Chapter 385

Esther's neck was flushed red from running around on adrenaline all day, but aside from that, she'd been perfectly fine just three seconds earlier.

Then, all of a sudden, she °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° clutched her chest and collapsed.

"Guild Master!"

"Director Esther!"

"Ugh! What the hell!"

Apparently, the accumulated shock had become so severe that even the universal antidote obtained as a dungeon reward couldn't counteract it.

Fortunately, the reaction differed from the anaphylaxis caused by bees on Earth.

In any case, the white bees' attack had left Esther's entire body paralyzed.

"Defensive types, carry the boss and fall back for now!"

"Y-Yes!"

Objectively speaking, Korea's second-ranked hunter was less skilled at hunting than Jung Haseong.

She hadn't yet received any tutoring from the alien, and being born with the [Curse] attribute—an ability with extremely pronounced strengths and weaknesses—made that inevitable.

But it was strange.

No matter how one looked at it, the moment the Awakened who couldn't quite be called number one collapsed, the entire situation immediately began teetering on the edge of disaster.

"Ugh."

The fact that this was a world where superpowers had become reality was ultimately nothing more than background scenery.

Esther simply possessed a natural talent for leading people.

With her suddenly out of action, confusion spread across the battlefield.

"What do we do now?"

Even seasoned veterans of the industry began asking bewildered questions.

"What do you mean, 'what now'?"

But instead of getting frustrated, Jung Haseong responded pragmatically.

"You're hunters. Pull yourselves together and focus on the hunt!"

Bam!

Of course, that action hadn't been born entirely from rational thought.

A monster had charged straight at him, and his body had simply reacted on instinct, launching a preemptive attack.

[Ego Sword Status Alert]

[Slow Charging... ●●●]

[Comment: (Name not registered) I'm extracting a small amount of mana every day to ensure no harm comes to the master's body.]

For reference, the [Sword of Sunset] still couldn't properly reuse its automatic reflex function.

To be precise, the function itself could activate, but it was incapable of producing the same powerful sealing effect it had once displayed while suppressing the beast.

Jung Haseong, however, had no idea.

"Let's fall back for now. Somehow make some distance and buy time..."

The black-haired young man activated his superpower.

Flare—

Once again, he unleashed a wide-area attack to burn away the white bees, the greatest hidden threat within the [Delhi No. 1614] gate.

This time, however, the results were poor.

"Ugh!"

"Hunter!"

"All Recovery-type Awakened, stay together! Ha... and when the hell are those A-rank barrier specialists going to get here?!"

There were simply too many enemies.

A third group, barely grazed by the wide-reaching flames, immediately began rushing in.

"They're not sharp enough to pierce armor, but the problem is the exposed skin on our faces!"

If he'd known things would turn out like this, he should've bought that helmet from the last auction.

"It was finally a design a person could actually wear, but I gave up on it because they said the weight would interfere with movement."

Even as the thought crossed Jung Haseong's mind, he summoned flames once again.

That unpleasant buzzing and frantic beating of wings came right beside his ear, leaving him no choice but to respond.

Yet even with the fire, the problem showed little sign of being resolved.

"Burn hotter!"

No matter how naturally talented someone was at arson, there was no way to remain unharmed after setting their own body on fire.

That meant he had to maintain at least a minimal distance from the flames to avoid being burned himself.

And within that narrow safe zone, the maddening noise continued without end.

Wheeeeeeeeing.

To a human being, it sounded no different from the wings of a demon.

"If there weren't so many of them, we could've handled this...!"

They looked insignificant.

And yet their assault was so overwhelming that even one of Korea's top five hunters was struggling to fend them off.

But then...

The enemies' speed.

Their overwhelming numbers.

And the inevitable gaps that formed between the flames and the humans they were meant to protect.

As Jung Haseong considered each element of the situation, a possible solution suddenly came to him.

"Maybe...?"

Could this be the moment to use the technique he'd been practicing throughout the latter half of his training?

"AHHH!"

"Fall back! Get farther away!"

"They just keep respawning! And why are they so strong? I barely even brushed against one!"

The monsters released during the gate break from that particular nest all shared similar traits.

They alternated between an attack stance and a state called rest, regulating their own energy.

And the vicious assaults they performed only while in attack stance were, at their core, little more than close-range body slams...

"All I have to do is pull off the technique Hunter Kim Giryeo kept drilling into me."

It was the secret art of a fire-attribute superpower.

A technique that allowed its user to move freely and unharmed even while their own body was engulfed in flames.

If he could successfully execute it, most of the problems tormenting him now would disappear at once.

Tuk!

The moment he finished the thought, Jung Haseong reached for the item box at his waist.

He intended to drink every mana potion he had, right up to his limit.

"Hunters, fall back for now."

"Yes?"

"I'm going to temporarily drop the wall! So retreat to the boundary and make sure none of the monsters escape."

"Ah. Yes! Yes!"

"Please. I'm counting on you!"

