Stealing the Last Hit

The moment I stole the last hit, the reactions exploded around me.

"Huh? Why the hell is that thing here?!"

"Shit! It's already made it this far? That means it's been a while since the dungeon break started, doesn't it?"

"Look at how those Management Bureau bastards handle their jobs. Ugh—"

"What do we do? Looks like there's only one. Should we take it down?"

Cha Jin-hyeok's three companions were busy gauging whether they could actually defeat the Tarantara. 'No calculation needed. Even if it's an upper-tier B-rank species, it's still a single entity.' Since it wasn't a variant, their judgment aligned with mine—they'd lean toward subjugation.

The orphanage children immediately turned left and broke into a full sprint. People in this world understood disaster alerts perfectly, so there was no need for pointless fact-checking. Elementary, middle, and high schools all had evacuation facilities built by hunters with dwarf and architect traits. Once inside, they'd be safe for the time being.

The nearest school was roughly four hundred meters away, and people from the surrounding area were already flooding toward it.

Kwaaaaaang—!

The instant the children reached a safe distance, something massive plummeted from the sky, pulverizing the asphalt and letting out a roar.

- Kiiiiiiie!!

The Tarantara had landed directly between Cha Jin-hyeok and the three gossipers. It rotated its head a full 360 degrees, debating who to target first. Logically, striking the hunters first would have been the smart move, but the creature knew it held the clear advantage, so it took its sweet time.

- Kirrruk?

That leisurely attitude lasted only a moment. Its lower abdomen began swelling rapidly.

"Mr. Seongwoong! Ms. Eunbi! Ms. Jiyeon! We're taking it down, right?!" Cha Jin-hyeok shouted, struggling to straighten his hunched back.

"Yes!! There's only one! Mr. Jin-hyeok, start right away!"

"Ah, fuck. Why are you running your mouth instead of using your skill immediately?" One of the women—Eunbi or Jiyeon, I couldn't tell—complained even in that tense moment. If I had the chance, I'd love to smack the back of her head.

Cha Jin-hyeok was already boiling his mana to the absolute limit. 'Whoa—crazy? His mana pool is no joke.' It looked like well over four hundred, and he was even equipped with two artifacts. 'What tremendous potential.'

The Tarantara had arched its body back, poised to spray venom at any second. But the moment Cha Jin-hyeok gestured, high-density mana flooded the space around the monster and cascaded toward the ground like a waterfall.

'Hoo, so that's how it works.' It was as if the mana itself was dragging the creature's body down into the abyss of the deep sea. 'Unique.'

Crack— Thud—!

Astonishingly, the Tarantara couldn't endure even a few seconds. It was slammed into the ground as if crushed by an invisible mountain.

'Wow—'

I couldn't help letting out a gasp of admiration. The three, however, had clearly expected this. The instant the gravity skill activated, they charged forward. All three happened to be close-combat types, and the man among them looked like a classic tank.

Even pinned to the ground, the Tarantara used its countless legs to harass the incoming hunters. But the man's Provocation pulled its aggro completely, preventing any proper counterattacks.

- Poof—! Crunch—! Boom—!

Skill effects detonated across the Tarantara's body in rapid succession. It writhed in agony. 'Their attack power is incredible.'

After operating at D-rank and now witnessing B-rank hunters in battle, it felt like I'd stepped into another world. The range and destructive force of their attack skills were on a completely different level from D-rank hunters.

The Tarantara's body was several times tougher than the outer shell of the "Fang" monsters. Yet these seasoned B-rank hunters relentlessly targeted only the precise weak points. They hammered their skills into the lower side of the torso where the underbelly was slightly exposed.

"Uaaaaah! Die! Just die already!"

Even though they were striking its weakness, the Tarantara's stamina refused to bottom out easily. 'This is going to take a while…'

I quickly lost interest in the trio and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠focused solely on Cha Jin-hyeok's ability. 'He's overdoing it.' Thin, watery blood was streaming from his nose like a river. Maintaining a field large enough to cover the Tarantara's massive body while continuously supplying enough mana to keep it completely immobilized was no small feat. The mana draining at such a rapid rate showed exactly how hard he was pushing himself.

In contrast, the three's offensive power seemed slightly insufficient. From a spectator's perspective, it was honestly a little frustrating. Even within the same B-rank, the gap between lower-tier hunters and upper-tier monsters was this vast.

"Ah! H-hurry up!"

