Chapter 201 – The Hunt (5)

As if time had stopped, freezing everything but Gi-Gyu, he effortlessly grabbed Haures’ chin. Haures was powerless and could feel his power through his hand. If Haures tried to pull back abruptly, he knew his chin…

‘

No! My entire head will be ripped off.’?

Haures shivered. He couldn’t believe a human had such strength. But, that thought didn’t last long because bewilderment eventually overtook him.

He felt fear because of Gi-Gyu’s phenomenal power and confusion because he couldn’t apprehend how he had failed in a hunt.

“Why don’t you try running away.” Haures’ chin in one hand, Gi-Gyu used his other hand to punch Haures’ stomach.

Whack!

“Ackkk!!!” Haures’ scream closely followed the sound of something like leather being ripped.

The pain in his stomach was so agonizing that Haures couldn’t breathe.

Gi-Gyu taunted, “I asked why aren’t you escaping. You’re my prey now! Run!”

Whack, whack!

Betraying his words, Gi-Gyu kept a firm hold on the chin and didn’t stop beating Haures. Thereby, the gruesome ripping sound didn’t stop either.

Crunch.

The pressure from Gi-Gyu’s palm had almost pulverized Haures’ chin when he stopped punching and asked, “Do you know what your biggest mistake was?”

Gi-Gyu loosened his hand a little, and Haures fell weakly. Haures was still breathing, but he couldn’t even move his closed eyelids.

Gi-Gyu squatted near Haures and continued, “The fact that you thought you were the greatest hunter. And how you thought I was your prey… So ridiculous.”

Life had already perfectly healed Gi-Gyu. Thanks to this quick recovery, he could use all of his abilities again.

-I told you not to use any of your other powers.

Lou sounded angry, but Gi-Gyu knew he was actually just curious about why Gi-Gyu had used Life.

-Didn’t I tell you that you must refrain from using your abilities if you want to learn my battle strategy?

“Are you an idiot?” Gi-Gyu asked. “You taught me to use everything I have in a fight. Jerk.”

Lou had indeed taught Gi-Gyu never to half-ass a fight and always give it his all.

“As for why I didn’t use the other abilities…”

-I know.

Lou laughed. It appeared that he was happy with Gi-Gyu’s answer.

-You did it to lure Haures out, right?

Haures, whom Gi-Gyu previously couldn’t see, believed Gi-Gyu was his prey. Believing himself to be the greatest hunter that ever lived, Haures lured Gi-Gyu into a trap and tested him before making his move.

If Gi-Gyu looked too powerful or too weak, Haures would have never shown himself. After all, Haures saw himself as the hunter and Gi-Gyu as the prey.

Haures finally opened his mouth and whispered, “T-this can’t be…!”

His eyes burned with resentment as he glared at Gi-Gyu.

“Why?” Gi-Gyu replied and stepped on Haures’ right hand to crush it.

“Ackkk!”

“Don’t you recognize this tactic?” asked Gi-Gyu. He had used a hunting method where the prey acted weak to draw out the hunter.

“C-could it be…!” Haures shouted in disbelief, “L-Lucifer! What is your relationship with that demon— Ackkk!” Haures couldn’t finish his sentence before his right hand was crushed.

Gi-Gyu had gotten this method from Lou’s data, which was exactly what Lou had used to defeat Haures in the past.

“Hmm…” Gi-Gyu looked at Haures in displeasure.

***

Andras was after Gi-Gyu. It felt like Andras’ entire plan revolved around capturing Gi-Gyu.

Just how much did Andras know about Gi-Gyu? Gi-Gyu had hoped that Haures would be able to answer his questions, but…

“This was a total bust,” Gi-Gyu grumbled.

“Haa… Haa…” Haures panted in pain.

Unfortunately, Haures didn’t know much. Well, it was more likely that he was hiding something. Still, Gi-Gyu hadn’t been able to learn anything useful from Haures.

“Then…” Gi-Gyu had no choice but to choose the easy path. He grabbed his sword for the first time during this battle.

‘

Lou,’?

Gi-Gyu thought when he saw Lou in his sword form. He turned toward Haures and whispered, “I hope you’ll be able to answer my questions after your rebirth.”

“N-no…”

?

Haures tried to block Gi-Gyu’s attack, but it was useless. He was too weak now; his special power depended on his condition. The spear on his back was partly visible now, indicating how feeble he had become. Haures was no longer a threat to Gi-Gyu.

“Goodbye.” Gi-Gyu was about to stab Haures when…

Clank!

A giant claw blocked Lou.

***

“Ugh…” the branch manager groaned in pain. Haures had seemingly injected poison into his body when he had stabbed the branch manager’s shoulder.

The branch manager mumbled, “I need to alert the branch…”

He tried to move but failed because Haures’ poison had already spread in his body. Despite being a ranker, he was powerless against this poison.

