Panting heavily─ Panting heavily─
Sophia wiped her lips with her hand, breathing hard. The arm that had been pulling the bowstring was trembling as if in spasm, and sweat poured down her entire body like rain. On her shoulders, salt crystals sparkled white, evaporated from the seawater by the sun.
’...Is this ever going to end? I an, does it even end?’
As the newest mber of the Utopia Party, she was running out of stamina. Despite her talent helping her close the gap with the other party mbers, there was still a fundantal difference in their basic levels.
However, that didn’t an the Utopia party mbers’ expressions were bright either. They too had lost their expressions from the prolonged battle.
Three hours had passed since they started blocking the monster wave.
On the beach, thousands of blue crab corpses were grotesquely piled up.
The noise and vibrations from the speakers had accumulated, weakening the A-class blue crabs to the point where they could barely stand.
Thus, the Utopia party mbers now resembled skilled workers in a crab processing factory, disassembling crabs with precision.
Slash, slash─!
"Another one!"
Jin Yuha, the only one with an excited expression, would slice off all the blue crab’s legs with just two cuts.
"Krrkkk─ Kraa!!"
Lee Yoo-ri would then use her shield as a lever to flip the blue crab onto its back.
"Chit!"
Crunch─!
Next, Kang Do-hee would slightly pry open the crab’s belly with her hands.
"Huff, huff─ Eek!"
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Sophia would then shoot arrows into the opened gap, precisely targeting the blue crab’s gills, its weak spot.
"Kiieeeek..."
This would cause the blue crab to emit a powerless groan and die instantly.
Whirr─ Whirr─
Lim Ga-eul, who had threads of magic ready, would wrap the blue crab’s legs and body, dragging its corpse to the beach.
"Huff!! Eek! So, so heavy!!!"
Thus, each mber played their part, collaborating like puzzle pieces fitting together. However, everyone except Jin Yuha had dead eyes, making the scene eerily bizarre.
Even the blue crabs themselves.
"Next!!!"
Jin Yuha shouted.
The blue crab seed to understand the command and trembled, trying to escape.
Clang─! Clang─! Clang─! Clang─! Clang─!
Lee Yoo-ri’s shield sound kept the crab from retreating.
"...Kiiieee..."
The blue crab, unable to do anything, turned its gaze sorrowfully towards Lee Yoo-ri. Four bright red eyes on its back glowed pitifully.
Jin Yuha, staring intently at a drone hovering in the air, spoke in a grumpy voice.
"Hey, the cheering sounds seem to have decreased a bit. It looks like the monsters are starting to turn their eyes this way?"
─ Huh? It seems like you’re doing well...
"No, we didn’t ask you to cheer for our benefit. You need to keep shouting to stay safe, you know?"
─ ...
"Hey, one of them is heading that way! Co on! Just one more push!"
─ I heard you say ’one more push’ earlier...
Like a gym trainer ordering ’just one more rep,’ Jin Yuha requested more cheering from the audience.
Sophia rolled her eyes as she watched.
’Demon... he’s a demon...’
Reluctantly, the audience complied, raising their voices.
─ Waaahhh!!! Utopia! Utopia!!!
Not thinking much about it, Jin Yuha obliviously encouraged her party mbers.
"See, with everyone cheering, it gives us energy! Co on, let’s keep it up a bit longer!"
Sophia, wearing an exasperated expression, twitched the corner of her mouth into a wry smile, letting out a dry laugh.
’This is hell... Crab hell...’
.
.
.
Two more hours passed.
The bright sun had set, and the beach had turned into a dark night sea.
─ K-kill ... ─ Ugh... My throat is sore... ─ Gaaaah...
The crowd, who had been cheering at Jin Yuha’s request, now sounded like the blue crabs’ cries, their voices cracked and hoarse. The Utopia party mbers also couldn’t hide their fatigue anymore, even Kang Do-hee, who had been the most energetic.
Jin Yuha, looking uncomfortable, twitched his eyebrows as she surveyed the scene.
’Already tired?’
This monster wave attack at the swimsuit festival was originally a popular mini-ga in Velvets.
A mini-ga where parties of six competed to see how many blue crabs they could catch!
Not only did the captured blue crabs’ byproducts fetch a good price, but ranking high also earned you valuable rewards, making it a must-try content for everyone.
’Tsk, so this is the limit... I really wanted to catch ten thousand...’
So far, the Utopia party had caught about 9,000 blue crabs.
’Sigh, back in my day, it wasn’t like this! These kids have no grit!’
