Episode 127. bug catcher (4)
The words that the 13th squad leader is a monster baby left behind.
Gunther wasn’t the only one who had a vague idea of who it meant.
“… monster?”
“Are you talking about that guy?”
Nellie, Ivan, and Fana’s faces hardened at once.
Then Gunther took a step forward.
“From now on, we will advance while maintaining vigilance. I take the lead. And behind me… … .”
Gunter skillfully assigns seats for others and creates a formation.
Noticing that something was wrong with the atmosphere, they followed his instructions without muttering.
Soon, a rhombus-shaped formation is created.
“movement.”
Squad 7, led by Gunther, the squad leader, quickly ran through the forest road.
how long did it run
Zie-.
The squad’s movement stopped at Gunther’s hand signal.
What appeared in front of them was another squad with a similar look to the 13th squad they met earlier.
Those wearing armbands with the number 21 engraved on them.
’21 squad.’
When Gunther looked closely at them, they were not similar to 13 Squad.
Like those in front, 21 Squad also lost their squad leader armband and were annihilated.
Squad 21’s squad members glanced at Gunther’s squad blocking them and passed by without saying a word.
Philip tried to catch them, but he had to withdraw his hand from the gloom they gave off.
Gunther’s squad left 21 Squad without a word.
Realizing once again that the atmosphere around them was unusual, their movements became more cautious.
As they headed into the forest, Squad 7 encountered several more Squads.
They all looked like wounded, defeated soldiers.
It was hard to say anything easily because his face was blank, as if he had been in great shock.
In addition, even when I tried to talk to them, they just said, ‘Beware of the monster’, just like the 13th squad leader did earlier.
At this, Philip swallowed dry saliva.
‘What the hell is going on?’
As he looked around nervously, he heard Gunther’s muttering.
“Five so far.”
And there was no one who didn’t know that the five that Gunther said was the number of annihilated squads they encountered.
20% of the 25 squads have already been eliminated.
But more serious than that was time.
‘Only 5 squads we met in just 40 minutes. Besides, there may actually be more annihilated squads.’
Interval in time if annihilated squads appeared.
And if you roughly calculate their location in the direction they appeared?
Gunther, who spun his brain quickly, gave an answer.
“… That means it took less than 5 minutes for one squad to be wiped out.”
Hearing this, Philip muttered with a stiff face.
“what… How are things going?”
It was Fana who answered that self-talk.
“Can’t you just look at it? A monster is running rampant.”
“Monster, monster! What the hell is that monster!”
“What is it, Yuri Holland?”
“under? Yuri Holland?”
Fana smirked at Philip snorting.
“Did you see their faces? A shocked face.”
“… I saw.”
“From what I can see, you will look like that sooner or later.”
“what?”
“Try stealing your soul away from the guy you were ignoring. Even if you don’t like it, you will have no choice but to become that kind of face.”
“you… … !”
Just as Phillip was in a fit of rage, Gunther raised his hand and gave a signal.
There is a group approaching from the front, so it is a hand signal to be alert.
In response, Fana and Philip also stopped grumbling and stared straight ahead.
‘Could it be that the squad was wiped out again?’
However, the group that appeared this time had a different atmosphere from those I met before.
He didn’t look hurt, and he didn’t have a gloomy face.
In addition, he was wearing the squad leader’s armband.
It is said that it is not a annihilated squad.
Leading them was Clarisse Van, wearing the 9-1 armband.
As he approached, he glanced at Gunther and the others and spoke to them.
“Are you the last?”
Gunther stepped forward.
“If you are talking about the last squad to enter the forest arena, we are the last.”
“Then follow me.”
“Follow me? Where?”
“We are gathering forces now.”
“Influence?”
At that, the members of Squad 7 stared at each other blankly, and Gunther gazed at Clarisse with calm eyes.
“I want to hear the situation.”
“Didn’t you see it when you came? The annihilated squads?”
“I saw. That’s why I’m asking.”
“It is as seen. Everyone is being broken apart. That’s why we’re building forces.”
“also… … .”
Gunther nodded with a stiff face.
It was the face he expected.
Philip, on the other hand, exclaimed in surprise.
“Are you saying that many squads were defeated by just one squad?”
