The More the Healer Gets Hit the Stronger He Become

Chapter 21

21 – Did I say I wouldn’t shoot?

When everyone agreed, the team prepared for a break.

It wasn’t grandiose, despite being called a break.

After confirming there were no other monsters nearby, they gathered closely, sitting down to conserve their stamina.

“After going through all that, it feels empty.”

While unable to agree with the former’s words, it was true that it felt empty.

The only weapon the playmaker had was a thick axe. It wasn’t available for sale in the store, and no one wanted to carry around a heavy axe without the ability to sell it.

‘… Maybe if it were me, I would have taken one.’

Kang Woo patted the short sword hanging from his waist with a warm gaze.

The short sword, purchased at half price in this safe zone. As long as he had this sword, no other weapons caught his eye.

Satisfied with his current state, Kang Woo, who had been closely observed by Yoo Seung Ah, asked cautiously,

“Kang Woo, if you move now, it won’t be difficult, right…?”

She had wanted to ask this from before the challenge, but now was the opportunity. The concerned words from Yoo Seung Ah drew the attention of the other three towards Kang Woo.

Although they pretended otherwise, they were secretly curious.

“With a staff, a bow, a quiver… Oh, wait. Did you get a new sword this time?”

Since he lacked a hand to carry them, he tied the staff and bow with a thick rope. With a large kite shield in his left hand and a backpack on his back, there was no shortage of showiness.

“I told you about the storage, didn’t I? You’d better leave them there instead….”

“Ah…”

Kangwoo was well aware that his burden was in an overloaded state. The fact that the staff, secured with a rope behind his back, rattled every time they moved, was also true.

But…

“…because I don’t have money.”

The remaining amount for Kangwoo, who purchased a short sword, was only 11 points.

Even that was depleted by buying discounted water and jerky, leaving him completely broke.

“Ah…”

The four gathered gazes dispersed with a sigh.

Yooseungah, who had gained enlightenment, swallowed her words. The suggestion that she should have just abandoned it altogether did not escape her lips.

Because she knew well the value of weapons with stat-boosting effects distributed at the Square of Beginnings in the modern world.

“If it were me, I would have carried it cheaply too.”

Indeed, in her knowledge, many people who had died in the trials of the first floor had diligently collected the weapons and immediately left for the modern world after the trials were over.

For those who didn’t obtain good abilities, it was a tremendous gain in itself.

As the conversation topic disappeared, silence settled in. The only sounds breaking the stillness were occasional sips of water and the sound of chewing jerky.

“…?”

By chance, Kangwoo’s eyes met with Jeongmin, and Kangwoo couldn’t hide his uneasiness as Jeongmin quickly turned his head.

“Don’t I appeal to him that much?”

Tilting his head nervously, this time Kangwoo’s eyes met with Chae Soohee, who had been staring at him intently.

…”

Chae Soohee, looking at him with eyes sparkling like lively flames, seemed to have no intention of hiding her inner thoughts.

No matter where you looked, there was an air of curiosity about Kang Woo’s strength.

“Sigh… I’ll definitely face the next trial alone.”

Kang Woo reaffirmed once again.

***

The party, intoxicated with Kang Woo’s thoughts until it overflowed, entered into reconnaissance.

What the Tower wanted was to subdue the insufficient revelry.

So, the common thought among the party members was that somewhere in this forest, there must be the dwelling of the revels.

For hours, their goal was to move, avoiding the gaze of the revels as much as possible, in order to find their dwelling.

As always, the Tower didn’t leave it easy for humans to pass through trials effortlessly.

“Gasping. Panting.”

After the fourth battle, everyone sat in their places, hesitating.

Even though they moved cautiously, avoiding the gaze of the revels surveying the forest was not easy.

Now, the revels were even detecting and attempting preemptive attacks upon the invaders.

“Huah. Still, this seems to be the right direction, right, Unni?”

“Yeah. It feels like we’ve pinpointed the direction accurately.”

It was tough, but there were results. Seeing the revels appearing less frequently, it was certain that there was a dwelling nearby.

‘Should have just said it was something like strengthening physical strength.’

While everyone was exhausted and struggling, Kang Woo was experiencing difficulty with another problem.

‘Why is it so hard to control strength?’

Specifically, how to hit the revel’s shield without bouncing off… It was a difficulty that would astonish anyone listening.

Before facing the trial, Kangwoo deliberately understated his own abilities during the process of sharing individual stats.

He claimed his ability was ‘self-healing,’ and his strength was around 10.

There were various complex reasons for concealing his abilities, but the primary one was that, even though sharing stats among party members had become a tradition, he hesitated to reveal the specifics of his abilities to strangers. Moreover, his stats were so high that they couldn’t be explained by common sense.

“They all seem like good people… except those two.”

Kangwoo recalled Jeongmin and Gyumin, shaking his head. One guy showed his true nature by rudely speaking to someone he just met, and Gyumin…

Just looking at the way he engaged in combat made Kangwoo sigh.

He wondered if they intentionally behaved like that.

“Is it an issue with people whose names include ‘Min’?”

Sighing deeply and munching on jerky, Kangwoo stood up.

“Now, shall we start moving?”

He couldn’t tell how many breaks they had taken, but his rear end was starting to ache.

