🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 03
The water completely receded through the paths radiating in all directions, leaving only puddles behind in the cavern. Before long, the newly restored dome separated the underwater world from the hollow interior once more.
Yet, that protective dome could not expel the magical beasts that had already breached the cavern.
After a school of fish-like monsters swarmed past, a horde of two-legged, web-footed murlocs claimed the cavern. Holding primitive tridents in their slimy hands, they had been continuously gathering humans from somewhere—dragging the dead and herding the living.
They piled them all together in a single spot.
Whoosh. Thud. Clatter.
“Eek!”
Someone cowered in sheer terror. But others stared with wide, bloodshot eyes, confirming the identity of the “person” the murloc had just carelessly tossed into the heap.
“M-Mommy…”
“Shh. No. Come here. It’s okay.”
An adult pulled a weeping child tightly into their embrace, refusing to let go even as the child wailed.
The monsters’ intentions remained completely opaque. They seemed to be inspecting their prey, or perhaps verifying the haul for a higher power. It wouldn’t be surprising if someone died in the process. Bound by collective dread, the captives held their breath.
“Did they say the Hunters still haven’t arrived?”
“What if they kill us all?”
“A Hunter will get here before that happens. They have to.”
“Excuse me, has anyone seen my child? I lost hold of his hand…”
Hushed, frantic whispers rippled through the crowd. Meanwhile, the murlocs continued to haul more people in, their webbed feet squelching against the soggy ground. They clicked their shark-like teeth together, producing a bizarre, unsettling noise.
Then, they abruptly snapped their heads toward the captives.
The crowd instantly averted their gaze, shrinking back.
Click. Clack. Click. Click-clack. Click. Clattering.
The rhythmic gnashing of teeth intensified until the murlocs suddenly raised their tridents high into the air. The parent holding the child instinctively tightened their grip, bracing for impact.
And then…
“Pour down.”
The acrid scent of ash abruptly filled the air. Thorned brambles surged from beneath the earth, entangling the murlocs’ ankles.
Clat-clat-clat-clat-clack!
The sudden uproar of clicking teeth masked the chaotic noise. At the same time, someone pointed a finger and shouted at the top of their lungs.
“It-It’s a Hunter! A Hunter is here!”
Following the pointed finger, the crowd looked up.
A human silhouette was visible, floating so high it nearly touched the ceiling of the dome. Though his face was obscured by the harsh backlight, his hostility toward the murlocs was unmistakable.
Clat-clat-clat-clat! Click!
The murlocs unleashed a savage barrage of teeth-clicking and hurled their tridents. However, the figure deftly maneuvered through the air with a pair of translucent wings, easily dodging the projectiles.
Then, a majestic voice echoed through the cavern, powerful enough to vibrate through their chests.
“To think you dare challenge this venerable one… Your courage is commendable.”
Along with the bizarrely archaic tone, a brilliant blaze erupted from the Hunter’s hands.
“Ugh, a real live video shoot… Missing this is going to be my lifelong regret,” a student nearby muttered, deeply moved yet lamenting his lack of a camera.
The Hunter hurled the flames directly into the center of the murlocs.
Crack! Sizzle!
The murlocs shrieked in incomprehensible tongues as they caught fire. Yet, plenty of them remained unscathed. Possessing the supernatural physical capabilities inherent to magical beasts, the surviving murlocs scrambled up the walls of the dome, lunging fiercely at the airborne Hunter.
Twisting his body freely in midair, the Hunter evaded their onslaught. His crimson eyes, glowing like smoldering embers, narrowed slightly. In fact, the faint smirk playing on his lips made him look as if he were thoroughly enjoying himself.
“Ah, creatures that appreciate the thrill of combat! Entertain me, then!”
As if his previous reliance on pyromancy had been a mere illusion, the Hunter slammed his fist into an approaching murloc. Leaving the crushed beast to plummet to the ground, he pivoted instantly. He caught an enemy attacking from his blind spot and threw it into the dirt, then snatched a trident aimed at his vitals, using it to impale another murloc instead.
Unlike the murlocs, who were helpless against a foe defying gravity, the Hunter dominated the airspace, painting the cavern in a shower of monster blood.
