160. Tell Them to Run No Matter What!
As they moved according to the relayed orders, Choi Mi-ran suddenly smacked her forehead like something had just occurred to her.
“Ah!”
“What’s up?”
“Oh~ my~ god!”
Kim Seong-hyeon shot her a suspicious look as Choi Mi-ran suddenly made a fuss.
“Sis, what mess did you get into this time?”
“It’s not that... I just remembered. This is my first time in a raid strike team.”
“First time, yeah. You did goblins and orcs before.”
“Not that. I mean a boss-level raid. First time taking down a boss. Well, not a gate boss, but still...”
Thinking back, Kim Seong-hyeon realized she was right.
The goblin raid had been a full guild mission, so it hardly counted as a proper strike team. During the orcs, he'd been guarding Kang Moo-hyuk and missed the hunting.
Plus, neither raid had involved facing the boss themselves. Joo Se-ah had handled the goblin matriarch, and Slayer Guild took out the orc lord in the Cheorwon Gate.
“By that logic, this is my first strike team too.”
“Exactly! We've been guild members for years, and this is our first raid... What a waste of life, huh?”
“Eh, nothing special. Most hunters never even get raid experience.”
“We're guild-affiliated. This is embarrassing.”
“Even guild hunters? Only elites run raids.”
“So, we're elites?”
“What about your conscience?”
“Hey! Can't we dream a little?”
Choi Mi-ran growled, bristling. Kim Seong-hyeon waved her off in rebuttal.
“We're only raiding now 'cause it's a rush job. No guild would take us. Hurry up and ditch that C-rank already.”
“Not C, you punk! C+! Solid C+ too, damn it!”
“Solid, my ass. How much more do you need to fill before it overflows, sis?”
“Ever hear of biding your time? Big vessels take longer to fill.”
“Yours is so big you'll croak of old age first.”
“Age doesn't matter in the field. Wanna go first?”
As Choi Mi-ran brandished her sword threateningly, Kim Seong-hyeon shook his head and backed off.
Their bickering drew a comment from the freelance-born party leader up ahead.
“Hey, quiet down back there. No tension at all? You run raids every day or what?”
“Ah, sorry.”
Kim Seong-hyeon bowed apologetically, but Choi Mi-ran grumbled.
“B-rank my ass, acting all high and mighty. All he's got is freelance party runs.”
“Watch your mouth, missy.”
“Yeah, yeah. Want me to lock it shut?”
She shot back sarcastically. Her mood had soured since the party briefing, thanks to the party leader's constant nitpicking.
His points weren't wrong on the surface, but given how he'd been needling her and Kim Seong-hyeon from the start, it felt personal.
From pre-hunt intel reviews to gear checks—stuff any guild hunter knew cold—he'd criticized them anyway. He'd even questioned their hunter aptitude to provoke them.
Good-natured Kim Seong-hyeon avoided trouble, but Choi Mi-ran was different. Being judged by some non-guild outsider pissed her off.
“All Iron Will's got is its name, fucking nothing else.”
“Nobody's got dick.”
The party leader halted and turned. Choi Mi-ran stepped right up, glaring back.
The other hunters stopped too, watching the spat. Freelancers who'd teamed with the leader before, they were used to wild infighting.
Kim Seong-hyeon wedged between them, sensing trouble.
“Come on, why fight? Cool it, both of you. Not the time. Mission first.”
That's when it hit.
Snotlings burst from a narrow alley, lunging at a gawking hunter.
“Ugh!”
Kim Seong-hyeon's body reacted to the scream before his mind did. Faster than anyone, he drew and cleaved the attacking snotling in half.
Another charged, but a flying mana rope skill snared it mid-leap, slamming it down. The bound snotling rolled side to side with the whipping rope, tangling nearby ones.
“Doing this shit so much, they're getting slower. Guess Jang Deok-gu's training is paying off.”
“Yeah. Moved on instinct.”
Kim Seong-hyeon finished the tumbling snotlings.
