WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the EX-Rank Pet Maker Hunters Obsess Over ◈
Chapter 82: Rescue
──────
Shhhhh...
The closer the fleet drew to Merfolk Island, the worse the weather became.
Rain hammered at their ears, lightning struck without warning, and high waves relentlessly battered the fleet.
But something even more fucked up was happening.
“Aoool!!”
“Aaaagh!!!!”
Crunch!! Crunch!!!
It was the colossal monster known as the Charybdis Model, terrifyingly chewing up Merfolk as it approached the island.
The creature began to gain vitality by chewing up and absorbing Merfolk, and its massive body only grew larger.
‘A living disaster must look something like that.’
Inherited Merfolk Veradin thought so as he cautiously poked his head above the water.
Once a human and an A-rank Hunter, he intended to use his specialty, magic, to intercept the monster slaughtering his fellow Merfolk.
“We Merfolk can absorb mana from the sea and cast large-scale magic. I’ll show you power beyond that of inferior humans...!!!”
As he consumed the vastly increased mana he had gained after becoming a Merfolk, he drew in mana from the sea and formed countless ice spears, pouring them down like a storm.
It was an enormous display of mana, surpassing even an S-rank Hunter.
Even if the target was growing in real time to the size of a small island, this should inflict meaningful damage!
The ice spears shot forward at terrifying speed, pierced through the whirlpool created by Charybdis, and struck its body.
Whoooosh!
Thud!
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
“Die, monster!!!”
When the Merfolk clasped his hands together, more than several hundred ice spears embedded deep in the creature’s body exploded at once.
Boom!!!
Boom! Boom! Boom!!!
The chain of explosions sent the sea surging high into the air. Flesh scattered everywhere, the seawater turned crimson, and the creature stopped moving.
The other Inherited Merfolk nearby cried out in admiration.
“As expected of Veradin! Even that monster couldn’t withstand an attack like that!!!”
“I saw it! That was a fatal wound! It’s finished!!!”
“D-Did we get it...?!”
But it only stopped for a moment.
It began sucking in seawater again and continued forward.
It was moving even though half its head had been blown away.
It had clearly taken severe damage, but it did not care in the slightest. No, it began moving with even more momentum than before, leaving the Inherited Merfolk horrified.
Rooooar!!!
“D-Don’t fuck with me!!! Half its head is gone!!!!”
“...Fuck! That makes no sense!!!”
“The mutant those fucking humans made is finally destroying the marine ecosystem... I knew this day would come... That’s why I wanted to turn all humans into Merfolk as quickly as possible and solve Earth’s environmental problems...”
“Veradin, fire again and finish it off!!!!”
Inherited Merfolk Veradin tried to squeeze out every last bit of strength to fire another volley of ice spears.
Then he sensed something behind him.
Startled by the ominous presence, Veradin whirled around.
A bipedal turtle wearing a mask stood there, its eyes gleaming.
“What the...?!”
Fwoooosh!!!
A water cannon of tremendous output fired right in front of him, sending Veradin flying toward the Charybdis Model from the recoil.
“Damn it!! Where did this shitty magical beast come from now?!!!!”
Something kept going wrong.
For a while now, magical beasts had been strange.
He had only just realized that every serious variable had been caused by magical beasts when...
Chomp!
“Uh...?”
Something bit down on his ankle and dragged Veradin toward the colossal monster with monstrous strength.
“Gaaah!!!!! Save...”
Crunch!!!
“Veradin’s been taken!!!”
“R-Retreat!! Retreat!!!!”
Having lost their means of long-range attack, the Merfolk fled in panic toward Merfolk Island.
And at last, the Hunters entered Merfolk Island without shedding a drop of blood.
The Hunters who landed on the island quickly checked the surroundings for danger. Once they confirmed the area was safe, they immediately began exploring.
Most streamers remained aboard the ships, but a few managed to persuade the Hunters to let them accompany the expedition. Petite Cream was among those who cautiously disembarked.
“Whew... I-I’m nervous. I’ll be accompanying the Hunters from Cheonseong Guild.”
[ Chat ]
- Whoa, this is making me nervous too;;
- It’s fine, Cheonseong Guild’s magical beasts are fucking reliable
- If you stay beside the turtles, they’ll put up shields for you
- Honestly, doesn’t this group look overwhelmingly safer than the others?
- Huh? What are those?
- Whoa... holy shit
As they cautiously entered the island’s interior behind the Hunters, Petite Cream blinked at the gradually revealed appearance of Merfolk Island.
“N-No... What even is this...? A place like this existed in the world...?”
It was a mysterious island that had suddenly risen from an undersea Gate Break in the North Sea.
The island was filled with structures built in styles they had never seen before.
[ Chat ]
- So this is Merfolk Island?
