[The main translator is back going forward, sorry about that.]
Episode 90. You’ve changed a bit (3)
A whiff of gunpowder; bullets shot from beneath the ground flying high in the air.
“Stop it, you bastards!”
A messy Seol Ah-rin crawls out of the dirt.
But after showing herself for a brief moment, she falls back into the floor-turned-swamp as soon as she steps on it. No matter how talented she was, she can’t possibly walk on water.
“Hey, you rascal!”
Seol Ah-rin’s voice faded away. How many times was it? We had been locking her up, and she had been escaping over and over for more than half an hour.
I almost felt pity for her, but seeing the brutal modern firearms that rose up around Seol Ah-rin, those feelings disappeared completely.
“Are you holding up?”
“Yeah. I can do this all day at this rate.”
Yoo Ji-yeon looked like she believed she was in charge of some sort of important mission and nodded.
Hmm, this wasn’t really something to be proud of…
“Okay. You’re doing great. I trust you.”
“Yup!”
But of course, there was no need for me to mention it. I patted Yoo Ji-yeon, who now looked more determined than ever, on the shoulder and looked behind her.
‘When the hell is Hyun-woo coming?’
This damn pattern of repetition will end when he comes.….
Damn, I just gave him the information without the coordinates, but isn’t it still taking too long?
I unconsciously bit my nails. Having pushed the situation to the brink, I was getting nervous. There was the option of giving up on stopping Seol Ah-rin, who was the Third Disaster, and stepping back, but it was too good an opportunity to miss.
Even when alone, she was such a pain, but if she built up her forces, constructed a fortress, and held out, I wasn’t confident I could beat her without sacrifice.
‘Please, hurry up a little bit more.’
Boom!
A massive sound burst out. Now it was a race against the clock. If Seol Ah-rin’s stress reaches its peak, her ability will provoke the surrounding Mana into running wild, causing Rifts to appear…
Then the game is over.
Will Sung Hyun-woo arrive before Seol Ah-rin goes berserk, or will she make this place a living hell? It was one or the other.
“Ahhhhhhhh!”
Seol Ah-rin’s shrill screams rang from underneath the ground.
I couldn’t help but frown. It felt like the sound was entering my ear and shaking my brain. My legs buckled, and my head spun. Little by little, I could see the signs. Seol Ah-rin’s ability was struggling to move on to the next level.
“Ugh…….”
Yoo Ji-yeon covered her mouth with her hands and gagged. Wizards were the most sensitive to changes in Mana. Yoo Ji-yeon was an Awakener: a wizard who was especially closely connected to mana. Even a slight change in Mana would affect her profoundly.
“Are you all right?”
“Uh, yeah, I suddenly got a little nauseous… Ugh… kehuck!”
Yoo Ji-yeon, who was just gagging, now started to cough. Once it started to develop, Seol Ah-rin’s ability was quickly eating away the Mana around her. There wasn’t a lot of time left until she lost control.
My advanced insight observed the Mana as it started to rave. Once I saw it, memories from the past flashed through my mind.
-A Disaster, yes. That’s definitely a Disaster. Haha…
A woman leading forces much greater. She creates dozens of Rifts by just breathing, and like a tyrant, destroys everything she doesn’t like.
No. I can’t go through that crap again.
Rumble, rumble.
The soil and rocks Yoo Ji-yeon covered the ground with crumbled down. As dusty grains of sand jump up, a long gun barrel appears from the ground. God damn it. Yoo Ji-yeon’s condition was getting worse, and Seol Ah-rin was escaping faster and faster.
“I’m sick of this!!!”
It was a precarious moment. Yoo Ji-yeon was now incapable of operating her Mana. The strong smell of gunpowder reeks in the air. At this rate…
“Get out of the way!”
While I was deep in thought, the ground below Seol Ah-rin sank. Along with her scream, her numerous modern firearms disappeared. What happened? Yoo Ji-yeon didn’t do it. I swiftly turned my head and looked behind. It was the Hunters who had withdrawn earlier.
“Even we can cast this sort of magic!”
“You’ve overdone yourself and need some time to recover, right? I can buy you that much time.”
