Ch.230Side Story: A-Rank Hunter Kang Ra-hye – 2

“Just stall them for a little while. I’ll bring those creatures.”

She whispered quietly right beside me. Kang Ra-hye nodded slightly in acknowledgment and approached the other three people. The three were still standing in a daze, their faces not yet recovered from the shock.

“It might be a trap.”

“A trap… you say. May I ask why you think so?”

While everyone’s attention was focused over there, I quickly ran along the path where the ogres had fled. Their footprints continued in a straight line, though they zigzagged chaotically.

Large caverns appeared at intervals, and each time I passed one, the number of footprints increased. The surrounding area was completely empty, as if other creatures had followed those who fled first.

Given that I hadn’t sensed them, unlike the ogres who first ran away after seeing me, it seemed the ones who fled first had persuaded the others to join them.

After passing through several more caverns and going deeper inside, I came upon a clearing incomparably larger than anything I’d seen so far. In the center, I could see ogres panicking.

‘Found them.’

Seventeen ogres in total, plus one Twin-headed Ogre looking down at them. It was a sight that could give a faint-hearted hunter a heart attack.

‘I’m pretty sure this was classified as an A-5 rank dungeon.’

Even for members of the Eternal Guild, this wasn’t a place that just four A-rank hunters could clear without casualties. At least not by the standards of hunters I knew.

It seemed like a side effect of the gate formula being recalculated. Recently, there had been frequent cases where both the gate ranking formulas and dungeon break calculations were completely off.

If neither Kang Ra-hye nor I had entered, this would have been a disaster with the rank escalating beyond A-5.

—KRAAAK!

The Twin-headed Ogre struck the head of an ogre kneeling before it. The ogre’s sturdy head burst open, and its remaining body convulsed, spewing blood and flesh before collapsing.

‘I should head back quickly.’

An ogre punishing another ogre—it was quite a rare sight, but I didn’t have time to just stand and watch. I dispelled my concealment magic, revealed myself, and began releasing my mana in earnest.

—KUOOOOO?!

The ogres that had been kneeling obediently collectively screamed and hurriedly hid behind the Twin-headed Ogre. It was a sight that would make anyone doubt their eyes.

The Twin-headed Ogre glared at me with its four eyes. True to its name, it had two heads and was at least 1.5 times larger than the other ogres.

Its limbs were as thick as two adult male torsos combined. The club in its hand was as big as its own forearm—a weapon that would reduce any ordinary hunter to a bloody pulp with a single hit.

‘Reminds me of the old days.’

When I first met Maker in the artificial dungeon. I remember the creature we fought then was a chimera assembled based on ogres.

—KUAAAK!

The creature approached, swinging its club wildly. A hit would be fatal, but that’s only if it hits.

Using both body acceleration and enhancement simultaneously, I approached right in front of the Twin-headed Ogre. Despite having four eyes, it was still staring at the spot where I had disappeared from.

I swung Eternity, shattering its left knee, and before it could even stagger, I destroyed the other knee as well. I kicked its mangled legs, completely breaking them, then leaped up and planted my foot on its broad chest.

—KWADUK!

I grabbed its left head and applied force, and the entire head came off.

—KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAK!!!!!!

A terrible scream erupted from the only remaining head. The ogres hiding behind it scattered in panic, retreating to the walls and trembling.

—KYAAAK! KYAAAAAAAK!

With one head torn off and both knees shattered, the creature screamed and literally rolled on the ground. But with its body so damaged, it could only struggle, spinning around in place.

—KEHEUK?!

I stomped on its body to pin it down. Seemingly unable to comprehend being completely overpowered by a human only a third of its size, it coughed and tried to resist.

Crack! The sound of bones breaking under my foot finally made it calm down a bit.

“You’re going to go to the entrance now and attack the people there. Go and let those humans kill you. Don’t make it too easy—pretend to fight a little. Understand?”

—KRAAAK!

It seemed it didn’t understand. Its still-intact arm tried to strike me with the club. I slashed downward with Eternity, severing its wrist, then struck its head. With a thud, the back of its head slammed into the ground.

“I guess words won’t work after all.”

Judging by its behavior, I thought it might understand human speech, so I tried.

It was worth a shot anyway. I cleanly gave up and took the head I had just torn off, bringing it back to the empty space and using high-grade healing magic. New flesh grew, reconnecting the torn area.

—KUO?!

The reattached head suddenly opened its eyes.

The other head, which had been slammed to the ground, lifted up, and they stared at each other. Both wore expressions that, if this were a cartoon, would have had question marks floating above them.

For an ordinary monster, reattaching a severed head with healing magic wouldn’t have been possible, but this was a Twin-headed Ogre.

—KUOK?!

—KUAAK!

Before the surprise could fade from their faces, I thrust my slightly translucent hands into each of the two heads.

