The Great Beast War

I stormed straight up to Professor Marina the second I stepped out. No matter how you looked at it, that was definitely not a solo run.

Professor Marina's face hardened as she insisted there was no way that could happen. She immediately started fiddling with the machine in the corner, determined to prove she hadn't made a mistake.

A few minutes later, she came back over to me. This time her expression was noticeably sheepish.

"......The input was entered wrong."

"You said there was no problem."

"......"

"Hey."

"These things happen."

The original monster spawn input had been 10.000. As in, ten monsters. But because Professor Marina messed up the settings, the period turned into a comma and it became 10,000. A tiny difference between a decimal point and a comma. And that tiny difference created a massive problem.

In the end, the number of goblins that poured out of the dungeon I entered totaled ten thousand. An absolutely impossible number for one person to handle. Even if you charged in as a group, you couldn't confidently say you'd win easily.

If you're gonna do this, you should've sent Hye-ji in first.

Professor Marina, who had finished setting things up at some point, shoved another student into the gate. Unlike with me, she started monitoring immediately this time. What a total bitch.

I swear I'm going to burn down the entire faculty research building before this story ends.

The moment I renewed my resolve, I spotted Hye-ji coming out from far away. True to form, her kill speed was insane. I was about to ask for the epic tale of how she'd handled it when—

"What the hell were you thinking?!"

"...I just smashed everything."

Professor Marina was faster than me. She'd already run over to Hye-ji and was pointing things out. And instead of her voice getting quieter, it only grew louder. After a bit of scolding, Hye-ji walked over to me looking completely drained, the gloom still plastered all over her face.

"Hye-ji, what happened?"

"......This really doesn't suit me."

Hye-ji grumbled, clearly extremely displeased.

"What did that bitch say to you?"

"Isn't it fine to just kill them all? I wiped out every single monster like I usually do."

"Good job."

Even if she had excessive violent tendencies, that was the perfect attitude for a hunter. Hye-ji wasn't someone that professor bitch had any right to criticize.

"Then why did that professor bitch scold you?"

"She got mad because I erased the dungeon itself without leaving a single trace."

"......"

Maybe a little criticism was warranted. Preserving the dungeon was surprisingly one of the more important factors. Of course, in truly life-threatening situations, completely annihilating everything like Hye-ji did wasn't entirely wrong. Nothing was more precious than your life. But unless it was that kind of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠emergency, it was right to preserve as much as possible. There was a ton of information you could only obtain from the dungeon itself.

Things like the monsters' ecology or environmental factors, for example. That kind of information was just as important as the materials you could harvest from the monsters' bodies. Therefore, the principle was to damage the dungeon as little as possible.

"In a broad sense, hunters are basically assassins who only target mobs."

"If you kill all the witnesses too, that's just assassination."

"...Wouldn't 'massacre' be the more appropriate term?"

"Ugh, I don't know. The academy is way too rigid."

Someone plopped down next to the sulking Hye-ji. When I turned to look, it was Jung Ayeon. The smug look on her face made me want to smack her.

Hye-ji seemed to feel pretty much the same way, because she immediately started picking a fight with Jung Ayeon.

"Jung Ayeon, what's with that expression? You trying to piss me off?"

"Ahem. Lady Hye-ji, do you now understand how vast the difference in rank is between this lady and yourself? Silver Rank is not something just anyone can obtain."

Hye-ji's eyes began to freeze over. She looked ready to dunk someone at any second.

"You fucking bitch. Want me to burn you again? I'm in a really bad mood right now."

"I apologize! Please forgive me! Spare me!"

Jung Ayeon trembled and quickly slammed her forehead to the ground in front of Hye-ji. She must have learned from personal experience during the first semester midterms that acting up any further would be dangerous. As expected, people should live according to their station.

Anyway, Jung Ayeon's abilities were certainly well-suited for targeting only monsters inside a dungeon. That was when a sudden question occurred to me.

"Hey, Jung Ayeon. You cleared it by only summoning your creatures, right?"

"That is correct. Is there a problem?"

Jung Ayeon openly showed her displeasure, thinking I was disregarding her achievement. But what I was curious about was something else.

"Where did the martial artist concept go?"

"......Be quiet."

Jung Ayeon suddenly avoided my gaze. She had already lost her character setting. I started pressing her hard.

"Seeing you use auto-hunting, it looks like the same origin as the Sword of Miracles."

"Do not compare me to such idiotic things! Those bastards are insane enough to have destroyed their own history!!"

It's fine. This isn't on the K platform anyway.

If they're confident in their illegal translations, tell them to try it. They'll turn just as nice in the chapters where the Chinese people appear.

Now that I was talking about it, I actually missed those days. The days when so many Chinese people were shedding tears while supporting the independence of Uyghur, Hong Kong, and Tibet. As I neatly folded away the rising nostalgia in a corner of my heart, Jung Ayeon fiercely snapped at me.

"To begin with, pulling out firearms in a fight against a martial arts deer—how is that not cowardly!"

"Watch your mouth. Remington and the M60 are orthodox martial arts."

"Shut up!!!!!! How dare you discuss martial arts while bringing up firearms!"

"You'll admit that the deer is also orthodox martial arts, right? Wanna bet?"

"Fine."

The terms of the bet were as follows: If Jung Ayeon won, all my nonsense would be permanently blocked at the source. If I won, I'd get a free pass to make Jung Ayeon do whatever I wanted once. Piece, worried about this, urgently asked me.

Why are you making such a fuss? Even if the ratio of nonsense in my words is high, it won't go as far as discontinuation.

