Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The Creature Falcon, its beak pinned to the ground — subdued in an instant.

SCREEEE—

The monster let out a whimpering cry and dropped its head.

"H-How did he......"

The bob-cut hunter mumbled, his expression vacant.

Sahyeon looked down at him with open contempt, then let out a sharp breath.

"Stop standing there like a frozen fish and go clear the area already."

A f-frozen fish?

The bob-cut hunter's pupils trembled, but just as his bruised pride compelled him to open his mouth again—

The dazed monster's head twitched.

CRASH!

Without a flicker of expression, Sahyeon stomped down on the Falcon's skull.

The dust that had momentarily obscured the view cleared almost immediately.

The Creature Falcon, its head crushed flat against the ground.

The team leader's mouth obediently closed.

Sahyeon wore a faint smile.

"Quit dragging your feet and clear the area."

SWISH—

Sahyeon gave the spear a wide swing to flick the blood off the blade and added.

"You've got five minutes."

"F-Five minutes?!"

The team leader's eyes looked ready to pop out.

Sahyeon's head tilted at an angle.

"—sir?"

The team leader tacked it on before he could stop himself.

"Why, too long?"

Sahyeon asked.

His foot still pressed down on the monster's beak, the pressure unwavering.

A drop of blood fell from the spear in his hand.

"N-No! Not at all! More than enough!"

"Move out."

"M-Move out!!"

The bob-cut hunter shouted with a white face and spun on his heel.

Just then, Haeseong urgently grabbed the bob-cut hunter's shoulder.

"Um, Team Leader! Just a moment!"

"Y-Yes?"

"Could you give us radios too? It'll make communication much easier."

The bob-cut hunter stopped in his tracks and let out a small exclamation.

"Oh, r-right! Yes!"

His manner was crisp with tension.

He didn't even seem to realize he was using formal speech with Haeseong.

He pulled two small radios with transparent earpieces from his inventory and handed them to Haeseong.

"Then, since we're short on time, I'll be going!!"

And with that, the bob-cut hunter took off at a dead run.

A panicked figure fleeing at full speed.

"And that guy's a team leader......"

Great to see the surface is running smoothly.

Sahyeon let out a sigh.

Haeseong handed one of the radios to Sahyeon.

"Mr. Sahyeon, here's a Guardian Corps radio. Situation reports will come through in real time."

Sahyeon took the radio with one hand.

He hooked the earpiece over one ear.

— Rescue signal confirmed from rooftop, northwest building.

— Team B, deploying now.

The Guardian Corps' rescue updates came through clearly.

Sahyeon ground his foot down once more on the Creature Falcon, which had started to squirm again, then jerked his chin toward Haeseong.

"You — go over there and watch how I move."

"M-Me?"

"Don't want to? You said you'd be my aide. If you can't take down a single Falcon on your own, you can't be my aide."

The bar seems a bit high......

Haeseong swallowed the thought, and with military-grade composure, answered.

"Y...... yes, sir!"

Now it was just the Creature Falcon and Sahyeon.

CRASH—

The monster slammed its wings against the ground and wrenched free from under Sahyeon's foot.

It beat its wings in midair and fixed its one remaining eye on him with a razor-sharp glare.

But the Creature Falcon wasn't only interested in Sahyeon.

Its yellow eye darted greedily toward the Guardian Corps members conducting rescue operations across the streets.

"Can't have it interfering."

The sooner the streets were cleared, the sooner he could finish. Sahyeon lowered his center of gravity and hurled the spear at the monster once more.

SQUELCH—!

A direct hit to the remaining right eye. The Creature Falcon screamed in agony.

Now it had lost both eyes. From here on, it would rely solely on hearing.

"Something I can use......"

Sahyeon, now empty-handed, dusted off both hands and took a wide look around.

And found something suitable nearby.

A half-wrecked car abandoned in the street.

He kicked the scrap heap of a vehicle hard.

SCREEEEEK! CRASH—!

A sharp screech of metal scraping asphalt.

The car flew and collided with a half-toppled utility pole, producing a massive impact.

Simultaneously, the monster's head snapped toward the source of the noise.

It launched its enormous body toward the direction the car had flown.

BANG! CRASH!

Sahyeon sprinted down the road, kicking every car in sight one after another.

The Creature Falcon chased behind him, slamming its talons down.

But Sahyeon evaded the attacks with leisurely ease, as if toying with it.

Guardian Corps members conducting rescue operations occasionally got caught staring at the spectacle and nearly got swept up in the crossfire, but......

— The hell are you doing? Want me to kick one your way?

— S-Sorry!!

At Sahyeon's barked reprimand, they snapped to attention and moved.

Thankfully, the rescue was proceeding smoothly.

— Confirmed injured person inside vehicle on the four-lane road.

— Life signs detected on the third floor of the northwest building!

— Team C, three survivors rescued. All secured safely.

— Team A, four injured rescued from north building.

Radio transmissions came in one after another.

And then—

— Mr. Sahyeon, all non-Awakened civilians in the intersection area have been evacuated!

Haeseong's voice finally came through.

CRASH—!

Sahyeon deftly sidestepped the talons plunging toward him and pressed the radio's transmit button.

"Now the rest of you get out too."

— Y-Yes, sir!!

— Withdrawing immediately!

The squad members, who had witnessed Sahyeon's carnage firsthand during the rescue, answered with full deference.

Once the Guardian Corps vehicles loaded with the injured departed, Sahyeon let out a long breath and cracked his neck side to side.

"Finally time to wrap this up."

He exhaled deeply.

Then he shoved a flipped mid-size car hard toward the center of the intersection.

SCREEEEEK—!

The chassis swept across the ground, the sharp noise of steel scraping asphalt ringing out.

