WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Arsène

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◈ How an A-Rank Hunter Lives ◈

Chapter 80: Australia's Calamity, Phoenix - [1]

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I looked down at the street from the roof of a commercial building.

Chaos reigned everywhere.

People poured out of every surrounding building. Office workers, store employees, and customers all rushed outside and started running in the same direction.

“Youngsik! Where's Youngsik?!”

“Move your car, asshole! Hurry up and move it!”

The road was packed with people fleeing for their lives.

Even as they ran, the aftereffects of the Gate opening seemed too much for them to endure.

They trembled as they ran, as if they might collapse at any moment. It was less a desperate sprint than a herd of sick sheep running for their lives.

The Gate that opened this time had to be enormous. Its aftereffects alone had already left people half-dead.

From the rooftop, I spread my mental net and surveyed everything within a three-kilometer radius.

Then I sensed something massive moving somewhere.

I immediately focused on that area and widened my eyes. What the hell was this?

It seemed the Monsters had finally come out of the Gate. A lot of them, too.

They said ten Deathclaws together already counted as a large pack, but during the first hunt I took part in, nearly a hundred Deathclaws had poured out of one Gate, hadn't they?

This was worse than that.

A Monster parade...

At a glance, I sensed more than several hundred Monsters. There were not only Deathclaws, but several other species mixed in as well, and they were not fighting one another.

Once they began moving together, their sheer mass was overwhelming. Why had so many of them come out?

I could roughly guess the reason. That damned Behemoth. It had come too far into Seoul, along with the countless Monsters that followed it around.

The Monsters following the Behemoth must have reached their limit. They had thought it would finally enter reality, only for that not to happen.

Like a volcano erupting, the Monsters gathered inside the Gate poured out.

Seoul's response was swift.

Gates had been opening in Seoul frequently lately because of the Behemoth's influence, so soldiers had apparently already been stationed throughout the city.

The soldiers arrived first, followed by the Hunters.

Through my mental net, I could tell they moved into position with perfect coordination. Unlike the provinces, Seoul assigned Hunters to each district, and I had heard their deployments were systematic and fast. It really was true.

Like I was watching the whole situation from a top-down view in a game, I took it all in through my mental net.

The Monsters that poured from the Gate split up and began running in different directions.

One group of Deathclaws encountered soldiers and Hunters. Even a single group numbered thirty. That was about five times the number of Deathclaws that would emerge in an ordinary Gate incident.

The terrified people began firing. Bullets rained through the air, sharply cutting across my mental net...

But there were simply too many Deathclaws.

One Deathclaw broke through the field of fire the soldiers and Hunters had barely formed and reached a soldier. Its hooked claws were about to swing. In roughly one second, someone would be split in half and die.

That meant it was time for me to step in.

I swung the hammer hanging at my side upward and used Spatial Teleportation.

“Ahhh!”

A desperate scream pierced my ears just as my hammer struck its target.

From below, upward. Right into the belly of the Deathclaw that had been about to pounce on a soldier.

“Argh!”

The bang and solid impact told me it was probably a Force-Field Creature.

Rather than being crushed by my hammer, the Deathclaw shot high into the air.

It must have been confused by the sudden ascent. It probably did not even understand what had happened to it.

As it fell, the Deathclaw did not respond properly and only flailed its four legs wildly. That let me crush it completely with another swing of my hammer.

Even so, several Deathclaws had broken through the field of fire and reached us.

I tilted my head back to avoid the claws of the next Deathclaw that pounced on me. My ear got cut off, but I did not care. I grabbed its front leg and hurled it into the Deathclaws charging behind it.

Four of them were knocked away at once and stopped moving.

I did not miss the opening I had created. Gripping my hammer, I charged forward and shouted as I ran.

“I have a force-field exoskeleton ability! Keep firing! Bullets won't hurt me!”

Then I swung my hammer again and again. I smashed one to death, kicked another to death, and struck down two more in quick succession.

After that, there were no Deathclaws left.

I finally had room to breathe, so I turned around. The Hunters and soldiers were staring at me as they panted.

“I know him... Kim Geuk...”

A soldier who had narrowly survived muttered, but I cut him off.

“The Gate's location has been identified, so report it quickly.”

“What?”

“Get on the radio. Say Hunter Kim Geuk found the Gate...”

As I gave orders and one soldier hurriedly made a radio call, another awakened person arrived.

He was not one of the awakened Hunters assigned to guard this district.

“This is... damn heavy...”

It was Han Hee. He had a Hunter Rifle far larger than his own body slung over his shoulder.

I had asked him to bring a Hunter Rifle, but I had told him to leave it at the hotel earlier. Why had he brought it all the way here himself?

“Did you come looking for me after getting the Hunter Rifle?”

When I asked, Han Hee nodded with difficulty.

“Yes...”

I did not scold him for doing something unnecessary. I could tell he had tried to be helpful, even if only a little.

