#119
“How about we take a short break before we really get into it?” Anna, the ranged damage dealer, suggested. Although she maintained a calm face after firing arrows non-stop, there was a faint trace of fatigue.
“Agreed,” Natasha, also an A-rank like Anna, quickly concurred. Unlike Eunseok, who had only maintained wide-area guiding, she had been fighting continuously despite being a healer. It was a situation where she could be tired.
The other three didn’t say anything, but their silence meant agreement. Eunseok took off his backpack and tossed water bottles to the hunters. After distributing water bottles to everyone, Eunseok opened his own and gulped it down. The water he drank after a long time instantly refreshed him.
Choi Hanseo, who had emptied half of his water bottle, approached Eunseok. He lightly brushed Eunseok’s face, which was scratched here and there from the grass, with a slight frown.
“Natasha,” Choi Hanseo called out. Natasha, who had just finished a whole bottle of water, approached as if she had expected this and placed her hand on Eunseok’s face.
“There’s no need to exert yourself for such small wounds,” Eunseok said in English so Natasha could understand.
“It’s okay. I’m benefiting anyway, getting to do some healing and receiving contact guiding from an S-rank guide,” Natasha said with a wink.
“How nice for healers. They get to touch an S-rank guide’s body. Why don’t you hold my hand too?” James, the tank, whistled as he spoke.
“Watch your mouth, James,” Choi Hanseo warned in a menacing voice. Seeing Choi Hanseo’s eyebrow twitch slightly, Eunseok quickly grabbed his hand and guided him strongly.
Choi Hanseo’s expression softened.
“Don’t react to everything. It’s childish,” Eunseok whispered to Choi Hanseo. Usually, Choi Hanseo didn’t pay much attention when Eunseok contact guided the First Attack Team members. But this time, perhaps because the others were S-rank, Choi Hanseo was particularly on edge. Well, it was unavoidable given who they were dealing with.
Eunseok used this break to guide Choi Hanseo as much as possible through their held hands. Although he had maintained wide-area guiding throughout, it was far less efficient than contact guiding. It might have been unfair to only contact guide Choi Hanseo, but no one voiced such complaints. The initiative in guiding always belongs to the guide, unless pushed to the brink of going berserk. It seemed to be due to this unwritten rule.
“Well, let’s get into the main game,” James said, tossing his empty water bottle to the ground. Choi Hanseo squeezed Eunseok’s hand once before returning to his position.
As they walked along the intermittent stone path, the dense jungle gradually began to disappear. Instead, they saw strangely shaped stone structures standing at regular intervals. Large and small buildings stood in the middle of the vast jungle, forming what looked like a city. The stone-paved area gradually widened, and soon the group completely left the jungle behind.
Eunseok looked up with an expression of admiration. A stone pyramid, completely hidden by the dense trees before, now stood majestically beyond the wide stone city. It felt like an ancient ruin that hadn’t been touched by human feet for thousands of years. Eunseok wasn’t the only one impressed; everyone looked around the city with admiring eyes.
Pwooo-! Pwooo-! Pwooo-!
A series of deep horn sounds echoed, as if awakening a city that had been asleep for thousands of years. The team members readjusted their grips on their weapons.
When the horn sounds abruptly stopped, the city that had seemed devoid of any presence suddenly came alive, with all sorts of sounds pouring into their ears.
“This looks troublesome,” Damon, the close-range damage dealer, grumbled. Eunseok sympathized with his words. The horn sound had awakened the vast ancient city from its long slumber. And the city’s inhabitants, who had been sleeping in the large and small buildings, were now pouring out with all sorts of weapons.
Woaaaah-!
The strange creatures pouring out with murderous screams were… very similar to humans except for the horns on their heads, their height which seemed well over 2 meters, and their green skin.
Eunseok picked up the automatic rifle he hadn’t used until now. He then joined the circular formation surrounding him. The others glanced at him but showed no signs of stopping him. Against the human-like creatures surging like waves, an automatic rifle was a very efficient weapon.
The ancient humans surrounded the group and charged with weapons in hand. Eunseok switched his automatic rifle from burst mode to full auto and swept it across the front without hesitation. Although the opponents were humanoid, he felt no particular hesitation. Before becoming a guide, the enemies Eunseok had to face or eliminate were always human.
The automatic rifle spat fire continuously. The recoil transmitted to his shoulder spread throughout his body.
Aaaaah-!!
The enemies rushed in, screaming as if to stir up their bloodlust. The green humans didn’t care about their fallen comrades. They just trampled over the fallen bodies and charged forward with their blood-red eyes rolling. They were truly berserkers.
Click-.
The magazine was empty. Eunseok quickly changed the magazine while kicking away an approaching enemy. Then he started shooting at the enemies again. He had no intention of saving ammunition. Judging by the layout of this city, that large stone pyramid inside the city was clearly where the final boss would be. Anyway, once they reached the boss, Eunseok would be of no help to the combat strength. It was efficient to use up all the magazines when needed.
Spraying bullets at the fiercely charging enemies required no brainwork. Even while firing wildly, Eunseok focused on maintaining his wide-area guiding. Guiding was, after all, Eunseok’s most important task.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
It was around the time when the bodies around the group were so thickly strewn that the bare ground was no longer visible. Suddenly, the sound of the earth shaking grew closer.
Eunseok frowned. Dozens of green giants, easily over 3 meters tall, were walking towards them from the distant stone pyramid, shaking the ground with each step.
“Eunseok!” Choi Hanseo’s call was heard. Eunseok immediately understood his intention and retreated while providing covering fire. As Eunseok slipped between the encircling teammates, they naturally spread out to fill the gap.
“I’m out too!” Natasha, who had been fighting well until now, also announced her retreat and stepped back inside the circle.
“Are you okay?” Eunseok asked, seeing her covered not only in the green blood of the green humans but also streaked with red here and there.
“This is nothing,” Natasha said nonchalantly as she began to heal herself by placing her hand over her wounded areas.
“Anna! Can you manage?!” James, the tank, shouted loudly to Anna, who was busy firing fire arrows continuously.
“Buy me some time!” Anna shouted back, then lowered her hands that had been shooting virtual arrows and pulled out a stick similar to what Oh Seongeun had used from her waist.
Eunseok could see Anna concentrating as she held the stick with a large jewel embedded in it with both hands. He placed his hand on Anna’s exposed nape and poured strong guiding into her. Anna’s body absorbed Eunseok’s guiding like a sponge, as if preparing for a very large skill.
“Hurry, Anna!” James urged. Although they were all incredibly strong, the number of enemies rushing in was too great. They had no time to breathe while fighting and protecting Eunseok and Natasha in the rear.
Anna raised the stick she had been holding forward. Eunseok, raising his gaze along with it, held his breath for a moment. Several large fireballs, reminiscent of small suns, were rapidly growing in size high above.
“Die, all of you!” Anna shouted sharply as she brought down the stick like swinging a sword.
The enormous fireballs, no different from small suns, plunged down onto the green humans swarming like ants.
Kuwaaang—!!
The ground shook violently with a tremendous roar. Red pillars of fire shot up, and intense heat spread around as if a giant missile had struck.
Instinctively, Eunseok pulled Natasha into his arms and turned his back to protect her. Despite being at a considerable distance, the rushing air carried heat that felt like it could scorch them.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
