Chapter 81
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: Ameris's Night
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The news that even Professor Kang Geom-seon had gotten swept up in it left Hunter Kim Do-hoon reeling.
"When is backup coming?"
"Well..."
In the midst of this urgent crisis, one of her subordinates hemmed and hawed, glancing nervously at the female superior.
Hunter Kim Do-hoon shouted in frustration.
"This is urgent! Give me a straight report!"
"We... haven't requested backup yet..."
Her words made blood rush to Kim Do-hoon's head.
"Are you kidding me? The situation's this bad, and you haven't even called for backup?!"
In response, the female superior bit her lip after gnawing at her nails.
"Isn't that what you're here for—to handle messes like this?"
"Didn't you hear your own subordinate? Quasi S-Rank. Do you even grasp the situation?!"
She yelled back, her voice rising in agitation.
"No matter what you say, with Professor Kang Geom-seon out of contact, I'm in charge here!"
"Crazy bitch."
"What did you just call me?!"
Hunter Kim Do-hoon seethed at the female superior's self-preserving attitude.
But as she said, without Professor Kang Geom-seon, she was technically in command on site.
The problem is, we can't even reach anyone.
Communications were impossible in the ghoul field.
They couldn't report the situation here without going through the command center.
At that moment, one of her subordinates spoke to the female superior in a trembling, cowed voice.
"St-still, shouldn't we request backup? At least follow protocol..."
The female superior snapped hysterically, her eyes flashing.
"I took in a useless girl like you, and you can't even follow simple orders? Just stay quiet!"
Hunter Kim Do-hoon glanced sidelong at the subordinate and thought,
She'll do.
With that, he slipped a small note to the female superior's subordinate.
-I don't know who your boss's backer is. But if you don't want to watch all those students die, send the data my way. I'll handle the fallout.
"How long do we have to chase her?!"
"I don't know—keep chasing!"
"I'm... tired..."
It had been over ten minutes since we started pursuing this mystery girl.
She showed no signs of tiring or stopping.
Of course, I could catch her easily with a skill.
But using Bunny Hop in this terrain would be a bad idea.
Whether she knew we were chasing her or not, the girl darted through the village alleys into narrow, twisting paths.
Spamming Bunny Hop here would just slam me into a wall.
Still, wouldn't Baek A-rin's skills let her catch the girl without hurting her too much?
Maybe just a tumble.
"Should we just use skills and grab her?"
"Have you no humanity, Si-woo?! What if she gets hurt?"
Thanks to Erina's stubborn refusal, we kept running.
"Erina's being weirdly stubborn."
As I muttered, Baek A-rin shot me a disdainful look and whispered,
"Human rights violator..."
"That's slander."
Human rights violator? That's too much.
As I grumbled inwardly, the girl suddenly stopped.
What?
She had stopped in front of a small stone building tucked away in a corner of the village.
The area was overgrown with bushes, and moss covered the walls, making it hard to spot.
But the distinct religious aura was evident everywhere, so even a stranger could tell it was some sacred place.
Erina examined the building and said, puzzled,
"It looks like a church... but it's not."
"No cross or anything."
Baek A-rin shrugged nonchalantly at Erina's words.
"There are hundreds, thousands of religions in the world. Could be a local faith."
She was right.
To be precise, it was a temple for the religion vampires worshipped.
That odd feeling I'd had since waking up in the village.
I'd confirmed it passing by the villagers.
All of them had red eyes.
A hallmark of vampires as I knew them.
So this is Ameris's past. Or an illusion of memories she created...
Illusion or not, our job was to chase the girl.
We needed to clear this dungeon as fast as possible without wasting time.
Plus, I'm worried how far Lee Seong-hyeon has gotten.
With that thought, I watched the girl clutch her bread and open the door to the chapel-like building.
Creeeak.
"H-how do you know to come here?!"
"Wh-who are you?"
Inside were two unexpected girls.
