“Ha ha ha- Can it be this comfortable?”
As the beastman burst into hearty laughter, the other hunters smiled widely.
“Hehe- I suggested making the request just in case, and it truly was a stroke of genius.”
“I told you I’d allow it!! It’s clear you’re a saint.”
“If only we had mulled over the mission details earlier.”
“There aren’t many beings like him who possess a similar aura as us. I don’t think we could have expedited this.”
‘… Mission? Similar aura? Did I pick up that scent after visiting the broken timeline?’
It was hard to guess just from the conversation.
“It’s all thanks to you, Arang. With this, we might be able to advance our schedule a bit!”
“What? It’s thanks to Alpha’s agreement.”
“Alpha over there… helped me when I lost my balance earlier. It feels a bit tsundere.”
“Shh- don’t say unnecessary things. They might hear!”
“I’m not saying anything bad…”
Listening to their conversation, it seems they were quite satisfied with hunting together.
It made sense when I thought about it.
The place where I encountered them was right in the center of the hunting ground.
They had been trying to get past that area for weeks without success, yet in just two hours with me, they had reached the last safe zone.
‘Insisting on putting a beastman in the party was just wasting time after all.’
Still, now that the restriction had been lifted, they had taken a step forward.
“I heard some other party members passing by saying that Teacher Cha was murdered in the morning. Is that true?”
‘… Hmm?’
“I hope it’s true, but it seemed more like a rumor.”
“We’ll find out once we go outside.”
“If it’s true, it means the party he belonged to might disband? Those members weren’t exactly normal, were they?”
“The rumors weren’t good. But since there are no witnesses, what can you do?”
“Anyway, with those twins, recruitment battles will be happening all over. They say they can use Twin Cast?”
“Really? That’s amazing. I want to see it too.”
‘Those twins have already gone to Jung Tae-hyung.’
From their conversation, it didn’t seem like much time had passed since I entered the hidden dungeon.
In the end, everything seemed to be progressing just fine, but I was still in shock from meeting the Orc Legion Commander.
‘That wasn’t the same level I encountered in my past life… or maybe it wasn’t, but it feels like it shouldn’t be like that.’
Just because his level isn’t up to what it was back then doesn’t mean the time of his invasion is far off.
This was a completely wrecked timeline.
Since time flows differently for me and the Orc Legion Commander after leaving that place, by the time we meet again, as Inessa said, he could very well appear in a much stronger state.
‘Sigh-‘
As I lay flat on the ground, my party members looked at me with worry.
“Ah… are you feeling a bit tired?”
“We’re just so excited that we didn’t push you too hard, did we…?”
“How about we slow down a bit?”
“But we came here to match Alpha’s speed…”
[I’m just taking a moment to think. We’ll depart in 3 minutes.]
“Ugh… Yes, yes!!”
“Do you really hear everything we’re saying?”
“Shh- let’s be careful…”
After that, we went through the same process as when we arrived at the safe zone and reached our target location.
We defeated quite a number of monsters on the way, but didn’t manage to steal the Corrupted Sea Nymph’s ability.
However, I was satisfied since we were able to gather a decent amount of Mana Stones and Runes.
Of course, most of the Runes they dropped were Breath Runes, so I wouldn’t have any use for them, but they’re worth around 2 to 3 hundred thousand won each, so it’s not bad.
‘Even as a skeleton, money is still good.’
I’ve gathered quite a bit recently, but I wasn’t a billionaire with tens of trillions of won, so my satisfaction with the rewards rarely diminished.
“Um… how do you plan to distribute the spoils…?”
The rabbit beastman, Arang, quietly sat beside me and asked about the distribution.
“………”
“I feel like we’re imposing too much! I’m willing to meet your desired conditions as much as possible. Yes, really.”
Maybe she was being overly respectful to not offend me, or perhaps it was due to our connection from saving her life, but it felt a bit excessive.
[… The one who catches it gets to keep it, and we’ll talk again once we defeat a boss like Hellacne or ‘Silumia.’]
“Ah, yes, yes!!”
Hearing my opinion, the faces of the beastman party members brightened even more.
If I really wanted to, I could demand more than 30% of all Mana Stones, as my role was absolutely crucial.
‘What would I even do with that?’
The more money, the better, but there’s no need to push it too much. Just the act of demanding and maintaining tension among team members is stressful for me.
[Is everyone ready?]
“”Yes!! Alpha!!””
‘Their response is impressive. Like soldiers.’
At the pond before heading to the next hunting ground, underwater battles would be unfolding from here on.
Like it’s inevitable to evade death, it’s only natural that ground creatures see a drastic decline in combat power underwater.
Plus, they have to equip ‘Breath Runes’ to breathe underwater, meaning they’d lose the stats equivalent to one Rune.
Of course, I don’t need to.
‘At least it’s fortunate that there’s one tiger beastman.’
Beastmen generally dislike water, and some might even get such level penalties that their stats drop significantly. Thankfully, the tiger beastman is relatively friendly with water attributes.
“We’re fully prepared!”
“We have tons of spare Breath Runes, and the Aqua Plighter is the same.”
‘Definitely convenient since I don’t have to worry about anything.’
Just days ago, everyone was equipped with the ‘Swift Hellacne Warplate,’ which only a few people used to have.
‘What are these guys doing to have this much money?’
No matter how A-rank top-tier hunters they are, they look like they’re in their mid to late twenties.
At that age, could they really have the funds to readily acquire equipment worth hundreds of millions?
