SWNOVELXO Chapter 126 - Bug Catcher (3)
Chapter 126: Bug Catcher (3)
A dark silhouette suddenly dropped from the trees.
The moment they realized that the figure who appeared with a loud crash was Yuri Holland, the prey they were chasing.
The eight members of Squad 13 quickly divided themselves to surround Yuri in all directions.
Being a hastily assembled squad, Squad 13 hadn’t properly coordinated their moves. However, they instinctively knew their roles and responded accordingly, showing that the three months in the Cradle hadn’t been a complete waste.
As they successfully encircled Yuri, a faint smile appeared on the faces of the Squad 13 members.
“Ha, what’s this? He came on his own?”
“What kind of confidence is this?”
“Well, it’s convenient for us.”
With each member throwing out a comment, they advanced little by little.
Each step they took tightened the space around Yuri.
Yet Yuri’s expression remained unchanged.
He still looked calm and composed.
Watching his attackers slowly close in, he opened his mouth.
“I’m a bit busy, so…”
Screech—
Yuri’s sword was unsheathed.
“Let’s finish this quickly. I’ve got more bugs to meet besides you.”
With those words, Yuri’s form shot forward like lightning.
Boom!
The first target was a girl at the 1 o’clock position, wearing the tag 13-4.
Slash!
“…?!”
She barely managed to defend against Yuri’s swift strike, but she couldn’t completely nullify the force.
Crack.
“Kyah!”
With a grotesque sound hinting at a fracture, the girl was sent flying.
Her sword soared high into the sky.
By then, Yuri was already closing in on another opponent.
And that was just the beginning.
Yuri had truly begun to rampage.
Clang! Clang!
With each swing of Yuri’s sword.
One by one, his opponents lost consciousness and were flung away.
In the blink of an eye, three more were down.
Though startled by Yuri’s sudden and unexpected onslaught, the three surviving members of Squad 13 reacted quickly.
Tap tap!
They moved at different moments, but their objective was the same.
To protect their squad leader.
Or more accurately, to protect the 13-1 armband that the squad leader was wearing.
‘As long as we protect the squad leader’s armband!’
‘Stop him!’
The condition for a squad’s destruction, “combat incapacity,” could be ignored as long as the members had the will to fight.
If a squad member is determined to keep fighting, who would declare them incapable?
However, the squad leader’s armband was different.
If that armband was lost even once, the squad would have to disband regardless of the members’ will to continue fighting.
In other words, if they could protect the squad leader’s armband, they could regroup and continue the battle no matter how injured the other members were.
That’s why the remaining squad members stood in Yuri’s path.
To protect the squad leader’s armband.
‘He’ll definitely go for the squad leader’s armband. That’s when we strike!’
That’s what they all thought.
Targeting the squad leader was surely the fastest and simplest way to deal with a squad.
But their expectations were wrong.
Instead of aiming for the squad leader, Yuri charged into the formation of the three who blocked him.
And then Yuri’s Cloud Step activated.
Slick—
“Huh?!”
Yuri moved like a ghost, silently advancing.
Every time he brushed past someone, thin streaks of blood spurted up.
Swoosh—
“Urgh!”
In an S-shaped path, Yuri pierced through those who blocked him and reached the squad leader.
Seeing Yuri suddenly appear before him, the squad leader’s face turned pale.
‘This… This can’t be…?!’
Standing nonchalantly, Yuri Holland turned his back on the squad leader.
Behind him, the squad members who had confidently blocked Yuri began to collapse one by one.
The squad leader’s eyes trembled violently as he realized he was now alone.
‘H-How… how much time has passed?!’
Had they fought for five minutes?
Surely, it had been enough time for the other squads nearby to notice and arrive?
The squad leader hoped so, but it didn’t take long for him to realize that hope was in vain.
Whirr—
The sword of the girl who had first been struck by Yuri and sent flying.
Whirr whirr—
Thud—
The sword that had been sent soaring now spun down and embedded itself in the ground.
“Ah…”
Only then did the squad leader realize that it hadn’t even taken a full minute for his squad to be decimated by Yuri.
In fact, if you discounted the brief conversation at the start…
‘In just the time it took for that sword to fall back to the ground, our entire squad was wiped out?’
It was an utterly absurd situation.
The Squad 13 leader took a step back, his face pale with fear, as Yuri slowly approached, his eyes cold.
With a slight smile, Yuri’s sword flashed once more.
Slick—
A piece of cloth that was once the squad leader’s armband fluttered to the ground.
