“Kyahhh!” Park Hye-Young screamed.

Of course, Park Hye-Young couldn’t help but scream since the monster was charging at her with its mouth opened voraciously. If she didn’t attack with her spear from the start, she wouldn’t have gotten the aggro from the monster.

The monster’s stats weren't that high and if she watched the situation calmly, she would know that Park Deok-Gu would be able to block the monster that was charging at her. However, instead of calmly watching the situation, the damn Park Hye-Young chose to let her fear get the better of her.

“Damn it!”

As if Park Hye-Young had planned this, the situation got worse.

The monsters were sensitive to noises and although they may not be able to hear ordinary conversations from far away, a loud scream will definitely let them know that we were here. The monsters nearby may start coming this way.

Kim Hyun-Sung must’ve thought the same thing because after cutting off the head of the monster he was fighting, he stabbed the chest of the monster that Park Deok-Gu was holding. Even though he was a bit faster than an average human, he probably realized that the situation was turning bad and that he didn’t have the luxury to worry about keeping the last monster alive as teaching material.

I saw the monster trembling, but that wasn’t the problem right now.

“We have to leave this place. Now,” Kim Hyun-Sung said.

“Damn it…” I commented.

“I-I’m sor…”

“Mr. Ki-Young, please take care of Miss Hye-Young and Miss Ha-Yan…if something happens, we’ll have Mr. Deok-Gu clear the road for us,” he explained.

“Hey bro, what are you going to do?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

“I’ll grab the monsters’ attention, so if you leave a trail, I’ll go and find you. Rather than heading straight to the shelter, I think taking a slight detour would be the best, Mr. Ki-Young,” Kim Hyun-Sung suggested.

I nodded in agreement.

If the monsters that were focused on us followed us back to the shelter, then it wouldn’t be any different from taking them to a buffet.

Kim Hyun-Sung looked like he was trying his best to resolve this situation, but his expression didn’t look so good. Even if he was a regressor, his body was still a growing rookie. I was sure that he would be able to deal with them to some extent, but if more monsters showed up, then it would be difficult to deal with them in an enclosed space.

“Hyung-nim, which way…” Park Deok-Gu asked.

“We’re going to go around a bit,” I answered.

“G-Got it,” he said, stuttering.

Park Hye-Young must have realized by now what kind of mistake she made because she started looking this way with a pale face. She realized that if she did something wrong, there would come a time when she would really start screaming in full force.

“Get up,” I told her.

“Okay, okay…” she answered weakly.

“Stick to this side and run,” I instructed Park Hye-Young.

“G-Got it.”

Jung Ha-Yan didn’t say anything, but she was looking around absent-mindedly as if she was thinking about something.

“Ha-Yan,” I called out.

“Ah…Yes! Oppa,” she answered.

She didn’t seem like she was scared.

Thinking about it now, the image of Jung Ha-Yan becoming an archmage in the future popped into my head. As a mage, if we ran into a situation that we were unable to handle, I was sure that she would be able to help us.

‘There’s a good chance that she may survive.’

We would definitely go back alive.

“Good luck,” Kim Hyun-Sung said.

“You be careful now, bro,” Park Deok-Gu told him.

“I’ll be fine.”

Park Deok-Gu immediately grabbed his shield and started running. Park Hye-Young followed behind us with a horrified look on her face.

I was instantly filled with frustration, but I couldn’t nag her about it here. Instead, I started reciting a spell. I started building a tower using my mana and although it was a small amount, this magic would be able to save us once during a moment of crisis.

“Are you able to recite it while running hyung-nim?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

“I’m getting a headache so stop talking to me,” I told him.

Concentrating on the spell was difficult. While my hands and feet were moving, I needed to think about something totally different in my head, which was difficult to visualize, to begin with.

‘This is hard…’

“I, hope…” I recited.

The mana tower that I was trying to build kept crumbling down. It was because I couldn’t concentrate. My head felt like it was going to explode because my brain was being overloaded.

‘Slowly, one by one.’

I might succeed if I recited while thinking that there was nothing around me, so I slowly started building my mana again.

We haven’t encountered the monsters yet anyways, so there was more than enough time for me to recite the spell.

“Lord, I, hope, my voice, answer, burn the enemies, give power, to do that,” I recited.

The chant was bound to be lengthy and even though it was a frustrating spell, the spell that was engraved in my head took form in my hand. The ball of fire that appeared in my hand was as big as a person’s head.

“Wow, that’s amazing! When did you manage to learn that?!” Park Deok-Gu asked excitedly.

“Stop talking to me, Deok-Gu. I’m having a hard time concentrating,” I warned him.

I needed to repair and balance the mana tower that was constantly trembling so that it wouldn't collapse.

‘How complicated.’

In cartoons, animations, and novels, they made it seem like magic was an extremely easy skill to use and master, but after using it myself, I felt like my head was going to break. It was to the point where I was wondering whether intelligence might be a more important prerequisite than magic in becoming a mage.

“Where to go next?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

“Left,” I said.

I couldn’t help but be filled with frustration since I still had to tell Park Deok-Gu where to go in such a critical situation.

“Gahhhhh!”

I heard the sound of monsters from far away, but they must still be far from us because I couldn’t tell how many they were.

“How many?” I asked.

“About two,” Park Deok-Gu answered.

“By yourself,” I said.

“I’ll try, hyung-nim,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t kill them. Just clear the road,” I ordered him.

“Leave it to me,” he said, confidently.

Crack! Rip!

