EPISODE 130
Many of the industry insiders watching the video were confused by what they were seeing.
“What he’s wearing is…?”
“The new equipment that came out…”
The Honeycomb Techsuit – ★ (+)
It was a device modeled after the Beeswax Gorilla (Beeswax Gorilla – ★★★★), a high-level monster with armor wrapping its body like a honeycomb shell.
However, ultimately the Beeswax Gorilla had been too rare to be mass-produced.
The Honeycomb Techsuit – ★ (+) was an inexpensive version of the armor.
Recently, in order to contribute to the efforts in handling the more frequent occurrences of cracks around the world, the U.S. government had given up their copyrights and released their method of production to the world.
Of course, this was good news for newly-licensed hunters. It meant that, at an affordable price, they could access cost-effective, two-star equipment.
However, the hunters who were watching the broadcast felt skeptical.
“What is this? Is he showing off?”
“No, he must have something else inside, like an inner suit…”
“There’s no way he could operate in armor like that!”
“He will need hundreds of thousands of CE to defend himself.”
Even during their heated debates, viewers eagerly checked Yoo-seong’s armor more closely. They were trying to see if he had any more special equipment on him. However, they couldn’t find any.
The only other thing he had on was a utility belt that allowed the hunter to store items conveniently. There wasn’t a single hunter who didn’t know how to use one.
Everyone was puzzled to see that all he had was basic equipment. Anyone who had undergone the process of acquiring a hunter license would know how to use them.
“Oh, maybe he did it to make his own Psy stand out.”
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"}) “Maybe he wanted to show that he doesn’t need such equipment.”
In the midst of speculations springing up everywhere…
Jiiing-!
Finally, the crack began to reveal itself.
“The crack is open!”
“Will he use it now? The Tech that makes him walk on air?!”
However, it was Yoo-seong’s hands, not his legs, that moved first. He moved his hand toward his utility belt. Then, from it, he pulled out a long rope.
Whirring-!
It was an ordinary model with a hook at the opposite end.
Then Yoo-seong jumped with all his strength, using both legs.
However, it wasn’t the Explosive Acceleration he’d learned from the Red Dragon Society.
It wasn’t even the Spider Walk nor the Steel Steps that created mist and steel through Aura.
It was an ordinary jump, something that any hunter could have done.
In an instant, he was catapulted about five meters in the air.
Then Yoo-seong swung the rope in his hand.
It flew through the air and attached itself to the outer wall of a building. Yoo-seong pulled it taut to check that it was stuck firmly in position.
“Hooking?” some of the viewers remarked.
It was so basic that it could be found in both manuals and textbooks.
When a lift used in operation was broken, hunters from the rush team often used hooking to reach the crack. It was a technique used to reach high altitudes as quickly as possible, utilizing the rebound a stretched rope gives.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"}) From the view of the six cameras, Yoo-seong’s hooking was superb. Since it was getting recorded on video, it could be preserved as educational material for beginners.
No matter how perfect the fundamentals he was showing were, though, that wasn’t what the viewers were expecting from someone like Oh Yoo-seong.
The level of movement needed to close a crack alone had to be different, something more extraordinary.
Flick-!
As Yoo-seong bulleted toward the crack, he pulled the rope behind him. Then he used the drones around him to secure the hook when there were no more buildings around.
As he skillfully continued his ascent while hooking from drone to drone, Yoo-seong brought out the Sky Needle.
For everyone watching the livestream, it was the first special thing that they had seen from the footage.
Because the cracks were too high up for eyewitnesses to see closely, and the previous footage of Yoo-seong using the Needle had been from action cams and not high-resolution drones, this was the first time the public could see what Oh Yoo-seong would use to close the crack without a breaker.
Go-oh-oh-oh-!
Moving hastily between the edges of the crack, Yoo-seong quickly moved his arms to sew it closed.
Just when he had sewn half of it, he heard loud cries from below.
“We’re screwed!”
The wave had already begun.
Thump-!
Thump-!
The monsters pouring out were unexpectedly lethal.
Octolisk-★★★★~★★★★★
This was an octopus-shaped monster three to five meters tall, covered with rock-like skin.
