I Became The Only Healer In The Academy [EN]: Chapter 17

[Time Remaining Until the Second Night: 6 Hours]

It seemed they were at least giving me breaks in between.

[Time Remaining Until the End of the Second Night: 9 Hours]

Thankfully, this time it was only 9 hours, halved from the previous 18.

Following the voice in my head, I placed the only remaining corpse from those I had defeated on the altar. Something flowed into the statue behind it, and soon all my stamina was restored.

“It’s exactly like when I first came in.”

My body was restored to a state as if I hadn’t fought at all. Now that there were only 9 hours left, Sung-hyun drew his sword again with a spirited expression and opened the temple door.

“…”

The number of dark-skinned creatures below the temple was significantly less than before.

However, their size was more than twice as large.

“It’s okay. It’s no different.”

They were just a little faster and a little stronger than the enemies from before.

[Time Remaining Until the End of the Second Night: 1 Hour]

“Hoo…”

Once again, Sung-hyun defeated all the enemies before the time ran out.

[You have defeated all enemies before the night ended.]

[We commend your steadfastness in defeating the evil beings before the night ended.]

“Steadfastness?”

The word was subtly different from ‘valor’ before, which bothered Sung-hyun, but he didn’t pay much attention since only the praising word had changed.

[Before the third night begins, place an evil thing on the altar.]

“I knew it.”

Sung-hyun placed the remaining corpse on the altar again, and the same thing happened as before.

“So, it’s going to happen again in 6 hours?”

[Time Remaining Until the Third Night: 3 Hours]

“Yeah, if it went as expected, it wouldn’t be a solo dungeon.”

Since the time for the enemies to appear had been halved, the break time would naturally be halved as well.

“Let’s see how many nights there are.”

[Time Remaining Until the End of the Third Night: 3 Hours]

“From 9 hours to 3 hours? Is the next one 1 hour?”

Sung-hyun opened the temple door with a venomous look in his eyes.

About 1/3 the number compared to before were welcoming Sung-hyun, and their size seemed to be twice as large again.

“They look a bit stronger.”

Sung-hyun slapped his cheeks with both hands to avoid being intimidated and faced them at the entrance of the temple.

“Now they even have equipment.”

Until now, the enemies had appeared empty-handed, but now they were equipped with weapons such as swords, spears, and even bows.

“Let’s fight them from behind the trajectory of the arrows as much as possible.”

The most important thing to watch out for was the bow.

Still, if I positioned myself well, the back was blocked by the temple, so it was manageable.

“They don’t even know swordsmanship. It might be easier.”

Those who didn’t know how to use a sword showed their trajectories clearly, and those who relied only on the length of the spear blocked their comrades’ movements.

‘Was I always this observant?’

He was slightly doubtful, but there was no time to think about it now.

No matter how disorganized they were, there were dozens of opponents.

Moreover, their large size was subtly intimidating.

[Time Remaining Until the End of the Third Night: 27 Minutes]

[You have defeated all enemies before the night ended.]

[We commend your strength in defeating the evil beings before the night ended.]

“This was the easiest one.”

[Before the fourth night begins, place an evil thing on the altar.]

“Fourth night.”

[Time Remaining Until the End of the Fourth Night: 1 Hour]

The enemies that appeared on the fourth night also seemed stronger than those on the third night.

Their size was rather smaller, but they calmly approached Sung-hyun as if they had knowledge.

The given time was 1 hour.

The enemy in front of me was now ten.

This time, they appeared with only swords, spears, and shields, not bows.

[Time Remaining Until the End of the Fourth Night: 11 Minutes]

[You have defeated all enemies before the night ended.]

[We commend your night in defeating the evil beings before the night ended.]

“Cough…”

Sung-hyun couldn’t hold back the blood gushing from his mouth.

The fourth night was the most desperate night.

It was as if everything up to now had been a process of testing his strength.

During the hour or so of battle, Sung-hyun had to use far more healing abilities than he had used during the previous three nights.

“The altar, to the altar…”

Sung-hyun crawled to the altar and placed the corpse he had just dealt with.

The pain that even healing couldn’t erase was washed away, and vitality that seemed to have been lost forever returned to his body.

The half-gone mind also returned with vitality, and Sung-hyun prepared for the final night.

[Time Remaining Until the Final Night: 10 Minutes]

“So, there’s no break time now?”

[The final night has begun. We wish you survival.]

“I wish I could too.”

[The temple bestows a blessing upon you for enduring four nights.]

“A blessing?”

[Your physical abilities will be greatly increased until you defeat the last enemy.]

A quite meaningful blessing.

But conversely, it was also proof that they were strong enough to require a blessing.

Certainly, the power felt after the blessing was extraordinary.

With that, Sung-hyun opened the temple door and briefly assessed the situation with the lower half of the being in front of him.

“What the…”

Slowly raising his gaze, an enemy with dark skin, at least three times Sung-hyun’s height, was looking down at Sung-hyun.

“You…the guardian…of the temple…”

“Y-You can talk?”

