Acquired the Scam Rune in the Academy Chapter 95

CH.95 Stained Rock Pile (7)

I put the information windows aside for a moment.

There was a lot I wanted to check, but the first thing I had to do was talk to the Holder who had fought on my behalf.

After hunting the giant wolf.

A woman standing still with a short sword in her hand.

I cautiously spoke to her.

“Excuse me…”

“Wait.”

“Yes?”

Before I could say anything, she cut me off with a short reply.

“Please wait a moment.”

With that polite remark…

She ran forward.

And then I understood why she had asked me to ‘wait a moment’.

Awooo-?!

Awooo, awooo-!!

The Gray Wolves, still caught in the [Power Break], unable to escape.

They were almost dead, but if left alone, they could pose a threat at any time.

She thoroughly eliminated all potential threats.

It was easy for a Holder as skilled as her, who could assassinate a giant wolf in 10 seconds, to deal with injured monsters.

She began hunting methodically, climbing up the rocky mountain…

Only after she had killed all the monsters did she return.

Now it was safe enough even if we didn’t exit the dungeon.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

And then she stood in front of us and spoke.

White uniform and white hair down to her waist.

A cold atmosphere as if covered in snow.

Beautiful looks blooming like a flower within it.

When I saw her appearance directly.

Only then could I understand the whole situation.

“Holder Yoo Eun-seol….”

“You know me.”

Of course.

Who wouldn’t know?

The only S-grade assassin Holder in Korea, Yoo Eun-seol.

She was a character who was quite prominently featured in the original work, and after coming to this world, she was so famous that I had seen her face several times in articles and newspapers.

A woman who has reached the pinnacle of assassins.

A Holder who has reached the top alone without a clan.

If a Holder active in Korea didn’t know her, they would be no different from a spy.

“Wow, wow… It’s Holder Yoo Eun-seol….”

Kim Chae-eun, admiring from behind me.

Just looking at her reaction, you can tell.

Yoo Eun-seol responded to our admiration without any change in expression.

“You don’t seem to have any external injuries… Do you have any internal injuries from the wolves’ attack? Feel free to tell me if you need potions.”

I don’t know why she appeared here.

I don’t know how she saved us…

What’s important is that the battle is over and there are things that need to be done afterwards.

I bowed my head and replied,

“Fortunately, the battle ended before we were injured. Thank you for your help, Holder Yoo Eun-seol.”

“Yes, yes! I’m not hurt either-“

As I bowed my head in thanks, Kim Chae-eun also bowed and replied.

Yoo Eun-seol accepted it with a wave of her hand.

“First of all, I’m sorry for following you into this dungeon without the consent of the original discoverers. It looked dangerous seeing a 2-person party trying to conquer the dungeon so I came in.”

Yoo Eun-seol lightly apologized.

In fact, dungeon discovery and conquest are related to ownership issues, so it can be awkward if a third party who did not participate in discovery enters.

This is even regulated within the association, but that’s only under normal circumstances, rescue in crisis situations like just now is an exception.

“It was a dangerous situation. If it wasn’t for Holder Yoo Eun-seol, it would have been difficult to escape. Thank you again.”

I thanked her as politely as possible.

Then Kim Chae-eun’s eyes widened behind me.

Is this your first time seeing such formal manners?

It was awkward at first but now I’m used to it.

After living as an intern clan member for almost a month, I’ve become quite accustomed to the etiquette of being a Holder,

Yoo Eun-eeol also received my polite greeting and said,

“As you both know, I am Yoo Eun-seol, an independent S-grade Holder. May I ask where you two are from?”

Kim Chae-eun’s eyes sparkled as she answered first,

“Hello, Holder Yoo Eun-seol! I am Kim Chae-eun, a C-grade Holder and student at Seoul Holder Academy-!”

Kim Chae-eun had been promoted to C-grade after passing an association review over two weeks before this dungeon conquest,

Thanks to that, she was able to enter Seoraksan Field without being restricted by its grade.

I followed suit,

“I am also a student at the academy and C-grade Holder Do Jae-hyun. It’s truly an honor to meet you, Holder Yoo Eun-seol.”

Except for a few polite words, it was a neat introduction without any flaws,

“Academy… you say?”

But Yoo Eun-seol’s expression was strange, her eyebrows furrowed slightly.

“Is there a problem…”

Was there some trouble with the academy?

I couldn’t think of anything when I tried to remember.

Rather, she had little to do with the academy, and if there was a problem, it was with the <Villain> clan.

“No, not at all.”

Yoo Eun-seol, who shook her head as if it was nothing, soon asked us again.

“Would it be okay to conquer the dungeon together? There are some things I want to ask you while we’re together. I will give up all rights related to dungeon ownership, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

It’s a radical proposal.

An S-grade Holder, and the only assassin in Korea.

The opportunity to conquer a dungeon with Yoo Eun-seol, who has such a title.

This is not an opportunity that comes easily.

Normally, we would have given up on conquering today and come back tomorrow with renewed strength… but with an S-grade Holder, we could conquer within an hour.

Moreover, unlike in the original work, a sudden pack of wolves and a giant wolf appeared, causing a hitch in our full-scale conquest.

In such a situation, an S-grade Holder joining the party is a strong ally in itself.

‘She even gives up ownership….’

We don’t have the power to conquer this dungeon right now.

If we exit the dungeon as we are and Yoo Eun-seol conquers the dungeon alone, the ownership will probably go straight to Yoo Eun-seol.

But she’s giving all that up.

There was no reason to refuse.

The only thing that bothered me was…

She said she had something she wanted to ask us…

Well, whatever it is, I’ll answer it.

It’s Yoo Eun-seol who’s asking after all.

I cautiously asked her,

“Are you sure that’s okay?”

