Chapter 39
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: A Soap Opera (3)
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A scream came from above.
Unsure what was happening, I looked up.
“Aaaah!”
It was Song Eun-young, clinging to a winged creature.
Didn't she go down with Choi Soo-hyun?
What in the world was she doing up there?
The Mothman had legs like chicken feet, and dangling from them was an unconscious man.
To be precise, Song Eun-young wasn't clinging to the Mothman itself, but to the man it had captured.
Surely she wasn't still in the middle of her soap opera, was she?
Song Eun-young was desperately trying to save the man.
Thankfully, it didn't seem to be a two-part series.
I unleashed a fiery slash toward the Mothman floating high above.
The flame shooting from the tip of my sword struck the Mothman's wing.
The impact sent Song Eun-young and the man plummeting down.
But their landing spot looked a little dangerous.
Song Eun-young managed to grab hold of the unconscious man.
I rushed forward and extended a hand toward Song Eun-young as she was about to fall off the building.
“Grab on!”
Song Eun-young grabbed my wrist.
I pulled with all my strength.
Carrying the man, Song Eun-young landed lightly on the rooftop.
“Ugh, what is this?”
The Hop-worm's blood had gotten on her shoes.
Seeing the white blood pooled on the floor, Song Eun-young grimaced.
I killed the Hop-worm behind her and approached.
“Weren't you in the middle of a soap opera with your boyfriend?”
“It's not like that.”
Song Eun-young laid the unconscious man on the ground.
For a second, I was startled to see her raise her foot high.
Fortunately, what I was thinking didn't happen.
She had kicked a Hop-worm that was approaching the man.
It seemed like she'd half-intentionally lifted her foot that high, but I figured it was best to pretend I didn't notice.
“See? I told you that you love your parents very much.”
I'd noticed it when we talked about her parents.
It wasn't resentment so much as an unavoidable love-hate relationship.
To Song Eun-young, her parents were beings she hated, but couldn't bring herself to truly hate.
Song Eun-young looked down at her fallen boyfriend.
“I just didn't want to see someone die in front of me. Well, this bastard is a son of a bitch. I guess I also saved him because it would have pissed me off if he'd been killed by a monster before I even heard his side of the story.”
With a complicated expression, Song Eun-young sighed.
“Ah! Dammit! I was just about to give up on him.”
Song Eun-young threw the heels she was wearing onto the ground.
Those shoes were definitely not suitable for fighting.
I could certainly understand how she felt.
I extended my hand to Song Eun-young.
“Your time might have been leading up to this very day.”
“You kids say the darndest things. So? What do I have to do to serve this god you worship?”
Having never been chosen by a god, Song Eun-young naturally didn't know how.
In truth, there wasn't any grand method to it.
[The god 'Soter' invites Song Eun-young to become his disciple.]
A status window just like that must have appeared before her eyes.
Song Eun-young looked back and forth between me and the status window.
“Trying to back out now?”
“O-Of course not!”
Song Eun-young quickly pressed the confirmation button.
[Song Eun-young has become the second disciple of the god 'Soter'.]
Someone attacked the Mothman in the sky.
As the Mothman spread its wings, feathers flew in all directions.
Each feather possessed a power close to that of steel.
Just as I thought it would be dangerous if the feathers flew about randomly, a light flashed from below the building.
A massive sphere of light enveloped the Mothman.
The feathers launched by the Mothman struck the sphere and fell.
Hunters who had come for support were ascending not only from the main street but also from the base of the building.
I quickly checked Song Eun-young's status window.
[Song Eun-young (Soter)]
Rank: Regular Disciple
Strength: A (0%)
Stamina: B (0%)
Mana: C- (0%)
Healing Power: C+ (0%)
Contribution Points: 0 (0%)
Skills
Talent [Soter's Blessing]
“Your stats are insane!”
Are you kidding me?
It took me forever to reach C-rank with this body!
This is just cheating.
“Did you just see my status window?”
Eun-young tilted her head while dodging the incoming feathers.
“Uh, haha, I'm something like a proxy.”
I made a rough excuse that a god's proxy could see such things.
She seemed suspicious for a moment, but given the circumstances, she let it slide.
Just as I closed the status window and was about to find a way to deal with the Mothman, something flashed on Song Eun-young's status window.
[Gift]
- You can give a gift to the target.
- Giftable Target: Song Eun-young
- Giftable Skill: Wings of Blessing (Skill)
It was the same method I'd used to gift Mana Detection and Lines to Yoo Ji-han.
Wondering if it was possible without consuming Contribution Points, I clicked the skill.
[You can gift a skill once without using Contribution Points.]
Right, this function did exist.
[Gifting 'Wings of Blessing (Skill)' to disciple 'Song Eun-young'.]
The moment I gifted the skill, Eun-young reacted.
As she looked flustered, I acted nonchalant, as if I knew nothing.
“You got a skill.”
Eun-young kicked away an approaching Hop-worm.
Her movements were strangely similar to Choi Soo-hyun's.
Her body shimmered slightly, as if she had used the skill immediately.
“What is this?”
Small wings had sprouted from her heels.
In truth, they were so small it was embarrassing to even call them wings.
A young Mothman lunged at her from behind.
“Behind you!”
Eun-young, who had been fiddling with the wings on her heels, did a backflip.
