Human Hunter

"Why, why are you doing this?"

The frightened Saintess asked, and the other party answered without hesitation.

"Why? Because we're fucking starving to death!"

"Hurry up and give me some meat. Let me taste your body."

Two of the four enemies raised their bloodshot eyes, displaying their excessive hunger.

Huh? The Saintess was flustered by their ardent advances, but I'd expected exactly that answer, so it was nothing new to me.

'Given the trial's difficulty, it was only natural.'

Maybe it was because the tutorial had been too easy.

Or maybe because the shelter had been too peaceful.

Most people entering the first trial came in without giving it much thought.

Just as when they crossed over from Earth during the Selection Process, they entered completely unprepared, busy fleeing or hiding from dangers that suddenly appeared right before them.

-W-what are these monsters?!

-Save me!

It was no coincidence that half the population disappeared during the first trial.

Anyone capable of thinking even a little would at least bring food, but most people crossed over without even that.

-Sniff, I'm hungry. I want to go home. I want to eat a warm meal.

Fortunately, the first trial was set up so that food could be procured.

The meat might be unfamiliar, but in each region, people could kill the beings threatening humanity and sate their hunger.

'Except for one place: [Lair of Evil Spirits].'

There was no food to be found here.

Every monster wandering around was an undead creature that couldn't be cooked.

Was that all? Since they were undead, physical attacks didn't even damage them.

'[Unique Ability]' users might be able to fight, but this place was a dungeon.

Dungeons were fundamentally difficult to hunt in alone.

Whether the environment sucked, the monsters swarmed in obnoxious numbers, or the monsters themselves had excellent stats, something about them was always a fucking mess.

'This place overwhelms you with numbers. Once you encounter an enemy, there are at least three of them.'

It was at least manageable during periods when there were many pioneers and new arrivals.

Somehow, the numbers would be replenished, and if you latched onto well-prepared people and begged, you might receive food as a handout.

But at some point, there would be no more newcomers, the food would run out, and few survivors would remain….

In the end, after being pushed back again and again by the undead attacking in numbers, most people would flee until they either roasted and ate the corpses of those who had starved to death or killed the person beside them to fill their bellies.

'This place in particular looks incredibly dangerous just from its name.'

[Mirine's Meadow]

[Lakeside]

[Polluted Beach]

[Lair of Evil Spirits]

.

.

It was clearly the most dangerous-looking trial area, so no one applied for it either.

People brimming with competitiveness, confidence, and a desire to prove themselves did sometimes enter, but how many such people were there?

Many of those who ended up here had failed to enter their desired region because of the population limit and been bounced here instead.

In the end, too frightened even to consider searching for Bardo's remains, they were pushed to the dungeon entrance, where they trembled as they prepared for their final days, or became bandits like these and eked out a living.

'Neither option was very wise.'

If they descended to the depths and failed to find the remains, they would be deleted along with this trial, just as in the tutorial.

'The shelter will be deleted in four days, and this trial will be deleted ten days after that, so there are about fourteen days left now.'

Well, they would probably starve to death before they could hold out until then anyway.

"Hand over everything you have while I'm asking nicely!"

"Let me taste that tender-looking body of yours!"

The enemy began approaching, carrying crude weapons crusted with blood and bits of flesh.

I snorted and placed my hand on the hilt at my waist.

'Human hunters—certainly threatening enemies, but mere weaklings to me.'

I had already seen more horrors than I cared to over ten years, and something like this was child's play.

So I stepped forward, intending to deal with them in one stroke, but suddenly realized something.

'Damn, this complicates things.'

Human hunters were troublesome opponents.

They were persistent and sly. I absolutely couldn't simply rough them up and send them away.

With no new arrivals coming in, they would surely follow us around with nothing better to do and ambush us the moment we fell asleep or let down our guard.

'So it would be best to kill them here.'

Unfortunately, the Saintess caught my eye.

We were only at the beginning of the trial. Having passed through the tutorial and shelter, the Saintess still retained an Earth-style way of thinking.

She was armed with the intellect and morality of modern society.

'If I committed murder in front of her, it might unnecessarily lower her opinion of me.'

Of course, one could laugh, eat, fuck, and sleep together while facing a murderer, but realistically, it would be difficult to accept that so easily.

'On the other hand, if I cut off one leg each and sent them back, that would leave them traumatized in its own way, and they'd tremble whenever they saw me.'

I had seen many people like that during my first run—people who had crossed over from Earth with acquaintances but eventually parted ways because of trauma.

Damn, then what should I do about this?

"The one at the very back is mine."