At that question, Clarice shook her head.
“No, not one squad.”
“what?! So, are you saying that there is another squad attached to that first squad?”
“Not even that.”
“What are you talking about, then? It’s not this, it’s not that, what’s right?”
At Philip’s slightly annoyed voice, Clarisse looked at Gunther with a calm face.
What came out of his mouth was a nonsensical question, not an answer to Philip’s question.
“Gunter Irons, how many times were you in the 100 Step Ceremony? How many steps did you take?”
“It’s the second.”
“The one that took the most steps… Was it Yuri Holland?”
“… … .”
“As expected.”
Gunther didn’t answer, but everyone didn’t know that his silence indicated an affirmation.
Another question from Clarisse.
“Gunther, how many steps did Yuri Holland take until the moment you remember?”
“… … .”
Looking at his questioning eyes, Gunther still kept his mouth shut.
In the ensuing silence, all the eyes of the people in the hall turned to Gunther.
Seeing dozens of strong gazes that seemed to want to hear an answer, Gunther let out a few words mixed with a sigh.
“Whoa, the Yuri Holland I remember… I walked eight steps.”
Everyone widened their eyes in surprise, but that was not the end of Gunther’s words.
“And according to the information I got… … .”
After the evaluation at the end of January, Gunther reunited with Yuri.
Surprised by Yuri’s rapid improvement in skills, Gunther immediately moved to find his seniors.
Afterwards, I was able to obtain the information of the hundred steps ceremony in exchange for some points.
Somewhat shocking information.
And that was conveyed to the classmates through Gunter’s mouth.
“… It is said that Yuri Holland took 15 steps that day.”
Gunther remembered the image of Yuri standing up far away without giving up.
Because of this, he was sure that Yuri must have taken the ninth step.
However, Gunther could not help but be shocked by the record of 15 steps taken by Yuri.
So what about the impact on others?
In the silence of Gunter’s story, someone muttered as if possessed.
“That, at the Baekbo ceremony… Fifteen steps?”
Baekbo Ritual.
Even those who agreed that grades at the end of the month evaluation are not an indicator of skill.
There is no doubt that the number of steps taken in the hundred steps ceremony is related to skill.
And at Gunther’s story, Clarisse opened her mouth with a face that said yes.
“It was one.”
At the unexpected story, the gaze that had been directed at Gunther returned to Clarisse this time.
“If you put together the stories of the squads that have been wiped out so far, it is said that all of them were killed by only one Yuri Holland.”
“… … ?!”
Philip’s face went blank with shock at the deafening sound.
Seeing this, Fana smirked.
“Did I? You will be like that soon.”
As she smiled, Clarisse turned around.
“Enough of the conversation, let’s move.”
Clarisse’s squad, who left those words, took the lead first.
Gunther’s squad silently followed.
It wasn’t long before they arrived at a place where dozens of people were gathered.
A place where at least a dozen squads gathered.
And at the center of it all was a man wearing the 2-1 armband.
“Schlemann Hans?”
“Looking at the atmosphere… Do you think that guy is the captain here?”
Others nodded as if agreeing with Nellie’s words.
Schlemann Hans.
He was the top performer in the top 10 in the evaluation at the end of February, and he was the first person to propose an alliance prior to the start of this quest.
Upon the appearance of Gunther and Nellie, Schlemann approached with a welcome smile.
“Wow, everyone worthwhile is here. Welcome.”
Schlemann smiled and held out his hand to Gunther.
After holding his hand and shaking it lightly, Gunter looked around and asked.
“Did you collect all these people here?”
“Well, that’s how it is.”
Schlemann answered indifferently.
However, it was absolutely no big deal to gather such a squad that rushed after Yuri like a raging bull.
And that fact was bound to be questionable to Gunther.
He gazed intently at Schlemann.
“… Strange.”
“What do you mean?”
“Most of the people gathered here are latecomers. There don’t seem to be many starters who followed Squad 1.”
“… … .”
“And he was surprisingly quick to react to the situation. As if he knew things would turn out this way. No, just like we decided to gather here in the first place.”
“okay?”
Schlemann shrugged lightly.
Gunther was convinced by that response.
“You, you suggested an alliance with this in mind from the beginning.”