You fucking bastard.

But I didn't argue any further. She was right.

Before long, every student had experienced the dungeon and the gate. And then it was my turn again. This time I thought it would be fine, so I grabbed a longsword and a dagger. I entered the gate once more.

This time, the minotaurs that looked like ox-head soup from last time were there. Aside from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠one minor problem, things were okay up to this point. The minor problem being that there were a few too many monsters.

That bitch—did she only fuck up the numbers for me?

Blades came slashing down toward me. I dodged with minimal movement and stabbed my sword into the tiny gaps between them. Immediately, other blades rushed at me as if they wouldn't allow me even the slightest action.

I retrieved the longsword I'd stabbed in and used the dagger in my left hand to deflect one of the incoming blades—the most threatening one among them.

Clang!!!!

Small sparks flew from the clash of metal. They were tiny flowers made of fire. When I thrust my dagger toward that flower, the flame flower vanished. What bloomed in its place was a massive flower made of blood. The dagger had pierced a minotaur's throat, causing a spectacular fountain.

Before the neutralized minotaur could even fall to the ground, I quickly grabbed the ownerless giant blade and swung it wide. Blood flowers bloomed from the monsters that allowed my attacks. Flame flowers bloomed from the weapons of the monsters that blocked them. Overwhelmed by those two kinds of flowers, the monsters hesitated to move.

Fuck, if I could take even one of them back to reality, how great would that be.

The numbers were still high, but compared to when I fought the goblins earlier, this was practically a walk in the park. I charged in right away and steadily reduced their numbers. Slicing, stomping, leaping over, cutting. After quite a long time, I finally killed all the minotaurs and the training ended.

The first thing I did when I got back was, of course—

"You messed up the input again, didn't you?"

—to go protest to Professor Marina. There were way too many. It was absolutely not a number one person could handle.

"No? There's no problem?"

"Bullshit. You didn't monitor it again, did you? There weren't just one or two of them."

"......No."

Professor Marina suddenly avoided my eyes. It seemed I was right. While I was wondering why this damn bitch was acting like this, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

"Is this because of that time my arm burst last time? Are you throwing a tantrum because I submitted a written statement?"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"......"

They say when people have nothing to say, they resort to violence. Professor Marina suddenly swung her whip at me without a word. Since I didn't have any good way to block the incoming whip, I took it with my head.

Yep, it's that bitch.

After all the training was over, I went back to working at the cafeteria and waited for the deer. Of course, I wasn't alone. Jung Ayeon was staring with wide eyes. Hye-ji was watching with a bored expression. And Elsia was grinning from ear to ear with an excited look.

"Elsia, you didn't have to come too."

"Wherever my husband goes, his wife must follow!"

"......Put down the fried food in your hand first and then talk."

"Oh my! I picked it up without realizing!"

Elsia was smiling brightly while her hand kept reaching for the fried food. Or more accurately, her hand and mouth seemed to be moving independently of her will. When her hand brought something to her mouth, her mouth instinctively chewed. The reason I said "something" was simple—she had grabbed a napkin from beside her and immediately chewed and swallowed it.

Elsia quickly devoured another piece of fried food and showed a happy smile.

"Still, the cafeteria is such a wonderful place! To provide unlimited food like this!"

"It's mine, you bitch."

The fried food that the kitchen staff had given me to guard diligently. It was currently disappearing into Elsia's mouth at an alarming rate. Like someone who hadn't eaten for days frantically scarfing down rice.

Leave the shrimp tempura, you glutton.

Then I started feeling bad that Jung Ayeon was still waiting.

"But he might not come today. Do we really have to wait?"

"I must witness with my own two eyes that firearms can never be recognized as martial arts."

"Shinwoo, it doesn't have to be that way. Look over there."

"Oh, you're right. That guy from last time came again."

Where Hye-ji pointed, the martial arts deer from before had appeared. He was leading a huge herd of deer. The reason I could immediately tell it was the martial arts deer was simple. That deer also had a number floating above its head.

Now Jung Ayeon spoke to me in a slightly worried tone.

"...Young master, the numbers seem far too many. Will you be alright?"

"Don't worry. I have something prepared too."

I took a deep breath, cleared my throat, and shouted loudly.

"Mountain View University, assemble!!!!!"

But nothing happened. Only an awkward silence existed.

These bastards...

My companions started looking at me with two kinds of gazes. Pity. And disappointment. Of course, even then Elsia didn't stop her hands and mouth.

I told you to leave the shrimp tempura, you damn glutton.

Unable to endure the looks from my companions, I finally pulled out my cheat key. I cleared my throat once more and shouted even louder than before.

"Mountain Avengers!!!!!!!!!!"

The looks in my companions' eyes now held more disappointment than pity. But that disappointment quickly changed into shock. Because at some point when no one had noticed, a single eagle had appeared on my left.

"Shinwoo!! There's an eagle next to you! An eagle!!"

"Young master! Be careful!"

"Don't worry. He's my comrade."

"Husband! Mmph mmph!"

"Swallow first and then talk, please."

Starting with that, countless animals had gathered around me before I knew it. I slowly started walking out of the cafeteria with the animals. When the distance to the deer herd wasn't much left, without anyone saying anything, as if by agreement, we all stopped at the same time.

In the quiet standoff. In that windless moment. Amidst the tension that felt like it would explode. I spoke clearly, though quietly.

"Assemble."

With those words, we all charged toward the deer herd at once. The deer herd began running toward us in response. And so, the curtain rose on the epic of the Great Beast War.