#183. So That's S-Rank Potential.
“That’s it!”
Kang Moo-hyuk, who had been wrestling with the data for a while, shouted without realizing it.
The operators in the command vehicle all turned their eyes toward him.
Without any explanation, Kang Moo-hyuk pointed to several spots on the map displayed on the screen and gave his orders.
“Here, here, here. And send drones over there too. As many as possible.”
“Pardon? Why there?”
The places Kang Moo-hyuk had indicated were some of the peaks on Nampotaesan and Bukpotaesan Mountains.
“Hurry!”
Startled by Kang Moo-hyuk’s sharp command, the operator started dispatching the drones but asked again.
“But sir, a lot of the drones on-site were smashed by Garuda’s attack just now. We don’t have many spares left. How many should I send...?”
“How many do we have left?”
“52 units.”
“Half?”
Garuda’s feather barrage had destroyed half the drones filming the raid site.
The remaining half were still monitoring the ongoing fierce battle, but positioned farther back out of fear of destruction, even the high-speed cameras could only capture blurry afterimages.
“No choice. Three each to those five spots. Send them now.”
That would pull fifteen units, leaving only thirty-nine for the main site. It deviated from Slayer’s plan to preserve raid footage as tactical data samples for future assault teams.
But thanks to Seong Seon-je’s prior instructions to follow Kang Moo-hyuk’s orders without question, the operators executed without hesitation.
‘What an incomprehensible guy. In the middle of a bloody raid, he’s focusing elsewhere? Why did Team Leader Seong tell us to listen to him?’
The operator tilted his head and maneuvered the drones.
The drones headed north to five peaks utterly unrelated to the raid.
Kang Moo-hyuk, checking the fifteen different drone feeds on the auxiliary screens opposite the main one, stared intently at one spot.
“That one. Feed 7. Zoom in there.”
It was a densely forested ridgeline just before the peak summit.
At a glance, it looked like any ordinary mountain landscape—nothing unusual.
“Send the drone inside.”
“There are too many branches; maneuvering’s tough. It could snag and crash.”
“Get as close as possible without snagging. From above, so we can see in.”
The drone flew over the forest.
The thick conifer leaves obscured the view, but gaps here and there allowed peeks inside.
As it followed the ridgeline for a while, something caught on the drone.
Kang Moo-hyuk clenched his fist.
“There!”
The drone stopped a beat late.
“Back up. Swing the camera more to the right. Stop. Yeah, there.”
Inside the forest, shadowy figures were scurrying about busily.
“Down.”
“Can’t go lower...”
“Just crash it. We just need the footage.”
The operator nearly snapped in anger for a moment.
‘Do you know how much that drone costs?!’
But he kept a straight face. After hesitating, he squeezed his eyes shut and shoved the controls forward.
The drone feed suddenly plunged downward, charging through the branches. It scraped against the sharp conifer needles, plummeting into the shaded underforest. It tried to right itself, but collided with branches, wobbling wildly before slamming into the ground.
He tried to lift it again, but it only sent signals without responding properly.
At least the camera was intact—that was a relief.
The operator wiped his brow.
If the camera had broken too, he was sure this clueless brute who didn’t know the price of high-tech gear would have smashed another one into the dirt.
“Swing the camera. To the right. There. Zoom. Put it on the main screen.”
As per Kang Moo-hyuk’s demand, the feed shifted to the big screen.
The operators, who had already glanced over, let out involuntary groans upon seeing it.
“Just as I thought...”
Dozens of harpies filled the screen. Nests at every tree base overflowed with unhatched eggs and chicks that had just broken free, screeching loudly.
The operators gaped and muttered.
“No way... Garuda’s nest...?”
“Laid this many?”
The chicks in the nests were gobbling food fed by the harpies.
They looked exactly like mini Garudas.
‘So this Garuda was male.’
Typically, male harpies got devoured by females during mating.
But Garuda was a superior species—an apex predator at evolution’s end. It wouldn’t get eaten by subordinates.
He’d overlooked that, assuming the male Garuda had been consumed while laying eggs. Even the Garuda captured in India was known to be female.
That nagging doubt when no eggs were found was why.
So he’d checked monster distribution maps around the Cheongjin-Baekam-Hyesan defense line.
He found cases of harpy hunts and scoured data on missing search parties.
The matching points converged around Nampotaesan and Bukpotaesan.
Meaning a harpy habitat somewhere nearby.
With the intel pieced together, hypotheses flooded Kang Moo-hyuk’s mind—this was the highest-probability one confirmed.