A confident gaze reached Schlemann.
At this, Schlemann let out a cheesy laugh.
“Well, okay. Since you were the one who told me that Yuri Holland was the Black Dragon Rout, I’ll give you an honest answer this time too.”
“… … .”
“That’s right, I proposed an alliance with this in mind from the beginning. The people gathered here are the squad that fell behind because I gave a separate word. ah! Not all, because the squad that survived the monster is also mixed in.”
“A monster… If you see that expression, did you know about Yuri Holland?”
“Isn’t it obvious? A guy I hadn’t even heard of anywhere took first place in the end-of-month evaluation, and they said he was a black dragon rout? Even knowing that, it’s even weirder to just move on. I’m sure there are quite a few people besides me who recognize it.”
At those words, ‘the majority of people who knew it and passed it on’ were stabbed in their hearts and their shoulders trembled.
“It turned out that a guy named Yuri Holland… What a monster. Fifteen steps in a hundred steps ceremony? is that possible? Well, it has to be that much to make this alliance meaningful.”
Nellie asked after seeing Schlemann laughing.
“The squad that didn’t say anything… Was it a sacrifice?”
“It’s not even a sacrifice, I just threw it to check the strength of Squad 1.”
“Isn’t that what you usually call a sacrifice?”
“Well, let’s do that. Like you said, it’s okay if those sacrifices to check your power can take out 1st squad, and it’s better if you can even injure them, right? It’s a combination of both.”
And the moment you said that.
The smile on Schlemann’s lips turned bitter.
“However, if Yuri Holland was more of a monster than I thought, I would have thought he would cut off the entire squad that went ahead in that short moment. To be honest, while proposing this alliance, I wondered if it was too much for only 3 people… Rather, it was lacking.”
Schlemann’s face, which had always been smiling, hardened for a moment.
But he soon regained his smile and waved at Gunther’s squad.
“Anyway, it was good. Let’s talk about the details a little later. It looks like the rest of the squad will be gathering soon.”
Schleman, who left those words, smiled and left.
Looking at his back, Fana murmured.
“That child… he was a scary guy Plan something like this in such a short period of time.”
Nellie nodded with a stiff face.
“It’s scary. And shameless.”
“Shameless?”
As Fana tilted her head, Nellie asked Gunther.
“Gunther, you didn’t tell us to fall back, did you?”
“No.”
“As expected, that bastard… We were also going to throw it as a sacrifice.”
At those words, Pana widened her eyes.
“what? Us? why?”
“Because we are the next most dangerous squad after Yuri Holland’s squad.”
“Oh, please… Were you trying to deal with it too?”
“I guess so. Whether it was us or Squad 1, they would have wanted to fight like that and one of them would disappear.”
“Wow, you said you welcomed us while splitting up like that?”
“It has to be, because Yuri Holland’s skills exceeded expectations, so she must have thought that her current strength was not enough. We have enough to make up for that lack of power.”
At Nellie’s explanation, Fana and Philip shouted at the same time as they glared in the direction where Schlemann had disappeared.
“That shameless bastard!”
“That shameless bastard!”
* * *
in a quiet forest.
Standing on top of a tree branch, Yuri closed her eyes.
And around him, the spider’s web stretched out tens of meters.
After a while, Yuri slowly opened her eyes.
The corners of his mouth twisted.
“under?”
Originally, Yuri had intended to attack and eat the squad that was constantly flocking to him.
But from a certain moment, the squad no longer flocked.
Sensing something strange, he moved with the flow, and soon found dozens of people gathered in one place.
And that fact got on Yuri’s nerves.
‘Look at this? Are you reacting too quickly?’
Squads that have grouped together faster than they expected.
What that meant was simple.
“Is there a guy over there who uses his own brain?”
Yuri, who was so sure, licked her lips.
I’m sorry-.
‘Tsk, I could have eaten more.’
As long as there’s a brainy guy out there, you’ll probably have a chain of command soon.
If that happens, it will be impossible to cut and eat the squad alone like this.
“Well, it’s a pity, but should we do this for now?”
Now was the time to step back for the next plan.
11 pieces of broken armbands were stuck in Yuri’s pocket as she turned away, leaving behind such regret.