The Monster's Gaze

"You actually like getting hit?"

"Thank goodness... If I'd gone home without seeing this, I would've regretted it for the rest of my life."

Yeonhee's face was a turbulent mix of excitement and fear—her first time laying eyes on a monster. Even so, anticipation won out. Her eyes sparkled as she watched the creature swell and shrink, studying it with pure curiosity.

Seok Ryu-hwa observed Yeonhee for a moment, then quietly moved to another spot. In the end, only Yeonhee and Arin were left behind in a place swarming with S-rank hunters and top-tier A-ranks gunning for S-rank themselves.

"Shouldn't we get out of here too? It's manageable right now, but later even holding our ground will be tough."

"Hmm... Let's try to endure it somehow. Ilwol... he's been insisting really strongly that we absolutely shouldn't leave. He rarely gets this insistent."

"Huh? Really? Hmm... If it's Ilwol's opinion... I guess we'll stick it out a little longer."

In the end, we positioned ourselves a short distance behind Kang Yeonsu and watched the subjugation ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of a monster that rivaled a Great Calamity.

"If you feel like you can't take it anymore, run immediately. I'll put up a barrier for you."

"Yes, understood."

Yeonsu patted Yeonhee's head a few times as if to say she'd allow that much, then glanced at Arin—who kept touching her ears—with a flicker of interest in her eyes.

After spending several hours together, Yeonsu had learned that Arin was unaffiliated but originally from the Ilseom Guild. 'Is Arin tempting to her too?' If it was Yeonsu, she'd immediately recognize the girl's considerable potential.

"Barrier installation complete! We've designed the structure in reverse. Monsters can enter from outside, but we've made it so they cannot leave from within."

"Good. Now we can fight to our hearts' content."

"That said, we cannot block all damage."

"Well, we'll have to accept a certain amount of collateral. Given the situation, it's unavoidable."

The barrier mages had deployed a vast defensive array spanning several kilometers around the monster.

'Incredible... So this is the pinnacle of barrier magic when led by S-rank hunters?'

"Whoa—amazing..."

"So that's how it's done. Feels like it's cracking my brain open."

Just watching the barrier installation process had already given us a tremendous learning experience.

Twenty minutes passed after the array was completed. The sky gradually darkened. The number of gathered hunters had now surpassed a thousand. It was extremely rare for so many top-tier hunters to assemble in one place, so Yeonhee and Arin couldn't help but shrink in on themselves even more.

"I wonder when that Transcendent who's supposed to show up will finally appear."

Just as the massive crowd was beginning to grow weary from waiting, the monster moved before the anticipated Transcendent could.

Chiiiiiiiiiiiing——

The creature's body, which had been pitch-black as if cloaked in darkness, slowly began to brighten. An unbearable tearing sound erupted from it.

"My ears...!"

"W-what is it trying to do?!"

The monster, which had been slumped like a slime, reshaped itself into a perfect sphere. Countless small holes began opening across its turquoise body. It looked exactly like the gun ports of a hidden warship opening fire. This was clearly a transformation for attack.

"Damn it! Switch to Plan B!"

As decided in the meeting, if the monster showed signs of attacking before the 'Transcendent' arrived, the contingency was to strike first.

At Park Yong-hwan's shout, the hunters simultaneously began preparing their ultimate skills.

"That's it! Finally, I get to go all out!"

I caught sight of spearman Park Jin-gon pulling out a spear far longer than his own height, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his face bright with excitement.

"Just how many holes does it have...?"

Yeonhee summoned Geomryong in front of her and spoke with a weary tone.

Countless holes—easily in the thousands—had opened across the monster's body. A faint light flickered within them, and soon a colossal amount of mana began condensing.

The thousand hunters initiated their skills before the creature could complete its attack, launching a unified assault. It was a spectacular sight, as if they had coordinated their breathing perfectly.

Kwaaaaaaaaang——!!

The immense concentration of mana created a mana storm laced with lightning between the monster and the hunters. The devastating skills then pierced through that storm and began slamming into the creature's body.

I, too, condensed a Fireball to its absolute limit and launched it. Geomryong—the strongest among Yeonhee's summons—unleashed its breath attack alongside me. Once the battle began in earnest, even Arin's eyes changed. She poured mana into the daggers hidden in her bosom and hurled them with all her strength.

In this way, we gained the valuable experience of participating in battle, however marginally.

"Ugh!"

"Uwaaaaaah!!"

The hunter alliance's bombardment continued without pause. The aftershock sent even us—who were positioned farthest away—flying a considerable distance. It seemed other hunters had rarely experienced such concentrated firepower either; quite a few were caught in the shockwave and sent flying.

