Chapter 162 – Great Plains of Barrastan (13)

“Caaw! Caaw!”

Above the battlefield, a single immense bird was flying around. It was a ‘Roc’ that had been summoned by Serin through ‘Arabian Nights’.

The book’s description of the ‘Roc’ being able to grasp an elephant with one claw was brought directly to life as it flew around the skies. The bird’s beak pecked at the demons, and its claws grasped a handful of them and dropped them after flying about.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

The demons that fell from the skies died after breaking their hips and twisting their necks. In the middle of the battlefield, the figure of a man could be seen shouting.

“Uowoaaaaaaaaaaah!”

The name of the man was ‘Thor’, the god Edward summoned by using ‘Myths of Northern Europe’. He wielded a lightning-clad hammer and was sweeping away the enemies.

On occasion, one or two demons would stab the man with a spear or slice him with a sword, but he would continue to slaughter the demons without a single wound. Thanks to the two summons the enemy army could not maintain their formation.

During this time, the hunters charged at the enemy commander Zeratar. They believed that if they could kill the enemy commander, the remaining enemies would lose their will to fight. Serin was the only one to stay behind as she continued to shoot arrows.

‘Pew!’

‘Pew!’

‘Peeww!’

Serin was unable to rest even a second between each arrow since the fight had begun. She had shot tens of thousands of arrows since she started archery from a young age. However, this was the first time she had shot so many arrows in one sitting.

Her breath became ragged, her shoulder began to ache and her arms burned. However, she could not rest. At the front, the hunters had begun to fight with the Boss monster.

Her job was to prevent the other monsters from approaching. If her arrows stopped, then the hunters would be surrounded. With this in mind, she shot arrows while falling into a near trance-like state. Finally, a long-awaited sound could be heard.

[Boss monster Commander ‘Zeratar’ Cleared]

The moment the enemy commander died, the demons were all busy fleeing away. Nevertheless, Serin continued to shoot arrows without taking a break.

‘Pew!’

Every time an arrow flew through the air, another demon would collapse on the spot. It was only after that the demons had nearly disappeared from view that her arm stopped drawing back the bowstring like a machine. Just when the fight was finished, and she could finally let go of the tense anxiety, an urgent voice could be heard from amidst the hunters.

“Hey, over here!”

She turned her head and saw the hunters gathered at one spot. Serin shouldered her bow and ran towards them. There, the hunter ‘Juggernaut’ lay collapsed. Though there were no wounds to be seen, he was unconscious.

‘Is he dead?’

The moment Serin thought this, the man’s Cube said,

[Warning. Low HP. HP below 20%]

He was not dead yet. When she looked closely, there was a small dagger that was stabbed into his side.

“Back then, the Boss stabbed him before he died.”

Now that she looked at it, the wound was tinged with a strange purplish color. Someone said,

“The dagger is poisoned. We have to remove it.”

A hunter grasped the dagger, then pulled it out. Soon, blood began to gush out from the wound. As this was happening, one of the hunters took out a potion and held it to the ‘Juggernaut’s lips.

A ‘special’ grade HP recovery potion. It was an expensive potion that cost 1000 Black Coins. However, despite this, the Cube’s voice could be heard once again.

[Warning. Incredibly low HP. HP below 10%]

Someone added from behind,

“It’s an extremely deadly poison, just using potions won’t work. Does no one have an antidote?”

Serin took out an antidote from her belt. This was, of course, a ‘special’ grade antidote. It was an expensive antidote that could neutralize nearly every kind of poison. The hunter who received it threw it into the mouth of the ‘Juggernaut’. However, at that moment, he began to cough up blood.

‘Cough!’

“He’s bleeding too much. He’ll die at this rate.”

While the hunters were unable to do anything, Serin unconsciously looked for Edward. If it was him, then there might be something that he could do. When Serin turned her head, she found him slightly apart from the hunters, meditating with his eyes closed. Serin wanted to shake him awake and say,

‘This isn’t the time for this!’

However, when she approached him, he opened his eyes. When Serin hesitated slightly, he rose up from his spot, moved past her and said to the hunters,

“Please move aside.”

When Edward appeared, the hunters wordlessly move aside for him. Edward looked at the wound, then touched his ring once as he said,

“Specialize: White.”

Soon, the color of the ring that he was wearing became white. He placed his hand on the ‘Juggernaut’s’ wound and chanted a spell.

“By the Power of God, Save this one. God’s Hand.”

Soon, a brilliant light began to shine from his hand.

*

“It’s all thanks to you, Mr. Edward. Truly, thank you.”

“It was nothing. Don’t worry.”

While they were searching for the Hidden Piece, the revived ‘Juggernaut’ kept expressing his thanks to Edward. He had been unable to move because the poison was a type of paralysis poison, but he was able to see what everyone was doing. He kept bowing his head as he said,

“When we receive the raid distribution this time, I’ll reimburse you no matter what.”

“You don’t need to do something like that...”

“Nonsense. You saved me even though your raid rewards would be reduced.”

There was a reason why the ‘Juggernaut’ was so truly thankful to Edward. In this raid, until they killed the Boss, they were allies who had bled together. However, after killing the boss, they were people who split the raid reward. In truth, there were a few who were going to leave him alone when they saw him dying. But in spite of this, Edward had sacrificed this chance to save him.

