Guardian's Rampart and the Jerky Gambit

The hunters had only just plunged into the Gate and were setting up a temporary supply camp when a log came hurtling toward them faster than an arrow.

SHRAAAAAAK—!

With a scream of tearing air, a giant tree from the snowy mountain dropped straight down onto the hunters.

"Block it!!!"

Someone shouted, but it was too late. The speed was absurd. No time to dodge, no time to hold the line. So this was what an S-Rank Gate was like? Had I signed up for nothing?

The instant everyone's lives flashed before their eyes like a lantern show—

THOOM—

The ground sank.

"……?"

A single enormous shield stood squarely between the hunters and death.

"Whew…."

Behind the shield, one hunter stood with his teeth clenched. It was Seon Woo-jae.

"Guardian's Rampart!!"

Guardian's Shield, the bread-and-butter of every shield skill, was C-Rank. One tier above it sat the A-Rank tanker skill—Guardian's Rampart—and it had activated.

Chachachachak! Woom—

The moment Guardian's Rampart deployed successfully—

KWAAAAAAAANG!!!!!

The massive tree Choco had hurled slammed into the braced shield and went flying right back. A thunderous roar shook the field, and blood trickled in a thin line from the corner of Woo-jae's mouth.

"Ghh… agh…!!!"

I hold the line. I HOLD the line!

That's why I became a hunter, isn't it? Time to show them the grit of an A-Rank!

"AAAAAAAHHH!!!!"

KRAK—

BOOOM!!!

An A-Rank tanker had stopped a thrown strike from an S-Rank monster dead in its tracks.

"Hunter Seon Woo-jae!!! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine! Is everyone else alright?"

"W-we… we survived…."

That had been nothing less than a blow from the boss monster of an S-Rank Gate. Everyone caught in its path had already tasted death in that split second. But an A-Rank tanker had shielded them all.

WHOOOAAAA—!!

Morale skyrocketed in an instant. And then, at the same time—

"It's coming, IT'S COMING AGAIN!!!!"

At someone's cry, Woo-jae hoisted his shield once more and set his stance.

KWAAAANG!

The throw was heavier this time, far more crushing. Yet even so, Woo-jae held the attack off cleanly.

"I can do this!"

"You see that, you stupid boss mob?!"

"Regroup, quickly! Find Branch Manager Baek Kang-hyun first!"

That was when it happened.

FLASH—

From the same direction the log had flown, the monster hurled something else. But this time, it wasn't a tree.

"What… what is that?"

Not wood. Something gleaming silver.

"A pillar…?"

FLASH—

A gigantic silver spike. If you took a hedgehog's quill and scaled it up to the size of a telephone pole, this is exactly what you'd get—a double-ended weapon sharp on both sides, screaming toward Seon Woo-jae.

KWAAAAAAAAANG—!!!!

"Guhk…!"

The force was on a different level from before. This wasn't just debris—it was the boss monster's weapon and its skill. Woo-jae felt it in his gut.

"Uuuugh…!"

And still—still, he held.

Ah.

CRACK— CRKK—

Hairline fractures began to spider across the A-Rank shield.

Just as it seemed this was the end, a blue-green blade of sword aura swept toward the spike pillar.

"Piercing Heavenly Sword."

Swish— KWAKWAKWAANG—!!!!

Baek Kang-hyun's Piercing Heavenly Sword cleaved the spike Choco had thrown clean in two.

"Kghh… kehhek…!"

At the same moment, Woo-jae coughed up blood and dropped to one knee, gasping for air as he looked around. The shockwave of that single strike had turned the entire area into a scorched wasteland. Every hunter who had been outside the ten meters Woo-jae couldn't cover lay collapsed in rags.

"Hhng…!"

He looked ready to keel over at any second. But Woo-jae picked his shield back up and stood again.

The supervisor rushed over and shouted at him. "Your mana drain is way too high! You won't survive the next attack!"

"I'm fine, I can hold! I just need to drink one potion—"

"Don't push yourself."

Then Baek Kang-hyun gave Woo-jae's shoulder a gentle pat. "As an A-Rank, you've done more than enough."

At those words alone, the tension holding Woo-jae upright snapped with a quiet tok.

"Get some rest."

At that moment, the wind stopped.

"That's right, Woo-jae. You sit this one out."

"Ji-hoon… hyung…?"

The voice came from behind him, and Woo-jae knew exactly who it belonged to. Beside him stood a bird wreathed head to tail in massive white wings—a griffin striding forward with all the bearing of a warrior.

