蜜芽miya737mon牢记

Chapter 65

65: The Gambling Board (2)

3.

Hector.

A giant wolf with gray fur, it was a monster often seen in the El Nath Mountains region.

“Hector, their hide is very thick. Their fat is even more so.”

It was a monster with very strong defense.

“But what’s truly terrifying are their protruding fangs.”

And it was a monster with terrifying offensive power.

“They’re ferocious beasts that devour anything, living or dead. The El Nath Mountains are always clean thanks to them.”

That’s why they were nicknamed the El Nath Mountains’ Cleaners.

In many ways, they were a nightmare for adventurers.

“If you’re a 3rd Circle adventurer, you can hunt a Hector without much difficulty.”

But it was different for experienced adventurers.

“Among them, adventurers from El Nath are on a different level. They learn how to hunt Hectors from a young age. That’s why adventurers who can’t hunt Hectors aren’t even allowed to leave the El Nath Mountains. That’s their test.”

In particular, the adventurers of the El Nath Mountains were like specialists in Hector hunting.

The Rebecca Party was the same.

Among the 14 adventurers in the Rebecca Party, there wasn’t a single one who couldn’t hunt a Hector.

Rebecca even held the title of “Adventurer who hunted 100 Hectors alone.”

Awoooo!

“Everyone, run!”

Yet, she was running from a Hector right now.

The reason was simple.

“A Hector pack is coming!”

Hectors were coming in a pack.

Of course, Hectors did form packs sometimes.

They usually hunted alone, but there were cases where a dozen or so would form a pack when hunting stronger monsters or beasts.

Therefore, when hunting Hectors, adventurers would always keep in mind the possibility of encountering a pack.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

“Damn it, there seem to be over a thousand of them!”

The problem was that no one could even imagine, let alone consider, the possibility of the number exceeding a thousand.

The same was true for the Rebecca Party.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Faced with a thousand Hectors relentlessly pounding the earth, all the Rebecca Party could do was run.

Even that wasn’t easy.

“Cover yourselves in snow!”

While running, they grabbed handfuls of snow scattered around and threw it on themselves.

“Get rid of the scent!”

It was a way to escape from the Hectors with their excellent sense of smell.

A method known to all adventurers from the El Nath Mountains.

Of course, that wasn’t enough.

They needed bait.

That bait was Rebecca, the leader of the Rebecca Party.

She started to pour the contents of a leather water bag she was carrying onto the ground.

Gush!

Bright red blood flowed out.

Sniff, Sniff!

The moment that blood spilled out, the pursuing Hector pack’s eyes changed.

Their eyes turned bloodthirsty.

It was because what Rebecca had spilled was none other than Hector’s blood.

Seeing the scent of their comrade’s blood, the Hectors went mad and began to chase after Rebecca.

Meanwhile, Rebecca’s subordinates fell away from her one by one.

As they fell, they buried themselves in the snow and held their breath, like corpses.

As her companions hid one by one, and Rebecca was left alone, she used her skill.

“Dark Sight!”

She used the Dark Sight skill, a 1st Circle Thief skill.

The moment she did, her figure entering the shadows disappeared.

Confused by this fact, the Hector pack began to smell only the scent of the leather water pouch that Rebecca had thrown down.

The sight was silently observed by Rebecca, who was in hiding.

And there was one more person who was watching the sight.

“Boss, what on earth happened?”

El Pam, who had been observing the situation from a distance using Artemis’s Eye, answered Divo’s question.

“It’s a Hector pack.”

“A Hector pack? You mean those gray wolves that appear in the El Nath Mountains?”

Divo frowned at that explanation.

“But didn’t we just experience an earthquake? And wasn’t there a raging snowstorm? Hectors aren’t usually that big, are they?”

The scene Divo had seen from a distance looked like something only a massive creature could create.

“A thousand, give or take.”

“A thousand! That would explain it. Wait, what? Boss?”

“A thousand?”

At that explanation, Divo and the others were shocked.

“Hey, stop lying!”

“Say something that makes sense. A thousand Hectors? I’ve never even heard of such a thing.”

Hectors were monsters that appeared in the El Nath Mountains, and most adventurers knew their habits and characteristics.

“Hectors do form packs, but even then, it’s usually only about a dozen or so. There has never been a report of them forming such a large pack.”

As Ralph said, Hector packs were small.

Furthermore, forming a large group wasn’t something that could be done just by gathering.

Even with humans, a hundred people gathering didn’t mean they all moved in unison.

Rather, when a group gathered, they often competed or fought with each other.

The same was true for Hectors.

Of course, that was just basic common sense.

El Pam’s common sense was different.

‘A thousand is nothing.’

El Pam had seen it countless times.

‘Compared to hundreds of thousands of different monsters forming a legion.’

He had seen cases where not only Hectors, but even monsters that didn’t form packs, formed groups.

Therefore, El Pam wasn’t surprised.

‘But they don’t just gather for no reason. There must be something that made them gather.’

He was just looking for the reason.

Awoooo!

Awoooo!

Awoooo!

At that moment, the unique howling of the Hectors began to fill the snow-covered forest.

“Oh my.”

Divo laughed at the sound.

“There are so many of them, like a pack of dogs.”

Howling could be heard from all directions.

But El Pam was different.

The moment he heard the sound, El Pam was certain.

