SWNOVELXO Chapter 127 - Bug Catcher (4)
Chapter 127: Bug Catcher (4)
The mention of a “monster brat” left behind by the 13th Squad Leader.
Gunther wasn’t the only one who vaguely figured out what that referred to.
“…Monster?”
“Could it be talking about that guy?”
Nellie, Ivan, and Pana’s faces hardened instantly.
At that moment, Gunther stepped forward.
“From now on, maintain vigilance as we advance. I’ll take the lead. And behind me…”
Gunther skillfully assigned positions to the others, forming a formation.
Those who sensed that something was off followed his directions without a word.
Soon, a diamond-shaped formation was formed.
“Move.”
Led by Squad Leader Gunther, the 7th Squad quickly charged down the forest path.
After running for a while.
Squeak-.
The squad halted in response to Gunther’s hand signal.
Before them appeared another squad in a similar sorry state to the 13th Squad they had encountered earlier.
The members wore armbands marked with the number 21.
‘21st Squad.’
Gunther carefully observed them and noticed that they resembled the 13th Squad not just in appearance.
Like the previous squad, the 21st Squad had also lost their squad leader’s armband and was in a state of annihilation.
The 21st Squad members glanced briefly at Gunther’s squad blocking their way before silently passing by.
Philip tried to stop them, but he had to retract his outstretched hand due to the somber atmosphere they exuded.
Gunther’s squad watched the 21st Squad leave without a word.
Realizing once again that the situation was not normal, they moved even more cautiously.
As they ventured further into the forest, the 7th Squad encountered several more squads.
Each one looked like battered remnants, with injured members and dazed expressions, as if in shock.
Even when they managed to strike up a conversation, all the squads could do was repeat what the 13th Squad Leader had said earlier: “Beware of the monster.”
Hearing this, Philip nervously swallowed.
‘W-what on earth is happening?’
While he was scanning the surroundings anxiously, Gunther’s muttering reached his ears.
“So far, five.”
No one was unaware that the five Gunther mentioned referred to the number of squads they had encountered that had been annihilated.
With 25 squads in total, that meant 20% had already been eliminated.
However, even more concerning was the time.
‘In just about 40 minutes, we’ve already come across five squads. And there could be more that have been annihilated.’
If one were to roughly calculate the time intervals between the appearances of the annihilated squads and the directions they came from?
Gunther, quickly processing this information, reached a conclusion.
“…It means it took less than five minutes for one squad to be annihilated.”
Philip muttered grimly upon hearing this.
“What’s… happening out there?”
Pana was the one who answered his rhetorical question.
“Can’t you tell just by looking? The monster’s on a rampage.”
“Monster, monster! What the hell is this monster you keep talking about?”
“What else could it be? It’s Yuri Holland.”
“Huh? Yuri Holland?”
Pana smirked as she watched Philip snort.
“You saw their faces earlier, right? They looked completely shocked.”
“…I saw.”
“I bet you’ll end up looking like that soon too.”
“What?”
“Get completely wrecked by someone you’ve been underestimating. You’ll make that face whether you like it or not.”
“You…!”
Just as Philip flared up, Gunther raised his hand, signaling for them to remain alert.
There was another group approaching from the front.
Pana and Philip stopped bickering and focused ahead.
‘Could it be another annihilated squad?’
However, the group that appeared this time was different from those they had encountered before.
They showed no signs of injury, and their expressions were not gloomy.
Moreover, they were wearing their squad leader’s armbands.
This meant they weren’t an annihilated squad.
Leading them was Clarice Van, wearing the armband of Squad 9-1.
As he approached, Clarice scanned Gunther’s group before speaking.
“Are you the last ones?”
Gunther stepped forward in response.
“If you mean the last squad to enter the forest combat zone, then yes, we are the last.”
“Then follow us.”
“Follow? Where to?”
“We’re currently gathering forces.”
“Gathering forces?”
The members of the 7th Squad exchanged puzzled looks, while Gunther quietly observed Clarice.
“I want to hear the situation.”
“Didn’t you see on the way here? The annihilated squads?”
“We did. That’s why I’m asking.”
“It’s exactly as you saw. Everyone’s being defeated separately. That’s why we’re gathering forces.”
