The Hunter of the Other World Who Is Being Misunderstood Chapter 396. Time Attack (3)

Chapter 396. Ti Attack (3)

Ah, right. First, I adjusted the sea currents a bit to make sure our ship circling nearby wouldn't fall into an air pocket.

"Hunter Zhan, can you do sothing like this as well?"

The first line cos across as sowhat aggressive.

"For now, it really doesn't matter to if I enter this gate with all of you. Looking closely at the proposal from China, t heir main request was a joint strategy. Team mbers? The more, the better. Honestly, I'm fine with anything."

Of course, this wasn't ant to be a provocation.

"But the problem is, if you accompany through this gate, Hunter Zhan, you won't be able to use any of your abilitie s."

"What?"

"There's a high chance that I'll end up using all the water you generate."

Upon hearing that, Zhan asked outright if I intended to interfere. I shook my head in response.

"It's not interference. It's just that I'm exactly the sa kind of initial mutant as everyone else here."

"_"

"I'm not exaggerating. I really still have many shortcomings in terms of my abilities. Until now, there was no need, so I haven't gone through any training to avoid taking other people's water or anything like that."

A "ntally underpowered Archmage," huh? That was a blatant lie spat out without even a blink. I decided to not hold back any pretense in order to resolve things as peacefully as possible.

"Besides, everyone inside the dungeon is already distracted. How am I supposed to control such a massive flow of se awater all by myself?"

"What's your point?"

"If the seawater I've held back ends up pouring back into the gate, I'll only be able to look out for the Koreans. Hunter Zhan, you'll have to take responsibility for your team. Sorry, but there's really nothing we can do about it."

With the environnt being this uncooperative, what other choices did they really have? For context, the Chinese hunt ers had traveled here using dungeon artifacts, and since they needed sowhere to stand, they were temporarily usin g our deck. Because it was hard to talk privately, they turned on their phones and quickly discussed matters, showing each other their screens...

"Wel, I guess it was bound to turn out this way."

It was barely a minute later.

Honestly, it didn't seem like they fully agreed among themselves either. But since this was a situation even the Archma ge couldn't solve, they soon reached a conclusion.

"They said they might have been mistaken, so they apologize. They'll leave this dungeon to us for now and go back to re-confirm their location with a satellite, just in case? What a gentlemanly excuse for a retreat."

It was the mont when the managent rights of the [Sin Classification] were finally settled.

"Anyway, thanks for today. You little universe-minded pests that couldn't even make a proper dungeon and ended up dumping it in the seawater!"

And once this raid is over, it seems unlikely that the designated mariti boundaries for dungeon managent will sp ark any more controversy for the ti being. The saying "turning misfortune into fortune" was truly made for monts like this.

"This is a satisfactory result."

It was at that mont. While lost in my idle thoughts, I happened to catch a particularly unusual look. To be precise, a certain mammal had been staring intensely at for so ti. Whether it was genetic, or from living most of his life without sunscreen and getting completely tanned, the dark-skinned, ponytailed man was giving that piercing gaze.

Zhan.

Co to think of it, I wonder if that Awakened wasn't inherently sad most of the ti, but simply beca Awakened d ue to the circumstances of their birthplace.

"I read sowhere that their hotown is a port city right on the water. I can't help but wonder how much they must lo ve the place they grew up in to have their Awakening even take on a water attribute."

Judging by the way they carried themselves, I got a rough idea of their personality.

"Of course, the main point is that this guy's reason for undergoing a mutation with us seems entirely different, and his fundantal level appears completely distinct as well."

For reference, when I first realized that the original owner of this body was a heavy smoker, I rcilessly treated Kim Giryeo like an inferior mammal. But leaving that past mistake aside for a mont, it was the point when the hunters fro m the socialist country began to withdraw. I conveyed my intentions to the representative Hunter of the neighboring c ountry, who was standing on the transport item.

"Oh, by the way, Hunter Zhan."

The person whose na was called imdiately turned their head at the sound of the voice.

"Let's not do this again next ti."

I managed to make eye contact with that and continued the conversation in that state.

"I appreciate you stepping back knowing this is my specialty dungeon. Honestly, if things hadn't gone this way, you'd probably have kept bothering anyway."

"Did you just... speak to curtly?"

"I understand that all of you have your own circumstances. How could every country possibly think and stand the sam e way?"

"Not a mistranslation by the device... are you seriously speaking informally? The words you just said?"

"But still, let's not do this again from now on. Friends from the sa Earth should always get along nicely."

Even during the first World Tournant, we hadn't actually t face-to-face. From the other side's perspective, heari ng such a long statent from a complete stranger was bound to be disconcerting. But there was a reason I had hurri edly spoken up.

"My taste buds don't really distinguish between Korean food and Chinese food—they all just taste good to . But if t hese trivial expansions of territory keep happening, I might just start cutting down your nu options sooner or later. No matter how much I like your culture."

Since my reincarnation, I could also be considered a part of South Korea.

"Although it's a bit of a problem that I ca as an immigrant, skipping even the minimum visa procedures..."

A corner of my mind couldn't help but think in alien terms, "These beings are making a fuss over such a tiny patch of l and." Yet, on the other hand, at least while dealing with this blonde leather-clad individual, I had to maintain the stance of siding with one party. Why? Because Kim Giryeo wasn't a dual citizen. Acting this way would, in so small asur e, make seem more like a native. So I warned the mammal who had co from across the waters not to overstep.

