Gargoyle Legion Annihilated – The Unregistered MVP

[You have defeated the 'King Gargoyle'!]

Anyway, the message that popped up was confirmation of a successful boss kill.

My mind felt filthy about it, but there was no immediate way to resolve it, and since I'd only glimpsed it briefly, it might not even be true.

Focus on taking out monsters quickly.

Instead, I became much more cautious with my sniping.

About five left, right?

The hunters weren't slacking off either; they were steadily picking off gargoyles.

I spotted two gargoyles flying high in the sky.

From the looks of it, the hunters were struggling with ones flying that high.

Not many ranged hunters, huh.

Seeing so many with swords, hammers, and spears made that clear.

Then I'll help with those.

I locked onto the two targets simply and focused on finishing snipes.

I've definitely gotten the hang of that spot now.

Confidence surged.

Breath in, trigger.

- Whoosh!

Miss.

Confidence plummeted.

"J-just shoot again."

After firing a few more shots, I barely managed to take down the two,

and around the same time, three more gargoyles from the rooftop were dealt with as well.

The crisis that began under the name 'Gargoyle Legion' had finally come to an end.

- Civilian casualties: 0!

- Civilian casualties: 0! Woo-hoo!

"......Ooh."

The cheers mixed with the hunters' joy echoed through the public broadcast spreading via the System.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

I clapped too, from my dingy one-room corner. Good news deserved it.

Of course, quiet claps so the sound wouldn't be too loud.

Clapping hard might deduct my HP and cause sudden death...

Then,

"Ooooh!"

This was really welcome. It meant I hadn't shot a person!

I chugged a bowl of Geviskon to settle my queasy stomach.

"Man, this is great. Good job, everyone."

As I went to clap again,

"Ooooh......"

Injured, huh?

Not dead, but wishing they were? Something like that?

"Ooooh!"

Good. Now I could feel clean about clearing the gate.

Then,

A familiar message appeared before my eyes.

"That's me."

This time, the result made sense.

Since I'd been sniping like crazy...

No one knew my identity anyway, so even if my ID was plastered everywhere like that, it didn't matter much anymore. I just enjoyed it now.

More importantly, what caught my eye was, of course,

The gold.

Gate clear rewards: 300,000 gold per gargoyle, 2 million for King Gargoyle 1st, 5 million for MVP.

And so on...

Doing the math,

At least I'm in the black.

Air bullets were so damn expensive that I'd worried about maintenance costs, but fortunately, it was profitable.

Sponsorships make up a big chunk of gold income, but I can't control that.

I had to handle my own living expenses.

As those thoughts crossed my mind,

"Oh, right."

Just like with the Minotaur, EXP was provided.

"Exceeded the limit again?"

My current level was ridiculously low, but my achievements were MVP-level, so... growth was coming fast.

My level hit 21.

Even after ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that, there was leftover EXP, so it got saved.

A new skill unlocked with the level up.

What the hell is this?

I go through the effort of landing a snipe, and no damage?

Where the hell do I even use this?

'Penetration' had turned out surprisingly useful, but this one? I'd need to brainstorm applications.

Sigh.

I'd expected a survival skill.

Would a skill to overcome my HP 1 even appear?

Anyway, as a super E-rank, my only option was to grind hard, grow, and bide my time.

So, what now?

Check Sniper Shelter.

As expected, it scales with my level.

Barrier up to 2,100 now.

At 1,100, it blocked a stone golem punch.

This sweet sense of security. Indescribable.

Just survive inside, and I'm good.

[Shelter Upgrade] boosts defense and area—later for that.

[Hire Agent] still grayed out,

[New Facility] offers a supply depot, but later for that too.

'[Function Improvement]'.

This was what I was most excited about.

Oh!

Two new skills available this time too.

I tapped frantically, and the LV 15 and 20 skills were

Pest Extermination and Surround Sound.

A 'Hygiene Shelter' sticker appeared on my one-room door.

Status window now had 'Listen to music in vivid sound'.

"Heh..."

Suddenly pissed off.

Fuck it. Fine. Let's see how far this goes. You think I'll quit?

Battle spirit ignited.

For now, I bought 54 air bullets from the Sniper Shop.

Always keep 100 stocked.

Ammo was better in bulk.

If another [Wave Type] gate like the gargoyles opens, running out would be fatal.

While in the shop, I checked one more thing: guns.

Sniping this time made me want a proper sniper rifle.

Reasons: range and accuracy.

Accuracy was the biggest need.

Attack power was already brain-exploding, so no need for now.

To profit more, grow faster, upgrade this shitty shelter quick, and live luxuriously... gotta nail distant enemies precisely.

