Chapter 4: The Arsonist of the Forest

“I-It wasn’t me.”

Lee Tae-sung waved his hands in denial, but there was no way his words would work.

Crack!

A loud sound rang out right next to his ear.

The lizard monster, the Crocus, had shot out its long tongue before he knew it.

The middle of a large tree next to Lee Tae-sung had been pierced by the tongue.

‘I-I almost died.’

A chill ran down his spine.

He hadn’t even been able to react.

Regardless of it being a passive monster, its combat power was immense.

If they had to face such a creature from the very first mission, no hunter would survive.

“Kerrk… Krerekk…”

However, the creature was staggering, unable to move properly.

It was shaking its head back and forth repeatedly.

It seemed it couldn’t come to its senses because it had been hit on the head by a hard fruit.

The reason the tongue hit the tree instead of Lee Tae-sung was because its aim went wild due to the dizziness.

-Fwoosh!

Lee Tae-sung pulled out his dagger and produced flames.

He judged that he had to show some kind of threatening appearance to avoid being attacked again.

‘Huh?’

However, the Crocus shrank back excessively as soon as it saw the flames.

The dizzy mind and the flames.

The creature glared this way while making clicking sounds, then scurried away and disappeared a moment later.

Lee Tae-sung moved behind a tree to hide and remained on guard for a long time after that.

“…Phew.”

Only after another thirty minutes passed could he feel relieved.

***

Lee Tae-sung moved to a safe place.

The Crocus’s tongue had even pierced a large tree.

Therefore, a safe place would be behind a large rock where he could hide his body.

Only after carefully concealing himself could he feel relieved and think for a moment.

‘It’s not something to be taken lightly.’

He thought it was an easy mission where he just had to bring back Starflower Grass.

In reality, it wasn’t difficult.

Since the Crocus was a passive monster, there would rarely be a reason to be attacked.

However, in the worst-case scenario, one never knows what might happen, just like earlier.

If he had been unlucky, he would have died.

What happened just now made Lee Tae-sung snap to his senses.

‘I can’t just dive in recklessly.’

He must have felt arrogant, thinking he had obtained skills from a game.

The Association had also praised him for having combat-type skills, which probably made him even more so.

Lee Tae-sung calmed his mind.

His heart was still pounding wildly, but he had to try his best to become calm.

‘That guy earlier. It seemed very afraid of flames.’

If it’s a lizard, it’s a cold-blooded animal.

With the Flame Sword Technique, he would certainly have an overwhelming advantage in terms of compatibility.

‘The problem is that I don’t think I can fight it up close.’

He didn’t even see the guy lash out its tongue earlier.

If the creature’s aim had been correct, Lee Tae-sung would have died.

At the very least, he would have been seriously injured.

Therefore, he couldn’t fight it up close.

‘I’m uneasy about just ignoring it and moving forward.’

This time, a fruit might not unluckily fall from a tree… but you never know what will happen to a person.

He didn’t want to bet his life on luck.

While he was contemplating, the forest caught his eye.

Of course, he had been looking at the forest for a while, so to be precise, it was the state of the forest.

The rustling grass and leaves.

It was extremely dry.

Enough to burst into flames if he just lit a fire.

“……”

A good idea came to Lee Tae-sung’s mind.

-Fwoosh!

-Whoosh!

It burned well.

Very well. Blazing. More than half of his field of vision had now changed from the green of the forest to the red of the flames.

The fire was even spreading rapidly to the surroundings in real-time, so it would soon be filled with red flames.

“…You get punished for starting a forest fire.”

Since this was another world, it would be fine, wouldn’t it?

Lee Tae-sung’s plan to eliminate the Crocus by starting a fire worked well.

It worked so well that even he, the one who carried it out, was flustered.

“Kieeek!”

“Kyaaaak!”

He could see the Crocuses screaming and running away here and there.

However, they couldn’t go far.

This was another world, but at the same time, it was a place where a mission was being conducted.

Therefore, a transparent veil-like barrier was surrounded to prevent them from moving beyond a certain distance.

Thump! Thump!

They stopped running and were blocked by something, unable to move forward.

Even with those powerful tongue strikes, the transparent wall did not break, and eventually, the flames swept over them.

-Ding!

You have defeated a Crocus

You have acquired 250 SC

‘What?’

The score given as a reward for completing the mission was 10 points.

But 250 points just for defeating one Crocus?

Moreover, the notification wasn’t just this one time.

-Ding!

You have defeated a Crocus

You have acquired 250 SC

『You have defeated a Crocus
You have acquired 250 SC』

『You have defeated a Crocus
You have acquired 250 SC

Notifications appeared without ceasing!

And for good reason—in a situation where the entire forest was burning, the Crocuses were the first to die.

They were incredibly sensitive to even slight changes in temperature.

