The SSS-Class Hunter’s Garden Log - Chapter 80

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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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Chapter 80

“Kyaak!”

As the ear-splitting alarm echoed throughout the area, screams erupted from all corners of the flower complex.

People inside the shops dropped their belongings and came rushing out in droves.

They pushed and bumped into each other, scattering without even getting their bearings straight.

Most of them were ordinary civilians.

If they were even a little late.

If they got caught up in this even slightly.

It could lead to a major disaster.

The gentle atmosphere between Hana and Kang Hyeon that had briefly softened immediately turned sharp.

Only 10 seconds left until the outbreak – it was far too short.

Kang Hyeon’s eyes instantly turned cold.

Click.

Without hesitation, he drew his sword and hid Hana behind him.

At the same time, his gaze quickly swept the surroundings.

The point where the gate would open.

He was searching for it.

“Over there!”

Hana pointed to a spot even before Kang Hyeon could.

Kang Hyeon’s gaze immediately followed in that direction.

Next to the greenhouse they had just passed, an empty space was rippling and distorting like wet cloth.

【7 seconds remaining until outbreak.】

The system window that had turned red flashed frantically, and the beeping alarm grew increasingly sharp.

It was painful enough to hurt one’s ears.

No, it really was painful.

As tinnitus suddenly rang out, Hana covered her ears.

The alarm sounded strange.

It seemed like another warning sound was overlapping with the current one.

Something that seemed like both an auditory hallucination and a sound from memory.

The overlapping sound kept breaking and connecting like a damaged signal.

【경고! 게이트 —-까지 —–초】

“…What?”

Hana shook her head.

Had there been a situation like this before?

Just a little.

If she could dig just a little deeper, something seemed like it would surface.

The moment her thoughts reached that point, Hana’s system window crackled.

【SYSTEM】

【This is an abnormal access to lost memories.】

【Access is being blocked.】

Along with the system window’s warning, she felt something like a fuse blowing in her head.

Snap.

The memory that was about to surface was completely severed right there.

Hana’s body swayed for a moment.

There was no way Kang Hyeon would miss that.

His hand immediately grabbed Hana’s shoulder.

“Ms. Yun Hana, what’s wrong?”

“No, it’s nothing. I just had a headache for a moment. I’m fine again now.”

Hana made up an excuse, worried about making him concerned.

But her ears were still ringing.

【3 seconds remaining until outbreak.】

At the rapidly decreasing countdown, Hana frantically shook her head.

Then, coming to her senses, she took her bag back from Kang Hyeon.

“I’ll evacuate the people.”

Kang Hyeon clearly looked like he wanted to stop her.

However, someone had to manage that crowd.

Since Kang Hyeon knew this well too, he eventually nodded.

Just as Hana was about to move away from behind Kang Hyeon.

Whoosh—.

With a sound of sharply cutting through the air, a beam of light barely grazed past Hana.

“…!”

Looking closely, it wasn’t just a beam of light, but an arrow made of light.

The arrow grazed Hana’s bag strap and flew straight toward the gate entrance.

Rip.

The arrowhead must have been sharper than it looked, as there was a sound of fabric tearing and Hana’s bag fell to the ground.

From the bag with its broken strap, all sorts of items spilled out and scattered in all directions.

A small trowel, bottles of liquid fertilizer, and even small packages of special fertilizer.

【1 second remaining until outbreak.】

【The outbreak begins.】

With the announcement marking the end of the countdown, the alarm suddenly stopped.

Then an eerie silence descended.

And it opened.

The entrance to hell.

The gate entrance gaped open like a demon’s mouth, and dark currents began writhing inside.

Just as monsters were about to pour out.

Thunk—!

The light arrow struck precisely at the center of the gate.

Very smoothly and quietly.

Centered on the point where the arrow was embedded, blinding light exploded outward.

Pure white light penetrated inside the gate and pushed back the writhing darkness.

Then tangled screams burst forth from deep within the gate.

“Kraaah—!”

It was the sound of being crushed and bursting while trapped in a space that hadn’t even fully opened yet.