- Why does it look so fucked up;;;
- They said the island suddenly appeared, but it really looks like it came from another planet... damn
- Looking at it makes me feel weird... I feel sick, fuck;;
- Why are there so many murals? Feels like we’re at an archaeological site
- I can see paintings that feel like we shouldn’t understand them...
Beyond the pouring rain stood stone structures that looked as though they had come from another world.
Rumble!!!
A flash of lightning briefly drove away the darkness, revealing the structures more clearly.
Most striking of all was the massive statue at the center of the island.
It had the head of a cephalopod, a form that clearly symbolized cosmic horror.
“C-Cthulhu-bro...?!”
[ Chat ]
- Did I just see a mere scrub whose head got blown apart by a steamship...?
- They said those Merfolk bastards worship Outer Gods, and it was real;;;
- The atmosphere just got really weird...
- Fuck;;; What is this?
- Come to think of it, they say every Anomalous Gate appearing lately affects the surrounding environment... Did Outer Gods really invade our world?
- Even the Gate Church cult has been growing lately. Something definitely hasn’t been right...
- There are politicians in Europe who suddenly look like they got younger too... Could it be...?
Petite Cream looked at the chat and spoke.
“New technology has definitely been pouring out lately, and it feels like development suddenly accelerated too much... The timing overlaps with the Anomalous Gates as well! This really is enough for a royally rational god-suspicion...”
Recent events were far too chaotic to dismiss as a simple conspiracy theory.
[ Chat ]
- Seriously, technology has been advancing explosively since Anomalous Gates appeared... Were we actually being infused with alien technology? Damn
- Ha... Do Outer Gods really exist? Do we have to live trembling before cosmic horror as sacrificial offerings?!!!
- If there really is a cosmic entity behind the Merfolk, we can’t resist at all. I already gave up on life, so I’m lying down watching the stream instead of doing my assignment
- ...But then what the hell is Yoo Hyun, if he made a magical beast that sent the Outer God-worshipping Merfolk fleeing in panic...?
- I don’t know, fuck;; Maybe the Jellykko god possessed him in a dream or something
- Gasp...!
The exploration of Merfolk Island was... strangely smooth.
“Everyone... Can you see this? There are no Merfolk....”
[ Chat ]
- Cream bro, are you insane? That’s a flag!!!
- This is... the disaster Cream bro summoned...
- But there really is nothing here, suspiciously so
- Seriously... Feels like the calm before the storm
Then a Hunter’s voice rang out.
Holding a communication device, the Hunter shouted.
“They found a Gate!!!”
“...!!”
Soon, every Hunter on Merfolk Island except for the minimum number needed to continue searching gathered before a set of underground stairs directly beneath the giant statue.
The Hunter who had found it first spoke in a grave voice.
“...It’s below. There’s a Gate at a large altar down there.”
“There’s a high chance the Merfolk we can’t see are gathered there.”
They were probably positioned at the entrance.
The moment they entered the Gate, attacks would come from every direction, creating countless casualties.
In the end, the key was who entered first.
Most of the Hunters had come from other countries to provide support.
Britain’s Hunters should have volunteered to enter first, but someone raised a hand.
“We prepared something for this possibility. What do you think?”
It was Hunter Shin Hayeon of Cheonseong Guild.
The Hunters stared blankly at the item she held out, their expressions full of disbelief.
“...Why do you even have something like that?”
“We thought something like this might happen, since we’re dealing with intelligent beings rather than ordinary monsters.”
She smiled faintly.
“In exchange for providing it... I’d like priority in claiming the bodies of special Merfolk specimens.”
* * *
Merfolk were positioned at the Gate entrance.
They waited in throwing stances, ready to skewer every human the moment they entered.
An armored Merfolk stood directly in front of the Gate to draw the humans’ attention.
‘In the end, we win if they cannot enter the Gate.’
There was only one entrance.
They could detect any sign of the enemy entering through fluctuations in the Gate itself, so there could be no better environment for blocking the oncoming enemy.
Defeat was impossible in such overwhelmingly favorable terrain.
Hummmm...
Then the Gate trembled, as though it was about to expel something.
The moment something crossed through the Gate and entered the Merfolk’s sight...
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!!!
Countless spears flew toward it and embedded themselves in it.
It was not a living creature.
More of them continued to cross through at intervals.
Whoosh! Thunk!
Whoosh! Thud!
The identity of the more than thirty objects that came through was...
“...Bags?”
The armored Merfolk dragged its huge body forward and peered inside one of the bags.
[ 00 : 00 : 03 ]
[ 00 : 00 : 02 ]
“This is...!!”
Bzzzt!
BOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!
The bombs inside the bags exploded in a chain reaction, turning the Gate entrance into a blazing hell.
Hunter equipment that used charged mana to create an ultra-wide-area explosion.
The overwhelming heat wave cooked the fish-headed Merfolk waiting inside.
After some time had passed and they judged the heat wave had died down, Hunters wrapped in protective barriers began entering through the Gate one by one.
