The Hunt Becomes a Catastrophe
It stopped.
The spider froze.
The moth shattered.
The centipede split apart.
And nothing moved.
Its energy’s run dry too.
He must have poured too much power into the three yokai. The output from that production organ was visibly dropping now.
It’s over...
He let out a breath a beat late. The tension in his shoulders eased a little.
Then Dohyun stopped.
Something’s wrong.
It was too clean.
...Too quiet.
It felt like the real end.
Just as suspicion began to stir.
Wooo—
Very low.
Late, but it echoed.
Chiiik—
Somewhere,
Something scraped.
Suddenly, the corpses of the three yokai they had hunted turned to black water and began to pour away.
They were absorbed into the ground.
Watching that, Gyetoo narrowed his eyes.
“Kko-kko? They’re disappearing?”
Kiek-
At the goblin leader’s command, the goblin warriors slowly retreated.
Twitch.
The black earth moved.
No.
Seeing it, Dohyun understood.
This is...!
Swish... swish...
As the ground shifted, it rose into the air.
No.
It wasn’t the ground.
A centipede...
Looking at it, Dohyun found himself questioning whether it could even be called a yokai.
It was long and thick.
What he had thought was an organ was only a small protrusion sitting atop its body.
An absurdly huge.
Monstrous creature.
A centipede—
...No.
Too big.
One segment alone was as large as an elephant.
And countless such segments stretched on and on.
The glossy, black surface beneath them all was that monster’s body.
Twitch.
The creature moved once.
It looked as though the entire forest itself had begun to shift.
Twitch—
When it moved again, this time it was even bigger.
The air was pushed back, and the earth shook.
A goblin warrior drove his weapon into the ground to steady himself against the tremor, while Geoung barely kept himself from toppling over on the unstable earth with the help of his stone pillar.
Dohyun did not issue an order immediately.
...He couldn’t calculate it.
It was the first time.
This—
It was beyond its weight class.
This is... an unknown variable.
It was the kind of existence Dohyun could hardly even lay a hand on.
The warriors’ feet would not move.
Even knowing that the weakest moment of the creature in front of them might be this very instant, they still...
...Could not move.
Except for one.
“Kko-kko-!”
Gyetoo moved.
There was no explanation.
No reason.
He was a warrior.
...He did not stop.
Like a single line drawn through the air,
He tore forward, cleaving the air apart.
His claws blazed red.
Crunch—
He struck downward.
It hit.
It definitely.
Hit.
...But it did not go in.
The outer shell was soft.
And then.
Hard.
The centipede reacted.
Its body shifted slightly, then it lunged toward Gyetoo hanging in the air.
That speed was—
Swish—
Slow.
Too slow.
And yet,
He couldn’t dodge!
Gyetoo’s eyes widened for an instant.
Thwack—
Feathers and blood burst through the air.
Gyetoo did not even feel the pain.
“—!”
No sound came out.
He was flung back.
Catch him!
At Dohyun’s shout, several warriors rushed in and grabbed Gyetoo.
But.
He had lost consciousness.
...He wasn’t moving.
Only blood kept flowing.
The goblin warrior who received him began emergency treatment.
As he staunched the wound with herbs and bandages, treating him as best he could, no one could speak.
Neither Geoung nor the goblin leader moved.
...Too much.
For the first time, Dohyun’s eyes wavered.
“Geoung...!”
Geoung’s eyes flared red.
He stared at Gyetoo, who had collapsed.
“Geoung angry.”
Slowly,
He lowered his body.
Bang—
He stomped.
The ground collapsed beneath him.
His enormous body shot forward.
He raised his pillar.
“Geoung! Hit—!”
KWAANG—
He brought it down head-on.
The mountain-sized body of the centipede did not even twitch.
It had been hit.
The shock burst through Geoung’s hands.
And yet.
The centipede’s body hardly moved at all.
Geoung froze for an instant.
Swish—
The centipede shifted.
Slowly.
But.
