Chapter 23
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Song Eun-young (3)
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I don't know who it is, but I should thank the Vector God.
Ahn Joo-hye pushed Kim Yu-han aside.
She’s fearless.
Thankfully, Kim Yu-han didn't seem to have any intention of harming Ahn Joo-hye.
Kim Yu-han tossed my sword to the ground.
I managed to get to my feet, grabbing Ahn Joo-hye's hand for support.
I looked around the wrecked interior of the cave.
[The dungeon has been cleared.]
[Settlement will now begin.]
What I thought would be an ordinary expedition to the Giant Ant Nest dungeon had ended in the worst way possible.
* * *
With me unable to move, the other Hunters went to find the exit gate.
As Min Sung-taek and Kang Hyun-seung got up, Kim Yu-han acted as if nothing had happened.
Ahn Joo-hye, perhaps due to her long career as a D-rank Hunter, was quick on the uptake.
It seemed she intended to pretend she knew nothing.
I, on the other hand, felt wronged no matter how I looked at it.
I had been beaten senseless without even knowing why he was asking me such a thing.
Just as I was about to say something, Kim Yu-han glared at me as if he wanted to kill me.
I’ll let it go because I’m in pain, sigh.
“We’ll be back, then.”
“Yeah. Go ahead.”
The oblivious Kang Hyun-seung said he’d be right back and offered his well-wishes.
After the party left, I sat leaning against the wall, dazed.
The traces of battle remained starkly evident in the cave.
A Thought-Form is a term for an impure energy.
Gods do not have the concept of a physical body.
Their form is merely a temporary vessel.
They are said to be a collection of self—a will capable of wielding transcendent power.
Most gods adhere to their own nature, as that is the very reason for their existence.
An ego that deviates from its own reason for being is what becomes a Thought-Form.
‘Strictly speaking, what happened to the Queen Ant was more like corruption than a Thought-Form.’
It was clear that I needed to find out what had happened.
Once some of my stamina returned, I looked around the cave.
“This is…”
Something glittered where the Thought-Form had vanished.
It had been in a puddle of muddy water, so no one had noticed it.
When I kicked the pooled water away with the tip of my boot, its shape became clear.
It was a small shard of glass.
I took a handkerchief out of my pocket.
I placed the glass shard on the handkerchief.
“I knew it.”
Someone had used a medium to artificially manipulate the Queen Ant.
I heard the voices of my party members.
I stuffed the handkerchief-wrapped glass shard into my pocket.
Just in time, Min Sung-taek and the others returned, having found the exit gate.
“Sigh, this whole trip was a net loss.”
“But we survived, didn't we?”
“Must be nice to be so carefree.”
“Carefree? I’m just trying to console myself.”
Kang Hyun-seung and Min Sung-taek bickered in front of the exit gate.
Saying they were sick and tired of caves, the two of them immediately threw themselves into the portal.
I glanced at Ahn Joo-hye next to me.
The raid on the Queen Ant had been going smoothly.
While an impure will could attract a Thought-Form, a monster of the Queen Ant's level was nowhere near powerful enough.
Just as I was about to speak to Ahn Joo-hye, my eyes met with Kim Yu-han, who hadn't left yet.
“You go first.”
At my irritated tone, Kim Yu-han let out a faint sigh.
I bit back the urge to ask him what he was sighing about.
Kim Yu-han's response was even more ridiculous.
“You go first.”
“No.”
It had suddenly devolved into a childish squabble.
Ahn Joo-hye, caught between me and Kim Yu-han, stepped into the exit gate first.
I tried to grab her, but it was too late.
Thinking back, the Queen Ant had started acting strangely right after Ahn Joo-hye threw her dagger.
I had no concrete evidence, but there was no harm in asking.
I had missed the perfect opportunity.
Not wanting to pick a fight, I quietly stepped through the exit gate.
“Ugh, so bright.”
My eyes stung after being trapped in a dark cave for over two days.
