Chapter 207
Translator: penny
Chapter: 207
Chapter Title: Precious Hatchling
In truth, being able to hold even a brief conversation in front of a dragon was entirely thanks to Jeong-hyeon—or more precisely, the Cursed Armor.
[Buff trait, 「Dullahan's Curse」(A) detects 'Faint Dragon Fear.'
It is a mental attack on par with 「Dullahan's Curse」.
The effects of 'Faint Dragon Fear' on the user are reduced.]
That was the alert window that had popped up when he first saw the beast coiled up asleep in the vast space.
Even then, things had gotten much harder once the fear truly crashed down.
Jeong-hyeon gritted his teeth.
'I was hoping it wouldn't be, but a real dragon... What kind of insane difficulty is this?'
Jeong-hyeon couldn't hide his disbelief.
Starting around the third floor, swarms of large monsters had poured out, which had made him a bit uneasy.
With power inflation this bad, what the hell would show up on the ninth and tenth floors?
And in such a situation, the iconic monster that naturally came to mind for any hunter was, of course, a dragon.
Jeong-hyeon observed the monster sprawled out on its belly once more.
For one, its size wasn't that impressive compared to the giant monsters from before.
Roughly fifteen meters including its long neck and tail.
Even if the numbers made it seem big, most of that was the slender neck and tail, so it looked relatively small.
Its entire body was covered in smooth, reddish scales, and its eyes—truly the finishing touch of a fiery dragon—gleamed golden.
But above all, the reason it could only be called a dragon was that overwhelming presence.
Just looking at it made his legs go numb bit by bit, forcing his gaze away.
If Jeong-hyeon was like this, the other hunters—who couldn't properly benefit from 「Dullahan's Curse」—had to be suffering even more.
He'd muttered various things because it was so unbelievable, but if that thing really was a dragon, the implication was simple.
Death.
But Seo Hwi-gon, who was gritting his teeth alongside Jeong-hyeon to observe the beast, spoke in a strange voice laced with both relief and despair.
"That thing... doesn't seem to be a dragon."
"What do you mean?"
Jeong-hyeon asked.
Not a dragon?
Even if something like a drake—which looked similar—was considered a dragon subspecies, the distinctions were clear.
Drakes walked on two legs with disproportionately large heads for their bulk, taking the form of typical carnivorous dinosaurs. Dragons, on the other hand, had long necks and tails, wings, just like in fantasy novels.
And above all, hadn't the system used the term 'Dragon Fear'?
There was no doubt it was a dragon.
But Seo Hwi-gon shook his head and added,
"To be precise, it is a dragon, but a young one. A hatchling."
"A hatchling... like the one caught in Germany before?"
Hatchling.
The word triggered a memory of a place name.
Seo Hwi-gon nodded in affirmation.
"That's the most recent case. Surprisingly, hatchlings have been caught a few times. They usually appear as level-six regular field bosses, which people avoid touching altogether... but there are precedents in mission gates in Brazil and a few other places."
"How did they catch it back then?"
"All the hatchlings caught so far were from intentional breakings. Like, they couldn't clear it, so they broke it on purpose and a hatchling came out."
"..."
Intentional breaking.
As obvious as it was, it wasn't a strategy for normal situations.
It was a last resort when hunters were utterly stuck within the gate's constraints.
In other words, it was a blessing in disguise that the monster ahead wasn't an adult dragon, but even a hatchling didn't improve their situation much.
'Come to think of it, its proportions do seem a bit off...'
Jeong-hyeon examined the sleek, streamlined body once more.
The neck and tail were long, but considering the overall proportions, the head and torso were quite massive.
The wings, folded and not fully visible, also seemed relatively small by comparison.
And then, as if mocking Jeong-hyeon, an alert window leisurely popped up.
[Sudden Coin Quest 'Precious Hatchling' generated.
There may be no nobility or baseness in life, but a hatchling is still the most valuable child in the world.
Precious to a dragon, but an unparalleled disaster to humans.
Kill the hatchling and survive.
It is the greatest honor a human can achieve.
Objective: Achieve 50% or higher contribution to killing the Red Hatchling
Reward: 15 coins, Dragon Heart usage method]
'What the hell is this...'
It had been a while since he'd seen a sudden quest.
With the system confirming it, the beast was definitely a hatchling, not an adult dragon.
The problem was whether they could actually clear the quest.
The reward was a whopping 15 coins.
The system itself was acknowledging the ridiculous difficulty.
Of course, only Jeong-hyeon could see the quest alert, so Seo Hwi-gon didn't notice the subtle change in his expression and continued.
"The ones caught so far were about twenty-five meters long, estimated age around five hundred years. This one looks much smaller by comparison. Considering dragons grow stronger with age..."
"I'll hear that later. So, is there a strategy?"
Seo Hwi-gon looked ready to spill every bit of human knowledge on hatchlings.
Each piece might be valuable, but Jeong-hyeon was far too urgent to listen to it all.
The beast was currently blinking sleepily, eyes barely open, coiled up and lying still—but who knew how long that would last.
Dragons were the type that could wipe them out with some unheard-of magic at any moment.
"There is a clear weakness, but exploiting it requires overwhelming magical firepower and a tank line to block its magic... In any case, even a young hatchling is the worst monster. No, it's the strongest among any monster humans have ever caught."
In short, drag it outside the gate and overwhelm it with numbers.
And since the 'Tower of Repentance' was a mission gate, that meant total party wipe.
Jeong-hyeon silently assessed the party's state.
Won-ho was trembling in both arms despite gritted teeth, and Seung-jun was even worse.
The rest were maintaining something close to normal, but he couldn't expect full performance from them.
