Scary, But I Don't Hate It
The ominous group threatening the safety of this world has been eradicated!
Experience has increased!
The achievement Summoner's Helper has been activated.
A random stat has increased!
'Oh? Strength went up again. Jackpot. Absolute jackpot!'
This was already the eighth stat increase. Which meant I had sent eight people straight to hell. And all of it in the short time before my party even arrived.
'The stat gains from killing these bastards are insane. Even if it lands on Strength like now, it still goes up by one without being affected by the Skeleton Bomber's strength limit!!'
Let's see… how many Blue Eye cultists are there right now? There were over a million when I died, so maybe two or three hundred thousand at the moment? If I play it conservatively, killing a thousand gives me a thousand points. Ten thousand gives ten thousand points! This was a literal gold mine.
Of course, that million figure probably included ordinary people who hadn't awakened, but who knows? Maybe even non-hunter cultists could raise my stats?
'Finally…'
Killing eight hunters meant a massive amount of experience. I'd reached level 40 before even taking down the Lizardman Champion.
'Let's wrap things up here first and check the details later. I can only make the choice once I get home anyway.'
I shook off the long message lingering in my mind and turned toward the last one. If I took care of this final bastard, I'd get nine free stat points today. A total windfall.
Right then, the last remaining guy turned tail and started running without even looking back.
'Huh? Where do you think you're going? Running away at this timing?'
'Exactly. You should've decided your own fate.'
He was the one farthest away, so the bomb hadn't hit him cleanly. He had taken the least damage. Even with one arm dangling uselessly, his running speed was ridiculously fast.
There weren't many idiots like him among the Blue Eye cultists, but still— I immediately tried to chase after him.
But at that moment, I sensed something carrying a chilling magical power flying toward him at high speed.
Shweeeeee—
Thwack—!
An ice spear that flew in from somewhere not only pierced straight through the guy's head, but kept going and embedded itself deep into a tree trunk quite a distance away.
'Agh, damn it. My stat point!!'
No Hayun came running over with a triumphant expression, completely unaware that she had just blown away one of my precious stat points.
'Ugh! She probably thought she was helping, so I can't even complain. This is so annoying.'
When I glared at her with narrowed eyes, No Hayun seemed to read something in my gaze and flinched in surprise. Then she started bowing her head repeatedly toward me.
Considering her mother, I didn't think she needed to act so subservient, but whatever. I quickly lost interest.
I let out a sigh that didn't actually come out and began collecting the runes dropping from their bodies.
Even a single low-grade rune was worth at least 1.8 million won. This was what people meant when they said a pumpkin rolled in on the vine. From the eight people I killed, I obtained a total of 39 runes. It was a bit disappointing considering the number of people, but when you factored in the evaporation rate, it was an acceptable number.
'So… even after the commission fee, that's roughly eighty million won? Hehehe, this is seriously sweet.'
If anyone saw me now, they'd probably notice my skeletal shoulders shaking violently. Most of them were low-grade, so only hunters over level 20 could equip them, but if I decided to sell, they'd fly off the shelves in no time.
The only hassle was that I couldn't register them on the market like artifacts. I'd have to trade directly with buyers. But that wasn't my problem. Yeonhee would handle it well.
'Hmm—'
It was truly strange that after killing eight people, I didn't feel any negative emotions at all. It wasn't like becoming a skeleton had worn away all my feelings. If anything, I felt a bit better.
'For some reason, killing these bastards feels refreshing.'
While I was inwardly gloating, a question suddenly occurred to me.
'But why do these Blue Eye guys just hand over this nice cloak while not managing their runes at all? If they had just a few more runes, they wouldn't have been wiped out so pathetically like this.'
Moreover, the dropped runes all had low values. Looking at the overall rune condition, I briefly wondered about the Blue Eye organization's management style.
'Tsk— Nothing useful for Yeonhee, so should I distribute them to the Lizard unit? Or maybe equip No. 1 and Deonni first.'
While I was lost in thought, the party members who had run over couldn't hide their dumbfounded expressions, as if asking what the hell had happened here.
'Hehehe—'
Watching them look so flustered was surprisingly entertaining. My own little amusement, I suppose.
After staring at the nine corpses and pretending to wash their dry faces for a moment, our party members saw the sack full of runes I pulled from my inventory and went blank for a second. I knew from my past life experience that expression was them trying to hide the greed rising from deep within their chests.
I casually handed the sack to Yeonhee and approached the nearest corpse. I lifted the robe, which looked no different from what any other hunter would wear, and checked the lining.
'They erased the pattern? Heh, look at these cute little things.'
