My Childhood Friend’s Stock Will Never Fail Chapter 71

Yoohee also couldn’t take her eyes off the ceiling.

 

The monster that had fired the purple poison was a spider hanging from thick webs.

 

At the center was a giant spider as large as a human, while countless baby spiders writhed their legs around it in a truly horrifying swarm.

 

“No way. That’s……”

 

Jaemin muttered, completely dumbfounded.

 

Yoohee couldn’t believe her eyes either.

 

A spider with a transparent body. A spider-shaped creature that lived in caves and spewed thick purple venom.

 

‘Why is it here……?’

 

She had seen this creature in her previous life, but the circumstances were completely different this time.

 

This was a C-rank Gate.

 

Why was a creature that was supposed to appear in an A-rank Gate here?

 

On top of that, the boss creature of this Gate was already dead. Yoohee had never encountered—or even heard of—a Gate with more than one boss creature.

 

“Damn it, what the hell is going on? Hey, Do young…… No, hey!”

 

Jaemin suddenly shouted for Do young, only to recoil in shock.

 

What was it this time?

 

Come to think of it, Do young had been strangely quiet for a while now.

 

Following Jaemin’s gaze, Yoohee looked down and saw Do young lying demurely in a corner of the cave with both hands folded over his chest.

 

He was sleeping soundly without moving an inch, almost like Sleeping Beauty.

 

‘I knew this would happen!’

 

Psychic-type Espers had to sleep for a certain amount of time after expending a large amount of mana.

 

It was a unique trait of their type that even guiding couldn’t resolve.

 

“He used too much mana earlier. He won’t be waking up for a while.”

 

Yoohee quickly explained, making Jaemin click his tongue sharply.

 

“Damn it. He told us to follow him because he could handle everything. Now what are we supposed to do? The only high-ranking Esper we had……”

 

Before Jaemin could finish complaining, the spiders began to move.

 

The sight of them rapidly spinning webs and descending was downright eerie.

 

“Damn it, run!”

 

Jaemin shouted as he pulled Suin along.

 

At the same time, Joohoon scooped up the unconscious Do young with one arm and Yoohee with the other before taking off.

 

“Yoohee, hold on tight!”

 

Joohoon shouted as he ran.

 

This feels strangely familiar.

 

Yoohee was being carried by Joohoon in exactly the same position as she had been in the Elven Forest.

 

The only difference was that Do young was with them this time.

 

With Yoohee and Do young in his arms, Joohoon couldn’t help but slow down.

 

They were gradually falling farther and farther behind Jaemin, who was running ahead.

 

Then—

 

BOOM!

 

The cave ceiling collapsed in an instant, filling the air with a cloud of dust.

 

The sudden debris completely blocked their path.

 

They had been separated from Jaemin and Suin.

 

When they turned around, all they could see were the spiders rapidly spinning webs as they closed in.

 

Yoohee could feel Joohoon’s shoulders rising and falling heavily.

 

“……”

 

Joohoon stood frozen for a moment, seemingly lost in thought.

 

Then he placed Yoohee and Do young down in a narrow gap between some rocks where they could at least hide their bodies.

 

“You don’t need to be scared. I’ll take care of it, so wait here.”

 

Joohoon tried to sound calm.

 

But Yoohee knew.

 

There was no way he could handle that many spiders by himself.

 

“The center has been contacted, so reinforcements should be coming soon. Just until then, if you can hold out a little……”

 

She spoke desperately, trying to find some way out of their predicament.

 

Suin had contacted the center with the communicator earlier, so reinforcements should arrive soon.

 

If Joohoon could just hold on a little longer—

 

“Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere.”

 

The corners of Joohoon’s lips lifted slightly.

 

“This time, I’m the one who gets to say it.”

 

He gently took Yoohee’s hand.

 

“I won’t die.”

 

Then he let go.

 

For a moment, Yoohee regretted the cold sensation disappearing from her fingertips.

 

Those had been her own words when she had let go of Joohoon’s hand in the Elven Forest.

 

……

 

Before she even had time to dwell on that feeling, Joohoon turned around and rushed forward.

 

Countless shards of ice tangled with the spiderwebs, while the spiders became even more frantic.

 

Their bodies were covered in incredibly tough scales, and their hairy mouths spewed purple venom, making Joohoon’s attacks far less effective than they should have been.

 

‘Why aren’t the reinforcements coming……?’

 

They still hadn’t arrived.

 

Could they be unable to find them because the collapsed wall was blocking the way?

 

The longer it took, the more anxious Yoohee became.

 

Then—

 

Peep.

 

A sound came like a savior.

 

The Pink Chick Ring wrapped around her left hand.

 

Come to think of it, there was a useful skill among Ppiyaki’s abilities.