"Then I'll take the one in the middle. I want to make him my butt boy. I want to add him to my collection."

Step by step, the enemies approached. They were quite close by now.

"Th-then we'll share our food, so could you please just let us go?"

Our kindhearted Saintess tried to negotiate once again, just as a modern person would. Unfortunately, all she got in response was a what-the-fuck reaction.

"Huh? Why bother? If we kill you bastards, we can just take everything."

"!!"

"And look at that bitch. Her tits are fucking huge. She looks delicious."

"The bitch next to her has an incredible body too."

They must not have seen her face. Otherwise, they would have mentioned how pretty she was.

Then again, if they had seen Shin Seoyeon's face, they wouldn't have been able to provoke her like that.

Thanks to that, the anguish in my mind vanished in an instant.

Having never experienced anything like this before, the trembling Saintess clung to me.

"M-Mr. Minjun, what do we do? I think those people really mean to do something to us."

I nodded while looking at the objects standing rigidly between the men's legs.

"Yes, it seems so. And we have no intention of letting them do that to us, either."

"What?"

At that moment, Shin Seoyeon's chilling voice spread through the darkness.

"Oh, for fuck's sake. I've had enough of listening to these assholes' filthy mouths."

Whoosh—the darkness lit up with a crimson glow. Red flames heated the air.

I quietly stepped to the side, taking the Saintess with me.

Shin Seoyeon stepped forward past us, while the enemies approaching us widened their eyes and began stumbling backward.

"Wh-whoa. What the hell is that bitch?"

"Magic? How can a fireball be that huge? Is magic normally like that…?"

"No way! The bitch we robbed before was a mage too, but she wasn't nearly this threatening!"

Of course. A spell cast by a level-one mage could at most inflict an injury.

It could not compare to the S-rank Witch of Crimson Flame.

"D-danger! Fuck, run!"

The enemies turned and began running away, their shriveled dicks trembling.

"Too late, you bastards!"

Then a fireball flew toward them.

Kkwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-BOOM!

An explosion. A deafening blast. A faint earthquake that shook the floor. And dust rising into the air.

'Come to think of it, this is an underground dungeon. From now on, I should tell her to make the fireballs smaller or use them like a flamethrower.'

Thinking that, I raised my head and saw that three of the four had been killed instantly by that single blow.

"Eek! Sh-she's a monster!"

One of them was running for his life. In front of the blazing corpses, Shin Seoyeon stretched with a refreshed expression.

"Ah, that feels so good. I feel completely refreshed."

I nodded and threw an ax at the one who was running away.

'As I thought, she has already killed people before.'

Her expression showed not the slightest hesitation even after killing people.

Such people did exist. Some types adapted quickly to such inhumane acts.

Normally….

"Urk."

It was normal to vomit at the mere sight of a corpse, like the Saintess.

"Se-Seoyeon, how could you do something so horrible?"

"What do you mean, why? They were trying to kill us."

"But how could you…."

Shin Seoyeon looked down at the Saintess, who was lying facedown on the floor, with an expression entirely free of guilt.

For a brief moment, Shin Seoyeon wore a contemptuous expression.

"Unni, if we hadn't killed these guys just now, we'd have ended up just like them. No, both you and I would have been stripped naked, pinned beneath those bastards, panting as we sucked their filthy cocks and swallowed their semen."

"Th-that…."

"Get a grip. Earth has been destroyed, and we have to prove our worth through the test called the Selection Process. Do you know what I realized during the ten days in the shelter? The morals we learned on Earth no longer exist."

"……."

"The perceptive ones have already been killing, robbing, and raping people since the shelter. Those with half-baked consciences band together, saying they'll share the guilt, and extort money from others."

Shin Seoyeon scoffed.

"And people like you get robbed of everything and raped before crossing over here empty-handed. What do you think happened to those people? They were either preyed on by men like that, or became men like that. Get a grip. We have to change."

"……."

It must have been a huge shock to the innocent Saintess, but this time Shin Seoyeon was right.

It was something she would have to adapt to someday.

Still, I found myself wondering when that time should come and how we should handle something like this when it happened.

I had already spent ten years here, so seeing people die no longer affected me much, but someone who had only just crossed over from Earth wouldn't be like that.

Especially for a woman who had lived coddled within the laws and boundaries of modern society, rape and murder were….

'It must be hard to accept.'

Still, if I blindly forced the rules of this new era on her, the hurdle would be too high for the innocent Saintess, and I might build up her dislike of me if I handled it wrong.

This incident might cause her to avoid me.

