The Regressed SSS-Rank Supporter Who Turned Dark - Chapter 6

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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 6
“You insane bastard! Who the hell pulls the trigger without permission!”
Choi Yu-ra hurled curses at me.
“You were going to kill them all anyway!”
I shouted back in response.
Fair point—this fight was inevitable from the start.
The Recka members wearing Pepe masks were among the worst of the worst, reckless thugs who didn’t know their place.
And Choi Yu-ra was a Hunter famous for her temperament, so once hostile words were exchanged, mutual slaughter was simply the natural progression of events.
She knew that too.
She was simply shocked that I’d pulled the trigger without warning, without hesitation.
And given her personality, she was probably furious that I—not even a Hunter—had started this fight on my own terms.
“You! We’ll settle this later!”
“You’re going to kill me?”
“Yes!”
“Neighborhood people! A Hunter is killing a civilian!”
I countered her threat with shameless audacity.
There was no use crying over spilled milk.
Once this was over, I’d probably take a punch or two—that seemed fair.
“You bastard!”
“Kill that asshole first!”
The Recka members, despite being Hunters themselves, resorted to firearms.
Bang, bang! Bang, bang, bang!
Bullets from the Recka members came flying.
Several Recka members advanced toward the boulder where Du-hyeon and I were taking cover, supported by covering fire from their allies.
“Not happening.”
Whoooosh!
A chain came flying through the air at precisely the right moment, engulfing those providing covering fire.
“Argh!”
“Damn it!”
The ones laying down covering fire threw themselves out of the way in panic.
Choi Yu-ra’s chain was infamous for its sheer brutality.
A mere graze would strip away skin and muscle alike, and if it wrapped around you, it would tear you to shreds—limbs were severed as easily as snapping twigs.
If it caught your neck, your head would be cleanly separated from your body. Without sufficient defense, your waist would be sliced clean through, leaving your upper and lower halves as two separate pieces.
So the Recka members had no choice but to grit their teeth and desperately avoid that chain.
Thanks to Choi Yu-ra’s intervention, I could peek over the boulder and unleash a barrage of bullets at the advancing Recka members.
Ratatat-tat-tat!
“Argh!”
“Gack!”
As the Bren 2’s muzzle flashed, the approaching Recka members became riddled with bullets and collapsed.
“Damn woman!”
“Ugh!”
Because of the Pepe mask, the Recka Members dodging Choi Yu-ra’s chain as they bounded left and right looked exactly like frogs.
It could have been a comical scene at first glance, but my face remained rigid and expressionless.
I blasted one with the shotgun and unleashed full-auto rifle fire into their clustered formation, yet we were far from gaining the upper hand.
If this had been a firefight between non-awakened civilians, more than half would already be dead.
But our opponents were a group composed entirely of Hunters.
They were not the type to be subdued by a bullet or two.
“Ugh!”
The one who had been knocked down by the initial shotgun blast was slowly pushing himself back up.
Though covered in blood, he showed no signs of life-threatening injury.
Most of those who had taken the barrage of bullets were moving about perfectly intact.
Only one unlucky non-awakened with a bullet lodged in his skull had fallen.
Choi Yu-ra had taken several hits as well, but showed no sign of strain.
Of course.
Even a 1-Star Hunter at the lowest rank was protected by an invisible, intangible barrier extending roughly one meter from their center, which significantly negated the impact of bullets.
Unless struck by an unlucky headshot, even a 1-Star Hunter could easily withstand a bullet or two.
For a 3-Star Hunter, inflicting lethal damage with 7.62mm rifle rounds was difficult, and once you reached 5-Star and beyond, the barrier strengthened to the point where even substantial-caliber rounds would ricochet off.
That was why the bullets I had unleashed in that surprise barrage had proven ineffective, and why the Recka Members showed little caution against firearms as a preemptive strike.
It had reached the point where some even claimed that for a non-awakened to kill a Hunter, wielding a blade or axe instead of a gun and closing to melee range—at least one meter away—was the only reliable method.
That was the difference between Hunters and non-awakened.
From the perspective of a non-awakened, a Hunter was no different from a monster.
* * *
As I had anticipated—or rather, experienced—Choi Yu-ra was struggling.
Even Choi Yu-ra, who was regarded as exceptional among 4-Star Hunters, found herself outmatched against three 3-Star Hunters and multiple 1-2 Star Hunters simultaneously.
Grrr!
Choi Yu-ra gritted her teeth and swung her chain, but the Recka pack, having coordinated their movements over long years, skillfully overwhelmed her.
But this was no time for me, a non-awakened, to worry about Choi Yu-ra, a 4-Star Hunter.
Click, click!
Though I thought I had brought enough, my rifle ammunition had somehow run dry.
Bang, bang!
I fired my pistol as a last resort, but with them returning fire, even poking my head out felt risky.
“A-ammunition!”
Du-hyeon, taking cover behind a tree across the way with the nameless couple, called out in distress.
“Use this!”
I tossed a Glock 23 pistol and shotgun toward Du-hyeon.
“What about you!”
“I’ll manage!”
With that, I drew out the axe I had used to split open goblin skulls.
