Chapter 147 – Rank S (Part Four)

BOOM!

An invisible spear strike swept over them, forcing the team members to scatter and retreat a good distance.

The terrifying power had completely torn up the surrounding street.

The dark brown, humanoid monster, which had recoiled elastically, closed the distance in an instant and swung its spear wide with one hand.

CLANG! SCREECH!

“Ugh!”

“This is…!”

Seong-won and Marco barely managed to block the monster’s spear, even by combining their strength.

Despite two A-Rank Awakened working together, the creature pressed its advantage, viciously bearing down on them.

Unbelievable strength.

The two swords blocking the attack trembled erratically, and the knees of the men holding them buckled, slowly lowering them to the ground.

In contrast, the monster held its spear effortlessly with just one hand, its other arm hanging free.

Thump!

In a flash, the monster’s arm elongated and shot forward, piercing through Seong-won’s chest.

For some reason, his Defensive Coat was already down, and his heart had been completely pierced.

Crimson blood gushed out, soaking his clothes and the ground, while a trickle of blood leaked from his mouth.

But not even a momentary groan escaped Seong-won’s lips.

THWACK!

“Krrk?”

Seong-won gripped the creature’s arm that was impaling his heart.

The monster was momentarily taken aback by Seong-won’s calm and cold gaze, which showed no sign of pain.

At that exact moment, Marco, who had been helping block the attack, dodged to the side, and the creature’s downward-thrusting spear slammed into Seong-won’s shoulder.

Blood splattered again, and a fatal wound that nearly split his torso in half appeared on Seong-won’s body.

Just as the monster was about to sense something was amiss, a bolt of lightning struck from the sky.

KRAKOOM!

The powerful lightning bolt engulfed the area, including the monster and Seong-won.

Caught by the unexpected shock, the monster instantly pulled back, but Seong-won remained standing firm in his spot.

“That stings a bit…”

Seong-won touched his shoulder area.

Despite taking a series of attacks that should have been fatal and then being struck by lightning, Seong-won’s body was perfectly fine, without a single scratch.

His super-regeneration ability was on a completely different level from the regeneration powers possessed by most Awakened.

However, the monster was also unharmed by the lightning.

Its outer shell was slightly scorched, but it showed no signs of even mild paralysis.

Even considering that the ability had been fired hastily before the monster could get away, for it to take a direct hit of that magnitude and be perfectly fine was beyond common sense.

‘Of all the luck, our first S-Rank opponent had to be a humanoid monster…’

Il-hyeon thought as he watched the battle unfold.

Based on appearance alone, it might seem less threatening than a giant beast, but on the other hand, it meant that all the Ether output worthy of an S-Rank was contained within that small body.

Humanoid monsters, typically known for their extreme agility, were arguably the trickiest type of opponent to face for the first time without any prior data.

‘I need to be careful.’

The creature’s movements were so fast that they were impossible to track without intense focus, and its strength and durability were equally formidable.

Furthermore, with its abilities and attack patterns still unanalyzed, a moment of carelessness could mean instant death.

As his teammates approached the monster, Il-hyeon subtly moved back, taking a higher position.

“You’ve all seen it for yourselves, so be careful. This is a completely different opponent from what we’ve faced. Don’t get hurt.”

-Right!

-What about Choi Seong-won?

“Right, then everyone except Seong-won.”

-…

Astrid’s cheerful laughter echoed over the comms.

He could roughly imagine the expression on Seong-won’s face.

Of course, even though Il-hyeon had said that, it didn’t mean Seong-won didn’t need to be careful.

No matter how powerful his super-regeneration was, it was still ‘regeneration,’ not ‘immortality.’

There had to be a threshold beyond which he couldn’t recover if he was damaged beyond repair, and that was something to be wary of.

But with his teammates by his side, he didn’t have to worry about Seong-won falling first. The other team members, though cautious of the danger, did not lose their composure.

Even Il-hyeon had never seen them freeze up in the face of an impending battle.

BOOM!

The monster moved first, restarting the fight.

Energy radiated from the spear it swung through the air, slicing clean through the midsections of nearby skyscrapers.

Hyeon-seo and Seong-won, caught in the path of the sweeping attack, barely managed to block the incoming energy but were sent flying back by the powerful impact.

CLANG!

Astrid and Marco clashed with the creature.

In a mere instant, their swords and the spear met dozens of times.

As the heavy, power-laden weapons continued to collide, the very air around them seemed to tremble.

But even with the two of them, boasting incredible coordination, fighting together, the monster’s sharp spear created one dangerous situation after another.

And in those moments, Il-hyeon, positioned a short distance away, would activate his transformation ability to interfere.

Vines that had been rebar moments ago wrapped around the creature’s arms and legs, and the shattered ground rose up to throw it off balance.

A rope appeared out of nowhere and yanked Marco back just as he was about to be stabbed in the neck after losing a power struggle.

He even moved a falling building to block the monster’s follow-up attack.

“Krrrrrrk!”

The monster glared at Il-hyeon’s position, clearly annoyed by his support.

Even from a considerable distance, its killing intent felt as if it were being projected from right in front of him.

But during the time he had bought, Hyeon-seo and Seong-won, who had been knocked back, were approaching to rejoin the fight.

