I Became The Rankers’ Number One Pick [EN]: Chapter 198

198.

After neatly clearing out the monsters, Yoo Ji-an and Baek Eun-hee belatedly chased after the Elves.

The Elves, who had been running for quite some time, were staying near the stream created by Choi Eun-gyeol and Song Jin-ah.

Some were wandering around, probably checking if they could settle there.

Choi Eun-gyeol and Song Jin-ah had gone upstream in that short time and made water flow to the opposite side as well.

Perhaps, after some time, this would change the ecosystem of this mountain range.

As soon as Song Jin-ah gently placed a young Elf nearby, a mission clear system window popped up for everyone.

[Receive rewards at the ‘Fire Field Village’!]

Perhaps the same message would have appeared even if they had killed all the Elves on the spot.

“What would happen if we did that?”

Baek Eun-hee asked Yoo Ji-an on the way back.

“You’d have to face not one, but several bosses here.”

“Oh my, the boss here would be S-class.”

“That’s why we need to hurry and join the other team to persuade them.”

“I don’t know if they’ll be persuaded.”

In fact, those who frequently spent time with Yoo Ji-an were used to him knowing more about the gate than others, so they didn’t ask much.

They were curious, but they probably thought he had precognition or a gate攻略法 [strategy guide] skill.

However, hunters from other countries wouldn’t know that, and even if they did, they wouldn’t easily listen.

Hunters, especially S-class hunters, were inherently self-willed beings.

Anyway, to receive the system rewards, Yoo Ji-an and Baek Eun-hee returned to the Fire Field Village. There, the resident NPC [non-player character] who had given them the mission was already out.

Not only that person, but the entire population of the Fire Field Village seemed to be out.

“You’ve returned safely! Have all the Elves been dealt with?”

“They won’t be seen around here anymore.”

At Baek Eun-hee’s confident tone, the man said in a joyful voice.

“Thank you! It’s a relief that the Elves won’t be seen anymore!”

“By the way, did the Elves do something bad?”

“As I said before, those guys are harmful just by existing! We can never coexist with….”

Whoosh-

At that moment, Choi Eun-gyeol and Song Jin-ah, who had belatedly crossed the mountain again, joined them.

Yoo Ji-an glanced back and held out his hand to the man.

“Ah, here’s the item I promised!”

The man, who had been staring blankly, handed over the promised identification badge as if he had just remembered.

Yoo Ji-an put it in his inventory and scanned the people behind the man.

“Are these all the villagers?”

“Yes? Yes, I gathered everyone to greet the knights.”

“I see, then I can rest assured.”

“Yes?”

Rumble, crash!

With a roar, the sky flashed, and lightning struck the homes of the Fire Field people.

“Aaaah. The house, the house!”

The houses that were directly hit turned to ashes in an instant. Leaving the horrified villagers behind, Yoo Ji-an turned away.

“Why did you do that?”

Choi Eun-gyeol followed Yoo Ji-an. Her face was surprised, but she didn’t seem to be blaming him.

“It’s not fair if only one side loses their home.”

“What, weren’t you telling me not to empathize with the monsters earlier?”

“…….”

Yoo Ji-an closed his mouth, and the others chuckled and followed him.

***

Just before entering the kingdom city of Rivière, a gatekeeper blocked the entrance with a spear.

“Show me your identification badge.”

“Identification badge?”

Mila, who was in front, looked back at the group, but no one had such a thing.

“You don’t have an identification badge? Then you can’t pass through here! Get lost!”

“Hmm, that’s what he says?”

Mila obediently stepped back and explained the situation to the group.

“We can just push our way in, right?”

“It’s annoying to attract attention at the entrance.”

Mila shook her head at Ruben’s words. Seo-ah, who was in the back, pointed to the end of the encircling wall.

“There’s a mountain over there. If we go down from the mountain to the bottom of the wall, we can enter without being noticed.”

“Ugh, you want us to go all the way over there?”

Ruben grumbled at Seo-ah, but he glanced at Jackson. After all, the decision-making power of this team was with Jackson.

Attention was slowly gathering on them. They had changed their clothes before getting closer to the city, but it was still easy to tell that they weren’t from around here.

“Let’s go over the wall.”

Jackson made his decision and turned his body. Ruben glared at Seo-ah once, but silently followed Jackson.