"Yeah, it's me."

"I'm not… seeing my life flash before my eyes, right…?"

Ji-hoon smacked him on the back of the head. "This world, you idiot! Anyway, get some rest."

"Hy-hyung, you're F-Rank… so why is that monster…"

"I'll explain later."

"Ah…."

Thud.

Having burned through both mana and strength, Seon Woo-jae's body gave out beneath him. The supervisor scrambled to find the medical team.

And leaving them all behind—

"…You're asking me to hold it back?"

That monster?

"Yes. That is the contract, isn't it?"

"Technically, yes, but…" We could barely contain it, and now he wanted to capture it? Or stop it?

"…Can you really do it?"

"Do what?"

"Taming. No—persuasion."

Persuasion. That raving lunatic of a youngest child.

No. It was time someone gave him a proper lesson today.

"Even if I have to beat him within an inch of his life, I'll drag him back here."

[Tch. Anyone who just repeats weak-sounding words, we ditch, and we go save Choco ourselves, hyung-nim!]

"…I'll trust you, Hunter Ji-hoon."

I'd better give it everything I have, too.

Baek Kang-hyun murmured under his breath, tightening his grip on the hand that held his sword aura. "Because that's the contract…!"

SLING— THWACK!

FLASH— WHOOSH—!

Baek Kang-hyun, Ji-hoon, and Poppi tore across the sky like a bolt of lightning.

WHOOSH—

SHRAK—!

PAPAPAT, PAPAK!

KAANG, CHAENG!

Choco kept ripping the spikes off his own body and hurling them at the intruders one after another. Baek Kang-hyun batted the quills out of the air with his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sword aura while Poppi twisted through barrel rolls and loops, dodging every attack.

[Hyung-nim, I'm spreading my wings to full extension. Tuck down under my mane!]

Ji-hoon shifted fast, sliding his body beneath Poppi's mane. In the same instant, the griffin's golden wings swept outward, expanding his domain in a heartbeat and throwing up a barrier.

"Choco!!"

Ji-hoon shouted, but Choco was still completely out of his mind.

[Hyung-nim, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this looks dangerous.]

"What does?!"

[That. He's about to trigger an avalanche.]

When attack after attack failed to land, Choco was clearly and thoroughly enraged. Now he was just smashing into the mountainside and hammering it down, all hell breaking loose.

"Choco, you insane—!"

KUGUGUNG—

Just as Poppi had said, a colossal snowstorm was already surging down from the summit with terrifying speed.

[We need to get clear!]

"Will Choco be okay?"

[That's…]

Yes, he was a boss monster flailing that mountain-sized body around wildly, but—

"He's throwing a tantrum because he's HUNGRY! What if he gets swept away by that avalanche?!"

"Hunter Lee Ji-hoon! Don't worry! That boss won't die from something like this!"

Poppi chimed in behind Baek Kang-hyun. [That's right, hyung-nim! That brat Choco sleeps on your belly every single day, so you forget—but he's a Giant Bear down to the bone. When it comes to toughness, he's the absolute end of the line!]

"Hnng… Choco! That's enough already! Snap out of it!"

KUGUGUGUNG—

Choco—or rather, the boss monster Giant Bear—stamped his foot with a ground-shaking tremor. Mana burst up from his paws and flooded through his whole body, and then a deep, earth-brown magic power began to bloom across his entire form.

[That crazy brat! He's actually putting on a show right in front of his master.]

"…I have to stop him."

Ji-hoon muttered, hesitated a moment, then patted Poppi's back. "Poppi, sorry, but can you get me in close to Choco?"

[Right now? If we get too close, the backlash could hit you hard, hyung-nim…]

"It's fine. Worst case, I'll use the defense skill off that necklace you made me."

Ji-hoon shouted over to Baek Kang-hyun, who was locked in a desperate struggle nearby. "Branch Manager!"

"So heavy—YES, Hunter Ji-hoon!"

"Buy me some time!"

"Time? What are you planning to do?!"

And at the very same moment—

"Golden Milestone. Activate."

SHUUUK—

A golden haze bloomed up all around Choco. Ji-hoon placed his hand on the feather hanging from his necklace at the same time.

"Mana Expansion."

KWAAAAA—!

A feather steeped in the mana of an S-Rank boss monster, the Griffin King. Not a clear reward, not a crafted trinket—the genuine feather itself. Which meant the mana sealed inside was on an entirely different level from anything ordinary.

"As expected… this was never just a necklace."

