Chapter 8
Translator: uly
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: National Power Level VS National Disaster Level
Entity Name: Angel reacted the instant it came under attack.
Spreading the massive wings sprouting from its back instead of the small ones on its arms, it leaped straight into the air.
"That thing..."
"It's planning to take this to the skies!"
The carrier's crew and the naval base headquarters stared in shock at the Angel as it assumed its stance for the first time.
The time it took for fighter jets to start up, take off, and break the sound barrier?
Roughly two minutes.
In contrast, the Angel had rocketed into the sky with a sonic boom in a mere three seconds.
It was overwhelming.
And thanks to the creature taking to the air, the naval base's high-output detectors swiftly calculated the Angel's specs.
"Navy Chief of Staff, sir! We've just measured Entity Name: Angel's Agility stat!"
"Agility stat: 113!"
"What?! 113?!"
"...! Rolling...!"
I held my breath upon hearing the report alongside everyone else.
In Hunters Blood, the maximum stat was 20, but the game's practical cap was 10.
Communities buzzed with talk like that—double-digit stats were so rare for monsters or humans alike that they were practically mythical.
Even my final stats, forged through relentless effort and luck, had only hit 14.
'And this thing's Agility is 113...?'
What kind of monstrous freak was this?
It was on a level that could've appeared in the original story's late-game finale.
Sure enough.
Shwooo. Shing.
Rolling, who had been standing on the deck, was nowhere to be seen. She was darting her eyes everywhere, pursuing the Angel that had shattered the sound barrier and warped the air itself.
But she was doomed to fail soon.
Agility stat of 113.
That fact alone plunged the entire naval base into a pit of despair, like a death sentence.
How the hell were they supposed to beat something like that?
But.
"Pretty fast one, huh."
In the midst of it all, only Lee Seok-gyu—holding his daughter Sophia against his chest—responded with calm nonchalance.
No, not nonchalance. It was faith in his wife.
Screeeeech.
As if responding to her husband's trust.
Kwachik!
"Wh-what? Wh-what the...?"
"Gotcha."
The gear she'd doffed for family harmony.
The armament that had once granted her national power-level strength at the cost of her life—White Tiger.
Zero point two seconds to break the sound barrier.
The Angel, diving from the sky to target Rolling, got countered instead. Its solar plexus was utterly pierced by the massive lance.
"N-no way...!"
The U.S. troops in the mess hall at the sight.
"Th-this can't be...!"
"How does a Commander Hunter have that kind of power?"
The base personnel monitoring the fight were all dumbstruck.
Only Rolling... no.
Only Lee Seok-gyu, who knew the Assassin Hunter Rolling from her days dubbed "Swiftness," smirked.
"Critical hit confirmed on Entity Name: Angel!"
"Rolling's momentary Agility stat... 114?!"
"Agility 114! Top five among all humanity in raw speed!"
"Of course. That's my wife and Sophia's mom!"
Lee Seok-gyu boomed with laughter at the frantic base personnel.
Agility stat of 114?
Like everyone at the base, I was left stunned, mouth agape.
The carrier crew was probably reacting the same way.
"Mom's amazing! So cool! Like Superman!"
"Haha. Yeah?"
Was it over?
The Angel on the monitor had a gaping hole through its solar plexus.
Even a national disaster-class monster couldn't survive a wound like that.
Guess I wouldn't need to step in after all.
...That's what I thought, blissfully unaware.
Unaware why this incident would be called the worst in Korea's history.
Or why it earned the moniker "The Laughing Monster Incident."
"Not yet!"
It was the moment when everyone at the naval base and carrier—stretching, high-fiving, hugging in relief—froze.
And at the same time.
"Kya... kyahahahaha..."
"Ngh?!"
Despite the fatal wound.
Rolling, sensing instinctively it wasn't over, yanked out the lance from its solar plexus.
"Kyahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah-!!"
The monster finally laughed, just as recorded after its extermination.
Its elegant feminine face split at the corners, black eyes without pupils glaring wide as it unleashed a bone-chilling cackle.
At the same time, white flesh buds sprouted from the gaping hole in its chest, regenerating the wound on its own.
"That’s..."
"Regeneration?!"
A national disaster-class monster with regeneration to boot.
Everyone on the carrier and at the base swallowed in terror.
All but one.
Rolling stood defiant before it.
"Done barking?"
"Kya?"
"Then here I go."
"Rolling!!"
Lee Seok-gyu, watching his wife through the monitor, yelled with a bad feeling.
But she just turned and smiled.
"It's fine. I'll win for sure and come back."
Facing forward again, she prepared her 0.2-second sound-barrier burst.
A lance strike flew straight at the Angel's head, which had been slowly pulling back distance.
However.
Here, a truth was revealed.
"Kyah!"
"Huh?"
"Th-that's...!"
