Chapter 241 - At Least You Have Some Decency

New Novel - Read Here

The Grove Shopping Mall, which was surrounded by a bustling waterfront promenade, was engulfed in darkness as battle raged on. The hunters of Gunpowder had barely received orders from the headquarters to defend the designated zone before mobilizing from each outpost. Unfortunately, with no coordinated strategy and no time to sync up with other parties, they were forced to fight in isolation. They had just withdrawn from a gate raid and were low on supplies; their stamina all but drained. They were caught in a blood-soaked fight that truly fit the definition of a desperate struggle.

“Chief Patrick! There are too many hornets! The magic users are helpless, and the rest are all knight-type. We’re getting pushed back! The ranged fighters are out of arrows, too! We need a support party, now!”

“Hold the line! The Beverly Hills team is coming!”

“That so-called support has been ‘on the way’ for over an hour now!”

Patrick slashed down two carnivorous hornets, each with its venomous stinger charging at him, in one swift strike, then shouted.

“Whatever happens, we must hold the line from here at the Grove to the L.A. Museum! If this line breaks, everything from Blackburn Avenue to Orange Street gets overrun! Do you even realize how many people are still in there? Don't back down even if you die!"

“Damn it, I’m going crazy.”

“No wonder nobody wanted to be assigned to the Grove Gate.”

“If our party leader had drawn the right lot, we’d be attacking the Beverly Hills Gate right now.”

The party members cursed their luck. But their misfortune wasn’t over yet.

“Five o'clock! Male hornets spotted! The elite hornets are here too!”

“Right! Right! There are three male hornets on the right!”

“Over here too!”

Seven male hornets gathered in a semicircle to the east of the Grove shopping mall.

‘We're already struggling to deal with the sheer numbers, and now we have male hornets too? Everyone is exhausted because they just finished the raid at the gate. Normally, we'd be able to manage, but not this time.’

In truth, Patrick's party wasn’t just capable of handling the situation—they had enough power to wipe out this swarm of hornets. The problem was, they were all exhausted. Just a week ago, the Grove Gate had opened, and they had to eliminate mid-bosses before heading to face the boss of the Grove Gate. And as soon as the raid ended, they were thrown into this battle, leaving them too exhausted to fight.

“Chief! What’s the plan?”

The vice-party leader asked. Patrick opened the ampoule kit bag on his waist.

‘One booster shot, one stamina potion, and two healing potions. We won’t last long at this rate. Other parties are probably struggling too. This isn’t just hunting—it’s a defense formation, and we’re covering too wide an area with too few people.’

The other party members were also lacking supplies. No, the entire raid group that had attacked the Grove Gate was in a precarious position. They’d managed to hold off the worker hornets for a while, but once the male hornets and their elite guards joined in, more and more hunters started struggling. That was when Patrick seriously began to consider retreating.

「Hey, 2nd Party Chief. How's the situation over there?」

Dean, the 3rd Party Leader and a friend who joined the guild at the same time, sent a message.

「We’re about to get wiped out. What the hell were the higher-ups thinking, ordering us to hold this place?」

「What do I know? I’m just doing what I’m told. Who knows? Maybe our Guild Master suddenly developed a sense of humanity. That’s probably why he wants us to protect people.」

「Guess we’ll watch the sunrise from Santa Monica Beach tomorrow.」

「What are you talking about?」

「The sun rises in the west, right?」

「Aha! True, our Guild Master isn't the kind of person to do that.」

Patrick blocked the hornets' attacks while staying in contact with Dean and giving precise party orders. When the male hornets launched their attack, the front line couldn’t hold any longer. He rescued a hunter who was on the verge of collapse from exhaustion and brought the entire party into the shopping mall. He planned to hold the line by relying on the narrow entrance and putting the tanker at the front. Thanks to that, Patrick was able to catch his breath for a moment and resumed his conversation with Dean, which had briefly been cut off, while tending to the injured.

「So what are you gonna do?」

「I'm thinking of making a run for it if I see a chance.」

「What does the leader say?」

「Who? The leader? You mean Martin?」

「Do we even have a raid leader besides Martin?」

「That stubborn old man? You know how he is—a loyal dog to the Guild Master. He’s always like, ‘orders are orders,’ no matter what. I mean, he’s skilled, but honestly, he takes it way too far.」

「No surprise. If the Guild Master told him to do something ridiculous, like picking up soap, he'd do it.」

Patrick clicked his tongue bitterly. Martin's blind loyalty to the Guild Master had caused many, many party members to leave. He was desperately trying to get on the Guild Master's good side to be chosen as the next ‘Raid Leader’. Because of that, Patrick's raid team was one of the best in the guild, though the losses were also equally heavy.

「Still, we can’t just die, right? You and me, Patrick. Let’s watch each other’s backs. If things get worse, we'll break through one side and escape.」

「Disobeying orders and abandoning the battlefield... Haa, if this goes wrong, we might get kicked out.」

「It's better than dying. Plus, with our skills, even the Guild Master would have a hard time ditching us. And if he does, there are plenty of other places we could go.」

「If the Guild Master issues a special disposition order, we won’t be able to get a job.」

「If it comes to that, we can always go to Ithaca.」

「Ugh, no matter what you say, I'd rather immigrate than fall into a place like that.」

「So you’re saying you’d rather die?」

「No. I’m just saying we should assess the situation carefully. Be as cautious as possible. Even if we have to escape, we’ll hold out until the very last moment.」

「Alright. Let’s just hope we have enough time to make a run for it when the time comes.」

After ending the conversation with Dean, Patrick led the two hunters of the second group to the front. The hunters who had been on the front lines just moments ago moved to the rear. They gathered and carefully managed the few remaining potions. They left minor wounds untreated, only using potions if someone was on the brink of collapse.

