Chapter 52

Chapter 52

FLAP, FLAP!

The severed fin flopped like a live fish.

Given the Mudflat Lord’s sheer size, even its fin was larger than a decent bluefin tuna.

“KRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR―!!!”

The enraged Mudflat Lord’s gills opened, and a roar burst from within them.

“Grrrgh!”

“Urgh!”

Several Hunters clutched their ears and suffered in pain.

The ordinary soldiers, who were not Hunters, had it even worse.

“Aaaagh!”

“Aaaaaaagh!”

The soldiers either suffered with blood pouring from their ears, or rolled across the mudflat as they cried out in agony.

The Mudflat Lord’s roar was a powerful sonic attack in itself, so an ordinary human could not avoid having his eardrums torn apart.

‘Urgh.’

I, too, had no choice but to grimace at the stabbing pain in my ears, but that was all.

Hunters were protected by Ether, so it was fully possible for them to withstand an attack of this level.

And now was not the time to stop just because my ears hurt a little.

“Ra Sihyeon!”

“Yes!”

“Sear it!”

“What?!”

“I said cauterize it with fire! There!”

I shouted while pointing at the cross-section where the fin had been cut away.

“Yes!”

Ra Sihyeon concentrated Ether into her Spirit Sword and spewed flames toward the Mudflat Lord.

FWOOOOOOOOSH!

Flames sprayed in a fan shape and burned the Mudflat Lord’s left side, the spot where its fin had been cut away.

SSSSSSSSS!

Along with the sound of burning flesh, the smell of grilled fish filled the air.

“KRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!”

The Mudflat Lord continued roaring and rolling across the mudflat, but the severed fin did not regenerate.

‘It worked.’

A smile formed on its own.

The fin was one of the Mudflat Lord’s main weaknesses.

Since that fin was the secret behind the Mudflat Lord’s absurd mobility, removing even one of them, whether left or right, was enough to have an effect.

Wobble, wobble!

SPLAT!

The Mudflat Lord’s movements, now that it had lost one fin, became visibly unnatural.

Its leaping ability, which had been enough to crush an armored vehicle?

That was now something possible only in its dreams.

WHOOOM!

SPLAT!

The Mudflat Lord attempted to leap, only to fly in the wrong direction and crash into the mudflat.

Yes, that was normal.

It had lost one fin, so how did it think it could leap the way it had before?

Its center of gravity had collapsed.

CLATTER-RATTLE!

A bladed chain.

The Spirit Sword that had earned Choi Yura the callsign [Bloody Mary] stretched out and wrapped around the Mudflat Lord’s right fin.

“Grab on!”

At my shout, the Hunters rushed to Choi Yura and grabbed the chain together.

“Pull!”

CREAAAAAK!

The chain tightened even more strongly between the Mudflat Lord’s fin and body.

“KRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!”

THUD, THOOOM!

SPLAT!

As the Mudflat Lord thrashed about wildly, Choi Yura and the Hunters holding the chain staggered heavily.

“What are you doing?! Help us!”

“More people! More!”

The Hunters clinging to the chain shouted in a frenzy.

Yes, trying to contest strength with the Mudflat Lord with only a dozen or so people would be close to impossible.

“Urrrrgh!”

“Put your backs into it! More!”

“Pull!”

In an instant, dozens more Hunters joined in, gripping the chain and pulling the Mudflat Lord.

At that moment.

‘This is my chance.’

Instinctively, I felt strongly that this was my chance to deal with the Mudflat Lord easily.

VROOOM!

Without hesitation, I climbed onto a military ATV parked nearby, started the engine, and pulled the throttle.

VROOOOOOM!

The ATV raced across the mudflat.

If it had been an ordinary vehicle, I would not even have dared, but since it was a means of transport designed to break through rough terrain, it had enough mobility even on the mudflat.

“Who the hell is that?”

“Is he completely insane?”

“Hey, you bastard! Are you desperate to die?”

All kinds of curses poured in from behind me.

I ignored them.

This was the perfect opportunity to remove the remaining fin and easily neutralize the Mudflat Lord.

Was this what people often called the courage to be disliked?

Yes, if one wanted to accomplish something, one had to be prepared for other people’s negative gazes and reactions.

If I succeeded, criticism and curses would turn into praise and cheers.

“What are you doing?! Cover him, you bastards!”

RATATAT! RATATATAT!

At Instructor Sangeung’s shout, the soldiers poured bullets at the monsters rushing toward me and provided cover.

SHLIIICK!

Sharp tentacles shot out from various places across the mudflat and threatened me.

I twisted the handlebar, weaving through the tentacles, and finally reached the Mudflat Lord’s right side.

WHOOOM!

The Mudflat Lord’s tail flew in, aiming for me.

Tap!

Using the ATV as a foothold, I hurled myself with all my strength.

KABOOOOM!

The ATV struck by the Mudflat Lord’s tail exploded into pieces.

‘Now!’

While floating in midair, I swung [Butcher of Madness].

CRAAAAACK!

The axe split precisely through the joint between the Mudflat Lord’s side and fin.

“KRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!”

The Mudflat Lord let out a scream full of pain and thrashed wildly.

‘Urgh.’

To avoid being crushed to death, I climbed onto its enormous body.

SPLAT, SPLAT!

FLAIL, FLAIL!

