I'll Tell You the True Purpose of the Bount

Fwoooosh!!!

"Oh... the coverage on this is actually pretty decent?"

The moment I spread the skill I'd just picked up from the quest, a veil of light sealed itself around my body without a single gap.

I wasn't leaning on silver rounds and holy fists alone anymore. At last I had a real weapon of my own, and a defense worthy of the name.

"No thanks."

The viewers were clicking ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠their tongues right along with me, stunned at how fast I was growing.

"Yes! Thank you, Master!"

And with a fine master on top of everything else, it was the sort of setup anyone else would have envied...

"Pardon?"

"Um..."

Incompetent Warrior's goodbye sent a chill straight down my spine.

So all that patient teaching until now was an act...?

"Is she... strong?"

Yeah. I was completely fucked.

"So... what should we do now..."

What had started as light just-chatting had, somewhere along the way, turned into a full-blown spec-up broadcast.

"How about one quick game?"

"Yeah... I'll wrap the stream soon."

I'd been thinking of closing out with a game, the way late-night variety streamers do, but the viewers practically shoved me toward ending it.

Did I really look that tired?

Fair enough. I'd been through the Unicorn Realm, drilled spear work, and picked up a murder threat along the way...

"Good night, everyone."

I drew the camera in and hugged it tight.

I could see the chat losing its mind, but that wasn't my problem.

Click.

"Haaah. Time for some real, honest sleep."

I shut the broadcast down, killed the camera completely, and flopped onto the bed.

"Hehe..."

Still. It had been fun.

Not just the fighting. Every one of those moments spent talking with people.

In a life that had been nothing but despair, these hours had been hopeful, and honestly joyful.

"Put a goodnight emote on for me..."

I pulled the soft blanket up over my head and closed my eyes.

Please let tomorrow be like this, too...

"Hey! Gwak Ducheol! You gonna move it or not!"

"Y-yes, sir!"

Meanwhile, at the tower entrance of the Busan branch, crowds of special public workers on monster-cleanup duty were hauling contaminated wreckage, every one of them moving in a frantic rush.

Kh... damn it. If I just hadn't lost to that bitch...

Gwak Ducheol, once a B-Rank hunter, had lost his qualification and was grinding through miserable labor alongside the physical-labor crews he used to look down on.

Back then I could've shifted junk like this in a second...

Worse, the injuries Elia had left him with had dropped his physical ability to D-Rank or below. His gear had been destroyed down to the last piece, and under the terms of the match every last asset had been taken from him. A man who could do nothing but use his body had naturally drifted here.

...Even if I fought her again, I'd probably lose.

"What? Slacking off again?"

"N-no, sir!"

"Then hurry up and go pile those goblin corpses."

Once, he would have been ashamed to bow his head to people he considered less than insects. Now he had no choice. If he didn't do at least this, the penalty fees on his ruined gear would have him starving to death any day.

"...Hm?"

Hauling the cart, Gwak Ducheol felt a strange pulse of mana from somewhere. It was coming from inside the tower. The collapse had already flooded the area with monsters a mere ten hours ago. Surely not again...

"KRAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!"

"M-monsters!"

"That's impossible... a second wave?!"

"Everybody, run!!!!"

A bad feeling has a way of coming true. Out of the half-collapsed tower entrance, monsters of enormous bulk began to burst.

BOOOOM!!!

"Gyaaaaaah!!!"

The instant they showed themselves to the outside world, they brought buildings down and started chewing up the workers who hadn't gotten clear, swallowing them whole.

"Son of a bitch..."

Gwak Ducheol stared at the scene with a hollow face.

"Nnh... nnh..."

Two in the morning, and Elia was fast asleep. She had thrown off nearly everything she was wearing and lay sunk in a deep, utterly defenseless sleep.

Bzzzt!

"...What?!"

"I already know!"

Before the status window could even finish its warning, I was grabbing my gear and locking in for a fight. A habit from my NCO days, when situations had a way of detonating at any hour.

