Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Ghoul Onslaught
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Chapter 33
Jeong-hyeon drew a single dagger and rolled his eyes.
'What should I do?'
It was tricky to respond.
Should he first peel off the ghoul clinging to Seung-hyeok's shield?
But what about the ghouls charging from five different directions?
'Instead of thinking about this, I should just throw another one!'
Jeong-hyeon instinctively hurled the dagger.
"Kik-"
The lead ghoul on the far left collapsed at full speed.
The biggest problem right now was that there were too many approach paths for the ghouls.
He needed to reduce their numbers by even one.
In Seung-hyeok's case,
'I'll just have to hope Sang-jun handles it somehow.'
He didn't have time to worry about that.
Jeong-hyeon threw a second dagger, and the two on the far left went completely silent.
"Hey, you fucking idiot! Get your head in the game!"
Sang-jun finally pried the ghoul off Seung-hyeok's shield and tore its body away.
Slicing its neck would have been the surest way, but with Seung-hyeok thrashing around wildly, it couldn't have been easy.
The ghoul, nearly bisected, slid off the shield and writhed on the ground.
Crack-
Even then, Sang-jun irritably stabbed his sword into its head, and it went still.
"S-Sorry!"
Snapping out of it after the ghoul that had terrified him fell away—and after hearing Sang-jun's cursing—Seung-hyeok raised his shield straight and pushed forward.
But the problem was,
'It's still too late!'
It was already too late for him to fully fulfill his role as the front line.
Even if he had reacted in time, he couldn't have blocked all eight ghouls.
In Jeong-hyeon's judgment, Seung-hyeok's limit was about four.
With Sang-jun's help, maybe two more.
In any case, ghouls were cunning enough to target the rear, and they didn't miss the gap in the front line.
"Send help!"
Seung-hyeok screamed in a voice close to a shriek.
Only four ghouls were attacking Seung-hyeok and Sang-jun.
The remaining four charged straight at Jeong-hyeon and Woo-jun.
This was different from earlier when two had ambushed them.
Back then, with no pressure on the front line, the rear just had to hold out until the front could assist.
But now?
A considerable number of ghouls were swarming the front line too.
Without rear support, four was a heavy burden.
And for the rear to face four without front-line support went without saying.
'As expected, ten is too many.'
Jin-uk gripped his mace, ready to step forward.
It wasn't that the hunters had mishandled it; the situation was just too unfavorable.
Drawing attention with one while ambushing with many.
'Had ghouls always been this cunning?'
No matter how intelligent ghouls were, this was a first for Jin-uk.
Had he been out of the field too long, his instincts dulled?
In any case, the best move now was for one of the rear to advance to the middle and form a new front line.
Even if Jeong-hyeon could handle close combat, Jin-uk wasn't sure about his judgment or ability in that situation—and with things so urgent, he should jump in himself.
However,
"Woo-jun, cover me!"
"Huh? Oh, got it!"
Jeong-hyeon left those curt words and was already charging toward the ghouls.
'That's no easy task. Who would charge in like that even knowing the risks?'
"Kikik-"
From the ghouls' perspective, it must have looked like easy prey rushing right to them.
The gray, grotesque dolls all adjusted their aim toward Jeong-hyeon in unison.
Facing ghouls head-on with nothing but leather armor for defense.
No one in their right mind would do that.
Jin-uk immediately moved to follow.
His judgment was solid enough.
Plenty good, in fact.
But he couldn't shake the feeling it was reckless.
Even Sang-jun wouldn't emerge unscathed from four ghouls.
"Huh?"
But Jin-uk unwittingly let out a gasp and stopped in his tracks.
What was happening right now?
Was there an opening in that brief moment?
Jeong-hyeon had just charged ahead—or so it seemed—and now he had already slipped past the four ghouls.
"Hoo."
Jeong-hyeon caught his breath.
'That was seriously brutal.'
He could see their attack paths, but this time they were packed so densely there was barely room to dodge.
Luckily, his goal was just to draw their attention, so it worked out.
If he'd tried to counterattack too, he'd have taken serious damage.
Fortunately, nullifying their first assault had dampened their momentum.
The four ghouls turned back to glare at him.
They'd attack again soon, but that brief hesitation was enough gap for a D-rank.
Thud-
An arrow shattered the back of one ghoul's head, piercing straight through and protruding from its eye socket before stopping.
It was Woo-jun's shot.
Now only three remained.
Sang-jun and Seung-hyeok weren't exactly at ease, but they wouldn't collapse easily.
The monsters must have sensed their plan had failed spectacularly.
The first sign was the two on the left neutralized before even engaging.
The next was that none had so much as scratched Jeong-hyeon in this clash.
Jeong-hyeon kicked off the ground and leaped forward.
He could have waited for another shot from Woo-jun, but if the ghouls moved first, it'd be a loss.
He targeted the one on the far right.
'They're fast, as expected.'
Jeong-hyeon had seized the initiative with movement, but it was no pushover.
At least half a step above rock spiders.
As the three ghouls charged side-by-side at Jeong-hyeon, he twisted his body diagonally to the right.
Then he swung the mace hard.
Crack-
But he sensed it hadn't gone down in one hit.
Partly because he'd lost power turning his body,
'Won't kill it with the shoulder.'
He'd struck the shoulder blade.
It had decent force and tumbled away, but it wasn't a major blow.
Still, pulling one out of the front line even briefly was a big gain.
The other two passed right by Jeong-hyeon's back as he twisted further right.
Before the ghouls could land and turn, Jeong-hyeon attacked the nearer one.
