novelraw Chapter 151 : Monster(怪人) (3)
Chapter 151 : Monster(怪人) (3)
Monster(怪人) (3)
There was one thing we needed to think about first.
Who was the monster?
We had to figure out whether it was a monster or a human before anything else.
'I obviously assumed it was the latter of the two.'
Of course, I had considered the possibility that the culprit might be a spirit-type monster from a dungeon.
However, seeing this bracelet had changed my mind.
"I think that monster is indeed a monster."
"Is, is that really true? But then why does it look human...?"
"It's probably because it takes over human bodies. Or maybe it swallows them and makes them part of itself."
At my words, president Kim Byung-han of the association's eyebrows twitched.
"How can you be sure just by looking at the bracelet? There's no way an instruction manual would come attached."
His tone was extremely uncomfortable, but he wasn't wrong.
The reason I was able to be so certain after seeing this bracelet was because of something I'd heard from Ardan.
The cardinal who stole this bracelet and fled, the moment the bracelet's power was used, the rift that opened.
And the swallowed cardinal, and this bracelet.
'The authority in this bracelet must be...'
Estella's authority is wishes.
The authority to grant one's genuine wish.
And this bracelet seemed to be imbued with Estella's wishes.
'She said you can't fulfill a wish you make for yourself.'
Who would've thought that power was imbued in a bracelet.
"This isn't just my own thought after seeing the bracelet, I already consulted Hunter Shin Ah-yeon-nim previously..."
It was impossible for just a manager to deduce something about an artifact from just looking at it.
So I was going to use my usual excuse of, 'I asked great mage Shin Ah-yeon and got an answer from her.' Most people, when told Ah-yeon came up with it, simply accepted it and moved on.
"......!!"
Kwaaang!!
At that moment, I reflexively shoved President Kim Byung-han aside and hurled my body away, and through that space, a blood-red hand axe flew in and embedded itself in the wall.
'That's—?!'
Both I and PD Do instantly recognized it as the deadly weapon we'd seen in the footage.
The red axe the monster had hurled at Alencia's head.
"Wh-what's happening?!"
"Manager Park!!"
The startled president and PD Do, who had fallen over screaming.
In that chaos, the monster in ragged clothes lunged at us.
"Ugh!!"
I didn't know how that monster had appeared here.
What was certain was the reason for its presence.
"Give me, @#$$%, the faith, !$$@% return it to me!"
Estella's bracelet.
Taking advantage of our momentary confusion, the monster reached for the bracelet.
The stumbling, muffled words spilling from its mouth were a bizarre mixture of Korean and the other world's language.
That confirmed to me that my guess was right.
"Not so fast."
I roughly shoved President Kim Byung-han aside and grabbed the bracelet a step ahead.
No matter how sudden the attack, there was no way a guy who had been standing far away could beat me in speed.
"How dare you!!"
The monster, enraged, lunged and stabbed at me with a dagger.
Unlike his ragged appearance, the dagger was in pristine condition.
Craaaack!!
"......!!"
I dodged lightly to the side and kicked his exposed ribs, and a sickening sound of bones shattering followed.
At the same time, his body was flung several meters away, smashing through a wall and crashing outside.
"Damn it!"
I didn't expect him to smash through the wall and fall outside.
I hurriedly ran to the broken wall and looked down, but the monster was already gone.
'What the...?'
Did he just run away after being kicked once?
But I didn't sense the presence of someone fleeing.
And with his spine broken, there was no way he could have escaped so quickly...
"Ma, manager Park Jung-woo."
As I checked below the building, a confused voice came from behind me.
Turning, I saw the frozen faces of the association president and PD Do.
"Who... what on earth are you?"
At those words, I had no choice but to stop searching for the monster and consider what to tell them.
***
"This storm's so bad, a hut won't do any good, will it?"
"I could try to hold it back with magic, but just in case, it's best if we look for somewhere like a cave."
As it started to rain little by little, the hunters began to move together in a group.
A terrain as wide open as this was vulnerable to ambushes, and exposure to wind and rain was obvious.
"We've decided to postpone filming, so for now, I think we should choose a leader right away."
At one hunter's remark, everyone nodded and looked at Alencia.
Since Alencia was an S-rank hunter, she was naturally the most suitable to lead the group.
"Ah, well, maybe it should be a hunter more experienced than me...?"
"In that case, I'll take charge. I know most of the faces here, so it shouldn't be hard."
The answer came from A-rank Hunter Ahn Tae-seok.
With extensive experience leading raid parties in countless dungeons and gates, the hunters all readily agreed.
"I think there are really only two main places we can go right now."
The first obvious idea was a cave somewhere on the island.
But finding a cave was a challenge, and even if they found one, the odds of fitting everyone inside were low.
"If it's the entrance to a dungeon, we could avoid the storm there."
Thus, what Ahn Tae-seok proposed was the dungeon entrance.
They didn't have to go deep inside; just entering should provide enough shelter from the rain.
"But if it's a dungeon..."
"The monster could appear, couldn't it?"
The problem was the monster that had attacked Alencia.
If it was strong enough to go up against S-rank Alencia and get away, the average A-rank hunter would definitely struggle.
"Even so, there are far more of us, so we should be fine. Besides, hunter Alencia is here, isn't she?"
"Well, that's true."
Relieved, the hunters glanced at Alencia.
Feeling their gazes, Alencia shivered for no reason.
'What am I going to do...'
Though she was S-rank, Alencia's experience was shallow.
If it had been Ah-yeon or Soo-ah—or even Yeon-ji in this situation—they would have handled things far more smoothly.
'I need to recharge...'
Alencia stroked the scabbard at her waist and sighed.
"Hunter Alencia, do you use a sword?"
"Huh? Ah, no, I don't..."
