The Worshipper
The spearhead cleaved through the monster's tentacle.
Red blood erupted like a fountain from the grotesquely shaped cross-section.
“Kagagagak!”
I still hadn't officially folded the Great Spear Art into the Nameless Spear Art, but that didn't matter much for hunting the thing in front of me.
“Its durability alone is stronger than a D-rank gate boss.”
“Kgruk!”
The severed stump bubbled and boiled, and the tentacle regenerated in seconds. Thick hide, and considerable regeneration to boot.
With monsters like this, there was usually only one answer.
There's a weak point.
Find it, neutralize it, and the kill would come quickly.
Whuuuung!
Dozens of bundled tentacles came whipping in from every direction.
Mist Shadow Step.
A footwork like drifting fog. I shifted behind the creature at a speed even it couldn't register, then poured my entire body's rotation into a fierce thrust straight at the center of its back.
Zha.
A piercing strike.
“Kraak!”
Flesh burst apart around the buried spear, but unfortunately that spot didn't seem to be the weak point either — the ruptured tissue was already swelling back into place, regenerating before my eyes.
“…What's that?”
Just before the recovery fully completed, I caught sight of something glimmering faintly deep inside its body. An organ shaped like a heart, pulsing as it pumped power through the monster's frame.
That's the weak point.
Location: roughly three centimeters up and to the right of the chest. Knowing that, there was no reason to hesitate anymore.
“B-be careful!”
Warnings flew from the people behind me. I turned toward the direction where I sensed movement — and a blade-tipped tentacle was already right in front of me.
Any sane hunter would widen the distance or twist out of the way. Instead, I offered it my left arm.
Swish!
As if it had been waiting for exactly that, the tentacle coiled around my arm like a serpent. It flared its edge razor-sharp, clearly intending to sever the limb.
“Kraak?”
“What's the matter? Not cutting as easily as you'd like?”
It left barely a scratch on my skin. The bladed tentacle could not take my arm off.
Rather, I seized the tentacle firmly in my hand — so it couldn't slither off somewhere else.
“Kagagak! Kek!”
“Where do you think you're going? You're the one dripping all over the place.”
I was holding its arm — well, tentacle — tight so it wouldn't go anywhere, and it still had the gall to thrash around. What a brat.
Well, since things have come to this, might as well test something.
As I shaped a throwing spear from Flame Soul, a thought crossed my mind. Could I use this flame not as a projectile, but in the form of a skill enhancement?
Fwoosh!
I wreathed the spear in Karma Flame. Scorching heat bloomed outward, and the pain of my hand cooking crept up on me. Gaining Flame Soul had granted me a measure of fire resistance, but —
Detonating Karma Flame directly is still too much…!
In its throwing-spear form, the flame burned the enemy on impact. Wrapped directly around the spear like this, the Karma Flame was downright vicious.
“Still, the firepower seems worth it.”
I compressed the raging flames into a single point —
“……!”
— and hurled it at the monster's body.
Fire Zha.
The flame shot from the spearhead toward its target like an arrow.
KWAAANG!
“Kraaaagh…!”
The single blow punched clean through the creature, blasting its upper half clean off.
The attack's range was far smaller than a thrown spear, but its power was in a completely different league. Of course, the backlash was just as severe — that one strike had cooked my entire right arm.
“And that's with the Steel Bones trait active.”
Without it, using Fire Zha might have left my arm a lump of charcoal. I pulled a few potions out of subspace and dumped them roughly over the limb — and naturally, I didn't forget to enhance their potency first.
“No way… he actually won!”
“He killed that monster all by himself?”
“Unbelievable…”
“Can you see this, viewers?! I'm telling you, Lee Tae-hyun just showed up out of nowhere and killed that thing!”
I hadn't noticed during the fight, but a crowd had gathered around me at some point.
Tch. I hate bothersome things.
The Hunter Bureau or the government would be sending people soon regardless, and then reporters and agents would swarm in like madmen. For now, the smart move was to pull back—
[You have slain the worshipper, ■■■!]
[You have gained 10 Exp.]
“…What?”
The moment I read that message, my heart seemed to stop.
“It really went up…”
Only after opening my status window did it sink in. My experience had genuinely increased — the Exp I'd assumed could only be earned through achievements and quests.
And that message that appeared after I dealt with that monster.
[You have slain the worshipper, ■■■!]
Worshipper. Its exact name was veiled in shadow, just as it had been when I first obtained the Truth Mimic — unreadable.
“……”
But this much was now certain: the mutated Jung Min-chul from before my regression, and the organization behind him — those people were connected to the Monarch. And intimately so. The Limit Break System reacting meant that monster, too, had in some way been touched by the Monarch's influence.
Splurt!
I fished a few pieces of the monster's flesh and the heart-like weak point out of subspace — deep crimson muscle that looked like ordinary meat, and a heart tinged violet. I'd quietly pocketed them before leaving the scene. If I hadn't, the state would have monopolized the investigation.
“A bit damaged, but it should do.”
First things first: identify what this monster actually was. If it followed the pattern of Jung Min-chul, this was the result of an ordinary person twisted into something monstrous by some cause. Fortunately, I knew of a group that could analyze it.
The Magic Tower.
A massive collective of magic-type hunters, hailed as the very first guild. Its headquarters sat in Britain, with branch offices operating across numerous nations.
It was the Magic Tower that identified Jung Min-chul as the monster found before my regression.
