WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the EX-Rank Pet Maker Hunters Obsess Over ◈
Chapter 84: Domain Expansion
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At the center of the Black Shrine.
Countless spells and arrows rained down in a concentrated barrage.
It was practically an ambush, but that was the price for turning their back on them in the middle of a slaughter.
‘The chance of a lifetime!!’
There was no need to listen to what the enemy had to say. They might have been trying to buy time as well.
“Deploy the formation!!! We don't know what they might do!!!! Keep your distance and protect the ranged attackers!!!”
The Hunters continued their one-sided bombardment with shield-bearing tanks at the front.
As the barrage continued, the Hunters grew more confident.
After all, the fleet included hundreds of renowned Hunters.
They had barely expended any stamina on the way here, too, so they were in peak condition.
In other words, the firepower gathered here was practically the greatest humanity had to offer!
“Haha...!! No matter how strong you are, there are hundreds of A-rank Hunters or higher here!!!!”
“Keep the firepower up!!!! Focus on fire and lightning magic!!!”
“No matter how strong that fucking fish is, it’s finished if it can’t breathe!!!!”
“Other than the rain coming down a little hard, this isn't too bad...?”
Sssshhh!
The torrential rain evaporated under the insane firepower unleashed by the mages.
Crackle!
Fwoosh!
Lightning would be flashing, likely paralyzing the enemy, while fireballs would be scorching the air and turning it into a hell where nothing could breathe.
The Hunters did not stop concentrating their firepower.
One minute...
Three minutes...
Five minutes...
When Theodore, the commander of the landing operation, quietly raised a hand, the magic and arrows stopped.
Fatigue had begun to build up heavily among the damage dealers.
“Huff... Huff...”
“This is fucking brutal.”
“...Still, I think we landed a decent amount of damage?”
Black smoke rose ahead of them.
The tanks and melee damage dealers slowly moved forward.
“...Don't let your guard down.”
“Don't worry. We won't.”
“...Wait. What's that?”
“...Huh?”
As the smoke began to clear, a translucent, writhing wall came into view.
No, upon closer inspection, the things writhing within it were translucent Merfolk figures.
“Ah... rrrgh...”
“Oooh... rrrgh...”
A Wall of Souls encircled something as though protecting it.
Inside, souls whose Spirit Forms had been shattered seemed to writhe in agony.
And then...
As the smoke slowly cleared, hundreds of Spirit Forms could be seen behind it, poised to throw spears.
“Fuck!!!”
“!?”
“We're screwed!!”
The tanks cursed and raised their shields against the Spirit Forms' thrown spears.
As A-rank Hunters, their equipment had excellent resistance against Spirit Forms.
But the spears flew through the air as though they possessed clear physical force, wrapped in purple Demonic Energy.
Whoosh!
Bam!
The terrifying impact rattled their bones and cracked their shields.
The problem was that there were not just one or two spears!
Crack!
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Dozens of spears embedded themselves in each shield. In the end, the shields shattered, and the tanks were skewered.
“Aaargh!!!”
“AAAAARGH!!!!”
The Merfolk King emerged after dismissing the Wall of Souls before the tanks rolling across the floor, deploying soldiers turned into Spirit Forms around the Merfolk King.
[ ...Death is not the end.... ]
The number of Merfolk Spirit Forms continued to grow.
They exceeded hundreds, then thousands.
Even so, the Hunters had not given up yet.
“It’s fine...!! We only need to take them down!!!”
“Right! Don't chicken out!!! That's all just posturing... Huh?”
But even they fell speechless at the sight of Merfolk Spirit Forms numbering beyond the thousands and into the tens of thousands, completely surrounding the colosseum-shaped temple.
“Th-This... is real...?”
“No way...”
“Fuck...”
The gap in their forces was so overwhelming that even the Hunters who had become Apostles could not readily step forward.
[ Have you finally realized your place...? But you have already crossed the line. I will offer your souls to the One as sacrifices and make up for these losses. ]
After that, it became a one-sided battle.
A single volley of thrown spears from tens of thousands of Spirit Forms completely destroyed the Hunters' defenses, leaving one grievously wounded Hunter after another.
Just as a one-sided massacre was about to begin...
Fweee!
Booooom!
Someone fired an arrow at the Merfolk King, causing a massive explosion.
When the Hunters turned around, they saw Cheon Sanha, who should have been waiting at the temple entrance.
