A S-Class Hunter With Great Agility - Chapter 121
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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 121: Snowy Field (2)
The man pushed me away as if bewildered. I lightly brushed off my wrist and said.
“You’ll be thanking me.”
“…?”
He had an expression that showed he didn’t understand, but I knew. What kind of face it would soon change into.
Thunk!
A solid ice chunk crashed down to the floor. It was where the man had been standing.
“…Huh?!”
I shrugged my shoulders as if to say ‘see?’
‘Good thing I trusted that chilling feeling.’
Swoosh.
Then I raised my head to look up at the snow-covered treetops.
Growl….
There was a yeti that had lost its companion.
“Stay focused. You never know when or where those guys might appear.”
“…! B-but it wasn’t there just a moment ago….”
“Amazing, isn’t it? I find it fascinating sometimes too.”
The man looked back and forth between the yeti, the ice, and me with a shocked expression.
Of course he’d be surprised. Just moments ago, the yeti wasn’t there, and this attack was also beyond the realm of prediction.
‘Lately, this kind of ‘intuition’ seems to come to me more often…. Though not to any meaningful degree.’
I cleared my thoughts and opened my mouth.
“Please step back.”
The man frowned at my words.
“…Yes.”
However, before long, they simply gripped their weapons tightly and retreated.
‘At least they have some sense.’
I soon looked at the yeti. A ranged attack would be good.
‘If only I had a decent archer at times like this…’
I suddenly remembered going to dungeons with Choi Yu-il and chuckled softly. Coming to a foreign country, it was inevitable to miss all sorts of things.
However, I have companions here too.
“Mountain Lord.”
Swoosh—
As I opened my mouth, he immediately revealed himself.
“A, a monster?”
“No, something’s different…”
A pure white White Tiger appeared over the snowy field. It was Mountain Lord’s true form with Spirit Form released.
The giant tiger stepped onto the snow field, but no footprints were left behind.
| Vengeful Ghost Ice Kill. |
The Divine Spirit cast the skill without any particular disturbance.
Shriek—!
The flying ice pierced through the monster. At a speed it couldn’t dodge or counterattack.
Gruk, kruk!
That soon creates a Spear Ghost.
Thud.
The yeti fell beneath the tree. The corpse with red blood flowing profusely stained the snowy field.
“Ah…”
Hanako’s guild members gasped in surprise.
The yeti is an upper-tier A-rank monster. However, the current Mountain Lord far exceeds the level of an ordinary S-rank.
So such quick results were inevitable.
‘He did show some restraint though…’
I smiled and shook my head from side to side.
* * *
In the end, well.
“Ah, thanks to that, we were able to divide the teams easily. Thank you.”
Ren, who was walking with me across the snowy field, smiled brightly. His neat smile was certainly polite, but it left an uneasy feeling.
“What’s the reason?”
“Pardon?”
“There are two things that need explanation.”
I said indifferently while looking straight ahead.
“Why you bothered to bring escorts to this place, and why you divided into groups.”
At my words, Ren pondered for a moment. As if choosing his words, or as if it was quite difficult to answer.
“Haha…”
I saw a laugh that tried to brush things off, but I only stroked the back of the Mountain Lord walking beside me and didn’t smile back.
This wasn’t something I could just let slide. Did he think I wouldn’t notice his ulterior motives?
“…Um, yes. It would be better to explain how this came about.”
‘Much better. This should have been explained from the start.’
When I waited quietly, words soon flowed from Ren.
“It’s all because of one reason.”
“….”
“The fact that we don’t know who ‘Fox Mask’ is.”
Ren covered his hands with his sleeves. Rather than because of the winter wind, it seemed like a habit he had when hiding his true feelings.
“Even if they’re fellow guild members, even if they’re companions, we can’t trust them. How would we know? Whether they’ll point a sword at me during the raid.”
His answer was quite refreshing. And at the same time, it was clear.
