Chapter 8
Suri..!!
Suri fell from the sky with tremendous force and flattened the wolf-type monster right in front of me.
The impact was so strong that the stone tiles paving the sidewalk shattered and buckled, kicking up clouds of dust.
“B-behind you!”
Two wolf monsters burst out from the dust that still hadn't settled and charged at Suri, but.
ㅡClang!!
There was no way the teeth of a mere low-rank monster could bite through Suri's body, which was made entirely of metal. Suri spread its left wing wide to the side and spun halfway around.
ㅡSlash..!
Like blades that had just been sharpened, the feathers split the wolf monsters in half. After killing three wolf monsters in an instant, Suri shook off the blood droplets with a cool sweep of its wings and came over to me.
ㅡKiiit
“Ugh.. that was scary….”
But it wasn't over yet. There should definitely be our Dangdang near that gate.
Realizing what I was worried about, Suri spread its wings and flew into the sky, then flew straight to the gate and even brought Dangdang back in its beak.
But...
“D-Dangdang..?”
Dangdang's monitor was damaged. Judging from the three small holes lined up there, it looked like it had been bitten by a wolf. The monitor was crackling with static and the screen wasn't displaying properly, and the usually clear beep had static mixed into it.
“N-no way..!”
My cash cow..! No, not that... it was the golem I'd spent the longest time with, and if it got wrecked like this, that would be too heartbreaking.
It still seems to be conscious. Judging from the fact that I keep hearing ding-ding sounds, it doesn't seem completely dead...
And it's my phone, too. Without it I can't make calls or even check my account. Whatever it takes, I have to fix Dangdang..!
“For now... let's go home. Suri, you can fly back without being noticed, right?”
ㅡNod
Then that's settled. I carefully hugged the broken Dangdang to my chest and headed home with my hood pulled low. Warm liquid ran down my cheek, but this is absolutely not a tear. A man doesn't cry over something like this.
It was probably because some weird person had just bumped my shoulder as they passed by. My shoulder hurts so badly that I'm tearing up from that.
Hunters' cars poured into the area around the gate site in an instant. Vehicles belonging to B-rank-and-above hunters certified by the state have a sword-and-shield emblem stamped on them, and when a gate appears nearby, they can turn on sirens with flashing lights like police cars.
Four or five vehicles quickly pushed into the gate's location, and the instant the doors that opened upward swung open, each hunter drew a weapon and charged into the swarm of monsters roaming the streets.
Shaaak ㅡ !!
To ordinary people, it would have been dangerous, but for high-rank hunters they weren't much of a threat. The situation was quickly wrapped up, and afterward people from the Hunter Management Bureau came to handle the aftermath.
“Captain Joo. What are you looking at?”
One of the four major guilds in Korea, responsible for the Gangbuk area. The Nova Guild, founded by Oseong in the early days of the gate crisis that broke out in the early 1990s.
Joo Hayoung, captain of its 3rd strike unit, was scanning the street when something that caught her attention suddenly appeared.
“I was wondering whether there'd been a civilian Awakened nearby.”
“A civilian Awakened? Oh, because of that?”
A depression so deep the ground had buckled. A wolf-type monster smashed to pieces by a powerful impact, and two wolf monster corpses lying side by side next to it, cut cleanly into upper and lower halves.
'The impact was strong enough to crack the ground, and the cut surface is clean too. Is the attacker using two or more weapons?'
“Check the CCTV around here. Use the one facing this way.”
“Yes, sir. I'll have the guys take a look.”
* * * * *
“Ugh... no... don't die, Dangdang...”
Dangdang was on the verge of dying. No way, golems are sturdy. It shouldn't die from a wound this small.
“W-what do I do...”
My head is a total mess. More than my aching shoulder or hip, I'm worried about Dangdang. The high-pitched beep has static mixed into it. The volume has also gone down, and the colorful vertical lines covering part of the screen are spreading wider and wider.
ㅡKiiit!
“Suri..?”
Suri, standing beside me, looked at me and tapped its chest.
“You can fix it?!”
At my question, Suri shook its head. That meant it couldn't do it itself. But it kept tapping the area over its chest again and again with the tip of its wing.
“Chest... mana stone? Do you mean mana?”
ㅡNod-nod
Only then did Suri nod. Did it mean that if I used my mana, I could heal Dangdang's injury?
“O-okay! I'll give it a try..!”
I've never properly unleashed my mana before. All I remember is using part of my mana while activating skills; I can't do it the way real hunters do.
“Ugh..! Get fixed..!!”
After setting the injured Dangdang down on the floor for a moment, I stretched out both hands toward it and put all my strength into them. A peculiar sensation rippled from my fingertips.
A strangely ticklish feeling spread through my body, something I'd never felt before.
ㅡWooooong..!!
Was it my strong wish reaching it? The moment I slowly opened my tightly shut eyes, what I saw was bright blue mana and Dangdang's screen damage gradually healing.
[The golem damaged by the kingdom's mana is repaired.]
[Golem Creation EX skill level increased. Lv.2 -> Lv.3]
“It, it worked..!!”
