NOVEL NEXT Chapter 40
Chapter 40. The Conditions of a Leader (4)
The group, moving cautiously to avoid encountering other Giant Dandelion Monsters, found themselves at the entrance of Hole 12.
“Stop.”
Yoo Ji-han, who had unwittingly taken on the role of leader, halted everyone.
He quietly placed a metal plate on the ground and spoke.
“Can you all see that?”
“……I see it.”
The seven heroes were hiding behind a wooden pillar.
The mutated creatures, with white seeds exposed, were scattered around Hole 12.
Some basic Giant Dandelions were patrolling the area as if on guard, while the mutated ones stood still, seemingly soaking up sunlight for photosynthesis.
“It seems those guys are also expected to be aggressive mutations.”
“Should we avoid them?”
“There’s no guarantee that anywhere else is safe either.”
“Um……”
“Are you suggesting we pass through here, Ji-han?”
“Yes.”
In the distance, a barrier was visible.
Yoo Ji-han thought there was no better option than this at the moment.
Kim Si-hu, who was hesitating at the back, spoke up.
“If I use a Firewall to block the incoming seeds…”
“It’s likely to be breached.”
When they fought the monster chicken, the wall of fire was easily penetrated.
This time too, the chance of it being breached by the rapidly incoming seeds was high.
Kim Si-hu thought of various spells to neutralize the seeds in his mind but didn’t reckon on trying anything recklessly.
Just one failure could cost them their lives.
But then—
“Aah!”
Shin Mun-ah suddenly screamed.
Everyone turned, startled, to look at her.
A small Giant Dandelion, no bigger than her knee, was rubbing its flower against her leg.
Perhaps because they had only encountered larger ones until now, they hadn’t noticed the smaller one hiding.
“Mun-ah!!”
Swish!
Shin Woo-jeong rushed over and dealt with the tiny monster.
“Ouch….”
“Are you okay? Let me see your wound!”
Shin Mun-ah plopped down on the ground.
Blood was flowing from her leg.
Dropping his sword on the floor, Shin Woo-jeong struggled to assess her injury.
‘It’s not a serious wound.’
On the other hand, Yoo Ji-han looked down at her injury and said,
“That’s not too bad.”
“……What did you say?”
“You’re not unable to walk or anything. Plus, there has never been a case of poison reported from the Giant Dandelions, so you can relax.”
It was a reasonable diagnosis based on their past experiences.
However, Shin Woo-jeong didn’t seem to agree.
“How can you say such things when my sister is hurt?!”
“……Woo-jeong? Why are you getting all worked up?”
“Because you’re saying that nonsense just because you think you’re so great!”
“……?”
Shin Woo-jeong suddenly raised his voice.
Yoo Ji-han looked at him, his mouth slightly agape.
‘What’s with this guy all of a sudden?’
It was hard to believe they were even having a productive discussion when he was shouting like that.
As the atmosphere began to sour, a mage from Shin Woo-jeong’s party stepped forward.
“Woo-jeong, calm down.”
“Do I look calm to you?!”
Yoo Ji-han, though watching him angrily, kept an eye on the Giant Dandelions inside Hole 12.
It would be extremely troublesome if they drew attention by allowing their conversation to escalate.
“Brother. I’m really okay, so please stop……”
“What do you mean you’re okay! You’re hurt like this!”
Shin Mun-ah tried to calm her shouting brother.
But with his face flushed red, he was hardly listening.
“I wanted to leave you behind because I was afraid of this happening……!”
“Woo-jeong! Enough already.”
“Woo-jeong, is now really the time to be stubborn?”
“You all shut up too!”
Ignoring the words of his injured sister and his party members, Shin Woo-jeong was not himself.
The etiquette he had maintained until now seemed to have turned 180 degrees, leaving Yoo Ji-han and Kim Si-hu quite flabbergasted.
They knew he cared for his sister, but he was way too worked up now.
“Woo-jeong. Please settle down and stand up.”
“But my sister is hurt!”
“It’s not a serious wound that she can’t walk……”
“Hah… So this is how people from different guilds act. Yes! I understand well.”
Suddenly determined, Shin Woo-jeong lifted his sister into his arms.
Yoo Ji-han, looking perplexed, asked,
“What are you doing?”
“We’re going separately.”
“……All of a sudden?”
A bombshell declaration that they would part ways!
The remaining party members frowned and exclaimed.
