I Became The Rankers’ Number One Pick [EN]: Chapter 29

29.

White saliva sprayed from the tarantula’s hook-like mouth. Choi Seok-hoon tried to knock it away with his sword, but the sticky saliva didn’t fly off; instead, it adhered to his sword, hand, and arm.

“Ugh?”

It was the tarantula’s web, and though he tried to remove it, it was stubbornly clinging.

In the brief moment Choi Seok-hoon was flustered, the tarantula spat out more saliva, attempting to ensnare him further.

Seo-ah watched anxiously as a system window popped up.

[Skill ‘Brain’ is activated!]

[Skill level has increased! Brain (LV.1->LV.2)]

[Additional effect: Quick judgment]

From that moment, Seo-ah’s mind began to work at an accelerated pace.

Seo-ah quickly called out to Min Joo-yeon.

“Hunter Min Joo-yeon!”

“Yes!”

It seemed Min Joo-yeon wasn’t yet fully accustomed to her bow. She aimed at the tarantula with trembling arms. But when Seo-ah placed her hand on her shoulder and used the Fighting skill, the trembling subsided.

“It’s okay, just keep it occupied.”

“Ah, okay.”

Min Joo-yeon was slightly surprised, but she steeled her resolve and calmly fired arrows at the tarantula in quick succession.

The arrows, propelled with decent momentum thanks to the quality of the bow, slightly scratched the tarantula’s body as they flew past.

Min Joo-yeon’s eyes widened as if she couldn’t believe she had actually hit it.

“I did it?”

“Good job! Keep it occupied.”

After briefly encouraging Min Joo-yeon, Seo-ah grabbed Kim Min-joon’s frozen wrist and pulled him forward.

“Please block Hunter Choi Seok-hoon’s path!”

“Yes, I understand.”

Choi Seok-hoon was attempting to burn away the tarantula’s web with fire magic, but it wasn’t proving easy.

After positioning Kim Min-joon in front of Choi Seok-hoon, Seo-ah touched Choi Seok-hoon’s arm again as she passed.

At that moment, a system sound rang.

[Skill level has increased! Fighting (LV.1->LV.2)]

[Increase in strength and agility 10%->15%]

[Duration: 5 minutes->30 minutes]

[Mana consumption increases! Health 32/50 Mana 18/41 Fatigue 54/80]

Seo-ah felt a slight dizziness as her mana, which had been slowly dwindling, was suddenly depleted.

Seo-ah immediately drank a mana potion. Because Seo-ah’s magic stat and total mana were still insufficient, she had already consumed more than ten mana potions since entering this gate [a dungeon-like area].

It would have been a disaster if Yoo Ji-an hadn’t provided support with the potions.

Meanwhile, the tarantula fully descended from the tree and stood on the ground. It seemed to recognize that these humans were proving more troublesome than it had initially thought.

Kang Soo-jung and Oh Hyun-soo naturally gathered around Seo-ah. Seo-ah immediately cast recovery and fighting skills on both of them in succession.

Kang Soo-jung, panting for breath, couldn’t hide her surprise.

“Sister, this feels a little different from before?”

“That’s right, the skill level has increased.”

“Oh!”

But that was the end of their conversation. A spider with eight legs, each the size of a human arm, bared its fangs and rushed in quickly.

Seo-ah quietly chanted ‘Fighting’ and cast the skill on herself as well.

“The eyes are its weak point!”

Kang Soo-jung, who possessed the ‘Weak Point Attack’ skill, shouted, jumped, and climbed onto the tarantula’s back.

“The tarantula’s fangs are poisonous! Be careful!”

Oh Hyun-soo aimed for the tarantula’s legs.

However, the tarantula, befitting a C-grade boss monster, quickly dodged and snatched at Oh Hyun-soo with another leg. Oh Hyun-soo tried to dodge, but his foot got caught in the tarantula’s leg.

Seo-ah took out her Bbyong Hammer [a toy hammer] and struck the leg with all her might.

Thud-

The tarantula’s leg bent under Seo-ah’s Bbyong Hammer attack, and Oh Hyun-soo managed to escape.

“Thank you!”

Kiyaaaaak-

In the meantime, Kang Soo-jung aimed for the tarantula’s eyes. But it wasn’t easy to hold on without anything to grab onto on the constantly moving spider.

“Ugh, stay still! Stay still!”

She stabbed one of her twin swords anywhere on the spider’s back and used it as a makeshift handle. Then, she scratched one of the spider’s eyes with the other sword. She originally tried to stab it, but it was surprisingly hard, and the sword wouldn’t penetrate.

“Good job, Soo-jung!”

“Hehehe, euaaaak!”

The spider thrashed in pain, and Kang Soo-jung fell to the ground. The enraged tarantula stomped the ground and charged towards Kang Soo-jung. Oh Hyun-soo blocked it and stabbed the spider’s mouth with his sword.

“Ugh!”

“Hunter Oh Hyun-soo!”

It wasn’t easy for Oh Hyun-soo to withstand the spider’s strength alone. Seo-ah supported Oh Hyun-soo from behind.

‘Fighting alone isn’t enough. Breakthrough, breakthrough!’

[The ‘Breakthrough’ skill has been applied to Hunter ‘Oh Hyun-soo’!]

“Got it!”

The skill that had been used without Seo-ah’s conscious knowledge before now responded to Seo-ah’s command. Of course, Breakthrough had difficult conditions to use, such as ‘an unkillable enemy, the opponent’s strong will,’ but fortunately, it seemed to be met now.