“As I thought…”
Gunther nodded with a grim expression, showing he had expected this.
Philip, on the other hand, exclaimed in surprise.
“You’re saying all those squads were taken down by just one squad?”
Clarice shook his head.
“No, it wasn’t just one squad.”
“What?! Are you saying another squad joined that one squad?”
“That’s not it either.”
“What do you mean, then? If it’s neither this nor that, then what’s the truth?”
Clarice calmly gazed at Gunther instead of answering Philip’s slightly irritated question.
His next words were a completely different question.
“Gunther Irons, during the Hundred Steps Ceremony, what position were you in? How many steps did you take?”
“Second.”
“The one who took the most steps was… Yuri Holland, right?”
“……”
“As expected.”
Although Gunther did not respond, his silence was confirmation enough for everyone.
Clarice’s questioning continued.
“Gunther, how many steps had Yuri Holland taken up to the moment you remember?”
“……”
Gunther remained silent under the scrutinizing gaze that seemed to interrogate him.
In the ensuing silence, all eyes in the room turned toward Gunther.
Their stares were strong, as if demanding an answer, and Gunther let out a slightly exasperated sigh before speaking.
“Sigh, from what I remember, Yuri Holland had taken eight steps.”
Everyone widened their eyes in surprise, but Gunther wasn’t finished.
“And according to the information I obtained…”
After the end-of-January evaluation, Gunther had reunited with Yuri.
Astonished by Yuri’s drastic improvement in skills, Gunther immediately sought out his seniors.
He managed to acquire information about the Hundred Steps Ceremony at the cost of a few points.
It was quite shocking information.
And it was this information that Gunther relayed to his peers.
“…They said Yuri Holland took fifteen steps that day.”
Gunther remembered Yuri stubbornly getting up each time he fell.
He had been certain that Yuri had taken the ninth step.
But even Gunther couldn’t help but be shocked at the record of fifteen steps taken by Yuri.
So one could only imagine the shock experienced by the others.
Amid the silence that followed Gunther’s story, someone murmured as if in a trance.
“Fifteen steps… during the Hundred Steps Ceremony?”
The Hundred Steps Ceremony.
Those who agreed that the end-of-month evaluation scores did not necessarily reflect one’s abilities still believed that the number of steps taken during the Hundred Steps Ceremony correlated with skill.
In response to Gunther’s account, Clarice nodded, as if understanding.
“It was one person.”
Everyone’s gaze, which had been fixed on Gunther, now shifted to Clarice.
“If we piece together the stories of the squads that have been annihilated so far, it appears that all of them were taken down by just one person, Yuri Holland.”
“……?!”
Philip’s face froze in shock at the unbelievable statement.
Seeing this, Pana smirked.
“I told you, didn’t I? You’re going to end up like that soon too.”
While she chuckled, Clarice turned away.
“That’s enough talk. Let’s move.”
Clarice’s squad took the lead, and Gunther’s squad quietly followed.
It wasn’t long before they reached a place where dozens of people were gathered.
The location appeared to host at least a dozen squads.
At the center stood someone wearing the armband of Squad 2-1.
“Schleiman Hans?”
“Judging by the atmosphere… it seems like that guy is the leader here, right?”
At Nellie’s remark, the others nodded in agreement.
Schleiman Hans.
He was one of the top scorers in the February end-of-month evaluation, placing within the top 10, and he was the first to propose an alliance at the start of this quest.
As Gunther and Nellie’s group arrived, Schleiman approached them with a welcoming smile.
“Wow, seems like all the useful people are here. Welcome.”
Schleiman extended his hand to Gunther with a smile.
Gunther shook his hand lightly and asked as he looked around.
“Did you gather all these people?”
“Well, something like that.”
Schleiman answered nonchalantly.
However, gathering squads that had been charging at Yuri like enraged bulls was no small feat.
Gunther couldn’t help but find this peculiar.
He stared intently at Schleiman.
“…Strange.”
“What do you mean?”
“Most of the people gathered here are from the latter half of the entrants. There don’t seem to be many from the first squads that chased after Squad 1.”
“……”
“And the response to the situation is oddly quick. It’s as if you knew how things would unfold, or rather, as if you had planned to gather here from the start.”
“Is that so?”
Schleiman shrugged lightly.
