How To Survive as a Class a Hunter

31. The Stragglers – [5]

I almost smiled but then flinched. Damn it.

Logically speaking, isn’t this a disgusting situation? Rejoicing while receiving a bow from a pitiful man who holds no grudge against me? I’m not some cyber-Magneto, what is this?

When I came to my senses, I realized I was thinking like a complete sadist lunatic. Is it because I’ve been repeatedly thinking about non-awakened scum or something lately?

With a serious expression, I looked at Seong Mun-yeong and the Sowol-in pinned beneath him. I spoke to Seong Mun-yeong, who was pulling the rope to finish the binding.

“It must hurt. I don’t think he’ll suddenly draw a knife and swing it, so take it easy.”

“Got it.”

Maybe because we were on a mission, even that rude guy was obedient today.

And I shook off the stupid thought that non-awakened people should be treated like that. If I don’t want to hate myself like I did just now, I should consciously refrain from such thoughts in the future.

Meanwhile, our current situation was relaxed enough for such self-reflection. No other Sowol-in was detected in my mental net, and Deathclaw was already dead.

Just when I was expecting the situation to be over.

The walkie-talkie on my chest rang loudly.

“Awakened New Haven, requesting support! Awakened New Haven, requesting support!”

The facility for the awakened was requesting support. It seemed an enemy had appeared that even the soldiers at the post behind the sturdy wall couldn’t handle.

Time was of the essence. As I was preparing to teleport, the identity of the enemy was revealed through the walkie-talkie.

“Awakened, Awakened Sowol-in! With a reverse field exoskeleton and reverse field blades―”

Then I teleported twice in a row, as far as I could, to the designated location.

I felt dizzy from the two urgent teleports outside my line of sight. So instead of teleporting further, I ran towards the destination.

I saw the front gate of the facility. The iron gate, notorious for being sturdy enough to prevent unauthorized exits by ice ability users, seemed to have failed to stop the attacker even for a moment.

I stepped on the fallen iron gate and entered the facility. And I momentarily closed and opened my eyes at the scene that came into view.

A thick smell of blood. The stench from a soldier whose waist was severed and another soldier who was split in two from head to crotch. A grotesque end too vile for a human to face, like something out of a B-grade gore movie.

Other soldiers were also all decapitated or had parts of their bodies severed, and there seemed to be at least twenty of them at a glance. The soldier who sent me the radio message was also lying with his intestines spilled out, having been wiped out along with everyone else in less than five minutes.

Seeing the limbs scattered on the ground, my body momentarily froze.

Perhaps an Awakened.

He was tall, about 190 centimeters, but overall, he was thin. And the sword he was gripping.

What kind of sword is that?

At a glance, the blade seemed to be about 3 meters long. But it didn’t look heavy. It was long, but thin and slender.

However, even if I struck it with my hammer, that long sword wouldn’t break. The force field blade would be tightly wrapped around the blade.

That Awakened from Sowol had already swung that proud sword and killed one person in this facility.

A quick glance revealed the head of a middle-aged woman separated from her body, lying on the ground.

And beyond that, the ice ability users gathered in front of the Sowol Awakened… They were trembling, seemingly afraid they would end up like that woman.

I looked at the beheaded woman once more. She seemed to be around the same age as Park Mi-hyung. She probably lived in this facility because she had less money than her, but anyway.

I made eye contact with her. The moment I saw those lifeless eyes, the tension and fear disappeared.

“Hey.”

When I growled, the Sowol Awakened turned around.

The face I had seen in the illusion was facing me. His mouth opened, and he spewed words I couldn’t understand.

“What are you saying, you b*stard.”

I pulled the trigger of the hunter rifle aimed at the guy who kept talking. ‘Bang!’

The selector was on single shot. I wanted to fire in bursts, but considering the ice ability users behind him, I only fired one shot.

The cannon shell hit the guy’s force field exoskeleton without fail.

That was the signal for battle.

There was no particular advantage of surprise. Even after being hit by the cannon shell, the Sowol Awakened kicked the ground as if nothing had happened.

Force field exoskeleton. As I had experienced before, that b*stard’s ability made the Awakened like a boss in a game. Being hit by a single cannon shell didn’t even elicit a reaction like being hit by a jab.

And just as a Deathclaw could reach the height of a helicopter with a single leap, his jumping ability was mind-boggling.

He only kicked the ground once, but the next moment, he was swinging his sword in front of me. It felt almost like teleportation rather than a leap.

In the illusion, I would have lost both legs, unable to respond to this ridiculous speed.

And I was far superior to the me in the illusion. Whether it was reflexes or teleportation speed.

Unlike that guy, I truly teleported.

I saw the back of the Sowol Awakened. When his sword cut through the space where I had been and the walls on either side, I switched the selector to burst fire.

And when I pulled the trigger, golden lines poured out of the muzzle. The cannon shells poured out and repeatedly struck the guy’s force field exoskeleton.

He didn’t keep taking the hits.

After being hit a few times, the Sowol Awakened spun his body and kicked the ground simultaneously.

And just like before, he was in front of me without giving me a moment to blink, and the blade of his force field was flashing in front of me.

