< Being Drawn (2) >
The magic beast was crouched over like a boulder. There weren’t any proper things to eat around here. Rather than hot blood and flesh, it was only drawn toward magic stones, so this guy chose to fall asleep instead of wasting its energy.
After several months of that, finally things suitable to eat appeared. They weren’t satisfying, but they were enough to fill its hunger, so the magic beast slowly opened its eyes. Just when the hardened body was slowly regaining vigor.
-Geureureureu.
The guy who felt something let out a satisfied growl. New prey was sensed. And it was a magic stone that was concentrated in thick mana, incomparable to the trivial prey that was spread around the surroundings. Usually, if it was an opponent with that level of magic stone, this guy would downgrade to prey instead, but this time was different.
It was an appetizing, yet absurdly weak prey.
The magic beast couldn’t hide it’s excitement as it bared its teeth.
***
Dungeon breaks continued stage by stage. Monsters didn’t pour out at once, and appeared in order according to floors and types. But the order was random, so the last floor or the boss monster sometimes appeared first.
The residential area was quiet. All lights were off. The evacuation had occured swiftly, and there were no sounds or lights that would stimulate monsters. Instead.
Pung, puung!
Explosion sounds and lights kept on bursting inside of the barricade. I didn’t know which Hunter had gone amidst the swarming monsters, but I hoped they would be safe. That they would luckily be an A-Rank who had been nearby.
“Red Pix Bee, between A~B, and it seems like the proportion of B-Ranks is higher.”
Several bees about the size of large wolves, that had been scattered around the perimeter, came toward us. They rushed over in an instant while leading with their spear-like rear stingers but,
Kwadeuk.
Song Taewon’s hand grabbed the bee stingers, and snapped and broke them just like that. At nearly the same time, the other hand ripped the wings while twisting the segmented bodies and throwing them.
Puk!
The bee that was powerfully thrown crashed against its companion and the two exploded together. Then, the broken bee stinger also flew over like a shot and pieced another bee. He didn’t use any particular skill or weapon, and yet crashed three to the ground in an instant.
His lower body barely moved. He easily handled monsters that would cut and pierce and melt down a low rank Hunter, as if they were a joke.
“Just looking at the normal monsters’ ranks, it does seem like an A-Rank dungeon break.”
I continued, while looking at the swarm of bees gathered like a cloud with thin eyes.
“In terms of numbers, it seems like it would be at least mid grade to possibly high grade. I do not know if it is 1 floor or 2 floors, but the boss should be the queen bee. And it should appear with many drones. This probably was a dungeon where the honey and hive were the main source of profit. They are expensive materials, you see. If we trace it back, we will be able to find the dungeon’s owner.”
Not of a lot of the supply would have come out. They burst open quite a precious thing. It was a dungeon that could quickly compensate the amount of damage if it was safely handled and the burst gate was restored.
“Then the skill-”
[The other person has refused.]
I was seeing it again, this message. Song Taewon had refused the skill sharing. He opened his mouth curtly.
“It is not necessary in the current situation.”
That wasn’t wrong, but if you were a normal high rank Hunter, or even if you were just an ordinary person, you would accept it if someone said they would make your power stronger, even if just for curiosity. Wondering how much of a stronger effect your skill would display… this person had no reason to do that.
“Still, please accept this. Don’t you not have a flight skill?”
And we didn’t know when a Hunter who could put a flight skill on him would come. I put the Teacher skill on Noah and Song Taewon. At the same time, I felt a slight resistance from Song Taewon. His presence was less compared to Sung Hyunjae, but the burden rather felt bigger. Maybe he didn’t like accepting the sensation sharing at all, because it seemed like he had an unconscious repulsion.
“Noah-ssi, I will leave it to you.”
-Yes. It will be fast if I use poison, though.
That was true, but they were poisonous bugs and flight type of all things, so if they didn’t immediately die while poisoned and ran away to the residential places, it would be a great disaster. I asked him again to definitely not use it unless it was really dangerous.
