Chapter 470. Unusual (7)

The Hunter of the Other World Who Is Being Misunderstood

Chapter 470. Unusual (7)

I thought while keeping my hands on the ground in the dungeon.

"Ahh! Blood, blood!"

"It's hard to focus on my magic with all the fuss going on beside me."

This was probably a question all of humanity pondered every single day. Just what is the easiest way to eliminate a dungeon?

First of all, most feeding grounds weren't structured for a reckless speedrun. The closer you got to the boss room, the more frequently you'd encounter monsters. And of course, in places like the [Ice Palace] or the [Labyrinth of the 13th Month], the otherworld was divided by gates as a way to hinder rapid clearing.

"Hmm."

But the nest where the Devil of the Sea was born wasn't like that.

"Since the boss's roar has to affect the entire dungeon... they probably couldn't install partitions or anything like that. Well, maybe not."

As I thought just now, there were no troublesome structures worth calling rooms. Moreover, the ruler of this space was that vicious [Nuckelavee]. It meant that the number of gatekeeper creatures guarding the surrounding paths didn't matter at all.

"Hey! Drink a potion here!"

"No, my wounds have healed. I haven't used all my skills yet, so if I run out of energy then, I'll need to drink a mana potion."

"Are you crazy? What the heck is this madman even saying right now?"

Then what I had to do was simple.

"Why even try to affect the boss from this distance in the first place?"

First, I had to deal with the [Mana Burn] magic circle in this dungeon somehow. That magic circle severely disrupted the flow of mana within the airspace controlled by the Devil of the Sea.

If left alone, it would be impossible to raid the gate. I planned to cast my magic from a distance and precisely take down the dungeon boss.

"Honestly, it's not all that different from the strategy the human came up with."

If I could pull this off at the dungeon entrance... Of course, it would be a bit of a hot topic.

"I won't completely dismantle the magic circle itself. I'll go with the most primitive method possible, so they probably won't even realize what I did."

It was like trying to thread magic through the eye of a needle. I identified each of the traps embedded in the floor one by one, figured out the range affected by the mana-burning magic circle, and mapped out the trajectory.

"Let's fire the magic along this path in the air and clear the [Nuckelavee] dungeon in one go."

However, because the magic circles were scattered over such a wide area, the process took quite a bit of effort...

"Ahh!"

The remaining scars on my neck were caused during the process of finding the precise magical trajectory.

"This is horrifying. What kind of superpowered person could use a skill and end up like this?!"

That's why the human ended up freaking out like that.

"Mr. Kim, you're a fake hunter, right? I guess, being an artificially created superpowered monster from a government experiment, you had to suffer those side effects too, huh?"

"No."

"I won't go out and spread it, so be honest!"

How many seconds had it been since I entered the dungeon? In any case, I quickly finished calculating the interception trajectory, the top priority of all tasks. Then I stopped touching the floor and stood up.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but could you please step aside for a moment?"

From the next step onward, I'd need the human's cooperation as well.

"From here on, I'm going to shoot and kill the gate boss from this spot. Because of the recoil from the skill I'll be using, anyone nearby could get hurt."

"Kill it? [Nuckelavee]—you, alone?"

But then again, in truth, the situation had reached the point where everything would be over with a single shot of sniping magic. And yet, the American who had entered the dungeon with him suddenly lowered his voice and began to offer advice.

"That's absurd. But if you're preparing a skill that powerful, then of course your body would get hurt."

The sky-blue-haired man widened his eyes.

"Don't tell me your country makes all its hunters work like this?"

I tried to deny it.

"Is it because your country is an absolute monarchy and the higher-ups have too much influence? That's why you can't take care of your own body and always push yourself too hard?"

"Yes?"

"But this is the United States. In this country, we absolutely do not bring that goddamn slave system anymore, and no matter how strict the orders are, you shouldn't be hurting yourself to get the job done!"

However, the moment this remark came out, I could feel the Archmage-level brain momentarily freeze.

"Absolute monarchy..."

I was thankful, at least, that he seemed to be looking out for a foreign worker.

"That... isn't a comment related to where I'm from..."

I thought it'd be a bit odd if he couldn't tell the difference between North and South, let alone aliens.

"Earlier, I ignored the nonsense humans were spouting, so I didn't notice, but this guy really has a huge misconception."

I didn't bother to dig too deeply into that matter. I had a long way to go, so I simply focused on my own tasks.

"Anyway, I'm not pushing myself for the reasons you're thinking of. And just in case—don't go picking a fight with the Republic of Korea over nothing later."

"Then what reason do you have for doing that, even risking injury? You said earlier you only intended to do a brief inspection outside, didn't you?"

"That's because the monster right in front of me is just too strong..."

At that moment, a faint growl from [Nuckelavee] echoed from afar.

