Chapter 123: A Pack of Beasts (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 123: A Pack of Beasts (3)
"Now you're all alone, you bastard."
As the momentum shifted from the prey that had been frantically fleeing, Teki warily scanned its surroundings.
It certainly seemed to have accumulated plenty of combat experience.
If that's the case, you should have used that advantage to strike us. Why bother using that tiny brain of yours to block the entrance?
"Kyahahahaha! Burn! Burn it all! More! More! Scream for me!"
Anna’s voice, currently in her demonized state, crackled excitedly over the comms.
She was executing Plan B: using flame bullets to isolate the sectors and incinerate the interior. Anna wasn't exactly a master of magic, but her raw stats were so high that blowing a gale of mana inward was no problem for her.
While two members were tasked with spreading the flames and dealing with any monsters trying to escape, the other two rushed toward my position.
I cast Acceleration on the girls as they leaped through the trees into my line of sight and spoke into the comms.
"I've set Acceleration to one minute."
"Going full throttle from the start? Okay, Master!"
"Understood."
I had shortened the duration of the Acceleration magic to one minute. Since there’s a limit to how much mana a single bullet can hold, I have to balance potency against duration. By shortening the time and increasing the effect, my own support capabilities drop because I have to focus on maintaining the haste.
In exchange, my girls can go absolutely wild.
"Drop dead, you mangy cat!"
Kwon Ye-jin dove inside, dodging the whipping tentacles, and slammed her shield down onto Teki's forepaw.
The beast let out a pained howl and yanked its paw back before thrusting it forward again as if trying to squash a mouse. Ye-jin braced herself behind her shield, holding her ground, and thrust her sword into the sole of its foot.
Meanwhile, Yoon A-young gathered her mana, conjured a massive ice pillar, and hurled it.
Crash!
The pillar shattered in mid-air against a tentacle, but A-young didn't stop. She manipulated the shards of ice, raining them down in a relentless barrage.
"Kiyaaaa!"
Struck in the flank, Teki let out a piercing shriek. It lashed its tentacles in every direction and began stomping frantically toward Ye-jin.
Bang! Bang!
I fired toward Ye-jin, visible between the beast's legs, granting her healing magic and a strength buff while simultaneously creating a sheet of ice near the creature's feet.
Cryomancy isn't a common ability, but Teki must have encountered it before; it quickly repositioned itself. Ye-jin wiped the blood from her nose with the back of her hand and charged back in.
"Where do you think you're going, you damn cat!"
As Ye-jin lunged forward, parrying a tentacle strike that looked powerful enough to level a building, Teki’s gaze locked onto her.
Seizing the opening, Yoon A-young leaped in from behind and slashed at its tail.
She didn't sever it completely, but blood sprayed from the deep wound. Startled, Teki leaped into the air and swung a forepaw at her.
"Tch!"
The beast's change in direction was too fast. Realizing she couldn't dodge, A-young braced her arm against her sword to defend.
Bang—!
A bullet struck the beast's rump, and a mass of tentacles erupted from the impact point, trapping Yoon A-young inside a lattice-like sphere.
The sphere took the hit from the forepaw and went flying into the distance. Thanks to the sphere absorbing the impact, A-young wasn't seriously injured. She thanked me over the comms and said she would rejoin the fight shortly.
With Ye-jin left to hold off Teki alone, I drew Astra and joined the fray as an attacker.
Dodging the onslaught of paws, tail, and tentacles raining down from all sides, I aimed for the wound on its tail.
Pang!
It was a difficult target. After several shots, a flame bullet finally detonated inside the wound, and the fire took hold.
Writhing in agony, Teki rolled its massive body across the ground. The sheer scale of the movement was a threat in itself, forcing Ye-jin and me to retreat in opposite directions.
Teki scrambled back to its feet, its ferocious eyes fixed on me.
It’s really pissed off now.
As Teki bared its savage fangs and took a stance to charge at me, Kwon Ye-jin sprinted over like a madwoman and grabbed its tail.
"You're not going anywhere, you bastard!"
The beast lashed out with its tentacles as if swatting an annoying fly, but Ye-jin tucked the tail under her arm and raised her shield to block the strikes.
"Keep holding it!"
Yoon A-young, having leaped up into the trees, looked down with cold eyes and raised her sword high.
