Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: N/A
Chapter Title: The True Role of Male Hunters
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S-rank hunters' official word.
At least become a B-rank hunter before heading down there—but going now as a C-rank was basically suicide.
Normally, I should've stopped them.
But the three of us, about to set foot in the depths right now.
The young clan heads and princesses from Korea's two premier hunter clans.
And as for me, I was now a Female Submission Hunter with a whopping 360 points to my name.
'If it gets really dangerous, I can just step in.'
Conquering the depths with our current party's upper-layer level was obviously impossible.
But I figured a quick look-around expedition was doable.
"This is..."
"It kinda looks like a tunnel, right?"
"Let's push forward for now."
We had finally passed through the black portal and stepped into the passageway where a Milky Way stretched out before us.
"The sky and the ground are all... the same scenery! Even I've never seen anything like this, and I've cleared nearly all the mid-layers."
"Same here... So this is what the inside of a black portal looks like."
It didn't feel like walking—more like drifting gently along.
It was the exact same sensation as the black portal Yorgamund had opened last time.
Only difference was, we hadn't come on a pirate ship this time.
We weren't plummeting into the Milky Way-like space below us like before.
Above all, those white hands that had tried to grab me last time.
'Levi, those white hands from before... they're gone now, right?'
Even Lee Gok, in the upper ranks of A-rank hunters, hadn't been able to so much as scratch them—presumed to be some unidentified creatures lurking at the very edge of the upper layers.
Worried about them, I kept scanning our surroundings while mentally asking Levi.
And then.
'Huh?'
As expected of Levi.
Right before we entered the black portal, he'd given me 100 points and even prepared a countermeasure against those white hands.
'Thanks. I can breathe easy now.'
It was right around then, as we neared the end of the self-navigating Milky Way tunnel and the black portal's terminus.
'So that means... difficulty-wise, somewhere between the 25th and 29th floors?'
I'd been bracing for mid-layer difficulty, but it turned out to be upper-layer level after all.
Still, I'd already steeled myself for that much.
I nodded with a smile at Levi's warning to stay cautious.
And at last, we reached the black portal serving as the depths' entrance.
"Both of you, grab my hands tight!"
No matter what kind of world lay ahead, determined to survive, I gripped the hands of the two young clan heads and princesses and stepped into the unknown realm.
"This is..."
"The depths?"
"It's kinda chilly."
The depths that had made the previous clan head of the Andong Kwon Clan vanish without a trace.
It was none other than a world of crystal caves, where everything—even the sky—was covered in sparkling, crystalline surfaces.
"Is this... crystal?"
"Yeah, and it's ridiculously vast..."
"Exactly. So stick right by my side. Got it, Yongchan?"
Lee Miran, the princess, immediately began surveying our surroundings the moment we arrived.
Meanwhile, Mina—what was she so worried about?—clung to my side, squeezing my hand even tighter.
Thanks to that, I couldn't move freely.
"Um... I kinda need to scout the area too..."
"No way! What if you get hurt?! And with two proper hunter clan prodigies here, you think we'd hand a dangerous job like that to a male hunter?!"
Wait, then why the hell was I even here?
Besides, if they just kept dragging me around like this, I'd be nothing but baggage—no help at all.
So in this wide-open space dotted with just a few crystalline pillars at a glance.
Even in these upper-layer-level depths where danger could lurk anywhere, I wanted to be useful. So instead of Mina, I shot pleading glances at Lee Miran—the one who knew my true power!
But.
"?!"
What was that look?
Our princess, staring with heart-shaped pupils like she was in heat.
"W-Well, it's true that a male hunter's 'role' in a party isn't 'combat'..."
"R-Right! Definitely not combat..."
And then Mina, clutching her lower belly like it was aching something fierce.
'No way these girls just... want to blow off their battle-fueled lust on me?'
Of course, according to the Hunter Encyclopedia, a male hunter's value boiled down solely to handling female hunters' sexual needs.
The only job for a male hunter in a party was sex—nothing else.
No combat, no hauling gear; the women handled all that themselves to save energy for the next round.
Yeah, purely for sex...
