WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Arsène
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◈ How an A-Rank Hunter Lives ◈
Chapter 99: Behemoth - [2]
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Jeong Jinyeong bit his lip as his teeth kept chattering. He clenched his jaw and forced it still as he thought.
‘I should have just pretended I had no choice and gone back when Kim Geuk barked at me to turn back.’
He was actually older than Kim Geuk, but he had decided to treat Kim Geuk as the older brother anyway. He should have listened to his older brother sooner, too.
Jinyeong looked at Behemoth. Kim Geuk had moved the whole team to the rear, but they could still clearly see the Monster's movements from this distance.
A four-hundred-meter Rock Elemental and a gigantified Manticore...
As he looked at the massive Monster, he thought,
‘That thing was treated like a joke on Huntweb?’
Until recently, it really had been.
During the awakened people's bus protest, Behemoth had started to emerge from the Gate, only to back away when Kang Jun-chi appeared before it. Ever since then, Huntweb had treated Behemoth as a coward.
Even yesterday, people had mocked Behemoth by editing it together with pathetic comic characters.
That past, which was not even that long ago, now felt like something from an impossibly distant time.
He wanted to force himself to mock it like he had when he used to enjoy Huntweb, if only to raise his fighting spirit, but he could not.
Not because he was a coward. Who could possibly do that in this situation?
They were far from Behemoth, yet they could still feel its impact.
The ground swayed without pause, and the street trees and traffic lights all trembled violently.
Even Seong Munyeong and Lee Jongho, who usually loved showing off most, kept their mouths shut. Then Jang Byeonggon shouted a warning.
“Up there, on the roof!”
Jinyeong looked up and saw a huge Monster staring down at them.
The moment he saw it, he gripped his gun tighter in shock.
It was a Deathclaw. At least seven meters tall at a glance.
How had something bigger than an elephant gotten so high up?
It had probably climbed the building like an ordinary Deathclaw, then leaped across several more. Giant Monsters often moved with an agility that did not match their size...
Jinyeong frantically pulled the trigger, but the bullets he fired could not hit that enormous body.
The ground was shaking too much to aim properly. That was true even this far from Behemoth.
His gunfire seemed to provoke it instead. The giant Deathclaw leaped toward them.
Just as Jinyeong sensed his end coming and was about to close his eyes,
“You fucking bastard!”
Hearing Kim Geuk's familiar roar, Jinyeong opened his eyes.
Then he opened them even wider at what he saw.
Kim Geuk had appeared out of nowhere and stopped a Deathclaw far larger than himself with his bare hands.
More accurately, Kim Geuk had grabbed the Deathclaw's front legs, one in each hand. Just brushing against those hooked claws would split a person's body apart, yet Jinyeong could not understand how Kim Geuk had the nerve to hold onto it like that.
“While he's holding it, we can shoot it...”
Lee Jongho shouted urgently, but there was no need.
As Kim Geuk wrestled with the Deathclaw, his muscles flexed violently. Then he ripped off one of its front legs.
While the Deathclaw screamed, Kim Geuk exerted himself again and tore off its remaining front leg.
Jinyeong stared at the sight as if entranced.
Kim Geuk grabbed the neck of the Deathclaw, now missing both front legs. When he squeezed, its neck tore free as well.
Kim Geuk unloaded his Hunter Rifle into the twitching Deathclaw, and only then did it stop struggling.
He had bragged that he had grown stronger after killing Tungtung, that monstrous Ogre, but Jinyeong had not imagined it was to this extent.
After doing something so absurd, Kim Geuk calmly muttered,
“Those crazy Monster bastards should just follow the roads. Why do they keep making three-dimensional maneuvers?”
Kim Geuk looked over at them, frowned, and shouted.
“Looks like it isn't safe here either. Let's move farther back!”
He grabbed everyone and used Spatial Teleportation.
After moving everyone, including Jinyeong, farther to the rear, Kim Geuk set down the Hunter Rifle he had been carrying and picked up a spare Hunter Rifle whose magazine his team had already loaded.
“Reload this Hunter Rifle too... If anything dangerous happens, call me on the radio. Got it? When we were hunting normally, I could sense danger with my mental net and come help, but I can't do that this time. My head's a complete mess...”
Kim Geuk rattled that off, then vanished in an instant with Spatial Teleportation.
Listening to the radio afterward made it clear why he had warned them.
“Kim Geuk must really be busy. Everyone's calling for him...”
Im Hyeongtaek muttered, and he was right.
From what they could tell over the radio, Kim Geuk was being called everywhere. Each time, he used Spatial Teleportation to appear there and eliminate whatever dangerous Monster was present.
He killed Monsters so quickly that even those listening over the radio were stunned, yet he did not get to rest. He had to move straight to another location.
It was not just one or two Monsters rampaging, nor were only one or two places in danger. Everyone in danger was asking Kim Geuk for help.
Of course they were. Other than Kang Jun-chi, Kim Geuk was the strongest awakened person in Korea. On top of that, he could move wherever he was needed in real time with Spatial Teleportation. He was the most convenient and reassuring reinforcement they could call.
It was incredible that Kim Geuk answered every request without refusing, even as people called for him from all over.
He was only taking on Monsters too strong and durable for soldiers to handle, yet he could still do all that. Lee Jongho muttered,
“Kim Geuk is doing the work of a hundred other awakened people all by himself, all at once. He's always been like that, but especially now...”
The horrible part was that even with one hero performing so overwhelmingly, people were clearly dying everywhere.
Just look at the sky. Something kept exploding loudly like fireworks.
