Chapter 205: Conclusion and Rewards (1)

"Hold your positions!" shouted an A-Class Hunter, using the skill Roar of Rage.

Hearing the command, C-Class Hunter Kang Seung-Hoon lowered his crossbow and panted for breath. Meanwhile, a small group of A-Class and S-Class Hunters charged forward, driving the mechanical monsters back and giving the reserve forces time to rest.

Thirty minutes had passed since the majority of the Gate raid team's S-Class and A-Class Hunters had left the base to take part in the battle for the city.

Inspired by human tactics, the mechanical monsters launched a counterattack of their own. Using the Worm-type Mechanical Monster's burrowing ability, they secretly sent an assault force to a different target. It was not the city where the S-Class and A-Class Hunters were fighting, but the main base of the Gate raid team.

Under normal circumstances, as soon as the main base had been attacked they should have reported the operation a failure and ordered the Hunters fighting in the city to withdraw back to base. However, Lieutenant General Akabe refused to order their return.

—If the S-Class and A-Class Hunters are recalled, then this force of mechanical monsters that they have secretly sent to attack us will be easily dealt with. However, that will only extend the time it will take to clear this Gate.

As a female voice transmitted this recorded message into his earpiece, Kang Seung-Hoon nodded in agreement.

—As such, we will subdue these mechanical monsters without the help of the S-Class and A-Class Hunters currently fighting within the city!

This encouragement was being sent to all of their communication devices every ten minutes.

The A-Class Hunter shouted another command, "All hands at the ready!"

As the few high-rank Hunters left to guard the main base withdrew behind the reserves, Kang Seung-Hoon placed his finger back on the trigger of his crossbow. Through his sights, he saw the carnage they had left in their wake: some mechanical monsters were missing legs, others had crushed heads, and many lay in pieces.

Yet despite the casualties, the mechanical monsters pressed the attack, driving their damaged units to the front. Such a formation was only possible because of their mechanical nature. Once they entered firing range, the A-Class Hunter bellowed another command to the regular soldiers and C-Class Hunters in the reserves.

"Adjust your firing angle!"

The regular soldiers and C-Class Hunters slightly raised their crossbows and waited for the next order.

"Fire!"

The crossbow unit all pulled their triggers and loosed their bolts simultaneously. The artillery unit stationed behind them launched their projectiles, and the anti-air unit followed, firing giant arrows and huge chunks of metal into the sky.

The sky filled with curtains of iron arrows forged from Pastera, and because of their high arc they rained down on the mechanical monsters marching in the center and rear of the formation rather than on the vanguard. Just as the rain of arrows subsided, artillery shells, giant arrows, and chunks of metal bombarded the army.

"First Rank, fall back to the rear! Second Rank, aim! Third Rank, ready your weapons!"

The First Rank of the crossbow unit withdrew as the Second Rank moved up to take their place, holding their triggers and waiting for the signal to fire. Behind them, the Third Rank stepped into position, prepared for their turn, while the First Rank, now at the rear, began reloading.

After he had finished loading his bolt, Kang Seung-Hoon turned his head and looked out at the Last City of the Patera Dimension. From here he could see the collapsed wall, injured Hunters running out of the city, and healed Hunters running back in.

"Second Rank, fire!"

As the command rang out, Kang Seung-Hoon regained his senses and stepped forward to continue the rotation.

***

Even when equipped with stat-boosting artifacts, Kim Ki-Rok was still physically inferior to an S-Class Hunter.

That was only natural, since nothing stopped S-Class Hunters from equipping their own stat-boosting artifacts. However, while he might be inferior to an S-Class in levels, stats, and skills, Kim Ki-Rok had a special talent: mana control. His skill with mana control surpassed that of any top Hunter, allowing him to push his limits farther than most.

Kim Ki-Rok, who on top of equipping stat-boosting artifacts had also consumed a variety of scrolls, potions, and food for temporary buffs, carefully scanned his surroundings.

Wind Shield.

Using a scroll, he placed a Wind Shield in front of him—a magical barrier that reduced the speed of any attack that passed through it. It wouldn't do much, but it would buy him time until he was ready.

He immediately fed mana into an artifact and activated its enchantment with a vocal command, "Shield."

Using the artifact's enchantment, he summoned a mana shield beside him, tilting it horizontally instead of the usual vertical angle. Grabbing its edge with his right hand, he pulled himself up and, with a burst of strength, jumped onto it. From there, he launched himself toward the two cables the First had withdrawn to guard its nearly exposed core.

Sensing his sudden acceleration, the First redirected the cables to strike.

The first cable swung down from above, slicing through the space his head had just vacated before slamming into the shield he had leaped from. The impact shattered the shield and left the cable bent and twisted. The second came from below just as he stretched his foot toward one of the cables hanging still from the wall.

The moment he touched down, Kim Ki-Rok gathered every ounce of strength in his legs and sprang away, his desperate leap carrying him just out of reach. He soared through the air and landed on the final cable he had been aiming for. The instant his feet found their balance, he pushed his mana output to its limit.

This was the last cable hanging in the air between him and the First, or at least the last one connected to the walls of the room. A few thinner cables still connected to the machine's shoulders were occupied dealing with other enemies, so the cable beneath his feet was effectively the final barrier between him and the core.

The First immediately recognized the danger of letting him get so close to its chest and directed the nearest cables to eliminate the threat. One cable had already been attacking an S-Class Hunter, but in a rare display of aggression, it violently swept the Hunter aside before rising to strike at Kim Ki-Rok.

