Chapter 47
Chapter 47
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: Chapter 12 Exchange (1)
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- You can't maintain the barrier anymore?
Right after the barrier vanished, Rashar asked once more if I could deploy it again, but I had to shake my head.
- Is it a lack of mana?
I hadn't given a detailed explanation, but back then, buying a skill stone worth over 2,000 mana had felt like too much of a burden.
‘My body might weaken too.’
In the middle of a level 3 mission, who knew what would happen if my mana dropped below 3,000.
I couldn't afford to invite danger in a world crawling with monsters.
Instead of purchasing a new barrier skill stone, Raoul and Rashar took turns standing watch.
Fortunately, most of the group regained consciousness that night.
The only one who didn't wake up was the orange-haired man I'd rescued first.
From what I heard, it was because of that black rod embedded in his body.
- The last time I saw him, a kerak was stuck in his body. It's a weapon made from their blood.
- If it's absorbed into the body, it not only hinders natural recovery but also melts the organs.
- If you hadn't treated him, he would've died already. Thank you so much.
Dousing him with potions like water to stop the bleeding must have helped.
After that, the awakened survivors began tending to themselves.
Rashar searched the surroundings all night and determined there were no additional survivors.
As soon as the sun rose, he declared departure, and less than an hour later, combat broke out.
The enemies had mana levels similar to the ones I'd faced in the swamp.
Occasionally, tricky ones appeared during the fights—probably the evolved types Rashar had mentioned.
Once a battle started, at least a hundred monsters would die as a baseline.
Yet there weren't even any injuries, let alone casualties.
The fights were stable.
When I hunted alone, dealing with just 20 or 30 kept me on edge.
But Rashar's group was stably taking down even more.
It wasn't just because they were stronger than me.
No matter what they say about one person equaling a hundred, there's a clear limit to what a single person can do.
Over the course of more than a day, I experienced the advantages of party play with my whole body.
In the process, I even got to watch Rashar and the others destroy mediators.
「Mediator 03-112 (1) has been destroyed.」
「Mediator 04-1848 (2) has been destroyed.」
「Mediator 03-224 (1) has been destroyed.」
「Mediator 04-1848 (2) has been destroyed.」
….
Every time a message popped up, I fiddled with the shield at my waist.
I hadn't seen messages like that when the hole had opened in my shield.
Back then, I didn't know why, but watching Rashar destroy a mediator made it click.
‘Just breaking the physical form isn't enough.’
The key is disrupting the flow of mana pooled in the mediator and sealing the hole with your own mana.
Only then is the mediator truly destroyed.
That explained why mana collection stopped at level 3.
Levels 1 and 2 had no mediators.
The system must have closed the holes directly.
That's why it levied quotas on players and took their mana.
But from level 3 on, players handle it themselves.
No need to collect mana anymore.
‘I'd have been lost for a while if I hadn't seen it.’
Traveling with Rashar's group was beneficial in many ways.
I gained combat experience safely, learned how to destroy mediators, and gathered info about this world through conversations.
Of course, the biggest gain from traveling with them was something else.
「Trait Capitalism activates.」
「System switches to support type. Support target: Player Kang Hyun-woo.」
On the third day after meeting Rashar's group.
The Capitalism trait, which had gone quiet after popping up the Main Scenario hidden mission, activated again.
「Contaminated mana created by unregistered users exists within a 100m radius.」
「Searching for regular registered users capable of proxy absorption.」
「Player Kang Hyun-woo confirmed.」
「Contaminated mana is absorbed. Absorption rate reduced due to lack of direct causal process.」
“Uh……?”
I let out a dumb noise while spectating the battle, carrying Ahel who still hadn't regained consciousness.
The timing was so sudden, and the content was utterly absurd.
But this wasn't the time to space out.
My Chaos Value was shooting up.
At a speed incomparable to when I hunted alone.
Every time Rashar swung his sword, six or seven died at once, so it was inevitable.
Without the Purification trait, I'd have been helplessly swept into mental corruption.
I hurriedly activated Purification and caught my breath.
But my efforts to regain composure bore no fruit.
Thump, thump.
I could feel my heart pounding like mad.
My eyes trembled faintly as I scanned my surroundings.
First up was Rashar Bennet, the top mana holder in the group.
‘Her movements are a blur.’
Next were the two with the next highest mana: Lordwell and Sigram.
‘Residual images are barely visible.’
Next targets: Raoul and Heserma.
‘Their movements are relatively clear, but…’
I had no confidence in beating any of them one-on-one.
Rashar's group's power overwhelmed me.
That's why I always kept a minimum level of vigilance.
I figured their strength could threaten me at any moment.
But right now, things were different.
‘These damn nice bastards……!’
My breathing started to grow ragged before I knew it.
My heart was beating so fast it hurt.
In the end, I had to clutch the fabric at my chest tightly.
‘All that suffering paid off.’
Memories flooded back of scurrying through that high-level hunting ground of a forest to save them.
It felt like I was finally getting rewarded for all that hardship today.
‘Yeah, if you have any conscience, this is the least you could do.’
After all that work I put in, handing out crappy usage tickets as rewards? Ridiculous.
For a moment, I suspected the system—what's with it doing something I actually liked for once?
But as I watched the piles of monster corpses stacking up, the corners of my mouth kept twitching.
I squeezed my eyes shut tight. Even gritted my teeth.
If I relaxed even a little, laughter would burst out.
‘Laughing mid-battle looks way too suspicious.’
Rashar already gave me weird looks sometimes.
It felt amazing, but I had to hold back from grinning while fighting monsters.
