The More the Healer Gets Hit the Stronger He Become

45 – Is He Crazy?

[You have challenged the thirty-ninth trial.]

With a familiar notification sound, Kangwoo scanned his surroundings.

‘This time, it’s a mountain.’

A vast mountain covered with dense trees.

The small mountain path leading towards the mountain was just a few steps away from the starting point.

‘A mountain, huh.’

After clearing thirty-nine trials, just glancing around gave a rough idea of the mission of this trial.

‘Climbing the mountain through the mountain path. When we climb a mountain, monsters inevitably pop out.’

Not good.

Even at a glance, the mountain path was only wide enough for two people with good builds or barely three people of average stature to pass through.

From the perspective of awakened ones who had to wield a sword and use a shield…

‘We should move in a single file.’

Moving in a formation, muttering something, two or three people walking side by side could result in not being able to swing the sword properly due to the person next to you.

“What’s going to come out this time….”

Having surveyed the surroundings, Kangwoo sighed and turned his head.

The assessment of the trial was done; now it was time to gauge their full strength.

“…?”

Kangwoo, looking back, paused at the unexpected sight.

“Huh?”

Kangwoo’s head scanned back and forth, facing forward and to the sides.

But no matter how much he turned his head.

“It’s not here?”

There was none.

Among those randomly assigned to the trial, not a single person existed.

Did the Tower give up on random team placement?

For a moment, the above sentence crossed Kangwoo’s mind, but he quickly discarded this endlessly optimistic thought.

From the 31st floor to the 38th.

The trial, consistently disgusting, abruptly stops not on the 40th or 39th floor?

This didn’t make sense.

“….”

Then why was he alone in this trial?

“Huh…? Am I in first place?”

As Kangwoo pondered, he provided the answer.

Terrifyingly, the phenomenon supporting that hypothesis unfolded before his eyes.

Chin.

A black whirlwind appeared in the air, and from within it emerged a giant man, appearing to be over 2 meters tall.

‘Oh.’

Looking at the massive figure, belief involuntarily arose.

‘Can I handle him alone?’

As Kangwoo internally shouted “Nice!” like one awakening to a challenge for the 39th time, the man, true to an awakened being challenging the 39th trial, observed the mountain directly in front of him with sharp eyes.

“Mountain. It’s a mountain.”

‘Right, if I’m an awakened being, I should start by surveying the surroundings! Good, good!!’

In the trial on the 31st floor, Kang Woo, who had encountered the sorcerer Park Ye-rin and the healer Kim Seung-ho, came to realize firsthand how fortunate he had been on the 31st floor while facing trials from the 32nd to the 38th floor.

Because, to the extent that one might think this was not a coincidence of the Tower.

Since then, not even once.

However, not even once did he encounter a sorcerer. Throughout the seven trials.

Even though sorcerers are considered a rare presence, perhaps one in a hundred, this is not the 20th floor; it’s the formidable 30th floor!

Considering that this is a trial for those ascending the tower with a relatively light heart!

To go through seven trials without encountering a sorcerer even once!

‘It was truly ridiculous.’

However, there was no tower that would listen to complaints, and the more angry he got, the more he was the only one at a loss.

Kang Woo thought positively, thinking that maybe it was because the sorcerer was precious; he calmed himself down.

No, he tried to.

Until he could assess the true value of his team members.

‘Not to mention healers, but seriously, only the 9-man and 10-man parties are constantly assigned. It’s really crossing the line.’

Hide their identity? Avoid becoming the target of plunderers?

How were they supposed to clear the trials with these guys? Especially when the monsters that appeared were all large monsters….

He only refrained from using the Explosion skill of the Ring of Calamity, Fernice’s. During battles, he used healing, struck monsters down with his shield, maximized his strength, and it was truly something else.

‘Ah… just thinking about it brings pain to my heart…!’

Still, a somewhat comforting point was that the awakened individuals he ended up with were all owners of proper moral principles.

The next time they meet, no matter how annoyingly they behave, they would promise to repay this favor.

Still, there was a reward for throwing this body and carrying them.

Without realizing it, Kang Woo, who had a content smile on his face, snapped back to attention at the sense of popularity coming from the front.

When he turned his gaze, he saw a man who seemed uncertain, nodding his head slightly, having finished surveying the surroundings.

From Noble mtl dot com

Just as Kang Woo was about to form a proud smile again at the sight of this reliable figure…

“I’ll ride my own mountain with style! No problem with this trial either, yeah! Mwahahahaha!”

The man, with both hands on his hips and his chest puffed out, began to burst into laughter with a voice as huge as his massive physique.

hahahahaha!

“….”

The man’s laughter echoed loudly, spreading like an echo through the mountains.

“Is he crazy?”

Where on earth did he learn to speak like that?

As thoughts of what if this guy is actually not a reliable party member, but some kind of X-Men-like existence within this place filled his mind…

Suddenly, the man, who had escaped to his own world, spotted Kang Woo and shouted.

“Oh! My little brother is here to face this trial together as comrades! Are the others not here yet?! This is only the second appearance, and it’s a first for me again! hahahahaha! My heart is pounding, wondering who I’ll be with! hahahahaha!”

hahahahaha!

As the man approached closer, the amplified sound hit Kang Woo’s eardrums.

“Is he an audio technician or something?”

His mind was in chaos.

Unable to regain his senses while being overwhelmed, Kang Woo felt a hand, as agile as a lid, start to ruffle his shoulders.