“Wow... That wiped them out cleanly....”
“Damn... They say Korea makes everything well except magical beasts....”
“Korea’s defense industry is pretty good.”
“That isn’t defense equipment. It’s Hunter equipment. They don’t use it often because it destroys the bodies you’re supposed to loot.”
What they saw were the charred remains of countless Merfolk and the corpse of the armored Merfolk, whose organs had been completely cooked by the heat wave.
“...An Inherited Merfolk. Armor... perhaps? It must have taken a direct hit, but its scales are intact. Its defense is considerable. Cheonseong Guild will secure this one.”
Then the armored Merfolk, which they had assumed was dead, opened its mouth in a cracked voice.
“Cough... Y-You cowardly...!!”
Shin Hayeon looked down at it with cold eyes.
“What, did you think you were up against saints?”
“Guh...”
The armored Merfolk soon stopped all signs of life.
The Hunters entered the Gate safely and began their exploration. Small skirmishes continued, but since most of the Merfolk had been eliminated at the entrance, the exploration proceeded without major problems.
Soon, the Hunters found a building of bizarre design, and inside its underground prison, they found survivors.
“We found Guild Master Cheon Sanha!!!”
“Let’s move there immediately.”
That was how they found the survivors who had been dragged away by the Merfolk in the underground prison.
The survivors who still had their sanity looked at the Hunters who had come to rescue them with tears in their eyes.
“C-Crazy... You really came!!”
“Aaaah!!! We’re alive, we’re alive!!!!”
“How did you get through the Merfolk and cross the sea...?”
The survivors were helped out by the Hunters.
Among them, Cheon Sanha stared at Shin Hayeon and muttered in disbelief.
“...Ha. When something like an earthquake happened, I kept wondering... How the hell did you find us? There’s no way Hunters alone could cross the sea....”
“You’ll understand once you get outside. More importantly, Guild Master, you look terrible.”
Cheon Sanha looked at the scales growing on his body and gave a dry laugh.
“Ha... I know, but I look like this now... Think even Korean plastic surgery can fix it?”
Shin Hayeon shook her head at his calmness.
“Stop talking nonsense and take this.”
“This is...?”
It was an ampoule filled with a purple-tinged liquid. When he pressed the button, a syringe needle popped out.
“They said it’s a Merfolk Transformation recovery drug prepared by Director Yoo Hyun. I don’t know the exact principle.”
“...My little brother...? No, but why does he even have something like that? Did he dissect Merfolk or something?”
“Well... Apparently there were many similar cases in Japan. He said there were plenty of treatment samples because of crazy people who voluntarily gave up being human....”
Cheon Sanha had no idea what that was supposed to mean, but once he heard Yoo Hyun had given it to him, he injected the medicine without hesitation.
Pshht!
About half the scales immediately fell away.
Patter!
New flesh grew beneath them.
“The effect is incredible... You can use this on the others too, right? Give one to Haniki as well. At this rate, it’ll become a pufferfish instead of a hedgehog.”
“ Tsk... Tsk.... ”
“Of course. Director Yoo Hyun prepared a great deal, so we have plenty of medicine. More importantly, please take this.”
Cheon Sanha received a dark green crystal from Shin Hayeon.
An unknown light swirled within it. It seemed to be no ordinary item.
“What is this now...?”
“It’s called Essentium, developed by Director Yoo Hyun. It can induce the evolution of magical beasts. It would be more effective to feed this to Haniki than to use the recovery medicine.”
...?
For a moment, Cheon Sanha wondered if he had heard correctly.
Evolution...? Evolution as in the evolution I know?
“...Has it been a few years since I was captured?”
“It hasn’t even been two months.”
...?
No, wasn’t technological advancement moving a little too fast?
Just as every survivor received treatment and began to truly feel that they had been rescued, a voice that shook their minds erupted throughout the Gate.
[ You have persisted in finding your way here... petty creatures of the land, cry out. Let your pathetic screams echo through the deepest reaches of this dark temple.... ]
Rumble!!!
As soon as the voice finished speaking, the ground began to shake.
“Aaaah, it’s an earthquake!!”
“Everyone, stay calm!!”
“Let’s get outside first!”
Shin Hayeon questioned the identity of the voice they had just heard.
Cheon Sanha answered as he fed Essentium to Haniki.
“This is...?”
“Some kind of king of the Merfolk.”
“ Tsk, tsk.... ”
The monster that had burst the Middle Eastern Hunter’s eyes had begun to move.
Then the Hunter handling communications shouted, their face turning pale.
“T-The Gate entrance has disappeared!!!”
“...!!”
The countless Hunters who had joined the operation had become trapped inside the Gate.
Footnotes:
“Cthulhu-bro” recreates an online nickname that refers to Cthulhu with a familiar older-brother honorific. “Royally rational god-suspicion” recreates a Korean internet pun on “reasonable suspicion” using mock-grandiose words for king and god.
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