When the Academy instructor taught us how to deal with the Flame Spirit, he said this:
‘If you run into this son of a bitch, just ask a buddy to put a bullet in your head. Better to go out quick and easy than burn to death, right?’
Was he saying that to the non-Awakened Hunter candidates in the room, or was he including me? the only Awakened present? I didn't know. But the way he looked at me while saying it made my skin crawl.
The Flame Spirit.
It was a monster that turned everything it touched into ash. Even the most durable steel would melt like wax in its presence.
‘Is it really that dangerous?’
I asked, my voice trembling slightly.
‘Dangerous? It’s a walking disaster. If you see one, don’t even think about fighting. Just run. Run until your lungs burst.’
The instructor’s words echoed in my mind as I stared at the creature before us. It was a swirling vortex of crimson and gold, a nightmare made manifest. The heat radiating from it was so intense that the very air around us seemed to warp and shimmer.
‘Baek Dam-bi, get back!’
Kim Geuk-hyung’s voice snapped me out of my trance. He was already moving, his hand reaching for his weapon.
‘I can’t just stand here and watch!’
I shouted back, my own powers surging to the surface. I could feel the cold, biting chill of my ice abilities gathering in my palms.
‘Dam-bi, listen to me! This isn’t a fight you can win alone!’
He was right, of course. But the thought of running away, of leaving him to face that thing by himself, made my blood boil.
‘I’m not leaving you!’
I didn't wait for his response. I thrust my hands forward, and a massive wall of ice erupted from the ground, standing between us and the Flame Spirit. It was a desperate move, a futile attempt to buy us some time.
The creature didn't even slow down. It simply walked through the ice wall as if it were nothing more than a thin veil of mist. The ice hissed and evaporated instantly, turning into steam that filled the air.
‘Damn it!’
Kim Geuk-hyung cursed, his eyes fixed on the monster. He was already preparing his next move, his body tensed and ready to strike.
‘We need a plan, and we need it now!’
He looked at me, his expression grim.
‘Do you have any ideas?’
I thought for a moment, my mind racing. There had to be a way to stop it, a weakness we could exploit.
‘What if we combine our powers?’
I suggested, my voice barely a whisper.
‘Your Spatial Movement and my ice abilities. Maybe we can trap it, or at least slow it down enough to get a clean shot.’
He looked at me, his eyes widening in surprise.
‘That’s… actually not a bad idea.’
When the Academy instructor taught us how to deal with various monsters, most of the material was about Deathclaws. It was only natural, as they were the monsters we would encounter the most.
And what about Flame Spirits?
The instructor, who had spent about a minute on Rock Spirits because there was supposedly no reason to ever fight them, pointed to a picture of a Flame Spirit and said this:
‘If you run into this son of a bitch, just ask a buddy to put a bullet in your head. Better to go out quick and easy than burn to death, right?’
Was that remark directed at the non-Awakened Hunter candidates in the room, or did it include me, the only Awakened present?
I don’t know.
I spoke into the radio.
“I’m going. Make sure you send a transport plane...”
After that, using Spatial Movement wasn’t easy.
It was because I had already overused it. Hadn’t I even used Spatial Movement outside my line of sight several times?
My head was spinning with dizziness. Damn it.
I hadn’t noticed when my adrenaline was pumping, but now that the hunt was over and my tension had eased, my body swayed on its own.
Because of that, I only managed to reach the roof of the apartment in question after failing my first attempt at Spatial Movement.
“Mommy...”
“I love you, okay? I love you...”
Even through my dizziness, the survivors on the roof all seemed to be in a state of panic.
It was understandable, as the floors of the apartment were exploding one by one with a *BANG, BANG*.
I don’t know much about Flame Spirits, but it wasn’t hard to guess what the bastard was doing now. It seemed to be setting the entire apartment on fire to cut off any escape route.
Another floor exploded with a roar. It felt like being on a battlefield.
In the midst of it, a man on the roof looked at me. He recognized me.
“Hunter Kim Geuk?”
“Yes, long live Incheon.”
“Can you move us with Spatial Movement...”
I had to save the energy I would have used to refuse. I shook my head vigorously, and though the man tried to persuade me, I was too dizzy to hear what he was saying.
I intended to go down the roof stairs to do my job—that is, to hunt the spirit alone.
It soon became clear that even that was impossible.
