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Chapter 31: Hunting (3)
ā Boom! Crash!
The bear collapsed, crashing into a nearby tree.
The impact caused the massive tree to sway and shed its leaves.
Flinch!
Yura, standing next to her father Hanul, jumped and clung to Hanul's leg in fright.
[You have defeated the 'Starving Fire Bear'!]
[You have gained 33 Welfare Points!]
"Yura! The points went up, right?"
"Yes!"
"How about you, Hanul?"
"Thanks to you, they're climbing steadily."
Hanul grinned as he pulled his sword out of the bear's nape and casually loaded a stone into the slingshot he had bought from the shop.
"Do you think the other team is doing well?"
"Yes, the team combination is solid."
Jieun draws the monsters' attention with telekinesis, Jaehyuk attacks, and if anyone gets hurt, Sola heals them.
"If things were dangerous, they would have contacted us, but there's been no word."
"No news is good news."
Hanul was right.
The numbers on the map showing Jieun's team's progress were steadily increasing.
But the real problem was...
"Hanul, what's Yura's current point total?"
"900 points."
"It was 500 when we first came out to hunt, right?"
That means they've only taken down about ten monsters in the past hour and a half.
"The situation doesn't look good."
"It's too slow, isn't it? Weāre not helping at all..."
"No, that's not it. I can handle the hunting alone."
The real issue is...
"There are just not enough targets."
Other targets, meaning...
Itās almost as if the game had been deliberately set up to make survivors kill each other instead of monsters.
ć'The Raven of the Administration Bureau' says to save the child, you must kill the others.ć
ć'Prince of the Investigation Bureau' urges you to make a choice since you can't have it all.ć
ćMany observers are eagerly awaiting a bloody massacre!ć
As a result, the observers had been in an uproar for some time now.
āFight, kill, wipe them out!ā
Messages flashed constantly, a sign of their frustration with the lack of action.
"What should we do, sir?"
"We can't go on like this. We need a strategy."
"A strategy... You don't mean..."
Swoosh.
Hanul raised a finger and made a slicing motion across his neck.
His face turned pale.
"...Not that."
I quickly dismissed it, worried that Yura might see.
No matter how desperate we are, I refuse to play into their hands.
Instead, thereās another option.
'The only way left is...'
I anxiously looked at the sky beyond the leaves and stared at the air before me, hoping.
Ding!
Finally, the awaited sound rang in my ears.
"I found it."
It was Jieun's message of salvation.
āāāā āāāā
ćTo: Eunho Lee
ćFrom: Kim Jieun
ćFound it. 800 meters at 2 o'clock from the tower. 2175.
āāāā āāāā
The last method we had been searching for.
Rustle!
An envelope, its four edges fluttering like wings, appeared as if beckoning us to follow.
"Letās go."
"Where?"
Hanul stopped and looked at me, puzzled.
I wasn't sure how to explain.
"To do some labor work."
"...What?"
* * *
"Eunho!"
From a distance, Jieun waved her hand among the trees.
She looked tired but wore an energetic smile.
"Hyung! Have you been well?"
"Itās only been a few hours. You're okay, right?"
"No! I got hurt, rolled around... It was a mess!"
"Mm... Sola looks worse off than you do, though."
While Jaehyuk exaggerated how he almost died, Sola, looking half-dead from overusing her skills, remained silent.
"So 2175 means..."
"Yes, Jieun. 2,175 points."
Before we split up for the hunt, I had asked Jieun to look for a place where monsters respawn endlessly.
I had wondered if her telekinesis skill might lift her body, allowing her to search from above.
The view would have stretched far beyond the forest.
But...
"Jieun, did you use your skill to find it?"
"Uh... I couldnāt do that much yet. I just found it while walking."
It seems that was still a bit too much for her.
Regardless, the result was the same, so I left it for now.
"Thatās lucky."
"Just like you said, the area is covered in black smoke."
"It was just a hunch, but Iām glad I was right."
Ssshhhh-!
The black energy Iād seen back when we fought the hulking monsters on the mountainside was nothing compared to this.
The area Jieun had found was filled with thick, dark smoke that blanketed the forest, far stronger and denser than before.
"Itās definitely creepy. Thereās something strange about it, right?"
I nodded in agreement.
