-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 009
Chapter Title: Alpha Erosion Core Inferno
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I had a pretty good idea what she was hoping for. But let's think about this rationally.
"We're not here on this island to rescue hunters. How the hell am I supposed to save every single hunter wandering around alone?"
Some things just can't be done. There's a limit to what one person can handle. And besides...
"In a job like this, not everyone makes it out alive."
That's just how it is. Life has a way of throwing unavoidable disasters at you, like getting hit by a truck out of nowhere.
If you survive, great. If not, that's the end.
"Yoo Chan-seok, just a question. What if you were stuck in that situation?"
Han Sang-ah's question got a simple answer from me.
"I'd be pissed as hell. I'd wonder why this shit only happens to me, curse my luck. I'd scream for someone to come save me. Hell, I might even piss myself in terror."
"But..."
I cut her off before she could say more.
"No matter what I'm thinking... I die. I'm not talking about the emotions of people in that spot right now."
I'm talking about the outcome. If you're trapped in a situation where death is inevitable, no amount of thoughts or feelings changes the fact that you die.
By the time we reached Hwaga Temple, it was getting pretty dark.
"The building looks intact. No signs of other hunters staying here."
"That's a relief."
After hearing Han Sang-ah's response, we unpacked and had a quick meal.
"It's too dark to see much now."
"At least we know where the other hunters are."
Thanks to their lights, it's crystal clear from up here.
"That's insanely dangerous."
I get why they're using lights. The bat-headed goblins we fought first weren't that tough. They probably figure even if their position is given away, it's no big deal.
While pondering our top priority, I fired off two warning messages via smartphone messenger to the hunters out on Gyodongdo handling the request.
[From Yoo Chan-seok of Team 8. Given the level of monsters we've encountered recently, please refrain from using lights casually—it could put you in grave danger.] [According to accompanying hunter Kim Min-je, the Alpha Erosion Core may have reached Rank 3.]
If they take my words seriously, at least we can prevent monsters from slitting hunters' throats like picking apples in an autumn orchard at midnight.
"Will they listen?"
The messages went through. But no one turned off their lights. People always want to do the exact thing you tell them not to.
"Minimizing casualties is off the table, then."
I boiled some water, made two cups of tea, and went to find Kim Min-je.
"Ah, hunter Yoo Chan-seok."
"It's getting pretty chilly out here."
I sat beside him, handed over a cup, and got to the point.
"You mentioned you've done requests like this before, hunter Kim Min-je. So you must know a thing or two about Erosion Cores, right?"
He nodded at my words.
"Yes, but why do you ask..."
I smiled as I replied.
"If I'm going to keep doing this work, I'll probably run into Erosion Cores like hunter Han Sang-ah has. Better to know something than nothing."
That was the gist of it—hit them prepared rather than blindsided.
"If there's anything you can tell me ahead of time, could you?"
Kim Min-je nodded and started sharing.
"Erosion Cores take the form of holes. Step inside, and you enter a completely different world."
A completely different world. That piqued my interest a bit.
"Different how?"
"Sometimes it's like a sudden desert... Last time, I ended up in something like an underground dungeon."
Hunters who enter an Erosion Core have 30 minutes before the entrance seals shut.
This was getting more interesting by the second. My mind raced with possibilities.
"Once you're inside an Erosion Core, you can't leave until you destroy the core."
Not a literal core, but a powerful monster lurking within—that was Kim Min-je's follow-up.
"Destroy the core, and the Erosion Core reconnects to our world?"
He shook his head.
"No. Destroy the core, and all hunters who entered get teleported back to where the Erosion Core originally was."
Like teleportation. Without the Erosion Core's energy, the Erosion Zone collapses, and without it, the monsters lose their form.
That was all I needed to hear. I grinned inwardly.
Decision made. Head straight for Gyodongdo's Alpha Erosion Core.
"Thanks. By the way, not sure if that gadget you mentioned will actually work."
He glanced at the small device in his hand. It blares an alarm if a monster approaches within range.
"It's reliable. No need for night watch."
After wrapping up, I waited for deep night. Once Kim Min-je and Han Sang-ah were asleep, I slipped away quietly toward Insa-ri, the northern tip of Gyodongdo.