Impossible to avoid.
Bang—
Geoung’s body was sent flying sideways.
He rolled across the ground several times.
Thud—
He stopped.
Geoung...?
For a moment, Dohyun thought Gyetoo’s condition and Geoung’s looked strangely alike when Geoung got back up.
He staggered.
The hand gripping the pillar trembled.
Seeing that, Dohyun realized.
...For the first time.
Geoung could not endure it.
Dohyun narrowed his eyes.
...This won’t work.
The calculation was finished.
Retreat was the correct choice now.
...Withdraw.
Dohyun’s judgment was swift.
The answer was already clear.
Everyone—
Just as he was about to give the order.
The centipede’s head, which had been still until now, began to move.
Wooo—
Its slowly turning head faced Dohyun.
...!
Degenerated eyes.
Nothing there at all.
And yet.
He could feel its gaze.
For one brief instant, Dohyun faltered.
The ground rumbled again.
Chiiik—
Behind them.
From the direction they had entered.
The black earth wriggled.
Kiek—?!
A goblin’s scream rang out.
Hunters?
The voice was slightly different.
The ground split.
Crunch—
Something rose up.
Small.
Familiar.
They were miniature versions of the centipede.
Those things.
Were blocking the way.
The goblin hunter stamped at the entrance.
Kiek-!
The goblin leader barked orders at the warriors.
It meant to check the surroundings.
Left.
Twitch—
Right.
Twitch—
Slowly.
The ones they had fought before began to rise.
Dohyun’s eyes hardened.
...It blocked us on purpose.
They were completely surrounded.
In front stood a centipede at the Great Demon Beast level.
Behind.
A mid-boss centipede.
Left and right.
Moths and spiders.
...There was no retreat.
All they could do was watch coldly and wait for an opening.
Swish—
The gigantic centipede looked at Dohyun with its degenerated eyes.
Wooo—
As though space itself were resonating,
A voice was heard.
It was cracked.
A voice like something scraping across the ground.
“...Dra...gon....”
Dohyun understood that it was referring to him.
You know what I am?
The other side was an intelligent being.
One that understood tactics, at least a little.
He had not expected it to be a Great Demon Beast, though.
“...Is the forest... well...”
The words came slowly.
In the silence,
Merely speaking made the air freeze.
Even opening its mouth reeked of poison.
It is.
“...Goo...d...”
For a moment, Dohyun felt the centipede’s pressure settle, and at that instant, a fleeting thought bloomed in his mind.
“..Ugh...”
It wavered.
“...Ah...”
Twitch.
The centipede’s body trembled faintly.
“..No...”
It trembled again.
“...No...”
Snap—
Suddenly, the shaking stopped.
And then.
Crunch—
Its body twisted.
Smoke rose from its black flesh.
Poison gas—!
Until now, the poison had simply been the miasma seeping up from the abyss.
This poison was worse.
“Uuuuuugh—!”
The centipede’s voice changed.
Its reason vanished.
Only instinct remained in its cry.
Its degenerated eyes suddenly bulged outward.
...What the hell...
And then he realized.
They weren’t degenerated eyes at all, but eyes it had deliberately wounded itself.
As the pupils recovered in real time,
Tens of red eyes formed.
Red eyes packed with murderous intent.
They fixed on Dohyun.
“Kraaaah... dragon, dragon... kill.”
At those words,
The air stopped.
But.
Geoung bared his teeth.
He, too, was a small figure compared to it, but one overflowing with killing intent.
“Geoung... crush...”
He moved, driving out fury itself as he forced his legs, which had seemed frozen, into motion.
Dohyun calculated.
Geoung...
...Can he do it?
...No.
The calculation did not hold.
The enemy was...
...A disaster.
Then.
“Kko-kko...”
A very familiar, tiny voice rang out.
With the rustle of bandages being unwrapped, Gyetoo appeared.
“Warrior... mistake...”
He spoke as though his injury had been nothing more than a small mistake.
