Chapter 25

Seungho started running toward the safe zone inside the temple. As soon as Seungho sprinted ahead, Jaeha spun around and began firing arrows behind him with his bow.

And not long after, Jaeha spotted monsters swarming toward him from afar in a massive horde.

—Holy shit. We’re screwed.

—It’s over.

Jaeha immediately looked toward the temple. That’s when he saw Seungho slipping inside, and he shouted.

“Stay inside.”

Then he pulled a gun out of his Inventory. Jaeha loaded it while watching the monsters charging toward him.

Most of the monsters were ones that appeared at C-Rank or below. Orcs, Trolls, Ogres, and even insects—there were a ton of them. Jaeha looked at them and smiled.

—Whoa. He’s smiling in that situation.

—He’s genuinely insane.

—Is he really going to fight like that?

“There’s no real need to fight, but it wouldn’t hurt to give you all a little eye candy before we move on. And I’d like to show you what I’m holding right now anyway.”

—Wait, hold on…… a gun?!

—He’s going to shoot monsters with a gun?

—No, wait. If it’s not explosive arrows but explosive bullets…… isn’t that insane?

—If he used a sniper rifle to shoot from dozens of kilometers away……

“For the record, I haven’t been able to make bullets yet. What I’m using is just a regular bullet. However……”

—However?

“However, the weapon itself is an Item.”

—No way.

—You can make guns into Items too?

—Then if he made something like a sniper rifle……

Smiling, Jaeha began clearing out the monsters with the gun. He fired at the countless monsters, and those hit crumpled to the ground like straw.

It took Jaeha less than five minutes to take down what had to be several hundred monsters. He nodded and spoke.

“Nice. Spraying is definitely best with a gun. With a bow, I can’t spray, so handling that many would’ve been tough.”

—Heh heh, what have I just witnessed.

—The hunting paradigm is about to change.

Jaeha then walked toward the temple. Seungho came back out once the gunfire stopped.

“Go ahead and keep the broadcast going.”

With that, Jaeha opened his Inventory and started organizing his arrows. Then he pulled a crossbow from his arms. It was a crossbow that could use standard arrows.

What’s more, it wasn’t an Item either. Since Jaeha didn’t think Seungho would be able to hit monsters properly with a regular bow, he’d made it specially.

After taking out all the Enchanted arrows, Jaeha nodded and called Seungho over. Seungho walked up to where Jaeha was and spoke.

“All set?”

“Yeah. Wanna try the bow?”

“Sure. I’ve been wanting to shoot a bow.”

At that, Jaeha went outside and marked a tree with an arrow.

“Shoot over there.”

“Okay.”

Seungho nocked an arrow and shot at the marked spot on the tree. But the arrow barely flew before it slammed into the ground.

“Huh?”

He tried shooting at the tree a few more times, but he couldn’t get the arrows to fly properly.

“Bows are hard by nature. Plus, that bow was made by Unknown, so it’s not an Item, but it’s still too stiff for an ordinary person to use.”

Seungho nodded at Jaeha’s words. Then he took the crossbow Jaeha was holding. He aimed at the tree and fired.

Fwoosh—

Thunk.

“Oh. This one flies well.”

The arrow flew toward the tree more easily than expected. He didn’t hit it right away, but after a few shots, he was hitting the target without much trouble.

“Hitting about 3 out of 5 shots.”

“Yeah. Crossbows are way easier to aim.”

“Good. Since we’ve confirmed that thing isn’t an Item, we should get started right away.”

Jaeha used Shadow Eye and spoke to Seungho to call over a monster from afar.

“Turn on the broadcast screen on your cell phone.”

“Okay.”

At Jaeha’s words, Seungho pulled out his phone and turned on the broadcast. Jaeha looked off in one direction.

“See it?”

“Yeah, I see it.”

“Shoot that way.”

Seungho slowly aimed while watching the broadcast screen on his phone, then fired the crossbow.

“Nice.”

And when the arrow Seungho shot hit the monster, he nodded.

“Let’s start with the four main attributes.”

“Okay.”

“With your attack power, the arrows won’t embed properly into the monsters.”

“Ah, is that so?”

“Yeah.”

Jaeha smiled and waited while looking off in one direction. Before long, a monster revealed itself.

“It’s a Troll.”

“Right. I had it attack us on purpose.”

The Troll let out a loud roar as it arrived near the temple.

KRAOOOAH!

“Let’s start right away. If we drag it out too long, the aggro will drop.”

“Okay.”

Seungho loaded the arrow Jaeha handed him into the crossbow.

“When I hand you one, load it and fire immediately.”

“Got it.”

“What I just gave you is a Fire Attribute arrow — in other words, an arrow of fire.”

Seungho loaded the arrow and fired it at the Troll right away. The arrow flew toward the Troll, reached it moments later, and embedded itself very shallowly. Then, in an instant, the arrow turned red and burst into flames.

KYEEEK!

The Troll, being weak to magic, screamed and writhed in agony. Even as it frantically swiped at the flames with its hand, the fire refused to die out easily.

—Whoa, look at that effect.

—The fire won’t go out.

—Guess it’s because Trolls are weak to magic. It’s in serious pain.

