I Tamed the First Rank Chapter 58

「Uwaaah!」

The machine gun bullets and cannon fire poured down from the opposite trench toward the young soldiers who were advancing with shouts that were almost screams. Many soldiers had their limbs blown off before they even reached the trench, and a smaller number threw grenades into the trench, sharpened their guns, and beat them with trench clubs (blunt weapons used in trench warfare).

The trenches that were captured, leaving behind only countless corpses, were retaken the very next day, and they retreated after piling up more corpses. Among the bloody corpses strewn between the trenches, the wounded who had not been recovered were left sobbing as rats tore their flesh to pieces.

Kwaang! Bang! The plane’s bombing blew up the upper body of a soldier who was crouching in the trench and eating a meal in a hurry. The downed plane crashed, burning the forest.

A soldier who ran out of a trench alone and fired wildly in extreme fear was killed by his comrades. A soldier who was sleeping in a trench was buried alive when the trench was buried by the pouring rain. A soldier who cut off his own arm to escape the front line died of tetanus in the rear.

The screams of the dying and the cries for their families mingled with the bloody smoke. It was hell, where hundreds of thousands of corpses had to be stepped on to advance just one kilometer.

“Uh, this………………. That………………”

Overwhelmed by the vivid vision beyond his imagination, Park Seung-gi barely managed to continue speaking after licking his lips.

“It’s like the Western Front……………….”

“Well, it’s probably similar. The scene that researchers like you would be interested in will come up next.”

A group of medical personnel approached the trenches without hesitation with relief supplies from the rear. Among them, a woman wearing a similarly simplified long tunic knelt down and prayed.

A small, warm light, like a candle shining in the darkness, followed the woman’s hand and stayed on the wounded soldier. The affected area, which had been necrotic from frostbite, had improved enough to walk, albeit incompletely. The soldier praised him with tears in his eyes.

「Sirona!」

In Yoo-shin blinked, and Park Seung-gi exclaimed.

“Healer! No, no healer has ever appeared from the background of a dungeon before, so it must be something else. Is it... that rare thing, you know, that thing! I've never seen anything like it before! Of course, this is also the first time I've seen an illusion like this!!"

"Let's think about that later. It's about time for the monsters to come out, so you should go back."

Hyeon Gyu-ha was so excited that he moved Park Seung-gi, who was trembling, to the safe rear using psychokinesis. Of course, unlike In Yoo-shin, he didn’t control it delicately, so he had to fall and land on his butt.

[The dungeon has detected your presence.]

In the dungeon where the short memories that the earth had been holding for a few minutes had been condensed and flowing, monsters began to form. The hunters who had been waiting, either interestingly or boredly, as if watching a movie, took up their weapons.

Also, Gong Tae-seong, who had been bickering with Choi Jin-hyeok because their opinions didn’t match, kicked him with his long legs and pulled out his sword. The sword with white flames went to the front of the group.

And Hyeon Gyu-ha just held In Yoo-shin under his arm and lifted himself into the air.

The ground was sloppy. Unlike the birch forest, the snow that had piled up in the trench quickly melted, turning the ground into a mudflat.

“I guess Gong Tae-seong is useful sometimes.”

If the shallow, wide-spreading white flames had not dried the ground to some extent, it would have been even more difficult to move.

While the hunters were busy hunting, Hyeon Gyu-ha, who had lost his motivation as the camping was ruined, just floated in the sky. Even so, he did his part by catching flying monsters and the monsters that approached the awakened ones behind him.

“Wow, the guild leader is also amazing. The flames really seem alive.”

“It’s not amazing.”

Hyeon Gyu-ha instantly changed his attitude when In Yoo-shin, who had seemed to be complimenting Gong Tae-seong, expressed admiration. His downward gaze looked somewhat pouty.

‘………………Why do you look cute?’

In Yoo-shin, who had been absentmindedly thinking, quickly fixed his expression at the following words.

“Gong Tae-seong needs to fully activate the artifact to create the entire field if he wants to clear the dungeon alone, but I can clear it without using it.”

“I know, I know. I’ve seen how amazing Gyu-ha is.”

"If it wasn't Supreme Deity who came out of that dungeon, my arm wouldn't have been sore and would have been fine."

