanted to make everything as close to a real battle as possible, except for the artificial combat space.

As soon as Seong-hyeon finished speaking, everyone else put on their bracelets.

And then, the Rank 3 monster was summoned.

“…”

The higher the rank, the larger and stronger they became, but this monster that appeared was relatively small.

Still, it was large compared to humans.

“Ugh, stealth! It’s stealth!”

“Stealth…?”

Seong-wook identified the monster’s ability as soon as it appeared.

As expected, the monster vanished in an instant as soon as Seong-wook finished speaking.

“Of all things, it’s stealth. Seong-wook! How long will it take to seal the ability?”

“I need… 5 minutes!”

Fighting an invisible enemy was quite challenging.

‘This stealth is on a different level from that guy back then.’

The stealth of the man who tried to assassinate Seong-hyeon back then—or rather, not exactly assassinate, but ambush—was simply a feeling of disappearing from sight.

However, the stealth displayed by the Rank 3 gate monster was on a completely different level.

It was as if it had never existed in this place to begin with. Not only its appearance but also its presence and even the murderous intent were completely undetectable.

“Everyone, watch your bac…!”

“Agh!”

Before Seong-hyeon could finish speaking, a scream came from the back.

The only people behind Seong-hyeon were In-hwan and Seong-wook, and when Seong-hyeon turned around, Seong-wook was collapsed on the spot.

“Seong-wook!”

Seong-hyeon immediately rushed to Seong-wook.

In the current situation, where he couldn’t see the stealthed monster, the most important thing was Seong-wook’s ability seal.

‘Could it be that the monster figured that out?’

The fact that it attacked Seong-wook specifically, and not In-hwan, was quite suspicious.

‘No. There’s no way it has that much intelligence.’

It was different from what the goblin chief had shown before.

The goblin chief had developed abnormal intelligence because it was a mutated gate monster.

At least a Rank 2 gate monster was needed to possess the intelligence to exploit an opponent’s weaknesses.

“I’ll heal you right away…”

Although Seong-hyeon instinctively rushed to Seong-wook, he realized Seong-wook was a person of faith [meaning he likely had divine protection or healing]. Seong-hyeon immediately grasped the situation and stopped in his tracks, refraining from trying to heal Seong-wook.

‘…A presence!’

As if it knew Seong-hyeon was about to heal, a chilling presence was felt right behind him.

For some reason, it felt like even a graze would be fatal, so Seong-hyeon quickly ducked and swung the sword he was holding.

“…”

He was confident that it was an incredibly fast strike.

Moreover, Seong-hyeon knew the opponent’s approximate size and swung accurately at the vital point identified by his vital point detection ability.

He didn’t expect to inflict a fatal wound, but at least a scratch, or if not, a glimpse of its form for a fleeting moment. But that expectation was completely wrong.

“Kim Seong-hyeon! Are you okay!”

Sang-yeon was rushing towards Seong-hyeon, her voice filled with urgency.

“I’m fine! Sang-yeon, cover me for a moment, and Ha-yeon, please use damage sharing immediately!”

“Yes, yes!”

As soon as Seong-hyeon’s instructions were finished, another scream came from In-hwan’s location.

“Ugh!”

Perhaps judging that it was difficult to deal with Seong-hyeon, the monster targeted In-hwan. Fortunately, In-hwan seemed to have barely reacted to the attack, retreating with a slight wound.

‘…Seong-wook needs to come to his senses first.’

He tried to use the Saint’s Mark [a divine ability or blessing], but he couldn’t use it unless he sensed the presence and identified the moment of attack.

The Saint’s Mark was irresistible once activated, but if it couldn’t be used in the first place, being irresistible was meaningless.

But unfortunately, Seong-wook had already been healed.

He just hadn’t regained consciousness.

‘Even if he regains consciousness, it will take time to seal his ability [referring to Seong-wook’s special power].’

And he thought that he was the only one who could buy that time.

In-hwan was also injured, and Sang-yeon and Ha-yeon were unable to attack the opponent.

In that situation, Seong-hyeon was the monster’s top priority.

In the end, Seong-hyeon had to hold out.

“…Both of you, protect In-hwan.”

“Wh-what?”

“Yes? Then what about you, Seong-hyeon…?”

“Quickly, don’t ask why.”

At Seong-hyeon’s unusually firm tone and expression, which they rarely saw, the two trusted Seong-hyeon and moved to In-hwan’s side.

And as soon as they left, a chilling sensation began to creep up the back of his neck, as if the monster had seized the opportunity.

‘Still, this is enough to avoid!’

Unlike the unexpected first attack, he was now anticipating the attack and had been sensing the presence only from behind, so avoiding it wasn’t that difficult.

