That Bastard's Montage
“Since I made a big contribution, he said money wasn’t necessary,” she told me. “But he can’t give it all. The Management Bureau needs samples for analysis too.”
I nodded.
“You can go pick it up the day after tomorrow. It’s the bones you need, right?”
“Clack clack clack!!”
“I can’t even imagine how powerful the bombs made from that monster’s bones would be~ What if the Earth ends up exploding later? Hmm? Is our Ilwol going to become the villain who destroys the Earth?”
She teased me, poking my side with her finger.
Swish swish— Rustle—
In response to her playfulness, I placed a pillow on my thigh so she could lie down and ran my fingers through her hair a little more roughly.
Yeonhee lifted her head with the corners of her mouth curved upward, and our eyes met for a moment. I could feel her heartbeat quicken slightly.
Just looking at this face would be enough to scare someone. It really is that kind of face.
It might be better to wear some kind of mask when we’re at home. I turned my head to help calm her mind and body. She fidgeted for a moment before taking out the crystal.
The ancient crystal… Was that monster really a raid-grade monster? This is absurd.
“I got it appraised on the way here, and you won’t believe it! It’s worth a whopping two hundred forty million won! With that money we could pay the penalty on this place and move into a bigger house right away!”
Two hundred forty million opens up plenty of options. But rather than selling it, it would be better to process it into a mana orb.
If I planned to never work as a hunter again, selling it immediately would make sense. Since that wasn’t the case, having it crafted into a mana storage vessel or something that boosted recovery speed would be wiser.
“I wanted to sell it right away, but I brought it to show you first! What do you think? The light is really pretty, isn’t it?”
I nodded.
The crystal gave off a mysterious hue where purple and orange tones blended strangely. The light was so brilliant and beautiful it could even be used as material for wedding rings. Of course it was ridiculously expensive, but in terms of price per size it actually felt superior to diamonds.
Should I draw a picture to tell her to turn it into an orb?
Signaling her to convert it might make her suspicious of my identity. As I pondered what to do, Yeonhee’s phone began to ring.
When I heard the caller’s voice, it was Kang Yeonsu from the White Knight Guild.
What’s this about?
The two of them talked for a long time. Ridiculously, they spent a good portion of the call badmouthing Jo Giman.
Is it okay to talk about someone who’s supposed to join like that…? And if you hate him that much, just leave the guild. Take Yeonhee with you. Please.
Of course, there was no chance that Kang Yeonsu—a founding member—would actually storm out of the guild. She usually pretended to be indifferent, but she actually cared about it quite a bit.
Anyway, Kang Yeonsu had heard somewhere that Yeonhee got the crystal appraised and called because of it.
Are these bastards having Yeonhee followed? Hmm… It’s definitely possible. After all, they’ve invested in her.
There were no suspicious presences within my sensory range, so they probably weren’t tailing her at close range. Still, they were likely receiving reports at regular intervals.
Toward the end of the call, Kang Yeonsu suggested exactly what I had been thinking—processing the crystal into an orb.
It wouldn’t be the kind of orb mages carried with both hands. We would need to split it into several pieces, turn them into accessories, and improve portability that way.
The main function would be instantly replenishing mana exhausted in battle with stored mana, with the added benefit of slightly increasing magic power and mana recovery speed.
Yeonsu can be helpful at times like this. I only remember her grumbling at me, but she really does take good care of her little sister.
“Sister Yeonsu said that processing it into an orb will greatly increase the mana storage efficiency! But the processing fee is over five million won? Ha… We already spent everything on moving costs.”
We can just earn more.
“So tomorrow we’re running nonstop again!!”
I nodded.
Swish—
“Umm…”
Even while watching her shout with such energy, I kept gently stroking her hair. A dark shadow loomed behind that bright face.
“After I finished talking with that B-grade hunter in the now-empty café and came out, all the fog outside had cleared… But there were corpses of people lying there……”
She couldn’t have been unaware that there were many victims. It was simply that my own senses were abnormally high. Her detection ability far surpassed the average as well.
But there was a world of difference between vaguely expecting it and actually witnessing it with your own eyes.
“Including the support hunters who arrived, at least seven hundred people must have died. And according to the internet articles, the hunters affected by the monster called the Spore Snail are still undergoing treatment.”
I nodded.
