Normally, this would have been the moment to breathe a sigh of relief. Instead, only silence lingered among the reporters.
That was only natural.
Even if today’s ability test had produced an S-rank result, it only meant that the potential was S-rank. It didn’t mean the person could be deployed to the field immediately. Compared to untalented civilians or those of lower ranks, their growth would be faster, but no matter what, proper training was still necessary. No matter how much systems and dungeons had become part of everyday life, it was not easy for an ordinary person to charge at monsters the first time they held a weapon. There was the fear of committing violence and killing for the first time, of becoming the aggressor, and the terror of possibly being struck back by a grotesque, unfamiliar being.
And yet…
Could a nineteen-year-old high school student really slaughter monsters this brutally?
And so overwhelmingly?
“Looks like paralysis poison.”
Thud!
Saying that, Jeong Daon tossed aside the corpse of the ant monster and brushed at her school uniform skirt. Green liquid had splashed onto it, but she showed no sign of caring. With the same hand she had wiped clean, she helped the elderly woman to her feet.
As she checked the woman’s condition, Jeong Daon frowned slightly. “Hmm… healing magic is still a bit…”
“E-excuse me. Hunter Jeong Daon.” One of the reporters who had been struck by the paralysis poison spoke up in a timid voice.
In truth, there was no reason for him to be intimidated. No matter how you looked at it, the other party was still just a nineteen-year-old girl, a student who hadn’t even graduated yet, still wearing her school uniform. But the moment the reporter met the girl’s eyes, he felt a strange sense of vertigo.
“What is it?”
Her tone was gentle, yet the sensation was the same as when he had locked eyes with the ant monster. It felt as though he had seen something even more inhuman than the compound eyes unique to insects. An inexplicable chill ran down his spine.
He didn’t know why he felt that way. On the surface, Jeong Daon was nothing more than a fragile-looking girl.
Overcome by that inexplicable fear, the reporter began to stammer, “Well, um… actually, I have a three-piece emergency potion set in my jacket…”
“Hey!” A fellow reporter lying beside him whispered urgently, “I told you not to say that! Look how many people are here! We can hide it and drink it ourselves!”
“B-but we can’t help it. We can’t even move.”
Up until now, they had been completely immobilized by the paralysis poison and hadn’t dared to drink the antidote. But now that Jeong Daon had arrived, shouldn’t they try to find a way out somehow?
The reporter pressed on stubbornly. “There isn’t enough for everyone to share. But maybe one or two, three people could drink it. Then the ones who recover first can help support the rest. How about that?”
“Idiot. You’ve started a fight,” his colleague muttered under his breath.
And his prediction was not wrong.
“If there’s an antidote, shouldn’t we give it to young, healthy people first? We need to hold out until rescue arrives, don’t we?”
The first to speak was the reporter who had earlier scolded the elderly woman the harshest. He worked for a major media outlet and usually carried himself with arrogance and ease, but faced with this situation, he seemed anxious.
Hearing that, another reporter snorted. “I’m healthier than you. You’re always reeks of alcohol from all those business dinners. What do you know…”
“What did you say?”
“No, what are you all talking about? Older people should get the antidote first. Who knows how paralysis poison might affect them?”
“That’s ridiculous!”
“Is this really the time to argue morals? We should invest in whatever raises the survival rate, even a little!”
Voices began to clash, growing sharper and more hostile. They had already been trapped in one place for hours, paralyzed by the ants. It was only natural for nerves to be on edge. With more than ten people trapped and only a fingernail-sized amount of antidote available, a fight breaking out was inevitable.
“This isn’t the time for us to be arguing! What if more monsters swarm in? We need to build a barricade! For that, healthy people need the antidote first!”
“And if monsters come, do you think a barricade will save us? You’re just trying to run away on your own, aren’t you, honestly!”
“How dare you judge me like that! I may not look it, but I’ve had the most recent mandatory training!”
“Everyone, calm down. There’s a minor here, aren’t you ashamed?”
“That’s exactly right. There’s a minor here, so someone capable of protecting them should drink it!”
“Bullshit, you crazy bastard. How exactly are you going to protect an S-rank Hunter?”
