An Outrageous Armament
Zzjeojeok!
The body of the Named Monster, Nihil, crumpled to the ground.
He had already died, frozen solid and entombed in frost, but a kill had to be finished properly.
Oh Hyeon-seong cleaved him clean in two, leaving only the bisected halves of the corpse sprawled where they fell.
"Should I just burn him to ash? That way he can't come back to life again."
Blea drifted over and said this, and for once she looked genuinely refreshed—she'd spent so long cooped up in idleness that finally cutting loose like this seemed to do her a world of good.
But Oh Hyeon-seong shook his head.
"No, we need to recover the corpse. I've still got a use for it."
Not that much of the corpse would remain, once he was done with that 'use.'
By regulation, the remains of a Named Monster like Nihil were supposed to be shipped off to the storage facility in Seoul. But as had already been arranged with Kang Seok in advance, this one wasn't going anywhere near the corpse vault.
"Keuk... that stings."
A jolt of pain shot through him, and Oh Hyeon-seong winced.
It was the wound on his flank—the one that had been cut deep. Mercifully, his organs were untouched, but blood was flowing in no small amount from the clean severance that had sliced through flesh along with space itself.
My clothes are soaked through too. Guess I'll have to throw them out.
He glanced down with a dry expression. His shirt and pants were stained crimson with the blood that had poured out of him. An ordinary person would have passed out cold by now, and even for an awakened hunter like him, it was a considerable amount of blood to lose.
"Want me to cauterize it?"
Blea asked, igniting a flare of flame on the tip of her finger. It was enough heat to make his bangs flutter for an instant.
"...Are you planning to burn someone down or something?"
At his wary reaction, Blea pursed her lips in a pout and snuffed the flame out.
"You've lost your beginner's spirit."
"If that's what it is, I'd rather forget I ever had it."
In truth, he had relied on her help more than a few times in the past. Out in the field where no treatment was available, with an operation in full swing, he'd borrowed her fire to sear his wounds shut.
But being cauterized by her flames was never a pleasant experience. You could say he'd gotten a brief, firsthand understanding of what monsters felt as she burned them alive.
Good thing I packed this in advance.
Oh Hyeon-seong pulled something out from inside his jacket. Not a crop from his fields, but a medicinal herb grown in Meltz's Cave.
He stuffed the faintly glowing bundle of greens into his mouth and chewed. Each bite released a mouthful of juice with a thick, bitter taste that flooded his entire mouth.
Since it wasn't an ordinary crop, it had no flavor despite growing in an environment completely free of miasma—but the effect was outstanding.
Not long after he swallowed it, the bleeding began to slow at a rapid pace, and when he pulled his hand away from the wound, it had stopped so completely that not a single drop seeped out.
The herb's powerful hemostatic properties at work.
Rare grade, and this potent? They really are something special.
It was his first time using the herb himself, and Oh Hyeon-seong nodded along, genuinely impressed.
When it came to treating illness and healing wounds, the herbs from the cave seemed to outperform ordinary crops of the same grade. The crops from his fields were far more versatile, tastier, and broadly applicable, while the cave's harvests were, in a sense, specialized toward a single purpose.
The wounds aren't fully healed, but... that can wait. This comes first.
Turning his head, Oh Hyeon-seong approached the monster's corpse and devoured the soul that lingered within it.
Nihil, a Named Monster—a being on an entirely different tier from ordinary boss monsters, and the power of his soul was correspondingly immense.
Thanks to that, the creature's soul converted into a staggering quantity of mana—more than even an Epic-grade potato could ever match—and was absorbed into him.
"Phew. Good."
Oh Hyeon-seong opened his eyes, having smoothly digested the flood of mana. Before he knew it, the three high spirits had materialized and gathered at his feet.
A fox, an otter, and a puppy.
With an adorable trio of animals suddenly plopped into his arms in the middle of this brutal battlefield, Oh Hyeon-seong turned to leave.
"Let's go home."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The battle was over.
Every Root within the operational zone had been eliminated, and the legion monsters that had come swarming had all been driven back in defeat. A few still remained at the far northern edge, so the Roots of the Northern Korean Peninsula Zone hadn't all vanished—but the largest colony, the one that had appeared so suddenly and spread with terrifying speed, was gone.
That alone was a resounding success. But the greatest significance of the operation lay in how little the army had lost—so little, it hardly seemed real. Despite mounting a full-scale assault on the Roots while repelling a legion's counterattack, their losses had been absurdly minimal. The command staff's most optimistic projections had assumed far greater equipment losses and far more hunter blood spilled.
The hunters of the Special Operations Command, too, had braced themselves for casualties.
"H-hold on a second—!"
"Waaaah!"
Jang Seo-jun was hoisted high into the air, tossed skyward again and again. When hunters did the throwing, even the height was on another level. Amid the rowdy, celebratory atmosphere after the battle, he was the one drawing all the attention.
"Is that the birth of a new hero?"
Oh Hyeon-seong chuckled as he watched from a distance, and Kang Seok came over to hand him a coffee. He took the paper cup with a flicker of reluctance.
"There's no hiding Absolute Sight. It's not an ability you can keep concealed—short of barring him from the battlefield entirely."
"Right. It'll reach the others' ears soon enough."
"I know."
Kang Seok nodded. He was well aware that agents from other nations would inevitably come sniffing around with their dirty tricks. The risk was real, but the boy wouldn't be an easy mark. With his unconventional promotion already in motion, Kang Seok planned to assign dedicated personnel to him and take every protective measure possible.
