Chapter 103
Lee Gilsu was a rookie.
He graduated from the Hunter training camp with excellent marks and chose Hard difficulty in the Tower.
He had guts, too, and talent.
The ability he awakened, [Path of the Sword (SR)].
An ability that granted bonuses to every skill involving the use of a sword—one that might seem rather ordinary.
But armed with nothing but a sword-and-armor set, he conquered the 25th floor on Hard difficulty.
‘I have talent.’
The moment he became convinced of that, he took the White Tiger Guild’s entrance test—and passed.
And then he realized he had been a frog in a well.
Because there were simply far too many strong people in the White Tiger Guild.
But…
Isn’t that a bit much?
—Squeeeeeeeak!!!
Orcs.
Upper-tier C-rank monsters.
A horde numbering dozens, at least, was being toyed with by a single girl.
“I’ll handle things this time, so watch closely and learn for later.”
This was the carnage that followed those words.
“What… is that…?”
“I can clearly see her movements, but…”
The party members watched the battle with their mouths hanging open as well.
Yeah.
‘Her movements are slow enough for the eye to follow.’
Even so, he couldn’t imagine being able to imitate them.
Four orcs swung their swords at Yumia simultaneously, growling.
Attacks coming from four directions, difficult to evade.
An ordinary person would have been overwhelmed by their momentum and retreated, but she didn’t.
Instead, she stepped one foot farther forward.
The tiny openings that appeared after she dodged the first sword strike.
—Clangclangclang!!
She slid her sword through them and deflected the attacks.
—Gugh!
Blue sword aura flashed, and fragments of orc went flying.
In the meantime, it seemed the ten orcs that had been farther away had approached with plans to surround her, but…
“Casting Bullet, Deca.”
Ten white lines cleanly blew away the orcs’ hearts and heads.
‘That… is an ability?’
The ability itself was an ordinary Mana Bullet.
But her mastery made no sense.
Activation speed, projectile speed, power.
Every aspect of it had performance he had never seen or heard of before.
If there was a magic-type Hunter here, it would feel like common sense itself was being denied.
“That’s… magic, right? That?”
In fact, Lee Sujin could only stare blankly.
“It does look like magic.”
Kim Seyeon was at least a little better off, since she was a healer.
“Even if it’s magic, I should help by firing some…”
“I want to, too, but I have absolutely no idea when to jump in…”
Lee Gilsu was no different.
They used the same sword, but the difference was obvious.
‘Her movements themselves are different. There isn’t a single wasted motion.’
The girl who had joined them as their supervisor.
White hair, a small frame, outstanding proportions, and breathtakingly beautiful features.
She looked more suited to wearing luxurious clothes on a film set than working as a Hunter, rolling around in the field.
But at the same time, those eyes of hers…
“I’ve seen them before.”
“Pardon?”
“She had exactly that look in her eyes.”
He had once seen a foreign S-rank Hunter with ten years’ experience from a distance.
The one who had risen from D-rank to S-rank through sheer effort alone.
But how could he feel such force from a girl like that?
No matter how much slower one aged, there were limits.
With such a youthful face, there was a high chance she was actually young too.
‘…What on earth is she?’
It didn’t take him long to organize his thoughts.
“Phew, understood.”
“Yes?”
“That person is definitely a veteran. I don’t know where she came from or when she emerged, but we need to learn everything we can from her.”
“But… we refused her help, didn’t we?”
“What can’t you accomplish with a smile?”
One reason Lee Gilsu had been able to join White Tiger Guild.
He knew how to defer to someone he believed was a cut above him, even if he wouldn’t do so for a subordinate.
‘Even if the other person is a child, if there’s something to learn, I’ll bow without hesitation.’
In less than a minute, all the orcs had become corpses.
He squeezed through them and spoke to Yumia.
“I was mistaken. You possess incredible skill. I’ll watch everything and learn!”
With people like this, it was better to apologize first.
Then they would generally forgive your rudeness.
“Hmm. Is that so?”
The way Yumia smiled made her look like a student her age.
‘People really are simple.’
Just as Lee Gilsu was thinking that…
Yumia’s manner of speech changed abruptly.
“Get down.”
“Pardon?”
He asked again, but there would be no second chance.
“Casting Domain, Gravity.”
The moment she muttered words in an unknown language, his body seemed to sink into the ground.
No, that was merely the illusion he had.
His body had simply grown heavy.
‘Magic…?’
“Urgh!”
“Grrk!”
“Why, why are you doing this?”
“How dare you ask for instruction from a senior as lofty as the heavens with that attitude!”
“Y-yes!?”
“From now on, you’ll all follow my orders. No talking back.”
He couldn’t breathe under the crushing pressure.
‘She’s serious!’
He had forgotten.
There wasn’t a sane person among high-ranking Hunters!