“It’s a kind of insurance. Until the perpetrator is caught, it’s better to be careful for the time being. I’m a very important asset to Japan, after all.”
He was also arrogant, and showed signs of thorough self-objectification.
‘As expected… So that’s how it is.’
Currently, Ren was clearly suspecting every Hunter of being Fox Mask.
After hearing his explanation, I raised one question.
“But there’s no one among your colleagues who’s stronger than you.”
Fox Mask had a record of killing even S-rank Hunters. That meant they weren’t just any ordinary skilled person.
It seemed inconsistent to suspect Hanako Guild members who were only A-rank and B-rank.
Then Ren shrugged his shoulders.
“We don’t know. They might be hiding their strength.”
“Hmm…”
‘From what I saw in their Status Windows, that doesn’t seem to be the case.’
Well, it’s not good to blindly trust Status Windows either. If someone used an item that could disrupt abilities, it wouldn’t be impossible to deceive the Status Window.
I nodded as if I agreed.
“That makes sense. There’s no harm in being careful.”
“Yes. Life is something you live alone. You shouldn’t trust anyone except yourself.”
It was somehow a sage-like answer.
Life is something you live alone… I started to look back on the past few years but soon gave up.
Grrrr—
Another ambush appeared before our eyes.
“Oh, there are quite a lot of them.”
“Should I help you?”
“Hmm… I think I’ll need your help.”
The snowy field was full of Yeti that had appeared. Just how many of them live here?
‘There must be at least a hundred…’
I sighed as I remembered when our path was blocked at the Elf Castle.
‘Back then I called upon Jisan-guk to obscure the view, but now I probably don’t need to do that.’
“Mountain Lord, there aren’t any people around either… Wouldn’t it be fine not to hold back?”
I casually asked the Mountain Lord. Then he glanced at Ren and said.
| Well, that thing is also human though. |
“Hmm…”
Shing.
Ren drew his sword from its scabbard once again.
[Status Window]
Name: Hanasaki Ren
Rank: S
[Stats]
Stamina: 267 Strength: 278 Agility: 288
Mental Power | 199 Mana | 254
Four Pillars / Dark Fortune
And like performing a ritual, the process of taking deep breaths repeats.
“Dual Sword Style, Falling Flowers.”
The man holding the sword cuts through the winter air. Two blades sliced through the cold air.
And simultaneously the ice-like monsters.
Slash.
Were cut.
Standing in the front row were about ten Yeti. However, they couldn’t pose much of an obstacle to someone.
Slash—
Ren cut down ten A-rank monsters at once.
“He’s… human, right?”
I moved my lips slightly at the sight. The Mountain Lord only furrowed his white brow without saying anything.
“You said you’d help me?”
Thud.
Ren, who had landed on the floor, shouted.
“You said life is about living alone?”
“Hah, even so.”
I chuckled and grabbed the handle of my sword at my waist.
“Of course I’ll help.”
Shing.
A Spirit General Sword with a thick blade, different from Ren’s, revealed itself.
“I thought Summoning Arts was your specialty, isn’t it?”
“Hmm… It’s hard to make a living being good at just one thing these days.”
“Ah.”
He didn’t ask any more questions. I gripped my sword and stepped onto the snow field.
“I’ll take the right side.”
“Then I’ll naturally take the left.”
Ren stood to my left with a calm expression.
“Dual Sword Style, Falling Flowers.”
“Divine Descent Ritual, Mountain Lord.”
Whoosh—
Three swords cut through the winter wind, blood pours out, and monsters fall.
“…Oh.”
My attack, having abandoned Power Control, slashed the Yeti.
In other words, that meant attacking an A-rank Monster with stats far exceeding S-rank levels.
Kraaaah!
It meant that thirty Yetis had no choice but to lose their lives in an instant.
“It looks like it’ll be over soon, doesn’t it?”
“…This is different from what I knew. Are you really A-rank?”
“That’s what it says on my license. So it must be right, don’t you think?”