The launched car came to a stop in the middle of the intersection.

The monster dove toward the car like a hawk after bait.

Sahyeon had lured the Creature Falcon into the wide-open intersection.

He used the brief opening to bite the tip of one glove and yank it off. Then he kicked off the ground and charged at the monster.

And in moments—

He ripped the spear from the monster's eye.

SCREEEEECH—!

Blood gushed like a fountain.

The instant the Falcon threw its head back with a shriek—

He readjusted the spear in his grip and attacked the nape of its neck with relentless precision.

Streaks of blood scattered through the air as the Falcon's screams grew louder.

No matter how violently the monster thrashed, Sahyeon's spear tip targeted one spot and one spot only.

The target: the Creature Falcon's Core, located in its neck.

SCREEEE— SCREEEEEEECH!

The Creature Falcon's shrieks climbed higher as blood dripped steadily from its lacerated nape.

A monster wouldn't die unless its Core was destroyed. Moreover, a monster that sensed its Core was in danger would unleash one final attack.

This was exactly why Sahyeon had ordered the area cleared before finishing the Creature Falcon off.

SCREEEEEEECH—!

The monster charged head-on, shrieking. From inside its throat, something purple flashed.

The Creature Falcon's Core.

"Found you."

Sahyeon, who had been evading, stopped moving. The beak closed the distance to his face in an instant. He seized the head — lunging to snatch his throat — with his bare hand.

Sahyeon's eyes flooded blood-red.

[Immortal Nightmare (SS+) skill has been activated!]

Emotions and images that weren't his own raced through his mind.

CREAK—

Sahyeon clenched his molars hard.

A chill born of anxiety, dread, and terror coiled around his entire body.

SCREEEEEEECH—!

The Creature Falcon was no different.

Pinned by the head in Sahyeon's grip, the Falcon screamed as if its throat were being torn apart, overwhelmed by a sudden maelstrom of emotion.

A thin stream of blood trickled from Sahyeon's ears as well.

And finally—

"It's over."

He'd found a suitable material.

Sahyeon cracked a satisfied smile.

And then—

HUMMMM—

A transparent barrier enveloped both the monster and Sahyeon.

***

Haeseong stopped running and turned to watch.

'What on earth is that man?'

All the Association President had told him was that this was a person who'd be handling the same kind of work as him. Since Haeseong himself was a non-combat hunter, he'd vaguely assumed Sahyeon would be one too. And yet.

He secured a safe enough distance, then watched Sahyeon's battle.

Haeseong was an Awakened with enhanced senses, so observing Sahyeon from afar was more than feasible.

At a glance it looked rough, but Sahyeon's fighting didn't rely on brute force alone.

First, he identified the monster's traits and blocked its attacks. Simultaneously, he cut off its senses, halving the overall threat level. On top of that, he used surrounding objects as diversions.

For someone who had only ever watched fights that relied on skills and raw power, it was a refreshing sight.

It was like watching someone who had been in more battles than he could count.

What's more, rather than going through the hassle of severing the neck, he'd located the Core and driven his spear straight into it with pinpoint accuracy.

It was a style of combat that would be absolutely impossible without perfect knowledge of the monster's traits, no matter how superior one's physical stats.

'But at this rate, Mr. Sahyeon will be in danger too.'

Haeseong bit his lip.

A monster that sensed its Core was in danger would unleash one final attack.

For the Creature Falcon, that was the Desperate Roar.

A devastating skill powerful enough to obliterate everything within a one-kilometer radius.

The reason Hunter Baek Iwon had been the only one capable of facing Creature Falcons was precisely because he was the only person who could withstand that final blow.

At that moment—

The Creature Falcon charged at Sahyeon.

Sahyeon, who Haeseong had expected to dodge effortlessly as he'd done all along, stopped dead in his tracks.

"...?! Hunter Sahye—"

Just as Haeseong was about to scream in horror—

Sahyeon seized the Falcon by the head.

Simultaneously, a transparent barrier enveloped both the monster and Sahyeon.

Haeseong's eyes flew wide.

'Did he just activate a skill?!'

At the same time, something bizarre occurred.

The Falcon, which had been rampaging wildly even after losing both eyes, was still thrashing with its head in Sahyeon's grip.

But then why......

"...There's no sound at all?!"

The Creature Falcon was clearly shrieking with its beak wide open.

But Haeseong couldn't hear a single thing.

As if the sound had been completely blocked.

It was undoubtedly Sahyeon's skill.

'What kind of ability is that?? Spatial?? Air manipulation??'

Even Haeseong, who knew the traits of hunters both domestic and international inside and out, had never seen a skill like it.

Sahyeon released the head of the panicking Creature Falcon.

The monster whipped its freed head around wildly, disoriented, firing energy waves from its open beak without knowing where to aim.

Then, Sahyeon leapt high into the air.

CRACK—

He used a broken traffic light as a stepping stone and dove straight for the monster's maw.

Close enough that being swallowed whole wouldn't have been surprising.

In a split second, Sahyeon's spear tip aligned precisely with the throat.

The moment he struck—

WHOOSH!

An energy wave erupted, and a fierce wind tore through Haeseong's hair.

"Nngh!"

Haeseong raised his arms to shield his head from the flying debris and dust.

When the wind died and he lifted his head again, what he saw was......

"......"

The space where the transparent barrier had already vanished.

A long spear shaft lodged in the monster's throat.

"...No way?!"

Haeseong ran toward it as if drawn by a magnet.

Sahyeon wrenched the spear from the monster's throat without hesitation.

THUD—

The monster plummeted to the ground, sending a heavy tremor through the earth.

Impaled on the spear was a crystal the size of a palm.

The Creature Falcon's Core.

Takedown complete.