“Aaahhh!”
Yeoreum screamed as she ran across the vast meadow.
Dozens of horned rabbits were chasing her.
As she ran, she looked around but couldn’t see her colleagues or the other adventurers from the guild they had come with.
Had everyone lost their way?
No, it was more likely that I was the one who had gotten lost.
Yeoreum, panting heavily for the first time in a long while, clung to a tree.
“Ah, damn it.”
Although it was hard without mana, her regularly trained muscles allowed her to climb the tree with ease.
‘This is crazy.’
Now I understood why the horned rabbit dungeon was rated as level five.
The moment you enter, all your mana is blocked—a downright vicious dungeon.
How are you supposed to catch horned rabbits without mana?
While complaining, Han Yeoreum’s thoughts involuntarily drifted to Gyeoul back at the guild.
‘…Am I being punished?’
No, that couldn’t be it.
She shook her head as she watched the dozens of horned rabbits surrounding the tree.
At least here, no one was mocking her for not being able to catch even a horned rabbit.
It was sadly better than Gyeoul’s situation.
“Ugh.”
If I get out of here alive, I need to be a hundred times nicer to Gyeoul.
Just as Yeoreum resolved this, she heard the sobbing of a woman from somewhere.
“Huh…?”
Was it because of the lack of mana?
She had been slow to sense her surroundings.
Yeoreum, gripping a branch, looked around for the source of the sound.
“Yu, Yu-na?”
Jung Yu-na was hanging onto a tree trunk like a cicada, slowly sliding down as she struggled to hold on.
“Ye–Yeoreum, help me up…”
Jung Yu-na looked up at Yeoreum with a tearful, pitiful expression.
It was similar to the terrified expression I once saw on Gyeoul.
“Just climb up.”
“My body is too heavy, I can’t climb.”
Screech—
Jung Yu-na’s body slowly slid down.
A horned rabbit below, sensing an opportunity, leaped up towards her.
Poke!
The rabbit’s horn pierced Jung Yu-na’s left thigh.
Fortunately, the horn wasn’t long enough to go through her thigh.
“Qu–quickly…”
Jung Yu-na trembled.
Yeoreum hastily reached out to her.
“Yu-na, grab my hand.”
Yeoreum pulled Jung Yu-na up.
It was a bit heavy lifting her, but neither of them showed it for the sake of the other.
“…Thanks.”
Sitting on the branch, Jung Yu-na stroked her forearm.
Her delicate skin was scratched and raw from rubbing against the rough tree.
“I didn’t know we wouldn’t be able to use mana in the dungeon.”
“Yeah, really.”
Their eyes met in the air, both instinctively understanding what the other was thinking.
The child who had naturally caught horned rabbits without mana.
That child kept coming to my mind.
Jung Yu-na bit her lip with guilt.
“Yu-na, let’s focus on clearing the dungeon for now. That’s how we can atone to Gyeoul.”
“Yeah…”
That seemed like the right thing to do.
Jung Yu-na nodded weakly.
As Yeoreum said, the priority was to find a way to clear the dungeon.
Though she wasn’t sure if she could be of any help without magic.
“Yu-na, have you seen Jinhyuk nearby?”
“No, I haven’t. I ran away because I was being chased.”
“What about the other adventurers?”
“Um… I saw people from the Eunha Guild near the lake earlier, but I don’t know if they’re still there.”
The lake.
It was definitely to the north.
Yeoreum cautiously jumped down from the tree after making sure the horned rabbits were gone.
“Yu-na, it’s safe now, come down.”
“……”
Jung Yu-na couldn’t bring herself to come down, not knowing how to descend a tree without magic.
“Yu-na?”
“…Yeoreum, can you catch me?”
“Ah, okay.”
Yeoreum caught Jung Yu-na’s body as she dangled from a branch.
Embarrassed, Jung Yu-na turned her blushing face away, looking out over the distant fields.
‘I’m so powerless.’
Without mana, her body was weaker than that of an ordinary person.
She couldn’t even properly climb a tree.
She felt utterly useless.
In this bitter situation, Jung Yu-na thought of Gyeoul in the container.
That child must have spent most of her life feeling this way.
Lamenting her powerlessness and uselessness.
It was dreadful realizing this only now, in this situation.
She wanted to slap herself for not understanding earlier, but she couldn’t make any noise, fearing the horned rabbits would hear and come.
From now on, she resolved not to brag about her abilities and to be kind to everyone.
Yeoreum whispered as she approached Jung Yu-na.
“Let’s move along the trees for now. Keep an eye out for horned rabbits.”
“Okay. Got it…”
Gyeoul had done her best even in her powerless situation.
Jung Yu-na decided to follow her example and find something she could do.