Chapter 193
Chapter 193
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 193
Chapter Title: Protect the Earth (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Dead?”
“Not playing possum—unless it had a second brain.”
While the team members were confirming the ogre’s instantly slain corpse, Suhyun waved toward the mercenaries shrinking back in the distance. Only then did the approaching mercenaries recognize Suhyun’s face.
‘Kim Suhyun!’
“You must’ve had a tough time holding down that ogre’s leg. The government will handle the compensation, so go ahead and take the body now.”
“Yes?”
The mercenaries tilted their heads, unable to comprehend what they’d just heard. Holding down the ogre’s leg? If fleeing for their lives counted as holding it down, then the Dragon Slayer operation could be called the Dragon Leg Holder operation.
“We... didn’t really do anything?”
One mercenary elbowed his friend. It was a signal to shut up.
“You idiot. You think you’ll get off scot-free if they find out later? Better to just tell the truth now.”
This wasn’t someone they could fool. If he wanted, he could screw them over without even lifting a finger. Realizing the situation at his friend’s words, the mercenary adopted a more meek attitude.
“Y-Yes, that’s right. We didn’t do much.”
A check of the comms logs would reveal they hadn’t held anything down—they’d just blubbered and run.
“You did plenty. If it weren’t for you, the city would’ve taken even more damage.”
At those words, the mercenaries shot incredulous looks back at the city behind them. It was already a mess from multiple monster rampages, looking like it had been bombed.
“The ogre might’ve gotten out... You did your part. So, you don’t want to split the body?”
“Yes? No! We want it!”
An ogre corpse wasn’t something you’d pass up—not when it traded for gold prices. The mercenaries practically jumped for joy. They shook hands with Suhyun one by one (the superpowered one looked ready to ask for an autograph) and bowed repeatedly as they left.
Seeing this, Kim Chang-sik asked in bewilderment.
“You’ve got dirt on them?!”
“...One-track mind. You all do well too. Don’t start picking fights with other mercs just because you’re hot stuff. Polish your character.”
The team gaped in unison. They were mercs, after all. Polish their character?
“When people hear ‘Uncle Jo Company,’ they shouldn’t envy us as ‘those cocky bastards’—they should admire and respect us. That the idea?”
“Quick on the uptake. Exactly. Everyone, applause for Gwak Hyun-tae!”
“......”
As the team clapped, Gwak Hyun-tae shook his head, looking like he’d never adjust.
* * *
After that, Suhyun stayed busy. Whenever a monster that seemed even slightly strong or dangerous appeared on Korean soil, he’d teleport right over and hunt it down. Their names never faded from the news, which kept pumping out fresh reports.
Minor assists: over a dozen. Solo hunts: seven. An intense pace. Worried about the mage’s fatigue, the government pulled them back to rest, prioritizing bigger threats.
No matter how superhuman Suhyun was, he was still human. Let the tension slip, and mistakes could happen anytime.
“Ugh, I’m dying....”
“How long do we gotta keep this up? I wanna go back to Cameron!”
“What’re you going back for, you Earthling? I’m loving it. Never been treated like heroes back on Cameron.”
“True that.”
On Cameron, they were just contractors. Mercs like them were a dime a dozen. But on Earth, slaying a single raptor earned hero worship. Shoulders naturally squared up.
“Good news and bad news.”
Suhyun entered the room and spoke. All eyes turned to him.
“Which first?”
“Bad news first!”
“No. Good news first.”
“......”
“The good news: the number of dimensional gates popping up is starting to drop. Stats show it’s decreasing fast.”
“Uh... what’s good about that?”
“If they keep bursting here, we can’t go back to Cameron. You think people will let us?”
“Oh, gotcha.”
The team murmured among themselves and nodded.
“No guarantee the chaos will settle, but let’s assume it will for now.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
“Then we’ll figure something else out when the time comes.”
“What’s the bad news?”
“The U.S. government requested help. Korea asked my opinion, and I said yes.”
“Why’s that bad?”
“Gonna be wrestling some new year-end monster. Sounds like a fun New Year’s.”
“Team Leader, before you say anything—this isn’t arrogance....”
“Spit it out.”
“If we take it down quick, we can enjoy some city vacation time, right? No matter how urgent the government is, they won’t drag us right back after we go all that way and fight.”
Suhyun grinned at the question.
“First: it’s that urgent for the government.”
“Damn.”
“Second: we can enjoy a city vacation.”
“Where?”
“Mojave Desert. Specifically, a national preserve.”
“Mojave? Where’s that?”
Kim Chang-sik’s eyes sparkled.
“Mojave... isn’t that where Las Vegas is?!”
“Quick where it counts. Might squeeze in a day or two in the city if we’re lucky. Of course, only if we drop the monster fast.”
“Ooh!”
Listening in, Gwak Hyun-tae spotted something off.
“Team Leader, hold up. Every country’s throwing everything they’ve got at these monsters, right?”
