Chapter 17

Chapter 17

"Hah, haah...! Why are you so fast?! Like some kind of cheetah....."

Euno, who had chased right after Sahyeon.

Bracing his hands on his knees, he caught his breath, and as he slowly raised his head—

"...Make that an actual cheetah?"

He came face to face with sharp eyes glaring at the two of them.

A body crouched low. Electric sparks crackling off white whiskers.

"Ooh!"

Euno's eyes lit up with curiosity.

"That big lizard's gotta be the boss. And this one's the boss's minion? Aw, it's kinda cute~!"

"Doubt it......"

The boss's minion, huh.

Sahyeon raised an eyebrow and looked down at the monster in the standoff.

At that moment.

BANG—

A sound rang through the air.

"A gun??"

Euno's head snapped toward the direction of the noise.

SCREEEEECH—!

The boss monster writhed in agony.

Red blood spurted from its hind leg.

Euno urgently jabbed a finger at the boss.

"Ah! The one shooting right now is the question mark, isn't it?!"

Sahyeon confirmed without words.

[Monster Kill Count]

??? — 93

Yeom Sahyeon — 151

.......

The question-mark hunter's record was already approaching a hundred.

"Hngh, haah! Ugh, hell, my mouth — tastes like blood!!"

Just then, the rear group arrived.

Gyeol, drenched in sweat and collapsing to the ground, and Jaeyun and Haeseong, dragging their feet and gasping as if their last breaths were leaving them.

"Hnngh, thought I'd lose you, haaah....."

"Haaah, haaah. M-Mr. Sahyeooon...!"

Each of them flopped onto the sand, catching their breath.

"Goodness... how are hunters this out of shape?"

Euno, crouching in front of the three, spoke with a pitying tone.

In response, Gyeol raised his middle finger and wobbled upright.

"...! What's this thing now?"

Then he belatedly spotted the monster blocking their path.

He turned to Sahyeon with eyes full of questions.

"......? Hold on, that weapon — this thing broke it?"

Sahyeon's spike, snapped in two.

It had stayed intact even after taking on over a hundred B-rank monsters.

Gyeol immediately sensed something was off.

"As you can see."

Sahyeon answered lightly and tossed the broken spike aside.

Then he narrowed his eyes and met the gaze of the monster barring their way.

The creature barely reacted to the chaotic battle raging right behind it, growling and keeping watch solely over Sahyeon's group.

As if it wouldn't permit them to interfere with the fight.

BANG—

Another gunshot rang through the air.

Jaeyun flinched hard, and Haeseong jolted upright in alarm.

[E-rank or above monsters: 269/300]

The count went up simultaneously.

This time, it seemed to be dealing with the monsters surrounding and guarding the boss.

"A sniper, by the looks of it."

Haeseong stared intently toward where the noise had come from.

"...The distance is too great to check the status window."

Haeseong let out a small sigh and shifted his gaze from the far horizon to the feline monster in front of them.

And then.

"......? Uh, huh?!"

His eyes went wide, as if in disbelief.

"M-Mr. Sahyeon!!"

Haeseong immediately shared the skill with Sahyeon.

"That creature — it's A-rank!"

"WHAT?!"

"A-A-rank??"

Euno and Jaeyun were horrified.

DING—

A status window appeared before Sahyeon's eyes.

He examined the contents with an impassive face, as if he'd already expected the grade.

[Monster Information]

Name: Lightning Achynoyx

(LIGHTNING ACHYNOYX)

Grade: A

Characteristics: An electric-attribute monster. High-voltage current flows along its movement path, delivering electric shocks that paralyze the nervous system.......

As Sahyeon's eyes traced down the text, they came to a dead stop at the final line.

"Ha."

Sahyeon let out a low laugh.

Haeseong, belatedly spotting the line in question, gaped wordlessly.

"...A-A summon?"

[! S-rank Contract Summon]

"And an S-rank contract, at that......"

Sahyeon murmured quietly.

"Insane, S-rank?!"

Gyeol clutched his head.

The existence of a summon meant the existence of a summoner.

"A summon? I thought it was just a monster?"

Euno tilted his head.

There were two ways for a hunter to form a contract with a summon.

Either having a summoner trait, or possessing a summoning contract item.

The latter was extremely rare.

Not only did such items sell for astronomical prices, but the contract success rate was under ten percent.

And even if it succeeded, taming the summon was nearly impossible if the summoner was of a low grade.

You'd be better off spending that money on equipment, so it was avoided by all but a tiny minority of enthusiasts.

But this summon before them was carrying out its orders with absolute fidelity.

The creature was standing watch so that its summoner could hunt the boss without interruption.

"...So the summoner's A-rank or above, then......"

Haeseong's face hardened with tension.

"There are no S-rank summoners among current domestic hunters, are there."

Which meant......

"So it's either an unregistered Awakened, or a foreign hunter who broke into the Gate illegally?"

When Sahyeon offered the guess, Haeseong nodded.

"Yes. Though we can't be certain which."

"Either way, doesn't matter."

What needs doing is the same.

The corner of Sahyeon's mouth lifted.

I only ever did interrogations in the prison — been a while since I caught one myself.