Yeonhee was already growing impatient. Had she completely forgotten our original purpose?

Five minutes later.

"It's almost finished!"

"Just a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠little more!"

The moment the three moved in to deliver the final blow to the slumped Tarantara, I hurled a Fire Ball compressed to its absolute limit.

Even against a monster far higher in rank than me, a Fire Ball condensed this extremely should deal significant damage if the elemental matchup was favorable.

- …?! W-what the—!

- Dodge it!

- Kyaaaaak—!

The hunters immediately scrambled backward as the enormous Fire Ball plummeted from the sky.

Kwaaaaaaaaang—!

The skill gained from stealing the last hit was the Tarantara's ability to roll its acidic liquid into a ball and hurl it. Not only did I obtain a new skill, but all my stats had increased by one each.

"Oh my! Ilwol?!"

Yeonhee looked at me in utter shock after I stole the finishing blow. Her expression screamed, You were that kind of kid?

'Doesn't bother me one bit.'

With the brazen face only ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a skeleton could pull off, I simply shrugged as if to ask what the problem was. Yeonhee covered her mouth with both hands, looking genuinely horrified.

In hunter society, it was considered taboo for someone with zero contribution to steal the last hit. Of course, since magic stones and runes were distributed according to contribution anyway, it wasn't exactly stealing rewards. Plenty of people criticized the unwritten rule as outdated and rigid. Still, that was the prevailing perception.

'Doesn't matter. I only needed the skill.'

As expected, my low contribution meant I received neither magic stone nor rune. Even after killing an upper B-rank species, the experience gained was minimal.

'Oh? It merged with that one?!'

The Acid Spray I'd obtained from the slime had fused with the newly acquired skill, evolving into something entirely new. Just from the name, Special Strong Acid sounded incredibly powerful.

'It even has adhesive properties! This is perfect.' It meant I could use it to restrain enemies when needed.

But analyzing the new skill would have to wait. Right now, we needed to get out of here. Cha Jin-hyeok and the three others were already spreading their mana as far as possible, desperately searching for whoever had dared to steal their kill without permission.

Fortunately, none of the four were detection specialists. Even so, I flew a little higher just to be safe. They wouldn't find me.

I formed the newly acquired Special Strong Acid into a perfect sphere above my palm.

"Huh? What is that? The color is pretty."

Yeonhee reached out without thinking, drawn to the translucent greenish acid orb. I quickly knocked it away.

"Wait, acid? Weren't you supposed to spit it from your mouth?"

Yeonhee jerked her hand back the moment she heard the word "acid."

- …!!

- …?

Down below, something strange seemed to be happening. The voices of Cha Jin-hyeok and the three hunters grew louder. I slowly descended to eavesdrop.

"Th-they're swarming the school right now! Please, come help us!"

"Look, we've seen the message too, but isn't this dangerous? It looks like more than half the Tarantaras in the area have gathered there. Wouldn't it be safer to just stay inside the school?"

"Yeah. That gymnasium building is incredibly sturdy, right? Normal attacks wouldn't even scratch it."

'Message?'

I turned to Yeonhee. She was just finishing reading the alert herself.

'So that's what happened.'

The high school where the orphanage children had fled was now in danger. Yet the three hunters gave only lukewarm responses to Cha Jin-hyeok's plea for help.

'To be fair, they aren't entirely wrong.'

The evacuation facilities built by dwarves were exceptionally sturdy. Even upper B-rank Tarantaras would have a hard time breaking through. If the entrance was properly sealed, the hunters rushing out to fight would actually be in greater danger than the civilians inside.

'Even considering the acid… it should hold for at least an hour.' Waiting for higher-ranked hunters to arrive during that time might be the wiser choice.

"Actually, isn't this better? If they'd scattered everywhere it would've been a bigger headache," the male hunter Seongwoong said as he pocketed a high-grade magic stone covered in sticky fluid.

"I'm not asking you to go fight! Just come with me, and if the situation really turns dangerous, we can work together—"

But Cha Jin-hyeok had a more personal connection to the situation. Just watching him stomp his feet in agitation made it clear how worried he was about the children. His request for that level of assistance was perfectly reasonable.

"Are you serious? You know how sensitive those things are to mana, yet you keep pushing. Do you think you have nine lives or something?"

"We're not going. Do whatever you want by yourself. We even helped you kill one, and instead of thanking us—"

'You only fought because it was a fight you could win.'

Cha Jin-hyeok looked utterly devastated by those words.