Chapter 18
Chapter 18
Civil Servant Hunter’s S-class Resignation Log – Chapter 18
Freaked out, Se-ra hurriedly kicked off the ground. But was it because she was too flustered? She slipped and leaped far away from the gate.
Sticking flat against the cave wall, Se-ra stared blankly at the egg.
"The dungeon's boss monster hatched? No way, that was the boss monster?"
What tore out of the egg was a bright red snake, unlike the other snakes. But being newly hatched, its size was tiny.
...Then wasn't now the chance? Kill it quick before it grew into a three-hundred-meter snake!
"Ugh!"
Oh no. She'd gotten so fixated on the baby boss monster that she'd forgotten about the mother who'd laid the egg.
Sensing the poison-laced harpoon flying at her, Se-ra flung her body to the opposite side. Then a harpoon from the tail came whistling in.
"This is seriously mountains beyond mountains!"
There really was no end to it. The tiny baby snake suddenly started growing at an insane speed. And into a body twice the size of the others.
Its tongue and the harpoon at the tip of its tail were strikingly different from the rest. A dark crimson hue, like it was steeped in blood.
"No wonder the dungeon's called a cradle instead of a snake denit's where the baby boss hatches."
Damn it. She couldn't just gloss over dungeon names anymore.
What to do? That boss monster didn't look ordinary no matter how she sliced it. Dump it all on the raid team and bail? Or fight it herself? What if someone died because she screwed up?
"Argh! Ah, hold up, time-out! Give me a second to think!"
But the mother who'd birthed the baby boss wasn't your average snake either. The attacks came too fast for any thinking.
And she couldn't just ignore the poison and charge in! What now...
"...What?"
Se-ra's eyes went wide.
Magical Beasta monster's superior grade. Not mindless killers, but ones with enough intelligence to scheme.
Sure enough, the boss snake seemed to realize it couldn't take Se-ra out in one hit. And that there was plenty of food outside the gate.
The gate it eyed had shifted from blue to greenthe telltale color of a Dungeon Break.
"No!"
If a Grade-2 Magical Beastnot even a regular monstergot out, it'd be a full-blown catastrophe.
"Administrator! Administrator! Control the gate! Close it!"
Se-ra shouted into the air while dodging another attack from the mother snake.
No way. He'd said dungeon generation wasn't up to him, and apparently Dungeon Breaks were beyond his control too.
Damn it. So what could he do, and what couldn't he?
No, that wasn't the priority right now.
'What to do? Tell the raid team even if it means getting exposed?'
While Se-ra faltered under the mother snake's onslaught, the boss Magical Beast was already slipping through the gate.
Se-ra's face hardened. No good. No time to fetch the raid team.
They'd heard the acceleration warning too, but they still weren't emergingso better write them off.
Which left...
"Guess I'll have to snipe it myself."
Se-ra steeled herself. She snatched the incoming tail harpoon out of the air with her hand, spun, and jammed it straight into the mother snake's body.
Shaaaak! The snake's agonized screech shook the cradle. Se-ra didn't spare it a glance as she kicked off the ground. Her figure vanished through the gate in a blink.
Hardly any time had passed, but outside was utter chaos.
Reporters who'd come to cover the story screamed as they fled, while civil servants and guild hunters battled the Magical Beast. But they wouldn't hold out long.
'Need distance.'
She scrambled back up the tree where she'd hidden before entering the gate. Perfect vantage point.
"Activate skill."
First time using a skill since hitting S-rank. Yet she knew exactly what to do, how to do itlike instinct.
"Deploy field."
A red cube materialized in midair. Her left eye flushed red in sync.
Coordinates floated across her vision like a grid. The red eye locked onto the target space.
The red cube ballooned instantly, engulfing the rampaging boss Magical Beast's head. Hunters bleeding as they held the line froze at the sight.
The snared snake thrashed like mad but couldn't break free. Se-ra had targeted the head itself.
Se-ra gripped her sniper rifle and settled into position.
The barrel glowed red. Scope locked on the cubeSe-ra pulled the trigger.
The horrifying mana of an S-rank hunter erupted from the muzzle, slicing the air. The mana bullet punched straight through the red cube.
Kwaaaang!
The deafening boom rocked the world. Hunters in the fray, civilians on the runno one could even scream as they clapped hands over ears. The sound was apocalyptic.
Splat. Splatter.
In the dead silence that followed, the first noise was thick liquid dumping onto pavement.
People hesitantly raised their heads.
"...What the hell?"
"Oh my god...!"
The Grade-2 boss Magical Beast's headthe harbinger of doomwas gone. Completely vaporized.
Thud. Crash! The headless behemoth sprayed blood in all directions as it toppled sideways. For a Grade-2 Magical Beast's demise, it was absurdly clean. And pathetic.
The shockwave ravaged the gate front.
And the architect of it allYoon Se-ra.
"Crazy."
She couldn't hold back the curse.
S-rank now, and she'd one-shot a Grade-2 boss Magical Beast.
...Real life?
"Not even a monstera Grade-2 boss Magical Beast in one shot."
Weapon effect? Skill power? Synergy of both?
"Doesn't matter. Still a total cheat character..."
No reversal quite like this one.
Messages flooded in endlessly. Se-ra stared blankly before stowing Heat back in her inventory.
"Packed with valuables in no time flat."
Her inventory brimmed with priceless loot now.
She'd even snagged Poison Resistance from offing those poison snakes. Nice perk for soloing a Grade-2 boss Magical Beast, but...
"If word gets out, the hype around me's gonna explode."
Oh hell. A Grade-2 Dungeon with a Magical Beast boss, no less. Bad memories bubbling up.
Se-ra shuddered.
"Nope. Gotta resign for real."
It wasn't just the two heavy hitters for bosses at work. How many S-ranks had she bumped into lately? She'd had no cluethis was prime exposure territory.
Song Han-na's suspicions be damned. Quit first, deal later.
"Right. Hash it out the second I get back. Perfect excusehappened to be near a Grade-2 Dungeon today... Huh?"
Muttering to herself, Se-ra's head snapped toward an incoming gaze purely on instinct. No conscious warning. Just reflex.
And.
'Huh?'
She locked eyes with someonedead on.