She used the Mothman's head as a springboard and leaped into the air.
In an instant, she soared so high I had to crane my neck to see her.
After killing the bewildered young Mothman, I looked up.
It seemed about time for her to come down, but for some reason, she showed no sign of descending.
[Wings of Blessing (Skill)]
- Proficiency 0%
- Increased movement speed, increased attack speed, increased jump height, flight possible while skill is active.
I hadn't read it properly since I gifted it in a hurry, but it seemed flight was included in the skill.
Other Hunters came up through the hole in the ceiling.
Sensing danger, the Mothman flew back up into the sky.
Not that the sky looked particularly safe.
[Mothman Cave]
Rank: B+
Participants: 57
Because the area was confined, the number of participating Hunters wasn't very large.
Below the building were Hunters capable of long-range attacks.
They attacked the ascending Mothman with their respective skills.
Even though the attacks were aimed at the Mothman, they also affected Eun-young, who was in the sky.
Deciding it was too dangerous, Eun-young, who had been hovering in the air, came down.
“I think I'm getting motion sickness. I didn't know it was this kind of skill.”
“Can't complain, can you?”
I picked up a stray stone from the floor and threw it toward the Mothman in the sky.
The fast-flying stone hit the sphere surrounding the Mothman and bounced off.
'So that's how it is.'
That sphere could block the movements and attacks of the Mothman inside.
However, it had the disadvantage of blocking not only internal attacks but also external ones.
The purpose of that skill wasn't to defeat the Mothman, but to stall for time until someone else arrived.
Of course, I had no intention of waiting for someone else to deal with the Mothman.
“Hey. Give me a toss.”
“What?”
Eun-young's Strength stat was A. I knew she was strong, but I didn't think she'd be A-rank.
My own Strength is only between C+ and B.
Suddenly, Choi Soo-hyun, who had withstood her punch, seemed incredible.
“Hurry!”
With no time for a detailed explanation, I urged her on.
“Where am I supposed to throw you?”
“At the Mothman, of course.”
Unlike her, I didn't have a flight skill.
“Don't you regret this.”
Eun-young strode over and grabbed my hand.
By the time I came to my senses, the Mothman was right in front of me.
The woman who had been restraining the Mothman was startled by my sudden appearance.
“Wait, what are you—!”
The tip of my sword touched the sphere surrounding the Mothman.
The ring flashed, and my sword and arm were engulfed in flames.
While it was fundamentally powered by my mana, the ring itself was so good that the firepower was no joke.
I could even feel that this wasn't its full damage potential.
Unfortunately, my mana was insufficient to draw out the ring's maximum power.
Just how good of an item did he give me!
The Hunter who had used the skill also seemed flustered by the unexpected bombardment.
Strictly speaking, the sphere wasn't created by the Mothman, but by a Hunter.
[The aura of the god Soter envelops you.]
[A 3rd-stage blessing descends upon you.]
It seemed I'd reached the 3rd stage thanks to diligently killing all those Hop-worms.
Flames enveloped the entire sphere.
Starting from the point where my sword touched it, the sphere began to crack like glass.
The sight was like a sun.
As the sphere shattered, flames scattered in all directions.
Amidst the massive explosion, my eyes met with the Mothman's inside.
Man, its eyes are huge.
The Mothman wrapped its body with its wings.
After extinguishing the flames from Ishtar's Ring, I immediately took a stance to use my next skill.
With Choi Soo-hyun's Ishtar's Ring and the ever-present Blessing of Soter, I had a good chance.
Through the exploding flames, a slash of light cut through the Mothman's body.
'Whoa, I'm out of breath.'
Along with the Mothman's body, now split in two, I began to fall.
[The 'Mothman Cave' field has been cleared.]
[Calculating rewards.]
[Participation +100]
[Mothman Kill +7,000]
[Mosquito Killer (1st) + 4,500]
[Total +11,600]
Song Eun-young reached out a hand to me as I fell.
I barely managed to grab her hand and land.
“You're pretty impressive, huh? I thought you were just a kid with a big mouth.”
“Don't pull my cheek. And...”
“Hm?”
“Let's bounce.”
Given the place, my instincts were screaming that sticking around would only lead to trouble.
“W-Wait a minute! What about Choi Soo-hyun?”
“He'll manage. He's a Hunter from the Association, after all.”
Even if he wasn't with the Association, he's the type who'd survive even if you dropped him in a desert, so he'll be fine.
“By the way, you're dropping formalities pretty casually, aren't you?”
“We serve the same god now.”
I was still being respectful enough. She was getting a good deal.
Seemingly with no retort, Eun-young shut her mouth.
“Do whatever you want.”
Together, Eun-young and I quickly left the building.
***
The next day.
As soon as I woke up, I got a call from an unknown number.
Still half-asleep, I answered the phone.
—Who is this?
—It's me.
—Who's 'me'?
A new type of voice phishing? How am I supposed to know who 'me' is?
—Park Si—
I hung up on him.
Why is a guild leader so free?
My heart pounded from the unexpected call.
A message came to my phone. This time, it wasn't from an unknown number but from the one saved as [Park Si-woo].
「12 o'clock.」
「Do I have to go?」
「You think I'm a pushover? Want to get expelled?」
「I'll be there by 1.」
「k」
So cool in all the wrong ways, that bastard.