Chapter 260: Somehow, Hunting (2)
Chapter 260 - Somehow, Hunting (2)
[Just come over here! Come here, we"ll handle it in an instant and then head to Medsang.]
Yerim said in a cheerful voice. At that moment, we stopped at the junction between Medsang and Drosia.
Normally, it would have taken about a day to reach Medsang, but the monsters following us were a problem. If we teleported instead of moving at high speeds, the monsters wouldn"t be able to follow us properly and would attack nearby cities.
The group of more than 300 monsters, including the SSS-rank monster, had headed towards Flèche City, and horrified, we had turned back. In the end, we sometimes used teleportation for short distances and had to focus on high-speed movements.
Since we were moving relatively slowly, the number of monsters increased even more, and if you counted even the most trivial ones, it had reached almost a thousand. It was now dangerous to even approach any city. If a group of monsters of this size dispersed, it was obvious they would be overwhelmed and there would be severe damage.
However, Yerim was confident.
[You"ll know when you get here. Let me know when you decide where to go~]
Then the line cut off with a snap. Since this world didn"t have satellites, long-distance communications on moving s.h.i.+ps were unstable. And communication itself was impossible if one was out of the radius of the equipment buried along the roads.
"Would it be better to head to Drosia?"
Noah looked at me and asked. Since Yerim had given so many a.s.surances, wouldn"t it be okay? Yoohyun and Moon Hyuna also agreed that it would be better. Both said that if Park Yerim was in front of the sea, it would be enough to compensate for the problem of numbers.
"There are also many elementals in Drosia."
"I"ve heard that too."
At Moon Hyuna"s words, Noah nodded.
"But we really can"t expect them to actively join forces with us. From what I"ve heard, they are cooperating with the elementals, but there aren"t that many contractors."
- We don"t form contracts unless we like the person!
Said Irin, sitting on top of my hand.
"Rin, you formed a contract with Yoohyun as soon as you were born, you know?"
- It was love at first sight, hyung. Yoohyun was holding Rin"s egg, it was like offering a contract first! So I accepted immediately ~
He said that normally, he could only form a contract with Yoohyun with his consent. Yoohyun wouldn"t have thought much about it back then, Rin, you brat. But of course, it was much better to have the contract.
Some people, including the second SS-rank guard from Medsang, decided to return to their own cities. With the remaining people on board, the battles.h.i.+p set off for the northern sea city, Drosia City. While leading numerous monsters.
[The temperature is gradually decreasing. Bring winter gear when active outside.]
An announcement sounded. The view from the windows was desolate. On the frozen ground, only especially cold-resistant plants appeared here and there.
Apparently, although this was northern territory, the temperatures originally hadn"t been this low. When the Mana Hall formed off the coast and water and ice elementals gathered there, the ambient temperature also dropped. And so, after decades of that, the forests disappeared, the ground froze, and snowfields that didn"t melt spread.
"Look at that, the window is frosted."
Said Moon Hyuna, tapping the back of her hand against the window.
"I don"t have a Cold Resistance skill, should I buy one?"
"For resistance skills, a mid-rank one should be enough. How much does it cost?"
"The C-rank one is 3 million points."
"It"s 10 million points for me. Isn"t this huge discrimination?"
Unlike equipment and items, skills were expensive even if their rank was low. Even then, it was worth buying for 3 million points, but what happened with mine? Attack skills, as well as those related to physical abilities, were several times more expensive. Although, more specifically, Yoohyun, Moon Hyuna, and Noah were getting discounts.
"Yoohyun, how much is yours?"
"It"s seven million points. Maybe it"s expensive because of my attributes."
"We"ve acc.u.mulated quite a few points, but when are we going to use them? We won"t suddenly raid the dungeon and lose all our points, right?"
Moon Hyuna, who at first aimed for the SS-rank giant spear but decided to wait for Myeongwoo"s growth and turned to skills, said anxiously.
"Shouldn"t we use them before installing the last disk? We won"t be able to raid before that."
We had unintentionally gathered an avalanche of monsters, so everyone would be well stocked with points after this hunt. Expectations were high for the SSS-rank monster in particular. Since the point difference between S-rank and SS-rank monsters was about a factor of 10, an SSS-rank monster might yield over 10 million points.
