Chapter 24 – Giant’s Canyon (2)

Giant’s Canyon Raid

Objective – Hunt Ogre Mage ‘Pach’ and ‘Cho’Roch’

Time limit: 1 Hour.

Despite the Operator’s mission briefing, the hunters continued to stare among themselves wordlessly. The mood was stiff. Xian Wang clapped his hands one more time to gather their attention.

“Let’s introduce ourselves at least. I’ll start. My name is Xian Wang, Chinese. I am 30 years old, and I use a spear in fights.”

Again, no one responded. This time, Xian asked Serin to help him out.

“Miss Serin, could you please introduce yourself? I already know, but most people here still don’t know who you are...”

Addressed directly, she finally opened her mouth.

“I am Serin Han. Korean.”

With her short reply, the other two men also introduced themselves. Beginning with the Shield wielding Guardian.

“Raj. Indian.”

And the ‘Assassin’ with a dagger

“Santiago. Mexican.”

Santiago took his dagger and cleaned his nails. When the sleeve of his shirt slid down, an intricate tattoo could be seen on his arm.

‘South American Drug Cartel?’

Sungjin kept him in mind. In the late game, he had seen many individuals with extremely dark past.

After all, violent individuals were better suited to survive and adapt to danger.

While Sungjin was thinking about this, the rest of the hunters turned to look at him.

“I am K.”

At his response, Xian Wang asked him

“Kei... Kei...? Are you Japanese?”

Sungjin couldn’t help but smile before replying

“Nationality... why does that matter at all?”

Xian Wang answered raising both his hands up.

“Ah, well... I guess it doesn’t. Ok then, let’s talk about how we’re going to fight from this point forward. I use a spear... and I can fight enemies from some distance away.

The Guardian spoke up.

“I have invested heavily into endurance. And I spent all the coins I got until now into armor. I should be able to provide a sturdy shield wall.”

On his belt were several Recovery Potions. He must have done lots of Tanking until now. The next was Santiago.

“I am... experienced with slashing throats with a dagger. I’ve noticed that all monsters... also have throats.”

There was something incredibly threatening about him. Next was Serin Han.

“...You’ve probably heard already, but I am an Archery Gold Medalist.”

Last was Sungjin. He thought about what he should say for a moment, but he got a fun idea.

“I am a mage.”

Everyone looked at him incredulously.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

‘I should try one spell before raid begins’

Sungjin aimed away from the hunters and recited an incantation.

“Binding Frost! Frostbite!”

Sungjin’s hand emitted bright blue right, and then a 10 meters squared area of the ground that he indicated froze over. Sungjin inspected the effects of his spell.

It didn’t freeze over much at all. Compared to the Chapter 3 Raid boss Lich, the effective area was tiny.

‘I guess it’s because the Magic Power is still fairly low.’

But even though Sungjin thought so

“Wow...”

Someone was amazed. It was likely his first time seeing a hunter use magic. The average hunter was not in a position to use magic by the start of Chapter 4.

‘Well... I think at least ‘one other’ should have been able to already by this point...’

An old teammate from his past life came to mind. Sungjin withdrew the hand he cast the spell from.

“As you can see, I am a mage. I can cast a few spells to assist the team.

“I see! Then... what about that sword...?”

Xian Wang pointed at ‘Moon Specter’ as he asked. Sungjin lifted up his sword as he replied.

“I just picked this up from the ground along the way. I thought I should have something in my hand just in case.”

It wasn’t completely a lie. It was true that he did pick up the sword along the way. Xian Wang nodded, accepting Sungjin’s explanation.

‘Moon Specter’ looked so shabby on the outside that nobody doubted him. Xian Wang clapped yet again as he tried to gather attention.

“Ok good. We have an Archery Gold medalist... and also a Mage. The team looks really strong this time.”

Everyone turned to look at Sungjin. Only Serin Han gave him disapproving looks, as she was the only one who had witnessed the blue glow of the ‘Moon Specter’.

“Let’s avoid useless deaths and get to the end together.”

The ‘Guardian’ nodded in agreement.

“Got it. Let’s all work hard together.”

Sungjin debated on running off by himself from the start, but he decided to participate with the team at first.

He didn’t care about anyone else, but he wanted to see the skill of ‘Elite Sniper’ Serin Han with his own eyes.

‘Since the raid is 1 hour long... spending 1~2 minutes watching them fight shouldn’t pose a problem’.

Serin took out a hair band and tied up her hair in a ponytail. It appeared that it would get in the way of her archery. She seemed very professional somehow.

‘If she’s really that good... she should have been able to make it to the end last time...’

There was only one of two explanation for why Sungjin had not seen her before; Lack of skill, or bad luck.

The Cube soon gave a countdown.

[Raid will begin in 10 seconds. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0]

The Raid began, and the five of them entered the Canyon together. At the front stood Raj, and next to him, Santiago.

In the center stood Xian Wang, and at the back stood Serin Han and Sungjin. Sungjin stood at the farthest even behind Serin.

Serin gave him odd looks.

“Mage is supposed to be at the very back.”

To which she replied,

“Liar.”

She turned and walked away. Sungjin wasn’t sure if she meant he was lying about being a mage, or that mages stood in the far back.