Anyway, decided to buy a good gun.

'A craftsman doesn't blame his tools. But I'm trash-tier, so I need good tools.'

That way, I could avoid accidentally killing innocents—unpleasant situations.

Just browse for a minute.

There were semi-auto sniper rifles unlike my bolt-action, but insanely expensive. (No way I could afford.)

Plus, semi-autos had worse range and accuracy.

Stick to bolt-action.

Bolt-actions required manually pulling the bolt to reload each shot, a bit hand-intensive.

But not inconvenient for me.

Bolt-action, range, accuracy.

Searching those keywords,

'All too expensive.'

Starting from hundreds of millions gold.

"Whoa... can't buy this."

I didn't have billions in gold yet.

Earn more and buy later. No rush.

Not critical for survival, so consider when I had plenty of leeway.

Stuck with the [Training Sniper Rifle] for the foreseeable.

Then,

A welcome sound. That distinctive tone was

Sponsorships.

"Yeah, last time they poured in tons too."

Contract requests came too, but not as many as before. Guilds weren't that numerous, so probably most had come already.

Opening sponsorships,

"???"

This was a lot. Too much.

Last time around 20. And those seemed mostly appeals for contracts.

But 73 now.

Just hit 74.

What the?

Looking closely, no massive single amounts.

Instead, tons of 100k to 1M gold sponsorships flooding in.

I'd gotten MVP, but to see why so much to me specifically,

I searched and found something on YouTube.

One of the hunters must've gone live from a rooftop during the fight.

- BOOM!

- Boomph!

Video of gargoyles vanishing mid-air.

These look like the ones I shot...

Two more small sponsorships came in.

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

Seoul

Cheon Seung-hyuk returned to his penthouse.

He tossed the half-destroyed Hero's Armor like trash

and began searching for the owner of that bizarre shockwave.

Who the hell are you.

He still couldn't forget it.

The killing intent that felt like every cell was tearing apart.

The horrifying destructive power that nearly stopped his heart.

But finding the culprit wasn't hard.

Just those three told the story.

And looking at detailed damage,

Un-fucking-believable.

Yeah. Had to be this level to knock the rank 1 me down so pathetically.

"Ha."

He found it absurd that he, the one attacked, felt a strange sense of acceptance.

Unregistered.

First time hearing that ID in his life.

Never heard it before.

A rookie.

Awakened and already this destructive?

He spent hours combing data on "Unregistered."

Contacted the Management Bureau too.

Team 1 Leader Kim Chun-gyu.

"Info on Unregistered, please."

- Got it. Like I said last time, that hunter still isn't taking contracts. Check carefully. Don't piss them off if they talk back.

Last time?

Whatever. Not taking bureau contracts.

Could be an enemy then.

A critical issue to focus on.

He swept up all info from Kim Chun-gyu

and reviewed intently.

[YouTube Live Video]

[Gate Analysis Chart]

[Minotaur Battle Analysis]

The YouTube video was shocking—grotesque even.

- BOOM!

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

- Boomph!

"......"

Monsters exploding mid-air without warning.

The transcendent shockwave I felt.

That was probably it.

This is a demon.

Not human. Never encountered anything capable of such overwhelming slaughter.

But a newbie hunter like this?

Even more absurd: rank 1 him only felt the immense killing intent, couldn't grasp the power at all.

Even though he was the only living being to take it head-on.

"Using some divine power or what?"

At least S-rank.

Top-tier S-rank.

But why only monsters, not people?

"Wait."

He picked up the "Hero's Armor" he'd discarded like trash.

Hero's Armor stored received damage as fighting spirit.

Half-ruined now, but faint power residue might linger.

- Shooo...

Touching it,

"Fucking annoying bastard."

No malice in the power at all.

Only a trace remained, so that was all he could discern.

Definitely not a demon.

No intent to kill him either.

Not trying to kill... that's it.

Cheon Seung-hyuk sat in his chair, lost in thought.

Killed the King Gargoyle and hit me with that power at the same time.

His mind raced.

But no malice to kill me. Yet that much power.

Rank 1 intellect.

So, knew it was me from the start? Or just knew it was someone like me. With that power, most would die anyway.

It started fitting together.

"Then why attack."

He'd just been going for the King Gargoyle too.

Couldn't figure the reason.

After agonizing,

BAM!

His solid fist slammed the table.

"Heh. Interesting fucker. Got it. Why you attacked me."

Reached a conclusion.

Nothing else made sense.

"'Dare not interfere with my hunt.' That what you meant?"

Whoever it was, that part wasn't bad.

End

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