 

“Ppiyaki, tell me your skills.”

 

She couldn’t remember them, so she called out into the air.

 

The status window helpfully displayed an explanation.

 

[Yes. Here is the requested information regarding Ppiyaki’s skills.]

 

[Information: Pink Ppiyaki (SSS-rank)]

 

[Skills: Mount Form (Flying attribute), Vermilion Bird’s Roar (Dark attribute *Targets affected by this skill suffer confusion), Blessing of the Sky (Holy attribute *When this skill is used, allies’ defense increases by approximately twofold for five minutes), Absolute Dominion (Dark attribute *When the opponent is an avian-type creature, the creature’s attack and defense decrease significantly)]

 

[Passive: Accessory Form (*Can normally transform into and be worn as a ring.), Vermilion Bird’s Loyalty (*When in Accessory Form, detects dangerous situations.)]

 

Yoohee’s eyes widened as she read through Ppiyaki’s skills.

 

Vermilion Bird’s Roar caused confusion, but there were simply too many spiders, so she ruled it out.

 

Absolute Dominion was useless because these creatures weren’t avian-type either.

 

The only useful skill right now was Blessing of the Sky, which could increase Joohoon’s defense.

 

“Blessing of the Sky.”

 

As soon as she spoke the words, a blue arrow appeared above Joohoon’s head.

 

A sign that his defense had increased.

 

But there was no dramatic change.

 

The spiders were still swarming everywhere, and there was still no sign of reinforcements.

 

“There has to be another way……”

 

Then—

 

Bzzzt.

 

Yoohee’s phone vibrated inside her pocket.

 

She hurriedly pulled it out.

 

A message from a familiar name had arrived.

 

—‘Unknown X’ has sent Yoohee a gift.

 

It looked like a gift-card notification.

 

However, the contents of the gift weren’t shown.

 

There were only Accept and Decline buttons.

 

‘Why is Minhwan suddenly……?’

 

After her last meeting with Minhwan, they had lost contact.

 

With the holidays beginning, there hadn’t been any opportunity for them to meet either.

 

It would be a lie to say she hadn’t wondered how Minhwan was doing.

 

But she didn’t want to cause him any more trouble, so she had deliberately avoided looking for him.

 

And yet, he had contacted her first.

 

Looking closely at the gift details, Yoohee noticed a message.

 

If you do not accept within 30 seconds, the gift will automatically be refunded.

 

Why was the time limit so ridiculously short?

 

There was also a message card attached.

 

—Open this when you need help.

 

Yoohee froze at Minhwan’s message.

 

So his promise to watch over her hadn’t just been something he said casually.

 

She bit her lip lightly.

 

She felt sorry.

 

She also felt reluctant to let go.

 

Her emotions were tangled together.

 

Carefully, she pressed Accept.

 

The gift information that appeared was completely different from what she had expected.

 

—A Premium Feed Set will be delivered immediately.

 

Premium feed…….

 

While Yoohee stared blankly at the unexpected gift, a Premium Feed Set suddenly dropped right in front of her.

 

Apparently, the Constellation delivery system offered some kind of express shipping.

 

Inside a cute yellow chick-shaped bowl were small, round pellets that looked like handmade treats.

 

“Seriously. Who would like this just because you prepared something like this?”

 

Ppiyaki somehow recognized its own food immediately.

 

It canceled its ring form and transformed back into its original body.

 

Then it began wolfing down the feed at an incredible speed.

 

At that moment, a status window appeared before Yoohee.

 

[Due to increased rapport with the pet ‘Pink Ppiyaki (SSS-rank),’ a hidden skill has been unlocked.]

 

[Hidden Skill: One-Hit-Kill Spear (Highly effective against boss creatures *Can only be used when the pet is full.)]

 

Ppiyaki’s hidden skill.

 

One-Hit-Kill Spear.

 

Yoohee didn’t know exactly what it did, but it was clearly a skill that could help Joohoon right now.

 

It was highly effective against boss creatures.

 

Perhaps it could be used to kill that giant spider.

 

“One-Hit-Kill Spear.”

 

The moment Yoohee said it, Ppiyaki, who had just emptied the bowl, suddenly began coughing violently.

 

Cough, cough!

 

Its wings flapped wildly, and it looked like it was in serious trouble.

 

“A-are you okay?”

 

Did something go wrong with the food?

 

Yoohee stared at Ppiyaki worriedly.

 

Then—

 

Ppiyaki suddenly spat something out.

 

Phut!

 

What it had violently coughed up was a small stick roughly the size of Ppiyaki’s own body.

 

“This is the One-Hit-Kill Spear.”

 

“……What?”

 

Ppiyaki straightened itself proudly and placed one foot on top of the little stick.