The stairwell was filled with heat and smoke. I couldn’t risk suffocating to death before even meeting the spirit, so I went back up to the roof and shouted.
“The spirit is coming up soon. Everyone, hide your bodies to the sides. Hide your bodies to the sides...!”
After I barked the order a few times, everyone did as they were told. And while I was closing my eyes, trying to recover even a shred of concentration, the radio blared loudly.
「Hyung! You said a Flame Spirit appeared! Are you going to fight it?」
It was Sung Moon-young’s voice. I answered as briefly as possible.
“Looks like I have to.”
「Can you win? That Flame Spirit, is it really a monster a Physical Enhancer can do anything about?」
This bastard.
I couldn’t tell what kind of answer he was looking for. Was he trying to reprimand me, telling me what to do when he couldn’t even help? He was probably just saying it out of concern, but honestly, it was annoying.
This is why non-Awakened are hopeless. If they can’t help, they should just cheer; how dare they...
Following that, the voice of someone who wasn’t a non-Awakened, yet was treated worse than one in society, flowed through the radio.
「Mr. Kim Geuk? If you’re going to face the Flame Spirit, take me with you.」
Even as I was biting my tongue to suppress my irritation, I blinked.
Baek Dam-bi—what was this woman, who usually kept her mouth shut, suddenly talking about?
“Flame Spirit..., have you ever caught one?”
「I haven’t, even seen one, actually.」
Her voice was choppy. I could hear her panting, too. What on earth was this woman doing...
Following a hunch, I looked toward the bottom of the building and frowned.
Someone was running toward the building in a hurry.
It looked like Baek Dam-bi. She seemed to be trying to get as close as possible so I could take her with me via Spatial Movement. That told me her offer to help wasn’t just empty words.
But was it really possible for her to help me? I didn’t have the luxury of interrogating her.
After a moment of hesitation, I used Spatial Movement to appear in front of her.
“Oh...”
Baek Dam-bi stopped running and halted beside me.
I looked at her through my dizziness.
Baek Dam-bi was clutching a bundle of bottled water; I had no idea how she’d managed to run here with all that. Why did she even bring that? Was this crazy woman going to try to put out the Flame Spirit’s fire by pouring bottled water on it?
Before I could ask, Baek Dam-bi spoke first.
“You don’t look so good...”
Baek Dam-bi’s gaze flicked between my face, where parts of my ears and cheeks had been sheared off, and my left hand, which was missing three fingers. I said quietly.
“The bleeding seems to have stopped.”
“Yes, but...”
“Then that’s enough.”
“Are you still going to fight in that condition?”
“You’re the one to talk, deciding to step up for once.”
“Just, well...”
“Anyway, you’re saying you’ll fight with me, right?”
Baek Dam-bi nodded, and I didn’t want to waste time on small talk. I grabbed her shoulder and returned to the roof.
I don’t know what she’s thinking, but if she proves useless, I’ll just toss her off the side of the apartment. According to her own self-introduction, she wouldn’t die from just that.
Baek Dam-bi immediately started doing something.
“I’ll try my best to keep you from burning...”
Baek Dam-bi splashed the bottled water she was holding onto me. As the water flew through the air and caught her gaze, it turned into tiny shards of ice, and under her gestures, the flying ice shards clung to my body.
She said she’d keep me from burning, and I suppose this was it. Since there was a limit to using abilities directly on an Awakened’s body, it must have been taxing to use them indirectly, but she looked quite skilled.
Then, I took a moment to rest. Amidst the people begging me to move them with Spatial Movement, the people endlessly muttering “I love you” into their phones to their families, and the people praying, I closed my eyes and stayed still.
I couldn’t rest for long.
Before much time had passed, people’s screams rang out.
“Agh!”
I turned my head toward where everyone was looking.
A crimson light source, climbing up the smoke-filled roof stairs, filled my dizzy vision. Every step the creature took was accompanied by flames and smoke.
The Flame Spirit was coming up.
Inside the smoke, the creature’s form was visible, if only as a burning silhouette. It was as if a fireball were climbing the stairs. It probably was, in reality.
As you could tell just by looking, it was a monster that neither rifle rounds nor autocannon shells could touch. I’d heard that destroying its form with the blast pressure of high explosives worked, but it was such a rare monster—and one that could detonate a tank’s engine and ammunition simultaneously just by looking at it—that I’d heard there were few success stories.
