Chapter 151. 1st Area (1)
Wooden fences.
Around 40 males and females were gathered in the wooden barricades facing the 1st Area.
In compared to the other 41 areas, which had hundreds of Hunters dispatched,in here there were only a small number of people.
But it was not that the 1st Area was safer or smaller compared to the others.
Actually it was the exact opposite.
They only formed small elite teams in order scout the area since there were a lot of unknown locations as well as the area being too large.
In case of the dangers that lurks deep within the 1st Area which may pop out any moment.
Unlike the Hunters in other Areas who hunted beasts, the Hunters in charge of the 1st Area only scouted the area.
But the hunters in this team were formed the most elite members in the village.
Since this area was that dangerous.
The leader of the team who was in charge of the 1st Area, Karhal, was looking at Hansoo with a dissatisfied expression.
“You’re the newcomer. Did you say you were called Hansoo?”
The others in the 1st Area’s team were also looking towards Hansoo with dissatisfied expressions as well.
Keron was quite a dependable comrade to them.
Though his character was a piece of shit, such a thing wasn’t a problem in the Otherworld.
The problem was dragging down comrades.
Since that was basically the same as backstabbing them.
‘If this kid beat Keron then it means he does have some skills but… We don’t know about his character yet.’
Karhal thought to himself.
The crazy ones who had some skill were the most dangerous type of people.
And in that regards Keron was a part of their team and didn’t have any faults.
Since when they fought with him he was quite dependable at defending their backs.
Though he was an idol of fear for the Farmers, this was not something them, the Hunters, cared for.
Karhal was a senior in the village who would fulfill his 1 year contract and leave in a week but he still felt nervous and had cold sweat running down his back when he entered the 1st Area.
And they needed to scout this extremely dangerous area daily.
The Farmers giving them service was an obvious thing.
‘Farmers, who cares about them.’
The problem was the newcomer in front of him.
And him destroying Keron the moment when he stepped into the village meant that he wasn’t the timid type.
And it seemed like they would need to take this guy on their task.
To the most dangerous area, the 1st Area.
‘Fucking hell… Ekidus, what the hell were you thinking.’
Karhal muttered in befuddlement.
The 1st Area was somewhere one could come in after roaming around starting at the safest 41st Area and slowly climbing up.
Why did she put this guy in the 1st Area.
‘Tsk. There is nothing I can do. I guess I’ll just put him in the safest part.’
Not liking him was one thing but if this guy did something strange then the whole team would be in danger.
“Sebastienne. Come here. You are in the same group as the newcomer today.”
“…Fuck, are you serious team leader?”
Curses started to came out from the mouth of the blond woman who was named Sebastienne.
She could only.
Since she was now in charge of a ticking bomb.
Anybody would get pissed if they had to drag around a weight with them when saving their own lives was already hard enough.
Karhal frowned at her words.
“Don’t worry about it. You guys are just checking around the Okun Tree.”
“Oh?”
Karhal laughed coldly as he looked at Sebastienne who was making a joyous expression.
“Don’t be so happy. Since you’re in charge of teaching the newcomer. It’s your responsibility to teach him while you roam around.”
“Oh god dammit, he’s going to…”
Karhal’s eyes glared at Sebastienne who was about to continue talking.
Since it’ll become quite troublesome if she said that he didn’t need to be taught since they wouldn’t see him after a week.
And they didn’t know what could happen within that 1 week.
It’ll at least be troublesome if he drags them down in that 1 week.
“Stop complaining. But you can use any method to teach.”
“…Fine.”
Sebastienne nodded as if she understood what he was getting at.
And if she could pick any teaching method she wanted then it’ll be quite easy for her as well.
‘I can just teach him half-heartedly, if he dies due to that it’ll just be his own fault.’
They had grown quite fond of the other Hunters since they had been in the village for a year at least.
The one in front of her eyes was as complete stranger.
There was nothing she could lament over even if things went wrong.
Karhal saw Sebastienne, who was making an expression which told him that she understood, and then continued to speak.
“Okay. Time to distribute the parts. Keron and I will be in charge of the northwest side, Ankah scout around the river. Okeanon and Masato will scout around the Epinon boulder…”
40 people swarming around was stupid.
It was better to keep some distance between them and finishing the scouting job quickly.
“Okay, if any problem arises then just throw a red flare up to the sky. Dismissed.”
There were numerous times when a carrier pigeon wouldn’t work since the adventurers in the Yellow zone had quite a lot of detection disruption skills around their body.
Though they were together right now, it wouldn’t really feel nice not getting any help in a dangerous situation that may arise.
It was better to use a skill that could clearly be seen with one’s eyes or heard with their ears.
