Chapter 53
Chapter 53
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 53
Chapter Title: Drake Hunt
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Green, vertically slit reptilian eyes glared at me for a moment before the Drake kicked off the ground on all fours and charged straight at me. The speed of that several-ton bulk hurtling toward me defied every law of physics I'd known up to now.
The instant its claws dug into the earth, I gigantified myself. I enveloped my fist in aura and unleashed an uppercut into its jaw. The recoil from the instantaneous gigantification combined with the force of my thrusting punch lifted its upper body clean off the ground, but astonishingly, it didn't seem to take much damage. Those thick scales hadn't shattered under my attack.
Its head swung down as it gaped its jaws wide.
Seeing the razor-sharp teeth closing in, I dodged and put some distance between us. It reminded me of that time I got swallowed by the whale.
As I retreated, its massive tail came whipping toward me. Forget calling it a tail—that thick section was over two meters in diameter. It lashed out with the speed of a whip.
I caught the incoming tail with my whole body. My body was shoved back, dirt and small trees crashing into me and toppling over, but I didn't let go of the tail.
Finally coming to a halt, I gripped its tail with enough force to burst it and slammed it down like an over-the-shoulder throw.
KABOOM!
The impact shook the entire mountain.
Still holding onto its writhing tail, I swung it left and right several times like dusting off dirt, then smashed it into the ground with all my strength one final time.
It didn't get back up right away from the shock, but it wasn't dead either, and those scales remained unscathed.
"What kind of monster is this damn tough?"
No wonder it was a B-Rank monster. If trolls were famous for their regeneration, this thing was just impervious to attacks from the start.
It shook its head to clear its mind and charged at me again.
I channeled aura into my fist once more—this time more than before, pouring in about 40 percent of my maximum life force. To get real power out of it, I had to invest a good amount of life force, so it wasn't a skill I could use repeatedly. As I drove it into the Drake's nose, I blasted the infused life force straight into its body.
THUD!
With a heavy thud, its snout caved in, and the aura burst tore through its internals. Even so, its scales showed no major damage. I'd never seen anything this tough. I was coveting those scales and hide.
Having expended so much life force, I felt drained. I released my gigantification and flipped over the limp Drake's body to extract the mana stone.
"Hm?"
Four hunters burst out from the forest. They all looked ragged, like they'd been running through the woods for a while. The unidentified hunters glanced back and forth between the Drake and me.
One of them, who seemed to be the leader, stepped forward. Compared to the others, he was in decent shape. He had a sturdy build and dark skin. His sharp features gave him a presence that stood out sharply from the other three. He wielded axes with slightly longer hafts in both hands—definitely at least A-Rank.
"We caught it first. Hand it over and back off quietly."
The axe-wielder thrust one of his axes toward me as he spoke. His accent felt a bit off. Like a country bumpkin trying to speak Seoul dialect?
"Surviving North Korean?"
"And you? From the South? Why'd you come all the way up here?"
"Didn't you know? Korea's launching a major push into former North Korean territory for reclamation right now."
"...Who decided to take this land?"
"We didn't even know you guys existed. I can connect you with the Korean government if you want."
"Why bother? Aren't you here to steal our stuff?"
"I'm not with the government, so I don't know the details. Your call—talk it out, keep running and hiding, or fight."
He glared at me without backing down.
"We'll take our hunt from today and go."
He sheathed his axe at his waist.
"I'll give you the mana stone, but leave the byproducts."
In a situation where they didn't know how far the Korean military and hunters had advanced, they probably didn't want to pick a fight with the guy who'd finished off their escaped Drake. Plus, they hadn't seen how I'd taken it down.
"Tch... fine."
He ground his teeth in frustration, but from my perspective, just handing over the mana stone was already a huge concession.
His companions stabbed at the Drake's belly with their swords, but it was so tough the blades wouldn't penetrate.
"Tsk. Move."
The leader, who'd been watching, stepped up close and infused his axe with aura. He compressed it. A finely refined red aura wrapped sharply around the blade. It was more powerful than my crude, life-force-lumped aura.
He must have activated a skill, because he alternated between his two axes, striking the same spot. The speed built up, and after dozens of consecutive hits on the same point, the chest scales finally split, revealing red flesh beneath.
Normally, the belly of a monster like this would be softer, but even that took dozens of refined aura-wrapped axe strikes to crack. The more I looked at those scales, the more I wanted them. Could Hunter Jung Min-ki cleave them in one go?
The axe-wielder seemed mismatched against the armored Drake, but with that speed and aura, he was clearly strong against humans or other monsters. Using aura at all meant he'd entered S-Rank territory.
Of course, he'd be on the lower end of S-Rank. Above S-Rank, it's hard to differentiate ranks, so they're all just called S-Rank, but even among S-Ranks, skill levels vary.
Helen had been classified S-Rank due to her unique skill, but in terms of combat prowess and physical ability, she was lower S-Rank, closer to A-Rank.
