Chapter 47 – Easy Pickings (Part Two)

The wolf stood with its head bowed low, tail tucked between its legs.

It was getting an earful from Il-hyeon for devouring the core of a monster it had just caught.

Once or twice was understandable, but it had already swallowed several cores in a single day.

If it accidentally devoured an important A-rank core or higher, it would be a disaster he couldn’t afford.

“No more of that. Got it?”

Il-hyeon said, uncrossing his arms. The wolf nodded eagerly.

It nodded convincingly, but Il-hyeon didn’t believe it for a second.

This was the fourth time he’d gotten it to “repent.”

“I’ll let it slide for now since we’re short on time, but I’ll have to train you properly later.”

It wasn’t just a problem with the wolf.

His other summons were usually obedient, but they lost all self-control around cores.

Their love for Ether was so intense they practically went into a frenzy.

“Takes after its master, I guess… Hey, wipe your drool.”

Even as he spoke, the wolf was drooling, its eyes fixed on the core in his hand.

Il-hyeon reached out, wiped the drool away, and then rubbed his hand on its fluffy fur.

“So? Do you feel any stronger?”

The wolf nodded again.

There was a reason Il-hyeon had summoned the wolf in the middle of this chaotic scene and let it absorb Ether.

He still didn’t fully understand this new ability—summons absorbing Ether—as he had only just acquired it.

This was the perfect opportunity to see exactly what changed after they absorbed it.

From what he’d observed so far, one thing was certain: just like him, his summons grew physically stronger the more Ether they consumed.

It was as if they had inherited his Predation ability, growing more powerful with each core they absorbed.

This particular aspect fascinated him.

*What if all three of my abilities are organically linked, influencing one another?*

It was just a theory, but a compelling one.

Just as his Transformation and Summoning abilities worked in tandem, his summons now seemed to possess a portion of his Predation ability.

*Does that mean I could make a transformed object consume Ether…? No, that’s probably a stretch.*

Il-hyeon scratched his head.

It wasn’t as if an object had a will or a mouth, and he couldn’t think of any way to feed it a core.

Lacking the imagination for such things, Il-hyeon didn’t dwell on the idea of feeding cores to inanimate objects.

Just then, Il-hyeon froze.

The phoenix, still observing the situation from above, had spotted something.

The two flame-spewing giants had suddenly changed their behavior.

Instead of laying waste to their surroundings, they were now charging furiously toward the bridge, smashing through buildings in their path.

And the sight was transmitted directly to Il-hyeon.

“Here they come. Let’s move.”

* * *

*Grrrrowl!*

“Hold them back at all costs!”

A fierce battle between the Awakened and monsters raged in the middle of a bridge in the city.

In truth, it was less a battle and more a desperate struggle for survival.

The Awakened were fighting the monsters bare-handed, without the protection of Defensive Coats.

Some grabbed monsters by the jaw and tore their heads apart with their bare hands, while others lay fallen, their necks pierced by fangs, their bodies half-incinerated.

Blood gushed from torn corpses like fountains, and the stench of burnt flesh filled the air.

To make matters worse, civilians fleeing the disaster-stricken city or being chased by monsters were mixed into the fray, turning the bridge into a scene of utter chaos.

“Aaargh!”

“Another one’s been bitten!”

“It’s no use! That damned fire won’t go out, even in water.”

“Dammit, if only I had my sword!”

With no Defensive Coats or special powers, they could only watch helplessly as another Awakened, one leg severed, was consumed by the flames.

The fire slowly crept up from the wound, and the horrific screams grew louder.

“Wait, what’s that sound…?”

*CRASH! THUD!*

A deafening noise echoed from the distance.

The source of the sound approached at an incredible speed and quickly came into view.

*ROOOOAR!*

A giant wreathed in fire appeared, devouring a small building in a burst of flame.

And there wasn’t just one—there were two.

“Son of a…”

Everyone—the Awakened fighting monsters, the fallen civilians—faltered and staggered backward.

They were already struggling against the basic monsters due to their lack of equipment; there was no way they could handle two of those behemoths.

“A monster!”

As if that weren’t enough, another monster appeared in the sky.

A massive, flame-wreathed bird was descending at a terrifying speed, its gaze fixed on them.

Given its size and speed, escape seemed impossible. Believing it was the end, they let their arms fall limp in despair.

But reality was not what it seemed.

A figure dropped from its back, and the giant bird swooped down on the remaining monsters, hurling them into the river below.

The man who had appeared from the sky walked over to the Awakened who was slowly burning to death.

As he reached for the burning wound, the others tried to stop him, but the man paid them no mind and placed his hand on the flames.

The onlookers expected the terrible fire to spread, creating another corpse, but contrary to their fears, the flames vanished wherever the man’s hand gently passed.

Soon, the fire consuming the injured man was completely gone, and his wounds even began to heal.

The man stood up, leaving the others to stare in awe as if they had witnessed a miracle.

“I’ve given him some first aid, so don’t worry. Okay?”

Il-hyeon said, handing the injured man over before immediately turning around.

He could see the two giants, already drawing near.

Il-hyeon strode forward to meet them.

“To be honest, I was wondering if you’d ever make it to the bridge.”

He had killed plenty of the flaming hounds, but he’d been powerless to stop the giants as they wreaked havoc in the heart of the city.

These were the ace monsters from the B1 Gate—creatures that had likely killed people by the hundreds—and they were too dangerous for him to face alone.

He desperately wanted to risk it, to hunt them down one by one, but he knew that if he overextended himself and died, the number of casualties would be incomparably higher.

But now.

Facing two of them, Il-hyeon showed no signs of tension.

On the contrary, he looked confident.

The distance between Il-hyeon and the giants, who were dragging massive hammers, steadily closed.

Just as the gap closed and one of the giants raised its hammer high to swing, Il-hyeon slammed his hand on the ground.

*CRACK!*

Cracks instantly spiderwebbed out from under his palm, splitting the bridge’s surface and shattering the support pillars below.

*RUMBLE!* The entire section of the bridge in front of them crumbled and collapsed.

The two giants and Il-hyeon plummeted with the debris, but the phoenix swooped in, snatching him from the air and placing him on its back.

The phoenix had grown large enough to carry him with ease; unlike before, it could now freely control its size.

His other summons could do the same.

*HISSSS!*

The two giants lost their balance and plunged into the water below.

A great hiss erupted as intense fire met deep water, but the creatures’ flames refused to be extinguished, continuing to burn even submerged in the river.

But they were clearly not as strong as before.

Submerged in the frigid winter water, their flames dwindled, leaving them significantly weakened.

Soon, the calm river began to churn with violent waves.

Massive waves crashed down on the two monsters, thwarting their attempts to climb out of the river.

As they lost their balance and staggered, Il-hyeon gathered the waves, completely engulfing them and trapping them within a massive sphere of water.

The sphere of water compressed relentlessly from all sides.

The two giants trapped inside struggled to break free, but in their weakened state, they were powerless within the watery prison.

From his leisurely perch on the phoenix’s back, Il-hyeon began to send thin, hardened jets of water piercing into them, one by one.

Each time a long, spear-like jet of water pierced their flesh, the giants writhed in agony.

The jets of water multiplied, and by the time there were well over a hundred, the creatures looked like grotesque pincushions, their heads hanging limp.

When Il-hyeon slowly released his power, the sphere dissipated, and their corpses floated to the surface.

“Heh, that was easy.”