“Ian, you seem confident today.”

The two people that stood in front of the Forlan dungeon.

At Fiolan’s words, Ian grinned.

“I have some back-up that I’ve formed.”

“Back-up?”

Because Fiolan had never seen Ian talk like this before, she wore a slightly surprised expression.

“Yes, hu-hu.”

“What is it?”

“That I will show you once we go in.”

Before Ian went into the dungeon, he checked the dungeon clear ranking list.

Because it had been a while since he had come to Forlan, he was curious of the records that were set during that time.

‘Let’s see, is there someone that has beaten my record?’

And Ian, who checked the record, wore a relaxed expression.

This was because the ranking window wasn’t completely filled with Ian’s name like before, but Ian and Fiolan’s names were still shining at 1st place.

‘There’s still almost a 3-minute difference with 2nd place. I should make a proper difference between us today.’

Ian turned his attention towards Fiolan.

“You can do five rounds one after another today, right?”

At those words, Fiolan nodded her head as if she was waiting for it.

“Of course. If it’s not now, when will I be able to monopolize you all to myself?”

Fiolan winked as she spoke.

Ian grinned as he started walking. And a system message that alerted the two people of the entry popped up in front of their eyes.

• You have entered the ‘Grave of the Forlan Hero’ dungeon.

* * *

Ian and Fiolan hadn’t just gone through the Forlan dungeon once or twice.

On top of that, the two people had hunted hundreds of times up until now and adjusted to each other through that.

As if they were proving that they were the party that currently held the highest record, Ian and Fiolan moved adeptly from the beginning.

As usual, Ian used Halli to quickly pierce through the canyon and get to the hole where the main phases progressed, while Fiolan used Spatial Movement and followed Ian.

Up to this point, it unfolded no differently from before.

However, as soon as Ian summoned all of his Familiars, Fiolan’s eyes rounded.

Grr-.

She had discovered Ly, whose appearance had completely changed.

“Ian, Ly, did he evolve?”

Ian laughed as he nodded his head.

“Yes, he evolved after our recent quest. You can look forward to him.”

Ian turned his head towards Ly.

“Ly, let’s wipe them all.”

• Understood, owner.

The first phase, which was the monsters of the canyon, Lake and Pin wiped them in an instant with their combined attack like before.

They had spotlessly cleaned the monsters that poured out of the narrow canyon by using their AoE attacks.

However, once they used all of their AoE skills like this before, their hunting speed couldn’t help but drop until the cooldown times were over, but Ian was planning on leaving this section with Ly.

Awhoo-!

Ly’s howling rang out loudly.

• Familiar ‘Ly’ has used Inherent Ability ‘Rage of the Fenrir’.

• All combat abilities of Familiar ‘Ly’ has increased by 50%.

• The critical attack rate of Familiar ‘Ly’ has increased by 30%.

The white flames that flared out of Ly’s body began to burn even stronger.

And as soon as the second phase began, Ly started to leap around.

“Ian, do I just need to protect the sanctum of the hero like before?”

At Fiolan’s words, Ian shook his head.

“No, you just need to fight. Don’t think about the sanctum and just deal damage. I think we can prevent them from even reaching here, anyways.”

It was just like Ian said.

As if Ly was facing children, he faced the monsters that poured out from every direction.

“Then I’ll just use Glacial Curtain.”

“Okay!”

As all combat abilities of Ly, who already had incredible stats even without it, increased by 50%, he literally had monstrous fighting power.

Chwaak-!

Whenever Ly clawed down with his large front paws, monsters with weak Vitality like the Snow Gargoyles were killed instantly.

• Familiar ‘Ly’ has dealt critical damage to the Snow Gargoyle.

• The ‘Snow Gargoyle’s Vitality has been reduced by 20,795.

• As Familiar ‘Ly’s attack has dealt critical damage to the opponent, the cooldown time of Inherent Ability, the ‘Rage of the Fenrir’, has been reduced by 5 seconds.

• You have killed the ‘Snow Gargoyle’.

• You have obtained 17,492 EXP.

The cooldown time of the Rage of the Fenrir skill was 10 minutes.

And the duration of it was 3 minutes.

Then that meant once it was over, it couldn’t be used for 7 minutes, but thanks to the additional effect attached to the Rage of the Fenrir, ‘5 second cooldown time recovery whenever critical damage is dealt’, he could recover almost all of the cooldown time in 3 minutes.

In the end, it meant that it was an ability that could be used unlimitedly.

“Ly, let’s use Darkness Encroachment later when the boss comes out.”

• I will do that, owner.

Ly’s performance was most remarkable, but Ian’s other Familiars were also doing their part well.

Excluding Ly, the thing that stood out most amongst the Familiars was the fighting power of Pin, who had leveled up a lot and was close to lv 110.