It wasn’t surprising that Park Deok-Gu looked reliable right now as I watched him continuously running in front of me. I couldn’t help but compare him to a tank.

“Next!” Park Deok-Gu yelled.

“Right,” I said.

“Gahhhhh!”

“How many?” I asked.

“There’s too many to count…” Park Deok-Gu answered.

I immediately extended my arm out.

“Fire ball.”

The fire ball that had been floating about in my hand stopped, then it flew in a straight line. The recoil was unexpectedly strong. Perhaps it was because of the wind pressure, but my hand was forced up in the air for a moment. Even after the fire ball left my hand, I didn’t stop operating the spell in my head. It was because I worked hard in reciting the spell, so I didn’t want it to start flying in the wrong direction.

Boom!

The fire ball struck one of the monsters and an explosion reverberated afterward, releasing heat and fire that spread everywhere. The shockwave from the explosion caused the wind to blow in this way too.

Of course, Park Deok-Gu stood in front of us and blocked it.

When the monsters were either forced to a corner amidst their escape or were enveloped by the flame, they collapsed as they screeched. When Park Deok-Gu saw that, he looked back at me with a surprised expression.

It was a small space and since it was crowded, they luckily got hit, but Park Deok-Gu was surprised by the aftermath of the magic that spread around us.

“Wow…hyung-nim…” Park Deok-Gu said.

“Whoo…whoo…”

The effects of the magic escaping from my body caused my legs to start shaking, but we had to clear the path no matter what.

“Again.”

That was when I felt that something was off.

“Oh!”

Park Deok-Gu carelessly turned around and then looked at me in surprise.

‘Jung Ha-Yan, Park Hye-Young.’

They got separated from us.

“Since when…did you not see them?” I asked Park Deok-Gu.

“I-I definitely saw them f-following us a moment ago…” he answered.

“Hey.”

I was going to let out my frustration, but I decided to suppress my desire to swear at him since this was my fault.

Since I was reciting the spell in my head, I did not notice the fact that they got separated from us. The fact that Park Deok-Gu also didn’t know about this was kind of unexpected, but I was certain that they weren’t that far behind since they were just following us earlier.

The important question was whether they knew the path. If it was Jung Ha-Yan, she may have memorized it, but there was no way that troll Park Hye-Young would memorize the way because I was sure that following us alone was already hard enough for her.

“W-What…I-I’m sorr…”

“It’s not your fault, Deok-Gu. Damn it, I should’ve paid more attention,” I told him.

“What should we do now?” he asked.

That was what I wanted to ask myself.

If Park Hye-Young was the only person that got left behind, then I would have abandoned her, but the problem was that Jung Ha-Yan was with her.

She was the lottery ticket that was guaranteed to win, so if I recklessly lost her at a place like this, I wouldn’t even be able to laugh it off.

I didn’t like to gamble, but if I had to do something drastic, then I would do it.

“I’m sure they’re still alive,” I said.

“Th, then.”

“If they’re smart, they would leave a mark that we would be able to recognize. Let’s go back,” I suggested.

“Good thinking, hyung-nim,” Park Deok-Gu said.

There was a good chance that Kim Hyun-Sung was taking care of the monsters that were following us, but the problem was the monsters from different directions.

Reciting another spell would be difficult. I already used up the majority of my mana, but I should be able to cast another one if I squeezed out every ounce of mana left in my body.

“Do you remember when we lost them?” I asked.

“I-I think they were still with us when we were fighting the two monsters. I-I definitely saw them…I didn’t even hear them scream…” he said.

I also couldn’t remember, but even when I was reciting the spell, I remember them following us. I guess they disappeared while I was maintaining my magic.

“Let’s go,” I said.

“Got it.”

I was a bit shocked at first, but the more I thought about it, the more strange it felt. Park Deok-Gu was slow-witted, but he wasn’t so dumb that he wouldn’t notice the abrupt disappearance of two people. I was the same.

Park Deok-Gu’s agility stat wasn’t that high to begin with and although Jung Ha-Yan might struggle she could still keep up. As for Park Hye-Young, she would also struggle, but it wasn’t to the point that she couldn’t keep up.

I didn’t think that the monsters caught them either. I thought maybe they fell into a trap within this dungeon, but the possibility of that was low since we had already passed through this path once. If there were traps within this region, then Kim Hyun-Sung would have mentioned it.

I suddenly recalled the look that Jung Ha-Yan gave Park Hye-Young.

‘I’m sure that’s not the case.’

It was too early for me to judge, but if Jung Ha-Yan wanted to be away from us, then I could kind of understand.

I didn’t know what kind of spell she recited, but while I was focusing on mine, there was a possibility that I wouldn’t have noticed if she was reciting her own spell. I didn’t have the luxury to maintain my spell and observe the situation around us after all.

Park Deok-Gu didn’t have magic, to begin with, so no matter what Jung Ha-Yan did, I was sure that he wouldn’t notice. In addition, since Kim Hyun-Sung was far from us, he didn’t count.

I didn’t want to have this thought, but I thought that maybe she wanted to create a situation where she was alone with Park Hye-Young.

‘The question is why?’

I didn’t want to have bad thoughts, but I couldn’t help but feel anxious.

While I was running with Park Deok-Gu, I started to feel a faint amount of magic, just like the time when we discovered the entrance of the dungeon downstairs.

‘Da…’

“Deok-Gu, hurry,” I said.

“Did something happen?” he asked.

It was a simple assumption, but the magic that I was able to faintly feel seemed to prove that my assumption was true.