One wolf stood slightly behind the others.
Though it bared its teeth and growled like the rest, its breathing was distinctly different. It repeated a staccato rhythm—broken, connected again—sometimes long, sometimes short, emitting an intriguing, guttural sound.
It was almost like the command of a pack leader.
“A special species. Elite class with a magic stone.”
Kim Seo-jun clearly spotted a faint white dot right where its heart should be.
At that moment, the elite wolf seemed to issue its final command as its breathing abruptly stopped.
Seizing the instant, Kim Seo-jun scooped up some stone shards from the ground, slipping them between his fingers. Then, he fired three consecutive shots of Cheongungsi at the wolves beside the elite.
The three streaks of lightning-like projectiles pierced through the heads of three wolves in the blink of an eye.
Blood splattered as the wolves toppled backward.
Enraged by the death of their kin, the wolves charged at Kim Seo-jun all at once.
He grabbed a slightly larger stone shard and hurled it with all his might.
From the underbrush, there was the sudden sound of air escaping. The thrown stone shattered at a certain point.
It exploded into thousands of fragments, scattering as stone dust around the area.
Then, something astonishing happened.
Ka gwa gwa gwa gwa gwa gwa gwa gwa—!
Like an artillery shell had exploded, a powerful blast engulfed the wolves.
A bombardment of stone dust rained down like heavy rain.
It was the third Cheongungsi technique: “Bombardment.”
Each tiny grain of stone dust possessed devastating explosive power, capable of completely obliterating the area around the target.
The wolves caught within the blast radius were reduced to finely minced meat, scattered across the ground.
Kim Seo-jun did not even check the result of his bombardment technique. He immediately activated Biryoshinbo and charged at the elite wolf.
Fifteen meters away—
In a blink, Kim Seo-jun closed the distance.
Snap! Crack!
Releasing an electric shock, he moved like a flash.
As he traced a path of light toward the elite, two wolves on its right spread out to counterattack. One lunged for his legs, the other aimed for his head.
At that moment, Kim Seo-jun took a wide step forward and stamped the ground.
The asphalt cracked beneath him as he came to a firm stop, channeling the power of Gwanseong into a spinning motion like a lightning bolt.
He gripped his sword tightly with both hands and swung Arondight powerfully at an angle.
Thud—
Rrrrrip.
The bodies of the two wolves split in half.
Their entrails spilled out as the shattered corpses tumbled across the asphalt.
Then, the leader wolf, hunched over, suddenly opened its mouth wide.
A palm-sized magic circle appeared before its jaws, glowing with brilliant light.
And then—
Poo!
A fierce light burst from the magic circle.
A flame cannon.
Surprisingly, the leader wolf could wield magic power directly.
Kim Seo-jun did not dodge the flame cannon aimed at him.
The moment golden-yellow light blazed from its eyes, Kim Seo-jun thrust his sword straight forward and charged.
The reverse recoil device activated perfectly in sync.
The world slowed down, and only Kim Seo-jun moved freely within this slowed time.
Choi-aaaah!
His sword cut through the flame.
No—rather, the flame was violently drawn toward the sword.
The sword sliced through the flame cannon as if it were a thin veil, absorbing even its intense heat.
At the sword’s tip, the round magic circle shattered.
Kchh—
The magic circle exploded into fragments.
Kim Seo-jun smashed it into the split-open wolf’s mouth.
Poo-ak!
The black wolf’s palate cracked as pieces shot out behind its head.
White saliva mixed with blood splattered.
Kim Seo-jun opened his hand, striking the sword’s pommel with his palm.
At that moment, the magic circle engraved on his palm burst with violent flame.
The flame coiled around the sword like a serpent, spraying powerfully forward.
Ka gwa gwa gwa gwa gwa gwa gwa—!
The flames instantly engulfed the wolves and spread nearly twenty meters behind.
Hwaro-rok.
When the flames faded, only the burnt black corpses of the wolves remained, unmoving.
Kim Seo-jun pulled his sword from the cracked, turtle-shell-like skull of the leader wolf.
It crumbled with a sound like breaking bricks and turned to dust like sandstone.
Tok. Turrurur.
An orange gem rolled out from the corpse.
It was the orange magic stone the elite wolf had kept in its heart.