As if Pin was proving that he was also a Legendary-rank Familiar, he was slaughtering the monsters that were pouring out without discriminating one.

‘If this is the case, there’s not even a reason to gather them before catching them.’

As if they were eating popcorn popped by lightning, Fiolan wore a dazed expression as she looked at Ian, who had organized even the second phase in an instant.

“I didn’t even cast three skills, but the second phase is already done.”

The second phase had ended before it was even 10 minutes.

Even Ian, who checked the record, wore a satisfied expression.

• 00:08:15

“Just the time that we’ve reduced here is over 3 minutes. Even if we just continue like we usually did, it should be enough to get an S-rank.”

It was just like Ian said.

If he thought of the record that was 13-minutes up to the second phase when he first challenged this with Fiolan, it was truly a tremendously fast speed.

“Hul… Are you sure we won’t hit 20-minutes like this?”

The time limit for an S-rank was 25 minutes.

However, if they continuously reduced the time with this force, they felt that it would be possible to clear under 20 minutes.

Ian grinned and got into stance again.

“Shall we try?”

And during the two people’s conversation, the third phase began.

• The ‘Giants of Hatred’ have awoken from their sleep.

Ian organized his thoughts.

‘This was originally a phase that I relied on Halli’s infinite stun for, but now I should be able to melt them down one by one without doing that.’

It was a plan that was possible thanks to the Offensive Power of his Familiars that had gotten so strong.

As soon as the giants appeared, Ian began to attack the giant on the right, which had the weakest Vitality amongst the three.

“Ddukdae, tie down the other two with Abyss Hole for a moment!”

Deu-reu-reuk-!

At Ian’s words, Ddukdae moved and used Abyss Hole, which he was saving up, and the two were sucked right into the range of Abyss Hole.

“Fiolan, the strongest single-target attack magic you have!”

“Alright!”

If it was a normal monster, then he would have been able to have them tied down for quite a long time, but because the three giants were semi-boss rank monsters, their resistance to status conditions were strong, so they would be released any minute.

Ian used all of the methods he could and poured out his attack.

Bang- Ba-bang-!

Evolved Ly, as well as Pin, who had leveled up a lot.

And as he had generally equipped Familiar-exclusive items, Ian’s Familiars, whose fighting powers had rapidly increased, had eliminated one of the giants in an instant.

Thud-

• You have killed ‘Giant of Hatred (Yakram)’.

Timed with that, Ddukdae’s Abyss Hole burst out, and Ian quickly changed his focus towards huge middle giant, which was the most threatening.

“Ian! To the side!”

At Fiolan’s words, he didn’t forget to move his body.

This was because even allies received quite a large amount of damage if they were improperly hit by AoE magic.

Ba-ba-bang-.

Fiolan’s ice magic directly hit the giants, and as the invoking of the magic was finished, Ly, who was closest to the front, lunged at the giant as if he was waiting.

Chwa-ra-rak-!

Ly, who closed the space between the giant and him that looked to be about 5 metres in an instant, pierced through the guard of the giant and dug in towards the inner part.

And as Ly’s long claws lodged into the abdomen of the giant, the giant seemed to have been in pain as it let out a horrible shriek.

Keu-aah-!

And as Ly was exposed to the path of the giant’s right hand, which came down in the next moment, Ian shouted with an urgent voice.

“Ly, to the right!”

Ian commanded with the meaning for Ly to avoid the attack, but for some odd reason, Ly had no intentions on avoiding the attack.

Instead, didn’t he raise his right arm and blocked the attack of the giant?!

• Familiar ‘Ly’ has been attacked by Giant of Hatred (Karahan) and has received critical damage.

• Familiar ‘Ly’s Vitality has been reduced by 15,892.

He did block it, but Ly, whose Defensive Power itself wasn’t that high to begin with, couldn’t help but receive quite a bit of damage.

Ian was taken aback.

‘He could definitely avoid it, so why did he get hit?’

However, his questioning was only for a moment.

While looking at Ly’s next attack that continued, Ian couldn’t help but nod his head.

Ly had recovered all of the damage that he received in an instant through two or three linked attacks.

It was the power of his Inherent Ability ‘Health Absorption’.

‘I had forgotten about Health Absorption. But then again, in the case that happened just now, if he backed up, then there would have been quite a lot of damage that he would have lost. Ly’s decision was right.’

Like that, Ian and Fiolan’s party was even able to finish the third phase instantly.

• You have killed all of the Giants of Hatred.

Along with the pop-up of the message, Fiolan and Ian turned their gaze in order to see the elapsed time.

• 00:14:29

Fiolan’s jaw dropped.

