Chapter 180

Chapter 180

In the night when nothing could be seen, an anomaly occurred.

“Huh? What’s that.”

“Undead... isn’t that undead?”

“...Wait.”

The hunter’s eyes, keeping watch over the surroundings, widened into circles.

“Why are there so many?”

It was a monster frenzy.

“Wake up! It’s a frenzy!!”

“A frenzy phenomenon has appeared! Everyone, grab your gear!!”

“They’re undead! They’ll reach this side soon!!”

At the words of those on watch, the hunters who had been sleeping, the hunters checking their equipment, and even the hunters who had been treating people’s injuries all sprang up. The hunters carefully selected by the Sun Church moved in perfect coordination even in this sudden situation.

Gio, who hadn’t been asleep to begin with, murmured.

“A frenzy phenomenon?”

“It refers, literally, to a phenomenon where monsters go mad and rampage.”

“Ah-ha, is this also a term used by hunters?”

“Yes, it’s a phenomenon that occurs not uncommonly.”

Garasani, who explained that, continued while organizing his firearms.

“That said, it isn’t an extremely common phenomenon either.”

He asked Priest Kang Seodam, who was arranging his own team’s hunters,

“What do you think the cause is?”

“I don’t know.”

Kang Seodam looked like he would close his mouth there, but after making eye contact with Seo Gio, who had followed behind, his lips worked soundlessly. Groaning, he squeezed out an answer right away.

“...For now, I don’t think our side provided the cause. The Sun Church’s records have no report of such a phenomenon, and since there are many participants in this raid, it’s probably that another team artificially pressed some trigger. Of course, I can’t be sure.”

A frenzy phenomenon is triggered either by the dungeon’s own cycle, or when a strong trigger is pressed by a hunter’s actions. And the former case was extremely rare. For now, they had to consider the latter.

“Since things have come to this, it would be best to hold out here until the frenzy ends.”

“It was worth securing space in advance. I’ll tell my team the same.”

Garasani left, and Seo Gio asked Kang Seodam,

“Shall I send Honey?”

“...Please do.”

“Do you need light?”

“It could stimulate the monsters.”

“But it will be difficult to secure visibility in the dark.”

“Light that’s too wide-ranging is...”

“I can adjust it.”

“Then please do that as well.”

“No problem.”

When Gio reached his hand up near his neck, Honey, who had been hiding inside his hood the entire time, climbed up onto him. With a gentle sweep of his hand, Honey flew into the air. With Honey’s small body, it quickly vanished from sight.

After sending Honey out for the hunters’ scouting and rescue, Gio this time grabbed the hem of his cloak and lifted it.

“Dana.”

From the cloak’s pitch-black shadow, a jewel cat the color of the night sky climbed up.

“Meow.”

“Help your big brother.”

“Meow.”

The fairly large cat immediately disappeared between the bushes. At that, a hunter who had been hurriedly readying herself flinched in shock. Filled with worry, she asked Gio,

“Will you be alright? The monsters will swarm in soon, and without a tamer to protect you, it’ll be hard to endure. We’ll defend as much as we can, so if you could provide healing from the inside...!”

Gio shook his head.

“It’s fine.”

“What? But...!”

“It’s prejudice.”

Thup!!

Gio caught a sphere that had flown in.

“That healers or tamers are weak.”

Kwa-deudeuk—!!

Fragments sprayed.

In his smiling hand, something within the sphere was crushed.

“...”

“It looks unusual.”

“Uh...”

“It’s rather small, brown, and it has a pair of wings as large as its body.”

“Uh, uh.”

“It’s a quiet flying-type monster.”

Thududduk, tuk...!

With a flick of his hand, the monster’s remains scattered.

“The monsters have come.”

“...Yes.”

“I’ll see you later.”

The flustered hunter vanished, and dripping black blood from his hand, Gio went to find Garasani. Out of consideration, there was something he needed to ask him.

Pulling up his hood, Gio asked,

“Mr. Garasani.”

“Yes, Hunter Seo Gio.”

“If I suddenly turn red, will people be startled?”

“They may be a little startled, but that’s fortunate.”

Garasani, holding guns in both hands, continued.

