Slash—! Splurrrch!
Arbon, wielding the Black Moon Sword Art to cut down high-tier monsters.
Behind him, GH Guild's officers felled the A-rank monsters.
Hunters from the massive guilds, the small and mid-sized guilds, and the Hunter Association stared blankly at the GH Guild members.
"The Vice Master and officers, sure, but......"
"Even the rank-and-file members are slaughtering C-rank monsters."
"Seriously...... isn't GH Guild good enough to replace Teinen?"
"Honestly, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call them Korea's top guild."
The Hunters marveled, then hurriedly threw themselves at the monsters.
The soldiers fighting under the skeletons' protection were no less astonished.
Whenever the monsters drew near, the skeletons would hurl themselves forward to block them.
In that instant, the soldiers would pull their triggers and hastily gun the monsters down.
There were even skeletons that threw themselves in front of the monsters' spells, sacrificing themselves.
"They really are reassuring."
"Feels like I've got a few extra lives."
"They're throwing their lives on the line to shield us."
"Fuck, quit yapping and keep firing!"
Muzzles flashed one after another.
Meanwhile, Kang-hyeok, having headed for Bogwangsan, loosed countless slashes, carving out canyons large and small.
The many villages near the mountain.
He had to account for the rice paddies and fields, too.
On top of that, Bogwangsan held a temple called Bogwangsa.
He didn't know what state it was in...... but for now, he'd have to aim his slashes to spare the temple.
CRASH! Ka-ka-ka-krash—!
A broadcast helicopter from a terrestrial network kept trailing Kang-hyeok.
The reporter stared at him, dazed.
Just how many monsters was one man planning to cut down?
Among the monsters Kang-hyeok felled were A- and B-rank ones as well.
At the ceaseless combat, reporter and cameraman alike stared blankly at Bogwangsan.
CRASH! Ka-krash! Splurrrch—!
Blood shot into the sky like a fountain.
Bogwangsan looked as if it had been hacked to pieces, countless canyons carved into it.
At the same time, monster corpses lay strewn across the whole area, painting a grotesque scene.
"A-As expected of a State-Power-Class Hunter. A-rank monsters simply evaporate under Hunter Park Kang-hyeok's slashes. The monsters he's slain so far are said to number in the thousands. Hunter Park Kang-hyeok appears to be restraining his power as much as possible to avoid harming the nearby villages and Bogwangsa Temple."
Viewers could only be dumbfounded.
-That...... is him holding back?
└He's soloing the whole thing like a one-man army.
└His slashes really do look weak for an S1-rank Hunter.
└At that power, isn't he more like an S2-rank Hunter?
└Weren't the nearby villages already fully evacuated?
└GH Guild might have to eat the property damage in full, so probably that's why.
└If Bogwangsa Temple gets destroyed, the people slandering Park Kang-hyeok will crawl out.
└Having to fight monsters AND worry about property damage......
└That's why they lure high-tier monsters onto mountains or into parks. Because of property damage.
└Honestly, they're risking their lives fighting, and then you'd make them compensate for the damage too...... aren't the Hunters going to leave this country?
Viewers voiced all sorts of opinions as they watched the Hunters fighting for the nation.
Even at the sirens, the monsters no longer gathered.
If anything, they began to flee as if terrified of the sound.
Kang-hyeok called the military officer.
"The monsters have started running, so hunting them has gotten difficult."
[We've already built the encirclement. For now, it would be best if you returned and got some rest.]
"And the Gate......"
[Excuse me?]
"Is it all right to leave the Gate uncleared?"
[The Association will make that decision. Given that it hasn't vanished after an hour...... it seems the Cyclops wasn't the dungeon boss. Normally, inside a Dungeon Gate, slaying the boss triggers a notification for the Awakened, but......]
"What happened with the Orc Chief?"
[The Orc Chief was slain by Goguryeo Guild's master, Hunter Woo Seong-hyeon. But since less than an hour has passed, we'll need to wait a little longer. If that one wasn't the dungeon boss either...... the Association will decide whether to manage the dungeon or clear it.]
"Understood."
[I'll send a vehicle right away.]
"No, with the monsters scattered, it might be a bit dangerous. I'll just make my way down slowly."
[Ah...... yes, understood. Then please take care on your way back.]
Kang-hyeok ended the call, came down the mountain slowly, and walked along the two-lane road toward the Eumseong town center.
Walking thirteen to fifteen kilometers along the road, nearly three hours passed before he knew it.
The monsters he ran into on the way, he dispatched with ease.
"You've truly done a great service."
Kang-hyeok was treated with the utmost care.
Not only had he slain the Cyclops, he'd cut down thousands of monsters besides.
And with three thousand skeletons, he'd protected a great many soldiers, too.
"Please rest a while in this motel."
Guided by the officer, Kang-hyeok rested in a motel bedroom.
The GH Guild members had reportedly performed splendidly and were now resting as well.
The soldiers kept watch on all sides to keep the monsters from slipping out of the encirclement.
"Hunter Arbon! We're told an A-rank monster has appeared! We need support——!"
A-rank monsters withstood even tank fire.
Gunfire, needless to say.
Even B-rank monsters shrugged off gunfire as they slaughtered soldiers.
Thud—!
"......?!"
A soldier, struck by an enormous wooden club, was sent flying dozens of meters.
At the sight, the soldiers were gripped by terror.
