Transferred to an SSS-rank Production Class

“To think he’d accurately hit only the bone joints in the midst of all that.”

I clicked my tongue as I looked at the bone fragments—or rather, tail fragments—rolling on the ground. Thanks to the sword strikes landing precisely on the intended spots, there wasn’t a single scratch on them.

He was truly a person who took the strangest things seriously.

“You said you’d give me all of it! Don’t covet them!”

Lee Kang-to, who had leaped onto the pile of bones, eyed me warily. He seemed to genuinely believe that everyone in the world shared his peculiar tastes. Seeing him like this made me want to erase the moment I had thought Lee Kang-to was beautiful.

“Even if you gave me a truckload, I wouldn’t take it.”

“L-liar!”

“Let’s save the wordplay for after we’ve wrapped everything up.”

The quick-witted yokai swiftly retracted the tails that were out of Lee Kang-to’s sword reach—in other words, the ones around Chae Seong-a and me. I shook my head as I saw the noticeably thinned bundle of tails.

‘It’s taken this much damage, so I hope it’ll retreat.’

But the yokai seemed to have other ideas.

“How dare you flip over my dinner table! What kind of outrageous behavior is this?”

The yokai, its body discarded who knows where, approached with only its head floating, screaming. It was then that I belatedly noticed the system window above the yokai.

[Agal]

Agal, the yokai who had been spewing rude words like “dinner table” and “delicacy” in front of people, glared at Lee Kang-to while gnashing its teeth. Simultaneously, Lee Kang-to’s body—or more precisely, the pile of bones he was lying on—began to stir.

“M-my treasures…!”

“That’s right. If it could be obtained easily, we wouldn’t call it a delicacy. Very well. As you wish, let’s have a grand time!”

Lee Kang-to, his face flushed with anger, raised his sword once more. Agal focused all its tails on Lee Kang-to, completely disregarding Chae Seong-a and me.

There was no room for me to intervene in the rapidly escalating battle. The situation was different from the fight with the Kraken. With attacks and defenses exchanged so relentlessly, clumsily stepping in would only disrupt their rhythm.

“But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing I can do to help.”

Taking advantage of Agal’s attention being focused on Lee Kang-to, I activated Explorer’s Eye. If I could point out its weak spot, it would make things a bit easier for Lee Kang-to.

But something was off. Agal’s head, body, and tails—none of them showed any red glow. No matter how many times I looked, Explorer’s Eye remained silent.

“Nothing?”

I frowned at this unexpected result.

This had never happened before. It couldn’t mean that there was no weak point at all. Even Yana, with the epithet “Omnipotent,” had a weak point. A few hypotheses floated through my mind, but I couldn’t quite grasp the situation.

Given how things were unfolding, this was problematic.

“I wonder when you’ll realize the futility of your struggles.”

Agal’s face circled around Lee Kang-to, cackling. Lee Kang-to, his judgment clouded, swung his sword, but the now abundantly restored bundle of tails acted as a shield, deflecting the sword strikes.

“…Surely its tails can’t keep regenerating like this indefinitely?”

“We can’t rule out that possibility. Hunter Lee Kang-to’s stamina isn’t infinite either, so let’s find a solution before then.”

Bad premonitions always seem to come true.

Lee Kang-to unleashed a barrage of skills, blasting away the bundle of tails, but as if mocking him, Agal immediately regenerated them. No matter how quickly he destroyed the tails, the fragments reattached themselves just as fast.

It seemed we couldn’t break free from this cycle until the powerful magical energy flowing through the tails was depleted.

‘Such a small body, yet such tremendous magical power.’

Despite regenerating its tails numerous times, Agal showed no signs of magical depletion. This was in stark contrast to Lee Kang-to, who was sweating profusely even with our occasional support.

It’s not like I was just sitting around doing nothing either.

“Apply Concentration.”

A massive arrow, like a harpoon, struck a tail that had suddenly emerged, aiming for Lee Kang-to’s blind spot. Though it lacked the power to do more than push the tail back slightly, that was enough.

Lee Kang-to, sensing the tail’s position from the sound, flexibly arched his back to avoid it.

“Huh? Backwards? Y-yes!”

Lee Kang-to, who had suddenly started talking to himself, performed a backflip, narrowly dodging the spider web that Agal had spat out. Chae Seong-a had directly injected the information she saw with her future sight into Lee Kang-to’s mind.

Not bad teamwork for a newly formed team, but we couldn’t keep this up forever. Feeling desperate, I uselessly activated Explorer’s Eye again. The weak point was still invisible.

“Just how is its mana circuit center structured to produce so much magical power? Let me take a look.”

But is it in the head or the body? Without pondering too long, I randomly picked a spot and traced the flow. Anyway, no matter which path I followed, it should connect to the mana circuit’s center, so if I keep doing this… It’s not here?

‘What’s going on? Why does the mana circuit end at the tail tip?’

In a normal mana circuit, magical power is repeatedly emitted and absorbed from the center. But not with Agal. Despite the overflowing magical power, I couldn’t find the center that was supplying it no matter how hard I looked. The flow of magic was strange too.