If words don’t work, physical control will do.

“The footprints continue deeper inside.”

“What are they trying to lure us into?”

The four people were grumbling but steadily advancing deeper. If clearing wasn’t possible, they at least needed to check what was inside. That was why Eternal Guild had come.

Everyone looked visibly tense. Except for Kang Ra-hye, who was only pretending to be tense outwardly—mere ogres couldn’t possibly excite her.

“How’s the situation behind us?”

“No signs of them trying to cut off our retreat yet. All five drones are patrolling normally, and nothing unusual is showing up on the cameras.”

The hunter briefly reported after checking the drones’ status on his device. The drones were installed to monitor for any attempts to cut off their retreat or changes in the gate, allowing for immediate withdrawal if necessary.

“Good. Continue advancing. Deploy the next drone about three minutes further ahead…”

The leader’s words trailed off. His eyes fixed on the empty darkness stretching far ahead.

“…Am I the only one feeling this?”

“No, I feel it too. The ground is trembling.”

Everyone aimed their weapons without hesitation. The entire gate interior was shaking.

After a moment of silence, the leader urgently shouted as he spotted a vague figure in the distance.

“Holy shit! It’s a Twin-headed Ogre!”

“What?!”

The other two exclaimed in shock. In contrast, Kang Ra-hye calmly drew her sword.

‘A Twin-headed Ogre, huh.’

It was a creature she had once ordered Karna to capture barehanded for endurance training, she reminisced.

“Damn! It’s not alone! More are coming behind it!”

Other ogres were following in a line behind it. Just at a glance, their numbers seemed to be in the double digits, causing the three people’s faces to turn pale.

“W-what do we do?! Should we retreat?!”

“…Even if we run, they’ll catch up quickly without other means.”

“Understood. I’ll deploy drones to activate the emergency escape protocol, so just hold them off for a few minutes.”

Like proper A-rank hunters, their panic was short-lived. While Kang Yu-na and the leader drew their weapons, the hunter operating the drones rapidly tapped on his device.

Overwhelmed by the quality and quantity of monsters, the three didn’t notice, but Kang Ra-hye could tell. There was a contradictory sense of both disorder and order in the way they charged.

At first glance, they seemed to be rushing in to tear humans apart. But in reality, they were charging in to die. Probably brought here by that child, Mira.

“Right. We need to report to the Guild Master that this deserves a higher rank than A-5. No matter how you look at it— W-what are you doing?!”

Kang Ra-hye stepped forward, taking position ahead of the two. It was time to live up to expectations now that the stage had been set.

“Huff, huff, huff…!”

After slaughtering one Twin-headed Ogre and twelve regular ogres, the party collapsed on the ground. It was the fatigue hitting them as their adrenaline subsided.

Unlike the three, Kang Ra-hye was leisurely collecting all the spoils as she walked out. The leader looked at her with genuine admiration.

“A-amazing. How did you…?”

She had essentially cleared the gate single-handedly. While the three of them killed four ogres together, Kang Ra-hye alone had cut down nine and even solo-killed the Twin-headed Ogre.

And she did it without leaving a single mark on her body. According to what she said, she climbed up its arm and stabbed its eyes to kill it—they wondered if such a feat was even humanly possible.

“Isn’t she insane? How is someone like that only A-rank?”

“Don’t ask me, I don’t know either. Maybe the Guild Masters demoted her as punishment?”

“But the Guild Masters were the ones who placed her here. I heard she joined without even taking the test—there were a lot of rumors about her being a parachute hire.”

“Shh. She’ll hear us.”

Of course she heard, but Kang Ra-hye, accustomed to such gossip, ignored it and mentally simulated her next actions. Those two weren’t particularly important people anyway.

Unaware of her thoughts, Kang Yu-na recalled what her brother had said yesterday. That this woman would almost certainly rise to S-rank soon, so she should try to befriend her.

At the time, she had dismissed it, saying becoming an S-rank hunter wasn’t that easy, but now she realized he had simply stated a fact.

‘I must definitely become friends with her.’

Kang Yu-na firmly resolved.

After the Twin-headed Ogre subjugation, “A-rank Hunter Kang Ra-hye’s” standing within the Eternal Guild improved dramatically. Thanks to how quickly the rumors spread.

Kang Yu-na’s enthusiastic efforts to befriend her also played a big part. She was so passionate that it made one wonder if she had some ulterior motive.

“You told her to befriend me?”

“I did, but…”

I suggested it thinking she could use more friends besides us, but I never expected her to be this aggressive about it.

What was surprising was that Kang Ra-hye and my sister actually got along well. The two became friends much faster than I had anticipated, in just a few days.

“Hey, I’m going out drinking with that unni. Tell Mom that for me.”

“Huh?”

They were close enough for her to tell me such things.

‘What’s going on?’

How did they become friends so quickly?