Kamida!!!
I let out a triumphant cheer as I sprinted back toward my group after my spectacular victory.
"Kids! I won!"
"Shinwoo!"
"Young Master!"
"Husband!"
My companions were all waiting with their arms spread wide. Then, in perfect unison, they unleashed their fury.
"You crazy bastard! Who the hell told you to use yourself as a goddamn suicide bomb?!"
"You're bleeding all over the place, yet you're grinning like an idiot! What exactly do you think you've accomplished?!"
"Still, at least it's better than a shih tzu. A golden retriever is way superior!"
"...Hey, when you say stuff like that it suddenly sounds weird as hell."
They all attacked my back with one heart and one mind. Thanks to their barrage, the wound on my side burst open again, but their merciless assault showed no signs of stopping. Just when the beating finally let up, someone suddenly shoved a potion right in front of my face. It was the escort elf.
"Oh, thanks."
"What are you talking about?"
The escort elf shook the potion in front of my eyes, then held out his other hand, palm up.
"Pay up. Money."
'This son of a bitch. I'm in so much pain I could actually kill him.'
[What are you going to do if you don't have any money?]
What else? The answer was obvious: on-site payment.
I walked over to the still-unconscious Fabian and started rummaging through his body. After a few attempts, I found a slightly heavy wallet. The elves who had been watching immediately started throwing the food they were eating at me while hurling insults.
'Oh. This is delicious.'
[This isn't a safari, damn it!!!]
Like a bear snatching food, I agilely caught every piece that flew my way. I dodged the actual trash while catching and eating every edible item, pulling off a perfect full combo like it was a rhythm game. After finishing my dessert, I walked back to the escort elf and shook the wallet. Only then did he hand over the potion.
The moment I took it, I immediately hurled the wallet as far as I could.
"Fetch!!!!"
"What the hell are you doing!!!!!!"
While the escort elf ran off to retrieve the wallet, I smeared the potion evenly over my wounds. A stinging sensation spread across my skin as the injuries slowly began to heal. Exactly half of them.
'Ah. This bastard watered down the potion.'
[You're being awfully chatty while getting treatment with someone else's money.]
I beat the shit out of the escort elf when he returned with the wallet, stole the rest of the potions, and finished healing my wounds.
While I was taking care of myself, Demianer—commonly known as Demian—had already taken his position in the arena. The moment Hye-ji stepped onto the dueling ground, the majority of the watching elves began booing loudly.
"Lord Demianer! Just finish off that pathetic weakling female already!"
"What female? She doesn't even have breasts!"
"Isn't that what they call 'the comfort of absolute flatness'?"
"Even the shortest punch is still one inch. How can her chest be zero inches?"
"Look at her getting all worked up! Trash♡. Idiot♡. Worthless♡. What are you gonna do about those breasts? What are you gonna do?"
As Hye-ji's expression grew darker, the watching elves only grew more excited, giggling and taunting her even harder. In perfect inverse proportion to their rising energy, Demian's face was rotting at record speed.
Demian cautiously spoke to Hye-ji, whose eyes were as deep and dark as an abyss. However—
"I apologize on their behalf. They simply don't know any better."
"Die."
Unfortunately, the conversation didn't continue.
With a look of resignation, Demian squeezed his eyes shut and gripped his axe with trembling hands. Without any particular signal, the duel began the moment Demian charged at Hye-ji.
While Demian rushed forward, Hye-ji simply stomped her foot in place. That alone caused countless gatling turrets to materialize beside her, all with their barrels aimed directly at Demian.
"Get lost."
- Ratatatatatatatata!!!!!!
At Hye-ji's single command, the gatling barrels spun wildly, unleashing a storm of bullets. The projectiles slammed into Demian, but—
- Ting!
"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!"
"Oh."
The bullets were bouncing right off his body. Countless rounds hammered against him nonstop, producing a constant ringing sound like a small bell. The more he was hit, the louder Demian screamed as he closed the distance between them.
At that moment, Fabian—who had apparently regained consciousness—pointed at us from the other side and burst into loud laughter.
"Hahahahaha!!! My brother possesses a body of high-molecular-weight ultra-hardened metal that cannot be destroyed!"
"Fabian! Shut your mouth!"
Demian tried to cut him off mid-scream, but Fabian's mouth wouldn't stop.
"Your pathetic little toys won't be able to inflict even the slightest damage on him!!"
"Why the hell are you explaining everything to them!!!"
The explanation-addicted Fabian had spilled every last detail about Demian's ability. Simply put, Demian had an incredibly tough body. Looking at him now, it was obvious that ordinary guns or blades wouldn't work. However—
"Is that so?"
His opponent was simply too bad a matchup.
For the first time since the duel began, Hye-ji gave a truly menacing smile. As she watched Demian continue charging toward her, she began to manifest a weapon.
"So a mere observer isn't enough, huh?"
An anti-materiel sniper rifle. A high-powered, large-caliber weapon originally designed to destroy equipment rather than snipe people. Despite not being meant to be fired while held, Hye-ji casually lifted the massive rifle with both hands.
Aiming the barrel at Demian, she spoke quietly.
"Dodge. If you don't want to die."
- Baaaaaaaang!!!!!!!
The elves watching from behind Demian had already sensed the shift in atmosphere the moment Hye-ji smiled and had begun fleeing in advance. Meanwhile, Demian swung his double-bladed axe as if to refute her words, attempting to slice the incoming bullet in half. It was partly a performance to show off an elven hymn to monsters, but—
- Clang!
