S-Rank Healer Gets Kidnapped First Chapter 37

I took a deep breath and pushed open the door to the 44th floor, where the three of them were waiting.

The sudden entrance made all three pairs of eyes snap toward me at once.

“Yeonhee!”

Na Ye-ri was the first to understand what was happening and called out to me.

I was happy to see her too, but I brought up the reason I had come before anything else.

“A rift! They said a rift has appeared!”

As soon as the alarm came in that morning, I immediately went looking for them.

The three of them had previously given up on clearing a dungeon when I wasn’t around.

I had been worried they might abandon the raid again or sneak off and clear it without telling me. Thankfully, it seemed I had arrived at just the right moment.

I knew they had been doing it for my sake, but I also had something I wanted to check, so I really wanted to go to this rift.

“I was already dozing off, so you have no idea how startled I was when the alarm went off.”

Na Ye-ri grumbled in response.

“Good timing. We were just discussing what to do about this rift.”

“You’re not thinking of skipping it again, are you?”

I hurriedly asked, unable to hide my anxiety.

Han Seongwoo smiled as if telling me to calm down.

“No. I think we should go this time. It appeared near headquarters, so it would be difficult to ignore.”

“Then what were you worried about?”

“Who should go…”

“Oh! Me!”

Worried that I might be excluded again, I made it abundantly clear that I wanted to go to the dungeon.

I was so eager that I answered before Han Seongwoo had even finished speaking.

Seeing my enthusiasm, Han Seongwoo smiled meaningfully, as though he had figured out exactly what I was thinking.

Then, as if asking what else they could do, he turned toward Cha Seohae.

Cha Seohae had been observing the situation before finally speaking.

“If she wants to go, then she should go.”

Her tone was so matter-of-fact that it made all my earlier nervousness seem pointless.

“She’s trained hard, so it’d be a waste to let all that go unused.”

“Exactly. There’s a limit to how much you can grow by training only in places with perfect safety measures. It’s about time she went into the field for real.”

At Cha Seohae’s words, Na Ye-ri readily nodded.

“Weren’t we discussing whether to bring another A-rank Hunter in the first place? Why are you giving Yeonhee a hard time?”

Na Ye-ri came over to my side and glared at Han Seongwoo.

Han Seongwoo grinned at that.

“Because it’s fun teasing her. Just think how disappointed she must have been last time to come running the moment she heard the rift alarm.”

“Honestly, you’re such a jerk.”

Na Ye-ri’s words reminded me of all the pranks Han Seongwoo had pulled on me before, and I silently agreed.

‘He really is awful.’

As everyone seemed to agree, perhaps feeling unfairly ganged up on, Han Seongwoo’s eyes drooped.

“No, how are you guys looking at me right now…”

“Shall we get going?”

“Yeah, let’s hurry before the damage gets worse.”

Cha Seohae and Na Ye-ri spoke one after another.

No one seemed remotely interested in how Han Seongwoo felt.

“Mrs. Healer…”

“Ye-ri, come on!”

“Don’t bother responding to him. Hurry up!”

Of course, now that I had gotten used to things here, I was no different.

 

***

 

The rift had appeared in a nearby park.

“Citizens, please avoid provoking the monsters as much as possible and evacuate this way immediately!”

“You crazy bastard! Who’s using the alarm?! Stop that right now or— Agh! Watch out!”

“Waaaaah! Somebody help! The monster is coming this way!”

The citizens who had been peacefully enjoying their leisure time had been struck by disaster out of nowhere.

“Wow, there are so many things falling.”

Na Ye-ri shielded her eyes with one hand and admired the sight as though she were sightseeing from the top of a mountain.

“This isn’t the time to stand there gawking.”

Cha Seohae scolded her in exasperation, prompting Na Ye-ri to activate a skill as she replied.

“You’re making it impossible to say anything. I was just thinking about what to do first. Ground Protection Wall.”

No sooner had Na Ye-ri finished speaking than a cave-like ceiling appeared overhead.

The shield, large enough to cover the entire park, protected the citizens from monsters falling from the rift and trees collapsing around them.

