Chapter 53 – Hunting at the Level S Gate (Part 2)

Editor: Cherish

The next day, Kang Yu woke up earlier than usual, had breakfast, and went out right away.

Next to him was Echidna, wearing a snow-white airy dress.

— Did you and Han Sol buy this yesterday?

Echidna lifted the hem of her dress and spun around on the spot.

Her movements were like the movements of a manhwa character, and her doll-like appearance made it feel as if Kang Yu himself had entered a manhwa.

— What do you think, Kang Yu? Does it look good on me? — She looked up at Kang Yu with anticipation.

The guy smiled and stroked her on the head.

— It looks great.

— Heh heh! — Echidna, excited by Kang Yu's praise, gently clenched her fists and jumped on the spot.

Then, as she approached Han Sol, she tilted her head to the side.

— Thank you, Kang Yu liked it!

— Oh, you're beautiful no matter what you wear. — Han Sol pet Echidna on her head with a gentle smile.

Kang Yu headed toward the exit.

— Well, Echidna and I will be off to hunt.

— Okay. — For a moment, envy appeared on her face, but then she tried to smile. Han Sol herself knew very well that her level wasn't enough to go hunting with Kang Yu. — Have a good hunt, Kang Yu. —

— You're hunting today too, right?

— Yes. I'll be hunting with the crew like always.

— If you come across a monster you don't know, run right away.

— Okay, Kang Yu.

— I'll go with you guys sometime soon, too.

— Really?

— Yes. — Kang Yu nodded quietly, staring at the surprised look on the girl's face.

'It's time to help them with their leveling speed.'

Now that they've already accumulated combat experience, it's necessary to push them to promote faster.

— Oh, I already look forward to that day, — Han Sol said, smiling widely. Her improved remarkably just hearing that the whole team would hunt together again.

Leaving a happy Han Sol, Kang Yu headed straight for the Level S gate.

***

— Okay, it's time to start. — Kang Yu parked near the S-level gate. It was much easier to get in thanks to Young-ju's newly prepared pass.

'There aren't many Hwaran people today, is something wrong?'

Usually, the gate was surrounded by a large number of first squad members, but today, there were frighteningly few.

'Well, it doesn't concern me.'

It didn't matter to him what problems the Hwaran squad had.

Spotting the large lake in the distance, Kang Yu said to Echidna:

— Don't go anywhere near that lake. A really dangerous monster lives in that lake.

— That's fine. I'll be right beside you.

— Anyway, I'll attract the monsters, and you'll help me by killing them. But don't turn into a full-sized dragon.

Of course, the bigger she was, the more power she had, but her original size was just too big.

That would attract unwanted attention from more monsters than they could handle.

— I see. — Echidna kept nodding her head with an eager look.

Kang Yu used the Power of Observation to track the monsters nearby.

'Are they giant orcs?'

He could sense a giant creature moving on the ground, five meters away.

They were the most popular monsters in this gate because they gave a lot of experience points and appeared in large numbers.

'First let's try to take them down one by one.'

Kang Yu used the Power of Temptation to lure one of the Orcs.

— Echidna, get ready.

— Okay.

The earth shook.

When he saw the monster approaching, he sat down.

The giant was rushing at them with great speed and a terrible scream.

[Heaven's Power]

Realizing that he couldn't resist the orc without using the Power of Heaven, Kang Yu sped at the monster.

Kang Yu's attack didn't even make the orc hesitate, and instead it let out another scream.

The guy smiled nervously.

'So this is what Level S monsters are like.'

Even using one of his Powers, Kang Yu couldn't succeed.

'However…' His eyes gleamed.

Continuing to use Heaven's Power, he caught the monster's hand and climbed on top, riding the orc.

'He's not strong enough to be undefeatable.'

He used Magi to create a spear and stuck it through the back of the orc's head, sticking it in as deep as possible.

If he had his true strength, he would have cut the monster from the inside with the Power of Blade.

'It's going to be hard to do that now.'

Now it was hard for him to use even three Powers at once.

'Without using the Power of Heaven, I can't stay in the air.'

In order to not fall off the orc, he focused even more power to the hand holding the spear.

The monster kept twitching, and its blood splattered onto Kang Yu's hand.

— Dark Side! — At that moment, Echidna came to Kang Yu's aid using magic.

Twelve sickles formed in the air and they flew straight into the giant orc.

Kang Yu jumped off, and the orc roared with excruciating pain, suffering from the sickles that just pierced his body.

Bloody mixed with the tears that flowed out from its eyes, and it started running in a frenzy.