Normally, black absorbs sunlight and feels warm, but this mysterious energyāor was it liquid?āinstead cooled the body, as if draining heat away.
It carried a chilling, damp eeriness, like an ancient basement.
"Dad, Iām cold!"
Yura whined, clinging to Hanul, who nervously looked around.
"I wish Yura could wait outside, but thereās no other way."
"No, no! Youāre already helping us enough."
I didnāt want to bring a five-year-old to a bloody battlefield, but there was no choice.
Points only counted if you hit the target yourselfāwhether with a slingshot or bare fists.
And if you waited too long, even those points wouldnāt count.
"Jieun! You mean this smoke doesnāt disappear even when you defeat the monsters?"
"Yes! I checked earlier."
"And it reappears if someone enters?"
"Thatās right. I couldnāt stay long because itās dangerous, but..."
A place that continuously spawns monsters like bears and tigers.
Is this the source of the mountainās disturbance?
The reason we brought everyone all the way here was...
'Until now, itās probably been generating them one at a time at a leisurely pace.'
But weāre in a bit of a bind.
Step.
I stepped into the ominous aura.
The ground rippled like black water.
ā Sssssss!
The moment I touched the dark smoke, a chill ran through me.
It felt like the kind of cold that comes from a freezer, crawling up my legs, waist, and body.
"Everyone, be careful."
Gulp.
Someone swallowed nervously.
And before they could even finish swallowing...
"Who knows where something might pop ouā"
ā KWA-AAAAAH!
It popped out.
[Defeat the Venomous Sky Tiger!]
Right next to little Yuraās head, there was the Sky Tiger.
"Yu...!"
"Accelerate! Summon!"
I blocked the beastās drooling jaws.
And then...
Slash!
I cut it down with a sword I was growing increasingly familiar with.
[You have defeated the Venomous Sky Tiger!]
[50 Welfare Points acquired!]
[Basic Swordsmanship (Lv.2) proficiency has increased!]
[+1%]
After a series of notifications, time seemed to resume its normal flow.
Tick!
"...Wooooah!"
I picked up the bewildered Yura and placed him in a high spot among the nearby wisteria vines, carefully choosing a hidden area dense with foliage.
"Itās dangerous, so stay up here and just throw rocks, okay?"
"Mm! Okay...!"
Meanwhile, the rest of the group turned to face me, each gripping their weapons tightly with tense expressions.
"Everyone, get ready!"
"Y-Yes!"
"Understood!"
[Defeat the Starving Fire Bear!]
And so, the battle began.
[Defeat the Starving Fire Bear!]
[Defeat the Starving Fire Bear!]
[Defeat the Starving Fire Bear!]
...
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Slash!
I cut one.
Swish!
I cut another.
KWA-AAAAH!
And another.
Amidst the growing pile of corpses, my senses had long since dulled.
Iād seen so much blood that red afterimages lingered in my vision.
ćAn anonymous observer smiles contentedly at your steady progress.ć
Cutting, slashing, slicing.
The sword in my hand began to feel like an extension of my body, as if Iād been born with it.
ćThe 'The Raven of the Administration Bureau' wiggles excitedly at the thrilling action.ć
'Is it because of the swordsmanship skill? Or the "Human Whetstone" title?'
Whatever the case...
In the surreal flow of battle, only the occasional interruptions from spectators and system notifications reminded me of reality.
[33 Welfare Points acquired!]
[Basic Swordsmanship (Lv.2) proficiency has increased!]
[25 Welfare Points acquired!]
[Basic Swordsmanship (Lv.2) proficiency has increased!]
[20 Welfare Points acquired!]
[Basic Swordsmanship (Lv.2) proficiency has increased!]
...
And when even those messages had grown so repetitive they barely registered...
ā Ding!
The system tried to shake things up.
[Congratulations!]
[Participant 'Lee Eunho' has fulfilled the upgrade conditions for the first time in District 13.]
[Would you like to upgrade the 'Rookie Participantās Portable Kiosk'?]
'Huh?'
[If you accept, you will receive a special reward for the first upgrade!]
[The first upgrade reward is...]
A translucent window appeared before my eyes.
...This is tempting.
"Upgrade."
Of course.
The so-called 'shop' was so full of useless junk that I suspected hidden features.