And since most of the beasts here could not detect the color red, they could safely send signals using a red colored skill.
While each group was quickly heading their way.
Karhal said some final words.
“Oh yeah. Anybody who cannot participate in the dinner party is going to die in my hands. Make sure you attend since I’m going to call over 100 Farmers at least.”
“Haha. Of course. Let’s see you then.”
They would be able to play quite a bit with 100 Farmers.
And the Farmers would feel quite blessed as well.
Since the more Hunters needed them, the higher chance they had at getting dismissed from the upcoming offering.
‘It’s a system where we bestow upon them blessings, Yeap.’
With the final words of Karhal, the 14 teams separated into various parts of the 1st Area.
***
‘Heheh. If there are 100 then I should call my doggy as well.’
Even when one came to the Otherworld one’s original features would not change.
Which meant that there were clearly Farmers who looked good and ones who did not.
And someone at the level of Sebastienne, a member of the 1st Area team, had the highest priority with the Farmers.
Sebastienne thought of Michael in the real world who was a model then looked at Hansoo who was next to her and shook her head.
‘Tsk. It might’ve been nice if he was handsome at least. Eh, at least his body is quite nice.’
A giant stature 2m tall and broad shoulders.
Sebastienne, who had been staring at Hansoo’s well defined muscles which seemed to be made of bronze, muttered to herself.
But sadly Sebastienne was into younger men.
‘Man, I’m beginning to dislike him more and more. Damn. And why the hell did he bring so much shit ?’
Anyways, since she was in charge of him she needed to take him around no matter what happens.
Sebastienne suddenly talked towards the newcomer next to her after a bit of running.
“You’re in for a easy ride today. Since the Okun Tree is the safest part of the 1st Area. Oh my, we’re already here.”
Sebasite blew a whistle while looking at their destination in the distance.
Okun Tree.
A tree named after the man who had first found it, Okun, wasn’t actually a tree.
It was a giant tree shaped sculpture that seemed to have been burnt by something.
Nothing actually existed near this half destroyed sculpture.
And there was an unknowingly deep darkness behind it so nobody dared to enter it.
‘Phew. It’s really scary whenever I see it.’
Sebastienne looked at the darkness below her as her body trembled.
They did not approach anywhere where they didn’t know of.
This was a strict rule of the village.
This rule was created a long time ago after when somebody in the 1st Area accidentally provoked <Something> and the village almost got destroyed.
After that their job at the 1st Area changed.
From <Exploration> to <Scouting>.
Though they had scouted around in fear of something popping out, they didn’t pry any further than that.
This was the same.
They were scouting around this place in case of any change but since there wasn’t any in the past 19 years it was one of the safest places in terms of danger.
‘Of course it’s not that nothing appears around it.’
Grrrrrrrr.
Even before she could finish her thoughts, a growling sound came from the jungle behind them.
“Oh, it came out.”
Sebastienne blew her whistle as she looked at Okel, a double horned leopard of the 4th rank.
The beasts around the village divided into 9 ranks according to the chart in the village.
The Farmers hunted those from the 9th to 6th and the Hunters usually dealt with 5th to 3rd.
And in this place, the 1st Area, 1st and 2nd rank beasts which even the Hunters had hard time dealing with would came out.
This is why the most proficient and skilled people were dispatched here.
But a 4th rank was something she could catch on her own quite easily.
And this was why she was being quite laid back.
‘But would it be the same for you newcomer?’
Sebastienne laughed as she looked at Hansoo next to her.
She knew that he had some skills.
That’s why he was able to beat Keron.
But humans and beasts were different.
The most important thing wasn’t strength when it came to dealing with beasts.
It was experience and knowledge.
They say that you’ll win every time if you know yourself and know the enemy.
Knowing more about the opponent than knowing oneself was important.
But how could she not be pissed when a chick like this had joined their team.
This was the time for her to vent her anger.
‘Well, I should at least tell some things about it.’
“Newcomer, go and get it. I need to see your skill level. Oh yeah, it’s weak spot is the forehead between the horns.
Kwadududk.
‘Oh my, he listens quite well.’
Sebasite, who had been looking at Hansoo who had jumped out the moment she finished speaking, suddenly freaked out.
Since this crazy bastard was aiming somewhere else instead of the weak spot between the horns.
“Hey! You crazy bastard! Between the horns! I said it’s between the horns!”
Kwaaaaaaa!
Sebastienne hurriedly shouted out while looking at the spear that was flying towards the leopard rapidly.
A 5m large, green leopard.
If you hit it’s soft skin then the weapon would get stuck in the mucus layer underneath that skin.
And the moment the weapon and mucus connects.
