The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 33

33. Found It! (3)

– Meeeeeh.

The mountain goat’s cry echoed from all directions.

D-Rank Lower Bedrock Zone Dungeon.

The main monsters here were mountain goats that roamed the cliffs. They were called Rock Mountain Goats, and their optimized initial skills were Jump Headbutt and Stomp.

‘These Sprout Skills are really something.’ Although their rank was the lowest among title skills, their versatility was the best.

Of course, there were also skills that allowed you to examine an opponent’s information, albeit rarely. However, it was only possible to check things one rank lower than your own stats or skill rank. In comparison, Sprout was an information skill that could check stats and skills of any rank.

‘The main purpose isn’t checking the status window, and there are limitations, but skills depend on how you use them.’

Saaaah—

Towards the mountain goat running down the cliff as if it were flat ground, a pure white mist spread out. In a high-level dungeon, this would only be a slight hindrance, but the D-Rank monster froze solid and tumbled to the ground. It was literally an ice statue.

“Uncle, here!”

Yerim proudly shouted, picking up the frozen mountain goat. ‘No, I told you to level up.’

“I froze it well, so you just have to stab it. It’s safe!”

At that moment, flames soared along the valley, spreading to both sides. It wasn’t black flames, but fire with a faint black hue quickly swept across the cliffs.

Each time, thump, thud, half-burnt mountain goats fell like ripe fruit. The firepower was skillfully controlled, leaving them severely injured but still alive.

“Just stab it? How is a spear going to go into that ice block?”

Swish, Yoohyun threw a wire that wrapped around the horn of one of them, pulling it like fishing. The mountain goat’s body crossed the air and landed right in front of me with a thud.

Yoohyun, looking at Yerim as if to say ‘look at this,’ smiled at me.

“It’s still breathing. The tough hide is almost all burnt off, so the spear will go in very smoothly.”

“I, I can freeze it a little too! Should I peel the skin for you?”

Poor mountain goats. Freezing and roasting—it’s a complete bi-directional mess. I turned to Yoomyungwoo, whose expression seemed like he wanted to shrink into the ground and disappear.

“You need to level up too. Come quickly.”

“M, me too?”

Myungwoo looked behind me. Then, he became like a frightened and cowering turtle. It’s just half-baked mountain goats, but is he still scared?

Just in case, I turned to Yoohyun and Yerim, and they both smiled brightly at the same time. ‘The atmosphere is nice. The charred black mountain goat might be a bit gruesome, but you can just think of it as a poorly cooked roast.’

“You need to reach level 10 before me.”

I wasn’t in a hurry, but Myungwoo needed to reach level 10 in this dungeon and then hole up to sharpen his sword. Still, he wouldn’t move, so I grabbed his arm and pulled him along. ‘It’s not scary, it’s okay.’

“Think of it as stabbing a burnt steak. Or how about the frozen one? Doesn’t it look like a statue?”

“I caught it to give to you, Uncle.”

Yerim grumbled. ‘Why are you being so picky?’

“Yerim.”

At the reproachful call, Yerim pouted.

“But still.”

“Not ‘but still.’ I’ll say it now: all three of you, get along. Or at least don’t fight and be decent colleagues.”

Fire attribute, ice attribute, and even equipment crafting. How well did they mix? If Kim Sunghan becomes an S-Rank on top of that, they’ll have a workshop too. In the future, all sorts of crazy dungeons will appear, and if they coordinate and support each other, they’ll be on a winning streak.

The only thing lacking is a healer. Even after 5 years, there were no SS-Rank stat skills, let alone AS, so it would be hard to find someone of their caliber. How is it that healers’ stat ranks and skill ranks are inversely proportional? Is it because their average age is in their 50s?

Stat ranks tend to be better the younger and healthier you are. There are exceptions, but most S-Rank stats are held by people in their mid-thirties or younger.

“Especially Yoohyun, don’t try to fight with a kid who’s five years younger than you. Yerim, now that you’ve signed a contract as a formal hunter, don’t forget that he’s the guild leader and a three-year senior.”

At my nagging, both of them sighed simultaneously.

“I wasn’t exactly trying to fight. It’s just annoying that he keeps getting involved with Hyung [older brother/term of endearment for a male].”

“It’s natural since Uncle is my guardian. Why is that annoying?”

“Although you’re still young, please be aware of your position. Didn’t the PR team teach you? It’s not like I wanted to distance myself from Hyung.”

“I’m trying to be considerate too.”

“You’re being considerate by trying to drag Hyung along when going to the Association?”

“That’s why I didn’t go with him! I’m still clumsy, but I’m learning hard, okay?”

They’re doing it again. As if they’re not fire and ice, they’re showing off how incompatible they are. Shouldn’t we reverse the PR image? Like rivals or something.