A few patrolling monsters along the way, but I avoided fights. I'd memorized the Alpha Erosion Core's location from the initial briefing anyway.
Moving swiftly, I suddenly stopped.
"Damn."
A tiger-sized cat had a woman's nape in its jaws, pinning a battered middle-aged man down with its front paw.
Wait, tiger-sized cat? That's just a tiger.
"You into stuff like Churu too?"
Should've grabbed one.
My lame quip made the massive tiger spit out the woman's corpse, lick its paw clean.
Acting like it couldn't care less about me. But cats... when a toy's in front of them...
They play indifferent, then pounce.
It twisted mid-air, closing the gap in an instant, swiping with its paw—a classic cat punch.
Enough force to decapitate someone, no doubt.
"Cut the crap. Or is it cat crap?"
Ready for this, I thrust my spear at its leg. It retracted fast, then slammed its paw into the shaft at blinding speed.
My spear couldn't keep up, pinned under its paw.
I dropped it, rushed in close, swung a fist at its head—and it vanished.
"Shadow?"
Experience and memory linked up, simulating the worst-case in a flash, countermeasures ready.
I spun back, spotting a huge paw and claws bursting from my shadow.
Aimed for that paw, I poured mana into my legs, stomped down.
A crunch, then a grind as the shadow paw crushed under my foot. Black flames clung on.
A shrill WEYAAANG!
"Like walks? Follow me."
One paw smashed, its speed should drop. It won't catch up right away.
"Hoo, ha..."
Breathing ragged, I bolted toward Gyodongdo's Alpha Erosion Core, tiger-sized cat in pursuit.
Right ahead, a massive hole big enough for three or four people.
Seeing the cat charge, black flames scorching its body, I smirked and dove in.
"..."
I landed in a field. Sun high in the sky, and across from me, a cluster of primitive huts like cavemen might build.
Han Sang-ah said unranked to Rank 3 Erosion Cores aren't that vast inside. Full recon takes 4-5 hours.
But Rank 2 and up? Patrols take at least 1-2 weeks, up to a month or more.
"Knew you'd follow."
Sure enough, the cat jumped in after me through the hole. I stood still; it backed up a bit, eyes glowing, licking its wounded paw.
Pissed off, clearly.
"Come at me."
Time to play for real. The Paradox Flame burning on its body was eating away at its stamina.
It kept burning. Normally, if it grew beyond my control, I'd snuff it and reapply.
But the flames on that cat, devouring stamina and swelling, were already out of my hands.
Didn't matter.
"This ain't Earth, right?"
One big flaw of Paradox Flame: it doesn't distinguish friend from foe—except me.
Those black flames burn the stamina of everything nearby that isn't me.
Beyond my control, it becomes a wildfire disaster.
"But here? Burn it all."
Fully isolated space. Destroy the core, and I teleport out similarly.
"Kek... hack."
Watching the flames rage on the cat, I heard that from behind.
"So many of you."
Five or six bat-headed giants over 2 meters tall, clutching stone clubs, leering at me.
Each one on par with the ones I'd killed before.
And the cat I'd been fighting leaped to their side like they were allies.
"Idiots."
Of course, the flame-devouring stamina on the cat jumped to the nearby bat-headed giants.
Uncontrolled Paradox Flame used its built-up power to rapidly incinerate their stamina.
Six giants, one cat. Seven in total. As it burned their stamina, the mana output thickened the air's density.
Absorbing the dense mana, my body crackled nonstop.
"When it all burns up..."
Mana filling a confined space. The thickened atmosphere would make me stronger.
"Let's play with fire for real today!"
I lured the burning monsters toward the huts in the field, fighting just enough.
Some huts spewed more— not just huge bat-heads, but a few bat-headed goblins too.
"Perfect timing."
I wrapped Paradox Flame around my hand, grabbed a goblin's head, hurled it into the monster cluster.
Then coiled flames around my legs, leaped at another goblin. Stomped its torso; it toppled, unable to match my speed, burning as it fell.
Surfing its body, I slid, stabbed my spear into its gut, swung hard to launch it at the emerging monsters.
"Ha."
Atmospheric mana kept densifying, absorbed into me, my body crackling louder.
"Burn it all."
Paradox Flame clung everywhere, turning the area into a pitch-black inferno sea.