That response confirmed Gunther’s suspicion.
“You proposed this alliance with this outcome in mind from the beginning, didn’t you?”
Schleiman smirked at
Gunther’s probing gaze.
“Well, fine. Since you were the one who informed us that Yuri Holland is the Black Dragon Plaque Holder, I’ll answer honestly just this once.”
“……”
“Yeah, I proposed the alliance with this in mind from the beginning. The people gathered here are squads I discreetly tipped off to hang back. Ah! But not everyone—there are squads that survived against that monster as well.”
“A monster… the way you describe it, seems like you’ve looked into Yuri Holland?”
“Of course. Isn’t it strange to ignore someone who suddenly took first place in the end-of-month evaluation and is the Black Dragon Plaque Holder? I bet others have looked into him as well, not just me.”
Some of the others who had “ignored it” flinched inwardly at his words.
“When I looked into him, that Yuri Holland… turned out to be a real monster. Fifteen steps during the Hundred Steps Ceremony? Is that even possible? Well, I suppose someone of that caliber is necessary for this alliance to have any meaning.”
Nellie asked Schleiman, who had been prattling on.
“The squads you didn’t tip off… were they sacrifices?”
“I wouldn’t go that far; I just sent them out to gauge Squad 1’s strength.”
“That’s usually what people call sacrifices, isn’t it?”
“Well, if you put it that way, sure. As you said, it’s ideal if those test squads could handle Squad 1, and even better if they could at least injure them. It’s a win-win.”
At that moment, the smile on Schleiman’s lips turned bitter.
“But Yuri Holland turned out to be more of a monster than expected. Who would’ve thought he’d wipe out all the squads that went ahead in such a short time? Honestly, when I proposed this alliance, I was worried it might be overkill for just three people, but… it turned out I underestimated the need.”
Schleiman’s face hardened briefly as he chuckled.
But he soon regained his smile and waved to Gunther’s squad.
“Anyway, you’ve done well to come. We can talk more about this later. It looks like the rest of the squads will be joining soon.”
With that, Schleiman smiled and walked away.
As she watched his departing figure, Pana murmured.
“That guy… he’s scary. To plan all this in such a short time.”
Nellie nodded grimly.
“He’s scary, and shameless too.”
“Shameless?”
Pana tilted her head, and Nellie turned to Gunther with a question.
“Gunther, he didn’t give us any tip-offs to hang back, did he?”
“No, he didn’t.”
“As I thought… That bastard planned to use us as sacrifices too.”
Pana’s eyes widened at her words.
“What? Us? Why?”
“Because our squad would be considered the most dangerous next to Yuri Holland’s squad.”
“Oh no, are you saying he was planning to deal with us too?”
“Exactly. He hoped that by pitting us against Squad 1, one of us would be eliminated.”
“Wow, and then he greeted us so warmly with that smile?”
“He had no choice. Now that Yuri Holland’s abilities exceeded expectations, he probably realized his current forces are insufficient. And we can fill that gap.”
After Nellie’s explanation, Pana and Philip glared in the direction where Schleiman had disappeared and shouted in unison.
“That shameless bastard!”
“That shameless bastard!”
* * *
In the quiet forest.
Standing on a tree branch, Yuri had his eyes closed.
Around him, the threads of Magic Flow stretched dozens of meters outward.
After a while, Yuri slowly opened his eyes.
The corners of his mouth twisted.
“Hah?”
Initially, Yuri had intended to keep ambushing the squads that came his way, picking them off one by one.
But at some point, the squads stopped coming.
Sensing something was off, he followed the flow of things and soon discovered a large group of people gathered in one spot.
This discovery irritated Yuri.
‘Really now? They’re responding faster than I expected.’
The fact that the squads had quickly consolidated meant one thing.
“There’s someone over there who’s using their head too.”
Convinced of this, Yuri clicked his tongue.
Tsk.
‘Tch, I could have picked off a few more.’
Since there was also someone over there strategizing, they would likely establish a command structure soon.
Once that happened, it would be impossible for him to keep picking off squads solo.
“Well, it’s a shame, but I suppose it’s time to wrap things up for now.”
It was time for him to retreat and prepare for the next plan.
Putting aside his regret, Yuri turned away, his pocket filled with eleven severed armbands.