How To Survive as a Class a Hunter

10. Rock Spirit – [3]

Seong Moon-young, who was hiding and watching, shouted.

“You’re fighting so damn well! Just kill it already!”

Of course, that’s what I’m trying to do.

‘Bang!’ After swinging the hammer with all my might, my body shook. The spirit’s shoulder, which I was riding on, shook violently.

Then the spirit’s shoulder exploded. Shrapnel rained down on me. Concrete fragments and gravel scattered like grenade shrapnel, and even at a glance, the speed was tremendous.

In the hallucination, the spirit would have killed Seong Moon-young by piercing his entire body with this.

It was too fast to avoid, so I barely covered my face with my arms. The next moment, shrapnel embedded itself all over my body, but I didn’t die. The shrapnel couldn’t penetrate deeply into the muscles of a body-strengthened person.

In that case, it doesn’t matter.

Pain spread from the flesh where the stone fragments were embedded, but adrenaline soon blew all the pain away.

The thick blood flowing down my flesh was quickly forgotten.

No matter what it did, I kept swinging the sledgehammer.

Its head had long since disappeared. With each swing of the hammer, I shattered and pulverized its upper body.

While swinging the hammer once more, the spirit struggled. A huge hand big enough to fill my vision tried to grab me.

Of course, that fierce hand gesture only brushed past the place where I had been.

“Oh!”

After teleporting behind the spirit, I struck its exposed knee again. The knee I had broken earlier had been quite restored in a short time, but it couldn’t withstand two hammer blows.

‘Bang!’ Now it was completely shattered. I kicked its side, causing it to lose balance and fall.

Then I struck its exposed back hard. ‘Bang!’

Now it had no legs or head. There was a large crack on its back.

Of course, that alone wouldn’t kill the monster. I could see the surrounding stone fragments attaching to its destroyed parts like magnets.

They taught at the academy that spirits could easily repair physical damage using surrounding materials.

I also learned how to prevent the restoration. Destroying faster than it can be restored.

“Wow!”

From earlier, I keep hearing exclamations from all directions, whether in admiration or relief. There are no screams. It seems everyone can see which side is overwhelming.

Once again, I lifted the hammer and struck with all my might.

“Stop it!”

The spirit rolled on the ground as it fell. Its agile movements were surprising, given its size and weight.

But it was useless. I teleported to where it fled and completed the hammer strike. ‘Bang!’

There is no wasted effort. Never.

“Get away! Get away, you uneducated human!”

The spirit’s stone body could no longer withstand the cracks. As it twisted its body in desperation, half of its body crumbled.

At this point, it seems difficult for it to maintain balance even while lying down. The spirit only turned its head towards me and thrust its fist violently.

Indeed, its strength is still murderous. The sound of the air splitting was accompanied by a booming noise.

Of course, that punch did not crush my head. Once again, I struck with the hammer and teleported, completing the hammer strike in a place where its arm couldn’t reach. ‘Bang!’

The sequence of actions—moving first, then teleporting, and completing the action—felt so natural and easy. Why?

I originally wasn’t this good at handling teleportation. I had practiced steadily, but it was only at the level of an American who had learned how to use chopsticks after a few days of practice.

This skill was brought from a dream just a few minutes ago. From the me in the dream.

Is the me in the dream the same as the me in the hallucination? No. That guy didn’t have this level of skill.

Probably from the future me…

Thanks to that, I am now superior in every way compared to the me in the hallucination. Even in terms of muscle mass. The me in the hallucination also trained steadily, but didn’t gain such explosive muscles.

With muscles swollen to the point of threatening joint mobility, I struck with the hammer once more. ‘Bang!’ Stone fragments exploded, and the spirit’s last remaining arm fell off its body.

At this point, it seems everyone realized it was over. Even the examiners, along with the scattered spectators, approached to watch.

“What have you been doing since earlier? Filming? Are you crazy? What are you doing in this situation?”

“This will all be helpful later…”

Two spectators seemed to be arguing about something, but I didn’t pay attention. Whatever they did wouldn’t help anyway.

I focused on hammering. I struck the monstrous creature again and again.

With each hammer strike, the spirit’s body disintegrated, reducing its size. Now, it was left with only its upper body, without any limbs.

“Please…”

A face appeared at the top of the upper body. It wasn’t the chimpanzee-like face from earlier.

Lee Jong-ho, who was watching closely, stepped back in horror.

“Damn… What’s with this woman’s face?”

The wrinkled and seemingly plump face of a middle-aged woman suddenly appeared on the spirit’s body. The middle-aged woman spoke.

“Please don’t hurt me.”

She seemed to be begging for her life, but her appearance evoked more horror than sympathy. Her speech was awkward, far from the natural tone of a real Korean ajumma.

“I confess. I loved you.”

“What is she saying?”

“I want to go to a love hotel with you.”

As the gathered examinees frowned, Mr. Lim Hyung-taek spoke.

“This is it. They say that when a spirit eats a person, it assimilates the person’s memories until it fully digests them. It must have eaten an ajumma and is now speaking Korean by roughly pulling out those memories.”

Other examinees began to express their disgust one by one.

“Is this the face of the eaten ajumma? So, is this monster trying to seduce Kim Geuk with the ajumma’s face?”

“Is it crazy?”

“They say spirits like this have low intelligence. It must have just identified the ajumma as a female and is trying to seduce a male.”

“This is disgusting. It looks so gross…”

Poor ajumma. Judging by the fact that she was eaten here, she must have lived a hard life as a homeless person, only to become a mockery even in death.

