Gargoyle Legion Annihilation
While I was deeply engrossed in sniper training,
Danger! Energy currents detected near shelter.
Closing training ground.
Damn. Am I getting kicked out without fail?
It looked like it'd be a real hassle if the training ground closed while I was still inside, so I hurriedly evacuated.
It hasn't fully sunk in yet. Shit.
It was only natural.
How great a sniper could I become just by pulling the trigger a few hours?
But like an infant absorbing experiences, in just those few hours, I was starting to get a rough sense of sniping technique.
I'd even zeroed in my personal sight,
and mastered aiming adjustments for distance to a certain extent.
I'm really glad I practiced.
Skill really comes down to practice, after all.
Exit the training ground?
Gripping my sniper rifle, now far more familiar than before, I left the training ground.
And then—
Bwaaaang—!
Vehicles fleeing in panic had clogged the roads, horns blaring amid people's screams.
Another mid-to-high gate in Seoul?
Two high-difficulty gates in a single day.
Such cases were rare worldwide, even if not unprecedented.
Either seriously bad luck, or something was going seriously wrong.
No need to overthink it.
Gargoyles, huh? Flying bastards.
Exactly the kind I hated. But on the flip side,
This might be perfect for me.
I steeled my resolve.
Here, I'd shamelessly snipe away,
raking in massive EXP and gold.
Level up, get rich,
acquire sniper skills, upgrade the shelter, improve its functions, unlock every growth element.
And snag every item from the Sniper Shop—expensive, but clearly useful.
Like I'd die here.
With that, I hefted the MMM-fitted sniper rifle, fully loaded the magazine with 20 air bullets, and racked the bolt once.
—Clack!
Hundreds of reps in the training ground had made it second nature.
Bolt-action meant no full-auto,
but
I'll kill them one by one. My EXP and gold...
Of course... don't come close...
Scary...
—Rattle!
Muttering that to myself, I opened the window.
—Kieeeek!
Gargoyles swarming the skies over Seoul.
Some clashed with hunters, others just flew aimlessly.
Farther out,
one massive, blood-red gargoyle larger than the rest.
That's the King Gargoyle.
The boss.
"Too far; even if I shoot, I might miss."
Could call it lucky—it was very distant.
At that range, killing it would be tricky.
Better to efficiently snipe the threatening ones nearby.
Over ten gargoyles buzzed near my one-room apartment,
and twenty more within easy range.
I targeted one first: landed on a building rooftop, roaring into the sky.
—Kieeeek!
"You're dead..."
Daring to lurk so scarily close to my home. Die...
Sighting in.
Pillow under the window for elbows, deep stability.
Blanket draped over my body, just the rifle barrel peeking out of the shelter.
Loaded already.
I peered through the new scope I'd bought and attached.
Bought it for 5 million gold from the Sniper Shop during training: Pretty Damn Good Scope.
Up to 4x zoom.
Ⓒ
▷ [4]
⋅
⋅
▶ [3] ......Okay. This zoom level should do.
⋅
⋅
▷ [2]
⋅
⋅
▷ [1]
Ⓒ
Fairly close, so at 3x, the gargoyle's head filled my view.
"Huuuuuuh."
Scary-looking thing...
I exhaled fully, as if emptying every last bit of air from my body.
Then my index finger on the trigger—slowly,
slowly, slowly,
so slow even I couldn't predict the shot.
Focusing solely on not disturbing my aim.
"Huuuuuuh..."
And then,
—Pssshut...!
—Paang!
Hit!
—Kieeeek!
A bit off—hit the torso.
Didn't blow the head clean off,
but
Incredible power.
The gargoyle's torso was completely gone.
Great. Sound's as quiet as in training, and air bullets mean almost no detection risk.
Buoyed by confidence, I kept sniping.
The arrogant red King Gargoyle's silhouette loomed ever closer from afar.
That was a bit scary.
《Seoul》
《Hunter Management Bureau – Emergency Operations Room》
They'd broadcasted a preemptive alert due to unusual energy currents,
but no one expected a gate this dense.
"......"
Even Kim Chun-gyu, Team 1 Leader—the bald one waiting on unregistered hunter contracts—stood, clearing his mind.
This is bad.
The energy currents seemed peacetime-normal, just mildly uneasy,
so statistically, over 90% chance of nothing, or at worst a lowest gate.
But it turned out mid-to-high.
Should've kept stronger forces in Seoul.
Sending most high-rankers to the top-tier gate in Gangneung was a mistake.
Not his call alone, but the committee's decision.
Still, responsibility gnawed at him.
Hit right in the back of the head.
And not a dungeon type, but a wave dumping monsters into downtown.
Worst of all, gargoyles.
Gargoyles, of all things.
He knew them well.
Often bosses in lowest-to-low gates.
Flying stone-statue monsters with tough defenses and regeneration,
requiring overwhelming DPS to deny regen—tricky as hell.
They fly, they're strong, durable, and heal.
Plenty of ranged hunters, but
few in Seoul with the raw power for meaningful damage on gargoyles.
Reporting to the Director.
"Subjugation is possible, of course. But civilian casualties..."
He trailed off.
Director Baek Moon-seong already wore the weight of that burden.
The Bureau's goal isn't just clearing gates. Zero civilian harm.
Perfect success no longer guaranteed.
"Clear anomaly. Preemptive response was lacking, but we'll mobilize non-combat staff too."
"Do it."
Analyzing the surge in gates could wait.
