Chapter 58: Déjà Vu (2)
There were a total of six hunters tied up with ropes.
It was clear even from a distance that a fierce battle had already taken place, as they were covered in blood.
Three of them were barely holding onto consciousness, exhausted, while the other three had collapsed on the ground, showing no signs of movement as if they were unconscious.
They might even be dead...
‘This scene feels strangely familiar too.’
[It's likely a déjà vu phenomenon. Your brain is confusing this with a similar past event.]
‘...Is that so?’
The strange sensation was brief.
As he calmed his breathing, he quickly returned to his usual self.
‘But anyway, what’s the condition of those collapsed over there?’
[Their life energy responses haven’t stopped yet. However, three of them are in critical condition.]
As expected, it was similar to what he had anticipated.
The masked figures roughly handled the captured hunters, even those on the brink of death from severe injuries, shouting as they did so.
"This is the work of the Order! It must be completed without any mistakes!"
At the leader’s command, the other masked figures moved in perfect unison.
Hyun Suho reacted sensitively to a particular word.
‘Order?’
Suddenly, the fight with Akula came to mind.
Akula had mistaken Hyun Suho for being part of the Order when he suddenly appeared and interfered with his work.
Akula, who was desperately striving to reach level 8 and obtain a minimum level of divine power, was still a formidable level 7 fighter.
Though not a top-ranked hunter, he was strong enough to be considered a quasi-ranker, especially in environments like seas or lakes where even rankers would struggle to easily defeat him.
And yet, Akula feared the Order.
Even after investigating, Nova couldn’t find any specific information about this Order.
But now, suddenly, the word ‘Order’ had come out of the mouths of these strange masked figures.
“Could it be…?”
There are quite a few organizations in this world that refer to themselves as Orders.
Many guilds even name themselves something-Order.
This was why Nova couldn’t precisely identify any specific organization.
These masked figures could very well be one of those groups, but something about them gave off an extremely suspicious vibe.
For one, isn’t it odd that they’re all wearing black masks?
“You shouldn't judge people by their appearances. What if these masked figures are actually the good guys, and the captured hunters are the criminals?”
[According to behavioral analysis, that seems highly unlikely.]
"Yeah, I figured."
It wasn’t unusual for hunters to clash in the Red Zone.
All the Red Zones outside the city were lawless territories where the law didn't apply.
Unfortunately, not all hunters were moral individuals.
In fact, because their job involved fighting ferocious monsters for money, there were more people who were aggressive, violent, and hot-tempered.
Since they made money by killing, it didn’t necessarily have to be monsters they were targeting.
Sometimes, hunting other hunters and taking their expensive gear was more profitable.
"Are they PKers?"
Originally a gaming term.
PK stands for Player Killing or Player Killer.
Nowadays, it refers to People Killers.
Of course, PKing was strictly prohibited by the government.
The problem was that in the Red Zone, not only was it impossible to catch them, but it was also hard to even know that such acts were happening.
However, if there was evidence or witnesses, a hefty bounty would be placed on their heads.
"I can't just stand by and watch."
Hyun Suho decided to observe the situation closely while keeping an eye on the masked figures.
“Take them away.”
The masked figures dragged the injured ones and laid them down in front of the dungeon entrance.
They moved with extreme caution.
As soon as they pushed the hunters toward the dungeon entrance, they quickly scurried back as if they were terrified of something.
‘Are there landmines or something?’
As he pondered that, the dungeon entrance suddenly changed in a bizarre way.
[Grrrrrr!!!]
Originally, it was just an ordinary passage leading underground like any other dungeon.
An entrance made of stone and earth.
But then, it began to warp like rubber, and suddenly, something sharp started to emerge from it.
He couldn’t believe his eyes at what happened next.
"A…mouth?"
To his astonishment, the entrance transformed into a massive monster’s mouth filled with jagged teeth, resembling a saw blade.
And then, a long, slender tongue shot out from within…
Snap!
The tongue grabbed two of the collapsed hunters and dragged them inside, swallowing them whole.
Gulp!
“What the hell is this…?!”
Fortunately, one of the fallen hunters hadn’t been eaten yet.
The long tongue had narrowly missed reaching him.
Seeing this, the masked leader gestured with his chin, and those around him moved closer.
They were trying to push the hunter further back so the monster mouth could devour him.
Unable to hold back any longer, Hyun Suho pulled the trigger.
Bang! Bang! Bang!!
With Nova’s assistance, he took the shots.
With the bullet’s trajectory clearly visible, shooting was easy.
All it required was a bit of concentration and focus.
