Chapter 58
Chapter 58
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: Mountain Training and the Missing Hunters
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58
“Is the goddess heading to Seoul again today?”
Sang-hun playfully bowed his head in greeting to Na-young.
“Sang-hun, you saying that doesn’t make it any better.”
Na-young pouted.
Lately, Na-young had been frequently traveling to Seoul to treat severe mana addiction patients. The insurance corporation and hospitals paid generously, and the work was fulfilling, so she had no reason not to go. She still joined subjugation missions from time to time, but she was devoting more time to treatments now.
There were other hunters in the world who could use skills like Mana Drain, but none could absorb the minute traces of mana embedded in the body like Na-young could.
After we defied orders and smuggled people out of Shinbuk, we’d only been treated as persons of interest largely thanks to Na-young. The government didn’t want to get on her bad side. Losing her to emigration would be a disaster.
“See you in a few days, oppa.”
Na-young kissed my cheek.
“Take care.”
Then she departed in the escort vehicle sent by the Awakening Bureau.
“Alright, let’s get going ourselves.”
“Yes!”
The Oh brothers responded in perfect unison, uncharacteristically disciplined.
“...Why are you all so fired up?”
“They were inspired watching you save people, hyung.”
Sang-hun spoke on behalf of the Oh brothers.
“Really? It’s nothing that special.”
“No, sir! We’ll work harder to be more helpful next time!”
“Work harder, huh?”
I grinned.
The Oh brothers sweated in their rigid stances.
“Good. Since you’re all motivated, we’re done with ants and goblins. Let’s up the difficulty a bit.”
I tossed them a box.
“Ugh! It’s heavy. What is this?”
“Armor that enlarges with gigantification.”
The deep blue armor connected from neck to ankles in one piece. It was made of interlocking rings like chainmail, but each ring was smaller than standard chainmail. They clung tightly normally but expanded along with the wearer when they grew.
“Oh…. Ooh!!”
“It gets heavier as it stretches, and defense drops as the gaps between rings widen during gigantification, so watch out for that.”
It would feel heavy at first, but that was training too.
“Thank you!”
“No need to thank me. President Yoo’s footing the bill anyway. It’s pretty expensive.”
“Yessir….”
“The other four, gear upgrade for you too.”
I distributed the items Jae-in had brought. Everyone beamed like kids who’d just gotten birthday presents after donning the upgraded equipment.
We geared up and headed to today’s hunting ground. We’d been assigned a mountain that hunters tended to avoid. I suspected there was a hint of “keep them under control” from the Awakening Bureau. Mountains were better for training anyway, so no real complaints.
“This area has wolf-family monsters.”
“Hellhounds?”
“No, different from hellhounds. We used to think they were just another gate-spawned variant, but from what Hee-chul said, wild animals probably evolved by eating monster corpses or mana-contaminated food.”
“Doesn’t the country dispose of monster corpses? Where would wild animals even find them?”
President Yoo asked.
“You wouldn’t know since you didn’t go to the academy. When North Korea was obliterated by consecutive breaks, tens of thousands of monsters escaped the gates. To stop them spreading to Korea and China, they carpet-bombed until the terrain changed, so you can assume monster corpses were scattered across the entire North Korean territory.”
“Ah, so they evolved from eating those?”
“Yep. Most probably died from mana poisoning, some adapted without changing, and a tiny fraction evolved. Eating those mana-poisoned plants and animals repeats the process. For populous species like ants, evolution is inevitable. Even one in ten thousand adapting means explosive growth through breeding.”
“North Korea’s a special case, though. Good thing Korea handles it well.”
Sang-hun nodded.
“I’m not so sure. Burning them isn’t a perfect solution. Where does the ash go? Mana doesn’t fully combust, so it spreads into the air. That’s why mana addiction cases rise every year. As long as gates exist, mana spreading across Earth is inevitable.”
The monster that tried to eat me at sea might’ve grown from ocean-drifting monsters or contaminated feed.
Humans might go extinct without evolving to adapt to mana. Fortunately, the victim rate wasn’t rising too fast, so slow adaptation over generations could minimize damage.
Everyone fell quiet, lost in thought. Had I scared them too much?
“Worrying won’t change it. Focus on our jobs.”
I clapped to gather their attention.
“These wolves were dangerous even as wild animals. Monsterized, they’re worse. Keep that in mind. Today, Sang-hun’s in command.”
I hung back to watch Sang-hun and the Oh brothers hunt.