“How was that? I did well, didn’t I?”

A cheeky voice flowed from beside Hana.

When she turned her head, Damian was approaching with a bow made of light in his hand.

His face looked as if the recent situation was nothing at all.

But Damian, who had been walking over with his long strides, suddenly stopped in place.

He had stepped directly on a fertilizer bag that had fallen on the ground.

Pop.

The soft bag burst and its contents scattered in all directions.

“Ugh.”

Damian immediately frowned.

Wet fertilizer had stuck to his shiny shoes.

“Disgust-“

Damian, who was about to spit out irritably, quickly surveyed the surrounding gazes.

The movement of people who had been fleeing in panic had somehow stopped.

Everyone was looking at Damian with dazed faces, as if they had witnessed something sacred.

Feeling those gazes, Damian’s expression changed instantly.

His frowning face smoothed out completely, and he deliberately raised his bow with even more exaggerated movements.

Light flowed from his fingertips, connecting like a string to form a bowstring.

When he pulled it taut and released it, another arrow of light shot toward the Gate.

Whooom—!

With a slightly larger wave than before, light burst around the arrow.

But to call it an explosion, the light was far too quiet.

The sight of shattered light scattering didn’t look like the result of combat.

Rather, it was beautiful enough to mistake for something sacred.

Only then did Hana understand.

Why people called Damian the ‘Sacred Hunter.’

“…It’s all about the skill effects.”

That light.

That presentation.

That atmosphere.

All of it combined to look like Damian’s halo.

It wasn’t unreasonable that people were enchanted, but it didn’t work on Hana at all.

“Hm?”

Sensing Hana’s disapproving gaze, Damian tilted his head.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Didn’t I just do something really good?”

As he said this, Damian subtly sent a look to Seo Ganghyeon as if asking for agreement.

“If I hadn’t stopped them, all the monsters would have burst out. Right, Seo Ganghyeon?”

His deliberately drawn-out speech was subtly grating on the nerves.

As if that wasn’t enough, Damian went one step further.

“Come to think of it, what a cruel coincidence. Every time Hunter Seo Ganghyeon is somewhere, something big almost happens.”

Damian’s gaze turned toward Kang Hyeon with clear intent.

“And every time, it gets resolved with someone else’s help. Just like at Gangnam Station Gate, right?”

Damian’s eyes narrowed.

“If ‘1’ hadn’t sacrificed themselves, the Gate would have exploded, wasn’t that it?”

Gangnam Station and ‘1’.

The air grew strangely heavy at those two words that were weaknesses themselves to Kang Hyeon.

Kang Hyeon’s gaze fixed on Damian.

Filled with displeasure and cold anger.

But that gaze didn’t last long.

Creak.

A sound came from the Gate’s direction.

Through the gaps pressed down by the light, monsters that weren’t yet dead were wriggling and crawling out.

Kang Hyeon chose to go toward the Gate rather than deal with Damian.

One step.

Two steps.

Kang Hyeon instantly closed the distance to the Gate and cut off the head of a crawling monster in one stroke.

Each time his sword swung, monsters collapsed without maintaining their form.

Having cleared the monsters in the blink of an eye, Kang Hyeon readjusted his grip on the sword handle.

Then he thrust his sword deep into the still-open Gate.

Kang Hyeon’s lips moved slowly.

“Explosion.”

【SYSTEM】

【Skill ‘Explosion (A+ rank)’ is being cast.】

Then.

Boom—!

A heavy explosion erupted from beyond the Gate.

It was a vibration as if the entire area beyond the Gate was being crushed.

Unlike when Damian shot his arrow, there wasn’t even a single scream to be heard.

When Kang Hyeon pulled out his sword, all that came from the Gate was scorching heat and the crackling sound of sparks flying.

Nothing alive remained beyond the Gate.

As if announcing this, the Gate began to contract.

The torn space narrowed as if fitting back together, and the distorted boundary returned to its original place and closed.

【SYSTEM】

【Gate conquest completed.】

“Oh my. I got beaten to the punch.”

Damian, who had watched the Gate close completely to the end, muttered regretfully.

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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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