Chapter 179

Chapter 179

Before their full departure, they took time to regroup.

“It would still be better to sleep once before we go.”

“There are a lot of hunters whose tension has eased because they recovered so suddenly.”

“If we move like this, someone will definitely get badly hurt...”

“Yes, it would be better to take a proper rest once, instead.”

At that, the hunters each settled down in their own spots.

“No matter how much I cut these damn weeds, they don’t get any thinner.”

“Could someone start a fire here! Any hunters specialized in flames?”

Watching that, a hunter from Daecheong spoke regretfully.

“The house we found seems like it would be more comfortable to rest in.”

“In this situation, it would be difficult to move all the way there.”

“I know. I just said it because it feels a bit wasteful.”

“It was a good place to use as a home.”

“Especially in a dungeon full of poisonous plants like this.”

Even while the hunters were making a space to rest, the sun set and rose several times. The hunters wore expressions of deep disgust at the environment.

“I’m tired to death.”

“Even if I sleep, it doesn’t feel like I slept...”

As if a vast rainforest packed with humid heat and poisonous plants big and small weren’t enough, sunrise and sunset were completely irregular. Truly, it was a hellish set of conditions for hunters to rest in.

Even so, once the hunters had barely managed to make a space fit to rest, they sought out the healers.

“Please heal me.”

“I got cut by a poisonous plant.”

“Holy shit, my arm’s rotting! Heal!”

In a dungeon overgrown with poisonous plants, it was harder not to get hurt while making a rest area. This raid had secured above-average healers with that in mind, and they were seeing the effect clearly now.

Among them, Gio was asked for help often.

“Priest!”

“I am not a priest.”

“Ah, ah... right. Then, Tamer?”

“That is correct. Do you have an injury?”

“Yes, a thorn stabbed into my hand...”

“It’s already discoloring.”

With a light touch, Gio erased the black streak of poison climbing up through the hunter’s flesh and blood vessels. The process was so natural and clean that the hunter being treated, and the hunters around him, exclaimed in admiration.

“Wow... how are you purifying it so quickly?”

“It would hurt, so I thought it best to treat it as quickly as possible.”

“Even so, this can’t be something that’s easy to do...”

They assumed Hunter Seo Gio must have a high-grade healing skill. Asking about someone’s detailed skill window was rude, so they couldn’t pry, but it was nearly a foregone conclusion.

“Was the medicine you gave earlier made with a skill too?”

“There is no such skill.”

“Huh, then you made it yourself?”

“I did not think making medicine required a skill.”

“That’s amazing. Usually people rely on a skill.”

“The material’s own power was great. I was fortunate.”

“It truly seems you serve a very merciful god.”

“Yes. A truly gentle one.”

From what they said, it sounded as though Hunter Seo Gio was treated almost like a saint by his god. A person like that—wasn’t it only natural he’d receive medicinal ingredients full of the sun’s power?

At that, one of the Sun Church’s priests asked Kang Seodam,

“It may be the sun of another dimension, but it’s still the same line. Won’t he feel negatively toward our church?”

“Don’t take a good feeling and try to turn it bad—put away your greed. He is the son of a different god.”

“But it’s not like there have been no cases like this. There are already many gods who have become one family with our sun. If we persuade him well—”

“Persuade him to do what, exactly? I know what you’re being greedy for and why, but be humble.”

Kang Seodam was sick to death of the irritation that made the back of his head itch.

The elder priests with experience at least knew how to hide their greed and pretend to be humble, but the young priests often trusted the Sun Church’s power and were steeped in arrogance.

‘It’s easier than the Moon Church, which feels sly to the point of being sinister, that they’re this openly stupid, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t annoying. This kid probably doesn’t even know who he’s running his mouth at right now...’

The Sun Church was the order of Seoul, the most spotlighted city, and a religion that competed for first or second place in the religious world. Priests were usually educated from childhood, recognized as formal priests at around the young age of fourteen, and began full-fledged activities from the age of seventeen.

Sun priests, soaked in pride that they were the best, would display this kind of arrogance. It was the arrogance that the other party would naturally consider such an offer an honor.

“Is Hunter Seo Gio’s fame that tempting? His abilities seem immensely useful, don’t they? Compared to the Moon Church, our order still has no saint, so it’s only natural you’d covet Hunter Seo Gio, who has that potential. To evaluate the son of an unfamiliar divinity like you’re picking out an object—how impressive.”

“Ah, n-no, I was just...”

“Abandon your arrogance. Does Hunter Seo Gio seem lacking in something? He is satisfied with his own life, and he is growing within the embrace of the divinity I serve. It would be an honor if he saw us as tempting fruit and made an offer first—so what greed are you showing, exactly?”

After pouring out his words in a rush, Kang Seodam dragged a hand over his face and sighed.

“My worries are already piling up...”

It wouldn’t be only this young priest’s greed. For now, they were trapped within the dungeon and the information couldn’t leak anywhere, but once they finished the raid and went out, this news would be delivered to the church as well.

‘And then the elders will go wild again.’

As they grew older, their masks only became more perfect, but their pride in the Sun Church only grew. The elder priests would approach Hunter Seo Gio in a seasoned way different from the young priests.

‘Worm-like bastards.’

It couldn’t be more damnable than this.

“...”

“I, I was wrong.”

“...Reflect on it.”

Of all things, the situation was set up far too poorly.

‘...The mermaids of the deep sea said their dimension’s Sun Church stole my master from them.’

Kang Seodam was a hunter who had visited the “Nation of the Deep Sea” together with “Hunter Seo Gio.” He knew that dungeon’s story well. And that structure was not very different from Earth’s current situation.

‘If the mermaids get angry once again, what in the world are we supposed to do?’