However...
[Spend 10,000 Welfare Points to upgrade the shop...]
I didnāt know it cost money.
"Cancel! Cancel!"
[The shop upgrade has been canceled.]
'What? 10,000 points?!'
No way, absolutely not.
If I want to get out of here alive in three hours, I need to submit at least 5,000 points as my daily wage.
Unless 5,000 points suddenly fell out of the sky, itās impossible to afford this self-sufficient lifestyle.
Thereās not enough time.
"Has everyone earned their wages yet?"
"Iāve almost got mine!"
"We should be good by 6 oāclock, big bro!"
PM 2:50.
Three hours before quitting time.
[A 'Safe Zone' will appear in 10 minutes.]
So...
Just when I thought things were going too smoothly...
"Letās start heading bacā"
"Daddy! Waaaaaaah!"
Yura's tearful scream echoed.
And as I looked up in shock toward the treeā
ā Kwarrrgh!
"!!"
"Y-Yura!"
Instead of Yura, who was supposed to be waiting quietly, all I could see was a massive pair of flapping, crimson wings.
[Defeat the 'Venomous Sky Tiger'!]
"Accelerate!"
[Skill on cooldown. 14 seconds, 13 seconds, 12 secondsā¦]
'Damn itā¦!'
Thud! Thud-thud-thud!
The pouch that had been clutched in Yura's tiny hands fell, spilling a cascade of stones.
"Hanul! Go up!"
Hanul and I raced up the tree.
At that moment, a horrific image flashed in my mind like a photograph.
A woman impaled through the abdomen by the Sky Tiger, dead before the project even began.
And the pile of corpses stacked next to her.
ā Tap! Tatak!
I never want to see that.
The moment a small child's life is snuffed out.
The cheerful kid running toward me, now cold and lifeless.
"Yura, pleaseā¦ Daddyāsā¦!"
Hanul scrambled up the tree, shouting like a madman, clutching at branches with bare hands.
And in his line of sightā
"What do we do?! Itāsāitās flying away!"
The beast spread its wings, preparing to take off.
"No!!!"
'7 seconds, 6 seconds, 5 secondsā¦ Please!'
3 seconds.
The beast flapped its wings, leaping into the air.
2 seconds.
Hanul suddenly grabbed its tail, throwing it off balance.
1 second.
The beast crashed into the dense branches, smashing its head.
And thenā¦ now!
"Got yā"
Huh?
ā Kwarrrgh!
The Sky Tiger roared.
Its maw wide open.
Claws outstretched.
"Yura isā¦"
"ā¦gone?"
No one was there.
Only the Sky Tiger, glaring at me like I was a fool who dared to challenge it.
"Wh-what? Whereās Yuraā¦?"
"Hanul! Behind you!"
ā Kwarrrgh!
At that moment, the Sky Tiger lunged at Hanul from behind, its jaws stretched open.
And thenā¦
Just as the beast's massive mouth opened wideā
Whoosh!
'Huh?'
Hanul vanished.
'Heā¦ disappeared?'
It wasnāt smoke.
It wasnāt dust.
He vanished as if deleted by the system.
ā Grrrrā¦?
The Sky Tiger tilted its head at me, looking confused.
As if asking what had just happened.
This was likeā
"ā¦The Bermuda Triangle?"
Still bewildered, I readied myself to deal with the beast before me.
But thenā
Clench!
A tiny, soft hand grasped mine tightly.
And then.
[You are now within the 'Hide and Seek' zone of target 'Kim Yura.']
[The skill effect will deactivate the moment you leave the casterās side.]
"Hide and Seek?!"
"What is thisā¦?"
"Uncle! Dad! Shh!"
ā Grrrrrā¦
The Sky Tiger, with us right under its nose, glanced around blankly, unable to detect our presence.
'It canāt sense us!'
Meanwhile, Yura casually held my hand and his dad's, swinging her arms playfully.
As if this wasnāt her first time.
'Ah! On the train, tooā¦'
"You were hiding?"
"Hiding?"
In the narrow train car, when he avoided the Ghosts, Yura had said she was hiding.
Iād thought it was strange.
But was it because of this skill?
It finally felt like the pieces were clicking into place.
'If this works, thenā¦'
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