Hunter Kindergarten, Dolphin Class! - Chapter 171

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 171

Nabi and Sangja are fighting.

I gritted my teeth and ran up the stairs.

‘Why do those two have to be stuck together!’

I thought it would be better if they were separated, one each!

I had to get close enough for my voice to reach those two, so I needed to climb up to the floor visible directly across from the opposite side.

Having climbed to that floor, I leaned halfway against the stair railing and shouted.

“Stop!!!”

-Kugukung!

But no matter how much I shouted until my throat was raw, these bastards showed no sign of listening.

A giant black hand grabbed Sang-jwa’s neck and disappeared somewhere into the stone wall. And then…

Thud. Thud. Thud.

‘They seem to be roughly grappling with each other.’

The problem was that every time they did, the entire labyrinth shook from the aftermath.

I grabbed my head with both hands.

Having the other party members discover them fighting like this wasn’t much of a problem.

Later, after Kim Yu-seong applies brainwashing, I could just make appropriate excuses to make them understand.

However.

‘The real problem is that other people might get caught up in those two’s mindless brawl.’

I couldn’t let the shrimp’s back burst in a whale fight.

Would the shrimp really just have its back burst and that’s it?

‘Everything would burst and be done with.’

Even though the entire party were Awakeners, there was no need to experience the power gap that could be felt without comparison.

And to prevent that, I absolutely had to quickly stop those two from fighting.

Who?

…Me, damn it.

“I heard the monsters were eliminated, but is that not the case?”

When I turned my head at the voice suddenly coming from behind, Yeong Won-ha was standing there.

‘Ah, I came up without saying anything.’

Seeing me climb the stairs without any particular notice, she seemed to have followed me up.

She approached next to me as if copying my actions and leaned against the railing. Then she narrowed her eyes and stared intently at the opposite wall.

For some reason, I had the illusion of sweat flowing down the back of my neck.

I rolled only my eyes without showing it, examining the current situation in turn.

Sang-jwa who disappeared after being grabbed by the collar by Nabi.

Yeong Won-ha who followed me here.

And Kang Ho-won and the party members climbing the stairs as if catching up closely.

Damn it.

I repeated my worries over and over and finally… came to a conclusion.

‘This won’t work. I’ll go.’

I’m going. Over there.

I spoke to Yeong Won-ha, who was still leaning against the railing and looking around.

“Do you happen to have any of those rescue items you used earlier left?”

“What are you planning to use it for?”

I extended my index finger and pointed to the opposite railing. I could barely bring myself to say it, but I had to.

“I’m trying to get over there. If it’s not too difficult, please hit me with the rescue item like before, timed to when I jump over there.”

The distance between here and the opposite staircase is quite far.

So I might fall while jumping over, and even if I make it across, I’ll bump into things here and there in the process of landing on the floor.

Since I had already climbed the stairs for quite a while, going back down would be inefficient, so I couldn’t think of any other plan.

Or maybe I didn’t have the capacity to think of other plans in my urgent state of mind.

Anyway, even if I had to take risks, I needed to preserve my life, right?

“I see, are you trying to look at the monster over there?”

Apparently, she only saw the silhouettes of Nabi and Sang-jwa and mistook them for monsters.

‘It’s certainly a visual that could be misunderstood.’

I smiled bitterly and shook my head slightly.

“No, it’s more that my companions seem to be coming up from below, so I was going to go over there and tell them not to come up. My voice doesn’t seem to reach that far from here.”

It was a flimsy excuse even as I said it, but I had no choice.

‘There’s no time.’

Yeong Won-ha frowned for a moment, then stepped back as if she understood.

“Phew…”

Good, this is also a staircase landing, so I can run and use the momentum to jump across.

‘Let’s go.’

Without hesitation, I stepped once on the edge of the landing and ran forward.

Then I stepped on the railing, climbed up, kicked off, and swung my legs.

“…!!!”

With good timing, I felt the rescue item that Yeong Won-ha threw touch my back.

I stretched my legs toward the railing on the opposite side.

-Whoosh.

Wind brushed against my face, and both my legs barely caught on the railing!

And at the same time, the two problematic figures appeared before my eyes again.

[ Get lost! Go away! Get out of here! ]

“Someone who doesn’t even remember you – what’s so good about – grinning like that – “

[ What’s it to you? I was also at first – ! ]

“What nerve. Yeah, if you like it so much, keep clinging on in that pathetic state.”

The black hand was pressing down on Sang-jwa’s head, and he was raising his arms to block it.

“These bastards-!”

[ !! ]

“…!”

What was funny in all this was that these two were actually surprised when they spotted me.

I quickly stretched out both arms wide.

Soon after, Nabi’s black forearm caught on my right arm, and Sang-jwa’s neck caught on my left arm as we fell backward.

The beanbag that exploded behind us scattered weakly, and I crashed into the stone wall with these two.

Smoke rose thickly, obscuring my vision, but I opened my mouth first as if I didn’t care.

“Now, I’m in front of you.”

[ … ]

“…”

“So what did I tell you to do?”

[ That idiot keeps saying weird things!! ]

“I only said what was right.”

