Episode 43
The sky began to rumble. Dark clouds gathered from the southern sky.
“It’s a rain cloud!”
Someone shouted in joy.
You can’t drink water carelessly in the jungle. Because the weather was so hot, various bacteria and parasites were abundant in the water. In particular, if you drink stagnant water incorrectly, you could die.
Because of that, they couldn’t even open their mouths and went on a difficult march. So he couldn’t help but be happy to see the rain clouds.
“It’s a squall.”
Taeseong, the leader of the Black Tiger Guild, who has experience traveling outside the rainforest, said.
A squall is a rain shower that occurs frequently in tropical rainforests.
But this was my first squall since I came here.
“Porter, get water quickly.”
“Spin the bucket.”
People were busy trying to get water at this opportunity.
Soon the sky darkened and it soon started to rain. It was heavy rain.
Shoot!
The sound of rain filled the surroundings.
Sihyeon soaked his body and opened his mouth wide to drink the raindrops. Only then did I feel like I could live.
The others also raised their heads and opened their mouths to quench their thirst with rain. The expression that had been dying came back to life.
The rain continued for over 30 minutes. After quenching their thirst and securing water, the group took refuge under a large tree. As we sat together to avoid the rain, conversation naturally took place.
“This is my first time seeing a gate like this in my life.”
Taeseong said.
Even with his long experience as a hunter, this was his first time seeing such a long gate.
“It’s my first time too.”
Hyeong-cheol answered.
Even for a grade A gate, if you plan your raid well, you can complete the raid in one day. If it takes longer than that, it means there was a problem with the raid formation in the first place.
However, the S class was an exception. In the case of the S-class gate, it was so huge that you had to set up camp and enter.
“But fortunately, no monsters as strong as before appear.”
Taeseong looked relieved. After defeating the black panther, the main things they encountered were monsters such as poisonous snakes and poisonous insects. Because they do not have thick carapace, attacks from low-level hunters work. If you were careful with the poison, you could easily defeat it.
“I’m right. That guy is a mutant.”
Jinsu suddenly intervened.
Well, it hasn’t been wrong so far. If such a strong monster had appeared again, the party members’ condition would have been much more serious than it is now.
“But… did you say Si-hyeon? Your shouting skill can be used even against fairly strong monsters, so it’s surprising that you’re an E-class hunter.”
Hyeong-cheol asked with curious eyes.
No hunter can hide his magic power. First of all, if the Hunter Association has measured it, it is certain that it is Class E. So it’s even more puzzling.
“It’s not that powerful to begin with. I guess my expectations were right. I thought the shouting skill would have a stronger effect on monsters with sensitive hearing organs.”
Sihyeon answered. It didn’t seem like it was just for that reason, but that’s all they said.
“I see. If you encounter such a monster in the future, please help me.”
“I will.”
“It looks like the rain has stopped. Let’s get up slowly.”
Hyeong-cheol said that after looking at the sky.
As if it had been a nice rest and quenched my thirst, some of the vitality had returned to people’s faces.
◈ ◈ ◈
I walked on a muddy dirt road because of the rain. My shoes quickly became muddy.
People’s faces were not good. Although they hydrated me, I barely ate anything and just walked all day. The B-class hunters walking at the front still seemed to have plenty of energy, but the lower-class hunters clearly looked tired.
The sky had already become dark, so Grace had to turn it on with light magic.
“…I guess I’ll have no choice but to spend the night on the jungle floor like this?”
Minjun shook his head and said.
“I’m glad it’s Saturday.”
If it were Sunday, I would have had no choice but to miss work without notice.
“Do you think like that even in this critical situation?”
“It is inevitable that this will be the sadness of all office workers.”
Sihyeon made an expression that the whole world was like that.
“Anyway, you’re going to die of hunger. Do you think you can fight like this?”
“But don’t just eat anything. Did you hear what the guild leader said earlier? There are poisonous plants everywhere in the jungle.”
“Miss, shouldn’t we at least go hunting?”
“Have you found any animals worth hunting so far?”
“We should have had a meat party with that black leopard’s carcass earlier, but that was stupid.”
“…If we keep going like this, we’ll end up eating monsters.”
Si-hyeon was also on the verge of having his stomach skin attached to his back skin. Even though you don’t eat, you will feel hungry quickly because you are still active.
