I Became The Rankers’ Number One Pick [EN]: Chapter 203

203.

Sensing something was off, Seo-ah called out to Mila, but she didn’t respond. Instead, she hugged Seo-ah even tighter with both arms.

“…….”

Jackson’s face turned cold as he watched.

“Mila, let her go.”

Jackson approached with heavy steps, his voice sharp and low. He knew exactly why Mila was reacting that way.

“How… how could this be?”

Mila’s voice trembled as she held Seo-ah.

The buff skill and [Fire Resistance] that Seo-ah provided were, of course, desirable in themselves. But more than that, when Seo-ah was close, Mila felt the magic and power raging within her body balance out, making it so much easier to fight.

Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that she was only now realizing the discomfort she had been feeling all along.

Even if she wasn’t [Raging] like Yoo Ji-an, a Hunter, especially a high-ranking Hunter, had to control the overflowing magic every time they used their power.

But when she held Seo-ah, it was naturally controlled without her even trying, making her feel like she could fight even more freely.

This was an incredibly addictive sensation for an S-class Hunter. Mila was willing to put up with having one arm occupied just to hold Seo-ah.

The more powerful an S-class Hunter was, the more difficult it often was to control the surging energy within their body.

Seo-ah herself had never experienced this, so she didn’t know she had such an ability.

Seo-ah looked at Mila with uneasy eyes.

Mila’s deep greed was detected by Seo-ah’s [Emotion Transference].

Seo-ah calmly focused her senses and gently touched Mila’s shoulder.

[Skill ‘Silent Night’ is activated.]

Mila, regaining her senses thanks to Seo-ah’s skill, sighed and set Seo-ah down.

“Hoo….”

“Mila, are you alright?”

Mila smiled bitterly at Seo-ah’s worried gaze.

“You need to be careful. Someone else might not have let you go.”

This time, Seo-ah gave an ambiguous smile.

It was something she already knew, but she usually didn’t have the chance to feel it because she was being overprotected by other S-classes.

The Hatchling continued to twitch for a while even after its head and body were separated. Its powerful magic was holding onto its life. But that was only for a moment. Gradually, the magic dissipated, and the massive dragon’s body cooled into a mere lump of meat.

[You have defeated the Red Dragon (Juvenile)!]

[Rewards will be calculated.]

The items from defeating the Hatchling went to Mila. Additionally, stats and skills increased according to contribution.

Just as she was about to take a breather, the red system window she had seen before suddenly flashed wildly in front of Seo-ah’s eyes.

[SYSTEM ERROR!]

‘This is?’

It was the same message she had seen at the temporary gate before. And it seemed it wasn’t just Seo-ah who saw it, as the other Hunters shouted in confusion.

“What is this!”

“System error? I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

Jackson also wore a bewildered expression, as he had never experienced such a situation. If they could see it, then it must have appeared for Yoo Ji-an as well.

This was definitely not good. Should they not have killed the Hatchling? Yoo Ji-an’s words to resolve things as peacefully as possible came to mind.

He probably knew something about this situation.

“How many other teams have arrived?”

At Seo-ah’s urgent question, Jackson frowned and pulled up the map.

But the map, which had been working fine just a moment ago, was now completely blacked out.

Jackson’s lips tightened, and Seo-ah bit her lip.

The last time the error message appeared, the space where Cha Tae-woon, Choi Eun-gyeol, and Park Seo-ah were located had been torn apart, and they were sucked into another subspace.

She remembered escaping after dealing with the swarm of flies.

‘So, this time?’

It was only a single experience, but she knew that this kind of error was never a good thing.

Should she tell everyone to stick close together now?

But then, the next system window appeared.

[The difficulty of the ‘Human-Centric’ final mission will be adjusted to SS-class.]

[Penalties will be applied.]

[All Hunters’ stats will be reduced by 10%.]

The Hunters’ faces turned pale as the shocking news was delivered one after another.

Seo-ah also clenched her fist tightly and inhaled.

Then, at the sudden sound of footsteps, everyone, including Seo-ah, slowly turned their heads.

A middle-aged woman with a face of despair pushed through the bushes. Her eyes were fixed on the fallen Hatchling’s corpse.

“…My baby.”