"Moon-ssi, I look forward to working with you."
Sigma, who was listening to the conversation that had nothing to do with him, looked at me. He didn"t respond, but he also didn"t say he wouldn"t come hunting.
Occasionally, snow fell outside the window, and the temperature dropped even further. There were several announcements requesting people with Cold Resistance skills. When the outside darkness was faintly illuminated again, an announcement sounded that we were about to land.
[All crew members, except hunters, move to Zone A.]
Outside, there was a crowd of vehicles from Drosia. Before getting off the s.h.i.+p, I took out pink wool bundles. These really weren"t to my liking, but.
"To think that the set effect grants a Cold Resistance skill."
Including the final piece, a wool cap, the Cold Resistance ability was an enormous SS rank. However, I didn"t know if it was the effect of the Sveil sheep thread or something Sung Hyunjae had done. There were no other effects on the set, so I could use it in daily life, but it was perfect for now.
I put on the long cardigan, then the scarf, hat, and gloves. Moon Hyuna, who went out first with me, smiled broadly when she saw me.
"It suits you, hyung-nim."
"The color is a bit strange, but the ability is good."
I especially liked the cardigan. It was roomy and had big pockets.
"I can make them for you too."
"Alright, then make yourself a scarf."
I wrapped Yoohyun in one end of the excessively long scarf. This alone shared the Cold Resistance ability. If Yoohyun burned with a light flame, he wouldn"t be cold, but it was better to save mana.
"Moon-nim, you come here too."
There"s still plenty of room.
"...No, thank you."
Sigma said, visibly looking at me and Yoohyun. If it were Sung Hyunjae, he would have taken it unnecessarily gracefully while saying nonsense. As I thought, he was still young.
“What will we do if our Moon catches a cold? Come on, then, go to hyung.”
Moon Hyuna pushed Sigma"s back. Yoohyun and Sigma frowned simultaneously.
“Why take care of him when he doesn’t want it? Come on, hyung.”
“Hyung-nim! Take the youngest too!”
"Let me go, Lambda."
"Try saying "please let me go, noona~," okay?"
Sigma was disgusted, but he couldn"t beat Moon Hyuna with simple strength. Even in terms of height, Moon Hyuna was taller. The muscles in her arms, in particular, were no joke, and I was surprised every time I saw them. For the physical strength of those with identical ranks and similar abilities when not using their abilities, physique and muscle ma.s.s were also important. I didn"t know the details, but there was a difference in the amount of Mana. Our Yoohyun also needed to grow more.
When we got off the s.h.i.+p, we were hit by winds laden with snow gusts. Due to the Cold Resistance, I wasn"t cold, but just seeing it made me feel cold.
"Yoojin-ssi, aren"t you cold?"
Noah asked, who came out first with me. Noah also didn"t have cold resistance, so he was wearing a fur-lined winter coat. It must be an item that supports cold resistance. His clear cheeks were slightly reddened like a high school student"s.
“Do you want to use the scarf too, Noah-ssi? It will share the SS rank Cold Resistance.”
"Ah... I"m fine for now."
Noah looked around and said. It"s not that he didn"t want it, but he seemed to be judging the appearance of the people from Medsang and Drosia. Did he think that wearing a bright pink scarf side by side wasn"t suitable for Mu? Suddenly, I remembered what Sung Hyunjae had said before. Saying with that relaxed att.i.tude that no matter how you acted, your status remained the same.
“Noah-ssi.”
I myself approached the immobile Noah. Taking the end of the bright pink scarf, I wrapped it around his neck. It suited him well.
"Very cute."
"...What?"
"Do what you want. Holding back is stranger, you know? This is no big deal. Ah, you can"t do anything bad, of course.”
Some people looked at us, but they just smiled. Of course, there were many moments in life when you had to watch other people, but for Medsang, the most important existence was Mu. Sharing a bright pink scarf for a while wouldn"t be a problem.
"As long as it doesn"t harm others, it"s okay."
Look at our Yoohyun. How confident he was. If Sung Hyunjae had been here, he would have been similar. Even Moon Hyuna never hesitated about what she wanted to do.
“Who knows, maybe pink scarves will become fas.h.i.+onable in Medsang.”
At my words, Noah laughed softly.
"Are you Han Yoojin-nim?"