However, unlike its counterparts from the sea, it only had two moving tentacles, which acted as the beast’s main weapons.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"}) Rather than tentacles, really, they looked closer to forelimbs with developed muscles and serrations sharp enough to cut through anything. The remaining six tentacles acted more like an insect’s legs, with three tentacles on each side moving without any angle restrictions.
Four Octolisks were the first monsters to fall out of the crack.
Before even reaching the ground, they instinctively stretched out their two flexible tentacles to hold on to the buildings’ outer walls. Then they used their six tentacles to secure their positions as their large eyes rolled back and forth. This was their usual behavior as their brains processed their new surroundings and detected prey.
“He has to subdue those before finishing what he’s doing with the crack!”
“Why is he not catching them?!”
“Why is he still on the crack?”
Ignoring the hunters’ worried cries, Yoo-seong continued closing the crack without batting an eye.
Octolisks were unable to fly; thus, they wouldn’t be able to attack Yoo-seong.
However, that was also why it was dangerous.
If the monsters decided to run towards the blocking line now, the police force surrounding it would be annihilated. A massive disaster was brewing right before everyone’s eyes.
“What are you doing?! Get them right now!”
As Yoo-seong continued to close the crack, more and more Octolisks were falling out. The sight of them sticking to the outer walls of buildings and rolling their eyes was enough to make the hunters shiver.
“Oh, this won’t work! We need to get inside the block line!”
“Single? Damn it!”
Some of the experienced hunters clenched their teeth and prepared to enter the operation area.
As they did, Yoo-seong finished closing the crack completely. By that point, there were already twenty-six Octolisks on the buildings below him.
Now more than ever, he had to deal with them.
However, Yoo-seong did not move. The viewers were on the edge of their seats.
Yoo-seong simply stretched his left arm before him with an indifferent expression. Then, in the very next moment…
Seowook-!
Yoo-seong’s right arm brushed against his outstretched left. Everyone watching him felt stunned.
This was because there was an Aura blade on his right arm that had run across his left.
Who could have imagined it?
Yoo-seong had just aimed at an artery, causing blood to spurt out and spill everywhere.
A normal person would have been rushed to a hospital with that kind of wound.
Furthermore, with that kind of injury, it would be impossible for Yoo-seong to use his left arm in battle now.
Blood began dripping toward the streets below.
Octolisks were rare monsters, so ecological study on them was still incomplete. What was known was that they were one of the most aggressive monsters that appeared on the Korean Peninsula. They detected prey using their superior sense of smell and chased after it using their flexible tentacles that could walk through any obstacles in their way. They were intelligent creatures with the curiosity to analyze the characteristics of other beings.
Even Yoo-seong didn’t know much about them. However, he had obtained some knowledge about these beasts during the six months he spent inside the crack.
Goowook-!
Octolisks got excited at the scent of blood.
The Octolisks, which had been starting to scatter towards the blocking line, froze. They all turned in the same direction, right toward where the smell of blood was coming from.
Even though it was a good distance away from them, it was suddenly all the creatures could think about.
The scent of multiple prey beyond the blocking line against the scent of blood from a single creature.
It was funny how even intelligent creatures could be fooled by their bloodthirst.
Wook-wook-wook-wook-! The entire platoon of Octolisks began rushing in Yoo-seong’s direction.
He did not move.
Go-oh-oh-!
The bleeding on his left arm began to subside as Yoo-seong applied Aura to it.
However, deep wounds did not heal instantly.
Yoo-seong’s left hand, which had lost too much blood, was now starting to weaken. He pulled two items from his utility belt.
One was an ordinary compression bandage, and the other was a Craig Knife-★★. It was a flat blade of about forty centimeters, its middle slightly thicker than the rest of it.
This, too, was similar to the Honeycomb Tech Suit.
It was a basic close-combat hunting knife in alloy material, designed and patented by a famous French hunter. Yoo-seong did not have to use it.
Everyone knew about his Aura Blade.
Ever since his rookie days, he had surprised people with what they now called the best Blade in Korea.
But strangely, the top Blade-user was locking a basic melee weapon onto his wrist.
