[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
w
Chapter 31: Hunting (3)
— 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.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
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? We’re 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...
It’s almost as if the game had been deliberately set up to make survivors kill each other instead of monsters.
【'The Raven of the Administration Bureau' says to save the child, you must kill the others.】
【'Prince of the Investigation Bureau' urges you to make a choice since you can't have it all.】
【Many observers are eagerly awaiting a bloody massacre!】
As a result, the observers had been in an uproar for some time now.
‘Fight, kill, wipe them out!’
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, there’s 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.
──── ────
ᆞTo: Eunho Lee
ᆞFrom: Kim Jieun
ᆞFound it. 800 meters at 2 o'clock from the tower. 2175.
──── ────
The last method we had been searching for.
Rustle!
An envelope, its four edges fluttering like wings, appeared as if beckoning us to follow.
"Let’s 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?"
"It’s 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 couldn’t 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.
"That’s lucky."
"Just like you said, the area is covered in black smoke."
"It was just a hunch, but I’m glad I was right."
Ssshhhh-!
The black energy I’d 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.
"It’s definitely creepy. There’s something strange about it, right?"
I nodded in agreement.
Normally, black absorbs sunlight and feels warm, but this mysterious energy—or was it liquid?—instead cooled the body, as if draining heat away.
It carried a chilling, damp eeriness, like an ancient basement.
"Dad, I’m cold!"
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, it’s impossible to afford this self-sufficient lifestyle.
There’s not enough time.
"Has everyone earned their wages yet?"
"I’ve almost got mine!"
"We should be good by 6 o’clock, 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...
"Let’s start heading bac—"
"Daddy! Waaaaaaah!"
Yura's tearful scream echoed.
And as I looked up in shock toward the tree—
— 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 seconds...]
'Damn it...!'
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.
— 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, please... Daddy’s...!"
Hanul scrambled up the tree, shouting like a madman, clutching at branches with bare hands.
And in his line of sight—
"What do we do?! It’s—it’s flying away!"
The beast spread its wings, preparing to take off.
"No!!!"
'7 seconds, 6 seconds, 5 seconds... 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 then... now!
"Got y—"
Huh?
— Kwarrrgh!
The Sky Tiger roared.
Its maw wide open.
Claws outstretched.
"Yura is..."
"...gone?"
No one was there.
Only the Sky Tiger, glaring at me like I was a fool who dared to challenge it.
"Wh-what? Where’s Yura...?"
"Hanul! Behind you!"
— Kwarrrgh!
At that moment, the Sky Tiger lunged at Hanul from behind, its jaws stretched open.
And then...
Just as the beast's massive mouth opened wide—
Whoosh!
'Huh?'
Hanul vanished.
'He... disappeared?'
It wasn’t smoke.
It wasn’t dust.
He vanished as if deleted by the system.
— Grrrr...?
The Sky Tiger tilted its head at me, looking confused.
As if asking what had just happened.
This was like—
"...The Bermuda Triangle?"
Still bewildered, I readied myself to deal with the beast before me.
But then—
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 caster’s side.]
"Hide and Seek?!"
"What is this...?"
"Uncle! Dad! Shh!"
— Grrrrr...
The Sky Tiger, with us right under its nose, glanced around blankly, unable to detect our presence.
'It can’t sense us!'
Meanwhile, Yura casually held my hand and his dad's, swinging her arms playfully.
As if this wasn’t her first time.
'Ah! On the train, too...'
"You were hiding?"
"Hiding?"
In the narrow train car, when he avoided the Ghosts, Yura had said she was hiding.
I’d thought it was strange.
But was it because of this skill?
It finally felt like the pieces were clicking into place.
'If this works, then...'
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
w