Rembering his old ga record, Jin Yuha clicked his tongue in disappointnt.
The plan was perfect. With even more cheering than in the original ga and Lee Yoo-ri’s wide-range monster taunt, he thought they might have a chance.
But ultimately, they set a subpar record, far short of the 12,000 he had once caught in the ga.
Feeling dissatisfied with not catching more blue crabs, Jin Yuha suddenly had a realization.
’Maybe it’s okay...’
In this real-life Velvets, there was no gacha system, no resources to enhance the party mbers.
The Utopia party had reached this level solely through training, and even though they hadn’t reached ten thousand, catching close to that number was still a significant achievent.
Haa...
Still, a sigh of regret escaped.
"It’s still disappointing... We couldn’t even catch ten thousand..."
However, Jin Yuha was mistaken about a few things.
Firstly, the benchmark of ’ten thousand’ blue crabs in the swimsuit festival’s monster wave was a standard used to distinguish veteran players in Velvets. The Utopia party didn’t have a specialized position for mass-slaughter.
So, even with just five mbers instead of a full six, they were already close to veteran players who had accumulated abundant in-ga resources.
Yet, having been conditioned to extract the maximum score in the ga, Jin Yuha couldn’t consider anything below that.
"At least it’s good; now I have a rough idea of how weak the party mbers are... I need to push them harder from now on. There will be real dangers ahead."
Jin Yuha, mumbling words that would shock other players, clapped his hands as he looked at his party mbers.
"Alright, everyone, let’s call it a day!"
He then looked up at the drone.
─ Ahh! Jin Yuha is looking here again!
─ I-it’s nice, but scary!
─ We’ll scream! We won’t stop! Waaaahhh!!
The audience, having been harassed by Jin Yuha, habitually raised their voices.
"Oh, it’s all over now. It looks like the monsters won’t be approaching anymore."
Jin Yuha said with a bright smile and a nonchalant voice.
─ L-lies! You have already said that last ti!
"No, really. Look, the monsters aren’t even approaching anymore."
The party mbers looked at Jin Yuha with bewildered expressions.
’They’ve been in that state for a while... They were trying to run away, but you didn’t let them...’
However, no one voiced these thoughts, swallowing their frustration instead.
─ R-really!? Is it really safe now!?
"Yes, you are safe now! So, for the last ti, really the last ti! Let’s hear a big cheer!"
With Jin Yuha’s declaration of the end of the raid,
─ Waaaahhh!!! It’s over!!! It’s really over!!!
People squeezed out their remaining strength and cheered.
Crackle─ crackle─ crackle─!!!
The remaining blue crabs glanced at Lee Yoo-ri, and seeing that she didn’t beat her shield, they quickly turned and fled into the sea.
Lim Ga-eul, who had been blankly watching the fleeing blue crabs,
"Ha... It’s over. Hoo, junior! It’s really over now!? Really!!?"
She said as she collapsed backwards.
"Yes, it’s really over now. Even if we wanted to continue, they’ve all run away."
Jin Yuha nodded, confirming again, and Lim Ga-eul, along with the others, collapsed to the ground, letting out deep sighs.
"...It’s over..."
"I don’t think I’ll ever co to the beach again."
"I’m so sick of crabs!!!"
"Ha, my first beach trip..."
But a voice cut through their relief like a cold splash of water.
"Oh my, it’s over now? Hehe, you all worked hard."
The party mbers, who had collapsed to the ground, turned their eyes to Shin Se-hee, gritting their teeth.
Her body was dry, her face glossy as if well-rested and well-fed. She was wearing a silk shawl over her swimsuit.
"You all did well, but there’s one last thing to do."
"...Sothing else? Junior, we’re really, really tired..."
"Hmm, but this is sothing only you can do."
"What is it, flower garden?"
Shin Se-hee smiled and looked around at the scattered crab corpses.
"Now you have to move all of these."
"What!? To where!"
"I’ve arranged refrigerated trucks across the country."
"...We could just get the byproduct dealers to do it! Why!"
"Oh, these aren’t byproducts. They’re ingredients. Very expensive ones, right, Jin Yuha?"
"...Uh, yeah."
"So, we need to load them quickly before they lose their freshness. This is all your money, after all."
The party mbers glared at Shin Se-hee with murderous looks as she smiled brightly.
﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌
Support the Translation! 🌐✨
20 Advanced Chapters are currently available in Patreon, make sure to visit and support our team.
patreon/Immortal_author
sko-fi/immortalauthor
sdiscord.gg/KscfBegBPT
Reviews
All reviews (0)