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[Translator - Pot ]
[Proofreader - Kawaii ]
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Chapter 24: Grant Mercy, Let Me Join His Side at Once! (3)
With a smooth motion, he naturally reached one hand behind his back.
Then, forming a small hand sign, he began channeling his intent inward.
"Areum, can you hear me?"
"Eeeeh~ Oppaaa? What is thisss?"
Areum's voice came through, startled, perhaps from experiencing telepathy for the first time.
"I'm about to summon you. I need a favor. Could you move around inside without being seen and look for some Spirit Stones?"
"Spirit Stooones~? What's thaaat?"
Yeonwoo lightly massaged his temple.
He had simply asked her to discreetly find Spirit Stones, but Areum didn’t even know what they were.
"Mr. Hyunwoo! Your damage is falling behind!"
When had she started watching? Ahn Sunhee, who had been intensely focused on dealing damage, shouted in irritation.
Yeonwoo simply nodded and increased the speed of his Magic Missiles.
"Do your job properly! If we don't take them down quickly and others join in, the hunt will get a lot messier!"
Her anger was understandable.
After all, they were still beginners.
Given how nervous they were, it was only natural that they’d be sensitive in the middle of combat.
They were fighting with their lives on the line.
Still, whether it was Sunhee flailing around due to poor control, or Yeonwoo communicating with Areum, their damage output was more or less the same.
She had an especially annoying personality, so she didn’t come off well.
Of course, saying that out loud would only get him cold stares, so Yeonwoo kept his mouth shut.
"As you walk around the field, you'll come across rocks that smell really good. Bring back whatever you can find."
"Hmm... something tasty... Got it~"
Other spirits who had eaten Spirit Stones said they were delicious, so Areum likely wouldn’t be any different.
There were many types and flavors, but Yeonwoo didn’t bother thinking that far.
"I have a bad feeling about this."
He worried that Areum might just swallow the Spirit Stones whole.
Outside the field, he had tried different methods to collect them, but it hadn’t been easy.
Who knew what kind of trouble Areum would get into if let loose?
It was best to take things one step at a time.
After asking Areum, Yeonwoo turned his attention back to the hunt.
It was his first time fighting with Magic Missiles.
His strength lay not in magic but in spirit arts.
Honestly, he felt a bit stifled.
While watching the three focused on the Mutant Fox, Yeonwoo noticed another Mutant Fox emerging from the distance.
It had short, squirming tentacles protruding from its belly, ending in thorn-like tips.
A grotesque creature, known for harboring the most bacteria, getting stabbed by one of those could easily draw blood.
Normally, if a new monster appeared, a healer would shout while scanning the area, and the frontline tank would maintain aggro skills while drawing the new one in.
But you couldn’t expect such coordination from F-rank Hunters.
In fact, they’d probably end up running around in all directions while trying to deal damage.
The monster, watching for an opening, concealed its presence while retracting its claws.
If it saw a chance, it would pounce on Sunhee or Siyoung with its bacteria-ridden fangs.
Hyunsik had asked Siyoung to watch for this kind of thing, but with her lack of experience, it was clearly a mistake.
"If we fight like this, we’ll either suffer major injuries or get wiped out."
Yeonwoo himself could crush it with his bare hands, thanks to his superior stats, but not the others.
Now newly awakened as Hunters, they lacked Yeonwoo’s armor-piercing attacks, strength, and battle instincts.
Even with a healer present, an F-rank healer wouldn’t be enough to make a difference.
“-Yeonwoo, what will you do?”
Apparently, Mulhoe had noticed the new monster too and asked with a grim expression.
Yeonwoo replied as though he had finished thinking.
"What else can I do? If I leave it alone, it’ll cause a mess. I’ll take it out."
“-Do you have a method?”
"Look closely at its underside. I don’t even need to use a spirit."
While firing Magic Missiles with one hand, Yeonwoo relaxed the hand that had formed the summoning sign and stretched it toward the creature behind them.
