The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 180

Ggrrrrkk!

The H-beam, stuck in the ground, twisted and was yanked out. The heavy rebar flew like a javelin towards its target.

Kwang! The rebar collided with a chunk of concrete, and Ha Eunha of MKC, dodging it, ran up the diagonally embedded rebar and soared into the air. Being suspended in mid-air made it difficult to evade attacks. Just as Park Juho, the Guild Master of Inmod Guild, raised his thick greatsword, not wanting to miss the opportunity.

Puh-buh-buh-bang!

An explosion erupted beneath Park Juho’s feet. It was a Dungeon byproduct-made bomb that Ha Eunha had set up beforehand. Crafting explosives from Dungeon byproducts was still in its early stages, so its power was weak, and it was classified as a weapon, making it usable even in Ranking Matches.

Against an A-Class Hunter, even a scratch wouldn’t do much, but Ha Eunha’s aim was none other than to obstruct his vision. The dirt and sand that shot up several meters blinded Park Juho, and Ha Eunha didn’t miss the chance to aim her spear.

Whether she used a skill or not, Ha Eunha’s body, spear pointed forward, descended towards Park Juho with fiercely rapid speed, not just a simple descent. However, the broad side of the greatsword barely managed to block the spear tip.

Clang!

The sound of metal clashing against metal rang out loudly, and cracks appeared on the greatsword. Before his weapon shattered, Park Juho quickly swung his other hand. His fist, clad in a knuckle [a type of weapon worn over the knuckles], roughly cut through the air. Just by looking at it, Park Juho was superior in strength. In reality, Park Juho was a power-focused style, and Ha Eunha was a technical type, said to be half-mixed with support.

Park Juho chased after Ha Eunha like a tank as she quickly retreated, not thinking of countering the incoming fist. But before he could take a few steps,

Ding!

An invisible, thin string that had been set up caught his ankle. The string couldn’t withstand the force of the charge and snapped immediately, but at the same time, the sound of strings snapping in succession was heard, ding, ding.

Kwarreureung, the stone wall slightly ahead of Park Juho collapsed. Park Juho punched away the stones and retreated. In the meantime, Ha Eunha, having created distance, took out a crossbow.

‘Her main weapon is a spear, but she uses a variety of things.’

MKC’s Ha Eunha. Her overall stats were lacking compared to combat types, but just watching her fight showed that she was a considerably seasoned Hunter. Her Awakening timing was also early, and she had cleared high-level Dungeons many times. Judging by how difficult it was to detect the signs of her setting up bombs or strings, the setup itself seemed to be a skill. I didn’t know the details, but it was definitely a skill with high utility.

‘Judging by her spear handling skills, she might be able to teach Yerim.’

Having a seasoned Hunter with a lot of Dungeon experience on the team would be perfect. I wanted to use the Seedling Skill, but the distance was too far now, and it was impossible because I was seeing her through Noah’s Teacher Skill. I looked up and saw Noah flying with the drones above the arena. A custom-made scarf from a famous brand fluttered around his neck.

‘After yesterday’s match, I received a lot of offers for sponsorship.’

All sorts of different brands contacted me. Among them, the most tempting was a famous jewelry brand. They wanted to film some kind of concept advertisement and have him wear real jewelry when he was in his dragon form. Noah was a golden dragon, and dragons were originally associated with treasure. I couldn’t help but be tempted by the idea of styling him with a large ruby as the main piece.

It was up to him to decide, but it would really suit him. Besides, it would also give him a luxurious image.

‘…Anyway, I should try to recruit Hunter Ha Eunha if possible.’

No Hunter has been decided yet to be on Yerim’s team from MKC. It hasn’t been long since the Guild Master went missing, so it wouldn’t look good to switch Guilds, so conditions were being discussed behind the scenes. Moreover, the A-Class Ranking Match was being held at just the right time, so they decided to assess their skills in the match and make a decision.

Ha Eunha was also on Seok Si-myung’s list of Hunters. There were no particular problems, and she seemed to get along well with her colleagues. She fought well on her own, but she was the type to show more skill when she was part of a team.

‘It might be good to have team battles in addition to individual matches in the Ranking Match.’