There was no one else around the dungeon gate.
Unless it was a special expedition, Association officials only checked on Hunters before they entered a dungeon.
Hunters emerging from a dungeon simply had to log into the Hunter Network and guild sites to file a brief report.
Of course, if they exceeded the planned duration, the Association would realize something was wrong.
In any case, we had exited the dungeon within the expected timeframe.
The problem lay elsewhere.
A siren, loud enough to make my ears ring, blared across Jeongbal Mountain and the surrounding apartment complexes.
“A Dungeon Break.”
“Seems like these have been happening a lot lately, don't you think?”
Kang Hyun-seung and Ahn Joo-hye conversed calmly.
‘A Dungeon Break? The thing where monsters spill out into the real world?’
Isn’t this a dangerous situation?
For something so serious, the reactions of the three of them were a bit strange.
They seemed tense, yet at the same time, there was a hint of anticipation.
Outside the dungeon, our luggage was piled in one spot.
Kim Yu-han was nowhere to be seen.
“Hey, where’s Kim Yu-han?”
“I didn't see him.”
“Didn’t he leave as soon as the dungeon was cleared?”
“You get guys like that sometimes. What a weirdo.”
Did he really disappear the moment the dungeon was cleared?
Even so, for him to vanish without a trace was too strange.
The siren continued to wail.
Almost simultaneously, an alert rang on all four of our phones.
[Notification]
Black Orc Temple (C) Dungeon Break has occurred.
Vicinity of Jeongbal Mountain, Madu-dong, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do.
Estimated 100 monsters.
Lifting my head, I saw a large circle forming over Jeongbal Mountain and its surroundings.
From our position on the mountaintop, we had a clear view.
This was the "Fieldization" I had only heard about.
Fieldization was a concept like a monster zone that appeared when a Dungeon Break occurred.
[Catch the Black Orcs!]
Grade: C
Participants: 37
Rewards
1) Slay the Black Orc [1000 Contribution Points]
2) Slay an Orc [30 Contribution Points] per kill
The wider the monsters spread, the larger the Fieldization area becomes.
Any Awakened One who sets foot in the Field is automatically registered as a participant.
Since the Giant Ant Nest had been a net loss, the Dungeon Break was a chance for the rest of the party to recover their lost Contribution Points.
“Sorry, but I’m going ahead.”
“Me too.”
Min Sung-taek and Ahn Joo-hye descended the mountain first.
Kang Hyun-seung, after a moment of hesitation, waved goodbye and headed down in a different direction.
Finally, the deafening siren stopped.
I trudged down Jeongbal Mountain.
The streets affected by the Dungeon Break were eerily quiet.
After the broadcast, everyone had taken shelter in their homes or nearby shops.
Even after descending the mountain, I was still within the Fieldization zone.
An Association employee in a black jacket approached, blowing a whistle.
“This area is off-limits.”
“I’m a Hunter.”
“May I see your ID?”
I nodded at the employee's words, took out my phone, and opened the app.
I showed him my account information, which served as an ID.
“Stay safe.”
After confirming my identity, the employee bowed his head and walked past me.
Looking around, I used Mana Detection.
Orcs were scattered throughout the Field, but it seemed there were just as many Hunters present.
The distance was awkward, so I was about to turn back when I felt a strange energy.
‘This energy is…’
It was the aura of a Thought-Form, much weaker than the Queen Ant's, but unmistakable.
The shard wrapped in my handkerchief vibrated faintly, as if in resonance.
“You'd think it was a piece of some dark lord's soul.”
In any case, it was clear that something was there.
It wouldn't hurt to check it out just to grasp the situation.
I shouldered my bag and leaped high into the air.
After memorizing the surrounding terrain, I ran the shortest distance to a small park.
“Is this not the place?”
I was sure this was the right area, but I couldn't see anything. I figured I should look around.
At the end of an alley, I spotted an orc.
