Chapter 283: Episode 283

Hong Yeon gasped for air, using the sword she had stabbed into the ground as a cane to pull herself up. As she looked up at the sky, her labored breaths flowed out like smoke. Just then, the sword slipped, and her body swayed like a puppet with its strings cut.

“Are you alright?” Oh Hoseung rushed over and caught her.

“Yes, thank you.” She pushed against his chest without showing any weakness and righted herself.

He turned his head. “Frost is at his limit, too.”

Frost, still in the metal box, had his tongue hanging out and his head lolled to the side, motionless. The other hunters around them were also exhausted, but the monster onslaught was relentless.

“This is Phantom! Four hundred more monsters are approaching from the front!”

“I’ll go,” Yeon replied into her earpiece, rising and drawing her sword.

A panicked Oh Hoseung spoke in a desperate voice. “You’re really at your limit! You need to rest!”

“I’m fine.” She forced a smile, turned her back, and started walking. Oh Hoseung’s outstretched arm grasped at empty air. He had failed to stop her.

* * *

“They’re coming again!” shouted the hunters who were scouting the battlefield with binoculars.

Scorpion-type monsters, the rank-5 Tamulus, emerged from the ground. They moved through the sand as if swimming in the sea, changing direction freely as they approached, leaving long trenches in their wake.

“Aim for the joints between the armor plates!”

“Now, fire!”

The hunters’ mana rifles spat fire. Countless bullets tore through the air, but very few of the monsters fell. The scorpions churned through the sand and closed the distance.

“I-It’s not working!”

“This is the end.”

Heo Il, the guild master of Phantom, slung his hammer over his shoulder and walked toward the countless approaching sand pits. “It was an honor to fight alongside you all.”

“…L-Leader?”

Just as Heo Il was about to let out a war cry and charge the monsters alone, the world was sliced by a red line. The Tamulus, whose carapaces had been impervious to any ranged attack, were split in two as if it were a lie. Hundreds were annihilated in a single blow.

“Thinking of dying already, rank-2 Heo Il?”

Heo Il’s mouth fell open as he turned his head. Hong Yeon, her red hair flying, had appeared out of nowhere. She lowered her sword and smiled.

Heo Il gave a twisted grin. “…You won’t even grant me a glorious end, I see.”

“You are a vital part of our forces. I ask that you survive and join us for the boss fight.”

Static. “This is An Sehyeon of Ayla! We need assistance!”

Hong Yeon raised a hand to her earpiece and replied, “I’m on my way.” As she moved toward the next battle, blood dripped from her with every step.

Watching her with a pained expression, Heo Il spoke up. “Are you still bothered by what Blackjack said?”

Hong Yeon’s steps faltered.

“Don’t take it to heart. You may have earned the ire of a few, but the path you’re on is undoubtedly the right one.” Heo Il’s gaze became serious. “If we retreat, Korea will fall. Some sacrifices must be made, but this is still the best way.”

She simply nodded once and continued on her way.

Heo Il lamented, “…Why does she insist on shouldering everything herself?”

Hong Yeon moved frantically through the allied formations. A situation that would have cost dozens of lives to contain, she could end with a single swing of her sword. Her mere presence boosted the troops’ morale. So she relentlessly pushed her body, clenching her teeth and fighting on even when she knew her stamina was depleted.

“We never should have come to this crazy place!”

“Do something!”

“And you call yourself a commander?”

She willingly endured their pointed fingers and forced a smile. “We can do this.”

She swung her sword. Again and again. The world split, and monsters split with it. Blood splattered, and she moved to the next location.

“Advance,” she said. “I will protect you. I will take responsibility and lead this war to victory.”

Having lost her purpose after a certain incident five years ago, she had begun to obsess over the idea of “protecting.” Protecting the people, her comrades, her country, as the nation’s top hunter. This conviction was just. But it was fraught with contradiction. To protect the many, a few must inevitably be sacrificed. That was the way of the world. But Hong Yeon refused to give up on a single life. She was ruthless in excluding those who strayed, but she tried to gather up and save everyone who came into her sight. To protect the majority, and also the minority who would be sacrificed.

And she truly had the power to do so.

But her contradiction angered many. If the sacrifice of a few could protect the property of the many, people were willing to make that trade. Her thinking was different. The more contradictory her goal, the harder she fought, pushing her body until it shattered. If this “goal” were to break as well, she felt her own spirit would shatter with it.

“Haaaaaaaaat!”

A crimson sword strike cut across the world. Monsters collapsed, spraying blood.