“Wow.”

Even though this wasn’t my first time seeing her large-scale shield, I couldn’t help but marvel at it.

The shield was evenly thick throughout, without a single noticeably weak spot.

“Hey, that monster’s getting away.”

“Dammit.”

Han Seongwoo pointed toward one of the monsters.

Just as he said, a monster was sprinting toward the opposite side.

“Fault Line.”

Na Ye-ri used a new skill.

As befitting its name, the moment she activated it, the ground began shifting up and down.

The earth rose high enough for the layers of soil beneath it to become visible, blocking the monster’s path and leaving it with nowhere to go.

Bang!

―Kweeeeegh!

Cha Seohae, whose weapon was well suited for dealing with individual targets, cleanly finished off the monster.

“Let’s just change the entire field.”

“Got it. Fault Line.”

Rumble.

The ground rose from all directions, creating a battlefield advantageous to us.

Perhaps because of that, the earth began to shake.

The tremors weren’t strong enough to knock anyone over, but with a rift already appearing and now the ground shaking as well, panic spread among the people.

“Is this an earthquake?”

“An earthquake on top of all this?”

“Everyone, please remain calm. It’s a skill used by a Baekyang Guild Hunter. Don’t worry and keep moving.”

As though accustomed to situations like this, Han Seongwoo took command of the scene.

The frightened people who saw the Fault Line followed Han Seongwoo’s instructions.

Cha Seohae was also evacuating a dog that had lost its owner and a child who had been separated from their parents.

“I’m done!”

Na Ye-ri shouted after busily reshaping the earth as though she were kneading clay.

The completed terrain resembled an arena.

A ceiling made of rock had formed above us, while tall walls surrounded the area on all sides below.

The ground where Na Ye-ri and I stood had also risen, placing us above the monsters.

With all the monsters within our field of vision, it certainly looked like they would be easier to eliminate.

‘So this is how she uses her ability.’

I wasn’t sure whether this was simply the proper function of a Tanker’s ability or whether Na Ye-ri herself was just that impressive.

Either way, I could only marvel in silence.

“Hey! It’s time to take care of the monsters! Leave rescuing the civilians to the police and get up here!”

Na Ye-ri shouted toward the two who were still busy moving around.

The two signaled that they understood and climbed up in an instant.

“Did you see the boss while gathering them?”

“No. There’s no boss. That’s why I think we should check the ones gathered on top of the ceiling too.”

“Then let’s cancel the shield and clean them up.”

“Okay.”

“Then Moon Yeonhee and Na Ye-ri stay here, while Seongwoo and I move.”

“Got it.”

Cha Seohae and Han Seongwoo moved into position.

The three of them stood in a triangular formation atop the walls surrounding the area.

It was the first time I had seen all three of them fight together.

Cha Seohae gave orders in a firm, confident tone, and her decisiveness made her incredibly reliable.

Na Ye-ri and Han Seongwoo were the same. When it came to battle, they trusted Cha Seohae’s judgment completely.

There wasn’t even a hint of doubt toward her in either of their movements.

Watching the entire scene unfold, I quietly clenched my fist.

‘This is why they brought me here.’

They wanted to show me how they fought together.

For a long time, with no Healer available, Cha Seohae had been the one giving orders.

From now on, I would have to take over that role.

They wanted me to experience their fighting style firsthand so I could use it as a reference when giving orders.

I hurriedly cast the appropriate buffs on each of them.

‘Good thing I thought this through in advance.’

I had known that eventually I would have to give orders.

To avoid panicking and making mistakes when that time came, I had prepared strategies in advance.

Those preparations were proving useful now.

While I checked the buffs above their heads, Na Ye-ri withdrew the shield and let the monsters fall below.

Inhuman creatures poured into the pit.

Grotesque noises rang out, along with the sounds of them colliding with one another.

Just hearing it made my skin crawl.

“Is there no boss among them? They’re fighting each other.”

“Do monsters fight among themselves if there’s no boss?”

“Yeah. Most monsters only understand the boss’s commands, so many of them can’t distinguish between friend and foe.”