In the end, Sungjin still followed behind the other four Hunters.

“Here they come! Brace yourselves!”

A large Ogre appeared from afar, wielding a giant hammer. Guardian Raj banged on his shield with his club to attract attention.

“Here! Here! Come and get me!”

The Ogre took his hammer and brought it down upon Raj. Raj pretended to block it with his shield, but took a step back, out of the way of the hammer.

Meanwhile, Xian found an opening to stab the Ogre’s arm with his spear. However, the Ogre was tougher than he looked.

The Ogre grasped the spear and pulled it out of his arm. Then he lifted it up in the air, along with Xian who held onto the spear.

“Uhh.. Uhhhhh...”

While he panicked

‘Pew~’

Serin let loose an arrow. The Arrow embedded itself in one of the Ogre’s eyes.

The Ogre was not stationary; she hit a moving target on a living thing in the middle of combat. It was an amazing accuracy. Sungjin thought to himself

‘She certainly has the skill worthy of a Gold Medalist.’

“Kraaaah!”

The Ogre covered his eyes in agony and let go of Xian’s spear.

Then, out of nowhere Santiago appeared from behind the Ogre, on his back. He cut open the Carotid Artery.

“Kaa...”

Ogre finally dropped his shield and grasped his bleeding neck. Blood gushed out from between his fingers. It was a bad move.

He was now defenseless. Raj and Xian charged the Ogre. After several strikes, the Ogre finally fell. But,

“Graah!”

Two Ogres began to charge at the group from afar. The Ogres seemed enraged by their comrade’s death and ran rapidly towards the hunters.

‘...I’ll contribute a little too.’

He chanted the incantations.

“Binding Frost! Frostbite!”

The spell was very effective against the Ogres. The Ogres were rooted in place, unable to move forward.

Serin pulled her bow far and aimed up, then recited the incantations.

“Rain of Arrows”

She let go. She had let loose a single arrow, but it started duplicating itself and rained down upon the Ogres en masse.

The Ogres were unable to move away from the arrows and were forced to protect their heads with their bare hands; despite protecting their head, the Ogres still took significant damage from the rain of arrows and became bloodied.

“Whoa...”

Xian Wang exclaimed with his mouth agape.

“What are you doing, all of you?”

Serin’s shout snapped them awake.

“Let’s... Let’s go!”

Xian charged towards the two Ogres. Guardian Raj and Assassin Santiago followed suit. The Ogres were frozen in place, with their arms turned into pin cushions from the arrows.

They were surrounded by the three men and eventually succumbed to their constant attacks. Once the Ogres were finally killed off, Xian took a look around.

He was checking to see if any other Ogres were coming to take revenge. But he didn’t spot any enemy reinforcements. Finally, he let out a long sigh.

“Haa... It is great that the team is so well balanced this time.”

Raj happily agreed.

“Yes, with that Gold Medalist lady and that Mage, I think this chapter will be a breeze.”

Serin Han walked up from behind. She glanced at the fallen Ogres and frowned. And in a barely audible voice, she commented

“...Monsters...Disgusting”

While everyone else was commenting on the fight, Santiago finally spoke up.

“So... Where is the mage?”

The other three people looked around to where the Mage was a few moments ago. He disappeared without a trace.

*

At that moment, Sungjin was charging deeper and deeper into the Canyon.

This chapter, Chapter 4 – ‘Giant’s Canyon’, was inherently different from Chapter 2 or Chapter 3’s dark and open-ended map; The layout was very simple to follow.

If he just follows the one and only path through the Canyon, he is guaranteed to run into the boss ‘Pach and Cho’Roch’ at the other end of it.

‘Swift Paw’s’ sharp claws allowed Sungjin to run past monsters before they could even respond to him; he sprinted through the Canyon at unbelievable speeds.

‘I will kill the boss first, and then search for the ‘hidden boss’ and ‘hidden piece’ in the remaining time.’

That was his plan. While running through the Canyon at breakneck speed, he briefly thought about Serin Han. About the incredibly accurate “Rain of Arrows” she had fired.

‘That was definitely an active skill attached to a Heroic or higher class weapon.’

He didn’t know if it was a Raid reward, or if it was purchased with Coins, but he was certain that her bow was an extremely powerful weapon.

And rightfully so; If she was confident in archery, investing everything into a good bow was the right decision. In any properly functioning party, there should almost never be a situation where the Archer should be facing off a monster at melee.

While Sungjin was running through the Canyon, his running speed suddenly decreased. 30 seconds must have passed.

Because Sungjin slowed down, a nearby two-headed Ettin came running after him.

“Uuuuwaaaagg~”

Seeing the Ettin charge towards him, Sungjin drew the ‘Moon Specter’.

‘I am a mage’

He couldn’t help but smile at his earlier lie. And before he even finished his thoughts, the Ettin was already split in half, falling apart.

And as was his habit, he swung his Katana in the air to throw the blood off of the blade. The Canyon continued on straight ahead.

Ahead of him, he saw countless Ogres, Ettins, and their smaller minions. But Sungjin preferred this.

‘I love this chapter for being so straightforward.’

Sungjin charged ahead, ‘Moon Specter’ drawn and ready.