“Let’s have a free hug.”

With one hammer strike, I shut that mouth. As I struck the face, the creature’s body split open, revealing its insides.

The translucent thing hidden inside was finally revealed. What is this?

I’ve seen something similar in hallucinations. Something akin to the spirit’s true form.

“Die, you b*stard.”

As I crushed it with the hammer, I felt something seep into me.

And then, hallucinations…

“Kim Geuk! Kim Geuk―!”

Cheers echoed in my head. The cheers of the crowd blessing the victorious warrior.

I naturally knew where I was. The UFC octagon.

That day, I stood tall as the victor in the octagon. Everyone gathered there cheered for me as I raised one arm.

It was my second win, not exactly a legendary record, but I felt that the world existed only as a backdrop for me that day. In that overwhelming sense of fulfillment, I experienced the illusions of various fighters and awakened as a body enhancer…

I savored the moment of exhilaration before opening my eyes and looking around.

Reality was no different from the hallucination. I was surrounded by a cheering crowd.

“Kim Geuk! Kim Geuk! Kim Geuk!”

I raised my arm, the one holding the hammer, and declared my victory.

Behold, I am standing in the octagon once again.

I have returned to the place where I rightfully belong. The place from which I was once unjustly expelled.

*

Even after the situation was over, it was hard to rest comfortably.

After transporting the fallen person to the hospital, I returned to the scene and began working.

While the association’s inspector was busy notifying the association of the situation’s conclusion, I wielded the sledgehammer and smashed the concrete debris blocking the emergency exit.

The hammer felt lighter than before, and the hammering was incredibly easy. Was it just my imagination, or had my abilities as a body enhancer truly improved? I hoped it was the latter.

Meanwhile, what were the other candidates doing while I worked?

“Just watching from behind makes me feel uneasy…”

The candidates, who had been mere cheering machines even during the fight with the spirit, still had nothing to do. I had told them to stay behind and play with their phones so they wouldn’t get in the way near the excavator.

Well, what could I expect from non-awakened leftovers who were just monster fodder? Of course, excluding the people from Bupyeong Academy. The people of the sacred land of Incheon have an important mission to support me, whether they are awakened or not…

Oh… I was surprised by my own sudden thought. Why did such a thought suddenly occur to me? Was the adrenaline still not fully drained from my body?

“Finally!”

Before long, I broke through the emergency exit. Amidst the cheers of “Kim Geuk! Kim Geuk!” once again, I led the way down the stairs.

There were people waiting below the building.

“Oh, what the…”

They were all holding guns, and they seemed to be a hunter team. The hunters looked at us and asked with a resentful expression.

“Is the situation really over? We rushed over as soon as we saw the hunter call, but suddenly got a situation end notification. What the hell, damn it. I’m pissed about the wasted gas money.”

What did that b*stard just say? He’s pissed because the situation is over? I clenched my fist. Those b*stards were ruining my victorious mood.

Sensing my discomfort, Mr. Lim Hyung-taek whispered beside me.

“Hold it in, hold it in. They’re not worth dealing with…”

While the association’s inspector approached to calm those b*stards, Sung Moon-young muttered angrily.

“Are those b*stards crazy? We barely survived, and they’re b*tching about why the situation ended?”

In this situation, Mr. Lim Hyung-taek seemed to feel the need to cheer me up. As always, he didn’t miss the chance to flatter me.

“Anyway, thanks to you, Mr. Kim Geuk, we survived. I didn’t know a UFC fighter could smash things barehanded without using a hunter rifle!”

Then the other candidates gathered around me and started calling me their lifesaver and whatnot. Accepting all the praise with a calm face, I felt a bit better.

Meanwhile, a thug from the other hunter team approached. He asked in a confrontational manner.

“Is it true that a spirit appeared? Are you sure you didn’t see it wrong and make a false report?”

Then one of us stepped forward, an unexpected person.

“Can you show me what happened?”

It was Jin-young Jung, who always wore military boots. I wondered why this nerdy guy was stepping up, and then he suddenly took out his phone and showed it to the hunter.

“What are you doing now?”

At my question, Jin-jun Kim clicked his tongue.

“That guy filmed the scene with his phone earlier. I think he’s showing it now.”

“He filmed a video in that situation?”

“That’s what I’m saying. I was so annoyed, wondering why he was doing that all of a sudden. I couldn’t just snatch his phone and break it.”

Meanwhile, the thuggish hunters were watching the video Jung was showing. It was clear that they were gradually focusing on the video, even though they seemed to be watching it half-heartedly at first.

“Oh… damn. That’s awesome.”

After watching the video, the hunters looked at me and said one thing.

“Your bounty must be really high…”

Then Jung, who had dealt with the hunters, approached me.

Jung always found it difficult to deal with me. He spoke clearly to the thuggish hunters just now, but now he was stammering in front of me.

“I filmed the video… the video of you fighting earlier.”

“I know. Jin-jun just said you were trying to debut as a YouTuber.”

I indirectly told him to stop doing weird things, but Jung didn’t seem to understand. He continued to babble.

“You canceled the emergency dispatch of the hunters earlier, right? This is a pretty big deal, so I think some reporters might come later. If you show them this video…”

“Do reporters write nice articles using video materials?”

Then the inspector intervened.

“Come to think of it, you haven’t received your Awakener evaluation yet, have you? And you haven’t signed a contract with the local government either.”

“So what?”

“Wow, you should treat the person who filmed the video to a nice meal.”

I couldn’t understand why I had to buy a meal when I was the one who did the favor today.

I found out the reason the next day.

*