Perhaps this was better after all.
There was no weapon more certain for severing a Hunter’s life than an axe.
I tilted my ear, listening intently.
Footsteps approached, growing closer.
‘Three, two, one.’
I timed it perfectly, bursting forward and swinging my axe with all my might.
“Huh?”
The Recka member who dodged my attack laughed as if amused by my pathetic attempt.
He wore a Pepe mask—the kind depicting a hanged figure.
“How cute.”
Yeah, I suppose so.
He seemed to be around 2-Star level, so naturally I’d appear cute to him.
The reality was that even a 2-Star Hunter could treat an unawakened person like a mere toy.
To stand any chance against him, I’d need to be at least a professional-level combat athlete or a special forces operative trained in assassination techniques.
“How should I kill you? Slit your throat, or maybe dismember your limbs?”
The Recka member lowered his gun and drew a military knife from his waist.
“Shwing, shwing!”
“….”
He made threatening sounds with his mouth while playfully slashing the blade.
“Shwing shwing! Shwing shwing shwing!”
“….”
“You bastard, you’re not even flinching?”
“….”
“Would you finally lose that annoying expression if I ripped open your belly and spilled your guts?”
The Recka member rushed at me, slashing wildly with his knife.
I swung my axe to meet him head-on.
Clang, clang!
“Ugh!”
As the axe and knife collided, my grip felt like it was tearing apart, and my forearms went numb.
“Oh, not bad? Shwing shwing!”
“….”
“This bastard—I’m giving you the honor of playing with me!”
Frustrated that I showed no fear whatsoever, he grew increasingly excited and began thrashing about wildly.
“Ugh!”
I focused solely on defense, waiting for the moment to strike.
I feigned panic and confusion, deliberately exposing openings to lure him in.
‘One chance. Two if I’m lucky.’
Thud, thud!
Even as the knife pierced my thigh and shoulder, I continued the act.
“Wait, didn’t you promise to spill my guts?”
“….”
“Then I guess I should start by slitting your belly open?”
The bastard swung his knife in a wide arc.
Now.
I dropped my stance in an instant and swept his legs out from under him.
Thud!
He crashed to the ground ungracefully.
Crack!
I brought my axe down on his skull with all my strength, but since he was a 2-Star Hunter, the blade didn’t embed itself deeply enough.
It only sank about three centimeters into his cranium.
But that was fine.
My attack wasn’t finished yet.
I locked both legs around his neck.
“You bastard… gack!”
As he thrashed, my grip gradually loosened.
I knew it.
Strangling alone wouldn’t be enough to finish him.
That’s why I’d prepared a gift.
Screeeech!
While squeezing his neck with every ounce of strength I possessed, I tore off my mask.
I removed the safety pin from the grenade, forced his mouth open, and shoved it deep down his throat, whispering to him.
“Goodbye.”
“…!”
One, two… now.
Boom!
The moment I threw myself clear, the grenade detonated and his head burst open like a watermelon.
“Gasp, wheeze!”
I scanned the surroundings before I could even confirm the corpse.
Whoooosh!
Choi Yu-ra was still wielding her chain, holding her own against the Recka members.
Bang, bang, bang!
Boom!
Du-hyeon and the Middle-aged Man were putting up a decent fight, working as a pair and firing their weapons.
“Ugh!”
I pulled out a tourniquet and tightened it hard around my thigh where the knife had pierced me, then ran to help Du-hyeon and the Middle-aged Man.
But our enemies weren’t just the Recka members.
“Screeeech!”
“Shrieeeek!”
Yeah, I’d expected as much.
Monsters were converging on us.
* * *
As always, gunfire calls to monsters.
The sounds of combat—clashing weapons, shouts, screams, explosions—inevitably lured the monsters in.
“Grrrraaaagh!”
“Screeeech!”
Dozens of various monsters poured in, and the battle descended into chaos.
What had been our fight against the Recka members transformed into a three-way melee, and casualties mounted rapidly.
“Argh!”
“Damn it! Gaaaah!”
Several Recka members fell to the monsters.
“Kyaaaah!”
In the midst of it all, even Choi Yu-ra took a direct hit from a 3-Star Recka Member and was sent flying.
Our strongest asset had been rendered combat-ineffective.
The worst possible situation.
But there was no reason to despair.
I felt the ether gradually accumulating within me.
Whoooosh!
A soft golden light enveloped my body.
‘What?’
My awakening in my past life hadn’t been like this.
Back then, like everyone else, a blue light had surrounded me.
‘Could it be?’
A spark of hope ignited in my chest.
‘Please, let me be a dealer. Please.’
I didn’t want to awaken as a non-combat class Hunter like before—a Support type.
I refused to spend my time supporting dealers, being treated like a tool, exploited and threatened.
‘Anything but Support. Anything but Support…’
I prayed desperately.
I prayed that my desperation would be heard.
I prayed that it would come true.
Whoooosh!
Feeling my heart burn with heat, I removed my plate carrier and unbuttoned my shirt, looking down at my chest.
Every awakened Hunter bore a mark at the center of their chest corresponding to their role class.
In other words, the mark that appeared would determine what role class I had been granted.

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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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