He brushed off the goblin supporting him and stood on his own.
Since you’re wounded, fall back.
“Warrior... battle... retreat... shame...”
Steadying his swaying body, Gyetoo said,
...Why won’t he stop?
At Dohyun’s question, he lifted the corners of his mouth.
His body was trembling,
His sturdy legs quivered too,
But his eyes remained firm.
“Kraaaah!”
The giant centipede roared.
A newly born subordinate rushed in.
“Geoung—!”
With a battle cry, Geoung smashed the freshly spawned centipede in one blow with his pillar.
The orcs took their places beside him.
Kiek-!
The goblin leader shouted back, refusing to be outdone.
Thump-!
He beat his chest.
Then raised his spear.
The spear formation prepared by the goblins.
Great Mountain Dominion Formation unfolded.
Wooo—!
The more numerous they were, and the more precisely they learned and memorized it,
Wooo—!
The stronger the formation became.
...So that’s what that was...
Dohyun only realized it after they used it.
Among the items taken from the warriors and cultivators, there had indeed been something called a spear formation manual.
It required practitioners to learn the same internal method, reach roughly similar realms, and...
Didn’t they say trust was necessary?
For ordinary people, once that trust entered the equation, the technique became difficult to master.
Because it was the kind of trust that could protect one another’s lives.
Kiek-!
With a shout, they moved along the spear formation as though it were a vast forest of spears.
They ground down the giant centipede’s minions.
And opened a path.
“Geoung—! Crush—!”
More passionate than anyone, Geoung stared up at the centipede’s massive body and kept advancing without stopping.
His pillar slammed into the centipede’s body.
Thwack—
A violent sound exploded.
But—
The centipede didn’t budge.
Instead, it moved.
Thwack-!
One of its countless legs struck Geoung, and—
Bang-!
Geoung’s body flew sideways.
He rolled over the ground several times.
This time, he rolled farther.
Thud-!
Scraping along the earth as he was pushed back,
He stopped.
The surrounding orcs rushed to his side.
Geoung-!
When Dohyun called out,
Geoung raised a hand.
“Geoung... Geoung... angry.”
His voice trembled.
Geoung moved.
Slowly.
He pushed aside the hand of the other orc trying to support him and planted his hand on the ground.
Clench-
The earth cracked.
His arm trembled.
His body trembled.
He had not come through the impact unscathed, but he slowly straightened his knees and stood back up as though nothing were wrong.
His legs shook.
His breathing grew rough.
A thin line of blood ran down his forehead.
Even so.
Without a trace of fear,
He looked at his opponent with clear eyes.
He had no intention of retreating.
“...Crush...”
Staggering,
He once again gripped his weapon.
Swaying as if he might collapse,
He moved his feet.
One step.
Toward the centipede.
Then a shadow stood at his side.
“Kko-kko... warrior, not alone.”
Blood dripped down.
But still.
He did not stop.
Gyetoo walked over unsteadily and stood beside Geoung.
Geoung, puzzled by Gyetoo’s words, asked,
“Geoung? Is it food?”
“Kko-kko.”
Seeing that,
Gyetoo smiled faintly.
The two of them quickly glared up at the giant centipede.
“Geoung. Big doesn’t mean strong.”
“Kko-kko... the bigger it is, kko-kko... the happier the warrior is.”
Watching the two of them talk while he continued calculating, Dohyun felt as if something in his head had gone bang.
...The calculation broke.
He looked across the battlefield.
Everyone but him was staggering, but not a single one had given up.
...I... started... this.
So.
He could not retreat now.
Mist began to rise from Dohyun’s body.
Kiek-!
With another call from the goblin leader,
The momentum of a mountain rose among the goblins,
As if to say they would hold the enemy off while the others hunted that thing down.
...Great Demon Beast.
For a moment.
...Still, it’s a life.
Dohyun’s gaze was cold as it disappeared into the mist.
He let out a short breath.
So... hunt it.
Dohyun’s figure vanished.
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