A Single Net Sweeps All (4)
When the massive axe slammed into the ground, a monstrous shockwave shuddered through the chamber.
"KWOOOOOAAAH!"
The roar that tore from its throat was thick with murderous intent.
A knighted existence — the boss monster of an A-rank gate, the High Orc King.
The Knight of Predation.
Even in its natural state, it was a notoriously difficult monster to deal with. High Orcs were savage and belligerent by nature, so whatever individual had been raised to kingship among them was guaranteed to be a monster among monsters.
And now that thing had become a Knight….
As it stood, the creature was at least upper-tier A-rank, brushing the very edge of S-rank. A genuinely dangerous boss monster — the kind you'd consider mobilizing a full raid to handle.
KWUNG!
The axe came hacking toward me, carving up the space where I stood.
"Your strength is brute force, plain and simple."
Every time it drove the blade into the floor, the ground heaved as if an earthquake had struck, threatening to knock me off balance. I barely leapt into the air — and a follow-up strike came flying, waiting for exactly that.
- You're finished!
From this position, dodging wouldn't be easy. But then, who said anything about dodging?
[Resonance: Soul Sprint]
Ghost Shadow Step
My body turned translucent, and I phased straight through the attack, sprinting on.
- …Huh?
Apparently it had expected me to take the hit head-on, because a dim-witted voice brushed past my ear. Getting caught by something that cheap would wound my pride far too much to live with.
Fwoorak!
I hurled myself into the creature's guard, wrapping Karma Flame around my spear as I thrust. Flame Soul Moon Blade — Fire Thorn. The burning spear pierced the center of its massive body.
"Krrgh…!"
For an instant the beast staggered — and that was all. It recovered in seconds and raised its axe again.
- Did you think such a puny attack would work on me?!
So even Fire Thorn couldn't deal it a critical wound. Was that the proof it truly brushed against S-rank?
In raw power, it's about on par with Myeolcheon — maybe a touch stronger.
But unlike Myeolcheon, who had been a nuisance to fight with his freely manipulated aura of blood, this thing's attacks were simple and direct. I slipped through the barrage of axe blades, igniting Karma Flame once more.
Blood Soul Arrow
Crimson arrows streaked out one after another, intercepting the beast and whittling away its health.
"Krrh! KWOOOOAH!"
The bleed effect granted by Strike of Hemorrhage degraded the target's regeneration while piling up damage over time. Which meant even against an opponent with no blood to spill, it performed admirably.
And the longer that damage accumulates…
…the more its true worth reveals itself.
KWAKWAKWAKWANG!
As I saturated it with Blood Soul Arrows, the Knight of Predation howled in fury.
"KAAAAAAH!"
Scarlet energy flared up around it in an instant, and its bulk swelled even larger. Some kind of buff skill, by the look of it.
"A Knight, you call yourself?"
It clearly had no intention of going down easily.
I could suppress it quickly with Dantalion — but we haven't cleared this place out yet, so burning through my trump card now is out of the question.
At the very least, I knew Behemoth was somewhere in this facility. That alone meant I had to keep it in reserve for when things went wrong.
Don't be too bitter about it, though.
I'd give it a proper send-off, one way or another.
Huuuuung!
Bolstered by its boosted stats, the Knight of Predation began to move with startling speed. Up close, its axe-wielding arms accelerated until they blurred beyond the eye's ability to track.
Warrior-type bosses like this, honestly — I love them.
Unlike the Praying Demon I'd faced in the Paradise of Ashes, there was no gimmick here, no special strategy to uncover. It was simply a duel to the death, where the stronger one wins. That was all.
"Simple, isn't it? Wouldn't you say?"
I spun my spear with a light flourish and deflected every arc of the axe. Spear God's Wild Dance — Ten Thousand Currents Under the Moon. A spear dance unfurled, more refined than any form I'd shown before. Like a river flowing in silence, I let its attacks slide past and carried them away downstream.
"Krrgh?!"
When its axe found no purchase, the beast's massive frame flinched inward. Even a berserker can't help but instinctively guard against an opponent whose attacks simply don't land.
And creatures like this one…
…always leave an opening the moment their composure cracks. That hunch of its shoulders had opened up a tiny pocket of space — a sliver of dead air where the axe could not reach.
A familiar instinct pricked at my mind. The same sensation I'd always known back in the days when I could only win by hunting for weaknesses. A primal conviction: strike there, and it dies.
As if I'd ever let that slip away.
"Flame Soul Moon Blade."
Fwoorak!
Karma Flame coiled up the spear, carving it into the shape of a moon blade.
"Nameless Spear Art."
The Yacha mounts the tiger's back.
'Baekho's Fang' has been activated!
Tzzzzzuk!
The phantoms of the Yacha and the White Tiger flickered behind me. And the third power —
"Resonance."
Strike of Hemorrhage
— the authority of the divine beast Fenrir, layered on top.
KUGUGUGUGU!
Three kinds of power converged into one, and an immense force condensed at the spear's tip. The energy welling from the weapon twisted the air itself, sending violent tremors rippling through space.
Amid the shards of displaced reality — a technique I had once used against the First King's avatar in the Tomb of the King.
No. Back then it was nothing but brute force piled atop brute force, a stupidly crude method.
Now it had been refined, systematized, and sublimated into a true technique.
The inspiration was Mateon — the final form of the Three Spears of Hell.
That heaven-splitting strike that once blackened the sky had given birth to this. If Mateon was a spear that flowed through two consecutive strikes, then this was the spear drawn from fusing three powers into one.
The merged energies reacted violently, surging toward a single point.
"Three Forces As One."