Four cables now lashed through the air toward him: one from below, another from behind, and two more from his left and right. The ones to either side closed in fastest, trying to block the path between him and the machine. The First could tell he was preparing an attack and sought to box him in, ensuring that no matter which way he dodged, at least one cable would hit its mark.

In its haste, it had to call upon cables already damaged in battle, some shortened by Hunters' blades, others stripped of their outer covering, exposing tangled circuitry. The machine didn't have the luxury of caring; it simply needed to deal with Kim Ki-Rok.

He bent his knees and sprang into the air one final time, aiming straight for the machine's chest. But the machine was prepared. Of the two cables hovering at his sides, one lashed toward him while the other stayed pressed against the chest, poised to respond if needed. That cable slid side to side, trying to obscure the exact location of the core, but Kim Ki-Rok paid it no mind since he already knew exactly where it was.

"Fog," he called out suddenly, activating an artifact to create a thick fog around him in an attempt to block the machine's vision.

"Illusion," he continued, this time invoking an illusion artifact to create multiple images of himself in the air.

The illusion was meant to further throw the machine off balance. On its own, such a trick would have little effect on a mechanical monster due to its resistance to mana, but combined with the fog's holographic distortion, even a machine could be fooled.

The sudden fog made the cable hurtling toward him halt abruptly. It swept in a wide arc, scattering the mist, but when five afterimages emerged from the thinning haze, it hesitated once more.

In the next instant, every cable attacking him froze in midair. With its familiar mechanical whir as the lens of its single eye refocused, the First brought them back into motion, adding one more to the four already after him. Four lashed through the air, tearing apart the illusions, while the fifth went for the last image, only to pass through it harmlessly.

The whirring grew louder as the machine halted once more. Then all five that had been after him, along with the thirty still occupied by the S-Class Hunters, stopped and began scanning the area around the Gate Boss.

Kim Ki-Rok blinked away from the mist and reappeared behind the First in a burst of light.

"Usually I'd mock you for being too slow, but it would just be wasted on you," he quipped as he launched his next attack.

If his foe had been an ordinary monster, there would have been no way to react in time to block his strike. But the machine was no ordinary monster.

After maneuvering behind it to target the center of its chest, Kim Ki-Rok saw a section of the outer shell slide open, revealing a dark cavity. It might have concealed another long, thin cable or a metal pellet launcher like those used by the Aberrant Mechanical Monsters. Whatever it was, it would be dangerous even for an A-Class Hunter.

He poured his remaining mana into his armor and Guardian, boosting his physical strength, then drove his sword into the machine's back with all his might. Dozens of tiny pellets burst from the opening and slammed into his chest, denting his light Pastera-forged armor. More followed, each strike sending sharp waves of pain through him, but he refused to slow.

Letting go of the longsword embedded in the back, Kim Ki-Rok gritted his teeth and ignored the burning pain. Preparing for the fight against the three hundred mechanical monsters hidden in the keep's basement, he had first donned Guardian and then put heavy gauntlets on top of it. Having used every means to strengthen his physicals, he slammed his gauntleted fist down onto the pommel of his sword; the weapon plunged further into the wound with a loud boom that finally stopped the hail of pellets.

Driving his longsword in and then hammering it deeper with his fist, he widened the wound until it spanned much of the outer shell. After inspecting the damage, he smiled in satisfaction, planted his feet, and drew back his fist for another blow. But before he could swing, a short cable shot from the opening at breakneck speed, aimed straight for his neck. He twisted mid-strike, slamming his fist into its end.

With a sharp clang, the cable ricocheted upward. The impact knocked Kim Ki-Rok, who had been hovering with a Fly Spell, out of the air. He had canceled the spell just before hitting the ground to increase the drop's force and gain more distance.

He crashed into the ground with a resounding boom, limbs sprawled, gasping for breath as he stared up at the First. Perhaps angered by his repeated strikes on its weak point, the machine kept up the assault, sending five cables hurtling down toward him.

Sucking in a deep breath, Kim Ki-Rok shouted, "Miss Second!"

The moment he finished the shout, the machine seemed to sense something was wrong. As if preparing to defend itself, it urgently called back two of its five cables to protect the wound in its back, but it was too late.

In a flash of light, Yoo Seh-Eun appeared where Kim Ki-Rok had been moments earlier. Hovering with a Fly spell, she twisted at the waist and brought her mace down with both hands onto the pommel of his longsword. The force of the blow split the wound even wider, peeling back the outer shell until the core was visible.

Yoo Seh-Eun grinned and cheered, "Found—"

"Second, get back!" A sudden shout interrupted her.

Hearing Kim Ki-Rok's panicked voice, she immediately poured mana into a second artifact she had prepared for retreats.

"Blink!"

In a burst of light, she vanished just as a sharp cable stabbed through the space where she had been hovering. Distracted by Kim Ki-Rok's voice while choosing her Blink destination, she reappeared beside him and immediately looked up, spotting the attack she had narrowly avoided.

"We still failed," Yoo Seh-Eun eventually sighed.

Picking himself up, Kim Ki-Rok shook his head and corrected her, "No, if it's at this level, then it's a success."

"A success?"

"That's right."

"In that case, Guildmaster..."

"Yes, what is it, Miss Seh-Eun?"

"What's the next stage of the operation?"

"There isn't one."

Yoo Seh-Eun, still staring at the exposed core as she followed the limping Kim Ki-Rok out of the machine's reach, turned to stare at him and demanded, "What do you mean, there isn't one?"

"We've done all we can. We can leave the rest up to Team One," Kim Ki-Rok said with an exhausted sigh.