Hae-in POV | Hae-in was lost in her own thoughts.
There were still hours remaining until the mining team would be finished with their work, following which Si-woo was scheduled to duel the death knight.
A million different thoughts were running wild in her mind.
Surprisingly, she was not feeling anxious about the upcoming fight because, she somehow knew Si-woo would win.
Her mind silenced completely when Si-woo placed an arm around her shoulders and gently pulled her toward him.
She snuggled directly into his chest, a sudden action that surprised even herself.
‘Aren’t we moving too fast?’ she thought, though the intimacy did not feel unnatural to her in the slightest.
She actually liked how she felt whenever she was with him.
He had a way of making everything feel perfectly natural.
She never felt judged around him, and even during their very first meeting, she had never felt like he was a stranger.
He always carried a certain look in his eyes, as if he knew more than he was letting on.
That intuition had been proven correct by the strange events that had just unfolded.
A sudden pang of frustration entered her mind.
She could not even ask him the burning questions she wanted to because he had blatantly told her that he would not be answering her truthfully.
As if he could physically feel her internal frustration, he began gently rubbing her back.
She looked up at him to see a genuinely guilty look marking his features.
Sensing her gaze, he looked down as well, and their eyes met in the quiet cavern.
They did not speak a single word, choosing to just stare at each other, and even that silence did not feel uncomfortable to her.
She raised her hand and gently cupped his cheek as she studied his distinct facial features.
She traced his pale skin and those unique golden eyes with their highly visible sclera, which typically gave him a slightly intimidating appearance to outsiders.
She leaned up toward him, though she still could not quite reach his face because of the height difference between them.
Si-woo leaned down in response, thinking she simply wanted to whisper something to him.
She felt his entire posture stiffen up when her lips softly touched his cheek.
His hold around her tightened a little bit, though the embrace remained comfortable.
Blushing, she quickly buried her head back into his chest in embarrassment.
“Hey, if that is the kind of reward I can expect, I—” he started with a slight chuckle.
“Don’t speak,” she interrupted him quickly.
“Yes, ma’am.” She had to admit he just had a natural way of making her laugh, but this was a time where she really did not want him to do that.
Fifteen minutes passed in silence before they started talking again.
She was the one who initiated the conversation this time.
Then, a comfortable silence would settle, followed by her asking a question or mentioning a random thought, and the cycle continued naturally.
She suddenly realized she had spent almost three whole hours resting against his chest.
‘It’s still not enough.’ she thought to herself as she reluctantly separated herself from his warmth upon hearing the distant sounds of pickaxes finally stopping.
Though the mining had concluded, she could still hear that the gathered crystals were not yet fully transported out of the dungeon.
“I’ll go help them with the transport,” Si-woo told her, a familiar glint appearing in his eyes.
By now, she had recognized that he possessed an almost compulsive need to keep himself doing things, as evidenced by the fact that he had not slept for two whole nights.
She knew that because she had closely followed the social media posts of him clearing various dungeons with random parties, or photos uploaded by random passersby catching him clearing dungeon breaks all around Korea.
She held those thoughts in her mind as he leapt down from their elevated spot and walked over to assist the mining crew.
‘At this point, he must be keeping himself moving because he knows he will fall asleep the moment he relaxes fully.’ she thought, staring intently at his retreating back.
She leapt down from her spot as well, moving quickly to find the rest of the raid party to break the news about the boss.
“This one as well?
Are we really all that weak?” the blonde mage specializing in telekinesis asked her when she informed the party that she and Si-woo would be tackling the boss alone.
She could clearly see reluctance settling over the rest of her party members.
Most hunters genuinely enjoyed combat.
Well, most of the ones she had met, at least.
She knew she enjoyed combat, perhaps even more than before now that she did not have to deal with the constant stench of everyone with even a little bit of mana because of Si-woo’s presence.
The hunters standing in front of her enjoyed fighting just as much, so she did not feel particularly good looking at their disheartened faces.
“You guys are not weak.
Not at all,” she assured them, trying to soften the blow before continuing.
“It’s just…
the boss possesses a aura-type skill that essentially renders even high A-ranks completely useless in combat.” She lied smoothly to preserve their confidence and keep their spirits up.
She knew she had constructed a good enough lie when most of them readily accepted her reasoning, and the blonde mage looked visibly sheepish regarding her earlier outburst.
“There’s nothing we can do about it then.
Let’s not get disheartened, guys, there will always be more opportunities in future gates,” the main tank of the team spoke up, shouting words of encouragement to the rest of the party.
‘This one has the potential to be a good leader.’ Hae-in thought to herself before turning around and walking back toward the inner gate.
The mining team was fully packed and exiting by now.
