Hunting Dogs of Tulang

I took out the two mages in a surprise attack.

Even after casually cutting down the one-armed wreck who looked like their commander, the remaining enemies fought to the bitter end.

"Squad leader deceased."

"Command authority transfers to Deputy Squad Leader Oh Cheong."

"Probability of subdual negligible. Objective changed to extermination."

Voices as flat and mechanical as machine tones. Faces so cold it was as if their own wills had been surgically removed. The guy who'd lost his arm had almost seemed human by comparison.

I recalled Zaug and both units of Draco as well, then summoned them back out in front of me.

Guard your lord with your lives.

Didn't you already say that, Great Lord?

I'm emphasizing it.

Cutting down two mages and two warriors had already tipped the scales in our favor. We had them flanked from both sides. If we held, we won.

Yeah. So long as I didn't die first.

Conceal yourself again while we hold them!

At Great Lord's skill level, hiding is impossible, sir.

Thanks for the brutal fact-check.

The Chinese hunters' killing intent thickened another degree. Even without Heavenly Martial Body, their will to murder me came through crystal clear.

Clang! Clash!

What followed was a desperate, life-for-life struggle.

"Grrrrr!"

Draco sucked in a massive breath and belched out a torrent of crimson flame. A nearby Chinese hunter deployed a defensive skill, but the fire swallowed him almost at once.

While one hunter burned, two others slipped into Draco's blind spot and caved in its chest with a sickening crunch. The head had been spared, so total destruction was avoided—but the damage was more than enough to take it out of the fight.

Crunch!

The Armed Zombie Warriors began dropping one by one as well. Enhanced abilities and the shared Heavenly Martial Body had given them the hardware for elite physical performance. The problem was the software.

Mana techniques that pushed a body past its natural limits, plus a full suite of combat skills—

—the Chinese hunters held the clear edge there. Sir Isra recognized that fact with cold certainty.

They shall not reach my lord.

…

For every one of mine that shattered, a Chinese hunter spat blood and went down with it. I wasn't about to sit around sucking my thumb either.

"Fireball."

Hitting a warrior-class hunter was impossible. The half-ruined village made for a miserable battlefield; even with Heavenly Martial Body and Origin of Magic correcting my aim, it was still a nightmare. So I threw the spell at a stationary target instead.

BOOOOM!

A white defensive membrane shuddered as if it might shatter at any second. Both supporters poured everything they had into the skills and somehow blocked the Fireball.

"Guess you can't look anywhere else now, can you?"

Having them babysit the Chinese hunters was getting annoying. If they took their eyes off me, things were going to get hot.

The longer the battle ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dragged on, the more both sides bled strength. By the time every last Armed Zombie Strengthened Soldier had been destroyed and a second Draco was combat-ineffective—

"Kh—!"

—I dropped the final warrior-class hunter.

"Hah."

I wiped the sweat from my brow with my sleeve. If they had come at me from the start with pure murder as the only goal, I really might have died. The only reason I was still breathing was that I'd sniped the two mages and the leader-type hunter while they were still trying to capture me alive. If I hadn't managed that, the corpses on the ground might not have been theirs.

My neck still felt cold.

Shall this humble one handle the last two, Great Lord?

Planning to pick off the weak little supporters, you thief?

Hiiik!

"Don't kill them."

I had plenty of questions.

Crunch—

Right then came the sound of something being bitten down hard, followed by wet, gurgling chokes.

"Grrrk—"

"Khuhk."

Both of them collapsed, foaming at the mouth.

What.

What the hell?

Did they just chomp on some suicide pill straight out of a spy novel?

Both have expired.

Ha. Hah.

"Son of a bitch."

They charged in ready to kill me, and now they just up and die on their own terms? My eyes narrowed with pure irritation.

"Hyung-nim!"

"Are you all right?"

The support team came scrambling over in a panic.

"I'll leave the cleanup to you."

Clatter—

I tossed the bone sword aside without ceremony, then dropped onto the ground right where I stood and dragged in ragged breaths.

That was everything recovered from the Chinese hunters' corpses.

"How much is all this worth?"

"Every single one of them was running Rare gear, hyung."

"No wonder they hit so hard."

B-class hunters who had used some underhanded method to force their way into a C-class gate. Shoddy equipment would have been the real surprise.

"I'll compile the list and submit it."

"Please do."

I was far too drained to check anything myself right now—body and mind both.

We wrapped up the recovery in a rough fashion and stepped out of the gate.

"Hunter Park!!!"

A sound that was half scream, half cheer slammed into my eardrums. President Baek stood there bellowing at the top of his lungs in welcome. Beside him, dozens of hunters in armor stamped with the Rift Bureau logo stood in formation.

What on earth was going on?

"Uh, President. Mind explaining?"

"This is entirely my fault!!"

He came running up as if he were about to burst into tears and started checking me over from head to toe. No—forget the guilt trip. Just tell me what the situation is.

"We responded to Representative Baek's report."

"And you are…"

"Hello, Hunter Park Minho."

"Hunter Jeon Hyeyeon, isn't it?"

"I'm flattered. To think the Necromancer of Guui-dong knows my name."

Chief of the Counter-Abnormal Bureau's First Division. One of the names floated as a future S-class alongside Jeong Seungil. What was someone of her caliber doing here?

