The Regressed SSS-Rank Supporter Who Turned Dark - Chapter 18

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

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#Episode 18
There’s something oddly uncomfortable about this.
I wondered if it was a lingering habit from my past life—always supporting others from behind—but that doesn’t seem to be it.
Everyone else is fighting hard, and watching from the sidelines makes my conscience prick with guilt.
Bang, crack!
I pulled the trigger mechanically while my thoughts churned.
‘I can’t let this show. Sigh.’
My position is rather delicate.
If a freshly awakened novice like me suddenly performed like a battle-hardened veteran, it would look extremely suspicious, and then Lim Captain’s unit—not to mention the Defense Strategy Department—might harbor unnecessary misunderstandings.
For instance, I could be suspected of being an unregistered awakened one who committed crimes.
“Hey! Block that side! It’s heading toward Eun-sung!”
“Right! My apologies!”
Lim Captain’s unit was in absolute chaos, running back and forth to ensure I didn’t suffer even a scratch.
I told them not to follow me.
Our soldiers, working tirelessly day and night.
All this trouble because of one greenhorn.
I silently offered my sincere respect for Lim Captain’s unit’s efforts, and I methodically finished off the monsters they’d fed to me, absorbing ether in steady streams.
“Are you alright?”
“Of course.”
“Your marksmanship is quite impressive. You’re composed.”
Lim Captain smiled broadly.
He seemed quite pleased with my movements—raising the barrel and checking the round count in the magazine.
“You’re too kind. I feel sorry that you’re all going through this trouble because of me.”
“We’re simply doing what we must. Of course, it would have been ideal if you’d completed formal training before entering actual combat, but.”
“I apologize. I was impatient.”
“No, I spoke out of turn. Don’t take it to heart, and focus on your growth. We’ll do our best to support you.”
Then Choi Yu-ra spoke with obvious disdain.
“Look at them playing babysitters. How pathetic.”
“Why, are you jealous?”
“Jealous of what? If it were me, I’d be too embarrassed to accept babysitting like that.”
Choi Yu-ra snorted dismissively.
“Um, Choi Yu-ra, Hunter?”
“What?”
Lim Captain carefully opened his mouth.
“I believe you also received assistance from senior hunters for about three months after completing the Special Operations Bureau training.”
“I, I never—”
Choi Yu-ra flinched in panic, her eyes widening.
“Do you have proof? Huh? Do you have proof?!”
“Park Lieutenant, sir. One of my senior instructors was the instructor who oversaw your training. You may not remember, but during a dungeon raid, you accidentally attacked Park Lieutenant and—”
“….”
Choi Yu-ra clamped her mouth shut.
When did she ever say she wouldn’t accept sponsorship from the Defense Strategy Department?
I’m no fool—I’d figured out long ago that it was all bluster.
Choi Yu-ra had been quite a promising prospect since her awakening, and as a dealer, she possessed enough value to warrant the Defense Strategy Department’s sponsorship.
Perhaps her rapid ascension to a 4-star Hunter in such a short span was itself evidence that she’d accepted their support.
Her growth had been “overwhelmingly” faster than average, after all.
“What, huh.”
Choi Yu-ra glared at me for no reason.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Then why are you staring?”
“Is it wrong to look at you?”
“Yeah, it is.”
“It’s fine, these things happen.”
“What things?”
“I understand.”
“What could you possibly understand? Huh? What do you mean you understand?”
“Just~”
When I flashed her a grin, Choi Yu-ra trembled with embarrassment.
Did she realize how mortified she looked?
Then again, it was understandable.
Hunters could afford to bluff a little, after all.
“Let’s go.”
“Ah, Eun-sung! This is dangerous! We should take the lead!”
As I brushed past Choi Yu-ra and moved forward, Lim Captain and his team scrambled to catch up in alarm.
* * *
After crossing a vast plain bathed in deep twilight, we arrived before an enormous fortress.
The distant castle gates stood wide open.
“Eun-sung, from here on it’s genuinely perilous, so you must exercise extreme caution. You absolutely cannot let your guard down.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
As we reached the bridge spanning the Moat, Lim Captain impressed the warning upon me.
Choi Yu-ra was no exception to his concern.
“Of all places to choose, he picks somewhere like this. Honestly, such a difficult client. I’d abandon him and leave if I could.”
Choi Yu-ra shot me a sidelong glance.
“Haha….”
I felt a twinge of guilt and scratched the back of my head sheepishly.
I understood why Lim Captain’s team and Choi Yu-ra reacted as they did—once we crossed the bridge and passed through the castle gates, true hell would unfold.
Monsters would pour forth in what could only be called a wave, and most Raid Parties would find themselves locked in continuous combat for nearly two hours straight.
Of course, if a Raid Party had a mage, things would be different.
With a single area-of-effect skill, they could annihilate anywhere from dozens to hundreds of monsters in one sweep.
“I’ll proceed as carefully as possible.”
I deliberately adopted a somewhat tense expression as I followed Choi Yu-ra and Lim Captain’s group, but something felt off.
‘This doesn’t feel right.’
Why do bad premonitions always come true without fail?
Rummmmmble!
The world shook as if an earthquake had struck.
Goooooooo!
The concentration of ether thickened, and my breath caught in my throat.
“Ah, damn it.”
The curse escaped my lips unbidden.
Everyone else felt the same way.
“Ugh.”
“This is ridiculous.”
Lim Captain’s subordinates shuddered.
“What kind of day is this?”
Even Choi Yu-ra scowled deeply, her frustration evident.
The reason everyone reacted this way was because what was happening now was called an [Eruption].
