Chapter 10
CHAPTER_TITLE: Death March (1)
“Who are those people behind us?”
“They don’t seem to have any weapons, and they’re being chased by monsters.”
“Hey, I don’t have time to talk long!”
“Tamer! How much time is left on the buff?”
“Just a second!”
I checked the skill window.
[Kin Reinforcement: 1 minute 20 seconds remaining]
“Only 1 minute 20 seconds left?”
“That’s enough.”
“Tch. Hero! The debt I owe to Sangsimdang is settled thanks to this!”
“Got it.”
The moment the words left my mouth, the Demon King raised a single finger, gathering her magic.
Crackle!
Crackle-crackle!
Goblins that sensed the threat toward the Demon King lunged forward.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Kyaaah?!”
BOOM!
The Hero’s fist obliterated the charging goblins in a single punch.
Soon enough, the magic gathered at the tips of the Demon King’s fingers began to crackle in the air.
[Chain Lightning]
CRACKLE!
A blinding flash that could blind anyone.
Followed by a thunderous boom that made my ears ring.
All the goblins in front of us turned to charcoal.
“It’s insane.”
Even someone like me, who had no combat talent, saw that the double-team by these two little ones had no wasted effort.
“They were strong when fighting alone, but together their synergy was no joke.”
I wonder if I should say, ‘I hope you two become friends’ sometime.
The Hero was protecting us, the Demon King was channeling magic, and their firepower was so strong it could wipe everything out in one go.
Wait a second...
“That’s why I didn’t have a tamer!”
Turns out the problem was how overpowered they were.
The Hero’s punch shattered the monsters and the magic stones alike.
“Ugh, my precious magic stones... They got pulverized.”
The magic I saw from the Demon King just now was too much to describe.
Everything—equipment, magic stones—was turned to ash.
“I wonder why I could take down the goblins so easily but had no magic stones.”
“That’s what you get for trying to be too close!”
“I’m only fighting with basic magic too, you know!”
Heh heh, completely overkill...
“Still, it’s lucky. The buff is almost gone. It looks like we wiped them all out!”
“Ah, that’s a flag.”
Ah, my mistake.
BOOM!
“Kwaaaah?!”
The flag’s power was immense.
Behind the goblins that turned to ash, a massive green-skinned orc burst out, running toward us.
“We only have 10 seconds left?!”
“That’s easy.”
The Hero charged forward with a confident expression, his fist slamming into the orc’s belly.
CRACK!
Construction site sounds? Here?
“Hero! You didn’t adjust the firepower! If you keep that up, you won’t even be able to hit the magic stone...”
But the orc grabbed its belly, spat blood, and endured the Hero’s attack.
Did it survive?! Let me check the remaining buff time...
“Buff down to 3 seconds!”
“Tsk, you’re so useless. You really think a mere punch could kill it?”
The Demon King clicked her tongue, flicked her hand to send another lightning bolt, but...
CRACKLE!
“Kwaaaaah?!”
Maybe because she hadn’t fully charged the magic?
The orc staggered, clearly taking heavy damage, but the blow wasn’t enough.
“What kind of tank is that?!”
Even an E-rank hunter would be knocked out by the Hero’s attack!
“You saw?! The ashes are weird!”
At that moment, the system window notifying the end of the buff floated before my eyes.
[Kin Reinforcement buff deactivated]
The buff has been removed because all daily uses have been exhausted.
“It’s over...”
Even with the buff active, the thing took the hit.
Without the buff, trying to fight that thing would be suicidal.
Then what?
“Run away!!”
My shout made the Hero ignore it completely.
He looked back at the party members behind him.
“Hey.”
Collapsed female party members.
Shaking legs. No escape.
The worst situation.
“I’ll protect you.”
But the Hero guy seemed determined to protect those party members to the end.
“I’m... the Hero.”
“Damn it.”
Time was critical.
“Kuooh... Kwaaaaah?!”
The orc, already somewhat recovered from the Hero and Demon King’s attacks, started swinging its club as it charged forward.
Toward the Hero blocking its path.
Damn it, no choice.
“Hero retires! Demon King retires!”
“Will it come if I call it...?”
There were others too, you know?
My reliable first kin.
“Nabi!!!”
...... Awooh!!
Nabi, bursting through the underbrush, pounced on the orc’s neck and bit down hard!
Crack!
With a bone-breaking sound that gave me chills,
Ring!
[Hunt Completed]
[Tower Boss: Orc General]
[Level Up!]
[Clearing Gold rewarded!]
The system windows that popped up.
“Ah, so that was the tower boss?”
It was surprisingly sturdy.
*****
“Kyaa~ As expected of our Nabi.
It even paid for its meal, ogo ogung.”
Its muzzle was covered in orc blood,
“So what?”
We’d taken down the tower boss!
Just like that, I patted its head.
“I feel great! I love the praise!”
Its head tilted up as if begging for more, which was surprisingly cute.
“This is why they keep pets.”
I’m a pet wolf, though.
“Hey, you only landed the finishing blow.”
“Yeah, exactly. We drained all our stamina.”
When Nabi growled once, the grumbling little ones immediately became obedient.
Series order was clearly established.
Anyway, it was a pleasant cleanup time.
Normally, tower monsters would gradually drop items after dying and then slowly turn to ash and disappear.
But with the Hero and Demon King, who were too strong, they had overkilled everything,
And I learned that the dropped equipment and magic stones were destroyed.
“Well, I didn’t want to know, but...”
I’d like to give this guy something good too.
Excitedly, I checked the drop items...!
“Oh!”
A single magic stone lay on the ground.
“This one has a pretty big core.”
At that size, it’d probably fetch a decent price.
Then, from behind, came a crying sound.