In an instant, three of the masked figures fell, spraying brain matter everywhere.
“Ugh!”
Although it was a sniper shot from a considerable distance, the enemy responded with incredible speed.
“It’s an ambush!”
“Mana Shield!”
As someone chanted a spell, a round mana barrier formed, deflecting the bullets.
Ping! Ping!
The modified sniper bullets had tips made of monster bone.
They were much harder than ordinary metal, and with upgraded skills, their tips were made even sharper.
The attack that could easily take down a giant monster was effortlessly blocked by the hunters' skills.
Despite his bullets being blocked, Hyun Suho didn't panic at all and observed their movements.
‘Their response is quite fast.’
Though he had been a porter, Hyun Suho had worked with many hunters over the course of seven years.
He could gauge the hunters' experience and level just by their reaction speed.
At this rate, they were definitely a high-ranking force.
They quickly identified the direction the bullets were coming from and, while maintaining the mana barrier, started closing the distance rapidly.
With the mage maintaining the shield spell at the center, the others prepared their staffs and swords, ready to fight at any moment.
They would probably all attack simultaneously once they closed in enough.
Normally, the right move for a shooter would be to retreat.
Either flee and regroup later, or create distance and continue shooting.
However, Hyun Suho didn’t care about that and kept pulling the trigger.
Bang! Bang!
Hyun Suho had even easily hit a fast-flying wyvern before.
Though they tried to dodge by weaving between the trees, it was pointless against Hyun Suho.
“Argh!”
As a few of them quickly fell from the gunshots, the mage who seemed to be the leader of the group shouted.
“Everyone, gather behind the barrier!”
Unable to dodge the bullets, they intended to hide behind the magic shield and charge forward.
At the leader’s command, they moved in unison, gathering behind the mana shield.
Gritting their teeth, they shouted as they looked at Hyun Suho, who had suddenly intervened.
“Damn it! Was there another one in the group?”
They seemed to think Hyun Suho was a companion of the fallen hunters.
Otherwise, there was no way he could have appeared at such a perfect time.
“A shooter is done for once you get up close.”
The most effective way to deal with a long-range fighter was to close the distance as much as possible.
Of course, Hyun Suho was also strong in close combat, but they had no way of knowing that.
Moreover, Hyun Suho had no intention of fighting them up close.
“Plasma Gun Mode.”
[20% energy charged.]
“Fire.”
Blue energy gathered at the muzzle of the gun and was then fired.
Pew!!
“Huh?”
The mage advancing with the mana shield made a sound as if he couldn't comprehend the situation.
It was an unfamiliar sensation he had never felt before.
Naturally so, since it was something one would experience only once in their life.
With trembling hands, he fumbled to touch his chest and felt a strange hole.
It was the mark left by the plasma bullet that had pierced through him.
The plasma bullet, which had easily penetrated the mana barrier, had also annihilated the masked man's heart.
Thanks to the high heat of the plasma, there was no bleeding, but the result was the same.
“What…is this…?”
Had he been proud of his skills?
He seemed unable to believe that his mana shield had been broken by a long-range attack.
But that didn’t change the outcome.
Soon, the masked man collapsed to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
Thud!
As the mage died, the mana barrier vanished.
Unfortunately for those behind him, several of them fell as well.
It seemed that the only one who could use the mana shield skill was the one who had just died.
The remaining ones were fully exposed to the trajectory of the bullets.
Unable to hide their confusion at the sudden death of the mage they trusted and the disappearance of the shield that had been protecting them, they panicked.
“What?! What?!”
They would have been much safer if they had taken cover behind the surrounding trees.
Hyun Suho switched the 'Genocide' back to bullet mode and showered the enemies with bullets.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A hunter’s power was astounding.
They could deflect bullets with their swords, and some could even catch them with their bare hands.
These were people who could break mountains on their own—there was little they couldn't do.
So, they tried to block or dodge the bullets using their abilities.
But there was something they didn’t know.
This wasn’t just any ordinary gun; it was the 'Genocide', far superior to any other gun on the market.
Even when not using plasma, its bullets were much faster and more powerful.
The bullets pierced through shields, hit those trying to flee, and went straight through the palms of those trying to catch them.
“Aargh! My hand!”
Rat-a-tat-tat!!
Hyun Suho showed no mercy as he continued firing.
In the end, they all collapsed to the ground, riddled with bullets.
[All targets have been eliminated.]
At Nova's calm tone, Hyun Suho scratched the back of his head with his pistol.
"It feels like... fighting has become really easy."
In fact, he was confident that he could have defeated them even if they had closed in using the chainsaw sword.