I gave him a thumbs-up, then looked ahead. I extended my mental net toward the area beyond what I could see.

Then I warned everyone nearby about what I had learned.

“Another group is coming. There are more this time than before.”

Everyone flinched, and I loaded the Hunter Rifle.

The Monsters arrived just as I finished.

Deathclaws. There were too many to count.

This was the main road closest to the Gate. Deathclaws filled the broad road so completely that it looked narrow as they rushed toward us. Was this what a wave made of flesh looked like?

Deathclaws were not particularly heavy Monsters, but the noise that accompanied their charge was tremendous.

“Ah...”

Even Han Hee, who seemed to be seeing Monsters up close for the first time, looked frightened.

The soldiers and Hunters began backing away as they fired.

I was the only one who moved forward, carrying the seventy-eight-kilogram Hunter Rifle Han Hee had brought me.

The Deathclaws did not come in one convenient clump for me to shoot. Even now, they ran in zigzags as they closed the distance, trying to avoid the bullets.

I slowly moved the barrel from side to side as I advanced, making sure every autocannon round I fired pierced through them.

The penetrating power of the seventy-eight-kilogram Hunter Rifle was impressive. Its autocannon rounds did not stop after blowing apart a single Deathclaw. They pierced through and killed the Deathclaws running behind it as well.

Then I spotted a Deathclaw charging straight at us, taking everyone's bullets head-on.

One soldier recognized what it was and screamed.

“Another Force-Field Creature!”

That was right. A Force-Field Creature. Judging by its speed, it was even more powerful than the one from earlier.

As the force-field-covered Monster ran toward me, I tensed my legs.

I kicked off the ground with explosive force.

Deathclaws with force-field exoskeletons and Soweol people could leap almost as if they were teleporting.

Now that I had awakened a force-field exoskeleton, I could do that too. No, with Body Enhancement combined with my force-field exoskeleton ability, I was superior to most of them.

With force-field power added to my leg strength, my momentum exceeded anything I had imagined.

I launched forward like a projectile and used Spatial Teleportation at the same time.

The instant I teleported, I thrust my Hunter Rifle forward like a spear. The muzzle slammed into the open mouth of the charging Deathclaw.

At the same time, I put strength into my arms and raised the Hunter Rifle's barrel.

The Force-Field Creature impaled on it was lifted up with it.

I stopped it from doing anything else and kept pouring out autocannon rounds.

With point-blank shots fired directly into its throat, the Force-Field Creature had no chance to struggle as it was held high in the air.

When it exploded overhead, I lowered the barrel again. I unleashed autocannon rounds on the charging Deathclaws below. They exploded one after another.

That stopped another wave of Monsters. Corpses littered the ground as I looked over the soldiers and Hunters.

“Anyone hurt?”

“One person here, their abdomen was cut open...”

I took the wounded person and used Spatial Teleportation. After bringing them to a hospital, I spread my mental net again and surveyed the whole city, which had become a battlefield.

I found another place that needed me.

The moment I saw it, a thought came to mind.

This was another rare sight.

Three tanks had been crossing a road when a Monster attacked them.

An Ogre hiding between buildings had struck the tanks from the side.

When I teleported there, the Ogre was flipping the tanks over. It overturned one tank, ran to another, and overturned that one too. Tanks weighed dozens of tons, yet the scene was so absurd that their weight did not seem real.

Up close, I could see why. It was a Monster with more than enough power to do that.

An Ogre, around six meters tall...

The bigger these Monsters were, the stronger they became without exception. To support that ridiculous weight, their muscles grew thicker, making them stronger and tougher.

It looked like it would take quite a while to shoot this thing to death even with the Hunter Rifle. But I had a tactic ready.

As quickly as possible, I picked up a flyer lying nearby.

I quickly folded the paper into a cone.

Then I fitted the paper cone over the muzzle of the Hunter Rifle.

Finally, I covered the Hunter Rifle and the paper cone wrapped around it with my force-field exoskeleton.

The flyer, which had been nothing more than paper, became a spearhead harder than titanium. It could not cut through anything like force-field blades, but that would be enough for now.

When the Ogre overturned the final tank, I used Spatial Teleportation high into the sky.

Gravity pulled me down the instant I teleported. The sense of liberation that came with it, ah...!

From high enough in the air that even the Ogre below looked small, I began to fall.

Pointing the Hunter Rifle downward, I prepared to plunge into the Ogre below. In the past, it would have been a height my body could not withstand after falling, but I trusted in the toughness of my force-field exoskeleton.

Once I had built up enough speed through the fall, I used Spatial Teleportation.

Then, crunch!

“Long live Incheon!”

With all my weight and acceleration behind it, the Hunter Rifle and I plunged into the target like a bunker buster.

The cone attached to the muzzle buried itself deep in the Ogre's neck first. When I pushed harder, part of the barrel was driven into its neck as well.