“It’s a light!”
someone shouted. The group’s eyes all turned forward.
I saw a light in the distance. Anyone could see that it was artificial light, not naturally occurring.
If so, it would mean that it was built by humans. Even if it were a village of intelligent monsters, they would never light a fire like a human would. Such cases have never been reported.
Town?
Si-hyeon and Min-jun looked at each other, thinking the same thing. It seemed like others thought the same thing.
“It’s people. There are people.”
“There’s someone at the gate? That can’t be possible.”
“Isn’t it a bit unusual because it’s a double gate?”
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“Does that matter now? It might be a village. You can eat and rest.”
“Come on, let’s go.”
“Wait a minute. Calm down.”
Hyeong-cheol spoke to the group with a cold face.
“You never know what’s ahead. You have to be careful and don’t rush.”
When Hyeong-cheol, who was in fact the leader, said that, the excited atmosphere calmed down a bit. I was temporarily excited when I saw the light, but I was once again aware of the heavy reality that I was inside an unidentified double gate.
Only then did Hyeong-cheol start walking again.
“let’s go.”
◈ ◈ ◈
As I got closer, my thoughts turned to conviction.
It’s a village. Although it was a village that felt somewhat out of place, it was definitely a place where people lived.
There were several houses made of wood in sight. To modern eyes, it was a house built with poor workmanship. It seemed to have been made by a barbarian-like group that had not developed much civilization.
“….”
The group slowed down their steps and carefully looked at the houses in the village. This is because barbarians were likely to be very aggressive towards sudden uninvited guests.
Hyeong-cheol, who was in the lead, opened his eyes sharply and raised his spirits to the maximum. After observing the village’s sympathy for a while, he opened his mouth.
“There is no pretense of popularity.”
“….”
People looked puzzled without answering. It is clear that the fire was started by a person, but there is actually no one in the village?
It was a situation I couldn’t immediately understand.
“Let’s go in first.”
Hyeong-cheol took the first step, as if he was sure that no one was there, and the group followed suit.
Jump and jump.
Only the footsteps of uninvited guests echoed loudly in the quiet village.
“There really isn’t one.”
“Where did they go?”
“Isn’t it true that you didn’t live in the first place?”
“That can’t be possible.”
Bonfires were lit here and there in the center of the village. Are you saying it was done by a person or a monster?
It was nonsense.
“Is that…?”
Sihyeon looked closely at the center that was brightly lit with a bonfire and tilted his head. Then, as if remembering something, she continued speaking.
“Isn’t that an altar?”
When I looked closely, I saw that it was a flat structure made of square cut stones piled high. On one side, there are stairs to climb up. It looked exactly like the South American native altars seen in the media.
“I think so too.”
Taeseong also said that.
One Black Tiger guild member became curious and quickly climbed the stairs. Then he screamed with a shocked face.
“Huh? Ugh… What a piece of shit… Isn’t this a person?! f*ck, a person is dead!”
The middle of the altar was stained red with blood stains that had not yet dried. And on top of it were several decapitated corpses of human beings who looked young considering their size.
“person?”
“What? Human sacrifice? You crazy people….”
“….”
Eunhye’s expression turned white.
Si-hyeon and Min-jun’s expressions were also not good. To modern people, the cruelty and barbarism of human sacrifice was an unacceptable and shocking thing.
“Well, if they’re uncivilized savages, that might be the case.”
Only Jinsu had a calm face.
“Who is this sacrifice for?”
Hyeong-cheol muttered to himself. If there is an offering, there is also an object to offer the offering to. If it were a human sacrifice, it would have a special meaning regardless of the cruelty.
It is an object of special sacrifice.
god?
Or something else?
Of course, I couldn’t know.
However, he must be very afraid of the object. After putting up the offering, all the residents ran away from the village.
“Is there anything more than God? Something like the sun god.”
Jinsu spoke as if it was no big deal.
“Let’s stop thinking about that for now and quickly find something to eat before the natives come back.”
Taeseong said as if he wanted to solve the urgent problem at hand first.
“Sure. Let’s all search the house.”
Hyeong-cheol also agreed with Tae-seong. Solving hunger was more urgent now.
They dispersed and began looking for something to eat, going into various buildings in the village. The village was small, with about 30 houses, so the search would not take long.
The vision moved with grace.
