About five minutes passed. In the end, all the monsters that had been sitting around the fire were dead.
“Whew. They weren’t particularly difficult enemies.”
Kim Minjae exhaled as he spoke. He didn’t seem tired though. Gyodong-do had simply been neglected due to its low priority, but the monsters there weren’t strong.
“Are we not going to check the bodies?”
Honestly, I didn’t expect much from them. Those ragged bat-headed savages probably weren’t carrying anything valuable.
After hearing my words, Kim Minjae pulled out sothing that looked like a gun, pointed it at the ground, and pressed a button. With a soft hiss, a small chip embedded itself in the dirt.
“I placed a microchip. Once the area is secured, a junk dealer I have a contract with will co to retrieve the bodies.”
“A junk dealer?”
Hunters couldn’t carry off all the byproducts from the monsters they fought. The size and weight made it impossible. That’s why they marked the area with a chip and left.
Once the Gyodong job was over, the junk dealers would co, sweep the area for all chip-marked remains, assess their value, and sell them off.
After calculating the worth, they take a commission based on the contract, then pass the rest to the Hunter who planted the chip.
If any items in their inventory were things I wanted to keep, I could pay the dealer’s commission and take the item.
“Can you trust these people?”
“You can’t lug around trophies while fighting monsters, right? That’s why finding a reliable junk dealer is important. It’s better to offer a higher share and work with soone trustworthy.”
I understood the gist of it.
“Let’s move.”
We ran into the sa kind of monsters three more tis. Kim Minjae continued to take the lead in attacking, while Han Sang-ah and I took turns supporting him.
“Sothing seems off.”
“What’s bothering you?”
I responded imdiately to Kim Minjae’s comnt. This was Han Sang-ah’s and my first hunt, but Kim Minjae was experienced. That made his opinion worth hearing.
“Well, the monsters and the island are about what I expected, but everything has been too easy.”
“Sounds like you worked with people who just ran around blindly.”
If you didn’t analyze individual capabilities and issue proper commands, you were just a street thug with friends.
With that conversation, we reached the path leading to Hwagaesa Temple.
“…”
I saw shattered tal on the ground, with the words “Eupnaeri Monunt Cluster” faintly visible. Lifting my gaze, I saw smashed stone monunts and several corpses.
They were the bodies of other Hunters who had crossed to Gyodong-do by boat. There were five of them. It looked like another team had been heavily attacked on their way to the operation site.
A massive figure stood nearby, about two ters tall, with a bat’s head and a body covered in thick muscles. Unlike the others, it wore armor and carried a huge club and shield roughly shaped from stone.
The bat-headed monster turned its gaze to us.
“Kehek.”
It noticed the blood on Han Sang-ah’s and my weapons and gave a strange cry while slamming its club into the ground. A dull thud echoed around us.
It had been looking for us.
Well, we had killed quite a few. Probably about fifty so far.
“Both of you, fall back.”
“But Yoo Chan-seok.”
“Hunter Yoo Chan-seok, that’s not a monster that should appear on an island like Gyodong-do. We should do a coordinated attack to buy ti and retreat to report—”
“Shut up and do as I say.”
This was the creature that had likely wiped out a team alone. If we were the ones it had been looking for, there was no chance either of them could escape.
This wasn’t an enemy I could fight while babysitting them. I knew that just by looking at the other Hunters lying dead on the ground.
Against this thing, Kim Minjae and Han Sang-ah were only going to get in the way. My voice ca out cold and sharp, and the two of them flinched.
I had warned them to back off. But if they didn’t and got themselves killed, I wouldn’t care.
“Hikkeuk, hikkeuk.”
With a grotesque laugh, the monster raised its stone club and charged.
I stepped slightly aside as the club smashed into the ground, the impact numbing my whole body.
I swung my spear hard, but the monster batted it away with a punch.
Years of experience and knowledge let instantly assess the creature in front of .
I took a few steps back, steadied my stance, and inhaled deeply.
So this is how strong this bastard is.
“I can’t end this quickly. Guess I’ll take my ti cooking you.”
Slow cooking always tastes better anyway. A faint black fla flickered at the tip of my spear.