“Ah…”
As the Squad 13 leader stared blankly at the fallen armband, he heard a low voice whisper in his ear.
“I told you, didn’t I? No matter how many bugs gather, they’re still just bugs.”
Since entering the Cradle, Yuri had made quite a few impressive achievements.
However, most of the targets of his displays of strength were Black Sword Corps members or seniors.
As for his peers in the 50th term, they didn’t know Yuri’s true strength or the extent of his abilities.
But now, in this moment!
Yuri had shown his abilities against the 50th term for the first time.
The final survivor of Squad 13, the first victim of this display, had a simple impression.
‘This guy… he’s a monster?!’
It was confirmed in the recent fight.
This Yuri Holland was someone beyond his league, someone he couldn’t handle.
‘Damn it!’
It was now clear why Yuri Holland had taken first place in the monthly evaluation twice.
If only he had thought more deeply about how that was even possible.
That regret was the Squad 13 leader’s final thought.
Thud.
The back of Yuri’s sword struck the back of the squad leader’s head, knocking him out.
Yuri picked up the pieces of the fallen armband beside him.
His eyes gleamed sharply.
“That’s one down.”
Twenty-three squads remained.
Tap tap—
Yuri, now fully unleashing his skills, moved again.
“Aaargh!”
Boom!
The surrounding forest soon began to stir in multiple places.
* * *
Nine members of Squad 7 followed Gunther, who wore the 7-1 armband.
All of them had some level of acquaintance with Gunther, like Nellie Blanc, Ivan Baskin, and Pana Taylor.
While they shared Gunther as a common connection, it didn’t mean all nine members were closely acquainted with one another.
Still, perhaps due to Gunther serving as a focal point, they were able to start the quest in a relatively warm atmosphere, unlike most squads, which had a more reserved mood.
But that didn’t last long.
The warm atmosphere quickly dissipated, and tension filled Squad 7 as they moved deeper into the forest.
More precisely, it was Gunther, Nellie, Ivan, and Pana whose faces were tightly drawn, causing the tension.
Gunther, in particular, kept his gaze fixed straight ahead, not letting his guard down for a moment.
Seeing their stiff expressions, the other squad members looked puzzled.
“What’s with the mood?”
“Is something wrong?”
“We just started the quest, don’t be so tense. It could be a long fight, you know?”
Despite efforts to lighten the atmosphere, they had little effect.
The tension only thickened further.
Among those trying to ease the mood, Phillip Schell frowned slightly and asked.
“Isn’t this too much tension? What’s going on?”
Ivan responded to his question with a sharp look.
“Squad 1 is up ahead.”
Phillip snorted, seemingly baffled by Ivan’s simple reply.
“Are you serious? All this over just those three? Hah? I thought it was something serious.”
Nellie shook her head and interjected.
“To be exact, it’s not three… it’s one person.”
“One person? Who?”
“Yuri Holland.”
Phillip blinked at Nellie’s answer.
“That black-haired guy?”
“Yeah.”
“Why? Sure, I know that Yuri guy took first place twice in the monthly evaluations, but is he really worth all this concern?”
“…”
“No matter how much he’s been in first place a couple of times, we’ve got three of the top ten right here, don’t we?”
He looked around at Gunther and a few others as he spoke.
Gunther, Nellie, and Ivan were all top performers in the last monthly evaluations.
Even Pana, who narrowly missed the top ten, placing 11th.
Gunther’s squad was undeniably a formidable one, with top performers lined up.
But Pana scoffed at Phillip’s argument.
“If we’re counting it that way, the three from Squad 1 are also all in the top ranks, aren’t they? And they’re ranked first, second, and third.”
“Well, that’s true… but honestly, ranking isn’t exactly a perfect measure of skill, right? Rankings are just about who’s got the most points.”
Pana responded, sounding slightly incredulous.
“What was your rank in the latest monthly evaluation?”
“Me? I placed 43rd this time.”
Phillip’s face showed a hint of pride as he answered.
Seeing this, Pana frowned.
“You’re aware of it too.”
“Aware of what?”
“You were pretty confident just now when you said you ranked 43rd.”
“…So?”
“That’s because you know how tough it is to gather enough points to make the top ranks.”
“Well…”
“Sure, like you said, ranking isn’t a perfect measure of skill, but… collecting tens of thousands of points to place in the top ranks is proof enough of one’s skill.”
“…”
“And Yuri Holland… has collected over a million points twice.”
