Chapter 22
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Song Eun-young (2)
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My shout startled Kang Hyun-seung.
The egg was a crucial contribution point item, but it was also a deduction item.
The contribution points lost if the egg was destroyed were significant.
But that wasn't important right now.
The egg in Kang Hyun-seung's arms began to glow with a black light.
Kang Hyun-seung was the farthest from the rest of the party.
‘Too late!’
Just when I thought he was going to die or get hurt, Kim Yoo-han snatched the egg from Kang Hyun-seung's arms.
"Hey, what are you—"
Kim Yoo-han's strength as he snatched the egg was considerable.
He shoved Kang Hyun-seung aside as he tried to take it back, then hurled the egg away.
Instead of blood, a black mucus oozed from the shattered egg.
A clump of the mucus flew toward the two of them.
A gust of wind from the tip of my sword scattered the mucus.
Kim Yoo-han retreated with Kang Hyun-seung.
The floor where the mucus landed corroded, and an unidentifiable mist rose from it.
I regrouped with the party and said,
"Let's take it down."
"How are we supposed to—to fight that thing?"
"Yeah!"
Ahn Joo-hye, who had backed away, agreed with Kang Hyun-seung.
"So you'd rather die here?"
"That's..."
Ahn Joo-hye's eyes darted around.
It might be different in a wide, open-plains dungeon, but the Giant Ant Nest was a confined space.
Even if we ran, there was no telling when a rescue team would arrive.
Ahn Joo-hye couldn't have been unaware of that fact.
"What's the plan?"
Min Seong-taek asked, raising his shield warily toward the thought-form.
"First, just buy me a few seconds."
There was no time for formalities, so I spoke casually.
Min Seong-taek didn't seem to mind my attitude.
Instead, he asked a question to assess the situation.
"How many seconds are we talking?"
"Two or three should be enough."
"You think we can buy two or three seconds against that thing?"
"If we're lucky."
A thought-form's power depends on the strength of the resentment that serves as its medium.
At that size, it was still manageable.
"You have a plan, I assume?"
Instead of answering, I gave a slight nod.
It was small compared to a thought-form capable of destroying a continent, but its power was still considerable.
I didn't know why a perfectly normal monster had suddenly transformed, but I could figure that out after we got out of here.
Dungeons were inconvenient in so many ways.
I wasn't sure about Kim Yoo-han, but the three of them would be lucky to hold it off for even ten seconds.
Whatever it took, I just needed them to stop its movements.
"Alright. Let's do it."
"We're dead either way, might as well try."
Kang Hyun-seung also raised his weapon. Ahn Joo-hye didn't look pleased, but it seemed she would join the fight.
"Hey, you help too."
"Fine."
Min Seong-taek pulled Kim Yoo-han in.
Kim Yoo-han drew the sword from his waist.
But he never unsheathed it.
*I'm so freaking strong I don't need to draw my sword.*
Was this some new strain of eighth-grade syndrome?
Well. The world is full of strange people.
If that's what he wanted to do, there was no need for me to say anything about it.
"Alright, let's go!"
At Min Seong-taek's signal, the four of them charged the black thought-form.
Kang Hyun-seung fired an arrow.
The silent arrow embedded itself in the thought-form's body.
The black mucus on its skin swelled up and swallowed the arrow. It didn't seem to have taken any damage.
"Agh, what the—?"
The skin that had swallowed the arrow split open, and something like a sharp spear shot out.
Kim Yoo-han swung his sheathed sword and blocked the attack.
It wasn't so much technique as it was just brute force.
It made me wonder just how strong he had to be to pull that off.
‘Is that guy a full-strength build?’
Like, all his other stats are D-rank, but his strength is S-rank.
But for that to be the case, his stamina and agility seemed pretty high too.
Aided by Kim Yoo-han, Kang Hyun-seung fired another arrow.
‘But there's something familiar about him.’
I'd actually felt it from the moment I first saw him.
His bizarre fashion sense had been distracting, but he looked familiar somehow.
Kang Hyun-seung seemed surprised that Kim Yoo-han, the porter, was fighting better than expected.
He seemed to realize this wasn't the time to be picky, and he quickly adapted.
The thought-form's state was strange.
Its lower half split open vertically, its mouth gaping like a Poké Ball.
White teeth sprouted from the gaping maw. It could no longer be called a queen ant, or even a normal monster.
Black hands emerged from inside the mouth.
Everyone grimaced at the grotesque sight.
Its skin swelled as if filled with air, and then hundreds of spines burst through and shot out in all directions.
Kim Yoo-han swung his scabbard, creating a gust of wind that scattered the spines.
‘That skill...’
He hadn't drawn his sword, so I couldn't be sure, but it looked very similar to my Wind Fang.
Unlike Kim Yoo-han, who had deflected the spines without issue, Min Seong-taek seemed to be struggling.
Some of the spines pierced his shield and struck his shoulder.
It drew some blood, but thankfully, the injury wasn't serious.
"This shield cost a fortune!"
Min Seong-taek charged forward, shield raised.
The hands hovering around the gaping mouth reached for Min Seong-taek.
Chains of light erupted from his shield.
Hunters who played the role of a tank often served gods related to protection.
The chains emerging from the shield bound the queen ant's thought-form.
The moment Min Seong-taek made his move, I knew it was my turn.
