Chapter 56
Chapter 56
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: Monster Wave (4)
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Ten minutes before Training Team 12's outpost was breached.
Training Team 4 was desperately holding back the monster wave with everything they had.
They unleashed a barrage of skills while attacking the Blue Lobsters.
But the monsters from the 10th-floor dungeon were on an entirely different level from those below.
Even pouring all their firepower into it, they barely managed to take down three.
The supporters and ranged dealers were gasping for breath.
"Th-this isn't working. We're done for."
"We're all gonna die, aaah...!"
The defensive line began to slowly get pushed back.
The monsters swarming toward me had reached a point where I couldn't handle them alone.
The Training Team 4 members muttered something under their breaths.
They seemed to be imagining the most miserable ends possible.
For me, it was a delusion that was hard to comprehend.
Why?
'Feels like we're done for? Then just run away.'
Time was up.
We'd given it our all, so no regrets.
"Retreat!"
As the leader of Training Team 4, I issued the order.
"I'll take responsibility for everything, so head to the outpost!"
The Training Team 4 members glanced at me.
Their eyes seemed to question whether I was serious.
"Get up there! Fuck, go! Run your asses off!"
The Training Team 4 hunters hurriedly fell back.
Straight toward the outpost formed atop the hill.
The point we were defending was in an extremely difficult position to hold.
Which made it all the more critical.
Behind the wide-open sandy beach stretched a single straight path.
The path the Training Team 4 members were sprinting along.
The outpost lay at its end.
Compared to other points, it was incredibly close to the outpost.
A point that absolutely could not be breached.
A point that had to be defended at all costs.
'But they assigned it to us?'
It felt like they were expecting it to get overrun.
Well, then I'd just live up to those expectations.
'Responsibility? Yeah, I'll shoulder plenty.'
What did "responsibility" mean here?
Responsibility [noun] 1. Social duties or obligations one must fully undertake. 2. The obligation or burden borne for the results of an action, or the sanctions received as a result. Duty: Training Team 4 had to defend that position.
We'd done our absolute best within our capabilities.
I hoped they'd understand it was something we couldn't do, not that we wouldn't.
'If we die here? That just piles more work on the other teams!'
We absolutely could not die.
We couldn't burden others even in death.
This sin would be atoned for in life!
That was my mindset—my rationalization.
Number one was settled.
Next up, number two.
The moment we bolted from here, the outpost was as good as gone.
For the Blue Lobsters and Green Crabs, it was like a highway straight to the outpost had opened up.
The sanctions we'd face as a result.
'Eh, don't care.'
What sanctions were waiting for me?
Kicked out of the Milky Way Guild?
I was already set to join Han A-ra's guild.
If they booted me themselves, I'd be grateful.
Immediately get chewed out for causing a shitshow?
Ever since awakening as an F-rank hunter, I'd been catching flak whenever there was a gap.
In skill terms, it was "Insult Immunity Lv.10"—no, "Insult Nullification Lv.10."
Incidents inside the Tower were handled differently from the outside world.
When accidents happened, punishing hunters was ambiguous at best.
Whatever I did, there'd be no legal repercussions.
A guy killed by a drunk driver and a hunter torn apart inside the Tower—both deaths were the same.
Yet people reacted differently, drawing a line between them.
The former was tragic; the latter just got a "huh, okay" and moved on.
Our deaths would be the same.
Even if we fulfilled our roles and died, it'd just be my loss.
'To begin with, I've got a bigger mission.'
The "me" from another world had said it.
To make good use of the "gift" and prevent the end of my world.
If it felt like dying, then run.
I had a duty to protect every human in this world—all of humanity.
Clack! Clack-!
The crustacean monsters rustled closer.
They opened and snapped their claws threateningly.
I turned my back too.
I planned to reach the outpost faster than them.
"Huff, huff!"
I wasn't tired yet.
My stamina stat was ridiculously high for an F-rank hunter, and all those intermittent workouts hadn't been for nothing.
The Training Team 4 members who'd reached the outpost.
They waited with faces full of confusion, not knowing what to do.
"Head to the canyon point. Not below it—above."
Now I remembered.
Choi Da-eun's words replayed vividly in my mind.
Thanks to the blood and oxygen rush from getting squeezed by that Blue Lobster.
'The canyon point is the easiest to defend. And the party holding it right now is...'
Training Team 1, the strongest among Training Team 12.
'These fucking bastards.'
Those guys had tried to get Training Team 4 killed.
The malice was crystal clear.
Inside the Tower, no one faced legal punishment no matter who died.
Unless it was outright premeditated murder.
