WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Oblivious
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Surviving as a B-Rank Hunter ◈
Chapter 33
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Park Kangseok staggered back a step. With an incredulous expression, he lifted the machine gun that had been split vertically in half. The severed surface was still glowing red-hot.
After inspecting the machine gun, his gaze dropped downward.
Dohyeon, still in the posture of his downward strike.
The black blade in his hand.
“...You cut this with a sword?”
Then Dohyeon’s eyes flashed up at him.
The next instant, Park Kangseok bent backward at the waist, and Dohyeon’s sword swept past where his neck had been.
Park Kangseok quickly retreated, widening the distance between them. With a light spring of his feet, he put more than five meters between them in an instant.
After retreating, he examined the remaining machine gun in his hand again.
“You’re not Oh Cheolsang’s subordinate. You’re too good to rot under trash like him.”
“...”
Dohyeon said nothing. He shook his sword clean and glared at him. Park Kangseok, who had been studying the mark left on the machine gun, casually tossed it aside and met Dohyeon’s eyes.
“Who are you?”
“A hunter.”
At Dohyeon’s brief reply, Park Kangseok’s eyes widened. Then, as though something amused him, he let out a low chuckle.
“A hunter. You know this isn’t inside a dungeon, right? And you seem to have gotten the era wrong if you think you can run wild with one sword. By about five hundred years.”
“Even if I’m five hundred years behind the times, I’m still better than a bastard who tries to kill his own child.”
“...”
Park Kangseok’s chuckle disappeared. His face behind the faceplate turned cold.
“...Where did you come from? Ohwa? No, if you came from there, you wouldn’t be doing this. Then are you Team Two’s leader? Did that woman tell you to find my weakness?”
“Where would I come from?”
“I’m telling you to spill who’s behind you.”
At that, Dohyeon raised his head and looked up at the night sky. It was pitch-black, without a single star.
Murky ground beneath a black sky.
“...Who’s behind me? No one. Though there is a winged Valkyrie.”
“What? A Valkyrie? What kind of bullshit is that...?”
“There is one. A ghost that cheers me on, though nobody else can see her.”
Park Kangseok frowned behind the panel, seemingly thinking Dohyeon was playing word games with him. His gaze turned toward Park Tae-eun, standing behind Dohyeon.
“Did you hire yourself a bodyguard? Did someone threaten you with your father’s weakness and tell you to bring back information on Samgyeong? Is that why you came all the way to Korea?”
“...”
Park Tae-eun did not answer.
Until just moments ago, she had desperately searched Park Kangseok’s face for some trace of a father. Now, perhaps having realized she would never find one, her eyes had darkened.
Park Kangseok’s eyebrows twisted deeply as Dohyeon, and now she, appeared to ignore him.
“How dare you trash ignore me...”
“The police are coming.”
Park Kangseok glared at Dohyeon.
“So what? Are you telling me to run while I still can? Telling me not to kill you? Cops these days are so damn slow, I’d have time to smash your heads in, smoke a cigarette on top of your corpses, and still leave before they got here.”
“Even if this is the edge of the city, gunfire’s been ringing out for a while. The police can’t drag their feet forever. They’ll be here in ten minutes at the latest.”
“Ten minutes? In that time, I can...”
“That’s enough.”
“...?”
Dohyeon lowered his gaze from the black sky and met Park Kangseok’s puzzled eyes.
“Enough time to cut off a bastard’s head.”
“...”
Dohyeon’s eyes glinted yellow. They were closer to a predator’s eyes than a human’s. Park Kangseok froze for an instant under that gaze, then grinned.
“So you’re just insane. You must’ve lost your mind after spending too long in dungeons. This is why everyone who spends too long in dungeons should be thrown into a mental hospital.”
His left hand reached over his shoulder.
With a click, a long rod rose from his backpack and slid into his grip.
What he pulled free was the heavy club that had smashed in a man’s head earlier. Bloodstains and hair still clung to it, making it horrifying to look at.
Holding the club, Park Kangseok glared at Dohyeon.
“This is why you have to do everything yourself. Can’t even trust anyone else to take out the trash these days. I’ll break your arms and legs first, then ask again who’s backing you.”
“...”
Facing him, Dohyeon gripped his sword in both hands. The weight of the heavy blade settled into his palms.
The blade had turned black after absorbing the gear he had found in the dungeon. It was clearly some kind of artifact, though he still did not know exactly what it could do.
But there was no question that the blade’s power had split Park Kangseok’s gun earlier.
What was certain was that swinging this sword did not leave him with the sensation of losing something irreversible. It also worked outside the dungeon, just like Vargband embedded in his left index finger.
So he would cut down that monstrous bastard with this blade too.
Park Kangseok operated his faceplate with his right hand. With a click, his face vanished behind a gray panel. The smooth glass-like panel reflected the scene before him.
In its cloudy reflection, Dohyeon spotted the Valkyrie standing behind him. Only her green eyes, blazing within her hazy form, shone clearly.
Thus, the hunter holding a black sword and the A-rank hunter employed by a major corporation faced each other in the middle of the dark factory grounds.