Did an Ice-Ability User’s power work on that thing? I don’t know. But I wouldn’t hold my breath.
I made up my mind to face it alone.
Before engaging the monster, I checked my surroundings one last time.
First, the audience—well-positioned on both sides. I don’t like that they all look terrified, but whatever.
The round girl—I don’t know why she’s wearing a crop top instead of a tank top, but she’s standing well to the side, and...
Good, everything is perfectly prepared. I closed and opened my eyes to overcome the dizziness.
I am standing in the octagon.
“Doot, doot-doot-doot. Doot...”
I performed my entrance music with my own mouth and glared at my opponent in the octagon.
Just now, a fireball hyena had set foot on the roof.
It was the Flame Spirit.
Its head, body, limbs, and tail were all made of flames. Golden, blazing eyes and nostrils flashed in a face made of fire.
Looking at it, I realized it must be a spirit born after a Deathclaw awakened its flame ability and grew spiritually. Its signature hooked claws shimmered with a coating of force field.
“Long live Incheon.”
I tried to touch gloves before the match, but I couldn’t see a referee.
And the spirit didn’t wait for a referee’s signal. It acted first.
The Flame Spirit opened its burning maw wide. Something dark red flickered inside.
I didn’t know what it was planning, but it wasn’t good. I had to make a quick judgment.
Should I prepare to dodge to the side?
No. The audience was standing on both sides.
As I took a deep breath to prepare for the clash, a thick, violent stream of flame erupted from the spirit’s mouth.
The stream of flame was just too thick.
Watching the fire fill my vision, I moved instinctively. Charge.
I ran straight forward. With my eyes closed, I moved, relying on the information provided by my Mental Mesh.
“Agh!”
The sight of me running head-on into the stream of flame must have looked incredibly reckless to the audience.
The screams echoing from behind were welcome, even as my whole body was being scorched. If they were empathizing with my pain, it meant they were an audience rooting for me. I am that popular.
I ignored the pain of my skin peeling and my blood boiling, fueled by adrenaline. I kept kicking off the ground.
When I finally reached the monster, I swung my hammer. I swung it hard enough that the strike would be accompanied by a shockwave, and that the shockwave would extinguish even the fire.
*CRASH!* Indeed, the hammer blow and the resulting shockwave shattered the monster’s form. The stream of flame it was spewing stopped along with it.
So, did I kill it?
No. I hadn’t completely extinguished the monster’s flames.
The flames that had scattered in every direction from my strike gathered back into a single point. Once again, the shape of a hyena manifested before my eyes. The creature, having regenerated in an instant, swung its hooked claws and slashed across my chest.
The blood that surged out evaporated instantly in the heat of the flames.
Gritting my teeth, I brought my hammer down again. "CRASH!"
As the shockwave shattered the creature’s form once more, I felt a cold chill envelop my entire body, dulling the pain.
I opened my eyes slightly to see what was happening and was taken aback.
A blizzard had begun to rage with explosive force...
The round girl had intervened in the duel. It would have been better if I could have handled it alone, but I wouldn't blame her for it.
Even within the swirling blizzard, the spirit’s flames remained intact. The creature, now beginning to restore its body, glared at me.
However, its size had visibly shrunk at a glance.
The Flame Spirit, having reformed its shape, lunged at me.
And I brought the hammer I had already been swinging down with even greater force.
"CRASH!" Once again, the creature’s form collapsed without fail. The shockwave generated by the hammer blow extinguished its flames while simultaneously pushing the fire that made up its body in all directions.
The flames, pushed far away, were caught in the area where the blizzard was raging the strongest. Steam erupted as if from an explosion, swallowing the spirit’s flames.
Meanwhile, in front of me, the creature was regenerating yet again. But unlike before, it was a pathetic, flickering flame, and something translucent shimmered within it.
At a glance, I could tell it was its final spark.
As I swung my hammer once more, the flame that was trying to burn for the last time in front of me was extinguished.
Soon, the raging blizzard also subsided. I turned my back amidst the steam.
I took in the sight of the survivors, visible through the haze.
The cheers of the crowd echoing from within me overlapped with the shouts they were letting out in reality. My name was being chanted over and over, like an echo.
"Kim Geuk! Kim Geuk! Kim Geuk—!"
