Chapter 9
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 009
Chapter Title: Rock Spirit - [2]
-----------------------------------------------------------------
43-year-old Im Hyeong-taek was the type who could grovel as much as needed when the situation called for it—you could tell just from how he fawned over me. But he wasn't sleazy or underhanded.
He carried his own sense of responsibility as the eldest. Even in this hallucination, with everyone else keeping their mouths shut, he was the only one to speak up.
"Kim Geuk-ssi, Teleportation..."
In the hallucination, I mumbled a hesitant reply without taking my eyes off that monstrous concrete beast.
"With Teleportation, I can't even evacuate half the people here."
"Not that. Use Teleportation to go to the Association and grab a Hunter Rifle. Or a rocket launcher."
He was telling me to fetch a weapon that could take down that monster. Sounded like solid advice. Especially in a situation like this where I had no clue what to do—it gave clear direction.
"When you Teleport, take a few people with you if possible..."
At Im Hyeong-taek's words, I reached out toward him. Physical contact was required to Teleport together.
He knew that.
Smack. He slapped my hand away.
Im Hyeong-taek squeezed his eyes shut, bit his lip hard, and shook his head vigorously. Childish body language, but it carried an adult's firm refusal.
No time to admire it or ask if he meant something else.
Still keeping the concrete monster in the corner of my eye, I grabbed one academy trainee and the unnamed guy next to him.
Then I spread out my mental net. It was necessary for Teleporting to a spot outside my line of sight.
I tried to do it as quickly as possible, but tension—or maybe unfamiliarity with the area—made locking onto the destination harder than usual.
The one silver lining amid the chaos: the spirit just grinned at us without lunging right away.
Was it holding back out of caution toward me? Would it spring into action the second I left? Those thoughts flickered through my mind, but I was too busy Teleporting to let them change my actions.
Finally, coordinates locked. Teleportation engaged.
The entire background flipped.
Inside the Association building. The two I'd brought along were with me.
"Don't just stand there—report the situation now!"
I shouted as I bolted forward, yelling the whole way.
"Hunter Rifle! Where's the Hunter Rifle!"
I needed the heaviest firepower possible. A Hunter Rifle, heavier than an elementary school kid, ought to shred that concrete monster.
After frantic shouts and sprints, I finally clutched the prize: a 55kg Hunter Rifle.
Tried Teleporting back to that abandoned building with it, but as expected, pulling it off quickly was no easy feat.
Still, I managed somehow.
The abandoned building's interior came back into view. I fought down the surging dizziness.
Looked around to take stock.
Then an even worse wave hit—not from neural overload this time, but pure mental shock.
"Uh."
First in sight: Im Hyeong-taek, his neck stretched out long like a deer's. Then the crushed meat lumps linked to Jeong Jin-yeong's military boots.
Lee Jong-ho with both arms ripped clean off. Kim Jin-jun spilling brains. Seong Mun-yeong riddled with holes like he'd taken a shotgun blast at point-blank range. They all burned into my eyes one by one.
And the Rock Spirit responsible for it all grinned right at me.
Its concrete face was caked with blood and brains. The ex-hunter instructor hadn't been wrong. A cannibalistic maniac of a monster.
I instinctively leveled the Hunter Rifle at it, but the thing didn't give a damn. It had already secured its escape route.
Purple energy ripples behind the spirit.
First Gate I'd ever seen born, and even with all the emotions and metaphors spilling endlessly from it, I couldn't spare it a thought.
I tried squeezing the trigger with my index finger, but it wouldn't budge. The mental shock had hit too hard. My hand trembled; no strength in my fingers. What the hell was I doing? Pull it, pull it!
My Hunter Rifle roared just as the concrete monster's form crumbled. Not because the 30mm round was overwhelmingly potent.
Something translucent slipped free from the collapsing concrete. It got sucked straight into the Gate.
The monster that had succeeded in its hunt was heading back home.
The spirit's true body vanished beyond the Gate in a flash. The Gate shrank next.
Soon the Gate was gone too, leaving only me and the corpses too repulsive to even look at.
My consciousness got booted back to reality amid an ultrasonic bellow ripping from my throat.
As always after a hallucination ended, the emotions I'd felt lingered. Amid the greatest rage yet, I struggled for deep breaths.
It didn't go well.
Still, I had to stay calm. Lashing out unrestrained in anger would wreck everything. Just like the latter half of my life.
I now knew the source of all that past fury and despair. It didn't bring me joy. Fuck.
"Kim Geuk-ssi? Teleportation..."
Im Hyeong-taek's voice. I gave a curt reply.
"No."
"Not to run away—go to the Association and—"
He was about to issue orders. Probably to fetch a weapon that could handle the bastard.
In the hallucination, I'd listened to the old man. Not out of trust, but because I couldn't decide for myself what to do—so I'd followed someone else's call.
But the outcome had been shit. No choice but to make the call here.
"I said no. If I leave, everyone dies."
At my refusal, Im Hyeong-taek asked in a trembling voice.