For monster-related "accidents"...
Training Team 1 had tried to use the monsters to kill us.
All the other teams knew but stayed silent.
They didn't want the dangerous point.
But they got careless.
They overlooked who their opponent was.
'Me. It's me.'
Park Sun-woo, the infamous idiot tanker of the Milky Way Guild.
Master of abandoning teams.
Those bastards had tried to kill Training Team 4.
Using monsters.
What if Training Team 4 had died?
Would Training Team 1 members face legal punishment?
The answer was "no"—our country's laws were just as idiotic as me.
But flip it around.
Even if I stirred up hell right now and caused Training Team 1 to die as a result, I wouldn't be punished.
'Good thing I came prepared.'
I pulled out my smartphone and launched the Taming App.
Opened "Inventory" and summoned oil.
A full-grown adult, but damn, I wanted a campfire.
"Scatter, Thousand-Feather Oil."
Thousand-Feather Oil? Or whatever.
I sprinkled oil all over the outpost.
Today, I was the lobster chef.
Time to grill 'em hot.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
In ancient times, they used beacon fires to relay situations.
The Training Team 12 members now understood just how effective they were.
Visible even from afar.
Gazing at the outpost blazing away, they knew something major had gone down.
But they had to hold their points.
With monsters still pouring in, they used the terrain to block the crustacean horde's advance.
"Clear the monsters inside the outpost first, then use the fences as walls to hold them off! We just need to last 10 minutes!"
Jin Yu-han issued orders to Training Team 1.
As the tanker, he pulled the monsters' aggro.
"Whoa, impressive."
"...We'll deal with Team 4 later."
Park Sun-woo, who'd snuck up, whispered from behind Jin Yu-han.
Jin Yu-han growled without even glancing back.
"Later? After you tried to kill us?"
Park Sun-woo cackled and shouted.
"Kkieeeek!"
At the grating voice, Jin Yu-han grimaced.
Was he insane?
But it was a lion's roar with purpose.
'Monster aggro?!'
The monsters' aggro shifted to Park Sun-woo.
The ones in front of Jin Yu-han glared at him and charged that way.
'Wide-Range Taunt.'
The essential tanker skill that even Jin Yu-han didn't have.
And trash Park Sun-woo possessed it.
"Aaak! I don't wanna dieee!"
A Blue Lobster extended its claw and seized Park Sun-woo.
Its razor-sharp scissor-like pincer tore his body to shreds...
Or so it seemed.
"Aa, aa, dying would suck so bad."
Park Sun-woo stared holes into Jin Yu-han while grinning.
He tried to pull off the cutest expression he could, hamming up some mock aegyo.
"So mushy~"
"...You little shit..."
He was doing it on purpose.
Not only had he seen through Training Team 1's intentions, he was even taunting Jin Yu-han directly.
'10th-floor dungeon monsters are nothing,' he was saying...
Jin Yu-han clenched his fist tight.
How the hell had that idiot gotten so strong?
It was incomprehensible.
He couldn't accept it.
The reports had no such info.
Hwang Deok-su had been convinced to the very end that Park Sun-woo was a moron.
The guy dancing a tap dance between Blue Lobsters and Green Crabs.
Spouting nonsense like shrimp allergies and shellfish allergies were different, causing chaos.
He'd come prepared on purpose.
Somehow he'd brought an oil drum and was swinging it wildly.
The full load of oil scattered everywhere.
He lit it with a torch.
The outpost went up in roaring flames.
The low-stamina supporters and ranged dealers couldn't even get inside.
"Hinokami Kagura!"
Park Sun-woo drew a longsword, coated the blade in oil, and set it ablaze.
Flames roared to life.
He swung it around.
Clumsy motions straight out of some anime sword style.
Only possible because he was a hunter.
With strength far beyond a normal human, he could pull off physically impossible moves with ease.
Flames flickered from all directions.
But the blaze he trailed stood out vividly.
Jin Yu-han's gaze followed him.
Anxiety gripped his entire body.
He couldn't move.
What if.
What if Park Sun-woo had been hiding his power?
What would happen to him then?
In the 10th-floor dungeon, no outside help was possible.
In a situation where intervention or rescue was impossible, if a stronger hunter openly harbored malice toward you?
'What the hell should I...'
Park Sun-woo charged.
The mocking, taunting demeanor vanished without a trace.
Slash-!
Park Sun-woo cleaved through a Blue Lobster with his flame-wreathed sword.
Right in front of Jin Yu-han, who watched it all clearly—a one-shot kill on a 10th-floor dungeon monster.