"......Huh?"
One of the blades on the double axe Demian was holding had completely shattered. He stared blankly at his lifelong companion, the weapon that had crossed countless lines of death with him, now reduced to half its former glory.
In the meantime, Hye-ji's menacing voice rang out again.
"Dodge. If you don't want to get fucked up."
"F-fuck!"
Demian dodged the continuously flying bullets in the most pathetic way possible. Still, that hellish time eventually came to an end. The sound of an empty magazine clicked.
To Demian, that was a ray of hope. His judgment was swift.
"I won't give you time to reload!"
A gun without bullets was just a chunk of scrap metal. Only with ammunition did its lethality reach its peak. And of course, spent bullets were consumables that needed replenishing.
Demian charged forward, aiming to exploit exactly that. It wasn't a bad decision. In fact, it was the best possible move.
Of course—
"Why would I need to reload?"
"What?"
"I can just make a new one."
"T-that's cheating!!!"
As I said before, if his opponent hadn't been Hye-ji, it might have worked. Hye-ji dropped the anti-materiel rifle she'd just used and instantly manifested another one. Aiming at the now-frozen Demian, she spoke in a low voice.
"Dance. Why don't you show me?"
Hye-ji's anti-materiel rifle spat fire. Demian twisted his body violently, barely dodging the bullets over and over. Then the magazine emptied again. Hye-ji created yet another rifle and targeted him. Demian once more began moving frantically to avoid the shots.
This scene repeated countless times. In the end, Demian couldn't advance even an inch. He simply stood in place, performing an intense, passionate dance. A literal dancing elf.
Watching the spectacle, we each offered our thoughts.
"Is that some kind of elven courtship dance?"
"He must've gone to the World Tree Club! He's actually pretty good!"
"At this rate, it will be Young Lady Hye-ji's overwhelming victory."
Fabian, who had been watching from behind Demian, had somehow gotten much closer. As he watched his brother desperately dodging Hye-ji's fierce barrage, Fabian shed tears and muttered.
"How pitiful, brother."
The moment he heard those words, Demian suddenly pulled a small bottle from his waist and quickly swallowed its contents. After dodging another of Hye-ji's attacks, he—perhaps under the influence of the drug—suddenly charged straight at her head-on. To anyone watching, it looked like a desperate kamikaze attack, but—
- Ting!!!!!
"It huuuuuuuuuuurts!!!!"
"Oh."
For the first time, a bullet from the anti-materiel rifle actually bounced off. Of course, the impact was clearly no joke—Demian let out a painful groan. But instead of dodging like before, he now charged forward while taking every hit head-on.
Watching this, I recalled what the bald-eared bastard Lucian had said before.
'I think their tribe are basically druggies, right?'
[It appears to be a doping drug that boosts his abilities.]
Hye-ji stopped manifesting new anti-materiel rifles. She simply stood still, waiting for Demian to get close. The moment Hye-ji entered his range, Demian raised the one-bladed axe high above his head and brought it down with all his might.
"Die, you monster!!!!!!"
The Defensive Coat Hye-ji was wearing deflected Demian's attack, pushing him back slightly. However, that single strike completely depleted the coat's defensive capabilities. It must have been an incredibly powerful blow.
A single bead of cold sweat trickled down the side of Hye-ji's face. Seeing this, Demian's previously cowering demeanor vanished. He shouted triumphantly.
"So even you are afraid of me, the one ranked first among all elf great warriors!"
"Afraid? Me?"
"You froze in place because you were scared, didn't you!"
"Ah, this?"
"Yes! But don't be ashamed! It's not that you're weak—it's that I am strong."
Demian pointed his axe at Hye-ji and laughed viciously. In response, Hye-ji lowered her head, her smile growing even more terrifying than before. She began to laugh.
"Hehehehe."
Demian, startled by her appearance, stammered.
"W-what is it?!"
"Hehehehe. Why was I standing still...? It's because even this is pretty hard for me to hold back."
Hye-ji lifted her left foot and stomped down hard. In that instant, countless missile launchers loaded with missiles materialized on both sides of her. The types of missiles on her right and left were different, but both looked extremely dangerous.
"W-what is that...?"
"You've gotten a bit tougher, haven't you?"
Hye-ji looked up at Demian. With a smile so wide it looked like her mouth would split, she pointed to her right and continued.
"So I prepared a little gift just for the tougher you."
"What the hell is it?!"
"Bunker buster."
A bunker buster. A type of seismic bomb designed to strike high-fortification structures. While it had many limitations, its destructive power was so overwhelming that those limitations hardly mattered. And one of them had just materialized on Hye-ji's right side.
Demian pointed at the bunker buster and screamed at the top of his lungs.
"Don't make me laugh!! How the hell do you fire that thing from the ground?!!"
"Is the very existence of a species called elves any more believable?"
"...Hye-ji. You just shook the very foundations of this novel, you bitch."
[If we're going by that logic, the very concept of the Hunter profession itself...]
'Please just shut up. Seriously.'
When Hye-ji reached out and pointed at Demian, one of the many bunker busters fired. But Demian easily dodged it. The bunker buster sliced through the air and flew far into the distance. Demian began mocking Hye-ji with a sly grin.
"What the hell were you even aiming at?! All that effort for nothing!!"
"No, I aimed perfectly."
"Huh?"
The moment Demian showed a hint of doubt, the bunker buster that had flown far away reached its intended destination.
- Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!!!!!
"Eh?.....Eh! Ehhhh!!!!!"