The Korean branch was reasonably large compared to its counterparts, too. The problem was how to commission a private request from the Tower. The Magic Tower, as a rule, did not take personal commissions — if it did, it would have devolved into a boutique forge for rich hunters' custom spells, or a mere training academy for mage-type hunters.
“Back then it worked because the Tower itself subjugated Jung Min-chul… but now, unfortunately, they have zero connection to this monster. They'd have no reason to accept a research request.”
“Hmm…”
I pushed the flesh back into subspace and organized my thoughts.
The Tower can't take requests for personal reasons. Then what about an individual mage? Not one affiliated with the Tower — a single hunter, taking a private commission. That much should be possible.
But then.
Without the Tower's techniques, it would be pointless.
“Hmm…”
Someone with skill rivaling the Magic Tower on their own, who took private commissions, and who could be trusted to keep silent about this matter…
“…There is one.”
Exactly one person who met every single condition.
“The timing is a shame, though.”
My movements were restricted right now. Winning this guild war mattered as much as uncovering the Monarch's identity.
“Still — I've got a lead on the Monarch.”
My fist clenched on its own. It felt like a corner of the fog finally lifting. At long last, the path to the Monarch was taking shape.
Someone is behind all of this. I'll tear it out by the roots and erase every last trace of them.
Absolutely.
As I was swallowing my rage and excitement and catching my breath, Shin Min-woo — freshly done with his own training — came sprinting over in a panic.
“Hyung! Hyung! Hyung! Is this seriously you?!”
A phone dangled in his hand, the screen playing footage of what had just happened.
“It's me.”
The world really moved fast. The clip had been filmed barely minutes ago, and it was already circulating everywhere.
“There you are.”
Right behind Shin Min-woo, Baek Seo-ha approached, toweling off her hair. Her skin was dry — she'd just washed up, by the look of it.
“Now you're hunting monsters outside gates, huh.”
“Saw it on the way back.”
“Back from where?”
“The Hunter Bureau.”
“…Why there?”
Her eyes narrowed. I hadn't done anything wrong, but somehow my stomach went cold anyway.
“So, hyung — what on earth IS that monster?”
“No idea.”
“A monster appearing outside a gate…”
The kid who'd been sparkling with excitement a moment ago abruptly turned grave.
“Could a new type of gate have appeared? Something like that?”
This Shin Min-woo — his instincts were sharper than I gave him credit for. Granted, this particular thing was a human twisted into a monster, but among Mutation Gates, there were cases where the monsters inside broke out.
“Could be. Either way, it was a strange one. Those creepy tentacles, for starters.”
“Or maybe it's a summoner-type hunter's familiar…!”
Ignoring Shin Min-woo as he let his imagination gallop off, I pulled out my phone and browsed a few articles. Pieces about the monster were stacking up in real time.
“……”
I clicked the link with a sense of foreboding.
Ugh, gross.
It was the same video Shin Min-woo had just shown me. Since when had the view count already broken a million?
My head hurts.
I couldn't stomach the comment reactions, so I hurriedly jabbed the back button to escape.
A [NEW! Article] tag popped up, announcing a fresh update —
“…Huhh?”
A headline that made me doubt my own eyes filled the screen.
Silla Guild's Kim Jin: His Target This Guild War Is Shinseong?
“Lee Tae-hyun will fall by my hand, no matter what.” — Team Leader Kim Jin burns with fighting spirit.
“No.”
What in the world was this idiot doing?
“Unbelievable. The captain picking a fight with someone first.”
Jeon So-young, the female assassin of Silla Guild, tended to her daggers as she watched Kim Jin from a distance.
“What gust of wind blew through all of a sudden, I wonder?”
“There's no reason.”
“Really~ you're so cold, Captain? That's why I like you, though.”
“…Go on ahead.”
“Off to train again? Don't push yourself too hard~”
Kim Jin bit his lip as he re-wrapped the bandages around his hands.
Lee Tae-hyun…
The scene was still vivid whenever he closed his eyes. Seong Ju-ah, all warmth and smiles, holding that man's hand.
“Kgh…!”
Kim Jin knew Lee Tae-hyun. He knew his debauched past all too well, too.
I can't leave Ju-ah in the hands of a degenerate like that.
He would break the man in this guild war, no matter what, and make him give up on Seong Ju-ah. The scoundrel had no doubt caught sight of her beauty and angelic disposition and lunged first. A sound beating would send him scurrying off with his tail between his legs, never to approach her again.
“I will win.”
He'd already made his declaration of war in grand fashion. In for a penny — he might as well humiliate the man thoroughly.
Just as he raised his fists and prepared to begin training in earnest—
“My, my~ Silla Guild's training grounds are certainly fine.”
An irritating voice lodged itself in his ear.
“Who's there?”
Kim Jin fixed the uninvited guest with a sunken gaze.
“Ah, my apologies if I'm interrupting. Still, I did receive a proper visitor's pass, so I'd ask you not to treat me as an intruder.”
An amiable, handsome face. A strikingly good-looking man strode toward Kim Jin, waving the pass in his hand.
“A pleasure to meet you like this, Hunter Kim Jin.”
“…I asked who you are.”
“My, my. I'd hoped my face alone would give it away… but no helping that, I suppose.”
The man broke into a friendly smile and introduced himself.
“I'm a hunter with Seongun Guild.”
Seongun Guild's top-tier rising star.
“Yoo Sung-wook.”