The Wounded Beast
With the civilians in tow, we began moving toward the objective. The air at my back felt completely different. Nerves already stretched taut from watching for monsters, the countless stares drilling into my back made my shoulders stiffen on their own.
The civilians stayed silent. The woman with the bandage, the man with the splint, even the lightly injured one whose hair had stood on end—they all walked with their mouths shut tight, eyes fixed on my back. The weight of their mingled hope and fear pressed heavier than any gun barrel.
Have I ever moved this tense before?
Definitely not. Most of the time I fought monsters at accident sites or places already evacuated. Never once had I escorted injured civilians straight through monster territory on foot. In normal fights I only had to watch what was in front of me. Now I had to watch both the monsters ahead and the civilians behind, so my mind was working twice as fast as usual.
Stay calm, Myungmin… calm.
If I stayed calm, the civilians would feel safe, and Spica right behind me, Sirius and Felis on the flanks, even Belpe watching from the rooftops could keep their usual rhythm. When the leader wavers, the team wavers. When the team wavers, civilians die. I couldn’t let anyone see Big Mama rattled.
I consciously steadied my breathing and eased the tension from the arm holding the shield. Too much force would only slow my reactions.
Just then, Belpe’s voice came through the headset.
[Mama. Three monsters ahead. Two more chasing from behind.]
Three in front, two behind. We could handle the front, but if the ones behind reached us, the civilians would be directly exposed. The decision took less than a second.
“Take care of the ones behind.”
[Understood, Mama.]
Bang! Bang!
Two dry gunshots rang out from somewhere on the rooftops before Belpe even finished speaking. The time between report, order, and shot was barely a single breath. Impressive, but for Belpe it was just another day.
The moment the shots echoed, the footsteps behind me faltered. The steady rhythm of civilian feet broke into uneven stumbles, and someone swallowed a small scream. They must have flinched at the sudden gunfire. In the middle of a monster zone, hearing gunshots would terrify anyone. If their steps scattered, the formation would stretch, and someone could slip outside our protection.
While I hesitated over whether to look back, Spica moved first. She slipped toward the rear through the middle of the line, her voice reaching me faintly through the headset.
“It’s all right. Our teammate handled it. Just keep walking at your own pace.”
Calm and low. The same tone she’d used at the training ground when treating the lightly injured. Her words worked. The scattered footsteps gradually found their rhythm again. I could tell without turning around.
Good job. Really good.
She hadn’t needed instructions. She noticed the civilians growing uneasy, stepped out of formation to soothe them, and confirmed their steps had steadied. Still a rookie in combat, but when it came to looking after people, she was already the best on the team.
Without taking my eyes off the front, I quickened my pace toward the three monsters Belpe had reported. The windows of the building designated as the helicopter rendezvous point were coming into view when—
Crash!
A loud impact came from the side of the building, followed by frantic running footsteps. Not boots. Sneakers, or maybe slippers. Civilian footsteps.
“Halt. It’s people.”
I gave the short order and stepped forward, raising my shield to cover that direction.
[Understood, Mama.]
Sirius and Felis quickly scanned left and right, then turned toward the building entrance while keeping their muzzles lowered. Their ears stood straight up, both pointing in the same direction. That confirmed my guess. Their hearing could easily tell the difference between monster and human footsteps.
A moment later the side door burst open and a family came running out. A man carrying a child, a woman clutching the man’s clothes from behind. All three faces were deathly pale. The way the man’s arms trembled as he held the child told me how long they’d been hiding before making their dash.
“Spica. Check their condition.”
[Understood, Mama.]
Spica left the line and approached the family. She checked the child’s face first, then the scratches on the woman’s arm. The sight was becoming familiar.
Leaving the family to Spica, I turned my attention forward again. The noise they’d made while running might have drawn nearby monsters. Sure enough—
“Kyaaak!”
“Kiaaak!”
Monster shrieks echoed from up ahead, growing rapidly closer. The three Belpe had reported were reacting to the family’s noise and charging this way.
“Engage as soon as they’re in sight.”
[Understood, Mama.]
Sirius and Felis raised their rifles, eyes fixed on the road ahead. Then the monsters appeared. The moment I saw the three creatures burst from the alley, I almost laughed.
Long bodies moving on all fours, powerful hind legs coiled to launch them, flat faces with mouths torn wide open.
Where have I seen that before?
They looked like grotesque, bloated, twisted versions of Felis’s distant cousins. I swallowed the joke I would never say out loud.
Felis… they’re not actually related, right…?
While I was thinking that, the three cat monsters gathered strength in their hind legs and launched themselves off the ground at the same time. They soared to the height of a second-story building, claws extended, arcing toward us through the air. Their jumping power was impressive, but once they were airborne and defenseless, they were nothing more than targets.
Bang bang! Tat-tat!
Gunfire erupted from both wings at once. Sirius fired two shots, Felis two more. The bullets struck the ugly faces of the monsters that had spread their claws wide in midair. The first one took a round straight through the forehead, head snapping back as it fell limply. The second’s temple burst almost simultaneously, sending it spinning downward. The third only grazed its jaw and let out a shriek, its trajectory wobbling, but another shot caught it in the throat before it could land, slamming it into the asphalt.
Three ugly cat faces painted red lay side by side. Their aerial tactic had one fatal flaw: once they jumped, they couldn’t change direction.
Cats always land on all fours—when they’re still alive, that is.
[Clear.]
[Clear.]
Sirius and Felis reported in turn. I glanced back. The civilians had paused for a moment, but Spica was already guiding the new family into the line, saying, “It’s all right, you can keep walking.” Soon the footsteps resumed.
