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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Ghost Town
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Uh, so what you're saying is... mental corruption doesn't work on me?
“...So thanks to my Lizzie-Rizzie protecting me, it's like I have a mental barrier skill?”
【Administrator: v(°∇^*)⌒☆】
Oh my god. Come to think of it, he sent a happy-go-lucky emoticon back when the Fissure Dungeon first opened, too.
Even though I sometimes wonder if he actually cares about me, he probably wouldn't have been so playful if I were in real danger.
“So, does this mean I can clean this place out? Thanks to my dear Lizzie-Rizzie?”
【Administrator: ( ´—ω･)︻┻┳══━】
“You want me to shoot them all with a gun?”
Seora took out Hit, which she had converted into a slingshot, from her inventory. With Kim Sanghyeon unconscious, there were no prying eyes. She changed it back into a sniper rifle and fired at the ghost that had tried to corrupt her.
Thwack! But the mana bullet passed right through the ghost and embedded itself in the floor. The blankly staring white ghost saw this and immediately fled.
“The mental corruption isn't an issue, but this is.”
Ghost-types are, just as the name implies, spiritual beings. Normal physical attacks don't work on them.
I'd feel so much better if I could just shoot all these bastards who ruined my chance to leave on time.
“And more importantly, I have to save the Section Chief. Ah, what should I do?”
【Administrator: ( ´—ω･)︻┻┳═━□】
“Shoot the square? Ah, the cube?”
Her unique skill, Field Domination.
“I see. If I set the area to the ghost-type itself...”
I haven't tried it before, but since the administrator is suggesting it, it should be possible, right?
“Activate Field.”
Without a second thought, Seora activated the skill. Her reddened eye turned toward the fallen Kim Sanghyeon.
[Activating the skill ‘Field Domination’!]
[Area set. Temporarily dominating the designated field!]
She wasn't targeting him. The ghost that had invaded his body and was slowly eating away at his mind was reflected in her left eye.
[‘Hit’ resonates with the skill ‘Field Domination’. The bullet transforms accordingly!]
Her finger pulled the trigger. The fired bullet pierced right through Kim Sanghyeon's forehead.
Pop!
Aaaaaah!
The sound that echoed with the pop of a balloon was the ghost's scream.
The attacked monster shot out of Kim Sanghyeon's body. The moment its white eyes turned to Seora, the ghost's body scattered into the air like dust.
The death of a ghost-type. And there wasn't a single wound on the corrupted Kim Sanghyeon's body.
“Awesome. This is perfect.”
Seora glanced back and forth between the peacefully sleeping Kim Sanghyeon, now freed from the ghost, and her gun. A bright smile slowly spread across her lips.
A very bloodthirsty smile.
“So, I can kill every ghost-type in here?”
【Administrator: ((o(*>ω<*)o))】
“I can shoot dead all these damn bastards who *dared* to interfere with me leaving on time?”
【Administrator: ((o(*≧∀≦*)o))】
“Hahahahahaha!”
Seora's wild laughter shook the building that had been reduced to a ghost town.
Her eyes were tinged with madness. To make matters worse, one eye was crimson due to her skill's effect, making her look even more terrifying.
“You're all dead.”
After converting Hit into a pair of pistols, Seora began to walk forward, one step at a time.
It was from that moment on that the dungeon became a ghost town in a different sense.
* * *
Bang, bang!
Every time fire erupted from the twin pistols, the White Ghosts dominated by the Red Cube vanished into thin air with a scream. It was the same for those that had corrupted the guild members.
If they were caught in Seora's gaze, every last one of them died.
Thanks to this, dozens of ghosts screamed and fled from Seora. The sight of the white figures vanishing like a receding tide was quite a spectacle.
“Ah, where the hell is the boss monster? I want to kill them all quickly and go home.”
But Seora, who had been so excited at first, now wore a bored expression.
She was starting to get tired of it, and on top of that, she was currently carrying the unconscious Kim Sanghyeon on one shoulder like a sack of luggage. Normally, this much weight shouldn't have been a problem...
“Hunting ghost-types consumes a lot of mana.”
Her mana was draining even faster than when she had split the cube into multiple pieces to catch the Ore Rhinoceros.
But Seora wasn't heartless enough to abandon someone who tried to save her, so she readjusted his slipping body.
“Where the hell is the exit?”
The space itself had become a dungeon, completely altering the entire structure of the place. Because of that, the exit had also formed somewhere else, but no matter how much she wandered the building, she couldn't find it.
Seora clicked her tongue and blew the head off another fleeing ghost.
