WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Oblivious

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Surviving as a B-Rank Hunter ◈

Chapter 15

──────

* * *

Humans who went in and out of dungeons gradually grew stronger.

Their basic strength improved, along with their recovery from fatigue and injuries, the flexibility of their tendons and ligaments, their digestive systems, their liver detoxification, and their immunity to disease. Some even gained a kind of fire resistance.

When this first became known, some people entered dungeons not for Vanaskelium, but simply for their health. People suffering from incurable diseases that could not yet be treated threw themselves into dungeons, hoping they might live a little longer.

Most of them died in their first dungeon.

Back then, there had been far more false information and nonsense than there was now. Amateur theories, often called brain-farts, and fake news filled the internet and newspapers. Of course, countless people never returned from dungeons.

Fortunately, the situation changed with time. It became known that the extent of physical enhancement was far weaker than expected, and that every individual had their limits.

More people also came to understand the bizarre dangers of dungeons.

Even so, a small number of people still entered dungeons in pursuit of physical enhancement rather than Vanaskelium. That was because of A-rank hunters.

A-rank hunters. Hunters who had clearly, undeniably “changed” compared to other hunters.

For some hunters, those accumulated enhancements eventually passed a certain threshold, and a moment came when they became visibly stronger than other hunters. They became astonishingly strong, fast, and sharp.

If other hunters were merely dungeon hunters, scouts, or infantrymen, they were tanks.

With the experience and resources they had gathered before becoming A-rank hunters, they became something beyond enhanced bodies. They could simply force their way through the threats of most dungeons with their own strength.

[Hahaha!]

That was why the person clad in steel armor could laugh so confidently in a dungeon.

[You idiot bastards! Did you think it'd make a difference if fifteen of you came at me at once? Ten or twenty, it means nothing if you can't pierce my armor, you morons!]

They looked over two meters tall. Even considering that the armor made them look a little bigger, they were exceptionally tall.

There was no gap in their armor. Dense overlapping plates around every joint interlocked like waves, exposing nothing beneath. The metal plates were so strangely smooth that it seemed impossible to put them on by ordinary means.

There were not even eyeholes in their helmet, yet they seemed to have no trouble seeing ahead.

The seams in their armor were so tight that when they moved, it did not rattle. Instead, it made a Sssshhk sound, like metal pressed tightly together and rubbed.

They looked more like a steel doll than a human. Factory warning lights swept over their armor, flashing gaudy colors across the gray steel. The sight was so alien that they seemed less like a hunter and more like some abnormal phenomenon within this dungeon.

Watching the Steel Man from atop a piece of machinery, Dohyeon widened his gaze to the area around him.

Besides the hunter who had just been crushed into a bloody mass beneath a chunk of metal, there were another three or four corpses nearby.

They held long spears and hammers. They had probably intended to pin the Steel Man down with spears and smash them apart with the hammers. Judging by the corpses, it had clearly been a foolish plan.

The hunters who had not become corpses were scattering through the factory maze in every direction. One of them set off a smoke grenade. Thick gray smoke billowed out.

[Heh heh. You think I can't see you because you set off smoke?]

The Steel Man apparently had no trouble seeing through the smoke. After letting out a low chuckle, they charged into it.

Not long afterward, heavy Thud! Thud! sounds and screams echoed from within the smoke. The noise did not last long before everything went quiet.

“...”

After watching a little longer from where he had climbed up, Dohyeon began to quietly climb down once the noise ceased.

If there was an A-rank in the dungeon, it was best not to do anything foolish and get out quickly. And from what he had just seen, this dungeon held not only that A-rank Steel Man, but also a group or alliance trying to hunt them.

The Steel Man would assume every hunter they encountered belonged to that group and try to kill them. On the other hand, if Dohyeon encountered the group, they would not simply leave a variable like him alone, either.

In other words, an ordinary B-rank hunter like Dohyeon had been caught between the Steel Man and an unidentified group.

“What a fucking dungeon you sold me...”

a113. Had they known? He could not be sure.

