Misfortune
The bastard who used to ravage my vision by lighting a candle and snuffing it out. The agitator locked in a standoff with Tata inside the Human Meat Factory.
The General.
So he had a Core ability that let him see even in the dark. The General had been a hunter once, same as me.
Kweeeek!
The monster had stopped attacking over a single severed tentacle. A boss-class specimen had no business whining about something that small. Was this the first real pain it had ever known? A newborn. A newborn devil, that is.
"Postman—no. God's foot rag, was it? Let's hear the situation. Not a speck of light down here, and the octopus still bulked up?"
"What's there to ask? Can't you tell at a glance?"
"You shone a flashlight on it. Figures. A two-bit postman wouldn't know a monster's traits."
The Chief had said the General's career as a hunter was short, so he wouldn't know monsters well. He'd have the basics—that a tentacle-type boss grows stronger in light—but he wouldn't have the takedown memorized.
"I know the traits well enough."
"Oh? You knew, and you still let it get this bad. Even more pathetic."
Talk all you want.
"Let's see if you can take it alone."
"Why suffer through that? Cut every tentacle and pull back. I'll take command. Follow me."
Well, well.
Kwek! Kwek!
The monster was straining to pick up the severed tentacle and stick it back on. As if that would work.
"Hand me a weapon."
Cold weapons hung in a cluster across his back. The weight had to be serious, and he'd still moved like the wind in that state. Strength, at least, I had to grant him. Fine hunter material.
"Hm? Not a single blade? You don't even have the basics."
"Quit bitching and throw me one."
"I have zero desire to cooperate with you, but the situation is what it is. I'm lending it."
Slashing attacks were especially effective on tentacles. What the General threw me was an axe.
"It's a loan. Don't even think about running off with it."
"I wouldn't take this cheap junk if you gave it to me."
"Again, I'm not lending it because I like y—"
"Shut up."
Better than nothing, for now.
"The axe handle looks pretty flimsy."
"A master doesn't fuss over his tools."
"Even a master doesn't use a broken one."
"Whining now? It all comes down to the user's skill. A master could kill a monster with a wooden sword."
Pretty sure he'd tossed me the oldest one because he wasn't the one who'd be using it. I was the one borrowing. Not much I could say.
Anyway, I had a weapon now, and a shitty comrade to go with it. Still nowhere near enough to face that thing. Like the General said, the best play was to sever every tentacle, lock down its movement, and run.
Kueh...?
"Tsk. Already regenerating. How much light did you feed it—"
"Shut up."
The monster turned the regenerating tentacle this way and that, as if the process fascinated it. So it hadn't even properly known about its own regeneration until now. I'd met countless monsters. Never one like this.
They say a human child raised among wolves starts acting like a wolf. Did that mean a monster wasn't born already complete?
Kiek? Kiek?
The monster stared at the regrown tentacle, lost. It hadn't seemed to understand death, either. First time feeling pain. First time learning its own signature trick—regeneration. It fell into confusion so easily. Lack of experience, and a lot of fear because of it.
On the bright side, the weakest boss-class specimen I'd ever seen. Which also meant it had nowhere to go but up. The thing had a remarkable talent for learning and adapting.
"The octopus doesn't look like it wants to attack. We can just slip out like this. All units, withdraw. Execute."
Always hunting for a chance to throw his weight around.
"Looks more like a squid than an octopus, doesn't it?"
"Wondered who that was. The doctor. You again."
"Not really the moment for introductions, is it?"
"Suit yourself. All units withdraw, Chief."
"Ah, right. Let's all pull back."
The General started backing away without turning his back. A familiar movement. Classic hunter footwork.
And like that, we left the bewildered monster behind and ran off the tracks.
"Hah—! Jungkook, wait, just a second...!"
"With stamina like that, how have you been performing surgery?"
"I think... I was born with weak lungs...!"
No. The cigarettes.
While I slowed for the gasping Doctor Myeong, the Chief and the General started barking at each other.
"Knew I was right to call you! The moment you show up, it's handled!"
"That's the difference between a pro and an amateur."
"Anyway, why are the foot rag and the doctor down here?"
"Ah, well—"
The Chief gave him a rough version of events. Once the General had heard the whole story, his response was exactly the tantrum I'd expected.
"Sightseeing a subway station. I've never seen a nuisance quite like it."
"Plenty of people only survived the air raid because I found the key."
"Strange, though. For some reason the octopus isn't aggressive."
"The fuck are you on about."
"That thing's famous for having a filthy temper."
"Because I trained it."
"Trained?"
"I planted the idea that if it kills people, the light disappears."
"That doesn't add up."
"What doesn't."
"With what I saw when I first got here."