The longer someone remained under the Spore Snail’s host conversion, the longer complete recovery would take. It had taken well over an hour from the initial spread of the poison until the battle fully ended. If host conversion had progressed during that time, then at the very least—
Even assuming they received immediate treatment, aftereffects severe enough to leave a disability in one area would remain. Unless they experienced a second awakening from the shock, their careers as hunters would be finished.
Suddenly I remembered Han Eulmin begging for the antidote.
Still, thanks to Yeonhee he drank it before it was too late, so he should be able to continue working as a hunter. Bastards like him really are lucky.
Anyway, if she had seen hundreds of hunters in a host-converted state, her current trembling was completely understandable. It was the kind of sight that could create a brand-new phobia.
I wonder if she should just quit being a hunter. I know she enjoys it in her own way, but watching from the side, it doesn’t feel very pleasant.
Of course I knew Yeonhee had no intention of quitting. She was already deeply immersed in this cruel yet captivating world.
It was just like looking at my old self.
So all we could do was look higher and take another step forward. Until the day we eventually grew tired of it.
For the time being, I need to focus on raising our strength to the point where we can confront that monster.
“But that monster… Ilwol, you saw its face, right? What was it like?”
“……”
The moment she asked, Yeonhee suddenly sprang up, grabbed a notebook and pen, and held them out in front of me.
She wants me to draw it… Hmm… I have zero talent for drawing.
After pretending to be dazed for a moment, I began to move my hand.
Scribble scribble—
As I started sketching the distinctive features with a ballpoint pen, she pressed right up against my side, eyes following every stroke.
Squish—
……Ahem… Yeonhee really is quite…
Even without channeling mana into my body, I could feel something soft and voluminous pressing against me. I paused for a second at the unexpected contact, then continued drawing until I finally finished.
“Uh… So… This is…”
It must be shocking… I was truly surprised when I saw that thing’s face too. I understand.
With a greatly shocked expression, Yeonhee looked at me and struggled to speak.
“Ilwol, you’re terrible at drawing?! What is this? It’s not because my ability is being reflected, right? I’m not at this level!!”
……
“Puhahahang, this is so funny. Wangwang and Ttungi, come look at this!”
“Woof woof!!”
“Boo?”
Wangwang and Ttungi stared at the picture for a long time, then glanced at me and snorted.
Damn it. This is humiliating. Showing my drawing to these guys.
Anyway, Yeonhee spent a joyful time with the summoned beasts looking at my drawing, but I couldn’t help pondering the monster’s identity once more.
The fur was growing in sparse patches so it wasn’t certain, but the body felt incredibly solid—like an adult Werewolf or a Minotaur.
The middle claw was extremely long and sharp. That matched the characteristics of a monster weasel.
The face had a snout that protruded quite far forward. If it didn’t open its mouth, it resembled a Werewolf’s… but the mouth that opened flexibly like a snake and the tail were from a Basilisk.
And the eyes and ears that had shocked me the most the moment I saw them.
Above the snout… those were definitely an Elf’s features……
Heterochromia containing amber and green. The sharp, elongated ears pointing upward were traits unique to the Elf race, which could only be encountered in the highest-grade dungeons.
I wish someone would tell me my eyes were mistaken. Ha… Can a monster like that even exist? A hybrid mixed with all sorts of monsters?
Fortunately it only possessed the external characteristics and wasn’t taking the greatest weapons of those races—for example, the Basilisk’s petrification or an Elf’s skillful use of attribute magic.
But if a monster that possessed the abilities of an Elf, Basilisk, Minotaur, Werewolf, and Weasel appeared……
It wouldn’t end as a simple incident. After all, even a single Elf was known to be capable of facing A-grade hunters one-on-one…
“Ilwol, I’m going to summon now, okay?”
“Clack clack clack!!”
She could have just gone ahead without saying anything, but hmm—
I had a feeling that something had changed, but at this point even I couldn’t tell what was wrong.
Yeonhee tore all four of the summon scrolls she had collected. Three of them were Lizardmen. The last one was the first different monster to be summoned since we had fixed the probability.
Whoosh—
Chahya!
When an Orc with a heavy, massive body, distinctive large upward-curving tusks, and holding an axe with fairly sharp blades completely emerged from the portal—
Slurp— Slurp—
Lizardman Number One stared intently at the Orc. It seemed even more interested in the Orc than the new Lizardman recruits numbered eight, nine, and ten.