No other monsters were stupid enough to charge us after the five we’d just dealt with. The rest of the move passed without further contact. Belpe’s reports stayed calm.
[Nothing ahead.]
[Left alley clear.]
Aside from occasional short updates on other teams’ engagements, there was nothing special to report. The civilians’ footsteps followed behind me in a much steadier rhythm than before.
Smooth. When things went this smoothly, it usually made me uneasy—that was an occupational hazard in this line of work—but sometimes smooth was just smooth.
Then, after a long silence, Headquarters spoke through the headset.
[Attention all teams. Rescue helicopter arrives in ten minutes. Repeating: helicopter in ten minutes.]
I hadn’t expected to be this glad to hear their voice. I relayed the message to the whole team.
“Helicopter in ten minutes. No need to rush.”
The other members would understand, but this was really for Spica and the civilians. Give people a time limit and they instinctively grew impatient. Movies and dramas had drilled the “escape before time runs out” cliché into everyone, so hearing “ten minutes” made them feel like they had to run. But reality wasn’t a movie.
“The helicopter will keep circling until every civilian is evacuated.”
This wasn’t some bomb-plant-and-run operation. There was no cold “if you miss the window, you’re left behind.” The Hunter Association wasn’t the type to abandon non-awakened or civilians—I knew that from personal experience.
If they were that heartless, they wouldn’t have sent us here in the first place.
Well… that was also why I had a job.
Through the headset I heard Spica passing my words to the civilians, her voice a little clearer now.
“The helicopter will keep waiting. You don’t have to hurry.”
Her guidance sounded more natural than before. I smiled faintly.
The target building was right in front of us. As we reached the entrance of the two-story structure, I stopped and peered through the glass doors. The lobby had a reception desk and a few chairs. Dust coated the floor, but there were no broken windows, overturned furniture, or signs that monsters had entered. The civilians hadn’t taken shelter here, which probably explained why no monsters drawn by human scent had gathered either.
Looks clean from the outside, but…
Looks could be deceiving. The museum entrance had been intact too, yet the inside had been crawling with monsters. I’d learned plenty today that the most dangerous place was always inside the building.
“I’ll go in and check.”
[Understood. Be careful, Mama.]
Sirius’s worried voice came through the headset. Felis silently swung her muzzle to cover both sides of the entrance. I secured the shield on my left arm and raised the shotgun in my right hand.
The glass door wasn’t locked. As it creaked open, air from inside drifted out—no monster stench, only dust and the concrete smell of an old building.
The interior was quiet, just as expected. I moved down the hallway past the lobby without sensing any monster presence. No broken glass, no overturned furniture. Too clean.
Monsters everywhere outside, yet this building untouched? Something’s off.
I’d assumed no monsters came because there were no civilians, but with every step deeper inside, the feeling that there was another reason grew stronger. What if the lower-class monsters outside hadn’t simply avoided this building—what if they couldn’t enter?
When the end of the hallway came into view, I found the answer.
Grrrrr…
A low, heavy growl rolled across the floor from the darkness. It was nothing like the sharp shrieks of the lower monsters we’d fought earlier. The voice was so deep the floor vibrated faintly beneath my boots. As my eyes adjusted, the creature’s outline emerged.
…Big.
Its body was easily twice the size of the monsters we’d dealt with. It crouched in the wide space at the end of the hall, its back almost touching the ceiling. Spikes jutted from its spine. It stood on all fours, weight forward, ready to charge at any moment. Its eyes glowed in the dark, fixed on me.
But…
Large holes riddled its body. Bullet wounds—not from shotguns or rifles. Those were the kind of massive entry wounds you got from heavy military weapons: heavy machine guns or anti-materiel sniper rifles. It had taken a beating at the blockade line and crawled here to hide. That explained why the smaller monsters outside hadn’t dared approach the building.
A wounded predator hiding in its den. Same principle.
“What? You want a round with me?”
The spikes on its back trembled slightly. A warning. Come closer and it would shoot. I took one deliberate step forward.
Shhhk! Shhhk! Shhhk!
The moment my foot touched down, the creature hunched its back and launched three spikes straight at me. Fast, but in a straight line.
Ting! Ting!
They struck the shield and bounced off with clear metallic rings, sparks flying but leaving not a single scratch.
Just monster bone spikes?
No matter how strong monsters were, bone was still bone. This shield had stopped far harder things.
While it recovered from firing, I pressed the shotgun tight against the side of my shield.
“My turn.”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three times I pulled the trigger. High-explosive rounds slammed into its massive torso in bursts of blue flame. The already-ravaged wounds around its body ignited, its skin beginning to burn. Lower monsters would have had their heads blown off by one or two shots, but this one stayed standing after three. Instead it let out a terrible scream.
“KRRRAAAAAAAAGH!!!”
The roar shook the entire building. It kicked off the floor with all four legs and charged straight at me. Its speed was nothing like the smaller monsters. Tiles shattered beneath its claws, dust billowing, the wind of its massive body rushing past the edge of my shield.
Hah. I was waiting for this.
Running targets were annoying to catch, but charging ones were welcome.
Coming to feel Mama’s warm touch?
I set the shotgun down and thrust my left arm—shield and all—forward to meet the charge. At the same time I focused on my empty right hand. Healing light spread from my fingertips across my palm and up to my wrist. My entire right hand began to glow brightly. In the dark hallway the light cast shifting shadows on the walls. The charging monster’s eyes caught the glow; its pupils trembled slightly.
But it didn’t stop. A wounded predator’s charge was pure instinct.
Good. Come here.
I raised my shining right hand and waited behind the shield for the beast to reach me.