“I told you to stop, both of you.”

“…Okay.”

“…Yes.”

No matter how I look at it, the problem is more with Yoohyun than Yerim. That guy worries about my safety too much. I need to grow the Peace [MC’s guild] and bring in one or two more monsters so that he can worry less.

“One is my biological brother, and the other is my ward. How do you think I feel when you keep fighting over my problems? At least pretend to be friendly in front of me. You do well in front of reporters.”

Pretending can become real if you keep doing it.

“If Uncle wants, I’ll do that. Pretending is easy.”

Yerim looked up at Yoohyun with a bright smile.

“If you’re Uncle’s biological brother, then you’re not a stranger to me either, so let’s get along from now on. Can I call you ‘Oppa’ [term used by females to address older brothers or male friends]?”

…No, why are you suddenly skipping to ‘Oppa’? Yoohyun also gave her a friendly smile in return. They both have the looks, so it’s nice to see. It only looks good on the surface.

“Of course. Then I’ll speak comfortably now too.”

“Yes, please do. I look forward to working with you, Yoohyun Oppa.”

“I look forward to working with you too, Yerim.”

It was a scene where they were smiling sweetly, but I could clearly feel the knives being sharpened behind their backs. Ugh, those two. Look at them stubbornly not avoiding eye contact and having an eye fight.

It’s fortunate that there aren’t many S-Rank awakeners. If I had caught a bunch without knowing, I might have had to start a ‘Get Along Well’ campaign.

And our poor Myungwoo was still shrinking. Well, with two S-Ranks having a battle of nerves, how could a normal F-Rank survive? Even an A-Rank would be trembling. Just bear with it a little longer. After hardship comes happiness.

“You won’t see them for a while, so just endure it for today. You only need to level up to 10.”

After that, he’ll have to sharpen his sword for about half a year, so he won’t be able to see them even if he wants to. Myungwoo nodded at my patting. This guy might be more comfortable with grinding in a room.

After that, the dungeon raid went smoothly. Yoohyun goes without saying, and Yerim was flying around too.

After leaving the winding valley, a wide basin appeared. Hundreds of mountain goats were herding together in the green meadow. Beyond them, a giant black-haired mountain goat stood proudly. ‘I’m the boss,’ it might as well have a billboard.

Still, I’m grateful if they show it like that. It’s a pain in the ass when a hidden one shows up.

“Hyung, you said you’re still level 9, right?”

Yoohyun asked. Because I was focusing on Myungwoo, I hadn’t reached level 10 yet. Yoomyungwoo had reached level 10 about 30 minutes ago and was frustrated because he didn’t get a skill.

I wondered if it would happen, and it seemed that the skill he was supposed to get at level 10 was replaced by the Owner of the Golden Blacksmith.

The reason why the skill you get every 10 levels doesn’t appear is usually because you don’t meet the conditions. You might get it later as soon as you meet the conditions, or you might never get it… It was half luck.

“I don’t necessarily need to reach level 10.”

“It’s easier if you have even one more skill. I’ll lure a few over.”

“Me! I’ll do it!”

Yerim, completely accustomed to using Hermes’s Shoes, confidently stepped forward. Then she soared upwards. Like a fish in water.

‘I wonder if I’ll get a skill this time either.’

Before regression, I didn’t get a new skill until level 30. I don’t think it’ll be much different this time either.

What is my optimized skill, anyway?

It would be nice if I could use the Sprout skill on myself. Just in case, I tried using it while looking in the mirror, but the status window didn’t appear. Not just Sprout, of course, I couldn’t receive the growth buff either. Braving the embarrassment, I casually said, ‘I love myself,’ but there was no change.

Anyway, the L-Rank skill titles I got are either useless or only benefit others. Did the person who made the system hate me? Or at least make it easier to use. The weird effects and keywords are really dirty and cheap—

[Found it!]

…Huh?

A message window popped up?! W, wait a minute. Could it be because I cursed? Did it find me because it knew I cursed? No, I’ve cursed the system more than once or twice, so that can’t be it. What is it? What is it?

Another message window appeared before my eyes.

[Ah, I’m sorry!]

No, I’m the one who’s sorry for cursing… No, not that. Error? Operator’s chat mistake?

Damn it, wait. Let’s talk. Is there no keyboard window or something? Why is it a one-sided conversation—

“Hyung!”

At that moment, Yoohyun suddenly shouted and hugged me tightly. At the same time, I shouted too.

“Yerim, protect Myungwoo!”

I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s a danger signal. In other words, Myungwoo will die if we just leave him alone.

Immediately after, the screams of the mountain goats assaulted my ears.

– Kkeeeeek!

– Kkieeeee!

