015. F-rank Hunter (6) "Kill! I'll kill you!" The monster, whose intelligence had regressed to about that of a five-year-old, attacked. However, its swordsmanship had not regressed at all—if anything, it had become far more powerful. A barrage of sword strikes rushed in in an instant. Each one was lethally strong and sharp. 'I can't block them all.' He had no choice but to retreat. Hyunseo fired his gun in rapid succession, shaking off the pursuing blade. The monster took the heavy-caliber bullets head-on without hesitation. "Ow—!!" But it was not stopped. Even with bullets embedded in its body, it simply charged forward like a mad beast. It closed the distance in a flash and slashed with its sword. "Die!!" Kang!! He barely managed to parry, but his forearm went numb. It felt as if he'd blocked a steel pillar, not a sword. But that didn't mean he was just standing there defending. 'Compared to the WhiteKnight, these things are nothing but beasts.' He directed the blade aside, knocking the monster off-balance. Maintaining his blocking stance, he swung his sword at its neck. A fluid, natural follow-up—one any swordsman would envy. The monster should have had to offer up its neck. "Heh— I can see you." What he hadn't expected was that the creature had transcended human limits. Its neck and waist twisted grotesquely, dodging the blade. Simultaneously, its reversed leg kicked at Hyunseo's waist. Pak!! Hyunseo was flung, back twisted, and crashed into a tree. An unexpected, sudden blow. He gritted his teeth in pain, feeling as if his insides were twisted. "That... was no human...." "Khi, khihihi! Slow! Fast!" In that brief moment of respite, Hyunseo glanced towards Via. Via wasn't in a good situation either. Ting! King! Tung! Kuang! Another monster was engaged with her as well. The monster slashed violently with a storm of frenzied chain attacks. Via blocked with dazzling spear techniques, counterattacking multiple times. She aimed to subdue her opponent by breaking its limbs and severing tendons. But it was pointless. "Aagh! It doesn't hurt anymore!!" Its broken limbs mended instantly, and slashed wounds squirmed and healed as if time was rewinding. No matter how many times she attacked, she couldn't subdue it. A troubled look crossed Via's face. But more than anything, one thought disturbed her. 'Should I even consider this a human?' demonic beasts can be killed. Zero-types must be killed. Humans must not be killed. That was why Via always tried to resolve things by subduing her opponents, regardless of the situation. 'What am I supposed to do if it's a human I cannot subdue?' If an un-subduable human tries to kill even more people, yet you must not kill that person because he's still human. In order to save humans, you would have to kill a human. Conflicting logic left Via confused. Piiing— Before she could think further, her senses signaled danger. "Kuhek—" At that moment, a white gauntlet blew off the monster's head. The powerful shock sent the creature tumbling across the ground. At the same time, multiple poisonous darts were fired at the monster. Struck by the poison, the monster convulsed and stiffened. 'Five minutes from now. I have to finish this as quickly as possible.' Summoning his armor, Hyunseo immediately gave Via an order. "Sever the limbs completely if you can. They keep twisting their joints—aim for the calves or thighs." "Hyunseo...." "We're going to fight to subdue them. To resolve this incident, we'll need living evidence." Even though they had quickly taken out two, more monsters began appearing one by one, and soon, more than ten of them had surrounded them. Gripping his sword tightly, he spoke, "They don't look human to me. If necessary, I'll kill them without hesitation. If not, I'll end up dead." The monsters charged all at once to slaughter them. He parried the wild blades with his sword and counterattacked. As he deflected three, five others struck his armor. Relying on the armor's defense, he maintained his stance and targeted the legs. With a downward slash followed by an upward drive, two pairs of legs were sent flying and two monsters collapsed to the ground. "Uaaargh!!" One monster rushed in for close combat. Like a beast, it dove at Hyunseo and grabbed his waist, pushing him back. The floor was just dirt, so his body hair's adhesion was useless. With no other option, he sliced the neck of the monster clinging to his waist. "Kwak—" Before it died, the monster toppled with Hyunseo still in its grasp. His posture twisted, and the monsters' attacks intensified. Grotesque hands and feet pounded on his armor. He calmly severed an arm, but there were always more. When he fired a poison dart from his fingertip, another monster blocked the shot with its body. He was driven back, and then collapsed. 