HDAAD Chapter 160

Jeon Hye-jun, a Doomsday cultist and A-rank electric-type hunter, hid from the boss monster.

The awakened boss monster became enraged upon seeing humans gathered in its territory.

The eggs filling the cave hatched, and baby monsters swarmed across the floor.

The Doomsday cultists drove hooks into the ceiling and used ropes to suspend themselves in the air.

With their targets gone, the baby monsters turned their attention to the large bird.

“Salt!”

“Beep!”

Shouting that he was fine, Salt attacked the charging baby monsters, stomping on them and pecking with his beak.

“I’ll help you.”

The baby monsters that Salt couldn’t handle were swept away by the rough streams of water Haegeum created, slamming them into the walls.

Meanwhile, the boss monster charged towards the only human touching the ground.

“Now! Attack!”

They already knew that Seo Go-woon was a good shot and that the two pets used their abilities to protect him of their own accord.

However, his awakened ability was alchemy, specialized in manufacturing, and his rank was D.

D-rank was only slightly better than an ordinary person, not enough to be called a hunter.

Moreover, when a pet’s owner dies, their contract is broken, causing animals to return to the wild or monsters to disappear.

No matter how much the two beasts struggled to protect Seo Go-woon, they couldn’t be faster than light, so Jeon Hye-jun thought one strike of his lightning would be enough to kill Seo Go-woon.

But his assumption was wrong. Instead, Seo Go-woon dodged the lightning with agility unbefitting a D-rank and killed his comrade.

Jeon Hye-jun glared at Seo Go-woon with fierce eyes.

Even now, Seo Go-woon was firing mana bullets at the charging boss monster while evading his comrades’ attacks.

“Everyone, get ready.”

Now was their chance, while the two beasts were preoccupied with the baby monsters and couldn’t pay attention to Seo Go-woon.

“Now!”

At Jeon Hye-jun’s command, the Doomsday cultists charged at Seo Go-woon.

“I guess.”

Seeing the enemies charging at him, Seo Go-woon raised one corner of his mouth.

“I’ve been looking too easy to you all this time.”

It wasn’t funny at all. Even if I’m D-rank, to bring such meager forces. No wonder, since all the Doomsday cultists charging at me now were ordinary people.

“Or are you just thoughtless? Or stupid?”

Suddenly, the ground surged up, forming a dome centered on Seo Go-woon.

Through a tiny hole in the dome, Seo Go-woon’s visible eye wasn’t looking at the boss monster or the charging baby monsters.

It was fixed precisely on Jeon Hye-jun.

***

The silently fired bullet pierced the heart of a Doomsday cultist trying to break the dome.

Simultaneously, the person next to him melted from the boss monster’s poison.

“Let’s see who wins.”

I was astounded at how lightly they must have taken me to think they could kill me with such pathetic humans.

‘Even though I’m aiming for the Cradle, they should have at least brought an S-rank hunter.’

The dome shook from a flash of lightning.

But only stone fragments fell to the ground; the dome wasn’t destroyed.

“How dare mere lightning challenge the earth.”

I grumbled while firing mana bullets at a Doomsday cultist trying to widen the hole.

“Beep?”

Salt asked if I needed help while stomping on baby monsters.

“What help do I need?”

I snorted while changing the mana stone in my gun.

Except for the one hiding from the boss, the remaining Doomsday cultists were all ordinary people.

I could handle them easily even without the dome, but I had erected it for the sleeping child’s sake.

“Shall we start moving now?”

I changed the gun back into a bracelet and drew my sword.

‘Might as well put what I’ve learned to use.’

I created a hole in the dome and slipped out.

Then I charged towards the hiding Doomsday cultist.

“Wh-what!”

His momentary shock at our eyes meeting quickly turned to action as he called down lightning strikes in succession.

“Too slow, you bastard.”

I easily dodged his skill activation, slower than Taeju’s, and swung my sword.

Perhaps because he had lived as a hunter for quite some time, he quickly blocked my sword with his own.