“Oops.”

However, Lee Tae-sung wasn’t at ease either.

The area behind the rock where he was hiding was a vacant lot with only soil, so it hadn’t been consumed by flames yet, but it was only a matter of time.

If things went wrong, he could die from the flames he created.

Lee Tae-sung moved quickly.

He had already confirmed the location of the Starflower Grass, and of course, he set fire to the opposite side.

As time passed, the fire would spread here and burn the Starflower Grass as well, but now it was fine.

-Rustle

Lee Tae-sung moved quickly through the bushes.

In his eyes, he saw Crocuses fleeing to the other side of the forest.

They didn’t care what Lee Tae-sung was doing and were running only to survive.

‘Huh?’

That was when a certain guy caught Lee Tae-sung’s eye.

A Crocus with a large lump on its head.

It was that guy from earlier.

He had almost died because of that fellow.

Even if he was leaving, he couldn’t just leave that fellow alone.

Lee Tae-sung slightly changed direction and ran toward the Crocus with the lump.

The creature also didn’t care about Lee Tae-sung in order to escape from the spreading fire.

Lee Tae-sung predicted the direction the creature was moving and quickly crossed its path.

And when he took a position behind it.

“Hah!”

-Stab!

Lee Tae-sung stabbed with the dagger he was holding in both hands.

The Flame Sword Technique was a hybrid of martial arts and magic.

Naturally, it included not only the ability to create flames but also swordsmanship.

And having learned the skill meant that his body could naturally perform that swordsmanship.

Therefore, he aimed accurately at the back of the Crocus’s neck and stabbed.

“Keeek….”

The sword, from which flames erupted, pierced the creature.

The fellow died instantly without being able to put up any resistance.

-Ding!

You have defeated a Crocus』

You have acquired 250 SC

Revenge successful.

He wanted to kill this one guy personally.

Lee Tae-sung also moved quickly after that.

A twinkling light informed him of the Starflower Grass’s location, and he hurried over and picked up the grass.

-Ding!

『You have acquired Starflower Grass.』

「Mission Success!
You have acquired 10 SC.」

『Would you like to return to Earth?』

Mission success and even the 10 score points.

‘Not yet.’

However, while maintaining his composure, Lee Tae-sung waited calmly.

He moved back to the vacant lot where he had been hiding behind the rock earlier.

And he waited as long as possible.

-Ding!

You have defeated a Crocus

You have acquired 250 SC

You have defeated a Crocus

You have acquired 250 SC

As the fire spread, the Crocuses continued to die off.

Lee Tae-sung was barely able to endure.

After waiting as long as he possibly could…

‘Now.’

When he felt it would be too dangerous, he stopped without any lingering regrets.

“I’m returning.”

His vision flipped with a flash.

***

When he blinked once, it was not the forest but the conference room of the National Hunter Association where he had been until just now.

“Oh. You’ve returned safely!”

Manager Song Sang-yeop approached Lee Tae-sung with a look of delight.

“Congratulations on your first mission success.”

He had been waiting in this spot ever since Lee Tae-sung left to perform the mission.

He was in the middle of reviewing documents he had brought to handle himself.

A fair amount of documents that weren’t there before were piled up in front of him.

“Have you been waiting here this whole time?”

Time in the mission world and on Earth flows the same.

How could he wait indefinitely without knowing when it would end?

“Of course. Isn’t this your monumental first mission?”

Manager Song Sang-yeop said with a smile.

“I’m glad you returned safely.”

“Haha… yes.”

Lee Tae-sung laughed awkwardly.

As a result, he did return safely without a single scratch, but hadn’t he almost died?

“My goodness. Look at all this sweat. You must have gone through a lot.”

Manager Song Sang-yeop pulled out a tissue and handed it to him.

Because he had sweated quite a bit due to the fire, he thought he must have suffered quite a bit.

‘Still, I’m glad he succeeded.’

Song Sang-yeop felt relieved inwardly.

No matter how easy the first mission is and how much the Association even provides training, there are many people who fail to succeed and die.

Whether it was due to bad luck or mistakes from being nervous, the death rate was steady every year.

In such a situation, the fact that Lee Tae-sung, who had combat skills, returned alive meant he was certainly a talent whose future was promising.

“Then, would you like to try purchasing items at the Score Shop? Since it’s your first mission, you would have earned 10 points. With that, you should be able to buy one low-grade magic stone. The government measures the concentration and buys them for between 100,000 to 150,000 won.”

“It’s not 10 points.”

“Pardon?”

“Hmm. Let’s see…”

Lee Tae-sung opened his status window to check his score.

Name: Lee Tae-sung

「Owned Skills: Dream, Three Talents Sword Technique, Flame Sword Technique」

Owned SC: 6260

“It’s 6,260 points.”

“…Pardon?”