If he was going to deal with it, he might as well do it quietly without drawing attention.
They might think it strange, but if no one saw him, it didn’t matter.
"Lightning. Shockwave. Air Needle."
All of them were tiny 1-circle spells, their lethality about on par with what beginner F-rank Hunters could dish out.
“-Yeonwoo, Mutant Foxes have tough skin! Their stomachs are three times as durable as other parts! That kind of attack will only—”
Pop!
A small explosion was heard.
The mana that left Yeonwoo’s hand caused a spark to flash across the Mutant Fox’s face.
It flinched as if struck and staggered.
Pop pop!
With a few more small bursts, the monster stumbled as if drunk, then collapsed.
“-Huh?”
Mulhoe blinked, stunned by the abrupt outcome.
Yeonwoo chuckled to himself so no one could see.
"I told you, knowledge is power. I’ve got a pretty good idea of where and how to hit these things to kill them instantly. For this one, even a weak hit to the spot between the legs is a one-shot knockout. That’s why it’s considered a low-tier monster."
“-I see…”
"The Mutant Fox is the worst of the worst, a defective piece of trash with a glaring weak spot. Its sharp tentacles only protect the stomach for a reason."
“-Like... fur?”
"You could interpret it that way."
As Yeonwoo grinned coldly, watching the Mutant Fox turn to ash, Mulhoe gaped.
The abilities Yeonwoo used were incredibly weak, but the difference in outcome compared to the four others fighting was overwhelming.
He had melted a monster with just a few low-tier attacks, while the rest were still struggling.
Maximum efficiency with minimum effort.
He understood the enemy’s characteristics, behaviors, and weaknesses.
This was no bluff, it was the real deal.
Mulhoe suddenly shivered.
She was starting to become afraid of Yeonwoo’s knowledge.
“-Still... Hunters aren’t idiots. You’d think they’d know about such a weak spot…”
Trying to rationalize things, Mulhoe stammered, but Yeonwoo replied firmly.
"They probably don’t."
“-The monsters aren’t natural, so wouldn’t their weak points vary…”
Mulhoe kept throwing out questions, but Yeonwoo just shrugged.
"Even if they were artificially created, they weren’t made with specific intent. Most are the same. And with the way their corpses disappear, it’s not easy to find out."
***
"One candy~ Two candy~ Gather them one by one~"
Light footsteps and a cheerful voice echoed faintly through a narrow alleyway where no presence could be felt.
"Humm... Tasty, tasty~"
While Yeonwoo’s team fought in the distance, Areum wandered the field at her leisure, searching for Spirit Stones.
Perhaps because she was an earth spirit, the most suited for finding them, she already held a Spirit Stone with a dusty nose.
Whether it was even there to begin with was uncertain, but it looked like she had dug deep underground.
She looked like she’d been playing in the dirt.
Though small and stone-shaped, the gem glowed with a soft shimmering light in her hand, beautiful and mysterious.
"Hehe, it smells so yummy. I wanna eat it..."
Apparently not expecting it to smell this sweet, Areum hesitated, nibbling her finger as she deliberated.
"If I have two... I could eat one, right...?"
She muttered in hesitation, seemingly unbothered by anything else around her.
Grrrr...
War Wolf.
Same rank as the Mutant Fox, but smaller in size and with slightly weaker physical powers.
Though often called the weakest monsters, their sharp teeth made them deadly opponents for normal humans.
As she tiptoed barefoot, the War Wolf growled and bared its fangs behind her.
But Areum didn’t even notice.
She was too focused on the Spirit Stone, looking at it with longing.
"Humm..."
Though she hesitated for a while, she eventually seemed to think she couldn’t return empty-handed since Yeonwoo had asked her.
"I’ll find one more! ...Huh?"
Mid-sentence, she looked up, eyes wide.
The size difference was so great that the creature could swallow her head in one bite.
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[Translator - Pot ]
[Proofreader - Kawaii ]
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