It all happened before the others reacted.
The party leader eyed Choi Mi-ran, who'd countered the ambush mid-argument.
“What're you staring at?”
“Nothing... just... yeah.”
He glanced at his freelance buddies.
They'd reacted late and only shielded themselves—no one rushed to save the party member.
But the guild pair had swiftly rescued him and cleaned up the rest.
Iron Will folks treat this as routine? No panic, just action.
It stung that lower-rank hunters like them made top guilds. He'd wondered why dimwits got in.
Now he got it.
He couldn't dismiss them anymore.
Boom!
An explosion echoed from somewhere. Kim Seong-hyeon said,
“Party leader.”
“Y-yes...?”
“Mission continues. Before we're late.”
“R-right. Mission... yeah.”
Cowed despite himself, the leader awkwardly turned away.
A foreboding thought hit: Am I doomed to freelance forever?
⊳ [Cut from the tail.]
The strike team chipped away at the monster horde's rear, the part Hyeon Jeong-geon was luring.
Whenever they crossed a road, pullers attacked small groups to peel them off, dragging them to ambushes where hidden hunters finished them.
Simple tactic on paper, but prep was brutal.
They'd demolished facilities to maze the paths. Toppled buildings to block routes or cut retreats. Lured over underground sewers for civilian evac, then collapsed floors into traps.
For big pulls, they'd smash fire extinguishers for smoke cover, picking them off. Or herded into courtyards, locked gates, and hunted piecemeal.
City infrastructure crumbled, but snotlings ignored inorganic matter, so raids proceeded with minimal losses.
⊳ [Damn! One guard chasing!]
⊳ [Herd to Hwang Dong-soo party!]
⊳ [No party leader took a guard the other way. Topple shrine building. Block the path!]
Live hunt reports flooded Kang Moo-hyuk via messages.
⊳ [Lee Seung-joo Orthopedics. ~50 following. Support needed.]
⊳ [8th Party here. Supporting.]
⊳ [No Song-rin hunter success! Two guards down. One left.]
As snotling numbers plummeted, the mother slowed, sensing it. Hyeon Jeong-geon's taunts failed to draw it further.
A brief gap opened between mother and spawn.
Kang Moo-hyuk, briefed, issued orders.
“All parties to fire station perimeter. Maintain formation, hold at arrival points. Strike from all sides on command.”
Teams converged from alleys. Hyeon Jeong-geon slowed deliberately. That's when counterattack began—hunters poured from hiding spots.
Snotlings, unlike their first raid scrum, scattered wildly and got picked off.
Numbers aside, individuals weren't strong. No mother support meant they couldn't withstand settled hunters.
“Just mom and one kid left?”
“I'm the mother. Spy hunter handles the guard.”
“That spy crap again!”
Hwang Dong-soo charged the mother anyway. No Song-rin grumbled but followed.
While Hwang Dong-soo held it, No Song-rin downed the guard. Bereft of horde, mother couldn't handle high-ranks. With Hyeon Jeong-geon joining, it shrank rapidly.
Hearing only mother left, Kang Moo-hyuk altered orders.
“No spawn left, no guard threat. No need to chip. Full assault.”
Recalling the ordeal, hunters vented fury on the mother.
Soon, it dissolved. Lingering flesh chunks were torched by cleanup crews.
“Hoo, all down.”
“Thought we'd never finish this many. But we did.”
“Dawn already? First all-nighter fight. Drained.”
“Man, creepy as hell.”
Hunters slumped, panting. Fatigue crashed in—heavy limbs, mana-drained ones collapsed.
Unlike relaxed others, Iron Will hunters stayed vigilant.
A-ranks weren't winded, others thanks to brutal guild training.
Choi Mi-ran and Kim Seong-hyeon, exhausted, scanned surroundings instead of flopping down.
“Heard other cities hit too. This over?”
“Look at No Song-rin party leader. Posing means done.”
“Damn, shouldn't have come. Meant to slack, got this grind.”