But any ultimate technique learned only in theory...

Even if he managed to succeed here and now, it would honestly create several new problems.

"Is this really as much distance as I can make?"

A man with bleached hair had once told him,

Ah, Jung Haseong. I'm just telling you this for reference, but you must never use this technique when someone weak is nearby.

Yes? ℴℴ𝘮

This technique only spreads your ability thinly over your own body, so you're probably wondering why I'm warning you like this.

Y-Yes.

That's because once the technique is fully completed... the difference in output becomes so extreme that even you'll be shocked.

That much?

In practice, the flames may feel no thicker than a sheet of paper.

Strangely enough, though, they actually generate enough energy to alter the environment within a radius of roughly 400 meters.

"~"

This is the mystery of mana compression.

I see.

Come to think of it, isn't it incredible that we can create miracles like this with nothing but our will?

Well, anyway, there's a rough principle behind it.

So naturally, you have to be careful not to hurt anyone nearby.

And yet, strangely enough, Jung Haseong didn't particularly dwell on one additional warning that had followed.

Transforming the environment within a radius of roughly 400 meters...

Maybe it was because the surrounding area consisted almost entirely of empty fields and farmland, with hardly any buildings nearby.

That certainly played a part.

But more than anything, the national hero had something else he was relying on.

"Now, Korea has Hunter Kim Giryeo."

That was the support he possessed in this new era.

Even now, whenever Jung Haseong closed his eyes, he could vividly remember the scenery from that day.

The gloomy sky above Seoul, thick with smoke rising from every corner of the city.

Then, suddenly, the clouds had opened.

Rain had poured down.

And those fantastical droplets, cold enough to sting against the cheeks, had continued falling with unnatural persistence.

Kim Giryeo, an S-rank Awakened, had once made rain fall over an entire city.

If he could do something like that, then surely extinguishing one localized fire would be an even simpler matter.

"Once Hunter Kim Giryeo gets here, everything will somehow work itself out."

That was what the black-haired Korean man believed.

Even if he unleashed heat so intense that human society could no longer endure it...

Even if these rice fields were reduced to nothing but a molten pit of lava...

As long as a water-type superhuman eventually arrived, he imagined everything would somehow be fine.

"I'm okay now."

The mana within him surged higher and higher.

In truth, the hunter named Jung Haseong had long suffered from a chronic weakness.

Whenever he stood upon this familiar Earth, surrounded by landscapes etched into his memories, he found himself unable to unleash his greatest techniques.

But the moment the fourth S-rank—a titan without equal even among titans—proved his overwhelming strength, that long-standing affliction disappeared as though it had never existed.

"Now I really don't have to be afraid of my own flames anymore."

Because not long ago, he had confirmed that there were things in this world far more frightening than his own superpower.

And then, a strange phenomenon began to unfold.

Mages.

Sorcerers.

And on Earth, individuals known as superpowered beings were fundamentally born from stress.

To put it more simply, they were similar to mutants.

In other words, their very existence was the result of some irregularity—much like the way albinos occasionally appeared in nature.

And at this moment, only one person in Korea was going through that process completely in reverse.

"And even if we fail, this place will ultimately be safe. Hunter Kim Giryeo is already on his way, after all."

Jung Haseong was able to unleash his full power precisely because he had someone he trusted.

It had always been that way, even back in his school days.

If he'd been raised under a strict and oppressive guardian, he probably would've performed strangely poorly in his studies.

By nature, he was the kind of person who could only push himself forward and grow when he felt at ease—when he existed in a calm, steady state that others might have found almost boring.

And so, this was the result that followed.

"I have to try it, no matter what!"

The moment Jung Haseong's internal tension subsided, his mind cleared.

He activated the technique.

Flash—

A skill that hadn't displayed even half of its true effect on the beach in Incheon.

"Kwiik—!"

In other words, the fusion of offense and defense achieved by setting one's own body ablaze.

Why isn't this working?

Why?

It wasn't simply a matter of luck.

Jung Haseong hadn't been exaggerating when he said he'd trained until he bled.

He truly had.

Even when the master who'd taught him the technique wasn't watching, Jung Haseong had driven himself forward, berated himself, and practiced until the pads of his fingers were worn nearly down to the nails.

And as a result, he had finally succeeded in producing flames of exceptional quality.

"What is that?"

Just as the pyromancer had warned, Jung Haseong had managed to put a considerable distance between himself and the others.

Even so, everyone on the scene soon shared the same impression.

"The light is so bright I can't see anything ahead."

Like a star sustaining their world.

Jung Haseong was an exceptionally kind superhuman, and yet the strange technique he invoked made it impossible for anyone nearby to even lift their head.

Just as his blond-haired teacher had taught him, the more tightly he compressed his mana, the more impossibly hot the flames became.

And as Jung Haseong continued applying every principle of unification he'd learned, without forgetting a single one even for an instant, that blazing heat finally settled upon the skin of the gifted Awakened.