Chapter 182: Weak Points That Aren't Really Weak Points (2)

What would someone do if a mosquito buzzed around their ear while they were sleeping? Most people would look for and kill the mosquito on the spot.

The same went for the Aberrant Humanoid Mechanical Monster. Unlike Jeong Man-Kook and Ji Seok-Hyun, Kim Ki-Rok hadn't inflicted any significant damage on it. So, the monster chose to ignore him, realizing that no matter how much this human attacked from behind, he couldn't deal any real damage. However, because of the interference from the human it had been ignoring, the monster missed several opportunities to kill the more dangerous opponents.

"Oh shiiit..."

Kim Ki-Rok cursed under his breath and threw himself to the ground. A loud boom followed as he rolled away from the Aberrant monster. He quickly got back up and swung his weapon.

"What? Aggro in this situation? If you're a machine, fight using your data, damn it!"

If it could understand him, the monster might have protested. It

was

using data, but it wasn't just reacting to whoever dealt the most damage or drew the most attention. From the way the fight had played out so far, the monster realized that unless it eliminated Kim Ki-Rok first, finishing off Ji Seok-Hyun and Jeong Man-Kook would be improbable.

Kim Ki-Rok sighed deeply as the machine fixed its gaze on him, restraining his comrades with two of its three remaining arms.

As he bent his knees, he laughed as if he found the situation amusing. "It would've been better if you'd just kept ignoring me."

Kim Ki-Rok dodged an arm just before it slammed into the ground. As the monster raised its head, he was already standing on the massive hunk of metal that just missed him, nodding.

"All right," he said, knowing it wouldn't understand. "I'll show you a real mosquito."

He sprinted along the arm and reached the shoulder in an instant, reinforcing his body with both mana and magic. A whirring sound rose from beneath him as he stomped on the monster and leaped into the air. With a whoosh, he narrowly avoided the metal spikes that shot up beneath his feet. Now suspended in midair, he faced a new problem: the monster's fist was already on its way.

"

Heh heh heh.

" With a devious laugh, he injected mana into the ring artifact on his finger. The ring was a combat support artifact that could create a rope of mana, which could be lengthened or shortened depending on the amount of mana injected.

A rope of mana shot out from the ring and latched onto the hole where the metal spikes had appeared. With a low hum, Kim Ki-Rok adjusted the mana and descended, just as the monster's fist tore through the air where he'd stood an instant ago.

Another mechanical whir echoed out, but it didn't seem to come from the torso, lower body, or arms. He glanced upward, expecting something near the head, only to realize the monster wasn't looking at him. It was staring at his ring.

"I guess it kind of hurts," he murmured.

Quickly shortening the rope to avoid the punch, and using mana to boost his body, had put a strain on him. He shook his left hand lightly, waiting for the monster's next move as it fixated on the ring.

The arm shifted with a mechanical sound. Something clicked, like a lock disengaging, and the monster's skin slid aside, revealing dozens of holes at Kim Ki-Rok's feet and along its shoulder. Its attacks were simple. It fired metal spikes, then followed up with a swing of its fist. It never opened its mouth wide, since it couldn't control the firing speed.

"Oh?"

The mechanical monster had no survival instincts. It simply followed the commands of the more intelligent First Mechanical Monster.

"Collecting data, huh?" Kim Ki-Rok mumbled, moving again to avoid its next attack.

***

Among the many Animaloid and Humanoid Mechanical Monsters, and a few Aberrant and Giant types, which side would be exterminated first? Normally, the smaller number of Aberrants would have been wiped out quickly. However, the enemies the Hunters faced were no ordinary machines. Their tough metal bodies were highly resistant to mana, and the Aberrant Humanoid variant was built with even more of that metal than the others.

Only a few Hunters had been assigned to stop the Aberrant types, while most were focused on the larger wave of Animaloids and Humanoids.

"The Animaloids and Humanoids should be wiped out first...

then

we'll deal with the Aberrant ones," Kim Ki-Rok decided.

The battle dragged on. Thirty minutes passed, followed by an hour. Eventually, after nearly two hours, the number of Animaloid and Humanoid Mechanical Monsters had been cut in half. Some still emerged from the city gates, but their reinforcements were slowing. After another hour, there were so few left they could be counted at a glance.

