The More the Healer Gets Hit the Stronger He Become

39 – What a Mess.

From Noble mtl dot com

From those who barely managed to equip themselves with weapons worth around 4,000 points to those adorned with items totaling 14,000 points.

The disparity in items among the Awakeners climbing the tower began with the trials on the 21st floor.

The maximum number of party members that could challenge the trials together had always been five since the 11th floor.

Unless they were as rare as rain, Awakeners challenging the trials without filling the five-member quota were unheard of.

Thus, most Awakeners ascended the tower maintaining a five-member party.

It remained five members until the maximum count suddenly increased to ten on the 21st floor.

With the increased maximum count, the Awakeners started to contemplate.

Whether to challenge the trials with the current party of five, or safely merge with another party to fill the count to ten for the challenge.

So, from a minimum of five to a maximum of ten.

The number of members in Awakener parties began to divide differently, and this difference started creating gaps among the Awakeners.

A group of five clearing the trial of the same intensity versus a group of ten clearing it.

It was only natural that a team that cleared the trial with fewer members would receive higher rewards than other teams.

From the amount of points received as rewards for the trial, to the experience gained and the increase in stats from defeating monsters and the sweat shed.

“Gear is useless like this… tsk.”

Despite the woman’s outspoken criticism.

“…”

The longsword man did not express any anger.

It was instinctive. He felt that the woman was stronger than himself.

When the noisy chatter ceased, the woman’s furrowed forehead gradually smoothed.

Surveying the now silent surroundings, she spoke briefly and to the point.

“Position: Mage. Mastering the magic of fire.”

A concise introduction with no mention of a name or detailed explanation of abilities.

However, no one expressed dissatisfaction with this brief introduction.

“Ma, Mage…!”

“Wow, she’s a mage! No wonder I couldn’t see any weapons.”

A mage—a position so rare that it might be found in one out of a hundred.

Referring to those who, instead of empowering weapons, wielded formidable power solely through their abilities, mages were known for unleashing formidable strength in battles.

And she wasn’t just any mage but one renowned for handling ‘fire,’ known for its potent firepower.

“Hmm… quite confident and shameless.”

A Grade-C fire mage.

As soon as she stepped out of the tower, guilds eager to recruit her lined up, ready to go to great lengths to secure her services, given her outstanding specs.

All thanks to the stroke of luck that blessed her with a powerful ability.

“While some are struggling and becoming stronger by acquiring sh*tty abilities, others are securing hefty salaries just by casually casting spells from the sidelines.”

His stomach hurt, and it hurt a lot.

But was it only Kangwoo experiencing this pain, or did the entire group suffer from a sudden collective amnesia?

Even the arrogant woman’s remarks left everyone, except Kangwoo, unperturbed.

Even the longsword man, who was accustomed to countering the woman’s taunts, showed no hesitation in aligning with the mage’s whims.

“Wow… I’ve never seen a mage like her before.”

“Joining forces with a magician in such a twist of fate! This trial will be a breeze, won’t it?”

“hahahahaha. Have I caused too much of a sensation? Sharing abilities at our first meeting.”

‘This is a mess.’

Kangwoo’s eyes, watching the three men, sharply cooled.

[Remaining Time: 00:06:28]

‘There’s not much time left, what are they up to?’

It’s not even a picnic.

When Kangwoo, reluctant to join in, was pondering if he should introduce himself, with only 6 minutes left, he urged them to proceed quickly.

“Now, with only 6 minutes left, should we move quickly?”

His tongue was cuttingly sharp, and at the end of his words, banmal (informal language) slipped through, stored carefully somewhere.

As Kangwoo’s expression crumpled slightly, the man with the longsword laughed warmly and began speaking.

“Well then, I’ll go first. My name is Joo Sungbin, 21 years old. As you can see, I use a longsword, and my ability is ‘Strength Explosion.’ It’s a common ability, right? It’s a skill that explosively increases strength for a moment.”

Strength Explosion.

It was the ability that Chae Seohee possessed.

‘I knew it was common, but I didn’t expect to meet someone with it right away.’

The next to introduce himself was the man Kangwoo speculated would be a healer.

“I’m Kim Seungho, 20 years old! I’m a healer, and my ability is ‘Sacred Flames.’ It’s a skill that handles healing white flames. Well then, I’ll leave it to you, brothers and sisters!”

“Oh, a healer!”

Applauding Kim Seungho’s introduction, Joo Sungbin, the longsword wielder, clapped like a seal.

With the appearance of a healer following the magician, the atmosphere naturally softened.

“I…”

Following that was a man wearing the same steel armor set as Ju Sungbin.

“I’m 21… Shin Jaewon. I use a spear, and my ability is ‘Push.’ I can push two or three monsters at once.”

‘Push?’

Kang Woo showed curiosity at the unusual ability.

‘Two or three monsters, speaking vaguely. Does it emit some kind of shockwave? Push? Oh, that sounds great.’

The evaluation Kang Woo had initially thought of as useless power was now reconsidered.

[Remaining time 00:02:45]

Time was running out imperceptibly.

Kang Woo, turning to the hastily assembled team, spoke up.

“Choi Kangwoo, 20 years old. Tank position, ability…”

The actual ability was the ‘Sacred Touch,’ a distinct healing skill.

However, there was a condition: ‘To use the ability on entities other than oneself, a magic power of 90 or more is required.’ Due to this, when Kang Woo challenged the trial on the 11th floor with Yoo Seungah’s party, he had embellished his ability as ‘self-healing’ to use healing without arousing suspicion.

Self-healing.

If he intended to use the ability called the Sacred Touch, it wasn’t a bad choice. However.

[Strength: 49.8 +(4)]

In that case, any plausible excuse for this abnormal strength would disappear.

Heal or strength.