When he swapped out with the third team, Patrick was also in bad shape. Exhausted, he tried to help a party member whose legs had given out, only to get pierced in the thigh by a hornet's venomous stinger. Fortunately, the rear team took over quickly, or he would have been done for. One of his party members dragged him back and sprayed a detox potion on the wound.

"Kugh! That damn hornet bastard lured us in? Ugh! Hey, be gentle."

“Thank goodness there’s an antidote. You survived because it was a poison included in a general potion; if it had been a special or unknown poison, Chief would have died right away."

“Paul, you bastard. This all happened because I was trying to save you, right?!”

"Exactly. That's why I'm generously applying the potion like this."

“Don’t act all proud just because you used shared supplies. Anyway, once this is over, you’d better be ready for some serious training. You’re so weak, your legs give out on you.”

“I mean, I’m an assassin class, you know? Look at Joey over there, he was out cold right from the start. So why are you only coming after me?”

“Hey, I'm a mage!”

Joey suddenly got angry because he was being picked on. Paul, who had never gotten along with him, sneered.

"What kind of mage acts like a big shot?"

“At least my salary is higher than yours.”

"What? You jerk, I’m a Tier-1 Assassin. Everyone’s dying to recruit me. I probably have a bigger stake in the raid than you do."

“You’re hilarious. If you’re so confident, why don’t you show me the contract?”

“Wanna bet? I bet I’m higher than you. I’m putting down $100,000. What’s wrong? Scared? Back out if you’re scared.”

"Come on. Just a hundred grand? That’s nothing. I get a hundred thousand and two hundred thousand. Deal?"

"Three hundred thousand? Why not just go for a million?"

"Fine. I'll put my house on the line. You do the same."

“I’ll add my supercar to the bet.”

“How about my supercar and the limited-edition watch I just bought?”

"Oh, I wanted that watch. But that’s weak. I've got a Miami vacation villa...”

"You bastards! If you want to gamble, go to Las Vegas! Who the hell are you arguing in front of right now?!"

After Patrick finally expelled the poison, he yelled at them, and the two hunters recoiled. Normally, he was a friendly and skilled party leader, but when hunting, there was no one scarier than him.

"Enough. How many potions do we have left?"

"This is it."

Joey, who had retreated to assist in the battle because he had used up all his mana, handed over the backpack with the remaining potions. There was no need to count. There were only four bottles. Even the most useful healing potions and stamina potions were barely enough to use on one person.

"If someone gets hurt in this state, we’re screwed."

"Kugh!"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than one of the fighting hunters was injured.

"Paul. Drag Baker out and hold the line for a bit. Looks like we’re going to have to pull out."

"Yes, sir."

While Paul dragged the injured person out, Joey asked, "Chief, what about the civilians here in the shopping mall if we pull back?"

"We can’t take them with us. It’s unfortunate, we need to survive first."

"Don’t get too sentimental. This is not the first time something like this has happened in our line of work."

"I know, but still…"

"Pay it back later. We’ll get out of here while the hornets are eating their food. Just focus on that. It’s the right call."

The 'food' Patrick was referring to was the civilians hiding inside the shopping mall. It was a cruel decision, but as the leader of the party, Patrick had made the best choice.

"Right judgment, my ass. If you joined our guild, you'd have been beaten to death by our Guild Master for three whole days and nights. If the Captain caught you, you'd probably rather head into the Red Gate instead."

Patrick froze at the unfamiliar voice that came from behind him.

‘No presence at all… I was caught off guard from behind.’

Patrick stiffly turned his head. A young Asian girl was standing behind him, looking at him with a cold gaze.

"Who are you?!"

The girl, who had briefly looked at Patrick, turned her gaze forward without even looking at him and moved ahead.

"I’m not sparing you just because you’re special. I’m telling you to pay the price for your life. I’ll take care of these guys first. You at least have some decency. Don’t run away.”

With one wave of the girl’s hand, all the hornets that had entered the mall corridor were pushed back outside. The girl, standing at the entrance, raised her hand high.

“You hornet bastards, you guys may have destroyed LA, but you shouldn’t have ruined my idol's concert.”

【Heavenly Punishment】

Boom!

“The path is slow. Is there no faster shortcut?”

Kang Moo-hyuk asked Thomas. Thomas spread out the map of downtown LA in his mind.

Like most people with mana addiction, he had excellent memory skills. In LA, he remembered not only the back alleys but also the underground passages and sewers.

“This isn’t a detour. It’s the fastest route. But if we’re not passing through areas with a lot of hornets and hunting them down, it’s only natural that it’ll slow us down.”

“That’s… I’m sorry. I’m the one who’s at fault and blames the guide.”

“No need to apologize. We’re saving lives here. That’s why I’m suggesting this: why not search around the area for an O.C. member or a freelance hunter connected to them? You could contact them through that.”

“A freelancer? Hmm, I don’t think there’ll be many in the city center. With the guilds taking over, jobs are pretty scarce...”

“There are probably more than you think. They’re the type to spend money as soon as they make it. There’s a street nearby with plenty of clubs and bars. If you search around there, you’ll find a bunch of freelancers.”

Thomas's suggestion seemed reasonable. Since LA was his area of operation, his opinion had become an important factor in Kang Moo-hyuk’s decision-making.

“Alright. Let’s head that way. It's faster to contact the O.C. through messages between hunters than trying to cut through the swarm of hornets.”