"We need to decide quickly."
I told them as they struggled to extract the large mana stone through the narrow gap. They vanished into the forest without a word.
Once their presence had faded into the distance, I gigantified, hoisted the Drake over my shoulder, and returned to base camp.
"D-Did... did you catch that thing?"
Nayoung asked, staring at the Drake I'd brought back.
"Yeah, I got it."
"What about the others?"
"Didn't get many. Around three hundred?"
"Wow! I win!"
"How many'd you get?"
"I hit a thousand."
"...Impressive."
If Nayoung roamed for a month, could she wipe out all the trash mobs in North Korea?
"I deliberately picked spots with only weak ones. You owe me a wish now."
"Right. What's the wish?"
"I'll think about it."
As I chatted with Nayoung about our hunt results, Sangheon and the Oh brothers returned. They'd gone out on small mountain ATVs and motorcycles, and they looked utterly wrecked from the ordeal.
"What's that?"
Sangheon pointed at the Drake without even flinching in surprise.
"My trophy. How many'd you two get combined?"
"Whew... You'll be shocked. Four hundred!"
Sangheon and the Oh brothers puffed out their chests proudly. Judging by the ant fluids on their clothes, they'd stuck to slaughtering easy ants. That desperate to rest tomorrow?
"Good job. More than me."
"More than you?"
"Yeah. Nayoung got a thousand."
Sangheon and the Oh brothers dropped to their knees on the ground.
"Look forward to tomorrow's training."
Sangheon and the Oh brothers then collapsed face-first onto the dirt.
* * *
While Nayoung prepared dinner, I called the Director.
"North Korean hunters?"
"Looked like it. I'll send you the coordinates where we met. Not sure if they came down to hunt or if there's a settlement nearby."
I described their appearances and skills to the Director.
"Hmm... Hope there are no clashes. Got it. Thanks for the report. I'll send someone soon."
* * *
Training on day three began.
Sangheon handled the morning, drilling the Oh brothers, and I took the afternoon. So mornings were just warm-ups, while afternoons were hell. I considered having Nayoung take a shift, but she sometimes lacked brakes and might go overboard, so I held off.
"No breaks till you hit five hundred points today. F-Rank is one point, E-Rank two, D-Rank five. Go."
I watched from afar, firing aura blasts from my fingers as the Oh brothers hunted. Recalling how the axe-wielder had used aura yesterday, I compressed and refined it further. Had to cut down on waste.
Even hunting the Drake, I'd wasted too much life force. I'd acted tough, but if I'd fought the axe-wielder yesterday, I couldn't have given my all.
The Oh brothers were surrounded by dozens of goblins, but they'd gotten good at holding their positions. They weren't terrible at protecting the DPS Changhee while herding the goblins.
But their initial excitement from slight ability growth with levels had faded fast. Stamina and mana shortages, plus daily battles wearing them down, slowed their hunting pace.
"At this rate, you won't finish even by tomorrow."
Today's quota was five hundred, but they'd only hit two hundred. The sun was nearly set.
"Argh!"
President Yu got stabbed repeatedly in the gaps of his armor by goblins. One perk of gigantification was that enemy weapons felt relatively smaller. A goblin's shortsword was like a silver needle to him now. Still hurt like hell, though—his screams didn't stop.
I'd get him gigantification-ready armor later. Relying on items from the start stunts personal growth, so I deliberately hadn't given any yet.
President Yu tried shaking off the goblins clinging to him, but there were too many, and his stamina was at its limit.
Sihwan and Minwoo rushed to save President Yu. That made it even harder for Changhee to provide covering fire. She was used to curving bullets at monsters, but she didn't have the guts to shoot with her brothers tangled up.
The formation completely collapsed.
No choice—I fired off aura blasts in succession, wiping out half the goblin pack. The rest fled.
"Drink potions and recover. Rest up, then start again."
The Oh brothers didn't even have the energy to respond.
We kept up this training daily. Normally, no one fights this hard. You'd die. But with me watching from behind and saving them when their lives were at stake, plus chugging potions like water, they barely managed to keep going.
After a few days, the Oh brothers' combat sense had improved somewhat, and they'd leveled up more. Now five of them could handle a goblin pack without much trouble—barely qualifying as F-Rank hunters.
The downside: ability growth wasn't as dramatic as day one. I hadn't expected miracles. This mission was long-term, so I'd grind them slowly, raise levels, let them nearly die a few times a day, and they'd improve. Or at least build some grit.
We wrapped training and returned to base camp today too.
Soon after, Jaeni, whom I'd called, arrived at base camp.
"Chairman, who are these people?"
"Training partners. Thanks for coming all this way."
"No big deal. Rode comfy in the Hwagok Cleanup Guild's car. So, what's up?"
"Wanna take a look at this?"
I showed her the Drake corpse.
"Ooh! A Drake! We can make items from this, right?!"
Such a rare monster, and I'd gotten a whole one—Jaeni's eyes sparkled.