The Hunters could guess who the woman was from the voice that escaped her lips.

There was only one being who would call the Hatchling ‘baby.’ It was its parent.

***

[All Hunters’ stats will be reduced by 10%.]

Baek Eun-hee frowned deeply as she looked at the system window message.

“What, suddenly?”

The Japanese and Korean teams were running together to join Seo-ah’s American team.

They had been trying to check their location on the map, but it was completely blacked out, leaving them at a loss.

Then, suddenly, the gate difficulty increased, and even penalties were applied.

“What did these guys do? They’re adjusting it by 10%?”

Choi Eun-gyeol burst out in frustration, and Baek Eun-hee looked at Yoo Ji-an.

“Don’t you know anything?”

Yoo Ji-an silently stared at the darkened map.

This was the third time Yoo Ji-an had experienced this gate.

The first time, he had received penalties like now, and Yoo Ji-an had raged and barely managed to catch the SS-class Red Dragon, but he lost most of the Hunters who had come with him.

‘Thanks to that, I became Jackson’s target, though.’

The second time, he cleared it without receiving penalties. Even then, the S-class monsters were by no means easy, but they were able to catch them by combining their strength.

The problem was that the final boss appeared in different locations each time. And the direction they were heading now was a place Yoo Ji-an had never been before.

Moreover, since entering this mountain, magic had not been detected as if it were covered by something.

“I remember the spot where the dot blinked last, so let’s go there first.”

They couldn’t just stand by and do nothing. If they were lucky, it would still be there. If not, they could track the traces.

But if they were unlucky, they might have already encountered the boss. Thinking that, he felt even more urgent.

The current members of the American team could never face an SS-class Red Dragon.

Even if it wasn’t Yoo Ji-an, he could guess that much. Most Hunters had only seen an S-class monster once, or had never experienced it at all.

“But we have Seo-ah noona [older sister/term of endearment for a female friend].”

Choi Eun-gyeol muttered as he ran amidst the gloom.

“If we have Seo-ah noona, we can make up for the minus 10%. I don’t know if just making up for it will solve the problem, though….”

“Let’s go quickly.”

Worried about Seo-ah, Baek Eun-hee sped up. But soon, everyone had to slow down and stop.

“Everyone, get down!”

A tremendous storm of magic blew in, and the Hunters lowered their posture flat to the ground.

Yoo Ji-an, who was barely standing with his waist bent, raised his head, and bright yellow scales filled his vision.

【So, this is where you fled? You rat-like creatures.】

He didn’t even need to turn on the State Checker to know. It was a Gold Dragon, and a fully grown one at that.

[Gold Dragon]

[Overall Grade: S-class]

[Usually has a gentle disposition for a dragon, but is extremely sensitive about anything that touches its possessions. It often puts small races to the test, and punishes them as if it were a god when they fail to overcome their desires.

Can use 8-cycle high-level magic and uses lightning breath.]

[Items: Gold Dragon Heart, Gold Dragon Bone, Gold Dragon Scale, Gold Dragon Wing]

S-class.

But this guy wasn’t the boss of this gate. Why did it suddenly pop out? He had never seen a Gold Dragon in the previous rounds.

【Did you think you would be safe after touching my things!】

The dragon seemed very angry. As far as Yoo Ji-an knew, his team had never provoked him. They had even deliberately spared all the elves.

There was only one thing he could guess.

Yoo Ji-an turned his head towards Shizuka. Then, Shizuka made a flustered expression and hesitated before opening her mouth.

“We were just carrying out a mission.”

“What kind of mission was it?”

It was the Russian healer, Lilia, who answered.

“It was a mission to steal a jewel from the Gold Dragon’s nest. I think it’s the owner of that nest.”

“He’s pissed off because his jewel was stolen and chased after us! Aish.”

Choi Eun-gyeol raised his head to look at the giant dragon, holding his forehead. He already had a book in one hand, ready to cast a spell at any time.

【What are you babbling about! I will show you exactly what happens when you touch someone else’s things.】

It was already too late to avoid it.

Yoo Ji-an’s tightly closed jaw tensed. He wanted to get to Seo-ah as soon as possible, but things had gone wrong.

He also took out the Ruin Blade and prepared for battle.