“I don't really need to kill the boss monster, so I could just leave... Ack! You scared me! Hey, that was a shock! How can you just shove a face scarier than a ghost's in mine like that? You almost gave me a heart attack!”
Seora instinctively swung her gun at the white face of a ghost with rolled-back eyes that had suddenly popped out in front of her. Whoops. She still wasn't used to firearms, so she'd swung it like a blunt weapon.
She readjusted her grip on the gun and pulled the trigger.
[Skill activation canceled due to overuse!]
“Ah, damn.”
At the same time, Seora's left eye returned to its black color. The Red Cube vanished along with the ghost's body as it scattered into the air.
“I haven't killed them all yet...”
The moment her regretful voice trailed off with a groan, a sudden, icy chill washed over her from behind.
No, that's not it. It's not just an aura.
This was the unique, instinctual sense of an S-Class. Seora's eyes widened.
It was then that a message she had never seen before appeared.
[The System Administrator shouts that his one and only contractor is in danger!]
“...Huh?”
A message where the administrator conveyed his will directly, not with an emoticon.
Because of that, Seora's reaction was delayed. A chill shot through her as she halfway turned her body.
Coming to her senses a moment too late, Seora threw Kim Sanghyeon aside and shook her hands, but it was already over. Her arm was slashed, and a searing pain spread along with the blood.
Wincing at the searing pain, Seora hastily retreated. Blood dripped from a long gash on her left arm.
“White Ghosts are spiritual beings; they shouldn't be able to deal direct physical damage to a human body.”
But this one managed to inflict such a wound on an S-Class body.
The floating white spiritual being grinned at Seora. The clear smile on the translucent figure was so bizarre it sent a shiver down her spine.
I see. This one's the boss.
“So even if it's the master of a mere Grade 4 dungeon, a boss is still different from other monsters, huh?”
“...So it wasn't a monster, but a magical beast.”
Hearing an unexpected reply, Seora's face contorted fiercely.
Unlike monsters, magical beasts can speak human languages. That means they have the intelligence to match, making them extremely difficult to deal with. A dungeon with a magical beast as its boss is only Grade 4? Isn't that a scam?
“To think I'd be asked about my identity by a magical beast. I've seen it all now.”
The boss magical beast raised its right hand. Seora's blood was on the tips of its long, sharp claws.
The magical beast studied them for a moment before finally licking the blood off.
“Hey! Don't you suck my blood right in front of me!”
Its long tongue, coiling like a snake, licked the blood clean from its claws. Seora really felt like she was going to throw up.
“Ugh. This is why you shouldn't talk to mobs.”
She aimed the gun she was holding, but then remembered. Crap, I can't use my skill right now. How am I supposed to kill that thing?
A look of ecstasy appeared on the magical beast's face. Come to think of it, she'd heard somewhere that the blood of top-tier hunters contained dense mana.
“Ugh, what do I do? I feel even sicker now.”
Seora raised a hand to cover her mouth. When a few drops of blood splattered from the movement, the magical beast's white eyes snapped toward her.
The creature screamed, having lost its reason as if intoxicated. Just as a horrified Seora tried to back away.
[The System Administrator is enraged by his one and only contractor's injury!]
What appeared before her eyes wasn't a familiar emoticon, but a message she had never seen before.
Right. Come to think of it, she'd forgotten for a moment, but a message just like that had appeared earlier, too.
[Warning! The System Administrator's rage is...]
“What rage!”
Seora threw a punch at the continuing message. As if startled, the system window, its text cut off mid-sentence, vanished.
Seora glared at the empty air.
“Elizabeth, what the hell was that message? Are you hiding something from me right now?”
She swung her fist, demanding an immediate answer, but the problem was that this caused more blood to splatter.
Unable to hold back, the magical beast shrieked an unintelligible sound and flew at her. She hurriedly fired her gun, but as expected, the bullet passed right through the spiritual being without harming it.
Seora hastily threw herself to the side. A stinging pain spread as her wound scraped against the hard floor.
“Ah, now's not the time to be dealing with this thing. I need to shake down my Lizzie.”
Even an S-Class was useless without a skill that could attack spiritual beings. Especially against one that could even wound a physical body.
This is why people say matchups are more important than rank.
“Should I try to force the skill to activate?”
【Administrator: ╭☞(;¬_¬)╭☞】
“You know how to talk, Lizzie. Tell me nicely while I'm still asking nicely.”
【Administrator: (._, )】
[The System Administrator says someone is approaching.]
The administrator, who shed a single tear, finally sent a new message. It wasn't proper speech, but it was clearly a form of communication, just like the ones other Constellations sent.
Since when could he send messages like this? And why didn't he say anything about it?
