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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: The Harpoon Serpent's Cradle
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‘So, where would be the best place to watch?’
Of course, I had no intention of going to the Association. It would be a shame to waste an opportunity like this.
First, I moved to a corner, and after confirming no one was around, I quickly took out the jacket I’d received from the Administrator. Its basic stealth option activated, and my presence faded. Unless they were S-rank, no one would be able to notice me.
Seora settled on a high branch of a nearby tree with a clear view of the gate.
“Hmm. Weapon delivery complete.”
Just then, she saw Ju-eun handing a sword to Do Junyeong. Do Junyeong looked surprised for a moment, then his face creased into a faint frown, though she couldn't tell what he'd been told.
“Is that the raid party for this dungeon?”
There were four S-ranks: Do Junyeong, Ju-eun, Yeongwon’s vice guild master Kang Hanseo, and Suhoryeong’s guild master Yoo Su-eun.
There were five A-ranks, including Suhoryeong’s vice guild master.
With three healers, including the S-rank Yoo Su-eun, that should be more than enough to clear it.
“Besides, Ju-eun is the unofficial number two in the rankings.”
Ju-eun, the second strongest in the country after Song Hanna. A raid party led by him had never once failed to clear a dungeon. That was why Seora could sit here so leisurely and watch.
Once the raid party was assembled, the nine hunters entered the gate.
The moment they did, the surroundings fell into an abrupt silence. It was a stillness born from the people's fear.
And for good reason.
A failed Grade 2 dungeon raid didn't just end with a few people getting hurt or killed. If a Grade 3 dungeon put a few cities at risk, a Grade 2 could be a catastrophe capable of destroying an entire nation.
The damage would be especially severe for a small country like Korea.
If she were still an F-rank, Seora might have been trembling in an office somewhere. A bitter smile touched her lips.
“Administrator, can’t you interfere with whether a gate is generated? Not taking control of it, but stopping it from appearing at all.”
【Administrator: (◞‸◟；)】
“...Even as the Administrator, that’s impossible?”
【Administrator: ｡ﾟ(ﾟ´Д`ﾟ)ﾟ｡】
The reply she received confirmed it.
At the very least, the gate's appearance was not at all intended by the System Administrator.
And that even complete control was impossible.
Come to think of it, in the Grade 3 dungeon where they first met, he had only created a protective barrier, and in the Grade 4, he had only stopped the gate's magical power from leaking out.
‘What are gates, where are the dungeons connected to, and just who is the System Administrator?’
She had resolved not to get involved, but she couldn't help the questions that popped into her head from time to time.
Seora comforted the Administrator, who kept sending crying messages as if to say they couldn't do anything.
“Well then, enough time should have passed. Shall I take a look inside myself?”
Not to do anything drastic, just to dip her toes in, so to speak. The day might come when she, too, would have to take on a Grade 2 dungeon.
First, I should check my weapons. The mace is too recognizable, so I’ll leave it. Instead, the sniper rifle and…
“Ah.”
Seora’s eyes fell on the gloves occupying a slot in her inventory. She’d completely forgotten about them.
“Wow, these are incredible.”
When she took them out and put them on, the gloves, missing only the index finger as if designed for a sniper, clung to her hand like a second skin. They didn't hinder her handling of the gun at all. In fact, they were even more comfortable than the L-rank jacket, truly feeling as if they were made just for her from the very beginning.
With curious eyes, Seora pulled up the gloves' information window.
【Equipment Information】
Name: The One and Only Gloves (S-Rank)
Type: Gloves
Unique Trait: Completely absorbs the recoil of all firearms.
Special Note: These one-of-a-kind gloves were personally crafted by the System Administrator for their one and only contractor. They are permanently indestructible thanks to the Administrator's blessing.
“…”
Compared to its unique trait, the S-rank designation seemed excessive. But the special note struck her even more forcefully.
Personally crafted by the Administrator, one-of-a-kind gloves made just for her.
Her chest tightened in a way that couldn't compare to when she received the freely transformable EX-rank weapon or the eighty-billion-coin L-rank jacket.
Gloves made just for me. Something that exists solely for me.
“…It really feels like a Christmas present.”
【Administrator: (⊙ ω ⊙)??】
“The contract with you, Administrator.”
Seora gently stroked the glove-clad hand.
She had said something similar yesterday after receiving the jacket, but the gloves changed her mind. The real Christmas present she should be joyful about was the contract with the Administrator.
“If you keep giving me things like this, what will you do when I get spoiled?”