“Drive them more to the center! Don’t let them surround us!”
C-rank hunter Sang-hun found E-rank wolves easy, but directing the Oh brothers made it busier than solo fighting. They were shaky at first, but Sang-hun handled leader and front-line roles well, stabilizing positions quickly. I’d give him leadership roles more often. The gap between me and the Oh brothers was too wide for me to drag them around.
Time for my own work. With all that lies ahead, getting done in by some axe-wielding scrub in a few years if I sit idle?
I needed more power.
I headed deeper into the mountains seeking something drake-strong.
The big one from the hellhound subjugation was deep in the mountains too, so there might be something here.
No human traces in Gangwon’s rugged peaks.
“Did our country have trees this big?”
Korea lacked the massive trees of the West, but North Korea’s forests were full of trunks too thick to encircle and dozens of meters tall.
Mana was flipping the ecosystem upside down.
Searching the woods while admiring trees yielded only small monsters, no large ones.
It hit me: strong ones probably had no small fry nearby. I checked the app for my markers, heading toward fewer monsters.
Scraaape! Scraaape!
Something scratching trees. New sound, so I approached.
A tiger stood on hind legs, clawing a tree with front paws.
Sensing me, it whipped its head around.
“Bear?”
Yellow stripes made me think tiger at first, but it was unmistakably a bear.
Giant ant chunks scattered around suggested it ate ants or these abnormally huge tree fruits.
“Mixed with… something?”
Sleeker than a normal bear, but size-wise, no contest. Standing against the tree, it was over 6 meters tall.
Groooar!
“Roar’s pure bear.”
Despite surpassing bear bulk, it bounded through trees tiger-agile, closing fast. Slower than a drake charge, though.
“Let’s see what you’ve got!”
As it lunged, I gigantified. It reared on hind legs, swiping; I wrapped my arm in armor and hooked its head.
Wasn’t sure the armor would gigantify, but it did. Still, only arm coverage was a shame.
My fist met its paw. Its massive claws raked my face. Scratching bulletproof skin? No ordinary nails. Mana-infused flesh needed mana-infused to destroy.
Wounds regenerated instantly as claws passed—seemed unscratched to it.
Its face rippled from impact. True to its size, it countered with the other paw to my face.
I didn’t mind this brute-force brawl. I lowered my center, rooting my legs. Met its incoming paw head-on while punching. It swiped; I swung my armored fist.
Thuds echoed rhythmically through the mountains. After five exchanges, it staggered and collapsed.
“Tch… Just C-rank level?”
Hadn’t even used aura.
It shook its head, recovering, and charged again.
I infused aura, thinly coating the fist part of the armor. The life force layer was thinner than before, but this new armor absorbed it efficiently, feeling far stronger.
Punched its head—exploded, vanished without trace.
Power was up from last time, but needed same-level rematch for precise test.
Absorbed its life force to replenish my spent reserves, extracted the mana stone, left a marker. Those sharp claws would fetch a price and aid ecological research. Deep mountains made recovery tough, but that was the Awakening Bureau’s problem.
While hunting drake- and tiger-striped bear-level monsters, a call came from Awakening Bureau command.
“Yes, Lee Ji-seok here.”
[Hunter Lee Ji-seok, calling for emergency support. You free now?]
“Speak.”
[A missing person. Need search. Bureau Chief recommended you.]
“Got it. Heading to site now. Send info.]
Opened the data from the Awakening Bureau.
D-rank hunters went Mad Bull hunting and didn’t return.
Mad Bulls: 4-meter-long bull monsters with two pairs of horns. Strong for size, but simple straight-line attacks made them E-rank.
Hunting method simple: Fast hunter aggroes, runs big circle. Ranged allies snipe from afar. Mad Bull pursues original target until death, as long as in sight.
A D-rank party wiped by those easy foes? Suspicious.
Checked coordinates, cleared monsters en route, arrived.
Tracked GPS signals via app. Bureau issued trackers to all subjugators: location, distress button for rescue.
Followed signal awhile, then stopped. Smell—human blood.
Tracked scent to hunter traces.
Severely mangled, some dismembered by monsters. Faces unrecognizable, so checked gear.
Broken spear, bow, wand. Definitely the three-man party I sought. No other matching reports.
Surveyed further.
Mad Bull tracks everywhere—they hunted them. But enough to wipe them? Many tracks, but if unsure, why engage first? D-ranks aren’t strong but past rookie mistakes like misjudging foes.
No distress call, all three dead simultaneously? Something’s off.