The great underground plaza I called the Terminal became a bustle of activity, crowded with people who had descended upon it for the first time in tens of thousands of years.
Of course, there weren’t as many people coming and going as there had been back then, but not a few busied themselves carrying supplies, checking equipment, and pitching tents.
“Do we set up the tents here?”
“There’s more food than I expected. Lots of spices, too. Looks like we can last more than a week.”
“Are we staying that long?”
“Depends on how long it takes, I suppose.”
Unlike before, the Koreans and Americans did not split apart. The people joined forces to establish a base.
Once the base was set up, and the installed torches and the magic circles on the floor lit up, the darkness underground receded to some extent.
When the base had been put in order, tension settled over the underground plaza.
It was time to hunt.
After checking their equipment once more, everyone looked in one direction.
There, Catherine, the Korean appointed as deputy commander, and the young girl were talking.
When the people looked over, Catherine opened her mouth.
“It seems everyone is ready.”
I had been checking the drawing on the paper, and at her words, I nodded.
“We seem to be ready on this end as well.”
At my words, Catherine made an expression unlike her usual self.
With a worried face, she asked,
“Will that really be all right?”
What she was pointing at was the roughly scribbled operation map in my hand.
“There’s no problem. I checked it, and Hanna reviewed it again. This is the best operation we can carry out.”
At my words, Hanna nodded.
What was drawn on the paper looked like a childish map, but it was a map I had examined countless times with my heightened senses, then confirmed once more with Hanna’s ability before drawing it.
If we dug according to what was marked on this map, we could hunt the monsters on the surface without suffering major damage.
“I know Deputy Commander Hyun’s abilities, but… it isn’t easy for me to believe this girl’s words by common sense.”
I understood what Catherine meant.
To someone who didn’t know Hanna, her words would sound like the nonsense of a fortune-teller or some cultist.
Even for me, it wasn’t easy to believe when I heard her say that this wall looked dark and that wall shone with light.
“We can confirm that from now on.”
With those words, I placed my hand on the wall.
I pictured the wall breaking apart, and in my head, a magic circle and formulas took shape.
I chanted the spell.
“Stone to earth, connected things be severed. Shatter.”
Rumble, rumble, rumble.
At my spell, the wall that had endured for tens of thousands of years collapsed.
***
When sounds rose from underground, a commotion broke out on the surface as well.
With the control entity that had issued orders gone, the monsters gathered in the city had fought among themselves and created a sort of ecosystem.
The humanoid monsters that had once been workers were reduced to prey for the other monsters, while the scouts and magic monsters fought as they targeted one another.
Monsters that won their battles devoured other monsters and grew stronger, while those that lost were eaten by other monsters or fled the city.
As their numbers decreased in this way, the monsters each came to occupy a certain territory, and the city stabilized to some extent.
Of course, the enormous defensive monsters that smashed through buildings as they passed were left alone by the other monsters.
It was when that precarious balance had formed that sound came from underground.
The sound was extremely similar to the noise the control entity had made when it used other monsters to dig through the ground.
However, there was no control entity now, and the result of the sound was different as well.
A scout monster that came running after hearing the noise fell underground along with a sinkhole that suddenly opened beneath it.
Kraaaak!
The monster’s scream echoed from underground, but even that soon fell silent.
Rumble, rumble, rumble.
On top of that, even the hole was filled in again by the earth surging upward.
That was not the only place where a hole opened and a monster fell.
Sinkholes that began in the ruined eastern district gradually spread throughout the entire city.
At first, the sinkholes targeted only scout monsters, but as time passed, they tried to swallow magic monsters as well.
Of course, the magic monsters had made preparations too.
There was no control entity giving them orders, but magic monsters were not idiots like the scouts.
Since they could use magic, the magic monsters understood the situation.
They knew that something was dragging them underground and attacking them, and they also knew how to avoid that attack.
Magic monsters could fly.
When the magic monster in the center of the city heard a sound beneath its feet, it immediately cast a spell.
It was a levitation spell that would let it fly into the air.