Her blade, reinforced with ice, had transformed into a massive greatsword. She swung it down with everything she had.
"Kiyaaaaaaaa!"
As A-young severed the tail in a single stroke, Teki thrashed in agony, flailing its tentacles wildly.
Ye-jin stepped in front of the vulnerable A-young to block the attacks. The severed tail lay on the ground, twitching violently like a giant earthworm.
"Target's maneuverability decreased. Hero Lee Yu-na and Anna have completed 80% of the incineration task."
With its tail gone, it was no longer possible for the beast to move with its previous agility.
We reformed our formation to face Teki again. Even without its tail, its destructive power hadn't diminished, and as time passed, fatigue began to set in—for us, at least.
I kept the healing magic flowing, but Ye-jin’s costume, caked in dust and blood, was turning into rags. Her shield was so badly dented that it would probably be better to replace it entirely rather than try to fix it.
"Can you keep going?"
"I can do this all day, Master."
Oh, you know the Captain? Does that exist here too?
If it did, the hero would definitely be a woman. The thought of a "dynamite body" in a skin-tight suit made me really want to see her.
Well, that would have to wait until after we killed this thing.
Despite the blood staining its rear like a bad case of hemorrhoids, Teki didn't seem tired at all. It bared its teeth, preparing to attack again.
"I'm buffing the shield."
With a ting, a bullet ricocheted off the shield, manifesting a magic circle that erupted into flames.
Ye-jin, now wielding a magnificent shield of fire, swung it a few times, marveling at the fact that it wasn't hot to the touch. She glared at Teki with a confident smirk.
"Today, we're having roasted tiger."
"I heard carnivores don't taste very good," Yoon A-young chimed in, dragging her sword as she approached the beast.
They’d been getting battered aside from severing the tail, so I was glad to see their fighting spirit hadn't wavered.
Calculating my remaining ammo, I continued to provide buffs and participate in the battle.
In the heat of the chaotic fight, a tentacle grazed Yoon A-young, sending her airborne.
"How dare you!"
Sensing an opportunity, Teki lunged forward with its massive maw agape, but Ye-jin intercepted it, raising her shield.
The moment she slammed the shield right into Teki’s snout, I triggered the magic.
The flames enveloping the shield flared up, forming a massive wall of fire. Startled by the inferno right in its face, Teki jerked its head away.
Yoon A-young, trusting that Ye-jin would protect her, had been gathering mana the moment she was knocked into the air. As Teki turned its head, she conjured ice pillars from the ground.
Cr-crack!
With the sound of splitting stone, the ground froze, and jagged ice spikes erupted. Teki, reacting quickly based on its previous patterns, scrambled backward.
"Welcome~!"
The demonized Anna leaped into the air with a wicked grin and slammed her fist into the back of the defenseless Teki’s head.
K-boom!
Teki’s head was driven into the dirt amidst a massive cloud of dust. Demon Anna began pummeling it repeatedly, screaming at the top of her lungs.
"You arrogant piece of shit! How dare you attack Yeon-woo-chan?! Die! Die! Die!"
"Anna, rejoin the formation. Releasing Lee Yu-na’s Guardian Spirit. 3, 2, 1."
The moment Yu-na’s Guardian Spirit was released, I cast an Acceleration buff on her. Anna joined Ye-jin to handle the thrashing Teki.
Arrows flew from the bushes, embedding themselves in Teki’s flank, while the combined firepower of A-young and Anna pinned the beast down.
I focused my support on the exhausted A-young and Ye-jin, while providing continuous assistance to all party members.
Because of the short duration I’d set, I had to fire so rapidly that my pistol overheated, forcing me to switch to Astra to continue my support.
After a battle several times more grueling than our simulations, we finally succeeded in bringing Teki down.
"Huff... huff... Drop dead... you shitty cat."
Ye-jin, covered in wounds and staring down at the dying, gasping Teki, delivered the finishing blow by driving her sword into its crown.
As she slumped down beside the beast, her sword still embedded in its skull, an arrow flew in to confirm the kill.
"Yeon-woo-chan, huff... huff... I did good, right?"
"You did great."
I patted the head of the demonized Anna, who was panting and clutching her side. She looked uncharacteristically shy and happy.