"Whether they're bugs from the universe or mammals from Earth, it's better to keep any excessively selfish behavior in check"

In a way, it wasn't all that different from how I'd deal with the Gisimche in the future.

"What the... what is this? What on earth were you thinking, giving us—from the country with the most top-ranked hunt ers—that kind of attitude!?@#$"

"Hold it in, Six Star. Just hold it."

A mont later. The declaration of war was successfully translated, and the bronze-skinned Awakened shouted in fur y. But no matter how enraged he beca, nothing would change. Even if the Archmage weren't present, the Korean n ad Kim Giryeo inherently held absolute superiority in water-based environnts. Hunter Zhan could n't help but instinctively realize his bad luck. Soon enough, they were observed grudgingly stepping back, as if preten ding to yield.

Then, with all the formalities of conversation concluded, it was ti for the insiders of this situation to have one final r ound of coordination.

"As expected, Hunter Kim..."

"If you act that openly aggressive, I think the foreign ministry would really dislike it."

"Is that so?"

"But, you know, among those actually working on-site, isn't it natural to raise your voice a little? Don't worry, Giryeo. Y ou handled that well. If anyone complains, the Korean Magic Tower will step in and back you up."

To put it another way, there were several S-rank Koreans present in this place. Honestly, you could say that nearly all of the nation's top-tier strength had gathered here.

The brainwashing range of the [Sin Classification], verified by countless humans, was well known. So everyone knew that even S-rank Hunters weren't safe from the monsters there. Then why, with this knowledge in hand, did the three of us gather in the sa place?

"Hmm."

The answer was simple. In fact, I had summoned all those primitive sorcerers myself. The recently perfected magic fo r dealing with Gisimche works more effectively the more people there are—and the higher the rank of the individuals I t's applied to, the stronger its effect.

However, even with these prerequisites, if my human companions were actually to fall victim to the brainwashing... I'd end up being the only one sane, and the odds of getting massively annoyed would skyrocket. By this point, I decid ed to employ a little trick.

"Shall we enter right away, then?"

"Yes. I'm a bit concerned about why soone who's supposedly retired is naturally joining us here, though..."

"Hunter Jung Haseong, don't spout useless words before we get started."

Smk.

I pointed toward the [Sin Classification] passage that lay before us and spoke.

"As I ntioned before, the approach will be a 'speedrun."

A technique that targets the skull of a creature usually has power proportional to its application ti. So then, what if e xposure is minimized right from the start?

***

Drip-drip...

Accompanied by a sound that was difficult to describe, we soon stepped into the glowing passage. Upon entering this otherworld, the scenery familiar from reports ca into view.

dieval-style buildings with pointed rooftops stood out. Stretching around them was a black field, dressed in colors t hat seed almost made to complent the castle's decor.

"Oh... plants so black, it feels like they're completely devoid of chlorophyll."

Thud.

Before I could take in the whole scene, a strange sensation seeped up through the soles of my feet. Unlike ordinary [S in Constellation] gates, the ground here was entirely wet.

"Isn't this the kind of flooding that cos every rainy season?"

It seed that while we were tangled up outside, a fair amount of seawater had seeped in.

We had managed to block it off in secret the mont we discovered the dungeon, and even trimd it back briefly be fore the "tourists" from China arrived. Of course, as a mage born of an oceanic planet, I hadn't left things entirely unpr otected. Thankfully, the sheer vastness of this otherworld ant the leakage didn't cause any fundantal harm. But had the gate's discovery been delayed for any number of reasons... things could have turned out very differently.

"For a mammal, this would probably feel rather chilling."

As if they'd just had the sa thought, the species that couldn't breathe underwater spoke up in unison.

"We almost got into serious trouble."

"Luckily, for now it's only gotten to the point where the soles of our shoes are getting wet."

Then, with the concerns about the environnt settled, that matter was behind us.

"I'll stabilize the water near the entrance as much as possible so it doesn't interfere with the raid."

"Wow, I can't believe sothing this amazing can be controlled at will-"

I focused more intently on controlling Earth's seawater. Put in primitive terms, I carefully prayed to the water molecule s outside, telling them not to co in here.

"But if you were to get knocked down inside the dungeon, Giryeo-ssi... wouldn't that spell real trouble for all of us? Ha ha."

And just as one of my teammates—having taken down a monster at the entrance—cracked that joke, I responded with a rather serious deanor.

"Of course."

"Huh."

"Besides, as you can see, holding back that water isn't exactly easy. Honestly, just doing this alone feels like it's going to drain for a while."

"Heuk."

"So I'd prefer if you all carried out the raid itself... I'll be tagging along behind, of course, but still..."

A declaration that I step back from the hunt because I'd be too busy keeping the dungeon watertight. Truthfully, I ha dn't planned things this far. But with the tasks awaiting deeper inside the gate, I figured I'd better conserve my ene rgy today—even if it ant sitting out from my main role.

"Th, then, could it be that Hunter Kim foresaw even this rare variable, and brought us along as insurance...?"

"True! I was wondering why we suddenly had to tackle such a dangerous gate together, but now... the foresight of hu mans is almost frightening."

I just thought two seconds ago that this wasn't planned, guys.