My Selfish Skillbook – Chapter 72
Chapter 72
"That's strange. It seems the wind isn't blowing over there."
The Ajusshi spoke, looking at the place where the tents were pitched. The tents weren't shaking in the slightest.
When we approached, we could see why.
[You have entered the Safety Zone.]
[The RP Shop is now available.]
"Safety Zone? Is it something like a Safety Field?"
The Ajusshi opened the shop and said.
"I don't think it's exactly the same."
I too looked at the shop and answered.
The number of items sold at the RP Shop had noticeably decreased.
Moreover, they only sold items; the Stats and Skill tabs had completely disappeared.
"It seems leaving is impossible as well."
The Vice Guild Leader said, holding a ticket. To test it, I took out a ticket too.
[The use of tickets is impossible within the Safety Zone.]
Immediately, a guiding voice was heard.
"Maybe it feels like a highway rest stop?"
Hyeri's comparison sounded plausible, so I let out a short laugh.
"Anyway, we don't need to stop at a rest stop right now."
O Se-yeon said, looking toward the tents.
The Hunters from the Exploration Union had been looking this way from around the tents for a while.
"Uh, something feels off."
The Ajusshi muttered.
"Th-they're coming this way."
Hyeri's voice trembled.
Several Hunters from the Exploration Union were running toward us. Weapons were in their hands.
"It seems they're welcoming us quite enthusiastically?"
The Ajusshi said, raising his axe.
'So that's how they want to play.'
Looking at the Black Hunter running at the front with a hammer, I moved my hand toward my inventory.
***
A short while ago, inside an Exploration Union tent.
Despite being spacious enough for several people, there was only one person inside.
"Vice Commander John!"
A Hunter dashed into the tent.
"Why is it so noisy?"
A Black man with bulging muscles grumbled, lying on a cot.
"The Atlas bastards have appeared."
"What!"
John shot to his feet.
'Those bastards, I was sure they fell into the trap, yet they've already come this far?'
He glared at the Hunter who had delivered the news.
"How many?"
"That's... there are only five of them."
"Hmph, as expected, there's no way they could have made it here unscathed. It seems they lost quite a few."
John, who couldn't have imagined they had come with just five people from the start, smiled triumphantly.
John picked up the hammer he had placed beside him.
"Go and tell the Expert-grade Hunters. Tell them to gather in front of my tent."
"Huh?"
"We're catching them all right here."
"B-but Commander Peter isn't here right now."
John's expression turned fierce.
"Shut up and do as you're told. When the Commander isn't here, I'm in command. Or shall I punish you right here for insubordination?"
"Ah, understood."
The Hunter hurried outside.
"Every single one of them only looks for that brat Peter. Tch."
Spitting on the floor, John grabbed his hammer and went outside. His eyes caught sight of the Hunters near the Safety Zone boundary.
'If I get rid of them, the pigs in the Exploration Union will look at me differently too.'
A greedy expression surfaced on his face.
'I'll show them I'm better than some brat like that.'
"Vice Commander, everyone has gathered."
John turned his head. Ten armed Hunters were lined up.
"Good. Follow me."
With that, John ran at the very front, hammer in hand. A Hunter holding a spear came into his view.
'I don't know if it's Hajin or Hwajin, but how great can some Hunter from a tiny country be?'
John opened his mouth.
"There's no need to keep them alive! Kill them all!"
As he ran, John saw a translucent dome wrapping around them.
'A defensive skill?'
John struck the barrier with his hammer.
*Kuuuung!*
"Tch."
John felt a heavy pain in his wrist.
"Everyone, break this wall!"
At John's command, the Hunters' various attack skills assaulted the mana barrier.
John too used an attack skill to strike the barrier.
"Giant Hammer!"
The hammer John was holding grew dozens of times larger. It was the skill that had made him the strongest close-range dealer in America.
"Kraaack!"
With a bizarre shout, John brought the hammer down on the mana barrier.
A massive crash loud enough to burst eardrums vibrated through the air.
"What the hell..."
John's eyes widened.
Despite taking his skill head-on, the mana barrier was completely unscathed, without a single scratch.
'Even the boss of a 7-star dungeon went down in one hit to my skill...'
To John, [Giant Hammer] was his pride itself.
"Kkeuk!"
He gritted his teeth and raised the hammer again.
Thinking that if once wasn't enough, he'd strike twice or a third time, he moved his mana.
At that moment, Hwajin, who was inside, crouched down.
'What's he doing?'
John's movements stopped.
'Is he planting something...?'
Shortly after, the sand shook and something popped up—a wooden humanoid the size of an adult's arm.
Hwajin said something to the wooden humanoid, and it nodded before running toward the Exploration Union's Hunters.
'What?!'
Then, the wall that had blocked John's hammer disappeared. The wooden humanoid swung its arm, scattering seeds in front of the Hunters, and then emitted light from its body.
"Uwaaack!"
"What is this!"
The Hunters from the Exploration Union who had followed John screamed.
Roots of trees that had suddenly sprouted attacked the Hunters.
The Hunters caught by the roots rapidly lost HP and fell into a coma state.
John jumped back to avoid the roots stretching toward him, then raised his hammer.
"Like this is anything!"
