40 chapter - Swamp Zone (3)
[Unit 302]
Hong Soo-ah arrived quickly at Choi Changshik’s apartment by taxi. She hesitated for a moment before pressing the doorbell.
Ding~dong!
But there was no response from inside.
‘…Is he asleep?’
She called Choi Changshik’s phone.
♪♬♩♬~
A familiar ringtone rang out—but it wasn’t coming from Unit 302.
“…Huh?”
The sound was coming from next door, Unit 301.
‘…Did unni give me the wrong address?’
Then a conversation from yesterday popped into her head.
—…Boss. Wasn’t Lee Yuna living somewhere in Goyang?
—Ah, yeah. Yuna moved. Right next door to me.
Click-click.
Before she realized it, Hong Soo-ah had her hand on the doorknob of Unit 301.
“The person you’re trying to reach cannot answer right now, please leave a message…”
The mechanical voice on the line snapped her back to her senses.
‘…I shouldn’t be doing this.’
She seemed to come to her senses—but only for a moment.
Crack.
She immediately activated her skill.
Ice formed rapidly around the doorknob she was holding, and the door swung open in an instant.
Bang!
Inside—
Vrrrrrm.
“…??”
A Gate, glowing blue, filled the entire living room.
“…”
Hong Soo-ah remained calm as she scanned the room.
‘…No one’s here.’
No Hunter Bureau staff meant it was an unregistered Gate.
But judging from the surroundings, it looked like someone had already packed gear and gone inside.
From the looks of things, Choi Changshik and Lee Yuna had entered the Gate.
What didn’t make sense was that they had left behind all their gear, including firearms.
‘…Why?’
Even at a glance, the Gate looked like it was C-Rank or higher.
No matter how strong Choi Changshik was, going in without so much as a gun was strange.
She couldn’t understand why the two had left everything behind to enter the Gate.
‘…Hmmm.’
After staring at the Gate in thought, she leaned her head in slightly.
This was one way to check the internal environment before stepping through.
Shhhhhhh.
Inside, it was raining—and the Gate was floating in the sky.
Looking down, she saw a swampy terrain below—far enough that once you fell, you couldn’t easily climb back up.
‘…Did she fall by accident?’
It was possible that Lee Yuna, with her relatively limited experience, had leaned in and slipped.
And since she’d never experienced something like that before, she may have just gone in blindly.
Choi Changshik, seeing Yuna sucked into the Gate, would’ve responded in the most predictable way.
‘…He probably charged in headfirst again, no plan.’
Just like that time—when he’d saved her.
“…Tch.”
Either way, if this was an accident, she had to act fast.
‘…First I should report it.’
Just as she was about to call the Bureau, a thought stopped her.
‘…If I report it, I won’t be allowed in, will I?’
She was still a D-Rank Hunter.
She thought she could fight as well as a C-Rank, but officially, she was D-Rank.
Once she reported it, she wouldn’t be allowed to enter.
She wouldn’t be able to go after Choi Changshik.
‘…No way.’
Hong Soo-ah quietly got to work.
She pulled a rope from her raid kit, tied it tightly to the doorknob, and fed the other end into the Gate.
Then she gathered the gear and firearms she thought she might need and sent a text to her sister, Hong Yura.
[Best Officetel Unit 301. Suspected C-Rank Gate. Requesting rescue.]
And without a second of hesitation, she grabbed the rope and dove into the Gate.
Beep-beep-beep! Beep-beep-beep!
Left behind, her phone rang noisily in the now-empty room.
**
I was swimming for my life.
But trying to escape from a Lizardman—let alone a boss monster—while underwater and unarmed was next to impossible.
And the bastard wasn’t alone.
“Shit!”
Lizardmen blocked my path.
They were the ones that had followed the boss here.
Thwack!
I stabbed one of them coming up from below—just as a shadow loomed over me from above.
Thinking it was the boss, I whipped my blade around and slashed backward.
Slish.
‘What the hell?’
What I hit wasn’t a monster—but water.