No, it would be more beneficial in many ways to focus on team battles. Before the Regression [a return to a previous state or time], one of the biggest obstacles to defending against increasingly dangerous Dungeons was the discord among S-Class Hunters. Trying to get the lone wolves who commanded A-Class Hunters and ran wild on their own to work together overnight wouldn’t be easy.

But if team battles were created, they could practice coordinating with each other in advance. Most people would ignore the words, ‘The monsters are strong, so practice fighting together!’ But if we decided to determine the world’s number one Hunter team, they would form teams and cooperate on their own.

As expected, a clearly visible and accurately ranked goal is the best way to inspire motivation.

‘The problem is that the number of participants and the surrounding damage will be greater than in individual matches. The surrounding damage can be done on a deserted island like before the Regression.’

The safety of the participants is a problem. Should I think about other methods besides simple duels?

While I was pondering, the direction of the match was slowly being decided. Ha Eunha had endured well, but it seemed difficult to beat Park Juho, whose abilities were focused on combat. Her stamina was slowly decreasing, her speed was slowing down, and it seemed like she had run out of bombs.

Kwang, kwaang! Park Juho began to relentlessly drive Ha Eunha. The greatsword was on the verge of breaking, so it went into the inventory, but instead, he wore fierce-looking knuckles on both fists and cut through the air. Whether he used an attack skill or not, his fist grazed her with a slight gap, but Ha Eunha’s shoulder split open and blood splattered.

Then, her side was deeply torn, and Ha Eunha took out a potion as a sign of surrender. Noah, who saw this, quickly announced that the match was over, but.

Clang!

The potion bottle shattered from Park Juho’s punch. Ha Eunha staggered and tried to avoid it, but Park Juho, unable to calm his fighting spirit, continued to pursue her until the end.

Beep!

Yerim, who noticed this, blew the whistle around her neck and disappeared from her seat. The distance from the temporary waiting and spectator area to the place where the two were fighting was quite far, but Yerim, using Teleport, literally intervened between the two in an instant.

“Let’s calm down, shall we?”

Thud, Yerim’s hand countered Park Juho’s fist, and with a cracking sound, she froze his legs. The white shawl Yerim was wearing fluttered greatly, covering Ha Eunha as if to protect her.

In the meantime, Noah, who had come down, used a healing skill on Ha Eunha, and Yerim dumped cold water on Park Juho, who was still growling.

“Ugh, this—”

“Why, you want to fight me?”

Park Juho, completely soaked, was panting as if he was upset, but he quietly stepped back under Yerim’s glare. The broadcast was now showing the part where she took out the potion, announcing Park Juho’s victory.

Yerim and Noah took Ha Eunha back to the waiting area where the healer was, and Riet and Kang Soyoung got up from their seats.

“Shall we get to work?”

Riet jumped down and went to the place where concrete chunks and wire mesh were piled up and Specialized [used his unique Hunter ability]. Kang Soyoung followed behind and threw the so-called arena interior items onto Riet’s back. Then, she hung a large sign that said, ‘The arena is being cleaned up!’ with advertisements plastered all over it, around the Black Dragon’s neck.

Riet, who hadn’t yet paid the price for turning into a dragon and causing a commotion because he ran straight to the Dungeon with Kang Soyoung, was instead in charge of repairing the Ranking Match arena. He didn’t want to go back into the Dungeon with the Association Hunters.

The Black Dragon, who entered the arena, stomped on the ground and swept it with his tail to roughly tidy it up. At the same time, Kang Soyoung stuck rebar here and there and dropped concrete chunks and rocks. There were rarely no obstacles in the Dungeon or during Breaks, so they decided to create a combat environment.

“If I hadn’t been here, quite a few people would have been seriously injured, right?”

Yerim said, sucking on a cider filled with ice. Even if the opponent continued to attack after surrendering, there were quite a few cases where they couldn’t calm down. I praised her for her hard work yesterday. Song Taewon, who checked on Ha Eunha’s condition after she was examined by the healer, also thanked Yerim.

“Thanks to Hunter Park Yerim, the risk of accidents has been greatly reduced.”

“You’re welcome~ This is quite fun too.”

