Chapter 237 – The Strongest Reinforcements (2)

The first day of the battle for survival against the 6-star boss in France.

The dispatched units supporting the hunters began a fireworks display against the 10,000-strong monster army, unleashing overwhelming firepower.

There was no need for mana stone bullets.

The powerful artillery tore the monsters’ bodies to shreds like rags and melted them like cheese.

The chunks of flesh bursting like watermelons were reminiscent of firecrackers.

“Dammit, medic!”

“The ogres are heading for the town! Stop them!”

Ogres were on a completely different level from other low-grade monsters.

The HP shields that manifested before them blocked the barrage of artillery. They charged forward, quite literally like tanks.

They couldn’t let them get into close combat.

Knowing this well, the allied forces had brought everything from MLRS and third-generation tanks to mortars, relentlessly pounding the earth.

Literally, every monster except the ogres melted like ice cream.

The 10,000-strong monster army was being annihilated by the allied forces’ overwhelming firepower. However, the several hundred ogres that broke through the shelling were still going strong.

Still, they had enough strength to handle it. After all, they had infantry support and hunters with extensive raid experience gathered here.

“Casting!”

Magic-type hunters began casting their skills, while the tanking hunters stood at the forefront.

The moment a tanker blocked the massive club swung by an ogre, he was nearly sent flying. Fortunately, due to his tanker specialization, his HP shield was tougher than others’, and he had received all sorts of buffs from allied healers and supporters.

‘We can do this!’

The tankers gained confidence.

They had confirmed that they could tank effectively even against top-tier man-eating monsters.

Another attack came flying in. But he deflected the beast’s club with his massive shield. He was pushed back a few steps, and though his wrists throbbed, it wasn’t impossible.

Thanks to the tankers blocking the path, the magic-type hunters, who had successfully drawn their skill patterns, began to unleash a barrage of skills.

Boom! Cra-boom!

Flames erupted from all sides, exploding as if missiles were being launched.

It was hard to tell whether they were tactical rockets or magic skills.

However, the effect was vastly different. The ogres, which had been undamaged by missiles, began to fall one by one.

It was working. But the ogres, true to their massive bodies, were tenacious.

They swung the clubs in their hands at the hunters.

“Buffs!”

The tanker raised his shield, bracing for the impact of the ogre’s attack. A defense buff came in with perfect timing. Just as he thought he could withstand this attack with ease, the tanker saw it.

‘A skill?’

A skill effect materialized on the ogre’s club.

Whoooosh!

The club swung by the ogre tore through the air, creating the illusion of a sudden gust of wind.

The tanker held his ground with all his might, but he couldn’t withstand the shock and was sent skipping across the ground like a stone on water.

“Cough, hack!”

The tanker coughed up blood, spewing dark red gore over his own face. One by one, the tankers began to fall to the ogres’ attacks.

“Medical team!”

The situation deteriorated in an instant. The ogres bared their saw-like teeth and drooled. The smell of blood seemed to be whetting their appetites.

“Gah, n-no…!”

A hunter caught by an ogre screamed, flailing his arms and legs. The ogre opened its mouth wide, about to chew the man in its hand whole.

Pow!

Just then, a powerful spinning kick landed squarely on the ogre’s face.

Thud!

The ogre that took the hit fell backward, dropping the hunter it had been holding.

“The injured, fall back!”

David Henri and Audrey were acting as a rescue team, supporting the points where the line was faltering.

Their performance was dazzling, but the hunters’ casualties at the hands of the ogres were steadily mounting. An ogre that didn’t die in one hit would, even with its neck dangling, manage to obliterate a nearby hunter before finally dying.

It was as if they were obsessed with killing humans.

Even so, the ogres began to be hunted down by the hunters, who were backed by the army’s firepower.

When the last ogre’s head was severed and it collapsed to the ground, the allied hunters cheered.

Seeing hundreds of ogres had filled them with true despair. They had thought it was an impossible fight, but they had succeeded in annihilating them.

But the real problem was yet to come.

Suddenly, a thick fog began to roll in.

“It’s here!”

The rising fog quickly obscured the sky and even the surrounding visibility. Seeing this, the French ranker and commander, Yan Michael, shouted like a thunderclap.

“It’s coming! Activate sound canceling!”

SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

A shriek as potent as a dragon’s fear aura echoed in all directions. Having experienced it several times already, Yan Michael was prepared for the fear effect.