“It’s dark.”

“Ah-ha.”

As if blood were seeping in, Argio’s hair was dyed red.

“I see.”

Evil divinity laughed in excitement.

* * *

Jung Yeongwon was a typical healer.

“Protect me right now.”

“Yes...!”

It meant he was weak and valuable manpower.

“Healer-nim, you can stay here!”

“We’ll protect you!”

“But if you could give us some heals...!”

Amid the noisy surroundings, Jung Yeongwon nodded solemnly.

“If you stay within five meters of me, I’ll make sure you won’t die.”

The hunters were moved.

“Thank you, Healer-nim...!!”

“Protect Hunter Jung Yeongwon! If the healer dies, we die too!!”

Basically, healers were few. Not so few you’d never meet one in your life, but few enough that you could go your whole life without once having a healer on your team. That was how rare healers were—high-grade personnel treated as precious.

And healers who could provide area healing like Jung Yeongwon were rare.

“Three undead in front!!”

“There’s a healer behind us, shut up and block with your bodies!!”

“We trust you, Healer-nim...!!”

While cursing that kind of aggressiveness, Jung Yeongwon steadily held on to the hunters’ lifelines.

“You brain-rotted hunter bastards—if you don’t want to die, take better care of yourselves!!”

The reason there were so few healers lay in how extremely difficult it was to learn or use the skills. Skills weren’t something that popped out like a frozen meal you tossed into an oven.

There was a means to forcibly restore a human body, and you might know the method, but actual healing required an extremely complex and delicate process. There weren’t many healers who could do wide-range healing like Jung Yeongwon.

“Try not to get hurt so damn much!!”

“Ha, as expected, it feels solid having a healer!!”

“Hey, you chicken-brained idiots—!!”

With heat surging up the back of his head, Jung Yeongwon sensed something rapidly approaching from above.

“Ah, shit! Above! A flying-type mons—!!”

Just as one of the hunters hurriedly raised a weapon—

—Kkwajik!!

“...Huh?”

Kwa-deudeudeuk—!!!

Something huge swooped in, snatched the monster, and slammed into a tree.

“...”

“...W-who...?”

“Ah, dear.”

Someone drenched in black blood laughed like a beast, nails driven into the tree.

“You have to be careful.”

A voice as if coaxing something weak and young.

“A monster can fly at you from the sky.”

“...”

“It’s better to take care of your body.”

Golden eyes shining like a beast’s.

“Isn’t it?”

Jung Yeongwon, who had been protected by the hunters, recognized him.

“...Hunter Seo Gio-nim.”

“See you later.”

Kwa-deuk, kka-deudeuk—!!

Climbing the tree, he soon vanished from people’s sight.

“...”

Jung Yeongwon felt as though he had heard the joyful throat-cry of a beast.

In reality, Argio was in an extremely joyful state. It had been a long time since he hunted beasts rampaging mindlessly. They didn’t know their place, so they were cute enough to make him want to burst them with both hands.

‘...Nice.’

Ppeoeok—!!

When he drove his leg in, an entire head burst.

‘Very nice.’

Kkwajik!!

When he thrust in his claws, dead blood vessels burst like balloons, and flesh resembling the bark of an old tree fell away.

‘Especially the ones up there—I like them.’

Up in these trees, there were so many beasts.

A body that was by no means small played among the dark, enormous trees without making a single sound. When bare feet that had thrown off constricting shoes landed on a branch, it kept its silence without even the slightest recoil. The swift, huge shadow looked as though it had wings.

These rainforest trees were no different from Argio’s homeland. With trees this tall, the monsters drifting through the sky were easy prey to Argio. Riding from tree to tree, he stamped down on the airborne monsters.

And Sanarae was watching that.

“...”

While turning the approaching monsters into mush, he kept his gaze on the man above.

‘...He’s not actually flying, right.’

Leaping down and springing up while moving between trees with bare hands and bare feet looked as if he truly had wings. His build was not small, yet his elastic movements created the illusion that his weight was like a feather.

A monster came into those large hands. With a light squeeze, it burst refreshingly like a water balloon. Even as that pitch-black blood smeared his face, his hair, his clothes, he was smiling as if he loved it.