“Seo Go-woon.”

I cheerfully replied to his gritting teeth.

“Hey, keep grinding your teeth like that and you’ll need dentures before you’re even a grandpa.”

“Fucking bastard!”

As he pushed me back with force, I retreated and said,

“B-rank? A-rank at best?”

“A D-rank dares!”

As I dodged his recklessly swung sword, the Doomsday cultist this time imbued his blade with a skill.

‘Oh dear.’

I inwardly clicked my tongue as I blocked the sword he swung.

As the swords clashed with a crackling sound, his eyes widened.

“How!”

Taking advantage of his momentary lapse, I kicked his body, sending him rolling on the ground.

“You idiot. Don’t you know who my brother is?”

Even the police start by questioning and analyzing people around their target when trying to arrest someone. This guy seemed to know only that I was Seo Go-woon, nothing else.

“Eeek! How dare a D-rank!”

The man who had been rolling on the ground suddenly stood up, shouting furiously as he threw a ball of concentrated electric current.

“You don’t learn, do you?”

As I deflected the approaching current with my sword, accompanied by a sizzling sound, the man’s voice, which had been full of anger just moments ago, now trembled in disbelief.

“H-how.”

I slowly approached him, saying,

“This sword, you see.”

And when I got within range, I flipped the blade and struck his head squarely with the flat side.

“I received it in case Seo Taeju throws a fit.”

The Doomsday cultist, hit by the back of the blade rather than its edge, let out a choked sound and rolled on the ground.

“So it’s really good for beating people up.”

As I pummeled him with all my remaining strength, he now rolled on the ground.

“Do some research before you attack! If you don’t want to do it yourself, make someone else do it!”

While I was beating him, the boss monster collapsed with a thud.

Salt and Haegeum, who had already killed all the baby monsters, had now taken down the boss as well.

I looked at the crouching man, breathing heavily.

“Master.”

“Beep.”

While petting Salt, who was happy to have exercised after a long time, I said to Haegeum,

“Haegeum. Take off that bastard’s mask.”

As Haegeum’s water stream tried to remove the mask, the crouching Doomsday cultist resisted as if he disliked it.

However, when multiple streams of water grabbed his wrists and ankles and lifted him into the air, the mask came off easily.

“Hmm.”

“Do you know him?”

“No. Not at all.”

I thought he might be someone I had encountered before, but he was clearly a face I had never seen.

“Beep.”

I sighed at Salt’s comment that he was ugly.

“I told you not to use Shin Sooha as your standard.”

“Beep.”

‘To say he’s even uglier than Kim Hae-ah. What an obvious statement.’

Without acknowledging the obvious remark, I asked the man whose face was now exposed,

“How did you know about this place?”

“I won’t answer.”

“Then who let you in here?”

The man kept his mouth tightly shut and just rolled his eyes, as if he wouldn’t answer this question either.

“Fine. I’ll find out later anyway. Then why did you target me? What crime have I committed?”

I know the Doomsday cultists are targeting me because of Salt, but honestly, it would be more beneficial for them to target Shin Sooha or Seo Taeju, who are crucial to the Cradle raid.

‘What good does it do to kill a D-rank hunter? Right?’

If they killed the SSS-rank and SS-rank, the dungeon wouldn’t be properly cleared, bringing them one step closer to the destruction they desire.

“I’m just a weak, powerless D-rank hunter.”

The moment I uttered those words, I felt the gazes of Salt and Haegeum.

Ignoring their looks that seemed to ask what nonsense I was spouting, I kept staring at the man. He spat out a curse and said,

“If it weren’t for you in the first place, the oracle wouldn’t have come down.”

‘Oracle?’

The recent oracle was just about quickly renewing the tower. What does that have to do with me?

“What nonsense are you talking about? What does the oracle have to do with-“

“I’ll tell you in hell, so just die with me.”

“What?”

I was about to question him, not understanding what he meant.

“Master!”

Just as a thick water barrier spread out before my eyes, the man’s body exploded.