Noah, who had been going around the perimeter, turned his body. Song Taewon took out a dagger and drew his arm back as if pulling on a bowstring. Strength firmly went into the arm’s muscles. They bulged like they would rip his clothes, and then he threw the dagger toward the swarm of bees.
Kwajeujeuk-
The dagger, wrapped in a faint blue light, swept away several dozens of bees in a straight line. It was as if he had shot a laser beam from an SF movie. The dagger that had pierced and ripped through the bees, broke and embedded into a sharp insect’s jaw and stopped.
Hoodeudeuk, the corpses fell down like a swarm of mosquitoes that was hit with insecticide. In the meantime, Noah had arrived close to the swarm of bees.
-Ooooong.
A choir-like humming met my ears. Staring at the bee swarm that had gathered in an instant, Song Taewon lightly bent his knees.
“I will go.”
And then, tuung, he kicked off powerfully from Noah’s back and dove into the bee swarm. The bees were torn apart like dried leaves being swept away in a typhoon, even with merely being hit. Just a while ago and now too, it would be an extremely unrealistic sight to an ordinary person’s eyes.
-Yoojin-ssi, I will catch you!
Noah turned around. Two scaled arms reverently caught and wrapped around me, who hadn’t tried to withstand the force and had just fallen off. Then, the wings spread straight out and cut through the group of bees with a frightening speed.
Kwajik, koodeudeuk.
Each time they were caught on Noah’s wings, the mottled red bodies were chopped into pieces. They tried to bite with their jaws and sting with their stingers, but it was impossible for A~B-Rank poisonous bug types, which were also physically weak relative to their rank, to pierce an S-Rank dragon’s scales.
Both Noah and Song Taewon were incredible weapons even with just their bodies. The bee swarms that almost looked frail in comparison, fell down without stopping.
The gold wings bent sharply as he changed direction. Song Taewon landed accurately on the back of the dragon who had dropped down and then shot up. And then he jumped up again. He trampled on the bees, popping them, and surged up, wedging into the middle of the greatly angered bee swarm that had clumped together, and then a round wave-line was drawn around him.
Googeugeugeuk-
Along with a heavy ringing, the bees in about a ten meter radius were cut up in an instant. Again, Noah quickly flew over to Song Taewon, who had lost a place to step down on. Thanks to the Teacher skill, they meshed well together.
‘…I feel like I’m going to die.’
And I was motion sick. So the damage nullification item blocked the gravitational load from high speed movement, but it couldn’t block motion sickness, huh. Though that was obvious.
-Are you alright, Yoojin-ssi?
“…It is before I ate dinner, so I am alright.”
Even if I retched, only gastric fluid came out, so that at least was a relief. Next time, I should take motion sickness medicine ahead of time. …Would it not work because of the poison resistance? Please develop motion sickness medicine that doesn’t cause the poison resistance effect.
Even in the middle of that, the huge mass of bees quickly decreased. Them running away past the barricade was the most worrying since they were flight type, but somehow, I didn’t see any guys that left the swarm. Was the camaraderie strong?
-It feels like the bees keep on following me.
Noah said, swinging his tail and crushing the bees. Was that so, urgh.
Just then, the gate that was in a distorted form let out light. It looked like the boss was going to come out.
As soon as I thought that, giant bees appeared from past the gate. Drones that looked about double the size of a bear and had hard armor-like shells[1]. In between them was the queen bee, who was covered in sharp poisonous thorns all over its body.
I quickly used the Seed-Leaf skill. They were all A-Rank. Among them, one of the queen bee’s skill stood out. Colony’s Trust, S-Rank. Even just glancing at it, I could tell it was a buff skill for many targets.
“The queen bee has a communal buff skill; please take care of it first! In addition, those guys cannot fly.”
Song Taewon used the few remaining bees as a foothold and jumped up. Arriving at above the queen bee, he just fell straight down.