Ye-rin had been lost in thought without a word since spotting the hatchling.
'The aura it's giving off right now is more than even Ashurek, empowered by nature's forces...'
Jeong-hyeon gauged the hatchling's power with narrowed eyes.
Even with the fear somewhat neutralized, the fact that the neutralized effect was still this strong was astonishing.
And it was asleep, yet his whole body tingled.
What kind of absurd situation was this?
That it wasn't attacking right away was pure luck.
Jeong-hyeon had always considered retreating from a monster a disgrace, something unacceptable.
But now, even he couldn't muster the nerve to charge in blindly.
Fighting meant death.
His combat sense—elevated beyond others—screamed warnings dozens of times per second.
The fact that it could sleep so casually in front of enemies felt like a display of supreme confidence.
As if they weren't even worth considering a threat.
As countless thoughts rose and crashed like waves in Jeong-hyeon's mind,
Ye-rin finally spoke.
"For now, it doesn't seem like a preemptive monster."
Thud.
With that, she plopped down onto her butt right there.
"What are you—!"
Ji-myeong freaked out at the sight and started to yell, but clamped his mouth shut, mindful of the hatchling behind her.
He wouldn't pull this against even regular monsters.
Let alone against the worst one, a hatchling.
But Ye-rin calmly asked Ji-myeong,
"Do you have a way to take it down?"
"Well..."
Ji-myeong reflexively replied, but of course, no answer came.
Jeong-hyeon glanced between the hatchling and Ye-rin, then sat down himself.
The hatchling's eyes were fully closed again now.
With the fear weakened accordingly, it was a viable choice.
"Fine. Panicking won't solve anything anyway."
"Even Hunter Han Jeong-hyeon..."
Seung-jun's voice cracked, on the verge of tears.
"If we charge in and die now, or die while planning, it's the same. Let's talk it out."
The beast seemed too drowsy to wake anytime soon, meaning as long as they didn't touch it, the status quo held.
Ye-rin hadn't sat in total resignation either.
Only then did Ji-myeong and Seo Hwi-gon slowly lower themselves.
Especially Won-ho and Seung-jun, struggling most against the fear—they were last.
Once battle truly started, the fear's effects would lessen, so the issue was just until then.
With the party all seated, Jeong-hyeon asked Seo Hwi-gon,
"How do you fight a hatchling?"
He'd never hunted one himself, but it seemed he'd studied the post-mortem data thoroughly.
Sure enough, Seo Hwi-gon swallowed and slowly answered.
"First off, it's a master of the basic elements: fire, water, wind, earth, lightning. Plus, its physical abilities are insane."
Jeong-hyeon nodded.
No different from dragons in fantasy novels.
At least it wasn't some outlandish, unforeseen method. Small mercy.
Even if encountering a hatchling was the worst luck.
"Judging by its size, it's about a hundred years old. Blessing in disguise."
"That's young for a dragon, right?"
"Like a newborn baby."
Dragons grew stronger with age.
Jeong-hyeon figured Ye-rin's question was to gauge its relative strength.
But she had something else in mind.
"Babies sleep more the younger they are."
"Pardon?"
Jeong-hyeon, Seo Hwi-gon, and Ji-myeong tilted their heads at the unexpected remark.
A hatchling might be a baby dragon, but calling that bulk a "baby" felt off.
"It can't control its sleepiness. Same with that one, right?"
Ye-rin pointed at the hatchling with her index finger.
"True..."
It had been asleep since they reached the ninth floor.
It had peeked open its eyes at first to check the humans, then ignored them after.
He'd thought it mere arrogance of a superior species, but if Ye-rin was right, it was different.
"So, it's actually sleeping?"
Jeong-hyeon asked in a somewhat incredulous tone.
Ye-rin nodded.
"At least, we have the first move."
She added one more thing.
"That might give us an unexpected chance."
The key to taking down that monstrosity could be right there.
Those hearing her still couldn't quite grasp having to hunt a nightmare like a hatchling.
But even so, they shared their maximum outputs and pieced together a plan.
Just as they felt they'd scraped together the slimmest possible chance,
"Hold on before we commit. Wait a sec."
Jeong-hyeon said, extending a hand.
What was there to wait for in the middle of a gate?
The others looked puzzled, but what he intended was simple.
'Trait Shop.'
No holding back against a precious lizard like this.
[Current coins: 41]
'Enough to try.'
Forty-one coins from the last centaur hunt and previous floors.
Enough to aim for something.
Even the best plan in this mess was just a slim, luck-based possibility.
To boost it, he had to use every means to gain power.
And what could raise visible power short-term like coins?
'Funny that this counts as a possibility too.'
If nothing showed up until he ran out, that was his luck.
And if, by some miracle, an S-rank trait appeared, he'd equip it even if it meant adaptation pain in the gate.
Mindful of the other hunters' eyes, Jeong-hyeon pretended to check his gear one last time and began refreshing the shop list.
But even after several refreshes, nothing tempted him.
Of course, with the odds, everything was B-rank or better.
But he was after upgrades to his current traits, or an S-rank game-changer.
Or the surefire Slot Expansion Ticket to boost power instantly.
Better to save two coins for the next list than buy anything else.
'Refresh.'
The list shuffled again.
Coins left: 17.
Still no match.
'Refresh.'
15.
'Refresh.'
13.
He'd braced for the worst—nothing at all—but facing it made his hand hesitate.
'Refresh.'
11.
And when his coins hit the last double digits,
Jeong-hyeon could finally smile.
Two possibilities made real.
'What the hell is that guy doing?'
Of course, he hadn't considered what the watching party members thought.