Fortunately, we were stopped by the first barrier several hundred meters away and didn't fly any farther. Still, the repulsive force was so immense that even my flight ability couldn't completely dampen the impact.

Whoooooooosh——

'It's done! The monster canceled the skill it was preparing? Did it actually work?'

The instant all the long-range skills hit their mark, the holes covering the monster's body vanished in the blink of an eye. A silence fell, as if the world itself had stopped.

At that moment, close-combat hunters including Kang Yeonsu all charged toward it at once.

We quickly returned riding Geomryong and happened to witness the exact moment Yeonsu and Park Jin-gon coordinated their strike on a single point.

While the other hunters' attacks were certainly powerful, the swings Yeonsu delivered in her Divine Beastification state were on an entirely different level.

Thud——

An attack far surpassing the blow she'd landed on Eom Sang-uk of the DOH last week concentrated on a single point. The moment Yeonsu's fist connected with the monster's body, space itself visibly distorted.

The section of its body that took the hit was pierced straight through and exploded outward, but it began regenerating at a visible rate.

'Now!'

Until now, its overwhelming sensory perception had left no opening for us to approach. But finally, a path to get close to the monster had appeared.

I had already warned Yeonhee and Arin that a situation like this might occur. I swiftly set them down on Geomryong's back, then flew toward the monster in Stealth.

By the time I reached its body, hundreds of hunters were already clinging to it, pummeling away.

'Why isn't it counterattacking? Wasn't it preparing something earlier?'

The creature's reaction was strange, but I first threw the four Bone Daggers held between my fingers while activating Flame Slash.

Ting ting ting—!

All the thrown bone daggers bounced off, but thanks to the Penetration trait, they left extremely faint wounds on the monster's body. However, the expected flame marks, paralysis, or bleeding effects didn't trigger at all.

'The mark has a low activation rate, so I'll accept that, but how high must its resistance be for other status effects to not work at all?'

My concentration reached its peak. I was able to execute the swordsmanship exactly as Master had taught me.

Slaaaaash—!

One, two, three, four, five. Five swings of the greatsword were my limit. The reason was that a tiny eye had opened at the exact spot I was cutting and was staring directly at me.

Shiver——

'What the—?!'

I flinched in shock and hurriedly retreated. A split second later—literally by a hair's breadth—something with terrifying density poured down where I had been standing, carving an unfathomably deep crater into the ground.

Tap—!

Even after I instantly covered a hundred meters and landed on a building, the moment our eyes met remained burned into my mind, leaving me dazed.

Shiver—shiver—

'Huff—huff—fuck... I must have gone crazy. I really lost it for a second. What kind of experience was I trying to gain from a monster like that?'

The spot where I had been standing was now pitch black with darkness. Strangely, the monster wasn't counterattacking the other hunters—only me.

'What the hell?'

The hunters continued their assault, but from what I could sense, the creature actually seemed satisfied whenever it received attacks from Yeonsu and a few other powerhouses.

'What is this?'

A chill I couldn't explain ran down my spine. I quickly returned to Yeonhee's side and called out Lan's name.

'Lan!!'

I was about to trigger Flame Explosion immediately, but something felt wrong so I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠held off. For now, my only urgent thought was to get out of this place.

Lan's body grew thinner as the mysterious sensation of infinite mental expansion flooded my mind once again. Without even having time to savor that electrifying pleasure, I reached out toward Arin.

"Whoa—?!"

Whoosh—

Arin vanished into my subspace. Just in case, I reached toward Yeonhee as well, but—

'Tsk!'

Hwaaaaaah!

The moment Yeonhee confirmed Arin had disappeared into my subspace, she ordered Geomryong. The Shadow Drake's black orb manifested long in front of us, and we began spatial movement as if using instant teleportation.

Geomryong must have instinctively sensed the crisis as well. It moved at a much faster speed than before. From what I could tell, the summon was pushing itself tremendously.

Several seconds passed as we moved at a speed at least twice my maximum flight velocity. We reached the outermost edge of the farthest barrier in an instant. Filled with the expectation that we would soon escape, we tried to pass through the barrier.

But.

Shimmer—

"I-it's blocked!! What happened? Yeonsu unnie definitely said it was a reverse barrier?!"

The structure was supposed to make it harder for more powerful beings to leave, yet even we who were only C-rank couldn't get out?

I reached out to the fluctuating barrier and observed the flow of mana. I soon realized something.

'This isn't the same structure that was installed initially. The barrier's properties are changing over time. It feels like someone tampered with it.'

Among the dozens of barrier mages who had set this up, were there some colluding with the Blue Eye?

'Or perhaps the person standing at the center of this barrier...'