“Grrrooooooar!”

The Ogre roared in sudden pain, but that was all.

Even though my Hunter Rifle had pierced its neck and stabbed into its chest, the Ogre was not dead yet.

That was fine. I had expected it.

I withdrew the force-field exoskeleton I had placed over the paper and pulled the Hunter Rifle's trigger.

Autocannon rounds fired in rapid succession from the barrel embedded inside the Ogre's body, tearing it apart from within.

Amazingly, the Ogre held on for a moment even through that. It even swung one of its long arms and grabbed the one clinging to its body. It tried to crush me, but I held on, trusting in the toughness of my body and force field.

Before long, I won.

The Ogre died, and I was freed.

Its chest completely blown apart, the Ogre collapsed as blood poured from it like a waterfall.

At the same time, voices chanting Kim Geuk, Kim Geuk began ringing through my head.

Ignoring the thrill filling my mind, I looked over the tanks.

“Is everyone alive... They are?”

The drivers inside the tanks seemed unharmed. Once I set the three overturned tanks upright, they began moving again.

The drivers in the moving tanks opened their hatches. Their stunned expressions were worth seeing.

They must have been impressed by what they had just witnessed.

They stared at me as if I were a Monster for a moment, then seemed to realize their mistake. They all saluted me at once.

They were probably expressing gratitude, but I ignored them. There was no reason to accept greetings from Seoul trash who were non-awakened people on top of that.

I continued doing my work, taking down powerful Monsters worth fighting and using Spatial Teleportation to move people caught in dangerous situations.

Then an urgent voice came through the radio a soldier had given me earlier.

「This is Seok Jangsil. I've arrived at the scene! Sorry I'm late...」

So Seok Jangsil was the A-rank Hunter responsible for this district. He had apparently arrived late because he had attended an Association meeting today.

「The Gate's location has already been identified? Yes, I'll head there!」

The voice coming from the radio sounded frivolous, but his actions were not.

Thump, thump.

Heavy impacts rang out in quick succession.

I turned toward the sound and widened my eyes in greater shock than when I had faced the Monsters.

A granite giant nearly ten meters tall had risen above the commercial buildings, revealing its upper body.

The enormous granite giant ran, sending tremors like an earthquake through the surroundings.

The giant, more monstrous than any Monster, had to be Seok Jangsil.

When I saw him at the protest before, he had been around eight meters tall, had he not? I thought that was his maximum size, but apparently it was not. Back then, he must not have had enough rock to attach to his body and had come roughly assembled. Once he completed his body properly, he could grow larger than an ordinary three-story building, like this.

Autocannon turrets were mounted on both shoulders of the granite giant, and they unleashed autocannon rounds all at once. He appeared to use a Rock Elemental's unique stone manipulation ability to pull the triggers and change magazines. Arms made of gravel had sprouted from the giant's shoulders and were moving busily.

The granite giant ran while endlessly firing autocannon rounds, spreading thunderous noise and shockwaves around it. It was practically a giant robot.

Then I looked to the side and was surprised again. I did not know when he had arrived, but Han Hee was standing beside me and muttering.

“This is my first time seeing Hunters fight. You're all really Monsters...”

“Were you watching that fight just now?”

“What? Yes. I heard the loud noise and came over... I wanted to help, but it didn't look like you needed help...”

Helicopters arrived too.

Five Apache helicopters. Seeing them flying in formation and Seok Jangsil, who was practically a tactical weapon on his own, I decided the situation was finally coming to an end.

At this point, I thought I did not need to do anything more. I could just provide fire support with the Hunter Rifle or something.

Then it happened.

A red glow stabbed painfully into my eyes. I briefly closed them, then opened them again and widened my eyes at the gigantic red bird flying overhead.

“What is that?”

Han Hee had apparently seen the same thing and was startled. He asked from beside me, and I unconsciously muttered.

“Phoenix...”

That was right. It was a Phoenix.

There was no other name for it. Not for that thing streaking red across the sky.

A bird of prey with a wingspan of roughly ten meters, its entire body made of flames, flew across the sky.

The Phoenix encountered the helicopter formation flying toward the Gate. The moment its wings brushed against them, all the helicopters exploded in midair.

“Ah...!”

Han Hee and I moved at the same time toward the falling helicopters.

Han Hee leaped toward one of the falling helicopters and carried out its pilot.

I used Spatial Teleportation to rescue the remaining pilots, then looked toward the Gate in the distance from the roof of an apartment building.

More precisely, I looked at the Monsters pouring out of it.

The Monsters that followed the Behemoth had learned back in Australia that following a huge, powerful creature made hunting humans easier and safer for them.

Even more Monsters were pouring out of the Gate. Deathclaws, Ogres, and all kinds of Monsters that either had names already or needed new ones.

Nothing was ever easy.

I barely held back a sigh.

Footnotes:

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