I Was Surprised Too
I… I was surprised too.
He just wouldn’t listen.
“Stop being a nuisance and go sit down and rest already. Don’t go dragging your feet on the way back.”
“I’m telling you, something’s really coming from over there!”
That team-leader guy had zero intention of taking me seriously. The heavy footsteps kept drawing closer, yet the conversation just kept circling nowhere. He wasn’t even hearing me out to begin with—could you even call this a conversation?
“Kid. You already made us late. You trying to piss me off on top of that?”
“Team Leader. The surface level is mostly safe, but once you go deeper into the forest there are plenty of dangerous animal-type monsters. Maybe we should at least listen to—”
“Oh, look at that. Now even the rookie’s trying to lecture me?”
The two Association hunters were split, but the so-called team leader used his rank to steamroll the other opinion flat. By now I could feel the ground itself trembling faintly under those footsteps, yet the man in charge of Association hunters somehow sensed nothing at all.
“Kid. This is just the edge of the forest—wolves are about the worst you’ll see. You’ve never even set foot in a gate before, let alone a dungeon, and you’re already barking orders.”
“…Team Leader.”
My heart started hammering like it was about to burst. Not because the huge thing approaching scared me or gave me chills. I felt almost nothing about something that massive coming closer—which was strange in itself.
“A B-rank and a C-rank aren’t going to get wrecked by something like that. If you get it, go rest right now! If you don’t rest and then start dawdling on the way back, I might just leave you behind.”
“Team Leader!”
“I’m talking here—why do you keep cutting in!”
“Something really is coming. It’s pretty close!”
But what about the other examinees here? Like that team leader said, people like Ayun—who were feeling severe mana sickness because it was their first time inside a gate—would they be okay?
“Ah, fuck. I only noticed late because you kept yapping next to me!”
“I’ve been saying it for a while—!”
“Shut up and get back, kid.”
His high-handed attitude left me speechless, but right now I had no choice except to trust the man called team leader.
“Ayun! Get up!”
“Hrngh?”
I roughly shook the shoulder of Ayun, who was dozing off while sitting on the ground, her head bobbing. At my touch she blinked her dazed eyes.
“Is break time already over…? Haaawn…. Weird…. I thought we still had about five minutes left….”
“Break time isn’t the issue right now!”
“All examinees! Hide in the pit immediately! This is an emergency!”
At the shout from the hunter everyone called the rookie, every examinee including me scrambled to hide in the pit. Once he confirmed we were all tucked away, the hunter drew a handgun and a small round shield from his belt and lowered his stance. The team-leader hunter, meanwhile, pulled out nothing but a single sword.
“Team Leader. Your shield or other gear….”
“Fuck. We’re hunting wolves—why bring extra crap? Just more maintenance costs.”
“…Would you at least use this one?”
“A shield that tiny wouldn’t help anyway.”
Even as he said it, the way he settled into his stance looked awkward. Extending an empty left arm forward and drawing the sword slightly back made him look like an idiot missing whatever was supposed to be in his left hand. The junior hunter stared at him in disbelief for a moment, then focused his gaze toward the forest where the sounds were coming from.
—Hooo—kraaah!
A massive roar that mixed a bird’s cry with a bear’s bellow rang out, and a gigantic shadow slowly pushed its way out through the trees.
“Damn it. Why the hell is an Aoulbear coming all the way out here!”
The monster called an Aoulbear rose onto its hind legs, heaving its massive body upright and lifting both front paws high.
“Eek….”
Most of the people hiding with me in the pit went deathly pale under the sheer pressure of that overwhelming size difference; they couldn’t even scream.
“U-Unnie….”
Ayun trembled hard beside me and clung pitifully to my sleeve. Tears welled in her eyes from a terror she was feeling for the first time in her life, ready to spill at any second. Even in a situation like this, why did I feel no intimidation at all—not even the slightest tremor?
“One B and one C. We can take it.”
“Team Leader. Are you sure it’s B and C…?”
“Fuck, even if it isn’t, same difference. Quit the bullshit and start chanting!”
At the team leader’s urging the junior hunter aimed his handgun and began muttering something. Blue light gradually gathered around the hand holding the gun, and at the same time the team leader charged forward.
“Bird-brain! Let’s make this quick and cheap!”
Maybe the team-leader position hadn’t been handed to him for free after all. The way he knocked aside the Aoulbear’s front paw—nearly as big as his own body—with nothing but his sword finally looked like a veteran hunter for the first time.
“Ah, fuck. My hand’s numb.”
Even while spitting curses, the team leader kept blocking the Aoulbear’s relentless attacks.
“Team Leader!”
“Got it.”
At the junior hunter’s signal the team leader threw himself left without hesitation, and at the same moment blue flashes erupted from the handgun, hammering the Aoulbear’s entire body. The earlier attack must have hit hard; the Aoulbear, which had been swinging its front paws nonstop, lost its balance, staggered, and planted its upper body on the ground for support. The team leader, who had flung himself left to dodge the junior’s magic, didn’t miss the opening. He drove his sword hard into the Aoulbear’s nape.