With Breakthrough applied, Oh Hyun-soo, who seemed about to be pushed back, seemed to be holding his ground to some extent. In the meantime, Kang Soo-jung, who was below, escaped.

And from behind, a voice grinding its teeth could be heard.

“This spider bastard, it spat at me?”

Choi Seok-hoon seemed to have burned away all the spiderwebs in the meantime. While the tarantula was impaled by Oh Hyun-soo’s sword, Choi Seok-hoon’s sword blazed and blew away two of its left legs.

Then, he quickly reached out to Park Seo-ah with good sense. Seo-ah, understanding his intention, chanted ‘Fighting’ and ‘Breakthrough’ and quickly brushed her hand against his palm.

“Thanks! Whoa, this is no joke. It’s even better? I’ll be flying!”

“Please hurry!”

The tarantula pushed with force and deliberately buried Oh Hyun-soo’s sword deeper into its snout.

“Kuek!”

The tarantula had poisonous fangs inside its mouth, and the poison was gradually melting Oh Hyun-soo’s sword. Oh Hyun-soo’s face and the tarantula’s poisonous fangs grew closer and closer.

Seo-ah, who was supporting Oh Hyun-soo from behind, took out her Bbyong Hammer again. Then, she slammed it hard into the tarantula’s eyes.

Bbyong, bbyong, bbyong!

The tarantula, which had been taking the hits, seemed to be in quite a bit of pain, and began to flinch and retreat as the attacks continued two or three times.

Kang Soo-jung, who had regained her strength, had already climbed back onto the tarantula’s back. Kang Soo-jung persistently aimed for the tarantula’s eyes as before.

Seo-ah used ‘Breakthrough’ on Kang Soo-jung as well. Then, something flowed down her nose, and she felt a fishy taste. She had a nosebleed due to too many consecutive skill uses.

There was no time to drink a potion to recover now. But thanks to Seo-ah, the other three were performing exceptionally. Seo-ah roughly wiped the flowing blood with her sleeve and called Kim Min-joon, the tanker, from behind her.

“Please support me here!”

“Yes!”

Min Joo-yeon continued to fire arrows, keeping an eye on the tarantula’s movements. Kim Min-joon supported Oh Hyun-soo’s shoulder instead of Seo-ah.

With both hands free, Seo-ah began to relentlessly strike the tarantula’s eyes in earnest with Kang Soo-jung.

Then, the tarantula suddenly screamed and quickly retreated. Even though four legs had disappeared, the tarantula moved quickly with the remaining four legs.

It seemed to be climbing back up the tree.

Kang Soo-jung quickly chased after it. But that was a trap.

The tarantula, which seemed to be running away, stopped and shot a large amount of web at Kang Soo-jung. She tried to avoid it quickly, but it hit her leg, and the tarantula quickly climbed the tree in that state.

“Iik!”

Kang Soo-jung struggled to avoid being dragged up the tree, but it was not easy to cut the sticky web with physical force.

The tarantula, which had already settled on a high branch, easily dragged Kang Soo-jung up.

‘What to do, what to do?’

At that time, Min Joo-yeon’s bow came into Seo-ah’s view again. Seo-ah quickly called Choi Seok-hoon.

“Here, please light the arrowheads on fire!”

“Oh, smart!”

Without specifying anyone, Choi Seok-hoon ran over and used magic. He was a D-grade magic swordsman, so he couldn’t create a large fire, but he could easily ignite the arrowheads.

“Can you hit it?”

“I’ll, I’ll try!”

Seo-ah grabbed Min Joo-yeon’s shoulder tightly and shouted Fighting once more.

[Health 21↓/50 Mana 12↓/41 Fatigue 78↑/80]

Blood welled up from her throat. Seo-ah swallowed it, closed her eyes, and murmured ‘Breakthrough’. Breakthrough consumed much more mana than Fighting.

[Mana 3(9↓)/41]

[The ‘Breakthrough’ skill has been applied to Hunter ‘Min Joo-yeon’!]

Min Joo-yeon’s fire arrow flew in a straight line towards the web tying Kang Soo-jung’s leg.

Even if it didn’t hit perfectly, she could see the string loosening as the fire got close. The web was weak against fire.

“One shot, one more shot!”

As another fire arrow flew, the melted web stretched out longer. Not missing the opportunity, Choi Seok-hoon jumped up and cut the string with his sword of fire. Oh Hyun-soo caught the falling Kang Soo-jung.

“Nice!”

The tarantula, whose center of gravity suddenly shifted, staggered on the tree. It would have been impossible under normal circumstances, but now it only had four spider legs.

“More, shoot more!”

Min Joo-yeon fired arrows in rapid succession. Her arrows still couldn’t penetrate the tarantula’s outer skin, but they had the effect of pushing it away.

“Wait!”

Oh Hyun-soo put Kang Soo-jung down and jumped up the tree.

And he desperately kicked the tarantula’s head with all his might.

Thud!

It was Choi Seok-hoon who cut off the remaining legs of the fallen tarantula. The tarantula, with all eight legs severed, could only twitch on the floor and could do nothing more.

“Ugh.”

But Choi Seok-hoon, who had been active at the end, suddenly sat down. Seo-ah rushed over.

“What’s wrong?”

“I got bitten, damn it.”

The tarantula, in its last struggle, bit Choi Seok-hoon’s heel in the blink of an eye. It was so sharp that there were holes in his leather work boots.

Choi Seok-hoon’s skin color rapidly darkened.