The monster intended to rise into the sky and then pour magic into the hole.
But the monster could not fly.
Clatter, clatter, clatter!
Ropes that had been rolling around on the floor moved as if alive and wrapped around the monster’s upper body.
Boom.
While the monster was bound by the ropes and unable to fly, the ground collapsed just like everywhere else.
The monster tried to stay afloat with magic, but even that was impossible.
Swish! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Because frozen arrows and beams of light flew up from underground.
Kiiik!
Struck by the arrows and beams, the monster screamed.
The shock and pain canceled the magic the monster had been unfolding.
The monster fell underground.
Thud.
After falling beneath the earth, the monster moved its tentacle legs and looked around.
There were humans underground.
They were the humans it had killed not long ago.
Enraged, the monster tried to cast magic at the humans.
The monster moved the hand on its human side and formed formulas, but no magic circle appeared.
Only then did the monster see the magic circle drawn on the floor.
It was a high-level magic circle, so it did not know the exact details, but even the monster could tell what effect the magic circle had.
It was a magic circle that sealed magic.
A magic circle that prevented mages below a certain level from using magic.
Because it was a magic circle that also prevented the caster from using magic, it was one magic monsters often used when dealing with mages.
Though it did not know that much, the monster realized that it had fallen into a trap.
The voices of people rang out.
“Everyone, fall back! It’s a spider-human! It’s definitely a magic monster!”
“Don’t loiter around! Your weapons won’t do a thing to it!”
“Only those who can pierce its hide, step forward!”
“Don’t worry about the monster’s magic! Captain Hyun will block it all!”
At the same time, magic and various attacks flew in.
Most of them only delivered impact, but a few attacks pierced its hide and drew blood.
They were dangerous attacks even for the monster, but the monster could not pay attention to them.
It was already hard-pressed dealing with the human standing before it.
The human standing at the center of the magic circle.
The monster knew very well that it was that human who had activated the magic circle.
That was why it had attacked that human first, but not a single one of the monster’s tentacles touched him.
Dodging the tentacles with only the slightest movements, as if he were not moving at all, the human absurdly did not even look at the monster.
He stood there, watching the other humans attacking the monster.
[They’re still lacking by a lot, but there are still quite a few usable people.]
[The Koreans seem to fight better than I expected.]
[Was it that they’re a people who do well when they have a reason? Their own survival and their families’ survival depend on this, so of course they’ll do well.]
While avoiding the tentacles, I carefully observed the people attacking the monster.
It had been the same when we hunted the scout monsters, but excluding my own unit members, Catherine and Sterling, who used magic, stood out the most.
Right now, the ones injuring the magic monster were Catherine, Sterling, and Hanna.
The people who fought in close quarters still had difficulty dealing with a magic monster directly.
Scout monsters were large, so if I handled the remaining tentacles, they could at least scratch the body with spears or swords.
But the magic monster was too small and fast for that.
It was the same for the people attacking from a distance.
Aside from those three, no one was able to wound it with ranged attacks.
Tom and Sergeant Woo, who held energy guns, were the same.
They were a great help in preventing the monster from using magic, but their firepower was too weak to pierce its hide and wound it.
The moment I thought that and came to a conclusion—
Thud!
With the sound of something being punctured, white blood spurted from the monster’s eye.
[Ah, no. If it hits well, those guns are effective too.]
[What wouldn’t be effective if you hit a weak point?]
Sergeant Woo had pierced the monster’s eye with his gun.
Kraaaak!
The monster clutched its eye and screamed.
“Now!”
The people who had been watching for an opportunity with crude spears and swords shouted and rushed in.
I also swung my spear, cut off several tentacles, and stepped back.
As long as I was within this magic circle, it didn’t matter where I stood.
I had been standing at the center of the magic circle to make the monster focus on me.
With its eye pierced, its magic sealed, and its tentacles cut off, the magic monster could be handled by the others well enough.
In truth, dealing with a magic monster whose magic had been sealed was much easier than dealing with a scout monster.
Even if I fought alone, I could kill the monster faster right now.