When he struck with the hammer, the reaching roots were shredded beyond recognition.
"Kuh!"
But no matter how fast he swung, he couldn't overcome the number of roots.
The wooden humanoid followed John, continuously scattering seeds, and the roots increased exponentially.
"D-don't come! Don't come near me!"
John eventually turned around and fled for his life.
The Hunters watching from near the tents gasped as they saw John running toward them.
***
"Ooh. The little one's quite something, isn't it?"
The Ajusshi said, looking toward the Exploration Union's tents.
Countless Hunters were fighting a bloody battle against trees growing madly and extending their roots.
It was thanks (?) to the Black man who had charged at the front earlier now retreating while cutting across the area where his own tents were clustered.
The Exploration Union Hunters used all sorts of skills to fight the trees, but they were sorely outmatched against trees that grew the moment seeds touched the ground.
Before long, the Safety Zone grew quiet.
The Hunters hung their heads, caught in the tree roots.
"It's a massacre."
O Se-yeon muttered.
"A massacre? I told the wooden humanoid to only put the Hunters in a coma state."
Having said that, I looked at the fallen Hunters. The Hunters who had their HP drained lay on the sand, motionless.
'They are alive... right?'
I shifted my gaze. The wooden humanoid was excitedly scattering seeds everywhere.
At this rate, I wondered if the Safety Zone would become a forest instead of a desert.
"Stop and come back!"
When I shouted, the wooden humanoid pitter-pattered over to me and turned back into a seed. I collected the Mini Guardian's seed and put it in my inventory.
'This should be enough.'
Once time passed, a few would recover and look after the others.
I looked at the others and spoke.
"Let's use this chance to go find the source."
Everyone nodded.
Just as we were about to leave the Safety Zone and set off again.
*Kwaaaang!*
A meteorite fell in front of us.
I quickly spread out a mana barrier to block the sand.
Another loud crash rang out.
'A kid?'
A boy who looked to be around middle school age was striking the mana barrier with a greatsword.
A giant crater was visible behind him.
'Did he come from there to here in an instant?'
That wasn't the only surprising thing. The mana barrier, which hadn't even flinched at the Black man's giant hammer earlier, now had cracks in it.
"Where do you think you're going after leaving our team in such a state? I Hwajin."
The blond boy spoke in fluent Korean. He was as handsome as a movie star.
The moment I saw the boy's face, an indescribable sensation seized me.
"Ah."
I turned to the side and saw O Se-yeon's eyes changing. It seemed O Se-yeon felt it too.
"As expected, Mr. I Hwajin is a Listener. And Ms. O Se-yeon as well."
A woman walked out from behind the boy. Her facial features seemed East Asian.
The woman, who looked to be in her mid-twenties, was wearing a suit that didn't fit a world filled with monsters.
Moreover, she held a document file instead of a weapon.
The moment I saw the woman's face, I felt the same sensation as when I had looked at the boy—as if I was looking at a Listener.
"Rin. Stand back. If you get swept up and die, I won't care."
"Captain Peter, you're the one who should calm down."
'Peter.'
Hearing the boy's title, I felt somehow convinced.
"So you're Peter King."
"That's right."
The boy's eyes glaring at me blazed.
"To think you'd target the main force while I was away. You were a more pathetic guy than I thought."
'Well, damn.'
It was absurd.
"What is that expression?"
Peter spoke in an angry voice.
I sighed and opened my mouth.
"We're the ones who should be angry."
"What?"
"You laid a trap in the Forest Layer."
"What do you mean?"
"Don't play dumb. You deliberately left wrong markings to lead us toward a pack of wolves."
At my words, Peter merely looked puzzled. It was the woman named Rin beside him who looked surprised.
"Peter, could it be..."
When Rin whispered in his ear, I could see Peter's eyes widening.
"And we didn't intend to go that far either."
I didn't know what the two were talking about, but I said what I had to say.
"We were just going to stop by here for a moment and leave right away, but your side suddenly attacked us. Surely you aren't insisting that we should just stand still and be killed?"
"They attacked? From our side?"
Peter muttered.
"Could it be that the person who ambushed you was wielding a large hammer?"
The woman named Rin asked. When I answered that it was, Peter sighed and put his sword into his inventory.
"I apologize. It seems there was a misunderstanding. Please forgive my attack just now. From afar, it looked like you were the ones ambushing our people."
"I'm glad we can talk this out."
I dispelled the mana barrier.
"The markings that led you astray were not intended by the Captain. Rather, the Captain had ordered them all erased because the wrong markings might confuse the later arriving reinforcements."
"Then who left those markings?"
"We'll need to look into the details. Though I have a rough idea of who the culprit is."
"I'll make sure to find that culprit and have them apologize to you. Of course, I'll also punish them in a way you find satisfactory."
Peter approached me.
"To think my first meeting with you would turn out like this... Let me introduce myself formally. My name is Peter King. I'm affiliated with the Exploration Union, and I'm the Captain of the World Exploration Corps. I look forward to working with you."
Peter extended his hand to me. Despite his appearance, his attitude was quite mature.
"I Hwajin. I'm affiliated with Korea's Atlas Guild."
I said so and extended my hand, exchanging a slightly long handshake.