Transferred to an SSS-rank Production Class

“What can the flutter of a mere butterfly do?”

The dark red energy gathered at Arajin’s feet raised its head as if reflecting his twisted mood. Suddenly, it split into six strands, five lunging at Lee Kang-to and one at me.

“Eek, a-again with these underhanded tactics!”

Lee Kang-to grumbled, seemingly having experienced something similar before. Not only were six strands of energy attacking from different directions, but Arajin’s main body wasn’t idle either. Even for the agile Lee Kang-to, this was overwhelming.

From his muttering, I gathered that even a slight brush with these energies caused tremendous pain. Lee Kang-to had been facing nine strands of energy until just moments ago. His grumbling was entirely understandable.

“How troublesome!”

I was already irritated, dealing with just one strand. Unlike me, hindered by the cluttered indoor space, the dark red energy moved unobstructed.

It slithered along the floor like a snake, then dropped from above my head. It would thrust with its pointed end, then bend flexibly to strike. These ever-changing attacks were dizzying.

As I rolled on the floor to dodge an attack, Arajin sneered.

“Didn’t you say you’d flutter your wings?”

“Don’t rush me!”

I took my eyes off it for just a moment, and in that instant, Arajin’s energy tried to wrap around my ankle. I narrowly avoided being caught by hooking a grappling arrow to the ceiling.

The energy, impatient like its master, wouldn’t let me be. It surged upward, opening its maw as if to swallow my head whole as I hung upside down from the ceiling.

I couldn’t just let this happen. Although one hand was tied up, preventing me from shooting properly, I didn’t hesitate to create an arrow with mana.

“Stack ‘North Wind’ and ‘Petrification’.”

I thrust the arrow down with all my might at the energy rushing to devour me. Perhaps due to its high rank, one arrow wasn’t enough to stop the energy completely. But that brief moment of hesitation was all I needed.

“If once isn’t enough, twice will do!”

Not missing the opportunity, I drove another arrow with the same attributes into the same spot. The tip trembled for a moment, then the entire energy seemed to freeze in place.

After confirming its movement had completely stopped, I downed a mana potion. Using Explorer’s Eye while stacking effects had nearly depleted my mana after just two uses.

‘If I had just fallen, I wouldn’t have faced such embarrassment.’

As I descended to the floor, releasing the grappling hook, I kept an eye on Arajin’s movements. I thought he might detach one of the energies attacking Lee Kang-to to send it my way, but he didn’t seem inclined to do so.

Did I stare too intently? Arajin, who had been dealing with Lee Kang-to’s sword, suddenly addressed me.

“You and I are of a different caliber, unlike this one here.”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“You seem to have momentarily stopped my tail with some petty trick, but that’s only temporary, isn’t it? You must know best that you’ll soon be crushed underfoot.”

Well, he wasn’t entirely wrong. No matter how many arrows I shot, it would be difficult to completely block that energy. There was an innate difference in our ranks, after all.

So I needed to end this quickly.

“Activate Bow Assistant. Anchor.”

I readied the bow I had slung over my shoulder and nocked a newly created arrow. Following my will, a triangular cursor appeared over Arajin’s third eye.

“Is that all you can do, aiming at me? How disappointing.”

“You didn’t have any expectations to begin with, did you?”

Arajin burst into laughter at my retort. Instead of trying to dodge the arrow, he seemed to volunteer as a target. His arrogance was evident in his posture, standing straight with arms folded, as if daring me to shoot.

“Hey, you’re going to be in big trouble! Don’t you know how amazing our Mr. Kim is!”

The goblin angrily jingled, though I remained still. Despite this, Arajin didn’t even blink.

“Hunter Lee Kang-to.”

“Y-yes?”

Before releasing the bowstring, I glanced at Lee Kang-to. Whether he felt guilty about something or was just surprised, he trembled visibly as I issued a warning.

“Hunter Lee Kang-to, take out the scale.”

“Wh-what scale all of a sudden?”

“Don’t blame me later if you regret it.”

As soon as I finished speaking, I released the hand holding the bowstring. Thanks to the absence of obstacles, the arrow flew straight.

But it didn’t reach its target. Arajin merely tilted his body slightly, and the arrow missed. He shrugged as if to say, “Is that all?”

“Not quite.”

Defying the laws of physics, the arrow’s trajectory curved. It was similar to when I faced the monkey yokai, but this opponent was a level—no, several levels—above that.

Arajin raised an eyebrow, seemingly sensing something behind him.

“How foolish.”

One of the energy strands that had been engaging Lee Kang-to appeared like lightning and swatted away the arrow. The mana-made arrow shattered and disappeared upon the strong impact.

“…How strange.”

Arajin, who had seemingly dismissed all expectations of me and was about to turn back to Lee Kang-to, stopped abruptly.

Though he didn’t specify the subject, his meaning was clear. He was wondering why I remained so calm despite my trump card missing its mark.

Isn’t the reason obvious?

“What’s strange? Everything is going according to plan.”

“…?”

The arrow lost its form due to Arajin’s power. The time had finally come.

When I formed the arrow with mana, I had hidden an ace up my sleeve. Amidst the scattered light particles from the dispersed mana, a blue light shone.

“Wailing Pill.”