Golden eyes filled with childish joy were chilling.

“Hunter Sanarae, don’t lose focus!!”

“Ah, sorry.”

Kkwajik, ppeok—!!

Fighting the monsters, Sanarae replied carelessly.

‘What is he, really.’

Aiming for blind spots where hunters couldn’t easily see, he moved with supple grace, like a cat stretching.

‘He’s covered in blood.’

He ran atop the trees, occasionally came down to the ground to trample monsters, gently lured the beasts with his fingertips, then passed swiftly and lightly through the swarming monsters, bursting their heads, their necks, their hearts, their legs.

‘At this rate, it’s like...’

Like he was dancing a cheerful dance.

That smile brimming with delight stood out especially.

* * *

“Kyaaah!!!”

When the frenzy ended, one hunter screamed.

“S-se-se, Hunter Seo Gio-nim!! No, healer!! Healeeerr!!”

“I’m not injured.”

“Heal...!! Ah, what? What? Y-you’re not hurt...?”

“It isn’t my blood.”

Gio, covered in dark red blood, turned to Garasani.

“My clothes are dirty.”

“Oh dear, I don’t have spare clothes.”

Garasani smiled slightly as he asked,

“Would you like to use this one’s clothes?”

“What is it now, what kind of trouble is this, floor manager?”

“Ms. Yoo Jina should learn the joy of sharing too.”

“That’s not sharing, it’s robbery.”

Yoo Jina, passing by, looked at Gio.

“But if you really need even my clothes, I’ll do that.”

“No, it probably won’t fit, so it’s fine.”

“I was only planning to give you my cloak, though...?”

Yoo Jina grabbed a field staff member from the Collection Merchant nearby.

“I think we can give this bastard’s clothes. Aren’t your builds kind of similar?”

“And why me.”

“For our Seo Gio, you can’t give even that one thing?”

“I can give it, but isn’t this that thing? Hierarchical bullying?”

“It’s only bullying if you’re being bullied.”

Gio was moved by the warm hearts of the Collection Merchant staff.

“I’m grateful for your kind warmth, but it’s truly fine.”

He didn’t particularly want to wear someone else’s clothes anyway.

“I was only wondering if it would be all right to throw away a cloak that’s completely soaked.”

“You can throw it away as much as you like. Even if it isn’t soaked in blood, if you want to, please throw it away.”

“I’m not someone with severe wastefulness, you see.”

“I was going to pick it up and keep it as a family heirloom if you threw it away—what a shame.”

“I don’t like that, don’t do it.”

“But you’ll have to wash up once, won’t you? If you stay like this, you’ll feel uncomfortable.”

“I’m not sure that’s possible.”

Around then, Honey, who had been flying for a long time, sat down on Gio’s shoulder.

“Guruk.”

“Honey, did you enjoy watching?”

“Gururur...”

Honey blinked and looked at his dad.

“...”

“Honey?”

“Kungkungkungkungkungkung!!!”

Gio’s little son threw a huge tantrum at the sight of his dad soaked through with water.

“Kungkungkung!!! Kungkungkungkungkungkung!!!”

“W-why is Honey like this?”

“Gururururururururururururuk...!!”

Gulleong—!

Honey grew enormous and swallowed Gio.

“Honeeeey!!!”

“Kyaaaah!!!”

“Gio-ssiii!!!”

Whether the hunters were horrified or not, Honey, having swallowed his dad, soon spat him out.

“Aah.”

“Gurur.”

“Honey, you shouldn’t spit Dad out that roughly.”

“Kung.”

“I collapsed so pitifully...”

Gio, who had collapsed in a demure pose like an exhausted princess, brushed dust off his clothes and got up.

“Did everyone get startled?”

“H-h-h-Honey...!! Honey just...!!”

“It’s fine, he washed me.”

Thanks to that, the face and body that had been stained all over with dark red blood returned to their original clean state. Inside Honey’s enlarged body, the dark red blood he had sucked from Gio was gathering together.

“Guruk.”

Jingle.