“U-uwah...”
“Huk... I survived...!!”
“I thought I was going to die, waaaah.”
Ah, there were those people too.
“Hey...”
“Waaah I survived!!”
“I want to see Mom...!!”
“Me too... uwaaaaah.”
Seeing them crying and snotting with tears, hugging each other,
“...”
I couldn’t bring myself to approach.
“It doesn’t feel like the right time to talk...”
But the Hero guy ignored it and walked over to the crying female party,
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
He said it with a kind smile and expression.
“What kind of skill is that? Could they even make that face and voice?”
“This is the first time the Demon King has seen it. It’s so disgusting I almost want to throw up! Eww...”
The Demon King was really gagging.
How much did she want to avoid looking at it.
Still, I guess... she really is like a Hero.
A scene where she saves a villager from a village and greets them with a smile.
I loved that kind of scene.
“Let’s not interrupt now, it’s a good scene.”
“Hmph, why should the Demon King... eww.”
I covered the Demon King’s mouth and looked at the Hero.
“It’s good! These kinds of things.”
“Thanks to you... we survived. Thank you.”
“We really thought we were going to die.”
“Thank you... overwhelming gratitude...!”
They seemed to have calmed down thanks to the Hero.
“Ah... you wiped out the goblins with your bare hands...”
“Hic... thank you so much, fighter-sama!”
“If it weren’t for you, we...”
“Eww! The Demon King helped too.”
The Demon King, who had been holding her mouth, suddenly pushed my hand away and tried to assert herself.
“I... I’ve never seen that kind of magic before!”
The female mage-looking girl grabbed the Demon King’s hand and said.
“Normally, casting magic with no magic circles would weaken the power, but how did it achieve that level?!”
“Hmph, that’s the basic level.”
“But that person is a summoner?”
“He didn’t do anything...”
“They’re in the same party as the fighter?”
All the girls pointed at me at once.
Those are my kin.
*****
“Thank you for saving us again.”
The woman who seemed to be the party leader bowed her head deeply.
“I’m Serin, the leader of the Mallang Kongtteok party. Thank you so much for saving us.”
Serin bowed while saying that.
“Ah... yes...”
Mallang Kongtteok? Why is the party name that?
A strange party name.
“Hehe, we named the party after our favorite food.”
“Ah... I see.”
The Demon King would probably like it.
“By the way, what are your party names?”
“Ah...”
Should I say I’m solo? No...
If I say solo, I’d have to reveal my class too.
From experience, that never ends well.
“Well, I probably won’t be seen again this time. I’ll just vaguely evade it.”
“We...”
“If you’re a party, then we’re the tamer’s kin.”
“That’s right, we clean up the towers in exchange for bread.”
The two little ones casually said it as if it was nothing.
These guys are way too honest!
“Eh? Tamer?”
But unexpectedly, Serin’s reaction to my job was shocking.
“Wow! That’s amazing! Tamer is really strong!”
She looked at me and the two little ones with a purely surprised expression.
“So these are your kin?! So cute!”
“Yeah!”
“Kyaa, I wanna bite those chubby cheeks!”
“Hey! Stop it! Get away!”
“Don’t touch them! Hey! Stop touching!”
Meanwhile, the Mallang Kongtteok members had approached and were hugging and rubbing against the two little ones.
Wow...
“By the way, what happened? Why were you being chased by monsters like that?”
“Ah... it’s just...”
Serin’s expression suddenly darkened as she stopped touching the little ones’ cheeks.
What is it?
“Actually, we fell victim to a Death March...”
“Death March?”
Ah, that’s what the guild sister mentioned.
“Who was it...?”
“There’s someone suspicious...”
“Definitely those guys!”
“Their faces are definitely dirty from the start!”
“Who was it?”
“That... scary guy with a big club...”
“Eh, wasn’t it the one from earlier?”
“Ah, those guys you broke the hand of?”
“Yeah, who was the one who broke the phone? They brought it on themselves.”
“Anyway, but those guys can’t even enter the tower?”
Like the Hero, you broke the hand...
“Those guys are from Nokrim Guild.”
“They were trying to kill us!”
“Yes! They were doing a Death March!
“Pay the price for ignoring Nokrim.”
They were crazy.
“Nokrim? What’s that?”
“Ah, the evil guild that robs new hunters at Green Tower.
“Ah.”
“They usually extort newbies by demanding tribute or giving fake quest info.”
“That’s pretty harsh.”
Just a neighborhood bully.
“But the entire party consists of at least E-rank hunters, and the guild leader is C-rank...”
E-rank hunters are the ones who enter Green Tower.
Most people probably just turned a blind eye.
Step on the poop and pretend not to notice.
“Did you report it to the Hunter Association?”
“I’ve said it many times. They said it was a minor dispute.”
Yeah, right. The Association isn’t that type.
If it’s not a huge crime, it basically falls under ‘do it yourselves’ leniency.
“Even so, isn’t doing a Death March too harsh?”
Unlike just extorting, it could actually kill people...
“Exactly.”
“From the moment they looked at us with a licking gaze, I didn’t like them.”
“Ugh, I really hate it!”
The evil deed was upgrading.
Maybe it’s an evolution-type crime guild or something.
Ugh... scary
“I don’t want to get involved with those kinds of guys. Ugh, gross.”
Yeah, they avoid the poop because they’re scared? Or because they’re dirty?
I was going to steadily clear the tower and grow.
And leave Green Tower as soon as possible!
“By the way, aren’t you guys in danger?”
The Hero tugged at my clothes and said.
Danger? Me? Why?
“Eh? Why?”
“We just beat them up.”
“Those guys?”
“Nokrim? You broke their hands.”
“Ah”
It’s over.