But even with the canceling dampening its force, soldiers with low resistance collapsed one after another.

The problem was what came next.

Thump, thump!

Fenrir, the size of a six-story building, began to move. It was growing larger, as if it had been feeding on the humans it had hunted until now.

“Damn monster!”

The hunters gritted their teeth and began to spread out according to the operational plan.

They would surround it from all sides, pressing the attack without giving it a moment’s rest.

It was a strategy they had attempted once before. But this time would be different.

The army’s overwhelming firepower would also be hammering the monster for over 24 hours.

“Evasive maneuvers! All units, evade!”

Yan Michael shouted at the hunters in the central formation.

Fenrir opened its maw wide. A dark red light flashed from within its throat.

Fwoosh, KRA-BOOOOOOM!

An earth-shattering explosion resounded everywhere.

The French commander, covered in a mix of flames and dust, spat out the dirt and blood that had filled his mouth.

He could hear nothing but a ringing in his ears.

He saw a hunter with severed legs screaming at the sky, and a comrade burning to death beside him.

It was an explosion of incredible power.

And he knew this power well. This was a technique that perfectly mimicked human firepower.

MOAB (Mother Of All Bombs).

The most powerful non-nuclear large-scale bomb was being fired from a monster’s mouth.

It was a situation where a mere swing of Fenrir’s tail could shatter a human like a cracker.

But now, such a monster was also mimicking and firing incredibly powerful missiles, making the situation utterly maddening.

“Retreat! All units, retreat!”

A monster that absorbed even tactical weapons and used them as its own. It was impossible for the hunters to engage it with their current strength.

Whoooosh! KRA-BOOOOOOM!

Another MOAB exploded.

The ground shattered, and a mushroom cloud of fire rose toward the sky.

The flesh of the hunters and soldiers caught in the flames was instantly charred black.

‘We have to use the soldiers as guinea pigs to figure out how many times it can use that skill.’

It was a terrible thought, but that was Yan’s judgment.

France’s Yan and Britain’s Emily decided on a retreat for the allied hunters.

Screeeeech!

A fighter jet, letting out a piercing shriek as it plummeted to the ground, exploded with a deafening roar. Soldiers caught in the blast screamed as if dancing in the flames.

The fighter jets scrambled to hunt Fenrir were being shot down one by one.

With a single swipe of its tail, Fenrir flipped over the latest state-of-the-art tanks as if they were toys.

In the end, the army had to increase the distance and fire everything they could, from multiple launch rocket systems to missiles.

And the next morning, they saw Fenrir firing long-range missiles.

* * *

“This is insane. It’s become a mobile military base.”

Fenrir was intercepting all fighter jets targeting it and was using the modern firepower it had absorbed to create its own skills.

To deal with Fenrir, they needed to conduct a raid. But the hunters couldn’t even get close.

This battle was being watched by the entire world.

The European hunter alliance had joined forces to hunt this unprecedentedly large monster.

If they couldn’t stop this leveling-up monster here, it was clear that the entire European continent would be engulfed in flames.

KRA-BOOOOOOOOOOM!

“Dammit. That must be the sixth MOAB of the day.”

A black hunter grumbled.

The allied hunters, hidden in an underground bunker, were currently holding a meeting.

The allied army had been engaging Fenrir in place of the hunters who had suffered a major defeat on the first day, but now even their military bases were reportedly in ruins from missile attacks.

In other words, there was truly no hope left but the hunters.

Their one and only hope, their leader, France’s Yan Michael, slowly opened his mouth.

“A small, elite raid. That’s our only option.”

Rushing in all at once would only get them all killed by missiles.

Everyone knew it. It was the way to minimize casualties. But the very reason they had planned a large-scale raid in the first place was that it was the only way to deal with a monster of this scale.

“I hear Union is sending support tomorrow.”

“Union?”

The allied hunters wore strange expressions upon hearing that name.

Union was originally created to maintain world peace, but their actions in practice were far from it.

They would forcibly strip a country of its resources to a degree that could only be described as plunder.

That was the contract.

The price for being protected by Union.

That was why the French government had been so hesitant to sign a contract with Union.

But now that all their hopes had been crushed, there was only one thing left to do.

It was better than their country falling into ruin.

“Goddammit, do we have to see those fucking bastards’ faces again?”

Most of the hunters loathed Union.

“Even if the great Ian Kruger comes, he won’t be able to do anything about that crazy monster.”

