***
Above the residential area of Sutaek-dong.
As I kicked off the forest of buildings and soared upward, the source of the red light entered my vision.
A rift torn open in midair.
I detected the mana waves leaking from it.
Judging by concentration and density, E-Rank.
At most, it was a small to mid-sized Gate at the D-Rank level.
But it seemed quite some time had passed since it formed, as the red light around its edges had dulled and died.
'A naturally occurring Gate. And at least several hours have passed.'
This was negligence.
The Bureau or a guild would have identified it long ago.
But there was a high chance they had pushed it down the priority list because it was an unprofitable poor district.
The price of that complacency was horrific.
The Gate, having passed through its incubation period and crossed the critical point, was vomiting monsters out like bile.
A Gate Break.
"Kiiiieeek!"
Below the rift, an ear-splitting shriek rang out from a narrow alley.
'[Search].'
A 1st Circle detection spell.
Mana formed on my retina and acted as a lens, zooming in on the situation hundreds of meters below.
A brutal standoff.
The police line had collapsed long ago.
Two patrol cars were overturned and burning, while three or four police officers were forming a circular formation, relying on riot shields.
Surrounding them were hideous monsters with green skin.
Goblins.
"Kieeeek!"
One goblin leaped and brought down a rusty, chipped blade.
BANG—
The polycarbonate riot shield was sliced through as cleanly as tofu.
The blade, unable to be stopped by the impact, drove straight into the officer’s shoulder.
"Kraaaagh!"
The police officer staggered as blood sprayed out.
The arm holding the shield drooped powerlessly.
"Sergeant Choi!"
The young officer beside him urgently thrust out his own shield and blocked the front.
But goblins were cunning.
They did not miss the opening created when the prey’s formation collapsed.
"Kukekekeke!"
Another one slipped in low, almost crawling along the ground, and swung its dagger.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
To protect his fallen superior, the young officer pulled the trigger of his .38 caliber revolver.
The smell of gunpowder filled the air, and the bullet struck the goblin’s torso.
"Kikikiki···."
The goblin was only pushed back one step, completely fine.
Deep despair settled in the officer’s eyes.
It was merely a goblin, the lowest kind of monster.
But it was a life-form from another world, carrying mana inside its body.
To ordinary people, it was no different from an armored grizzly bear.
WHEEEET—
The goblins whistled briefly to one another.
Six of them moved like a single body and completely surrounded the officers.
Soon, one of them lowered its body close to the ground and closed the distance.
“You··· you bastard!”
They looked as if they were about to reach their limit.
But I was not late.
I stepped on the rooftop railing of a four-story villa.
I compressed aura at the tips of my toes.
BOOM!
The concrete railing shattered, and my body fell at a speed that defied gravity.
Wind struck my eardrums.
In midair, I moved my hand to my waist.
SHIIIING—!
With a sound of friction, the hwando , Dragon Head Sword, left its scabbard.
The moment I gripped the sword, the feeling was different.
A sensation on a different level from a training sword.
As if the blade had connected to my nervous system, it absorbed mana like a sponge.
'[Synchronization].'
I converted the mana circulating through my blood vessels into an aura and pushed it into the sword.
The blade heated blue and vibrated.
'[Lightning Slash].'
I overlaid the acceleration of my fall with lightning magic.
Lightning burst out for an instant and wrapped around the honed blade.
The tops of the goblins’ heads as they leaped, aiming for the officers’ necks.
The slash fell toward them.
SHOOOOK—
A flash drew a diagonal line.
At the same moment I landed, I used the recoil in my knees to let the impact flow away.
Cracks spread across the asphalt.
Silence arrived.
"Kieee···?"
The three goblins that had been about to pounce on the officers.
Their heads dropped to the ground all at once.
The cut surfaces were charred black as if seared by fire, and not a single drop of blood flowed.
The lightning’s shock effect had paralyzed their nervous systems, and the aura-clad slash had split bone and flesh like butter.
'Good.'
I slowly straightened and lightly shook my sword.
The impurities left on the blade evaporated.
It was not simply because of the Dragon Head Sword’s performance.
The training with Charles.
The insane act of swinging a wooden sword under aura pressure thirty thousand times.
The memory of those hellish muscles had changed my body.
The distinct heavy foreign sensation I used to feel when coating the sword with aura had completely disappeared.
Even with less force, the trajectory was sharp, and my mana consumption had been cut in half.
'This much in only one day.'
Charles’s Refining method was certain.
The remaining three goblins, stunned by the empty deaths of their comrades, retreated.
I turned my gaze toward them.
"Ki... eeeek!"
I kicked the ground.
I narrowed the distance of three steps in a single leap.
