Chapter 10
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 010
Chapter Title: Rock Spirit - [3]
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Seong Mun-yeong, who had been hiding and watching, bellowed.
"You fight like a fucking beast! Kill that bastard just like that!"
Of course, that's exactly what I was doing.
'Boom!' After slamming the hammer down with all my strength, my body shook. The shoulder of the spirit I was riding on heaved violently.
Then the spirit's shoulder exploded. Shotgun pellets rained down on me. Concrete chunks and gravel scattered like grenade shrapnel—even at a glance, their speed was insane.
In the hallucination, the spirit must have killed Seong Mun-yeong this way, riddling his entire body with holes.
Too fast to dodge, I barely shielded my face with my arms. The next instant, pellets embedded all over my body, but I didn't die. They couldn't pierce deep into the muscles of a physical enhancer.
So, no problem.
Pain spread from the flesh where stone shards had lodged, but adrenaline soon blasted it all away.
The sticky blood trickling down my skin was forgotten in a flash.
No matter what the bastard tried, I brought the sledgehammer down again and again.
Its head had vanished long ago. Each strike shattered and pulverized its upper body.
In the middle of another swing, the spirit thrashed. A massive hand, big enough to fill my vision, lunged to snatch me.
Of course, that ferocious swipe merely grazed the spot where I'd been.
"Whoa!"
Teleporting behind the spirit, I hammered its exposed ankle. The one I'd smashed earlier had partially regenerated in that short time, but it couldn't withstand two more blows.
'Boom!' Now it was completely crushed. With one leg gone, the staggering bastard took a kick to the back from me, sending it crashing down.
Then I hammered its exposed back hard. 'Boom!'
Now it had neither head nor one leg. A massive crack split its back.
Of course, that alone wouldn't kill the monster. Surrounding stone chunks stuck to its ruined parts like magnets.
The academy had taught us that spirits could easily regenerate physical damage by drawing in nearby materials.
We'd also learned how to stop it: destroy faster than it could regenerate.
"Wow!"
Cheers—admiration or relief, hard to tell—kept erupting from all directions. No screams. Everyone could see who had the upper hand.
I hefted the hammer once more and brought it down with everything I had.
「Don't do it!」
The spirit rolled across the floor in its fallen state. Its agility was astonishing, defying its bulk and weight.
But it was pointless. I teleported right after it and finished the hammer strike. 'Boom!'
No whiffs. Never.
「Get off! Get off, you untrained human!」
The spirit's rocky body finally gave out under the cracks. As it writhed in desperation, half its form crumbled away.
Even lying down, it couldn't keep its balance anymore. The spirit twisted its head toward me and thrust a brutish fist.
Impressive—its raw power was still lethal. The punch split the air with a drum-like boom.
Naturally, it didn't burst my skull. Once again, I swung the hammer mid-teleport, completing the strike beyond its reach. 'Boom!'
The flow—action first, teleport, then finish—was seamless and effortless. Why?
I'd never been good at teleportation before. Sure, I'd practiced steadily, but it was like an American fumbling chopsticks after a few days of lessons.
This finesse came from a dream just minutes ago. From me in that dream.
Was dream-me the hallucination-me? No. That version lacked this skill.
Probably from a future me...
Thanks to it, I was superior in every way to hallucination-me. Muscle mass included. He'd trained hard, but not to this explosive degree.
Muscles bulging enough to strain my joints, I hammered down again. 'Boom!' Stone chunks burst outward, severing its last remaining arm from the body.
By now, everyone seemed to grasp it was over. Even the trainees—and the examiner—crowded close to watch.
"What the hell have you been doing? Filming? You nuts? In the middle of this?"
"This'll help later..."
Two onlookers bickered, but I tuned them out. Whatever they did, it wouldn't help.
I focused on the hammer. Pounded the man-eating monster relentlessly.
Each strike broke it down further, shrinking its size. Now it was just a limbless torso.
「Please」
A face formed atop the torso. Not the chimp-like one from before.
Lee Jong-ho, peering close, recoiled in horror.
"Fuck... what's with this auntie face?"
A wrinkled, pudgy middle-aged woman's face materialized on the spirit's body. The woman spoke.
「Don't hurt me」
She seemed to be begging for her life, but it stirred revulsion more than pity. Her speech was awkward—not quite a real Korean auntie's tone.
「I confess. I loved you」
"What the hell's it saying?"
「I want to go to a love hotel with you」
As trainees grimaced, Im Hyeong-taek spoke up.
"This is it. Spirits assimilate memories from their victims until fully digested. Must've eaten some auntie and dredged up her memories to speak Korean."
The other trainees voiced their disgust one by one.
"So that's the eaten auntie's face? This monster's trying to seduce Kim Geuk hyung with it?"
"Insane."
"These spirits are low-IQ. It just figured she's female and is luring a male."
"Gonna hurl. Fucking gross..."
Poor auntie. Eaten in a dump like this—she must've been a struggling homeless soul. Now her memory was mockery fodder even in death.