[E-rank or above monsters: 270/300]

[E-rank or above monsters: 271/300]

The gunshots steadily kept clearing the quest in the meantime.

Haeseong scanned the surroundings carefully.

"Judging by the direction the bullets are coming from, it looks to be over there."

Sahyeon's gaze followed where Haeseong's finger pointed.

A large tree atop a hill roughly a kilometer away, huh.

Got a rough fix on the position.

Sahyeon looked back and forth between the tree and the boss monster.

"Who to shake down first......"

Just as he was deliberating—

BANG—

Another gunshot rang out.

And in that instant.

"...Eh?"

Euno pointed at the boss.

"That thing's moving kinda weird?"

Sahyeon's group all turned toward the boss monster.

HUMMM—!

A bizarre phenomenon unfolded.

The boss's tail, which had been thrashing in desperation, slowed as if caught in slow motion.

And in that window.

THUNK!

The instant a bullet lodged precisely in the boss's chest—

SCREEEEECH—!

It snapped back to its original speed.

Interest flickered across Sahyeon's face.

"Using an unusual ability."

The boss's movements dropped off sharply, as if the shot had struck a vital point.

This is going to get me beaten to the prize.

'Better to grab what I came for first.'

Just as Sahyeon was about to take a step—

CRAAACK!

His vision suddenly went white.

A massive bolt of lightning crashed down right in front of him.

CRACKLE— CRACKLE—

Sparks shimmered where the lightning had struck.

"Yikes! Did the sand just melt over there?!"

"...Take a hit from that and you're done for."

Amid his horrified companions, Sahyeon's expression twisted.

"You do that?"

GRRRRR—

The summon, baring its fangs, barring the way.

What a nuisance.

"Guess I deal with you first."

Sahyeon let out a faint sigh and stepped forward without hesitation.

At the same moment, a figure surged forward rapidly.

The summon trailed after him, leaving currents in its wake.

Just as it was about to cut in front of Sahyeon—

Sahyeon vanished from the summon's field of vision.

The instant its startled yellow eyes groped the empty air—

SEIZE—

Sahyeon grabbed the summon by the scruff.

The summon was hoisted dangling into the air in an instant.

Electricity sparked off the tips of its fur with a crackling sound, but Sahyeon didn't so much as blink.

Perhaps realizing the gap in power.

The summon went limp as if its power had been switched off, tail and whiskers drooping toward the ground.

Jaeyun blinked with a dazed face.

"...It's kind of cute, seeing it like this?"

At that, Gyeol let out a low snort.

"Let's see if you still say that after you've been electrocuted into a roast."

"Holy crap! So fast!! I couldn't even see it?!"

Breezily ignoring Euno, who was tearing at his hair in awe, Sahyeon fell into thought.

'How do I deal with this thing......'

He'd subdued it for now, but leaving it behind meant worrying about the chicks.

The Gate grade-down penalty only applied to hunters.

He couldn't very well leave an A-rank summon to kids reduced to B-rank level.

HISSSSS—!

On top of that, the thoroughly enraged boss was swelling its body menacingly not far off.

Venom dripping from its spikes.

The sand it touched blackened and dissolved.

'Looks like it's about to make its last stand.'

Anyone nearby was liable to get swept up.

Sahyeon tightened his grip on the summon and looked back at his group.

Best to minimize the obstacles.

"How about you head out first with a Return Stone."

The way to leave a Gate was to complete all the quests.

The only other method was to use a Return Stone.

"Uh... Return Stones are pretty pricey, so they're not included in Academy supplies."

A troubled look crossed Haeseong's face.

Return Stones were crafted from rare materials, costing anywhere from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of won.

On top of that, they were single-use, making them impractical to issue as standard supplies.

Even so, hunters wanted to keep at least one as insurance.

It was a matter of life and death, after all.

"Honestly. They pour pointless money into the Academy buildings."

Sahyeon muttered with displeasure.

Then I'll just have to deal with it before the last stand.

He turned the wrist holding the summon and gazed steadily into its eyes.

Ears pinned fully back, pupils blown wide, eyes peering up as if reading his mood.

'Already knows it can't win, it seems.'

The fact that the summoner had set this one to harass rather than hunt the boss likely meant its combat power wasn't enough to take on a massive monster.

BANG— BANG!

The gunfire targeting the boss quickened.

Sahyeon rolled his eyes toward where the summoner likely was.

'A way to block the summon and claim the boss safely too......'

This, then.

Sahyeon put it into action without hesitation.

He twisted his waist, drew back the arm holding the summon, and—

WHOOSH—!

Hurled the summon away.

"?!"

"M-Mr. Sahyeon?!"

His group, horrified by Sahyeon's sudden move.

Where the summon shot through the air like a projectile was......

CRASH—!

The boss monster's torso.

The boss toppled sideways from the sudden impact.

A cloud of sand dust rose up.

"......"

"......"

"......"

Everyone seemed at a loss for words, and the field fell silent in an instant.

Sahyeon let out a low chuckle.

'As expected.'

The gunfire stopped along with it.

Toss it over there and the sniper can't shoot.

If the summon died or was hurt, the summoner took damage too.

Remove the summoner, block the gunfire.

Sahyeon dusted off both hands with a satisfied face.

"Now it's finally quiet."