'This situation is bad.' There were too many of them, and they did not fear death. No matter how tough or strong Hyunseo was, it wasn't enough. The limits of what a single person could do were clear and distinct. But he wasn't alone. Buuuong—! A golden line shot through the monsters. It was a lightning-fast spear strike Hyunseo could barely track with his eyes. Severed arms and legs of the monsters scattered everywhere. The creatures probably didn't even realize what hit them. "I will not let you kill humans." At some point, Via had revealed her wings and was now flying through the sky. Her wings let out a fierce noise, threatening everything around her. The storm her wings created amplified the power of her spear techniques. Via's spear techniques were designed on the premise of utilizing the power of her wings. That was her true full strength. With a determined look, Via spoke. "I'll do what I can.... Hyunseo, please do your best as well." She never said not to kill people. He adjusted his grip on the sword and answered, "I'll try." The spear soared through the sky, and the sword sliced the earth. The monsters charging at them began to fall one by one. There were no humans left there, but not many corpses either. * By the time twenty monsters were crawling on the ground— Pususus— Five minutes had passed, and Hyunseo's armor crumbled away like dust. Hyunseo sat down, overcome by a dizzy spell. The exhaustion always hit hard when the armor disappeared. Via folded her wings and came over to check his complexion. "Hyunseo, are you all right?" "No.... I feel like I'm going to pass out...." Hyunseo barely kept his wits about him. He couldn't be sure the danger was over yet. He scanned his surroundings. The monsters were wailing and crawling along the ground. There weren't no dead—but about ten corpses lay there. But not many had died by Hyunseo's hand. 'Bite marks... They were probably killed by the night howler.' He saw wolf corpses with human-necked deaths. The wolf bodies showed clear signs of having been hacked at. They died with a human still in their jaws. He could gauge the depth of their hatred toward humans. Kwang— Then, a massive explosion resounded deep in the woods. Suspecting a new monster, the two tensed up. But the person who emerged from the forest wasn't a monster. "Fifty million won a shot... I'm running a deficit this month. Haaa, guess I'll be living on synthetic gruel for a while." It was Jaejoong. He dragged the battered Kwon Jongnam by the hair and hurled him forward like taking out the trash. Amazingly, even in his wretched state, Kwon Jongnam was still alive. "Keureuk... keureuk...." "Man, I'm exhausted. This is killing m—wait, what the hell is all this? Did you two set up a human butcher shop here or something?" Hyunseo quietly clicked his tongue in annoyance. They should have hidden before Jaejoong arrived, but it was too late. They needed to keep their true strength hidden from him for now. With no other option, Hyunseo went with the excuse he'd thought up. "It was already like this when I got here. The monsters were fighting each other like crazy, not caring who they hit. I was hiding and watching, but one of the survivors found me." It was a flimsy excuse, but it was hard to believe two F-rank Hunters had subdued this many monsters. Claiming to have taken advantage of the situation was more realistic. Fortunately, his excuse seemed to satisfy Jaejoong. "Well, makes sense. If they were on the blood demon elixir, they wouldn't see anything in their way." "Blood demon elixir...?" "Oh, that. Just something—doesn't matter, forget about it. Anyway...." Jaejoong surveyed the area and sighed deeply. "Man, where do I even start cleaning up?" "Just round these guys up. They're living evidence." "True, but there's so many. Should I just call the security unit? Hm, that's going to be a pain...." "If you need more hands, put those guys to work." Hyunseo pointed to the cave entrance. The hostages Hyunseo had rescued were peeking out. And they were just the extra help Jaejoong needed. "What? You saved the hostages? Holy crap, that's crazy. I thought they'd all be dead by now, so I'd just given up! You! From now on, I, Jang Jaejoong, am in charge here!" Jaejoong took command with confidence. The others followed his orders, helping organize the crime scene. Everything in this place was potentially critical evidence and had to be collected. Overwhelmed by exhaustion, Hyunseo sat down with Via to rest. "Whew... I need a week off. Are you okay?" "No problems, except for being hungry." "When did you last eat?" "Using my wings takes a lot of energy." "Yeah, you're at an age when you should eat plenty." Jaejoong finished giving orders and approached. "By the way, what happened with those wolves? At first, I thought they were being controlled by those guys, then they suddenly started attacking their