Past Life Returner Chapter 73

There were corpses everywhere, stacked up to my waist. Twenty monsters were now three, and they would need to jump over the piles of corpses to attack me.

[Yeonhee Woo used Physical Healing.]

[Your wounds heal by a little.]

I hurdled the pile first, and the remaining three did not have a choice in facing me. I used my Iron Skin reinforced fist to punch one in the face and took care of the remaining two.

“Clear.”

Yeonhee Woo’s face was stained with blood as she had to step over the corpses. While her face was in a grimace, her eyes were not closed since this was not the first time she had to do so. We circled the room and discovered that there were no doors. Yeonhee Woo confirmed our location on the map.

“We have to go back to the first room.”

There had been four doors in the first room. One opened into the corridor that led back to the room past the entrance, and one door led to another corridor that ended at the room we were in now. We had just finished clearing the rooms past the first door we had explored. The best-case scenario would have been to get to the boss room by the first route we had taken, but all we could do was to consider ourselves lucky that the clear had been short. Yeonhee Woo spoke again.

“We have food and water for about two weeks left.” (EN: I know, two backpacks provide four weeks worth of food and water?!)

It took a day to clear a room. (EN: Considering the cooldowns for Odin’s Wrath and the Man Who Overcame Adversity, that’s good.)

“We have to secure another Escape Insignia or complete the dungeon by then.”

“Will we make it?”

It had been two weeks since we had come here, as I had prepared supplies for four weeks.

***

Yeonhee Woo could not be considered even a F class, as she only had three types of stats. One did not consider the traits or skills when calculating a hunter’s class in my past life, as basic stats were considered more important. Even if one had high class skills and traits, they were useless if a hunter did not possess the minimum stats.

Even hunters who possessed skills with divine names were also evaluated on their base stats, not their extremely powerful skills, but they were already powerful in the first place. Therefore, in my past life, a hunter was decided on the average of four stat categories, and  healers were no exception.

So, the two of us were trying to conquer a dungeon that needed at least five E class hunters, and Yeonhee Woo reminded me of that fact before the boss fight.

“The boss monster will be powerful, right?”

If I had not known what the boss monster was, this was suicide. However, this was the fourth time I had come here. I had barely survived the first attempt that the military forced me into, and it had been during my second time that I had seen the end of this dungeon. I had come here in a party of ten and fought with the surviving four over the rewards.

“We need to be careful which door we open, as things may end before we even see the boss monster.”

“We need to be lucky, right?”

“Yes, follow me.”

I had to convince myself that our luck was good to keep moving forward, and Yeonhee Woo followed me wearing her backpack. We walked up to a certain door. The first corridor of the first route we had taken had been quiet, and the room past the corridor required a day, and for the room beyond the first room required five days. (EN: To await the cooldown for the Man Who Overcame Adversity, per the last chapter.)

We had come back to the beginning of the first route, in front of the only remaining unopened door, and we and all of our clothes stank. We could only wipe our faces with a bit of water, as there was no water supply in the dungeon.

“How is your condition?”

Yeonhee Woo looked desperate for a shower, but she nodded. While we came back from the first route, we had some rewards. I got an Escape Insignia from a dungeon box, and Yeonhee Woo had gained 8 stamina points from opening a Bronze Box. She now had twenty points, which meant she was an athlete now.

“Let’s go back to the entrance room. We need to choose a new route.”

“There’s an unopened door remaining here.”

I was suspicious of that.

“This door wasn’t here before. This is probably a trap.”

“Can I say something?”

“Yes?”

“It seems like the dungeon is trying to lure us away from this door, as it obviously looks like a trap.” Yeonhee Woo looked away from my face for a  moment, before resuming.

“You know, if you’re tired, how about you going back alone for a break, since you have an Escape Insignia? Your parents will be waiting for you to call.”

“You’re going to remain here in the dark alone?”

“Since the alarms did not trigger, that means  they’re not roaming around, so wouldn’t it be all right? I can do it.”

Yeonhee Woo was working hard to look calm, and while she was brave, I could not use up this Escape Insignia like that, as it meant another life. I then turned my gaze to the unopened door and thought about what she had said. There had been cases where the dungeon tried to lure Awakened away from their objectives. I made a decision, and we readied ourselves.

She had been right, and I saw a monster with red eyes, two Declan Warriors, and some regular mutts in the room.

This room was not standard, and given the raw, cave-like rock walls, this room was part of a natural cave system that was a part of this dungeon. Someone in my previous life had called this room the Treasure Room, and I would call it by that name also.

At least, opening the door had been right, and the boss room would be opened up if we cleared the bodyguards. I could see all the monsters in the room, and their murderous gazes seemed to pierce me. While my body shook, I needed to do something.

[You have used the insignia ‘Blockade.’]

The room was filled with a reddish web, and the monsters reacted to being entangled. My ears rang with their screams, and this room turned hellish in an instant.

[You have used the insignia ‘Speed-up.’]

[Number of use remaining: 1]

[Your agility class changed as follows: F -> E]

She did what I needed before I shouted my order, and I confirmed that her Bravery skill was like drinking a hunter drug in my previous life.

[Yeonhee Woo used Bravery.]

[Your will to fight increases by a little.]

My heart still beat fast, but my mind grew calm.

[You have used Iron Skin.]

[You have used Odin’s Wrath.]

I finished preparing, and if it was hell, either way, I will kill them all. I forgot about the concerns I had with the Bravery skill, and the monsters screamed louder when I roared, as I slashed into their flesh, or shattered their bones.

***

Yeonhee Woo thought Sunhoo was eating up his life to kill monsters. She had gone through much, and she had given up on thinking that things would become better many days ago. It was like that now. She saw limbs flying about, and corpses fall, but monsters desperate to kill Sunhoo still swarmed around him, frenetic and savage. It was like he was trying to survive in hell.

Fear was natural like he had said, and that was why Yeonhee Woo could not understand Sunhoo’s behavior. He had used fear and pain as his strength. It had been three weeks since they came here, and Yeonhee Woo was still struggling to survive while Sunhoo’s eyes grew sharper. He continued to move and did not let his fears and terror stop him.  As she could sense his emotions,  Yeonhee Woo could not understand how he still had the Heart of a Lion.

“How can he do that…?”

She waited for the man to survive, as he always had, and she needed to stay alive to heal him.