Chapter 66
Chapter 66
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: 22. Gambling Table (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
3.
Hector.
A massive wolf with ash-gray fur, a monster commonly seen in the Elnas Mountains region.
“Hector’s hide is incredibly thick. Its fat layer even more so.”
It was a monster with tremendous defensive power.
“But what’s truly terrifying are those protruding fangs of theirs.”
And it was a monster with horrifying offensive power as well.
“They devour anything and everything. Alive or dead. The Elnas Mountains stay so clean thanks to them.”
That’s why they were nicknamed the cleaners of the Elnas Mountains.
In many ways, they were a nightmare for adventurers.
“Third-circle adventurers can hunt Hectors without much trouble.”
But it was different for seasoned adventurers.
“Especially those from the Elnas Mountains—they’re on another level. They learn how to hunt Hectors from childhood. An adventurer who can’t hunt Hector isn’t even allowed to leave the Elnas Mountains. That’s their test.”
The adventurers of the Elnas Mountains were specialists when it came to hunting Hectors.
Rebecca’s party was no different.
Not a single member of her 14-person party couldn’t hunt a Hector.
Rebecca herself held the title of adventurer who had soloed 100 Hectors.
Awooooo!
“Everyone, run!”
Yet right now, even she was fleeing from a Hector.
The reason was simple.
“A Hector pack is coming!”
Hectors traveling in a pack.
Of course, Hectors did sometimes form packs.
They usually hunted alone, but when targeting stronger monsters or beasts, they’d group up in packs of about a dozen.
So adventurers hunting Hectors always kept the possibility of packs in mind.
Thud thud thud thud!
“Damn it, looks like over a thousand of them!”
The problem was that no one—not even in their wildest dreams—imagined a pack numbering over a thousand.
Rebecca’s party was the same.
Thud thud thud thud!
Before the Rebecca party that could only flee from the thousand-strong Hector pack shaking the earth mercilessly, there was nothing else they could do.
Even that wasn’t easy.
“Bury your eyes in snow!”
Even as they ran, they scooped up handfuls of the snow scattered everywhere and rubbed it over their bodies.
“Eliminate your scent!”
It was a method to escape the Hector pack with their keen sense of smell.
A technique every Elnas Mountains adventurer knew.
Of course, it wasn’t enough.
They needed bait.
The bait was Rebecca’s party leader, Rebecca herself.
She began spilling the contents of the leather pouch she carried onto the ground.
Splash!
Bright red blood poured out.
Sniff sniff!
The moment the blood spilled, the eyes of the pursuing Hector pack changed.
Killing intent began to flicker in them.
It was Hector blood that Rebecca had spilled—nothing else.
Yap yap!
The Hectors, catching the scent of their comrade’s blood, went berserk chasing Rebecca, and in the meantime, her subordinates began peeling away from her one by one.
As they separated, they buried themselves in the snow and held their breath.
Like corpses.
Once her comrades had hidden one by one and Rebecca was left alone, she activated a skill.
“Dark Sight!”
The 1st Circle thief skill, Dark Sight.
In that instant, her figure vanished into the shadows.
Yap yap?
The Hector pack panicked at the fact, starting to sniff only at the leather pouch Rebecca had thrown down.
Rebecca watched the scene quietly from her concealed state.
And there was one more person watching the scene.
“Boss, what the hell is going on?”
El Pam, who had been observing the distant situation through Artemis’s eyes, opened his mouth at Dibo’s question.
“A Hector pack.”
“Hector—you mean those ash-gray wolves from the Elnas Mountains?”
Hearing the explanation, Dibo furrowed his brow.
“But didn’t the ground shake like an earthquake earlier? And a blizzard whipping up. Hectors aren’t that big a deal, are they?”
The sight Dibo had seen from afar was something you’d only witness when something enormous was on the move.
“About a thousand.”
“Ah, a thousand! Yeah, that could do it. Wait—Boss?”
“A thousand?”
At that explanation, Dibo and everyone else freaked out.
“Hey, don’t bullshit us!”
“Speak sense. A thousand-Hector pack? Never heard of such a thing.”
As Ralph said, Hectors were monsters from the Elnas Mountains, and any decent adventurer knew their habits and traits.
“Hectors do pack up, but never more than a dozen or so. No reports of anything larger.”
Hector packs were always small-scale.
And forming large packs wasn’t something that just happened by gathering.
Even with people, just because a hundred gathered didn’t mean they moved as one.
Packs often led to competition or infighting.
Hectors were the same.
Of course, that was just basic common sense.
El Pam’s common sense was different.
‘A thousand is peanuts.’
El Pam had seen it countless times.
‘Compared to cases where tens of thousands of different monsters formed legions.’
Even solitary monsters forming packs—not just Hectors.
That’s why El Pam wasn’t surprised.
‘But they don’t just gather like that. Something must have made them do it.’
He was just figuring out the reason.
Awooooo!
Awooooo!
Awooooo!
At that moment, the distinctive Hector howls began blanketing the snow-covered forest.
“Whew.”
Dibo let out a hollow laugh at the sound.