Ren let out a hollow laugh.
“Well, fine. Let’s talk after this is over.”
Right. First things first, I need to finish this fight.
“Unity of Ki, Sword, and Body.”
“Severe Cold.”
For now, I simply moved forward. Like a Hunter.
* * *
“Does this make any sense?”
“I don’t understand it either. Why is the Guild Leader acting like this…”
After Eun Hae-dam and Ren left. In the snowy field filled with cold air, Hanako’s guild members spoke.
“She trusts a foreigner because there’s no one to trust? When we should be sticking together more than ever.”
Yuzuki lamented. She pulled down her robe and frowned.
“Isn’t there anyone who can go stop her?”
“Even if we tried to stop her, she wouldn’t listen…”
A Hunter with a gloomy expression muttered.
“We all know the reason anyway. The Guild Leader has been sensitive lately because of that ‘Fox Mask.'”
“…”
“Each S-rank Hunter is a vital force, and she’s worried that something might happen to her too in this situation. It’s all for Japan.”
At that, Hanako’s Hunters held their tongues. They knew. Everyone knew.
The Fox Mask had been killing Japan’s Hunters one by one, continuously.
There was no guarantee that Hanasaki Ren, the Guild Leader of Hanako Guild and a true S-rank Hunter, wouldn’t become the next target.
…But this was different. Unable to trust Hunters from her ‘own country,’ she was teaming up with a Hunter from a ‘foreign country’ in the dungeon.
“This doesn’t make sense…”
A kind of disappointment flashed across Yuzuki’s face.
In that atmosphere mixed with rebellious feelings, the male Hunter who had been saved by Eun Hae-dam’s hand earlier opened his mouth.
“I, I have a somewhat different opinion.”
He continued speaking even after confirming that his colleagues were frowning.
“The Guild Leader must have her reasons for thinking this through. Besides, that Korean doesn’t seem like a bad person. His skills look decent too.”
“….”
“If he had a bad personality, he wouldn’t have saved me earlier… And if he lacked skill, he wouldn’t have been able to save me either.”
The male Hunter, that is, Amagi Hayato, spoke with a confident tone.
‘Both his character and skills – he’s not someone to distrust.’
After all, he was a foreigner, so even if he had pretended not to notice and walked away, no one would have caught on.
— We’re not okay with this. What are you trusting about him to send just the two of them? Foreigners can’t be trusted.
To save himself who had said such things… without hesitation. Honestly, it seemed far from what he had been worried about.
“…That makes sense.”
Yuzuki finally nodded. Everyone had witnessed the scene where Eun Hae-dam pulled Hayato out from under the Yeti’s attack.
“I have no idea how he noticed it though. Was it a skill?”
“Prophet Hunters often do that sort of thing.”
“So it’s that type after all.”
The Hanako Guild members concluded their conversation by bringing up a hypothesis that Eun Hae-dam would have definitely objected to if he had heard it.
“Sigh. Fine. Let’s leave him alone for now.”
Yuzuki sighed and spoke. It was a moment when a friendly conclusion was reached. Since Amagi was a Tank, he had significant influence within the team.
“Let’s find somewhere to hide until those two return. It would be dangerous if we encounter a group of Yetis like this. The Guild Leader also told us to ‘wait’ rather than attempt a conquest.”
The warming magic didn’t last very long. For now, it would be better to take out a tent from the subspace pouch and rest.
“I’ll use my detection skill to survey the surroundings…”
Huh?
She frowned with one eye.
“You’re already coming back?”
Then Hanako’s Hunters all looked in the same direction at once.
“What? There’s no way it could be finished this early.”
“You just left… This snowy field is incredibly vast.”
It was strange in many ways. No matter how fast they were fighting and advancing, it didn’t make sense in terms of physical time.
“Oh, are they really coming?”
But clearly, there was a presence stepping through the snow from beyond.
Holding a thin sword, with their outer garment fluttering in the winter wind…
Some being.
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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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