“That… that could just be because he scraped together every point he had.”
“And how about you? How many points could you gather if you scraped everything together?”
“…”
“Could you make 200,000 points?”
Watching Phillip clench his mouth shut, Pana shook her head.
“I just can’t understand why you’re so dismissive of Yuri Holland. You’ve never even spoken to him, have you?”
“Well…”
After a brief moment of thought, Phillip replied in a small voice.
“It’s his vibe, you know?”
“What vibe?”
“The way he acts—he’s rough, like a delinquent…”
“So is he.”
Pana pointed at Ivan.
Ivan was about to retort when Phillip’s voice intervened.
“No, it’s different. Ivan just comes off as prickly, but Yuri Holland—he seems, how do I put it… uncultured, without refinement?”
“…”
For the first time, Pana found herself at a loss for words.
She, too, agreed with Phillip.
‘He does have that vibe…’
Honestly, if Yuri hadn’t shown his face, she could’ve easily believed he was just a neighborhood thug.
The problem was that he still gave off that impression even with his appearance.
Momentarily speechless, Pana cleared her throat softly.
“Ahem, still, Yuri Holland…”
The image of Yuri’s name at the top of the Breakthrough Quest leaderboards flashed through Pana’s mind.
“…isn’t someone to be underestimated.”
Ivan and Nellie nodded slightly in agreement with her words.
Gunther also showed no signs of dissent, his gaze clearly reflecting his agreement with Pana.
Phillip let out a small sigh.
“Fine, I get that you’re wary of this Yuri guy. But isn’t this level of tension a bit over the top?”
Phillip pointed straight ahead.
“There are a lot of squads ahead of us already chasing those guys, right?”
Gunther’s squad had entered the forest battlefield last.
Which meant that every squad participating in this quest had passed by before them.
“For all we know, it might be over already. It would make more sense to worry about an ambush from other squads after the alliance breaks down, rather than being tense over a squad of just three people.”
Nellie countered his opinion.
“Those three are the reason the rest of the squads formed a temporary alliance in the first place, you know?”
“Sure, but that’s because the top three performers teamed up, so everyone decided to take them out at once to curb their advantage in the March monthly evaluations, right?”
For the first time, Gunther spoke up.
“No.”
“…?”
“I didn’t agree to this temporary alliance between squads just for that.”
“N-No? Then why?”
“Because those three each took at least six steps in the Hundred Steps Ceremony.”
“…What?”
Phillip, as well as the others, widened their eyes in shock.
Ivan spoke on behalf of the group.
“Is that… true?”
Ivan had lost his memory on the third step during the Hundred Steps Ceremony.
At that moment, there had been six people walking ahead of him.
From what he remembered, Gunther Irons had taken six steps…
‘Arin Helga, Bobikrutankapurtabi, and Yuri Holland… are at least on par with Gunther?’
While Ivan stood there stunned, contemplating this revelation—
Swish—
Gunther suddenly stopped and drew his sword.
Without a moment’s hesitation, the rest of the squad noticed figures approaching from the front and prepared for battle.
‘What’s going on? Why are they coming this way?’
As everyone stared tensely ahead, Pana muttered.
“It looks like a squad?”
The number of people approaching was no more than ten.
But something about their appearance seemed off.
Ivan, who had the best vision, noticed it first and mumbled.
“…Are they injured?”
Limping individuals.
Those supporting comrades.
Some were even being carried.
Their condition was visibly far from normal.
A moment later.
As the distance between them and the approaching squad closed to about three meters, their disheveled appearance became clearer.
They looked like a group of stragglers.
Gunther’s eyes glinted at the sight.
‘Squad 13? But… the squad leader’s armband is missing.’
The other members still wore their armbands, but the 13-1 squad leader’s armband was nowhere to be seen.
In other words, this was a squad that had already been wiped out.
Realizing this, Phillip grabbed one of the relatively unscathed members of the passing squad.
It was none other than the leader of Squad 13.
“What happened? Are you guys already wiped out? Don’t tell me… did another squad betray you?”
The Squad 13 leader rubbed his sore neck repeatedly, turning his head.
He paused and stared silently at Phillip.
His gaze carried a faint mix of fear and regret.
“Be careful. Up ahead… there’s a monster brat.”
Leaving those words behind, the Squad 13 leader shook off Phillip’s hand and walked away.
Phillip, still puzzled, tilted his head in confusion.
‘A monster…’
Gunther stared straight ahead, his eyes showing that he knew exactly who the leader was talking about.