205 Gaze (3)
Translated by: Ddomigan
Pa-ng!
The flaps of its agile wings sent masses of air backwards. True to the skill name, the golden Griffin swept across the sky and pierced through the clouds like a golden arrow.
“Blue, you’re the best!”
– Kkyaaoo!
No amusement rides could compare to this exhilarating speed and extreme maneuvers. Ordinary people might not be able to endure it, but Park Yerim just held her arms up joyfully. The wind was refreshing, and it made her jubilant.
“Blue, if only you had cold resistance, then it’d be great!”
While it is enough to hunt monsters without having to freeze water, it’s still a pity she couldn’t use Cold Sigh. And, Pale Rain certainly wouldn’t work either. If Yerim was even a little careless, Blue’s feathers would’ve froze and they would fall.
“Even if we had an equipment with cold resistance, the mount would still be too close to me. Unless the mount had the same elemental attribute, the equipment had to be at least S-class.”
– Kkyaoo.
“The availability of it for human-wear was already rare, so it’s safe to say there was no such equipment for a mount. Then, should I try coaxing Myeongwoo?”
For an equipment to have an S-class attribute resistance, it would have to be at least SS-class. That would be hard to make, and even then, Yerim wouldn’t have the money to pay for it yet. It hadn’t been long since she cleared the debt for her S-class weapon too.
Feeling sorry for herself, Park Yerim fell forward as if to wrap herself around Blue’s neck.
“And they say high-ranked hunters didn’t need to worry about money.”
Sure, equipment can be expensive, but they were way too expensive. Still, that wasn’t a reason to give up on them. Even S-class hunters did not carry around S-class equipment immediately after awakening. Before they were established, most had used equipment that were A-class or below. It was difficult to obtain S-class equipment unless one was either lucky or had grown their power to a certain extent, and this was especially true for weapons.
However, just 3 months after her awakening, Park Yerim received an S-class weapon, shawl and bracelet and a pair of SS-class earrings. Nothing was below S-class.
“In order to beat Han Yoohyun, I need a complete set of equipment as soon as possible. Blue, I heard the guild leader got an SS-class coat.”
Before when Park Yerim boasted about receiving the S-class bracelet Han Yoojin ripped off from the Japanese guild, Han Yoohyun had calmly showed off his Blue Thunderbird Robe to her. Recalling the anger she felt at that time, she got back up.
“My bracelet is great too, Han Yoohyuuun!”
Wrapped around her wrist was the Roditi’s Bracelet, it had red gemstones embedded in a silvery band. The mana stat centered feature comes with an auxiliary skill that improves mana control. It was a helpful piece of equipment for Park Yerim, since she mainly uses AoE skills.
On the other hand, the Thunderbird Robe was not suitable for her as she possessed teleportation skills and focused on long distances. Park Yerim already knew that, but she was still pissed off.
“Blue, let’s finish the dungeon faster than the guild leader can and leave.”
– Kkyak!
“After that, I’ll meet and cling to ahjusshi, and take him out for a meal. And then, I’ll be victorious.”
Just then, a group of monsters passed by below. Park Yerim clutched the long white spear that gave off bluish chills. An embedded gemstone near the blade of the spear emitted a faint light. When Yoo Myeongwoo saw that Park Yerim had forcibly shoved the gemstone into her spear, he had taken care of properly embedding the gemstone that contained the Mermaid Queen’s skill.
The skill within the gemstone had already disappeared, but the immense power that boosts control over the water attribute remained.
Water gathered at the tip of the raised spear, and Park Yerim jumped off from Blue’s back.
“Stay here!”
– Kkyaa.
Park Yerim’s body spun lightly in the air, rotating half a turn before descending below Blue. The water that was gathered grew larger and poured down like a torrential rain. Hit by the sudden cascading waters, the monster group below was immediately immobilized. And, right after…
Shaa-
Cold mist swept by. Originally, it was a chill that restricted the enemy’s movement, but when used on targets soaked in water, it exerted a greater effect. Even more so when the water drawn was imbued in the mana of the same person, as Park Yerim had done.
With a loud noise, the monsters froze in an instant. The fragile ones had even shattered. After confirming that there are no monsters left, Park Yerim got back onto Blue’s back.
“Have I gone off too far? I can’t see my unnies.”
She had been too excited while performing the flight test with Blue. Park Yerim took out her signaling item and threw it over the frozen monsters.
In S-class teams, magic stones and other by-products are usually retrieved by team members other than the S-class hunters. But as the team establishes itself and grow in size, a separate person would be in charge of it. There was a rule that even if one was only in charge of collecting magic stones, they still couldn’t be more than two ranks lower than the dungeon rank. Even so, that rule was commonly ignored.
