Translator: Vine
Translated At: Nyx Scans
Chapter: 111
#111. Colony of the Dead (3)
2022.11.19.
Upon entering Bokgye Mountain, Eunha first surveyed her surroundings.
Thanks to systematic management and technological advancements, gates rarely went berserk in the modern era of 2031.
However, in Eunha's time, it was a common occurrence.
"..."
Stopping her steps, Eunha squatted down and swept the soil with her hand.
A dry, powdery texture, devoid of any moisture.
Her fingertips were stained dark red, as if she had touched dye.
Judging by this level of contamination, this place had clearly been neglected for no short period.
Was it Silver Plum Blossom?
The Rose Guild member guiding the applicants had said so too.
However.
'Coming into the mountain directly, the condition is more severe than it looked from the outside.'
Eunha thought, gazing at her blackened fingers.
Ahahaha...
Someone's laughter was heard from afar.
Probably a group of hunters gathered somewhere nearby.
Listening to the sound alone, one might mistake them for hikers on a picnic, as there was no tension whatsoever.
'Is it just unfounded worry?'
Despite the high contamination level, the monsters appearing on the mountain weren't difficult.
And no abnormalities had been discovered so far.
There was no scent that could be presumed to be human blood yet either.
Meaning, at least near Eunha, no one had been injured.
Eunha, who had been lost in thought for a long time, stood up again.
And at that moment,
Flutter—
An unfamiliar object seemed to brush past the corner of her vision.
"...!"
Eunha, who had reflexively spread her palm towards that direction, froze.
In a very short instant, 'it' had vanished from sight.
However, Eunha had seen it in that fleeting moment.
A massive wing with a greenish hue.
That was definitely...
'...Tinkerbell?'
There are Tinkerbells even in a place like this?
Eunha, slowly lowering her hand that had been frozen in mid-air, recalled a memory from her training center days.
'Ugh, u-ugh, Eunha! A bug! A bug!'
Yijun, who primarily handled insects like ants with his pheromone ability, hated bugs more than anyone.
Whenever they stayed at an outdoor encampment (陣地) teeming with nameless insects, he would turn pale and even get teary-eyed.
Thanks to that, Eunha would often wake up even in her sleep and swat all sorts of bugs barehanded with half-closed eyes.
'Ah... I wish summer would go away quickly. I hate bugs so much...'
Yijun muttered so, deliberately averting his eyes from the corpse of a dead moth.
Eunha, staring with a serious face in the direction where Tinkerbell, i.e., the giant moth, had disappeared, mulled over the memory of that time.
Her breath, turning into vapor like smoke with every exhalation.
Though she didn't know for sure, the temperature here was undoubtedly significantly lower than in Seoul.
The occasional biting wind made her earlobes tingle.
Even considering that this was Cheorwon, Gangwon-do, the chill was strangely intense.
It was strange that such a moth was flying around normally in this weather.
While she was intently staring in the direction the creature had disappeared.
[Sister, behind you.]
Flash!
Black flames erupted from her right shoulder.
Flames that flew towards her back without any warning.
A beat later, bang!
An explosion was heard.
Eunha slowly turned around and confirmed the unsightly scattered bone fragments of a skeleton on the dirt ground.
"..."
And after casting her gaze once more in the direction the moth had disappeared, she lowered her knees and picked up the green orb buried in the bones.
3 hours later.
[A powerful force of domination imbues Lv.5 'Skeleton'.]
[Lv.5 'Skeleton's attack power is enhanced.]
[Lv.5 'Skeleton's defense power is enhanced.]
Flash! Flash! Flash!
A black shadow darted swiftly among the skeletons.
A speed that an ordinary person's eyes couldn't follow.
It was such a short time that an ordinary person wouldn't even know what had happened.
Thud.
Eunha, who had been soaring through the air, landed on her feet.
And the next moment.
Clatter...
The skeletons, which had been standing perfectly fine, collapsed all at once.
All of them, as if by agreement, had their ribcages shattered.
Eunha strode over and gathered the cores from among the mountain-like pile of bone fragments.
'This makes 400.'
It had been a good 3 hours since entering the Colony of the Dead.
Eunha had succeeded in gathering nearly 400 cores.