“The Hunters here will have no regrets even if we die at this moment. What’s the point of withdrawing? Let’s do this together!”
Their foreheads were dripping with sweat. No doubt the Hunters were also keenly feeling the change in Mana. But they hid their discomfort, and they began to help us with their somewhat clumsy skills.
Someone lacked Mana, and someone lacked magic composition. But when they came together, they became a force to be reckoned with.
Yes, Hunters always fought as one and had each other’s backs. They were not ones to easily turn away and leave their colleagues behind.
My heart was burning warmly. These hunters standing behind me were the real heroes, greater than the grandiose title, ‘The Five Heroes’.
“Ugh!”
“Hey, are you okay? Stay back!”
“It isn’t a big deal… Don’t bother; just do it!”
The bullets rising from the ground pierce the hunters’ bodies. Even if Zhang Wei healed their wounds, it didn’t mean that their pain went away. They endured the pain with pure will and were confident in the face of death.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry for not being strong enough. Ugh…….”
Yoo Ji-yeon was crying, blaming herself. But she didn’t lack in ability. Rather, she was affected more because she was so talented. She had done nothing wrong.
“It’s not your fault.”
I said, dragging my weary body up and raising my Mana. My arms and legs feel numb, and my chest hurts as if stabbed by a needle.
If one person falls, the two behind can step up. When those two people fall, the next four people behind them can come forward. This was always the way humankind overcame disasters.
“If we hang in just a little bit longer, and……!”
Craaack!
I heard something breaking. Seung-hyun Hyung’s shield broke. And soon after, the other Tankers’ equipment also collapsed.
And then.
“I’m sorry…”
Accompanied by a sorrowful metallic sound, two figures appeared on the battlefield.
“I did my best… But we came late, Ajushi…….”
Sung Hyun-woo was sweating like rain. He walked towards us, breathing heavily and holding tightly onto a man’s sleeve. Instead of criticizing the little boy, I gently stroked his head.
“You aren’t late. Good job, you did well.”
This was good enough. He wasn’t late.
“…Hmm? What’s going on here? Am I allowed to butt in?”
The man who appeared with Sung Hyun-woo said reluctantly. He had changed quite a lot from what I remembered. I laughed quietly and patted him on the shoulder.
“Of course. I’ve been waiting for you. Long time no see, Jin-woo.”
I rolled my eyes, looking him over. My insight and intuition as an Analyst told me that I wasn’t the only one who grew stronger during the past two years. Before I came back in time, he had died a meaningless death as a 3rd class hunter. But in a short period, he had risen to a much higher position than I expected.
“You’ve changed a bit, haven’t you?”
He had changed enough to become the dagger that will stop the tyrant Seol Ah-rin’s heart from beating.
* * *
The walls that separated civilian areas from the Monster Fields and prevented Monsters from invading them started to bend. Corpses were stuck in the windows, and both Monster and human blood were splattered upon them.
In what could only be called a living hell, we hid behind rubble that just might act as a cover.
“Is this enough information? So if we can’t stop her now, Rifts will start bursting out like a buy-one-get-one-free event.”
“Okay, I got it.”
Lee Jin-woo was bewildered at first but soon focused on me as I started briefing him on Seol Ah-rin. He nodded slightly with his hand on his chin. Did he really get it?
“So you’re saying that if I can’t finish her in one attack, it’s over? Good-bye, Hunters and people?”
“That’s right.”
“It’s a bit of a burden, but it looks like there’s no one else but me to do it. I’ll do it.”
Lee Jin-woo accepted my suggestion with a calm face. He looked different than before. So many lives depended on him not making even a small mistake, and he showed no sign of nervousness or anxiety. He had become bold and determined.
“Don’t worry. You can do it.”
It seemed like Lee Jin-woo noticed the worry and anxiety in my eyes. He smiled and said,
“I understand the plan perfectly. When you guys get going and stall for time, I’ll make sure I kill her.”
It was only the second year of his career, but his words were strangely reassuring.
