Chapter 185
Chapter 185
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 185
Chapter Title: Having Little to Do
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Chapter 185
"This is awkward... I barely have anything to do."
"?"
After several more hunts, Ye-rin suddenly spoke up with a dejected expression, leaving Jeong-hyeon baffled.
She had nothing to do?
Her?
"You might want to wipe the blood off your gauntlet first before saying that."
"Oh."
At the very least, before making such a claim, shouldn't she clean not just the gauntlet Jeong-hyeon mentioned, but the blood soaking her from head to toe?
She had faced over thirty Centaurs, darting freely through their encirclement without a care.
If this were soccer, she'd be a naturally gifted striker.
Her flashing from east to west was enough to make anyone feel like Korea really was the land of Hong Gil-dong.
'Even counting just the heads she's taken, it's just shy of ten, and she says she has nothing to do? What kind of hunts has she been doing normally...?'
No wonder he'd found it odd how she'd stretch and twist her joints after each fight, like someone whose body hadn't fully loosened up.
This was probably her first time hunting in a party this strong, proof that it felt less burdensome than usual.
Of course, the same went for Jeong-hyeon.
"Equipment maintenance will be a chore once the hunt's over."
Jeong-hyeon eyed Ye-rin's armor, now so caked in blood that its original sleek design was unrecognizable, and worried.
She tilted her head at his words.
"Just hand it off to a shop."
"..."
Come to think of it, that was an option.
Jeong-hyeon treasured his gear and paid it close attention, so he'd handled maintenance himself up to now. But most C-Rank Hunters and above just left it to professionals.
An expert's touch was simply better, after all.
The issue was the cost.
'It costs thousands just for one go, and she hands it off like that.'
It varied by gear value, but for Jeong-hyeon and Ye-rin's level, the fees were astronomical.
Starting at tens of millions of won, it could climb into the hundreds for high-end pieces.
It wasn't a huge sum for Jeong-hyeon these days, but his ingrained habit of frugality made it an unacceptable expense.
"You're still doing it yourself?"
"Huh? Well..."
"Want me to recommend my place?"
"I'm good."
"You must rake in a fortune clearing Mission Gates, but you're such a tightwad."
"Call it frugality."
Jeong-hyeon scowled and rephrased it, but Ye-rin didn't seem bothered.
'Tch, this is gross.'
She glanced down at herself and clicked her tongue inwardly.
Jeong-hyeon stayed much further back than the front-line whirlwind Ye-rin, but blocking Centaurs thrusting spears from all directions sometimes forced close-quarters combat.
His black Cursed Armor was likewise unrecognizable, smeared with Centaur blood and flesh.
And that was thanks to the Harad he'd attached to the pickaxe this time, which exceeded his expectations by a mile.
'I didn't expect it to inflate like this.'
He'd tested Harad's amplification on the mace once before, so he'd figured the pickaxe would be slightly better.
Boom-
- ?
The pickaxe swing at a charging Centaur far exceeded normal impact range, outright exploding its upper body.
- Kyaaak!
Jeong-hyeon right in front of it, and even Ji-hee and Yun-ji behind him, couldn't dodge the blood spray.
- You okay...?
Jeong-hyeon whipped around and rushed to Ji-hee and Yun-ji.
The two had been about to feel touched—he was risking himself to protect them, and now fretting over mere blood splatter.
- ...my precious blood drops!
But that sentiment withered before it could bloom.
"Ow, this stuff cost a fortune! The tendons are probably ruined too, ow!"
"Hurry and shake the blood off your clothes—no, wring it out, just do it!"
It was just a funny mishap to laugh off.
Of course, getting armor dirty in a hunt was more than welcome.
Armor existed to keep the body intact, after all.
'We did get an injury this time.'
That was why the party, which had pushed on without real breaks, had finally halted.
Jeong-hyeon shifted his gaze from Ye-rin, roughly scraping blood and flesh off one gauntlet with the other, to a spot further away.
There, Young-hoon was receiving care from Yun-ji.
"Looks mostly healed now. How do you feel?"
"Ugh... I think I'm okay."
"I told you not to charge in like a madman!"
"Sorry..."
Young-hoon's injury wasn't a major strategic issue so much as a result of his fighting style.
Even Centaurs would falter at his roars, yet he charged right in—strange if he emerged unscathed.
Spears suited defense when holding position and focusing, but aggressive attacks narrowed distances and exposed gaps.
In any case, shoulder-pierced by a Centaur spear, Young-hoon was now meekly taking a scolding from Yun-ji without moving a muscle.