The monster, with a tentacle wrapped around the Chief. Before that, its attacks had been even more violent.
"Right up until it snatched the Chief, it was worse. It was hiding on the ceiling and driving its tentacles straight down—thud, thud—vertical strikes."
"A moment ago you said you'd trained it not to harm people."
"No. I said not to kill them. I think what it wants is a hostage."
"A hostage?"
"Unfortunately, it also learned that if it takes a person hostage, it gets to see the light."
While it held the sentry hostage, it had several chances to see light.
"So, to sum up the foot rag's little lecture... it'll grab people, but it won't kill them?"
I couldn't give him a sure answer. The Waste Disposal Squad boys had gone to the other side after offering up no fewer than three flashlights. They might have taught it something new.
"A newborn baby monster is a prodigy that learns every outside reaction the moment it sees one. Hard to say anything for certain."
"...What is he even saying?"
"All right, all right, everybody knock it off—"
The Chief, who'd been leading, looked back, still soaked in unease.
"We're alive now, so that's enough, right? If the doctor's caught his breath, let's run again!"
"Heh... still winded!"
"Tsk. Want to ride that, then?"
"Huh?"
What the Chief pointed at was a square metal cart on wheels.
"...I'm not cargo, you know? I'm going, I'm going!"
But it was the General who stopped and looked around.
"Run? I don't see any sign of it chasing us."
"The Postman can explain that. Seems like he can read a monster's thoughts clear as day."
"I'll explain it very simply and clearly. On the ceiling—"
KWAANG! Thud!
The thing dropped straight down.
"Fucking octopus!"
"See? Like that. Everyone, lights out!"
The way ahead was blocked again. It never, ever showed up from behind. Infuriating.
"Damn it... Everyone hold still. I can see everything."
I had to admit it. Having the General here was reassuring. Doctor Myeong could pick the monster out in the dark too, but the fatal flaw was that he couldn't fight it himself. Feeding me information was the whole of what he could do. The General could see it with his own eyes and answer it.
"How's it looking."
I'd seen that the General was closest to where the monster had landed. That was as far as I got.
"..."
He couldn't get a word out. The monster was still close. In the dark it went blind, same as us. It would start searching soon.
"Doctor Myeong?"
"It's feeling along the ground with its tentacles."
Finding us was only a matter of time.
"The General's backing away carefully, but the tentacles are moving much faster...!"
The moment it found him, it'd try to wrap him up. I needed to tell him how to answer it.
"Attacking first puts you at a disadvantage. Its tentacles stay in a defensive posture at all times. Each one covers a different direction, so no matter where you aim, it blocks you easily."
"..."
"The best moment to go for a tentacle is when it drops its guard to attack. In other words, you have to counter."
From here, you had to read each specimen's habits and take it apart that way.
"Listen carefully. It likes to aim for the middle of a person's body and wrap them. The tentacle will come in at your waist."
Both the sentry and the Chief had been wrapped at the abdomen. Even without seeing, it could feel out a person's height well enough. Only two cases, but for something that acted strictly by what it had learned, two was enough to mean something. The direction of the wrap had been consistent, too. People have a dominant hand. Monsters have a preferred direction.
"From your position, the tentacle will come in on the left side of your waist. Wait for that."
If you know where the attack is coming from, you can cut the reaction time to almost nothing. With the General's physical ability, a counter might actually land.
"The General adjusted his grip on the spear. And... he stopped backing up?"
All right. Show me what you've got.
Sk, sk...
A muscular tentacle swept the floor. The rhythmic scatter of sand cut off all at once.
"..."
"..."
The tentacle touched the General's foot.
Shwik!
A tentacle tearing through the air. And then—
Chwak!
A glaive tearing through the tentacle.
Kweeeek!
"Doctor Myeong! Chief! Indirect light!"
Click, click.
I snatched up the axe and charged at once.
"Hmph! It went exactly as the foot rag said."
"That's the difference between a pro and an amateur."
In front of me, the monster reeled, unable to get its bearings. The flailing tentacles might as well have been shouting, Please, cut me.
Chwak! Jjeok!
"What is this octopus bastard. Dramatic as hell, isn't it?"
Normally, losing a few tentacles wouldn't throw one into confusion. But how long could this state last?
"Once it adapts to pain, openings like this are gone. We have to cut every last one now!"
"Who are you to be giving orders?"
Tentacles sheared off clean. Two beams of light danced wildly across the wall, and severed tentacles flew and stuck to that same surface.
"Scaredest boss-class thing I've ever seen! You were flailing because you couldn't handle one of these?"
"Says the guy riding his gear."
"This spear? First time anyone's called this carried by gear."
"Shut up and keep cutting!"
Jjeok!
"Foot rag. What is this."
"What."
"You're actually decent?"