“Watch your mouth! You think I won’t remember this once we get out? I even gave you job-change advice!”
“We’re about to die here and you’re spewing that kind of nonsense?!”
If everyone had been able to move, they would have been throwing punches at each other instead of fighting monsters. It was at that point, when emotions were spiraling completely out of control—
“You’re all wasting an awful lot of energy on something pointless, aren’t you?” Jeong Daon spoke calmly, her voice utterly even.
At the sound of the girl’s voice, the charged atmosphere cooled as if cold water had been poured over it.
“I’m the only one here who can move anyway.”
“Wh-what?” The reporter who had been shouting the loudest about taking the antidote first flushed red. “Student Jeong Daon! Are you mocking the adults right now? Everyone’s just trying to survive! You’re just a kid, how rude—”
“You called me a Hunter earlier, now you’re calling me a student. Pick one.”
“Why are you talking like that…!”
“But, well, you do look the healthiest. Let me borrow the vial.”
“W-wait—!” In an instant, the reporter had the vial snatched from inside his jacket. Unable to move due to the paralysis, he could only stare helplessly. “Th-that’s mine…”
He protested weakly, but Jeong Daon ignored him. Holding the vial, she glanced over the roughly ten adults around her, then turned her gaze toward the man who had argued most aggressively.
At that moment, the reporter sensed something strange. Jeong Daon’s eyes seemed to linger on empty space.
A system message…?
She had awakened today, so it wouldn’t be strange for her to be reading system messages, but what on earth was she reading?
Jeong Daon’s gaze shifted slightly. The reporter realized that her eyes were glinting with something unsettling.
“So, Mr. Reporter, you’re the healthiest person here, and you really want to drink this antidote potion, right?”
At her words, his attitude flipped as if he had never been angry. “Y-yes! If I recover, I’ll help you get everyone out of here.”
“Right. So this is what you want?”
“Y-yes! That’s what I’m saying! Hand it over!”
“Alright, then.”
With that, Jeong Daon poured the antidote potion into his mouth. The vial was no larger than a fingernail, so it was emptied in an instant.
Gulp!
“Damn it, what a waste,” a fellow reporter muttered, but there was no taking it back now.
Jeong Daon asked the man who had taken the potion, “How do you feel? Think you can stand?”
“Uh… I feel much bett…” he replied in a slightly steadier voice, and as he tried to raise himself— “Ghk! Grrk…!”
He collapsed backward before he could even sit up. Everyone couldn’t see clearly because he hadn’t managed to rise, but the sounds were ominous. He was gurgling, as if foam were forming.
“S-something’s wrong with him! Wasn’t that an antidote?”
“It w-was an antidote! A properly licensed three-piece emergency potion set!”
“Then why—?!”
As everyone descended into confusion, Jeong Daon explained in an even tone, “This is the first ant monster the system has ever recognized. There’s no way to know whether existing antidote potions will work against its paralysis poison until you actually take them.”
“Wh-what did you say?”
“It seems this antidote actually has a synergistic reaction with the poison. You shouldn’t take it.”
It was such an eerie calmness.
“Th-then… isn’t this really bad?”
From the throat of the reporter who had taken the antidote came a choking, rattling sound.
The girl shrugged. “Well, yes… but taking the antidote was what he wanted. He said the healthiest person should drink it first.”
“Ah…”
What she said was logically correct, yet those who heard it were left with complicated feelings. Surely, even Jeong Daon hadn’t known things would turn out this way. And it was true that the reporter himself had insisted on it. Anyone could see that. But her demeanor was so calm that, despite all logic, it felt as though she had known all along. And once that thought took hold, her earlier comment about the “healthiest” person no longer sounded like it meant physical condition. It felt as though she had been asking how suitable he was… as a test subject.
“Th-then if the antidote doesn’t work, what do we do? Isn’t he just going to die like that?”
“Hunter Jeong Daon, isn’t there anything you can do?!”
Just moments ago, they had been hurling insults at one another over that single antidote, but now that the possibility of someone actually dying loomed before them, they couldn’t help but be shaken.
