Chapter 79 – A Second Family (Part Four)

“Hmm…”

Riding the hawk high in the sky, Il-hyeon checked a map of the area on his watch.

He was just a rogue team member who had gone off on his own, so he lacked the usual intel from the analysis team—monster information, detailed local geography, or their predicted routes.

What’s more, it was a new type of monster that had never appeared before, so there was no information to look up.

‘No choice but to face it head-on.’

Il-hyeon first headed toward the densely populated city center to the south.

He had charged in alone, making this Gate a significant burden, but he was determined to handle it this time without Hyeon-seo’s help.

Hyeon-seo could come to his aid whenever he was in crisis, but she was already assigned to another incident on the opposite side of the globe.

Besides, he had no intention of dragging her into his disciplinary mess.

Ordinary summons wouldn’t be an issue, but Hyeon-seo was a ‘person’ with her own contract and salary.

Even if he were suspended, he wanted to ensure she could continue to operate.

It wouldn’t do for the supply of cores for his summons to be cut off, nor for Hyeon-seo’s growth, which depended on the cores he earned, to be halted.

‘Found one.’

As Il-hyeon descended, he spotted a monster.

It was a giant that seemed to defy perspective, easily standing over ten meters tall.

The city crumbled like a toy under the assault of the creature, its body a grotesque mass of muscle, its eyes blazing red.

Militias and other Awakened tried to resist, but they were brutally crushed without inflicting a single scratch.

Il-hyeon immediately drew his sword.

Without a word, the hawk banked and dove toward the giant.

The hawk shot forward like an arrow, gouging out the giant’s eye with its sharp talons. Leaping from its back, Il-hyeon plunged his sword deep into the crown of the beast’s head.

Kuaaargh!

Its skull and brain cleanly pierced, the giant shrieked and thrashed.

The giant lost its balance and began to topple. Il-hyeon tried to retrieve his sword and dismount.

But the sharp blade, which had pierced its head, was suddenly caught by flesh rapidly multiplying within the wound, refusing to come free.

Just then, the hawk that had clawed out the giant’s eye was struck squarely by a swinging arm and sent crashing to the ground.

“What?”

The hawk lost its form from the single blow, dissipating into the air. Il-hyeon’s brow furrowed.

It didn’t stop there. An arm swung straight for his head, forcing Il-hyeon to rip his sword free with all his might and leap away.

Dodging the attack by a hair’s breadth, Il-hyeon clung to the side of a building and stared at the giant.

“What is that thing?”

Il-hyeon was stunned. The creature was moving despite a wound that should have been fatal.

Its head had been pierced, yet it was fine. The gouged-out red eye was healing, quickly returning to its original state.

*Thud!*

The fully recovered giant swung a fist at Il-hyeon, and the upper floor of the building exploded.

Il-hyeon leaped away again, landing on the rooftop of the adjacent building.

With a slight turn of his head, as if giving a signal, a fox’s tail materialized behind him. A massive ball of flame formed in the air.

The ferocious flame, writhing like a living creature, shot forward and engulfed the giant. The creature’s massive upper body was completely swallowed by fire.

The giant writhed in apparent agony, the stench of burning flesh filling the air.

But it was only for a moment.

The giant’s skin, charred black to the point where thick bones were visible, began to regenerate.

The disgusting sight of muscle tissue regenerating at an incredible speed made Il-hyeon want to gag.

*Crash!*

“Damn it, what am I supposed to do with this?”

Dodging again, Il-hyeon cursed under his breath.

Piercing its head, burning half its body—it regenerated in an instant.

He dodged the relentless attacks, racking his brain, but no easy strategy came to mind.

And this giant wasn’t even an A-rank Ace monster.

It was just one of over ten B-rank monsters. If he was already struggling this much, getting the situation under control would be a nightmare.

It was an A5-grade Gate, but with only a little over ten monsters, he had expected them to be strong for their rank.

But this was far beyond his predictions.

On top of its regeneration, it possessed immense physical strength and was deceptively fast for its lumbering size.

‘If only Hyeon-seo were here, this would be over in a flash.’

With Hyeon-seo, who could completely negate any form of healing, a giant like this would be no problem at all.

His resolve to handle the situation without Hyeon-seo’s help was already wavering after just ten minutes.

But Il-hyeon’s resolve held firm.

He had made a big show of acting alone; he wasn’t about to cause trouble for the team by calling her in now.

‘Besides, I can’t call her just because I can’t handle one monster on my own.’

It wasn’t as if Il-hyeon had never encountered monsters with regenerative abilities in his countless missions across the globe.

This was the first time he’d seen regeneration this extreme, of course. But after facing a monster whose arm grew back after being severed, he had once asked his teammates how to deal with monsters whose regeneration was too strong and fast to handle.

Just like the one he was facing now.

*Whoosh!*

As if tireless, the giant’s fist sliced through the air toward him.

Despite its speed, Il-hyeon remained calm. He felt the sunlight pouring down from the sky.

He clenched his fist, activating his power. A significant amount of light gathered, coalescing into a form.

Usually, it would take the form of an animal like a wolf or a golem, but not this time.

A slender, perfectly human figure emerged from within the bright light.

The woman had flowing blonde hair and wore a winged helmet and armor straight out of a fantasy film.

Standing before Il-hyeon, she brandished a long, golden spear with a deft flick of her wrist, splitting the giant’s massive arm in two.

The giant’s arm, split wide open, hung in tatters before half of it fell away. Though it immediately began to swell and regenerate, the creature staggered back from the force of the blow.