Jaeha, who had been quietly watching the chat, spoke after a moment.

“The effect persists until the target dies. However, if the arrow is pulled out, it won’t last long before breaking apart. It doesn’t look like it’s embedded very deep, so the Troll will probably pull it out soon.”

Sure enough, the Troll fiddled with the burning spot with its hand, then yanked the arrow out.

The arrow fell to the ground and, moments later, crumbled away and vanished.

Watching this, Jaeha nodded and handed Seungho the Water arrow beside him.

“This is a Water arrow. When I used it on an Ogre, it didn’t have much killing power. When the arrow lands, water pours out.”

Seungho immediately fired the arrow at the Troll. The Troll tried to heal its wounds, but because the burns from the magical fire had seared it completely, the injuries weren’t healing easily. And right on that wounded spot, Seungho’s Water arrow struck.

“Damn, that’s brutal. Shooting right where it’s already hurt.”

“*Ahem.*”

Before long, water began to pour from the arrow, and the wound it touched started to heal little by little.

“Oh ho. It’s healing.”

As if it knew this, the Troll left the arrow in place.

“The Troll’s smarter than I thought, huh?”

Jaeha stayed still for a moment, then fired an arrow at the Troll. As its head was pierced through, the Troll collapsed. Once it died, Jaeha handed Seungho a regular arrow and pointed in one direction. Seungho attacked a new Troll to draw its aggro.

“Next is the Earth arrow. Nothing too special about it, but it can deal some heavy damage.”

Seungho fired the arrow at the Troll immediately. The arrow lodged into the Troll’s arm, and a loud crack echoed from it.

CRACK—

“Looks like the bone broke. Next is the Wind arrow. This one improves penetration.”

After that, Jaeha continued handing Seungho various arrows and running tests. The Wind arrow flew at the Troll and embedded itself deep into its body. From then on, Jaeha and Seungho showcased the remaining Enchanted arrows on the broadcast.

* * *

“And next, I’ll be using these to visit the Elven Forest.”

—Oooh.

—Oh.

“The arrows I’ll be using are Wind, Pierce, Storm, and Explosion. The rest don’t seem efficient enough to use right now, so I’ll save them for later.”

—Can’t wait.

—I wanna see what kind of efficiency a Hunter gets out of stuff like that in actual hunting.

Jaeha then left the dungeon with Seungho and headed for the Elven Forest. They chatted about this and that on the way, and upon arriving at the dungeon, Jaeha left Seungho in the car and entered alone. Once inside, he started moving right away, speaking as he went.

“Unfortunately, since I have to Enchant the special arrows myself this time, my hunting speed might be a bit slower.”

With that, he pressed forward. Whenever an Elf came into view, he kept firing arrows and killing them.

Then, using Pierce arrows, he attacked Elves hiding behind trees. With Pierce Enchanted, the arrows easily penetrated even the wood.

Then, using Storm, he altered the trajectory of arrows flying toward him.

He kept hunting like that until the Elves started swarming in groups, and from then on he used Explosion arrows to massacre them in bulk.

—Wow, great physicals and great brains too.

—He really knows exactly what each one is for. He uses them precisely where they’re needed. That’s genuinely incredible.

—Honestly, if you plant Storm arrows in front of yourself, you can deflect the Elves’ attacks. And if you use Pierce or other attribute types, you could probably hunt in the Elf forest too, right?

Jaeha stared quietly at the chat window, then smiled and spoke.

“That’s it for today’s broadcast. Thanks for watching.”

Then he turned off the stream. Right after, he left the dungeon and climbed into the car.

“Let’s go.”

“You’re getting good at broadcasting now.”

“It’s been almost a month since I started.”

“True.”

“But……”

“Yeah?”

“What was the peak viewer count today?”

“Not sure of the exact number, but the highest I saw was 8,000.”

At that, Jaeha checked the peak viewer count using the system.

[Peak Viewer Count: 92,911,152]

“92 million.”

“9000?”

“Yeah. 92.2 million.”

“Whoa, that really is a lot.”

At Seungho’s words, Jaeha didn’t reply and just stared quietly outside. Not long after, a call came in from Herb Gramps.

<I watched the broadcast. I confirmed exactly what they are too.>

“Yes. How is it?”

<How is it? It’s chaos, obviously.>

“Is that so?”

<It’s way more chaotic than I expected. And I don’t mean just a little chaos. Most people who couldn’t Awaken have some longing for Hunters, you see. They’re thinking, isn’t this a chance for them to live as Hunters too? With all that talk, it’s absolute pandemonium—not just among Hunters, but ordinary people too.>

“I think it’s time to set the price.”

<The price. Right. The price definitely matters. Once we set it, it’ll help when we deal with the government later too.>

“What range do you think would work?”

<Honestly, the price isn’t that big of a problem.>

“Right. The price I originally had in mind was basically cost plus a small margin anyway.”

<Hmm.>

Herb Gramps let out a short grunt, seeming lost in thought.

<I think it’d be better to break the prices down a bit more.>

“Yes. Explosion, Pierce, and Storm should be completely separate.”

<Hmm. The price.>

Herb Gramps, who had been mulling it over, opened his mouth.