"A master doesn't fuss over his tools."
"Hmph."
When we'd cut about a dozen—
Vwoong!
"Ah—damn octopus head!"
It shot the last two tentacles straight up and vanished into the ceiling in an instant. The General stabbed the innocent ceiling a few times with his spear, but gear wasn't going to solve this.
"Ha, we almost had it...!"
Nothing to be done.
"Cut all you want like this. It'll hide, regrow every tentacle, and show up again."
"Bald bastard...!"
"Anyway, doesn't the squid need time to regenerate? If we run for the surface now, won't we make it?"
Two tentacles left. The number of tentacles was its speed. Even if it chased us hard on two legs, a thing with no arms wasn't much to fear.
"Run first!"
Survive first. Everything else after.
The sound of four people running echoed—echoes colliding, reflecting without end, filling the space. The thing hiding somewhere would hear it too. Even so, regeneration still needed time. It shouldn't be able to move yet.
That's what I'd thought.
Rattle, rattle...
"Hold!"
"Hehh... why, what is it—if I stop mid-run it's hard to start again...!"
"You don't hear that?"
Rattle, rattle...
Instead of answering, the General took his spear and dropped into an attack stance. Something rolling. No way.
"...You've got to be kidding me. That octopus head."
The square metal cart on wheels I'd already seen. The thing had boarded it and was charging at full speed, one tentacle out to each side, shoving the floor over and over so the cart rolled along. And as always, it appeared in our path.
Kuhel.
Once again, it had managed to take the Chief's light with its whole body.
"Lights out! Scatter left and right!"
The sound of us breaking in every direction.
Rattle-rattle!
The cart blasted through the gap at full speed.
"Doctor Myeong!"
"The cart's slowing! A few tentacles have already regenerated...!"
If it could move that fast on only two tentacles, it could spend the rest on fighting.
"Chief, any limits on how that cart moves?"
"None... The wheels aren't a fixed model. It turns a full three-sixty."
"Stop using the good stuff."
"...?"
"It's coming back this way!"
I couldn't see ahead, but the cart was a big enough target. In that case—
Tang!
Time for the Backscratcher.
Or it would have been.
Ting.
"Chief?"
"Trying to tip the cart? That thing's insanely heavy! You need real pushing force! Oh, right! The high-explosive you used when you were threatening them! When you put on that show about collapsing the ceiling!"
"Jungkook! This time it's coming in swinging its tentacles!"
"Everyone duck and scatter!"
Rattle-rattle!
Shwik!
"Aagh!"
"Doctor Myeong?"
"I-I'm fine, I think it just grazed me... probably..."
"Hey! Use the high-explosive!"
"Used them all earlier."
"Huh? The ones you threatened the Waste Disposal Squad with?"
"You said it yourself. It was a show."
"Argh!"
"I-it's slowing down again, it'll be back this way any second... ugh."
Was this what the Roman chariots in books had been like? Fighting it blind was impossible.
"General! I saw a hammer among the weapons you brought!"
"You want me to hit that and tip it? My arm'll be shredded!"
"Just try it!"
"How about we turn the lights on and fight! At this rate you're doing nothing! Two against one with the lights on would be better!"
Rattle-rattle!
Shwik!
"Hak!"
"Chief?"
"I-I got nicked a little. I'm fine!"
"Foot rag! Turn on the flashlight!"
In a real hunter operation, that would be the standard. Lights on. Fight it in full view. Because that works. A pack of combat-capable hunters just overwhelms it with firepower, and if you get pushed onto the back foot, there's a defense-type hunter, so you're fine. Right now there were only two of us.
"Two isn't enough! Make it any stronger for no reason and we could all die!"
"Then what do you want us to do!"
Even if someone had to be sacrificed, everyone runs straight ahead and as many as possible get out alive. Or someone volunteers as the sacrifice and buys time so the rest can escape.
"The squid's coming again... The tentacles are almost fully regenerated..."
"Foot rag!"
What if I hit the cart's wheel with an armor-piercing round? With the Core I'd gotten from the Chief, I could have inverted the probability.
No. Impossible. A cart of a type I'd never seen. Not a familiar object, so without attunement I couldn't make it a target. And it wasn't fixed—it was moving—so I couldn't read the odds indirectly through terrain I'd already attuned to, either.
Of all the nothings to run into, and in the worst space, in the middle of the worst job.
Damn it.
I'd been lucky my whole life. Had I finally used it all up? If I'd at least brought plenty of combat resources. If there'd been just one more proper combatant...
"Bro? Were you waiting for me?"
"Huh?"
Boom!
Kieeeek!?
An explosion that punched clean through my ear. No question: a hunter-grade pistol's high-explosive round.
"Long time no see!"