Chapter 181
Chapter 181
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 181
Chapter Title: 85. King (6)
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Monster classifications fall into two broad categories.
Distinctions by size and by purpose.
Humanity's enemies, which can't be properly cataloged as monsters, are generally assigned similar purposes based on their size.
Small types are mostly infiltration types.
They operate solo, establish bases, erode territories, and provide acceleration points to the erosive flow extending from rifts.
Medium types are primarily combat types.
They rarely form in low-grade rifts, and even in high-grade ones, they only emerge in kill zones where mass outbreaks have been contained.
Most perish in the kill zones, but some break through and prowl the battlefield zones. Those cases are extremely dangerous and rack up countless casualties.
Even our hunters are no exception.
Those bastards are vile murderers.
Large types are upgraded versions of medium types.
Of course, far more dangerous.
Assume medium and large types are prowling a battlefield zone. With mediums, you hunt them if you have adequate firepower. But for larges, unless there's a damn good reason to engage, the manual says to wait for natural dissipation.
Colossal types are the final category to appear—a breakthrough type spat out from rifts specifically to trample entire defensive lines after mediums and larges failed to breach humanity's formidable barriers.
The strongest among them is obviously the colossal type, but if you ask whether they're the most dangerous, I'd say no.
In team combat scenarios, the worst threats we encounter are mostly concentrated on medium types.
Thud!
One of those medium types is coming.
Toward us.
Approaching to kill us and strip away humanity's hope.
"Hey. Jeon Si-hun! Can't you do something about it?"
King alternated glances between Jeon Si-hun and the window as he spoke.
"Th-that thing?"
Jeon Si-hun peered out the window.
His eyes, faintly glowing with luster, filled with vivid terror.
Jeon Si-hun backed away.
"How the hell do you deal with something like that?"
"You're strong, aren't you? A level 10 Awakener, right?"
"Yeah, but... I'm bad at fighting. It's scary."
Jeon Si-hun retreated to the farthest corner from the window, clutched his head, squatted down, and trembled.
The fanatic sat beside him and gently stroked his head.
Jeon Si-hun leaned his head on the shoulder of the woman who was three heads shorter than him and kept up the light shaking.
"It'll be fine. Brother Si-hun. We're the children of God. As long as Master Ma's spirit watches over us, he'll protect us."
The scene evoked a mother soothing a frightened child, but I caught the strange, ecstatic madness writhing in the nameless fanatic's eyes.
A true fanatic, after all.
Someone who'd abandoned thinking for themselves and handed everything over to some other entity they couldn't even comprehend.
King let out a sigh and turned to me.
Our eyes met, and he shook his head slowly.
"We're done for. A real medium type, of all things. And a level 10 Awakener acting like that."
A high Awakener level doesn't guarantee a lion's heart.
There are plenty of people with immense talents who just can't put their power to use.
Jeon Si-hun, an over-level-10 Awakener, was just one more coward with power we'd seen all too often.
"Hey. Skeleton. Got any last words?"
King spoke with a wry smile.
"None."
I gripped my rifle.
I slung the Hafunaizer from the floor over my shoulder and secured it firmly.
I felt the reassuring weight and texture of the two axes in their sheath, strapped tight to my thigh, as I stared down the monster approaching us.
"Deployment time for the reflective barrier?"
"Instant? On a human scale, maybe 0.1 seconds."
"How many times?"
"Who knows."
"Let me rephrase. What's your estimated combat duration?"
"Over an hour? No way. My head would feel like it's burning up."
"Full throttle, no holding back—what's the duration then?"
King's eyes flashed faintly as he answered my question.
"Over five minutes? Nope. If the barrier takes heavy hits, even shorter."
"Good."
"You're really gonna fight it?"
King stared straight at me.
I nodded.
"Escape route's blocked anyway."
Nothing at the spot marked with red spray paint.
But a medium type lurked 80 meters out.
Stationary mediums won't activate unless you get close or provoke them first, but patrolling ones? It's a coin flip.
Might attack humans. Might ignore them.
I'm not betting my life on a coin flip.
The instant that medium type—maliciously mimicking human firepower—unleashes its barrage, we'd get shredded to bits, even hunkered in a spider-type maze.
Might as well fight, even if the odds of dying are higher. At least we'd go down swinging—no regrets that way.
"Hey, Skeleton. You serious? I'm no trained hunter myself, but I've never heard of an old-school hunter soloing a medium type."
"You've got King, don't you?"
"Even with me, my abilities won't work on that monster."
Looks like Jeon Si-hun wasn't the only one who'd lost his fighting spirit.
Even King was getting cold feet watching the medium type close in.
I stared him down and curled my lip into a smirk.
"Guess you can afford to underestimate me, huh?"
King's expression hardened in an instant.
He glared at me with savage eyes, like it had never happened, and growled without so much as a twitch.
"No one underestimates the King of Sejong."
"That's the spirit. Deploy the barrier when I give the signal."
"Got it."
King pulled on his gas mask.
He spun on his heel and strode toward the stairs without a shred of hesitation or fear in his posture.
Dignity worthy of a city ruler.