"That's why I thought we might be able to take care of some of these Aberrant ones too..."

Kim Ki-Rok glanced around the battlefield while harassing the Aberrant monster, darting around it like the very mosquito he had promised to be.

The Aberrant and Giant Mechanical Monsters were slowly retreating from the battlefield, and the Animaloids and Humanoids were doing the same. Unlike earlier, when they charged toward the siege weapons, they now retreated and focused on the Hunters facing them.

"Shit. Even their retreats are textbook perfect. Damn it." Kim Ki-Rok infused mana into his bracelet artifact, used his Blink magic to dodge an attack, and swore as he did so. "The situation is..."

The mechanical monsters' offensive was relentless, and the Hunters, fighting without rest, were reaching their physical and mental limits.

"Pretty bad," he finished.

The situation looked bleak, and the chance to take down three mid-level bosses was slipping away. After a brief pause, he poured mana into his ring, forming a long mana rope to dodge another attack. He swung and landed on the monster's shoulder.

I'm running out of mana, too...

he thought grimly.

Kim Ki-Rok, Jeong Man-Kook, and Ji Seok-Hyun had managed to completely destroy another arm and immobilize one of its legs.

After tossing a rope onto the monster's body, Kim Ki-Rok soared through the air and checked on the Chimera-like and Giant Mechanical Monsters. The Giant had lost an arm, but its legs were still intact. The Chimera-type machine was missing a leg, but with four to start with, it used its tail for balance instead.

"We'll give up on those tw—" He suddenly sensed a looming darkness overhead and looked up. "Ah..."

The monster they had just taken down—the one that hadn't fired any shells due to its poor firing control—now had its mouth wide open, aimed straight at him.

"Oh no, that isn't good."

He was moving in a wide arc from the front of the monster to its rear using his rope. The monster had previously held back from firing, worried about damaging itself. But now, with Kim Ki-Rok far enough away, it opened its mouth to fire.

Blink? Shield?

His Blink was still on cooldown, so he quickly poured mana into the Mana Rope. Nevertheless, the machine moved first. As its arm shifted from its back to its shoulder, Kim Ki-Rok stopped channeling.

The monster had watched him dodge with the mana rope dozens of times. After gathering enough battle data, it had figured out how it worked. He couldn't use Blink, and he couldn't use the rope.

"Shie..."

Just as he was about to create a foothold using another ring artifact, Kim Ki-Rok stopped and glanced downward. The monster's remaining arm, still attached to its shoulder, was rising toward him from below. It had shifted its focus and was now intent on eliminating him, though it couldn't fully ignore Ji Seok-Hyun and Jeong Man-Kook.

Even as it targeted Kim Ki-Rok, it used two of its three arms to keep the other two in check. He spotted the rising arm and saw Ji Seok-Hyun and Jeong Man-Kook charging in at high speed. He quickly assessed the situation. One arm, mounted on the monster's back, was moving toward where he was about to land. The shoulder arm was coming up from below.

And what about the remaining arm?

"Damn it," he cursed, spotting the other back arm moving above his head, ready to block any attempt to escape upward.

If he used the mana rope to dodge, the left back arm would crush him. If he created a shield platform to leap higher, the right arm above would slam him down. And if he canceled the rope and wrapped himself in shield magic to descend, the shoulder arm would launch him upward instead.

What if I cut off the mana rope and try to distance myself from the monster?

Its mouth was open, ready to fire. If he moved farther away, it would launch a shell at him. This time, he couldn't count on backup. His allies hadn't expected the monster to ignore them completely, and they'd relied on the skills Kim Ki-Rok had shown so far. That left them unprepared. In other words, the monster's attack would land before anyone could reach him.

"I'm completely surrounded," he muttered, calmly watching the monster's head and arms as it predicted his movement and made a decision.

He wouldn't be able to dodge perfectly. He'd have to take the attack that would cause him the least harm.

Kim Ki-Rok withdrew all the mana from his rope artifact, instantly destroying the mana rope. As he flew from the front to the back of the monster, severing the rope in the process, he put some distance between them.

"Coming right up," he muttered, pulling a shield from his subspace pocket as he faced the retreating monster.

Unlike the others, this Mechanical Monster didn't spray iron pellets. It fired one massive iron ball, prompting Kim Ki-Rok to crouch behind his shield.

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Bang!