Ring. Ring.

"Hello!"

The Association's call didn't even get through a third ring before I picked up. The voice was familiar — the woman who'd guided me the day I visited the Association.

"Skip the small talk. Bottom line!"

I couldn't spare the time to stand still, so I took her call on the move and sprinted for the site.

"Support?!"

"..."

The situation was hopeless.

"No. I'll hit their main force."

"Hanging up."

Click.

The mana I could feel in the distance killed any hesitation. I ended the call.

"Kshhhhhk!"

"N-no! Somebody save me!"

The scene on the ground was already lost. Monsters had spread through the blocks around the tower, and a pack of goblins had one woman surrounded.

"Krrk?!"

"Die."

Shhhk!!!

Before they even registered me, I swept the spear in a wide arc and took three heads at once.

"Huh?"

"Don't freeze. Run! The shelter is three hundred meters straight ahead!"

"Th-thank you!"

Drenched in goblin blood, the woman stared up at me as if I'd dropped out of the sky, then got her head together and fled.

"This is bad..."

I was at the very front edge of the containment line. No other hunters in sight. Citizens were being hit by monsters as I watched.

"This time is different...!"

I clenched my teeth and drove straight ahead. I hacked apart the giant serpent coiling around a child, and I split the neck of the giant that was ripping up cars and smashing buildings in half.

"Fuck."

The Holy Spirit Armament's buff had grown stronger, and I wasn't glad for it. A curse climbed up my throat instead. What good was getting stronger now? People were already dead.

"Out of the way! All of you!"

KRACK!!!!

I clamped down on the spear shaft and shattered everything standing in front of me. My heart slammed. Tendons stood out along my skin. Bloodshot eyes jerked wildly, hunting for the enemy I hated.

"Huff... hah..."

Even Era, my patron goddess, couldn't get a word out. She knew exactly how angry I was. And she knew exactly how sad.

The skills I'd gained through the status window weren't for me. They existed for one thing only — to crush evil, and to save the weak.

"Kieeeeeek!!!"

"Holy Spear!!!"

KRRRRRK!

Monsters swarmed in from every side, drawn to me as I raged. Good. The more eyes locked on me, the lighter the burden on the other hunters, and the more citizens who would live.

"Hoo... hah..."

Silence.

Set against the frantic battle of a moment ago, a cold quiet settled over the street. Even the monsters that had been thrashing like mad things stopped where they stood, whimpering.

"Kiiik..."

What the hell is this?

Thud. Thud.

"...!"

I had been scanning the surroundings in that quiet when a new sound began to spread — footsteps, like iron scraping iron.

"Well, well... They told me I would feel the divinity of some unsightly loser around here..."

"Who are you."

The owner of that unpleasant voice looked, for all the world, like a black knight.

"You wouldn't understand it even if I told you."

"Then shut your mouth and die."

Whoever he was, right now he was nothing but evil doing harm to people. Instead of an answer, I drove the spear in straight.

Fwoosh!!!

Shff.

"...Is it the vulgar outfit? Your intellect is just as low."

"?!"

The black knight turned my attack aside lightly, with a single finger.

"Ngh..."

"Holy shit..."

I stared at the warped Holy Spirit Armament window and broke into a cold sweat, pouring off me like I'd lost my mind.

"What's the matter? Come at me again, by all means. Fledgling saintess."

"..."

I can't win this. Not as I am now.

Between him and me there was a gap in class that nothing I had could close. Then stalling was the best I could do.

"Kill me, and you'll never learn the true purpose of the Bount."

"And what is that supposed to be? Don't tell me those Transcendents were still hiding something."

"Explaining it will require your consent."

"I asked you what this Bount even is."

"A most farcical spectacle."

"Wench! Stop talking in circles and say it properly! What in the world is this Bount?!"

"Your voice. Do not raise your voice."

"No, what even—"

Heh. He took the bait.