The vice-chairman, who had been leisurely drinking tea and watching the screen, hurriedly got up from the sofa he had just laid down on and brought his face closer to the screen.

“Wh-what is that.”

So flustered that his dialect came out, the vice-chairman was doubting what he was seeing.

“Why, why is that monster…!”

Just then, the door opened and his secretary appeared with documents.

“S-Secretary? Could you take a look at this?”

“Yes? At what…”

The secretary, who was holding the documents, dropped them to the ground as she checked the monitor screen.

“Wh-why is that…!”

“Let’s go, right now!”

“Yes, yes!”

The vice-chairman and the secretary left the documents on the floor and headed straight to where Seong-hyeon was.

“You’ll have to explain this properly. Why was that monster summoned?”

“…Yes. I understand.”

The two, who had been sparing words until they arrived at the location, quickly boarded the elevator.

The vice-chairman seemed very anxious, repeatedly pressing the only button, urging the elevator to hurry.

‘Please, please let nothing happen.’

The reason these two were so flustered was simple.

The monster Seong-hyeon summoned today was indeed a 3rd-tier Gate monster.

But the problem was that it was a mutated 3rd-tier Gate monster.

Among the mutated 3rd-tier Gate monsters, it just so happened to be a monster specialized in one-on-one combat. Just as hunters have different abilities specialized in one-on-one battles and monster battles, the same was true for monsters. It just so happened that a monster specialized in one-on-one combat appeared.

If they had formed a large-scale subjugation team, it would have been easier to deal with, but right now, Seong-hyeon only had the minimum standard of five people for a subjugation team.

“…The tragedy of that day must not happen again. Is it possible to stop the device?”

“That’s…impossible. It’s already connected to the virtual monster, so forcibly removing the bracelet would cause side effects.”

If so, stopping the device was out of the question.

In the end, all that was left was for Seong-hyeon’s team to deal with this 3rd-tier Gate monster specialized in one-on-one combat.

A ‘ding’ sound was heard as the elevator arrived, and the vice-chairman and the secretary licked their dry lips, waiting for the elevator doors to open.

“Everyone is okay…!”

They pried open the door, which seemed to be opening particularly slowly, and entered.

“…Hmm?”

“Huh?”

But the scene that unfolded before their eyes was completely unexpected.

Thanks to this, the vice-chairman and the secretary made foolish noises and expressions, simply staring.

“What…happened?”

“Huh? Vice-Chairman and Secretary? What brings you here…”

Seong-hyeon was looking at them with a puzzled expression.

He seemed to have no idea what he had just gone through.

“Oh, that…the monster, perhaps…”

“Ah, if you’re talking about the cloaking monster, I took care of it. A 3rd-tier Gate monster is definitely on a different level—no, two levels different—from a 4th-tier Gate monster.”

Seeing Seong-hyeon’s torn collar, it seemed that Seong-hyeon had also been injured.

Of course, only traces were visible, but no actual wounds were apparent.

“No, how could you…”

“By the way…Vice-Chairman.”

“Yes?”

“You seem to know what kind of monster we were hunting.”

“Ah, that, that’s…”

The vice-chairman had come down in such a hurry that he had failed to consider one thing.

That he had been watching the video without Seong-hyeon’s consent.

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault.”

Instead of the vice-chairman, who was thinking of an answer, the secretary stepped forward and bowed deeply.

“Judging from the Vice-Chairman’s words, it seems you have been monitoring us. Is that correct?”

“…That’s right. But I absolutely did not guide you here to monitor Hunter Kim! It was to provide a more comfortable environment…”

“It’s okay. I fully understand that wasn’t your intention.”

The two breathed a sigh of relief at Seong-hyeon’s reaction.

With a slightly calmer mind, they checked the condition of the others, and as expected, there were many traces of injuries.

“How did you deal with this monster?”

“Just…I caught it like any other monster.”

Come to think of it, Seong-hyeon’s sword was stained with red blood.

The blood was still dripping to the floor, forming droplets, indicating that quite a bit of blood had been on the sword.

‘Huh, he caught that monster like any other monster?’

He regretted not seeing the video so much.

He knew that Seong-hyeon used a sword because he always carried it around, but the fact that a healer had dealt with a mutated 3rd-tier Gate monster specialized in one-on-one combat with a sword was hard to believe, even with four other witnesses.

“But what was this monster that made you come so urgently?”

The vice-chairman and the secretary hesitated for a moment.

There had been a mutated Gate monster once before, but since then, it had never happened again, so they had completely forgotten about it.

“That is…”

The vice-chairman slowly opened his mouth with a face full of apology.