A S-Class Hunter With Great Agility - Chapter 10
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 10: Under the Maple Tree (1)
Everything was strange.
Choi Yu-il’s condition, and that maple tree standing there stubbornly upright.
‘The boss? Is it already dead?’
No. I heard explanations about the dungeon while moving here.
‘When the boss dies, the core breaks and the dungeon collapses.’
Since this space was still intact, it was clear that Choi Yu-il’s party hadn’t killed the boss.
‘And… it’s not just the boss that’s missing.’
I glanced at Baek Kyul. When our eyes met, the boy nodded.
‘I don’t see the other hunters.’
Six hunters had entered the gate in total. Three of us were here, so excluding Choi Yu-il, there should be two remaining.
‘But right now I only see Choi Yu-il…’
I furrowed my brow.
Whiiiii—
Then a strange wind began to blow. There wasn’t even a sky anymore, so where was this wind coming from?
Charalak—
The sound of maple leaves rustling rang out. It was like the calm before a storm, the stillness before a typhoon.
“…Baek Kyul. Wait here for me. So you can immediately use heal… no, your ability. Do you still have stamina left?”
“Still plenty.”
“I don’t know why that guy is acting like that, but I’ll drag him back, so please start with treatment when I return.”
“Uh, okay.”
Baek Kyul answered in bewilderment.
‘Does he think I won’t go if he tells me not to?’
He’s clearly injured so badly he can’t even get up. Who knows what might happen if I just leave him like that.
“Why are you even…”
I approached that guy again. When I reached a distance where conversation was somewhat possible, I opened my mouth to speak.
Choi Yu-il was catching his breath. His shoulders repeatedly rose and fell.
“Huk… heok… urk.”
“…?”
It was the moment I took another step forward.
…Cough.
“Kek, kheuk, cough!”
Kheok, kuk, coughing burst out of my mouth like crazy. I hastily covered my mouth with the sleeve of my shaman robes.
And when I pulled the sleeve away.
Drip.
Bright red blood came out in abundance.
“What is this…”
Stumble, my strength drained away. It felt like someone was grabbing me from below and pulling me down.
A feeling I had experienced before. When I was young and suffered terribly from spirit sickness…
It felt like some unknown being was draining all my strength away.
When I hastily checked my status window, my health stat was dropping rapidly.
‘What the hell is this…!’
I opened my eyes wide. Blood was still streaming from my mouth.
| …I feel the flames dying down! Not a particularly pleasant sensation! |
Fire Virtue True Lord said. I barely wiped the blood while nodding.
“Cough, kup. Right now, ha. Something’s really wrong.”
‘What I suspect right now is…’
I raised and extended my right hand. Fire Virtue True Lord also readily lent me his power.
“Fire Ring.”
In all the old portraits of Fire Virtue True Lord, he holds fire rings in both hands.
It’s a symbol of punishment.
I grasped one ring.
It should definitely be hot, but aside from a slight warmth, I felt nothing.
Only exhilaration breathed heat into my heart.
“Throw.”
As I tilted my hand slightly, the ring shot forward rapidly.
Screeeeech—!
That fireball reached the trunk of the maple tree in the blink of an eye.
‘If that’s an ordinary tree, it should catch fire immediately.’
I calmly looked ahead.
However.
Crack—
A huge mouth appeared on the maple tree. It was a mouth with only sharp teeth grown, without eyes or nose.
“…!!!”
I reflexively stepped back. Even though I had seen many more disgusting evil spirits in my life, it was an appearance that I couldn’t help but be wary of.
Slurp.
The maple tree opened its mouth and stuck out its tongue. And immediately swallowed the Fire Aura.
Gulp.
“Kuk….”
This made it certain.
That thing is the boss monster of this damn zombie dungeon.
Let me organize the situation.
First. This area drains the stamina, that is, life force of nearby living beings.
This is likely the ability of that boss monster.
Second. No other hunters except Choi Yu-il are visible.
…They’ve probably already been taken down.
‘I hope the latter isn’t the case.’
Giggle giggle.
The boss monster provoked me while flicking its tongue. The giggling laughter got on my nerves.
My forehead naturally wrinkled.
| How unpleasant. For a lowly creature to swallow the Fire Aura. |
“It looks disgusting too.”
Fire Virtue True Lord felt the same way. When his anger was stirred, it naturally affected me as well.
‘I need to do something before my stamina drops further.’
This is all a first-time experience. But the mind that had been trained through exorcising ghosts helped me not to stand there dazed.
“Hey, try to get up. Snap out of it.”
Taking advantage of the moment when the bleeding stopped, I nudged Choi Yu-il.
His body was drooping and his energy was completely drained. Well, he must have been in this place that drains stamina just by stepping foot in it for quite a while.
“Come on, try to get up. Are you okay?”
“Ugh….”
Only then did Choi Yu-il turn his eyes toward me.
“…Eun Hae-dam?”
“Yeah. It’s me.”
“Why….”
“Do you have the mental capacity to ask that? Get up quickly. You need treatment right away.”
“…There, uh….”
Normally, he would have jumped up and been shocked, asking why I was here.
Choi Yu-il looked ahead again. Then he extended his finger and pointed somewhere.
The place his fingertip reached was the mouth of the maple tree.
“Why is that?”
I couldn’t understand the meaning of that gesture, so I asked with doubt. I couldn’t see any particular peculiarities other than it being disgustingly gross.
I first wrapped one of Choi Yu-il’s drooping arms around my shoulder.
‘Wow, he’s really heavy.’
It wasn’t difficult since I was borrowing Fire Virtue True Lord’s strength through the Divine Descent Ritual, but the body I was holding was too long.
When I lifted him up like that, Choi Yu-il stood up without much resistance and swayed.