'That was why I had restrained my strength and refrained from killing the troublemakers in the shelter.'

I held back because it still felt too soon, and put it off because I didn't think I needed to be the one to take the lead.

Still, the time when I would have to kill someone would come eventually, and I had been wondering what I should do then, when, lo and behold—

"Seoyeon, even so, murder…."

"Ugh, you're so frustrating. Unni, why are you whining so much over one person dying?"

"Huh?"

"Oh, come on. I wondered why fiction always included annoying scenes like this, but ugh. So this was why."

Our Witch of Crimson Flame had willingly taken the lead in my place and was hammering the truth into her without mercy.

Beaten mercilessly by that harsh truth, the Saintess stared blankly up at me and Shin Seoyeon. Seeing our impassive faces, she looked flustered.

"Unni, do you think I like killing people? I don't like killing people either. It's not like I'm some murder-crazed serial killer."

Unable to refute her, the Saintess merely opened and closed her mouth like a goldfish and listened blankly to Shin Seoyeon.

Ha, who would have thought the day would come when Shin Seoyeon would be useful? Good job, Shin Seoyeon.

"Do you know what you should be doing right now? You shouldn't be scolding me for doing something wrong. You should be thanking me."

"Huh?"

"Either way, you survived because of me. You didn't have to get blood on your hands because of me."

"Th-that…."

Her logic was not wrong, but she had an incredibly shameless and morally questionable personality.

I felt like I understood why Shin Seoyeon had killed people without a care during the first run and survived even those brutal trials.

It wasn't simply that she had outstanding abilities.

She was a 'talent' optimized for this Selection Process.

Her abilities, skills, and personality were all perfect.

Shin Seoyeon smiled brightly and patted the shoulder of the Saintess, who had slumped down in a daze, unable to process the situation.

"Even so, you should know how lucky you are. Honestly, I don't keep useless people around. But I like you, so I'll make an exception and look after you. If something like this happens again, hide behind me."

"O-okay…."

More precisely, she probably just did not keep anyone around who might become her rival.

But the innocent Saintess would take those words at face value. And she could safely believe them. If my calculations were right, Shin Seoyeon would never abandon her.

'That aside, I lost my ax. I hadn't even named it yet.'

The one survivor had disappeared into the deep darkness of the dungeon with the ax I had thrown stuck in his back.

The blow had landed properly, so even if he ran, he would last only around ten minutes. His will to survive was incredible.

I lightly stamped out the nearly extinguished flames with my foot, then rummaged through the corpses.

"Black Dick, what are you doing?"

"Farming items."

"You're not vomiting?"

"Why would I?"

"Hmm. As expected, our Black Dick is different. I really like it. Of course, you're an idiot."

"……."

"I wonder who else would take in an idiot like you if not me."

I had been planning to let it slide this time since she had taken the lead for me, but she kept needling me, so I gave her a retort.

"Still better than a crybaby."

"Hey! I really wasn't crying!"

"Yeah, yeah."

"……."

After getting that jab in, I humored her a little this time, but for some reason Shin Seoyeon looked even more pissed off.

She took several deep breaths to calm herself, then crouched down right beside me.

"So, is there anything useful?"

"The armor's been completely destroyed because of a certain idiot, so I don't think we can use it."

"Urk."

"The weapons are fine, though."

Information about the rusty weapons floated into view.

<Item>

Name : Longsword

Grade : Advanced

Description : Deals an additional 5% Dark-attribute damage when attacking.

'These are probably the items farmed here.'

As expected, the quality was higher than in the other trials. In the other trials, you got ordinary equipment without options.

Trial areas were divided into fields and dungeons.

Dungeons were usually more than twice as difficult, but in return, the items that appeared had options attached like these.

Naturally, they sold for more than ordinary items with the same name, whether to shops or to people.

"Huh? This is mine! I'm taking it!"

<Item>

Name : Blue Sapphire

Grade : Intermediate

Description : A gemstone. Can be used as a material for various things.

…And junk items.

Honestly, gemstones were worth next to nothing compared to their value on Earth. That's why I hadn't brought any with me when I crossed into the Selection Process.

Shops bought them for dirt cheap, and they were even less valuable to players.

Still, if you gathered them up and sold them, you could make money somehow.

'Though I'd have to collect quite a lot.'

I willingly let her have the gemstones. Shin Seoyeon happily put them in a pouch she had brought separately and hung it from her backpack.

In the meantime, I put the farmed equipment into my inventory. Then I gently rubbed the back of the Saintess, who was still struggling with the smell of meat.

Our Saintess tightly clasped my hand and did not let go.