“…hmm?”
Park Yerim tilted her head. While she sat leisurely on Blue’s back and waited for her teammates, she had a strange feeling. The air seemed to have tremble a little.
Blue also stopped circling the air and flapped its wings in place.
“This feels similar to before…”
Like at the dungeon where the boss changed for the first time. And when that SS-class giant toad appeared. The feeling was similar to the distortion back then. Park Yerim then shouted.
“Dodge!”
The golden wings spread widely. Along with the Golden Arrow and Flight Assist skills, the S-class skill ‘Ruler of Wind’ was also activated. A breeze surrounded Blue, and wind resistance was lowered. As the powerful wings flapped vigorously, the figure of Blue and of Park Yerim, who was riding on it, vanished.
The speed was so terrifying that it almost resembled teleportation. The two propelled away from the spot in an instant, and the empty space twisted as if it was split apart.
[Not this time either.]
A faint voice was heard, and Park Yerim widened her eyes. She has heard of similar dungeon ghost stories like this before.
Amidst the confusion, she felt the distortion again. And, it was like the distortion was everywhere.
– Keuleuleuk.
– Kiiiik!
Monsters started appearing. One glance was enough to tell they weren’t the kind of monsters that would appear in an A-rank dungeon. In particular, the Pterodactyl-like monster that appeared in the sky had the size and presence belonging to an S-class dungeon boss.
“…Woow.”
Park Yerim was looking around in bewilderment when she spotted her teammates approaching. She patted Blue on the back.
“Blue, can you deal with that thing? Don’t rush at it, just do enough to draw its attention.”
Gesturing at the Pterodactyl, Blue bobbed his beak confidently.
– Kkyaaa!
“Don’t fight it, just buy me some time.”
Park Yerim wasn’t sure if Blue understood her. But since Blue was at the level of an S-class dungeon boss monster and also possessed a skill focused on flight, Blue wouldn’t be defeated so easily.
Park Yerim patted Blue on the back one more time before making her way to her teammates. As soon as she left, Blue shrieked loudly and flew towards the Pterodactyl.
“Halt!”
Park Yerim shouted when she finally reached in front of her teammates after consecutive uses of the teleportation skill.
“S-class dungeon monsters has appeared up ahead!”
“Please describe them.”
Ha Eunha, who had the most experience with dungeon raids among the team, stepped forward and asked. Park Yerim promptly described the appearance of the monsters she saw.
“Except for the Pterodactyl, the others are fortunately just normal S-class dungeon monsters.”
Ha Eunha said, warning her teammates to be careful. She shared that she recognized the characteristics that were described and had encountered some of those monsters before. However, she had never heard of the Pterodactyl.
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“I think I should check on Blue. Will you all be alright?”
“Don’t worry. Even if we can’t do much, we should still be able to hang on with ease. Weren’t we supposed to be a strategy team for S-class dungeons to begin with?”
“Yes, if it’s the normal monsters, there’s nothing to worry about.”
Park Yerim smiled brightly at her teammate’s reliable words.
“Then I’ll come back as soon as it’s taken care of. No, I mean, I’ll just take care of it! Be careful, unnies.”
Park Yerim’s figure vanished in an instant, and then the remaining team members reorganised their battle formation.
“Blue, I’ve arrived!”
– Kkyak Kkyak!
Blue wagged its tail while circling around the Pterodactyl. Even though the Pterodactyl was several times larger and had thicker scales, its flight abilities were far inferior to Blue’s. The Pterodactyl’s attacks had missed its target a few times already.
A lake then drew near. And at Park Yerim’s command, Blue accelerated downwards. When the griffon’s claws descended low enough to brush the surface of the lake, Park Yerim swung her body and dived into the water.
She barely made a sound while diving. Then, the Shadowless Day and ice attribute buffs were simultaneously activated in silence.
Blue had descended to the opposite shore of the lake, and the Pterodactyl which had been unaware of anything approached it rapidly. And at that moment…
Chwaaak!!
Dozens of streams of water gushed out. The volume of water used was at the rate of emptying out the lake. The water struck the Pterodactyl’s body and wings, and coiled around its neck and legs. The badly beaten Pterodactyl couldn’t find its bearings and flailed around. The damage, however, didn’t seem enough to be to be fatal. Just then…
A cold chill swept by. The streams of water that were coiled around the Pterodactyl began to froze and steel-hard ice thorns started to emerge. Its frozen scales broke apart and the ice thorns penetrated through them, after which cold seeped into the Pterodactyl’s core.