I could roughly capture all the movements, but this time, I didn’t teleport.

The ice ability users were still standing behind me. At this rate, we’ll all be cut down together.

I stood my ground and continued to pour out machine gun fire.

And just as the blade of the force field was halfway into my neck, my kick struck its abdomen. A front kick so clean it could be in a textbook.

It was a front kick imbued with the strength of a body enhancer. If it were an ordinary person, their stomach would have been pierced through, but the body of the So-Wol person, protected by the force field, flew to the other side.

I aimed the muzzle of the hunter rifle at the body flying through the air. The continuous machine gun fire pounded the body flying backward.

Before long, the body exploded in mid-air.

My eyes captured the scattering blood and flesh.

Ah…

It was the first time I had killed a person, but I didn’t feel much. They say that killing an enemy with justification on the battlefield often lessens the psychological shock, and it seems that’s roughly the case now.

Anyway, I won. The opponent seemed to be a powerful awakener, and a great joy enveloped my head. In the stands of my mind, my name was being chanted…

I shook my head to shake off the joy in my mind.

In doing so, my head wobbled. Blood was gushing from my neck, and in the window’s reflection, I saw my neck was half cut.

The sudden bleeding made me dizzy, but it didn’t matter. I would heal soon.

I grabbed my neck with my hand to forcibly stop the bleeding and asked the ice ability users.

“Is everyone okay?”

Was it shocking to hear that from someone with a half-cut neck? The ice ability users gathered here didn’t answer and trembled while groaning.

I continued to press for an answer while covering my neck with my palm.

“Is everyone here all right? No one kidnapped except the dead?”

When I asked specifically, a woman answered.

“Three, three were taken!”

“Where to?”

I extended my mental net to the place the woman pointed.

As soon as a group was detected in the net, I teleported there. Then I saw the ones I had identified with the net earlier.

One large figure presumed to be a So-Wol person and two minions. And the three ice ability users being dragged by them.

“You b*stards, stop.”

Then the three So-Wol people turned to look at me. The two who seemed to be minions flinched, and the large one looked a bit surprised, but that was all.

Soon, the large one’s scrutinizing gaze turned to me.

Seeing no sign of shrinking, it seemed that large one was also an awakener.

However, unlike the skinny one from earlier, this one was muscular. Unlike me, who had increased muscle mass beyond a bodybuilder, this one had the agile muscles typical of an athlete, but still, they were not muscles you could easily see. They were clearly the muscles of a body enhancer.

In the midst of it all, he was holding a three-meter-long sword. The sword had the characteristic shimmer of a force field blade.

A body enhancer and force field blade wielder.

It’s the most common ability combination among the awakened lords of the Sword World. I remember reading about it in the Awakened Hunter’s manual…

“Help me!” “Save me!”

As the women with ice abilities, captured by the Sword World people, wailed, the awakened giant also opened his mouth.

“Ak o Seath?”

He seemed to be saying something, but I couldn’t understand it. I looked beyond him.

Beyond him, I saw a gate shimmering in purple. I had to end all this here… But damn it, upon checking, it seemed I had emptied my magazine earlier. There wasn’t a single bullet left in the magazine.

While I replaced the magazine and returned, those guys might enter that gate.

But rushing to grab a hammer and swing it wouldn’t withstand that ridiculous force field blade…

While I was concerned about his sword, the giant seemed to be concerned about the weapon in my hand.

Judging by the giant’s glances, he had been eyeing my hunter rifle since earlier.

Well, it’s been quite some time since those guys came into contact with our world. They know well enough which weapons are threatening. They also know that this hunter rifle can tear through a body enhancer’s body in an instant.

I decided to pretend to make a generous offer to him.

With a loud thud, I dropped the hunter rifle to the ground.

As the giant’s eyes widened, I raised both hands to eye level.

Taking a basic fighting stance, I extended only my right hand forward and beckoned with my fingers. Then I provoked him.

“Come at me.”

The giant would have understood my words. Even if he didn’t understand the words, he could guess from my gestures.

Also, it didn’t seem like he would refuse my ‘generous’ offer and swing his sword. Look at me, even I, who hadn’t been treated as a proper awakened for less than a year, was arrogant enough to call non-awakened people trash.

Then how arrogant would that guy, who had been ruling as an awakened lord, be?

Of course, I was thinking of teleporting away if a dangerous situation arose, but there was no need for that.

With a clank, the sound of metal hitting stone was heard.

Just as I had put down my hunter rifle, the giant also put down his sword.

Then he took a stance that looked similar to mine, probably a fighting stance from his world.

It wasn’t surprising that he knew how to fight. According to the hunter manual, just as medieval knights trained in wrestling and swordsmanship, those who wanted to awaken in the Sword World also trained in martial arts and swordsmanship. These two activities are the triggers for body enhancement and force field blade awakening.

The giant started to step forward. As I took similar actions and we explored each other, he moved first.

With a booming sound, his fist tore through the air towards me.

Meanwhile, I was already prepared to sway my upper body left and right when his shoulder twitched. My upper body moved to the left, dodging his fist. My fist, brushing past his extended arm, struck his face.

And the fight began. It was the first fight I had in four years since I left the octagon.

*