#267. Hunt Begins.
Over a hundred Stelcers clung to Joo Se-ah's back like shadows. Among the fifth-generation monsters, these beasts were notoriously tricky, boasting blistering speed and wings sharp as treasured swords that sliced through the air in deadly arcs.
'Even among known fifth-gen types, they're top-tier in danger. But that's only up close.'
Joo Se-ah recalled the Stelcers' traits.
Camouflage blending into surroundings, blistering speed, razor wings.
Many hunters misunderstood that speed—it wasn't flight. It was leap velocity.
Stelcers kicked off walls with their legs, gliding on wind with wings like sails. That explosive burst made their strikes invisible.
So in a chase like this, catching up to Joo Se-ah was no easy feat.
'Perfect. Target sighted.'
The hive's main body loomed into view—a colossal structure piled dozens of stories high, scraping the cavern ceiling, half-buried in the ground.
Judging by the exposed portion, the submerged part matched it in sheer mass.
Holes pocked its surface, but the rest was sealed by sturdy walls, layered like natural wasp nests with chitinous armor.
Joo Se-ah planned to dive in and storm the queen's nursery.
If she slipped into the narrow hive passages before the pursuing wasps interfered, she could handle the queen even with monsters on her tail.
But the queen wasn't going down easy. The entrances slammed shut as one.
Joo Se-ah snorted and plastered herself to the hive. She unleashed a straight punch.
"Pointless. Just smash it..."
Piercing Fist
A sharp sting jolted back from the hive wall. It stood firm. She hammered it stubbornly a few more times, but it didn't budge.
She drew her sword for rapid slashes. The wall split like paper. But even that healed instantly, writhing flesh sealing the gashes.
'Tougher than I heard. And that regen... Gonna take work to crack. Fine. No nest survives ten hits. Let's see who wins.'
Joo Se-ah sheathed her blade, tapped the hive like picking a ripe watermelon, then spread her legs shoulder-width. Horse stance locked, fists lightly clenched at her waist.
"Huuuuh~"
She drew a deep breath to her lungs' depths, ignited mana alongside it. Her right fist rocketed out.
Piercing Fist
BOOM!
The hive buckled. The wall twitched to heal. Joo Se-ah's left fist followed as her right snapped back.
Piercing Fist
CRASH!
The entire hive shook like an earthquake. Legs rooted firm, mana surged from her core—waist, chest, shoulder, arm—to drive her fists.
Mana vortex.
No waste, pure pinpoint strikes hammered the hive.
CRASH!
Piercing FistPiercing FistPiercing Fist
The hive crumbled faster than it regenerated.
A gaping hole yawned wide enough to plunge through, but Joo Se-ah kept pounding, hell-bent on ten strikes.
Then presences stirred from above.
She retracted her fist and whipped her sword upward in one fluid motion.
Makaruine's edge gleamed murderously.
'Feels off. Too light.'
Her strike hadn't landed solidly. She spun, tracking her foe.
"Champion?"
The humanoid wasp from Camilla's rescue.
Steam rose from its slashed chest—regen kicking in.
"Dead ones don't revive. You got a spare?"
Wingbeats multiplied overhead.
Seven more identical champions hovered.
"Queen's guard, huh?"
The champions halted their flaps, crashing to the ground like meteors. Their mass quaked the earth.
Cue for Joo Se-ah. She morphed Makaruine to spear form.
She impaled the first champion's chest. It thrashed to escape, but she held firm, skewering it like meat as she eyed the next.
One lunged from behind—perfect range. Her spear arced wildly, baiting it. At the perfect moment, the second champion skewered.
Back blocked, the first gave up fleeing. It barreled forward, gore-spear and all, jaws snapping for her throat.
She yanked the spear, headbutting its skull.
CRACK!
Its cranium caved; green blood poured from nose and eyes.
While the two impaled writhed, she targeted the third.
It didn't go down easy—ripped a wing free like a blade.
She used the speared pair as shields, fouling its swing. Crude despite brute force, it flailed irritably, hunting openings—her trap.
