A Public Servant Hunter Who Exploits Skill Combinations – Chapter 43
Translated by: Hanzo
Chapter 43: Quest (3)
A monster with a horn on its forehead and blue skin, called the Blue Horned Beast.
Another name for it was the Blue Horn.
I knew a little about this monster.
At one time, there was a lot of talk about it.
It had a human-like body but the face of a goat, and it was extremely aggressive.
Even just meeting its eyes would cause it to charge headfirst at you.
Then why did it even carry a spear?
It was around three years into my career as a Hunter.
I was sent on a business trip by my guild to a place called Gagyeong-dong in Cheongju.
That was probably why senior Hunter Kim Sung-min grumbled.
“Did you hear? There’s a business trip?”
“Ah, why a provincial trip of all things?”
“We’ll have to stay out in the countryside all month.”
“Why are you talking like it’s someone else’s problem?”
“What the…”
Looking at my puzzled expression, he smirked and spoke.
“You’re coming along too.”
“What?”
“They told me to pick someone to go with, so I wrote your name down.”
“What did I do wrong?”
“Why? Don’t you want to work with me?”
Not that, but…
“Ha, I can’t believe I have to go to the countryside…”
As I later found out, my senior had heard in advance that there wouldn’t be much work in Seoul for a while, and he arranged for me to have a job there.
Truly, he was a thoughtful senior.
Several days passed in Cheongju.
Eventually, a dungeon gate opened, and we went inside.
In the provinces, unless it was a major guild, most of the time, a coalition of guilds handled such things.
Each guild sent members, and they worked together to clear the gate.
Naturally, the profits were distributed evenly.
Gates tended to open more frequently in areas with a higher concentration of people who possessed mana.
That didn’t mean gates never opened in less populated areas, though.
At that time, I encountered the Blue Horn in the dungeon gate.
It was a quest-type dungeon, and the creatures were B-grade monsters, similar to the current situation.
Back then, two of them guarded the castle’s entrance.
Our coalition guild members quickly took down the two creatures and headed for the castle gate, but before we could reach it...
An alligator-like monster by the lakeside along the path woke up, delaying us significantly as we dealt with it before reaching the gate.
It was a grueling experience.
When we finally entered the castle, an enormous number of monsters awaited us.
But if the quest here is...
If it’s the same as that quest...
Or even similar...
The final objective might differ.
But I believed the beginning part would be similar.
The moment we kill those creatures, the quest’s countdown will start.
Four hours.
If the quest wasn’t completed within that time, we would fail.
Failing the quest meant it was over.
All the suffering of that day would have been for nothing.
No rewards whatsoever.
***
My friends spotted the monsters and said, “Let’s attack!”
“Stop.”
I stretched out my hand to stop them.
My friends, expecting me to take the lead, looked at me in confusion.
“Why?”
“We can’t just kill them.”
“What are you talking about? We have monsters in front of us, and you’re saying not to hunt them?”
“The moment we kill those creatures, the sound of a horn will echo.”
“Isn’t that because of the horn on their heads?”
“That’s right. But that’s not the point. Look at that path over there.”
The castle seemed like it was floating in the middle of a lake, with a single path connecting the land to the castle.
“Yeah, there’s only one path. If we take out the monsters at the entrance, it’s simple, right?”
“Exactly. But look closely at the lakeside on both sides of the path.”
At first glance, it just looked like a peaceful lake.
“It’s just water, isn’t it?”
“Look more closely.”
There was something floating on the water.
Or rather, the entire lakeside was filled with monsters.
Alligator-like creatures sleeping by the lakeside.
“If we take out the Horns at the entrance, the sound of the horn as they die will wake up all those sleeping alligators.”
“You mean… wake the alligators?”
“That’s right. So, an attack isn’t an option.”
“Then what should we do?”
Everyone turned to look at me.
I grinned at them and said, “We won’t fight.”
“What? Then how do we get into the castle?”
I looked down at the ground.
“From below.”
Seo Ye-rin flinched and muttered, “Don’t tell me... we’re digging again?”
She seemed to recall the time we spent digging all day during our MT.
“No, there’s probably a secret passage somewhere. Castles like this usually have one.”
“Wow. Is that real? And how did you notice the alligators? Your eyesight must be amazing. I became a Hunter too, and my eyesight is 4.0, 4.0.”
(T/N: By the standards of Korea, Visual Acuity of that level is *4 sharper than the average '1.0')
“You don’t need great eyesight to figure it out.”
What you need is a good memory.
***
Unregistered Hunters are called rogue hunters, but those who don’t follow Hunter laws are also considered rogue.
They weren’t rogue Hunters from the beginning.
The Three Springs Faction.
Their leader was Heo Chun-sam.
He gained the ability to detect invisible gates thanks to an artifact obtained by slaughtering his longtime teammates.
Because of this, Heo Chun-sam became far stronger than before.
From D-grade, he climbed to B-grade through relentless effort, and after exploiting invisible gates with his artifact, he even surpassed A-grade.
But Heo Chun-sam wasn’t someone to settle for that.
Determined to surpass the Hunters who once ignored him, he was tracking gates again today.
He found an invisible gate.
Upon entering, he discovered it was a quest-type dungeon.
“It’s been a while since we’ve had a quest-type dungeon, boss.”
“Right. This’ll be profitable.”
“But it seems like someone got here first. Hah, poor fools.”
The bitterness and discrimination he experienced when he was weak.
The respect and fear he now received after becoming strong.
Having tasted both extremes, Heo Chun-sam and his group wouldn’t hesitate to commit atrocities in their pursuit of power.