masters." "I released the night howler pack that was being held hostage. They're demonic beasts that'll do anything if it's for the survival of their pack." "Really? I thought maybe my sense of justice inspired them to switch sides. I'm kind of a lone wolf myself, you know." Hyunseo wanted to plug his ears but simply sighed. Oblivious, Jaejoong kept rambling. "Those wolves—after fighting hard, they took off as soon as Kwon Jongnam turned into a monster. The biggest one, their leader, got its front leg cut off, and then the others bit their leader and bolted. It was just ridiculous." Hyunseo frowned as he listened. "... That doesn't make sense." "What doesn't?" "Night howlers never forget a grudge. If their pack is attacked, they'll hunt down the aggressor, even if it means their own death." "Sure, but they gauge their opponents and fight accordingly. They wouldn't fight if death were certain, right?" "They would if it was the pack leader. That's just how it is." At that moment— Grrr.... - Found you.... Hyunseo immediately stood and drew his sword. Behind him, the night howler pack had assembled. There were fewer than ten left now. Only three males remained; the rest were females and pups. Of the males, the one missing a front leg—the alpha—approached. The alpha bared his teeth, exuding open hostility. The other males desperately tried to drag the alpha back, but he ignored them and continued towards Hyunseo. - I remember. You killed our pack...! - You killed the ones we should have killed...! - There's nothing left now! It's all because of you!! "Keng!! ― Get out of the way!! The alpha snarled at the males trying to hold him back. The others hesitated and returned to the pack, trying to stop the alpha from throwing his life away. - If I don't take revenge, you'll only try to kill us again. The night howler's relentless desire for revenge was well-known. Normally, they do not attack humans. But if their pack is hunted, they will do whatever it takes for revenge. They've learned that if they show even a hint of weakness, hunters will come after them. Among them, the alpha had the highest learning capacity. With that came a heavy burden of responsibility. - I will kill you. Even as blood poured from his severed front leg, the alpha took a stance to leap. He likely had just one burst of strength left. "Why does it have to end so bitterly...." Jaejoong raised his revolver to target the alpha. But before he could fire, Hyunseo held up a hand to stop him. "If you attack the leader, the entire pack will rush us." Hyunseo openly glanced at the people behind him. With just the three of them, they couldn't stop the whole night howler pack. Some of the pack might attack the people in the back. "... These guys sure live a rough life. Fine, do what you want." As Jaejoong stepped aside, Hyunseo stepped forward. His body was heavy from exhaustion, but the same went for the alpha. A wounded beast is always the most dangerous, however. Facing off with the alpha, Hyunseo steadied his stance. The alpha wasted no time. As soon as Hyunseo took his stance, the alpha puffed up his fur and kicked up a thick dust cloud with all his might. For a brief moment, it was as if a black fog surrounded them. As vision was obscured by dust, the wind moved. The alpha knew Hyunseo had seen through this ambush once before. So it kicked up as much dust as possible to block his view. It had to aim for the neck. The alpha leaped at Hyunseo's neck with all his strength. But the alpha didn't know— Sreung!! That Hyunseo, night after night, had died hundreds of times in his dreams to invisible strikes. Always by being decapitated. Compared to that, this kind of trickery was nothing. Sseuuu— "..." Soon, the dust cleared, and what emerged was the alpha's corpse. Only a small scratch marred Hyunseo's cheek. Jaejoong, watching, clicked his tongue in sympathy. "That really is a bitter ending.... Huh? Hey, what's that?" He spotted something clinging to Hyunseo's ankle. A wolf pup was biting down on Hyunseo's ankle. Grrrung.... Hyunseo immediately knew whose pup it was. "That's the leader's child, isn't it." The alpha's pup kept biting Hyunseo's ankle, glaring hatefully—as if vowing revenge for its dead father. A female howler rushed over and grabbed her pup by the scruff, trying to pull it away. The pup refused to let go. It only let go when Hyunseo's pant leg tore. As it was dragged away in its mother's jaws, the pup continued to glare at Hyunseo. - I will remember. "..." Hyunseo heard the cub's hatred and determination clearly. Only then did he feel like he understood the criteria by which one could hear the will of demonic beasts. Awoooo— The night howler pack finished mourning their alpha. The howling of the dust-born pack would echo for a long time. Hyunseo finally felt that his first real hunt had come to an end.