“You…protecting…temple…wrong…”

The enemy, who was trying to say something to Sung-hyun, suddenly began to tremble and swung his sword at Sung-hyun.

“What suddenly!”

Sung-hyun lightly jumped back to avoid the sword, and with that light jump, he moved more than 2 meters back.

The sword struck the spot where Sung-hyun had been with a huge roar, and when the small dust cloud cleared, a crater that was several meters deep appeared.

“If I get hit even once, I’m dead.”

If he got hit even once, healing ability or whatever, he would die on the spot.

[Time Remaining Until the End of the Final Night: 10 Minutes]

[Survive until the end of the night.]

“So, the goal isn’t to defeat them, but to survive.”

That was a much easier goal for Sung-hyun.

Besides, the time was only 10 minutes.

“At that speed…”

He was quite relaxed, but when the back, hidden by the huge bulk, appeared, Sung-hyun was speechless.

“10 minutes…might be long.”

All the enemies that had appeared so far were coming out.

Except for the enemies from the first and second nights, which were only numerous.

Sung-hyun hurriedly tried to enter the temple, but he couldn’t because an invisible wall seemed to have formed.

In an instant, Sung-hyun felt a chill down his spine and jumped to the side without looking back. As expected, the same huge sword fell where Sung-hyun had been.

“How many minutes left?”

[Time Remaining Until the End of the Final Night: 8 Minutes]

“…Long.”

A slight difference from before was that the enemies from the third night were now all holding bows instead of swords, spears, and bows.

‘I have to be in front of the final night [the large enemy].’

Otherwise, he would obviously become a hedgehog with those dozens of arrows.

As expected, arrows began to fly straight away, and Sung-hyun took his place right in front of the last enemy.

‘Minimize movement to avoid attacks.’

If he could do that, he wouldn’t have to pay much attention to the other enemies.

As Sung-hyun expected, when he stood in front of the largest enemy, only the enemies from the fourth night rushed at Sung-hyun, and the enemies from the third night couldn’t attack Sung-hyun.

No, rather, the final night was taking the incoming arrows on its back.

“Kuaaak!”

The final night, driven mad by the pain, began to swing its huge sword around, and of course, Sung-hyun was not hit by the sword.

Rather, the large fourth night beings were hit by the sword instead and flew around.

However, the pressure of numbers was not something that could be easily overcome.

Although the final night’s attacks were slow, even a graze would be fatal, so he was focusing his attention the most, and thanks to that, he had no choice but to allow some of the fourth night’s attacks.

‘Heal.’

Sung-hyun continued to heal his wounds.

The time he had to endure was only 10 minutes, and now even that was running out.

[Time Remaining Until the End of the Final Night: 1 Minute]

Once he figured out the trick, it wasn’t that difficult to endure.

Of course, if Sung-hyun didn’t have the healing ability, even if his physical abilities were enhanced, he probably wouldn’t be alive right now.

[The final night of the temple has ended.]

At the same time as the voice that the final night had ended, the enemies in front of him began to dissipate as if they had been defeated, and the sky, which had been dark until just now, brightened as if morning had come in an instant.

“It’s…over.”

[We commend you for surviving until the final night.]

[Bring the remains of the final night to the altar.]

When he approached the final night, the corpse had disappeared and a small bead was placed there.

Sung-hyun immediately took the bead and approached the altar.

“There’s nothing more, right?”

A strange sense of unease arose, but Sung-hyun shook his head and placed the bead on the altar.

[You are the first outsider to survive until the end.]

“Outsider?”

[Blessings will be determined based on your achievements so far.]

[Remaining time of the first night: 40 minutes]

[Remaining time of the second night: 1 hour]

[Remaining time of the third night: 27 minutes]

[Remaining time of the fourth night: 11 minutes]

[Survival of the final night]

[You have achieved additional achievements on the final night.]

[Final night defeated]

[The forgotten temple is about to bestow a blessing.]

[Would you like to receive the blessing?]

He wasn’t even asked if he wanted to receive it before, but this time he was asking, which made him a little uneasy, but if he didn’t receive it, all the hardships he had gone through would be in vain, so Sung-hyun nodded without much hesitation and answered.

“Yes.”

[The forgotten temple bestows a blessing.]

[Blessing: Unlocks new abilities related to achievements]

The unlocking of new abilities that he had been waiting for so long.

Sung-hyun swallowed hard and checked the words that would follow.

[You can check the new abilities when you leave the door.]

“It makes me have unnecessary expectations.”

Sung-hyun chuckled and turned around and walked out.

“It feels like it’s been a few days; I hope everything’s okay…”

I should have told my family first; it was a mistake.

“Let’s go home.”

Sung-hyun, who had passed through the path he had walked and arrived at the door, stepped out with a small expectation.

[Unlock: Stigmata]

[Stigmata: You can inflict the pain of the limit that can be healed with healing abilities on the opponent. It does not create wounds. This pain ignores all resistance.]

Sung-hyun stared blankly at the opened window.

The moment the combat-related ability he had been waiting for so long was unlocked.