Hunter Academy’s Battle God

Chapter 55

EunAh had always been a lucky person.

Ever since she had been born, she had been a part of the Shinsung group, one of the largest corporations in the financial world. She was also born with an electricity Trait with one of the highest growth potentials in Korea.

Even trivial things would activate her luck right when she’d’ least expect it—for example, if her snack had a chance to come with a free prize, she would win it. 

But her luck didn’t necessarily always fall in her favor.

“Are you freaking kidding me…”

—The boss of Mount Everline’s lake.

The chances of the lake dragon being a subspecies of its kind was a mere 0.03%, but EunAh had just happened to meet said rare subspecies.

And on top of that, the specific subspecies of lake dragon just so happened to have a resistance to electricity. What were the chances of that?

Whatever it was, EunAh had managed to beat the odds.

“Out of everything you could’ve been, why are you the lightning element?!”

“Groaaar!!”

The dragon roared, its rage ringing outwards as a sharp cry.

EunAh tried to attack the monster again with her electricity, but it had no effect.

Bzzt! Zzt!

The lake dragon’s golden scales completely absorbed her electrical attack. It was not an opponent that her Trait was going to work against.

Boom! Bam!

Every time the dragon’s massive foot slammed down on the ground, electricity would appear from its claws, crackling and dispersing everywhere.

“…Keuk!”

To a hunter who relied solely on their Trait, meeting a monster who had resistance against whatever element their Trait utilized was a death sentence.

EunAh screamed and began to run back from where she came from.

“Aaaah! This is! So annoyinggggg!!”

“Kwohhh!”

Boom boom boom boom!

The lake dragon pursued her with great speed, both legs leaving deep gouges into the soil.

Swipe!

EunAh quickly ducked as she heard the ominous sound of claws swiping the air behind her.

Whoosh!

Just as she had predicted, the dragon’s clawed foot struck the air right above her head.

EunAh’s fighting capabilities were around the same as an ordinary high school girl’s at that moment.

“Shit! If my Trait would just hit through, I’d be able to take care of that lizard!!”

Swipe!

The dragon made another attack with its leg. EunAh, abandoning her dignity, rolled on the ground to dodge it.

“Huff! Haak–! Puff!”

She crawled around on all fours to gain speed, then gradually stood back up on her legs without breaking stride. It was a sorry sight.

“Tch!”

Like so, EunAh did whatever she could to run towards the forest.

“Eu-EunAh-ssi?!”

Sumire, who had just arrived, shouted in surprise as she saw the other girl running towards her.

“Hey, hey, hey! I’m gonna die! Save me!!”

EunAh was emotionally and mentally in tatters. Seeing her, the Japanese girl aimed a level gaze towards the lake dragon, then aimed her finger towards it.

“Death Knight-ssi! I’m leaving it to you!”

“As… my… master… wishes!”

Wham!

The death knight was crushed under the lake dragon’s massive foot.

“Hieeek!” Sumire shrieked. 

Even in its precarious position, the death knight put its master’s concerns over its own.

“Mas… ter! Please run!”

“Death Knight-ssi—!”

Truly, a scene from a soap opera that was sure to make you cry.

EunAh grabbed her sobbing party member and ran full tilt towards the forest.

“Come on! Why are you just standing there?!”

“B-but, Death Knight-ssi!”

“It’s fine. It’s already dead!”

As soon as they reached the trees, EunAh hid herself and Sumire amongst the foliage. 

The lake dragon began to roar, still at a distance.

“Groaaaar–!!”

Boom boom boom.

Then it began heading back to the lake. 

The lake dragon subspecies seemed to be well above the level of a rank 4 boss monster. In fact, it seemed to be more comparable to a rank 5 boss—quite a bit more dangerous.

“…Haah, I really thought I was gonna die there.”

EunAh sighed in relief, looking and feeling like a complete wreck. The fact that the lake dragon was absorbing her electricity in and of itself made it harder for her to get away from it. It truly was a close call.

Glance. 

Sumire, who had been watching her teammate out of the corner of her eye, carefully spoke up.

“U-um… a-are you alright? There’s blood on your thigh…”

There was a light scratch on EunAh’s thigh. She had probably gotten it from a stray twig on the ground when she was rolling around on it.

“…Guess I got scratched.”

“It needs to be treated quickly, then…”

EunAh turned away from Sumire’s worried gaze.

“It’s fine, nothing you need to make a fuss about. I’ll just get it healed when we go back.”

“N-no, you can’t!”

Right when EunAh was about to get up from her seat, Sumire grabbed her arm.

“Huh?”

“N-no matter how small a wound is, it needs to be disinfected before any bacteria get inside!”

The usually passive Sumire was speaking up. Flustered, EunAh could do nothing but get swept up in the other girl’s pace. 

“I mean, th-that’s true, but… It’ll be fine… I just need to get the nanomachine treatment later.”

“…That’s no good, though. You’ll be in a lot of pain until you get treated.”

Sumire looked up at EunAh, insistent on helping her. The A Class girl gave in and plopped right back down onto the ground.

“I’m telling you, it’s nothing…” EunAh grumbled.

Even as her teammate was complaining, Sumire took out a first-aid kit with a serious gaze in her eyes.

“Th-the first thing we need to do is disinfect the wound area with an alcohol-soaked cotton ball!”

“Euk! Eugh… Ack!”

EunAh gave off a light shriek as the cotton ball touched her wound.

“St-stop! Hey, this stings a lot!”

“B-but it needs to be disinfected. It’s important.”