The one who positioned first gets the first strike.
"This time it'll be different!"
It had full power behind it, and its head was exposed defenselessly as it turned.
He wasn't sure if it'd drop it in one hit, but at least it'd be combat ineffective.
Crack-
'Huh?'
But the instant the mace met the ghoul's head,
Something Jeong-hyeon hadn't anticipated happened.
'The mace broke?'
The impact itself was fine.
The ghoul's neck snapped, and its low posture slammed its jaw into the ground.
But with the mace broken, he couldn't follow up as planned.
Even Jeong-hyeon couldn't help but panic.
'You crazy old man Cheol-yong!'
Should he never have trusted rental gear that much?
But blaming Cheol-yong was pointless now.
"Kikik-"
Seizing Jeong-hyeon's moment of fluster, the remaining ghoul leaped at him.
Stab-
"Argh!"
In a split-second reaction, Jeong-hyeon thrust the broken mace handle straight out.
It gouged roughly into the ghoul's upper body, but that wasn't enough.
The ghoul's sharp claws raked mercilessly across Jeong-hyeon's arm.
At first, the orc leather seemed to block it, but the frenzied clawing shredded through helplessly.
In an instant, his arm was a tattered rag, flesh exposed and bloodied.
"Uaaah!"
Woo-jun's arrow flew, but flustered, it missed the thrashing ghoul's head.
'Fuck, fuck!'
Enduring the dizzying pain, Jeong-hyeon groped his side with his left arm.
His numbed senses finally gripped the dagger's handle.
"Die!"
Drawing the dagger with his left hand, Jeong-hyeon bent his right arm and thrust his left forward.
The muscles impaled by claws screamed as they contracted, but the dagger's blade slanted through the eye socket into its skull.
"Kikik-! Kikik!"
The ghoul flailed its arms wildly, but nothing landed properly on Jeong-hyeon.
Even if it did, it bounced off his intact armor.
Jeong-hyeon didn't stop, stabbing and slashing repeatedly.
He finally flung the mace handle away like shaking off dirt, and the ghoul twitched a few times before dying completely.
"Jeong-hyeon! Behind you!"
But Woo-jun's warning came at the same time.
When Jeong-hyeon turned, the ghoul he'd previously knocked out with a shoulder strike was already leaping at him.
In that instant, he felt like only he and the two charging ghouls remained here.
'Too late for this one.'
A vivid red attack path slashed toward his nape.
If it hit, he'd die.
But dodging was impossible.
His only option was to counter.
His right arm was already shredded, and his left held just a dagger shorter than the mace handle.
The ghoul had the advantage any way you looked.
Jeong-hyeon eyed his still-intact left arm.
Sacrifice it too after the pain of the right?
But he didn't even hesitate.
'So what?'
Instead of thrusting his arm out, Jeong-hyeon pulled his left arm back, bracing the dagger's handle against his body,
And charged straight at the ghoul.
He might die for sure.
But better than sitting and waiting.
It was the same resolve that hadn't faltered before the variant boss.
The ghoul lunged for his throat.
Just before its attack landed, Jeong-hyeon dipped his body low.
He slipped under the ghoul.
With its gaping maw right in front, he thrust the dagger in his left hand into its solar plexus.
He felt the muscles trying to clamp the blade, but with their torsos colliding, it couldn't repel the intrusion.
"Kik-kik-kik-kik-kik-"
Naturally, an undead ghoul wouldn't die from a stab to the solar plexus.
Jeong-hyeon ended up in an embrace-like position within the ghoul's arms.
Its claws pierced through his back armor and embedded.
The ghoul's teeth lunged weakly compared to that, aiming for his nape.
But Jeong-hyeon didn't avoid its eyes—instead, he pushed harder to drive the dagger deeper.
'But are these even eyes?'
An absurd question in what might be his final moment.
And the next instant,
Thud-
Something happened that erased his doubts.
Just before the ghoul's teeth sank into his neck, its entire gray head vanished.
"Huh?"
Thanks to that, Jeong-hyeon—unintentionally splattered in ghoul fluids—tilted his head.
He wasn't dead.
"Are you actually insane, or did you have some plan?"
Jin-uk's voice came from behind the headless ghoul.
Unlike his usual playful tone, it was calmly subdued.
Jin-uk stood behind the ghoul as it slumped powerlessly, still in the pose of swinging his mace at head height.
Jeong-hyeon blurted a response.
"Uh, no real plan."
Jin-uk chuckled and jerked his chin toward the rear.
"For now, go sit quietly back there. If your wounds worsen, I'll kill you myself."
"Y-Yeah......"
This time he really almost died.
Cowed by Jin-uk's threat, Jeong-hyeon retreated to Woo-jun's back and slumped against the wall.
A mace that blew off a ghoul's head in one swing.
Insane power.
"Ugh...... Why does it hurt more now?"
Was it the sensation of drifting further from the fight?
His right arm throbbed endlessly, and now pain surged properly from his back too.
"You okay?"
Even Woo-jun approached to check on him.
"Yeah, sorta......"
He gave a vague reply, but truthfully, the pain was at its limit.
And amid all that, Jin-uk who had jumped into the fray was unstoppable.
The front line's stalemate—where they'd barely reduced one so far—ended in an instant.
Watching Jin-uk mercilessly swing his mace and slaughter ghouls was chilling in itself.
'No matter that he's C-rank...... What kind of healer fights like that?'
At that level, combat was his main job and healing a side gig, right?
Jeong-hyeon seriously started wondering if he should equip healing or movement speed when he hit C-rank.