“Wow, your muscles are weak! No matter how awakened you are, neglecting exercise-“

He had never heard someone say his muscles were weak since he started working out.

As he began to dream of awakening and had been close to sports since high school, Kang Woo’s body was muscular enough to turn anger management disorder into anger management well-handled.

“Hey there? Can you hear me? Huh, your muscles are as feeble as your mind. It’s all because you neglected exercise!!”

‘He’s abnormally huge, this crazy guy.’

Holding onto the lid like a pot with just one hand, he was shaking weakly back and forth, but at that moment, a savior arrived to help Kang Woo.

“Oh, oh! I’m the third one!”

Not even bothering to assess the surroundings, he came without any caution.

‘A 0.5 portion appearance, it seems.’

But a self-awakened one who couldn’t even handle a full portion had already experienced numerous situations.

For now, just the fact that the giant’s gaze turned toward that direction was quite satisfying.

“Wow!! The second comrade!!”

The joyous expression of the man holding a crossbow in his hand, who appeared as the third, gradually stiffened in the giant’s loud voice.

“Oh, um…?”

The endless raising of his head to confirm the other person’s face.

Thus, the man realized that the opponent was a head taller than him.

“What height is…”

He couldn’t hide his confusion, and that was the man’s end.

“Huh!! What does a younger brother eat! With a person so skinny, how can you properly pull a bow!!”

The muscular man, making a fuss, rummaged through his backpack and pulled out a protein shake that the crossbow man didn’t even know was sold in the store, then shoved it into the crossbow man’s mouth.

“Drink up, drink up! Don’t worry about me! I’ve been taking care of these weak colleagues easily, hahahaha!”

“H-Here’s my drink- (This tastes weird…!)”

“I mixed all kinds of healthy things in here! Just drink it!!”

The muscular man with a crossbow resisted swallowing the mysterious brown liquid, while the other man laughed and patted him on the back.

“Damn it. When is the next person coming?”

It was obvious that if the man with the crossbow took the shot, he would be the next target.

Kang Woo anxiously scanned the empty space, luckily the black whirlwind reappeared.

Thud.

The fourth person to appear was a man holding a shield.

“Why are you drinking like this, little brother-!!”

Thud. Thud.

Before he had a chance to look around, the shielded man, startled by the muscular man’s voice, saw the massive body of the muscular man and stumbled backwards, letting out a surprised sound.

“Add another 0.5 portion.”

Quietly nodding at that sight, Kang Woo turned his gaze towards the direction where the black whirlwind had not disappeared but had spat out another person.

“A longsword… That means the position is now.”

Including the muscular giant carrying a large sword on his back, the party consisted of two main dealers, two tanks, and one ranged dealer.

“They calculated everything for the match.”

Recalling that there had never been a time when the position was a mess during the previous trials, Kang Woo reflected on the attitude of the man with the longsword.

“Add another portion.”

After briefly taking in the surrounding terrain and focusing his gaze on the mountain path, Kang Woo turned his head to confirm his teammates.

How beautiful is this order.

“Oh, I’m the last one.”

When Kangwoo felt relieved at the sensible tone and kind smile.

[The required number of participants has been fulfilled.]

[In 20 minutes, the trial will commence.]

The countdown on the tower had begun.

***

The muscular man, despite the gentle persuasion of the longsword, persisted in trying to feed the crossbowman a protein shake, but only after enduring and enduring did he snap out of it upon hearing Kangwoo’s explosive shout.

“Stop it, you jerk! I don’t want to eat it-!!”

Realizing through Kangwoo’s shout that his actions were almost violent towards the other, the muscular man, looking startled, repeatedly apologized and discreetly offered an intermediate healing potion.

The crossbowman, unable to hide the twitch at the 1,000-point apology, casually threw out a cool comment, “Please be careful from now on.”

Anyway, in the current state of affairs, as things settled.

[Remaining time: 00:15:20]

The party members, who wasted a precious 5 minutes in calming down the situation, hurriedly proceeded with their self-introductions.

“I’m Park Sung-chul, 22 years old. I wield a longsword and my ability is ‘Paralysis,’ which paralyzes the designated target. But it’s only about 10 seconds at best for now.”

The calm voice tidied up the bewildering atmosphere.

“10 seconds? That’s no joke.”

Kangwoo admired Park Sung-chul’s ability, who was the fifth to appear.

“Is it the longsword and the basic magic power ring for Alter Mages that are worth it?”

Did they form a 10-person party on the 20th floor with such excellent abilities?

In Kangwoo’s puzzled eyes, Park Sungchul’s left hand, adorned with a glove, caught his attention.

‘What’s that…’

It was an ordinary glove with no special abilities that one could buy for just 50 points at a store.

The reason Kangwoo knew about that glove was because…

[Master Craftsman’s Orc Lord Leather Glove, Strength +1]

Until Kangwoo saved enough points to acquire the Orc Lord Leather Glove, he had worn rings on his spatial ring and fingers to conceal his identity.

‘Wearing just one of those? And it doesn’t even have any abilities?’

Isn’t this too conspicuous?

“Next, it’s my turn! My name is Kwon Domyung! I’m 23 years old! I wield this reliable greatsword-“

Kangwoo was well aware of what he had done.

There was only one reason to wear a glove with awakening and mana, despite it having no special abilities.

‘Is it a ring-type item?’

Due to Kwon Domyung’s repeated outrageous actions, Kangwoo unconsciously heightened his guard.

Park Sungchul.

He was hiding something.