The powerful poison gas created from the oxidation of the mucus which quickly paralyses the adventurer.
But this crazy bastard was trying to cut apart that mucus layer.
‘Godamit! This dumb brute!’
Not every beast died because one stabbed it or anything.
Sebasite grinded her teeth and was about to step out.
Hansoo muttered inwardly as he swung his spear.
‘They might know it as only the forehead.’
The forehead between the horns.
It was indeed one of its weak points.
However there was a better weak point then that.
‘This place should not be known yet.’
Papapapapak.
Roaaaar!
“Uh?”
Sebastienne stopped her tracks as she saw the greenish leopard fall down after getting stabbed in 5 locations quickly in succession.
‘What? Why did it fall?’
The 4th rank was not just 4th rank in name.
If a 4th rank could got in the farming areas of the Farmers then they would get massacred.
It was that fearsome.
The fact that she was able to kill it by herself easily meant that she could use her experience and knowledge as the basis, dodge its attacks and kill it slowly over time, but that’s not how he did. He made it powerless in just a single moment.
Crunch!
Hansoo, was cutting off the neck of the leopard which had fallen onto the ground as he slowly looked at the materials in front of him.
‘Runes are dropping in various amounts. Good. The artifact is a bit useless…Oh I can use this as a material.’
Though he had bought a lot before he came here, he still needed quite a lot of things.
Hansoo gathered up a few things and then spoke to Sebastienne.
“Since I caught it I’ll take it. Oh and this is for telling me its weak point.”
Sebastienne stared at Hansoo who was handing her a small portion of the runes then frowned as she spoke out.
“…Get lost. You didn’t even stab the place I told you. What the hell did you do anyway?”
Hansoo replied very simply.
“Even if I tell you, you won’t be able to do it.”
The reaction nerve cores that constantly moved within the skin needed to have all five of them stabbed at the same time.
If they mimick it randomly then it would only get more dangerous.
It was better to aim for the forehead.
Sebastienne frowned deeply at those words.
‘This bastard…’
Hansoo walked past Sebastienne, past the Okun Tree and towards another location.
Towards the darkness.
‘To be dispatched to the Okun Tree. Nice.’
The others didn’t but Hansoo knew.
About the identity of the darkness behind it.
A dark part of the higher race’s history that they wanted to erase and had been destroyed by them.
There was a material inside it.
A core material that he would stab into the jaws of those guys.
Sebastienne freaked out as she saw Hansoo walking towards the darkness.
‘This crazy bastard!’
Not going randomly into places in the 1st Area, including that darkness, was a rule of the village.
If it was broken then it wouldn’t end with just a scolding.
And searching through the 1st Area however one wanted was a top ranked ban.
Chagrararak.
“This bastard! Stop!! Are you going to break the rules!”
Three skills that came out from Sebastienne’s body tied down Hansoo’s body.
Hansoo chucked as he felt the three skills freezing and surrounding his entire body.
‘Rules huh.’
Rules were created to maintain the current situation after acknowledging the defeat to the higher races.
If they follow the rules then they would only stay as losers.
‘You guys have to change now.’
Kiriririk.
Nurmaha’s Ring on Hansoo’s right hand twinkled.
At the same time the three suppressive skills weakened.
Boooom!
Hansoo’s Demonic Dragon’s Reinforcement and Forked Lightning swept around his body like an explosion.
The suppressive skills blew apart and Hansoo became free right away.
“Huh?”
“Stand here and relay a message. Don’t follow if you don’t want to regret it.”
Hansoo left those words with the flustered Sebastienne and jumped down.
“This crazy bastard!”
Sebastienne, who had hurriedly looked at the darkness in a daze that could not be sensed due to some weird reasons, suddenly made a confused expression.
‘Relay the message? To whom?’
***
“That crazy bastard…Is really causing trouble. Look at him. I told you he would cause some troubles.”
“…”
Everyone in the yellow zone learnt detection skills.
But that guy was strange and didn’t learn any.
As Keron spoke out coldly while looking at Hansoo with his detection skills, Karhal nodded with a heavy expression as well.
‘To break the village’s rule. This pretentious bastard.’
The rules were created by the person who build the town, Clementine and they were above everyone and nobody could break them.
Even the village leader.
And even more so for a arrogant newcomer who would soon become an offering.
Karhal thought of Hansoo who had jumped into the darkness and then spoke out.
“I guess we’ll need to punish him. He should’ve just disappeared after staying here quietly for a week…”
Soon the red light from the skill Karhal sent out covered the sky.
Karhal and Keron, who had gathered the team, hurriedly started to move out.
Towards the Darkness Hansoo jumped down to.