There were broadly two kinds of Observers. One kind sold dungeon information indiscriminately, without considering the circumstances. Their information was often dangerous. They would sell it even if the place was a military facility or private corporate property.

The other kind considered the dungeon's location, its situation, and the power dynamics surrounding it before selling information unlikely to cause trouble. They were much safer, and more expensive.

Naturally, a113 had been the latter. That was why Dohyeon had dealt with them. But if they had changed, there was nothing Dohyeon could do. He would have to find another source.

As Dohyeon reached the ground, Valkyrie suddenly whispered.

[Left.]

Dohyeon reflexively bent backward at the waist. Something black that had flown in from the left passed through the spot where his head had just been and landed on the assembly line beside him.

Rather than thinking twice after seeing it writhe, Dohyeon drew his dagger and stabbed it through the head.

[---!]

It resembled a snake. A snake made of rubber, wires, screws, and the like. It thrashed and twisted as though it were a real snake with its head pierced.

But when Dohyeon twisted his dagger, its movements soon slowed before it finally went limp.

It was a monster commonly found in the Factory pattern, simply called a Factory Snake. A machine that imitated the appearance of a living snake.

It had no fangs, so it strangled people by wrapping around their necks. It had killed more hunters entering a factory for the first time than anything else.

Pulling out his dagger, Dohyeon flicked off the oil clinging to it as he thought. Had Valkyrie's warning been his own five senses speaking through Valkyrie's mouth? Or had the Valkyrie ghost truly noticed the snake first and warned him?

There was no time to worry about that now. He needed to find the exit and leave quickly. If possible, he also needed to pick up an artifact along the way.

Dohyeon moved through the factory in a low stance. Oil fumes, heat, and steam flashed chaotically beneath the warning lights. Meanwhile, the distant pulsing sound was steadily growing louder.

Along the way, Dohyeon picked up three or four things that could be called junk items.

[Coolant Bottle: It contains a cold liquid. The fate of a soul that steals another's warmth yet never learns to become warm itself.]

[Small Radio: It does not work. It once held countless voices, but now produces only the sound of hollow dust.]

[Sturdy Wrench: Smooth and solid as if brand-new. That is the only advantage of being new.]

Coolant was coolant. What did it mean by a soul being inside it? Still, since it mentioned a soul, he could only hope it contained much more Vanaskelium than the others.

Then Valkyrie spoke.

[Open that metal panel over there.]

Dohyeon stopped short. Though Valkyrie was invisible, he thought he knew what she was pointing at. The metal panel she meant was on the body of a machine arm that had rusted and half collapsed.

“...”

For a moment, Dohyeon hesitated. Should he listen to a ghost and tear open that panel, making a loud noise? Or should he dismiss it as nonsense and keep going?

The next moment, Dohyeon pulled a small forearm-length iron pry bar from his backpack. Then, without hesitation, he drove it into the gap in the metal panel.

Clang!

Since he had decided to do it, he needed to do it quickly. Dohyeon tore away the panel with swift hands and peered inside. Without any lighting, it was pitch-dark and hard to see properly.

Dohyeon quickly shone the small light attached to his backpack strap inside. Among the rusted, oil-caked, rotten parts, there was one gear that stood out.

[Black Gear: A lump of metal made solely of sorrow and regret. If you cannot let it go, then grip it tightly instead. The tighter you grip it, the harder it becomes.]

The gear was palm-sized, but its weight was remarkable. Although it was only around one centimeter thick, it felt as though it weighed more than ten kilograms.

This was definitely an artifact. There was no material of that size with that much weight.

Dohyeon quickly placed it at the very bottom of his backpack. Escaping alive with nothing would have been a decent result, but he had picked up something as well. Today’s haul could be called very good.

The corner of his mouth curled up slightly, and Valkyrie seemed to notice.

[Heh heh heh. Do you feel like being a little kinder to me now?]

Dohyeon erased the rising smile, completely ignored her voice, and resumed moving with a blank expression.

He faintly heard the fluttering of wings beside his ear. Was Valkyrie stomping her feet in anger?