Na Ye-ri stared at the pitch-black hole formed by the cracks in the sky.

“This is going to take a while to clear.”

The fact that the boss hadn’t appeared early meant there were many monsters for it to send out.

In other words, the boss was likely to be a high-ranking one.

Unlike dungeons, whose rank could be determined from the moment they formed, rifts—created when dimensions became distorted—could only have their rank determined once the boss appeared.

I followed her gaze and stared anxiously at the rift.

Crackle.

―Everyone ready?

Cha Seohae’s voice came through the radio.

We had been given the radios when we were dispatched to the rift site.

“Na Ye-ri, Moon Yeonhee, ready.”

―Han Seongwoo, ready.

―Then let’s begin.

The sound of a gun being loaded came through the radio.

The three of them were ready for an all-out attack.

―Noir Bullet.

“Great Earthquake.”

―Sword Dance.

Their attacks were fired from the three points of the triangle.

They soon converged on the same destination.

BOOM!

They exploded with a tremendous roar.

Gray smoke slowly rose from the pit.

Unlike usual, the smell of something burning was so pungent that I covered my nose.

“Did we get them?”

“At least the monsters inside this…”

Na Ye-ri said that and immediately looked up at the rift.

The smoke was being drawn into the rift.

―…It’s coming.

Cha Seohae’s voice came through the radio.

At those words, Na Ye-ri once again assumed a battle stance.

―Grrrrrrr.

It was a throat-scraping growl unlike anything we had heard before.

Even though we could only hear its voice, the ominous presence emanating from it was unmistakable.

‘It sounds angry.’

The oppressive aura openly revealed its displeasure, and since we couldn’t even see its form yet, there was no choice but to tense up.

―It doesn’t look like the boss is going to appear yet.

“What? So we have to do this several more times?”

―Probably.

―We deliberately tried to piss it off, but it didn’t work very well.

I had been focusing on their conversation, but Han Seongwoo’s final remark startled me.

‘They created this terrain directly beneath the rift from the beginning so they could initiate the fight by luring the boss onto the battlefield?’

Cha Seohae’s orders had seemed inexplicable.

It wasn’t strange that she didn’t explain every reason behind each command.

But the three of them weren’t simply following Cha Seohae because they trusted her unconditionally.

They followed her because they understood exactly what her orders meant.

It was respect that went beyond trust—a level of understanding made possible because they knew each other so well.

“Why are we moving like this anyway? Wouldn’t it be easier if we just destroyed everything and made a straight path?”

“How should I know? Team Leader Do must have a reason for ordering it. Huh? Where are you going now?”

“You guys follow her. I’ll do things my own way.”

I remembered the battles of the First Team that I had once heard about only through sound.

This was a completely different situation.

‘…So this is how Baekyang has always fought.’

I closed my mouth, which had fallen open without me realizing it.

Now that I understood, this wasn’t the time to stand around in awe.

I needed to become part of this.

It wasn’t enough to stand there and simply absorb everything they showed me.

I had to actively immerse myself in their battle.

I grabbed the microphone on the radio.

“Can you fight while switching positions with one another?”

“Huh?”

―Positions?

Cha Seohae remained silent, waiting for what I would say next.

“The battlefield has become a mess because everyone’s skills are so powerful. If we keep fighting like this, our efficiency will drop when dealing with the monsters that are still going to appear. Of course, I can heal you, but since we don’t have any information about the boss, we need to conserve our strength like this.”

I assigned each of them to the area best suited to their abilities.

Han Seongwoo to the cracks in the ground created by the earthquake, where he could use his aggro skills.

Cha Seohae to the area shredded by swords, where she could exploit even the slightest hesitation.

Na Ye-ri to the deep bullet marks, where she could restore the terrain by manipulating the ground.

They switched positions immediately without a word of protest.

“Don’t feel pressured.”

It was the first thing Na Ye-ri said when Han Seongwoo arrived after she left.

“I’m not.”

“Good, then.”

Their brief exchange ended just as a sound came through the radio.

―It’s starting.