A spear that would grind everything in its path to powder lanced forward.
"Breaking Heaven."
"Wh… what IS all this…?!"
Ayase clapped a hand over her mouth at the scene spread out before her. She'd felt an ominous energy and violent tremors from outside the building and come in — but strangely, not a single person could be found. Even Yamamoto, who had definitely gone inside, was nowhere to be seen.
So she'd wandered the corridors until she found a staircase leading down into the basement, and descended.
"Is this… people? No — it can't be…!"
And then she saw it. The blood-drenched basement. The chopped-up, cold and lifeless remains of monstrous creatures.
Half human, half monster…?
At first she'd been horrified, thinking they were human corpses — but looking closer, they were far from ordinary people. Their grotesque forms were closer to the monsters that crawled out of gates.
"What on earth happened down here…?"
A dozen hypotheses bloomed in her head at once. The layout of the facility, everything visible around her — it all pointed one way.
Don't tell me this place is—!
Were they running experiments to turn humans into monsters? The thought sounded absurd even to her, but seeing the fully transformed specimens before her eyes, it was no longer such a far-fetched theory.
"…!"
Which meant that Yamamoto, who had come down here and vanished without a trace — no. Surely not.
"The test subjects…!"
Ayase immediately started for the heart of the facility. Incidents outside of gates were the Hunter Bureau's jurisdiction. The proper thing to do was go back up, make contact, and request backup.
But by then it might be too late!
She could report after rescuing Yamamoto — it wouldn't be too late then. Besides, what kind of S-rank hunter, what kind of World Ranker, would she be if she couldn't save a single life?
Every nerve strung taut, she pressed deeper into the facility.
But wait….
Partway through her search, one question nagged at her.
"Why is it such a wreck in here…?"
The interior was half-demolished. As if a typhoon had swept through — shattered structures with debris strewn across the floor, and the mutated hunters lying dead where they'd fallen.
"Who on earth could have done…."
KWAANG!
Just then, the same bone-rattling impact rang out nearby.
This way?!
Ayase kicked off the ground and swiftly completed her prayer.
"Amenohabakiri!"
Divine blade in hand, she readied herself to charge straight into battle. Whatever waited beyond, she would win through — and she would bring Yamamoto out alive.
Steeling her resolve, she reached the source of the impacts.
"…Huh?"
An unbelievable scene was unfolding before her.
KWUNG! KWANG!
An unidentified boss-class monster that looked to be upper-tier A-rank — and the familiar face toying with it single-handedly.
Yamamoto-san?
He swept his spear in a wide arc. Not a wasted motion in it — each thrust and each recovery linked together with immaculate precision. Ayase found herself watching, spellbound, and when the spear dance unfurled in full, an admiring gasp escaped her before she could stop it.
"Ah…!"
It was beautiful. Not the beauty of art, but the artisan's beauty that blossoms only when technique reaches its absolute peak. A dry gulp slid down her throat.
"Three Forces As One."
And then, the final blow. He unleashed a strike heavy with a power that even Ayase felt as awe.
"Breaking Heaven."
As if the sky itself were splitting apart.
"KRAAAK! KAAAAH—!"
The torrent of high-powered thrusts pouring from the spear shredded the armored monster's body from the center outward, scattering it in fragments. Even watching from the sidelines made her knees go weak.
"Phew."
The man who had swung that spear, meanwhile, looked remarkably at ease — as if he still hadn't shown his full strength.
"Uh… agh…."
Her voice had caught in her throat, leaving nothing but a strangled whimper — and the man flinched, turning his head.
"Ah — Ayase-san? How on earth did you get down here?"
"I… I had, um, something to tell Yamamoto-san…."
Even to her own ears, she sounded like an absolute fool. But she couldn't help it. Anyone who had just witnessed that spear would have reacted the same way.
"Yamamoto-san… what on earth WAS that…?"
The moment she finally blurted out the question —
- You insolent BASTAAARDS!
A venomous voice shrieked from the ceiling.
- Destroying a Knight personally bestowed by His Eminence the Cardinal!
- You… you impudent wretch!
The voice huffed and sputtered a few times, then dropped into a colder register.
- Release the 'failures' at once! Buy me the time to escape with Behemoth!
The moment the order fell, ominous sounds rose from every direction.
KUGUGUGU…!
The thundering advance of an enormous horde, rushing toward this place at speed. It didn't take long for their identity to become clear.
"Grrraaaaah…."
"Krrk… KRAKAKAKA!"
Mutated hunters, stripped of all reason. A swarm of humans turned fully monster, pouring in with the two of them as their target.
"That cowardly bastard — he's running…!"
Yamamoto. No — Lee Tae-hyun's face twisted in disgust. He didn't know the full situation, but the fleeing voice was clearly this facility's overseer.
In that case…
Then clearing a path through that horde was well within his own abilities.
"Hup!"
Ayase swept her blade and cut down the oncoming monsters in a single stroke. Fwaak! Then, swinging her sword with full force in a straight line, she carved out an opening in the tide of monsters.
"You need to go after him, right? Go, quickly! I'll hold this place!"
"…Can I trust you with that?"
"Of course! I'm Ayase, after all."
Ignoring the fierce ache thrumming through her body.
"I don't know what's going on here, but that guy running away — he's the bad one, right?"
She flashed a brilliant smile.
"So hurry up and go catch him!"
For a moment, Lee Tae-hyun's expression grew complicated. But it quickly settled back into his trademark easy confidence, and he rested his spear on his shoulder.
"Yes, ma'am. I'll be right back."
And as if those words were no bluff at all, he raced down the path Ayase had carved for him, head held high.