Amid the mana surging up from Ji-hoon like a boiling tide, Baek Kang-hyun swung his sword.

KAANG—!

Choco's claws crashed against Baek Kang-hyun's Piercing Heavenly Sword—second strike of the technique.

"Your opponent is me!"

KAANG—! CHAENG—!

Blue-green sword aura and silver spikes and claws crossed and clashed too many times to count.

KWAANG—! KWAKWAKWANG—!

Any ordinary hunter would have already been killed by the sheer shockwaves of this battle. Shielded by Poppi, Ji-hoon hurriedly scanned the golden haze for the items it revealed.

Low-grade magic stone. No.

High-grade herb. Not that either.

Then Ji-hoon's eyes lit up.

"That's it!"

Ji-hoon ordered Poppi to fly him straight to the spot where the monster meat lay.

[Hyung-nim, you're not telling me to fight by EATING this, are you? I do NOT want to plow into Choco, hyung-nim!]

"Who said it's for you? Shut up and hold still!"

Ji-hoon laid his hand on the monster meat. It began to resonate with the mana radiating off Poppi's feather.

"Hnnngh…!"

KWAAAA—

Little by little, the monster meat started to transform. He had to compress it as far as it would go, packing pure, unspoiled mana into its core. Only then could he make it.

"Choco, please…!"

The baby Giant Bear who always used to fall asleep sprawled across Ji-hoon's belly in the Hell Farm yard.

[Hyung-nim, look, look! I caught a suuuper giant tunnel worm!]

'AAAAAHH!'

[PuHEHEHEHE]

At first he'd seemed like nothing but a clueless troublemaker.

[Hyung-nim, hyung-nim. No walk today?]

"I'm a bit tired today…."

[Hyung-nim, gotta walk at least once a day. Take care of your health, sheesh.]

Every single day trailing at Ji-hoon's heels like a burr that wouldn't come off—the most childish, innocent baby of the whole farm, that youngest Giant Bear. And yet, always:

[Hyung-nim's jerky is the BEST.]

'Is it really that good?'

[Absolutely the best.]

Jerky grilled on the magical furnace of Hell. The furnace worked on one principle: compress mana to transform the meat.

"If you've got no teeth… use the gums!"

KWAAAA—

The mana was running out; the light was starting to dim.

"Poppi! Rip them off, all of them!"

[Yes, hyung-nim!]

Poppi immediately began plucking the feathers from Ji-hoon's necklace one after another with his beak. A storm of mana came flooding in all at once. Drawing the mana up even higher, Ji-hoon pressed both palms together and forced every ounce of strength into the meat.

"LET'S GO!!!"

FLASH—

SHUUUK—

"What is that light…!"

[KRAA…!]

A brilliance so searing that even the Giant Bear Choco and S-Rank hunter Baek Kang-hyun could barely look at it swept across the battlefield. And in Ji-hoon's hand, a palm-sized piece of mana jerky had taken form.

"Heok… heok…."

Catching his breath, he stared at the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rampaging giant bear.

"Let's go, Poppi!"

[Hold on tight!]

Poppi, carrying Ji-hoon on his back, dove straight for the top of Choco's head.

[Snap out of it already, you idiot little brother!]

KWAAK—!

Poppi's talons raked past the edge of Choco's ear—

"CHO! CO! YA!!!!"

And Ji-hoon, leaping off Poppi's back, plummeted down with his jerky-clenched fist thrust forward.

"If you're hungry, then PULL YOUR SPIKES IN!!!!"

PUK—!

The iron quills sheathing the Giant Bear Choco's body—the very spikes that had been fired at Seon Woo-jae, the ones he'd wielded as weapons against Baek Kang-hyun. Ji-hoon, the F-Rank hunter, dove straight for them.

"Hunter Lee Ji-hoon!!!"

Baek Kang-hyun hurriedly raised Piercing Heavenly Sword's third strike, ready to cut open the ground where Ji-hoon was falling—

SHUSHUSHK—

—when the quills that had bristled rigid and upright suddenly folded inward, soft as a sigh, and retracted into the bear's body.

"Choco! You dumb baby, are you finally back with us?!"

At the sound of Ji-hoon's voice, Choco's massive frame shuddered as if jolted by a spasm.

[H-hyung-nim….]

"Yeah, there you go. That's all I needed."

[No jerky for me?]

Maybe I really should've just let Baek Kang-hyun beat him senseless.

Just as Ji-hoon was seriously weighing the option, a system message flashed before his eyes.

Ring—