More precisely, I had slashed at a massive wave that was just about to crash down on me.
Then it did.
WHAM!
The surge slammed into me and tossed me like a ragdoll.
I hadn’t expected to be swallowed by water so suddenly—I hadn’t even had time to breathe.
‘C-Can’t breathe…!’
The iron sword in my hand dragged me down fast.
I kicked and thrashed toward the surface, but a Lizardman grunt grabbed my ankle.
I shook my leg furiously, but it wouldn’t let go.
Just as I was about to bash its skull in with the sword—an eerie chill ran down my back.
I twisted my body, instinctively bringing the blade behind me to block.
CRRRAK!
It was him.
It felt like I’d been hit by a truck going full speed.
Even underwater, I was blasted backward for a long while before coming to a stop.
I managed to shake off the Lizardman that had been clinging to me, but that didn’t matter anymore.
‘Where is he?’
Trying to spot him in the murky water was like searching for a needle in the desert.
‘I need to activate the Trait.’
To fight this thing, I needed clear sight and extended breath-hold.
‘The way to activate it should be…’
Activate the skill, then apply monster blood directly to the eyes.
Just then, something came charging at me.
Judging by its speed, it was a regular Lizardman.
‘Perfect.’
A mere scratch wouldn’t do.
The injury had to be fatal—enough to flood the water with blood.
I rushed toward the surface.
The suffocation was real, so the act looked convincing.
The Lizardman must have thought I was panicking—it darted forward and grabbed my ankle.
That was the moment I was waiting for.
I drove my blade straight down.
Stab!
The Lizardman died instantly, and its blood spread like ink in water.
I pushed my face straight into the cloud of blood.
Thanks to Yuna updating my Skill, I didn’t need to worry about paralysis.
As the blood touched my eyes—
Vrrrrrm!
My body reacted.
My eyes burned, and the pain spread outward from my chest.
Gurgle.
The breath I’d lost rose as a stream of bubbles, but I didn’t feel like I was drowning anymore.
‘There it is.’
I opened my eyes as a transparent inner eyelid slid into place.
My Lizardman-like eyes lit up the dark water.
‘I can see!’
Instead of rising, I gripped my sword and braced myself.
The sword weighed me down—sinking me naturally.
I began walking along the bottom.
The Lizardmen, thinking I was paralyzed by poison, swarmed in.
I waited until they were close, then swung.
Slish!
A clean decapitation.
Blood spread in clouds.
I took a step forward, and the next one was already in range.
Slish!
I slashed deep across its torso.
Even with a Lizardman’s regenerative ability, a wound like that wouldn’t heal fast.
It was as good as dead.
I spun my body to rip the sword out—deflecting the spear aimed at my back in the same motion.
Then I lunged.
My blade plunged into the charging Lizardman’s chest.
Stab!
As I yanked it out, blood erupted like a geyser.
Heart shot through.
Instant kill.
‘Haaah.’
Three down in an instant.
Technically two kills and one disabled, but it didn’t matter.
The rest were stunned and backed off.
‘Then I’ll take the fight to you.’
I launched off the bottom and charged.
Slish!
After cleanly slicing off the head of a Lizardman that had belatedly turned to flee, I immediately scanned for the next target.
That’s when—
‘Incoming.’
Something shot through the water like a missile.
I gripped my sword with both hands, bracing for impact.
At its core, the strategy for a Lizardman boss was no different from that of a regular one.
‘Gotta end it in one strike.’
The neck had to come off—no exceptions.
Especially since these bastards had such insane regeneration that even stabbing the heart wouldn’t keep them down for long. They’d recover fast and keep fighting.
‘There’s just one thing to watch out for.’
The Lizardman boss had a special ability.
Shwaaah!
It could manipulate water.
‘Tch.’
The water around me churned violently.
By the time I realized it, my body was already being lifted off the ground.
I had no footing anymore.
And if I couldn’t plant my feet, my slashes would lose their force.
‘Damn it.’
