Chapter 127 – Kariharan Frostplains (6)  

The five hunters charged towards the Abomination.

“Shield Wall!”

The soldiers of the Abomination raised their shields at the Commander’s order. Franz ran around the side and glanced at the formation as he ran by. He knew that attacking the shield during this stance would provoke a counter attack.

And from not just one but dozens of merciless swords and spears at the same time.

‘But... we shouldn’t be attacking right now...’

Franz thought to himself, but he quickly erased the thought. Illich’s judgement was excellent. It had only been a short time since they’ve met, but Franz was already thinking

‘Illich must have a good reason to give such an order. I’ll just do the best I can with what I was told to do.’

Franz who had run to the far side of the Abomination was fine. There were no shields on this side, and only a few axes, feet and helms faced him. Franz swung his two-handed sword to cut away few of its arms, legs and head.

“Ack!”

Meanwhile, he saw the three hunters back off after receiving a counter attack.

‘...’

Franz saw that but continued to attack the flank. First of all, he did feel that it was important to damage the Boss when there was an opportunity, and second, Illich the tank usually stepped in to save the situation. But this time, the Commander ordered

“Surround them!”

And the mass of monsters began to spread out in a circle. Two of the hunters quickly escaped the moving mass, but one remained.

“H...Help!”

He had sustained an injury on his leg during the fight and was unable to move, so he called for help. Franz had thought Illich might run in to rescue him or order Franz to do so. But Illich did not act to save him, nor had he ordered anyone to do so.

‘What should I do?’

While Franz was hesitating, the Human Abomination completed the encirclement of the fallen hunter and were poised to absorb him into their body. Countless swords and axes pointed inward as they surrounded the hunter.

Staying inside of that encirclement would inevitably lead to death. It might even lead to the hunter being incorporated into the Abomination. Thinking something had happened to Illich, Franz quickly swung his two-handed sword in the air as he shouted

“Wind Slicer!”

Blue aura left his weapon and made its way towards the Abomination. But

“Shields!”

Following the order of their Commander, many shields were brought to face Franz to block his sword’s aura attack. Franz tried to use that timing to save the injured hunter.

But then many spears were shot out of the body of the Abomination towards Franz. Franz gasped and jumped back. And when he did, the Abomination completely enveloped the hunter.

“Kiaaaaak!”

A cry of pain unlike any other rang out from the inside of the Abomination. Franz bit his lower lips.

‘Damn it’

He had thought he would never have to experience losing a comrade after he had received the ‘Chosen One’ title, but the feeling of helplessness overcame his being. Meanwhile, Illich returned to the hunters’ side.

“Damn it... he was done in. We are now only four; we really need to focus now.”

Franz wanted to ask

‘Why didn’t you save him?’

But he didn’t have the will to do so. Because the Abomination which finished absorbing one of the hunters was advancing upon them, with the blades of its weapons letting out a dim red glow.

*

While Franz was busy fighting the Hidden Boss, Sungjin was in the middle of a troll hunt.

“D...damn it, who are you?”

One troll shouted out in frustration. Sungjin wordlessly pointed up towards the title above his head, where it was written ‘Adjudicator’.

“What a load of bull!”

He came charging towards Sungjin wielding a sword and an axe. This man was quite fast. He was at least 1.5 times faster than an average troll, making him the strongest troll in recent memory.

But it did not mean he could match Sungjin. Sungjin simply watched him approach and swung his sword at an appropriate moment, breaking both of the troll’s weapons. The man’s eyes grew wide.

“How could my Legendary Weapons....”

And then Sungjin beheaded him. He then went to pick up the items the troll had dropped. One of them was the axe the troll wielded. Sungjin picked it up and the Operator followed with an announcement.

[Congratulations. Legendary item ‘Tooth of Barbarian’ obtained.]

The troll must have been telling the truth.

“Yeah yeah... you were strong, but you should have known that there might be someone even stronger than you. You really thought you could enjoy all the wealth and prosperity by yourself? You’ll get scolded if you do bad things. By me.” muttered Sungjin while putting the item away in the cube.

This was the third hunt, and it didn’t take more than one minute. He did not know what had happened here, but the troll was left all alone and did not venture out of the palace.

It must have been intimidating for him to have to face a Sabre Tooth Tiger, Yeti, or Ice Troll all alone. But this was like avoiding a wolf and running into a tiger since he was right next to where Sungjin had teleported in from another dimension.

He fiercely fought for his life, but that was all. After all, resistance against Sungjin was futile.

*

Illich issued a command once again.

“We do it the same way, but this time the two in the middle only threaten the enemy, don’t actually hit it.”

Franz thought this time the instructions were flawless. The only way to avoid the counterattack from ‘Shield Wall’ was to do exactly as he had just instructed.

