Demon Blood
"Regeneration? Fuck. You're telling me it survives a hole through the head?"
Pacific shouted.
"That's not just regeneration — that's hyper-regeneration."
Taaang!
Jeon Hye-ji fired at the Arctic Giant again. This time, however, the beast shook its head and dodged the shot.
"How the hell are we supposed to kill that thing? Gong, you got any answers?"
Pacific asked as he swept away the ice golems advancing on the Trailer with his massive scythe. It wasn't the one-hit devastation Rafael could deliver, but it was more than enough to hold back the sluggish golems.
"Don't panic. Think it through calmly. That bastard dodged the shot — which could mean its regeneration isn't infinite."
"And there's one more thing worth noting. Its physical abilities aren't particularly impressive, either."
Won-goo nodded at that. Mu Beob-sa's assessment was sound.
"Right. At that level, it's weaker than an ogre."
An ogre's hide was thick and its bones were dense.
If a sniper rifle could have settled the matter, Won-goo would have simply shot the ogre-subordinate down without burning through the Fishers in the first place. But his rounds couldn't even punch through an ogre's skin.
And yet he had put a clean hole through the Arctic Giant's brow. He'd even confirmed it dying — the ice golems had frozen in place for an instant.
Even if it hadn't truly died, it had clearly lost control of its summons. The Arctic Giant's durability, then, was nothing special.
It's definitely a summoner, but... regeneration? Giants and regeneration don't really add up.
"So its durability's weak, but the regeneration is the problem?"
Pacific asked.
"Exactly. Regeneration comes in a lot of different flavors, and we need to figure out which one this is. Hye-ji — hold your fire for now. I need to see what kind of regeneration we're dealing with."
"Yes, sir."
In the meantime, the crew was hammering the ice golems into pieces. Nothing here was actually dangerous — the sheer numbers were just tying their feet.
Dulla rode forward boldly at the head of the charge, but a wall of ice golems stalled his advance short of the mark.
"You think it's just some kind of hyper-regeneration?"
Pacific's question.
"That doesn't fit its class. Regeneration of that caliber is something only the lunatics among the enhancement-types ever carry."
"Then what if its true body is somewhere else?"
At that, Mu Beob-sa and Won-goo's expressions hardened.
"If that's the case, I'm going to murder the goddamn info brokers. For real. Well — after we're already dead."
This was exactly why info brokers existed.
If a monster had a separate main body drawing power from elsewhere and kept reviving as long as that link held, cracking it was near-impossible without knowing the trick. If the Arctic Giant was one of those, the brokers needed to dig up that information first.
Otherwise, they were the ones who'd die.
"Mage!"
"...?"
"Flash a big light on my signal."
"Hye-ji."
"Yes, sir."
"You can close your eyes and shoot, right?"
"I've practiced a lot."
"This time, I want the brow again, then the heart. One more round into the heart right after. Can you do it?"
"I'll try."
"Mage. Let's go."
Mu Beob-sa drew out a Wisp and detonated it into a blinding flash right where the Arctic Giant stood. The crew shut their eyes on cue, and Hye-ji did the same.
Taaang!
And Hye-ji, as if she'd been waiting for that exact instant, put a round through the Arctic Giant's brow.
Taaang!
A second gunshot rang out. This one into the heart at its center.
This time the Arctic Giant toppled over backward outright. The ice golems' movements froze for a heartbeat.
THUD!
The Arctic Giant went down — but the crew didn't stop their assault. The countless golems strewn across the snow hadn't vanished yet.
"Is it finished?"
"No. Something's wrong. A thing that pulled off this kind of stunt being this sloppy doesn't make sense. There's something to this."
Won-goo wasn't celebrating in the slightest, because he was certain it wasn't over.
Just as he'd expected, the Arctic Giant was rising to its feet again.
This time, it was smiling.
And as it smiled, it turned its gaze toward the Trailer.
GRREEEUNK!
A grotesque vibration rolled through the ground. Won-goo's brow furrowed the moment he sensed it.
"Something's coming! Jump!"
Won-goo leapt without hesitation. Pacific did the same — reacting with startling speed even from his wheelchair.
Hye-ji, though, was a beat too slow. The Trailer shot skyward faster than she could jump.
KWAAANG! CLATTER!
The Trailer surged into the air, and a massive slab of ice erupted up from the ground right behind it. Hye-ji, who'd missed her window to dodge, was flung even higher than the blast itself.
Pacific and Won-goo evaded cleanly, and Mu Beob-sa had already taken cover beneath the Trailer.
SPLAT!
KUAAAAH!
Thankfully, the Trailer didn't flip over. The impact was considerable, but not enough to wreck the vehicle.
The same couldn't be said for Jeon Hye-ji. If anything, the snow-covered ground had been a mercy.
An impact strong enough to briefly knock out Hye-ji, whose Coin reinforcement had come a long way.
Instead of shouting, Won-goo signaled the crew with a different hand gesture: push them harder.
Jo Mu-sa hurried toward Hye-ji, but Won-goo stopped him immediately.
"Mu-sa! She's not dying from that. Keep pushing."
It was a good call on Won-goo's part, and it rested on quick calculation.
He'd read in an instant that while the shockwave had been violent enough to hurl the Trailer skyward, the actual damage dealt was surprisingly small. Which meant the ice that had erupted wasn't a killing blow — it was an uplift, a force designed to scatter rather than crush.
A spell meant to break formation. And against a spell like that, Hye-ji would come to her senses quickly — he was sure of it.
Above all, even as she'd fallen without managing a single break-fall, she'd kept an iron grip on her sniper rifle.
She wasn't yet at the level of Pacific or Won-goo when it came to battlefield instincts, but it was a solid response. Considering how little time she'd spent in the Field, she was adapting and growing remarkably fast.