Click-
Then, with his right hand, he pulled a Gellar Gun from his waist. The model he had was a sawed-off shotgun type. Right when he had finished adjusting the power of his firearm… Bang-!
Three Octolisks landed on the rooftop he was on. Yoo-seong reacted swiftly.
Bang-!
Bang-!
His right hand raised straight up.
He fired the gun and hit the head of an Octolisk that was planning to attack Yoo-seong from the left side.
The monster, which had been dashing towards him, stiffened instantly before crashing down.
Even though it looked like an ordinary firearm, the Gellar Gun had enough firepower to bring down five-star beasts such as Octolisks.
The gun’s power had now been increased to its maximum limit.
The Octolisks kept coming for Yoo-seong. Two of them tried to attack him from both his front and rear sides.
Boo-woong-!
An Octolisk attacked from the front, stretching out its tentacles. Rather than a monster’s wild swing, the blow appeared somewhat similar to a human punch.
Yoo-seong tilted his upper body backward to dodge it. However, the serrations in the monster’s tentacles grazed at his chest.
As he looked up from his position, he saw the Octolisk staring at him eye to eye. It was then…
Bang-!
Bang-!
He fired the shotgun-type Gellar Gun at close range from beneath the monster.
Bang-!
The Octolisk stiffened, but Yoo-seong was not done with it yet. Kicking the floor to propel himself upward and raising his torso, Yoo-seong soared several meters into the air. Then, using the momentum from his fall back to the ground…
Tooung-!
Yoo-seong kicked through the Octolisk’s tough head, crushing its skull. At that point, it was already dead.
Then Yoo-seong turned to the Octolisk behind him.
Bang-!
The Octolisk’s tentacles were neatly blown off. The Octolisk, rendered helpless by the loss of its two front tentacles, wildly thrashed about before turning completely still.
Yoo-seong didn’t have time to watch its agony. He leaped once more to deal with the rest of the monsters.
Guwook-!
Two more Octolisks promptly followed him into the air.
“Hah!”
Pagak-!
Yoo-seong quickly shifted directions in the air. The Octolisks’ trajectories coincided with where Yoo-seong originally was, and…
Pagak-!
A loud noise erupted as the two huge beasts collided against each other with full momentum. One Octolisk lost a front tentacle in the collision. Yoo-seong landed just behind it and lowered his posture right away. A blue flash illuminated the surroundings.
It wasn’t Yoo-seong’s Aura blade. It was the basic Craig knife, coated with Aura.
Yoo-seong filled his legs with strength as his upper body began to twist. He catapulted forward, spinning, with the blue-coated knife stretched out. The centrifugal force his rotation generated increased the penetrating power of the basic knife. Then…
Crack-!
It was enough to cut three tentacles from the already-injured Octolisk.
After breaking through, Yoo-seong landed on the head of another monster. Then he brutally crammed his Gellar Gun’s muzzle against the beast’s forehead.
Bang-!
Bang-!
Baang-!
Three shots were fired in succession. The monsters convulsed and shook as they let out blood-curdling screeches.
However, Yoo-seong did not have time to appreciate his handiwork. Four more Octolisks had arrived on the rooftop.
***
At that point, many of the hunters who were watching had begun to realize what was happening.
Why would Oh Yoo-seong suffer through these movements?
He could capture each of the monsters effortlessly using his thread. He could slice through without having to reinforce his attack with centrifugal force if he used his Aura Blade.
However, most of the hunters now understood what Yoo-seong was trying to tell them with his absurd show.
It wasn’t about the equipment. It wasn’t about what Tech or Psy one possessed.
Hunting was about maximizing the use of the available equipment and efficient Aura control. Everything Yoo-seong had done so far in this battle had involved a series of movements that even a first-year hunter could follow after repeated training.
No one had realized it at first, but Oh Yoo-seong was creating some sort of guide for all the hunters who were watching him.
In the process, he’d had to restrain himself from using his full abilities. He was risking his life to pass on his knowledge.
An exasperated veteran yelled, stating into words what everyone felt at the moment:
“What the hell are you thinking, Oh Yoo-seong?!”