The smell of burning meat permeated the air. Yoohyun’s fire resistance affected me as well, so I didn’t feel the heat. Are Yerim and Myungwoo safe? Judging from the fact that the final favor skill application window didn’t pop up, they both seemed to be alive.

“…What the hell is going on?”

I couldn’t grasp the situation because I was being hugged. I knew that we had been hit by a large-scale fire attribute attack. This dungeon is D-Rank Lower, right? But why did something that uses a wide-area attribute attack skill pop out? It’s not like 5 years later when the dungeon ranks fluctuate, it should still be stable, right?

“It’s a monster I’ve never seen before either.”

Yoohyun said quietly. ‘Hey, let me see too.’ When I tapped his shoulder, he loosened the arms that were wrapped around me.

“Be careful.”

I turned around and looked towards the basin. The green meadow was burning red. The charred, smoldering corpses of mountain goats were piled up like mountains.

Beyond that, I saw a black mountain goat pierced by a golden, sharp beak. It was the original boss monster.

A grotesque bird engulfed in flames swung its beak and tore apart the well-cooked mountain goat, devouring it. As soon as I saw that distinctive beak, I knew.

‘Grade 2 Grotesque Bird Species. Golden Beak Maya.’

It’s an A-Rank Upper Dungeon boss monster. Grotesque bird species are weaker compared to their grade, so they weren’t at the S-Rank level. But why is it popping out here?

‘…Could it be that the ‘I’m sorry’ was because of that?’

Really a system error? Bug? Get the operator out here. Let’s talk.

“Are you two okay?”

After confirming the monster, I turned my head to find Yerim and Myungwoo. Fortunately, it seemed that Yerim had used Cold Sigh without delay. Yerim was blocking Myungwoo, and there were black scorch marks in front of them.

“…We’re okay. But what the heck is that?”

“Very rarely, monsters that don’t match the dungeon rank pop out.”

It was extremely rare during this period. More than that, the escape gate didn’t appear even though the boss monster died, so it seemed that that damn bird was replaced as the boss. This has become troublesome.

The outside must be in chaos by now. The dungeon that the Haeyeon Guild Leader and the S-Rank rookie entered has changed to at least B-Rank. An hour has already passed, so they can’t come to help.

“Hyung, take this.”

Yoohyun handed me the gate stone. Is this a reproduction of the past? Of course, compared to that damn Rauchitas lizard, the fire chicken was cute.

“There’s no need for that. It’s weaker than you.”

Attribute attacks won’t work on each other, and Yoohyun, with his S-Rank combat aptitude, was stronger in physical attacks. It’s annoying that it’s a flying monster, but Yoohyun has the Blue Willow Leaf, so there’s no problem.

Me and Myungwoo can just hole up in the corner and be protected by Yerim.

Yoohyun made a puzzled expression at my words.

“Do you know what kind of monster it is?”

“Grade 2 Grotesque Bird Species, Golden Beak Maya. As you can see, it’s a fire attribute, and it’s an A-Rank Upper Dungeon boss level. It has a habit of continuously chasing the first target, so it’s unlikely to lose aggro [short for ‘aggression,’ referring to which character the monster is focused on attacking]. If you do well, you can get out quickly, just be careful of the beak attack. Its leg strength is relatively weak. The skull is soft, and the back and belly are the hardest. The fire temperature is highest in that area to protect its head, but you’ll be fine. The wings look like a pair, but there’s a hidden pair of spare wings, so it’s better to hit the head directly than to attack the wings to bring it down. Yerim will protect me and Myungwoo. In addition, that beak is a very expensive material, so cut it off whole if possible.”

Yoohyun was speechless for a moment.

“…Hyung, you seem to have become a bit strange after all.”

“Not strange, but suspicious, right? Is Seoksimeong also saying I’m suspicious? It’s hard to explain even if I ask, so let’s just gloss over it. Can’t we?”

“It’s not that we can’t…….”

“Anyway, I’m your brother. That much hasn’t changed.”

Whether it’s Hanyujin from 5 years ago or the current Hanyujin, the fact that he’s Hanyuhyun’s brother remains the same. Yoohyun nodded slightly and put the gate stone in my hand.

“Still, keep this.”

It’s too much of a death flag. Surely I won’t be defeated by a bird that just shoots flames.

“I’m in your care.”

Yoohyun said politely to Park Yerim.

“Don’t worry.”

At this moment, both of them had completely abandoned their emotional grudges and were in a serious attitude. I feel proud for no reason. I hope they continue to cooperate and get along well in the future.

Looking at me one more time, Yoohyun turned around.

‘It’ll be okay.’ If it’s the guy from 5 years later, it would be a 10-minute, no, a 5-minute cut. Even now, it shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes. So I should just cheer him on with peace of mind.