F-Rank Secretly Becomes Stronger - Chapter 9

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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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9

“Ah…”

Bloodied party members.

They seemed to have barely avoided fatal injuries, but continuing the battle would be too much.

The dust was clearing and the Orc slowly turned its head, searching for prey.

Fortunately, the Orc didn’t notice us entering the grass field.

Grrrr…

Seeing the two covered in blood, it judged there was no need to deal with them and looked around.

‘They don’t seem dead yet, but the blood loss is no joke.’

Right now, the most important thing was the leader’s quick judgment.

I turned my head to the side to check on Yena, who had escaped with me.

“….”

Despite this being a moment where every second counted, Yena had fallen into a panic state after seeing her team members attacked and couldn’t say anything.

To think the person I kept alive as a leader would show such behavior.

I wanted to slap her hard to snap her out of it, but making loud noise would be dangerous, so I covered her mouth and pinched the inside of her arm hard.

“Mmph!”

“Get it together and use your head.”

I quickly saved the leader from the Orc’s attack, but it would be troublesome if she just stood there dazed.

Rather than myself with no experience, this situation needed the decisiveness of her, a veteran hunter who had likely led many parties.

Juhyeok turned her head to the side, showing her the scene she wanted to avoid, and presented two options.

“We each take one and escape before the dust clears, or we lure it away from the injured and fight it together.”

These were the options available considering our current strength.

For Juhyeok, who had never experienced such an emergency, it wasn’t easy to gauge which method had a higher survival rate.

“Decide which is the wisest answer within 5 seconds.”

There was no time to think long.

We had to act before the dust cleared and the Orc discovered the severely injured party members.

“….”

When her inner arm was pinched, Yena finally seemed to come to her senses, reason returning to her eyes.

With her brown eyes, she quickly examined the silhouettes of the party members and the Orc.

After thinking for a few seconds, her answer was.

“Let’s run.”

It was a strategic retreat.

“An Orc with a weapon is at least D-rank. With the Supporter and Vanguard injured, it’s too much for just the two of us to handle.”

“Confirmed.”

Juhyeok nodded at the leader’s answer.

Then suddenly, he reflected on a word from her sentence that caught his attention.

‘Wait, D-rank?’

If it was definitely D-rank, he could obtain a much higher quality magic stone than the F-rank magic stones he’d gotten so far.

Moreover, an Orc with a weapon would be a mutant, so it would have higher purity mana than ordinary D-ranks.

‘It won’t be easy to encounter a D-rank creature again.’

Right now, when he hadn’t filled his mana capacity yet and didn’t know how many magic stones he’d need.

The magic stone of a D-rank mutant was quite tempting.

‘Can I win?’

Carrying a weapon was proof it had some intelligence.

Could he win against such a creature?

‘I don’t think I’d be overwhelmed in a fight.’

If it was an intelligent creature, that was actually welcome.

It meant his anti-personnel combat ability honed in the Training Room would work on this opponent.

‘But is it okay to show my real skills in front of this person?’

The abilities he’d shown so far were at best 50% of his true capability.

If he revealed his true intentions, rumors might spread everywhere.

The thing Jung Juhyeok wanted to avoid most, as someone who wished to grow while keeping his face as unknown as possible.

After conflict filled his mind, Jung Juhyeok quietly asked her.

“If it’s a mutant, there’s a possibility it could be faster than a normal Orc. Is this the result you came up with considering everything?”

“…Even considering that variable, fighting such a creature with just the two of us would be impossible.”

A mutant with both the strength it just displayed and speed.

In that case, fighting it with just the two of them was something they absolutely had to avoid.

But here, another problem arose.

“I couldn’t detect that thing even within a 200-meter radius earlier. That means it can jump at least 200 meters in one leap.”

A creature that didn’t show up on Detection Skill.

Considering there were no footsteps, it must have covered over 200 meters in a single jump.

He didn’t know about its speed, but he couldn’t consider its mobility to be low.

“Can you cover 200 meters in under 10 seconds while carrying an injured member?”

“….”

Yena couldn’t give a definitive answer.

If there were no injured members, she would definitely judge escaping to be possible, but now they had to move together with the injured.

Moreover, the Orc wouldn’t just stand there blankly watching them approach to move the injured, so they had even less time.

“That’s….”

As flaws were revealed in the plan she had proposed, her mouth wouldn’t open.

Jung Juhyeok didn’t miss that moment and pressed forward.

“I’ll lure it away from the Exit Gate, so take those two and run.”

“What?”

“Make sure to come get me within an hour. That’s my limit.”

Jung Juhyeok tried to get up from his position after leaving those words.

Anyway, in most situations like this, when someone stepped up to sacrifice themselves first, others would keep their mouths shut.

He thought she would surely accept the proposal like any other ordinary person.

“No.”

But Yena grabbed Jung Juhyeok’s arm.

“No matter how capable you are for a Rookie Hunter, do you think you can hold out for an hour against that thing?”