As the soul of the defeated spirit seeped into me, I raised my arm high and declared my victory.
Then, as I regained my senses, I saw Baek Dam-bi’s face. She had taken off her sunglasses, and for that reason, her expression was laid bare.
Surprisingly, Baek Dam-bi looked excited right now. This was the first time I had ever known that woman could make an expression other than one of annoyance or irritation... She was clenching both fists and making a "Yes!" expression.
Then, our eyes met.
To Baek Dam-bi, I must have looked like a mess. She flinched and hurriedly asked,
"Are you okay? No, don't answer that. My god, your entire skin is burned. Since blisters are already rising, it doesn't look like it burned all the way through, but..."
I had never seen her fuss like that before, either.
Even as I felt dizzy and was in agonizing pain from my entire body being scorched, I suddenly felt that she was cute.
Was it because the spirit’s soul had seeped into me and its heat had transferred over? I even felt a sensation of something rising between my legs, which had always been limp ever since my Awakening.
Intoxicated by the sense of victory and an indescribable feeling, I laughed. Baek Dam-bi, who had been watching me cautiously because of my poor condition, laughed along with me, albeit awkwardly.
I had won.
*******
"It was a truly ridiculously sturdy bastard. As you all saw in the news helicopter footage, it didn't die even after getting hit by autocannon shells like rain, right? Looking at the scene, it seems an Awakened from abroad had already fired several times before I engaged. Yes, that person who gets criticized for dying in vain without being worth the money.
If that Awakened had landed a few shots, that Force Field Entity, that son of a bitch, should have been torn to pieces. No one could have expected such a tough bastard to pop out, so it was really just bad luck. I don't know what that Awakened's original nationality was, but looking at his end, he is an honorary Incheon citizen. Let's take a moment of silence for him."
"At the Academy, we were taught that if about ten Deathclaws came out when a Gate opened, that was a lot, right? But it was so absurd to see dozens of them swarming in one place at a glance."
"You're asking how I confirmed that I caught more than two-thirds of the ones that crawled out of the Gate by myself? Ah, it's obvious when they've been blown to bits by autocannon shells, right? That's right. My will to protect Incheon is that strong."
"Honestly, I feel like I did almost everything, but my team members were definitely a help. I almost teared up from being moved when I received support fire while fighting that Force Field Entity, that son of a bitch! I was worried because there were some older people on the team, but contrary to my concerns, I'm glad everyone did their part well.
I and these people learned at the Bupyeong Hunting Professional Academy. It's an academy that's about a five-minute walk from Bupyeong Station, and the curriculum is solid and the price is cheap for what you get, so..."
"Ah, and Ms. Baek Dam-bi. Honestly, I didn't expect much, but she was incredible. That lady introduced herself by saying she had reached the level of the Domain of the Spirits. At the time, I didn't understand what kind of nerd-speak this woman was spouting.
But seeing it this time, she has every right to introduce herself with such nerd-speak. You all saw how insane that blizzard was in the video, right? That was Ms. Baek Dam-bi's doing. The situation was a bit unique, but anyway, it was a huge help. If possible, I want to keep her on my team for a long time.
So, if you have any sense of shame, I hope the... Seoul bastard who hid in Incheon and tried to sabotage this lady to break our contract will hang himself and apologize immediately. Yes? All the bastards doing wicked things in Incheon are Seoul bastards, that's a fact. I know everything, you see."
"Uh, am I the first in the country to catch a Flame Spirit? Really? Then do they give me some kind of title? If you can't give me a real-life title, can't you at least give me a Dungeon & Fighter title? I'd love a top-tier one with +22 elemental damage. I'm on the Cain Server, and my Adventure Group name is..."
"A++ rank Hunter Kim Geuk, the consensus is that I've done more than enough to justify the 50 billion won spent to bring me in, even while Incheon's finances are drying up... Um, that's right. I'm that great of a guy. Don't forget that Park Mi-hyeong, who is serving as an Incheon City Council Member, is the one who invited me here to work as a Hunter."
"Long live Incheon! Everyone living in Incheon, it's a difficult time, but I hope you manage to overcome it somehow. If you just grit your teeth and survive even when it's hard, aren't you the winner in the end? Yes? You people living outside of Incheon? As for those people, whether they live or die is their own business... I'll finish by chanting the spell of victory once more. Long live Incheon!"
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