Kwagwagwang!
Beneath the force that completely crushed and broke both the poisonous thorns and the red shell, a huge hole formed in the queen bee’s body. Even if he was an S-Rank Hunter, there should be slight damage from the poisonous thorns if it was his bare body, but there wasn’t a single graze.
Before hitting the queen bee, there was a protective effect from a black shadow that appeared faintly. Should I say that it absorbed the opponent’s skill?
‘Is it a damage nullification skill?’
There was hardly anything that was known about Song Taewon’s skills. It was because he obviously didn’t participate in the ranking competitions, and he didn’t even appear in Hunter-related programs outside of official business. Though it was certain that he was combat type.
-Gooooong.
The drones shook their small wings that couldn’t lift their bodies, at the sight of the queen bee being horrifically ripped up in an instant. What answered them was the queen bee’s poisonous thorns. The tip of Song Taewon’s foot swept up the poisonous thorns that had broken off and fallen to the ground. In a smooth continuing motion, he kicked the thorns that had gone up into the air in a row and sent them flying out.
Puk, kwadeuk-
The drones who were hit by several thorns collapsed, and the remaining guys lunged toward the relatively smaller human.
Song Taewon would be able to handle them even on his own, but Noah also went down for now. When he did, the dozen remaining bees chased after Noah.
“They really are following after?”
Why were they? Was it because they were similarly flight types? Placing me down, Noah turned toward the bees racing over.
-Please wait a moment. I will handle them quickly.
The widely spread wings flapped powerfully. At the rough wind, the bees couldn’t control their bodies with their thin wings and rolled over. Noah, who had cleverly manipulated the bees with the wind he raised and driven them to one place, swung his claws toward the prepared prey.
Maybe he had thought they might come over to my side, because he had neatly gathered them and took care of them in one go. He had gotten a lot more skilled at fighting in his dragon form, huh.
Just then, one of the drones abruptly raced over here. It stretched out its sharp hooked front legs toward, not Noah, but precisely me.
-Where do you dare to!
Along with a fierce growl, the long golden tail swung like a whip. The hook that had come right to my nose was crushed and a sharp claw pierced the bee’s head. The shell that was thicker than iron armor ripped like a piece of paper.
While stepping on the trembling drone that only had three[2] legs left, Noah looked at me.
-Are you alright?
“Yes, but……”
Why was it leaving Song Taewon, who had slaughtered the queen bee, and lunging at me? To take care of me first because I was weak? Noah, who had completely killed the drone, stuck close to my side. The light colored eyes became round as if to relax me. Just when one wing spread out as if to protect me,
Kadeudeuk!
-Urgh!
Blood splattered. A giant beast, which had abruptly jumped out, clawed Noah’s chest as if tearing him apart, and then it firmly bit my body and raised it. I faintly saw the golden dragon tumbling over while spraying blood.
“Noah-ssi! Ugh.”
The sawtooth-like teeth couldn’t pierce my clothes, much less my skin, but there was no way to get out of that muzzle. The unidentifiable beast made a big jump while biting onto me and went a long distance in one breath. The moment I thought that this was a bit troublesome, staring at the fear resistance message that came up in front of my eyes.
-Keng! Kehhng![3]
The beast let out a horrible scream and tumbled. Spit out from its mouth, I also rolled on the ground. My skin was chafed by the asphalt and a little bit of blood appeared. Was this amount of impact not enough to be nullified? This shouldn’t be caught by Yoohyun, so I should use a potion.
‘So he used Soundless Scream, huh.’
Noah’s skill that sent double of his injury’s pain to his opponent. Raising my body, I used Seed-Leaf toward the beast, a giant wolf, that was writhing in pain.
[1st Rank Lycanthrope – King of the Black Boulder
Current Stat Rank S
Possible Awakening Stat Rank S
Optimized Initial Skills
Black Boulder Fur[4](SS) Acquired
Severing Claw(S) Acquired
Giganticize(A) Acquired]
‘…I mean, why is this guy coming out now?’