The conflict was brief.

With a healer firmly in the party now, what Kang Woo needed was an excuse for his abnormal strength.

“…It’s an explosion of physical strength.”

[Time Remaining 00:00:58]

And thus, the party was formed, consisting of one tank, two dealers, one healer, and one wizard.

***

On the scorching sand, where the brilliant sunlight poured down unabated.

“Heavy breathing, heavy breathing. It’s so tough. When will we get there?”

“Heh, heh. Wizard, are you okay? If there’s anything uncomfortable… cough. Feel free to speak up anytime.”

“Just go away if you’re annoying.”

As the 20-minute time limit expired, the trial assigned by the system unfolded.

[Objective: Reach the temple surrounded by sacred light.]

[Upon completing the objective, the trial will end.]

The mission was announced, and the trial began immediately.

Finding the temple the system mentioned wasn’t difficult.

As soon as the trial started, beams of sacred light extended from the ground to the sky, saying, ‘Here I am!’ and revealing the temple’s location.

Yes, finding the temple wasn’t a problem. The problem was…

“Damn.”

The location of that temple was ridiculously far from the current position of the party.

“Ah, damn!”

It’s hot. Insanely hot.

With each step, sweat streamed down, and the body clad in plate armor felt like it was being roasted by fire.

“Huff, huff. Isn’t it too hot…? Taking that off might, ugh, be better for you.”

Suddenly approaching from behind, the healer Kim Seung-ho pointed at Kang Woo’s metal breastplate with his hand.

The metal helmet had to be taken off because of the wind carrying the smell of cooking meat in real-time from the scalp, but the metal breastplate, perhaps because it had clothes inside, seemed bearable enough to just wear. However, to Kim Seung-ho, even that appeared uncomfortable.

“Even those guys took it off, huff. Kang Woo, just take it off too…! If you keep wearing that, you’ll get burns!”

“….”

Following Kim Seung-ho’s chin gesture, Kang Woo’s gaze turned to the rear. There, behind Kim Seung-ho on both sides, Jun Sung-bin and Shin Jae-won, wearing clinking steel armor sets, appeared.

‘Ha….’

It wasn’t that he didn’t understand. It had been 30 minutes since they started crossing this hot and dry desert.

It wasn’t incomprehensible that they threw off the scorching armor like Taoists and that their footsteps were gradually changing, dragging on.

“Heuk. Heu-eok. Ah, it’s damn hot. Heu-eok.”

But no matter how much.

‘… What are these guys doing?’

Sticking their swords and longswords into the sand as they walked, each should be facing the front, their appearance was truly absurd.

It was questionable how they climbed up to the 31st floor with such stamina.

‘Is this the gap Soo-ah mentioned?’

In the past Safe Zone on the 21st floor, after a tanker who survived death ran away, the Seung-a party, now without a tanker, had hastily recruited a new tanker.

But even Tanker No. 2 left the party after clearing the 24th floor, leaving a message saying, ‘Challenging the trial with five people is crazy.’

Having to recruit a new tanker again, Yoo Seung-a, along with Tanker No. 3, challenged the trial on the 25th floor and told Kang Woo the following words in the Safe Zone of that floor.

… Kang Woo, don’t recruit a party. No, even if you do, make sure to ask how many people have passed the trial in your party. Definitely!

While comforting Yoo Seung-a, who lamented that those who cleared the trial with 10 people had a different mindset from them, Kang Woo thought it was an unrelated matter to him.

Perhaps the day to overcome trials with those people will come.

Their minds are different.

Kangwoo deeply understood the meaning of these words.

Not only did he have to deal with the two dealers who couldn’t even handle their own bodies, let alone set boundaries.

The magician, walking around without showing any signs of difficulty, created a significant gap between them.

‘If we calculate the shared items… they were indeed a 5-member party.’

The once arrogant magician felt a bit reassured.

Although he still made disgusted expressions while looking at the two dealers struggling to walk, if it was just for one person, he was overflowing with willingness to tolerate the magician’s expressions and curse-filled remarks.

After an hour of walking with the sound of the two dealers panting as background music.

With Kangwoo at the front, followed by Jusungbin and Shinjaewon as support, then healer Kim Seungho, and finally the magician, they took a brief rest while maintaining their formation.

Kangwoo, confirming that the promised 15-minute break had passed, stood up.

“Now, let’s continue.”

Thanks to their steady walking, the distance to the temple had significantly shortened.

“Sigh, it doesn’t feel like a break when you rest on the sand.”

“Yeah. By the way, Tanker, are you okay with the armor? It must be really hot.”

Jusungbin, next to him, responded to Kim Seungho’s words.

“Yeah, little brother, just take it off like me. What kind of armor is needed when there are no monsters? Don’t you have something like a rope? Shall I lend you mine?”

“Oh! Then that would be great. Hyung, please lend me yours!”

When did I become someone who shared meals with them, like an older or younger sibling?

Kang Woo raised his head at Joo Sungbin pulling a rope from his backpack with a careful touch.

“It’s okay.”

“No, why? Not hot enough? Even if a monster comes out, there’s a magician behind. No need to go that far.”

Despite Joo Sungbin’s repeated insistence, Kang Woo stuck out his tongue in response to the persistent refusal and stepped back.

“It’s so hot I could die. Can we hurry up?”

With an unsatisfactory tone that would have been regrettable if it hadn’t been this way, the desert crossing resumed.

“Look, we came all the way here, and there’s no way there are monsters-“

Lips cracked, sand filled the shoes, and occasionally, like an event, sand stuck to the eyeballs, making them reddened and congested.

Squeak, squeak.

“Are, are you insane…!”

Kang Woo, who had been consistently vigilant of his surroundings, spat out a curse.

The desert sand was moving, forming a large curve.