NOVEL WEB [Translator – Pr?ks]
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Chapter 84: Human Hunter (4)
8.
“Fire Arrow!”
The moment the shout rang out, all the adventurers moved swiftly.
The warrior raised their shield, and the rest of the adventurers hid behind it or behind trees.
Like the gears of a clock.
Everyone responded to the attack perfectly, without exception.
“How many?”
“Three!”
In the face of their response, the number of incoming Fire Arrows seemed pathetic.
The Fire Arrows struck the warriors’ shields with a clang.
Clang!
A pitiful sound.
But none of the adventurers laughed at the sound.
Their eyes narrowed at this feeble attack.
It was evidence.
“Don’t move rashly.”
Evidence that the adventurers here were not just anyone, but the real deal.
“It could be a trap.”
In their eyes, this pathetic attack could be a ploy to provoke and lure them.
That’s when it happened.
Fwoosh!
Another Fire Arrow flew in.
This time, it was a single shot.
Clang!
And the attack disappeared beneath the warrior’s shield with an even more pathetic sound.
All the adventurers thought the same thing.
‘That’s the direction.’
The direction the Fire Arrows came from was the same.
The enemy was in that direction.
If they moved in that direction, they would find their target.
But the adventurers here flew.
“Chan.”
“Bihos!”
“Cho!”
The leaders of the adventurer parties called out names, and as each name was called, an adventurer stepped forward from each party.
They were thieves.
Boasting the swiftest bodies, they moved towards the direction the Fire Arrows had come from.
Their leader spoke to them.
“Scout.”
Don’t overdo it.
In fact, it was an excessive reaction.
There were only five enemies that had entered.
Even if there were more, their numbers were insignificant compared to those gathered here.
Nevertheless, they were cautious.
It wasn’t because they were afraid of their opponents.
‘Conserve as much strength as possible.’
‘The real challenge starts on the 3rd floor.’
The scary thing is the strategic allies breathing right next to you.
‘From the 3rd floor onwards, everyone’s an enemy.’
The idea that even the slightest leak of power is unacceptable in front of those who will become enemies in the future.
In other words, no one intended to go all out, and everyone knew it.
And that “everyone” included him as well.
9.
‘As expected.’
El Pam was watching from the opposite direction of where the Fire Arrows had flown.
It wasn’t difficult.
Manipulating the direction using telekinesis was one of the easiest things for him.
And using that telekinesis to kill about 20 percent of the adventurers he could see right now wouldn’t be difficult either.
Nevertheless, the reason he hid his power here was simple.
‘They’re being cautious.’
If he were to reveal his true strength, he would surely be able to inflict a fatal blow in a short amount of time.
But on the contrary, they would immediately band together to face the monster that is El Pam.
Adventurers united in that way were not easy for El Pam to handle.
‘That’s what I want.’
That’s why El Pam deliberately threw ordinary stones.
To hide his power.
Of course, it would be the same going forward.
El Pam intended to launch threatening but extremely common attacks.
And at this point, that attack was simple.
El Pam used telekinesis.
“Ugh!”
One of the thieves running towards where the Fire Arrows had flown collapsed to the ground with a choking sound.
At the same time, he shouted.
“Poison!”
10.
“Poison!”
No one was surprised when the shout rang out.
‘As expected.’
Everyone had been prepared for this situation.
Yellow Scorpion Chio was no exception.
‘They used poison.’
He wasn’t surprised.
Poison was the most reliable way for the weaker side to increase their chances of winning.
‘Good.’
In addition, one of the groups of adventurers who used poison the best was the Red Scorpion Group.
The reason their name was the Scorpion Group was because they were surprisingly good at using the venom of various poisonous scorpions that appeared in the Nihal Desert.
They had earned money by hunting countless monsters with that poison.
Yellow Scorpion Chio was the same.
He had a variety of scorpion venoms at his disposal.
‘I have enough antidotes.’
And he had as many antidotes as he had venoms.
In other words, Chio and his subordinates were quite safe from the poison that the adventurer was using.
The other adventurers, on the other hand, were not.
‘Best case scenario.’
This was the best possible situation for Chio.
Naturally, Chio hoped for the following:
‘I hope this opportunity reduces the number of other competitors, even if just a little.’
He hoped for a good outcome.
The other adventurers felt the same way.
Everyone was doing calculations in their heads.
Of course, the common conclusion was one.
‘Conserve strength.’
Save their power.
“Ugh!”
Around that time, the second victim fell.
“Who is it?”
“Seems like a member of Desert Fox Heshan’s party?”
“Really? Wait, then?”
“Yeah, it’s the second one.”
A second victim from the same party.
“Unlucky.”
Of course, no one attached much significance to that fact.
“The third victim.”
“Poison again.”
“Which party?”
“Heshan.”
But when the third victim fell, the adventurers’ mental calculations changed.
Soon, the fourth victim appeared.
“Heshan’s party again.”
Four in a row from the same party.
“Really unlucky.”
Of course, no one thought it was intentional.
In a situation where it was difficult to kill even one person, it was impossible to deliberately target members of a single party.
But one thing was certain.
‘Lucky for us.’