Priority: extinguish the lava on their feet.
Kim Chun-gyu wiped cold sweat, focusing on crisis management.
《Seoul Downtown》
Paeng Chang-won, average C-rank hunter.
Battle on a high-rise rooftop against gargoyles.
"Keep gargoyles from descending below rooftop level!"
"Yes!"
Bureau orders for the first defense line:
Block gargoyles from dropping below high-rise average height.
Licensed hunters poured max power from atop skyscrapers near the gate spawn.
Private guilds joined in force, fighting to minimize civilian damage.
Melee DPS swung swords or upward hammer strikes from roofs,
ranged DPS burned more mana than ever.
Paeng Chang-won, debuff specialist—ice mage with low DPS—
focused entirely on slowing gargoyles.
—Kieek!
Incoming gargoyle.
Problem: bypassing hunters to dive groundward.
"Cold!"
High-speed flight cost heavy mana to halt barely.
While holding it,
"Dodge sideways!"
Archer teammate behind fired an explosive arrow.
Perfect head hit—
—Boom!
"Urk."
Blast heat forced even him to turn away.
—Kieek!
Head deeply caved, staggering. But
—Kugugu.
Stone-flesh regen kicked in instantly.
"One more! Fall back!"
Second explosive arrow to the head—
—Boom!
Finally no regen; gargoyle pixelated away.
Tougher and trickier than expected.
C-ranks could down them in teams, but it took tons of effort.
Civilian casualties inevitable.
Even hunters suffered injuries and deaths amid the chaos; personal safety iffy.
Then another gargoyle from a blind spot raged in.
"No!"
Teammate archer's desperate cry from behind; Paeng turned.
Massive claws inches from his face.
—Shrieeek!
Damn.
Too late for evasion spell.
Bracing for major injury or death, eyes squeezed shut—then
—Ploosh!
Something exploded near his ear.
"...?"
Eerily sharp whoosh.
Ringing in his ears.
What happened?
No gargoyle attack hit him.
Instead—
—Thud.
Heavy body crashing.
What?
Eyes open: before Paeng,
"!!!"
Gargoyle half-exploded, twitching on the roof.
Lower body gone; only torso left.
—Kiiik, kik.
Instinctive petrification to heal—but
—Psssh, ploot.
Mad gush of red blood from half-vanished flesh.
It's dead.
Lifeless corpse rapidly pixelated, sucked into the gate.
One gargoyle vanished, leaving a puddle of gore.
W-what is this?
How to comprehend a monster's lower half exploding midair.
No attacking hunter in sight.
No one capable of that anyway.
Survived by luck, but utterly inexplicable.
"Hunter Paeng Chang-won, you okay?!"
Archer teammate rushed, shaking his shoulders.
"Uh... yeah. Yeah."
Brain uncomprehending, he dumbly replied,
—Kieeeek!
"No!"
Another dove in, targeting the archer's spine as he supported him.
"Damn!"
Teammate tried dodging late, hampered by helping;
"Cold!"
Paeng maxed mana to minimize damage—but
—Ploosh!
"...!!!"
This time, the incoming gargoyle's upper body vaporized.
—Splash!
Just gore showering them.
"......"
"What the..."
Looking around,
—Ploosh!
—Kiiiik!
Another vanished midair.
—Ploosh!
Another.
—Ploosh!
Two in a row.
Sudden, no precursors—bodies bursting mid-flight.
No visible attacks.
Gargoyles dying helplessly from thin air.
"......"
Only rain of gargoyle blood from the sky.
Thus, they erased one by one without touching ground.
"This... what is this."
Unbelievable phenomenon unfolding.
—Ploosh!
"......"
Hunters battling united in downtown Seoul
"......"
froze, eyes glued to the spectacle.
—Ploosh!
—Ploosh!
Gargoyles gruesomely pulverized without screams.
Who the hell?
Deaths incomprehensible even witnessed.
If they'd vanished outright, maybe chalk it to system glitch,
but
This ain't that.
—Ploosh!
Slaughter.
Not relief at dying gargoyles—
the hunters felt
—Chill.
fear.
Can't comprehend this power, let alone resist it.
Gargoyles dying, yet felt hunted themselves.
I'm alive only because
whatever's massacring them has no intent to kill me.
Prey before a sated beast.
"......"
Our lives, our say—zero.
Thus, all 20-30 nearby gargoyles
utterly erased from existence before
"Hah. Hah."
hunters gasped for air one by one.
It ignores us.
Only relief.
One quick-to-recover hunter checked status frantically.
Another tried stopping him.
"D-don't move. We don't know."
"......Just one. Let me check one."
He viewed Gate Contribution Status.
⋅ Attack 1st = Unregistered
No way.
The supernova who took down the Minotaur.
Rookie hunter veiled, ignoring Bureau contracts.
Did he do this?
Checking unregistered's damage:
"Impossible. This can't be."
Unprecedented numbers.
Real DPS like this possible?
But now he knew.
True terror wasn't raw power, but the method of destruction.
No one grasped where, how, or by what.
Unregistered hunter... didn't show everything at Minotaur.
Sudden thought:
What if he turns on us?
Not just monsters, but humans—like villains nationwide.
Instant goosebumps.
"This guy... never..."
Never touch.
This one—never provoke.
Can't expect him to join us officially,
but avoid making him enemy at all costs.
Everyone needs to know!
Hunters gathered on the rooftop shared the exact thought.