Chapter 136

The Eastern Empire side belatedly applauded when they saw us, but Lady Maiden shot them a look of clear displeasure.

Of course, it was only for a moment.

“Thank you.”

Lady Maiden recovered her expression and addressed us.

“Thank you again for accepting our invitation.”

She gave a slight bow and continued.

“As you know, we in the Maiden family hold periodic tournaments to train our heirs. This year marks the first time Ripen is hosting the year-end tournament.”

That seemed to be the setup. I nodded knowingly.

“So, before the official tournament, I invited you all as ‘good friends’ to Ripen, hoping you’d demonstrate a refined performance as practice.”

In short, we just needed to show that we were good friends(?) and act with dignity.

That damn dignity and grace were sticking to their mouths!

“Then, I’ll announce the tournament theme right away. Since this isn’t official, please approach the discussion with a relaxed mind.”

With a relaxed mind? Wouldn’t we end up thrown underground or hit a bad ending?

Especially since these were the people who’d tried sending us an S-rank monster as a nighttime gift.

There was no way my mind could be at ease.

“As Ripen’s friends, I’m sure you can handle this.”

Ignoring our suspicions, Lady Maiden, who’d laid the groundwork thoroughly, gestured to the maids.

Then, four mysterious map pieces were handed to us.

Eh? Aren’t these the ones we picked earlier?

“?”

What were we supposed to do with these? The moment I took them, I sensed something off.

“……There’s only piece number 1?”

Meanwhile, the Eastern Empire side had received a complete set of four intact pieces.

Those looked just like the map we’d picked…

They seemed to think the same, turning to us with shocked faces.

Their eyes practically said:

No way, how did they bring out four separate pieces of this?

Our four gazes met.

Tsk tsk.

They apparently didn’t have a skill to compensate for camaraderie. Poor guys.

By now, their warning party was probably dangling by their necks.

“Now, please assemble the map correctly, then head along the main road crossing the central mountain range.”

Main road? Fortunately, a translucent full map appeared around the edges of our single piece number 1.

And we could see the Maiden estate marked where we were.

The main road seemed to be right in front of it.

“……Block 100 incoming monsters.”

Lady Maiden said.

“?”

100 monsters? What, block them with the map?

As we made dumbfounded faces, four toy horses dropped in front of us.

Ah, was this a system where we enter the map to block them?

But looking at the horses I picked up, the system window was weird.

This was their lineup, not ours?

The Eastern Empire guys noticed the same thing and looked at us.

And the next moment, one of them grinned wickedly and quickly moved his hand.

What he held were clearly two black knight pieces, one deep blue wizard piece, and a white priest piece.

—Clack, clack, clack, clack!

He placed what anyone could see were our pieces in some weird spot on the map.

And at the same time.

The system windows popped up one after another. And as if waiting, Lady Maiden walked over to the Eastern Empire side.

“It seems this side finished first. Shall we take a look?”

The moment she placed her hand on their map.

—Flash!

A translucent map rose before our eyes.

The map labeled as such had our four positions marked separately.

Our spots were blatantly the four farthest from the Maiden estate.

In other words, they’d scattered us far apart so we couldn’t meet.

Those bastards!

The anger was fleeting; our gazes met.

We’d smash their heads later. Dealing with the problem at hand came first.

Years of gate experience told us what came next.

“I’ll come pick you up.”

Hunter Yeri said in a serious tone devoid of her usual playfulness. She was talking to me.

Shin Jae-heon glanced at Miss Joo Yian as well.

I was B-rank, but Miss Joo Yian also had low mobility, so he seemed about to carry her.

The moment we quickly formed our plan.

Why were ominous predictions always spot on? I smiled benevolently at the notification.

I knew it!

Sudden hologram 3D map, positions marked—any N-year gate veteran could see the future unfolding.

—Flash!

My vision flashed.

Whoa! This was an RP dungeon’s special dungeon within a special space!?

Swallowing curses at the onion-like layers, another system window appeared.

Not actual death, then? That was a relief, at least.

Pretty generous for an SS-rank?

……Just die slowly and painfully, huh.

True to SS-rank form, the stat penalties were massive.

Dying or failing here was as good as a death sentence.

“Wow……”

As I marveled, I was sitting at the spot our Eastern Empire friends had kindly assigned me.

—Chirp chirp chirp!

Listening to the birds chirping obliviously in the forest, unaware of my plight.

I could see Hunter Yeri’s skill window showing Flight.

The Maiden territory didn’t seem excessively large on the map, so…

She’d be here soon. As I leisurely surveyed the forest.

“Yeri Taxi for the summoner~”

Suddenly, hawking calls started from above my head.

I freaked out, of course.

“Don’t use words like that here!”

We’ll get a warning or something!?

But Hunter Yeri, descending upon spotting me, had a face like what’s the big deal?

“We’re inside the map anyway. Doesn’t seem like there’s speakers on it~?”

“Well……”

True, but…

Hunter Yeri looked confident.

A support hunter specialized in breaking these kinds of traps was speaking, so it was almost certain.

“But did you just stand here waiting right after arriving? No signs of movement at all!”

Finishing her descent, Hunter Yeri hugged my back and touched down.

“Moving around just tires out the one coming to pick you up.”

She could say that confidently for one reason.

I was usually the one ferrying people.

Most agile in the hunter team thanks to my afterimage skill.

Don’t move while asking to be picked up! You listening, hunter reporter there?

Don’t wander the forest crying about getting lost while covering gates! You’ll just attract monsters!

“Not your first time, huh?”

Hunter Yeri burst out laughing as if reading my mind.

“Don’t even remind me.”

I waved her off.

Then Hunter Yeri hugged me tightly from behind.

“Alright, then I’ll serve you comfortably~.”

My feet slowly lifted off the ground alongside Hunter Yeri.

A bit relieved at the safe reunion, she pouted.

“I mean, I figured something was up with the map, but I didn’t expect us to actually enter it.”

She grumbled.

“I realized at the very end.”

Hunter Yeri poked her head next to my face at my words.

“Really? How?”

Well…… I figured it out from the intense eye contact at the end…

I smiled benevolently like before.

“Right before entering, one Eastern Empire guy deliberately split them and placed the pieces in weird spots.”

“Oh, the three wizards and one knight?”

Hunter Yeri must’ve been checking our pieces and missed what they were doing.

Yeah, it happened too fast. That guy tossed us into hell without a second thought.

“Yes.”

As I explained, Hunter Yeri ground her teeth.

“Damn, so they knew what was coming and immediately dumped us in bad spots?”

Realizing the situation, a rare curse slipped from her mouth.

“No wonder they split them so sneakily. Just wait till we get out! I’ll slam them into an amazing position!”

She rummaged through her inventory, one arm firmly around me.

“Let’s find our own prime spot!”

With an enthusiastic shout, out came a telescope.

Counter-troll with an even bigger troll! Hunter Yeri brandished it.

“What’re you gonna do with that?”

“Scouting!”

Hunter Yeri said while scanning around.

“Gotta shove them in the most perfect hellhole.”

Classic Hunter Yeri, never one to take it lying down.

When a teammate’s this fired up.

“How about dumping them in the sea? There’s coastline here, right?”

Best to throw out a good idea quick and distract her!

Not because I wanted to troll them myself!