“This bastard. Building a harem like some monster king.”
Garuda had made its own palace here.
Hoarding countless females to bear its offspring.
In time, Garuda’s kingdom would rise.
Then these chicks would mature and scatter everywhere. The damage...
‘Unthinkable.’
A named monster legion would form.
Given Garuda’s speed, current anti-air nets would be useless. Leveling a city would be child’s play.
Kang Moo-hyuk grabbed the radio in the command vehicle.
“Hunter Yi Suk-young. Come to the command vehicle. We need to message the unified raid team.”
Furious at briefly being cornered, Garuda rampaged, attacking wildly.
Each strike could shred an average hunter.
But the raid team weren’t pushovers.
Elites from top guilds.
Defensively, even a named monster couldn’t break them easily.
‘Problem is counterattacking’s tough too.’
Melee dealers and tanks had to time counters on contact, but Garuda’s speed left them scrambling to block.
Joo Se-ah could’ve tanked a hit and grappled it, but that wasn’t feasible for normal hunters.
Ranged dealers fared no better. Goyeonmae’s arrows scored a few hits but failed to down it.
Slower-casting mages were equally useless. Yeomun-gi was Korea’s top mage, but mages traded burst for delay, lowering accuracy.
You couldn’t spam on a monster like this; running dry at a key moment would be disastrous.
Garuda, knowing its speed dominated, never stopped—flying and striking relentlessly.
‘If only it’d come at me, I could counter.’
Oddly, Garuda ignored Seong Seon-je.
Instinctively sensing he was the strongest? Or coincidence? Either way, no openings—he could only wait.
Seong Seon-je wanted to play his Go Eul-ji card.
The only sure way in this deadlock.
Slam it to the ground once, and he’d rip a wing off.
But checking her state, he shook his head.
‘Used a lot luring Garuda. Pale even after potions. Needs more time for them to kick in?’
His assessment was spot-on. If she were his rank, it’d be different, but expecting a fresh A- rank to face a named was greedy.
Exchanging blows this long was already impressive.
Seong Seon-je smelled Joo Se-ah on her—and sensed she was cut from the same cloth as him.
‘Iron Will’s scary. Grooming another S-rank prospect besides Joo Se-ah? No wonder Kang won’t budge even if we court him.’
He’d pegged her as special in Sinuiju, but seeing her raid a named confirmed her potential.
Even mid-raid, he pondered poaching her.
Meaning he still had breathing room.
Indeed, while mulling, he was setting traps for Garuda.
‘Garuda’s no dumb mob. It thinks. It’ll target our weak spot.’
The raid team’s weakness, in his mind?
‘Here it comes!’
The aerial gate.
Garuda had been probing near it.
Enchanter support let squishy dealers shrug off hits.
Garuda noticed; Seong Seon-je predicted it’d go for the gate.
He eyed its dive path toward the gate and raised his sword, shield tight, counter ready.
Garuda soared with the sun at its back, feathers sleek against its body. The gate focused on incoming threats. Then it dove.
Blinded by sunlight, hunters lost sight.
Only Seong Seon-je moved toward it.
Shield Wall
Blowing Aura
Sharp Cutting
In a flash, Seong Seon-je triggered three skills.
First, Shield Wall turned the enchanter’s shield into an impenetrable barrier, blocking Garuda’s beak.
With Blowing Aura, he tilted the shield aside. The erupting force shoved Garuda, deflecting the strike.
His sword, laced with Sharp Cutting, slashed for the wing—but.
Clang!
In an instant, Garuda’s talon stomped the shield, shifting position.
Seong Seon-je’s blade sliced its right ankle instead. Watching it soar, blue blood pouring, he clicked his tongue.
‘Tough bastard.’
With his perfect strike foiled, Garuda wouldn’t repeat the tactic.
Now he had to account for it fleeing in fear from the wound.
‘That’d be trouble. What now? Send Go Eul-ji?’
As he pondered, a message arrived.
Go Eul-ji’s voice.
Seong Seon-je heard Kang Moo-hyuk’s relay and nodded.
Seong Seon-je recalled Go Eul-ji’s master was Joo Se-ah and chuckled inwardly. Benchmarking against her, who’d impress? Even he had to yield to Joo Se-ah now.
Go Eul-ji’s cheeky words left Slayer’s top hunter speechless.
Watching her log off after her piece, Seong Seon-je recalled a hunter adage.
Genius hunters lack manners.
‘Yeah. That’s why it’s S-rank potential.’
It applied to him too, but he ignored that and decided to understand her.