Named Collection
People love to compare.
They find comfort in the misfortunes of those worse off than themselves, and feel crushed by the neighbor's son's stellar grades. No matter the industry, the comparisons never stop.
But there was one place where the rankings ran even hotter than in cutthroat professional sports or the spotlight-hungry entertainment world.
The world of hunters.
In the online communities where hunter fanatics gathered, threads pitting the top-ranked hunters against one another appeared like clockwork, day after day. Even ranking the greats of the old UFC had once sparked ferocious debates — so there was no way people would leave alone high-tier hunters who could fell colossal monsters with a single swing of a blade.
Of course, hunters almost never fought each other, and even when they did, ordinary civilians had no way of finding out. So no answer ever came.
Fans lined them up by gate-clearing records and bickered endlessly, the arguments doomed never to end.
But amid those fights, another topic would sometimes surface as a side debate.
Not pitting individuals against one another as usual, but asking which organization was the strongest in the country.
The usual contenders were always the same three government-affiliated special agencies.
The Disaster Management Bureau, the National Security Bureau, and the Special Operations Command.
The private agency Aegis Entertainment existed too, but the fiercest arguments centered on those three.
Each organization's leadership had its devoted fanbase, and since reliable internal information never reached the public, this debate was even more impossible to settle.
But at the very least, Oh Hyeon-seong knew the answer.
When it came to all-out war, no awakened organization in the country could stand toe-to-toe with the Special Operations Command.
The difference didn't lie in the pool of hunters they fielded, but in the equipment they deployed and the sheer scale of the organization itself.
Kugugung!
A heavy tremor shook the earth to its core. The military bombardment had begun, and blinding flashes erupted across the field. Mana bombs plunged with pinpoint accuracy onto pre-set coordinates, tearing the monsters limb from limb.
At the same moment, the units that had been standing by at each position sprang into motion.
The full-scale assault on the Root had begun.
Teong!
"Interior's clear."
Kang Seok was the first to push through, and behind him, nearly a dozen squad members poured in through the breached entrance.
They had entered the interior of the Root.
The long, cavernous space, drowned in violet, exuded a miasma so thick that the moment they stepped inside, it clamped down on their lungs like a fist. It easily surpassed even the average S-Rank gate.
"We've got more than one Root to clear today, so we avoid miasma accumulation as much as possible."
"The shortest route from the briefing should match up, sir."
"We've got no choice but to trust that it does."
To neutralize a Root, its core had to be destroyed. But the internal structure of a Root was so fiendishly convoluted that any hunter who had experienced it firsthand still ground their teeth at the memory — and given the sheer scale of the things, simply finding the right path was an ordeal in itself.
For an ordinary target, they could call on a detection-type hunter for help, but no such hope existed here. Locating a Root's core that way was impossible. Even the most refined detection abilities could not see clean through a Root's interior. The very best detection-typeAwakened could only make a rough guess at the core's position, and even then they were frequently wrong.
That was why, to clear a Root within the time limit, hunters numbering in the hundreds at minimum had to pour inside and comb the place for the core — and even then, there were times they were ultimately forced to withdraw without ever finding it.
Yet here and now, barely a dozen people were the entirety of the assault team.
The reasoning behind the decision was simple: the core's location had been identified in advance, along with the shortest route leading to it.
"The success or failure of an operation this size hinges on a single person... Unbelievable."
"You'd better get used to it. Assuming this plan goes off without a hitch, that is."
Kang Seok said it with the corner of his mouth twisted up. His subordinates hadn't yet grasped what was happening. But he knew all too well — if this plan succeeded, just how thoroughly the military's tactics and operations would be turned upside down from here on out.
"Move out."
Sweeping away the monsters around a Root and breaching the entrance was only the beginning of a subjugation operation.
Whenever a Root came under attack, monsters — from who knew where — came swarming in from every direction with terrifying ferocity. On top of that, a Root was riddled with invisible passages. Beyond the entrance Kang Seok's team had just breached, countless hidden tunnels connected to the Root in hard-to-find places.
And every one of those passages became an entry point for monsters. It meant it was impossible for personnel outside to seal the Root off and keep the monsters from getting in — the single greatest factor that drove the difficulty of a Root subjugation up exponentially.
But this time was different.
Every entrance connecting to the Roots had been mapped out in advance. Thanks to that, the Special Operations Command's hunters had established defensive lines in front of every single passage, cutting off any further influx of monsters to interfere with the assault.
The reason something that should have been impossible was now possible came down to one person's ability.
"A horde of at least several hundred monsters is massing near the eastern 13th entrance. Requesting additional support."
— Understood. Dispatching support immediately.
"Large-type pack spotted on the move. We need to thin their numbers before they close on our forces."
— Yes, sir. Give us the artillery coordinates.
Jang Seo-jun's two eyes gleamed gold. His Special Constitution — Absolute Sight. The moment his ability blossomed to full bloom and unfurled across the battlefield, it was as if the entire field lay in the palm of his hand, laid bare beneath his gaze.