Keeping my balance on the body of a thrashing giant mudskipper was not easy.

On top of that, the Mudflat Lord’s body was covered all over with mud and slippery mucus, making it indescribably slick.

Thinking anew that cowboys who competed in rodeos were truly impressive, I drew one card from my deck.

I needed some kind of support, and I had thought of a fairly useful item.

[Chilling Longsword]

★★

A longsword imbued with a chilling aura.

It is quite sharp.

It was a Spirit Sword I had looted from one of the Wreckers I had dealt with earlier.

STAB!

I drove the sword deep into the Mudflat Lord’s back and held on to it as a support, and that made things much better.

‘Now it is my turn.’

While gripping the longsword’s hilt with my left hand, I wildly swung [Butcher of Madness] with my right.

“Krrk, krrrrk, krrrrrrrrk!”

The Mudflat Lord let out pained screams and thrashed even more violently.

CRACK, CRAAAACK!

I ignored it and hacked the Mudflat Lord’s back with the axe, and hacked, and hacked again.

Then—

“KRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR―!!!”

The Mudflat Lord’s gills flapped at an invisible speed and emitted a sonic wave.

‘What does that mean?’

The thought that it did not seem to be a simple sonic attack crossed my mind.

“Kyaaaaaaak!”

“Keheeeeeek!”

Every monster on the mudflat began swarming toward me all at once.

***

The Abyss Clan was waiting at an abandoned school roughly three kilometers away from the place where the Defense Strategy Department’s forces were stationed.

Helicopters owned by the Clan had landed in the schoolyard and on the rooftop, and the faculty office was being used as a waiting room for its Hunters.

The Clan Master, Wi Taewoong, had settled into the principal’s office and was watching the situation through footage sent by a drone.

Wi Taewoong.

A 6-Star Hunter whose callsign was [Ambition].

A former special forces soldier, he was now leading the Abyss Clan and living as a mercenary.

“Would you like coffee?”

“Put it there.”

The secretary set down a freshly brewed Americano.

Wi Taewoong liked coffee, so wherever he went, he traveled with tools for brewing coffee or a vehicle loaded with an espresso machine.

Of course, it was his secretaries’ job to brew the coffee.

“Tsk.”

Wi Taewoong took a sip of coffee and clicked his tongue.

On the monitor.

A young Hunter wielding a red axe was in a desperate life-or-death crisis.

That young Hunter had somehow succeeded in cutting off the Mudflat Lord’s fin and even climbing onto its back.

However, since he was about to be surrounded by thousands of various monsters, his fate seemed to end there.

“Foolish bastard. He seems to have some talent, but he has no plan for what comes after. He is reckless. This kind of guy is bound to die early.”

The reason Wi Taewoong made that assessment was because the location was a mudflat.

Was that not the kind of environment a mudflat was?

You might be able to enter as you pleased, but getting out was never easy.

“Never do anything like that.”

Wi Taewoong spoke to the young Hunter sitting in front of him.

“Come on, it is not as if I am an idiot. Why would I do something that stupid? My life is too precious for that.”

The young Hunter.

Lee Hyun answered.

“I am saying it just in case. There are times when people cannot overcome their youthful hot blood and act out of bravado.”

“That will never happen to me. My life is more precious. Hehe.”

“Then that is fine.”

Wi Taewoong nodded as if satisfied with Lee Hyun’s answer.

Lee Hyun.

The Abyss Clan’s greatest prospect.

Since he had reached 4-Star only two years after Awakening, he was a Hunter whose future was promising.

“Looking at how things are going, our deployment will be delayed even more.”

“Well, I suppose so.”

“Hmm. If the Defense Strategy Department raises the amount, will you step in?”

“No.”

Wi Taewoong shook his head firmly.

“It is not a matter of money. Remember this. Money can be earned, but you only have one life.”

“Of course.”

Lee Hyun spoke with emphasis as if he fully understood.

“But the damage is going to be substantial.”

“It should be.”

“What? It should be?”

“The number of Hunters has to shrink a little for our value to rise higher.”

“……!”

“When supply is low compared to demand, prices are bound to skyrocket.”

“Wow. As expected, boss, you really have no blood or tears…… huh?”

Lee Hyun stopped mid-sentence and flinched in surprise.

Wi Taewoong unconsciously followed Lee Hyun’s gaze, then frowned at the sight unfolding on the monitor.

“……So he had something to rely on.”

He was alive.

Wi Taewoong had thought he would be surrounded by monsters and torn to shreds, but that was not the case.

It was the opposite.

WHOOSH, WHOOOOSH!

Crescent-shaped red discs.

Blades that seemed to embody red moons fiercely rotated around the young Hunter, literally grinding apart the approaching monsters.

“Hmm.”

Wi Taewoong narrowed his eyes and stared hard at the monitor.

The young Hunter ground apart the monsters approaching him with the crescent-shaped red discs, while continuing to swing his axe and hack into the Mudflat Lord’s back.

Wi Taewoong shot up from his seat.

“You have the gear ready, right?”

“Of course.”

“Let us go.”

“Where?”

“There.”

Wi Taewoong picked up his Plate Carrier and gestured at the monitor with his chin.

“You said we only have one life.”

“Talent recruitment is all about timing.”

Wi Taewoong hurriedly moved his feet.