Bear Hug
Fortunately, my guess didn't miss.
"Two on the right!"
"Yes!"
I spun at the party leader's shout. An Apple Monkey up in the tree hurled the Apple Bomb in its hand with everything it had, and the target was Nahee, drawing her bow in the back line.
That's—
Too late to run in and block it.
Jump? No. One wrong move and Nahee could get hurt, and I wouldn't be able to stop whatever came after. So instead, one step.
She must have read me. Nahee slid under my arm and tucked herself away.
BOOM—!!!
"Nice."
I gave my arm a shake, and scorched black stone-dust pattered off.
"You're not hurt anywhere?"
Potions were supposedly worth their weight in gold these days. Using one inside an E-Rank gate felt like a waste.
"Isn't that my line?!"
"Guess so."
Nahee patted the dust off her clothes, got to her feet, and shot a glance at my suit. But, well.
"I'm fine."
No way a pebble suit was going to fall apart over a mere Apple Bomb.
"…It really is solid."
Nahee, apparently fascinated by the thing, looked it over a few more times before drawing her bow again. The arrow struck dead center on the hand of the Apple Monkey still clutching an Apple Bomb.
"I'll take it!"
Daegyeom was the one who finished the Apple Monkey after pain dropped it out of the tree. His blade flashed, and the last one still standing vanished, leaving nothing behind but a mana stone.
"Nice! We just keep going like this!"
We took a short breather, then got up and moved on. Thud. Thump. I took the front and Daegyeom the rear, with the two ranged dealers between us.
A few more fights, and the formation started to settle into my body. I still wasn't smooth, but I was no longer just charging in. I could at least feel when to switch between attack and defense.
So this is party play.
The problem, I supposed, was that not every monster was a baby wolf or an Apple Monkey.
Shhhk—
E-Rank gate. The Sanctuary of Fruit - Entryway. The place divided into three broad zones: the forest mouth, where the Apple Monkeys spawned; the temple, where the boss waited; and the ground under our feet now, the road that led to that temple.
"Hm?"
Dense branches shivered overhead. The motion was wrong enough that I knew at once it wasn't the wind. I looked up, and a small shadow was darting back and forth along the limbs.
And then—
Whoosh! Whoosh!
"Huh?"
The monster was riding the surrounding trees at a speed my eyes could barely follow.
"A Banasquirrel's out. Ready for combat!"
The party leader raised her staff, and I was already moving.
"Sehyun, stop! You won't be able to keep up with a Banasquirrel!"
"Ah."
Damn it. I'd forgotten how slow I was. My first thought had been to drop a tree and cut off its movement, but at that speed it would have crossed three trunks before the first one hit the ground. Sure enough, the instant I swung, the Banasquirrel retreated a good five meters in a blink.
"…"
Thud.
Squeak—kiiik—
"That monkey bas—"
No. Squirrel, right? So a squirrel? Whatever it was called, the face looking down at me made one thing perfectly clear. That bastard was laughing at me.
…This is one hundred percent not in my head.
"Nahee, teach it a lesson."
"Leave it to me!"
Nahee called it out, brimming with confidence, and immediately loosed an arrow. The Banasquirrel sneered and sprang clear, but the branch it meant to land on had already taken the party leader's spell. With the escort left to me, Daegyeom had gone fully on the attack, and his sword cut the falling body clean through.
Squeak!
Ten seconds, maybe? The thing was dead in less time than it takes to skip two Reels.
"…"
How long would that have taken me solo?
Thirty minutes? An hour?
…Maybe I'm better off not thinking about it.
I was standing there blankly, well off to the side, when Nahee tapped my arm.
"Those aren't monsters a tank is supposed to chase."
As if she could picture the look on my face behind the helmet, Jung Inyoung smiled too.
"Chase them and all you do is burn stamina. Just keep protecting us, the way you are now."
"…Got it."
Right then another Banasquirrel burst from a different tree. It was still fast, but the two ranged dealers' combo made it miss the landing again. The only difference was the extra branch waiting underneath. I gave a little kick and slammed my body into the trunk.
THUD!
Squeak?!
It clearly hadn't expected the tree to shake. The Banasquirrel's feet slipped.
"Good call!"
Twang—!
"Let's keep moving."
Apple Monkeys, Banasquirrels, and now and then an F-Rank mixed in among them. Nothing that amounted to a real problem.
"Hold on."
The trees cut off dead ahead, and we all stopped at once. In the center of a wide clearing stood an altar of loosely woven branches, and the heap of fruit piled on top looked like the gimmick for calling the boss.
"Once we deal with the boss monster, that's the clear!"
"We got here so fast, too… ugh. I hate Pinelilla so much."
"Agreed."
A question mark practically popped up over my head. Boss of the E-Rank gate, Sanctuary of Fruit - Entryway: Pinelilla. The guide I'd watched on Huntube said it wasn't dangerous so long as you watched the acceleration.
On HuntGal, the only thing anyone mentioned was that the drop was material for tank gear.
Wasn't that how little presence the thing had?
"Ahaha. There's a reason. There's a surefire way to clear it."
Nahee must have caught my confusion. She shook her head as she said it.
"CC… you mez it. Right?"
"Correct. And what's our party comp again?"
"Well—"
One tank. One melee. One physical ranged, one magic ranged.
"Ah."
Come to think of it, this party didn't have a… support?
"Wait a second."
I remembered the odd looks on their faces back at the gate.
"Don't tell me what you were actually looking for was a support?!"
"…"
Jung Inyoung avoided my eyes and laughed, awkward.
"Supports are popular. We never did manage to find one, right up to the end."
"But in the guide I watched, even without a support…"
"Pinelilla isn't dangerous if you land the counter properly. The clear just takes forever."
Ah. So that had been the power of editing and fast-forward.
"That's why everyone made those faces when I said I was a tank."
"Ahaha…"
Behind the party leader's bitter laugh came a piece of shocking news.
"That's why I said I didn't want to, unnie. If we were going to run something, it should've been a different gate."
"Temp parties are always like this. Today's hourly might drop all the way to a hundred and ten dollars."
"…?!?!"
What kind of well-fed nonsense was that? I'd go red-eyed over eleven bucks an hour, and they were calling a hundred and ten only?
"We'll do it by the book. Even if it takes time, we counter. No exceptions!"
Jung Inyoung fired a magic bolt and brought the pile of fruit down.
Rumble—
"It's coming. Get ready."
I had no idea what the principle was, but the moment the fruit collapsed, the altar lit up green.
"It's out!"
A huge shadow vaulted onto the altar. Thick arms, a grotesquely small head, and spikes jutting out all over its body.
"So that's Pinelilla…"
Pinelilla looked from the ruined altar to us and back, then beat its chest with those thick arms.
"Starting combat. Five, four, three, two… incoming!"
The instant Pinelilla dropped its arms and crouched—
BOOM!
The ground under its feet burst, and that massive body was in front of Daegyeom in a flash.
"Hup!"
Daegyeom twisted. Pinelilla's arm cut empty air, and at the same moment his sword opened its flank.
Twang!
An arrow chased after it, aimed over the shoulder, but by the time the wound opened in its side the thing was already far away.
"…Fast."
Jung Inyoung let the mana she'd gathered at the tip of her staff scatter again. Distance restored, Pinelilla circled us without taking its eyes off us for a second.
"It's a long fight, so don't get impatient!"
And again.
BOOM!
Approach and strike. Counter and dodge. Then it was gone.
BOOM! BOOM!
Whoosh—
When am I even supposed to grab this thing?
The hourly rate wasn't the scary part. The scary part was the boredom, on and on. Look away for a second and I'd eat a Pinelilla charge at full speed, dead center. Especially those spikes, the ones that looked exactly like a pineapple's…
"Now!"
"Going!"
I closed in on the opening when Daegyeom's sword lodged in Pinelilla's arm. I hadn't taken two steps before it shook the blade loose and hopped well clear.
"…"
"Again!"
"A-again!"
THUD!
"…"
It even threw in a feint that time?
Just watching those restless arms was enough to spike my blood pressure. I was still forcing the anger down when Pinelilla changed direction. This time, the target—
"Nahee!"
It had hesitated, and that was the only reason I caught the opening. I had no intention of running the same play again. I led with my thick fists and cut in between Pinelilla and Nahee.
KRAANG——!
"Ghk—"
So this was an E-Rank gate boss. An impact that made a baby wolf look like nothing slammed through my whole body. The feet I'd planted firm slid half a step back, and a few burst shards of stone cluttered the view through my helmet. But this much—I could take it.
I hold.
I shot out the hand that had come through in better shape.
"Got—!"
The rough tip of a stone finger grazed the hard grain of a spike.
Fwip!
Nothing was left in my palm. Far off, Pinelilla landed and glared this way again.
"Are you all right? That was a direct—"
"I'm fine!"
My body was fine. My mood was not.
It was really just by a little.
Was the line of the charge the problem?
"Sehyun?"
As it crouched again, I looked down at my feet sunk into the dirt.
"Inyoung."
"Yes!"
"Everyone, get right up against me."
"…On your side, Sehyun?"
"Yes."
"You're not planning to hold it yourself?"
"I'm going to try."
Jung Inyoung studied me for a moment, then nodded.
"All right. Nahee! Just stay ready to attack. Daegyeom, be ready to pull Nahee and me clear."
"Okaaay!"
"Understood."
All three of them hid behind my back and dropped out of the circling Pinelilla's sight. At that, its movement grew noticeably simpler.
"Just as I thought."
Now, if it wanted to hit anyone, it had to come through me. I set my feet a little wider than my shoulders and, matching its ready stance, bent my knees and dropped my weight.
Come on.
In my vision, the distant body swelled all at once.
This time, I am not going to be late.
KRAAAAAANG——!!
"Krgh!"
I'd braced hard this time. So had it. A shock past any comparison to the last one stung through every inch of me.
KRRRK——!
My feet, dug into the ground, plowed furrows as they were driven back, and I felt the others give ground behind me. Cracks spidered through the stone across my chest and shoulders.
But.
CRACK!
"…Got it."
Pinelilla's body had come in between my thick arms. It twisted at once, trying to slip free. Not a chance.
"Everyone, now!"
Whether any of them had ever heard of a bear hug, I couldn't say.