“Woo-jeong! Are you out of your mind?!”
“Do you still think this is Hero Academy? Why are you babying your sister?”
“Brother, let me down.”
“Stay quiet.”
Shin Woo-jeong barked at his sister, ultimately turning his back.
Flustered, Shin Mun-ah looked between her remaining party and her brother.
“Brother? Brother!”
“……”
“Oh, brother!! You really must be crazy; what’s wrong with you!!”
“Let’s go to Hole 1. It’ll be safer there.”
Yoo Ji-han spoke to him.
“Woo-jeong. Are you really going to bail out like this?”
“Yeah.”
“Leaving your party members behind?”
“They’ll manage on their own.”
“You are the leader responsible for the party.”
“Before being a leader, I’m Mun-ah’s brother.”
“Your sister seems to be quite unhappy with that.”
“She hasn’t fully developed her judgment yet.”
“What the hell! Let me down!!”
Shin Mun-ah shouted while hitting her brother’s back and looking towards the party members.
Seeing her on the verge of tears caused the faces of all present to harden as they approached Shin Woo-jeong.
“Don’t come any closer.”
“You really……!”
But he outright rejected their approach.
That was practically their last warning.
“He really left.”
“That crazy guy…….”
In the end, Shin Woo-jeong left with Shin Mun-ah in his arms.
All the heroes left behind wore expressions of disbelief.
“……What on earth is going on?”
Yoo Ji-han and Kim Si-hu glared hard at Shin Woo-jeong’s party members.
Demanding an explanation for the situation that just unfolded.
“We have nothing to say.”
“He’s been overprotective of his sister for a while now…….”
Their explanation was brief.
It was that Shin Woo-jeong had been way too overly protective of Shin Mun-ah even back when they were at the same Hero Academy.
Every break time, he’d rush down to his sister’s classroom one grade below to wrap her in protection, and on days when she got hurt in class, it was said he would turn the whole academy upside down.
‘Did I misjudge this guy?’
Yoo Ji-han couldn’t hide his disappointment.
When they met at the exchange meeting, he had seemed like a noble hero with a solid impression.
But working together here revealed him to just be a simping little brother with a sister complex.
Perhaps since this was a place where life and death hung in the balance, his true nature had been exposed.
“He’s got an artifact, so he’ll manage.”
“Artifact? If he has that, why hasn’t he used it until now?”
“It’s an attack magic, but it has a daily usage limit, or something like that.”
“A rechargeable artifact, huh?”
An artifact that allows the use of special spell skills, which then requires time before it can be reused.
Shin Woo-jeong possessed an item far too extravagant for a Rank 4 party.
‘If he had something like that, he should have mentioned it earlier.’
Depending on the spell, if it had high firepower, they could have figured out a way to break through the entrance through negotiation with the mages.
But listening to the conversation, it seemed that Shin Woo-jeong hadn’t properly informed his party members about the artifact’s details.
“Are you guys not coming with us?”
“Looking at that guy’s state, it seems best not to follow him.”
“I’ll stick with this side.”
“Since Woo-jeong isn’t bad at skill, he joined the Woo-jeong Guild… but once he gets out of here, he’s probably going to quit the party immediately.”
Shin Woo-jeong’s party members were at least sane.
No, saying they’d quit the party right after leaving was a bit excessive, but still they were somewhat normal.
In any case, with two people leaving, there were five left.
Two mages, including Kim Si-hu, and three warriors.
While it was regrettable that two mages and a warrior were missing, it was still manageable.
Yoo Ji-han reiterated for confirmation.
“If you’re coming with us, I will be giving all the instructions from now on.”
“Sounds good.”
With their agreement, a temporary party was formed.
Yoo Ji-han turned his gaze back to Hole 12.
He was looking for a path to move.
‘We just need to break through here.’
Once they passed Hole 12 and crossed a small thicket on the outskirts, they could access the barrier lying between the golf course and the residential area.
Since the barrier was thicker than the entrance, they would experience some rebound when exiting, but even if they roughly forced their way through a Rank 4 Monster Area barrier, it wouldn’t leave long-term physical aftereffects.
‘Stay calm.’
Yoo Ji-han closed his lips and took a deep breath through his nose.
Then, looking towards the barrier in the distance, he searched for the shortest direct route from their current location to the barrier.
The path he found was mentally marked as ‘A,’ and he used sampling.