Sumire admonished her teammate, a determined expression on her face. 

She squeezed out some ointment on a fresh cotton ball and began to dab the wound with it.

“Heal smoothly… new skin…”

And as a finishing touch, Sumire recited some sort of spell as she covered the wound with a band-aid. 

“What the hell are you doing?!”

EunAh’s face was dyed completely red.

“S-sorry! It’s just a habit I have with my younger siblings…”

“Stop it! A-am I a little kid to you?!”

But even as she was yelling, EunAh’s eyes were staring at the band-aid on her leg. Sumire’s first-aid work was meticulous.

But the F Class girl’s shoulders had slumped due to that one statement.

Glance.

EunAh eyed her teammate as if bothered by her reaction. 

“…Th-thanks.”

So—with a hesitant voice—EunAh showed her gratitude.

She locked eyes with Sumire, who looked genuinely touched. Her mouth was hanging wide open, and her expression looked dazed. 

EunAh quickly rose up again and stared down at the other girl.

“What are you doing? I think we’re done for today. Let’s head back.’

Sumire nodded her head, showing that she understood.

* * * *

“Huu huu… someone like EunAh-ssi told something like me that she’s grateful…”

Sumire kept muttering under her breath on the way back to their campsite. She giggled ominously at the memory.

“Hey, stop muttering to yourself! I mean it! It’s creepy! Please!”

EunAh was thoroughly freaked out by the other girl’s behavior, but as the path began to narrow, she had no choice but to stick close to her.

“A-and you smell… R-really g-good, too. Huhu…”

“…Egh.”

Sumire’s gloomy atmosphere was thick enough to put a lid on even EunAh’s mouth.

* * *

* * *

No matter how much he searched the lake that he had chosen, YuSung couldn’t find even a hint of the lake dragon anywhere.

‘…It’s not here. Looks like the dragon is at another lake.’

It wasn’t a huge deal even if they hadn’t determined the dragon’s exact location, seeing that there was plenty of time between then and the morning, when the monster was supposed to emerge from its habitat. Of course, the dragon also hunted on land during late afternoons, but that was a rare enough occasion that YuSung wasn’t counting on it.

He ended up using the rest of his allocated time to inspect the surroundings.

‘There are a lot of good herbs here… Must be due to a lack of human presence.’

YuSung had learned the name and uses of countless herbs while he was living on the mountain. After all, learning the attributes of all the flora and fauna in the wild was a key survival skill.

He picked a few of the herbs and placed them in his Pocket.

‘Some viscous herb and steerus. This much should be enough, right?’

The viscous herb’s sap was as sticky as its name suggested, and if one ground the steerus plant with a stone, they would be able to produce grey-colored sap.

YuSung stood up from where he was and stretched his back.

Aside from medicinal herbs, there were also many herbs or vegetables in the area that one could eat if they were hungry. However, YuSung did not give those plants a single glance. 

‘…Yeah, this is fine. I won’t need any other herbs.’

He was no longer the boy who was satisfied with subsisting off of mountain vegetables and wild game. His palate had become more refined between eating both Sumire’s cooking and bombastic delivery food.

He had never enjoyed the benefits of ‘flavor’ up until then.

‘Time to head back. Sumire said that she’ll be cooking tonight, didn’t she?’

YuSung was highly looking forward to the girl’s cooking, even if he didn’t show it on the outside.

Ring!

Just then, his Pocket began to ring.

[KimSilverA: Lake dragon. Where I was inspecting. It was eating.]

A succinct message from EunAh.

The chances of the lake dragon being outside of its habitat and eating its meal was quite rare. Considering that, it was a great opportunity for the party.

On top of that, the lake dragon was weak to electricity attacks—as long as it wasn’t some sort of offshoot species. That was why YuSung immediately assumed that EunAh had defeated the dragon.

‘She’s so lucky.’

YuSung fiddled with his Pocket to send a reply back to the A Class girl.

[Shin YuSung: Did you get it?]

Suddenly, silence.

EunAh was not replying.

Ring!

In fact, the next person to send a message to him was Sumire.

Hers was nothing but a simple emote.

[すみれ: ˊㅠ𠆢ㅠ｀…]

With that, he could draw a pretty good picture of what was going on in his head. YuSung smiled the tiniest bit as he replied to the girl.

[Shin YuSung: I’ll be there]

Even if the girls had failed to catch the dragon, they had still managed to determine its habitat. As he had expected, there were more advantages to hunting a monster with his party members than doing it solo.

And the stronger one got, the starker the difference became between a hunter with good comrades and those without.

Even the Fist King had the Sword God and the Witch as his comrades when he was scaling the Tower, and he was the kind of man who always pursued solitude. The importance of teammates was quite palpable in that sense.

‘…I was really lucky, now that I think about it.’

Even if he was the one to offer them help in the first place, having Sumire—with her incredible potential despite having an F-rank trait—and Eunah—who was second in the student ranking—as his comrades was a stroke of incredible fortune.

Step step.

YuSung began heading back to the campsite. For a brief moment, he craned his neck up towards the sky. He could see countless stars shining up there, despite the fact that the sun hadn’t completely set yet. 

People changed as they met other people. Whether the change was positive or negative was of no consequence. When you interact with someone, their influence seeps into you, and yours seeps into them.

And YuSung knew more than anyone just how important meeting other people was. How could he not, after changing so drastically under the tutelage of his master?

‘I should go on back to the campsite.’

After completing his musings, YuSung lightly smiled and pressed onwards. His steps were quicker than before.