The Regressed SSS-Rank Supporter Who Turned Dark - Chapter 47
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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 47
“…Damn.”
I hadn’t expected another survivor to be hiding nearby.
Regardless, a trainee who burst out from the Opposite Building scooped up the girl who had been calling for help and retreated back to his hiding place.
“Phew. Thank goodness.”
“Indeed.”
Oh Tae-kwon and Park Seok-ho exhaled in relief.
“That was too much, wasn’t it?”
Kim Seung-hye slapped my hand away with a sharp sound.
“There’s a limit to being cold-blooded. You’re heartless, aren’t you? How could you even think of ignoring a child crying for help?”
“Hmm.”
Kim Seung-hye.
At first glance, she seemed timid, but when it came time to act, she was quick to move and quick to anger—the very embodiment of a tank.
Looking at her now, she clearly had a strong personality.
That’s probably why she could slap Ra Si-hyun multiple times.
“Why aren’t you saying anything? Is it all about you surviving alone?”
“Keep going.”
“You think I won’t? Earlier you were calling corpses ‘meat’ and all sorts of things. Just spouting whatever comes out of that big mouth of yours….”
Ra Si-hyun suddenly stepped in front of Kim Seung-hye, blocking her path.
“Stop, will you?”
“What?”
“Eun-sung oppa must have had his reasons.”
What, what’s this.
Why is she suddenly acting like this.
“There’s a reason for everything he does. Has oppa ever been wrong? Have you ever suffered from following his advice?”
“Who said what? But that’s a different issue from this. How can you ignore a child asking for help?”
“There must be a reason.”
“When else were you glaring at me with that axe-like stare because you didn’t like something?”
“I, I never did!”
Ra Si-hyun raised her voice.
“I can overlook other things, but not this. If you’re going to turn your back on a child like that, you don’t even have the minimum qualifications to live as a Hunter, do you?”
“Why are you the one to judge that?”
“What? So you think it’s right to ignore a child like that?”
Kim Seung-hye took a step closer toward Ra Si-hyun.
Ra Si-hyun stepped back, remembering the slap from before, but this time she took a defensive stance as if to say it wouldn’t happen again.
The situation was on a knife’s edge.
“Stop.”
Part of me wanted to let them fight it out, but given the circumstances, I intervened.
“Both of you, stop.”
“Yes, oppa.”
Ra Si-hyun withdrew without protest, but Kim Seung-hye did not.
“I can overlook many things, but not this.”
“What?”
“A child begging for her life, and you turned away.”
“So?”
“This is where it ends.”
Kim Seung-hye gathered her equipment.
“N-Noona!”
“Please, just calm down. It’s far too dangerous out there.”
Despite Oh Tae-kwon and Park Seok-ho’s attempts to stop her, Kim Seung-hye remained resolute.
“I’m not condemning you.”
“Then what?”
“We simply have different convictions.”
When I pressed her, Kim Seung-hye replied thus and turned away without hesitation.
It appeared she intended to cross over to the Opposite Building where the girl had been taken.
“I’m going. Thank you for saving me. I’ll repay the debt someday. Though I’m not sure I’ll ever get the chance….”
Bang, crack!
Gunfire erupted from the Opposite Building.
“…!”
Everyone except me froze at the sudden gunshots.
Rat-a-tat! Rat-a-tat-tat-tat! Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
The gunfire continued relentlessly.
“…Gunfire calls forth enemies.”
An eternal truth spilled from my lips.
Though in this case, something other than gunfire would be the agent of the Summon Specter.
“Th-There!”
Park Seok-ho pointed out the window.
“Shrieeeek!”
“Shrieeeeeek!”
Monsters of every conceivable form burst through the fog and charged toward the Opposite Building.
Some crawled.
Some bounded.
Some galloped on four legs.
Their shapes were utterly diverse.
Crash, boom!
Rumble rumble rumble!
The steel entrance door and even the bulletproof glass windows shattered under the monsters’ assault.
Soon the creatures poured into the building.
“Aaaaaaaaaaagh!”
“P-Please! Help meeeeeee!”
Bang, bang! Bang, bang, bang!
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
Anguished screams and gunfire intermingled in a cacophony of death.
Yet that symphony of terror and gunshots ceased in what felt like mere seconds.
Silence descended like a lie, as though the chaos had never erupted at all.
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
“Kehehehehehehe!”
The monsters, drenched in blood and viscera as proof of their slaughter, emerged from the Opposite Building before vanishing once more into the mist.
And then….
“P-please save me! I’m begging you, please! Sob, sob! Sob, sob, sob! I’m so scared! Sob, sob, sob!”
That same girl from before walked out of the Opposite Building, crying out for help as she stumbled about in desperation.
“T-that’s impossible.”
A whisper of shock escaped from Kim Seung-hye’s lips.
“Gate Transfer Zone’s First Law.”
I spoke slowly, each word deliberate.
“Doubt everything until the very end.”
“…!”
Kim Seung-hye froze.
* * *
Kim Seung-hye sank to the ground, remaining silent for a long while.
“….”
The Bravo Team members, too, held their silence.
Even Ra Si-hyun, who had been at odds with Kim Seung-hye, said nothing as she observed the shift in atmosphere.
“I’m so scared! Is anyone there? Please help me, please help me!”
Heavy silence hung in the air, broken only by the girl’s voice echoing at intervals….
“…I’m sorry.”
Kim Seung-hye slowly rose to her feet and offered me a sincere apology.