<— The probability of heroes at this location safely passing through route A>
<34%>
Calculating the survival probability when heading towards the hypothetical route.
Thanks to the sampling conditions, which allowed for the inclusion of arbitrary parameters rather than simply visible ‘phenomena,’ this was possible.
But the result was 34%.
Not impossible, but definitely risky to attempt.
‘There are still many paths to explore.’
<— The probability of heroes at this location safely passing through route B>
<— The probability of heroes at this location safely passing through route C>
<— The probability of heroes at this location safely...... His dark eyes moved quickly, discovering a path that led to the barrier but was entirely different from the previous one. Inserting that into the sampling conditions, he checked how high the potential was. 'I noticed that the female mage looked a bit fatigued earlier.' At the same time, he considered the current situation without solely relying on the sampling. Calculating the stamina of Kim Si-hu and the remaining warriors coldly. 'I need to find a better option......!' Yoo Ji-han's thoughts accelerated. <— The probability of heroes at this location safely passing through route A-1>
<— The probability of heroes at this location safely passing through route B-2>
…….
…….
His eyes, which had been moving about, began to feel a bit strained.
Because he was repetitively using sampling, his head also started to ache a little.
But he didn’t stop his actions.
For the sake of increasing the possibilities, he could tolerate a bit of pain.
Although Yoo Ji-han’s party previously dismissed the results gained through such processes as unnecessary chatter……
Circumstances were now different from when they quietly followed Kim Hyun-tae’s decisions.
“Haah……”
“Ji-han?”
“Look over there.”
Having settled on a decision, Yoo Ji-han exhaled air and extended his hand forward.
What he pointed to with his index finger was a small lake at the corner of the golf course.
“Let’s slip around that lake’s edge.”
“Excuse me?”
The safest choice from the Giant Dandelion’s attacks.
Yet the remaining heroes, excluding Kim Si-hu, tilted their heads in confusion.
There were shorter routes available after all.
“That’s a detour; is there a reason you want to go that way?”
“I will not entertain other opinions. If you don’t like my decision, you can split off here.”
“But……”
“I said I would be giving all the instructions from now on.”
Yoo Ji-han firmly cut off the opinions of Shin Woo-jeong’s party members.
And he glared at their faces with a sharp gaze.
Given the situation, he could not listen to everyone’s opinions here.
‘Huh?’
‘Is this who this person is?’
‘The atmosphere feels a bit different.’
His attitude was somewhat aggressive, unlike the cooperative approach they had taken just moments ago.
Such behavior could potentially evoke discomfort.
However, the members of Shin Woo-jeong’s party felt reassured by Yoo Ji-han’s demeanor.
They believed that following him might allow them to survive here.
A stark contrast to Shin Woo-jeong, who had abandoned them.
Exchanging glances, they soon spoke to Yoo Ji-han.
“We will follow Ji-han.”
“We’re not going straight but making a curve in the middle. When I signal, everyone should hide well behind the metal plates.”
“Okay!”
“And the mage……”
After briefly explaining the plan.
Everyone anxiously looked at the calm lake.
And the moment a Giant Dandelion crossed their path.
Yoo Ji-han cast a spirit enhancement on Kim Si-hu’s staff and shouted.
“Fire!”
Kim Si-hu unleashed his mana similar to when using Fire Arrow.
Then, instead of splitting the mana into several arrows, he focused it all together.
[Fire Lance]
What emerged in the air wasn’t a fire arrow but a massive fire spear!
He channeled all his concentration into controlling it.
“Wow……”
“Is he really moving it like that?”
To reduce mana consumption, he cast the spell as low as possible.
Dodging the Giant Dandelion obstructing their path with movements reminiscent of a space vessel weaving through enemy missiles in a bullet hell shooter, his control was exceptional.
The warriors and mages from Shin Woo-jeong’s party who were waiting at the side were astonished by his skills.
Whoosh!
The magic created to ensure a more certain hit ultimately struck the mutation.
As the seeds attached to its head burst into flames, all the hidden ones came out of the trees.
“Shishishi……”
“Shishishishi!”
The Giant Dandelions around Hole 12 turned their bodies in the direction the heroes were running.
The sight of the flowers that had colored the golf course in yellow all turning simultaneously resembled a grand performance of coordinated dance.
‘Unnecessarily splendid!’
Holding the metal plate above his head, Yoo Ji-han sprinted forward along the pre-established route.
He was confident he could escape from such a trivial crisis.