“Yes. If you two agree, I’d like to conquer it together.”

Tap-tap.

I felt fingers tapping on my back.

When I turned around, Kim Chae-eun was nodding vigorously.

She meant she was all for it.

Seeing her made me chuckle.

Whether it was Jeong Seon-young or this time Yoo Eun-seol, Kim Chae-eun seemed to really like high-ranking Holders.

I nodded once and spoke to Yoo Eun-seol,

“Then we won’t refuse and will accompany you. We look forward to your guidance, senior.”

That’s how our journey together began.

It was my first party hunt with an S-grade Holder since becoming a Holder myself.

***

Ippotranslation

***

When I first met Kim Chae-eun,

And when I saw my face in the mirror…

There seem to be quite a few cases where the first impression is different from the actual image.

Kim Chae-eun had a colder image at first glance but had a warmer and brighter personality than anyone else. I also have a dull personality contrary to my sharp appearance.

It’s the opposite of what you’d expect from someone who seems hard to approach.

And that was also true for Yoo Eun-seol.

She didn’t show her emotions well and her tone of voice was stiff, but surprisingly she answered well about things we were curious about,

“Athena… you say?”

“Yes. It’s an A-grade monster that often appears in dungeons within Seoraksan Field. It has a habit of forming packs of wolf-like monsters and occasionally goes hunting leading them. In academia, they call it a mid-boss monster.”

The A-grade monster Athena.

It was the identity of the giant wolf we encountered at the entrance of the dungeon.

‘So that was the mid-boss….’

Of course, I also knew about mid-bosses.

Monsters stronger than normal ones that you encounter before reaching the boss room.

They can be hidden in terrain features within the dungeon or appear when certain conditions are met.

But I had never heard of a lord-type monster like this one that leads many normal monsters around.

“Many Holders have been attacked by Athena while normally conquering dungeons. So when conquering dungeons within Seoraksan Field, you must always have an A-grade or higher Holder as your leader. You never know when Athena will appear leading a pack of wolves.”

It seemed that it usually led around thirty wolf monsters and rarely appeared in several places within the dungeon.

We were attacked by such ‘rare’ attacks right from entering the dungeon.

It was an incredibly unlucky case.

Awooo-!!

“I’ll prepare for battle.”

In the midst of exchanging stories, the wolf-type monsters appeared once again.

This time it’s a different species from the Gray Wolf.

It’s a B-grade monster, the Black Wolf.

Without the mid-boss Athena, the number of this pack was average, five.

“Huff…!!”

I raised my shield and blocked the wolves’ attack first.

The battle formation of our party, which Yoo Eun-seol joined, was ordinary.

I took the lead as a tank, Kim Chae-eun used light control magic.

And Yoo Eun-seol’s attack finished it off.

It was a well-mixed party composition of damage, tank, and support.

‘The power is unbelievable though….’

Hunting Gray Wolves or Black Wolves is not difficult.

Unless Athena leads dozens of them like before…

Kim Chae-eun and I alone are enough to hunt them.

But Yoo Eun-seol, the top-level dealer, her participation in the battle made a huge difference in hunting speed.

Swoosh- Swoosh- Clang!

Awooo?!

Awooo-!!

Watching her movements that shoot out like light.

How many seconds was it this time?

2 seconds? 3 seconds?

Yoo Eun-seol’s use of her martial arts rune and dagger rune was beyond imagination.

Her body moving like the wind was hard to see with the naked eye, and when I confirmed that her dagger had stabbed several wolves, her short sword was already spewing fire and slaughtering another wolf.

I didn’t even get a chance to see [Snow Plum Blossom], her main rune.

By the time I blocked an attack with my shield, the battle was over.

It was an overwhelmingly high level of hunting speed that was embarrassing to compare with us in terms of efficiency and speed.

[You have won the duel! Your high contribution in the duel is recognized. With the mysterious power of Rune Hunter, you can duplicate one of your opponent’s runes. Please select a rune to duplicate.]

[You have selected Sharp Fang. As it is a level 9 rare rune, its level will be reduced and registered at level 5.]

[You have obtained a new rune.]

[Due to the nature of the rune, you gain 1 strength and 1 toughness each.]

After hunting, several information windows popped up again in a row.

There were only [Sharp Fangs] available for selection from Black Wolf, so the rune was registered without any choice.

‘Come to think of it….’

I looked at the information windows that I had put off for a while.

The countless information windows that popped up when I first met Yoo Eun-seol.

All the runes they had were registered by [Rune Hunter] as she swept away all the Gray Wolves and Athena, an A-grade monster.

Just remembering things like [Tough Wolf Skin], [Agility], [Prey Search] etc… including [Sharp Fangs] I got this time, there were quite a lot of runes.

I wanted to check these runes slowly.

“Holder Yoo Eun-seol. Can we take a break for a moment?”

Yoo Eun-seol, who was checking her equipment for a moment, nodded slightly at my words.

“Yes, please do.”

In fact, we’ve been running at too fast a pace compared to normal party hunting.

We needed to rest for a while too, and Yoo Eun-seol seemed to feel that too as she readily agreed.

Since all structures within the dungeon are made of rocks and stones and there is no suitable place to rest, Yoo Eun-seol and Kim Chae-eun found suitable rocks and sat down to rest.

I also sat on a rock.

Pretending to check my equipment, I checked the information windows.

The information windows that I had put off from entering the dungeon until now.

‘Let’s see… first off, what I got from Gray Wolf… huh?’

But something was strange.

Gray Wolf and Black Wolf. And the rune I got from Athena.

These were definitely information windows that I called up to check them…

‘What’s this?’

There was one strange information window. It was something I had experienced once before, a dazzling golden information window.

[There are currently combinable runes available. You can obtain higher-level runes using Rune Hunter’s mysterious power.]