"No more monsters detected in the 'Eyes in the Bushes' dungeon. All monsters in the isolation zone eliminated. Teki destroyed. Conquest complete. Good work, everyone."
Hearing Ryu Ji-hye’s words of encouragement, we all collapsed in a heap to rest.
Harvesting materials could wait; we were so exhausted that we wouldn't be able to move if we didn't take a break.
"Are you out of mana?"
"Yeah. I should have brought Elly."
I’d left her at the clan house because it was dangerous, but I was regretting it now. The "Sex Fairy," having befriended the high-ranking heroes she could see, seemed quite comfortable at the clan house and wandered around just fine even when I wasn't there.
Yoon A-young, looking at my pale face with concern, tilted her head.
"Why didn't you bring her?"
"Because it's dangerous. If I brought her to a place like this, wouldn't she get eaten in one bite?"
"Huh?"
Huh?
When I didn't understand A-young's reaction and just stared at her, the other party members stared back at me blankly.
Did I say something wrong?
"Uh... Yeon-woo? Did you not know that monsters don't pay attention to Errors?"
"...Really?"
"Yes. There are many hypotheses, but the most accepted one is that they mistake them for fellow monsters."
Nobody told me that!
That damn Sex Fairy. No wonder she had such an ambiguous expression when I told her to stay and rest at the clan house because it was dangerous.
I thought she was disappointed, but she was just testing the waters because she realized I didn't know.
I'm out here suffering like this, and she's back at the clan house playing around? I'm not letting this slide. If I’d had my mana power bank, I wouldn't have struggled this much.
"Master~ stroke my head too."
As I was stroking Anna’s head while she rested on my lap, Kwon Ye-jin crawled over and lay down on my other thigh.
As I stroked her purple hair, Yoon A-young and Lee Yu-na watched intently.
"I'll do it for you too if you want."
"I'm fine."
"Hehe, I'm okay too. Do it for me later."
It was a relief to have two who acted spoiled without hesitation and two who were more reserved. I only have two hands, after all.
It had been a while since we’d fought such a desperate battle.
Teki itself wasn't overwhelmingly strong; it was within the expected range. An evolving A-type or a B-type with two or more bosses would have been much harder.
However, we had consumed too much mana clearing out the other monsters before the boss fight. I was exhausted from creating hundreds of flame bullets and providing support in one-minute increments, and the other party members were drained from the preliminary work and executing the strategy.
Since A-young, Ye-jin, and I had been the ones holding Teki down, those two must have been even more exhausted.
Despite that, no one died, and no one took a critical hit.
Black Unicorn is stronger than I thought.
I couldn't help but feel a sense of pride.
After resting sufficiently, we began harvesting materials. We’d fought so messily that the hide was too damaged to be worth much. All the support equipment we’d left at the entrance was smashed to pieces; no matter how I looked at it, we were in the red.
Lee Ru-da isn't the type of person to be petty about things like this, but I still felt a bit self-conscious.
"Oh? Leader, look at this."
While we were processing the boss's corpse, Anna found something and called me over.
"Wow! A treasure chest! It's my first time seeing a treasure chest!"
"They aren't common. It's my first time too," Ye-jin added.
Just as she said, a treasure chest the size of a person was sitting right there. There had definitely been nothing there before—where did it come from?
They didn't exist in my previous world, but here, clearing a dungeon occasionally rewards you with items. Like a game reward.
They say the items usually reflect the boss's abilities. It was fascinating.
"Can I open it?"
Ye-jin’s eyes were already sparkling as if she were about to open it anyway, so it was hard to say no.
"Sure. We'll probably keep finding them as we clear dungeons, so let's take turns opening them."
"True. At the speed Black Unicorn clears dungeons, we'll probably see one or two a year."
Others might struggle to see one even once every three or four years, but since we clear dungeons at a frantic pace, our completion count is on another level. Having climbed rapidly to C-7, we clear significantly more than other parties.
Giddy as a child opening a Christmas present, Ye-jin opened the chest, unable to hide her excitement.
"Huh? A bracelet?"
Inside the large chest sat a solitary, humble bracelet. It was adorned with a few fangs from a wolf-like animal and strung together with a worn cord. It didn't look expensive at all.
"We'll have to get it appraised to know for sure," Lee Yu-na said, and everyone nodded in agreement.
After all that hard work, I hoped it was a decent item.