WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Oblivious
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◈ Surviving as a B-Rank Hunter ◈
Chapter 16
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Amid the ear-splitting noise of the factory's assembly rails, machine arms, and cranes, Dohyeon and the Steel Man stood far apart, watching each other.
No, Dohyeon could not be sure the Steel Man was actually looking at him with their eyes. Their entire face was hidden behind a smooth helmet.
Still, Dohyeon held out both palms.
“Wait. I have nothing to do with the people who attacked you.”
[Hah. Guess rats don't have any sense of belonging or loyalty. Then again, what wouldn't you do to avoid dying?]
“I am not lying. I only entered this dungeon to pick things up and happened to see your fight.”
[And why should I believe that?]
“What would make you believe me?”
The Steel Man, who had seemed relaxed until then, hesitated. They cocked their head slightly.
[Well? Start by saying, ‘Ohwa fucking bastards.’]
“Ohwa? Did you clash with hunters from the Ohwa Group?”
A faint look of surprise appeared on Dohyeon's stiff face. The Ohwa Group was one of South Korea's major conglomerates, constantly moving in and out of the top three in the business rankings.
No matter how A-rank a hunter was, clashing with such a conglomerate was merely a new method of suicide. The past ten years since the Odin Shock had made the world that way.
Seeing Dohyeon's expression, the Steel Man sounded impressed.
[Oh? This bastard can act. You think I'll let you live just because of that?]
“I am not an Ohwa hunter. I did not attack you, either. Is there any reason we need to fight?”
[I can't be sure you're not one of Ohwa's lackeys just from your word. What if I let you go because I think you're not, then you come after me with a bullet to the back of the head outside? Maybe Ohwa sent you in as a scout to observe the operation.]
“As I said, I am not with Ohwa, and I do not know who you are. I do not know why you are fighting Ohwa, either.”
[Then what the fuck are you?]
“Just a hunter here to pick up some Vana.”
[Ah, this bastard... He really can act...]
Perhaps they felt Dohyeon was sincere. The Steel Man rubbed at the chin of their helmet as though considering it. Soon, however, they slowly shook their head.
[Why drag this out? There are too many risks. Even if you're not with Ohwa, sorry, but just die. That's how things are inside dungeons, isn't it? I don't intend to let a single person who entered here today leave alive.]
The Steel Man's hand drifted toward a steam tank beside them. It was a hunk of metal as tall as a person. Were they planning to pick it up and throw it?
“Let me ask again. Are you really going to fight me?”
The sudden chill in Dohyeon's voice seemed to amuse the Steel Man, who gave a snort.
[Putting on a front, huh? You're B-rank. I can tell at a glance, bastard. Do you really think this would be a fight?]
“That is true.”
Dohyeon answered briefly, then abruptly spun around and began to run. Startled by his sudden movement, the Steel Man froze for a moment, as though they did not understand what had happened.
Then they came to their senses, grabbed the steam tank with both hands, and hurled it. The several-hundred-kilogram chunk of metal flew like a ball, smashing through assembly rails and machine arms. Steam burst from the tank with a Pshhhh!, spewing smoke everywhere.
Naturally, Dohyeon was already far away.
[You rat bastard! You think you can get away?]
Dohyeon did not answer. His eyes stayed forward, his breathing remained steady, and one hand held the crossbow fixed to its anti-theft tether as his legs moved tirelessly.
He ran swiftly, lightly jumping over moving assembly rails and ducking beneath machine arms that moved with a Clank!
As he leaped over another three or four rails, the half-human, half-metal Fixture hiding beneath them suddenly raised its head.
[----!]
Dohyeon had already noticed it from its smell of oil and rotten blood. He immediately kicked off the rail and launched himself high into the air.
He avoided the Fixture's grasp, landed in a breakfall, rolled across the ground, got up, and ran again.
The Fixture turned its head after him, but a machine arm flew in from afar and crashed into it. Metal struck metal with a loud Crash! Clatter!
[-----!]
The Fixture, tumbling together with the machine arm, lifted its head. The red warning light embedded where its eye should have been shone brightly. The Steel Man, who had thrown the machine arm, entered its sight.
[That bastard's fast...]
The chunk of metal they had thrown at Dohyeon had hit the Fixture instead. The Steel Man had no desire to deal with it, either.
They did not want to grapple with a two-and-a-half-meter monster that attacked by flailing around three arms. They lightly avoided the Fixture's hand and resumed chasing Dohyeon.
[------!]
Perhaps because it had already been attacked, the Fixture did not give up. Using both its frail legs, almost like steel supports, and its remaining three arms as legs as well, it began pursuing the Steel Man.
Naturally, a procession formed through the middle of the factory.
At the very front, Dohyeon ran nimbly, leaping over and evading obstacles. He was the busiest and the fastest.
Behind him, the A-rank hunter in steel armor gave chase. Unlike Dohyeon, they did not bother avoiding every obstacle. Anything that did not seem likely to slow them much, they simply shoved aside with their body or hands.
