Chapter 44
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 044
Chapter Title: A-rank Hunter Nguyen [2]
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Even a rough skim of random internet trivia makes it clear why giant monsters couldn't possibly exist in reality.
I vaguely remember some of it too. Something about how a creature's body weight skyrockets as it gets bigger, while the strength of its muscles—which scales with their cross-sectional area—doesn't increase nearly as much?
That's why movies featuring kaiju-level beasts claim the things couldn't even support their own mass and would burst apart from the strain. Just like how whales sometimes wash up dead because their internal organs get crushed under their own weight.
Real-world creatures simply can't grow that enormous without problems arising—and they sure as hell don't when those problems hit. But look at the massive monsters bursting out of Gates? Doesn't apply to them at all.
Unlike Earth's natural lifeforms, monsters only get stronger the bigger they get. Their muscle power amps up proportionally to their size, making them faster and tougher to boot.
You could tell just by looking at that hideous wild boar abomination.
From the rooftop of the building I'd teleported to, I watched the massive monster slam into the spot where I'd just been standing.
A cannon blast exploded outward, shaking the ground. Ku-rung—
Not just the impact point—the entire outer wall of the building crumbled away in one go.
Concrete dust billowed up violently.
The boar's charge didn't stop until it had smashed straight through the opposite wall and burst out the other side of the structure.
It paused there, snuffling around. Checking with its nose to see if I'd been pulverized by its rush, probably.
Soon enough, it realized I was still kicking.
The boar wheeled around and glared up at me. I answered by hosing its ugly mug down with autocannon rounds.
Seemed like it wanted to ram my building and bring it down too. Straight at me it charged, head low.
I gifted its back with an unbroken golden line of 30mm fire, but the bastard refused to die and plowed right into my perch anyway.
Another cannon-boom rang out. Its ku-rung too.
The whole building shuddered, but I gripped the railing and held on. Had to pause firing for a sec, then squeezed the trigger again to shred its back even more.
And even after unloading that much, it still wouldn't drop. Blood had already stopped pouring from the spots I'd hit—super regeneration, no doubt. Looked like it had awakened to physical enhancement on top of that. Makes sense; sustaining a frame that huge demands supernatural boosts to bone density and muscle power.
A terrifying monster at first glance. No doubt it'd wreaked havoc even back in Australia. Smashing countless buildings and gorging on people in that unlucky land.
Still, I didn't think I couldn't kill it. Tough for it to hit me, but I could strike anytime I wanted.
What worried me more was if it'd try to flee toward the city center to get away from me.
Sure enough, overwhelmed by my one-sided barrage, the boar turned tail. Looked like it was gonna bolt between the buildings.
To keep its focus on me, I teleported right in front of it. Triggered as soon as I appeared in its face, and the bloodied beast charged in a rage.
Insanely fast, but nothing compared to a Deathclaw's leaping burst. My enhanced dynamic vision let me dodge effortlessly, then I poured fire into its hindquarters as it thundered past.
I know all about super regeneration as a physical enhancer myself—there's always a limit. Keep hosing it down like this, and it'd drop eventually. I was sure of it.
A tearing scream rang out.
"Get inside the building! Inside, now!"
Not from around here. It came from way over there—but why?
My chest radio crackled to life, blaring.
"Ogre sighted! One, four meters tall!"
No need for the radio confirmation. The next instant, I spotted it myself, plain as day.
I saw a giant scaling the wall of a distant building.
It was jamming fingers and toes into the windows of a ten-story office block, climbing like it was nothing.
An ogre.
A goblin awakened to gigantification.
Gigantification awakens in those dissatisfied with their size, or so they say. Goblins as a species must hate their scrawny bodies, 'cause so many gigantify that those ones even get a special name.
Meanwhile, people were huddled on the rooftop of the building the ogre was climbing. Their collective screams reached my ears from way across the gap.
"Don't shove! Don't—"
That side looked urgent as hell. I teleported straight to their rooftop.
Aimed ahead. The ogre's massive fingers were just gripping the edge.
I squeezed the trigger on my already-aimed Hunter rifle.
A burst of shots, and the ogre couldn't take the sudden pain—it screamed and let go of the wall.
Followed by a heavy thud. Looked like it'd plummeted.
But it wouldn't be dead. I was certain.
Just its four-meter bulk told me plenty. The muscle density needed to monkey-climb a wall with that weight... the durability that came with it...
Meanwhile, the rooftop crowd was shoving each other toward the narrow doorway to escape inside. Fed up, I roared.
"Calm down and go in, calmly! No rush—we just bought some breathing room, so take it easy!"
My fame helps in moments like this. The panicking group all turned to me, eyes widening in shock. They clocked the ogre was gone too, and decided to follow my lead.
Finally, they filed in orderly-like. One even recognized me and had the leisure to cheer.
"You got this, Hunter Kim Geuk! Incheon forever!"
Chanting some victory spell, so I joined in.
"Incheon forever!"
Right now, I desperately wanted that spell to work. Even I knew this wasn't gonna be easy.
Glanced below the railing—yep, the ogre was up and fine.
Farther off, I spotted the boar monster I'd ditched earlier too.
Seemed confused by my sudden disappearance, snuffling around like before.
Once it confirmed I was gone, it shifted to hunting prey proper. Turning toward the city depths, where people would be thickest. I'd deliberately shown myself to block it earlier, but now that effort was about to go to waste.
That's when the ogre spotted me. Knew what a gun was, apparently, since I was aiming. It raised a huge palm to shield its face. My autocannon rounds punched through the hand but didn't tag the mug.
Mid my sustained fire, the ogre counterattacked. Grabbed a parked compact car beside it and hurled it my way. Had to cut shooting and dodge.