Watching from farther back, Park Tae-eun realized a moment too late that this was like a taut thread just before it snapped.
The instant she realized it, she hurriedly turned and hid behind a pile of materials. She knew she could not get in Dohyeon’s way, no matter what.
As she moved behind the plastic-wrapped materials, her foot struck a small can.
Park Tae-eun froze in alarm.
At the same time, as though that sound had been the signal, the two men began moving.
Park Kangseok moved first. A faint whirring of gears vibrated inside his enhanced armored suit as his body shot forward.
It was a movement so fast and powerful that anyone but an A-rank hunter could not endure it. An ordinary person would be crippled, their legs, pelvis, and spine shattered the instant they stepped forward.
But Park Kangseok, an A-rank hunter, felt only a pleasantly firm pressure and acceleration like springs had been fitted into every joint.
His faceplate displayed information at a speed suited to his dynamic vision. A miniature AI within the enhanced armored suit identified Dohyeon, who stood blankly before him, in a split second, then predicted the route he would take the next instant.
Park Kangseok’s heightened A-rank senses absorbed that information just as quickly.
In the brief motion of launching forward, the functions of an advanced corporate reinforced suit worth billions operated at full capacity. They registered Park Kangseok’s movement and Dohyeon’s form in his field of view, calculating the next moment.
Park Kangseok’s club thrusts forward.
Dohyeon reacts, trying to block it.
But the club is faster than that reaction.
The sword Dohyeon hurriedly raises to block it cannot stop the attack.
The club crushes down on the blade and shatters Dohyeon’s right shoulder.
Immediately afterward, Park Kangseok’s fist drives into Dohyeon’s abdomen, stiffened from pain.
Dohyeon’s abdominal cavity collapses, and he loses his ability to fight.
The battle ends.
Moving according to the combat AI’s calculations, Park Kangseok felt the omniscience of someone who could see the future.
You piece of trash. How dare you come at me with nothing but your bare body? I don’t know where you crawled out of, but let’s see if you can still act so proud once your limbs are crushed.
Just as the AI calculated, Dohyeon raised his sword.
He intended to block the club.
Park Kangseok brought the club down as well, preparing for the next scene the calculation predicted.
In the slowed instant, the blade and the club met.
With a clang that was almost like ringing in his ears, the club bounced away.
[Ugh!]
Park Kangseok tightly gripped the club that nearly flew from his hand from the vibration, trying to regain his stance.
In that interval, Dohyeon moved.
He was fast. Unlike Park Kangseok, who was busy holding onto the rebounding club, Dohyeon nimbly gripped his sword and swung it powerfully.
The black blade slashed Park Kangseok’s side. Sparks burst as though striking heated iron.
“...!”
[...]
In that brief exchange, both Dohyeon and Park Kangseok realized they had failed to deal significant damage to each other.
Park Kangseok’s club had been repelled by Dohyeon’s black blade.
Dohyeon’s black blade had failed to completely cut through Park Kangseok’s enhanced armored suit.
It had left only a single cut mark on the surface.
The moment they realized it, both moved again.
Park Kangseok’s right fist aimed for Dohyeon’s head. With the suit, the fist was as large as a sledgehammer. If it struck head-on, Dohyeon’s skull would burst like a watermelon.
Dohyeon immediately bent his knees and lowered himself. The fist grazed his hair.
While low, he turned the blade that had cut Park Kangseok’s side and dropped downward, shifting it into an upward slash.
Park Kangseok had swung his fist wide to the left. Dohyeon slashed upward from below at his arm.
Sparks flew again.
But once more, the enhanced armored suit was not cut through. As with the side, only a shallow cut mark remained.
As Dohyeon slipped past Park Kangseok’s right side, Park Kangseok immediately turned after him.
He seized the club that had been about to fly away and swung it.
The club carved a large arc toward the back of Dohyeon’s head.
Dohyeon rolled forward with the momentum of his escape. Like the fist before it, Park Kangseok’s club grazed his hair.
As Dohyeon rolled once and rose, turning at the same time, a huge foot came into view.
It was Park Kangseok’s kick, following closely behind.
“Urk!”
He hurriedly raised his arms to block it.
But he could not block the impact, as though he had been hit by a car. Dohyeon was thrown backward.
[...]
Despite Dohyeon rolling amid the factory materials, Park Kangseok did not immediately pursue him. He merely stopped and watched.
[...How did you do that just now?]
Dohyeon, who had been shoved far back, pushed himself upright with his clenched fist against the floor. Even breathing hurt.
He had taken just one kick, but the wounds in his arm and left thigh, where the bleeding had stopped, had opened again. And since each breath hurt, one of his ribs seemed to be broken.
Enduring the pain, he raised his head and saw Park Kangseok standing there blankly.
[I asked how you did that. You blocked my attack with that black sword, didn’t you? But that wasn’t ordinary physics. It makes no sense for a thin blade to send a lump of iron weighing dozens of kilograms flying back with recoil.]
He took a step forward.
[...Is it an artifact?]
“...”