Hearing all this, Oh Hyeon-seong spoke up.
"Still, if a newcomer who barely got in starts getting star treatment this outlandish, couldn't it breed resentment among hunters who've been grinding away for years?"
"No organization built out of people is ever completely free of complaints. But we're nothing like ordinary organizations. Don't worry about it."
Just as the Management Bureau and the Security Bureau operated on systems entirely separate from the civil service, the Special Operations Command ran on a structure and culture all its own, utterly unlike the regular military. It was built on ruthless meritocracy. Unlike ordinary institutions, a hunter society laid its power bare for all to see—this kind of culture was inevitable. Hunters were, by their very nature, beings who pursued greater strength instinctively.
That was also why the upper echelons of the Special Operations Command were all high-rank hunters, even though a commander's capabilities and a combatant's capabilities were different things. Hunters had a deep-seated tendency to refuse to listen to anyone weaker than themselves. Conversely, they would readily acknowledge a hunter who outclassed them—much the way even the most ego-driven world-class footballers went quiet and respectful in front of a legendary manager.
The reason Kang Seok could lead a massive organization without the slightest resistance was that he was, to every hunter of the current generation, an idol made flesh.
"I have no idea what kind of training you put him through... but even setting Absolute Sight aside, Jang Seo-jun has already stepped into the high-tier hunter stage—Grade 10. And after the miraculous role he played in this operation, there isn't a soul alive who wouldn't acknowledge him. He won't be tripped up by cheap sniping or jealousy."
"Well, if you say so, that's a relief."
Oh Hyeon-seong took a sip of the coffee in his hand—and shuddered. He'd tasted it out of respect for the gesture, and sure enough, it was dreadful.
Kang Seok, meanwhile, drained the paper cup in one long pull without so much as a flinch.
"...What is wrong with your tongue?"
"What?"
"Nothing. Never mind."
"In any case... I owe you one this time. I have no choice but to admit it."
Kang Seok said this, his gaze turned away. The existence of Jang Seo-jun, whom Oh Hyeon-seong had unearthed, would transform every operation to come. And beyond that, by eliminating Nihil in this battle, they had severed Rastus's right arm. Even setting aside every other loss from the fighting, Nihil alone represented a colossal drain on the legion's strength. That all of it was thanks to Oh Hyeon-seong was something even Kang Seok had to concede.
"But... don't even think about popping in and out on a whim like you did this time. I can't have some man of unverifiable identity loitering around during a period this delicate. Next time, I'll throw you straight into a military—"
"Don't worry. From now on, whenever senior needs to come across the border, he'll do it completely legally."
A voice cut in out of nowhere. Baek Ji-soo had approached and planted herself beside Oh Hyeon-seong before anyone noticed.
"Permits you two slapped together on a napkin? I can deny them on the spot."
"Then I'll just get authorization straight from the president. As for you—go on and keep faithfully guarding the north like always."
Pop!
A thick vein bulged on Kang Seok's forehead. Whereupon Oh Hyeon-seong, standing between them, gently nudged Kang Seok and Baek Ji-soo apart to either side and stepped away.
"You two just fought an entire battle, and you've still got energy left to fight each other?"
Thwup-thwup-thwup!
Thankfully, the timing was perfect. Right then, a black helicopter appeared overhead. It was time to leave this place.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The helicopter sent to carry them away finished its preparations for departure. The baggage they'd gathered in advance was all loaded, and Oh Hyeon-seong's car, brought along for the trip, was to be attached beneath the aircraft and flown back slung on a line.
Baek Ji-soo boarded first, and Oh Hyeon-seong moved to climb in after her—
"J-just one moment, please!"
A voice called out to stop him. Jang Seo-jun came running up, breath heaving from his lungs.
"I've been looking everywhere for you!"
"Why were you looking for me? You already said your goodbyes."
"I... I really wanted to thank you!"
Jang Seo-jun bowed his head deeply. It was a heartfelt expression of gratitude, aimed at both Oh Hyeon-seong and Baek Ji-soo. These were things he would never forget for the rest of his life. He had agonized long over what he should say in parting, but for now, this was the best he could manage.
Oh Hyeon-seong gave a small chuckle and climbed into the helicopter.
"Will... will I ever see you again?"
"Perhaps. If the chance arises, we'll meet again."
Oh Hyeon-seong nodded, then spoke as the helicopter lifted off.
"Then—I leave this place in your hands."
He had turned his back on the battlefield he'd known for so many long years and retired. But that didn't mean he'd gone off to some other world entirely disconnected from it. Only when the system worked properly and the hunters standing on the front lines could hold firm did his peaceful life of farming continue on. And so, all Oh Hyeon-seong wished for was that his choice to leave men behind here would turn out for the best.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Well, if it isn't you. It's been a while."
Noya said this with a smile, still splitting firewood. A welcome guest had arrived.
"Have you been keeping well?"
"Of course, of course. But whatever is that—"
THUD!
Oh Hyeon-seong stepped forward and set down the monster corpse he'd carried on his back. The body of the Named Monster Nihil came to rest with a deep, heavy sound. Even in death, the thing radiated a presence unmistakably apart from the ordinary—and at the sight of it, Noya could only manage a weak, uneasy laugh.
"It seems... something quite outrageous has come my way, it does."