At that moment, the elderly woman Jeong Daon had helped to sit up burst out in anger. “Shame on all of you! What does a child know that you’re asking her? You’re the ones who fought so hard for it to be handed over!”
“Well, th-that’s true, but we didn’t think it would turn out like this…”
“He swallowed it himself without knowing anything, so why are you asking the kid about it now? Just tell him to croak!”
“It’s okay, Boss. Please calm down. You’re not wrong, though.”
Even with someone beside her choking and struggling to breathe, Jeong Daon remained calm. If you only listened to her voice, you wouldn’t know whether this was a dungeon or a classroom.
“It’ll hurt, but he won’t die. I’ve seen how the poison works now, so I can neutralize it.”
“Y-yes, I see… What?!”
Someone shouted without realizing it, and Jeong Da-on frowned. “Please keep your voice down. Monsters might hear.”
“Ah, yes… but you just said you can neutralize it…?”
“We just had a sample, didn’t we? I watched how the antidote and the poison fought inside his body. Now I just need to design a healing magic circle that matches this poison.”
“W-wait, that’s possible?”
“H-Hunter Jeong Daon, didn’t you awaken today?”
“Haa…”
Listening to the barrage of questions, Jeong Daon let out a sigh. She seemed to be trying not to show it, but the air of condescension, of finding them utterly foolish, was obvious.
The reporters were beginning to feel that Jeong Daon was someone unknown, even alien. And it wasn’t surprising. Nothing about her matched the common image of a “19-year-old high school girl.” She slaughtered monsters without batting an eye, and even with a human dying at her feet because an antidote had failed, she remained indifferent.
In truth, Jeong Daon really was thinking, Why do I have to explain this to such insignificant creatures?
“Looks like you don’t know because you’re not Hunters and haven’t connected to the system.” Her tone was like that of an adult instructing children. Even though everyone here was at least five years older than her, it sounded disturbingly natural. “The system teaches basic shared magic circles and principles through tutorials. So all you have to do is modify the unnecessary parts of a basic healing circle.”
“That’s really possible…?”
It was common knowledge that the system provided Hunters with basic skills suited to their level and traits in tutorial form. But hearing someone talk about immediately modifying a magic circle on the spot was, without exaggeration, something even reporters with extensive experience covering Hunters had never encountered.
If an actual Hunter, especially a mage, had been present, they would have objected outright, saying it was impossible. No matter how low-level the healing magic or how mild the poison, neither modifying a magic circle on the fly nor observing how a potion fought poison inside a body made any sense by ordinary standards.
First of all, even if someone awakened as S-rank with a high mana stat, learning magic theory was an entirely different matter. The basic shared magic circles the system provided were truly basic elemental spells, and even those required extensive training before they could be used properly. To use something as complex as healing magic, one normally needed spellbooks or a mentor. Only then could they cast it at all.
However, here there was no Hunter capable of logically pointing out how absurd all of this was. They could only feel that something was off.
But standing here was not a confused minor who had awakened today. It was a former Demon Lord and archmage, wearing the shell of a frail girl.
“Does it matter whether it’s possible or not? I have no choice but to do it.”
More than anything, the girl was in a very bad mood.
“I can’t exactly carry all of you out on my back.”
They had already wasted far too much time, and she had hated crowded places to begin with, yet she’d been forced to stand by and watch a pointless shouting match. She had no intention of offering any more explanations.
“I’ll start now. Just wait a bit.”
Despite her grumbling, as the girl began constructing a magic circle on the spot, the reporters felt not only a vague sense of fear but also an unconscious flicker of respect.
At least she’s not planning to abandon us.
She’s young, but she has a sense of responsibility.
Contrary to their thoughts, Jeong Daon cast a sidelong glance at the system message floating in the air.
User “Jeong Daon” will have her abilities restricted if she performs actions that do not meet social standards.
System Guide: “Abandoning civilians inside a dungeon when capable of rescue” does not meet current social standards.
System Guide: “Killing civilians inside a dungeon” does not meet current social standards.
"Hmph."
She’d only briefly wondered whether she could just get the old lady boss out and leave the dungeon, yet the system had flooded her with warning messages. Truly, living as a human was nothing but a hassle.
The former Demon Lord let out a sigh.