“Two monsters are visible at the entrance, boss.”
“What are you hesitating for? Go and cut them down already.”
“Yes, sir!”
The three loyal subordinates of Heo Chun-sam rushed forward and cut down the two Blue Horns standing guard.
The moment they fell, a sound emanated from their horns, and the alligator monsters began to awaken.
“The abundance of monsters here suggests the rewards will be substantial. Hahaha.”
“But where are the earlier arrivals? They’re nowhere to be seen.”
“Maybe they snuck into the castle through a hidden entrance.”
“Clever, huh? Using their brains.”
“Only the weak rely on their brains. Isn’t that so? Hahaha.”
“Absolutely, boss. Hahaha.”
When Heo Chun-sam swung his axe, a fierce gust scattered the monsters.
Even while fighting these monsters, their demeanor remained entirely relaxed.
Their conversation was almost absurdly casual, as if they were deciding what to eat after work, though the topic was far from that mundane.
“Let’s wrap this up quickly and head into the castle.”
“I’m more curious about what the earlier group might have. Hehe.”
“Are you going to kill them?”
“We’ll see how it goes.”
Smiling brightly, oblivious to what lay ahead, they continued slaughtering monsters without hesitation.
After two hours of searching for the passageway:
“Tae-sung, are you sure about this?”
“...”
Even for hunters, two hours was a long time, and with four people searching together, it was frustrating that they hadn’t found anything yet.
I was beginning to doubt myself, despite remembering a passage connecting the castle to the outside from a past experience.
“Is the quest layout different this time?”
Seo Ye-rin, who had been silent so far, finally spoke up.
“What if we just kill all the alligators? Your specialty is lightning—can’t you fry them before they get out of the water?”
“I’ve considered it, but we don’t know what’s waiting inside the castle, so I might need to conserve mana. And it’s not like I can unleash lightning indefinitely.”
Mana wasn’t infinite, after all.
“I don’t sense a lot of monsters inside the castle, though.”
“That’s probably because the mana flow is blocked by the castle walls.”
“Still, if there’s supposed to be a hidden passage, it should be here. It’s been two hours already...”
“I’m so hungry and tired.”
The others were visibly worn out.
At that moment, as Jun-hyuk plopped down onto a small rock:
Crunch.
“Huh?”
A strange sound came from beneath, unlike the dirt, grass, and stones they had been treading on.
“Found it.”
Overgrown with weeds, an old wooden door came into view.
“No wonder we couldn’t find it just by looking around.”
“Wow! I found it! See? I’m actually useful!”
Jun-hyuk’s pride soared sky-high.
“Yes, you did great.”
Hye-ri teased him playfully.
“Who knew you’d do more than just ‘big business’ all the time?”
“What the heck?”
“Anyway, we found it.”
“So, do we just go in through here?”
“That’s right.”
With a creak, the hidden passage’s door opened.
Yoo Hye-ri, a magic specialist, lit a flame on her palm, volunteering to act as a guide.
I led the way with Hye-ri, while Seo Ye-rin covered the rear since she was stronger than Jun-hyuk.
Being cautious of traps, we carefully entered the dark passage.
After walking for some time, Hye-ri hesitated and called out to me.
“Tae-sung...”
A fork in the road.
There was no sign of monsters, so it was hard to tell which path to take.
In academy exams, it was easier since we could sense monsters even in a maze. But real-life situations were clearly on another level.
Still, there was a way.
'Hey, navigation system.'
<You’re not calling me, are you?>
'I am. Got any idea where we should go?'
<Hmph. As if I’d help you.>
'We clear the quest, and you’ll get some tasty mana stones. Tempting, right?'
Without hesitation:
<Left.>
'Are you sure?'
<I smell something delicious from the left.>
“Perfect.”
“It’s left.”
“Huh?”
'I mean, my gut tells me it’s the left path.'
'Alright, we’ll go left. If it’s wrong, we’ll just backtrack.'
Thanks to Mir’s guidance, we easily navigated the maze and reached the passage’s end.
“Shouldn’t secret passages be straightforward for escaping? Did the creators memorize all these paths or what...?”
Occasionally, we encountered traps, but they were familiar designs from training, so we avoided any injuries.
“Alright, I’m opening the door.”
“Wait.”
“What now?”
“The moment we open this door, the quest timer will start.”
“So what do we do?”
“Hold on for a bit.”
By now...
It should have happened.
Beeeep!
The sound of the Horn’s death echoed loudly.
“What was that? Wasn’t that the sound of a Horn dying?”
“Yes.”
At the same time, the quest notification appeared:
[The quest has begun.]
[If the quest is not completed within the allotted time, it will be deemed as a failure.]
[03:59:59]
The sudden quest alert startled my friends, who were experiencing this for the first time.
“What is this!?”
“What’s going on?”
Even Seo Ye-rin, usually composed, looked slightly anxious.
I answered calmly to reassure them.
“The quest has started.”
“But we haven’t done anything yet!”
“It’s not us. Someone else came in.”
“Huh?”
“Who?”
Don’t worry.
I think I know what kind of quest this is and how to clear it.
When I first saw the monsters, I wasn’t sure, but finding this hidden passage confirmed it.
“How did they find the invisible gate?”
“We found it, so why couldn’t they?”
“So what do we do now?”
“What else? While they’re busy fighting the monsters, we’ll complete the quest quickly.”
In other words, they’ll do all the hard work while we reap the rewards.
The real quest was just beginning.
....
I just made a Patreon account, feel free to support me and get access to 5 or 10 chapters in advance: patreon.com/Hanzo123
Comments
Post a Comment