* * *
“Ah, I’m really sick of this now. I hate you. I hate you all……”
The wizards stopped locking up Seol Ah-rin. Instead, they nervously braced themselves for her attack.
Tap, tap.
Seol Ah-rin crawled out onto the ground with a resigned face and walked. The blurry modern firearms behind her prepared to spout fire.
“Now!”
On Jung’s signal, the front line charged forward.
The first attack was led by Kim Seung-hyun, whose characteristic enabled him to withstand any first attack. Han Yeon-soo’s subordinates and several field hunters also rushed forward.
“Go away. Go away!”
Tududududududu-!
There was no way they could withstand the firepower that had taken down numerous Tankers. Kim Seung-hyun, who barely managed to block the first attack, coughed up blood and collapsed on the floor.
“Next!”
Yoo Ji-yeon and several wizards released the magic they had prepared. The waves of Mana aggressively swept through the area. danced towards a single person.
“I said go away–!”
But before the waves reached Seol Ah-rin, her modern firearms began to rage. Giving off the smell of gunpowder, the iron bullets destroyed and burned the disasters of nature.
Shots fired like light tore apart Mana and gnawed at the wizards’ bodies. Some pierced the wizards in the head or the chest, killing them instantly.
Most of the magic didn’t even reach Seol Ah-rin’s body. Seol Ah-rin screamed with her mouth wide open. Along with the scream, something violent poured out.
“Ugh… Aaaah!”
The wizards and Yoo Ji-yeon had just said they could hold their ground, but they collapsed.
The Mana began to rage in earnest. The whole area creaked as if a storm had hit, with Seol Ah-rin in the center. Sticky blood gushed out of Seol Ah-rin’s mouth.
Jeong Si-woo looked behind him. Lee Jin-woo shook his head. It meant not yet.
“…Okay, I’ll buy some more time.”
Jung Si-woo jumped up from the ground. It wasn’t that he was unaffected by the Mana. But among his numerous characteristics, there were definitely characteristics that had to do with resistance.
His mirages flew in, lighting up. But when Seol Ah-rin turned and focused her firepower, even Si-woo couldn’t last long.
“Ugh, argh……!”
Jeong Si-woo’s body became severely injured. His hunting suit had ripped into pieces long ago. No matter how many characteristics he had and how much he trained, he couldn’t endure bullets with his bare body, especially since they weren’t ordinary bullets.
“Get lost!!!”
Along with the loud shriek, the air started to crack. Rifts began to form as the Mana raged in high concentrations.
Jeong Si-woo’s face crumpled. If Monsters appeared on top of this, there was no way they could win.
Hunters rolled on the ground, crying out in pain. There was no way they could continue fighting. But Jeong Si-woo somehow raised his faltering body.
Armed with nothing but determination not to give up, Jeong had once survived to the end before he came back in time.
“You held out well.”
Clank.
And at that moment, Jeong Si-woo heard something getting put together from behind.
Lee Jin-woo put his hand into the quiver on his back. An arrow appeared. It was so huge that he wondered whether it could be called an arrow.
“Now, I can certainly kill you.”
Stretch……
The big bowstring was pulled tight. The from the arrow shook. His position didn’t hold long. Mumbling, Lee Jin-woo chanted something.
“Rune of Explosion. Rune of Debilitation. Rune of Destruction.”
With every chant, the ampoules on the arrow responded with a glow. The preparation did not take long. As soon as Lee Jin-woo finished speaking, he drew the bowstring without hesitation.
A spark of light burst out on their side, too. Through the walls of bullet fire, through the cloud of gunpowder, the arrow rode the wind and flew in a straight trajectory, racing towards its target.
“I’ll kill all of you… Bastar…!”
Seol Ah-rin, in the middle of shouting something, jerked her head backward. At the same time, the modern firearms that were open firing disappeared into thin air.
“……?”
All the hunters looked back at Lee Jin-woo. He didn’t brag or take a breath. He raised his index finger to his lips made a “shh” sound.
“Don’t say anything. Let’s all go together and make sure we’ve taken care of her. Don’t you dare say any magic words like ‘Did we get her?’ or ‘Did we finish her?’”
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