Chapter 275 – Epilogue (8)

“But it’s too dangerous. If we just wait…”

“If we wait, it’ll be too late.”

Shells rained down from all directions.

Monsters melted away as they were struck by the firepower.

Some charged forward on long, spider-like arms and legs, while others were smaller, more compact creatures.

These horrific things, looking like a mix of humans and monsters, endlessly swarmed like moths to a flame, craving human flesh.

It was a good thing Hanul, the nation’s top guild, had joined the raid; any other guild might have been instantly overwhelmed by the sheer numbers.

“Don’t worry, just wait here with your father. You don’t trust us? We’re the Top 3, aren’t we?”

“But…”

“If it looks dangerous, I’ll just fly out of there with my levitation ability.”

The class president was at a loss for words. These three were different from ordinary academy cadets.

“Don’t worry. We’ll bring them back safely.”

There was no guarantee her grandmother was alive. But there was no guarantee she was dead, either.

Finally, with tears welling in her eyes, the class president spoke.

“You have to be really, really careful…”

“I know, I know. Just treat us to a meal when we get back.”

The class president nodded. Having made the decision on her own, Han So-yul brought the other two members of the Top 3 with her.

“What gives you the right to decide on your own?”

“You scared? If you don’t want to go, I’ll go alone.”

Han So-yul provoked Hong Jae-young.

“They’re fighting in a huge swarm. What if we get in and can’t get out?”

“You’re really showing you slept through class. Hey, think about it. They’re in an all-out war, drawing all the aggro. You think they’ll even notice us? At most, we’ll run into a few stragglers.”

Hong Jae-young couldn’t argue with her. As she said, when a wave hits, it’s basically just a blind charge forward.

The monsters charged to expand the dungeon’s territory, and the hunters fought to stop them. It was a classic defensive battle.

“I couldn’t say this to the class president, but we should assume there’s no chance she’s alive. This will be a meaningless effort.”

Hwang Jae-hoon was right. It was a reckless act.

“I know you’re an elite and you’re speaking facts, but what if she is alive?”

“It’s hard enough for healthy young people to escape. Let alone the elderly and children…”

“But the probability isn’t zero. I’m proof of that.”

Han So-yul herself was a survivor against impossible odds.

“And having your family caught in a deathtrap… it’s really tough.”

Han So-yul muttered softly.

Only those who had experienced it could understand the sorrow of losing family to monsters.

Every child who survived a gate disaster had their own trauma.

“Yeah, it sucks.”

Hong Jae-young chimed in.

He, too, had lost a friend in a gate disaster.

Since the dawn of the hunter era, it was tragically common to know someone who had been sacrificed to monsters.

“But they’re guarding it so tightly. I don’t think we can get in.”

“Ugh, of course not if we go straight ahead.”

Han So-yul pointed to a mountain near the town.

“We have to go that way.”

“There? Don’t you think they’ll be guarding that too?”

“They will, of course. But I have a plan, so just follow your big sis.”

With Han So-yul’s confident declaration, their mountain trek began. The hiking trail was, of course, blocked off. But when they moved through the unmarked paths, there was no one guarding them.

“They might seem thorough with their blockade, but they often miss spots like this. They don’t have unlimited manpower, so they can’t block every mountain path.”

“Ah.”

Just as Han So-yul had said, they were able to move with surprising ease. It was a considerable detour, and the path was rough as they had to push through the undergrowth. But it wasn’t as difficult as they had expected.

“Wow. How much did our teacher drill us for this to not feel hard at all?”

“Right?”

As Hong Jae-young said, this level of exertion was nothing. It seemed their strength training had unknowingly built up quite a bit of stamina.

“Alright, we’re here.”

The outskirts were certainly quieter than the main battlefront.

From the mountain, they could see the monsters below charging in a straight line toward the town entrance.

Nothing stood in the way of the monsters’ procession. Everything in their path, be it buildings or anything else, had been smashed beyond recognition.

“Let’s go.”

Han So-yul led the way and approached the fence. Just then, a shout came from the distance.

“Who’s there! You can’t enter!”

“What? You said no one would be here!”

“Damn it. They’re so thorough. We’re going over anyway!”

Han So-yul used her psychokinesis to fling Hwang Jae-hoon and Hong Jae-young over the fence, then leaped over herself.

The soldier who witnessed the scene raised his rifle in shock, but they had already disappeared over the fence.

“Hunters?”

The soldier stood stunned for a moment before radioing the command post.

“Two males and one female, appearing to be in their teens, have entered the operational area in Sector 13! I repeat. In Sector 13…!”

* * *

“Damn it, So-yul! Aren’t we screwed now because of you?”

“We’re accomplices now. Shut up and let’s find Ah-young’s house!”

A two-story house made of red brick.

