“I’m sorry… I’m just feeling really down being alone…”
As Yeon-hee finally spoke up, her head had been hanging low like a sad puppy, and despite the content of her words, Helen and Jin-kyeong responded with bright faces.
“No, no, it’s okay. You went through something absurd, so it’s understandable,” they said.
“Yeah, Yeon-hee, let’s eat something first and then talk. Here—this is flower sirloin, give it a try.”
Helen and Jin-kyeong always felt sorry for Yeon-hee, who was much younger than them.
Even though the legal age for hunters is nineteen, most start at twenty after graduating high school… It was hard to hold back tears upon hearing that she started early to pay for her mom’s hospital bills.
So whenever a shadow crossed Yeon-hee’s face, they felt an urge to take extra care of her.
Grrroooowl—
“I’m hungry… Even after losing Il-wol, my stomach is still demanding food…”
No matter how bad the situation, it had only been less than three hours since the battle in the canyon. It was a time when hunger clawed at her gut mercilessly.
Normally, hunters would have easily devoured over five servings of meat by now.
“Let’s eat. What can I do? I’m weak.”
With a swish—
Eventually, Yeon-hee grabbed her chopsticks, wandering momentarily over the table before picking up a piece of the flower sirloin Jin-kyeong had placed on her plate.
Chomp—
Yeon-hee shivered at the sensation of the juices flowing gently into her mouth, quickly moving her chopsticks to the rolled omelette as memories of the nightmare-like battle in the canyon flooded back.
* * *
Trudging onwards—
After the battle in the canyon ended, everyone, including Yeon-hee, began collecting loot from the corpses of about 250 orc warriors after getting enough rest.
There must have been more dead than alive; otherwise, overcoming such a considerable power disparity was strange, and their actions of gathering loot bore an air of pride.
“Ugh—there are just so many.”
Upon hearing someone’s exclamation while they were busy collecting loot, sighs echoed around. It was just too much.
Yeon-hee had set her summoned creatures up front in case of an ambush, making it hard to get help.
As she cut off the ears of the orcs, a giant sigh escaped her lips, emerging helplessly from deep within.
“It’s okay… It’s okay…”
Ninety-six lives.
The remaining resurrection counts for Il-wol.
Despite there being so many lives left compared to hers, she felt incredibly anxious. But even while trying to reassure herself, she slowly became eager to escape this wretched place.
Battling monsters in dungeons brought her great joy, but not today.
“It’s been about an hour, and my magic seems to have recovered a bit; shall we head out? We’ve gathered almost all the loot, right?”
“Wait, Ji-woo—just three more minutes.”
In truth, for Yeon-hee and Noh Ha-yoon, the mana stones and ears they would get from the orc warriors were no longer important. Both were lost in their thoughts.
They were merely collecting while they waited for the remaining 600 orc warriors to move towards the entrance.
The thought that they could overcome the orcs again only lasted a moment.
Realistically, even just thirty orc warriors that weren’t afflicted by addiction or paralysis would easily overwhelm them.
“Without Il-wol, I can’t carry everything…”
The piled-up orc corpses that they couldn’t take felt so regrettably wasteful. If they left it, the management office or other hunters would just come to take the gains.
“Il-wol needs to make bombs…”
If only Il-wol were here, he would have effortlessly stuffed everything into the inventory and clashed his teeth to signal their departure.
<10:41:09>
Staring at the time left for re-summoning, Yeon-hee puffed her cheeks.
“Let’s head out. It’s getting quite late.”
Ji-woo wiped the sweat from his forehead and announced their departure, and the others finally began to move towards the starting point of the canyon.
Dazed—
After seeing the broken Il-wol, Yeon-hee gently tapped Noh Ha-yoon, whose spirit had disappeared, and pointed ahead.
“Ah, oh… I understand.”
It seemed Noh Ha-yoon hadn’t properly collected any loot, as her brown pouch looked quite deflated.
‘Why are you so shocked? Seriously, what a mess.’
Yeon-hee found it absurd, but since Noh Ha-yoon was always a bit strange, she let it go this time.
“Lizard Squad.”
As Yeon-hee murmured softly, the Lizard Squad, who had been keeping watch at the canyon entrance, lined up in front of her.
“Wow… that’s impressive.”
Jin-kyeong gazed at the Lizard Squad with an awed expression, as if it were a sight to behold.
“Stay with the first three here, and the rest spread out to scout ahead to the point where I connect with you.”
Choo-wooosh!!
At Yeon-hee’s command, Lizardman 1 bowed deeply, and soon, seven Lizardmen scattered forward simultaneously.
Their swift retreat into the foliage reminded one of velociraptors from a dinosaur movie.
The Lizard Squad grew stronger day by day, and signs of evolution were evident. Yet, Yeon-hee felt an overwhelming sense of insufficiency.
Swish—
Holding a mass of swirling magic in her hand, she repeated forming and dissolving various intricate shapes.
