Otherworld Constellation Gallery Chapter 17

Otherworld Constellation Gallery

Chapter 17

At that moment, I felt a strange sense of unease. I cast my gaze toward the man’s back.

“…What is that?”

But the man didn’t try to follow my gaze. Instead, he glared at me more intensely and spoke with a trembling voice.

“Trying to make me lower my guard and then attack from behind, you think I don’t know…!?”

THUNK!

An arrow flying from afar pierced the man’s back.

“…GULP!”

The man coughed up blood from the sudden impact. Only then did he try to turn his head with a shocked face to check behind him. But at that moment.

THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!

Dozens of arrows poured down like hail.

“…!”

The man’s body tilted before he could even scream.

THUD!

Dust rose where he fell. I clicked my tongue and looked down at Manyō’s Tomb again.

“TSK, I was just planning to scare him enough to make him run away.”

I turned my gaze to the man’s corpse.

Dozens of arrows were stuck in him from head to toe. It was a pitiful sight.

“This isn’t a hedgehog, for crying out loud.”

Just then, Tulip gripped my arm tightly with trembling hands.

I slowly extended my arm to shield her.

“Get behind me.”

Tulip trembled and hid behind me, and soon the dust gradually cleared. Beyond it stood monsters holding arrows.

‘Shit, what the hell is that…?’

A mummified-like exterior. Thin cloth wrapped around a half-decayed body. Deep eye sockets with flickering red flames.

It was completely different from the previous ghouls.

‘Is this what they meant by the area getting higher-ranked?’

I unconsciously clicked my tongue.

Certainly, I was wearing a bulletproof vest and had raised my stamina stat, but I couldn’t be afford to be careless.

Arrows are different from bullets. Depending on the strength of the bulletproof vest, they might not be blocked.

‘And above all….’

A monster that appeared at the point when the difficulty increased. Without knowing its characteristics and abilities, I must be absolutely cautious.

“Tulip.”

She anxiously replied while tightly holding onto my back.

“Yes…?” 

“They dare to wave bows in front of you and you’re not going to discipline them?” 

“…Discipline?” 

“I mean, aren’t you going to establish the hierarchy?” 

“…Establish the hierarchy?”

What is this, are we not even speaking the same language?.

‘Besides, those bastards….’

Since it’s still early, maybe I don’t need to worry too much.

Hoping to find useful information for the gallery, I checked the posts and found one.

[Title: Dead Mask Archer Appeared] Can arrows from Dead Archers be blocked with current stats?

ㄴThe arrow’s attack power itself can’t cause fatal injuries.

ㄴYeah but the problem is the poison on the arrowheads lol,

ㄴJust a scratch is enough to mess you up.

ㄴIt’s not lethal poison, so it’s not completely fatal.

The moment I checked the gallery, I instinctively bit my lip tightly. The arrow’s attack power itself isn’t that threatening. But there’s a serious fucking problem.

There’s poison on the arrows? Even a scratch is enough?

I instinctively looked at Tulip beside me.

Should I tell her about this right away?

‘…No.’

At that moment, I suddenly became conscious of the Constellations’ gaze. Of course, even if I mentioned the possibility of poison, I might appear to have an extremely cautious personality, one that prepares for all situations and contingencies.

‘In MBTI terms, I’d look like a J type.’

But somehow, I just felt cautious right now. It feels like I’ve built up too many stacks, and if I hadn’t posted anything it would be different… but I even left a self-defense post.

I pivoted the conversation in a slightly different direction.

“Tulip.” 

“…Yes?” 

“When I talk about establishing hierarchy or disciplining, I mean clearly showing that you outrank them.”

She momentarily had a blank expression, but soon her face showed comprehension.

“AH! Yes! I’ll try!”

Tulip raised her bow. She clearly seemed much less burdened fighting from a distance than up close.

WHOOSH!

“AAAH!”

I was startled by her scream and quickly turned around.

“What! Did you get hit by an arrow? I didn’t see anything coming!” 

“N-no! I caught it, but… it’s so gross…” 

“…You scared me.”

That’s when it happened.

DING!

[Dead Mask Archer (Intermediate) Kill Reward: 100 Gold]

“…Huh? What?” 

“What’s wrong?” 

“Why is it starting from intermediate level… what’s going on?”

Then suddenly, another question popped into my mind. Come to think of it, I didn’t kill it, so why? Gold keeps coming in every time Tulip shoots her bow.

‘Could it be….’

The information I saw in the gallery flashed through my mind. Is this what the Constellations meant by party function?

‘This is sweet, isn’t it?’

No, not sweet. Is it split in half? If so, wouldn’t that be essentially the same as sharing kills, even if not exactly?

‘…Shit, I don’t know.’

Let’s focus on the present for now and think about this later. Just as I was thinking that.