Franz once again ran around to the right flank. But then the Commander ordered

“Shields to the flank!”

And many shields were put between Franz and the Abomination. Franz was in a dilemma.

‘Should I be attacking this?’

But no matter how he thought of it, it was a bad idea. Franz did not follow Illich’s command and only pretended to attack. Since the middle was wide open, it would be fine if the two hunters in the middle were to attack the body there.

Franz glanced at the other two. But the hunters there were really only ‘threatening’ the enemy, and not actually attacking. They were following Illich’s orders to the letter. Franz shouted out in frustration.

“Attack! The shields are on this side!”

But at the same time

“Charge!”

The Commander of the Abomination shouted. The center of the Abomination suddenly readied its spears and came charging forward. The target was the two hunters in the middle once again. The hunters separated from each other as they tried to move out of the way. The Abomination picked one hunter to chase and continued their charge.

“Uh... Uhh...”

He tried to back off, but the Abomination with dozens of feet was capable of rapid movements. Like a rail locomotive, the Abomination ran down the retreating hunter, and the hunter was flung far into the distance. There were three hunters remaining now. Franz looked towards Illich. Illich quickly shouted

“We chase after the train.”

This was when Franz sensed something strange. Until now, Illich had prioritized the survival of the hunters above all else, but this time, his order seemed to prioritize clearing the raid instead.

He ran to the front and attacked the back of the Abomination. It was quick and accurate. The remaining hunters also began to attack the Abomination’s backside as they chased after it.

It was strange as Franz couldn’t help but obey him. Franz held his two-handed sword and cut off several arms and legs of the Abomination.

“Behind”

When the Commander turned the Abomination around, Illich wordlessly backed off. Franz and the other hunter upon witnessing that backed off as well. It was very strange. If it were like before, Illich would have suggested

‘Now, let’s back off’

Or something along those lines. Anyway, the fact was that only three of them remained. Illich issued another command.

“This time, Franz take the middle, and we go around the sides.”

Franz was now deeply confused.

‘It didn’t end up well until now.... Do I still have to listen to him or not?’

But there was no time to consider his options. The Abomination was fast approaching them. The three of them split up to face the enemy. If there was any consolation, it was that the Abomination was now much smaller than before.

This was thanks to Illich and himself working hard to cut away at the Abomination with any chance they got. Now the number of weapons and shields it had was steadily decreasing. The three hunters attacked from each side, and it was no longer able to attack or defend properly against all three. So the Commander shouted,

“Attack the weak! To the right!”

Right. That was the spot taken by the other hunter. He must have not realized that he was on the right side. He was attacking normally without much thought when his spear was knocked off by an axe that appeared out of nowhere.

“Ugh”

“No!”

Franz shouted but a second axe came.

“Splat”

The axe accurately landed on the hunter’s head. Now it was down to just Franz and Illich. Franz began to consider activating the cheat mode, Master Hunter K.

He was instructed not to call for help unless he was in ‘peril’ because the man had ‘important things to do’. But facing the hidden boss with only two hunters remaining, it definitely qualified as a perilous situation.

‘I planned on not relying on him out of pride....’

When Franz was having such thoughts,

“Merciless”

Suddenly Illich had activated an active skill of some sort and began to cut apart the Abomination with several times the normal speed. The Commander of the Abomination continuously cried

“Shields Shields!”

And ordered the Abomination to defend against Illich, but it did not matter. Illich cut through the shields and blocked the incoming counterattacks with his own shield.

He didn’t understand what was going on, but it seemed like a good idea to assist him. Franz skillfully wielded his sword and cut away at any limbs of the Abomination he could reach.

Eventually, all the myriad of limbs the Abomination had were cut off, and only the Commander was left. Franz and Illich simultaneously plunged their weapons into the enemy.

[Hidden Boss Commander Lahart of the Knights of the Red Lion and his Knights]

[Cleared!]

“Haa.... Ha....”

Franz took a look around while heaving for breath. Scattered around were the corpse of the other three hunters. It was a disheartening sight. Franz closed his eyes and leaned against his sword out of guilt for being unable to protect and save his teammates. But this was when he heard Illich speak.

“Operator, show me the Chosen One’s stats.”

‘Chosen One?’

Franz was shocked at what he had heard and stared at Illich. Illich’s cube was displaying Franz’s stat.

“How did you see my...?”

When Franz asked, Illich replied with another question.

“What is this... How did you get so many bonus points? These points are... 40%? 50% more than your own stats? This is beyond ‘too much’.”

While Franz was still unable to process what was going on, Illich narrowed his eyes once more and said

“Chosen One title... You lied to me.”

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