It had been well over a fortnight since she began this training. The message that had appeared three days after successfully manifesting pure mana remained unchanged.
– A burning desire to protect your summoned creatures has combined with exceptional talent, foreshadowing the emergence of a new skill.
– You can advance the skill emergence time depending on the training duration.
‘New skill… when on earth will it appear?’
She shook her head slightly and began giving instructions to her summoned creatures.
Lizardman 1, 2, 3, Ddung-i, and Dotti each took positions to protect the party members. Noh Ha-yoon didn’t need any, so she left her alone.
“Th-thank you.”
Bae Joo-ah shrank her shoulders while glancing at the robust Lizardman 3 beside her.
Thus, the group began moving towards the entrance, eliminating monsters they encountered along the way.
However, they never met any orcs or hunters, which implied a high probability that they were gathered near the entrance.
“I just hope they’re all out.”
While walking, Jin-kyeong inadvertently revealed his true feelings.
If that many orc warriors had triggered a dungeon break, disaster alert level 2 would have been triggered in the outside world.
That would likely draw B-rank or higher hunters to handle the situation, rendering any plans they had for today moot.
The reason hunters, who could be considered bizarre beings with abilities unlike humans, could mix with the general public was that they fought against disasters like dungeon breaks.
Jin-kyeong’s statement could throw that sense of purpose away, but no one would press him on it among the group.
In truth, everyone felt the same way. It was all too exhausting.
Could it be that Jin-kyeong’s wish reached the heavens?
“T-this…”
As they neared the entrance, traces of battle were vividly left behind, but only a few orc corpses lay scattered, with no encounters with any living beings.
From a distance, the scene appeared to show the hunters had achieved victory. But upon closer inspection, one could see that body parts of hunters lay scattered everywhere.
What happened?
“Ugh—”
“Ughhh—”
As they got closer to the entrance, what snagged their feet were bodies and guts, with the sight making Noh Ha-yoon and Bae Joo-ah gag repeatedly.
“From the remnants of mana… it looks like some time has passed. We probably got here just as they were fighting it out.”
“We clearly didn’t win. We got completely stomped.”
“It’s not just a simple loss. It seems they toyed with the hunters until all their forces gathered and then left.”
Haaa…
A sigh, full of concern, slipped out quite naturally.
“Did we hear any news from the scouts while waiting for the captain? They shouldn’t be moving without a commander.”
“Right, that’s strange…”
“Hmm… anyway, if orc warriors are stationed in front of the gate now that they’ve all left, it could be troublesome.”
“That shouldn’t be the case. If there are only leftover parts of hunters and no corpses, it seems they managed to handle things somehow…”
“It seems that way. The employees wouldn’t have been this quick, so there must be some capable faction involved. If they suppressed it from the outside, they must have come in and cleaned up the bodies. All of this within just an hour.”
“Skillful indeed. Any nearby guilds would be obvious—Ilseom, Cheonsin, Magos?”
“Apex is in the mix too.”
“Ugh… don’t even mention those Apex jerks. They’re a nuisance.”
Grr—
As much as she wanted to flee this place, she hesitated to go out.
“Let’s head out. It shouldn’t be anything serious.”
“Th-then everyone, stick close behind the Lizardmen.”
“Wah… I’m scared.”
Although the situation seemed free of danger, the group still crossed the gate with great tension.
*
In front of the gate.
As soon as the group, including Yeon-hee, emerged, they couldn’t help but cover their mouths, halting their breaths.
What lay before their eyes were hundreds of corpses covered with white cloths.
Hunters and management officials busily gathered up the bodies, and amidst this grim scene, the intense aura emanating from a man caught their attention.
“Hyeon Yi-hwan…”
Noh Ha-yoon, regaining her senses, bit her lip as she glanced at Hyeon Yi-hwan.
“Th-that’s him?”
“He was said to be handsome, but he’s even more striking in person…”
He was Hyeon Yi-hwan, the second son of Ilseom Guild’s leader Hyeon Joong-gil and a B-rank Hunter.
“If Ilseom Guild is taking care of the cleanup…”
“Looks like a significant disaster must have occurred.”
“This definitely isn’t the end of the casualties…”
“I wonder if Sang-cheol and Hyeong-jik are okay…”
“……”
“Ah… he’s coming this way. What do we do?!”
Even more alarming was that Hyeon Yi-hwan was walking directly towards them. If a living statue approached, it might feel something like this.
At just over 170 cm in height, his good proportions made him look significantly taller, and his striking features, contrasting with his light brown hair, possessed a charm that made anyone glance back at him.
“Greetings, I am Hyeon Yi-hwan.”
“Ah, hello.”
“Hunter folks, do you have a moment?”
Goooh—
His polite tone and posture radiated such intense energy that it felt like calamity would unfold if they didn’t make time for him.
The moment he drew his sword, those present would find their heads no longer connected to their bodies.
Ultimately, the group moved to converse with Hyeon Yi-hwan and six other hunters.
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