One horizontal cut, two vertical cuts.
Slice, slice.
I did not even give them room to scream.
The remaining goblins collapsed one after another.
It took less than five seconds to annihilate them.
"Just now··· what···."
Only then did the officers react.
They had been hiding behind their shields, and now they looked back and forth between me and the corpses on the ground with blank eyes.
"Th-That was amazing. You took out the monsters in an instant···."
The young officer holding a shield stammered.
I calmly slid the hwando back into its scabbard.
"They were only goblins."
That was right.
It was not something worth making a fuss over.
The reason I was thrilled was because of the potential I had confirmed in real combat.
The young officer raised his helmet visor and stared at me.
My face, and the fluorescent green vest I was wearing.
"Uh, wait. Are you perhaps··· Hunter Kim Do-jin?"
"Right! The Hunter who kicked away ten billion won and blew up the internet!"
They seemed to recognize me.
Considering my face had been plastered across the news, it would have been stranger if they did not.
I nodded moderately.
"I am with the Supernatural Ability Management Team. A civil complaint report came in."
"Ah, thank you! Truly, thank you. You saved us!"
The young officer bowed his head repeatedly.
From behind, I heard ragged breathing.
"Ugh···."
The officer whose shoulder had been cut let out a pained groan.
Through the torn uniform, dark red blood was gushing from the red gash.
Wounds cut by a monster’s weapon were not easily stanched because of mana toxicity.
I approached him.
"Do not move."
The officer looked up at me with startled eyes.
Instead of answering, I extended my right hand and held it about ten centimeters above the wound.
'[Healing].'
A soft blue light bloomed from my fingertips.
The work of converting mana optimized for combat into gentle life force.
The light scattered like dandelion seeds and wrapped around Sergeant Choi’s shoulder.
"Whoa, this is···."
Sergeant Choi’s eyes widened.
The black poisonous energy gathered around the wound was purified and blown away, and the torn muscle tissue slowly began to knit together.
A warmth that was neither cold nor hot seeped in gently.
"Weren’t you··· a swordsman? Healing magic too?"
"It is only first aid. The aftereffects of mana erosion will remain, so once the situation is under control, go to the hospital first, no matter what."
I dusted off my hand and stood.
"Yes, yes. I absolutely will. Thank you so much."
The sergeant touched his sealed shoulder with a dazed expression.
I turned and asked him.
"By the way, how did goblins end up all the way here? This is quite far from the Gate that formed."
At my question, Sergeant Choi furrowed his brow and answered.
"It’s because of the bastards from the guild in charge. This area is definitely under Buckler Guild’s jurisdiction, but they must have made a mess of the raid or put up a sloppy barrier. Monsters have been leaking into the residential area one after another since earlier."
My prediction had been correct.
The guild in charge, which should have controlled the naturally occurring Gate, had failed to do its job and let monsters slip through.
'What kind of sloppy work is this?'
Now, if I blocked the Gate entrance and dealt with the remnants, my first job would be neatly finished.
That was what I thought as I was about to turn.
Whoosh—
It was not the sound of wind.
At the edge of my vision, I saw the trajectory of something alien tearing through space.
'What is that?'
I turned my gaze.
It was silver.
A large butterfly, the size of an adult man’s fist.
But it was not an insect.
A silhouette flying while scattering trails of silver-powder light from translucent wings.
A Fairy-type monster.
Not something easily seen.
"No, what exactly is the guild doing with this raid? What kind of barrier did they put up for all sorts of things to come flying out?"
The middle-aged officer spat out irritably.
The young officer agreed.
"Exactly. Goblins and even a flying bug. We need to file a proper complaint with the Bureau."
I shook my head.
"That is a monster, but it does not cause harm. Its homing instinct is strong, so if we leave it alone, it will return to the Gate on its own."
"Ah, is that so? It looked creepy, so I got tense for nothing."
The officers relaxed and picked up their radios.
I was about to withdraw my gaze as well.
Other than being silver, it was just an ordinary fairy.
At that moment.
[Beeep—! Beeep—! Beeep—!]
Airi’s warning sound exploded inside my head like a siren.
It was loud enough to feel as though it would tear my eardrums.
I was just about to turn the thing off.
[Successor! You must not let it go!]
[Capture strongly advised!]
"Why are you suddenly making such a fuss? You were quiet for a while."
It was not the usual dry voice.
Even though Airi was a machine, urgency was dripping from its cry.
[Scan result obtained! The individual that just passed by possesses the 'Legendary-Rank' attribute.]
"···Legendary-Rank."
I had seen many Legendary-Rank items before my regression.
But Legendary-Rank Fairies were extremely rare.
Had I seen one once or twice?
