WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Ceaseless
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Gate Summoner Hunters Obsess Over ◈
Chapter 37: Makes a Decision. Doesn't Hold Back.
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❗This chapter contains an illustration that may be frightening.❗
A cocoon surrounded by a red membrane had suddenly appeared.
The instant Team Leader Oh recognized the thing inside it, she became certain.
If that thing were born, every living creature in the area, aside from team-leader-level Hunters, would die.
They had to stop it from being born somehow.
But.
Grin.
'Ha... We're fucked.'
The moment Team Leader Oh saw it smile, she knew it was too late.
It had already devoured countless people and finished preparing to be born.
There would have been nothing strange about it being born immediately, but it was deliberately delaying its birth.
There was only one reason.
「To be born more perfectly.」
The perfection it spoke of meant becoming something closer to human.
It learned human cunning to devour people more efficiently.
It learned human malice to control people more efficiently.
In the end, it would become something close to human and swallow all of humanity.
Then it would eat away the Earth's insides until only its shell remained, tear through it as though ripping a membrane, and calmly depart.
Having become something closest to human, yet not human.
So it could devour another 'humanity' somewhere else.
And that process was extremely similar to the doctrine of a cult Team Leader Oh knew well.
'This looks an awful lot like...'
「The body is the smallest egg.」
「The world is the greatest egg.」
「How can one who cannot even break their small shell break through the shell of the world?」
「Therefore, we must break our shells and move onward.」
「To meet the god waiting for us outside the egg.」
'...This looks like the work of those Cracking Sect cult bastards.'
The Cracking Sect sincerely believed supernatural phenomena were salvation bestowed by God for humanity.
They saw supernatural phenomena as tools for breaking out of the egg called the world, and thought nothing of offering up their own bodies to them.
Even if doing so turned them into something that had lost its sense of self.
They accepted it as the 'first cracking,' having broken free of the egg called the body.
As a result.
They often threw themselves into supernatural phenomena and died, making them one of the smaller cults and causing fewer incidents than most, but...
Whirr...
Tap!
"Team Leader Oh."
Team Leader Oh quickly read the sheet rookie Hunter Kang Yul handed her.
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[Gate Compendium] - [Midsummer Water Park]
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■ Abnormal Intervention Entity
➤ Woman in the Blood
ㆍAn unidentified being sleeping within [Midsummer Water Park].
ㆍIf the staff are destroyed, they become nourishment for the Woman in the Blood, accelerating her growth.
ㆍOnce hatched, the Woman in the Blood possesses the anomalous ability to transform every living being she touches into masses of blood.
※ This is not an entity that originally existed in the water park.
※ It is an abnormal intervention entity created by someone using [Midsummer Water Park].
※ Its Hazard Rating under Hunter Management Bureau standards is B-rank.
──────────────────
"Also, [Midsummer Pool] is related to this phenomenon."
"What a fucking mess."
...Those cult bastards seemed to have really caused a disaster this time.
Their activity had been sparse for years, so she had thought they were all dead. But if the rookie was right, they had apparently been secretly gathering sacrifices through [Midsummer Pool] for years to prepare for this incident.
'Where the hell did they find something like that?'
It was a supernatural life-form with a Hunter Management Bureau Hazard Rating of B-rank.
It was something far beyond what Team Leader Oh could handle, even with her trump card.
Normally, she should have left the site the instant she confirmed the report through her earpiece.
Crackle...!
- This is Team Leader Yu.
We're moving the civilians toward the exit... White Crow.
Is that egg that appeared in the middle of the pool really okay?
.
.
.
Crackle...!
- Team Leader Mi here.
We're moving the civilians toward the exit.
Please share any information you have about the egg with me as well.
.
.
.
Crackle...!
- This is Team Leader Myo.
We are currently engaged with beings believed to be from the Cracking Sect.
They appear to be protecting the egg that appeared in the center. It is presumed to contain a supernatural life-form that will cause severe damage to the surrounding area upon hatching.
Its current estimated Hazard Rating is B-rank.
Accordingly, whether to leave the site will be left to each of your judgment.
.
.
.
Crackle...
If they failed to contain a B-rank supernatural life-form.
The manual stated that representative-level Hunters should leave while the Hunters on site bought time.
Even representative-level Hunters had to survive, so they could be used to prevent the additional damage that would come afterward.
As such.
In principle, Team Leader Oh should have followed the manual and left, preparing for the worst-case scenario.
But standing right beside her was...
"I shouldn't put something strange in it and break it... Do you think the shell can handle it...?"
...Rookie Hunter Kang Yul, gazing affectionately (?) at the Blue Nautilus Shell he had taken from his chest.
When he saw the egg and asked, "Team Leader Oh, that's technically liquid too, right?" Team Leader Oh reluctantly nodded.
"Then it must be even more nutritious since it's condensed blood."
Right after saying that, he muttered, "This might actually be better...?"
Then, as if that were not enough.
"Team Leader Oh, I'm really sorry, but could you take me as close to that thing as possible?"
He had even made a request that was not quite a request, asking her to safely take him through the anomalous phenomena surging like waves.
'Haah... This is driving me insane.'
At that moment, Team Leader Oh sensed an unknowable desire in rookie Hunter Kang Yul's eyes.
An impossible-to-hide desire, as though he wanted that egg.
Which meant his request was practically a murder threat saying, If you don't take me there, I might be a little disappointed and hurt you.
So in the end.