The transparent water shook violently, then turned red with blood.

“Master. Are you alright?”

“Yes. Thank you. If it weren’t for you, I could have been in big trouble.”

I inwardly clicked my tongue.

The reason I had hit him with the back of the sword instead of killing him outright was for interrogation.

But now, I hadn’t learned anything and was left with even more questions.

‘Who should I ask about this?’

Even if I ask the Saint about the oracle, who can I ask about how they knew I was coming here and how they entered the dungeon?

Since this is Sunset Guild’s dungeon, the most suspicious person would be Seo moon-no-eul, but the Seo moon-no-eul in the novel I read was definitely not someone who would worship destruction.

‘Seo moon-no-eul values honor and money.’

In the novel, the Doomsday cultists constantly hindered Sunset Guild, causing her to grind her teeth, wondering what grudge they held against her to do such things.

So it definitely couldn’t be Seo moon-no-eul, and-

“Master. Are you hurt anywhere?”

Haegeum asked worriedly, perhaps finding it strange that I hadn’t moved even after the water barrier was removed.

“No. I’m fine. Let’s go home.”

“Yes.”

I cleared away the stone dome, retrieved the barrier item, and hoisted the child onto my back.

Despite all this commotion, the child was still breathing softly, not waking up.

“But how will you explain the child?”

“Hm? Explain?”

“Yes.”

“Is an explanation really necessary? I can just say I created him through alchemy.”

Everyone in the world knew I was an alchemist.

So they should accept that I could create a person through alchemy.

“I’m worried about those two people.”

“Two people?”

“The suspicious ones you mentioned, Master.”

I hesitated at Haegeum’s words, then forced a smile.

“Surely they wouldn’t be suspicious about alchemy.”

‘They might be.’

The thought that flashed through my mind contradicted my words.

After all, weren’t they the ones who doubted me even when I confessed everything honestly?

If I tell them I created this child through alchemy, they might throw another fit, asking if I’m preparing to run away again.

“Wouldn’t it be better to hide it just in case?”

I shook my head.

“No. We still need to reveal it. Hiding it could lead to even bigger problems.”

Their suspicion about me running away was just due to their lack of faith in the Cradle. Once the Cradle opens and the oracle descends, all doubts would automatically be resolved.

But if I hid this situation and it was discovered, their suspicions might solidify, potentially preventing me from going to the Cradle.

Taeju and Shin Sooha needed to believe that I always tell the truth for my return to my world to proceed without further trouble.

“But… I’m worried.”

“It’s okay. I haven’t done anything wrong, so what’s there to worry about?”

I shrugged and walked towards the escape gate.

“Salt. Are you going to stay big?”

“Beep?”

Salt tilted his head as if asking what I meant, then looked down at his body and nodded.

Then he changed back to his original sparrow size and climbed onto my head.

Haegeum also used his water stream to enter my pocket.

“Is it okay to leave them like this?”

“Huh? Yeah, it’s fine. Taking them out would just cause more trouble, and if we leave them here, they’ll be dealt with naturally.”

When people die inside a dungeon, they become part of the dungeon’s terrain after a few hours.

That’s why when a comrade dies during a dungeon raid, people try their best to retrieve the body.

Given that the boss is a spider, those fallen Doomsday cultists will soon become part of the terrain, wrapped in spider webs like the new boss’s prey.

“This is why killing people in dungeons becomes the perfect crime.”

I clicked my tongue and stepped onto the escape gate.

After a moment of blinding light, I was about to step forward, seeing the guards standing warily, when I felt the child in my arms stir slightly.

“Hunter Seo Go-woon.”

The guards who had been standing vigilantly around the gate rushed towards me.

“What is that child?”

“Just a moment.”

I separated the child from my chest.

“Baby?”

As if responding to my call, the child’s black eyelashes trembled as if about to wake.

And slowly, the eyelids lifted.

As ruby-like red eyes reflected my image, the child’s eyes curved gently.

“Hae-ah. Hello.”

The child who had opened his eyes called my name.