In the religious world, the most respected and popular humans were those whose vessels to contain divinity were exceptional. Among the Sun Church’s future priests, there were Cha Isol and Lee Ruda, and in the Moon Church, there was their saintess.

The Sun Church and the Moon Church were in a relationship of coexistence and competition, and the Moon Church had a saint while the Sun Church did not. What’s more, the Sun Church had taken a heavy blow from last year’s dungeon break incident, and the disorder still hadn’t settled...

“...”

As Kang Seodam stood alone, forcing back a sigh, Gio approached him.

“What is the matter?”

“...I beg your pardon—no, I’m sorry.”

It was quite a distance, but there was no way “Hunter Seo Gio” hadn’t heard that conversation. With an anxious heart, Kang Seodam offered an apology. Fortunately, “Hunter Seo Gio” did not get angry.

“I understand.”

“Thank you for a mercy as vast as the sea.”

“I like the sun.”

“...Yes, I know.”

“It would be nice if we became friends.”

“...”

With a heavy expression, Kang Seodam nodded.

“I will... be careful.”

He had no intention whatsoever of provoking the mermaids whose anger still hadn’t fully cooled.

“I’ll try to soothe them well so no problems occur. My position within the church isn’t small either, so the brothers will listen to me to some extent.”

“You do not need to think so complicatedly.”

“I’m only ashamed to show such shallow, greedy behavior. I will be careful in my conduct so that problems do not arise as much as possible. I am grateful for the mercy you have shown.”

“...”

At that, Gio thought,

‘Do I have a habit of speaking a bit strangely?’

He had only suggested friendship, and seeing that Kang Seodam was thinking about it too complicatedly, he said a word—only for Kang Seodam to spill out even more complicated words. No matter how he looked at it, Kang Seodam seemed to live life in an uncomfortable way.

‘...Still, if he thinks for me in my place, it is something to be grateful for.’

It was fun, so it was fine.

“I will return to my team now.”

“Yes, go carefully. I will see you later.”

“May you be at peace as well, brother.”

Somehow, Gio seemed to love his own clear-headed self.

* * *

And no one viewed “Hunter Seo Gio” that way.

“...”

Especially Hunter Sanarae.

“Team leader? What’s wrong?”

“Ha ha.”

“What, why are you laughing?”

“I was reflecting on my life.”

“Wow, you do that? That’s awesome.”

“Is it?”

His own teammate seemed even more awesome.

“Watch yourself.”

“That’s really not something that suits you.”

“Ha ha ha.”

Sanarae waved his hand and naturally slipped away. Then he returned to where his team members were resting and sat down as well. He looked at the people sitting in a circle around the campfire.

“...”

“...”

“...”

The ones exchanging glances were Sanarae, Jung Yeongwon, and Garasani.

With his fingers interlaced, Sanarae asked,

“Is this okay?”

“What do you mean?”

At Garasani’s nonchalant question, despite his cold impression, Sanarae curled his characteristic smile.

“I mean, isn’t it a bit shameless?”

“If you include the subject and object precisely, it would help me understand greatly.”

“Here? Everyone will hear. Are you telling me to go out and die?”

Even though he looked like this, Sanarae belonged to the type who knew his own life was precious.

Other people would ask, ‘What kind of bullshit is that?’ but it was true. He enjoyed battle in that hazy state when death drew near, but at the very least, he was a wild colt who made himself an escape route before rampaging.

Well, even now he came while accepting what he had to accept. That was why, even after hearing that “Hunter Seo Gio” would participate in the raid, he didn’t bother dropping out and stayed. In the same sense, even now, it wasn’t exactly a terribly bad situation, but...

“Ha ha.”

Sanarae laughed once again.

‘This is driving me crazy.’

Around then, Seo Gio, having received all the hunters’ greetings and returned to his place, asked,

“Aren’t you all starting to get hungry?”

“So Hunter Seo Gio really is a wicked old witch.”

“Even if I look like this, I do not eat people, so please rest assured.”

“I feel like I should be asking whether I really can rest assured, though...”

If you can’t avoid it, enjoy it, they said.

“What are you going to give us?”

“Do you like dried fruit?”

“Oh, I like it.”

Sanarae obediently accepted the round dried fruit and ate it. The deep yellow dried fruit, smoother than raisins, had an excellent clean sweetness.

“How is it?”

“This is really good.”

So if I really get fat, is he going to eat me?

It was a little funny, because it felt so unfair that even a snack like this was delicious.

“...”

Sanarae was a hunter who used his body extremely well.

His vision was like that of a bird of prey soaring in the sky, his sense of smell like that of a fierce beast such as a tiger, and his ability to sense danger as excellent as a herbivore’s. There were things a Sanarae like that couldn’t fail to notice.

Things like a body scent that changed three times within a single body.

“...Give me one more.”

“Seeing you eat well—how pleasant a sight this is.”

“Don’t pour it on me to this extent.”

“If there is too much, the dungeon’s ants will eat it.”

“Would there even be ants here?”

“Then monsters will eat it.”

“Oh, monsters...”

The pitch and rhythm of the voice reaching his ears.

“So merciful.”

That smile and those actions, like something taxidermied, made you guess something even if you didn’t want to.

“Just how far will Hunter Seo Gio-nim’s mercy go?”

“If you keep a sucker like me by your side, the table for the day will be luxurious.”

“Uh... yes, I suppose that’s true. It seems like it would be.”

For now, he decided to laugh it off.

After all, Hunter Seo Gio seemed to be the type who didn’t get angry easily.

* * *

“Meow.”

In the darkness, a cat cried.

“Meow.”

Until it received an answer, again and again.

“Meow.”

Dana waited.

There is a soul here that must go home.

“...”

“Meow.”

“...”

Sanarae covered his ears.

(To be continued in the next episode)