“For such a nonsense record to have been possible…”

Now, it was a situation where S-rank wasn’t even work.

They would for sure be able to see the 20-minute clear that they spoke of in a half-joking manner.

And lastly, the boss monster of the Forlan dungeon began to appear at the end of the dungeon.

• Now the hero of Forlan is awakening.

* * *

Deu-reu-reu-reu-reuk-

The practice room, where the sound of the dough machine noisily rang out.

In order to do her baking class assignment, Harin was diligently kneading the dough.

In the practice room, Harin and her best friend, Yejung, were together.

“Harin, are you almost done?”

“Yeah. I just need to pour it into the pan and put it in the oven. What about you?”

Yejung lifted her arm straight up with a smile.

“I’m done!”

“Uhh, already?”

“Huh? What do you mean already, you’re just slow.”

Yejung, who pulled out her bread from the oven, approached Harin after packing hers to look nice.

And after looking at the muffins that were on top of Harin’s practice table, she was astonished.

“Yo, no wonder you’re so slow.”

“What.”

“You’ve made almost double the amount I did. Why did you make so many? Are you planning on giving it to someone?”

Yejung spoke without much thought, but as Harin hesitated, she wore a mischievous expression.

“What’s this, it seems like there’s actually someone you’re giving this to?”

Harin, who was flustered, quickly waved her hands and spoke.

“N, no, it’s not like that.”

“What do you mean it’s not like that. Just from looking, I can see that’s the case. When did this one get a boyfriend? Without even a word to me!”

While looking at Yejung, who snapped at her like rapid fire, Harin let out a deep sigh.

“Yejung, to be honest, I have a little problem.”

Yejung, who was slightly taken back at the unexpected development, hesitated as she pulled out a chair next to Harin and sat down.

“Problem? What’s the problem?”

And Harin, who momentarily hesitated, began to pour out her story.

Harin’s problem was none other than her ambiguous relationship with Jinsung.

Yejung, who heard Harin’s story for a long time, wore a dumbfounded expression as she opened her mouth.

“So, by Jinsung, you mean… That guy from the VR department that you ate lunch with before? You’re dating him?”

At that, Harin wore a sullen face as she nodded her head.

“Yeah…”

At Harin’s form, where there was no end to her cuteness, Yejung barely held back the laughter that almost burst out of her.

“Yo, you idiot. How is that dating? No matter how I see it, you two aren’t dating yet.”

At those words, Harin wore an even more tearful face.

“Is… that so? Then what should I do?”

Yejung shook her head.

“Ugh, Harin really doesn’t live up to her looks. If I looked like you, I would have lived at least three times more dissipated, baby.”

At those words, Harin glared at Yejung.

“Stop talking nonsense. If you have a good idea then tell me quickly, Lee Yejung.”

To be honest, Yejung wasn’t ugly either.

No, rather, she had a pretty outer appearance to the point she didn’t fall far behind from Harin.

On top of that, different from Harin, who was close to a fool, she had dated quite a bit, so Harin was inwardly expecting Yejung to present a decent solution.

“Hmm… A good idea, huh…”

Yejung, who momentarily paused to take a breath, continued speaking.

“Ask him to hold your hand on your way home from school because you’re cold.”

“What? It’s October right now, though?”

“Is October such a big deal? I can do it even in the middle of the summer.”

“Not a chance. That.”

“Why?”

Harin’s face flushed.

“It’s… embarrassing.”

“…”

Yejung, who was speechless for a moment, made a different suggestion.

“Then how about this?”

“Tell me.”

“Go watch something like a horror movie, and when there’s a scary scene, just hug him.”

“That’s harder…”

Yejung, who gave different kinds of suggestions before becoming worn out, sighed deeply as she spoke.

“From what I’ve heard, that Jinsung dude. I’m positive he just got into university now and had never dated before.”

Harin nodded her head.

“That’s right. That’s probably the case.”

“On top of that, he definitely came out of an all-boys’ middle and high school, right?”

Harin’s eyes slightly grew.

“How, how did you know?”

There was something that she remembered hearing from Jinsung a long time ago.

Towards a flustered Harin, Yejung shrugged her shoulders as she continued speaking.

“That I can see with one glance. Anyways, if you don’t want to suffer anymore, you need to make the first move. If you just do as I told you, it will all work out!”

Yejung spoke with confidence.

On the other hand, Harin still had no assurance.

“Won’t I be dumped by doing that?”

At those words, Yejung wore a dumbfounded expression as she replied.

“What kind of man will say that he hates it when a girl as pretty as you makes the first move?”

“Still…”

“Unless he’s an eunuch, then you will succeed no matter what.”

Harin suddenly felt a cold sweat drip down her back.

‘By any chance, Jinsung… isn’t an eunuch, right?’