"We received a report that the entry capacity had suddenly filled to the maximum."

Ah. So the president had caught that too. The gate's entry slots had maxed out, leaving him stuck outside waiting.

I gave them a concise rundown of the bloodbath inside the gate and what the one-armed hunter had said. But why did her expression keep twisting the more I explained?

"You said Tulang?"

"Yes."

"Those Superhuman General Bureau bastards!"

President Baek suddenly flooring the gas like that was enough to give anyone whiplash. Watching the man who normally applied pressure with quiet dignity start snarling out loud was somehow even more startling.

"Any survivors?"

"No. I left two alive, but they bit down on something, foamed at the mouth, and dropped dead."

"That's Tulang's method."

Chief Jeon Hyeyeon bit her lip lightly.

"So what exactly is this Tulang?"

"Hunting dogs raised by the Superhuman General Bureau."

All that was publicly known was the organization's name. Total headcount, internal structure—nothing concrete had ever leaked.

"Hunter Park. I'm truly glad you're safe."

"Must be thanks to your worrying, I guess."

"Truly fortunate. If something had happened to you… no, even thinking about it is horrifying."

The hand gripping mine tightened hard. Business relationship or not, having someone fret over my well-being this intensely left a strange feeling in my chest.

"Hunter Park Minho. Would it be acceptable to reclassify this incident as a Ranger mission?"

What was that supposed to mean?

"Oh. That's actually a solid idea."

Baek Doraemon! Explanation, please!

"We intend to file the report stating that you clashed with Tulang during a Ranger assignment."

Wow. Turning this into a government-versus-government matchup? My chest swelled at the sheer scale of the matchup. Park Minho, man under the Korean government's protection—looking pretty damn impressive!

President Baek shook his head.

"The Chinese government will deny any connection to Tulang."

Tch.

"Don't worry. Even so, once we lodge an official protest with the Chinese government, they won't be able to move for a while."

Well, that was good enough. One brush with a cold blade against the nape of my neck was plenty for a lifetime.

"Hunter Park. May we investigate the site?"

"Be my guest."

Anyone could enter a gate once it had been cleared. That included an A-class hunter like Chief Jeon Hyeyeon. She wanted to comb the scene for any evidence that could be used to put the screws to the Chinese government.

"Leave the site cleanup to me and get some rest today."

"Yes. I'd appreciate it."

"I'll call you a taxi."

Eck.

A taxi from Pyeongtaek all the way to my place? That had to run something like three hundred thousand won.

"Money is meant to be spent on things like this."

Ah. Right. I did make a lot of money now.

"I'll leave the rest to you."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"You lot, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠come give me a hand."

The support team got snagged on the spot. I pretended not to notice their miserable faces, climbed into the taxi, and only then did the fatigue crash over me in a wave.

Haa. Exhausting.

Today I was just going to sleep like the dead.

Inside the gate, Jeon Hyeyeon surveyed the scene of the incident.

"Chief. We've found traces of the fighting here."

"Hmm. The scale of this blast isn't ordinary."

She wasn't talking about the Fireball impact site. These were the remnants of magic reinforced by Solar Eclipse.

Magic had a hard ceiling on destructive power no matter how high the caster's stats climbed. A warrior skill like Power Strike scaled directly with Strength, so an A-class hunter using it hit several times harder than an E-class. Magic didn't work that way. Understanding mattered more than the Mana stat itself. Given identical comprehension, the difference in power between an E-class hunter's spell and an A-class hunter's was surprisingly small.

"A blast radius this size is at least a C-grade skill. No—more like B-grade."

"It could have been used by one of the Tulang hunters."

"Look at the angle. The angle."

Judging by the blast pattern, the odds that Minho's subordinate had cast the magic sat at over ninety percent. And that wasn't all. Faint residual mana still hung in the air—static left behind when Ingrid had diffused Lightning. Enough time had passed since the casting that no one was getting tingled, but a hunter of Jeon Hyeyeon's caliber could still read the signature of the spell.

The footprints left in the dirt weren't ordinary either.

Traces of Mana Release.

A technique that expelled mana through the soles of the feet to boost propulsion and the force of sword strikes. This was no low-grade undead. Purely in terms of technical precision, it rivaled or even surpassed her own.

It isn't that Tulang was weak.

With force of this level, even an A-class hunter would have had a real fight on their hands. Someone on the cusp of S-class like herself might have managed—but she thoroughly discarded any notion that Tulang had shown mercy. Jeon Hyeyeon had personal experience with just how vicious the hunting dogs raised by the Superhuman General Bureau could be.

And this is really a hunter who only just climbed into C-class?

Even during the Guui-dong gate break, he hadn't been anywhere near this strong. In a little over a month, he had grown at a rate that might not have a single precedent anywhere in the world.

Did Director Jeong Seungil foresee even this?

A talent personally vouched for by the Republic of Korea's sole SS-class hunter. Looking at the battlefield, she finally understood why he had said what he said.

"Heh."

Her blood was starting to heat up. A little more growth, and she might get a real match out of him. If luck was on her side, she might even snatch a clue toward the enlightenment that would push her into S-class.

We cannot allow a hunter of this caliber to slip through our fingers!

Jeon Hyeyeon's heart hammered with competitive fire and a fierce sense of duty.