And at the very back, the Fixture rolled forward, crushing everything in its way.
The middle of the factory, already noisy with machinery and the pulsing sound echoing from deep within, became a complete mess.
The basic principle of dungeon exploration was stealth and cover, hiding your position. Ideally, you picked up what you could from the dungeon and escaped without being noticed by monsters, other hunters, or even the dungeon itself.
When the hunter system was established ten years ago, such hunters had been considered the ideal.
Naturally, this situation was the complete opposite.
Just before escaping, he had been caught by an A-rank hunter and was being chased. Behind that hunter, a scrap-metal monster that offered nothing to gain from fighting was rolling after them, emitting bizarre sounds like a broken radio. Other nearby monsters would surely notice the disturbance and gather as well.
Another hunter might have fallen into despair.
Dohyeon, however, kept his expression blank and focused only on regulating his breathing.
He jumped over waist-high assembly lines, steam tanks, and wires. He avoided machine arms and factory equipment at head height by lowering his stance or twisting his body.
Every judgment and movement happened at once. As Dohyeon ran, he looked less like a person than the wind. An infinitely free wind that could not be caught or blocked.
Watching from behind, the Steel Man muttered in shock.
[Odin, what the fuck is that bastard doing?]
But surprise was one thing. They could not keep merely chasing Dohyeon. They smashed through a machine arm at forehead height, then raised their left arm.
With a clear Clang!, bow limbs unfolded like wings from either side of their forearm. A thin bowstring gleamed silver between them.
The Steel Man raised their left arm and aimed at Dohyeon's back. Something inside their left arm armor made a Whirrrrr... sound, as though gears were turning. Their wrist opened slightly.
The extended bowstring drew itself back.
The Steel Man muttered.
[Let's see if you can keep running so happily with a bolt in your back.]
At that moment, as if he had read every movement, Dohyeon glanced behind him. Then he twisted away and threw himself behind an oil tank.
At the same time, a silver bolt shot from the Steel Man's wrist with a Pew!
The bolt pierced into the oil tank. However, Dohyeon rolled out from behind it, rose, and resumed running. The bolt had clearly missed.
For a moment, the Steel Man's steps slowed in disbelief.
[What the fuck, does he have eyes in the back of his head...?]
It was a strange thing for someone wearing a helmet that completely blocked their own vision to say.
As the Steel Man muttered, they heard the monster's scream behind them and hurriedly threw themself aside. Their movement was similar to Dohyeon's when he had dodged the bolt.
The difference was that, unlike Dohyeon, they failed to avoid the Fixture's charge.
With a clear Ting!, the Steel Man was sent flying. The Fixture let out its usual howl at their soaring body.
[-----!]
Setting aside how much that howl sounded like a shout telling them not to ignore it, Dohyeon, who had been running ahead, had to stop urgently when the Steel Man flew over his head.
His remaining momentum made him slide forward.
Dohyeon's blank face twisted slightly. He was not worried about the Steel Man who had been hit and sent flying, of course.
[Haha! Praise Odin! Where do you think you're running now?]
The Steel Man had corrected themself in midair and landed directly in front of him, blocking his path.
The charge through the factory came to a stop. With Dohyeon in the middle, the Steel Man stood in front of him and the Fixture behind him.
Dohyeon controlled his ragged breathing and checked both the Steel Man and the Fixture.
[----.]
While the broken-radio noise echoed around them, Dohyeon's eyes gleamed faintly as he glanced between the two with sweat hanging from the tip of his nose. He gave the Steel Man a small nod.
“Looks like you are not entirely made of steel.”
[...?]
The Steel Man lowered their head. Blood was seeping through the gap in the armor at their side. It was where the Fixture had struck them.
The armor was intact, but what lay inside it was not.
[...Don't worry. I'm still well enough to tear your head off.]
The Steel Man raised their head and looked at Dohyeon with a gaze that had no visible eyes. When they clenched their right fist, a handspan-long blade sprang from the back of their hand with a Ching!
Dohyeon glanced at the blade and the smooth face of the helmet, then let out a quiet sigh and gripped his crossbow.
He had run, rolled, and avoided obstacles without trouble, but that did not mean he had taken no impacts in the process. Just as the Steel Man had not.
The sword on his back, the crossbow hanging from its tether, and the items inside his backpack all interfered with his movements.
While he ran and rolled, they pressed into and ground against his flesh. When he got home and checked himself in the bathroom mirror, his back and thighs would probably be covered in bruises and torn wounds.
Of course, that was a story for after he got out of this situation alive.
“...”
[...]
As Dohyeon and the Steel Man faced each other without moving, the Fixture at the rear also stopped for a moment, as though trying to assess the situation.
As if the previous commotion had been a lie, one man, one suit of armor, and one hunk-of-metal monster stood still in the middle of the deafening factory.
Then a crane moving something dropped a load of materials with a Ting!
Steel pipes clattered down with a Clatter! Clatter! Clatter!