But they had fallen without even being able to properly dodge the bullets fired from a distance.
"Could it be that their levels were actually really low?"
Judging by their response speed, they seemed like highly experienced hunters, but the fact that they fell so easily was puzzling.
It felt like he hadn't even gotten warmed up yet.
[The mage hunter was level 6, and the others were around levels 4-5.]
"All 30 of them?"
[Yes.]
In terms of level and scale, they were equivalent to a medium-sized guild.
They were an elite force capable of clearing most dungeons in no time.
And yet, Hyun Suho, who was still only level 5, had defeated them so effortlessly.
And he hadn’t even used his most advanced skill, 'Over Technology'.
"This was too easy."
It seemed that facing tough opponents like dragons, Akula, and Heavenly Demon had skewed his sense of difficulty.
"Let's check on those people first."
Now wasn’t the time to be marveling at his newfound strength.
He approached the people still bound tightly with ropes and, as he untied one of them, he asked,
"Are you alright?"
"Ugh…! M-Mina. Please check on Mina first…."
The man, now freed from the ropes, pointed his chin toward a woman lying on the ground.
Her entire body was covered in blood.
Her face was as pale as dough, likely due to severe blood loss.
Hyun Suho quickly approached her and examined her condition.
"…She's in critical condition."
[Her life force is faint. She needs immediate treatment.]
"Let's use 'Healing Factor'."
Though he had some emergency recovery potions on hand, the 'Healing Factor' was more effective.
While it would consume some mana, that wasn’t a problem for Hyun Suho at this point.
As he touched her forehead with his palm, he felt a tingling sensation as if something was flowing out through his hand.
Thankfully, it seemed to be working, as her breathing became noticeably more stable.
[Her life is no longer in danger, Master.]
"Well done."
Carrying her, he returned to where the others were.
Surprisingly, they were still struggling with the ropes.
"These ropes are made from the silk of an Anacrene. They’re hard to cut with a sword."
Were they really that hard to cut?
He had cut them easily with the chainsaw sword earlier.
[Thanks to Master’s upgrade skill, the blade has been made incredibly sharp, so it would have been easy.]
In any case, Hyun Suho stepped in to cut the ropes for them with his sword.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Finally freed from their restraints, the four hunters checked on each other’s well-being.
"We... we survived."
"Is everyone alright? How are your injuries?"
"Those bastards! Even if we’re okay, Tae-jin and Kyung-hoon…."
"Damn it!"
They had all seen their companions swallowed by the giant monster.
The chances of their survival were slim.
One of the men, noticing the woman in Hyun Suho's arms, was startled and rushed over.
"Mina! Are you... are you okay?"
"I’ve administered first aid. Her life should no longer be in danger."
"Mina! Please, open your eyes!"
Now that he thought about it, the two of them looked quite similar.
Nova agreed as well.
[There is an 87% chance that they are biologically related.]
They’re not likely father and daughter, so they must be siblings.
After waiting for them to calm down a bit, Hyun Suho cautiously began to ask.
"Are you all okay? What exactly happened here?"
The young man, who looked like the woman’s brother, stepped forward and spoke.
"We... we’re from the Cheonrima Guild. We came to hunt in this area as usual, but suddenly those guys attacked us."
"…Cheonrima Guild?"
"Yes. Why do you ask?"
What he initially thought was just déjà vu turned out to be correct—they were indeed from the Cheonrima Guild.
Of course, he could have guessed based on appearances, but it was strange that no other names like Pegasus had come to mind at all.
That was when Hyun Suho started to take this seriously.
‘This... isn’t just a coincidence.’
At that moment,
Ziiing!
His vision blurred as if static had appeared, and suddenly, a scene began to unfold before his eyes.
Swish!
A very sharp attack swiftly cut down all four of them at once.
The people who had been smiling at him were horribly slaughtered without even realizing they were dead.
"Ugh!"
Hyun Suho staggered backward, clutching his head as a splitting pain shot through it.
"Are you alright?"
The hunters, concerned, asked him, and Hyun Suho raised a hand to signal that he was fine before immediately asking Nova.
‘What kind of vision did you just send me?’
[I didn’t do anything.]
‘It wasn’t you? But...’
There had been times when Nova had sent him realistic holographic images.
He assumed it was the same this time, but Nova said something unexpected.
[In that brief moment, Master’s brainwave activity spiked beyond measurable levels.]
‘My brainwaves? What does that mean?’
For once, Nova responded as if uncertain.
[It seems that Master has activated a psychic ability without realizing it.]