"Honestly, all the American hunters felt it firsthand during the first raid attempt. This gate is practically just a machine designed to kill people."

"Machine."

"It's almost accurate to call it that—the path to clearing it is hopeless. The collection cycle and the minion respawn cycle are so similar that no one's even seen the boss's face yet, right?"

"._."

"On top of that, the [Nuckelavee] that appeared this time has higher mana levels than the original. Do you have the confidence to come back alive from that?"

The American hunter, whose attention had been drawn by the resonance of [Nuckelavee]'s throat, spoke cautiously.

"However... if I'm facing such a strong opponent, I think it's all the more important to take my time and find a safe line of attack."

"Hmm."

"There must be a way for a critically injured person to manage without using their ultimate skill. So calm down, and let's have a meeting about it later."

Of course, he wasn't a patient at all. Still, the other party's intention—not wanting to push an injured person too hard—came through clearly in those words.

"During the video call, I thought about dunking that empty-headed guy. But as expected, you, too, being a resident of a primitive planet, still have a beautiful heart."

It was good that he didn't abandon a neighboring country just because their leader was unpleasant. After all, humans are a species worth protecting, regardless of borders. At this point, to help my temporary ally understand, I might as well reveal a few of the issues as well.

"Meeting."

I promptly replied to his suggestion that we put our heads together and talk it over with the other hunters later.

"Normally, that would be the textbook approach. But I'm sorry... we don't have a tomorrow."

This was something I only barely came to realize during the second raid attempt myself, but the mysterious round stone monument that the wielder of the vision-enhancement magic had discovered first was precisely this kind of thing.

"Do you remember the boss-direction stone that the American [Clairvoyance] holder recorded in the report?"

"That strange big rock that the Devil of the Sea circles around? Right. Anyway, you can still see the end from here."

"I managed to figure it out with my advanced [Appraisal] skill, but it's actually like a compressed shell."

"Compressed shell?"

"And unfortunately, while Nuckelavee looks like a mammal, its exact classification is amphibian... or it could even be a fish, which we can't rule out..."

His voice naturally dropped as he tried to convey the horrific situation.

"Don't marine creatures usually give birth to a bunch of offspring at once?"

The moment that sentence was spoken, the mana flow of the hunter behind him shifted.

"Do you understand?"

Even though he had spent half his life playing only football, he was still undeniably one of the most intelligent beings on Earth. Therefore, it didn't take long for the human to grasp the situation.

"So are you saying that huge rock could break? And if countless offspring come out of it, we'd constantly be exposed to the risk of the dungeon breaking?"

It was bad news. The boss of the dungeon we were facing should have actually been called something like [Parent Nuckelavee].

"That's exactly it. I'm only revealing this now because I was worried the hunters on site would panic and interfere with my work even more."

Drip drip drip drip.

The hunter beside me began to break out in a cold sweat, as if about to make a noise like that.

"The original Nuckelavee that appeared in Hawaii was no joke, either. Could that kind of devil really make it out into the open?"

"After the eggs hatch, there'll be limits to maintaining the dungeon by using living beings as sacrifices."

[Nuckelavee] was already a problem child with immense attack power in its original form. Moreover, there were no other beasts outside, so from the American perspective, they'd want to prevent its escape at all costs. Even explaining it from the standpoint of an Archmage, this dungeon could only be seen as a threat.

"Feeding Gisimche could end up ruining an entire country..."

I had my own reasons for becoming more determined.

"I had a bad feeling, but if I hadn't stepped in, a whole bunch of S-ranks would've ended up dead again."

Have these Gisimche even lost their ability to learn? [Nuckelavee] almost caused a huge disaster. Structurally, this dungeon was extremely difficult to clear, and even the slightest lapse in caution could trigger a dungeon break—it was a massive time bomb.

"These Gisimche brats... why are they acting like this lately?"

But the monsters roaming inside were frighteningly powerful as well. If I didn't clean up this festering mess at my own level, what would happen to the world? And true to the name "global village," what would happen to the Republic of Korea, which would be directly affected by the ripples created by the United States?

"In the end, this is also something I'm doing for my acquaintances in Korea."

What followed was a conversation with the American hunter in emission-type magic.

"But please don't worry too much. I can perform a single long-range interception. I'll use that to briefly test the boss's defenses. As I said, I might even be able to kill it."

"Oh my."

"But I felt it'd be awkward to reveal too much of my capability as a hunter, which is why I kept saying I wanted to go in alone."

"Y, you can trust me! I won't tell anyone about your abilities—ever...!"

"But honestly, it doesn't really matter. What I'm about to do isn't some special skill anyway—just the usual thing done with a common 'awakening attribute.'"

Ssshk.

I completed the magic so quickly that it was almost as if a glimpse of my prime self was showing.