Dohyeon did not answer, but strange anticipation filled Park Kangseok’s voice.
[An artifact that works outside a dungeon. Right? And one where every function it has inside a dungeon works in reality too... Looks like I’ve struck it rich...]
He stepped closer.
Watching his feet, Dohyeon bared his teeth and growled. Yellow, vicious killing intent burned in his eyes.
This fucking bastard is worrying about that in the middle of a fight?
[You have no warrior’s bearing! Strike, Helisbyorn! In a fight to the death between two warriors, one must use everything one has in that moment!]
At the goddess’s voice, strength surged through his limbs as though the pain from moments before had been a lie. Dohyeon immediately kicked off the ground.
Even when he saw the black blade flying at him, Park Kangseok did not think of dodging. He swung his club as well, knowing Dohyeon’s sword could not penetrate his enhanced armored suit.
The next instant, Dohyeon accelerated once more.
[What...?!]
Dohyeon blurred and slipped between Park Kangseok’s attacks. The black blade cut his side, in the very same place it had struck before.
Sparks flew again, and this time a few drops of blood sprayed out as well.
Dohyeon smiled when he saw that blood.
If once isn’t enough, then twice...
At that moment, Park Kangseok’s knee shot up and struck Dohyeon in the solar plexus. Dohyeon’s body leapt nearly two meters into the air.
In the brief instant he hung there, Dohyeon was stiffened by the loss of breath, but Park Kangseok moved like lightning. Gripping the club in both hands, he swung it at Dohyeon as though he were a baseball player swinging a bat.
Even then, Dohyeon hurriedly raised his sword to block.
The instant the blade and club met, another clang like ringing in his ears resounded.
But this time, the club did not bounce away.
Park Kangseok’s enhanced suit and his own physical strength overcame the recoil. The steel club forced its way through the repelling force and smashed into Dohyeon.
“Urgh!”
A baseball struck by a bat flies far away.
Dohyeon flew the same way, spraying blood as he was sent to the corner of the factory grounds.
As he landed with a thud and sprawled there, Park Kangseok checked his side with a faintly trembling hand.
An A-rank hunter’s body, like anyone else’s, was made of flesh, muscle, and bone.
No matter how tough their muscles became or how much their resistance to external force increased, they were still living beings who could not deflect bullets.
Enhanced armored suits granted those A-rank hunters protection from bullets, shells, and bombs. They created conditions in which the human-shaped tanks of the dungeon could function just as well in reality.
Park Kangseok had been confident that, while wearing this suit, he could destroy two ordinary war androids by himself.
And it was because he had that ability that Samgyeong hired him as the head of Special Security Team 3.
[...]
It had been pierced.
Not by an armor-piercing round or a special weapon, but by nothing more than a sword.
It was unacceptable.
Seeing blood between the split sections of his enhanced armored suit, Park Kangseok made up his mind.
I don’t care who’s backing that bastard. I’ll kill him first, then take the black sword. I’ll send it to my private lab and see what they can get out of it.
He shook out his club and began striding toward Dohyeon.
“Urgh...”
Dohyeon, who had been thrown to the ground, tried to push himself up with trembling hands.
The fight was not over yet.
His enemy was approaching, heavy footsteps going clank, clank.
Dohyeon suddenly raised his head. The bastard’s figure filled his yellow eyes.
That fucking monstrous bastard.
Finding out a woman was pregnant with his child and fleeing to Korea? Trash.
But trying to kill the child who came looking for him years later, for whatever reason? That went beyond being trash.
Like that skinny assassin who had died earlier said, he was no different from nuclear waste.
He deserved to be torn apart and killed.
The bastard who had lived next door had killed himself before Dohyeon could do that to him. He had murdered his wife and young child, then died himself.
There were too many vermin in this world.
Maybe the structure of the world itself was wrong.
As someone living within that structure, there was no way to do anything about it. Other than surrendering to its current and curling up to protect himself, at least.
Other than entering his own burrow and curling his body into a ball.
[Rise, Helisbyorn. You have not yet poured out everything you possess.]
The goddess’s voice reached him.
She was right. He had to get up. He could still fight.
Dohyeon braced a hand against the ground to rise, then collapsed sideways.
He had tried to lift himself with his broken left arm.
The footsteps of that approaching bastard drew closer.
He had to get up.
He had to fight.
He had to rise from where he had curled up and fight.
He had to fight against the current that sought to break him and sweep him beyond the sea of meaninglessness.
Anger welled up from deep in his stomach.
At the shape of a world he could not control, at the waves of the world crashing over him, resentment and fury blazed.
It was anger to fight against all of it.
[Be angry, warrior. Rise and fight. Pour your fury upon the world.]
The goddess’s song reached him.
Fury ran down his spine and spread through all four limbs. Broken bones joined together. Torn and pierced flesh grew back. His lungs swelled amid his ragged breaths as though he would inhale all the air in the world.
Slowly, he rose.
The bastard who had been striding toward him, the bastard who had represented the world itself, stopped dead.
Unlike before, Dohyeon was now eye to eye with him.
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