The yellowish monster had a long, streamlined body like a snail, covered in round eggs tightly packed together. As it slithered up to the surface, it immediately spewed all the eggs into the sky.
The round objects flew through the air like dandelion seeds and exploded over the heads of hunters who couldn’t walk properly due to the sonic attack.
When a white powder fell like snow, the hunters paused involuntarily, and someone shouted.
“It’s poison!! Get away!!”
In that moment, the hunters gathered around burst out their magic power and started to struggle to escape from their spots.
Of course, no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t suddenly free themselves from the sonic attack, but people often find hidden strength when they realize they are in real danger.
Hunters who were further away from the gate, those who reacted quickly to the shout about the poison, and those who weren’t engaged in battle with goblins managed to escape the poisoned attack.
However, the hunters who weren’t so lucky ended up inhaling the poison that spread like fog or had it touch their skin.
A few hunters quickly donned the Ent Masks to prevent inhaling the poison directly, but there was no way to avoid skin contact, meaning they had to get out of there.
Those hunters who inhaled poison without masks or had it touch their skin visibly slowed down. As time passed, they could only plug their ears and huddle up.
Such hunters became prime targets for goblins, kobolds, and slimes.
Thud thud thud!!
Gahhh!!
They were beaten by groups of goblins with clubs.
Gurgle—
Hunters began to suffocate as slimes enveloped their heads.
“Damn it!! I don’t have an antidote!!”
Helen lamented the absence of an antidote while putting on her mask.
In fact, D and E-rank hunters didn’t carry spare antidotes. In low-grade dungeons, the only place it might have been useful would have been an Ent Forest, which wasn’t even considered a must-go dungeon.
As the duration of poisoning lengthened, other negative effects began to manifest in the bodies of the hunters.
From a man who had inhaled a lot of poison without a mask, something bubbled up like a bubble on his back. Within it wriggled dozens of insect-like creatures that resembled the monster that had spread the poison.
“Ugh… It hurts, it hurts…!”
Later, this monster was discovered for the first time in Korea and was named ‘Spore Snail.’ The spores on its back quickly grew to maturity by feeding on the magic power of hunters. It took about six hours to mature.
After six hours, the host hunter’s magic power would be drained, and their body would start to be eaten away from the back due to the spores’ paralysis effect, often without the hunter being aware that they were dying.
Meanwhile, about 100 hunters quickly escaped the range of the sonic attack.
There were still over 400 hunters fighting hard near the gate. The 100 who got out quickly called for help, but they were troubled.
“Even if I can resist the poison, the sound is an issue.”
Among them was Noh Ha-yoon, a D-rank hunter recognized for her skills at Vision Guild, one of the three major guilds.
However, her strong sense of justice didn’t let her ponder for long. After reporting the situation, she plugged in her usual earphones and re-entered.
“I don’t have to overdo it. Let’s take things step by step from the outskirts.”
Noh Ha-yoon had made her decision calmly.
Soon, the other hunters who had been confused by the sudden situation snapped out and saw Noh Ha-yoon bravely re-enter. About 30 hunters followed her back in.
Five minutes later, ten C-rank hunters and several D-rank hunters joined the fray.
“What on earth is going on?”
“It’s a monster not recorded in the books… I guess we need to be cautious?”
“Let’s confirm if the antidote works properly.”
The C-rank hunters prioritized assessing the situation upon arrival, verifying the information they had received about the Spore Snail.
Generally, monsters that used poison were not too scary if you could remove the poison, but the sonic attack was something they were all experiencing for the first time, so they had to go in and see for themselves. They naturally equipped earplugs.
The second support troop, primarily made up of C-rank hunters, entered the poisoned area, and Lee Yeon-hee arrived about ten minutes later. The sudden chaos in the city made her a bit late even though she took a taxi.
“Is that it, Il-wol? That looks pretty foggy… the range must be over 100 meters, right?”
“Clap, Clap, Clap!!”
“It’s already hit peak.”
Clinging to a building three stories high where there were no spores, I scanned the hunters caught in the poison released by the Spore Snail using my sensory abilities.
“There are ten C-rank hunters and over twenty D-rank hunters. With this composition, they shouldn’t be losing to the monsters, so why?”