Kim Seo-jun picked it up and glanced back.
Thankfully, no more wolves lingered threateningly.
Thanks to Kim Seo-jun’s swift elimination of most wolves and the charge on the elite wolf, the other hunters could quickly finish off the few remaining ones.
Only then did Kim Seo-jun finally relax his grip on the sword.
“Phew…”
He took a long breath, checking his condition.
Magic Power: 63 (95) / Internal Energy: 61 (77)
Only 32 magic power and 16 internal energy had been consumed.
‘By the time I get home, everything should be fully restored.’
Magic power recovered one point per minute, and internal energy quickly refilled simply by breathing thanks to the Solar Divine Technique’s nine meridians. No worries there.
“Wasting so much magic power against a level 19 monster?”
Kim Seo-jun bitterly chuckled, recalling the proverb about burning down a thatched hut to catch a rat.
The silver lining was that, in front of so many hunters, he had barely revealed his true strength.
Just then, Kim Joo-hyuk approached and clapped a hand on Kim Seo-jun’s shoulder.
A bright smile stretched across his lips.
“Excellent work, son.”
That simple praise carried a deep weight of hard-earned pride.
Before, he only ever received such grudging remarks from colleagues.
But the warmth of blood relations made his father’s praise feel completely different.
“Father… you worked hard, too.”
“Ha ha. Well, I didn’t do much… But hearing the hunters say all the wolves from the rift were taken care of because of this… that’s a huge relief.”
Indeed, a blessing.
If even one monster had survived among the countless pouring out of the rift, and two hours had passed, the rift would have begun to evolve.
When a rift evolves, seven days later, monsters of a rank higher than before pour out—about five hundred of them, five times the previous number.
If they failed to finish hunting within two hours again, the rift would evolve once more.
And in forty-nine days, they’d have to face a massive wave of 2,500 monsters.
That was why all monsters had to be dealt with within two hours from when the rift first opened.
Kim Seo-jun raised his head to look at the sky.
True to Kim Joo-hyuk’s words, the torn rift was rapidly closing.
The fractured sky sealed as if by someone’s hand.
Seeing this, the hunters raised their spoons toward the sky and cheered.
Though there were casualties, they had managed to finish the situation themselves before the upper-rank hunters even arrived.
That gave them a great sense of pride.
Their faces were radiant with triumph.
After a while, their gazes shifted toward Kim Joo-hyuk and Kim Seo-jun.
Had it not been for these two, the losses would have been far greater.
Their expressions carried gratitude.
They bowed respectfully toward Kim Joo-hyuk and Kim Seo-jun, hoping to express even a little thanks.
*****
Then, unexpected guests appeared.
On the roof of a seven-story building beside the fierce battlefield on the road, several people suddenly jumped down.
Just before hitting the ground, they seemed to be softly supported by invisible hands and gently landed.
“Whoa, what’s going on? I came all this way only to find the fight already over?”
A man in shorts and a T-shirt, wearing slippers and casually slinging a large greatsword over his shoulder, spoke dismissively.
“095. Since this was only a level 6 rift, we didn’t have to intervene. Still, they made such a fuss and it ended up like this.”
Beside him stood a radiant woman with dragon-like features who spoke next.
There were five of them in total.
But the aura emanating from them was unusual.
Kim Seo-jun recognized them as upper-rank hunters.
Lowering his gaze to hide the golden light in his eyes, he quickly scanned their information mentally.
[174 / Normal]
[188 / Elite]
[191 / Normal]
[235 / Normal]
[317 / Rare]
The first three had level 8 magic power, and the last two wielded level 9 magic power.
One of them had noticeably higher power and was marked with the Rare designation.
Kim Seo-jun looked at the man with a build like a steel tower, short sports-cut hair, and a two-handed sword larger than a person strapped to his back.
‘Oh…? That’s Daeman hyung.’
Amazingly, among the upper-rank hunters who had arrived was none other than his old comrade, Park Daeman.
All five belonged to the Myeongwang Guild.
“Hey, you cops standing around, what are you dawdling for? The place reeks of blood. Aren’t you going to clear out the corpses?”
The man in shorts gestured sharply at the police.