“It’s over, you damn bird-brain!”
Everyone watching him felt a mix of awe and relief. No matter how rotten his attitude, his skill seemed genuine. Just as the sword was about to sink into the Aoulbear’s nape and everyone was ready to cheer in relief—
—Clang.
Instead of the sound of steel biting into flesh, the sharp crack of a sword snapping rang through the forest. The blade that had withstood the Aoulbear’s attacks again and again finally failed to pierce the thick hide and broke. The broken fragment spun lazily through the air as it fell toward the ground. Before the eyes that had been tracking its path could even fill with shock, the Aoulbear’s eyes flashed red and it charged straight at the junior hunter.
“Dodge it, rookie!”
The junior hunter, who had been about to slip away with practiced ease at the team leader’s shout, suddenly locked up as if frozen solid. As though steeling himself, he raised his shield and kept pulling the trigger. From the way he used magic he didn’t seem like the close-combat type the team leader was—so why wasn’t he running? Why was he recklessly standing in the Aoulbear’s path? His magic probably needed too much time to cast again. The moment that thought crossed my mind, I saw the junior hunter’s back tremble.
Ah. I see.
He wasn’t refusing to run. He couldn’t run. Because of the ten examinees watching his back. He knew that if he dodged, the Aoulbear’s massive body would slam straight into the pit where we were hiding.
“Ghk—!”
The Aoulbear’s charge that he couldn’t avoid slammed into the junior hunter. His body hit the ground so hard you couldn’t even call it blocking, then bounced. Could an arm even bend that far against a back? Could a leg snap in three places like that? The junior hunter’s rag-doll body rolled all the way to the mouth of the pit where we were hiding.
“Aaaaaah!!!”
A scream like a death cry burst from one of the examinees who saw his ruined state. Taking the scream as a cheer, the Aoulbear raised its huge front paw again, ready to crush the junior hunter who was already barely gasping for breath. The team leader, who had been racing after the charging Aoulbear, suddenly stopped dead. He gave a small nod—and took one step back.
No way…. Right?
No matter how rotten his attitude, he was still Association personnel. There were people here he was supposed to protect. His junior was in danger. So why did he just take a step back…?
Right?
“Hey….”
But the team leader betrayed my last scrap of hope and simply turned his body around.
“Hey!!!”
I screamed until my throat tore toward the fleeing team leader’s back, but he never looked around—he just kept getting farther away. Was he seriously running off alone?
“U-Unnie!”
Ayun, who had been trembling beside me, suddenly shook off my hand and bolted out of the pit. His junior was about to die trying to protect everyone, and the senior—the team leader—was running to save only himself? If you had taken me seriously when I spoke up, this never would have happened. If you had brought proper gear from the start, there wouldn’t have been a problem. This is all your fault, so why are you dumping the responsibility on the junior hunter and innocent people? Who’s supposed to protect the junior hunter whose life you just put in danger by running? You’re the senior! You’re the team leader!
The moment those thoughts finished, I was already launching myself out of the pit and racing toward the junior hunter. In an instant I was out of the pit and in front of him—and before I knew it the Aoulbear’s front paw was already flying straight at my face.
“Mi-Miri unnie!!!”
Ayun’s scream came from behind me. Even I thought that if that huge paw hit me, my small body would go flying like nothing. Would it hurt if it hit? Would I get badly hurt? But every single worry suddenly felt pointless. For some reason I didn’t feel like I was going to get hurt at all.
—Hooo—kraaah?!
The reflection of me in the Aoulbear’s eyes as it swung its front paw wasn’t trembling even a little. The Aoulbear’s own eyes, which held my image, were shaking so hard they almost looked pitiful.
—Thud.
Without thinking I raised both arms and blocked the swinging front paw. The heavy impact traveled up my arms and tore the sleeves of the clothes I was wearing, yet somehow my body didn’t budge an inch from the spot where I had stopped it. That enormous paw had definitely smashed into me with full force, yet I felt almost no weight at all.
“Get—off—me?!”
I put every bit of strength into my arms and shoved the Aoulbear’s paw away—and it bounced off far too easily. The force I had put into it was so strong that the leftover power spun my body sideways, and my tail cracked like a whip into the Aoulbear’s side.
—KWAANG!
An impact so massive I couldn’t believe it came from my own tail rang out, and the Aoulbear’s huge frame folded sideways and was sent flying mercilessly into the forest. A moment later the sound of several trees shattering reached us, followed by the long, drawn-out crashes of trees toppling over, echoing through the woods for quite a while.
“Huh…?”
After somehow flinging the Aoulbear away, I staggered, lost my balance, and plopped down on the spot, staring blankly into empty air without understanding what had just happened. When I finally came back to myself after a long daze, the other people still hiding and the junior hunter—who looked so shocked he had even forgotten his pain—were all staring straight at me.
I… I was surprised too. Please don’t look at me like that….