“There’s a king.”

The reason why they had formed a pack.

“What?”

“One of the howls just now was completely different.”

“Different?”

Awoooo!

The howl that was heard then.

“This sound.”

El Pam’s eyes shone at the sound, and then another howl followed.

Awoooo!

“This one?”

“No, this is a different sound. The sound that came out a little while ago, that’s the sound of the king.”

Divo didn’t question that explanation.

‘If Boss says so, then it must be true.’

He had seen El Pam’s abilities countless times.

Instead, he asked a different question.

“But do Hectors have a king? I’ve never heard of such a monster.”

Originally, they don’t.

So El Pam assumed.

‘They must have used a Martyr.’

That the Black Mage’s followers used a Martyr to cause something impossible to happen here.

El Pam didn’t blame the Black Mage’s followers.

That wasn’t important right now.

What mattered was that something beyond common sense was happening here.

“Boss, what do we do?”

“The other adventurers will have figured out the situation and gathered together.”

“Gathered?”

“They wouldn’t be ignorant enough to not know that this isn’t normal. And they’ll know that this isn’t the time for gambling.”

The other adventurers would have realized this fact and started cooperating for survival.

“We’ll make contact with them first.”

4.

“You made it this far.”

As El Pam said, the adventurers who had crossed over to the third floor were moving together, gathered in one place.

It was a sight hard to imagine, considering the atmosphere before entering the Mystic Gate.

Everyone was confident in their titles and skills.

But this was the reason why they were able to achieve those skills and titles.

They knew that no matter how great their titles or skills were, they were useless if they died.

And they were adventurers who were ready to join hands with even their sworn enemies in the face of death.

“First, explain the situation.”

In other words, the current situation was like this:

It was a serious enough situation that those who had been looking down on each other and seeing each other only as competitors until just a moment ago were now joining hands.

“The Hectors are leading a large group.”

No one considered the mere fact that there were many Hectors a danger.

“It’s not certain, but it seems there’s a leader in the Hector pack.”

That they had a boss.

This was a very important point.

If it was just a group gathered together, they could gradually reduce their numbers.

It would be difficult, but not impossible.

But if there was a leader, it was a different story.

It meant that if something went wrong, there would be a response.

“Did you find the exit?”

Of course, what was important to the adventurers was not the boss monster, but getting out of here.

Especially if they valued their lives.

“That’s the most troublesome part.”

That’s why everyone gathered.

“We found the exit. And it’s being guarded by the leader of the Hectors, the Head Hector.”

Because they needed it.

“We need bait.”

Bait to attract the attention of the Head Hector and the Hector pack, to buy time for the adventurers to escape through the exit.

“So they were waiting for us.”

That’s why Hassan, Rebecca, and the others who looked down on the El Pam Party were waiting for them.

“When choosing bait, it’s better to have more heads.”

Honestly, no one wanted to be the bait.

But someone had to be.

It was obvious to everyone that a few sacrifices were wiser than everyone dying.

If so, the more candidates there were, the higher the chance of not becoming the bait.

‘It’s even better if they’re someone we can threaten.’

Also, from the perspective of Hassan’s party, Rebecca’s party, and the other adventurers gathered here, the El Pam Party was the easiest target.

No, they weren’t just easy, they were laughable opponents.

So El Pam was certain.

‘If we refuse here, their expressions will definitely change.’

If the El Pam Party showed reluctance or anything like that, they would surely attack them.

Then, after taking the unique items the El Pam Party had, they would recalculate their options.

In fact, it wasn’t just the El Pam Party.

Everyone gathered here knew.

That death awaited those who didn’t participate in this lottery to choose the bait.

In such a situation, saying “I’ll think about it” or “I’m not interested” was meaningless.

“So how do you plan to choose the bait?”

At El Pam’s question, Hassan said.

“I’ve prepared a lottery. After various tests, we’ve concluded that at least 10 people need to remain. We’ll randomly select 10 adventurers here. Fairly.”

Emphasizing the word “fairly.”

“Then, we’ll train for a certain period so the 10 can work together.”

The following words sounded reasonable enough.

If they chose by party, one side would be making too big a sacrifice, so it was fair to choose 10 people randomly and match their skills through training.

“Is there a possibility of manipulation in the lottery?”

But El Pam didn’t just let it go.

“Manipulation?”

“Exactly. We have no way of knowing what kind of tricks they might have used.”

“So you’re saying we manipulated it?”

At El Pam’s words, Hassan’s face, who had been explaining until now, froze.

It was natural for him to feel bad about being suspected.

But El Pam didn’t back down either.

“Then, if I propose to conduct the lottery in the way I want, are you willing to comply?”

At El Pam’s following words, Hassan didn’t answer with “yes.”

He had the same suspicion.

The possibility that El Pam had manipulated it.

Naturally, the atmosphere began to turn tense.

“So you don’t want to participate in the lottery, is that it?”

They had no intention of tolerating those who refused the lottery to choose the sacrifice.

That was the conclusion reached by the adventurers who had reached the third floor.

If they didn’t agree, there was only one option left.

“We have no intention of participating in the lottery.”

“Is that so?”

El Pam said to Hassan and the other adventurers who were about to choose that option.

“Instead, our party will be the bait.”

“What?”

“It’s a deal. We’ll be the bait.”