"You just need me to take you there... right?"
"I'd be grateful if you did!"
Team Leader Oh accepted rookie Hunter Kang Yul's request.
There were two reasons.
The first was that, although rare, when supernatural life-forms fought one another, the rules of the stronger being took precedence.
There were many theories about the standard used to determine that strength, but nothing had been confirmed in detail.
Still, based on everything Team Leader Oh had survived in many Gates, she was certain that the being beside her was a supernatural life-form stronger than that thing.
'Now that the two life-forms are in the same space, I can tell for sure. This guy is at least A-rank.'
The other reason was that, considering the friend who appeared whenever this monster was in danger, she judged that staying nearby gave her better odds of survival than running away.
She had felt it on the train last time. That friend hated seeing rookie Hunter Kang Yul get hurt more than anything.
Having made her decision, Team Leader Oh put a hand to her earpiece and shared information about the egg.
Crackle...!
- Hey, it's me.
Don't worry about the egg in the middle of the water park. Keep doing what you're doing.
The rookie and I are going to deal with it now.
Crackle...!
- This is Team Leader Myo.
I request a detailed explanation of the current situation.
Crackle...!
- I don't know the details either.
The rookie just said he wanted it.
And he asked me to help him.
Crackle...!
- ...Understood.
Please take every precaution to ensure the worst-case scenario does not occur.
Crackle...!
- I'll try.
Anyway, I'm busy now, so I'm ending the call!
Crackle...
After ending the call, Team Leader Oh roughly removed her earpiece and shoved it into her pocket.
She then took a deep breath and spoke to rookie Hunter Kang Yul, who was silently looking at her.
"Let's go, rookie. I'll clear the way."
She muttered, "I hope you'll be satisfied with that toy if possible," then began advancing, using the corpses she had summoned to sweep aside things that clumsily imitated human forms.
Then.
Grrroooaaar!!!
Perhaps it found prey heading into the center instead of fleeing strange.
Or perhaps it had noticed rookie Hunter Kang Yul, running beside Team Leader Oh and sweating heavily.
A giant made of blood, one she had never seen before, rose up and began blocking their path, but.
"Do you want to become nourishment too?"
Grr...?
In conclusion, that attempt meant little.
Unlike before, when he had held back because he cherished the shell, rookie Hunter Kang Yul no longer had any reservations once he decided to do it.
The instant the blood giant appeared, he raised the shell and shouted.
"Wind Tunnel, open!"
Wooooosh!!!
.
.
.
.
.
.
Sluurp!
The giant disappeared as it was sucked into the shell.
Team Leader Oh did not know what would happen to it after it was sucked inside.
But considering he had called it nourishment, she did not think it would meet a pleasant end.
"By the way, rookie. That line just now...?"
"Ah, I just felt like I had to shout it."
"..."
...Anyway.
After that, rookie Hunter Kang Yul, now refusing to hold back, no longer had any reservations.
He sucked every drop of blood that fell around them as they cleared a path.
"「Jiangshi」!"
Shwick!
He also sucked in the blood beings blocking the way while they were still alive.
Grrraaah!!
Sluurp!
And he even sucked up all the water from the pools they passed.
Swiiiish...!!
"Rookie. Why are you...?"
"Huh? Oh, it was there, so I picked it up while I was at it."
"..."
...Anyway, rookie Hunter Kang Yul did not hold back any longer.
Like someone with a personal grudge against the water park, he advanced while sucking up every blood-filled thing he saw.
As a result, they reached the egg far faster than expected.
All that remained was to suck it in as planned, but at that moment.
Crackle...!
An unfamiliar sound reached Team Leader Oh's ear.
It was the sound of something tearing through a membrane... a sound she should not have heard.
When she hurriedly turned toward the tearing membrane.
Got. You.¡
...A hand had already reached toward Team Leader Oh.
As though it had waited for this very moment.
As though it had wanted Team Leader Oh to come close enough for it to make contact.
Of course.
"I knew you'd pull this from the moment you started grinning at me, you fucking bitch!"
The same was true for Team Leader Oh.
"「Skeleton」!"
Clang!
At Team Leader Oh's command, the thick-boned Skeleton that had been waiting stepped in front of the Woman in the Blood.
As a supernatural being made of bone, it did not turn into blood and knocked away her hand.
...¿
The Woman in the Blood stared blankly at Team Leader Oh with a dazed expression, as though she did not understand what had happened.
Team Leader Oh raised her middle finger at the Woman in the Blood and spoke.
"I've dealt with this kind of thing more than once or twice. Oh, and the one who's caught isn't me. It's you, you stupid bitch. Why don't you take a good look around you?"
¿¿¿
Then, right afterward.
Thud!
Something hard touched the body of the woman made of blood.
And at the same time.
"Got. You."
A static-filled voice belonging to something that looked as though it had forced itself into clothes that did not fit rang out.
Smiling brightly at the Woman in the Blood, it sucked her into the blue shell in its hand.
Why¡
Why¡
Is
This
Here
...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Sluurp!
'Whew... The moment our eyes met, I got scared shitless.'
I'd never seen a supernatural life-form with such a creepy face before.
A woman made of blood with eye sockets deeply hollowed out in black shadows... I don't think I'll be sleeping tonight.
Maybe I should seriously consider entering the Gate and sleeping with the Worm tonight.
Footnotes:
“Wind Tunnel, open!” echoes Miroku's signature Wind Tunnel invocation from Inuyasha.
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