“Whoaaa! A Hunter! The Hunters are here!”
“We’re saved!”
The crowd pumped their fists, sending up a roaring cheer for their savior.
“Everyone, please, listen to me…!”
Just then, a calm voice cut through the clamor. The captives turned their heads to find the source. Under the sudden weight of dozens of staring eyes, Choi Ah-rin shrank back slightly.
“Ahem. Uh… Excuse me. The Hunter told me to evacuate everyone while they draw the monsters’ attention.”
“What? Did you find a way out?” someone shouted loudly, their voice laced with desperate hope.
Only then did Choi Ah-rin realize she had absolutely no idea how to escape the dungeon—nor had she thought to locate the dungeon’s gate beforehand.
“A-Ah, no. Not exactly. But the Hunter said it would be too difficult to protect everyone if the monsters swarm us… so we need to move to a safer spot for now.”
“What if we get separated from the Hunter and run straight into more monsters?!”
“Isn’t that Hunter here to rescue us? How does it make sense to leave us to wander around on our own?!”
“T-There are injured people here who can’t even move! What are we supposed to do with them?!”
As a barrage of angry shouts from the adults rained down on her, Choi Ah-rin’s face turned pale. Dealing with an onslaught of frantic demands in an unprecedented crisis was overwhelming.
Breeee—
Suddenly, a massive horn-like sound drowned out the commotion. The crowd covered their ears and cowered.
“What is that noise?!”
“Aaaaah!”
The sound of rushing water, which they had briefly forgotten, began to echo once more. The unmistakable, terrifying sound of something massive slicing through the water and drawing near sent a chill down everyone’s spine.
Amidst the crowd of pale, terrified faces, someone grabbed Choi Ah-rin’s arm. Startled, she snapped her head around.
To her immense relief, they were familiar faces.
“Ah-rin! Did you—did you come here alone? Weren’t you with Cho-eun?”
Seeing her friend’s parents and her own, the suffocating tension evaporated. The presence of reliable adults lifted the crushing weight from her shoulders. At the same time, it reminded her of her friend’s current predicament.
“Ah, well, about that…”
Choi Ah-rin frantically hid her notebook behind her back, her eyes darting around. If she let her guard down for even a second, her gaze would instinctively drift toward her friend floating above them.
“She’s completely safe, okay? She actually came with me, but right now… well, she’s standing guard at the main path because the Hunter gave her a specific task! If we go together, we’ll meet up with her!”
Choi Ah-rin flashed a completely meaningless thumbs-up—a nervous reflex triggered by the sheer panic of the moment.
Rumble! Splash, Thud!
Massive entities burst through the pathways connecting to the cavern. Colossal moray eels, bearing murlocs on their necks, bared their cavernous fangs.
Hiss-s-s.
As the giant moray eels reared their bodies, they easily reached the height where Ha Cho-eun was hovering. The eels and Ha Cho-eun remained at a temporary standstill, warily sizing each other up.
Eventually, Ha Cho-eun slowly descended toward the group of civilians.
“H-Hunter, sir. The monsters are…”
“Why haven’t you evacuated yet?” Ha Cho-eun chided without even looking back.
Choi Ah-rin felt a bizarre sensation, as if she were being scolded by her own best friend, but she quickly shifted the blame without skipping a beat.
“Because… the people won’t move.”
“Do you all wish to die here?”
The crowd flinched, yet they instinctively huddled closer behind the Hunter’s back.
“It’s not that! How can we go on our own? We don’t even know where the gate is. You have to come with us, Hunter!”
“It feels too dangerous by ourselves…”
“Besides, we have injured people here. My wife is badly hurt and can’t walk.”
A pair of crimson eyes swept over the crowd. In the next instant, the refugees doubted their own vision. The eyes they were certain had been blood-red were now shimmering with a soft, pale pink hue.
“There are injured people?”
The crowd nodded frantically. A different kind of tension seemed to ripple through the Hunter’s stiffened expression.
“Then I have no choice. Stay exactly where you are.”
Ha Cho-eun soared high into the air and raised a hand.
“As a fairy nurtured by the teachings of the Flower Garden, I cannot turn my back on those in need.”