At that moment, a Drosia Guard approached us. Before I could respond, they looked to either side of me and then made a face that said, "so it"s him." Yerim, what exactly did you describe?
“I"ll guide you to where Delta-nim is. Please follow me."
The Drosia Guard got on a snowmobile. Medsang also had a small flying vehicle, but we couldn"t drag the support guards with us to move it, so we got on the Drosia cars. The vehicles, designed to travel on snowy and icy roads, began to plow through the snowy fields. Unlike snowmobiles, the cars" speed was slow.
We kept driving for some time when a frozen valley appeared before us. It looked as if two huge waves had frozen just before colliding with each other. As we craned our necks to look at the steep, rounded cliffs, a Drosia Guard spoke proudly.
“Incredible, isn"t it? Delta-nim made this yesterday.”
...So it wasn"t like two waves had frozen, that really had happened. The walls formed by the frozen waves rising from the ground glittered in the sunlight. As we pa.s.sed through them, the sea appeared. Over the frozen northern sea covered in white snow.
“d.a.m.n, what"s all this?”
Moon Hyuna murmured. Noah"s eyes widened, and Sigma also seemed bewildered. On the other hand, Yoohyun"s brow slightly furrowed.
- ...Rin wants to hide.
Irin said, a bit disheartened, and sank into the scarf. It made sense for Irin, a fire elemental, to feel intimidated. The scene unfolding before us was simply spectacular.
The first thing that caught my eye was a white whale. The whale floating in the middle of the sky like the leading general slowly moved its long fins, and around it, all kinds of fish swam in schools.
They weren"t just fish. I could also see elementals in marine life forms like large and small dolphins, sharks, turtles, jellyfish, and more, as well as birds, b.u.t.terflies, dragons, etc. Countless elementals also gathered under the sky over the snow and ice. Deer, wolves, rabbits, unknown animals, as well as objects like snowmen, books, swords, and more, and other unclear shapes also caught my eye.
It was as if all the elementals in the world had gathered here. Even as a chill ran down my spine, pure amazement flooded me.
In the center of it all, amid countless elementals, was a familiar face. Her short hair fluttered in the sea breeze. Surrounded by countless elementals, Yerim energetically raised an arm.
“Ahjussi!”
Saying "welcome," she smiled naturally. The car approached, and Yerim flew in that direction. She waved her hands to keep the elementals from rus.h.i.+ng after her.
But...
"Ahjussi, you"re the same, huh?"
"Oh, yes. Yerim, you"ve... grown a lot.”
Although no, she really hadn"t grown. It was possession, but. She was... taller than me. No matter how I looked at it, she couldn"t possibly be fifteen at all.
Yerim smiled significantly. Was she... around 20? The Yerim I saw before the regression came to mind. Her expressions were completely different, but their faces were similar. However, her eyes were blue, and her hair was also dyed blue.
“Han Yoohyun! You look the same too. You and I are on the same level here, ex-guild leader! Hyuna unni! Wow, you"ve grown even more! Cute! Noah oppa, your eye color is so pretty! Can"t we take a picture? Soyoung unni would be happy to see it. Seseong guild leader-nim, you somehow feel less friendly. Did something happen?"
"He"s not the Seseong guild leader."
"What?"
When I explained that Sung Hyunjae was in a different place and that Sigma was a person from this world, Yerim"s mouth dropped open.
“Wow, there are two faces like this. What a scam.”
I was about to tell her about the rest of the situation when a Drosia Guard handling communications shouted loudly.
"They say camera 1 captured a monster swarm!"
"Really? I should prepare. Ahjussi, are you going to hide?"
"Eh? No, I"m going to help.”
"Although it will be dangerous."
“Yerim, I have a skill I can apply that doubles the points. And, of course, I can share it.”
For a moment, Yerim stood still, then almost shouted.
“Ahjussi, you"re the best! To think it"s double points!”
Yerim was excited, but Yoohyun and Moon Hyuna couldn"t hide their disappointment. But both seemed to think it would be better to share it with Yerim. Of course, Yerim would catch most of the monsters being here, so it was a natural conclusion.
I was also really disappointed. Why did I only have one body? Even so, there would be many monsters to hunt. News also came from Camera 2, and we hurried to prepare to receive the monster swarm.