Suddenly forced to face four—no, five—Awakened at once, the creature immediately changed direction and leaped toward them as they tried to regroup.

CLANG! CRACK!

Hyeon-seo and Seong-won, moving quickly, barely managed to block the spear of the monster that had appeared before them in an instant, without a hint of its presence.

But the force of the block sent them flying back again, crashing through the exterior walls of a building several times before they were embedded in it.

It was an absurd amount of strength, enough to casually send even Hyeon-seo and Seong-won, who were by no means lacking in power, flying.

But this time, the monster’s move had been excessive.

The opening it created by hastily striking them to prevent them from regrouping was fatal, and two swords pierced through the monster’s back.

CRUNCH!

The creature’s shell shattered, and green fluid poured out.

Even for an S-Rank monster, being a humanoid, it would be impossible to continue fighting after sustaining such a wound.

A smile crept onto Astrid’s lips as the finishing blow landed.

“Got you…!”

WHOOSH!

In the blink of an eye, the monster spun around, its spear swinging violently.

Struck squarely by the spear, the two of them had their Defensive Coats completely shattered and were sent flying a great distance.

Even though the protective function had activated, the impact was so strong that blood trickled from their mouths.

“Ugh… a last-ditch effort?”

“No, that’s not it.”

Marco gritted his teeth as he got up.

The wounds on the monster standing before them were all healing.

Flesh swelled up from within, and a hard shell covered it once more.

Seeing this, Astrid scowled deeply.

“Dammit, you’re telling me that bastard has a regeneration ability too?”

The already difficult fight had just become exponentially more nightmarish.

The only silver lining was that it wasn’t as troublesome as Seong-won’s super-regeneration.

The commonality among all monsters: the core.

-It’s fine. We just need to destroy the core inside its body.

Il-hyeon’s voice came through the comms.

No matter how strong a monster was or what abilities it possessed, it could no longer exist once its core was destroyed.

Moreover, if the opponent was a small, humanoid monster, targeting the core became much easier. With Il-hyeon, who could see the core’s location, there was no need to say more.

“Where is it?”

-Left calf, pretty high up.

“Kiiieeeek!”

They had pinpointed its weakness, but the monster gave them no more time to talk.

It closed the distance in an instant and swung its spear at Astrid.

Swoosh!

But its spear only cut through empty air.

Hyeon-seo had used her spatial jump ability to teleport Astrid and Marco to her side, and they emerged from the building together.

The four A-Rank Awakened charged at the monster simultaneously, finally beginning to push it back.

Swords rained down from all directions, maintaining a safe distance as if to prevent any fatal, tide-turning attacks, coupled with Il-hyeon’s continuous support.

With its exposed weak point being relentlessly targeted, even an S-Rank monster couldn’t maintain the upper hand.

Just as Astrid was about to land the final blow on the momentarily staggering creature’s left calf, lightning struck from the sky.

KRAKOOM!

“What was that all of a…?”

Astrid asked as she and the other team members hastily retreated.

She was certain she hadn’t used her ability, and the lightning bolt hadn’t inflicted any damage on the monster.

Shhhk!

The monster suddenly vanished and reappeared right in front of Il-hyeon, who was some distance away, via a spatial jump.

It swung its spear, and Il-hyeon barely managed to react and dodge the attack.

“When did it…!”

The lightning strike and the instantaneous teleportation meant it had other abilities besides regeneration.

The monster, which had clearly been annoyed by Il-hyeon, pressed its attack, trying to finish him off before the others could intervene.

But he had been keeping his distance only to be cautious.

Il-hyeon’s specialty was, after all, close-quarters combat.

“I’ve already figured out your ability!”

CLANG!

The spear and sword clashed loudly.

It was usually difficult to discover even one of a monster’s abilities, but no matter how many they had, past cases showed a maximum of three.

And the monster had just revealed all three.

Extremely fast regeneration, lightning that struck from the sky without any warning, and spatial jumps that could close distances in an instant.

All the points to be cautious of in battle had been identified.

SCREEECH!

In the ensuing power struggle after the clash, Il-hyeon predictably began to be pushed back.

CRACK!

To change the situation, Il-hyeon flicked his gaze, and the ground beneath the monster writhed.

Spikes transformed from the ground shot up from all sides.

The monster’s calf, close to the ground, was now an even easier target.

But the monster ignored the attack aimed at its weak point and pressed forward.

Rumble!

“Wha… What?”

The spikes that had shot up from the ground to attack the monster all reverted to their original form.

It was undoubtedly the work of the creature, which was swinging its spear boldly as if it had expected this.

Before he could be surprised by the monster using a fourth ability, Il-hyeon barely managed to move and dodge the attack.

Feeling pressed, Il-hyeon summoned a wolf from thin air, forgoing the use of his transformation ability for efficiency.

“Grrr!”

The massive wolf, as soon as it was summoned, bared its fangs and charged at the monster.

But then, an unbelievable sight unfolded.

Another wolf was summoned right next to the first, and the two summoned creatures began to fight each other.

“You… you’ve got to be kidding me?”

Only then did Il-hyeon realize he had been mistaken.

The maximum number of abilities the monster possessed hadn’t exceeded three this time either.

The monster’s ability had been one and the same from the very beginning.