“Damn, they’re howling everywhere like a whole dog army.”
The howls were coming from all directions.
But El Pam was different.
The moment he heard the sound, El Pam was certain.
“There’s a king.”
The reason for the pack.
“Huh?”
“One of those howls just now—it was completely different.”
“Different?”
Awooooo!
The howl that rang out then.
“That sound.”
El Pam’s eyes gleamed at it, followed by another howl.
Awooooo!
“This one?”
“No, that’s a different sound. The one from before—that’s the king’s howl.”
Dibo didn’t question the explanation.
‘If the boss says so, it must be.’
He’d seen El Pam’s abilities too many times.
Instead, he raised another question.
“But do Hectors even have a king? Never heard of a monster like that.”
Normally, no.
So El Pam predicted.
‘They used a martyr.’
The Black Mage’s followers had used a martyr to cause something impossible here.
But El Pam didn’t blame the Black Mage’s followers.
That wasn’t what mattered now.
Something beyond common sense was happening here.
“Boss, what do we do?”
“Other adventurers will have grasped the situation and gathered by now.”
“Gathered?”
“They’d know this isn’t normal. And they’d know it’s not the time for gambling like this.”
The other adventurers would have realized that too and already shifted to cooperating for survival.
“We’ll make contact with them first.”
4.
“You made it here somehow.”
As El Pam said, the adventurers who had reached the third floor were gathered in one place, moving together.
It was a scene hard to imagine compared to the atmosphere before entering the Mystic Gate.
They were all people brimming with confidence in their titles and skills.
But this was precisely why they had achieved those titles and skills until now.
No matter how impressive the title or skill, it was useless if you died.
And they were adventurers prepared to join hands even with mortal enemies in the face of death.
“I’ll explain the situation first.”
In other words, the current situation was like this.
Until moments ago, they had been gambling and looking down on each other, seeing only rivals—now they were joining hands.
“A massive Hector pack is on the move.”
No one considered a large Hector pack mere danger.
“But it’s not certain, it seems the Hector pack has a leader.”
They had a boss.
This was a crucial point.
If it was just a pack gathered, they could whittle down the numbers steadily.
Difficult, but doable.
But with a leader, it was different.
It meant responses to problems would emerge.
“Have you found the exit?”
Of course, what mattered most to adventurers wasn’t the boss monster—it was escaping this place.
Especially when they valued their lives.
“That’s the most headache-inducing part.”
That’s why they had all gathered.
“We found the exit. And the Hector pack’s leader, the Head Hector, is guarding it.”
They needed to.
“We need bait.”
Bait to draw the Head Hector and its pack’s attention, buying time for the adventurers to reach the exit.
“So that’s why you waited for us.”
That was why those who had looked down on El Pam’s party—Hasan, Rebecca, and the rest—had waited.
“More heads make better bait.”
Honestly, no one wanted to be the bait.
But someone had to be.
Better a few sacrifice than everyone die—that was the wise choice, obvious to all.
So the more candidates for sacrifice, the lower the chance any one became bait.
‘If we can threaten them if needed, even better.’
Plus, from the perspective of Hasan’s party, Rebecca’s party, and the gathered adventurers, El Pam’s party was the easiest target.
No—laughably easy.
So El Pam was certain.
‘If I refuse here, their faces will change.’
If El Pam’s party showed reluctance, they’d surely attack.
Then take El Pam’s party’s unique items and recalculate.
It wasn’t just El Pam’s party.
Everyone gathered knew.
In this lottery for bait, refusing to participate meant death awaited.
Saying they’d think about it or had no intention was pointless.
“So how do you plan to draw the bait?”
At El Pam’s question, Hasan spoke.
“We’ve prepared a lottery. After various tests, we judged at least 10 people need to stay behind. We’ll randomly draw 10 adventurers here. Fairly.”
He emphasized “fairly.”
“Then the 10 will train for a set time to sync up.”
The follow-up sounded perfectly reasonable on the surface.
No point drawing by party—that’d burden one side too much. Draw 10 fairly, then train to match skills.
“Any chance you rigged the lottery?”
But El Pam didn’t let it slide.
“Rigged?”
“Exactly. We wouldn’t know if you did, would we?”
“So you’re saying we rigged it?”
Hasan’s expression, who had been explaining, froze cold at El Pam’s words.
No one likes being suspected.
But El Pam didn’t back down.
“Then if I suggest doing the lottery my way, would you go along with it willingly?”
Hasan didn’t say “sure” to El Pam’s follow-up.
He suspected El Pam of rigging too.
Naturally, the atmosphere turned tense and hostile.
“So you don’t want to join the lottery?”
They wouldn’t tolerate refusing the lottery for victims.
That was the agreement among those who reached the third floor.
If you didn’t agree, only one choice left.
“We have no intention of joining the lottery.”
“Is that so?”
To the adventurers including Hasan choosing that option, El Pam said,
“Instead, our party will be the bait.”
“What?”
“It’s a deal. We’ll be the bait.”
Not a lottery—a transaction.
“In exchange, we want 5 unique items.”