It went beyond mere breadth and precision — it was an ability that let him grasp virtually everything within its range.
— Don't push yourself harder than you have to.
"I'm still fine."
Jang Seo-jun answered Oh Hyeon-seong's voice crackling through the radio. His breathing was a little ragged, but sustaining the ability itself posed no real problem. The brutal special training had swollen his mana reserves enormously, and he could cover the entire operational area.
Because his ability held steady and read the battlefield flawlessly, casualties during the operation were all but nonexistent.
Kugugung!
And then, at last — the Root that had stood so unshakably firm came crashing down. Its body driven deep into the earth, having poured miasma into the soil, the Root finally lost its form and collapsed entirely.
Waaaaah!
The soldiers cheered at the sight of it. For one brief moment, every soul on the battlefield beat as one heart.
"How did the assault team fare?"
"They report exiting without a single casualty, sir."
"Heh..."
Chief of Staff Park Seong-hwan couldn't find the words to respond to the report. A sly glance at his watch showed the minute hand hadn't even moved.
A Root subdued this easily?
Having mapped the Root's entire labyrinthine interior in advance, they had entered through the nearest breach, followed only the shortest route, and arrived at the core directly. No matter how cunningly a Root concealed itself, the side holding the answer key could carve out its core without breaking a sweat.
Thanks to that, a Root had been eliminated without losing a single man. And in less than an hour, no less.
By all previously accepted standards, it bordered on a miracle.
"It... it can really be taken down this simply?"
It wasn't just Park Seong-hwan. The entire military was stunned, because the result had far outstripped anything anyone had predicted. Aside from Kang Seok, none of the Special Operations Command's hunters had ever witnessed Absolute Sight firsthand. They'd only heard the stories — they could hardly have known the true devastating power of the ability.
"Heh, I'd love to see the hollow looks on those monster bastards' faces as they stare at their collapsed home."
"Eyes front. This isn't over yet."
Indeed, the operation was far from finished. More than twenty Roots still remained within the operational zone, and every last one had to be eliminated by day's end.
But one Root had fallen without a single complication, and Jang Seo-jun's ability had proven accurate to the last inch. In other words — the real operation was only just beginning.
With the large-scale operation underway, most of the units that had been waiting at other positions mobilized, and the subjugation of multiple Roots began in earnest. Multiple assault teams moved simultaneously across fronts far from Kang Seok's, striking in parallel.
"Whew... this is rough."
Sweat dripped steadily from Jang Seo-jun's brow. The time he could sustain the ability had grown considerably since the beginning, but Absolute Sight placed a heavy burden on its wielder. Push too hard and he'd black out like before, so he had to withdraw the power for a while and rest. The structure of each Root and the location of every core had already been mapped in advance, so the operation itself suffered no setback.
He flinched.
But just then, as he moved to withdraw the ability, Jang Seo-jun felt something drawing near — and his whole body seized up.
"Th-they're here."
"Goddammit...! I knew those bastards would come!"
A hunter dove desperately behind the terrain, spitting curses. When he lifted his gaze, monsters packed the entire field of vision, advancing through the dense trees.
These were no ordinary monsters idly prowling around the Root.
Lastus's legion, driving a blade into the army's rear.
"There's too many of them!"
"Don't worry — the reserve unit's right nearby! Reinforcements will be here any minute!"
Special Species used actual tactics. Monster strategy — an utterly unfamiliar concept to the current generation of hunters, but an undeniable fact all the same. Even now, they had ambushed the weakest points in the troop deployments.
But interference from the legion had already been anticipated. Command, having caught the early warning signs, had prepared for the surprise attack, and holding out even briefly would be enough to stop them.
Except—
Kwaddeudeuk!
"Wh-what the—?!"
The tank firing shells from behind the hunters was cleaved clean in half.
Atop the neatly severed tank, flames roaring upward, a snow-white monster stood holding a long spear, its crimson eyes blazing as it gazed at them in silence.
"A... a Named Monster..."
A single monster had descended upon their rear. Yet the hunters couldn't even raise their swords. It was a presence so overwhelming that sheer dread flooded everyone who laid eyes on it.
"Just as I thought... you were here."
At the sound of the voice, Nihil turned its head.
Oh Hyeon-seong came stalking toward the creature, a single sword held loosely in his grip, and stopped before it.
The Named Monster, Nihil. The sole child Lastus had sired with his own hands — and one of the corpses that had vanished from Seoul's body storage facility.
The creature seemed to recognize him too, its crimson eyes flaring bright.
"You know why I stuck around here? Because I figured the bonus would come rolling right to me, vine and all."
From the moment he'd handed Jang Seo-jun over, his role in the operation had already been complete. And yet he had remained here until the operation began — and not out of any desire to help his junior.
Sreung.
Oh Hyeon-seong leveled his drawn blade at the creature.
"You. Be a good boy and become part of my farm-equipment collection."