“Yeah.”
“They’re keeping superpowered users home as much as possible. And you’re the superpowered user of superpowered users. For the U.S. to recruit you, the price tag must’ve been insane.”
“You get it.”
“If they’re paying that much to call you in... there’s no way it’s quick to take down, right?”
The team’s faces fell as they grasped the point.
“Yeah, sharp as ever. Applause?”
“Nah, I’m good.”
“Everyone, get ready. We leave in three hours.”
Louis Lil, who had no clue about Las Vegas, tilted her head.
“What’s Las Vegas?”
“Uh... well, you know those gambling dens in Pyongyang’s black market?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s a city full of those.”
Louis Lil’s eyes gleamed intensely. Suhyun said coolly upon seeing it.
“You stick to me if you go there.”
“......”
* * *
The U.S. government paid a king’s ransom to borrow Suhyun. Hourly rates sparked jokes among insiders: “Excluding nukes, the most expensive weapon America’s ever bought.”
No one denied his necessity. The situation was that precarious. It slept buried in Mojave sands now, but if it woke and moved, catastrophe loomed.
Suhyun’s public feats since awakening as a mage meant any monster he couldn’t kill was beyond humanity’s reach.
“Mojave Sand Monster—that’s its nickname. Unknown type, never seen on Cameron. No solid strategy yet.”
“How’ve you attacked so far?”
“Fire-based? No effect. Physical attacks? Basically immune. Air strikes: three times. Artillery: dozens. It just burrows underground.”
True to its name, the sand monster had tenacious vitality. Suhyun sensed a drawn-out fight ahead. One of the most annoying types.
Like the Ice Dragon, it was an amorphous monster made of sand.
An ogre, no matter how tough, was flesh, blood, and bone—you could wear it down with attacks. But amorphous ones? Impossible to tell when or how they died.
“It’s sand, can submerge in earth. Can it move elsewhere?”
“No signs yet. Water manipulators tried, but it dives underground at the slightest threat.”
“Skittish... not as ferocious as thought.”
Some monsters never fled, even to the death.
“Available superpowered teams?”
“Seventeen teams ready now. 207 total. Full force deployable on your word.”
Suhyun whistled. He’d expected U.S. hazing—limited support, pressure for results—given the steep price.
This was near-total backing. Command authority handed over too.
‘They’re desperate. Though maybe not that bad.’
He could guess their panic: the sand monster could burrow to anywhere. That size, that type hitting a city? Instant apocalypse.
But Suhyun felt it. It wasn’t refusing to move elsewhere. It couldn’t.
‘Circling a limited area... Doesn’t seem like it’ll bolt.’
“Hang on, what’s that helo?”
“Oh, dropping bait.”
“Bait?”
“Yes. Monster analysts’ idea. Keep its belly full so it doesn’t wander.”
Suhyun let out a hollow laugh.
“That’s not how you herd.”
Fine in emergencies for time-buying, but pointless for one that couldn’t move anyway. Sacrificing food out of fear?
“Yes?”
“I’ll show you how I herd. Why so many helos up here? And what’s that?”
“That’s... Blue Bear’s helo.”
Suhyun frowned, focusing his sight. Far off, Jennifer waved.
* * *
“Really okay not feeding it? What if it heads somewhere else?”
“Amorphous types rarely move. To draw it out, make it hungry—get it chasing. Feed it, and it’s got no reason to.”
“With local wildlife around, it’ll come up hunting even without bait.”
The analysts weren’t idiots. Better a full, stationary monster than one roaming for food.
“Starve it every time it surfaces.”
“Yes? How do you track it?”
“Can’t track one monster while chasing dimensional gates? Is U.S. tech that weak?”
“Dimensional gates have unique energy signatures... It’s got no heat, indistinguishable from sand.”
“That way. Speed up!”
“?”
The puzzled pilot complied anyway. Whose orders would they defy?
“Roadrunner?”
A fast ground bird, common in the Mojave. Suhyun levitated it high with telekinesis.
“??”
Whoosh!
Sand erupted where it stood, lunging. The airborne roadrunner flapped in panic.
“Yeah. Hunger does that.”
Bam-bam-bam!
Suhyun unleashed attacks without mercy. Amorphous or not, his power hit hard. As the venom seeped in, the sand monster thrashed and burrowed again.
“How’d you spot it?!”
“Experience and instinct. Back up and wait.”
He hadn’t expected his new aura-sight for monsters and superpowered users to work like this. Each surge from the sand monster lit up the surrounding earth like a color shift.
Visible even from the air—it’d always tip Suhyun off first.
Impossible on Cameron—skies crawling with monsters.
‘Starved it three days, and it lunges for that? Weaker to hunger than thought.’
“Ugh, ugh....”
Louis Lil and Shaina clung to Suhyun’s waist, eyes squeezed shut. He sighed. Adaptation training seemed hopeless now.
“Gotta leave you at base.”