To make it worse, I was being pulled toward him. With my posture wrecked like this, it was only a matter of time before those claws went through me.
“!!”
In the blink of an eye, he was right in front of me.
His claws aimed straight for my head.
KRK-KRAK!
Thanks to having anticipated it, I barely managed to block.
‘Now!’
THUNK!
I successfully grabbed his shoulder.
We moved together, and I could feel the pressure of the water magnify several times over.
‘Do it!’
Bracing against the current, I drove my blade into his neck.
Stab!
The tip of the sword dug deep into his throat—but in the same moment, agony exploded across my back.
{GHHK?!}
KRKKKRAAAANG!
He slammed me into the ground.
Not muddy terrain—solid rock.
‘Shit.’
A haze of silt and grit filled the water like fog.
Still lying there, I looked up.
The bastard glared down at me with eyes burning like fire.
And then, slowly, he pulled the sword from his neck.
Blood spurted for a moment—then stopped.
The wound closed in an instant.
‘…Guess I really can’t do this alone.’
Unreal regeneration.
And now I’d lost my weapon. No chance of winning.
That left only one option.
‘Run.’
Time for the thirty-sixth stratagem: Escape.
I kicked off the ground and swam with everything I had.
But of course, he wasn’t about to just let me go.
The water around me surged violently, and suddenly I couldn’t move properly.
‘Goddaaaamn it!’
The current was working against me—pulling me back like drowning ghosts grabbing at my limbs.
Instinctively, I thrashed to escape.
Puhah!
I barely broke the surface—
WHAM!
A column of water exploded upward, launching me into the air.
Pain bloomed in my gut.
His claw had punched straight through my stomach, and I was lifted into the sky like a rag doll.
“Ghk…!”
A gush of blood spewed from my mouth.
He was still furious. Just impaling me wasn’t enough.
He opened his jaws wide—clearly aiming to finish me by tearing out my throat.
But then—
Thwip! Thwick!
Arrows flew in out of nowhere—one hit the back of his head, another struck the base of his neck.
The boss turned slowly.
And there she was—Lee Yuna, crossbow aimed squarely at him.
‘That idiot…!’
She should’ve stayed hidden!
SPLASH!
He flung me aside like trash, sending me crashing back into the water, and charged toward the tree where Yuna was perched.
Vrrrrrm!
The wound in my abdomen healed instantly, wrapped in the power Yuna poured into me.
The more I fought with her, the stronger her Skill had grown.
Even an injury like this was nothing now.
CRAAAAK!
“Kyaaaah!”
I heard Yuna scream.
The monster had smashed the tree in a single blow.
Yuna had been firing nonstop with her crossbow, but against a beast with this kind of regeneration, the bolts were like mosquito bites.
‘What do I do?’
It was too far.
Even if I ran now, I didn’t think I’d make it in time.
And if I left her behind… I could get away.
I hesitated—of course I did. I’m human.
It was life or death.
‘But I can’t.’
Abandon someone who risked her life to save me?
I wasn’t that kind of trash.
‘I have to save her.’
I shouted with everything I had.
“Hey! You lizard freak!”
It worked.
The boss flinched and turned to face me.
“You piece of shit! Come at me!”
But that was as far as it went.
The bastard wasn’t stupid.
He kept his eyes locked on me but continued to advance on Yuna, who was now splashing helplessly in the water.
Planning to finish her first and then come for me.
Desperation clawed at my throat.
“You fucking bastard!!”
That’s when—
CRACK-CRRACK!
Someone was approaching the Lizardman boss at high speed.
A woman skimming across a trail of ice spreading across the water—Hong Soo-ah.
The boss registered her presence.
With a calm expression, Soo-ah dipped her hand into the water.
Then—
CRRRK-KRACK-KRAK!
Ice raced outward with terrifying force, stopping right in front of the boss.
—Grug?
And then—
CRRRK! THWIP!
A razor-sharp spike of ice burst from beneath the surface, impaling the Lizardman boss straight through the chest.