“Isn’t that a sweet potato?”
said Eunhye, who found a sweet potato lying in a corner of the floor covered in dirt.
“I think so. And next to it, it looks like taro.”
Sihyeon sat down and touched something that looked like a potato and immediately nodded.
“Let’s take all of this and go.”
When Si-hyeon and Eun-hye came out with sweet potatoes and taro, the other party members also brought their own food. Of course, there were some people who came out empty-handed.
It was mainly taro, sweet potatoes, and fruits whose names are unknown.
Taeseong came out holding a bunch of long roots. He asked and he said it was cassava. He explained that although Koreans don’t know much about it, it is a famous native food in South America.
Some people were lucky enough to bring a piece of meat. Although it was not salted, the meat was still fresh, as if it had not been hunted very recently.
“Shouldn’t we get out quickly now?”
Sihyeon said.
There is no way the residents will remain silent if they discover that all their food is being taken away. His eyes would roll over and he would attack like crazy.
“That’s right. Let’s get out of here quickly.”
Hyeong-cheol urged the group.
It was then.
“Cluck!”
“Ukkkkkkk!”
“Cluck!”
Loud noises came from all directions.
As I looked around with bewildered eyes, I saw that a flock of monkeys had gathered around the village.
Red, white, blue… There were all kinds of monkeys. The sudden appearance of a group of monkeys that seemed to number more than a dozen or even hundreds, but close to a thousand, was a horrifying and grotesque thing in itself. No one here had ever seen so many monkeys in one place.
“What are these little monkeys?”
Jinsu said as if he was amazed.
“What are these monkeys?”
“Why are there so many monkeys flocking together like that?”
“Isn’t it a monster?”
“f*ck, monsters aren’t some kind of army, they’re coming in like that?”
The humans were pushed little by little to the center where the altar was. They naturally formed a circle, forming a formation that seemed to guard against a group of monkeys.
“Well, if I don’t get out of the way of those bastards, I can’t get out?”
“Then you have to pierce it.”
“Put down everything to eat first.”
The leader, Hyeong-cheol, gave instructions with a cautious look on his face. People carefully put down the food they were carrying and stood.
The monkeys did not appear to be hostile yet. They squeaked and laughed mischievously, or looked at them with curious eyes.
However, from the perspective of people trapped in a group of monkeys, this was horror itself.
“First of all, don’t attack carelessly.”
Hyeong-cheol said.
If even one monkey was harmed, a thousand might attack in droves. I didn’t want to provoke monsters that I didn’t even know what level they were at, or monkeys that I didn’t even know were monsters.
The priority was to find a way to get out of here.
“Huh? This bastard?”
A monkey approached a Black Tiger guild member and climbed on his shoulder. And he was looking at her face with his eyes wide open.
“….”
The Black Tiger guild members held their breath and watched the monkey’s actions closely. Please just go down, I shouted in my heart.
However, the monkey behaved unexpectedly.
“Kyaak!”
He suddenly opened his mouth and bit the Black Tiger guild member’s ear.
“Aaaah!”
Unable to overcome the pain, the Black Tiger guild member screamed. The flesh of his ear fell off in clumps.
“You crazy bastard!”
His anger rose to the point of his head, so he clenched his fist and punched the monkey in the stomach with all his might.
Sigh!
With a sound like something inside his intestines exploding, the monkey spewed out blood and fell down. The monkey opened its eyes wide and could not get up again.
“Kkkkkkkkkkkk!
“Kyaaaaa!”
“Kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!”
Suddenly the monkeys screamed like crazy. And they all glared at the people with their eyes sparkling with life.
“Let’s kill all those monkeys!”
“Seeing as they died in one hit, they are weak bastards. Let’s slaughter them all.”
“You disgusting bastards. We should tear out all their eyes.”
The members of the Black Tiger Guild, who were enraged when their colleague was injured, did not lose and showed their determination to survive.
“…Sihyeon oppa.”
Since Grace was a wizard, it would be dangerous if that number of monkeys attacked her from all directions.
Sihyeon nodded and said to Minjun.
“Minjun, even if a fight breaks out, you must not fall from Eunhye’s side.”
“Okay. Of course you should. You stand in front. I’ll stand in the back.”
Sihyeon held the longsword tightly and took a stance.
“Kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!”
When one monkey let out a high cry, monkeys from all directions rushed at him like crazy, as if it was a signal.
fantasy,