The ‘Juggernaut’ also approached Serin and expressed his thanks.

“Mister Hassan as well, I saw you give me an antidote. Thank you.”

“Ah... No problem.”

Serin just nodded her head a few times. In truth, she was focused on something else.

‘Should I be calling Sungjin oppa now?’

Serin called out to the Operator and checked the remaining time.

“Operator, the remaining time?”

[Returning to the Hunters Hall in 2 hours and 20 minutes.]

There was a total of 3 hours and 30 minutes for the raid, so the amount of time that had elapsed was 1 hour and 10 minutes. Exactly 1/3 of the time had passed. This was way past 1/5 of the total raid time, which was when Sungjin had said that they could call him. In fact, it was strange that Sungjin hasn’t already come by this point. Serin thought about it in detail.

‘If it’s by this time, then even before I call him... He should have already arrived... Did he not finish the raid yet?’

When she thought about, this seemed to be the case. Not only was there the difficulty of the current raid, but the Great Plains were incredibly vast. Because of this, no matter how Sungjin tried, it would take time for him to obtain 100% completion. Serin finally came to a decision.

‘If oppa had finished the raid... Then... He would have come here before I could even call him.’

Because of this, she decided to wait for Sungjin to come instead of calling him. If he finished his raid, then he would immediately use ‘Inspection’, and then quickly appear here. Now, she had to consider what to do when Sungjin arrived.

‘Mr. Edward seems like a rather good person... Why would Sungjin-oppa hate someone like Edward so much?’

While Serin was pondering the issue, one of the hunters in the front shouted,

“Hey! Look here!”

Serin lifted her head and looked in front. Two of the hunters were dragging out a corpse from the edge of the stream.

“Isn’t there something strange about this corpse?”

“Indeed.”

There was a total of four with the title ‘Treasure Hunter’ among the ten hunters. After the raid was over, they naturally searched for the Hidden Piece. Their efforts finally bore fruit.

“Hey, inside his chest. You can see a blue light.”

“Let’s cut open his stomach.

Serin stood slightly apart from them as she watched the scene. Soon, a voice could be heard from the Operator’s Cube.

[Congratulations! You have obtained the Hidden Piece]

[‘Elendil’s Final Preparation’]

“Oh oh! It’s a gem!”

“We actually found it!”

However, while the hunters were excitedly celebrating after finding the Hidden Piece, a person suddenly appeared from the sky.

‘Thud!’

Serin briefly looked at him.

‘Is it Sungjin oppa?’

However, the man that appeared was about a head taller than Sungjin. An unknown handsome man. The hunters’ gazes were drawn to the man. At that moment, the man spoke,

“Look here humans. Hand that over.”

The hunters were briefly bewildered but soon prepared to fight. Even Serin took out her bow. However, the man then added,

“Are you wanting to fight me? You’ll die.”

‘We’ll die?’

With just one sentence, Serin could feel that her body had suddenly begun stiffening. However, despite this, she took out an arrow and nocked it on her bowstring. Afterwards, she glanced at the other hunters from the corner of her eye.

The hunters were simply unable to move. Of them, only Edward was moving slightly backwards. If it was like this, then they wouldn’t be able to fight. At this moment, the man looked towards Serin, then said,

“Put down that arrow, pretty one. If you don’t want to be hurt, that is.”

Serin was surprised. It was as if the man could see past the mask and see her true self. When she unconsciously lowered her bow, the man continued on saying,

“Humans. I’ll say it only once so listen well. If you hand over the gem, I’ll let you live. If you don’t hand it over, you’ll die. Which do you choose?”

It was then that the other hunters realized that he was not a normal man. Seeing that he called them ‘humans’, it could be that he might be the Hidden Boss that was talked about in the opening verse. The hunters turned their heads and looked at Serin and Edward since these two were the strongest. It seemed like they were asking the two to make the decision. Serin recalled what Sungjin had said during every breakfast.

‘Don’t fight against the Hidden Bosses of 10 man raids.’

She said to the hunters,

“We... We’ll hand it over.”

Edward also nodded his head wordlessly. The hunters handed the gem over to the man.

“Hrm. Hrm. Good. What smart humans.”

After approaching the hunters and snatching the gem away from them, he bid them farewell.

“You did a good job finding it for me. Then, I’m off.”

The man opened a blue portal in the air,

“Open.”

And then disappeared inside of it.

“Whew...”

The moment the man disappeared, all of the hunters let out a long breath. Although it was for just a short moment, it had been difficult to breathe even though they were just facing him. One of the hunters said,

“That guy... Was the Hidden Boss, right?”

“He should be. That oppressive feeling... I don’t think he’s human?”

“But, that guy took the Hidden Piece!”

“I know, right? What a despicable person.”

While the hunters were conversing, suddenly a column of light appeared from the sky. The hunters who were startled by the Hidden Boss just a moment ago were alarmed once again.

“Wha... What’s that?”

Except for Serin. This was because she had already seen this several times. Soon, Sungjin’s figure appeared in the column of light. However, his two swords were already unsheathed, as if he were about to swing them right now. Serin saw this and thought,

‘What do I do?’

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