A faint halo emanated from her body as she turned to meet Il-hyeon’s gaze.

Valkyrie.

Her appearance, her armor—she was a summon inspired by a game Il-hyeon used to play.

She was also the little blonde girl he had been chatting with just yesterday.

Of course, their faces were similar, but their auras and physiques were so completely different that no one would ever connect the two. It wasn’t something Il-hyeon had done intentionally.

Even now, it took a tremendous amount of power to summon a humanoid capable of human speech.

Just as he’d had to sacrifice other physical attributes for the phoenix’s powerful immortality, granting the ability of speech required a similar trade-off.

That was why the small, talkative child form had her combat abilities drastically reduced and her size shrunk to make the summon easier to maintain.

In contrast, this adult Valkyrie form had no linguistic ability; all her power was invested in combat.

Her features were more mature, her eyes sharper. Perhaps because she was silent, her entire aura felt different.

Kuaaargh!

Enraged, the giant brought both arms down in a crushing blow.

As the massive fists descended with enough force to obliterate her, the Valkyrie raised her spear.

*CRASH!* A shockwave erupted as the ground shattered and buckled.

But the Valkyrie wasn’t crushed beneath the fists. Instead, she stood firmly atop the very hands that had tried to smash her.

*Slash!*

The giant’s massive hands were sliced clean off.

The Valkyrie’s spear left a clean cut, sending a torrent of blood spraying in all directions.

And it didn’t stop there. Massive harpoons suddenly flew through the air, embedding themselves one by one into the giant’s body.

They were Il-hyeon’s creation, formed from the surrounding buildings.

‘If possible, eliminate its mobility first.’

While the Valkyrie held the giant’s attention, Il-hyeon moved to the side and used his power.

The barbed harpoons, attached to chains, were designed not to pull out easily. They became firmly lodged as the flesh swelled and regenerated around them.

*Rumble!* Simultaneously, the ground beneath the giant collapsed, and its lower body plunged downward.

Its massive frame prevented it from falling completely into the pit, but its legs sank deep enough for thick spikes at the bottom to impale them.

As the giant fell, the chains connected to the harpoons were pulled taut.

Having successfully restrained it and bought himself some time, Il-hyeon focused the power in his eyes.

Through his Predation ability, the flow of Ether circulating within the monster’s body became clearly visible.

The ideal way to deal with creatures like this was to find their weak point—the focal point of their being.

For any monster, that definitive weak point was its core.

‘Found it.’

He could feel the Ether flowing from deep within the giant’s solar plexus.

The core was minuscule compared to its massive body; anyone but Il-hyeon would have struggled to find it even if they tore the creature apart.

Having pinpointed the core’s location, Il-hyeon moved immediately.

*Shhhrk!*

But as the giant thrashed violently, the building anchored to the chains couldn’t withstand the force and was ripped from its foundation.

The two buildings tilted, collapsing inward from both sides.

Il-hyeon summoned the hawk again and shot upward to escape.

*CRASH!*

The two buildings crashed down on the giant, kicking up a thick cloud of dust.

Il-hyeon seized the opportunity, diving toward the giant as it staggered from the impact.

*Slash!* Il-hyeon’s sword cut deep into the giant’s chest. Through the gash, the fox, which had been floating in the air, transformed into a ball of fire and shot inside.

*BOOM!*

The small flame, having burrowed deep inside the wound, erupted in a massive explosion, mangling the giant’s flesh and bone.

The fox shot out from the explosion and returned to Il-hyeon’s arms.

But the giant didn’t collapse.

The area around the core remained intact, and its body began to regenerate once more.

“How annoying.”

Il-hyeon clicked his tongue as his attack proved ineffective.

As expected, the monster’s core was heavily protected.

Repeated attacks could eventually disable it, but with the giant’s rapid regeneration, that wouldn’t be easy.

Just then, his eyes met the Valkyrie’s, who stood atop the piles of rubble.

Understanding her intent, Il-hyeon nodded.

She couldn’t speak, but like his other summons, she had no trouble communicating with him.

*Whoosh!*

The giant’s arm, with several harpoons and chains attached, came straight at him.

The harpoons were lodged firmly in its body, but with the buildings destroyed, its upper body was free again, and it swung at Il-hyeon.

But Il-hyeon shot upward while the hawk he was riding dove, causing the arm to swipe through empty air.

Leaping high, Il-hyeon inflicted another wound on the giant’s solar plexus as he fell.

As he fell, he hurled the fox with all his might. Its body ignited, creating an explosion just like before.

*BOOM!*

It was a powerful explosion that sent flesh flying everywhere, but once again, it failed to damage the core.

Just as the giant’s body began to regenerate, before he could launch another attack, a golden spear radiating brilliant light came flying.

Thrown with all her might, the Valkyrie’s powerful spear flew at incredible speed. It struck its target, piercing through multiple layers of dense bone in an instant to reach the giant’s core.

It couldn’t physically destroy the core, but by stopping the flow of Ether, the giant went into shock, convulsed, and then fell backward.

*Thud!* The regeneration of its flesh and muscle ceased abruptly. Cracks began to spread across the fallen giant’s body.

Twisting in mid-air, Il-hyeon landed gracefully with the fox and walked over to the Valkyrie.

“That was brilliant. Absolutely spectacular.”

At Il-hyeon’s praise, the Valkyrie blushed slightly and turned her head away.

In her child form, she would have been jumping for joy. Her personality was definitely different now.

The amusing sight made Il-hyeon chuckle, but he quickly reminded himself that the crisis was far from over and looked away.

“Let’s go.”