Evolution (1)
The roar shook the air. “Gwoooaaar!”
A towering figure nearly two meters tall with dull teal skin. Its face was twisted into a savage scowl, lower fangs jutting out like daggers. A Forest Orc. A monster that should have been lurking inside a D-rank gate like an orc village was now rampaging through a department store, swinging a massive wooden club.
“Kyaaaaah!”
“S-save me!!”
People who spotted the creature screamed and fled in blind panic. The Forest Orc reacted to their frantic footsteps and terrified cries, immediately charging after them.
“Uwaaaaah!”
“Kyaaaaah!”
Everyone ran desperately to survive—employees, customers, it didn’t matter who. Then it happened.
“Get the fuck out of the way!”
Thud.
“Kyaa?!”
One of the fleeing people shoved the department store employee beside him. She tumbled to the floor.
“Graaaar!”
The Forest Orc stopped directly in front of the fallen woman.
“Khaaaak!”
It bellowed with clear delight at catching prey and hoisted the wooden club high overhead.
“Ah… aah…”
The employee’s face went white with the realization that she was about to die. Just as the club began its downward arc—
BAAAANG!!
Instead of the wet crunch of a skull being pulverized, the sharp ring of two solid objects colliding echoed in her ears.
“…Huh?”
Feeling no pain, she slowly opened her eyes.
Thud.
A white baseball cap with a black brim dropped right in front of her.
“…?”
She lifted her head. Standing before her was a woman with a bristling white tail held high and trembling, pointed wolf ears. She had stopped the orc’s enormous club with her bare body.
“Uh… uhh…”
Behind her stood a petite woman with green skin, whip wrapped around the orc’s arm as she yanked it backward to lessen the force.
Questions about their identities lasted only a second. The overwhelming relief of still being alive flooded her, followed by deep gratitude toward the ones who had saved her.
“Th-thank—”
Before she could finish, someone grabbed her from behind and pulled hard.
“Get back right now!”
A man’s voice. When she turned, she saw Park Jihun—the hunter known as the ‘Tamer’—gripping the back of her collar. He had been walking around with these very familiars earlier.
‘Ah…’
Only then did she realize the ones who had saved her were the goblin and beastwoman he kept with him.
“You’ll be safe once you reach this point. Evacuate immediately.”
Park Jihun spoke with a deadly serious face before turning to head back into the chaos.
“Th-thank you,” the employee called after him.
She had assumed she should thank the owner first, thinking he had ordered his familiars to rescue her. But Park Jihun shook his head.
“Thank Kar and Briana, not me. They rushed out and blocked it before I even noticed the damn thing.”
“Ah…”
They hadn’t been ordered. They had moved on their own. Which meant these monsters had chosen to save a human of their own free will.
‘No… not monsters. Familiars.’
They were no longer threats to humanity. They were protectors, almost like hunters themselves. Inside the employee’s heart, her view of them began to shift.
“Sunbae! Head to the fifth floor first. I’ll take everything from here downward. Look for any other hunters while you’re at it.”
Shin Jiyeon immediately gave orders the moment she confirmed the invading monster was a mere D-rank orc.
“Wouldn’t it be faster if I just fought?” Jihun asked.
She shook her head. “No. Saving lives comes first. Besides, you’re officially registered as F-rank. It’s correct to leave the heavy fighting to the higher-ranked hunters and focus on rescue operations. And you happen to have the most mobile personnel right now.”
When a gate went into overload and monsters spilled out, the standard procedure was for hunters of equal or higher rank to clear the escaped monsters, then enter the gate itself to close it. Lower-ranked hunters usually grouped up to prioritize civilian rescue. If monsters appeared, they either handled them in teams or received backup from higher-ranked hunters assigned to rescue duty.
In other words, Jihun was F-rank. Even with his boosted stats he was roughly D-rank at best, and he had exactly three usable personnel including himself. Right now it made sense for Shin Jiyeon to handle the front-line combat while Jihun and his familiars focused on rescue.
Of course, since this was a department store full of eyes, it was also a convenient way to keep anyone from discovering his rank was actually higher than F.