【Administrator: (ง •ω•)ง✧】
“You’ll put up with it all? Geez. You’re not my mom or dad, how can you put up with me being spoiled?”
But it didn't feel bad. Feeling a little embarrassed, Seora wiped her face once with her gloved hand.
An L-rank jacket, an EX-rank weapon, and now S-rank gloves that were one of a kind, made only for her.
She felt like she wouldn't be afraid even if a Grade 1 dungeon appeared before her, let alone a Grade 2.
* * *
Thanks to the stealth effects of the A-rank necklace and L-rank jacket, Seora was able to enter the gate without being detected by the hunters securing the perimeter.
【Awakened ‘Yoon Seora’ has entered the Grade 2 Dungeon ‘Harpoon Serpent's Cradle.’】
“Ugh!”
At the same time, a wave of poison washed over her, and Seora immediately covered her nose and mouth. Harpoon Serpent—it seemed they were a venomous type of snake. She immediately took out and put on a gas mask.
“This is less a cradle and more a snake pit.”
Looking around, the first thing that caught her eye was a space incomparably larger than where the werewolves had been.
【Administrator: ◝(๑⁺д⁺๑)◞՞】
The Administrator fretted, as if telling her to be careful. Seora gripped her sniper rifle. Perhaps thanks to the gloves, the gun seemed to fit even more snugly in her hands.
‘The raid party… are they over there?’
Pressing her back flat against the wall, she peeked her head out, and the first thing she saw was something enormous.
‘Whoa, no way.’
It was a green harpoon, nearly the size of a person, and it was attached to a serpent's tail.
‘Crazy. A harpoon on its tail. So that's why they're called Harpoon Serpents?’
Moreover, the serpent, which already seemed dead, looked to be hundreds of meters long, and its thickness was no joke. To have a body like that and venom, too. A Grade 2 dungeon monster, indeed.
‘And yet, several are already dead. S-ranks are really monsters.’
The serpent corpses continued deep into the cave. The ones cleanly sliced by a sword must have been killed by Do Junyeong, and the ones that had exploded were likely the work of the tanker, Vice Guild Master Kang Hanseo.
‘Gasp, what’s that?’
The moment she spotted the serpent corpse at the very back, Seora’s eyes widened. It was dead, riddled from head to tail with thick arrows.
She could tell just by looking. That one was killed by the Yeongwon Guild Master, a Ranger.
‘They said he was the strongest among the marksman class. It's true. Wow, how can you stick that many arrows in so densely?’
What skills did he use? What kind of weapon? How did he fight? As a fellow marksman, she was incredibly curious.
Hoping for a better look, Seora leaned her head out a little further.
*Splat!*
She heard something sticky and heavy fall behind her. She spun around and got into position instantly, but she couldn't fire her gun.
“An egg?”
An enormous egg, coated in some kind of sticky fluid, lay abandoned on the ground. Steam was rising from it, and its shell was still soft, as if it had just… been brought into the world.
‘…I’m so screwed.’
She had momentarily forgotten that snakes, being skilled hunters, were also good at concealing their presence.
Seora looked up. *Hiiiiisssss.* A snake clinging to the ceiling was looking right at her, its mouth gaping wide.
But something was off.
The harpoon she expected to see only on its tail was also attached to the tip of its tongue. What's more, a yellow venom was dripping from the harpoon on its tongue.
‘So this is the class of a Grade 2 monster.’
Seora smoothed down the jacket she was wearing.
“L-rank jacket, I'm counting on you.”
And immediately threw herself in the opposite direction.
*CRASH!* The spot where she had just been was completely obliterated. By the harpoon on the end of a tongue that had elongated dozens of meters in an instant.
“Wow, it's one thing after another.”
It was only a single grade difference, but the level of danger was incomparable to the likes of werewolves.
“I don’t want to get caught by fighting needlessly, and I’ve had a good look at the dungeon. Time to bolt.”
She could sense a considerable number of snakes stirring deeper inside, so it didn't seem like the raid party would be coming this way immediately, but one could never be sure.
Besides, the unofficial number two in the country was here. As long as the gate was blue, the monsters couldn’t follow her out, so it was time for her to run.
‘Number Two, please take care of the rest.’
Adieu.
Seora activated an anklet with a Haste effect. She planned to dash straight out of the gate, which wasn't far.
But just as she tensed her legs to leap—
【Warning! The boss monster of the Grade 2 Dungeon ‘Harpoon Serpent's Cradle’ is hatching!】
Along with the unbelievable message, the shell of the large egg beside her ripped open with a violent tear.
