I Became The Rankers’ Number One Pick [EN]: Chapter 77

77.

Seo-a changed the setting on her Bbyong Hammer to ‘Non-Lethal’ and swung it, narrowly missing Sujeong. Seo-a gritted her teeth and moved her legs as fast as she could.

Then, with all her strength, she whacked Sujeong on the head.

“Ouch!”

Sujeong clutched the back of her head and slumped to the ground.

“Unnie, that’s too much!”

“Sorry, Sujeong!”

To Sujeong’s resentful cry, Seo-a waved apologetically and ran again. The hit seemed to have had some effect, as Sujeong didn’t immediately follow.

But only a moment later, someone else started chasing her at a terrifying speed.

“What, is that all you’ve got?”

“Huff, huff, who… Ah, No… Yoonji.”

Unlike Seo-a, who was gasping for breath, Noh Yoonji ran effortlessly. “I was just jogging at the beginning… Well, you didn’t make it worth my while. I’m going ahead.”

She didn’t seem to be exerting much effort, but she was already pulling far ahead. She was so fast that there was no time to attack.

‘I fought against people like that, Sujeong and I…’

She realized once again how reckless they had been.

And starting with Noh Yoonji, many C-grade Hunters passed Seo-a. Among them was Yoon Doohee, who gave her a slight nod before calmly moving ahead.

“……Ah.”

Seo-a, who had been watching them disappear with a blank look, suddenly stopped.

Seo-a took a deep breath and stared at the scene unfolding before her with trembling eyes.

This was the real deal. She had entered the foothills of the mountain.

But the problem was that there was no proper path to climb. The small mountain she had climbed with Baek Eunhee before was similar, but this one was much steeper, higher, and rougher.

The backs of the C-grades who had gone ahead were visible.

They seemed to be having a hard time too, as they were constantly cursing. Their speed was definitely slower than when they were running on flat ground.

“Ugh, why do we have to go through this every year!”

“Hey, you’re in the way up front. Can’t you move?”

“Damn it! I heard from the guys who did this last year that the rewards are different depending on your ranking later on?”

“Ah, there was no such thing!”

Of course, they were still fast. Their voices, though relatively clear, were gradually fading away.

Seo-a also took a deep breath and entered the mountain.

She climbed as hard as she could, but her speed was much slower than the C-grades. Nevertheless, Seo-a continued to push through the rocks, stones, and trees of all sizes.

How long had she been climbing like that when she heard a whooshing sound? The sound came from above.

“Waaaaah….”

It was the B-grade Hunters. They were moving upwards by stepping on the trees. Seo-a stopped for a moment and stared blankly at them, who were practically flying.

“Escape from last place, my foot….”

Her only hope was that Sujeong was late, but she would probably have recovered by now and be coming.

Seo-a gritted her teeth and started again. The mountain terrain became more and more rugged. Yoo Jian hadn’t given Seo-a empty advice earlier.

The slope became steeper and steeper, and before she knew it, the trees had disappeared, and a landscape full of only stones and rocks appeared.

“…Ah.”

When she looked up, she saw C-grades crawling over a large rock. And a B-grade was climbing a little faster than the C-grades. Soon, the C-grade was overtaken by the B-grade.

‘Can I climb this?’

What could she do? She had to try as far as she could.

Seo-a took out gloves from her inventory to protect her hands. Then she grabbed the protruding part of the rock and stepped on it.

“Ugh.”

It was hard, but not as impossible as she had thought.

Come to think of it, she had often heard stories of E-grade Hunters working as civilian mountain rescue teams.

Seo-a had maxed out her E-grade stats, so she could do it if she climbed step by step. The only problem was that this was a competition.

“Oh, you’ve come a long way. Keep it up!”

Looking back at the familiar voice, she saw A-grade Hunter Kim Suhyuk, followed by Kang Haein and Yoon Ahjeong. They each shouted words of encouragement to Seo-a as they moved ahead.

The speed at which they climbed the cliff was almost like cockroaches. Her mouth dropped open involuntarily as soon as she saw them. In the meantime, Song Jinho was still there, looking at Seo-a with pitiful eyes.

“Ah… Hunter Song Jinho. You can go ahead.”

Then Song Jinho made a ‘shh’ sound and put his index finger on his lips. Then, after looking around, he quickly and lightly touched Seo-a’s shoulder.