Meanwhile, the boar kept heading city-center. Worn out from all the charges, maybe—it'd slowed some, but still terrifyingly fast.
Would be great if Naito-san could lure the boar again like before, buying me time to handle this psycho monkey first. But looked unlikely.
Naito-san had clearly assessed the sitch and was trying to reel the boar back anyway.
"Come on! Come on!"
Blasting his bike's music max volume, shotgun blazing wildly to grab the boar's attention—but no dice. Unlike before, it ignored him glued to its tail.
Probably 'cause it'd tasted my autocannon rounds fresh. Compared to the barrage that left its body streaming blood, Naito-san's noisy-but-shallow shots were ignorable. It'd learned.
The boar blew past Naito-san, barreling toward the city.
The ogre was bad news too, but I couldn't ignore that thing. Mental net scan showed escapee cars clogging the road ahead. Leave it be, and they'd get trampled underhoof.
Meantime, the ogre kept chucking stuff at me. A roadside tree was about to flatten some guy next to me. I snap-kicked it aside and yelled at him.
"Why aren't you dodging?!"
The guy stammered in a fluster.
"Trying to film..."
"Film what in this mess?!"
"I'm a Kim Geuk stan..."
I started to yell but just nodded helplessly. Fan's a fan.
He grinned awkwardly, then asked nervously.
"So... what now? Can't leave that one alone either, but if you go deal with it, we're all dead up here..."
My answer was short.
"Gotta handle both. Obviously."
As he went "Whoa," I vaulted the railing.
Thud. Dropped straight to street level, no teleport. Landed right in front of the ogre as it reared back to yeet another tree, and bellowed.
"Follow me, you fucker!"
It did. Charged like a pissed gorilla. I charged back.
But it was way, way faster. About to get caught, so I teleported away, widening the gap, then yelled again.
"Come on, fucker!"
The ogre obeyed again. Dodged its catch-up with another teleport—and spotted the boar ahead.
Behind me, the ogre skidded to a halt.
Just like that, I was sandwiched between two giant monsters. They froze, registering each other.
Impulse hit: pit them against one another. I fired my Hunter rifle at the boar's face.
As expected, the enraged boar couldn't hold back and charged. Right toward the ogre... shit.
No game or comic bullshit here. The ogre parkoured off a nearby building to evade the rush, then zeroed in on me—the culprit.
I snap-fired at it, but the ogre knew tools. Shoved an adjacent truck into a rolling shield and barreled at me. I sidestepped, and it whipped the truck my way. Barely dove clear.
Both monsters rushed my sprawled form. Death loomed—I teleported up, rolled to my feet, and bolted again.
Meantime, the radio I'd been ignoring spat out someone yelling.
"I'm on scene! Hang in there, help's coming!"
Didn't catch who or have time to ask. Too busy saving my skin.
Had these damn beasts hung with Behemoth or something? No infighting—instead, they coordinated. Boar blocked the avenue to trap me while the ogre leaped in.
Its house-sized arm swung, ignoring perspective, blotting my vision.
Teleported clear. Dizzy as hell. Overdid it earlier, worse now.
Still had to keep moving.
Watched the boar for openings while dodging the ogre's endless throws and charges. Endured.
Tried max evasion, but unavoidable hits meant teleporting—dizziness ramped up. Fought through it.
Shook off the urge to bail into a building. Save my ass, and they'd split off, turning the city into hell.
Held out, betting reinforcements would come—like the radio said. Tank or chopper, whatever.
About five minutes of scraping by later.
A thick Incheon accent pierced my ears.
"Told you I'd come for sure!"
I whipped around, eyes widening.
Two Hunters had arrived as backup.
First, Naito-san on his silver bike—he'd vanished earlier. And he wasn't alone.
Riding tandem on that beast of a bike.
The passenger was a brown-skinned guy. Bike halted, he hopped off in a hurry.
Rushed here, still rocking shades—he chucked them and surveyed the chaos, spitting what had to be a curse.
"Điên!"
Then shouldered his Hunter rifle and aimed. That alone told me who he was.
Awakener Hunter. Vietnamese. Nguyen.
One thing I knew about foreign Awakener Hunters: skill might vary, but their guts were ironclad. Not cherry-picked—just cheaper than locals, so cities throw them in first when shit hits the fan.
True to his veteran stripes, Nguyen didn't hesitate at the mess. He grinned, flashing bright teeth.
Didn't know why, but grinning beat cowering. Meant he was game to act.
I bellowed at him.
"Pig fucker! Lure the pig fucker off somewhere!"
Dunno if he understood or just read the room—he did it.
Nguyen aimed at the boar and opened up. Dr-r-ruk— His Hunter rifle looked like a 34kg model; weaker than mine, but still brutal.
Sure enough, a few hits and the boar squealed like a stuck pig, wheeling to charge him.
Nguyen bolted the opposite way.
Word was, Nguyen had force field exoskeleton plus acceleration awakened. Downside: nerves don't speed up, so he struggles to handle his own pace. But that run was plenty to outpace the boar.
Nguyen and his pursuer started pulling away.
I turned to the ogre. Finally, just us two.
You fucking piece of shit. Time to die.
As it lunged, I teleported. To my Hunter team.
"Bro? Heard two big ones showed and you tanked 'em solo—is that right?"
Seong Mun-yeong looked like he wanted to ask more, but no time. I slammed my Hunter rifle down and yelled.
"Mag change, now!"
Grabbed the spare warhammer they always carried for me. Teleported.
Toop of the tallest nearby building.
Leaped off the high roof toward the ground. Gravity yanked; pavement rushed up.
Right before impact, teleported again. Where to this time?
Atop the ogre's head.
It didn't notice me overhead. No dodge, no raised palm.
Fall acceleration loaded, I smashed the warhammer down full force into its skull.