Except for Desert Fox Heshan’s party, the rest had no desire to break this streak of bad luck.
The same was true when more victims appeared.
Everyone was doing calculations.
They had all suffered losses.
‘Heshan’s party has suffered the most.’
But the fact that there was a biggest loser made everyone continue calculating rather than going all out.
“Argh!”
The calculations stopped when the thirty-fourth victim appeared.
By then, everyone realized.
“This is strange. Thirty-four people have died, and twenty of them are from our party? How does that make sense?”
“Only Heshan’s party is getting hit, this is weird.”
Could such one-sided damage be attributed to mere bad luck?
It was possible.
But they couldn’t just let it slide.
“We need to talk.”
That was the moment.
Fwoosh!
“Fire Arrow!”
Another Fire Arrow flew at them, the same pathetic Fire Arrow they had seen before.
“Just one!”
Only one shot.
Still a pathetic number.
“I’ll block it!”
In front of that pathetic single shot, one of the adventurer warriors raised their shield towards the Fire Arrow, and everyone relaxed at the sight.
They had seen it.
They had seen the pathetic end of that Fire Arrow countless times.
So they let their guard down, and those who let their guard down could see it.
Swish!
“Ugh!”
The Fire Arrow moved like a snake in front of the shield, instantly leaping over it and piercing the warrior’s right eye.
“What?”
Everyone was surprised by the sight, and then they saw it.
“F-Fire Arrow.”
Two Fire Arrows flying towards them.
11.
Two Fire Arrows.
It was utterly pathetic.
But everyone saw it.
‘What?’
‘Did the Fire Arrow just move like a snake?’
The sight of the warrior who had raised the shield becoming a corpse with the Fire Arrow in their eye.
Of course, no one saw the sight properly.
Not only was it difficult to see, but even if they did, it was difficult to understand.
“Incoming!”
That’s why all the adventurers reacted the same way as before when they saw the Fire Arrows.
In situations where thinking doesn’t work properly, people usually react as they have been trained to.
And the adventurers here had been trained countless times to respond like clockwork in these situations.
So the warriors raised their shields, and those who had cover nearby hid themselves.
Just like usual.
‘As expected.’
That was El Pam’s intention.
He had used such crude and tedious tricks for this very purpose.
Now it was time to reap the rewards of his efforts.
Swish!
El Pam’s two Fire Arrows moved in a bizarre trajectory, like swallows flitting through the forest.
Thud!
And they pierced the eyes, temples, and foreheads of the adventurers hiding behind trees or shields.
“Argh!”
Screams rang out from everywhere.
Those who managed to scream were better off.
Thud!
Many adventurers fell to the ground, dead without even a scream.
And the Fire Arrows, still maintaining their shape, immediately flew towards their next targets.
It was instantaneous.
Swish!
Fourteen adventurers fell to the Fire Arrow, a mere 1st circle fire attribute magic spell.
“Damn it!”
“The healers are down!”
And only the healers at that.
No adventurer here was unaware of the rule that a healer’s life was more important than anyone else’s.
Gulp!
All the adventurers, without exception, swallowed dryly at this fact.
They felt a chill down their spines.
Swish!
In the meantime, an attack flew in.
But no one noticed the attack.
It was much smaller than the Fire Arrow, and at the same time, much faster.
Above all, no one knew that the magic was Apollo’s Fire Arrow.
The result of that ignorance was disastrous.
Thud!
Two of Apollo’s Fire Arrows instantly passed between the adventurers, taking their lives.
Moreover, Apollo’s Fire Arrows pierced through their targets.
This difference was significant.
Previously, one Fire Arrow killed one adventurer, but one Apollo’s Fire Arrow could kill dozens of adventurers.
In other words, it could cause a massacre.
In the face of Apollo’s Fire Arrows, there were no exceptions by profession.
Warriors, thieves, mages, pirates.
All kinds of adventurers, except for the already dead healers, were pierced and killed by Apollo’s Fire Arrows.
Twenty-five more adventurers died in an instant.
“We’ll all die at this rate!”
And using those deaths as fertilizer, the leaders of the adventurers remembered.
“Scatter!”
The best way to survive.
It was the right answer.
Staying together would only lead to a quick death.
But by scattering, they could at least extend the distance and time between deaths.
Of course, they didn’t intend to just survive.
“Target him after scattering!”
Their aim was retribution!
“No exceptions! From now on, we’re all one team!”
And to achieve that retribution, all the surviving adventurers truly became one team.
“If we don’t kill him, we all die!”
A team fighting for their lives.
El Pam knew it too.
‘They’ve become a different breed now.’
The adventurers rushing at him now were completely different from those who had been weighing their options before.
Like a pack of wolves cornered.
‘Assassins are included.’
There were even assassins within the group, more dangerous than anything else.
‘I’ve confirmed twelve.’
More than ten.
That was why.
That was why he had used such tricks to reduce their numbers by even one more.
If there were ten more of them, El Pam’s chances of winning would have been infinitely lower.
‘There’s no problem now.’
In other words, El Pam was now confident of victory.
Because he had it.
‘As long as I have Hermes’ Boots.’
El Pam put on his new shoes.
[Translator – Pr?ks]
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