Blind to the baited spot, she thrust home.
"Kweeek!"
Chest pierced, it slashed wildly—but her grip wrenched its arm free.
Three down in a blink.
She shook the champion shish kebab effortlessly.
The remaining five hung back.
"With healing factors, I'd slice 'em one by one otherwise. Better skewer and smash."
Grinning, she planted the spear. The trio slid down the shaft in bloody slurry, spines hitting dirt in a row.
She raised a hammer fist. Mana beaded, ballooning outward.
"Tweaked Eul-ji's trick. Heavenly Punishment, right?"
Go Eul-ji's original: telekinesis crushing vast spaces.
Joo Se-ah swapped space for mana, sizing it to a boxing glove plus a bit.
Tiny compared to Eul-ji's, but power-packed.
Her fist plummeted.
"Kwik!" "Kweaak!" "Krook!"
Screeches mingled as they pulped.
She didn't stop.
One, two, three, four...
Endless pounding.
Like tenderizing meat, she mashed them to pulp.
Finally, a puddle of gore.
The survivors couldn't attack. Even the hundreds of fifth-gen wasps that caught up circled warily, holding back.
Bathed in green blood amid the monster horde, Joo Se-ah looked untouchable. The besieging carnivorous wasps quailed before her killing intent.
"Huu."
Her exhale made them flinch.
"Loved eating people, huh?"
Who was human? Who monster?
"So, who's the prey now?"
Didn't matter.
"Wrong address, bugs. Time to switch offense and defense."
She was a hunter.
"Hunt starts."
Her order rang out.
Two major guild expeditions crashed into the wasps from the rear.
"Payback double!"
"Hold formation! No more sloppy backstabs!"
Taylor and Camilla bellowed; the counterattack ignited.
The hive shuddered under assault.
Those kids outside, risking life to defend it?
Hah, pathetic. Mere drones anyway.
Sacrificial slaves for the next generation. Soldiers. Fodder.
Energy for perpetuating the species.
Dead? Whatever. Lay more eggs.
Plenty of food here—prime cuts too.
The mana-stuffed morsels just devoured brimmed with nutrients.
Three fresh eggs from that feast hatched moments ago.
Special ones. Superior to her guard. Too valuable for fodder.
Kept them close. Mates for breeding elite offspring.
Old inferior males? Obsolete. Their eggs were trash. Needed new soldiers.
To defend this hive.
Fed the old drones to the new trio.
Devouring their predecessors made them stronger.
Fit to serve the next queen.
Time to test their might.
Kill the intruders.
With both guilds joining, Joo Se-ah mowed down the remaining champions in a flash.
Not a fight. A hunt.
Hunters didn't battle monsters. They preyed.
The pre-Daejeon War spirit: never equals, always superior.
Joo Se-ah embodied it.
'Outdated relic now, but...'
No better hunter creed.
"Left flank, 3rd party backup! Mages, bombing run prepped. Count three, two, one. Go! 5th fills the gap!"
No major shifts beyond Joo Se-ah joining, yet the expeditions dominated—unlike the first clash.
S-ranks weren't dismissible; solo boss raids certified that.
But her tank role and traits shone less in battlefield raids than large-target hunts.
Even in Slayer days, she sniped threats mid-raid: stalling or eliminating singles endangering the group.
Vital duty for aces. Single powerhouses swayed entire raids.
Here too.
Without her dropping the champions, the unprepared guilds would've floundered.
Yet the gap yawned wider than first blood.
'Hunters grow stronger solo to squads, squads to armies. Monsters outclass us unknowns. Hunters are human—we band together against beasts.'
Camilla, deep in orders, didn't blame her skill for the initial rout.
Just caught flat-footed.
Gates threw similar curveballs.
Prepped raids outlived the sloppy.
Hence scouting first.
They'd mapped fifth-gen moves in round one; Joo Se-ah sniped elites. Round two: revenge.
"Good. Relay to central Taylor: time to breach. One solid charge, momentum flips completely..."
Camilla swallowed her words at the sudden shift.
The wasps retreated en masse to the hive.