Noise Marketing
On top of a wooden crate at the base camp, Choi Jaewon continued his speech in a solemn voice.
"Hunters! A terrible incident has occurred! But don't worry! It's my fault, so I'll personally take down this gate's boss and send you all home safely!"
At Choi Jaewon's declaration, the panicked crowd's eyes began to light up with hope one by one. There was a reason he could step up with such confidence. As a promising talent of the Hyunmu Guild, he had five elite B-rank party members from the guild standing solidly behind him as his escorts. Their armor bore clear signs of battle, yet astonishingly, none of them had a single injury.
"Everyone! On our way to this camp, our Hyunmu elite party already perfectly subjugated three A-rank monsters—Ice Panthers—without a single casualty!"
The burly tanker standing behind Choi Jaewon thumped a massive Ice Panther head onto the ground as proof.
"Ooooh!!"
"That's a real Ice Panther! They took down an A-rank monster without a scratch?!"
Cheers erupted from the crowd. The Ice Panther head they claimed to have killed was covered in messy traces of countless spells and sword auras—clearly the result of the whole party ganging up on it. Even so, a B-rank party taking down an A-rank beast was praiseworthy enough, proof that they had solid teamwork.
Whispers began to spread cautiously among the onlookers.
"With all those B-rank hunters swarming together like that, didn't they cause the gate to mutate to A-rank?"
"Nah. A gate doesn't mutate just from a couple of upper-mid ranks mixing in."
"Then what? Did that Choi Jaewon guy really cause the mutation? Something's off."
"Who knows. But that's how it looks. The way he's showboating, maybe he faked his rank."
"Ah, noise marketing?"
"Yeah, that's what I think."
Top guilds sometimes hyped up promising talents like this to inflate their value. People started seeing Choi Jaewon's antics as exactly that.
"But causing a gate mutation just for this crap?"
"That's how big guilds roll. Trash bastards."
"Makes it worse that there's no proof."
"Well, at least we'll get out safe, right? It's all a show."
"True. Actually, that's good. Surviving a mutated gate looks great on the resume."
"Huh? Yeah, it does."
If it was all a show and turned out real, it was a win-win. Even I started thinking it might be legit.
"But everyone! My party and I alone can't fully handle an A-rank boss monster!! So right now, I'm recruiting a suicide squad of brave souls to charge the boss room with me! Support is fine!! What makes humans scary? We can unite!!"
A fateful choice for survival. With the gate mutated to A-rank, failing to take down the boss meant everyone here was trapped forever. Spurred by Choi Jaewon's agitation, a few bold hunters stepped forward, fists clenched.
"I'll go! I'm a shield soldier!"
"Me too! C-rank mage! I can help!"
More and more people willing to risk their lives gathered.
Hmm, with a B-rank party as the core, they might actually stand a chance against the boss. Looks promising?
I was about to pull my hood low and signal Seo Ayoung and Taesoo hyung to stay hidden and low-key.
"I'll join too!! D-rank swordsman, Kim Taesoo!!"
"……?!"
A booming voice exploded right next to me. I whipped my head around in shock. Taesoo hyung was clenching his fists, marching toward the suicide squad group.
"Hyung! Why the hell are you going there?!"
I grabbed his sleeve in a panic, but Taesoo hyung turned with a deadly serious look.
"Daesung-ah. I swore. I'd never run again. You and Ayoung-ssi stay safe here."
Taesoo hyung's line dripped with resolve. Normally I'd scoff, but with fire in his eyes and that unyielding determination, I had no grounds to force him back.
Haa… this stubborn hyung.
With Taesoo hyung joining the squad, hiding behind the tent with just me and Seo Ayoung felt awkward as hell.
"Hey! That's the healer from before!!"
That's when it happened. One of the hunters whose arm I'd repaired—fully healed—pointed at me and yelled.
"Yeah! The one in the hood! He reattached my torn arm in one second flat! Insane skills! From the healing speed, he's at least top C-rank, no, B-rank healer for sure!"
"……."
I pulled my hood deeper and tried to slip away quietly, but all eyes were already on me. From the crowd, the Hyunmu Guild's exclusive healer—a short-haired beauty with porcelain skin—rushed toward me desperately.
"Excuse me! You're a healer, right?!"
She looked utterly exhausted from supporting Choi Jaewon's party, dark circles hollow under her eyes. Her face was strikingly pretty, but her expression was on the verge of tears.
"Please help! I can't cover the whole squad alone in combat! Even with the Ice Panthers earlier, I nearly died keeping up heals by myself, sob…."
The pretty healer grabbed my sleeve, looking up with teary eyes, pleading.
"……P-please help. We healers have that bond, right?"
Bond my ass. I'm not even a healer….
Haa, damn it.
I wasn't cold-hearted enough to shake her off with everyone watching. Plus, with Taesoo hyung in the squad, I'd have to go anyway to keep him from getting hurt.