The monster’s blood clumping inside Honey’s body soon condensed into the form of a jewel and sank down beneath his body. Mixed in among the jewels Honey had been gathering day and night, it was impossible to tell what had been blood.

Only then did the hunters, who had grasped the situation, put on dazed expressions.

“Ah, so... he cleaned... cleaned you.”

“For a moment I thought you were being eaten...”

“...Why did that become a jewel?”

Giovanni gave his usual bright smile.

“Honey likes jewels.”

“Is it normal that it becomes jewels inside the body just because it likes them...?”

It wasn’t really an explanation, but in any case, the hunter who confirmed there was no problem sighed in relief. As the atmosphere stabilized overall, those who had witnessed Gio during the frenzy approached to speak.

“Um, the person who rampaged on the trees—no, who caught monsters up there—that was you, Hunter Seo Gio-nim, right?”

“There weren’t many hunters active up in the trees, so it should have been me.”

“Wow... wow...”

One of the hunters who had been guarding Jung Yeongwon continued with a pale face.

“I thought I was going to get eaten.”

“I don’t eat people.”

“No, your eyes were like, um... something... like... so.”

“What does it mean that my eyes are ‘like, um, something, like, so’?”

“You know, right? You know this feeling.”

“I don’t?”

Playing dumb was Giovanni’s specialty.

“How are you so quick when you’re a healer?”

“It’s prejudice.”

“You’re a tamer, but you sent all your beasts away...”

“It’s prejudice.”

Gio nodded.

“Tamers and healers can fight too.”

“Normally, the time tamers and healers have to step in directly is when the raid is already ruined.”

For tamers and healers to be on the front line meant all the other hunters besides them were dead. That was how strongly healers and tamers were cast in a rear-support role. It was hard enough to die learning taming and studying treatment; there wasn’t time to build combat ability too.

To that, Gio said with a smile,

“I’m rather used to combat.”

“...”

The hunters’ gazes turned toward Garasani, the senior guild member of the Collection Merchant.

“...Just how did you train this hunter...?”

“I didn’t think the Collection Merchant was like this...”

“Didn’t they say the Collection Merchant cherishes its guild members?”

Garasani only smiled.

“Hehe.”

How would he know.

* * *

“It seems Team 6 provided the cause.”

Holding a communication crystal developed for dungeon exploration, Kang Seodam continued,

“I’ve finished contacting them. They said they touched some small tree, and this whole mess happened.”

“If it was a small tree, what kind do you mean?”

“They say it was a small tree not even one meter tall. Its leaves and branches were glowing a pale purple...”

“That’s alien.”

“Because it’s only enormous trees like these.”

It was a dungeon lined with nothing but gigantic trees, with a circumference that would take dozens of adult men linking arms to barely wrap around, and a height whose end couldn’t even be seen. Even if a small tree glowing pale purple looked like the key to the raid, it couldn’t be helped.

“So they attacked the tree first, but they said the attacked tree only got scratched and didn’t even break. The moment they tried to do more, a frenzy was bestowed on all the dungeon’s monsters.”

They had even seen monsters they had never seen before.

“As for the sphere-shaped monsters that were flying through the sky... I don’t know. They’re a species we didn’t see during the previous church raid, and during the frenzy it was too dark to confirm properly.”

“I know what they look like.”

“Thank you, Hunter Seo Gio. Those creatures likely are monsters that only appear when the pale purple tree is attacked. Thanks to our responding well, we didn’t have anyone badly injured or die, but...”

“Did it happen in other teams?”

“Yes. At least there are many healers so the injured are being cared for, but they say the number of dead hunters isn’t small either. They say it’s a monster that self-destructs when you approach, using heat and poison to deal with intruders.”

That heat and poison were so strong that, even after entering with that many healers and items, the number of dead was fairly high. Right now, most teams were focused on treating the injured.

“Therefore, I think we need to grasp the situation clearly from our side.”

As he said that, Kang Seodam soon stopped.

“...There it is, after all.”

“That’s fortunate.”

Gio nodded.

“Because it seems we’ve found a clear clue.”

Branches that looked delicate, and leaves lush like cotton.

What they found was the pale purple tree that had been the topic of conversation earlier.

(To be continued in the next episode)