Seeing a monster roaming amidst modern buildings was a novel sight in its own way.
“Aah, aaaah! Somebody help!”
A man in a tracksuit was backpedaling from an approaching orc wielding an axe.
There are always people like this. The ones who don't listen when told to stay inside and end up in trouble.
Just as I was about to step in and help, someone else rushed forward.
“Huh?”
A woman in a black suit delivered a knee kick to the orc’s face.
It dealt some damage, but it was far from a fatal blow.
The orc swung its axe at the woman.
Placing a hand on the ground, she dodged the orc’s attack and retreated.
While the orc’s attention was on her, I approached the man who was sitting on the ground.
“Can you stand? Run that way.”
“Thank you.”
The man pushed himself up, using the wall for support.
When I pointed toward the main street, he took off running like his life depended on it.
The woman stood up, dusting off her hands and clothes.
‘Off duty?’
Not all Hunters carried weapons around.
While there were some who liked to show off their Hunter status, most of them dressed comfortably like ordinary people when they weren't working.
The orc, belatedly noticing the man had disappeared, brought its axe down on the woman.
The axe gouged the concrete pavement. The woman jumped.
Leaping slightly higher than the orc’s head, she delivered a side kick.
With the sound of snapping bone, the orc’s neck twisted a full ninety degrees as it collapsed to the ground.
The orc’s body slammed against a wall.
It twitched, trying desperately to live.
Its nerves were severed, so all it could do was shudder.
Landing on the ground, the woman let out a pained sound.
“Ouch.”
It seemed she hadn't seen a nearby stone when she landed and had twisted her ankle.
Who wears heels to do a kick like that, anyway?
Even without the stone, she could have easily sprained her ankle.
But since Awakened Hunters had better recovery than normal people, it probably didn't matter.
The orc was still alive.
It would die if left alone, but it was much better to finish it off.
“Aren't you going to kill it?”
“Pardon?”
“This thing is still alive.”
I said, pointing at the orc.
The woman glanced back and forth between me and the orc, then blinked.
She seemed more surprised that I was here than by the orc.
“How long have you been there?”
“From the beginning? Well, maybe not the very beginning. From when you kneed the orc in the face.”
“Ah.”
The woman’s face flushed, and she avoided my gaze, seemingly embarrassed.
“I’m not going to steal your kill, so go ahead and finish it.”
“It’s alright.”
“Huh?”
“I don't get Contribution Points for killing orcs anyway. You can have it.”
“What do you mean…”
“Besides, I have to get to work! Good luck! Ouch!”
Before I could ask further, the woman ran off toward the station.
Her foot was clearly hurting, as she was limping slightly.
‘Work? Can’t get Contribution Points? Wait a minute…’
I knew exactly what she meant by not being able to get Contribution Points.
It meant she didn't serve a god.
The woman who had just passed by was an unaffiliated Hunter.
Just as I was about to chase after her, I spun around.
I faced the complete opposite direction from where she had run.
The Thought-Form's aura I had been tracking had suddenly vanished.
At the same time, a massive explosion erupted from the park at the base of Jeongbal Mountain.
Several trees in the park were launched high into the air before crashing down.
“Can’t be helped.”
I could always find the woman later.
I ran toward the park where the explosion had occurred.
The state of the park was devastating.
Aside from the trees that had been flung into the sky, everything was a wreck.
I'd never fought a Black Orc before, but I doubted a C-rank boss alone could leave this much destruction.
The corpse of a Black Orc, along with the bodies of several other orcs, were strewn about.
Someone had beaten me to it.
Honestly, it wasn't like I had no idea who it might have been.
I didn't know if there were any other Hunters of that caliber in the area, but my instincts were screaming that this was Kim Yu-han’s doing.
What in the world is that guy?
“Time to bounce.”
I had no desire to stick around and be mistaken for the one who caused all this.
Just as I turned to flee, the Fieldization lifted, and a status window popped up.
Of all the rotten luck.