It definitely appeared more than one year later. It was a monster that abruptly intruded while an undiscovered B-Rank dungeon that had burst open around here was being handled. The memory of the handling team composed of A~B-Ranks being massacred as a group thanks to that was still fresh.
‘Was it drawn to the A-Rank dungeon bursting open, and came out?’
Nicknamed ‘Voracious Wolf’. It was an S-Rank monster that was so fast and tough that it wasn’t an easy attack target, but thanks to it being easy to lead because it went crazy at the sight of high rank magic stones and tried to eat them, the damage was less.
But why was that bastard that didn’t have any particular interest in a weak human, toward innocent me-
-Keureureung!
Even while drooling from the pain, the wolf raised its body again. The fierce[5] eyes seemed like they were actually burning. The rabies-infected son of a bitch immediately pounced on me. The front paws pressed down on my legs and the tip of the son of a bitch’s nose touched my chest, specifically around my heart.
At that moment, there was something that came to mind.
‘The dragon human type’s magic stone!’
Could it have felt that an SS-Rank magic stone was stuck in my chest? Damn. On top of that, it was mixed with Diarma’s magic stone, which was cracked but would be at minimum L-Rank.
‘To think that it’s an F-Rank with an over SS-Rank magic stone……’
It was a disgustingly appetizing yet easy-to-take feast. I understand you going crazy, you son of a bitch. Had the bees also been aiming for the magic stones and chasing after us? Crap, I hadn’t even dreamed that there would be this kind of side effect. And this wasn’t in the memories either. Though Diarma, that bastard, would’ve stuck in magic stones weaker than himself, so he definitely wouldn’t have gone through something like this.
-Geureureu.
The frighteningly sharp canines scraped my chest, but there was no use. Unluckily, only the clothes were ripped from being caught on the claws. Still, the hot breath, the falling spit, and the gaze like it was looking at a type of nut that was hard to crack and eat, felt dirty, but soon, without having to endure it long.
Puuk!
-Keureuk!
The son of a bitch was powerfully kicked and pushed to the side. Then, Song Taewon’s hand grabbed my arm and raised me up in one breath. His gaze quickly scanned my body.
“I am fine. What about Noah-ssi?”
“He is safe. I left the gate side to him.”
Only one floor had come out as of yet, so a person to block the gate was needed. The wolf that looked like it didn’t receive a particular blow, unlike the bees that had burst in one go, glared at Song Taewon as it bristled its fur. The black fur hardened as it turned a dull color.
“That is an SS-Rank skill, so normally, you will not be able to pierce it. This time, you should not refuse.”
Song Taewon firmly pulled and gripped my body instead of answering. The skill was shared, and wolf who was disturbed from its meal howled fiercely.
[1] it’s the word for ‘skin’ or ‘covering’ or whatever. Idk the anatomy of insects so I’m using shell bc I don’t think you say bees… have skin?? Do they have exoskeleton? Anyways yeah.
[2] yeah I know bees have 6 legs but it says three here, unless noah somehow cut off three instead of one. Or maybe these monster bees only have four legs…
[3] this is the krn onomatopoeia for a dog or similar animal barking fiercely, but I thought it would sound weird to tl it as ‘bark’… The second part is just an elongated vers of the first, but I thought that if I left it as multiple ‘e’s it would seem like it’s pronounced ‘ee’ (like ‘seem’)
[4] 흑암모: not sure, but 흑(黒) means black and one of the hanja for 암 is 巖/boulder, so considering the name of the monster, I’m assuming that’s what the name is referring to. Given context, I think 모 is 毛/hair/fur.
[5] lit. ‘deep blue’ but it’s also used to metaphorically mean ‘fierce’ or ‘sharp’ and given context, I thought the metaphorical meaning was more likely, but I guess it could be either or both