What followed was a scene that perfectly matched my imagination.

Using the scattered Wailing Pill as a focal point, a damp energy spread. Arajin, suddenly hit from behind by a gush of water, finally turned around.

“What have you done?”

“You lit the fuse yourself.”

It didn’t take long for the finger-thick stream of water to become a waterfall. With water endlessly pouring from mid-air, the shallow puddle on the floor quickly rose higher and higher.

Arajin tried his best to block the source with all his energy, but nothing worked. There was no way to stop an item that had already activated and disappeared.

The power of the Wailing Pill was tremendous, thanks to how well the physician had extracted its properties. I guessed that not just this room, but the entire Cheonyogun would become a sea of water.

‘In this situation, Arajin absolutely cannot pursue us.’

If strange events occur in the king’s quarters, which already have a poor reputation, everyone will consider it divine punishment. With numerous witnesses, it would be difficult to silence them by killing. Would the disloyal palace staff really overlook such a major incident?

Even if he somehow managed to resolve those issues, another problem remained. This building must contain many important objects that shouldn’t be damaged or discovered by others. He would have to take care of all those things while also looking after the unconscious king.

“It seems the busy Commander of the Royal Guards has much to do.”

Even the great Arajin would find it difficult to pursue us immediately. I raised the corners of my mouth, watching him completely lose his composure.

“We’ll take our leave without further interference. Hunter Lee Kang-to!”

“Yes! Uh, I mean, hmm.”

For some reason, Lee Kang-to seemed more dumbfounded than Arajin. With no time to dawdle, I simply slung him over my shoulder like a sack. Thinking he looked thin but was quite heavy, I posed a question to him.

“Did you eat the scale?”

“Y-yes. But why do you keep asking about the scale?”

“That’s fine then. …Can’t you stay still for a bit?”

Lee Kang-to’s constant squirming as he demanded an explanation made it hard to maintain balance. It was already difficult to move with the rising water, and this guy just had to act up.

‘I can’t explain everything with Arajin paying attention to us.’

Lee Kang-to didn’t seem likely to quiet down until he got an answer. With no choice, I vaguely muttered something about being prepared.

“Just follow my lead when you see what I do later.”

Lee Kang-to, who had been flailing his limbs annoyingly, went limp on my shoulder, perhaps pondering the meaning of my words. I needed to escape quickly before he started acting up again.

During our brief scuffle, the water level had risen to reach our thighs. I made my way towards the window, pushing aside floating furniture.

“Farewell, you monstrosity!”

The goblin, apparently quite displeased with Arajin, left a parting message. Lee Kang-to, seemingly sharing similar sentiments, added his own words.

“D-don’t ever show your face again! Even if you’re a tailed k-kinsman, I want nothing to do with the likes of you!”

Tailed kinsman? Did he think that dark red energy was a tail? His obsession was truly remarkable, willing to associate himself with Arajin as kin.

‘Well, considering the shape wrapped around the princess’s wrist, it’s not entirely wrong.’

As I placed my hand on the window frame to climb up, I urged the goblin and Lee Kang-to.

“Sori, let’s go. Hunter Lee Kang-to, that’s enough strange talk.”

“Sori is a good goblin, so I’ll do as Mr. Kim says.”

“Tch, Hunter Yun Gaho doesn’t un-understand anything!”

“What’s wrong with our Mr. Kim!”

Though they weren’t characters from a certain animated mouse and cat duo, the two colts started bickering again. With them fighting on both my shoulders, it felt like my skull was ringing.

Shaking my head, I placed one wet foot next to my hand. Thanks to Lee Kang-to having destroyed all the window paper and bars earlier, my work was cut out for me.

‘Those two can only act like this because the situation is turning in our favor.’

As I climbed onto the window frame, the two seemed to have forgotten all caution towards Arajin, busy growling at each other. It was natural for them to let their guard down with escape so close at hand.

But was this really the end?

“If only that were true.”

I firmly planted my foot on the window frame. Then, to climb up completely, I pushed off hard with my other foot.

In that split second when one foot was in the air, something suddenly yanked at my back.

I hastily threw my weight forward to leave the place, but my balance was already lost. Poor Lee Kang-to rolled off my shoulder backwards, while my body helplessly toppled over.

The culprit was obvious.

“Arajin!”

Just before my body hit the floor, silk-wrapped arms caught me behind my back and knees. When I came to my senses, I found myself cradled in Arajin’s arms.

As I jerked my head up irritably, I saw three eyes gazing down at me intently.

“You can’t run away after making me like this.”

If a stranger saw this, they might think he was the lover of the century, really. I let out a dry laugh and twisted my body, and Arajin easily released his arms that had been wrapped around me.

Restraining me wasn’t the important thing, after all.

“What are you doing?”

“I wonder. How does it look to you?”

“…Are you suggesting we die together?”

As if to say he wouldn’t allow any escape, Arajin’s energy blocked the door and the broken window. With water rising relentlessly in the sealed room, we were all helplessly trapped in a water prison.

“The foolishness of players. You’ve made a self-defeating move.”

“A self-defeating move. Indeed.”

It is a self-defeating move. Yours.

Arajin smiled, unaware that he was standing in the palm of my hand.