“My emotions… got the better of me. I should have assessed the situation calmly first….”
Kim Seung-hye’s shoulders trembled.
The thought that she had nearly led not only herself but the entire Bravo Team to annihilation left her mind reeling in white-hot panic.
“It’s… all my fault. I’m truly sorry. I nearly endangered the team. And… for my rudeness… I apologize once more. I sincerely beg your forgiveness.”
Kim Seung-hye’s voice wavered.
“Don’t worry about it.”
“But how can I….”
“Forget what I said to you. Instead, never forget what you just learned.”
“Doubt everything until the very end….”
Kim Seung-hye repeated the lesson I had given her like a mantra.
“But, oppa.”
“What is it.”
“Wouldn’t it have been better if you had just told me directly?”
Ra Si-hyun spoke carefully.
“Then it won’t stick in your mind as much. People need to experience it. At least your heart needs to skip a beat.”
“So it was… training. A lesson not to be swayed by emotion.”
“Because our enemies exploit that.”
“Ah!”
Ra Si-hyun let out an exclamation of understanding.
“That said, I didn’t plan for it to happen this way. I never anticipated there’d be another survivor hiding nearby. The situation just unfolded that way. Unfortunately.”
“I understand.”
Ra Si-hyun nodded.
“Is anyone there? Please help me! I’m so scared! Sob! Sob sob!”
Even as we spoke, the girl’s voice continued to echo relentlessly.
“Brother, shouldn’t we help her?”
“There’s a child outside, isn’t there?”
Oh Tae-kwon and Park Seok-ho spouted nonsense.
As if they’d completely forgotten what had just transpired moments before.
“W-we have to help…”
Kim Seung-hye murmured as though entranced.
“What’s wrong with you all?”
Ra Si-hyun glared at Kim Seung-hye, Oh Tae-kwon, and Park Seok-ho with irritation in her voice.
“Your resistance to magic is too low.”
“Resistance to magic?”
“The power to resist magical effects. That creature’s voice carries the power to enchant people.”
“I see!”
“Then, what exactly is that thing?”
“A Summon Specter.”
“A Summon Specter…?”
“It disguises itself in various forms to lure humans close, then reveals its true nature. At the same time, it calls forth monsters hiding nearby.”
“Ugh.”
Ra Si-hyun shuddered with revulsion.
“Like I said, the Summon Specter’s voice carries the power to enchant people. An ordinary person would fall for it nine times out of ten. Hunters fare better, but those with low ranks succumb without even realizing it.”
“You’re strong, so that’s one thing, but I’m perfectly fine?”
“You’re a mage. You have inherently high base resistance to magic. You’re essentially immune to most mental domination.”
“I-I see.”
Truth be told, I wasn’t entirely unaffected.
From deep within my mind, an incomprehensible voice crept upward.
The child is alone out there. You’re going to let her die?
She’s just a kid, no matter what. Are you going to throw her to the monsters as food? Just to save yourself?
Have you fallen that far?
Man, this is really annoying.
‘Shut up.’
The whisper vanished like a lie.
Such pathetic tricks—I’d sooner choke on candy.
I’ve walked through far too many hellscapes to be swayed by the voice of some common mob.
“Restrain the team members. I’ll go handle this and be back.”
I’m fine, but I decided to act with my team in mind.
Otherwise, I’d keep dancing to the Summon Specter’s tune, wavering back and forth.
Whoosh!
Ra Si-hyun activated her magic, binding the team members in place.
“Ugh!”
“Why, why is this happening!”
“Let go, release us!”
Crack!
The team members thrashed about, but the more they struggled, the tighter the restraints crushed them.
“It could be dangerous. Are you sure?”
“Easy.”
“Huh?”
“I’ll be back soon.”
“Please be careful out there.”
I left Ra Si-hyun behind and stepped outside the building.
* * *
Dealing with a Summon Specter is surprisingly straightforward.
Its weakness is unmistakable.
The Summon Specter prefers to lure humans into complacency with its voice before ambushing them.
On top of that, it summons nearby monsters to its aid, making its hunting method quite vicious indeed.
Paradoxically, the Summon Specter is vulnerable to ambush.
It assumes any approaching human has been mesmerized by its voice, so it remains defenseless, absorbed in its performance.
Beyond that, its abysmal defense is another critical weakness.
Its attack power is considerable, and its agility is extraordinary—once it reveals its true nature, it becomes extremely troublesome to face. But eliminating it before that point isn’t particularly difficult.
All it takes is decapitating the Summon Specter while it’s off guard, or cleaving it clean in two.
“H-here! Sob, sob! Please help me!”
The Summon Specter spotted me and gestured frantically.
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll save you.”
“I’m so scared! Sob, sob, sob!”
The Summon Specter wailed more pitifully, trembling with apparent distress.
Tsk.
How it tries, how it tries.
Yes, wait just a moment.
I’ll go and split you lengthwise….
Splat!
Suddenly, the Summon Specter’s head exploded into fragments.
“…!”
I was startled by the sudden turn of events.
Whoosh.
A lantern in his left hand.
An elderly man with a staff in his right hand emerged through the mist.
Lumos.
The Specter bound to the [Search] card.
“How dare a mere stray specter attempt to bewitch my young master!”
Lumos growled down at the corpse of the Summon Specter, its skull shattered.
Behind Lumos stood Helkiyan, wearing my face.
Beside him were three survivors
And Jung Ho-bin as well.
‘Everything unfolded as planned.’
A smile bloomed naturally across my lips.
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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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