Swordmaster Healer - Chapter 79

SMH 79
Swordmaster Healer – Episode 79

TL: Boko

Editor: Ren

Chapter 26: S-rank Dungeon (3)

“Lizardmen!”

Sung Joon felt presences from not far away. Someone notified them of the monsters’ emergence. There were at least a dozen of them..

Sung Joon turned his gaze to the direction where he felt the presences. They were B-rank Lizardmen, the Armored Soldiers.

“There are sixty-one of them!”

Though they had started off the S-rank dungeon with low-rank monsters compared to the level of the dungeon, several monsters had emerged, befitting an S-rank dungeon.

“Turn on your aura!”

Though Lizardmen Armored Soldiers were monsters that were difficult to fight against as they were equipped with thick armor, most of the Combat Hunters in the party were aura-users.

The party members’ raised weapons radiated aura. Sung Joon still hadn’t drawn his sword yet. His role in the rear was to protect the Mage Hunter Ki Hoon, and the Supporter Hunter Ha Yeon, as well as the Healer Hunter Im Soo Young, and keep them safe.

Ha Yeon, as befitting an S-rank, had high combat abilities compared to other Supporters; however, she still needed protection.

“They also have archers!”

“They have five Shamans too!” the Hunters warned. Their arrows and offensive spells aimed for them, but no one was injured.

“I won’t use my buff here!” Ha Yeon said.

Though there were several of them, their opponents were mostly B-rank monsters. An S-rank Hunter’s powerful buff would be excessive.

Everyone seemed to agree as they nodded their heads and readied themselves for the clash with the monsters.

“Inferno.”

By spitting out the activation words to the high-rank magic, Inferno, Ki Hoon completed the spell. The spell pierced the earth, and the monsters were swept away by the ensuing lava and flames.

The Lizardmen were engulfed by the flames and the Lizardmen Armored Soldiers screamed in agony, struggling, but the magical flames wouldn’t be extinguished so easily.

“Forty-five of the Lizardmen Armored Soldiers have been incapacitated,” Rishubalt reported.

Sung Joon nodded his head.

Though the group of monsters also contained Shamans, they didn’t have any methods of blocking the high-rank magic, Inferno. They poured water and ice with their spells, but it didn’t have any effect.

“The remaining monster are coming! Stay sharp!” someone yelled.

The Lizardmen Armored Soldiers were furious at their comrades’ demise, and rushed in with a frightening vigor. Ki Hoon manipulated the Inferno’s vestigial flames with his mana and took care of the archers and the Shamans.

Eventually, the battle between the party members and the Lizardmen Armored Soldiers commenced.

Kwang!

The party was compromised of Hunters of at least A-rank, so the battle was splendid, and ended instantly. The Lizardmen Armored Soldiers were no match for the party members.

Sung Joon and the other Healer, Soo Young, hadn’t even needed to use their Heal.

“We’ve finished cleaning up!”

“I’ll collect the magic stones!”

The party members moved diligently. If it were possible, Sung Joon wanted to keep his dimensional pouch a secret, so he put the magic stones into the bag he was carrying.

“Let’s proceed!” Eun Joo yelled, and started walking first.

‘We’re on course.’

Sung Joon felt relieved because Eun Joo was leading the party precisely towards the direction of the strong mana that he felt. If she had went along the wrong path, Sung Joon would’ve intervened.

“Let’s enter the forest. Please be on guard.”

The party had passed through the plains and entered the forest, where they encountered a group of Lizardmen once again. They numbered more than fifty this time as well.

“Wind Cutter!”

Since fire would easily spread in a forest and could potentially hurt allies, Ki Hoon didn’t use fire magic, but instead used the high-rank magic, ‘Wind Cutter’ to cut down the monsters’ numbers.

The large-scale attack wasn’t as effective as fire magic, but the battle commenced after the magic had significantly reduced the monsters’ numbers.

“Everyone’s abilities are quite high. They’re comparable to the elite knights of the Knight Brigade at this level. Using the Brigade’s ranks, their skills would be between 440th place and 500th place,” Rishubalt objectively assessed.

Sung Joon wordlessly nodded his head. He also thought that the party was skilled.

The second battle also finished without any injuries. Excluding the few party members that were on alert, the party looted the magic stones. As Sung Joon looted the magic stones, he felt something from not far away and raised his head.

