Chapter 9
Chapter 9
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: National Disaster Grade VS National Disaster Grade
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Why was the 'Smiling Monster Incident' called the worst event since the founding of Korea?
The reason was simple.
It was because, just as in the original story ten years prior, the current forces here were utterly insufficient to stop the Angel.
Rolling would lose to the Angel, and the naval base—including Uncle Lee Seok-gyu—would be annihilated by it.
That was the original history.
So the moment Rolling was pinned by the ring of light, I rushed outside and started running.
Of course, still in my transformed state.
They said the only advantage of a Monsterization Hunter was stats that could reach up to 19.
Skimming across the water's surface at overwhelming speed was a piece of cake.
Leaping into Busan Port like that, I arrived right before the original desperate history could unfold.
"Grrr..."
"Ha, ha..."
I came face-to-face with the Angel—the trigger of it all.
"The Jamsil Monster has made contact with the Angel!"
"Two humanoid monsters...?"
"Korea... at least Busan is done for now...!"
The naval base, watching the two humanoid monsters practically nose-to-nose on the monitors, was too exhausted even for despair.
"Rolling..."
Even Lee Seok-gyu slumped down, drained by the appearance of two humanoid monsters.
But unlike her father...
"...Fighting."
For some reason.
Sophia couldn't view that newly appeared pitch-black monster negatively, though she didn't know why.
"Protect Mom, Monster Uncle!"
With pure-hearted sincerity, she clasped her hands tightly and prayed fervently.
And that prayer definitely reached its mark.
The next moment, the scene unfolding beyond the monitors left the naval base—and even the U.S. forces on the carrier deck witnessing it firsthand—utterly dumbfounded.
"The monster..."
"Attacked..."
"The monster...?"
The Jamsil Monster had smashed its fist into the Angel's face before it could even react.
Uncle Lee Seok-gyu.
Admiral Talisman.
The Navy Chief of Staff.
And even Rolling right behind them—all were stunned in that instant.
Before fighting a monster, as a veteran, I would normally analyze its movements, traits, and attack patterns first.
However.
"Huff, huff..."
Auntie Rolling.
The woman who, though she adopted me because of her daughter, had treated me like her own flesh and blood—my first mother.
Seeing her endure such pain twisted my expression.
"Kyaha... Guh?!"
Boom-!
"Raaargh!!"
My body reacted before my head, and I lost all reason, roaring like a true monster as I slammed my fist into its face.
Thanks to its humanoid form, it had a pretty face—until my punch made blood spray from its nose, sending it flying all the way to the edge of the deck.
"Kyaha... hahaha!"
It nearly plummeted into the sea but barely spread its wings to fly up and escape the crisis.
But the damage was done.
"Puhak...!?"
I could see it staggering, vomiting blood from its mouth instead of laughing.
It must have hurt bad, because even the rings of light binding the deck's soldiers vanished on their own.
'No spare attention for anything else, huh?'
"Hunter! Are you alright?!"
"We'll come support you right away!"
"...! Back off for now. The Angel got knocked away, but there's still another monster here!"
"Ah...!"
The now-freed soldiers rushed to rescue Auntie Rolling first but abruptly halted.
They turned to me, faces drenched in sweat.
But that was it.
Whoosh.
"?!"
"The monster..."
"Is making way...?"
My target was only that Angel bastard.
I couldn't let Auntie or the soldiers get caught in our fight.
So I deliberately walked toward the edge of the deck where the Angel had risen, naturally putting distance between us.
"N-Now! Hurry!"
"Hunter, let me help you!"
"Ah, yes... thank you..."
The soldiers sprang into action again, supporting Auntie and trying to lead her inside.
'Phew. Good.'
As I sighed in relief...
"Be careful!"
"Grk?"
Auntie Rolling shouted from the passage connecting to the interior.
The moment I turned to see what was wrong...
Vmmm.
"Grk?!"
"Kyahahahaha!"
In my moment of carelessness, my body was pinned by the Angel's ring of light.
And as if waiting, a massive shadow blotting out the sky began enveloping me.
"That thing...!"
"Insane..."
From a ring of light half the size of the carrier, a giant hand emerged, clenching into a fist and crashing down toward me.
"Rolling! Get inside now!"
Kwaaaang-!!
The entire carrier lurched violently.
Thankfully, everyone had evacuated inside beforehand, so Rolling and the soldiers survived by flattening themselves to the floor.
Even the naval base watching via monitors felt the faint shockwave.
Unbelievable—it was an earthquake caused in an instant by a single creature's power.
"To unleash such massive energy waves...!"
"This is the National Disaster-grade monster we've only heard about..."
"Did the monsters' mutual destruction fail too?"
No matter what, we had to deal with that Angel here and now.
But the moment they saw its true power, the naval base's resolve crumbled before its overwhelming vitality.
'Just one rank above A-grade makes that much difference...!'
Even Army Chief of Staff Lee Seok-gyu, with national-power-level hunter strength, was breaking a cold sweat when...
"Not yet."
"Sophia?"
"Monster Uncle hasn't... fallen yet!"
Sophia declared confidently at the monitor, standing tall alone.
And she was right.
"Oh my god...!"
In the carrier's mess hall, turned into pandemonium by the tilt, Admiral Talisman rose again and gasped unwittingly at the deck scene on screen.