Wrapped in dozens of ice vines, the Pterodactyl was eventually frozen solid. It was a sight that seemed as if a strange and gigantic ice statue had been erected over an empty pit.
“Blue, did you dodge properly?”
– Kkyaaoo!
Blue responded from a distance away. Park Yerim took out a mana potion while approaching Blue.
“Apart from this area, S-class monsters probably won’t appear anywhere else. I wanted to get out of here quickly, but it seems like the raid will need to take longer.”
‘I don’t want to get out later than Han Yoohyun.’ Yerim grumbled while she administered a mana potion to Blue. Then, she went back to where her teammates were.
“Not this time either.”
Chatterbox murmured. And, a marble-like bead shattered in his grasp.
“I made a mistake. So, as I thought, even in the dungeon, it’s hard to sneak around.”
‘Would I get caught with that level of interference?’ Chatterbox wondered and looked back at Luga Peya.
“Is it that important to do this?”
“I think it will be important~”
Peya smiled broadly and shook the dangling strands of tentacles.
“After all, I wasn’t able to find it. If the white bird went so far to hide that well, there has to be a reason, even for the white bird.”
It is a being that watches and hovers only around The Fifth Origin. Luga Peya’s third eye twinkled with intense curiosity.
“It will be worth the sacrifice, no doubt about it.”
Seeing Luga Peya being so excited and making a fuss about the white bird, Chatterbox took out a new bead as though it couldn’t be helped.
“Newbie will definitely get in the way, so be prepared. It is even said that he might become the successor to the System Master.”
“It would be the first time since Thunderbird abdicated.”
Fighting. In between Luga Peya’s insincere cheering, Chatterbox let out a sigh.
***
“They said they’ll request for a café that operates 24-hours if one was set to open.”
Myeongwoo said. It was a petition from the Suk Hayan’s team. Well, the neighborhood does need coffee for the late-night.
The place where they are now sitting is a small terrace garden on the middle floor of the building. It’s small, but the flower beds there were neatly decorated, and the tables and chairs were fitted to match. It was lonely to be at home, so unless there are errands in Haeyeon or monster cubs that needed taking care of, Yoojin would mostly hang around that part of the building.
“Minyui hyung said he wanted to work at a cafe since he was bored.”
Noah said. Did Noah consider Minyui a hyung, too? Then, why is it for Yoojin that…
“It is good to have fun. By the way, Noah-ssi, how is it with the Breaker guild leader? If you’re having trouble with the bet with her, I can help.”
“No it’s not that, it’s about my rank in Korea.”
Noah replied while shaking his head.
“Foreign hunters must raid a dungeon of their desired rank at their own initiative to be recognized for their rank. But, I’m a bit reluctant to enter S-class dungeons, since we will have to search for a temporary teammate, and that would take a long time.”
So, instead, Noah found another way.
“I asked if the leader of the Breaker Guild could assist in getting my capabilities verified by three or more Korean S-class hunters, including a guild leader.”
“If that’s the case, wasn’t Haeyeon enough? Yoohyun is the guild leader, and including Yerim and Sunghan-ssi, it is exactly three people.”
“They said you can’t use multiple hunters of the same guild. And…”
Noah slightly pouted while having the same expression.
“I don’t really want to receive help from Hunter Han Yoohyun.”
“What? Why?”
“…it’s just. No reason in particular.”
Hmm, what’s this. Could it be some kind of rivalry since they are both close in age and have the same rank? They were boys too, so they acted like that. That’s cute. Normally, after small fights like that, they will get to know each other more. In any case, it would probably bother Yoohyun in many ways.
“Then, I assume you already received the rank verification?”
“Yes. I passed the verification and got a call saying that they will issue the hunter certificate soon.”
At congratulatory words, Noah laughed a little bashfully. Would Noah decisively settle in Korea? If so, Yoojin would be grateful for it.
“Are you going to sleep at my place again today, Yoojin?”
Myeongwoo asked while he watched Velare chase Chirpie around the table. He seemed curious about the word “weaponizable monster”. He had even asked to help out when the snake starts molting.
“What else can I do? I’m lonely without my kids. Or would you like to come to my house today? Noah-ssi too.”
“Me too?”
“It’s okay to just come in even without the miniaturization skill.”
At my words, Noah firmly shook his head.
“I’ll definitely find the skill and proudly get approval to enter.”
Noah had contacted wherever he could reach and is still diligently looking for it. Yoojin will just observe for a bit, but if it still doesn’t work out after a while, he would have to lend a hand. Newbie could help Yoojin get the skills or items that he wanted, but if he were to take Noah along, he wonders if Noah could receive the miniaturization skill.
As Yoojin finished drinking, he got a call from Haeyeon. What is it this time.