Pfft! Phahaha.
An absurd, muffled laugh leaked out from somewhere in the crowd, but no one noticed. The sole Hunter’s voice, shouting clearly into the open air with a bright smile, was simply too loud.
“Right, my friends? Come, let us protect these people together!”
The ground trembled as thick, vibrant vines erupted upward. They rapidly coiled around the civilians, forming a dense, woven dome of armor.
Then, the Hunter raised her other hand.
“Bloom in full splendor! Even if broken or withered, open your petals wide once more!”
Countless pink petals materialized along the vines. They drifted down gently over the injured, instantly knitting their wounds closed. The defensive barrier, now entirely blanketed in glowing pink blossoms, completely sealed the survivors off from the outside world.
The last glimpse they caught of the Hunter showed her nimbly weaving through the air, evading the giant moray eels and the murlocs. It seemed as though the sluggish eels and their riders could never hope to catch her.
However, the person in question felt entirely different.
‘I can’t hold out much longer.’
The number of moray eels was swelling, and the murlocs’ attacks were growing sharper by the second. While she wasn’t losing in terms of speed, her stamina was rapidly failing her. To make matters worse, strange floating boxes had been cluttering her field of vision for a while now.
[Current Synchronization Rate: 25%] [Using skills will cause the Synchronization Rate to drop. Please exercise caution.] [※ WARNING ※] [Synchronization will terminate if the rate reaches 0%.]
“How utterly irritating.”
Sensing the shift in combat dynamics, Chloris withdrew into the recesses of the mind. A meddlesome, soft-hearted fairy was of no use in this escalating crisis. Neither was the fist-swinging Demon King particularly helpful right now.
In the end, he had to take charge.
Borrowing wings that did not belong to him, he flew to the absolute center of the dome. Standing at the highest peak always put his mind at ease. It was likely because he felt closer to the heavens.
Close enough to convey his words to the sky itself.
“Heavens, heed my call.”
Even if the dome and the aquatic environment sought to sever the connection, the sky remained by his side.
Clouds began to billow outward from beneath his feet. They expanded rapidly, thickening into a dense, pitch-black shroud.
[Current Synchronization Rate: 10%] [Using skills will cause the Synchronization Rate to drop. Please exercise caution.] [※ WARNING: Synchronization rate is critically low.] [※ WARNING: Beware of sudden synchronization termination.] [※ WARNING: Beware of sudden synchronization termination.]
“Pierce through everything.”
A faint, crystalline rattling sound echoed from within the dark clouds as shards of ice collided. Before long, those shards coalesced into massive, jagged icicles.
Skreeeech!
What began as a sparse falling of ice soon transformed into a torrential downpour of frozen spears. The colossal moray eels shrieked as they were ruthlessly impaled.
Clack-clack! Click!
A murloc yanked hard on its eel’s reins, raising its trident. As the creature attempted to dodge the falling spears and hurl its weapon, the figure flicked his finger.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The icicles violently twisted their trajectories mid-air, skewering the murlocs through their torsos. Deprived of their riders, the rampaging moray eels became the next prey for the frozen rain.
And with that, the toll for manipulating the skill was extracted.
[Current Synchronization Rate: 0%] [※ WARNING: Synchronization is now terminating.]
Her mind felt sharply clear, as if she had just woken from a dream, yet entirely dazed, as if she had only just opened her eyes to the morning light. Within that blur of consciousness, the only thing she could feel was the sensation of her body plummeting toward the ground.
She knew with absolute certainty that hitting the floor from this height would kill her, yet her limbs refused to move. An unnatural, overwhelming drowsiness washed over her.
‘This is the end.’
Accepting her fate, her eyelids drifted shut.
Catch!
But her body never hit the hard stone floor. Dragging herself out of the deep abyss of sleep, Ha Cho-eun managed to force her eyes open.
‘A person?’
“I thought I’d be too late. Thank goodness.”
She couldn’t make out the face clearly. The only thing visible in the blur was a pair of strikingly vibrant, golden eyes staring back at her. The stranger smiled.
“You can rest now.”
The soft, gentle voice felt strangely familiar. Reassured by its warmth, she finally let go and closed her eyes.