"If we stay here, you got any plan?"
Who knows? Did I have a plan?
No idea.
I eyed the Rock Spirit. Four meters tall, nearly as wide—a concrete behemoth.
Weight class was absolute in combat sports. And that thing had to weigh several tons at least. Meaning it trained constantly with weights several times heavier than mine.
How insanely powerful would the strength dwelling in that massive frame be? How catastrophically destructive would that mass be when swung with such force?
No idea.
I was a superhuman with Physical Enhancement—maybe I'd have a shot at tussling with it?
No idea there either.
All that surfaced in my mind was the fact that even a super heavyweight fighter couldn't handle a 500kg gray bear.
"While I stare this fucker down, call the Association. Ask for backup..."
To bridge this gap, I needed a weapon. And all I had in hand was a scrawny K-1 loaded with blanks.
Damn it. Im Hyeong-taek's orders weren't entirely off-base. And the fact that even my best efforts had led to the worst outcome only deepened my despair.
I kept my eyes glued to the monster through all the calculations.
The monster did the same, staring right back.
Yeah, keep staring only at me, you piece of shit.
Its gaze mustn't shift to anyone else. Class had taught us Rock Spirits could solidify concretions inside living bodies. Brain blood vessels. Spinal cords. It couldn't do that to me.
The suffocating standoff dragged on. Neither the monster nor I budged.
Yeah, just like I lacked confidence in beating it, so did it. And I'd heard beasts don't pick fights with tough opponents—they back off.
I desperately hoped it'd retreat first.
Open your Gate and fuck off, please. Or let the Association send some other Awakener while we deadlock like this.
Praying inwardly, I heard footsteps. Someone was moving.
Who the hell? What're you doing?
Quick glance: an unnamed trainee, trying to slip out a window while the spirit and I locked eyes. We were on the sixth floor—hoping for a lucky survival?
But beasts never let prey just run.
The Rock Spirit's eyes shifted to the poor bastard...
"Uh."
A short gasp escaped the trainee as he staggered. Looked like the spirit had hardened something inside him.
He collapsed, blood pouring from his nose. Then a sharp hic—someone gulping air pierced my ears.
Gasp followed gasp. Then screams erupted.
"Fuuuuck!"
The screams seemed to paralyze everyone's reason. Or maybe it was just frantic scrambling to find hiding spots from the spirit's killing gaze.
Either way, the trainees scattered every which way.
And it was bad. Their prey-like movements hyped up the monster.
The Rock Spirit kicked off the ground. The time I'd been gone via Teleportation hadn't been long, but watching its speed now, I understood how it'd slaughtered everyone and opened a Gate so fast.
Chimps could hit 40 km/h—way faster than humans, on par with peak Usain Bolt.
A 4-meter, several-ton Usain Bolt charged full tilt at one trainee. Who?
Seong Mun-yeong.
He bulged his eyes at the spirit barreling toward him.
"Argh, fuck, argh!"
Mid-roar, Seong Mun-yeong squeezed his eyes shut, then popped them open. Even as I grabbed his arm, he blinked wildly, struggling to grasp the situation.
I gritted my teeth. The aftereffects of back-to-back Teleports were more bearable than expected—thank god.
"Quit fucking around and hide behind the pillar, asshole!"
I shoved Seong Mun-yeong aside and snatched up a tool from below.
A sledgehammer, probably discarded mid-demolition of this building. Wasn't too heavy.
Meanwhile, the spirit eyed me. Its smile was gone; it looked pissed at whiffing its prey.
I stared back. Felt the exact same. I'd been holding in the rage since the hallucination ended.
Standoff over. Both of us riled up now.
"Me too! Me too!"
I ignored the pleas and screams for evacuation.
Gripped the handle tight.
And for a split second, that sudden sucking sensation—like being pulled somewhere. Felt familiar. Like when I'd mastered firing without aiming...
I snapped back to reality just as the spirit charged.
As the Rock Spirit barreled toward me, I swung the sledgehammer in a huge arc.
To anyone nearby, it might've looked like a desperate flail from too far away to connect. The monster probably read it the same. Prime opening for attack.
The Rock Spirit closed in. As its boulder-like shoulder shifted, I focused my mind.
No need for the mental net on in-sight Teleports. Made them way easier and faster.
Just as its murder punch thrust out, I was behind it.
And the sledgehammer I'd started swinging pre-Teleport? It finished its arc right on target.
The knee assembled from concrete chunks.
Bam! The impact thundered; the feedback numbed my hands. Stone chips flew off its knee and peppered my face.
Ignored it and hammered away. Bam! Bam! Two hits, three—the concrete forming one leg was nearly gone.
One more and it'd be smashed clean. But it wasn't about to let me.
Its upper body spun. Arms whipped around to smash me. Even a graze would've pulped me.
I Teleported mid-downswing with the sledgehammer.
Line of sight flipped—my feet landed on the spirit's now-stilled shoulder.
At the same instant, the fully swung sledgehammer crashed into its head.
Downward strikes let you load more power. Bam!