“The gate is probably hidden somewhere in the basement. That’s why I’ll head down.”
Sending Jihun upward was to help guide civilians who hadn’t escaped yet. Shin Jiyeon heading down was because, as a high-rank hunter, she could locate the gate and close it as quickly as possible.
“The Association will be here soon, so don’t push yourself too hard.”
“You too, Jiyeon.”
They exchanged worried glances for a brief moment before heading in opposite directions.
Jihun reached the upper floors and linked up with several hunters who had been shopping. In total there were four other hunters: one D-rank, two E-ranks, and one F-rank. Adding Kar and Briana brought the number to seven.
“Huk?! W-wait, is that Hunter Park Jihun?”
“For real…?”
A few of them were shocked to recognize him and his familiars, but everyone understood the urgency. They set their surprise aside and quickly discussed the situation.
Since they had no idea how many orcs were on which floors, they decided to split into teams and begin guiding evacuations and rescues from the top floor down.
The D-rank hunter checked his phone and updated everyone. “From the fourth floor up, we’ve got the B-rank hunter who came with Hunter Park Jihun, plus the C-rank hunter who came with me. They’re clearing a path while heading down. The Association already secured the emergency exit from the first floor and sent people up. All we have to do is send civilians down to them.”
The lower floors—where the largest number of monsters were expected—were being handled by high-rank hunters and Association strike teams. The escape route to the first floor was already clear. Their job was to find stranded civilians, protect them from any orcs that had climbed this high, and escort them down.
The two E-ranks and single F-rank formed one team. The D-rank would operate alone. Jihun would move with his two familiars. They were assigned the fifth, sixth, and seventh floors respectively.
Time was critical, so there was no room for debate over team composition. Everyone simply followed the instructions of the highest-ranked hunter present—the D-rank.
Jihun headed straight to the seventh floor. He guided several people hiding in the restroom to the emergency exit and rescued one stranded employee along the way. But in the process, he ran straight into an orc.
“Kar! You okay?”
“Grrrr…”
Kar forced out a reply, but the sound of her grinding teeth made it clear she was anything but fine. She had taken a direct hit from a D-rank Forest Orc whose raw strength was among the best in its rank. Even though Briana had used her whip to reduce the impact, there was no way she could be unscathed.
“K-kihiik…”
“Kyaeng…”
On top of that, the orc was still pressing down with the club. Both Kar and Briana looked like they were struggling.
“Fuck off, you pig bastard…!”
Jihun stepped in and delivered a powerful kick to the orc’s side.
THUD!!
Because the orc was male its stats were comparatively lower, but the kick still carried nearly D-rank strength behind it.
“Kwaaak!”
The orc’s waist bent sharply as it staggered backward. With all the civilians already evacuated from the area, Jihun didn’t have to hold back. He had struck with full power.
“Graaaaar!”
The enraged orc tried to swing its club at Jihun, but—
Alpha Male — The enemy is temporarily stiffened and intimidated.
It flinched hard. The effect of Alpha Male completely ruined its timing.
THUUUD!
This time Jihun’s kick landed squarely in the orc’s solar plexus.
“Kuheok?!”
The orc let out a choked groan and collapsed to the floor.
“Kar, Briana. Finish it.”
“Grrrng!”
“Kiaaaak!”
After learning that his familiars’ stats also rose when they killed monsters, Jihun had decided to let them deliver the final blow whenever the monster wasn’t female. It helped them grow faster.
The moment his order came, Briana looped her whip around the fallen orc’s neck while Kar grabbed its head with both arms. Then—
CRACK!
Working together, they snapped the thick, tough orc’s neck. Its head and cervical vertebrae separated cleanly.
Thud.
◈ A mana stone containing the condensed power of a Forest Orc
The orc died instantly.
“Graaaaar!”
More orc roars echoed from the floors below. Other hunters were clearly engaged in combat.
‘Our firepower is too low. We need to provide support.’
Both the D-rank team and the E-rank duo plus F-rank team would struggle if more than two orcs appeared at once. The evacuation of this floor was complete, and while there had only been one orc on the seventh floor, there could be far more below.
Jihun and his familiars hurried down the stairs.