Unless it was an urgent situation, there was no need to use Dark Flare.
Most could be handled sufficiently with just her parasol, a difficulty of only that much.
However, an unexpected obstacle lay there.
[Inventory is full.]
Eunha slowly blinked at the system window that popped up before her.
'Already full?'
The inventory could be expanded with coins.
Thanks to the cat's generous support, Eunha had already expanded her inventory to the maximum.
Yet, she was still short on space...
Despite having sold quite a lot of miscellaneous items like leather at the auction, it seemed a large amount still remained.
[The divine beast 'Cat Wandering in Darkness' is utterly aghast at your bursting inventory slots.]
[It suggests that since useless items only take up space and aren't even good for bartering, how about just throwing them on the ground.]
Eunha pondered the cat's suggestion for a moment.
Like at the last Hunter Auction, she didn't know when or for what purpose they might be used, so she didn't want to throw them away if possible.
Her black eyes, tinged with contemplation, suddenly darted somewhere.
The moment the old cloak worn by a skeleton caught her eye, Eunha's eyes sparkled.
'That's it.'
Eunha pulled out the cloak buried among the shattered bone fragments and dusted it off.
Then, she gathered the cores she had collected in her inventory and the ones she had just gathered, and tied them up like a bundle.
'Perfect.'
Eunha, smiling satisfactorily at the tightly tied knot, slung the bundle over her shoulder and set off again.
Mid-slope of Bokgye Mountain, somewhere in the Colony of the Dead.
"Damn it, why are these things so persistent?!"
A hunter spat out a curse mixed with annoyance.
Thwack!
He swung his knuckle-clad fist widely.
The skeleton's skull, spinning like a top, thumped! and fell to the ground.
Clatter, clatter...
However, the body, having lost its head, didn't stop moving.
Still slow movements.
Not threatening.
But certainly annoying.
It had already been 3 hours since they climbed Bokgye Mountain.
The total number of cores collected so far was 72.
It wasn't a small number, but considering it was a 4-person party, if divided by 4, it was less than 20 cores per person.
Meaning, even collecting 10 cores per hour was a tight squeeze.
"Move!"
One of the party members shouted.
Simultaneously.
Thwaaack—!
A skeleton shattered with a dull sound.
A small green orb sparkled among the bones.
It was a core.
"Is this the 73rd?"
"The party that passed by here earlier supposedly collected over 100 already... This won't do. They said it's relative evaluation. At this rate, we'll all fail the test."
Another hunter, who had been providing support from the rear, approached and anxiously bit his nails.
"I absolutely have to pass this test and participate in the operation. I need to pay off my credit card bills."
"It's fine. We still have 7 hours left. Let's go a little deeper."
"How about we rest a bit first? As you said, we have plenty of time, so about 10 minutes should be fine. My shoulders are stiff from swinging my weapon continuously."
"I can hold out a little longer."
"Me too."
Eventually, they split into two groups.
Two rested under a nearby tree, while the other two agreed to collect cores.
"Agh, my shoulder."
The man leaning against the tree groaned, rotating his shoulders.
Though his face was weary, he had no injuries.
There was no way to get hurt against Level 5 skeletons.
Skeletons that become neutralized upon leaving a certain area.
Using that fact, they initially tried to lure the creatures out of the forest and dispose of them.
However, the problem was that the skeletons that left the forest would collapse, and their cores would disappear along with them.
Meaning, to obtain cores, they had no choice but to defeat the creatures directly within the forest.
This was a battle of attrition.
How many cores could be collected within the limited time—that was the key.
In that sense, party play was a wise choice.
The problem was that this place was too cold, and,
"We need to collect at least around 100 per person to be safe..."
"Will 100 be enough? We'll probably need to collect at least 200."
The fact that progress was slower than expected.
"Didn't you see earlier? There were even B-Class hunters mixed among the applicants. 'Iron Mace' and 'Bard' even formed a party among themselves."
A party of B-Classes.
Though he didn't know for sure, they were probably sweeping up cores somewhere in this mountain by now.
Ah, if possible, I wanted to join that party too.
Just as the man, burying his face in his knees, let out a sigh deep enough to make the ground sink.