The moment he did, a refreshing energy swept through her body. Her fatigue disappeared in an instant, and she felt refreshed.

“Keep it up, I’m sorry. I’ll go ahead.”

“Thank… you.”

Seo-a muttered her thanks with a dazed look. This kind of help was against the rules, but who cares if no one saw it.

Song Jinho winked and crawled forward at a rapid pace.

Since Song Jinho was also an A-grade, he soon overtook the C-grades and B-grades in turn. She could only be envious.

Whiiiiing-

A strong wind ruffled Seo-a’s hair and passed by. Now there was no one around her again.

Moreover, the cliffs that appeared from now on were almost 90 degrees steep.

Seo-a felt dizzy when she looked up and glanced down again. Her eyes blurred.

It wasn’t that she wasn’t giving up, but it was a height she couldn’t manage. She couldn’t see a way down.

Fortunately, the Taeyang Guild had specially installed several ropes from that section onwards, in consideration of the weaker lower-level Hunters.

But to reach those ropes, she had to climb an additional 10 meters from here. Seo-a felt that even that was difficult now.

The only fortunate thing was that thanks to Song Jinho’s recovery skill, her throbbing hands no longer hurt.

“Oh, Hunter Park Seo-a! You were here. Cheer up. I’ll go ahead!”

Looking up at the familiar voice, she saw Han Seokhyun flying leisurely in the sky with a red cape on his shoulders.

…Isn’t that cheating?

“Wow, how annoying.”

Seo-a gritted her teeth and put strength into her hands again. She felt like she knew why the C-grades had been cursing so much as they climbed the mountain path.

Seo-a crawled up the cliff at a pace slower than a snail, barely reaching a distance where she could reach the rope.

Seo-a pressed her body against the wall as much as possible and stretched out her hand with all her might. At a distance that seemed to be within reach, Seo-a lifted the foot she was stepping on with tiptoes. Her legs, strained to their limit, trembled.

“If I, ha, ever awaken, ha, to S-grade.”

That’s when it happened.

Rustle-

“Huh…? Oh, ughaaaa!”

The place where Seo-a was standing crumbled. Her body tilted as if she would fall straight down the cliff.

But fortunately, Seo-a grabbed the end of the rope by a hair’s breadth and gasped for breath while holding the rope tightly with both hands.

“I almost, died… Wow….”

And soon she could see Yoo Jian running like the wind. She didn’t know whether to say he ran like the wind or ran on the wind.

She was amazed at how he could generate such speed with that huge body.

“…….”

Anyway, Yoo Jian stood on the cliff and stared silently at Seo-a, who was dangling from the rope and panting.

“Hu…Hunter Yoo Jian?”

“Yeah, you’re safe.”

“…Yes, thankfully.”

“Then that’s good.”

Yoo Jian really just left those words and ran back on the air. It was amazing to see again. How does that work? Is he even human?

Anyway, Seo-a had no time to delay. Looking down, Kang Sujeong was already climbing the cliff.

Seo-a pulled herself together and grabbed the rope, struggling to climb. As muscles she hadn’t used were overworked, her wrists, shoulders, waist, and so on screamed.

‘It’s a good thing my shoes and gloves are good. Otherwise, my palms wouldn’t have been intact.’

Looking up, the A-grades had already arrived, received their flags, and were descending. That meant that Yoo Jian had arrived first after meeting Seo-a just now.

She already knew he was a monster, so she didn’t feel much anymore.

By the way, she heard that there was a descent path on the opposite side, but the A-grades just slid down the cliff.

“Ugh, do we really have to do this every year? Including us.”

Whether there was a path or not, it didn’t seem to be a big problem for them.

‘I’m jealous….’

If I become an S-grade, will I be able to do that much? She couldn’t imagine it at all.

Then the B-grades reached the summit, received their flags, and descended.

They didn’t come down the cliff and chose the opposite path. They seemed exhausted.

Seo-a was just about halfway up. She couldn’t even guess how much time had passed.

Sweat poured down like rain, and blood oozed from her scraped knees and elbows. Each movement was painful, but she really couldn’t go back now.

She was so tired that she no longer cared where Sujeong had come, or whether she was last.

At a slope that was now over 100 degrees beyond 90 degrees, Seo-a had to rely solely on the rope to climb. She slipped down as soon as she lost strength in her hands.

‘I’m almost there now.’

The distant summit was in sight. Yoo Jian was standing on top of it, staring down at Seo-a.