It tried to counter Echidna, who had attacked from afar.

— I won't let you do as you please, — Kang Yu said quietly, dissolving the Dark Spear and concentrating all his power into his right hand.

Using the Power of a Thousand, he swung his right hand at the orc's head.

Punching through, he felt the soft organs inside.

[Power of Lighting]

The monster's body was struck by blue lightning and it wobbled.

Taking advantage of the orc's slowed motions, Echidna sent a few more sickles down his throat.

The body of the huge, five meters tall orc fell to the ground.

[You have successfully defeated an ordinary Class S monster, a giant orc.]

[Experience has increased]

[Level increased by 1 unit]

'One monster, one level!' The guy's eyes shone with delight as he read all the notifications.

Because Players usually start hunting at the Level S Gate around level 65, their promotion is quite slow even hunting Class S monsters. But Kang Yu came to hunt at the Gate alone with just over 40 levels, so the monsters here would give him lots of points.

'This is great.'

Even though it was more difficult, coming to the S-level Gate for hunting was a great idea.

If he was in a Level A Gate, he wouldn't get half these points for just one monster.

— Kang Yu, did you hurt yourself? — Echidna came up to the man who was completely covered in orc blood.

She looked anxiously at Kang Yu's body.

The guy gently stroked her head and answered:

— It's okay. It's just a few scratches.

Kang Yu had scratched his hand a little while holding onto his spear to avoid being thrown off the orc.

It was a small cut from the handle of the spear. It wasn't serious enough of a wound to use the Power of Regeneration.

— I'll help. — Echidna, dissatisfied with the wound, licked the scratch on Kang Yu's arm.

Her tongue tickled the skin and caused a strange sensation.

Kang Yu smiled at Echidna and looked down at her licking his wound.

'It's the same hand that was in the orc's head.'

Perhaps this information should be kept from her.

— It's okay now. — Kang Yu pulled his hand away.

Echidna, staring at Kang Yu 's hand sadly, asked carefully:

— Kang Yu, was I able to help you a lot?

— Yes. — Kang Yu had a reason for his affirmative and decisive answer.

She really had helped a lot to kill the giant orc.

When Echidna heard this answer, she smiled.

Looking at her smile, Kang Yu thought for a moment.

'She didn't increase in size, but she was still this strong.'

Kang Yu wondered if they'd be able to hunt more than one creature at a time if she grew.

— I feel like I've become much stronger since the connection between us began. — She looked down at her body in wonder.

After the day she slept on Kang Yu, she felt a lot stronger.

— Hmm…

Kang Yu swallowed. She was still using easy words that could easily be misunderstood.

— Let's find another monster, shall we?

— Okay.

Applying the Devourer's Power to the corpse, Kang Yu began to search for the next victim.

— That's…

At that moment, likely because of Kang Yu's noisy battle with the giant orc, a pack of wyverns appeared.

The wyverns weren't Class S monsters, but Kang Yu heard that they appeared here occasionally, and were more threatening than giant orcs as they moved in packs.

'Packs of 30 or even more creatures.'

When he saw the pack of wyverns flying at them, Kang Yu frowned.

They, in a flock of 30, were so dangerous that they could easily destroy a giant orc.

The pack of 30 wyverns were flying directly to Kang Yu and Echidna at the speed of light.

Kang Yu hugged Echidna against his chest and quickly dodged the attack.

— Ah… — As they were avoiding the attack, Echidna's white dress caught on the sharp wing of a wyvern, tearing it apart.

The girl's face turned pale.

— Aah!

— We need to avoid their attacks, — Kang Yu said, realizing that they were surrounded by wyverns.

But Echidna couldn't hear Kang Yu anymore.

— Ka… Kang Yu …

— — А?

— The dress you liked… — Grabbing the torn piece of fabric with trembling fingers, a fire lit in her eyes.

It was like a bomb exploded, a huge energy burst out of her.

— That was the dress Kang Yu said he liked! — With an ear-shattering scream, her body was shrouded in blue light.

Once again, she turned into such an enormous dragon that the three-meter wyverns looked like tiny sparrows.

The wyverns looked at Echidna who had become a dragon, shocked.

The roar of the angry dragon could be heard even through the gate.

At the same time, the pack of wyverns was ready to fly away, sensing danger.

Echidna threw herself at the pack and began a brutal massacre.

She easily got rid of the large pack of wyverns that could kill one or two giant monsters on their own.

— Oh… — When Kang Yu saw this, he made a delightful cry.

'Isn't she stronger than me?'

Echidna was much more powerful than he thought.