Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Empty House Raid (2)
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“I want to watch, too.”
Etu muttered as his avatar sprinkled rain over the orchard area.
The people left in the orchard now were those selected by drawing lots.
Normal folks would want to spectate the fight that decided their fate, not toil away in some back corner.
“Hey, let’s slack off a bit and then head up that mountain over there. Honestly, a few people missing won’t be noticed. Even the guards seem to be sneaking off in shifts to watch.”
“You think?”
Numbia, a fellow African who was close to him, made the sly suggestion.
Tempted, Etu was searching for a gap in the fence when he spotted glowing eyes beyond the barrier.
“What the hell is that? A monster?”
The moment he tried to call the nearby guards, chunks of ice formed in the rainy sky.
[Frost Magic Area Skill - Charge of the Ice General (C+) activated]
Hundreds of ice blades materialized in the air and rained down.
Etu and five other hunters met their end without even putting up a fight.
With his head lolling, the last thing he saw was the guard post struck by lightning and bursting into flames.
The orchard fence crumbled, and unidentified hunters charged out.
“Kill. Loot. Rape.”
A hunter dozing off on night watch duty awoke to a blade in his chest.
The warehouse walls collapsed pitifully, and supplies vanished into the raiders’ inventories.
The injured patients, huddled together, put up a desperate resistance but fell all the same.
Omer Ashyk, who had piled up their severed heads, was approached by one of his subordinates.
“Should we smash the big arks, boss?”
“No time. We pull out before they surround us.”
“Got it. Then we ditch the outlaws and tell the western guys to retreat.”
Omer scanned the hunters too busy looting and grabbing items.
Half of the raiding party consisted of lawless wanderers with no affiliations.
They’d been roped in to fill out the numbers for the empty house raid; the rest were his own men and the western killers.
‘You’re Omer Ashyk!? I’ll remember you! Something feels familiar!’
He’d swallowed the word “memory” dozens of times from the guy, who seemed to have some mental issues.
But since the man was extremely favorable toward Omer, it didn’t matter.
The one who called himself ‘B’ was now on the opposite side of the camp, carrying out a massacre.
“I’ll milk everything I can from those I can use.”
Muttering quietly, Omer Ashyk slipped into the forest of giant dragons.
Soon, several arks lifted off from the woods and vanished.
***
Kaaang!
A massive war hammer smashed into the angular, rock-like head of the Tyranno with all its might.
But instead of leaving a mark, sparks flew everywhere, and a chunk broke off the hammer’s edge.
-Ow ow ow—! It hurts! My head’s gonna split!
Nathaniel, possessing the hammer, whimpered.
-You, why are you so useless? If the possession breaks like this, there’ll be bruises! This is angel labor law violation! I’ll sue! I’ll strike!
Mocking Nathaniel’s whining, he swung the hammer down once more.
Kaaang!
-It huuuurts! My hair’s falling out!
“Angel Discipline Code Article 1, Section 1: ‘Crying angels get smacked extra.’ This is in accordance with that.”
Ignoring the now genuinely sobbing Nathaniel at his outburst, Gonghyuk looked around.
With 160 people having retreated, only the bare minimum remained.
Dinosaur hunting was off the table anyway.
Gonghyuk had never intended to catch it from the start.
Life on this uninhabited island couldn’t end this easily.
It had to drag on until hunters and angels alike were sick of it.
And for that...
Ju Gonghyuk had to play the fool here.
He tossed aside the half-broken hammer.
In its place, he pulled out a rare item from the deep-sea dungeon: the Deep Sea Whale’s Tower Shield.
-Wait, what are you doing? A shield all of a sudden...?
“Nathaniel, you know what this is?”
Gonghyuk patted Nathaniel, now possessing the shield.
“This Deep Sea Whale’s Tower Shield has water-affinity defense, making it perfect for blocking that fake Tyranno’s fire breath.”
-Huh?
Kuuuwoooo
The lava rock Tyrannosaurus’s breath was nearly twice as powerful as before.
Beyond a mere gas blast, it was reaching the level of molten lava.
Red light gathered in the Tyranno’s throat.
-You... no, Master. You’re joking, right? This isn’t a joke—we’ll die. It’s suicide!
“That’s for your master to judge, not you.”
-Noooo! If you wanna die, die alone, human!
“Haha. Nathaniel. If you’re an angel, at least die with dignity, yeah?”
-This is the worst! Why did Azazel give a summoning scroll to a bastard like you who tempts demons! I’ll curse you! You and Azazel both!
As they bantered cheerfully, the 2200-degree lava breath engulfed their bodies.
-Wait! Nooooo! It’s hot, so hoooot!?
“Hahahahaha!”
Only Nathaniel, with lava dripping onto his instep, could hear Gonghyuk’s gleeful, eerie laughter.
***
The hideout near the forest of giant dragons on the uninhabited island was a total mess.
Half the orchard had burned or been looted long ago, and the streets were stained with blood.
Out on a distant beach cove floated a massive ark with its stern smashed.
“What’s the damage report?”
At Soma’s question, the captain-level hunters reported.
“Of the 500 left at the hideout, 155 dead, 188 injured. They hit us with a massive area skill out of nowhere, fully geared—we couldn’t respond properly.”
“Half the orchard for food rations is burned, and some warehouses were cleaned out. We saved 17 floatstones, but we’ll need to scrounge for essentials and fresh water.”