Something like that was flying around a residential area looking like a flying bug?
Whether Airi’s words were true or not, there was no Hunter in this world who would not get excited at the words "Legendary-Rank."
First, I had to catch it and see.
If it was not, I could just turn Airi off for thirty days.
Because of its homing instinct, it would be heading toward the Gate anyway.
There would be no waste of movement, so there was no reason not to catch it.
***
'[Haste].'
The moment I chanted, I kicked off the ground.
BANG—!
My acceleration-filled leg crushed the asphalt.
An explosive launch.
The silver Fairy had already turned into an alley a hundred meters ahead and was flying away.
I had to catch up.
"Come here."
I stretched out my hand.
Cutting through the wind, I narrowed the distance.
My fingertips were close enough to almost touch the translucent silver wings.
Just a little more.
But fortuitous encounters were never easily seized.
As if sensing my killing intent, it twisted its flight path and shot upward.
POP—
Silver powder burst out, and the Fairy’s form changed.
The fist-sized butterfly transformed in an instant into a small reptile covered in black scales.
'A hatchling?'
A dragon’s young.
Although it was likely close to an illusion, the flying speed of the creature as it spread bat-like wings was on an entirely different level.
Flap, flap.
With only two beats of its wings, it shot up to the height of a building’s third floor.
"Where do you think you’re going?!"
I stepped on a utility pole in the alley and leaped.
Using the recoil, I sprang upward, using the air conditioner outdoor units on the building exterior as stepping stones.
A vertical ascent reminiscent of parkour.
"Got you!"
The moment I stretched my hand out from the rooftop railing.
Grrrrr—!
Another transformation.
This time, it was the form of a huge silver wolf over two meters long.
The wolf, having gained weight, slammed into the rooftop floor, then launched itself toward the neighboring building.
"Damn it, transformation magic?"
A curse slipped out.
The wolf stepped on a signboard, used the top of a moving truck as a stepping stone, and dashed into the middle of the city.
The distance widened.
At this rate, I would lose it.
"Haa···."
It felt as though my lungs were tearing.
That unpleasant sensation I had experienced in Donggureung was creeping up.
A burning heat of mana boiling inside my blood vessels.
The preliminary symptom of mana backflow.
[Successor, aura duration limit exceeded. Circuit overload state.]
"Shut up."
I knew.
This was the first time I had maintained the [Synchronization] skill for this long.
On top of that, I was at maximum output for a full sprint.
Although my circuits had become sturdier thanks to training with Charles, my body still could not fully withstand the changed operating system.
Rationally, I should stop here.
I had to stop and take a cooldown to prevent my mana holes from burning out.
If the Fairy entered the Gate, it was over.
"Grrrrr!"
Ahead of me, the creature changed form again.
This time, it was a herbivorous monster that ran on two legs, a "Sprinter Beast."
A creature specialized in running.
It was determined to shake me off.
"After coming this far?!"
How had I gotten this chance?
A Legendary-Rank Fairy could become a variable in this world.
If I gave up here, the pride of a 9th Circle Archmage and the title of a former S-Rank Hunter would weep.
I clenched my teeth hard.
Instead of suppressing my aura output, I set fire to my mana core.
A suicidal act of breaking the control panel and stepping on the accelerator.
Pain like I was about to vomit blood.
My vision flashed red.
The sound of muscle fibers snapping struck my ears.
It was then.
DING—!
[Synchronization rate rising. (22% -> 25%)]
[New Sword Saint skill unlocked: Run Fast.]
My brother’s legacy answered my foolish stubbornness.
"What kind of name is that?"
Blood pooled at the corner of my mouth, but I laughed.
[Run Fast].
A name so intuitive it was childish.
But I knew the weight of what it contained.
"Airi. Change [Run Fast] to [Dash]."
[Command confirmed. Updating skill name.]
I stopped my running steps and stood firmly on the ground.
The Fairy grew farther away in my vision.
But there was no impatience.
Rather, I was quiet.
I drew in a deep breath and compressed the aura of my entire body into my toes.
My calf muscles swelled as though about to burst.
I knew how to use it.
Because I had seen that sprint hundreds of times at Gates.
The footwork that folded space when my brother broke through enemy lines.
That back.
"[Dash]."
BOOM—
The asphalt where I stood caved in as though exploding.
My body shot out from the recoil, a bullet itself.
The scenery in every direction stretched long like smeared paint.
Sound was pushed backward, and the resistance of the air vanished into a vacuum.
The sensation of running beyond the limits of the flesh, tearing through the gaps in space.
It happened in an instant.
The back of the Sprinter Beast running hundreds of meters ahead closed in before my eyes.
The creature’s pupils turned back in shock.
The game of tag was over.