Yeon-hee seemed eager to rush in and help, but I hesitated due to one concern.
I distinctly remembered that many of the C-rank hunters deployed in my past life had perished.
Yet looking at the current situation, it seemed impossible for them to lose to the monsters.
“There must be more variables that I’m not seeing… what could it be?”
I raised a finger to Yeon-hee.
“What? One minute? No way, Il-wol!! The people could die!!”
I signaled to wait for one minute before entering, but she firmly refused.
“Well… No choice then. Let’s start from the outskirts.”
Ultimately, I jumped toward the place where the monsters were the least concentrated. As I leaped down, I hurled five Skeleton Bombs that I’d prepared overnight at the spots where the hunters were sufficiently far away and where the monsters were clustered.
[Throw Dagger]
[Skeleton Bomb]
Stored: 45/50
Whoooooosh—
The rough-looking skeleton bombs, crumpled like a wadded newspaper, arched through the air and dropped on their targeted locations almost simultaneously.
Boom! Crash! Bang! Ka-boom!!
Upon impact, they unleashed massive explosions. I had worried that the poison might react in mid-air, but that was not the case.
“Whoa!! What was that?”
“Shit?! Is there another monster?!”
“How’s our team doing?! Is anyone injured?”
“It looks like it’s targeting only the monsters!!”
“Is it our ally?! Has a high-rank hunter come?”
Each Skeleton Bomb created a radius explosion of three meters, obliterating five to six monsters at once, leaving the bewildered hunters in shock.
“Haha… This is insane…”
As Yeon-hee landed, she recognized the power of the Skeleton Bombs, and the moment she touched the ground, her eyes sparkled differently as she looked at me.
“Hmph… Having exceptional abilities is such a tiring job.”
Every time Yeon-hee looked at me with those eyes, it puzzled me why I felt like a happy child.
Regardless, hurling bombs that could wipe out at least five goblins at a time was an impressive skill, rivaling even C-rank hunters’ capabilities.
I nodded in approval.
“This… is not a good place for kids to be educated.”
However, my moment of enjoying the skill was cut short.
The place I landed was a scene so horrific that even I, who had gathered considerable experience, could hardly bear to look at.
Ughh!! S-save me—
Thud!!
As I jumped down, I caught sight of a man’s skull being smashed by a goblin’s club. It was a bonus to see a goblin hastily munching on his fallen brain.
Some fallen hunters were crawling with the babies of Spore Snails, gradually losing their magic power and dying.
“Eek!!”
Yeon-hee hurriedly chanted a summoning spell, and soon all summoned creatures, led by Lizardman, appeared.
“The summoning speed is increasing…”
(Hohoho! Master! Long time no see…)
Ran, who appeared loudly, sensed the peculiar atmosphere and quietly perched on Yeon-hee’s shoulder, immediately activating its skill.
– Agility +5
[Acceleration]
Run, run, run—
Once it landed, there was no need for words. It just went on a rampage, taking out any visible monsters.
Boom—!
“Indeed, there aren’t any Spore Snails here.”
While not at the absolute outskirts, there were still only weaklings in sight, a bit distanced from the center.
“Over here! Take the antidote!!”
Yeon-hee began distributing antidotes to the fallen hunters, letting us handle the attacks.
Amazingly, the antidote seemed to work even on hunters who had turned into hosts for the Spore Snails’ young.
As a hunter covered in bubbles drank the antidote, the bubbles burst, spilling the babies onto the ground, wriggling around.
I shot a glare at the hunters who took the antidote, signaling that they must repay this favor.
“Ahhh!”
Of course, no one understood my look. They all just seemed to be terrified, with some even crapping their pants.
“They still forget that I’m a skeleton sometimes…”
Thanks to the Lizardmen rampaging like fish in water, I no longer needed to rush. I started to harvest the bones from the fallen goblins to make more Skeleton Bombs.
Eek!!
There were indeed hunters who ran away without looking back upon seeing my actions, but I understood that.
“I need to scrape off the meat to make bombs. What a hassle at such a weird point!!”
While grumbling, I diligently worked, and by the time Yeon-hee finished clearing the area, I had managed to recover two out of the five used Skeleton Bombs.
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