As if that sound were a signal, Dohyeon's crossbow fired a bolt with a Thwang!
The bolt flew like an arrow and struck the smooth face of the Steel Man's helmet. There was only a Ting! and the helmet was not scratched in the slightest.
But the instant Dohyeon fired, he threw himself aside. The Steel Man's left-arm crossbow, its aim shifted slightly by the blow to the face, sent its bolt somewhere else.
The bolt brushed past Dohyeon's ear.
The Steel Man's head had been knocked slightly backward. The moment they realized what had happened, they corrected themself and charged at Dohyeon. The bluish blade on the back of their right hand gleamed.
Dohyeon rolled once, used that momentum to rise, then turned and ran.
The Fixture behind him saw Dohyeon suddenly charging toward it. Letting out its broken-radio howl, it extended all three hands.
If it caught him, he would be torn apart.
Dohyeon launched himself forward without slowing down. The half-human, half-metal monster's fingertips swept past his head.
His body slid across the rough concrete floor.
[---!]
The Fixture watched Dohyeon slip between its legs. It bent forward and flailed, then raised its head at the strange Screeech of metal scraping together.
[Don't block my way, you scrap-metal bastard!]
The Steel Man's fist struck the Fixture in the face.
The blade protruding from the back of their fist, along with the fist itself, shattered the skull of mixed bone and steel frame and drove deep into the monster's body.
The three hands that had tried to catch Dohyeon hurriedly grabbed the Steel Man. Pincers made of hydraulics and flesh tried to crush their body. A Groan! of metal being crumpled came from between their armor plates.
But rather than break free from its grip, the Steel Man twisted the fist they had driven in.
Something broke and tore with a Crack!
The monster's grip on the Steel Man went limp.
Dark red liquid, impossible to tell whether it was blood or oil, gushed from the gap where the fist had struck. The Fixture collapsed with a Clank!
The Steel Man pulled out their fist and staggered slightly backward.
Meanwhile, Dohyeon rose from behind the monster's corpse, brushing off the front of his clothes. His slide across the concrete had thoroughly ruined them.
They were expensive, too, since they were made of dungeon material. His brow furrowed faintly.
[You rat bastard...!]
The staggering Steel Man spotted Dohyeon and ground their teeth. Dohyeon looked toward them as he brushed off his ruined clothes, then suddenly arched backward.
A bolt shot from the Steel Man's left arm flashed over his face.
To an outsider, it would have looked as though the two had arranged the movement beforehand.
[What the fuck is with those reflexes?! Is it an artifact? How expensive an artifact are you using?]
Even while staggering, the Steel Man had fired a surprise bolt. They froze in disbelief when Dohyeon avoided even that.
That disbelief seemed genuine enough that Dohyeon gave a small laugh.
Then he turned and tried to flee.
After colliding with the Fixture, the Steel Man would not have the strength to chase him for a while. Dohyeon intended to widen the distance during that time.
Once he had opened enough distance, he could leave the dungeon.
He had no intention of foolishly trying to hunt the Steel Man. If he were caught in that grip, his limbs would surely be torn off just as certainly as if he were caught by the Fixture.
At that moment, a foul smell brushed against his nose.
The instant he smelled it, Dohyeon instinctively sprinted sideways and rolled again. From behind a pile of scrap materials where he took cover, he saw crossbow bolts striking the floor and factory equipment where he had stood moments before with a Thud! Thud! Thud!
They were tremendous bolts, burying themselves more than a handspan deep into steel plates and concrete. Neither the bolts nor the crossbow that fired them could be cheap.
Then those bolts struck the Steel Man's armor.
After bringing down the Fixture, they had been standing unsteadily. This time, their body was shoved backward as though they had been shot.
Yet even those bolts could not pierce their armor. They clearly hurt them, however.
[Kh!]
The Steel Man hurriedly lowered themself and tried to take cover among the factory machinery, like Dohyeon had. But a bolt aimed precisely at their forehead bounced off with a Tang!
Their head snapped backward, and they fell.
They did not seem unconscious or panicked. The moment they hit the ground, they tried to roll and rise.
Nets fell over their head.
[You fucking...!]
The nets, made of steel cables, covered their body. They tried to tear free at once, but seven or eight people came rushing in and pulled on the ends of the nets, restricting the Steel Man's movements.
With their limbs tangled in steel cable, the Steel Man could not properly use their strength. The giant who had thrown a several-hundred-kilogram chunk of metal moments before was neutralized by ropes made of wire.
Only after restricting the Steel Man's movement did one man appear.
He wore military gear like a member of a special forces unit, with a vest, belt, and other equipment. Yet his hair was neatly slicked back with pomade, and he wore sharp glasses over a thin, unpleasant-looking face.
He grinned at the Steel Man, tangled in the steel cables and sitting on the ground.
“Don't waste your strength, White Knight. These wire ropes were selected specifically to deal with you. Do you know how much just a few of those nets cost? Really, if this were outside, a few rifles and three or four killer units would have been enough.”
His smile was incredibly irritating.
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