Proving My Skill (2)
"The list is out!"
The lounge of the Washington, D.C. hotel that the Third Raid Team was using as its quarters. One of my teammates shot to his feet with his phone raised and shouted it across the room.
"Who? Who made the cut?"
"Mr. Royce. And Dohyeon. And..."
"Figures."
Murmurs stirred from every corner. I stayed where I was on the sofa and quietly set my coffee down.
The S-Rank Gate that had appeared in Detroit — the one Hannah had reported to me. The Second and Third Raid Teams were to clear it together, splitting the Gate's ten-person limit between them. And my name was on that list.
Good. I'd made it in, at least. Team Leader Royce had been sending up steady, favorable reports on me, and the showing I'd put in during the last spar with the Second Raid Team had probably done the rest.
"Mr. Lee Dohyeon."
"Mr. Royce. So we're going together again."
"Yes. I'm counting on you."
Paul Royce sat down beside me with a slightly abashed smile. Once he was actually next to me, though, his voice dropped into something more serious.
"Honestly, I'm a little worried."
"About what?"
"Command of this joint raid went to Mr. Brooks."
"...I see."
It wasn't a surprise. The Second Raid Team sat above us in the hierarchy, and Brooks was their raid leader.
If anything, I welcome it. Unpleasant as he was, he was an interesting man. And I'd already confirmed in that last spar that his skill was the real thing.
"I don't care for people I can't get a read on, but he is leading the Second Raid Team, so I'll have to trust him. Speaking of which — have they confirmed the mana reading on the Detroit Gate?"
"Yes. Mid-tier among S-Rank. Frankly, with ten hunters handpicked from our two teams going in, it shouldn't be a particularly difficult raid."
"I imagine not."
I nodded. A mid-grade Gate among the S-Ranks was exactly that. Ten of the best hunters in America were walking in; there was no reason we should be pushed back. That the ten of us had never built our rhythm together was a genuine disadvantage, but raids had a standard framework, and every one of us had outstanding field experience. It wouldn't be a problem.
"Even so, we have to be careful. In an S-Rank Gate, anything can happen."
"Agreed. We prepare for everything."
Paul Royce studied me, then slowly nodded. I knew it, and so did he, and so did the rest of the Third Raid Team. All of us had been through more raids than we could count. We understood.
Detroit, United States.
"Ugh. This place gets more deserted by the minute."
"Let's wrap it up and go home."
A cordon was already up in front of the Gate, and every hunter assigned to the clear had gathered. Just as announced: six drawn from the Second Raid Team, four from the Third.
"Everyone's here."
Russell Brooks, who held command, stepped out in front of the formation. The moment that frame — well over two meters — moved, the Association staff nearby parted to let him through without being asked.
"Today's objective is simple. We go in, we tear every last one of them apart, and we come out. Questions?"
No one answered.
"Good. Anybody who acts like a little girl in front of me, I won't let it slide. Remember that. Hahaha."
And that was the end of the briefing. If it even deserved the name.
"Let's head in."
We passed through the Gate.
"Hmm..."
Dungeon interiors, taken as a whole, usually looked much the same from one Gate to the next. This one was a slight exception. How to put it — it felt like walking into a city in ruins. Collapsed stone buildings. Things like pillars.
This alone isn't enough to tell.
I closed my eyes slowly and focused. The answer didn't take long.
"...Red Gargoyles. One hundred and forty-four."
"Huh?"
Brooks turned to look at me.
"And the boss is an Undead Gargoyle."
"Hey. What did you just say?"
"I read their mana and identified them. Now then — as raid leader, give us your orders."
"Ha..."
Brooks looked at me with that loose, careless expression of his. Beside me, Paul Royce answered in his place.
"Mr. Brooks, Hunter Lee Dohyeon's sensing is reliable. Our team has already confirmed it several times."
"Yeah? So what do you want me to do about it? Gargoyles are gargoyles. What kind of orders do you even need?"
Just the reaction I'd expected. I had no intention of backing down.
"Red Gargoyles have a hypnosis ability."
"Hypnosis?"
"They slow your movements little by little, so gradually you never notice. You keep believing you're moving the way you always do."
I'd fought this monster a few times back in Korea. Just when you felt the fight turning in your favor and stepped a little too far forward, you slipped into the gargoyle's hypnosis without realizing it — and walked straight into an ambush. And wasn't this basic? It was all in the manual. Why were they reacting as if they'd never heard of it?
"Which means we hold formation to the very end. No one charges out alone to fight."
Brooks said nothing.
"The moment anyone drops out of the line, there's no one left to tell them how slow they've gotten."
When I finished, the place went quiet. For now, I wasn't going to worry about who today's raid leader was.
"I agree."
Paul Royce spoke first.
"Gargoyle-types aren't especially strong as individuals. What they do is hunt, relentlessly, anyone who splits off from the group. Hold the formation and we can clear them without taking losses."
"Haha."
Brooks laughed.
"Hey, Paul. Since when did you become this kid's spokesman?"
"Mr. Brooks."
"And you. Asian."
Brooks looked down at me.
"What did I tell you last time? Pretty sure I said don't act like a little girl."
I held my tongue.
"We come all this way, and you want us stuck on the back line, scratching at them nice and gentle because of some formation? Don't make me laugh. We're the hunters who represent America."
Brooks knocked his gauntleted fists together. A crash like a head-on collision detonated right in front of my eyes.
"Last time I'll say it. We go in fast and we tear them apart. That's today's operation."
On the Second Raid Team's side they glanced around, reading the air, and then the mood settled into compliance.
I looked at Paul Royce. He was looking at me, and his expression was troubled. Command belonged to Brooks. Push any harder here and we'd come apart before the raid even properly began.
I've led a raid team. I know how this goes.
I let out a short breath.
"Let's move, for now."
"...Right."
Paul Royce nodded, heavy with it. Korea or America, I kept ending up babysitting a pack of brats.
Nothing for it. We still had to clear this raid. I'd do everything I could, my way.
"What the hell are these winged-cat bastards? This is nothing!"
The shout came only a few minutes after the fight began.
A Red Gargoyle was a winged monster with a massive frame. The wings were there, but they couldn't stay airborne for long; mostly the things clung to walls, dropped, and leapt from place to place, diving off high ground to smother you.
"You scared us over trash like this? Hahahaha!"
Brooks laughed like a madman as he swung, and every swing killed a gargoyle down to the bone.
That's how it would look. Some of the strongest among America's S-Rank hunters were gathered here. Of course it looked like we had the upper hand.
I cut through the torsos of two gargoyles that lunged at me, then fell straight back, staying inside the formation the whole time.
No problem up to here. The problem always came at a moment like this. The moment the fight started to feel easy.
"Hahahaha!"
A boom tore through the ruin. There it was. Brooks had broken from the line and shot forward.
"Mr. Brooks!"
"Follow me! We clean out the ones bunched up back there first!"
"Aigoo. Like anyone could stop him."
One punch, and a gargoyle burst into powder. Fine. I'd grant that he was strong. That was the problem.
Even as I tracked the enemies' mana, I focused on the flow of Brooks's.
He's caught. He wouldn't know it himself. Right now that man believed he was moving the way he always did. What was I supposed to do? Even accounting for the hypnosis, Brooks's strength as a melee damage dealer was beyond anything I'd imagined. But if a variable crept in...
Wait. Thirty of them?
In the instant I turned the other way and swung my sword, I felt the gargoyles moving fast, as a pack.
"Mr. Royce! Hold the formation and advance slowly! I'll be right back!"
"Mr. Lee Dohyeon?!"
I didn't answer. I ran.
"Tch — die, damn you, die!"
Brooks was already surrounded. Several gargoyles, wings spread, were rushing him from every side. If the state of his mana had still felt to me the way it had before, he might have handled that many.
Too late. The body knows it isn't moving at its own speed before the head does.
I cut down the two gargoyles that had been hitting Brooks from behind, then shouted.
"Look left!"
"What?"
"Look!"
Even as I said it, I drove in on his right. Brooks turned left and swung, and two gargoyles flew at once. A moment later and he would have taken an S-Rank monster's attack wide open. The ones trying to slip in from the other side, I dropped.
Somehow I ended up fighting the gargoyles back-to-back with Brooks. It didn't last long. The last one broke apart and scattered across the floor.
"Hoo..."
I lowered my sword. Only gargoyle wreckage remained around us.
The main group. In that span I checked on the rest of the hunters. We're good. We'd started this fight with the advantage, and with the gargoyles' numbers split, that side was overwhelming them without trouble too.
I stole another glance at Brooks — a bulk so huge I had to wonder, looking at him again, whether he even counted as human. He probably hadn't realized he'd been in danger at all. Still. He'd heard me and, in that instant, dropped the gargoyle on his left. That counted for something. Good enough that he'd listened when it mattered.
"Hmph. Guess I owe you one."
"What?"
"You've got an interesting ability on you."
So his brain wasn't made entirely of muscle after all.
"Let's go. Weren't we tearing gargoyles apart?"
"Hahaha. Damn right we were."
With that, I walked toward where Paul Royce was.