She noticed several workers giving Si-woo respectful bows and appreciative looks as they left the tunnel, which brought a gentle smile to her face.
Her and Si-woo’s eyes met as the workers cleared out of the entrance.
She leaned in closer toward his side as they walked toward the boss room.
“I think one more kiss would increase my chances of winning…
Motivation is important, you know,” he said, raising a finger in the air as if he had just received some grand tactical inspiration.
She knew he was just joking around to ease her, but for some reason, she was feeling particularly bold today.
She suddenly reached out and cupped his face, much to his surprise.
She stood high up on her tiptoes, which was still not enough so she moved his face down closer to her own.
Her eyes darted to his lips for a brief, fleeting moment.
‘Too soon.’ she thought as she felt her face growing hot.
Instead, she leaned his head slightly to the side and placed a lingering, deliberate kiss on his cheek once more.
A soft breath escaped her lips as his arms wrapped firmly around her waist to steady her.
“Motivation is important…” she echoed his words softly.
She could only imagine how bright red her face must look at the moment, so she quickly turned away from him, placing her hands flat against her chest to feel her rapidly beating heart.
| General POV | Si-woo scratched his cheek with a goofy smile, which thankfully remained hidden from her view since she was refusing to turn back around.
His gaze then shifted toward the death knight, who currently had one skeletal hand pressed against his head as if he were fighting a battle within his own mind.
‘He can see Hae-in standing there.
That presence must have caused the voices to start shouting in his head.’ Si-woo deduced.
Without hesitation, he crossed the threshold into the boss room as his massive sword materialized from his palms.
There was no need for further words between the two and the very next moment, a loud, echoing sound of steel hitting steel rang through the cavern as their blades clashed.
A massive shockwave followed the impact, and the death knight staggered backward under the brute force of Si-woo’s opening blow.
Si-woo did not let up the pressure for a single second.
He swung his blade in a wide, sweeping arc, managing to sever one of the knight’s arms in that single swing.
He immediately followed up the strike by releasing a massive torrent of electricity from his free hand, hitting the knight head-on.
For less than a second, the death knight was left completely paralyzed by the lightning.
That brief window was more than enough time for Si-woo to swing his massive sword vertically, driving the blade upward from below.
The upward swing generated another violent shockwave, cleaving the knight’s body into two distinct pieces.
Si-woo knew the knight was still not truly dead, so he formed a roaring torrent of flames in his free hand and unleashed it forward, engulfing the falling figure entirely.
He then sent his sword back into his personal storage space, joining both of his hands together as a brilliant, blinding light of his strongest purifying magic erupted from his palms, turning the knight’s remaining form to pure white ash.
He looked up and saw the magical contract floating above them abruptly burst into flames.
The falling ash of the parchment descended, completely engulfing the knight’s original sword and his remaining pieces of armor.
An aura stronger than anything Si-woo had ever felt before permeated the boss room for a brief moment before a concentrated fire lit up in the center of the room.
The flames burned steadily for five minutes before dying down, leaving behind a magnificent sword sporting a polished black handle and a striking blue blade.
Si-woo walked back over toward Hae-in, who seemed to be completely stunned by the rapid display of power.
He took her hand gently to bring her out of her daze.
“Your reward is waiting, my lady,” he said with exaggerated, sweeping formality, bowing low as if he were a loyal knight who had just successfully defended his lady’s honor.
“Thank you, my knight,” she played along, caressing his cheek once with a soft smile before he took her hand and led her directly toward the sword.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered, circling the weapon once to admire the craftsmanship.
She then glanced back at Si-woo, who gave her an encouraging, supportive nod.
She offered him a smile of gratitude before wrapping her fingers firmly around the hilt of the sword.
It fit perfectly in her hand, as if it had been specifically manufactured for her grip, and it slid smoothly out of the stone ground the moment she pulled upward.
“It’s perfectly balanced,” she muttered in awe.
Suddenly, her eyes widened as she felt a massive torrent of magic entering her body, rapidly expanding her already high S-rank magical reserves.
Along with the raw power came a vast, accumulated knowledge of swordsmanship.
The sheer volume of techniques was so immense that she could not even grasp the concept of any being living long enough to master them all naturally.
She then noticed a beautifully crafted scabbard lying directly next to the indentation where the sword had been lodged.
“Will you put it on me, my knight?” she asked Si-woo, gesturing toward the new scabbard.
She carefully shifted the original scabbard she already wore over to her left side as Si-woo stepped near her with the new piece.
He leaned down, his face coming close to hers as he carefully latched the scabbard onto her waistline.
“It’s like it was made for you.” he smiled at her after she sheathed the blue blade into its new home.