***

The first four battles were either just unlucky or a stroke of bad luck. While crossing the forest, they encountered no more monsters.

“Wait a moment.”

Leading the way, Kangwoo raised his hand.

“What’s over there?”

Responding to his words, Jeongmin, Chaehee, and Seoa approached.

“Huh? Isn’t that a fence?”

What is that? Kangwoo, seriously contemplating the identity of the strange object in the distance, widened his eyes at Seoa’s words.

‘Is that the fence?’

Kangwoo once again surveyed the front.

‘If you think it’s a fence… it doesn’t really look like one, though.’

The small mountain made of randomly placed wooden logs seemed as if someone had gathered them as a joke.

Choi Seo-hee, with a smile, nudged Yoo Seung-ah’s arm, as if Kangwoo’s thoughts were not unique.

“Seung-ah, how is that…”

“Yeah. It’s a fence.”

Kangwoo and Choi Seo-hee’s heads quickly turned towards Lee Jeong-min. With a serious expression, he nodded as if there was no doubt that it was a fence.

“It’s not easily visible from here, and getting closer might be dangerous…. Anyone good at burning wood?”

A rock-paper-scissors of destiny unfolded as they avoided each other’s gaze.

“Damn it…!”

The defeated Kangwoo, carrying a shield, staff, bow, arrows, and a backpack draped all over, climbed the rough, bark-covered, giant tree with an unknown name.

“Kangwoo, cheer up! You’ve already climbed half!”

‘He only climbed half?!’

The angry tree climbing continued. With his arms hanging on a convenient branch, Kangwoo couldn’t hide his amazement.

‘Was it really a fence?’

The shape of the small mountain made of wood was indeed a perfect fence encircling the field.

‘Ah, this isn’t important.’

Seeing the beings inside the fence guarding the outside, Kangwoo was convinced that he had found the dwelling of the goblins.

He squinted his eyes and counted the number of goblins inside the dwelling.

‘What’s this?’

I thought there would be a lot more numbers popping out, seven or eight at a time, but there weren’t as many in the area where they played.

‘There are only fifty.’

Kangwoo, who had finished scouting, came down from the tree and directly informed the party members of the fact.

“Only fifty?”

“Yes, not as many as I thought….”

“There are quite a few more than I expected. What should we do?”

“What?”

Is that a lot…?

While Kangwoo had his mouth wide open, the four people entered into a discussion.

“We thought there would be few in the territory since there were many scouts…”

“Fighting fifty Nols head-on is dangerous. How about gradually dealing with the ones wandering around the vicinity?”

“… I think the same. It’s reckless to attack the Nol’s territory with our full strength.”

“I, I think so too….”

As Yooseungah sighed and Choisuhui gave her opinion, Leejungmin and Janggyumin agreed.

‘What on earth did these people hope for with the number of Nols?’

Kangwoo, who was in shock, raised his hand subtly.

“Can’t we shoot from a distance?”

“Shoot?”

Leejungmin raised an eyebrow at Kangwoo’s suggestion.

“Only one archer, and you suggest shooting? Is that your idea?”

The moment the attack commenced, the lone archer would detect the intrusion of playful foes and dash toward the direction from which the arrows flew.

In that brief period, it was impossible for the lone archer to shoot down the fifty or so monsters approaching.

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“We only have about twenty poison arrows left. Please, think carefully…”

“Oh, jackpot! Then it’s settled!”

Yoo Seung-ah interrupted Lee Jung-min’s words with a mischievous tone. Irritated, Lee Jung-min looked at her as she suddenly began to frolic.

“Did you even hear what I said just now?”

“Yes!”

“…What?”

Kang Woo, catching Yoo Seung-ah’s gaze, pulled out two bows from his backpack.

“Weren’t there only two weapons left…?”

Choi Seo-hee couldn’t conceal her surprise. Even considering the visible weapons, there were four, but that wasn’t all.

‘…There’s even a dagger in the backpack.’

Was everyone going around like this?

Kang Woo, who developed the habit of looting as he overcame trials alone, raised the two bows with a somber expression.

Including the bow he had strapped to his back, he had a total of three bows.

Although the bow he looted from the goblins had a modest charm compared to a regular bow, it still did its job.

“We have two spare bows. Does anyone know how to shoot?”

It was a question directed at everyone, but Kangwoo’s gaze was fixed on Chae Seo-hee and Lee Jeong-min.

‘Her… no. Not her.’

Recalling the figure during the battle… handing over one of the only two bows to Jang Kyu-min seemed no different from eliminating one bow altogether.

‘The bow pulled by that strength may not fly properly.’

At that moment, Jang Kyu-min cautiously raised his hand.

“I, I tried shooting at the association….”

“Well, both of you, take it.”

“Huh? I’ve never shot before….”

“The bow looted from the goblin makes it easy to shoot. Just hold, pull, and release.”

As if passing it off to Chae Seo-hee, who was trying to refuse, Kangwoo handed her the bow.

“Alright? I’ll give you fifteen arrows each. Just aim and shoot since they’re coated with paralysis poison.”

“No, I don’t use a bow….”

“I, I tried shooting….”

“Seung-ah. Should we all shoot together from one place, or should we divide into zones?”

“Uh, yeah?”