Shin Hayeon of Cheonseong, who had been part of the entry team, scolded him at the sight.
“Guild Master...!! Why are you here in that condition?!”
Cheon Sanha stepped forward.
“Well, it looked dangerous on the broadcast. If we can't catch that bastard, we're all going to die anyway. Besides, lots of people are watching right now.”
Chit chit...
Cheon Sanha looked at the trembling YouTuber Petite Cream in the corner.
He had not come out here without a plan.
“I figured out, more or less, what that Essentium my little brother gave me actually is.”
“...Pardon?”
Shin Hayeon blinked at the sudden remark.
“Until now, I’d been using Haniki’s power the wrong way.”
Chit chit...
At some point, the fully recovered hedgehog with densely packed spines came walking out.
The Merfolk King watched with interest.
So did the Hunters.
The YouTuber Petite Cream as well.
And me, Yoo Hyun.
Amon spoke while watching the footage.
[ ...What exactly did that bastard realize? ]
“...I don't know either.”
“Huff...?”
I really did not know.
The Echidna Model had probably consumed the special Essentium... but I had no idea what effect it had.
Still, there was one thing I could guess.
‘The Echidna Model consumed Essentium containing the power of Tier 2.’
Tier 2 was ultimately a step toward transcendence.
If Tier 1 was the basic utilization of the power called mana,
then Tier 2 was when mana developed individual properties.
The Anomalous Gates of the Transcendent factions transformed their surroundings into environments suited to themselves.
Amon's fog zone, the island filled with the Merfolk's grotesque structures, the gigantic mechanical structure that had suddenly appeared in Russia, and the Golden Land said to have appeared in Europe probably all worked similarly.
Ultimately, it meant reshaping the world into one's own domain by enforcing one's will upon it.
Energy was merely the medium.
Perhaps energy possessing its own color influenced the environment, staining that space with its owner's domain.
Which meant...
“Chit chit...!!!”
The Echidna Model Haniki scattered its spines in every direction, fixing them in place like stakes driven into space itself.
Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of spines covered the entire area.
A colorless wave poured out from Haniki.
Thump!
As the Essentium within its body rapidly melted away, three types of power spun together, gradually amplifying their strength.
Then their influence began to manifest in space itself.
The spines embedded in space like stakes began to vibrate.
Hummmm!
The Hunters' blood scattered all around rapidly evaporated... becoming a mist that stained the world.
Then a numinous light burst forth, and the battlefield soon transformed.
[ Could this be...?! Attack that creature!!! ]
Alarmed by the ominous sight, the Merfolk King used the souls of their soldiers to launch Soul Spears.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Tens of thousands of thrown spears poured toward the Echidna Model.
But the world soon twisted, and countless steel spines began rising up.
Shnk! Shnk!
Then the spines of the twisted world erupted as though they possessed wills of their own, intercepting every Soul Spear.
Clang! Clang!
“Chit chit...!”
[ ...This is!!! ]
A world reminiscent of Iron Tree Hell unfolded as though confronting the Merfolk King's world.
Cheon Sanha stared at the world spread with countless spines and muttered,
“...This is Essentium's power... No, Haniki's true power...? I really did pick a good little brother.”
[ ...What? ]
“I had it wrong. Haniki's power isn't creating spines. What Haniki created is a world containing infinite spines.”
[ Chat ]
- ????????????????????????
- What the hell just happened...?
- Whoa, whoa... The mood suddenly...!!
- What the fuck is this...!!!
- Is this CGI?
- How the fuck did he do that;;;
- No, wait...!!! What the fuck did he make this time...!!!!
- When a magical beast starts losing its shit, Yoo Hyun is always the answer.
- This has gone too far!!!!!!!!!!!
- ...So that giant marine magical beast hasn't gone too far?
- Why is the Merfolk King suddenly panicking so hard?
- For real, I think he’s completely freaking out?
- Then how could you not panic after seeing that?
- I don't think anyone here understands that, tbh;;
- What the hell is even happening now lolololololololol
Click!
Cheon Sanha separated his bow into two swords and spoke.
“...I'm coming, Merfolk King!! Do you have enough soldiers in reserve!!!”
“Chit chit...!”
The YouTube viewers and everyone inside the temple watched in shock.
Then tens of thousands of Soul Spears and endless steel spines shot toward each other.
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