Concentrating magical power in my eyes to examine Agal’s mana circuit closely, I immediately understood the reason. It was so simple that I felt foolish for not realizing it earlier.

‘This thing is drawing magical power from somewhere else.’

Now I understood why it seemed unnaturally tireless. The more I looked at it, receiving a one-sided flow of magical power, the more it resembled an electrical appliance receiving energy rather than a living being.

“For an appliance that won’t behave, you just need to unplug it. Where… Ah, there it is.”

Among the bundle of tails all flowing in one direction, there was a single tail where the magical power flowed in reverse. The tip of this uniquely thin tail was embedded in the rock face forming the valley.

It was quite high up, but within range of my grappling hook.

“I think I’ve found a solution. I’ll be up there for a moment, so please wait a bit.”

I explained vaguely to Chae Seong-a, as a detailed explanation would require discussing skills. As I was about to set off, Chae Seong-a grabbed my wrist.

“You’re going alone?”

“I’ll be sufficient by myself. Hunter Chae Seong-a, please help Hunter Lee Kang-to instead. I trust you can draw Agal’s attention well.”

“That’s too reckless!”

“Shh.”

Perhaps because her voice had risen, Agal glanced in our direction. If we continued to argue, we might be discovered. Pretending to aim at the tails, I whispered to Chae Seong-a.

“This might actually be the safest path.”

“…That’s sophistry.”

“If you’re really worried, just help me a little if I get in danger. If you can buy me just 10 seconds, no more, no less, I’ll find a way to escape somehow.”

You know, I’m a ranger, so I’m quite fast, I added with a slight smile, resting my bow on my shoulder. Though I meant it as a joke this time, Chae Seong-a didn’t laugh.

“I’ll trust Hunter Chae Seong-a, so please trust me too.”

“…You get called stubborn a lot, don’t you?”

“Well, I suppose I do.”

Agal’s attention had returned to Lee Kang-to. Before its focus could shift back to us, I quickly hooked my grappling hook.

As my feet left the ground, Chae Seong-a’s voice echoed in my head.

– 10 seconds is impossible… but 5 seconds might be doable.

If it works, it works; if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. What’s with this “might be doable”? Still, there were no words more reassuring than these. Suppressing a smile, I made another leap, and the target came significantly closer. There was even a convenient spot to place my foot.

Now I just need to pull this out quickly and escape. With my right hand that wasn’t supporting my body, I grasped the tail embedded in the rock face and pulled with all my might.

“Ugh, it’s in deep!”

I hadn’t expected it to come out as easily as pulling a radish, but I didn’t think it would be this difficult either. I strained with my whole body, grunting, but the tail remained firmly lodged, not budging an inch.

“It might be faster to just break it off. No, rather than that…”

Just as I was about to use a skill that had suddenly occurred to me—

“Mr. Kim! Behind you!”

– Hunter Yun Gaho!

I heard teeth clacking right behind my head.

“Though it’s a rare ingredient, you’ve crossed the line. Didn’t you learn not to touch other people’s things without permission?”

Damn it, I’ve been caught! I swung my dagger as I turned, but Agal bit the blade with its teeth and snapped it. I take back what I said about B-grade horror movies. The head staring at me with bulging eyes was more chilling than anything I’d seen before.

“Sacrilege, more sacrilege. Let’s end this game here.”

As Agal opened its mouth wide, a sharp blue spider web formed along its lips. As soon as I saw that, I used the embedded tail as a springboard and leaped high into the air.

The very next moment, Agal spat its web at the spot where I had just been. Tsssk— The rock that was hit by the web instead of me began to bubble and melt.

Then, a bundle of tails lunged at me as I floated defenseless in the air.

“Leave the tails to me!”

Lee Kang-to, who had appeared by alternately stepping on the parallel rock faces, swung his sword. The bundle of tails, covered in red plum blossoms, scattered. Lee Kang-to immediately jumped down to deal with the regenerating tails on the ground. However, Agal’s face still remained.

Agal, which had already approached within arm’s reach, spewed blue spider webs. I barely avoided its attacks by hooking my grappling hook here and there in the valley. If it hadn’t been terrain favorable to me, I would have already been riddled with holes like the rocks.

Is it impossible to cut off the magic supply in this situation? Just as I was about to give up, Chae Seong-a called out to me.

“You said you’d trust me!”

“Hunter Chae Seong-a…?”

“From now, 5 seconds!”

A pale purple aura rose from the crystal ball Chae Seong-a was hugging. At the same time, Agal, which had been flying towards me, stopped abruptly, gaping blankly. Despite blood trickling from her nose due to the forced skill activation, Chae Seong-a didn’t let go of the crystal ball.

‘If I miss this opportunity they’ve set up for me, I don’t deserve to be called a hunter.’

I’ll cut off the mana circuit somehow. As I leaped off the rock face, I drew my bowstring. Whether it would work or not, I intended to use every means at my disposal.

“Activate ‘Bow Assistant’ and ‘Rising Moon’.”

Chae Seong-a fainted, well past the promised 5 seconds. Agal, instantly regaining its senses, bared its teeth to bite me, but I wasn’t afraid at all.

Because the arrow had already left my hand.

“I’m sorry, but we’re not prey—we’re the hunters.”