Chapter 73
[Title: Heading to a Seoul B-rank Gate Raid Hehe]
Poster: Anonymous
Tonight is a light B-rank Gate Raid!
Everyone, have a good night!!
[Hehe. Now I’m posting where the Veterans hang out too!]
21-year-old A-rank Hunter Song Ha-Eun, having finished writing the post, closed the System Window with a proud smile.
Not long ago, she had narrowly cleared the Nightmare Grade 4th Floor and obtained Access Rights to the Climber Community.
A place where the top-tier Awakeners from all over the World gathered.
Her heart pounded at the thought that she belonged here too.
An A-rank Magic Swordsman with S-rank Potential at the young age of twenty-one.
A prospect flooded with scout offers from large guilds.
To Song Ha-Eun Context:
Her heart pounded at the thought that she belonged here too.
To Song Ha-Eun, Hunter Life was just a slightly dangerous but thrilling and enjoyable kind of game.
“Is everyone here? I look forward to working with you today! I’ll definitely take care of the damage, so-Eun-Eun, Hunter Life was just a slightly dangerous but thrilling and enjoyable kind of game.”
“Is everyone here? I look forward to working with you today! I’ll definitely take care of the damage, so you can all take it easy!”
In front of a B-rank Gate in Seoul.
Ha-Eun greeted the Party members she was matched with for the first time today with a bright smile.
Thanks to her characteristically cheerful personality, the Party’s atmosphere quickly became amicable.
“Oh my, we’re just grateful that an A-rank Hunter is carrying us.”
“Looks like we’ll be getting a sweet carry.”
While pleasant conversation went back and forth, Ha-Eun’s gaze landed on one side.
A gloomy-looking woman with her hat pulled down low was silently staring only at the ground.
She was a Party member who hadn’t said a single word since they gathered.
Ha-Eun trotted over and spoke to her affectionately.
“Unnie! You’re not feeling unwell, are you? If you have a hard time inside the gate, tell me right away. I’ll cover you well from the side!”
“…”
Without answering, the woman simply raised her head and stared at Ha-Eun.
Her pupils were somewhat unfocused.
Her eyes were red, as if bloodshot.
[Huh…? Did she stay up all night yesterday?]
Although it gave her slight goosebumps.
Ha-Eun didn’t mind and flashed a bright smile before stepping into the gate.
The raid went smoothly.
“Hiya! [Dancing Blade]!”
Slash, slash, slash!
“Ooooh…”
The monsters of the B-rank Gate fell like autumn leaves before Ha-Eun’s flashy Swordsmanship.
“An A-rank Hunter really is different! At this rate, we’ll reach the boss room in less than an hour, won’t we?”
It was then that the Tanker laughed heartily and took the lead.
- - CRUNCH!
“…Huh?”
Along with a rupturing sound, the neck of the Tanker walking ahead flew into the air.
Blood was spurting like a fountain.
With a thud, the head rolled onto the floor.
Ha-Eun froze blankly, unable to even think of wiping the blood splattered on her face.
A situation so dreamlike, so unrealistic.
And that dream was…
A nightmare.
“Kyaaaaaah!!”
The female Healer following behind screamed and collapsed.
That scream did not last long.
The culprit who had ripped off the Tanker’s neck with bare hands closed the distance in an instant, grabbed the Healer, and sank her teeth into her neck.
“…Gasp, choke, gurgle.”
A strange sound, like someone taking their last breath, echoed out.
The complexion of the struggling Healer instantly turned deathly pale.
In a flash, she became unable to move, only twitching slightly and intermittently.
“Ah, aht…”
Ha-Eun’s lips trembled violently.
The true identity of the gloomy woman who hadn’t said a word, the one she had tried to take care of, was a Vampire, a blood-sucking monster she had only heard of in rumors!
[I-I have to fight…]
An A-rank Magic Swordsman.
She had to use the numerous Skill combos she had practiced and studied every single day.
Right now, while she’s eating the Healer Unnie, hurry…!
But Ha-Eun’s body was stiff as a stone, completely unable to move.
It had nothing to do with strength.
She had never experienced a pure Fear of Death in her life.
Her mind went completely blank.
“…”
The Vampire holding the Healer’s body turned her head with a blood-soaked face.
“Eek!”
She ran.
Ha-Eun fled without looking back.
With the sole thought of wanting to live, she sprinted madly toward the dark interior of the gate.
Her legs gave out, causing her to crash to the floor.
But after running for a long time, she finally found a place to hide and squeezed her body inside.