“Guild standby would've been prep busy anyway. Everyone heading to Chongjin?”
“Chongjin better. Proper city. Ahh, wanna wash.”
“I just wanna sleep... Huh?”
Kim Seong-hyeon looked up at brightening sky. Others noticed, heads tilting.
The sun hung overhead.
“We pulled an all-nighter? When'd it rise?”
“Not sunrise. Still night.”
“Then why bright?”
“Up there.”
“Huh? What's that?”
“Dunno. Bad vibe. Wait, it's moving?”
“What? Really?”
As Choi Mi-ran shaded her eyes,
The sky-sun vanished. Flame now blazed beside her, tendril reaching. Hot grip pierced her waist.
“Huh?”
Whoosh!
“Aaaagh!”
Explosion scattered fireballs. Choi Mi-ran leaped away in terror.
“Sis!”
Kim Seong-hyeon yanked her back.
“Ugh! My gut. My gut! Hole?”
“Fine. Intact. He blocked.”
She saw why: Hwang Dong-soo stood there, greatsword blocking the unknown's attack.
“A-rank's different, huh?”
She cheered, clapping—but Hyeon Jeong-geon and No Song-rin's combo failed too. She reconsidered.
One high-rank holds, two attack—no damage.
“Cough!”
What? A-rank spitting blood?
Blood-flecked cough, Hwang Dong-soo retreated. Shoulder burned raw, blood evaporating to smoke.
He dropped the greatsword, falling back.
Choi Mi-ran gaped at the sword hovering, hole melted through side, red-hot edges. Not pierced—melted. A hand emerged, flicking it down.
The flaming figure surveyed them.
“Bir...?”
Choi Mi-ran beheld the fire-spewing entity.
Elongated beak. Four eyes horizontal above. Crest like chicken comb. Golden wings flapping—had repelled Hyeon Jeong-geon and No Song-rin. Scaly snake arms, clawed talons.
Eagle head, serpentine body on winged humanoid.
The grotesque pressure made all hunters rise, alert.
“Everyone, down!”
No Song-rin's shout.
They froze. Kim Seong-hyeon too.
Slumped Choi Mi-ran instinctively yanked his hem.
Flame whips lashed everywhere.
Hunters celebrating victory moments ago swept away.
Halved at waist, staring down in death; shield melted whole by heat; lost weapons and hands blocking.
Over half the team gone in one strike.
“Scatter!”
Hyeon Jeong-geon yelled. No Song-rin supported Hwang Dong-soo, retreating.
Choi Mi-ran and Kim Seong-hyeon sensed doom if they stayed. Bolted without looking back.
Some terror-frozen hunters, seeing others flee, bolted too.
Flame whips coiled again behind.
“Don't fuck around.”
Darkness Synchronization
Hyeon Jeong-geon's body shattered.
Fragments split. Hundreds to thousands, millions.
Sand grains flowed into shadows, enveloping the burning bird.
“Die.”
Kang Moo-hyuk received the baffling report.
“Flaming bird?”
Whole body aflame, sun-like in sky. Bipedal with wings. Eagle head, reptilian limbs. High-heat flame whips melting or slicing hunters.
Half the strike team vaporized in one hit. Even Hwang Dong-soo wounded, retreating with No Song-rin.
Hyeon Jeong-geon buying time. Kang Moo-hyuk bit his lip.
“Yi Suk-young hunter. Order Hyeon Jeong-geon retreat. Tell them to run no matter what!”
“Huh? Y-yes... Got it.”
As Yi Suk-young messaged, Kang Moo-hyuk shouted at officials.
“Everyone evacuate county office. Fall back to Da Hong Dan. Send emergency texts to military residents. Cars, feet—whatever, get out. Contact Tumen River line too. Unconditional retreat!”
“Why? Telling everyone to run now? Raid's done, right?”
Doubting official questioned. Kang Moo-hyuk stated facts bluntly, no explanation.
“Mob beyond our forces appeared. We'll all die otherwise.”