The first shout from the monitors came from Admiral Talisman on the U.S. carrier.
His eyes locked on the 'ring of light' that halted the White Knight's lance mid-air—the one fighting for them.
And he realized.
"So that's the force that stopped our carrier...!"
Sure enough, the carrier's submerged hull was encircled and pinned by a massive version of that ring of light.
"What is this?! It won't budge at all!"
"Kyahahaha?"
The lance, fixed by the ring, hung frozen in mid-air no matter how much force she applied.
And in that moment of distraction on her weapon, the ring clamped directly onto Rolling herself.
"M-my body...!?"
"Rolling!!"
"Mom...?"
Everyone watching via monitor fell silent.
Only her husband cried out in a trembling voice, joined by his daughter's impending wail.
The next instant brought the agony of shattering bones and rupturing organs.
"Kyah!"
"Guhk?!"
A ring summoned right beside the Angel's head launched a fist from within, smashing precisely into Rolling's abdomen.
The binding ring shattered, sending her flying back into several parked fighters on the carrier deck before she finally stopped.
She rose immediately, but her condition was visibly dire.
"Rolling! That's enough! I'll go now! Where are you hiding?!"
"N-no, sir! You're weak in aerial combat from the start!"
"Shut it. I'm going. I have to go!!"
"Army Chief of Staff, calm down!"
"Someone help stop him quick!"
The base scrambled to restrain Lee Seok-gyu, who had set down Sophia and was about to swim across the sea.
"Hahk... hahk...!"
"Hunter!"
"We're here to fight too!"
U.S. troops, unable to stand by, flooded the deck armed to the teeth, ready as meat shields.
But.
"Kyahaha?"
"Ngh?!"
Ziiing.
Not a single one of the hundreds of soldiers emerging on deck could fire even one monster-round.
They were all instantly fixed by the rings of light.
"Kyahahahahahaha."
"You bastard...! Khk?!"
If only they could dodge those immobilizing rings.
If they dragged it into a pure spec battle, maybe they could win.
But even as she thought that and tried to breach the speed wall again, Rolling crumpled like dashed hope—vomiting blood and dropping to one knee.
"Over...heat...?"
"Rolling! Stay put! Please! Don't push it further!!"
'Armament - White Tiger' was the treasure that awakened new potential in Rolling, the Commander Hunter—or so it seemed destined to end her.
Power always came at a price.
Her sync rate with the armament was overwhelmingly high, making her its chosen master. But she suddenly recalled the association's warning from when she received it.
"Rolling, listen carefully: Do not use Armament - White Tiger for more than five minutes."
"Huh? Why?"
"Because your body won't hold up beyond that. Though if you wanna die, go ahead and keep using it."
...Why was some old memory surfacing now, of all times?
"Is this what they call a life flashing before my eyes?"
Every bone in her body creaked like it was grinding.
Her vision blurred, veins bulging under her skin ready to burst.
Her left eye was already weeping blood tears from ruptured vessels.
But.
Still.
She had a job to do.
"Honey! Shin-woo! And Sophia!"
Good or bad, this would likely be her final charge.
Before it, Rolling glanced back one last time at her family watching her, on the verge of breaking the sound barrier again despite the pain.
Enduring it, she smiled as always and spoke her final words to them.
"I love you all. You know that, right?"
"Rolling! No! Rolling! Please! Don't! I'll do it! I'll go, so stop!!"
Her husband wailed, restrained by pleading soldiers, as she cut comms and assumed her stance.
Sophia, staring at her mom through the screen, glanced at her trembling father beside her and began to huddle and shake.
Normally, when she looked up again.
Sophia would have witnessed her mother's guts spilling out.
But in that terrified moment, one person flashed in her mind.
"Shin-woo...?"
The boy who always made her feel warm and safe—she missed him, calling his name on impulse.
"Rooooaaarrr-!!"
A massive roar echoed from the monitors.
At the same instant, new monster data popped on the naval base's radar.
"A-a new monster reaction approaching the carrier vicinity!!"
"...What?"
"Not just mountains beyond mountains—another monster after the Angel?"
"Yes! Scans show it's sprinting across the ocean...?"
"Humanoid size estimate! But its data... huh?"
Thud!
Before the briefing finished, it kicked off the sea surface and landed right before Rolling, who was primed for her charge.
"...! You...!"
Rolling's body went slack, death no longer imminent. The soldiers on deck held their breath.
Lee Seok-gyu and the others watching via monitor reacted the same.
Only Sophia gazed with sparkling eyes at the pitch-black monster evoking the Grim Reaper.
"This reaction matches perfectly the humanoid monster that vanished from Jamsil!"
The Jamsil humanoid thought gone.
The monster that had saved two of her subordinates.
"Kya... ha...?"
For the first time upon its arrival.
The laughter vanished from the Angel's lips.