“We advance,” she panted, moving forward.

If she were alone, she might have been able to escape this place. More than just escape, she might have been able to search for the boss on her own and, with a bit of luck, find and kill it. But she didn’t. If she couldn’t protect the people who had trusted and followed her, her goal would be meaningless. There would be no reason left to live.

“Forward.”

And so, she was fully prepared to die with these people.

“Forward!”

“Forward!”

And as always, there were those who were inspired by her. She was the one who had led them into this place of death, but they all knew. They knew her conviction, her will. Their eyes bloodshot, the hunters followed behind her, unleashing their firepower.

“Protect the Association President!”

“Get a grip! Move!”

Once more, the hunters of Korea gritted their teeth and pushed forward, following only the hunter with the flying red hair.

“Advance!”

A barrage of firepower from their devices destroyed the miscellaneous monsters. Hong Yeon herself leaped in to deal with the high-rank monsters that broke through the smoke. With a light horizontal slash of one hand, the upper body of a monster over a hundred meters tall was sliced apart like soft tofu. She dropped to the ground and delivered a diagonal slash. The monsters within its range split apart, gushing blood.

“Hmph!”

Holding her sword horizontally, she stomped her foot and thrust it into the empty air. Afterimages of her thrusts swirled around her, and the heads of high-rank monsters burst one after another.

She was out of breath. Her muscles screamed. But she couldn’t stop. If she stopped, everyone behind her would be annihilated. She let out a desperate roar and charged. The hunters who tried to provide cover were blocked by other high-rank monsters. Alone in the middle of the enemy formation, her body transformed into a crimson vortex.

CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

Monsters were torn to shreds, their flesh scattering in the wind. Emerging from the vortex, she continued to run, swinging her sword in a trance. It was the very image of a war god. But she was lonely. Even while fighting alongside everyone, a terrible loneliness pressed down on her.

CLANG!

She blocked a club that swung at her unexpectedly, kicking up sand. The impact, strong enough to shatter bone, shot up her arm. But she couldn’t stop. Dropping low, she twisted her waist and swung her sword, and the monster collapsed, spraying blood in two streams.

CRACK!

But she couldn’t avoid a surprise attack from the side. The sword flew from her grasp, and she fell to the ground.

SHRRRRK!

This time, something like black hair shot out from the sandy ground and wrapped around her body.

“…Ack!”

She struggled, but it didn’t budge. A creature like a ball of fur emerged from the sand, opened its gaping maw, and swallowed her whole.

GULP!

As the monster chewed, a red light seeped from between its teeth.

The monster’s body exploded from within. Hong Yeon emerged and spread her palm. As monsters charged with mouths wide open, she swung her arm. A long claw mark was gouged into the world, and the monsters’ bodies were split into five pieces.

“Ugh…!”

Landing on the ground, she charged again. One more time…!

THWACK!

Pain shot through her entire body, though she didn’t know where she’d been hit, and she crumpled. The protective field of her suit was completely shattered.

Grrrrr!

The massive monster with a goat’s horn on its forehead, an ’Overseer,’ was a rank-8 demon-type monster. Before she could get up, its leg slammed into her abdomen. She gagged and rolled across the ground.

“Hah… hah…”

As she tried to rise on trembling legs, the approaching Overseer swung its arm.

The monster’s rock-sized fist was easily blocked by her small hand.

Her other fist flew like lightning and shattered the monster’s head like a watermelon. After the uppercut, her body tilted, and she sank to one knee. Overseers, large monsters, and countless other creatures, big and small, swarmed around her.

A mana blade materialized from the Overseer’s hand and swung toward her neck. Her brain screamed at her to block, but her body wouldn’t obey. There was no strength left in her arm.

She resigned herself. She had failed to protect them this time, too. In the end, she was a loser, and she would die a loser. It was a fitting end, she thought.

In her final moment, she opened her eyes wide. The tip of the approaching sword filled her vision.

And then.

She witnessed it. A thrilling flash of blue light spreading out. Her pupils dilated. The approaching Overseer’s arm, and indeed its entire upper body, was blown away in a circle. The heads of the large monsters surrounding her exploded as if it were a lie. The monsters, writhing in agony, collapsed one by one. Hundreds of them had simply vanished.

“Giving up already?”

At the sound of a voice, she turned her head with a creak. A man in a monochromatic suit stood there. That hair, those eyes, that crooked smile—everything felt like a dream. Strangely, tears began to fall.

“It’s been five years,” the man smiled. The magic circles unfolding behind him were so bright they illuminated the world.

* * *

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