A shoulder through-and-through was serious, but trivial for a B-Rank Healer, so Ye-rin opted for rest over resuming.
'Healers always make you shrink when they chew you out.'
Jeong-hyeon had been scolded similarly after overextending and getting hurt.
Objectively, healers were the party's weakest in combat, yet their rebukes left you powerless.
People often said it was because healers were like mothers—a sentiment he could relate to.
Some were deadbeat kids, too.
Healing drew on the recipient's stamina, after all.
Even if wounds closed, pain and fatigue lingered.
"I'll scout the surroundings briefly."
"Thanks."
Recon was standard during breaks.
Thanks to Jeong-hyeon's senses, they didn't need strict protocol, but eyes beat senses.
'These hills make it worse.'
Their spot was hemmed by low hills on three sides.
His senses faced limits in such terrain.
Jeong-hyeon broke into a light jog.
Seconds later, he crested the hilltop.
The feat of his B-Rank Level 5 movement speed trait.
Limits loosened for combat at 50% efficacy, but full deployment was near-instantaneous, like shrinking the earth.
"That... Are all S-Rank traits like that?"
Young-hoon stared at his retreating figure, voice dazed.
A solid B-Rank Hunter himself, he knew S-Ranks were another league.
Working at the Association, most S-Rank intel was classified even to him.
Still, maybe Section Chief Ye-rin or fellow S-Rank Ji-hee knew more.
"Well, first I've seen like that, but yeah, they're all cheats."
Ye-rin shrugged indifferently.
Inwardly, she was shocked too.
She occasionally got S-Rank support for investigations.
Interactions were limited, routed through operations, yet they felt otherworldly.
A single rank separated A from S, but power gaps spanned multiples.
Like fusing several A-Ranks.
Jeong-hyeon seemed exceptionally versatile, but to her, S-Ranks were uniform cheats.
Ji-hee wore a complicated expression.
She handled not just fire magic but other basic elements superbly.
Like Ye-rin's guess: multiple high-grade general traits fused and enhanced.
She just avoided them due to poor efficiency versus fire.
'But is that the same as his?'
Jeong-hyeon defied her understanding.
Her abilities stayed within magic lines; his spectrum was absurdly broad.
Absurd senses, Throwing Skill, Blunt Mastery.
Even inferior to hers, he wielded mana magic and Magic Enchantment.
And inexplicably, from their first hunt—strong then—he'd grown vastly stronger in that short time.
As Ji-hee and Ye-rin watched his back, lost in troubled thoughts.
Won-ho rumbled deeply.
"Boss gets more tiring the more you try to figure him out. Let go, and it's easy."
"..."
Won-ho had first seen Jeong-hyeon near-solo two magic-using Grand Mantises.
Then immune to Siren song, soloing average Level 5 Mission Gates effortlessly.
Lately, he didn't ponder Jeong-hyeon's traits or limits.
Just follow, and everything resolved painlessly.
Paradoxically, excluding Jeong-hyeon, Won-ho might understand him best.
The others nodded, as if enlightened, switching off thoughts of him.
They grasped the world's most pointless worries: politicians, celebrities, and Han Jeong-hyeon.
'The hills are wider than I thought.'
Atop the hill, Jeong-hyeon surveyed, finding the terrain unlike expected.
He'd pictured vast flat plains for steppes, but undulations abounded.
No issue for horse-bodied Centaurs, tiring for normal hunters.
"Hm?"
Then, his senses pinged oddly.
Relative to his view, Centaur packs approached from 2 o'clock and 10 o'clock.
Not far, but hills blocked sight.
He considered alerting the party, but they weren't heading his way.
Instead, closing rapidly on each other without slowing—like no collision intended.
'What the?'
Too fast for merging; directions too direct for crossing paths.
Definite anomaly.
Jeong-hyeon descended swiftly to Ye-rin.
"Section Chief, you should come see this."
"What's up?"
Approaching Centaurs would've just been announced; this needed seeing.
Ye-rin looked puzzled but followed without protest.
"Everyone else, hold position here."
Won-ho, Ji-hee, and others wanted to follow, but he stopped them.
Dragging slower movers into unknown risked too much.
Only he and Ye-rin could outrun Centaur pursuit.
"Two Centaur packs seem to be clashing."
"Huh? What do you...?"
Leaping hills, Jeong-hyeon briefed concisely.
Ye-rin matched his pace fully, face uncomprehending.
But nearing the spot forced realization.
Clang- clack-
Faint sounds from beyond the hill were unmistakable combat noise.
And when Centaurs came into view.
"My God..."
Ye-rin—and Jeong-hyeon—could only gape in shock.