Then, from deep within the factory, a heavy vibration rolled out with a Thoom! The lights throughout the factory flashed on, then went dark again.

“...!”

The lights slowly returned, and the factory's motionless assembly lines, cranes, and machine arms began moving.

“A pattern shift... It was the variation where the factory wakes up...”

The Factory pattern could change from its basic form into roughly three different variations. The details differed, but the general structure remained the same, so they could be distinguished like dungeon patterns.

And this variation, called Awakening, where the factory woke up, was the worst of the three.

Rusty, broken machines began moving, unleashing every kind of noise. Pipes burst and spewed steam, while objects on the assembly rails crashed down. Then something began crawling along a rail from inside a piece of machinery.

[----]

It made the sound of a broken radio. It was a monster that looked as though all kinds of machines had been forcibly attached to a human body.

Wires and bolts pierced its flesh, while iron braces connected to bone and metal plates jutted out everywhere. Black liquid streamed between the flesh and metal fragments, though it was unclear whether it was blood, oil, or rotten decay fluid.

A red light flickered in the hole where its eye should have been. Its gaze was clearly fixed on Dohyeon.

The instant their eyes met, Dohyeon turned and began to run.

[-----!]

On the Dungeon Forum, that thing was commonly called a Fixture, a name that sounded oddly cute. Of course, calling it a Fixture because machines had been forcibly attached to a human corpse was a bizarre naming choice.

In any case, the first person to post information about the monster on the Dungeon Forum had called it a Fixture, and so Fixture it became.

Despite its familiar name, it was not a monster a solo hunter had any good way to deal with.

It had flesh and muscle, but machine parts held them together, so bladed weapons could not easily harm it. Cutting through steel with a knife might be possible for a martial arts master in a novel, but it was not easy in reality.

Naturally, crossbow bolts could not stop it, and it possessed monstrous strength. Once it caught someone, it tore them in half.

Even if it did not catch them, brushing against the metal spikes and blades stuck all over its body would sever their arms or legs.

Unless they had no choice, hunters did not fight Fixtures. For all their strength and bulk, their mobility was terrible, so you could simply run away, as Dohyeon was doing now.

The problem was that the Factory's Awakening pattern did not wake just one of them.

Running between assembly lines, Dohyeon urgently ducked. A huge machine arm swept over his backpack.

The moment he heard a faint Screeech by his ear, Dohyeon rolled forward without straightening up. A crane engine crashed down with a Thoom! where he had just been.

Noise and danger surged in from all directions. After rolling hard across the floor, Dohyeon got up and quickly scanned his surroundings.

He needed to find the exit. If he stayed any longer, some monster or machine arm might crush him like the hunter from before, bursting him like a mosquito.

[That way.]

Valkyrie's voice. Dohyeon whipped his head around. In a dark corner, he saw a firmly closed door. Above it was a glowing emergency-exit sign.

Dohyeon was about to run when he stopped short. A Factory Snake swept past right in front of him. Unlike before, he had no time to deal with it. Dohyeon ran again.

The door drew close. Dohyeon reached for it.

“...!”

The back of his head suddenly prickled. The instant he felt it, Dohyeon gave up on grabbing the door and threw himself sideways.

A wind-ripping Whoosh! and the sound of metal tearing rang out immediately afterward.

After tumbling across the floor and rising, Dohyeon looked up.

A long, thick rebar rod had embedded itself in the door he had been about to open. Dohyeon turned toward the direction it had come from, then let out a weary sigh and muttered.

“...When I get out, I'm coming for you, a113.”

The one who had thrown the rebar was the A-rank hunter he had not wanted to encounter, the Steel Man.

Walking toward him with the strange Sssshhk sound of their armor, the Steel Man spoke.

[Glory to Odin! My thanks to Huginn and Muninn for letting me find this loach-like rat before it escaped!]

After offering that brief prayer in an outwardly reverent voice, they immediately returned to the flippant tone they had used while tearing apart their enemies.

[Rat bastard. You take a swing first and think you can just run away?]

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried