The Skill Maker

Chapter 106

“…Tell me the good news first . ”

When Hyun-Soo replied, Eugene held up two fingers and then folded one .

“Okay . The good news is that, we received approval to go hunting . ”

Was that good news?

Hyun-Soo was a bit confused, but he decided that it wasn’t so bad since they’ll be able to go into the portal again .

“And the bad news?”

Eugene folded his second finger .

“The bad news is that, there’s something fishy about that approval . ”

“Fishy? How?”

“Nothing has been revealed about it . But they’ve been giving us a hard time, so the portal that they approved, probably isn’t an ordinary one . On top of that, it’s not the one that we requested . We submitted an exchange request, but they told us that they would cancel the approval if we didn’t want it . ”

And it’s been a long time since they went hunting .

Eugene added .

In order to remain active, there was a need for them to go on hunts .

So, unless they find something that’s really off, they’ll most likely go hunt the portal that they got approval for .

“It’s highly unlikely that they would joke around with a portal, but…we can’t put our guard down . ”

“I see . ”

“Yoo-Na is going to tell everyone to gather later tonight . We’ll be going on that hunt soon since it’s been a long time . Something feels off, but it feels good that we’re going hunting . ”

Katrina, who was sitting next to him, nodded her head in agreement .

Like Eugene mentioned, Kim Yoo-Na asked everyone to gather .

She explained the current situation and asked for everyone’s opinions .

The members all agreed to hunt .

Everyone felt that something was off, but they were all confident that nothing serious would happen .

‘It’s not a colorful anyways . What could go wrong?’

***

Be careful what you say .

‘Damn it . ’

Trap .

That was the best word he could think of to describe the situation .

“……What should we do?”

“Maybe we should wait for the second group?”

“There’s a good chance that all of us may drown before they arrive . ”

“I don’t like drowning . It won’t be a beautiful death . ”

The members were trapped, so they were all making serious comments .

And when someone made a funny comment, the tense atmosphere disappeared .

“If we use a skill to create a hole, this whole place will probably crumble…”

“The path that we entered from is too deep, so it’s impossible for us to individually go out that way . ”

After the situation suddenly changed, Eugene was the first one to search the inside .

“So, we’re fucked . ”

***

Before the clan was isolated .

This happened .

“I don’t like the water . ”

“Same here . Wearing a wetsuit is really difficult . ”

The terrain was difficult to begin with .

They purposely placed a monster at an area that was difficult to reach without tools and the members knew why .

‘They’re not going to go easy on us . Are they saying, screw you…?’

At first, Hyun-Soo thought the higher-ups just had a nasty temper .

The clan expected something like this to happen because the clan prevented the higher-ups from gaining more power .

That’s why everyone packed their wetsuits while complaining .

A place where a high cliff and the ocean met .

The moment they jumped into the blue hole-like ocean, they swam towards a tunnel that was like a cavern .

The cavern was pointing upwards at an angle, but at the end, there was a large cavern .

They never expected a large cavern to be located under the sea and there were even puddles of water in various areas .

And thankfully, the monster was inside the cavern, not under the water .

‘The hunt itself is pretty easy . ’

The Energy Field wasn’t at the normal level and maybe that’s why .

The hunt wasn’t that difficult .

It was actually to easy, that it was boring .

‘Coming in here was difficult, but this isn’t that bad . ’

When thinking about how they delayed the approval and gave an approval for a portal they didn’t request for, it wasn’t all that bad .

The members must’ve thought the same way, because they didn’t react badly .

Other than the fact that they jumped into the ocean, swam through a crooked pathway and entered an odd cavern, things were normal .

Killing the monster was pretty too .

But the normal situation suddenly turned chaotic .

They suddenly heard a loud explosion .

The members that were dismembering the monster’s body instinctively turned their heads towards the source of the sound .

The explosion must’ve happened outside because it sounded far .

However .

Rumble……!

Maybe it’s because of the explosion .

Rocks from the cavern’s ceiling started falling .

“I think I heard it from the entrance . ”

“Check to see what it is . ”

One of the members quickly headed towards the entrance .

They swam without wearing a wetsuit .

It would be a big problem if the explosion affected the tunnel they entered through .

And then .

Booooooom!

They heard another loud explosion .

The explosion was so big, they could hardly stand still .

“Denver! Get out of there! Now!”

Splash! Splash!

A part of the cavern was crumbling down .

Near the entrance, there was a puddle of water and as large rocks started falling, the water started splashing violently .

If Denver didn’t stop, he would’ve gotten hurt pretty badly .

“What’s…happening?”

Due to the unexpected situation, everyone remained quiet .

It seemed like everyone was trying to find out what was happening .

“There shouldn’t be any explosions in this area, right?”

“There aren’t any active volcanoes around here and there probably isn’t a different monster . It’s an ordinary portal, not a colorful one, so there’s no way there would be two different types of monsters here . ”

“An earthquake…that sound…doesn’t it seem like someone created it?”

“It went off almost back to back . It’s definitely not a natural phenomena . ”

The members spoke after thinking about the situation and started putting their theories together .

The theory that they fell for a trap .

After mentioning that, everyone started focusing on that theory .

“Now that I think about it, the Energy Field’s range was a bit odd . But, it has happened before, so I didn’t think too much about it…”

“Isn’t it weird that they gave us the one with crappy geographical features? If you think about it, it’s the perfect place to get cut off and die . On top of that, if you fail at escaping, the proof will disappear with the portal . ”

“Then…are you saying they purposely gave us this place and used explosions? Seriously?”

A shocked expression appeared on Katrina’s face when she heard members’ conversation .

Her pale face soon turned blue .

The other hunters reacted the same way .

There were some that thought that the theory was absurd .

It was chaotic because some were in denial and others were mad about what was happening .

It’s because no one thought they would intentionally try to kill the members .

There were a lot of different opinions, but there was only one result .

Eugene’s comment about their situation .

***

“None of our tools are in decent condition . ”

As rocks fell due to the explosion, the oxygen cylinders they used stopped working .

“Um, is this place starting to fill up with water or am I wrong?”

When someone quietly mentioned it, everyone looked at the ground .

Excluding the deep puddle, the ground wasn’t wet at all .

Splash, splash .

But now, every time they moved, they were able to hear small splashing sounds .

“Oh jeez . Another issue . I guess we’re really going to drown . ”

“If we escape, I’m going to kill the jerk that caused all this . ”

“You think the politicians did this?”

“It’s a possibility, but it’s also possible that it’s not them . Even if they’re dumb, it’s obvious that they would be the first suspects, so would they do something that crazy? It’s possible that someone intercepted . ”

“We did make a lot of enemies recently . ”

Even though they weren’t trying to, they were gaining a lot of attention .

Envy, jealousy and hatred followed behind admiration, awe and praise .

Where there’s light, there’s shadow .

“Whoever it is, I won’t go easy on them . ”

“You’re right . I’m going to tie them to some weights and throw them into the ocean . They need to suffer too . ”

The members stopped complaining when Kim Yoo-Na spoke .

“I understand that we’re in a really bad situation right now . But, we shouldn’t just stand around and do nothing, right? Let’s find a solution . Where there’s a will, there’s a way . ”

Kim Yoo-Na calmed everyone down and as her eyes met with another’s, she spoke with determination .

The members almost lost all hope because they were about to die from someone’s trap and not during a battle . But when Kim Yoo-Na spoke, their eyes lit up again .

“Right, we can’t give up without trying . The airstrip hasn’t been finished yet . ”

The members that were complaining stretched and started searching around the room .

To see if there was a way they could escape and how dangerous the current situation was .

But the result wasn’t all that great .

They couldn’t create a hole with their skills because the cavern was located too deep into cliff .

And they couldn’t ignore the possibility of getting crushed to death if they used their skills wrong and the cavern ended up crumbling down .

During that time, water was seeping in from another area and was filling the ground .

They were in a desperate situation .

“Damn it, there’s no way out . ”

The members were motivated by Kim Yoo-Na, but the more they searched, the more hopeless they felt .

It’s because they really couldn’t find a way out .

But then .

“Wouldn’t we be able to escape through here?”

Hyun-Soo pointed at an area .

Hyun-Soo pointed at the deep puddle .

“Isn’t that just a puddle?”

Someone questioned .

“Possibly, but I think it might be connected to somewhere . Isn’t it more odd that there’s a puddle in this kind of place? I think there’s a high chance that this puddle will lead to another area just like the passageway from earlier . ”

When Hyun-Soo calmly explained, Eugene nodded his head .

“That’s a possibility . But, there’s no guarantee that it’s an exit . ”

“If there’s a puddle, it means the water entered there and if we can just get to the surface of the water, then it’s only a matter of time until we exit the portal . ”

“You seem pretty confident . Whenever you act confident, I always get the feeling that I can trust you . ”

“……Thank you?”

Hyun-Soo replied in a confused tone .

There was a reason why Hyun-Soo pointed at the puddle .

It was the Interface .

While the other hunters were searching, Hyun-Soo was searching as well .

But, Hyun-Soo was using Interface .

‘There’s a 70% chance that area will collapse soon . We shouldn’t use a skill there . The ceiling looks to be in decent condition . But, we can’t relax . The walls seem pretty thick too…is there really no way for us to escape? Are we really just going to die like this?’

When Hyun-Soo was about to smirk .

There was something that caught his attention .