The Hunter of the Other World Who Is Being Misunderstood - Chapter 43: Crush (1)

As they arrived at the scene and got out of the car, the culprit of the disaster alert came into sight.

“It’s quite big, isn’t it?”

“Wow, the whole road looks red.”

Two gates stood in symmetrical positions, resembling mirrors with a road in between. They were colored a bright red, unlike any other gates he had seen before.

Commonly known as the ‘Red Gate,’ it serves as a passage that pours out monsters within a few minutes of appearing and then suddenly disappears.

“I wonder if the citizens evacuated well.”

Unlike the ‘Blue Gate,’ where incidents occur if left unattended, the ‘Red Gate’ triggered a 100% stampede and was a considerable headache.

“Phew, I hope red doesn’t appear in a city like this~”

But that also happens when there is a lack of manpower to respond.

Thud, thud, thud. 

When the heavy footsteps of a beast beyond the gate resonated, Esther, with a snort, conveyed a message to those standing behind her.

“Starting now, it’s time for the guild leader to work, so the rest of you huddle in the corner!”

Then, the employees of Korea Magic Tower quickly distanced themselves from Esther. Swept away together, Kim Kiryeo is lost in thought with a blank expression.

‘Isn’t this too far? In this situation, no one would be able to support Esther.’

Up until this point, he had underestimated Earth’s S-Class, both during Kang Changho’s time and Jung Haseong’s time. In the narrow and limited space, they couldn’t fully exert their strength freely because of his burden as F-Class hunters.

-Grrrrr…

-Syaaasssh

-Grrrrowl…

“Hunter Kim Kiryeo, from now on, never go near our CEO. You understand, right?”

But today, he realized the status of an S-Class hunter as limitations disappeared.

-Thud, thud…

Numerous monsters began to emerge from the gates on both sides—a headless giant bending a log, and a mischievous little devil giggling.

Esther glanced at the group of monsters advancing in black waves, then took a leisurely step.

“I’ll start from the left. Because I’m left-handed.”

However, every time she took a step forward, a strange phenomenon occurred.

“Kiiiek, keek? Haaaghk!”

The monsters that were approaching with fierceness suddenly turned over and fell.

Tuk, tuk.

Like a rat that took poison. As Esther got closer to the gate, the amount of screaming monsters increased.

-Kaaaaagh! Kaaaaaaagh!

-Grrrrr….

A formless fear hangs over the streets. But only one person in this room could accurately understand everything the other person was doing.

‘This is crazy; it was really awesome, right?’

A curse is a kind of strong implication; it has the power to make a healthy person sick in an instant, and sticking a dagger into a straw doll can cause pain. This phenomenon cannot occur without the illusion of the brain.

‘That’s why curse magic requires special concentration.’

Kim Kiryeo felt the overwhelming energy swirling around Esther. Activating her magic, she resembled a massive typhoon. Any creature entering her domain is mercilessly cursed and killed without forgiveness.

‘This is why the employees ran away all the way here. Just a brush within the range of her aura is enough to witness an unpleasant sight.’

Rough and crude magical power, yet there is no hesitation in wielding it.

“Everything that blocks my path will boil to death!”

As words flowed from Esther’s mouth

Puk.

The heads of the little demons that filled the area exploded all at once.

Blub.

The giant monster wielding a club spoke no differently. Esther’s curse skill wiped out the monster army in an instant. The sight of mud-black blood scattering like firecrackers and soon soaking the road seems unrealistic.

-Wuuuuuu!

“Oh, are you the boss?”

And then, a mournful cry echoed from beyond both sides of the gate. After all the monsters were dead, Esther confirmed the identity of the last monster that appeared and burst into laughter.

“Puahaha! That’s why you couldn’t come out sooner!”

The boss of this Red Gate is none other than a bipedal beast. But the problem is that their bodies are not usually large.

“Isn’t that fitting into the gate perfectly?”

Esther sighed as she gazed at the enormous beast, which, by estimation, appeared to be 10 stories tall. The monster seemed duller and more foolish, possibly because of its square-shaped snout silhouette.

‘Huh?’

However… Unlike the relaxed Esther, Kim Kiryeo felt a slight sense of crisis. That’s right, this monster came out of the red gate on the right.

Kiiiiieng….

The second boss that appeared was none other than a huge lump of scrap metal. It’s a mechanical monster resembling twins, much like the boss on the left.

‘It’s not a living thing, is it?’

Of course, you can’t put a curse on something like this.

‘D, did I come to watch for no reason? That thing is the complete weakness of curse wizards, you know?’

But this was a useless worry.

“Ah~ the other side is a robot?”

After saying this, Esther immediately kicked the ground and rushed away. Closing the distance in an instant, Esther struck the mechanical beast with her fists.

-Bang!

A muffled thud echoes through the air. Esther’s powerful blow crushes the metallic head of the mechanical beast. That’s right. If magic doesn’t work, she can overcome it with the superior hardware of an S-Class.

“….”

Kiryeo watched Esther’s hunt and quietly covered his ears.

Boom! Bang!

If he closes his eyes, it’s like the sound of a building being completely demolished.

“As expected, since the CEO stepped forward, the two A-Class red issues will be resolved quickly.”

“Is it just me, or do you feel oddly reassured when Esther the Hunter is at the headquarters?”

The people in the guild also laughed and chatted, probably thinking that the decision had been made by this point.

“Wait!”

But the next moment.

“Why are you doing this?”

“H, hey!”

The tower employee suddenly started pointing and shouting somewhere. There was a middle-aged woman standing where their gaze was directed. A person looking around with car keys in her hand…

“Citizen?”

As soon as she discovers this, the air currents around her suddenly change.

“U, ugh!”

“Crazy! We clearly blocked the road, so how is she sneaking in like this?”