"Um... excuse me, is there an empty spot in your party?"
Huh?
The man lifted his head.
An ahjussi who had approached nearby was awkwardly scratching his cheek.
The man scanned him from head to toe.
If he had skills, a party application would be welcome, but...
'This ahjussi, seeing as he hasn't found a party yet, there's a high chance he has some flaw.'
A reasonable suspicion.
It had been 3 hours since they entered Bokgye Mountain.
It was a time when reasonably useful hunters would have already formed teams.
"He's a concept hunter. Clown Ahjussi, I think he was E-Class."
Sure enough, a fellow hunter whispered in his ear.
The hunter, who had been looking at Clown Ahjussi, narrowed his eyes and said, "Hmm," as if he understood.
"Do you have some cores collected?"
"Here they are."
Clown Ahjussi, as if he had been waiting, opened his inventory.
On his outstretched palm, green orbs, skeleton cores, materialized with a shimmer of light.
"Pfft."
The hunter unknowingly let out a laugh.
A mere 3.
Seeing the number of cores Clown Ahjussi proudly presented, he couldn't possibly hold back his laughter.
Wasn't it so?
By calculation, this ahjussi had obtained barely one core per hour.
"I'm sorry, but joining our party is a bit..."
"Hey, ahjussi. We're full here, so look elsewhere."
Towards them, who were about to turn away, Clown Ahjussi urgently reached out his hand.
"Please. I absolutely have to pass this test and participate in the operation."
A desperate expression.
He looked ready to kneel if asked.
However...
"Ahjussi, it's the same for us."
The hunter said, his firm expression unwavering.
At his resolute attitude, Clown Ahjussi had no choice but to finally lower his outstretched hand.
"...Haa."
Clown Ahjussi, trudging alone along the mountain path, abruptly stopped.
It was due to the anxiety that if he continued like this, he would fail the test.
That rejection just now was already the fifth.
He felt dejected.
If he returned home like this, starting tomorrow, he would have to search internet job boards again to find work.
"...This world, really."
Let's try to find another party.
Among all these applicants, wouldn't there be at least one person willing to accept him?
It was the moment he gathered his strength and took a step forward.
Screeeech...
A bloodcurdling sound, like nails scratching a chalkboard, came from behind him.
Whipping his head around, there stood a skeleton wielding a crossbow.
Skeletons were largely divided into two types: melee attackers and ranged attackers.
The more troublesome ones were, naturally, the ranged type.
The creature creaked and aimed its crossbow at Clown Ahjussi.
Clown Ahjussi unknowingly swallowed dry saliva.
Though the creature's movements were sluggish, he knew the incoming arrow wouldn't be.
At least, it would be faster than Clown Ahjussi's 'Fanfare'.
Clack.
Clown Ahjussi flinched at the sound of the crossbow.
Attack? Or run?
He debated for a brief moment.
However.
'Dad!'
—From the beginning, there was only one answer.
Pewww...!
Fireworks exploded from Clown Ahjussi's fingertips along with colorful smoke.
And at that moment,
Booooom—!
The skeleton.
"...?!"
Exploded...?
Clown Ahjussi blinked blankly.
Did I... defeat it...? And in a single blow...? No, that can't be right.
When he had attacked other skeletons with the same skill, he had never inflicted such a critical hit with a single attack.
If not that, did it self-destruct? Or was it an act?
How could such a mindless monster be capable of that?
Just as Clown Ahjussi was panicking, he suddenly heard a rustling sound of someone stepping on grass.
"Ah, I didn't know it had an owner."
It was a woman's voice.
Clown Ahjussi slowly lifted his gaze, which had been fixed on the charred skeleton, towards the source of the voice.
"Here you go."
Swish.
A skeleton core was held out before him.
Blinking twice, Clown Ahjussi raised his gaze a little further to look at the owner of the hand.
"Ah, young lady?"
"...?"
The Princess of Dark Flare, Eunha, carrying a large bundle on her shoulder, tilted her head.
The bundle she was carrying was lumpy and looked like it would burst at any moment.
Clown Ahjussi saw it.
"Th-that..."
The tremendous amount of green orbs visible through the opening of the bundle.