「Let's free hug」
One hammer strike silenced that mouth. The face shattered, splitting the body wide and exposing its depths.
A translucent core finally emerged from hiding. What was this?
I'd seen it in the hallucination. Something like the spirit's true body.
"Die, you piece of shit."
I smashed it with the hammer. Something seeped into me.
And then... hallucination.
'Kim Geuk! Kim Geuk—!'
Cheers echoed in my mind. The crowd blessing their victorious warrior.
I knew the place instinctively: UFC's octagon.
That day, I stood tall as victor in the octagon. Raising one arm, the entire arena roared for me.
My second win—not legendary, but that day, the world was mere backdrop to my existence. Amid that overflowing elation, I'd relived fighters' visions and awakened as a physical enhancer...
Now I stood in that octagon again. The euphoria replayed perfectly.
Victory fueled me. This wasn't mere mental high.
The fallen spirit was absorbing into me.
I'd heard of it: awakener growth. Like monsters and spirits devouring to grow stronger, awakeners could do the same by toppling foes.
I savored the rush a moment, then opened my eyes and scanned around.
Reality mirrored the hallucination. I was surrounded by a cheering crowd gazing at me.
"Kim Geuk! Kim Geuk! Kim Geuk!"
I raised my arm—the one gripping the hammer—declaring victory.
Behold: I stood in the octagon once more.
Back where I belonged. The place from which I'd been unjustly cast out.
Even after the situation wrapped, rest was out of the question.
I'd moved the fallen guy to the hospital earlier, then returned to the scene. Time to work.
While the association staff examiner radioed the all-clear, I hefted the sledgehammer and cleared the concrete debris blocking the emergency exit.
The hammer felt lighter now, the swings effortlessly smooth. Placebo effect? Or real physical enhancement? Felt like the latter—hoping it was.
Meanwhile, as I worked, what were the other trainees doing?
"Just standing back watching feels awkward..."
They'd been nothing but cheer machines during the spirit fight. Still idle now. With people milling near the forklift, I'd shooed them back to fiddle with their phones without getting in the way.
Well, what could you expect from non-awakened fodder fit only as monster chow? Bupyeong Academy folks excepted, of course. The sacred people of Incheon had a vital duty to cheer me on, awakened or not...
Whoa... I startled myself with that thought. Why the sudden nonsense? Adrenaline still pumping?
"Finally!"
Soon enough, I broke through the emergency exit. Cheers of "Kim Geuk! Kim Geuk!" rang out as I took point down the stairs.
People waited below the building.
"Ah, what the hell."
They were all armed—looked like a hunter team. Spotting us, the hunters griped with aggrieved faces.
"Situation really over? Raced here the second the hunter call dropped, then end-of-threat alert pops. What the fuck—wasted gas money."
What did that asshole just say? Pissed the crisis ended? I clenched my fist. These vermin were ruining my victory high.
Sensing my mood, Im Hyeong-taek whispered from the side.
"Easy, easy. Not worth your time, those thugs..."
The examiner approached to soothe the thugs, while Seong Mun-yeong muttered hotly.
"No, are they insane? We barely survived, and those fuckers whine why it ended?"
Im Hyeong-taek, feeling my vibe, tried to cheer me up. True to form, he seized the bootlicking chance.
"Anyway, we owe you our lives, Kim Geuk. UFC fighter, huh? Never dreamed you'd smash it barehanded—no hunter rifle needed!"
The other trainees swarmed, babbling about life debts and such. Accepting their praise with a straight face lifted my spirits a bit.
Meanwhile, one thug-like hunter approached, demanding.
"Rock spirit really showed? Or fake report, lying your asses off?"
One of us stepped up—surprisingly, Jeong Jin-yeong.
"Wanna see what went down?"
The boot-wearing Jeong Jin-yeong. Curious what sparked it, I watched him whip out his phone and shove it at the hunter.
"What're you doing now?"
Kim Jin-jun tsked at my question.
"That guy's got video of the fight from earlier. Showing 'em."
"Filmed a video in that situation?"
"Tell me about it. Pissed me off—wanted to snatch the damn phone and smash it."
The thug hunters watched Jeong's footage. Started casual, but soon glued to it.
"Whoa... fuck. Insane."
After, they eyed me and dropped a line.
"Your bounty must be sky-high..."
Jeong finished with the hunters and approached me.
He always got awkward around me. Handled the thugs fine, but now he hemmed and hawed before speaking.
"I, uh... filmed that fight earlier."
"I know. Jin-jun was gossiping you were debut YouTubing."
I'd hinted not to pull weird stunts, but it flew over his head. He kept rambling.
"You called out hunters emergency-style then canceled. Big deal—this vid'll draw reporters later..."
"Reporters gonna pretty up the article with footage?"
The examiner slipped in.
"Speaking of, hero—you haven't done the awakener exam yet, right? No local contract either."
"Yeah."
"Gonna have to treat the cameraman to a feast."
I couldn't grasp why I owed a meal when I'd saved the day.
Found out the next day.