“Kay?”
Huff, huff.
Maybe because I'd bowed my head, clutching my chest and trembling.
Raoul, who was nearby, reacted.
His voice calling me was full of worry.
Not just Raoul—Sigram and Lordwell reacted sensitively to my behavior too.
Even while fighting, they glanced my way.
“Are you hurt somewhere?”
Heserma straight-up butchered the six or seven monsters in front of him and rushed over to me.
“N-No, it's not pain. I'm fine…….”
「Contaminated mana is absorbed. Absorption rate reduced due to lack of direct causal process.」
「Contaminated mana is absorbed. Absorption rate reduced due to lack of direct causal process.」
Damn it, not fine. Mana was suddenly pouring in massively.
While the others kept fighting, Heserma had wiped out a ton at once.
Contaminated mana was flooding in in huge chunks.
Having to run Purification on top of that left me with no mental bandwidth.
“Kay!”
I staggered for a second, and Heserma—the one who'd caused this—went pale and supported me.
He looked ready to dump Ahel off my back onto the ground.
I shook my hand to signal I was okay and stood straight.
‘They do stuff like this sometimes, and it's a bit overwhelming.’
After regaining consciousness, they'd heard from Raoul that I might be a foreigner.
I didn't know what that meant.
But from then on, the group's attitude had turned strangely polite, which made things a little uncomfortable.
Just because I'd staggered a bit, they were fretting and on the verge of tears. How could it not be awkward?
Not just Heserma—all of them shot me worried looks.
“I'm fine, so keep going. And you, if you stay here, the others might be in danger…….”
But Heserma didn't leave easily.
He stuck right by my side, practically babysitting me.
‘You need to hunt so I can leech mana for free!’
In the end, I glared at him, making my discomfort obvious.
Only then did Heserma back off and rejoin the fight.
Of course, he still glanced my way midway, but I barely noticed.
My mind was totally elsewhere.
「Contaminated mana is absorbed. Absorption rate reduced due to lack of direct causal process.」
Today, even the annoying alert sounds were tolerable.
I focused on Purification while suppressing the thrill wracking my body.
How much time passed like that?
「Mediator 04-1848 (3) has been destroyed.」
「MISSION - All mediators in 04-1848 have been destroyed. Hole closes.」
「No mission rewards provided due to insufficient direct contribution.」
The battle entered a lull, and Rashar destroyed the mediator.
Followed by the hole closure message.
If it had been me a few hours ago, I'd have checked the mission window in confusion.
Today, I bit my lip in disappointment.
‘Already over?’
Even the last fight had dragged on for at least two hours of nonstop slashing.
So why did this one end so fast?
But no matter how disappointed I was, the monsters didn't come surging back.
As I clicked my tongue inwardly, a message arrived from Kim Yul, and I sent a quick reply.
- K: Took the bus for a bit. Details later.
Next, I checked my status window.
I couldn't be certain of the exact amount since I hadn't seen numbers, but I could vividly feel the blazing mass inside me.
A decent amount must have piled up.
‘Still just a candle flame compared to Rashar.’
Half tense, half curious, I opened my status window.
Player Kang Hyun-woo (Beta Tester)
Mana: 6078.13 (Attribute Mana: 205)
Chaos Value: 17.88%
Affiliation: Earth
Race: Human (Player)
Rank: Alpha
Attribute: Lightning
Skills: Mana Operation (59.26%), Sensory Expansion (43.16%), Mana Detection (lv.1 - 92.72%), Invisibility (48.43%), Barrier (22.84%)
Traits: Capitalism, Assimilation, Tenacity, Purification (lv.1 - 29.61%)
Title: Bounty Hunter
Reputation: 3024
No matter how many times I checked, the numbers stayed the same. No illusion.
Mana that had dipped into the 3,000s from buying potions and skill stones had surpassed 6,000 again.
All I'd done was breathe and stand there!
In a daze like I'd taken drugs, I exhaled languidly.
That's when Sigram decapitated a monster that hadn't quite died.
「Contaminated mana is absorbed. Absorption rate reduced due to lack of direct causal process.」
“Ah.”
The thrill shot up my spine, making my body sway.
“Kay!”
This time, Raoul rushed over like the wind to support me.
I gripped his arm hard, trembling.
This bus ride? Way too exhilarating.
* * *
Ears like droopy dog ears, face all wrinkled like a bulldog, height about up to my waist.
It was the dwarf monster Rashar's group called an "omby."
I thrust my spear into its gut.
“Keek!”
That made 15 ombies I'd killed.
Meanwhile, Rashar's group had slain too many to count.
Their path was littered with omby corpses.
This was my third time riding their battle bus.
Two level 4s, one level 3.
In half a day, my name had climbed onto the mission completion list three times.
Thanks to that, my mana had increased exponentially.
As I sneakily peeked at my status window in a mix of bewilderment and pride.
“Kay.”
A now-familiar call rang out.
Rashar, who should have been up front, was approaching.
“No injuries?”
At Rashar's question, I nodded obediently and shook the monster blood off my spear.
The others were wrapping up combat, stowing their weapons.
It didn't take long to regroup.
“I'd like to head out right away. You good?”
“Of course.”
“Then let's go.”
We resumed marching, stepping over the scattered monster corpses.
A spot with no blood-scent wafting corpses, tall trees for monitoring external approaches, and plenty of rocks to hide behind at night.
Tonight's campsite, chosen by Rashar, was about two hours from the last battle site.
Matching their pace had left me breathless, so I collapsed onto the ground with a thud.
Damn System