A dark and damp Rock Crevice.
“Ueup… heueup, heup…”
Ha-Eun cried with bated breath.
Forcibly covering her mouth, she was terrified that the sound of her crying might leak out and the Vampire would find her.
She was so scared that a little urine leaked out below, but she couldn’t even feel a sense of shame.
She had to ask for help.
However.
Communication was impossible inside a gate.
She couldn’t contact the outside.
So she turned on the System Window.
She had no choice but to cling to the place where she had excitedly written a post just moments ago, the place where the strongest people gathered.
Her fingers trembled uncontrollably on their own.
She couldn’t type properly.
[Please, please someone help me… save me…]
She couldn’t even make the rational judgment that she needed to write down her exact address while asking to be saved.
Rather than a Rescue Request, it was an act that begged to be saved, closer to an instinctual struggle.
The single post that came out at the end of it.
[Title: Please save me]
Poster: Anonymous
(A blurry, dark photo taken inside the gate)
I entered a B-rank Gaaate but
my Party member was a vaaampire
She killed everyone else, and is looking for me.
I’m hiding right now.
Please save me!
Ha-Eun hugged her knees and squeezed her eyes shut.
She was earnestly hoping that when she opened her eyes again, she would be able to wake up from this terrible dream.
* * *
[Ooh, they’re incredibly fast!]
My Mosquito Legion was extremely fast.
A speed that defied comparison with normal mosquitoes.
It was the kind of speed where you’re on your phone in bed at night, hear a buzzing in your ear, and turn on the light only for it to vanish like a ghost.
“Mhm. As expected of my Retainers.”
I nodded proudly.
They weren’t ordinary mosquitoes, but Scout Retainers.
Right now, a total of 10 Sight Sharing windows are floating one by one in front of my eyes like CCTV screens.
After the mosquitoes that arrived at the gates entered, I began to scan the screens one by one.
On the first screen, I saw an Ordinary Hunter Party in the middle of a battle with an Armored Bear.
On the third screen, a landscape in an empty cave swarming only with a pack of Giant Spiders brushed past.
[Hmm. Not here. Not here either… Huh?]
But then.
A gate is located quite close to my neighborhood.
A strange trace was captured in the vision of Mosquito No. 7.
[It’s a corpse!]
The corpse of a huge man who died with his neck ripped off, and the corpse of a young woman who had become pale and gaunt as if all her blood had been sucked out.
It was a sight so gruesome that it would have been hard to look at if not for the Mental Attack Immunity Passive of [Exalted Dignity].
[These aren’t traces of being attacked by a Normal Monster.]
Anyone could see it was clearly the work of a Vampire.
I frowned and flew No. 7 deeper inside.
However, it was difficult to find traces of the requester of aid or the Vampire.
Because it was a Cave-type Gate, the interior was quite spacious and dark.
[Hmm. I can’t see very well…]
But at that moment, didn’t No. 7 suddenly fly off somewhere as if possessed, even before receiving my instructions?
[Oh?]
I tried leaving it alone for a moment.
A short while later.
The screen suddenly went pitch black, and soon the scenery inside a narrow, dark Rock Crevice appeared on it.
There, a woman was hiding, curled up tightly and hugging her knees.
[Oh. She hid really well.]
It was just amazing how she managed to squeeze her body into such a cramped space.
Thanks to her hiding incredibly well, it seemed she had fortunately survived without being caught until now.
Anyway, how did No. 7 find her?
Come to think of it, since it was a mosquito, I figured it might instinctively have a Tracking Ability for human scent or body temperature.
Though the Detection Range felt ridiculously wide, of course.
[Anyway, with this, it’s practically the same as having saved her. That’s great!]
I’m relieved to confirm she’s alive.
Now I just need to open the [Gate of Darkness] and Cast Vampire Assemble!
I watched the screen leisurely.
The woman was shivering and wiggling her fingers in the air.
She was probably accessing the Climber Community again to check the reactions.
Looking closely, she also looked young.
Was she around my age or slightly younger?
Seeing her so terrified made me feel sorry for her.
[I should reassure her a bit.]
I should leave a comment telling her not to worry since I found her.
And give her some praise for hiding well.
I left a comforting comment.
↳ True Ancestor) You hid yourself very well, mortal.
↳ True Ancestor) I found you.
However,
“Heueup…! Heuk, euheuheuk…!”
The woman, having checked my comments, began to cry despairingly, far more terrified than before.
…Why?!