Probably because of the incident where they were exposed to the public while performing a sacrifice in the basement last time, they seemed to have removed their trademark.
'Hmm… They already erased the pattern at this point? My memory says there's a slight time gap…'
It was the symbol of the god they served. Erasing it couldn't have been an easy decision, so I couldn't quite understand how they made such a swift choice.
I stripped the corpse's top, exposing its bare body. Then the tattoo on its chest appeared clearly.
'As expected. You're just dying to show off your god, aren't you?'
When I checked the others, each of them had the Blue Eye symbol somewhere—on their back or arm.
"Yes, I saw it on the guild bulletin board. This pattern definitely matches. Hmm."
We momentarily lost our minds when No Hayun naturally jumped into the conversation in response to Helen's question, but there was no one who could really push her away.
It wasn't something I should say after killing eight, but counting people as "one" after killing them was a bit… Well, did it even matter? They were the kind of bastards who deserved it.
This was the period when the things the Blue Eye cultists were doing across the country were gradually rising to the surface, so even if we killed them, there wouldn't be any sanctions against us.
'Right? Since No Hayun was involved too, the Witch will probably take care of it… Come to think of it, she's actually pretty useful in that regard, isn't she?'
As long as we didn't do anything crazy that harmed civilians, her mother would probably block most accidents. So finding a way to make appropriate use of No Hayun might be advantageous for us moving forward.
'Ugh… Let's think about that slowly later.'
With that thought, I looked into the eyes of No Hayun, who was inching closer to my side like a thieving cat.
'But what's up with her eyes?'
Her pupils were swirling like in a cartoon… They kept rapidly contracting and expanding, making me realize a person's eyes could actually look like that.
'Fuck… This woman is dangerous. The best thing is to just stay far away.'
As Hayun approached, I slid sideways with a side step and escaped. At this point, she was openly targeting me.
'Does something really happen to my stats if she gets too close to me?'
She had come close enough that I could reach her with just my hand. Yeonhee finally couldn't take it anymore and stepped in to stop Hayun.
"Huh? Ah! I'm sorry! Why are there so many bugs all of a sudden? Eek! Die, die!"
Absurdly, No Hayun was stomping her feet all over the place, pretending to catch bugs. Good grief. Was that really how an adult should respond?
It was obviously an attempt to play it off, but Yeonhee warned Hayun once more.
Her voice was small but filled with strong determination. Only then did No Hayun finally tear her gaze away from me and meet Yeonhee's eyes.
No Hayun muttered with eyes full of complicated emotions. Just what was this woman thinking right now? Ilwol was genuinely curious.
No Hayun, who had been receiving Lee Yeonhee's intense gaze, quickly forgot about Yeonhee's provocation and fell into other thoughts.
'Ha… I'm so fucking jealous, Lee Yeonhee… How did you get involved with such a mysterious being? Should I just close my eyes and ask? Or maybe take this chance to give her a little lesson?'
In No Hayun's eyes, Lee Yeonhee was still a hunter one level below her whom she could suppress at any time.
'Scolding her wouldn't be hard, but… that wouldn't work, would it?'
Even now, she could feel an unknown energy emanating from the skeleton soldier standing beside her, enveloping her. Was it a manifestation of will that would cut her in half the moment she did anything suspicious?
Shiver— shiver—
'Ahh… This feeling again… It's scary, but for some reason, I don't hate it…'
Feeling Ilwol's sharply honed magic power and that unknown sticky aura, she recalled the time when the skeleton soldier had struck her in the abdomen.
'Haa… It hurt so much, but it was intense too…'
In fact, there had been a moment just earlier when she almost got hit again. She had used a skill to help the skeleton, but the skeleton clearly hadn't welcomed that help. No, it had been truly enraged. That was something she could sense because she had received a powerful blow from the skeleton and gained an achievement from it.
Thanks to the achievement she gained from provoking the skeleton's anger last time, her combat had entered a completely different realm. She, who had always been evaluated by those around her as clumsy and instinct-driven rather than rational, was evolving into the cold, calculating combat style unique to mages who precisely controlled their power after fully recognizing their own capabilities.
Having gained such an achievement, she followed the skeleton around hoping to obtain another such fortuitous opportunity. But she also knew that such coincidences didn't come easily.
Even so, why did she keep hovering around the skeleton? She herself found it hard to explain exactly. She was simply acting according to her heart.
She glanced sideways, rolling only her eyes slightly to look at the terrifying skeleton's face that looked like it could swallow her whole at any moment. Then a tingling sensation began stimulating every corner of her body again.
Feeling fear toward someone was a strange experience for No Hayun. It was because, in her entire life, there had only been one person who had ever made her feel that way.