The hunter pointed at the sword on her hip.
"It's just that you're carrying a sword."
"A-ahaha..."
'It's actually a lightning rod.'
It was just sheathed in a scabbard, but it was actually a lightning rod.
She'd brought it just in case, but she honestly wasn't sure if it would be of any use at all.
Still, with a storm coming, maybe if she waved it on a high place something might work out.
"It's a dungeon! There don't seem to be any monsters, so we don't need to worry."
At Ahn Tae-seok's words, the hunters breathed a sigh of relief.
With the rain coming down harder, they really didn't want to end up sleeping out in the open.
"By the way, are the cameras still rolling?"
"I think so. They'll need to keep checking up on us."
There weren't many cameras installed near the dungeon site.
This area had been cordoned off in the first place, so only a few emergency cameras were set up.
"By the way, I heard a few hunters went missing while investigating this dungeon. Is that true?"
"Who knows? Maybe the hunters who worked in Taean would know?"
News like this was often just rumors, and unless someone had direct experience, they wouldn't know for sure. But among the hunters gathered for this shoot, none had worked in Taean, so it was hard to get solid information.
"By the way, doesn't this feel more like a ruin than a dungeon?"
Usually, the entrance to a dungeon looked more like a cave.
But this place felt like the entrance to ancient ruins.
"Sometimes you do get dungeons like this. Usually you can find valuable artifacts in places like this."
"I heard that the prize at stake this time was discovered here."
"Really? Then I wonder what else is inside..."
As the hunter said this and looked toward the inner part of the ruin, he sensed someone inside the dungeon.
"... I think there's someone inside."
All of them were hunters of notable repute.
As they focused on the inside of the dungeon, they all sensed a distinct presence.
"Monster."
No one needed to specify; they all guessed what that presence was.
"Hunter Alencia, would you be willing to go inside with us?"
"Me? Oh, yes, of course."
If the monster was inside, it was better to handle it now.
'I need to deal with it before I lose battery.'
Alencia was already low on power.
Going by the monster's demonstrated abilities, if a few A-rank hunters and she worked together, they could take it down.
'I was told the odds were high that a spirit-type monster had possessed a body.'
She wasn't sure in what way, but it seemed best to let the others know.
Thankfully, the A-rank hunters had experience fighting spirit-type monsters and understood quickly.
"As long as we protect our bodies with magic power, it shouldn't be too much of a problem."
At Ahn Tae-seok's words, the other A-rank hunters nodded.
So, six hunters—including Alencia—entered the dungeon.
Ahn Tae-seok took the lead; excluding Alencia, the other five were all A-rank experts.
"Now that we're inside, it feels even more like ruins."
"And whatever's inside is moving closer."
The hunters all surveyed their surroundings, feigning composure.
Over-tension could cause serious mistakes, so keeping moderate tension was key.
'This is...'
Scouting the dungeon, Alencia squinted.
For some reason, she saw writing on the walls she remembered seeing before.
'Did someone carve this recently?'
It was shaped just like a temple.
The deeper inside, the more it gave off that impression.
'The script of the other world, the one Mom taught me.'
Alencia wasn't all that smart, but language was her strong suit.
She could use both English and Korean on a native level, thanks to her talent for language.
So she was able to read the letters carved into the wall, to some extent.
'O Goddess of Wishes, answer my call.'
Answer my call, respond, answer me.
That phrase was inscribed countless times on the walls.
As if someone had been driven mad and endlessly carved those words.
'Goddess of Wishes?'
A chill shot down Alencia's spine at the mad inscriptions.
Goddess of Wishes.
That phrase triggered something in Alencia's memory.
'Saint of Wishes.'
Could they possibly be the same figure?
According to Jung-woo, three hundred years had passed since the saint died, and a long time had gone by since her mother's era.
It's not rare for a legend in ancient tales to become a myth.
Especially if it was the Saint of Wishes, who possessed power close to omnipotence; it wouldn't be strange for her to be worshipped as a god.
"Who dares set foot on the Goddess's altar?"
It was a deep, heavy voice.
A voice oozing madness and lust.
"Over there!!"
As the voice echoed, Ahn Tae-seok shouted, pointing in its direction.
At the end of the dark corridor, a figure slowly shuffled toward them.
Creak, creak, as if forcefully moving a body with broken bones.
"#$%%, the more the better, #$%%%."
"What the hell is he saying?"
At the strange tongue, the hunters drew their weapons and readied for battle.
Only Alencia understood the meaning of the monster's words, and her face hardened.
"Tremble in awe, at the #!#$! of wishes."
Drrrrr!
As soon as the monster finished speaking, something inside the dungeon began to move.
'What's moving?'
Alencia's pupils flicked rapidly.
Her mind accelerated, and everything around her seemed to slow down.
'The area is changing.'
The hallway was moving, twisting.
And the walls slid down, blocking all escape.
At this rate, escape would be impossible.
'If it's the same as when I encountered it before, I can win.'
Then should she fight?
But she didn't have a good feeling.
The monster's behavior, and its strange powers.
Alencia's hesitation was brief.
"Insolent..."
Just as the monster's hand slowly began to point at the hunters—
Fzzzzzzzt!!
Lightning crackled.
Before the power, different from magic power, could manifest from the maniac's hands.
Blue lightning flashed continuously in the dungeon's darkness.
"... What the?"
Boom!
All the walls slammed to the ground, sealing every exit.
But there was no one left inside.
"What on earth is this..."
The madman couldn't believe his eyes.
A moment ago, the arrogant humans had been leveling their weapons at him as he reached out his hand.
But the second he blinked, all of them had vanished.
All that remained was the scorched, glowing red floor and the afterimages of blue lightning.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Alencia used Ryze's ult!
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】