But.
'I'm not that kind of male hunter.'
And even if it came to sex, Lee Miran—with her face already flushing pink in anticipation—was totally off-limits.
With a body like hers, it was straight-up 'impossible,' and doing it would spell total social ruin.
'Mina's not exactly ideal either...'
On the flip side, Mina seemed doable at first glance, but her backdoor had only just been broken in.
Hunter physiology or not, if my massive python slammed plung! into that barely-stretched hole, her sphincter would be toast at minimum...
She might end up diaper-bound for life, or worse, needing a 'lid' jammed in her shithole just to function. So that option was out too.
It was right then.
"A-Ahem! Well, if Yongchan doesn't want to, that's fine by me."
"?!"
Did she read my expression and see right through me?
Channeling that 'sweet girl' vibe where she wouldn't push if the guy wasn't into it, Lee Miran spoke up first, all gracious-like.
"Traitor! You were the one looking forward to it the most just a minute ago!"
Mina—who'd nearly painted me as the lone rapist in this scenario—growled in outrage at Lee Miran's preemptive strike.
"Earlier when it was just us two, you were the one who suggested banging Yongchan in the dungeon if things got dicey!"
"...! Wh-When did I say that?! I-I just... said let's eat tteok! You know, Busan's famous water tteok... in the dungeon!"
"That make any sense?!"
"Sh-Shut up! You think I'm some lolibitch who wants to fuck every guy she sees?!"
Lee Miran...
If it were a bit more of the real Lee Miran, maybe—but you and I can't merge no matter what.
That'd get the whole story axed.
We'd barely arrived in the depths with exploration to do, and already it was total chaos from the jump.
'...Still, gotta think positive.'
Party teamwork was fucked, no doubt.
But the reason I could stay optimistic?
"Menopause bitch!"
"You menopause first!"
I'd personally witnessed these two—straight-up She-Hulks... no, these two women—pummeling each other's womb covers right in front of me.
'At least they're not going at it physically.'
Compared to that mess, this was paradise. Shaking off the thought, I stepped in to stop their bickering.
Our purpose for coming here in the first place.
"For now, let's just quickly scout the immediate area and head back."
"...! Y-Yeah, good call. Let's do that!"
"Spot on, Yongchan."
These depths, with lower-end upper-layer risk.
We decided to properly explore this crystal cave world for real this time.
"First off, unlike regular portals, the black portal doesn't spawn at a random spot in the dungeon—it comes out right in front."
"Yeah. Saves us the hassle of hunting down the exit portal. Lucky break."
"We wouldn't have come in the first place if it sealed shut on entry."
Normal dungeons spawned you at a random spot on the 1st floor the instant you entered.
But this depth connected to a black portal.
Like with Captain Roger, the entrance and exit were firmly linked—unlike standard portals.
'Lee Gok turning up in England was the same setup, right?'
However, that exit stayed sealed unless you conquered the depth—earning it the name 'hunters' graveyard.'
'So why was this depth's entrance open for a full 10 years? And only under the Andong Kwon Clan mansion, no less?'
The more I dug into it, the more questions piled up. Better to move than speculate wildly.
So among the three of us squatting face-to-face, I stood first and prioritized marking our return point for this depth expedition.
"Alright, let's carve a marker by the black portal for heading back around tomorrow."
"Smart thinking, Yongchan."
"Yongchan, I could handle that..."
"Nah. I got this much."
One of the hunter tools from the bag Lee Miran had brought: a glow flag that extended up to 30 meters. Time to plant it nicely by the black portal.
But.
Clang. Clang.
"Oh, right—the ground's crystal too..."
Come to think of it, this was a world blanketed in crystal from top to bottom, every direction.
Flags were meant to be stuck in soil.
So I had no choice but to drill a hole in the crystalline ground to set up our return point.
Except right then.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
After I'd dug into the crystal ground a bit, a palm-sized crystal shard came flying right at me.
"...Huh?"
I picked up the shard—could this work as a mirror?—and peered inside.
There, in stunning clarity, was a real-time feed of me standing still... while my face grinned all on its own.