[Attempting 'Advent'.]
A black thunderbolt crashed down on me.
When I used the third stage, I could barely last a minute.
Using 'Advent' to temporarily borrow a god's power, I would surely last only a few seconds.
I felt like I was overflowing with so much power that I might burst from the inside out.
The chains binding the thought-form snapped.
As Min Seong-taek was sent flying, I leaped into the air.
The thought-form seemed to spot me and opened its mouth. I swung my sword toward that disgustingly wide maw.
A beam of light extending from my sword pierced through the thought-form's body.
[You are...]
I barely managed to stay on my feet, propping myself up with my sword stuck in the ground.
Kang Hyun-seung and Min Seong-taek, who had been blown away by the thought-form's attack, seemed to have lost consciousness.
Ahn Joo-hye, who was less injured, approached me.
"Are you okay?"
I caught my breath and nodded.
Just when I thought it was over, a part of the thought-form on the ground twitched.
It seemed to be a thought-form that had used the queen ant's egg as a medium.
The thought-form, split in two like a pair of scissors, lunged at Ahn Joo-hye.
I shoved Ahn Joo-hye aside and drew my sword.
My arm must have given out for a moment, because it suddenly lost all strength.
Just as I thought I was in danger, Kim Yoo-han swung his foot at the thought-form.
The thought-form was sent flying, split into two, and turned on Kim Yoo-han.
Kim Yoo-han drew his sword from its scabbard and swung.
The diagonal slash cleanly sliced through both pieces of the thought-form.
It wasn't just the thought-form; a massive gash was left on the wide cavern wall where the sword had passed.
‘That guy... just as I thought.’
He was no ordinary D-rank Hunter.
The ranking system actually had a lot of loopholes.
A-rank and S-rank were pretty strict, but for the lower ranks, you just had to meet the Association's minimum criteria.
That meant a Hunter with the talent of an S-rank could easily get a D-rank if they held back.
‘But people usually don't do that.’
Newly Awakened Ones are usually so excited they can't wait to show off during their ranking evaluation.
Unless there was some unspoken reason or story behind it, almost no one was foolish enough to do such a thing.
‘It's a dead giveaway.’
I spat the blood that had pooled in my mouth onto the floor.
A strange tension flowed between me and Kim Yoo-han.
I didn't know his circumstances, but it was true that we would have been in deep trouble without him.
"Thanks for the help— What are you doing?!"
Kim Yoo-han suddenly rushed at me and swung his sword.
I hastily blocked his attack.
Whoa, I thought my heart was going to leap out of my chest.
"What's wrong with you?"
I blocked Kim Yoo-han's sword horizontally with my own, still in its scabbard.
But damn, how is he so strong?!
"What's wrong with me? What the hell was that you just did?"
"A god."
"Huh?"
"Who is the god you serve?"
The power struggle with Kim Yoo-han continued.
My insides were churning from my injuries, but he didn't seem to have any intention of letting up.
The mark from the attack that had dispatched the thought-form from the queen ant's egg in a single blow was still etched into the wall.
"That's..."
Wait, can I even tell him?
I currently had the body of a human but also possessed the authority of a god.
On top of that, the god Soter had only just joined this game.
I couldn't carelessly mention his name when it wasn't even clear if he had officially participated.
"He's a god you wouldn't know even if I told you."
The Aria Guild had many Hunters who served gods that weren't part of the mainstream pantheon.
Most of them served gods no one had ever heard of.
Within the guild, we respected each other's chosen deities, so asking who someone served was considered rude.
Of course, that only applied to Hunters from the Aria Guild.
"I don't care."
"I said I don't want to tell you."
Get lost!
I ducked, parried his sword, and retreated.
I thought he was done, but Kim Yoo-han charged again.
His fist flew toward my stomach.
He was already strong, and with my internal injuries, my mind went hazy.
So you got the first hit in, huh?
For your information, I'm very good at enduring pain.
I collected myself, drew my sword, and aimed for his neck.
"Damn."
Right, that guy had a lot of weapons.
Kim Yoo-han blocked my sword with a dagger.
Kim Yoo-han glared at me, then relaxed his grip on the dagger.
The dagger fell to the floor, and my sword continued toward him.
The next moment, he was gone, and my vision blurred.
"Damn it."
I opened my eyes to find myself thrown to the ground.
I think I was out for a second or two.
A drop of water from the ceiling fell onto my cheek.
As I tried to get up, my aching body protesting, a sword touched the tip of my throat.
It was even my own sword, the one I had dropped.
When did he even pick it up?
He's so fast.
The blade moved down, pointing at my chest.
The look in his eyes as he stared down at me was ice-cold.
This guy was serious.
"I'll ask again. What is the name of the god you serve?"
"And if I don't tell you?"
"Have you heard of the 100 ways to torture a human?"
"Vector."
"What?"
"Didn't you learn about geometry and vectors in school? That Vector, you idiot."
While Kim Yoo-han was flustered, I looked for an opening to get up.
But I couldn't find one. He was frustratingly thorough.
"There's no way a god like that exists..."
"He does. And what do you two think you're doing?"
The one who had stepped between me and Kim Yoo-han was none other than Ahn Joo-hye.
Unlike the two who were unconscious, Ahn Joo-hye had witnessed the entire absurd situation.
But is there really a god named Vector?
I just threw out a random name.