The C-Class hunter from Magic Tower panics and rushes away. He then takes the person without mercy, which leads to a small fight.

“W, what are you doing!”

“Please get off the road now!”

“No, is it okay for an awakened person to touch a person’s body like this? Let go! I’ll just quickly get out of the car on the other side!”

It seems that someone has appeared belatedly trying to move her property after seeing the news of the appearance of Red Gate. The employees of Magic Tower, after seeing the citizen, all had their expressions become contemplative.

“That should have been removed in advance! When was the last time an alarm was issued!”

Kiryeo was also breaking into a cold sweat.

‘Monsters are not the problem now.’ 

Didn’t he just compare Esther to a typhoon?

The more enormous power someone is born with, the more difficult it is to learn delicate magic control. So when Esther fights, the curse she unleashes is so widespread that it covers the entire surrounding area…

‘If a non-awakened person comes into contact with S-Class magic…’

This is how ordinary people end up dying. The Hunter of the Magic Tower seemed to have reached the same conclusion, but immediately stretched out their hand to rule out the person who appeared. Before that, the situation he was worried about happened.

“What? Why did a citizen come here?”

“CEO!”

Esther, who defeated the machine beast, moved to the center of the road to catch the final boss.

The eye of the typhoon has moved. Therefore, the left road also immediately fell under the influence of magic. As a result, an S-class vicious curse was on the verge of scratching the civilians.

“Evacuate that person immediately!”

Reflexively, Esther canceled all the skills she had been activating, withdrawing her magic to protect the citizens. However, this action resulted in a significant backlash.

“Wuuuuu!”

The White Beast screamed and lifted his head. As the curse suppressing him disappeared, he seemed to burst out all the anger he had been suppressing at once.

“Kaaagh!”

“Esther-ssi!”

Boom, boom, boom!

Red Gate’s boss activated a unique skill.

It struck the top of the S-Class hunter’s head with its angled front leg. Esther quickly crossed her arms to protect her head, but this was no simple punch.

“W, what is this!”

Boom! 

Around the time the beast’s hooves roared, a drastic change in the terrain unfolded beneath Esther’s feet. The ground shook, and a sticky liquid surrounded her, burying her lower body.

“Ugh!”

It’s a swamp. The monster’s magic created a purple swamp in the middle of the city.

‘My legs are stuck!’

Esther fell into the middle of the swamp and became unable to move. However, this crisis ended in vain.

“CEO! Citizens have been evacuated!”

As soon as she heard the news that the uninvited guest had disappeared, Esther cast the curse again towards the boss. How many monsters in the world can handle the maximum output of an S-Class?

-Wuuuuu, wuuu…!

The giant beast seemed to be suffering from a fatal disease, foaming at the mouth and panting before sticking out its tongue and facing death.

Thud…

Truly, there is an overwhelming difference. In the first place, the S-Class couldn’t face any major crisis in this battle.

“She caught it!”

The employees of Magic Tower were delighted. If there were no casualties despite the occurrence of two A-Class red gates, wouldn’t that be considered a success?

“Wow, I thought something really big was going to happen when someone came in earlier!”

“Do you know what she said to me when I moved her out of the restricted area? She reported that her arm was broken because the Awakened touched it!”

“Phew~”

However, in the midst of the conversation filled with relief, a small voice came from somewhere.

“Hey…”

Everyone stopped talking and looked in the direction the sound was coming from.

“I feel like I’m falling deeper and deeper…”

There was a woman who was two-thirds submerged in the swamp. She wasn’t that bad earlier, wasn’t she?

“I heard on TV that if you fall into a mud flat, you should lie down on your back, so I just tried it. But somehow I became more stuck.”

Esther looks up at the employees outside the swamp with a sad face.

“What should I do? Team leader, there might be an emergency rope in the trunk, you know…”

“Y, yeah, uhm.”

But the employees were equally in trouble because the swamp Esther fell into wasn’t a simple wetland. Green oil flowed vaguely through the bubbling purple mud. This is a substance that was featured in various media three years ago, so now there are few people who don’t know about it.

‘A poisonous swamp created by an A-Class monster…!’

Isn’t that a deadly poison unique to gate creatures? It was a kind of common sense to people here. A liquid of that color is toxic. Therefore, the tower’s employees could not go out without permission. In the aftermath of the battle, there was swamp poison all over the road, so what if they accidentally stepped on the puddle?

Perhaps, even the amount evaporating in the air alone can be dangerous.

‘I’m S-class and I’m wearing poison-resistant equipment, so I’m able to hold out.’

Esther knew this, so she couldn’t move carelessly. An S-Class physical ability would be enough to get out of the swamp, but there is a possibility that the poison could spread widely during the struggle. Esther stayed still, worried about the on-site cleaners who would come later.

“….”

But here. Although he is a Korean hunter, there is only one person who doesn’t know the news from three years ago.

“Hmm.”

Kiryeo thought quietly as he looked back and forth between Esther, who was stuck on her waist, and the Magic Tower employees, who were just stomping their feet.

‘These guys, how much do they hate their boss so much that they don’t even budge?’

He mistakenly thought that the employees were ignoring Esther because they had bad feelings towards her… Of course, it wasn’t that he couldn’t understand. He himself often wanted to throw his hometown boss into the swamp.

But that’s it.

‘But isn’t this a bit pitiful?’

He sympathized with Esther’s treatment.

It wasn’t her fault that she fell into the swamp, but she ended up like that because she was trying to protect citizens who had ignored the restriction and entered the road.

‘Okay, that’s how I feel. Let’s give that vicious boss a chance.’

He soon made up his mind. He decided to step forward personally to help Esther

“Excuse me. Uh, employee?”

“Ah, yes!”

“You said earlier that there was a rope in the trunk. Can I borrow it for a moment?”