‘A presence…?’

It was a highly restrained presence. They may have used magic as he could feel the flow of mana faintly, but their movements were so concealed that it was difficult for him to sense anything.

“Something’s coming!”

Sung Joon stopped looting and warned his party of the coming danger.

“My spell hasn’t responded.”

“I’m absolutely sure. I don’t know how many of them there are, but the monsters are moving in order to ambush us.”

Ki Hoon, who was on guard, spread his Searching Magic, but couldn’t find anything suspicious. However, Sung Joon was absolutely sure.

“Please trust Mr. Kang Sung Joon!”

Eun Joo strongly backed Sung Joon. She had overcome a life-and-death crisis with Sung Joon in the Eroding Dungeon before, and she trusted Sung Joon.

Eun Joo’s words weren’t taken lightly. Everyone stopped their looting and prepared for battle.

When they were finished with their preparations, countless daggers flew from between the trees.

“Aura Shield!”

A party member lifted his shield and stepped in front. He rose his shield and cried out, manifesting a giant shield that blocked the barrage of daggers.

‘It’s aura.’

Sung Joon saw the aura that had enveloped the thrown daggers. If they were at the level of empowering their daggers with aura and throwing them, they must be monsters with high combat capabilities.

He didn’t know what type of monsters they were, but Sung Joon carefully guessed that they were A-rank monsters.

“Monsters!” someone yelled.

Because they had thrown their daggers, their stealth effect disappeared, and the ambushing monsters were revealed.

They looked similar to humans, but their scale-covered skin confirmed that they weren’t human.

“They’re Dragonkin!”

They were A-rank monsters, the Dragonkin. Seven had immediately been exposed, but Sung Joon thought that there would be more.

He looked at Ki Hoon and said, “There should be Mages who are hiding with stealth magic. You have to find them and deal with them!”

“I understand!” responded Ki Hoon, nodding his head.

The party had started to trust Sung Joon because he had noticed the Dragonkin’s ambush beforehand and warned them.

Ki Hoon spread his Searching Magic precisely and Sung Joon examined his surroundings with his sharp sight. Five more Dragonkin had revealed themselves and in the distance, he saw what he assumed to be a group of Lizardmen quickly approaching.

“Ugh!”

Someone had been injured. Sung Joon reacted faster than Soo Young.

Stretching his left hand towards the direction of the scream, he said, “Heal!”

The white light shone and enveloped the injured Hunter.

“T-The healing power is…!”

Due to his injury, the party member had retreated to the rear, yet due to Sung Joon’s Heal, he was able to quickly enter the battle once again.

“I’ll use my buff. Bless!”

Ha Yeon judged that the enemies were formidable, so she had decided to use her buff. The powerful buff enveloped the party members.

Sung Joon felt a rapid growth in his healing power, as well an increase to the limit of his mana. That wasn’t all; he felt as if his body was lighter and stronger.

‘So this is an S-rank Supporter Hunter’s buff…?’

Sung Joon was in awe.

The other party members’ movements looked clearly better, and now they started to overwhelm the Dragonkin.

“I found them!”

While the Dragonkin were screaming in agony and falling, Ki Hoon had found the Dragonkin Mages and attacked them with offensive spells.

Thus, a fierce battle of magic began.

“There are more coming!” Sung Joon warned.

As the magic battle began, the Dragonkin Mages’ concentration was divided, and the Dragonkin that had been waiting for an opportunity behind the stealth curtain were exposed.

The party had belatedly realized that fact and so they had infiltrated the rear, swinging their swords, which gleamed with aura.

“The rear’s getting attacked!” someone yelled.

Ha Yeon drew and raised her sword, but Sung Joon couldn’t see any aura around it. Just because she was an S-rank Supporter Hunter didn’t mean that she would be able to use aura.

Two of the party members in the front tried to join up with the rear, but Sung Joon raised his hand and stopped them.

“Please don’t come. I’ll take care of them,” he assured.

Sung Joon lifted his right hand and drew his mana.

“Transform.”

His ring transformed into a sword and a sharp aura gleamed and oscillated on his blade.

“Slash!”

After he had dispersed the Dragonkin with his aura slash, Sung Joon utilized his high-speed movement to instantly close the distance.