"DULLAAAAAH!"
With Won-goo and Pacific joining in to carve a path through the ice golems, Dulla surged forward. The spectral horse kicked into overdrive, bounding in a three-stage leap straight over the golem wall — and then hurled itself at the Arctic Giant.
WHIIIING!
On the final jump, the spectral horse leapt especially high. The Arctic Giant scrambled backward at the sight of Dulla bearing down on it.
Despite its massive frame, the beast's movements weren't sluggish — they were fast. And natural.
None of the dull heaviness of an ordinary giant. It moved like a human who'd simply been scaled up.
The gap opened, and Dulla's attack fizzled into nothing.
But then Dulla let out another tremendous roar.
"DULLAAAAAH!"
Bellowing at the top of his lungs, Dulla hurled the guan dao he'd been carrying.
SHWUUUNG!
The weapon sailed through the air in a magnificent arc while Dulla and the spectral horse dropped back to the ground.
CRUNCH!
The guan dao buried itself deep in the Arctic Giant's chest. And once again, the ice golems froze mid-motion.
The crew seized the opening without hesitation and tore into the golems.
Dulla drew the sword and shield he'd strapped to the spectral horse and kept charging the Arctic Giant. His master's orders were simple: attack the Arctic Giant and nothing else.
So Dulla paid no mind to the beast toppling backward. As it fell, it staggered, caught its balance — and kicked the charging Dulla away.
WHACK!
Even in the instant of the kick, Dulla drove his sword into the Arctic Giant's foot. Then he was flung back several meters.
Its durability was weak, sure — but a giant was still a giant. The raw force behind that bulk could not be dismissed.
Dulla and the spectral horse went flat on the ground in one blow. But the fact that neither had been recalled into their capsules meant they hadn't taken a fatal wound.
"Gong! That thing's real body isn't somewhere else, is it? It keeps coming back."
"Hold on. I'm contacting the info brokers right now. Something's wrong here. If that bastard's a summoner, it shouldn't be able to cast magic at all."
Won-goo was radioing Jin-seon. Meanwhile, Jeon Hye-ji, who'd been flattened into the snow, shook her head and pushed herself up.
"Hey! Jin-seon!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Anything on your end? This lunatic keeps regenerating. Could its main body be somewhere else?"
"No, that's not it."
"You're sure? One wrong move here and we're all dead. Something's off. We put a hole through its head, stabbed it through the heart — it won't die."
"Then it'd be a regeneration-type trait... but there's nothing like that in anything we've collected. And are you sure that monster is its real body? When the real body's elsewhere, it flags differently from the collection stage."
"Then why is this happening!"
Keeping radio chatter short was the basic rule of the Field — but now was no time to be worrying about protocol.
If they didn't resolve that fuck-ugly regeneration soon, the ones collapsing would be Won-goo's crew, plain and simple.
For now they were cutting the summons off at the root before the giant could summon anything stronger, but that had limits too. They'd already watched crushed ice golems struggle back to their feet.
Which meant the things would keep spawning until the Arctic Giant itself was dead.
Won-goo had radioed Yang Jin-seon because he needed to make a choice. If they couldn't find a way to kill it, retreating while they still could might be the smarter judgment. A retry was only possible if they stayed alive.
Of course, pulling back now would cost them more than they could stomach. All the money poured into mobilizing this many people would turn to dust.
And they'd have to eat the hit to their service reputation on top of it.
"Sir! Fresh intel, just collected."
"What is it?"
"That thing's a summoner, but it's also a mage."
"I know that already — we've been hit by its magic. Forget that. What I need is how to kill it. Find out how to kill it."
"I asked around. Everyone says its main body isn't elsewhere. They say they've never seen a case like that among us, either."
"There's no such thing as 'never' in this godforsaken world."
"Still. Could it be something on the regeneration side?"
"So you're telling me to just try killing it until it dies?"
"......."
"Here's what's bugging me. It's a mage AND a summoner — so why is it carrying an option that only vanguard classes usually stack?"
"Could it be an item...?"
"An item that could instantly heal a giant of that caliber would make it a legendary Named in its own right. Something... something's off about this..."
"We'll keep collecting. I'll radio you again."
Won-goo cut the transmission and called for Hye-ji.
"Hye-ji! You okay?"
"Yes. I'm fine."
"Let's try once more. Can you do it?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Gong, you're saying we should just kill it until it dies?"
"No, that's the last resort. Something's strange about this."
"What's strange about it?"
"I'm thinking it's a weak-point thing. Every now and then you run into monsters with those kinds of grotesque gimmicks, don't you."
"Don't those usually only show up in spectral-entity types?"
Pacific's remark.
"Could be. But we already said that bastard's half demon, didn't we?"
"So what?"
"There are a hell of a lot of demonic species. And among them, there are ones born with regeneration-related options. Could that demon blood have mixed in? Isn't that a possibility?"
"Huh... that's actually plausible. So?"
"Then we break the horn. Wouldn't that be the way?"
"Exactly. You've got to shatter a demon's horn, no two ways about it. Hye-ji."
"Yes."
"That bastard's got a small horn sprouting from its head, right? Think you can hit it?"
"I can."
Won-goo flashed the signal again. The crew ramped up the tempo and tore open an opening.
Without a moment's hesitation, Hye-ji squeezed the trigger at the horn of the Arctic Giant as it chanted its spell.
Taaang!
TING!
Astoundingly, the bullet failed to break the horn and ricocheted away.
But then something fascinating happened.
The Arctic Giant — the same beast that had been smirking through countless deaths — was screaming.
The corner of Won-goo's mouth curled up.
"You son of a bitch. Found your weak spot."