Kim Minjae swallowed hard as he watched the fight. That club looked like it could crush a body with just a glance.
“Shouldn’t we help him?”
To Kim Minjae, Yoo Chan-seok looked like he was barely holding on. But Han Sang-ah thought otherwise.
“They’ve been fighting for a while, but he hasn’t taken a single hit.”
He dodged and deflected every attack. He wasn’t struggling, he was stalling. Even Han Sang-ah couldn’t understand how such a thing was possible.
“That’s terrifying…”
She hadn’t expected to say that out loud. Surprised by her own words, she spoke again.
“Terrifying talent.”
Yoo Chan-seok should have been overwheld, yet he wasn’t. This back-and-forth didn’t make sense.
Was he really a rookie like her?
‘He’s dodging, lightly striking, and keeping his spear tip close.’
Each strike left a trail of black fla. She couldn’t understand what that ability was.
The monster fighting Yoo Chan-seok, had the sa thought as it couldn’t understand him.
It lived to eat, survive, reproduce, and grow strong. It had grown so much that even other monsters respected it, and it had gained a flicker of intelligence.
“Uaaaargh!”
‘But I’m stronger. I’m faster. I will eat him, and he will be eaten.’
“…”
But no matter how much the monster swung, its attacks didn’t connect.
Those eyes too. The prey was looking at the predator as if their roles were reversed, and the monster wasn’t fond of that at all.
It had already taken several hits. It had feared the black fla at first.
But that small fla didn’t hurt nor did it burn or leave a wound. All it did was simply cling to its body.
“Hheek… kehek…”
“Huu, heuh.”
Its body felt heavy. Sothing was wrong.
The prey, panting with exhaustion, grinned and wiped spit from his mouth.
“Finally.”
The aning behind that smile was unclear. Then, suddenly, the monster’s arm dropped limp.
“Kyaaak?!”
It looked at its arm in confusion. The muscles were still bulging, just as it had built them.
But why couldn’t it lift its weapon?
* * *
I won. With a deep breath, I mocked the monster.
“What do people call muscles like that? Oh, right. Balloon muscles.”
What I burned wasn’t the muscle, it was the strength. The black fla, Paradoxical Fla, had burned away its power.
The muscles remained, but the strength was gone. It couldn’t even lift its own weapon.
It struggled using both hands, but the club didn’t budge.
‘And on top of that,’
His strength burned for quite a while. Thanks to the Paradoxical Fla clinging to him and flaring wildly, it continuously released mana, greatly increasing the mana concentration in the air.
I could now repeat what I had done before using an ampoule.
“Whew…”
More mana than usual flowed into my body.
The increased flow widened and hardened my internal pathways. As the mana coursed through, I heard faint cracking sounds.
“Ti to say goodbye.”
Normally, I wouldn’t be able to move while reinforcing my channels. But would Edmund Hillary struggle to climb a small mountain?
Sothing like this could be achieved while moving. I aid for the monster’s head and drove my spear through it.
The monster died, and the cracking sounds within ceased.
As we resud our journey to Hwagyesa Temple, I spoke to Kim Minjae.
“Hunter Kim Minjae.”
“Ah, uh… yes?”
He looked startled as he answered cautiously. I wasn’t planning to roast him. Why was he so scared?
“Is it normal for a monster like that to appear on Gyodong-do?”
He imdiately denied it.
“No way. Unless it’s a grade 3 Erosion Zone.”
Then the answer was simple.
“Looks like Gyodong-do has a grade 3 Erosion Core.”
Han Sang-ah with a very serious expression.
“Then Gyodong-do’s alpha Erosion Core is…”
Her guess was likely correct. But Kim Minjae still looked puzzled.
“Even if Gyodong-do is low priority, it’s not far from Seoul. They may have delayed dealing with the alpha sources, but regular cleanups were ongoing.”
I knew that from Lee Se-eun. Still, Kim Minjae’s expression remained troubled.
“If it grew strong enough for a grade 3 classification… then most Hunters won’t make it back alive.”
The Hunters were selected under the assumption the alpha source was ungraded. If that had changed, very few could handle it.
“Why are you looking at ?”
Kim Minjae and Han Sang-ah had both glanced at before quickly looking away.
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