SWOOSH!

An arrow flew at high speed. But fortunately, with a thunk sound, the bulletproof vest blocked the arrow.

‘Oh… the shop item seems to have good performance.’

Just as I was thinking how fortunate that was.

CRACK!

Another arrow flew by, slightly grazing my skin.

“…Huh? Not a big deal after all.”

I instinctively tried to feel relieved. But… what is this? A feeling of numbness gradually spreading from my forearm. Along with a sensation of blood boiling. My forearm is becoming languid.

‘…Wait a minute, shit.’

The poison spreads from such a shallow wound? That’s too much. Even in this situation, my mind was working coldly.

‘If I don’t quickly cut off the blood flow, it will spread.’

I immediately moved my hand.

RIIIP!

I roughly tore the bottom part of the curtain I was wearing. I quickly wrapped the torn cloth around the upper part of my forearm. And then tightened it strongly. More precisely, tight enough to prevent blood flow.

‘Fuck… fuck… fuck….’

Curses naturally come out as I inflict self-torture akin to ripping my own arm. It feels like my bones are being pressured.

But this is the only way to prevent the poison from spreading throughout the body. The arm with blocked blood flow began to throb and tingle.

‘…Indeed more annoying than ghouls.’

Even while I was self-healing, those fuckers didn’t stop shooting arrows.

“These bastards don’t even know transformation manners.”

BANG!

I instinctively kicked a metal shelf beside me and pushed it forward.

PING! PING! PING!

The incoming arrows hit the shelf and bounced off. The deflected arrows rolled pitifully on the floor.

‘Good. Shit… I should have done this from the start….’

At that moment, Tulip shouted.

“Mister! I’m out of arrows!” “

Huh…?”

I was about to pick up arrows that had flown at me and those stuck in the corpse to hand them over, but I hesitated. There’s something I want to check while I’m at it.

“Stay hidden. I’ll handle this.”

She nodded with a trembling face.

‘Now there are only three left.’

But there was a separate problem. I’d tightened my arm, but I couldn’t guarantee it completely blocked the spread. Even worse, the arm I’d tightened happened to be my right arm.

I quickly summoned the ‘Low-Grade Bio Regenerator.’ I was about to drink it but hesitated again.

‘If I’m going to drink it anyway….’

It’s more beneficial to drink it after killing all those bastards, not right now. If I drink it now, it would just remove the poison in my arm, but if I drink it after dealing with all enemies? I coulda also recover the stamina consumed in battle.

The Constellations seemed to have caught onto the meaning of my actions. Perhaps that’s why? The content of the posts was generally similar.

[Title: Wow, this guy is tough lol] Someone confiscate the Constellation’s spirit, it’s too OP lol.

ㄴIt’s not about the spirit… First Hunter himself is just super stingy… 

ㄴHe’s saving a potion lol .

ㄴIs he planning to drink it after killing the Dead Archers for a refresher?

ㄴScary but also pitiful,Someone sponsor him.

ㄴEven if you sponsor him, he won’t use it lol.

ㄴYeah try sponsoring, He’ll just hoard it.

I didn’t care what the Constellations were chattering about.

‘Do you bastards know how much a potion costs… do you think I’d waste it so easily?’

Having made up my mind, I proceeded to disband the party.

DING!

[Party has been disbanded.]

The reason was simple. I needed to check how much gold those bastards drop by killing them alone. More precisely, my goal was to find out the standard for gold distribution in parties.

I gripped Manyō’s Tomb firmly with my left hand. The handle felt cool yet snug in my hand. Meanwhile, arrows kept flying, but then….

TACK!

I moved the sword to deflect an arrow.

‘Huh?’

I suddenly looked at the sword that moved naturally.

‘What….?’

I thought I’d be clumsy with a sword, but it clearly blocked as I intended. And it moved very smoothly and skillfully.

Have I ever handled a sword before? Of course not. Nevertheless, this sword followed naturally in the direction I wanted, according to my will.

‘Or maybe I’m actually left-handed and just didn’t know it?’

Like having a talent in my left hand that I wasn’t aware of. Well, that’s nonsense.

TACK! TACK!

But since I’m deflecting incoming arrows at rapid speed, such delusions are understandable. So I continued to deflect arrows while running.

But I couldn’t parry all the arrows. Occasionally some arrows grazed my skin, but I never stopped.

‘Damn bastards… but they said it’s not lethal poison, so it shouldn’t spread quickly.’

As soon as I reached the archer.

SLASH!

Without a moment’s delay, I severed its head. The moment the archer’s neck was cut cleanly like tofu.

SWOOSH!

The faint pattern engraved on the blade reacted.

It definitely glowed dimly with an ominous green light, then faded again.

‘…What was that just now?’