“The Tyranno got dragged to the caldera somehow, but the raid unit lost 20 people. And Commander Gonghyuk took the breath head-on...”
Deep wrinkles creased Soma’s brow.
“So that’s why I’m acting leader.”
“Yes. You said if anything happened, the deputy commander is Soma.”
“One question.”
“Yes.”
Soma asked gravely.
“Did he really take the breath head-on? And is he still alive?”
The upgraded Tyranno’s breath was no joke.
Even Soma, with durability two grades higher than Gonghyuk’s, plus Super Recovery (A) and Indomitable Fortress (A+), couldn’t guarantee survival.
Even with purification abilities and spirit barriers, could he have made it? The worry flashed through Soma’s mind.
“...He’s wrapped head to toe in bandages, but he’s talking and moving without much issue. Hunters with recovery avatars are treating him as fast as they can.”
“Head to toe in bandages?”
“Yes.”
Wrapping head to toe meant the face wasn’t spared either.
It could just be a natural measure since the breath scorched his entire body, including the face.
But Soma recalled a rumor he’d heard here and there.
The indiscriminate killer ‘X’ on the uninhabited island.
‘Why in this situation...? No, maybe because it’s now.’
To deal with the western killers who botched the job...
That was the limit of what non-regressed Soma could imagine.
***
“We’re screwed. Totally screwed.”
Bart thought as he returned from the raid.
With this failure, catching that lava-something dinosaur was impossible.
No angle in sight.
“Phew... damn, got any smokes?”
When Bart asked Jake beside him, three cigar-thick smokes emerged from his pocket.
“Mad Clown Mushroom powder, windweed, dried goatweed stems. Poison weed guy Sasha guarantees it.”
“Ooh, you actually made these?”
“30 purple coins each.”
“Eat shit.”
Cursing, Bart plucked some leaves, rolled them up tight.
An avatar appeared behind him, drying the fresh leaf cig and lighting the tip.
“Guys, can we even take that thing?”
“Who knows... If it gets that much stronger next week...”
“Even all the island hunters together might not cut it.”
“That Commander Ju Gonghyuk grew scary fast, but even if he turns all six bosses into holy water and gets way stronger, that thing’s still too much.”
The faces of the nearby hunters darkened.
It was obvious: the dinosaurs were powering up faster than the hunters.
And the man who was basically 80% of their firepower, Ju Gonghyuk, was bedridden.
Nothing but sighs came out.
“So here’s the thing...”
Jake lit his handmade cig and spoke up.
“With our skills, two floatstones. We could make one, right?”
“Ah...”
The group here was six job-changed hunters.
They’d been the main contributors to building the massive ark, gathering materials from monster hunts.
Wang Zifeng cautiously raised his hand.
“Actually, I’ve got about three floatstone fragments stashed.”
“Then just nine more to go?”
After Sasha’s agreement, a heavy silence fell over the group.
Bart chewed his leaf cig, gazing at the distant massive ark at anchor.
Hunters were tossing materials to repair the busted stern.
The thrown materials attached to the ship and assembled themselves.
No one had shipbuilding talent, but once materials gathered, they auto-formed the vessel’s shape—that’s how they’d built the 3000-person ark.
“So. Shall we grab materials and bail?”
“Nah, even so, bolting outright could get us hunted down later.”
“The western killers screwed things up this bad—they’ll be chasing those guys until the next Tyranno raid. We can’t get caught up.”
“So what do we do? Keep stashing bit by bit?”
All eyes turned to leader-figure Jake.
“We ask permission and leave properly. We’ll go our own way.”
“In this mess, you think they’ll approve?”
“The Commander said clear as day: no restrictions on joining, free to leave. Plus, deputy Soma’s a fair guy—won’t flip-flop based on situation.”
“So, Soma or the Commander?”
After some thought, Jake said calmly.
“Tell Ju Gonghyuk. We owe him too much either way. Right to say bye before we go.”
“Good call. I wanted to say goodbye to Gonghyuk... er, Gonghyuk too.”
“He’ll let us go no questions asked.”
The six hunters headed to Ju Gonghyuk’s place.
The commander’s cabin. The Ju Gonghyuk they met was lying there, wrapped head to toe in bandages.
“Go. I pray you reach the fourth floor safely.”
Ju Gonghyuk said gently, as if he didn’t care at all.
Jake and the others, heads bowed in shame, nodded silently and left.
Nathaniel popped out from under Gonghyuk’s pillow.
-I really thought we were goners. Without that charm from that bitch demon, we’d be toast.
Nathaniel grumbled, neatly combing his slightly singed hair.
The reason Gonghyuk survived the direct breath hit was Lilianne’s “Lava Dinosaur Protection Charm.”
The charm’s barrier, boosted by second-stage Sephirot and defense buffs, barely blocked the breath.
Untouched but feigning injury with bandages, Gonghyuk quietly scribbled something on the bandage end.
-What’re you writing?
“Calculating. Six of them. 1876 coins + 2134 coins + ... Nah, Bart’s probably worth 100 more.”
Lines of sums appeared on the bandage tip.
-You don’t mean...
With a pale-faced Nathaniel in front of him, someone called Gonghyuk from outside.
“Gonghyuk, I have something to say.”
“Yes~ Come on in.”
Gonghyuk replied softly.
That day, fifteen equations were written on Gonghyuk’s bandages, and eighteen hunters left his faction.
The necks of those who fled the nest bore the scythe of the reaper.
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