"Of course. Gyu-ha-ssi is cooler than the guild leader."

It was a conversation that would make the listener feel ashamed if others heard it, but Inyushin continued talking as if nothing had happened. It was true that Hyeon Gyu-ha was cooler and more amazing than Gong Taesung.

Only then did Hyeon Gyu-ha loosen up and twist the necks of the two flying monsters to death, and asked while ignoring Gong Tae-seong’s curses as he was almost crushed by the falling demon.

“But, Master-nim. Isn’t it too quiet?”

“Isn;t it noisy?”

“Not the fighting sound, down there, that guy, that guy.”

Hyeon Gyu-ha’s finger pointed to the pouch hanging from In Yoo-shin’s side. Looking back, it was very quiet.

He looked down, wondering if it was true.

“…….”

8-se had already passed out in the pouch.

“He’s more useless than Gong Tae-seong.”

“…….”

This time, he couldn’t bear to defend 8-se.

Even as evening came, the dungeon’s time was still at dusk. The hunters who had been hunting in shifts returned to the forward base. There were no serious injuries, and even the lightly injured recovered with Song Chan-young’s treatment.

Since it was a very small dungeon, even if Hyeon Gyu-ha was lying around without motivation, he would still be able to hunt the boss together with Gong Tae-seong. However, since the dungeon training curriculum was 2 days and 1 night, he had to spend one night in the dungeon.

“It seems like a rule made by the higher-ups who didn’t like the fact that they gave it such a grand name as training and then came out so easily.”

In Yoo-shin also agreed with his friend's words.

“Honestly, it felt like camping until dinner.”

Dinner was the meat of the hunted beasts along with the combat rations I brought. It was not well-prepared and lacked seasoning, so it was less tasty than eating at a restaurant outside, but it added to the camping atmosphere. The intention of allowing low-level Awakeners to experience dungeons and expand their range of occupation choices was good, but I thought I understood why people sarcastically called it a dungeon picnic.

Park Seung-gi looked back at the footage recorded by the drone and felt sorry.

“It’s true that the dungeon’s illusion can’t be recorded. Look at this.”

“When I saw it through vision, it was so vivid, but when I watched it on tape, it just looked like fog. Why is that?”

“I think it’s because they directly stimulate the brain to make you think you’re seeing it with your eyes and hearing it. The illusion only lasts a few minutes, but sometimes it can last for decades.”

It was a complicated story.

Park Seung-gi, who took notes on the visions he witnessed so he wouldn’t forget them, showed me his tablet.

“Does it look similar to the clothes the last woman was wearing?”

“Oh, kind of.”

“Sometimes, people like that woman use healing or abilities similar to divine power. Since they borrow the names of gods in mythology, I infer that they are priests. If you go out the gate and search, you will find out, but since the soldiers spoke in French, I think ‘Sirona’ is a Celtic god.”

I guess it is common for scholars to talk a lot when it comes to research-related topics. In Yoo-shin, who was just sitting and listening, felt a strange sense of conviction as Park Seung-gi continued.

“When you see such regular differences, the theory that it is not a distorted or altered history but a parallel world is more weighted.”

“It must be a parallel world.”

His words were filled with a confidence that surprised him. As if he had heard the story of parallel worlds directly from someone who knew the truth of the world.

“Ah, well, I guess so. The idea of parallel worlds is kind of romantic.”

In Yoo-shin flinched and quickly collected his words. Fortunately, Park Seung-gi didn’t seem to find it strange.

“You know too. That romance is so important. What do you think, Hunter-nim?”

When he turned his head at those words, Hyeon Gyu-ha was already there. He handed the roasted marshmallows he was holding in each hand to the two of them. It really felt like camping.

“I think so.”

Hyeon Gyu-ha, who had been absentmindedly responding without even listening to Park Seung-gi, finally answered properly after hearing In Yoo-shin’s explanation.

“It’s a parallel world, right?”

“You don’t necessarily agree just because it’s Yoo-shin, right?”

“That’s true, too.”

When In Yoo-shin took a bite of the warm marshmallow and held it out for him to eat, Hyeon Gyu-ha smiled.

“Master. Ah, try it.”

“What?”

"Ah."

In Yoo-shin opened his mouth slightly, not knowing what it was.

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