Chapter 129 – Headhunter (Part Nine)

Shunk!

A sharp sword pierced the monster’s head.

Even with its head impaled, the humanoid monster with dark, black skin thrashed about, clawing at Kim Jong-ho’s arm.

But its final struggle didn’t last long, and it eventually collapsed to the ground.

Kim Jong-ho wiped away his sweat as he scanned the area, which was littered with the creatures’ corpses.

“To think these things are the base monsters…”

The Gate had activated a full ten hours ahead of schedule.

Not only were the citizens trapped by the sudden appearance of the monsters, but even the rampant criminal organizations were being torn to shreds.

Moreover, the monsters pouring out of the Gate were far stronger than the initial observations had suggested, causing the Union’s Awakened stationed here to suffer heavy losses.

Each base monster that emerged from the Gate was strong enough to be considered among the trickier C-rank monsters.

His nearby colleagues hadn’t suffered any severe injuries yet, but among those scattered elsewhere for the operation, some had lost communication entirely.

“We’ve confirmed it somewhere other than the initial observation point. East and west—it’s definitely a double Gate.”

Choi Yu-na, another B-rank Awakened from the Union, approached and said.

“There was plenty of time for analysis, so for one to go undetected… is it because of a jammer?”

“Seems like it. The activation time was completely off, and the Gate’s rank is far higher than expected.”

The initial analysis had concluded it was a typical B-rank Gate, but given its underground location, it seemed they had easily hidden a jammer to interfere with the readings.

Just then, an urgent message came through the communicator.

It was a report from a colleague that the ace monster in the subway had revealed itself.

Choi Yu-na turned and called out to one of her team members.

“Hyeon-seok! Give us a lift.”

“Okay, got it.”

As the man replied and brought his arms together, a gust of wind shot up from the ground, enveloping Kim Jong-ho and Choi Yu-na.

The wind carried them straight up, setting them down gently on the roof of a high-rise building.

A transport aircraft that had been waiting in the air approached the building.

Kim Jong-ho and Choi Yu-na quickly boarded, and the aircraft ascended as fast as it could.

Lowering a transport aircraft into an active monster zone for an operation was a dangerous move.

“Which side is it on?”

“Both. One for each Gate.”

Kim Jong-ho and Choi Yu-na leaned out of the open door of the aircraft and looked down.

“Found it.”

It didn’t take long to spot a creature rampaging in the distance.

A building, neatly sliced in half at its midsection, tilted and collapsed, revealing the monster in the gap.

On the magnified screen from the aircraft’s equipment, they could clearly see a silver monster with glowing blue eyes.

Next to the rampaging creature, a stream of information about it was displayed.

“Damn it, that thing’s real…”

Choi Yu-na muttered in shock.

A-rank monsters, Asu and Marka.

The first variant monsters to ever appear from a Gate, and the first twin-type ace monsters.

Just as the gap between A-rank Awakened varied wildly, so did it for monsters, but these two were in a league of their own.

They were so infamous that any Awakened with even a passing interest in past records could identify them by appearance alone.

“Blue eyes… that must be Marka, right?”

“I couldn’t believe it when I heard the report… This is the first time a variant monster has reappeared exactly as it was. And of all things, we had to run into these monsters.”

They were far beyond what their team could handle.

These were the nightmarish creatures that had cut down two A-rank Awakened.

Acting as if the Awakened were nothing, the monsters were already tearing through the city, indiscriminately slaughtering hundreds of people.

“What about Asu, who was said to have appeared with it?”

“It came from the west gate on the opposite side, so it seems they haven’t met up yet.”

“That’s a relief, at least. We have to eliminate one before the two of them join forces.”

Kim Jong-ho said anxiously.

He knew that as a B-rank Awakened, this wasn’t a situation he could easily step into, but they had to stop the twin monsters somehow before they could unite.

According to past data, their combat power was completely different when they were separate versus when they were together.

But Choi Yu-na shot a sharp glare at Kim Jong-ho for even suggesting it.

“What? Are you kidding me? Don’t be ridiculous. We need to pull out of here.”

“So we’re just going to abandon this place and run?”

Kim Jong-ho lunged forward, agitated, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

But she remained completely unfazed and continued speaking.

“If you don’t want to die for nothing, think rationally. They’re not on our level. We have to leave this to Aegis or the Response Team.”

“Leave it to them? You don’t mean leave it to them, you mean abandon it. Even for Aegis, if those two team up, they’d have to send at least one entire high-ranking team. Neither Aegis nor the Response Team have that kind of force available immediately! We’d have to wait at least an hour, and in that time…”

“Stop talking nonsense and get a grip!”

Choi Yu-na shouted, grabbing Kim Jong-ho by the collar.

But Kim Jong-ho shouted back, not backing down.

“This is our last chance! Kang Il-hyeon is still in the city. If we join up with him and take just one of them down, we can save people!”

“Even if he’s from Aegis, Kang Il-hyeon is still a B-rank Awakened. And a rookie who hasn’t even been awakened for a few months at that. Our opponents are the ones who killed two A-rank Awakened. You still think we have a chance?”

Letting go of her grip, Choi Yu-na stared at Kim Jong-ho with cold eyes.