They walked a little faster in front of the people gathered at the gate, and moved very quickly when they were out of sight.

There was a low mountain close to the wall. The group went up there.

“But if you make the wall like this, aren’t you advertising for people to invade?”

“Who cares? We just need to do our mission and leave.”

“I guess so.”

While staring blankly at the bottom of the wall from the hill, Jackson pointed directly at Seo-ah.

“Go first.”

“Wait, I’ll go instead.”

Mila stepped forward, but Jackson firmly shook his head.

“Mila, you’re an important team member. Nothing should happen to you.”

“Hey, you. What kind of words are you….”

“Protecting us is your mission, right?”

Jackson smiled kindly.

Seo-ah stepped forward without any particular reaction and looked down.

It was behind a large building, and there weren’t many people passing by.

She jumped down, aiming for the timing, but unfortunately, she met the eyes of the security forces who were entering the alley.

Tadat-

“Who’s there!”

“…Ah, damn it.”

The remaining three on the hill crouched down and hid. Seo-ah looked alternately at the top and the approaching soldiers, and eventually started running in the opposite direction.

“Catch her! Stop right there!”

Escaping itself wasn’t difficult, but it was also troublesome if they gave up because she escaped too quickly.

It was important to adjust the speed so that she seemed like she was about to be caught, and to make them move away from the place where she jumped down.

‘I shouldn’t get too far away if I want to rejoin them later.’

They could find each other by sensing each other’s magic power up to a certain distance.

Seo-ah, who had been running continuously, was cornered in a dead end.

“You little rat! Why is a small girl so fast?”

“This is a special crackdown area, doesn’t she have any fear?”

It seemed that the people here also knew that the place was vulnerable to invasion.

“Now, come with us quietly!”

There were a total of three security soldiers who followed.

They tied Seo-ah’s upper body tightly with a rope in an orderly manner, grabbed her arms from both sides, and one who seemed to be of higher rank walked ahead.

After taking a few steps, Seo-ah said in a very apologetic tone.

“Um, I’m sorry. I don’t have much time.”

“Huh? What did you say?”

It was instantaneous.

Seo-ah snapped the rope with pure force and pushed the soldiers on both sides hard.

While the two soldiers who collided with the wall fainted, the soldier in front turned around with an angry expression.

“You bastard! You’re not an ordinary one!”

Seo-ah looked at the soldier with a tense expression, holding a toy hammer. The soldiers who were holding Seo-ah from both sides were actually ordinary people without any special characteristics. But in Seo-ah’s eyes, a system window popped up for the soldier in front.

[Security Guard]

[Overall Grade: B]

[Finds intruders in the city and leads them to the lord. If one is killed, the perpetrator’s appearance is transmitted to all 100 other security guards, and they will continue to be chased.

Can use spears and swords, and is also skilled in basic martial arts.]

[Items: Spear, Identification Badge]

It was the first time a person appeared as a real monster. The grade wasn’t very high at B grade, but there was a problem in the description.

‘If I kill one, it will be transmitted to all 100 others….’

This could make the mission tiring throughout.

Seo-ah pursed her lips tightly and quickly switched the toy hammer to non-lethal.

Dodging the spear that was stabbing in, she lightly flew her body and stepped on the wall. And she soared high and hit the [Security Guard]’s head hard with the toy hammer.

“Ugh!”

He staggered once, but he didn’t fall down that easily.

The [Security Guard] staggered and this time grabbed Seo-ah’s sleeve. Seo-ah stood firm and repeatedly hit his wrist with the toy hammer.

Crack, crack.

“Ugh, my wrist!”

He was hit mercilessly with the power of an S-class hunter, so it was probably broken. But it didn’t matter. As long as he didn’t die.

Seo-ah did not rest and hit his lumbar vertebrae and cervical vertebrae hard with the end of the toy hammer’s handle.

“Ugh!”

The [Security Guard], who was swallowing a scream at the blow to his waist, fell forward as soon as he hit the back of his neck. He fainted. From the beginning, she couldn’t have lost against a B-grade monster, so there was no particular sense of accomplishment.

“Hoo.”

Seo-ah took a breath, put the toy hammer away, and tied her disheveled hair tightly. And she looked around to find the location of Jackson’s group.