Ah… fine. Let the Hyunmu Guild handle all the fighting; I'll just do repairs.
I let out a resigned sigh and nodded.
"Got it. But I'm strictly rear support only. Your guild handles the combat."
"Yes! Thank you! Thank you so much!!"
Her face lit up. Seo Ayoung beside me drew her sword and hooked her arm in mine.
"If big bro Daesung's going, I can't sit out! I'm joining too!"
"You… just stay here…?"
"Feels safer next to you?"
Ah, fair enough. No choice.
In the end, I reluctantly joined Choi Jaewon's suicide squad as a healer and marched toward the A-rank boss monster.
The suicide squad's advance was faster and more stable than expected.
"Ice Panther ahead! Tanks, hold formation!"
"DPS, focus fire!!"
With Choi Jaewon's shout, the Hyunmu elite B-rank party took point, backed by C- and D-rank supporters adding firepower. Numbers were power. The Ice Panthers' chill blasts were fierce, but luckily, they were solitary hunters, not pack wolves. Meeting them one by one let the squad punch through the forest center smoothly.
"Whoa! Careful! Anyone badly hurt, come here!"
I burned through D-rank mana stones freely, prioritizing major wounds. The Hyunmu healer gaped at my overwhelming speed.
"A-amazing! Healing without cast time, wounds closing this fast…! What's your real rank, sir?!"
I deflected with small talk.
"Just passing off the minor stuff keeps you manageable, right?"
"Yes! So easy!"
Our solid rear support kept casualties and even injuries at zero, morale skyrocketing.
"At this pace, we'll take the boss and escape in no time!"
"Long live Hunter Choi Jaewon!! Is he really the genius to break through A-rank?!"
People cheered, drunk on hope. Even from the back, this-sized raid looked solid for an A-rank boss.
But.
It didn't take long for that false hope to shatter.
"……Everyone, halt. Form up."
The forest's darkest heart. The blizzard died down, revealing a massive ice ravine blocking our path. Choi Jaewon raised a hand, stopping the squad. His voice had lost its earlier flippancy, thick with tension.
From the ravine's mouth inward, the entire massive terrain was wrapped in thick, shimmering silver spiderwebs.
"Spiderwebs…?"
And at the heart of that horrific frost web, dozens of meters up, the A-rank boss monster slowly revealed itself.
"Sh-shit… Arachne!! Cast defenses!!"
Choi Jaewon's urgent command burst out.
Its lower body was a house-sized white ice spider. But where the grotesque spider head should be, a beautiful yet eerie woman's upper body with blue skin protruded. Her long white hair whipped like a blizzard, cold eyes glinting.
"Ice Arachne… an upper A-rank!!"
A-rank upper tier. The kind that used Ice Panthers as mere guard dogs for its territory—an intelligent horror. The humanoid upper body chanted magic, while the spider lower body unleashed overwhelming physical power. The worst hybrid boss.
"Shaaaaaaa―!!"
The Arachne's spider legs slammed the ground, shaking the earth. The shockwave alone rocked the ice ravine.
"Hold formation! Tanks forward!! Mages, target the main body up top!!"
Choi Jaewon yelled orders. The squad's tanks overlapped shields and advanced. Bam!—Crash!— The Arachne's massive ice legs stabbed like spears, hammering the shields wildly. The Hyunmu B-rank tanks gritted out, miraculously holding.
Defense was holding—for now. The problem was offense.
"Damn it! Can't reach!! Magic range is way short!!"
The lone Hyunmu B-rank fire mage cursed, spamming fireballs, but the Arachne's lower body was mountain-huge, dangling high up the ravine. Targets were too elevated. Fireballs froze midair in its overwhelming cold barrier, crumbling uselessly before hitting the true humanoid body.
"Fuck! How the hell do we attack something that high and huge!?"
"No body hits, we can't win! We'll tire out and die!!"
The Arachne's upper body—the blue-skinned woman—smiled, spreading her arms. House-sized ice spears condensed at her fingertips by the dozens, raining carpet-bomb style on the shield-bearing squad.
Kaboom―!!
"Hold!!!"
"Arghhh!"
"Don't break formation!! Focus defense!!"
The ice spear barrage dented B-rank shields; a few tanks took wounds. They'd blocked it, but a few more volleys would breach.
"D-Daesung-ah! Hide!!"
Taesoo hyung rolled behind me, yelling desperately.
"Where am I supposed to hide…."
"Just duck your head!!"
I started thinking.
Fuck, should I step up and steal the show?
No, that might piss off Hyunmu Guild. Help secretly? Yeah, that seems best. I was F-rank not long ago. If I go big here and it hits the news… F-rank beating A-rank? Might end up a lab rat. Total hassle.
Yeah, lay low till my re-measure bumps my rank.
With that resolve, I began plotting how to take down the Arachne on the sly.