"Grrr...!"
"Kyaha?!"
The Angel, about to laugh in victory, clamped its mouth shut in terror.
The deck, designed to withstand any modern weapon's impact, was on the verge of shattering.
Yet the pitch-black monster stood firm after taking a house-sized fist like divine punishment from the heavens.
Its head had only dipped slightly from the direct hit.
It was unscathed.
"Rooooaaar-!!"
Then it bellowed.
Crack.
It brutally tore apart the light ring binding it with sheer force, then squatted, cracking the deck further into a crater.
Thud.
Gathering power in its legs, it launched upward, piercing the fist that tried to crush it and reaching right beneath the Angel in a blink.
"Raaaaargh!"
What happened next was obvious.
Without time to react, it drove its knee into the Angel's abdomen.
The force pierced the air, through the Angel's body, and shot skyward.
"My god..."
"The sky...!"
It punched straight through the thunderclouds passing high above the carrier.
"The thunderclouds over Busan Port... vanished."
"It changed the weather...?"
"This is too ridiculous..."
Both the naval base and the carrier interior were dumbfounded, like mountains beyond mountains, by the emergence of a monster beyond even a National Disaster-grade.
Whatever.
Normally, it'd be time to die around now.
But as expected, the monster rated the worst even up to the original story's end since Korea's founding.
"Kya, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!"
Growing mid-battle was supposed to be the protagonist's privilege.
But the Angel didn't stop at regenerating its burst abdomen—it even sprouted a new pair of wings from its back.
"I-Incredible..."
"What happened?"
"Entity Angel's stats are rising further..."
"What?!"
"We can only measure agility with the observation radar right now, but the numbers...! Eek?!"
"Angel's agility has risen! To a whopping 15!"
"What..."
"It jumped by 2 points in one go?!"
It summoned the light ring that had bound others right to its lips and started munching on it voraciously.
Then, bony, skeletal arms—thin and creepy, replacing wings on its front—sprouted out.
The next instant.
Whoosh.
The Angel vanished from the screen.
"Kyaha!"
"Grk?!"
Its supersonic fist slammed into the pitch-black monster's abdomen, sending both crashing back down below the carrier deck.
What followed was a true spectacle.
The pitch-black monster couldn't even stand properly, tucking its soles inward and keeping its arms at its waist, unable to lift them.
In contrast, the Angel whipped its arms like lashes, casually generating sonic booms, hell-bent on shredding its kin before it.
"It's over."
"Yes. Seems so."
"Then I'll volunteer as the next to face it."
The naval base was already certain of the outcome and moved to select who would challenge the Angel after the Jamsil Monster.
Without consulting anyone, Lee Seok-gyu nominated himself.
"Dad..."
"Sophia. Dad will bring Mom back safe. Just wait a bit, okay?"
Before heading out, he knelt on one knee before his calling daughter, soothing his beloved child with fatherly tenderness.
"Not that. Look there..."
But following Sophia's finger pointing beyond him to the screen...
"Kyaha!? Kyahahahaha?!?!"
Lee Seok-gyu's pleased smile froze, mouth agape.
Meanwhile, in the carrier mess hall facing Rolling, Admiral Talisman noted the pitch-black monster's posture amid the blows—visible on the monitor before her and the soldiers.
Soles tucked inward in a triangle, weight centered low: the Sanchin Stance.
"What do you think, Miss Rolling? My stance matches that monster's on the monitor exactly, right?"
"Yes... identical..."
"Hm. That confirms it."
This was the most basic stance of a certain 'martial art'.
Always advancing.
Always unyielding.
Always enduring.
Powerless justice is incompetence.
Justiceless power is violence—that martial art proclaimed.
A single flower blooming from enduring pain.
"Kyahahak?!"
The Angel, revived from death and evolved.
Even it realized, as its swung arms—the ones that thought victory was won since the pitch-black monster just took the hits without resisting—broke instead, why.
Dodging attacks was never an option for it from the start.
"Entity Angel's arms..."
"Completely torn off! Presumed destroyed!"
"The attacker took damage instead...?"
The naval base HQ was aghast.
But Admiral Talisman, who had served with U.S. forces in Japan and knew well this martial art that taught taking hits first—unlike others...
"To endure like that. I don't know how it learned this art, but as a fellow practitioner... impressive."
He'd learned it too but could never use it in real combat.
Watching the monster perfectly execute that Kyokushin, the admiral could only admire.
The next moment.
"Grk?"
'Is it over?'
"Kyak?!"
Just as the armless Angel tried flying skyward again.
I pinned its instep to prevent escape.
"Grrr."
'I endured.'
"Grk. Grk."
'Now it's your turn.'
To truly end this.
This thing that would have crushed one nation's dreams and future.
I loaded everything into one fist and blasted the howling Angel's face.
Kyokushin Karate - Straight Punch
Basic Technique
Pang.
The sound was neither too loud nor too soft—just a small whoosh piercing the wind, insignificant compared to fighter jet noise.
Yet, as with a butterfly's wingbeat birthing a typhoon.
The blow that exploded the Angel's head pierced straight through the carrier deck.
"The, the sea...!"
It perfectly cleaved Busan Port's vast waters in half all the way to the horizon.