However, his mind seemed to be elsewhere.
“There’s….”
Choi Yu-il muttered.
And my attention also turned elsewhere.
“…Hey, what is this?”
Hot liquid flowed down my hand.
Red like the leaves of that maple tree, bright red. Blood that came from Choi Yu-il, not what I had vomited….
Drip.
Flowed down.
‘What is this….’
I was soon able to realize the source of that.
“…!”
In Choi Yu-il’s abdomen, there was an arrow stuck. It was the same shape as the ones in the quiver he carried on his back.
‘…Can someone get hit by their own arrow?’
My gaze trembled.
This was the first time.
It had only been barely a day since I awakened.
Even though I had often seen ghosts, there was no way I had ever seen a person with such injuries.
Just once.
Except for that moment back then.
‘I hate this….’
I hate this kind of thing.
I couldn’t watch someone around me have their life cut short in this way again.
I readjusted and carried Choi Yu-il on my back once more.
【Uurgh, eck, keck. Keeheehee.】
The maple tree that had chewed and swallowed the Fire Aura flicked its tongue.
The revulsion toward disgust was instinctive, so I frowned.
| What a troublesome opponent! Just being close to it makes the flames die down! |
“Exactly.”
This place was surely overflowing with vitality. It was completely opposite to that attribute.
“You’d better stay outside for now.”
I guided Choi Yu-il and sent him to the back.
Choi Yu-il twisted his body, but I couldn’t push the back of someone whose condition was this bad.
Baek Kyul ran out and took the guy away.
“…No, I have to…. I have to do it….”
“Stay put there until you recover more than half your stamina. You’ll die, seriously.”
I glared with a much more aggressive tone.
Baek Kyul flinched at my reaction and quickly examined Choi Yu-il’s condition.
As if he hadn’t earned his A-rank healer grade for nothing, Baek Kyul pushed in healing with practiced hands.
“Uurgh….”
I watched the boy remove the arrow and begin hemostasis, then turned my head away.
“We’ll have to handle this ourselves. Our biggest fighting force is out.”
“I think you’re our biggest fighting force, Hunter.”
“Is it okay to say that when the leader is right here?”
…Then what am I supposed to call him?! Damn…. The notification popped up again, making my joke to lighten the mood meaningless.
I lamented my situation and sighed.
‘Fine, let’s see whether I die to that monster or this damn Quest.’
I glared at the maple tree and explained.
“It doesn’t seem to burn well with ordinary firepower. I’ll gather as much mana as possible. Please hold out for a bit.”
It was B-rank anyway. I still didn’t know the exact ranking system or power differences well, but it didn’t feel like an opponent Fire Virtue True Lord couldn’t handle.
It was just that its troublesome special ability and certainly tremendous health stats were the big problems.
Whoosh.
I soon concentrated hot energy in my hands.
“Yes! Understood.”
Hup!
Kang In-ho listened to me and took a breath. Then he swung his axe and brought it straight down.
Crack!
The ground began to split from where the axe was embedded. From that gap— solid steel reinforcement grew.
“Iron-Armored Knight, Barrier.”
At the same time, Lee Jung-yeon swung her staff to create crackling electricity.
The electricity climbed up Kang In-ho’s barrier, further increasing its defensive power.
【Keeheehee, keck, keeeeek!】
The boss monster began shooting attacks from that moment.
Whoooosh.
A strong wind blew, and maple leaves poured down. Those maple leaves swirled like a tornado before beginning to strike the barrier directly.
Crash! Once.
Thud, thoom! Once more.
As expected, I could see cracks gradually forming in the barrier.
“….”
Kang In-ho and Lee Jung-yeon’s rank is B.
No matter how they’re the same rank, that monster is boss-level.
It would be a difficult difference to properly withstand.
‘It’s fine.’
But this time I can help, so it was okay.
I wouldn’t be a burden… rather, I had miraculously gained the power to save everyone.
“Fall back—!”
At that shout, Kang In-ho and Lee Jung-yeon retreated.
【Kekeke, kik…】
In both my hands, Fire Virtue True Lord’s flames were burning with much stronger firepower than before.
I gathered my mana to the maximum.
Rumble.
The solid iron barrier finally crumbles.
“Fire Virtue—”
The moment the barrier fell, I stretched out both hands to deploy my skill.
No, I tried to.
Grab.
Someone caught my shoulder.
“…?”
It was a gesture drained of all strength. Weak enough that I could easily ignore it if I wanted to.
However, that desperation was difficult to just pass by…
“Choi Yu-il?”
Step.
“Don’t…”
The guy walked out in front of me. Then he opened his flickering eyes and looked at the red maple tree.
“What are you doing right now?”
“…”
“Get out of there, move!”
I shouted. But Choi Yu-il seemed like he couldn’t hear me. No, maybe he wasn’t listening.
The guy mustered all his strength and ran toward the maple tree.
“Leader! Why are you doing this!”
“If we don’t deal with that thing right now, it’s dangerous!”
Kang In-ho and Lee Jung-yeon also had panicked faces. And rightfully so, since this was truly reckless behavior.
Crash!
Kang In-ho’s barrier collapsed. By a hair’s breadth, my skill couldn’t be cast.
‘At this rate…’
【Kekeke.】
Maple leaves poured down, cutting through the air.
The iron club, hard and sharp enough to pierce through iron barriers, touched what it shouldn’t have touched.
“You…!”
Choi Yu-il acted strangely.
With movements that weren’t meant to protect me or the other guild members.
As if his only purpose was the single attack before his eyes.
Just, like that.
Thud.
Taking the blood-colored maple leaves with his whole body, Choi Yu-il collapsed on the spot.
‘…Why on earth?’
Why?
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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