It was a style of architecture rarely seen these days, so it wasn’t too difficult to find.

“Oh, that’s it.”

“You’re right. See? I told you it was close, so we’d get there in no time.”

Han So-yul and Hong Jae-young rushed toward the class president’s house.

As the two of them ran ahead excitedly, Hwang Jae-hoon let out a low sigh and flicked his finger.

Two small, green monsters that had been loitering nearby were instantly engulfed in flames.

‘Honestly, both of them have such poor situational awareness.’

If he, the elite, wasn’t here, there would be no one to help them.

With that thought, Hwang Jae-hoon crossed his arms and snorted.

The house was old, but thankfully, it didn’t seem to have sustained much damage.

It had been fortunate enough to be outside the monsters’ path of advance.

Seeing the house in better condition than expected, he thought that perhaps the grandmother and grandson might actually be safe.

“Krrrr…”

Just then, a guttural growl reached their ears.

“…!”

“…!”

A shriveled human with blue skin. No, a fiend was walking on all fours like a beast.

Caught in its serrated teeth were someone’s blood and entrails.

The creature stretched as if delighted by the arrival of new meat.

“…Shit!”

Han So-yul immediately unleashed her psychokinesis.

A monster emerging from Min Ah-young’s house. And its appearance suggested it had just hunted something. This could only mean one thing.

Despite the surprise attack, the fiend swiftly dodged and leaped onto a wall, opening its mouth wide as it lunged for Han So-yul.

*Thwack!*

Hong Jae-young moved quickly and struck the fiend in the waist.

If he had been even a moment later, Han So-yul would have been bitten.

“Hey, snap out of it!”

“Fuck off, don’t interfere. I’m going to tear that bastard to pieces myself!”

She had told the class president not to worry, but now her words felt like nothing more than arrogant boasting.

Usually, wave monsters blindly charge toward a designated attack point. But occasionally, variant monsters like this one existed.

Outcasts that couldn’t fit in with the pack.

*Crack, crunch!*

Han So-yul’s furious psychokinesis tore apart everything around the monster. But the creature dodged it all with mid-air flips.

“Kiheehee.”

In an instant, the monster was right in front of Han So-yul.

Its mouth moved as if to swallow her head whole.

*Thump!*

The monster couldn’t bite Han So-yul. An invisible force field blocked its path.

“I’ll make you wish you were never born!”

Han So-yul flung the monster high into the sky.

Caught in an irresistible gravitational force, the struggling creature plummeted back to the ground.

*Splat!*

The monster’s head was crushed on impact, its brain matter splattering everywhere.

*Fwoosh!*

In the meantime, Hwang Jae-hoon had hunted down another one that had been hiding.

They had killed two monsters, but there was no sense of excitement.

If only they had arrived a little sooner, they might have been able to save them.

The thought circled in their minds, and they couldn’t think of what to say to the class president.

“Let’s check.”

“…”

Han So-yul just stood there at Hwang Jae-hoon’s words.

Hwang Jae-hoon glanced at her, then silently entered the house alone.

Seeing a dead person is never pleasant. Not unless you’re a crazed murderer.

Teenage hunters, in particular, with their heightened sensitivities, were especially affected by human death.

“Both of you, come inside.”

“You can just check by yourself.”

At Han So-yul’s somber words, Hwang Jae-hoon opened his mouth again, his face expressionless.

“I said, come and see. They’re safe.”

“What?”

Han So-yul and Hong Jae-young, who had been crestfallen, widened their eyes at his words.

A humorless guy like Hwang Jae-hoon would never joke about something like this.

The two quickly entered the house and heard Hwang Jae-hoon speaking as he looked under a bed.

“You can come out now.”

“Oh… oh dear.”

The grandmother was hiding under the bed, clutching her grandson tightly.

Fear was etched on both of their faces, but Han So-yul and Hong Jae-young’s faces lit up.

The creature had eaten a soldier. They didn’t need to say anything to understand what had happened.

This wasn’t the time to talk about the soldier’s sacrifice. They had achieved their goal; now they had to get out.

“Ma’am. We’re Ah-young’s friends.”

“Ah-young? Ah-young’s friends?”

The grandmother finally came to her senses and began to speak.

“You must be Hee-jun, right? Your big sister Ah-young asked her friends here to help. Let’s get out of here together, okay?”

“Okay…”

To the grandmother’s eyes, they were all just kids, but from a child’s perspective, the Top 3 looked like adults. The boy instinctively felt he could trust them.

“See? What did I tell you? It’s never zero, right? Flame-brain. You’ve got a mouth, say something. Huh? Huh?”

Her mood lifted, Han So-yul poked Hwang Jae-hoon’s cheek.

Hwang Jae-hoon ignored her and spoke curtly.

“We were lucky.”

“That’s why they say you never know until you try.”