As I moved to follow him downstairs, the fanatic spoke up.
"You think you can beat God's messenger? Just the two of you?"
"What's your name?"
I fixed her with a hard stare.
"Myeongju. Son Myeongju."
"Right. Myeongju. If we win, Si-hun quits the brainwashing, yeah?"
"Brainwashing? Sharing true teachings—how's that brainwashing?"
"Preach or castrate yourself for all I care. What's it gonna be? Our lives are on the line."
My hand rested on my pistol grip.
If she didn't agree, I planned to put a bullet between her eyes.
Wouldn't matter if she was a late-teen girl.
Fanatics rotten to their core might look human, but they're pests operating on utterly alien logic.
"Go ahead and try, then."
"You'll back off?"
"We never captured Brother Si-hun. He came to us. It's his decision anyway."
I released the pistol grip.
"Jeon Si-hun."
He looked up at me, eyes still laced with fear.
"You said you like Kang Hanmin, right?"
"Hey! Skeleton!"
King called from the stairs below.
"I don't have Kang Hanmin's kind of overwhelming abilities or blessings. But pay attention. Even someone God didn't choose can fight."
Feeling Jeon Si-hun's gaze on my back, I hurried down the stairs.
Thud!
The medium type—Annihilator—was now 100 meters out.
This eight-legged annelid abomination fired devastating murder shrapnel from the massive circular orifice on the side of its head.
Shotgun? Nah. Monster claymore.
Its radiating fragments came in all sizes and shapes, with solid hardness and mass, annihilating virtually everything living in range true to its name.
Jang Gi-yeong's playbook for anti-Annihilator types called for avoiding the frontal "barrel" and targeting the flanks—but that's impossible.
Sure, Annihilators are slow, but they detect every living thing nearby and can pivot their bodies fast enough to counter side attacks.
Hell, if enemies are close, it launches big fragments skyward. They explode, raining down ash with napalm-like properties.
The only method I knew was pouring firepower from outside reflective barrier range, same as other monsters.
With multiple over-level-5 Awakeners, you could have one strip the veil while others tank the Annihilator's attacks via barrier for effective mid-range combat. But I'd never tried it.
Right now, I had one Awakener.
And not a trained one—just a bold, charismatic "natural-born" type who wrangled folks through sheer guts.
"What's the plan?"
"Frontal approach. Finish it with the Hafunaizer."
"You know reflective barriers have limits, right? Exceed them, and it shatters."
"Averages: small types take two rounds from a standard 105mm anti-monster tank cannon. Mediums take five. Nothing known beyond that."
"...Huh. Sounds like you know more than me."
"Maximize barrier conservation. Minimize range."
"Straight-up frontal charge for real?"
King's question stemmed more from rational skepticism than fear.
I answered earnestly.
"Most mediums have detection abilities. This one's no exception. Circling around's pointless. These ruins just block our line of sight. Shortest path, open field, dead ahead."
Convincing your team—when lives are on the line—is part of a leader's job.
Of course, you can't drag it out in split-second life-or-death spots.
So you pack sincerity into the most concise words possible.
I hoped it got through to King.
"...I can trust you on this?"
King eyed me.
From dozens of persuasions, I'd learned success hinges less on your words and more on their heart.
Folks with the will to fight will follow anything you say. Those without distrust you, no matter how nicely you explain.
I nodded to King, who'd placed his trust in me.
"I'll take point. Hand up means deploy the barrier. Otherwise, hold it back. Might take some light hits, but a king can't afford to bitch about it, right?"
"Don't sweat it. My pain tolerance is way higher than yours."
Briefing over.
Time to execute.
We stared at the overwhelming monster bearing down, then I glanced toward the rear building's window.
Jeon Si-hun and Son Myeongju were watching from their corner, still trembling.
I locked eyes with Jeon Si-hun, then turned back to the monster.
"Advance."
I took a step.
Quick march pace.
No running.
Running wouldn't get me to its barrier in one bound anyway—and I'd have to tank at least one full barrage beforehand.
Thud!
The monster unleashed a shockwave.
True to medium type form, a full tier above small-type waves.
Even at 90 meters, my guts churned as I advanced step by step.
All my focus poured into my forward-staring eyes.
"... ."
This must've been how frontline infantry felt, trudging toward thousands of muzzles.
Not comparable to their courage, though.
Their lives were wholly at fate's mercy, beyond their control. Me? As long as variables didn't go completely sideways, I could manage the risks within limits.
The bear-worm lookalike spotted us and hoisted its wrinkled-headed segment high.
Attack precursor.
I heard King's footsteps falter, but like when we entered this erosion zone, he said nothing.
I thanked his courage once more and glared at the monster's pitch-black muzzle.
Thud!
Another shockwave.
At the same instant, white specks erupted from its stubby black muzzle, fanning out like stars scattering across the sky.
Among that swarm of stars, I hunted for the big ones.
The kind that'd stress King's barrier—or shatter it outright.
None on our path, at least.
I raised my hand.
Thud!
The shockwave rang out right behind me.
An invisible barrier—more wondrous than any wall humanity ever built—enveloped me and King.