“No, never mind that. First, what did I tell you?”

[ …You told us not to fight. ]

“Tsk.”

A very brief, dissatisfied silence followed… Then slowly, the shape and texture wrapped around my arms began to change.

Nabi became a small, warm child, and instead of the Seat of Discernment’s fluttering veil, I caught long, lustrous golden hair.

“…Hah.”

When I get home, should I make these two hold hands and shake on making peace?

‘This is worse than the kids in our class fighting.’

For having crashed into a stone wall, it didn’t hurt much, so I dusted myself off and got up.

And just then, I could see Kang Ho-won and his companions barely making it up the stairs.

Additionally, somehow the Eternal Hunter had also made it over to this side.

Anyway, I quietly poked the backs of Nabi and Kim Yu-seong, who had returned to their original fake appearances.

‘Let’s do well.’

Kang Ho-won enters the stair level where we are and looks around with bewildered eyes at the dusty surroundings that are broken here and there.

“Did you encounter monsters while I was away? No, they said Team Ga had already eliminated them all…”

“There were no monsters. It seems like it was originally like this.”

“No, I’m sure earlier you said you were going here to see monsters-“

At the Eternal Hunter’s tactless words, I poked Kim Yu-seong’s back.

I see Kim Yu-seong approach her and lightly touch her forehead.

Then he comes back and whispers like this.

“Traveling with humans is quite troublesome.”

Thanks to that, I’m comfortable.

Now, look.

The Eternal Hunter stands there blankly, then after a moment corrects what she had said.

“Hmm, I guess it was originally like this.”

It’s so convenient it’s almost scary.

‘I should avoid using it as much as possible.’

However, Kang Ho-won raised his eyebrows suspiciously at her suddenly changed attitude and tried to examine us carefully. At this, I said in alarm.

“Well, now that we’re all gathered. Shall we go again?”

“…Let’s do that.”

Fortunately, Kang Ho-won also seemed to consider work priorities and reluctantly agreed.

And so we began climbing the stairs again.

“No matter how I look at it, it’s strange.”

While walking behind the group, it was the elderly hunter Yu Ba-da muttering.

“What is?”

“It seems like the owner of the altar has appeared, but they’re nowhere to be seen. This labyrinth also seems to have changed to match the appeared owner.”

“Then, that god thing you mentioned earlier…?”

“Yes! If it’s the owner of the altar, what else could it be but a god? But I can’t sense it either… What is it?”

“…”

I silently stared at the back of Nabi’s head as she rode piggyback on Kang Ho-won.

On the altar, a black leg.

The owner who arrived at the labyrinth.

Even the form of the dungeon that changed to match that owner’s status.

Don’t the pieces fit together perfectly…? If so.

‘Would you believe that child is the owner of the altar?’

I vaguely realized that the reason all this happened was because of Nabi’s existence.

And suddenly a decent idea occurred to me.

‘It’s worth trying once.’

We had to climb stairs for about another hour after that.

And at the end of it, we finally arrived.

At the stone bridge connected to the altar.

‘We were lucky.’

Though I don’t know what it’s connected to, sunlight pours down from the ceiling, illuminating the altar.

Under that sunlight, the problematic altar reveals itself.

A black leg placed on a small dirt table.

It was indeed Nabi’s leg.

“Wow! My le-“

I skillfully covered Nabi’s mouth slightly and patted her back.

‘Let’s stay calm, friend.’

While doing so, I calmly surveyed the surroundings.

‘Not a pig’s head, but Nabi’s leg…’

As if offering sacrifices to something precious, various gold and jewels are scattered around the black leg.

‘They even prepared alcohol and rice.’

I don’t know who did it, but they completely misjudged the owner’s taste.

As I slowly approached the altar, the defensive barrier that Kang Ho-won had mentioned seemed to have disappeared.

“Well, that’s because all three totems have been gathered.”

I can see Yeong Won-ha approaching with a brief explanation, holding totem items in both hands.

And so, following behind her, we too stepped one by one into the now-vanished barrier.

We sat side by side in front of the altar we had reached.

Yu Ba-da unwrapped some snacks he had brought and placed them on the table, then turned to face us.

“Hmm, actually, the connection with the souls of the skeletons that were inside the dungeon was cut off long ago.”

“…”

No one said anything, but everyone’s eyes roughly conveyed ‘How brazen.’

“Well, still! I’m not sure if a god has come, but showing sincerity before leaving is good since there won’t be any worries about consequences, right?”

‘Well… I’m not sure.’

I think just throwing a few snacks would be more effective.

Anyway, Yu Ba-da sat properly in front of the altar and began chanting strange incantations.

Lightly, it was supposedly an incantation to appease an angry god and request reconciliation.

However, his incantation for the god didn’t last long.

“What the, this uwaaah-!!”

Suddenly, without any warning, black hands appeared from behind, overturning the ritual table!

“Hey! Are you sure you’re appeasing it?? Aren’t you making it angry instead?!”

Among the party members who jumped up in surprise, ready to flee, I watched this entire scene intently with my arms crossed.

‘Not bad.’

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————