“But isn’t it too much damage for fewer than a hundred level 6 wolves? Hey, you guys, you’re all level 5 and above, right? You don’t mean level 6 trash got involved in this, do you? Twenty-six level 0 hunters and yet so much damage to citizens and public property?”
The man’s tone was brash, likely due to his nature.
At that moment, Kim Joo-hyuk stepped forward.
“We all prepared to die and endured the wave. Four hunters died, many more injured. This isn’t really the time to complain.”
Kim Joo-hyuk spoke respectfully even to the man who looked over ten years older.
But such respect was wasted on them.
“Who’s this old geezer? What’s with the phone-level attitude? Four hunters died, huh? Ha! If you’re not strong enough, don’t step up. You only wasted good lives.”
Mocking the hunters’ deaths, Kim Joo-hyuk’s face darkened.
Kim Seo-jun’s anger flared too; he nearly slapped the man.
At that moment, Park Daeman—the strongest of the upper-rank hunters—grabbed the shorts-wearing man’s arm.
“Jo Sangpil, if you want to avoid dying by my hand, shut your mouth. Maybe if we’d come sooner, none of this would’ve happened. You and Im Mia made a mess, and we barely arrived on time!”
“Ugh! D-Don’t, captain, p-please let go…”
“Say that one more time and you’re dead for sure!”
Park Daeman shoved Jo Sangpil aside and bowed his head to Kim Joo-hyuk.
“We’re sorry for being late. No excuses. On behalf of Myeongwang Guild, we offer our apologies.”
“Apologies should be made to those hunters over there, not me.”
Park Daeman nodded, then went over to the lower-rank hunters and apologized deeply.
He then returned to Kim Joo-hyuk and Kim Seo-jun.
“This is level 6 Park Daeman. The hunters over there say you two were the most outstanding today, especially the young student Kim Seo-jun.”
“Yes, Kim Seo-jun. They praised you for taking down the monster that seemed to be an elite.”
Park Daeman smiled kindly at Kim Seo-jun, who was drenched in monster blood.
But Kim Seo-jun was displeased with Jo Sangpil’s behavior, which badly damaged the reputation of the Myeongwang Guild.
“I never thought Myeongwang would bother with just a level 6 rift.”
“Regardless of the rift’s rank, Myeongwang cares about every rift. This time, we were delayed due to certain circumstances…”
“If it was because of your personal issues, then even Hunter Park Daeman could have come first, right?”
Kim Seo-jun’s words made Park Daeman flinch, then sigh deeply.
There were other reasons they couldn’t come sooner, but he knew explaining would be just an excuse.
“We’re sorry. To the student, and to everyone here.”
As Park Daeman’s posture softened, Kim Seo-jun no longer pressed the matter.
“Let’s go now, Father.”
Kim Seo-jun tugged on Kim Joo-hyuk’s wrist as if to say no more was needed.
“Right. Let’s go. Our work here is done.”
Kim Joo-hyuk left the cleanup to Park Daeman and turned to leave with Kim Seo-jun.
Park Daeman seemed to want to say something more but remained silent as they walked away.
Walking between the broken vehicles, Kim Joo-hyuk looked back at his son’s strong back and suddenly ruffled his hair.
His son, who had grown much taller than him, now required his arm to be raised to reach his head.
“You’ve grown… a lot.”
Kim Joo-hyuk was proud beyond words at how much his son had grown.
Not only had he single-handedly handled a large pack of wolves, but he had also defeated the formidable elite monster.
It was no longer a vague impression of strength; Kim Joo-hyuk had seen it with his own eyes.
Unlike most hunters who relied solely on mystery and neglected their training, Kim Seo-jun had never been lazy with his practice.
That alone made Kim Joo-hyuk proud.
His son was no longer confined within the narrow circle of parent and child but ready to step into the wider world.
‘Of course, he’s grown. Now I can protect both his mother and me.’
“Boy… not yet. I’m not someone who needs protecting. Anyway, let’s go. I’m craving the kimchi stew your mother made today.”
This time, Kim Joo-hyuk grabbed Kim Seo-jun’s hand firmly—the first time since his son was six years old.
Where once his hand was small and delicate, now it was even larger than his own.
Kim Seo-jun did not refuse his father’s rough but warm touch.
The calloused hand was harsh to the touch, yet warmer than ever.