Looking at Yumia as she stared down at him, Lee Gilsu thought:
I picked the wrong person to mess with.
* * *
“You can’t be a Hunter if you do it like that.”
“Sigh, that’s not how you do it.”
“Do you want to quit being a Hunter?”
The reason I, a former non-ability user, was able to keep even one foot in the Hunter industry.
Was that I always brought about the best possible results.
No matter what it took.
“Mr. Gilsu, a little faster. If that position opens up, it makes things difficult for the mage, you know?”
“Sigh, if you’re going to use magic like that, throw away your wand. You didn’t practice properly either, did you?”
“Ms. Seyeon, what are you doing? Did you forget that a healer always has to be in a position that’s safe while still letting her see the warrior!?”
The ones dying were the monsters.
But the humans making dying noises were another matter.
“Haaak, I’m, I’m dying…”
Kim Seyeon made a dying sound while clutching her healer’s staff.
Lee Gilsu and Lee Sujin were no different.
“You’re not dying. Here, mana and stamina potions.”
“Couldn’t we please rest before moving on?”
“No. For the sake of my magic stones… I mean, to improve your skills, we’re going to sweep up everything here.”
“What?”
“Well, if you collapse, I’ll drag you along. That is, if you collapse.”
“D-devil…!”
And so she doubled their pace.
They used up some mana potions, but considering the magic stones, it was a net gain.
The way to run people ragged was simple.
Just give them resources, a reason to keep going, and an endless cycle of whip and carrot.
Here, the carrots were potions and rest.
And the whip was simply a whip.
“Hyaaaaaaah!!”
Lee Gilsu swung his sword as if his life depended on it, and Lee Sujin covered the openings he left.
And Kim Seyeon healed every wound that inevitably arose in the process.
I pointed out every problem that arose and nagged them until they corrected it.
They didn’t collapse.
More precisely, I didn’t let them collapse.
By the time we reached the final battles, the results began to show.
“Were monsters… always this easy to kill?”
“The battles are so stable…!”
“Damn it… at this rate, we have no choice but to go farther!”
Lee Gilsu’s party would be reborn as a completely different party starting today.
***
When Sera saw me return to the guild, her eyes widened as though they were about to pop out.
The sack of magic stones I’d brought back was abnormally bulging.
“Your results… quadrupled!?”
“This big sister put in a little work.”
“You didn’t interfere, did you? One or two battles would be fine, but if a supervisor keeps interfering…”
“I’ve got the recording. Check it yourself.”
I took out the recording and showed it to her.
“It really is true.”
“I told you, it was.”
“How far in did you go?”
“All the way to the deepest part.”
“What? They shouldn’t be capable of that…”
“Turns out they were when they tried.”
They really were when they tried.
There was a reason people called the White Tiger Guild an elite force.
I felt like I’d drawn out nearly all of their potential today.
“Bring the rookies over.”
Ah.
That might be a problem.
“Umm… wouldn’t they be tired too?”
“Stop talking nonsense and hurry.”
Sigh.
I called over the rookies who had been resting.
They stood before Isera.
“You worked hard. From now on, you’re officially Hunters of the White Tiger Guild.”
“Yes, thank you!”
“And, by any chance, did Hunter Yumia, who served as your supervisor, do anything too harsh…?”
Sera asked worriedly.
“I told you I didn’t do anything like that.”
I kicked Lee Gilsu from an angle Sera couldn’t see.
“Ow! No, she didn’t! Hunter Yumia led us down a whole new path!”
“It was truly a new experience. I never knew fire magic had so many applications.”
“I-I really liked it! I really did!”
“See?”
But it did seem a little unnatural.
Did I push them too hard?
***
“Phew, people really do need to get a taste of the whip now and then.”
“Pardon?”
“It’s a thing.”
I’d bought everything I needed and worked off a reasonable amount of stress.
“Shall we start studying soon, then?”
“No.”
“Why can’t we!?”
Aris sulked.
Well, she wasn’t actually angry.
“Because I have things to do?”
“What things?”
“Laundry and dishes.”
I needed to wash the dishes from the snacks we’d eaten.
“Oh, I see. Shall I help too?”
“It’s fine, it’s fine.”
It was much easier to do it alone anyway.
My high Technique also let me finish quickly.
Though not incredibly quickly.
Life had become more comfortable, but the amount of labor hadn’t changed.
“Ah, is there no one who can do this for me instead?”
Just then, someone knocked on the front door.
“Who is it~?”
I went outside, but there was no one there.
“What the?”
As I looked around…
I saw a package.
A fairly large package.
A note was attached.
[Return to sender]
[Purification complete. Raise it or dispose of it as you please.]
What… is this?
A white, octopus-like thing was extending tentacles like tree roots.
“Kkyu?”
[Purified World Tree (SSR)]
It possessed intelligence and blindly obeyed the commands of the master who had subdued it.
Could this… be that thing from before?