“That ‘Strongest of Humanity’ is on his way in a private jet.”

“What?”

There was only one man who held the title of the Strongest of Humanity.

The representative of Union Hunters and the global number one ranker, Ian Kruger.

The Emperor of Hunters was coming.

“Was Ian Kruger the ‘hope on the third day’ that Henri was talking about?”

“No.”

David answered his comrade’s cynical remark with a grim face.

No matter how much Ian was the number one ranker, he didn’t expect him to be able to do anything.

Not this time.

“Let’s just watch and see if the Strongest of Humanity gets eaten by Fenrir.”

The black hunter said, putting a cigarette to his lips.

David Henri closed his eyes for a moment in exhaustion.

He thought of his wife and child back in Korea. His kind neighbors, and his team members, with whom he had quickly grown close despite the short time.

-I’ve got something to take care of over here. I’ll head over to help as soon as I’m done, man.

When David Henri had set out with Danny McGuire to support their homeland, France, he had heard those unexpected words.

Hyunbin was not a man who made empty promises.

People still didn’t know how strong he truly was.

Unlike Ian, who had gathered his strength through despicable means, Hyunbin was a man who had built his power purely on his own talent.

He was sure that a man like him could hunt the 6-star boss monster, Fenrir.

Henri glanced to his side.

Beside him, Audrey, whom he thought of as a daughter, was catching a nap.

She was sleeping so soundly, even as the bunker shook from missile bombardments.

It was best to replenish one’s strength whenever possible.

Henri worried if he would be able to protect this child.

No, she was no longer a child but a young lady. And she had been recognized as an S-Rank hunter.

That made her a comrade he could trust with his back. But he didn’t want someone so young to lose her life in a place like this.

Lee Hyunbin.

Due to a recent unfortunate incident, he had been labeled a villain and was being pursued.

When Henri heard the news, he felt as if he were chewing on sand.

He was their only hope.

But with Hyunbin’s own situation having taken a turn for the worse, there was no way he could help.

No, even before that, it was agonizing that he couldn’t help the man to whom he owed a great debt.

‘There will be no help from Hyunbin.’

They had to create a miracle without him.

And to do that, they had to join hands even with Union Hunters.

That day, too, countless bodies were made until late in the evening.

Before long, monsters had gathered around Fenrir again, and the people of France had no choice but to seek asylum in other countries.

The fall of France.

It was now just around the corner.

At this moment of desperate crisis, joyous news reached the French people.

“I believe that those with power must follow their duty. My strength is not my own; it belongs to the weak. It is the natural obligation of the strong.”

Reporters from all over the world set off flashes to capture this historic moment for their articles.

“Of course, there are those who forsake that duty.”

The strongest man on Earth.

He clearly stated his beliefs before the reporters.

“The Korea Monster. A man once hailed as a hero has become a villain, causing great harm to his own country. Today, I will save France, and then I will save Korea.”

Ian confidently pointed a thumb at himself and continued his declaration.

“As is the duty of the powerful.”

Coming from none other than the strongest man on Earth, his words carried a different weight.

Hearing his declaration, the French reporters began to weep.

“What strategy do you plan to employ against the 6-star boss monster, Fenrir?”

“Are you confident in your ability to hunt Fenrir?”

To the flood of questions from foreign reporters, Ian Kruger flashed his pearly whites and answered with conviction.

“I guarantee it, 100 percent.”

Of course he could guarantee it.

“Today, Fenrir will vanish from France.”

Every French person watching his declaration pushed aside their anxiety and cheered.

The arrival of a superhero.

They didn’t care what kind of person Ian Kruger really was. They only wished for a hero who would save them from this hellish situation.

“I’m sorry. Ian must head to the battlefield immediately.”

“You are humanity’s only hope!”

“Please save France!”

Receiving the cheers of the people, Ian and his hunters boarded their vehicles and began to move.

Survivors who saw Ian Kruger’s vehicle shouted cries of support and welcome.

Ian, who had been observing the scene as if on a safari, finally let out the laugh he’d been holding back.

-You’re too late.

A telepathic message was transmitted into Ian’s mind.

It was a sinister voice that no one else could hear.

Hearing the whining of ‘that being’ as soon as he entered the same region, Ian let out a twisted sneer.

“Did you think all I do is run around causing chaos like you? Quasar.”

Ian said, then corrected the name he used.

“No, I suppose I should call you Fenrir for now.”

The time had come to end Europe, starting with France.