“I’ve always said it. Guys like you don’t last long as Awakened.”

“…”

“I’ll try to stop you until the very end, but if you insist on being stubborn, then fine. I suppose there’s nothing I can do. But don’t you dare drag us into it. Don’t lead dozens of our comrades to their deaths. Got it?”

Kim Jong-ho couldn’t find the words to respond to Choi Yu-na’s sharp tirade.

She let out a deep sigh and spoke again.

“We’re not abandoning them. Kang Il-hyeon is on site, so Aegis will be here soon enough. They wouldn’t just abandon their top prospect.”

She then raised a hand to the communicator in her left ear.

“Everyone, withdraw from the area. We’re pulling back.”

* * *

“Dammit!”

Jo Nam-seok swore as he brought his dagger down on a monster’s neck.

Dark red blood splattered everywhere, and Jo Nam-seok collapsed to the ground.

“Just when I thought this was finally over, what’s this now?”

Jo Nam-seok panted heavily.

He shook his head, looking at the few monster corpses strewn about beside him.

The already ruined streets were now filled with the screams of terrified people.

“As if a city gone mad wasn’t enough, now there are monsters… This is hell on earth.”

And the monsters that had appeared were no ordinary ones.

With a gut feeling that he’d stumbled into something seriously bad, Jo Nam-seok scrambled to his feet to get out of the city.

“Buddy! Let’s get going! I don’t think we should stay here any longer.”

Jo Nam-seok shouted.

The mouse, drenched in blood from fighting the monsters, quickly scrambled onto his shoulder at his words.

The car he had rented had been smashed to pieces by a monster that had appeared out of nowhere.

Jo Nam-seok began to navigate the streets, doing his best to avoid the areas where he could hear screams and sense a heavy presence.

This wasn’t his first time working in a monster-infested area and then having to make a quick getaway.

But as he turned a corner into an alley, the wall beside him exploded.

At the same time, several human corpses came flying out of the collapsed wall. Startled, Jo Nam-seok quickly backed away, raising his dagger.

Then, from beyond the wall, a black-skinned humanoid monster appeared.

The sheer killing intent it radiated was on a completely different level from the ones he had just fought.

An A-rank ace monster with six glowing yellow eyes, Chiringito.

The famous named monsters, Asu and Marka, were actually variations of this creature.

It was one of the weakest among A-rank monsters, but it was still far beyond a level Jo Nam-seok could ever hope to handle.

“Crap.”

Thwack!

Before he could even react, the monster’s attack sent Jo Nam-seok flying into the opposite wall.

Sprawled amidst the crumbling wall, Jo Nam-seok barely held onto his fading consciousness and pushed himself up from the ground.

“Ugh…”

The creature clearly hadn’t used its full strength in that attack, yet he was dumbfounded by a level of power he had never experienced before.

He had never faced, let alone even seen, a monster like an A-rank before.

He felt a wetness soaking the ground and looked down to see his own blood pooling beneath him.

“This isn’t good…”

Jo Nam-seok grimaced in pain, looking at the blood on his palm as he clutched his abdomen.

He hadn’t even been able to see what had hit him.

The yellow-eyed monster approached, ready to finish him off.

As his vision blurred, Jo Nam-seok gave up resisting and closed his eyes.

Whoooosh!

Suddenly, a massive torrent of water flooded the alley.

A giant serpent made entirely of water shot forward at incredible speed and wrapped itself around Chiringito, which had been raising its sword.

Swept away by the deluge, the monster was pushed back a great distance, thrashing about as it tried to escape the serpent’s body.

But the serpent coiled tightly, completely trapping the monster, and then began to freeze solid, starting from its tail.

Crack!

The serpent, along with the monster, turned into a giant ice sculpture, frozen in place.

“Squeak, squeak, squeak!”

The mouse, standing beside the unconscious Jo Nam-seok, hopped up and down with joy.

Where the torrent of water had passed, Il-hyeon now stood.

“Whew, that was a close call.”

Il-hyeon hurried over to Jo Nam-seok and began to heal his wound.

The gash was so deep his intestines were visible, making him frown, but he used a core from his pocket to heal it completely.

‘He’s past the worst of it… but for monsters of this level to suddenly appear. This has to be at least an A-rank Gate. The analysis was completely wrong.’

Since the Union was the corporation in charge here, he hadn’t received any specific information about the situation yet.

But the level and number of monsters Il-hyeon had faced on his way here were unusual, and he naturally suspected they had used a jammer.

Recently, whenever there was such a huge discrepancy, it was a jammer, plain and simple.

But if that was really the case, one thing didn’t make sense.

‘Were they planning to kill everyone in this city? Even the organizations in their own coalition?’

Why would they so casually discard such loyal organizations?

What could they possibly gain from it?

As he pondered this, an urgent voice came from his communicator.

– Can you hear me? The Union has abandoned the site and is withdrawing. You need to get out of there! There are no teams available for immediate support, and you can’t handle this alone!

“No, that won’t be necessary.”

Crack!

Cracks began to slowly spread across the solidly frozen sculpture.

Crunch! A monstrous arm burst out from the serpent’s body, and soon after, the ice shattered in all directions.

“Just send me the data on the monsters that have appeared.”