“That’s assuming we can get out of here safely.”

“Don’t you worry. Big sis here will wipe them all out!”

The Top 3 already possessed the skills of semi-pros, so escaping on their own wouldn’t be a problem. However, escorting an elderly person and a child would raise the escape difficulty exponentially.

The saving grace was that, as Han So-yul had said, the monster wave created by the dungeon field was heading toward a specific destination.

Any other variable monsters were manageable for the Top 3 students alone.

Not long after they began their escape, a green-skinned human with a distorted face—no, a fiend—appeared.

The grandmother and Hee-jun were terrified at the sight of the hideous monster, but the Top 3 were not.

“Baldy, use Body Slam!”

“Am I your pocket monster? You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Grumbling, Hong Jae-young nevertheless shot forward with a quick hook.

He, the one boasting the strongest defense among the Top 3, activated his exclusive skill, ‘The Knight.’

A hammer in his right hand, a shield in his left.

Weapons made of a shimmering, bluish wireframe materialized in his hands as a skill.

Hong Jae-young closed in on the enemy with a surprise attack and slammed his right fist, now in hammer mode, into the fiend.

*CRACK!*

A solid weight that was unimaginable from a bare fist pierced the fiend’s side, revealing its shattered ribs.

The fiend shrieked bizarrely and lunged with its scythe-like hand to retaliate.

*Clang!*

The fiend’s hand, which had been aiming to tear open Hong Jae-young’s stomach, was blocked by his left fist, now transformed into a shield.

Before the creature could even realize what was wrong, Hong Jae-young struck it with his hammer.

*BAM!*

The fiend staggered from the heavy blow.

It raised its hand to counterattack again, but—

*SPLAT!*

Hong Jae-young’s powerful strike shattered its face, and it collapsed anticlimactically.

“That’s how it’s done!”

Hong Jae-young struck a fighting pose over the fiend he had so easily dispatched.

“Don’t get so excited over one kill.”

“…!”

While Hong Jae-young was dealing with his fiend, Hwang Jae-hoon had also grabbed another by the throat.

*FWOOSH!*

When Hwang Jae-hoon released his grip, the fiend’s body was burning as if it had been doused in oil.

“Just a one-kill difference? Fine, let’s make a bet on who can take down more monsters today!”

“One kill difference? Well, if you say so.”

“That baldy always makes bets he’s going to lose. Geez.”

Even with Han So-yul’s teasing, Hong Jae-young’s rivalry with Hwang Jae-hoon burned brightly.

“Wow! Are you guys hunters? Like on TV?”

The grandmother was unnerved by the gruesome scene, but the little boy was not.

His eyes sparkled with admiration as he watched the three of them defeat the evil monsters.

“We’re hunters, alright. So just relax and stick close to me.”

“Okay!”

“Hehe.”

Han So-yul affectionately ruffled the boy’s hair.

But then, the situation took a strange turn.

When they entered, there had only been one variant monster. Now, the frequency of their encounters was increasing.

“Hey, I’m on my eighth kill now. We’re tied, right?”

“Something’s not right.”

“Don’t change the subject, Hwang Jae-hoon.”

“Han So-yul.”

Hwang Jae-hoon called her name. Han So-yul had already noticed it too. Something was amiss.

For a while now, her body had felt heavy, as if it were a sponge soaked with water.

A stamina freak like Hong Jae-young might not notice, but Han So-yul and Hwang Jae-hoon, both damage-dealer type hunters, sensed the anomaly keenly.

* * *

At the joint command headquarters for hunters and soldiers, a report was being made about the illegal intruders.

“What? Someone entered the operational area?”

“They’re first-year students from Raon Academy, sir. They said they were going to rescue their friend’s grandmother and younger brother…”

The class president, Min Ah-young, stood with her head bowed like a criminal, her face contorted with anxiety.

A lot of time had passed since the others had gone in, and they still hadn’t returned.

“Damn it, just a bunch of brats showing off because they’ve awakened. Do they think combat is a joke? Is that what your teacher taught you?”

“I-I’m sorry…”

Min Ah-young lowered her head.

She should have stopped them.

Because of her own selfish desire, she had put them in danger.

“Send an official letter of complaint to the academy! Of all the times, right before the boss fight. Did they just go in there to die?!”

Thanks to the joint operation with the Hanul Guild, they had minimized casualties, but now their record was about to be tarnished by a group of students who had suddenly barged in.

It was impossible not to be annoyed.

“Operations Chief, we’ve gotten through to that academy’s instructor.”

Min Ah-young flinched at the soldier’s words.

The situation was spiraling out of control. And hearing that a boss was about to appear made her heart sink.

“He says he’s on his way now.”

“Now?”

The man narrowed his eyes in disbelief.

“What can a mere teacher do coming here?”