It must have been a real relief for Song Taewon. Even if he had listened to all the related precautions and signed the pledge, if an affiliated Hunter was harmed, a complaint would be filed with the Association. In fact, Song Taewon wasn’t affiliated with the Association, so he could pretend not to know, but he wasn’t the type to do that, which was the problem. I brought Yerim, Yoohyun, and Noah, so I told him he could rest without worry, but he still came out like that. What’s with the consecutive weekends? I feel sorry and apologetic.

I looked at Song Taewon, who was returning to his position, with pity, and handed Yerim, who was puffed up with pride, a cup of lemonade.

“I’d like some ice too.”

“Okay~”

The water that came out of the water bottle gathered in the air and created round ice cubes. The ice went into the cup, and the carbonation clung to it. The entire cup instantly cooled down as if it had put a chill on the drink.

“Thank you.”

I took the lemonade glass and went up the stairs. An easel was set up in a spot that protruded out in front of the spectator seats. The owner of the unexpected art supplies was none other than Myungwoo.

When I said that I would be watching nearby to prevent accidents in the A-Class Ranking Match, he said he wanted to see it too, so he came with me. To be exact, he said he wanted to observe the weapons being used in actual combat. He said that he didn’t like making weapons, so he wasn’t familiar with them, so he had to study harder.

“Drink this while you do it. Aren’t you hot?”

“Not at all. Didn’t I tell you? If you’re a Contractor of Spirits, you’ll have resistance to that attribute even if it’s not displayed as a skill. The summer heat doesn’t even register.”

Come to think of it, he handled the heated metal with his bare hands when he made the arrow before. Far from getting burned, he only sweated a little. Yoohyun originally had fire resistance, so it wouldn’t have been noticeable.

Myungwoo thanked me and took the lemonade. There was something like a sketchbook, not very big, on the easel. A swinging spear was vividly drawn on the white paper. It was quickly drawn with a single pencil, but it wasn’t ordinary skill.

“Are you good at everything you do with your hands?”

“If it’s something I create, I guess so. I heard I was good at drawing in school art class, even if not as good as I am now.”

“You could have gone to art school.”

“Art and sports cost a lot of money.”

I see. Well, it wouldn’t just be books and writing utensils. Musical instruments were also expensive.

“Can I see it?”

“Uh… okay.”

When I asked, pointing to the sketchbook, Myungwoo hesitated a little before nodding. When I turned the page, the weapons from the previous match were drawn. There were also simple notes on the scene where he planted the greatsword on the ground and used it as a shield.

On the next page, there was an exploded view of a weapon that I had never seen before, as if he was newly conceiving it. He underlined some materials and crossed out others with an X. I knew a lot about Dungeon byproducts, but most of the names were unfamiliar.

‘Oh, it’s Noah.’

When I turned another page, he had sketched Noah flying, stopping drawing weapons. There was also a human figure with only wings spread out below the Specialized form. He had also drawn only the harness separately, as if he was thinking of improving it further.

As I continued to turn the sketchbook, there was Riet’s Specialized form, the surrounding scenery, and.

“This is…….”

“That’s, it looked good, so I unconsciously.”

It was me, Yoohyun, and Yerim. It was the scene before the match started when Yerim was picking a fight with Yoohyun, saying that she couldn’t make ice drinks, but wouldn’t she be able to pop popcorn, and then tearing open a microwave popcorn bag to experiment.

It was really well popped, and I said it was delicious. Yerim also admitted it and giggled.

“…It really looks good.”

All three of us are smiling in the picture. My face also looked very bright. So unfamiliar.

“Do you want it?”

Myungwoo said when I was looking at the picture for a long time.

“The sketchbook and pencils are made of Dungeon byproducts, so they go into the inventory. A Hunter from Breaker gave it to me as a gift because I said I was drawing and planning.”

“Really?”

After hesitating for a moment, I tore off the picture. I stared at it for a while longer before putting it in my inventory. Lately, it’s definitely been fun. Definitely.

“Ah, should I also prepare a birthday present for the Seseong Guild Master?”

“Huh?”

“I got an invitation from Seseong yesterday. I heard he holds a grudge if you don’t give him a gift?”

“Uh… that’s what I heard. Just prepare something simple. It just needs to have the basics.”

He sent an invitation to Myungwoo too. But why didn’t he give me one?