One in a slightly boyish outfit.
And another with deathly pale skin and the reddest eyes I'd seen yet.
Who are these kids?
But what shocked me most was the building's interior.
I'd thought it looked familiar before, but now I was sure.
It was that place from my creepy dream.
How is this possible? Is it based on Ameris's memories... or mine?
As my mind raced to sort it out, Erina spotted the two girls and rushed in.
Oh no, we still don't know who they are.
Could be a trap.
The thought hit me just as Erina charged toward them, so I yelled,
"W-wait, Erina! It's dangerous—"
"Kyaaah! They're too cute!"
Erina hugged the two girls and rubbed her cheeks against theirs.
"L-let go!"
"Wh-why are you...?"
...Looks like it's not dangerous.
After rubbing their cheeks for a good while, Erina met their eyes and asked,
"What's your names?"
The boyish girl answered first to Erina's question.
"I-I'm Selus..."
Her answer made me doubt my ears.
Selus?
I glanced at the necklace in my pocket.
It was definitely called Selus's Necklace, the one I'd gotten from the swamp.
So that was the identity of the necklace she wore.
Their red eyes confirmed my hunch.
Both were vampires.
Erina turned to the other girl and asked,
"And YOU?"
"I-I'm..."
As she started to speak, the girl who'd called herself Selus cut in toward us.
"But who are you guys?"
Baek A-rin stepped forward.
"You use polite speech with adults, kiddo."
Selus snapped back angrily.
"Kiddo? I take care of my own meals, and we handle ourselves just fine!"
"Impressive. But stealing bread isn't okay."
Selus's face flushed as she sniffled and yelled,
"I didn't steal it! They took money for a few loaves but wouldn't give us any..."
As Selus teared up, the milky-skinned girl blocked us with a trembling body and shouted,
"If you're gonna bully Selus, get out!"
Erina looked flustered.
"No, we're not trying to bully you..."
From her words, I pieced it together.
Unlike the villagers we'd passed, Selus's eyes were a pale orange.
Her skin was pale, sure, but darker than the others—unnaturally so by village standards.
Darker than even Baek A-rin's porcelain skin. Must look pretty dark to vampire eyes.
That's why they were discriminated against. Classic setup.
Then came a growl from Selus's stomach.
"Ah...!"
Finally embarrassed, Selus dropped the bread she held.
"Ah, no! The bread..."
The girl next to her picked it up, dusted it off with her hand, and smiled.
"It's fine. See? Clean now."
Erina watched them, then turned to me furiously.
"Si-woo, we have to help them!
"Help with what?"
"The jerks who sold them that bread! Scammers, right?"
Scammers, huh.
It looked like too little for two kids anyway.
If Selus really paid for a few loaves, they clearly shorted her.
But...
The dungeon clear condition still hadn't triggered.
Either we hadn't met some requirement.
Or chasing these girls wasn't it.
As I pondered, Baek A-rin approached and whispered,
"Kim Si-woo, you're acting weirdly impatient."
"Me?"
It was unexpected.
"Yeah. You think this isn't the solution."
"..."
She nailed it.
Knowing Lee Seong-hyeon was racing toward Ameris, I couldn't afford to waste time.
As impatience gnawed at me, Baek A-rin said,
"Think calmly. Anything off?"
"Off?"
"We chased her causing a ruckus through the village, but no one tried to stop us. Not even a glance."
"So? It's just a dungeon..."
She stared into my eyes.
"Exactly. Erina stared and even touched people, but zero reaction."
She was right. It had been like that.
I nodded as it clicked, and Baek A-rin continued calmly.
"But these kids? They notice us and even talk. They're the key to clearing this."
Her words hit like cold water.
She was spot on.
I'd been so hasty I couldn't even judge properly.
"Thanks. I'm good now."
Baek A-rin grinned and gave a thumbs-up.
"No problem. Gotta look out when we're in the same boat."