Behemoth's Heat Ray kept slicing through the sky in red streaks as it tried to shoot down all the helicopters and fighter jets overhead.
Jinyeong thought in a daze.
How many people had died in this short time?
Had the souls of the dead gone freely to heaven, or were they losing their freedom even in death and being drawn into that enormous Monster, absorbed just as awakened Hunters absorbed souls after defeating Monsters?
It looked like the latter. Most of the souls of those who died here seemed to have merged into that gigantic Monster's body.
Before long, the signs appeared.
A shout rang directly inside his head.
「It's dangerous inside the building! It'll collapse soon at this rate!」
The voices inside his head did not stop. Some warned of danger. Others desperately searched for their families.
「This is emergency services! If you stay inside the building, you'll die! Everyone, get out!」
「Mom! Save me! Mom? Mom! I'm outside!」
Im Hyeongtaek seemed to understand what was happening and shouted frantically.
“Don't react! That's Behemoth talking. It's trying to lure everyone hiding in the buildings outside...”
They had experienced it when they first encountered the Rock Elemental. Mental waves transmitted directly into their heads.
He still vividly remembered that elemental bastard eating some woman, then babbling in Korean about giving free hugs and not hurting anyone.
That enormous elemental, Behemoth, seemed to have eaten more Koreans and was using their memories more intelligently.
「It's dangerous if you remain underground. Rescue transport planes are standing by, so everyone, come out to ground level!」
「Dad, it's Yeongsu. Where are you right now? I can't see you! I'm walking through the shopping district, but I can't see you...」
They could not simply ignore the voices. They were being transmitted directly into their minds. Even amid the deafening noise, those voices came through far too clearly.
Then Jinyeong saw people leaving buildings as if hypnotized, responding to Behemoth's voices.
“You, get back inside! That's Behemoth...!”
Was his voice drowned out by the continuous roaring in the distance?
His heart pounded as he watched the people, who did not react to his shouting at all and only looked around with frightened faces.
It was frustrating. At the same time, he wanted to help them, but he could not.
Im Hyeongtaek kept shouting.
“Everyone stay still! Stay still! Don't shout too loudly either! You'll just tell the Monsters where we are!”
Staying still was suffocating. It was terrifying, and all of this was simply horrible.
He tried to think hopeful thoughts to forget his despair.
At least this situation was better than the disaster in Australia he had seen in videos.
That was certainly true. Unlike Australia, which had to face Behemoth and the Monsters it led without knowing it was coming, Korea had discovered its approach and prepared in advance. That was why they could resist like this.
‘Kim Geuk killed that crazy bird, whether it was called the Phoenix or Firehawk...’
Because he had eliminated that firebird, the situation in the air was far better than what they had seen in Australia. Australia's air force had been completely wiped out when its aircraft exploded almost simultaneously as that firebird swept through the sky, but Korea's air force was not suffering the same fate.
All kinds of aircrafts were still exploding loudly after being hit by Heat Ray, but the helicopters and bombers that had not been shot down kept flying around and steadily attacking that enormous body.
Still, Korea's situation was worse than Australia's in one way. The Monsters that had emerged in Seoul were more powerful than before, having already fattened themselves on flesh and souls in Australia.
Certain that humans were the best prey, the countless Monsters did not fight among themselves. They formed a wave and swept everything away.
The wave of Monsters filled the road and moved in one direction.
Jinyeong thought blankly again. Was there a shelter in that direction?
「If anyone has the capacity, go support the shelter...」
Kim Geuk answered that call for help as well.
He used Spatial Teleportation to appear atop a utility pole in front of the wave of Monsters.
Then Kim Geuk sprayed Hunter Rifle fire from the pole. It was not well known, but one of his traits was his superhuman accuracy. Had he said it was thanks to assistance from his mental net?
Even now, he looked as if he were firing wildly, but he was not. Every autocannon round hit a Monster's body precisely.
Even from far away, they could see the autocannon fire reducing the number of Monsters quickly enough to slow the wave's advance.
“After traveling with him, I thought I was getting used to him, but seeing him work from a distance makes it clear. He really is a monster. He just pops up everywhere by himself and kills them all...”
Seong Munyeong muttered, and Jinyeong felt his heart, which had shrunk to the size of a bean earlier, swell again.
Maybe it was because the danger felt so immediate, but the existence of that superhuman was more reassuring than ever. It had always been that way, but especially now.
Yet that hope shrank again. Jinyeong unconsciously looked at Behemoth, squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them.
All the bombing had clearly had an effect. Behemoth's body had visibly shrunk. It had measured four hundred meters when it first emerged, but it was now around three hundred meters. It was obvious at a glance that the South Korean military had not simply been helplessly overwhelmed.
Still, the number of helicopters and fighter jets in the sky had noticeably dwindled, while Behemoth's destroyed rocky outer shell visibly began repairing itself.
Concrete from collapsed buildings and pieces of Behemoth's rock that had fallen off earlier rose back into the air, then attached themselves to its massive body.
Jinyeong knew nothing about military science, but even he could tell at a glance. It was impossible to destroy that Monster through human strength.
Either Kang Jun-chi, who was nowhere to be seen for some reason, would have to return, or they would have to wait until that Monster had devoured enough human souls to satisfy it before they could make it leave Seoul.
Jinyeong had been staring at Behemoth when he suddenly recoiled in shock.
Behemoth turned its enormous body with a fluidity that seemed impossible for something that size.
It seemed to be moving in a different direction than before. Toward the shelter...
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