“Ugh…” he groaned again. Andras had hidden a few things from his demons. More specifically, some information about Kim Gi-Gyu. The demons didn’t know much about the player, but it was different for the human branch managers. Andras had explained to them who Gi-Gyu was and why they needed him.

.

‘He will lose,’?

the branch manager thought desperately. Haures had assured the manager that he could do this, and the manager had even taken his side. However, the manager knew the truth about Kim Gi-Gyu and that Haures couldn’t defeat Gi-Gyu.

He needed to alert the headquarters. After all, this was why Andras had given him this position in the first place. If he could just inform the headquarters about Kim Gi-Gyu’s appearance, then…

‘

Salvation…’?

The branch manager believed that he could become the very first recipient of the salvation Andras had promised.

Flick.

He used whatever was left of his magic to drive out the poison from his body. But the final result was just a subtle flick of his finger. He couldn’t even tell how much time had passed. Sweat droplets rolled down his forehead, demonstrating how much effort and concentration he was pouring into the task.

‘Got it!’

One of his hands finally reimagined its functionality. Unfortunately, the rest of his body was still paralyzed.

Haures was a demon who could paralyze a ranker-level player with just his poison. And even such a demon couldn’t defeat Gi-Gyu. The manager felt stuck in a battle between two beasts.

“I-I guess it’s not going to work…” No matter how hard he tried, this body refused to move. The branch manager searched for something in his front pocket.

“Found it…” He successfully grabbed the solution to his dire situation. It was the First Potion. It wasn’t perfect yet, and even Andras had warned not to use it if possible. The First Potion he had was different from the one available to the regular guild members. The one he had was the special version only given to branch managers.

Crack.

He broke the bottle head and poured the reddish liquid into his mouth. The glass shards also got into his mouth, but he didn’t care.

Spark.

Suddenly, the branch manager’s eyes became crimson.

***

The claw that had pushed back Lou tried to attack Gi-Gyu.

“...?” Gi-Gyu stared at the claw before him in confusion. The claw-wielding intruder was emanating strange energy.

“What is he…?” Gi-Gyu mumbled. Was the intruder a human or a demon? And…

-That’s…

Lou muttered.

The long claw resembled Haures’ spear.

“Grrrr…” the intruder growled like an animal.

“Branch manager?” Haures, who was slowly losing consciousness, whispered when he looked up.

“Branch manager?” Gi-Gyu muttered as well in surprise.

Haures seemed to be in disbelief as he stared at the branch manager. He whispered, “How did you…?”

“Grrr…” The branch manager looked around as if he was looking for something. Gi-Gyu didn’t bother attacking him because he wanted to uncover this creature’s identity. Haures wouldn’t die or recover if left alone, so he was no longer a threat.

-How strange.

Lou was also curious about the creature’s appearance.

“Grrr!” the branch manager growled once more before making his move.

Gi-Gyu stopped studying him. He had no choice but to rush because the branch manager was about to stab Haures.

“No!” Gi-Gyu screamed.

Clang!

Lou, in his sword form, pushed away the branch manager’s spear-like claw. Since Lou couldn’t break the claw, Gi-Gyu found it hard to call it just “claw.” Meanwhile, sticky sorcerous energy didn’t stop wafting from the branch manager’s body.

“What the…?” Haures also seemed perplexed with this whole situation. He was certain he had injected the branch manager with a paralyzing poison. Yet the branch manager’s fluid movement indicated that he had neutralized the toxin. In fact, he seemed faster and stronger than before.

Haures yelled, “You…! You drank the First Potion, didn’t you?!”

“Grrr!” the branch manager roared and sprinted toward Haures again. This time, he was moving even faster as he swung his claw.

Clang!

Gi-Gyu blocked him again and shouted, “Have you forgotten about me?!”

Gi-Gyu had to kill Haures himself to get answers, so he couldn’t let someone else kill Haures.

The situation was changing rapidly.

“Grrr…” the branch manager growled toward Gi-Gyu, who glared back at him. Meanwhile, Haures remained on the ground helplessly.

-What an ironic situation this has become… Kekeke.

Lou chuckled.

Gi-Gyu now had to protect the guy who had tried to hunt him from an unknown beast. He couldn’t help but frown unhappily.

“I’m not going to go easy on you,” Gi-Gyu announced as he grasped Lou harder. This wasn’t the time to hold back.

“Grrr,” the beast snarled. The beast could feel Gi-Gyu's power, but it had no choice but to fight. Its mission was to kill Haures and protect the information he knew. What little sanity the manager had left kept repeating this mission objective.

“Ugh!” Gi-Gyu groaned.

When they had clashed before, something strange happened. An explosion took place and…

Drip.

Blood began to drip down from Gi-Gyu’s mouth.

“W-what the hell?” Gi-Gyu wiped his lips and muttered.

While he was distracted, the branch manager dashed toward Haures.