But I no longer intended to do that.
There were too many monsters to kill by myself.
On top of that, there was too much to do for me to focus only on hunting.
That said, I couldn’t ignore obtaining black stones either, so just as I had raised my unit members before, I had to raise the others as well.
[For someone saying that, aren’t you too picky about choosing people?]
[I can’t afford to be stabbed in the back by someone I raised.]
Even on this planet, two spies had turned up.
There had been others who fought against me too.
In that kind of situation, I couldn’t give gifts to just anyone because we were in a hurry.
Boom.
In the end, this magic monster also collapsed like the others.
The people cheered and rushed at the fallen monster, cutting open its body.
It was to find the black stone.
Once the hunt ended, I felt people stealing glances at me.
While hunting the scouts and the magic monster, they had all seen what I could do.
Unlike before, I had not hunted directly, but I had borne all of the monsters’ attacks.
The Koreans who had seen my skills for the first time stared at me wide-eyed, and even the Americans who knew me to some extent shook their heads at how much my skills had changed.
However, perhaps because they were too surprised, no one approached me.
This was troublesome.
To confirm a person’s character, I had to hold their hand directly, but if they did not come close, I could not check their nature.
Still, I was not worried.
There were people who would speak on my behalf.
I opened my ears and listened to the people’s conversations.
First, I heard Sergeant Woo and Sergeant Kim talking.
“As expected, even this gun has difficulty wounding that monster.”
When Sergeant Woo clicked his tongue while looking at the energy gun, Sergeant Kim stuck out his lips.
“Still, it can deliver impact from a long distance without bullets. Isn’t that good enough?”
At Sergeant Kim’s retort, Sergeant Woo smacked his lips.
“Well, that’s true. The person who actually kills them is someone else anyway.”
At his words, Sergeant Kim looked in my direction and let out a sigh.
“How is something like that even possible?”
Sergeant Woo shrugged, then said to Sergeant Kim in passing,
“Who knows? I don’t really know either. Oh, right. After this hunt is over, try talking to the captain. They say he has more guns, so you might be able to receive one.”
At Sergeant Woo’s words, Sergeant Kim’s eyes widened.
“Really? I do really want one, but… isn’t there some kind of standard for who can receive one?”
At Sergeant Kim’s question, Sergeant Woo tilted his head.
“Well, I think you just have to listen to the captain. If you ask, he’ll check things himself and decide, so just ask him.”
Sergeant Kim nodded.
“Well, they do say he’s really good at reading people… Captain Hyun was the one who selected the expedition members, and they said Captain Hyun caught all the spies too, right? That’s a little scary.”
“If you’re scared, just avoid him. Or go talk to him.”
When Sergeant Woo clicked his tongue and waved his hand, Sergeant Kim shook his head.
“Eh, we’re busy trying to survive right now. This isn’t the time to be worrying about things like that. Understood.”
It was the same for the other unit members; people were speaking to them as well.
Those who had heard that there were more weapons looked at me with eyes full of expectation.
Seeing them, I felt that after the hunt ended, many interviews would be waiting for me.
As people watched, Catherine approached.
As usual, Catherine asked directly.
“It looks like you’re trying to raise people other than your unit members… Does that mean you’ve changed your mind?”
It was not as if I had intended to keep it a secret anyway.
I nodded.
“Yes. I plan to raise people’s abilities a little more. I need to make it so they can obtain black stones even if I’m gone.”
At my words, Catherine nodded.
“Well, it will take time to go to Paradise. We have to obtain black stones during that time too, so this is the right thing to do.”
That was not all.
While the others cleared the eastern side of the mountain range, I planned to go west again.
Now, staying on the eastern side of the mountain range no longer helped me.
I had to grow stronger beyond just obtaining black stones.
For that, I needed to restore Soph’s memories, and I had to find relics and ruins too.
Finally, I had to check on the sealed Demon King as well.
To save people, we needed a truly enormous number of black stones.
In the worst case, we might need the Demon King’s black stone to save them.
City Hunt (3)