‘For my party members, that could be a sum they could gather after struggling for 1-2 years… but there’s definitely something going on with them. They might have a backing supporting them from behind.’
[Before we enter, let’s synchronize a few hand signals.]
“”Yes!!””
Now, the beastmen had completely adapted to my leadership.
[Then, let’s go.]
After equipping the Aqua Plighter, I jumped straight into the pond.
Splish- Splish-
It felt like I had a huge propeller attached to me as I moved forward freely with my will.
‘Direction change is okay too. Even without a place to step, I can move as if pushing against the ground. Not bad.’
It wouldn’t have been possible to gain this level of capability just from the Aqua Plighter alone.
It must surely be an advantage from becoming a small incarnation of Goddess Irmana.
– Wow, you’re so fast! I’ll have to chase after you diligently.
– Ah, slowing down now. Hehe—
– We’ve only partied together for a short time, but you’re really looking out for us, aren’t you?
– Yes, yes!! It’s getting better and better.
– Here we go again. Falling for someone fast.
– W-What are you talking about!
‘………..’
Eight beastmen hurriedly followed behind me.
Their swimming skills were impeccable, thanks to the effect of the armor they were wearing.
One of its effects is allowing communication underwater as well as increasing their mobility. There’s another crucial ability, but it hasn’t properly activated yet.
– It would have been fun being born as a fish-!
– Look! I feel like I’m in a tornado! Kya ha ha ha!
The beastmen were enjoying swimming while spinning around.
Since they seemed to be relatively young, they were openly expressing their excitement and joy at being in a new environment.
‘So far, nothing out of the ordinary.’
In about 20 minutes, I’d be facing the group of monsters most frequently encountered in the Nando, but there didn’t seem to be anything too concerning. Just a larger number than usual.
– Wow… but it seems like Alpha is moving even more fluidly underwater.
– It doesn’t seem like it’s the Hellacne armor, but it definitely looks like you’re moving better than ours.
‘I think so too. Becoming a small incarnation of Irmana is no small feat.’
While my movements were somewhat slower compared to when I was on land, my senses were surprisingly sharp to a degree that even startled me.
– Underwater, I feel like I have almost prophetic evasion ability.
‘Indeed… I feel confident I can evade any attack that comes my way.’
I slowly swam through the water and created a basic form of a shortsword from my hands.
Bloop- Bloop-
Bubbles rose from my hands as a translucent, softly glowing blue sword was formed. Shall I call it a Water Sword?
‘It hardly consumed any magic power. Is it because it’s the basic form?’
Or maybe it’s because the Goddess Irmana might be sharing the burden with me.
– Woahhh!
– What the…?!
– Did you just create a sword from water?! That’s almost the same as the Were Croc’s ability!
– Wow…?! Amazing!
Even though I was quite far ahead leading the group, the beastmen had such good eyesight that they quickly noticed my ability and began to cheer.
‘Hmm… I guess it’s fine to show this level of ability. Should I try creating a spear this time-?’
I continued to change the weapon’s shape from my hands, raising my proficiency.
– Wow───
– That’s insane······
– How can you produce such transformations, connected to any deity?
Of course, the beastmen who had been focused on me from earlier were continuously gasping in admiration.
‘I ended up boasting unexpectedly.’
Putting practice aside for now, it was time to focus on the real battle.
– I sense an Abyss Hunter pack, the main species of the super gigantic dungeon ‘Nando’!
– ‘Blue Manatees’ are appearing in large numbers!
‘There seem to be even more than before. Is it too much for the first battle…?’
The strongest species in ‘Nando’ is the Hellacne variant sea serpents, yet the ones with the largest numbers are the ‘Abyss Hunters’ swimming madly ahead.
They are known to be one of the five species that rule ‘Nando.’
They provide the richest resources for hunters entering ‘Nando,’ while also being the most deadly monsters that have claimed the lives of many hunters.
Its head was grotesquely split into several pieces, like it had been slashed with a great sword three times, with countless blood vessels and muscle tissue connecting them.
‘The fact that it has three heads is already a problem.’
We must destroy the cores inside each head to ensure it cannot regenerate.
In other words, as long as the three cores remain intact, it will somehow survive.
Overall, it closely resembled a male form of the ‘Corrupted Sea Nymph,’ but due to its entire body being pitch black, it was hard to distinguish.
Chachachang──
Its split face split further into dozens of pieces, turning into sharp blades that threatened us. Because these blades continuously exude powerful neurotoxin that paralyzes breathing and muscles, merely grazing against them could lead to great suffering in the remaining battle.
So, I wouldn’t be surprised if they had plenty of antidotes stored in the beastmen’s space.
They moved rapidly through the water, using sharp and diverse blade shapes to attack, but for hunters who have lived their entire lives on the land, it was inherently threatening.
‘Would it have been possible for Yeon-hee to summon creatures and hold out?’
I always had a habit of thinking around Yeon-hee at the center of my assumptions.
In my mind, I pictured Yeon-hee outfitted with the Aqua Plighter commanding summoned creatures.
‘It’s likely that the Sword Dragon wouldn’t have been able to make a proper move.’
The absence of the best attacking summon, the Sword Dragon, would be deeply felt.
In the end, after just a few minutes, the image of the summoned creatures being torn apart by the ‘Abyss Hunters’ vividly emerged.
‘That was an unrealistic assumption… still not ready to face A-rank superior monsters.’
Yeon-hee must prioritize defeating the Giant Tribe first.
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