Sung Joon was soon right in front of them, so the Dragonkin breathed in hot air. The three Dragonkin swung their swords in order to block Sung Joon.

They rushed at him with their swords from three directions simultaneously; it looked like it would be difficult to block them.

‘Should I use the Gale Sword?’

Sung Joon pondered briefly and then shook his head.

The Gale Sword was a technique used for a breakthrough, a move that would create sword winds as he advanced. If he used it in this current situation, he would widen the distance from the rear, so it’d be more difficult to protect them.

‘Flash Cut’ could only be used on a single opponent. If that was the case, there was only one solution. Sung Joon drew and raised his mana and opened his mouth to recite the activation words.

“Illusionary Sword.”

The illusionary blades rushed the Dragonkin. Not only were the Dragonkin unable to block the blades, their upper bodies were also severely wounded.

‘It’s too easy!’

Due to the S-rank Supporter Hunter’s buff, he could move faster than usual.

The Dragonkin yelled in agony and fell.

“I-I couldn’t see him…!”

Ki Hoon saw that sight and was astonished. Though he wasn’t a Combat Hunter, he was still an A-rank Mage Hunter. Plus, he had received the Bless buff, so all of his physical abilities had been enhanced, but he still couldn’t see Sung Joon’s killing blow.

And so, the three rear ambushing Dragonkin were annihilated.

“Absorb.”

Sung Joon absorbed the mana from them and opened his mouth as he looked at Soo Young, who was diligently casting his ‘Heal’.

“Could I please count on you to Heal the party for a short time?”

“Since there aren’t a lot of injured, I should be enough… What’s the matter?” Soo Young asked.

Sung Joon pointed to the battlefront.

“A group of Lizardmen are coming. There are about 100 of them. I’m planning on releasing a Slash and cutting down their numbers.”

If he just left them alone, the party would take care of them on their own, but Sung Joon planned to intervene as much as possible in the battle, in order to absorb a lot of mana.

“Then, I’ll be in charge of healing.”

“I’ll be counting on you for a bit.”

“No, I’m the one counting on you.”

Sung Joon gripped and raised his sword and the heavily armed Lizardmen Armored Soldiers were revealed.

“Slash!”

Sung Joon swung his sword in a large arc and screamed out the activation words, and the Slash swept away the group of Lizardmen. He had annihilated the front Lizardmen and crumbled their battle line.

Before they could reorganize their ranks, Ki Hoon, who had finished his magic battle, completed his spell first. Dozens of ice spears rushed at them, aiming for their vital points.

“AH!”

The Lizardmen Armored Soldiers fell. The Dragonkin had already been annihilated. The party members dashed towards the Lizardmen, whose formation had broken.

Eun Joo, who was known as the Shining Sword, hunted the Lizardmen from the front. Whenever she swung her sword, clad in white aura, the Lizardmen Armored Soldiers would die helplessly.

“We’re finished cleaning them up.”

It wasn’t difficult for the party to annihilate the Armored Soldiers, as well as the group of Lizardmen that had been behind the Shamans*. (*The author sometimes isn’t consistent with his terms; he used the general Korean term for Mages/Magician before and now uses a more specific one, though all of these terms could “technically” be translated as Mage/Magician.)

The party looted the magic stones and decided to take a short ten minute break.

“If it wasn’t for you, Mr. Kang Sung Joon, we would’ve been ambushed. You were able to grasp the presences that not even Searching Magic could… You’re really amazing!”

The party gathered in a circle and rested. Ki Hoon approached Sung Joon and was in awe of his contribution.

“You’re right. It would’ve been difficult if it wasn’t for Mr. Sung Joon,” Eun Joo intervened.

“The timing of the aura slash that broke apart the Lizardmen’s battle formation was also great.”

“He wasn’t an issue on Hunter.com for no reason.”

“That’s what I’m saying! This is the first time I’ve seen a Healer that fights so well!”

Their admiration continued until the conclusion of their break. Eventually, their break ended, and they started walking again.

“There’s something in front of us,” Sung Joon said.

Ki Hoon nodded his head and opened his mouth.

“There’s a strong magic reaction,” he commented.

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“How many are there?” Ha Yeon asked.

“One.”

“There seems to be only one of them.”

Sung Joon and Ki Hoon responded simultaneously.