Young men dragged into the military in their early twenties could only hold their positions, obeying orders from above.
"Ugh......"
The soldiers braced their rifles against their shoulders and pulled their triggers again.
"Gyaaaaah!"
"Die——!"
At the same moment as the soldiers' cries, a shout of "Cease fire!" rang out from behind.
"H-Hunters!"
"Reinforcements are here!"
Seeing the GH Guild members, the soldiers brightened and turned back toward the monsters.
Slash—!
-Kyaaagh!
The monsters, once objects of dread, fell one after another.
The soldiers looked at the Hunters as if they were heroes.
They'd brought down creatures even tanks couldn't fell.
If those weren't heroes, then what were?
"Haha......"
"W-We're alive."
The soldiers let out breathless laughs and quietly breathed easier at the fact that they hadn't died.
And so, thanks to the S-rank Hunters' outstanding efforts, the Raid crisis gradually settled, and an operation began to mop up the remnants.
Tightening the encirclement while cutting down the monsters.
Soldiers and Hunters were positioned together along the line.
"Orcs up ahead......!"
Kang-hyeok quickly ran at the orcs.
Splurrrch-splurch!
-Chiiik......?!
Five orcs were cut down in mere seconds.
The soldiers swallowed hard and stared at Park Kang-hyeok.
"Th-That man is Korea's strongest Hunter......"
Kang-hyeok flicked the blood from his blade and slid it back into its sheath.
"Let's keep moving."
As Kang-hyeok slowly started walking, the soldiers began to follow behind him.
***
[The Raid that broke out in North Chungcheong has now completed its suppression operation and shifted to mopping up the remnants. As you can see, in Jeungpyeong, countless buildings and roads have been destroyed......]
While Kang-hyeok was away in North Chungcheong, his family watched the TV and the news every day.
When a terrestrial network broadcast Kang-hyeok's situation live on AeTube, their hearts dropped.
But at the sight of Kang-hyeok slaying the Cyclops in a single stroke, the whole family was struck with shock.
"Oppa just took down that monster......"
The family stared blankly at the TV screen.
Watching AeTube on the TV, they let out small, dazed laughs.
The sight of Kang-hyeok cutting down monsters on Bogwangsan felt utterly surreal.
"Is that...... really our Oppa?"
"......So an S1-rank Hunter can bring down a monster like that."
"M-More importantly, Kang-hyeok's all right, isn't he?"
For dozens of minutes the TV showed nothing but Park Kang-hyeok in battle.
A short while later, the monsters scattered in all directions, and Kang-hyeok's fight came to an end.
He came down the mountain and walked along the road for hours.
At the sight of their son gone off to a battlefield, his parents, Jin-o and Su-yeon, could only feel their hearts ache.
Yu-na, too, fidgeted with her smartphone, her heart heavy.
She'd known her brother was working hard for money.
Which was why she'd spent as little of it as she could.
But never in her dreams had she imagined he was fighting in a place as dangerous as that.
The money in her account suddenly felt unbearably heavy.
'Is it...... okay for me to spend that money?'
State-Power-Class Hunter or not, it was money earned fighting in what was little different from a war zone.
Recalling the money she'd received from Kang-hyeok, Yu-na was gripped by guilt.
Her father Jin-o and mother Su-yeon felt the same suffocating weight.
The apartment, the shop, the debts too.
All of it had been settled with the money their son earned as a Hunter.
'To think he earned it working in a place that dangerous......'
Su-yeon squeezed her eyes shut and searched for news of Kang-hyeok every single day.
And so the family passed each day worrying over Kang-hyeok.
At university, Yu-na constantly pulled out her smartphone to check the North Chungcheong Raid on the AeTube app.
"Aren't you on your phone way too much lately?"
"Is something wrong?"
At her university friends' questions, Yu-na hemmed and hawed.
"Well...... my brother went out for this Raid."
"Ah......"
Her friends nodded in understanding.
Family, out on a battlefield.
How could she not worry?
"What's your brother's rank?"
"......It's a bit high, that's all."
"Then he'll be fine. State-Power-Class Hunter Park Kang-hyeok took part in this Raid. The news mosaicked his face, but they say he took down a giant over a hundred meters tall in an instant. And GH Guild alone moved several hundred S-rank Hunters, didn't it?"
"Goguryeo, Teinen, and the massive guilds have all mobilized too, so don't worry so much."
Yu-na gave a wry smile and nodded.
But she couldn't help worrying all the same.
Korea's strongest Hunter or not, it didn't mean he couldn't die.
Every time news of a casualty came in, Yu-na's heart pounded.
"Haah......"
When the lecture ended, Yu-na headed to the campus cafeteria with her friends.
"I'll have ramen today."
"Kimchi-jjigae for me......"
"I'll get the donkatsu."
Yu-na's group bought meal tickets, took their food, and walked to an empty table.
And the moment they set the food down on the table—
Thoom—!
At the huge tremor in the ground, some students screamed.
"Kyaaak!"
"Wh-What's happening?"
"An earthquake......?"
The students murmured and looked out the windows.
Then, another huge tremor struck, this one accompanied by the sound of an explosion.
Thoom! Kaboom—!
"Kyaaaaah!"
Screams erupted inside and outside the cafeteria.
And across the whole city, emergency alarms began to blare, while alert texts came flying to everyone's smartphones.