An Eruption refers to a phenomenon where a dungeon that had been dormant, like the fixed Gates at Technomart, suddenly goes haywire.
When a dungeon erupts, entry to that dungeon is blocked, and its difficulty spikes dramatically.
If the dungeon isn’t cleared within the time limit, the Gate opens, a transfer phenomenon occurs, and a monster outbreak happens.
The monster outbreak that results from this is truly terrifying—in severe cases, it can completely devastate an entire region.
So what happens to hunters like us who were inside the dungeon when an Eruption occurs? Well, this.
Flash!
I felt my body transported to a different space along with the brilliant light.
But the landscape before my eyes remained the same.
Choi Yu-ra and Lim Captain’s group were still there.
Yet this place was unmistakably a different space from the dungeon we had just been in.
The notification window proved it.
The dungeon we were in was the 3-star Cursed Fortress NO.331721.
This is different.
【Cursed Fortress】
★★★★
NO. 0
When an Eruption occurs, the infinite dungeons merge, and all the hunters scattered across each dungeon are simultaneously transported to a single dungeon.
That is Dungeon No. 0.
“We’re screwed.”
Choi Yu-ra summed up our situation in a single phrase.
She was right.
We’re screwed.
The dungeon’s difficulty had jumped from 3-star to 4-star.
Someone suggested that since hunters from other dungeons would have come here too, we could combine our strength, right?
When did the world become so beautiful?
Inside a dungeon, the only person you can trust is yourself.
Even colleagues in the same Raid Party must be suspected and doubted again—that’s how this business works—so what basis do we have to cooperate with the creatures we encounter here?
“Let’s just pray that everyone who came here has their heads on straight.”
Choi Yu-ra said it with a sneer.
She was right.
I had no idea how many Raid Parties were attempting to conquer the Cursed Fortress like we were.
All I could hope for was that they were composed of hunters with their wits about them and genuine skill.
The more incompetent fools there were, or groups like Recka bound together by malice, the more complicated the situation would become.
“Going in through the front is too dangerous, so let’s take a detour around—”
That was when Choi Yu-ra, her back to the fortress, was speaking to us.
“Uh, uh-uh?”
I pointed past Choi Yu-ra’s shoulder.
“Kyaaaaaaack!”
“Kehehehehe!”
“Kyaaaaaaaack!”
All manner of monsters were rushing toward us.
The standard rule was that nothing happened until you passed through the gate, but seeing them come out to greet us like this, they must have been thrilled to see us.
“Everyone, this way!”
I charged straight ahead—directly toward the monsters.
“You crazy bastard!”
Behind me, I heard Choi Yu-ra’s curses.
* * *
Choi Yu-ra wasn’t the only one cursing at my reckless action.
“What are you doing! Block them!”
“Damn it!”
“You lunatic bastard!”
At Lim Captain’s shout, his subordinates chased after me.
Choi Yu-ra’s chain was faster than Lim Captain’s subordinates.
Whoooosh!
‘Ugh!’
I hastily rolled my body to evade the chain, then shouted to them.
“Come this way quickly! Hurry!”
“What the hell are you talking about, you madman! Do you want to die? Huh? If you want to die, go ahead and die alone!”
On the surface, Choi Yu-ra’s words made sense.
Running toward monsters—how could that possibly be wise?
But it works.
You don’t necessarily have to pass through the gate to enter the fortress.
And you don’t need to slaughter every monster to clear a dungeon.
“I know the way!”
“You know the way?”
“Running backward won’t help—we’re surrounded anyway! We’re all going to die! You know that! Follow me! Hurry!”
Wait, I realize I don’t actually need to convince them.
I can just show them, can’t I?
I drew the [Search] card from my deck and infused it with ether.
Whoosh!
A green line materialized across the ground.
The line stretched in the direction the monsters were charging from, extending beyond the bridge and descending beneath the surface of the Moat.
“I’m going first!”
I sprinted along the green line.
I didn’t actually need the [Search] card’s help since I knew the secret passage, but this was the only way to get Choi Yu-ra and Lim Captain’s group moving.
A newbie’s word wouldn’t carry an ounce of credibility with them.
“You! If this goes wrong, I’m holding you accountable!”
“You said that last time too!”
I dove into the Moat without hesitation.
Splash!
Choi Yu-ra and Lim Captain’s group plunged into the Moat after me.
Splash, splash, splash, splash!
The monsters leaped into the Moat in pursuit.
An underwater chase erupted.
We swam swiftly using breath-hold techniques while shaking off the monsters’ pursuit.
Not only me—Choi Yu-ra and Lim Captain’s group were exceptionally skilled swimmers.
The Special Operations Bureau didn’t exist for nothing.
All those survival techniques and military knowledge they taught were for moments exactly like this.
‘This way.’
Underwater, I used hand signals to guide the group.
My destination was the Sewage System connected to the Cursed Fortress’s basement.
Clang!
The iron grating blocking the Sewage System didn’t budge an inch.
Clank!
I tried to cut through it with the [Full Moon] card, but underwater, without momentum, it didn’t even leave a scratch.
Tap, tap—Choi Yu-ra struck me, signaling me to move aside.
Whoosh!
Choi Yu-ra fastened a chain to the iron grating.
Lim Captain’s group and I grabbed the chain and pulled with all our strength, but the grating refused to yield.
Meanwhile, the monsters drew closer and closer.
Thank goodness the monsters weren’t skilled swimmers—otherwise we’d have been surrounded and annihilated long ago.
‘Is there no way out?’
At this rate, we’d become… not fish food.
Monster food.
Let me think about this.
There has to be some way… wait?
Whoosh.
A single card slipped free from the deck on its own and flowed into my hand.

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

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