A faint trembling felt from the sleeve she desperately grabbed.

Even if she pretended otherwise, fear still leaked out due to their current situation.

“There must be another way, so let’s think for just a moment.”

“….”

He had thought she was a good person, but who would have expected her to refuse even a Novice Hunter’s sacrifice.

He had thought she would accept it with a feeling of helplessness… but it seemed she was closer to being a saint than an ordinary person.

‘A bit touching.’

If it weren’t for the Artifact dwelling in his body, wouldn’t he have immediately accepted a scout offer without question?

After briefly indulging in such useless fantasies, he gently removed her hand from his arm.

“There’s no time to think of other methods.”

“Still—”

Before she could continue speaking, wind filled his lungs completely.

Jung Juhyeok took a deep breath and then screamed toward the Orc.

“Hyaaaaaaah!!!!”

Grrrrowl!

As he let out the scream, the Orc turned its head toward their direction hidden in the grass field.

Jung Juhyeok confirmed that he had definitely drawn Aggro and spoke to the stunned Yena beside him with a calm expression.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to hurry up and leave?”

“….”

A blank expression.

Soon after, she looked back and forth between the Orc slowly approaching in their direction and Jung Juhyeok.

“Damn….”

Now there was no time to think of other alternatives.

She made a frustrated expression but then patted his shoulder, accepting the unavoidable situation, and said.

“I’ll be back within 30 minutes, so make sure you hold out.”

“Don’t trip and fall while running.”

With those words, Yena emerges from between the grass field.

As she bursts out of the forest with the swift movements characteristic of an archer, the Orc’s gaze shifts toward her.

“That’s not the right place.”

Taking advantage of that moment when its body turned, he aims for the Orc’s blind spot.

He wondered if it might be possible to finish it with one surprise attack, but the Orc blocked the attack flying toward the back of its head with animal instincts.

“Tsk.”

If he could take it down with a surprise attack, he could roughly make excuses that he won by luck.

As expected from a creature with intelligence, it doesn’t fall for tricks so easily.

Grurk! Grurrrrk!

The Orc, excited from being ambushed, raises its sword and brings it down.

He rolled in the direction opposite to the injured members to avoid the attack.

Fortunately, it wasn’t a creature equipped with systematic swordsmanship, so there were no follow-up strikes.

‘Being an archer, she disappeared quickly.’

After briefly drawing the Orc’s attention, the injured members and Yena quickly vanished.

Now that there were no watching eyes, there was no need to fight while holding back.

“Ha… good.”

His body had been itching to properly swing a sword since he hadn’t been able to fight properly since the first round of the tournament.

Even when he wanted to move faster, he had forced himself to hold back due to worrying about other people’s gazes, but finally he could fight with all his might.

A moment when even a small thrill began to rise.

Despite facing an opponent he couldn’t be certain of defeating, the corners of his mouth faintly turned up.

“Let’s do this.”

Grurrk!

The Orc charges at Jung Juhyeok as he takes his stance.

A life-or-death real battle had begun.

*

Yena carries the two people at her sides as she heads toward the Gate.

Somehow supporting a heavy man and woman, she desperately searches for the escape route.

[What are you doing? Hurry up and go.]

She was saved.

By a novice hunter who hadn’t even been six months since graduating from the Academy.

Even though she was trying to find a way to save everyone somehow, he calmly assessed the situation and volunteered to sacrifice himself.

“Ha… ha…”

If she had quickly chosen to scatter when she first wasn’t detected, there wouldn’t have been injured members like this.

If she had used her head well to think of a way for everyone to avoid sacrifice, Jung Juhyeok wouldn’t have made the unilateral decision to stay behind alone.

While blaming herself, she continues to move her heavy steps.

‘Everyone will point fingers at me.’

A leader who ran away leaving behind a new F-rank Hunter in front of a D-rank mutant.

It was a shameful situation where she wouldn’t be able to easily hold her head up anywhere.

Her chest filled with guilt and resentment toward herself for only being able to make such a decision.

The only consolation was the movement Jung Juhyeok showed at the end.

Just from briefly seeing him launch a surprise attack on the Orc, she could tell enough.

‘I had a feeling, but as expected, he was hiding his true abilities all this time.’

The swift attack that wasn’t visible even when fighting goblins.

In fact, there was probably no opportunity to go all out when facing F-rank creatures, but from occasionally seeing him act clumsy, it was clear he wanted to hide something.

‘I won’t even hope for him to win, so just hold on a little…’

Otherwise, she felt like she wouldn’t be able to sleep for years due to guilt.

A prayer she desperately leaves behind, hoping he would endure for her sake as well.

She, who had been non-religious, prayed to all kinds of gods as she struggled to carry her barely breathing teammates and finally reached the Exit Gate.

“You’re a bit late…”

The staff member’s indifferent voice in front of the Gate trails off when he sees their battered condition.

Yena, supporting two people who were barely breathing, spoke to the staff member with a desperate expression.

“Please help us… there are still people inside…”

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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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