It really was fixed. Even the Golem Creation skill's level had gone up! The repair of golems seems to be affected by the creation level.
ㅡ삐빗!!
Dangdang let out a clear, high-pitched beep with no static at all. It spun around in place a few times as if celebrating its survival, then came over and hugged me tightly.
“Dangdang..!! Thank goodness!!”
A thumbs-up emoji showed up on the little monitor screen. Dangdang probably charged toward the gate because of the mana-detection function built into the phone.
The function had originally been added so it could warn its owner of danger and tell them to run away, but Dangdang is still young, right? It doesn't know any better yet. So it must have run toward the place where mana was being detected.
Is it really young..? By golem standards it's only on its second day of life, and even counting it as a phone, it's not even three years old yet.
“Dangdang, from now on don't run toward mana just because you sense it. Okay..?”
ㅡ삐빗!!
The answer is amazingly prompt. I'm worried it might be a little dumb, but if it's been hurt like this, it'll understand.
Minyum, who was standing beside me, was also dancing the moonwalk to celebrate Dangdang's safe return. Where on earth did it learn to dance..?”
“Ah, and... thanks, Suri. How did you know?”
Suri doesn't have a function that lets it connect to the internet like Dangdang does, so how did it know that mana could heal a summon? I had some idea too, but I was so flustered that I couldn't remember at all.
ㅡ키잇
“Hehe, really~? Suri is so smart, you know everything??”
Suri didn't really answer, just turned its head away shyly and looked off into the distant mountains. It even saved me? It's fair to say Suri was today's MVP.
“How are you so good at fighting?! You're seriously the best!”
As I rubbed my cheek against Suri in my arms, I no longer felt the sharpness that had cut down the wolf monsters in a single stroke. Maybe it's being considerate of me.
Once the source of panic was gone, the hunger that had receded earlier came rushing back. Come to think of it, I'd gone out to buy something to eat because I was hungry.
ㅡ부스럭….
After putting the triangular kimbap I'd bought at the convenience store into the microwave, the only cooking appliance in our house, I sat down at the computer and opened the gallery.
I have to tell them about today's situation. This is something I absolutely have to brag about.
* * * * *
[인셍망헷음 : ❣+⁉+각붕아❣+⁉+Can you feel it❣+⁉+You can feel it, right?❣+⁉+
Can you feel this princess's greatness?]
-ㅇㅇ : Why are you like this today
-유부야스킹 : This is fucking crazy, seriously
-미도리야고마워 : Is this person okay
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : Seems like they didn't take their meds ㅇㅇ
As always, they're nothing but idiots treating me like a fool, but among them there are a few with a different reaction.
-도슝좍 : What'd you do lol
ㄴ 인셍망헷음 : I came back after cutting down 3 monsters estimated to be around S-rank, lol. Means I protected the Republic of Korea
ㄴ 도슝좍 : (Beep-beep?)
가갤입단 : Did you really awaken?
ㄴ 인셍망헷음 : Yep.
ㄴ 가갤입단 : Get in line
ㄴ 인셍망헷음 : Active hunters, don't line up;
The people who know I'm an Awakened are 도슝좍 and 가갤입단, one of the few real Awakened posters in the Awakened Gallery.
The reason for the nickname 가갤입단 is that he's affiliated with Nova Guild. Nova Guild's nickname is Guardians of the Galaxy, probably because of Oseong's flagship product.
His rank is C, so it's not particularly high, but not just anyone gets into a conglomerate guild. I think his ability was telekinesis. As far as I know, he was a pretty rare ability user.
“Haah, what do I do? At this rate, am I really going to become an S-rank hunter someday?”
As I watch Minyum and Dangdang bouncing around on the mattress, that thought comes to me. But still, the one who's really good at fighting is Suri.
Usually, when word spreads that a gate has burst open, the Awakened Gallery is the first place to hear about it. Since internet users spread all across the country gather in one place there, and it's where the most hunter fans are.
“How's the gallery reacting?”
I used to sometimes go watch whenever a gate opened nearby. Because... hunters were definitely going to swarm in. But this time I'd experienced the situation myself, so I didn't have time to think about that.
After searching the place name where the gate had burst open, eyewitness accounts were already flooding the Awakened Gallery.
-Today's 2 PM Gangbuk gate burst.png
-What the hell can't these Nova bastards do
-Fuck!!! Union was late again!!!!!
-As expected, Yupyeong is on cleanup duty lol
There are complaints going back and forth about Union Guild, whose territory overlaps with theirs, being a little slower than Nova, which acted quickly right after the gate appeared.
[청계드래곤 : Union stanning aside, the ridiculously amazing points are yeah
The unshakable resilience of getting flamed every time for being late and never wavering at all
The iron mentality that never even posts an apology once despite the criticism of 50 million Gakbungers
The speed to turn on the siren and floor it at 74 km/h in a school zone
The practicality of grabbing mana stones before tending to civilian casualties
According to the spokesperson, there isn't a hunter with faster movement speed than their vehicles, yet they still split Gangbuk in two]
-Codecap : These guys are seriously legendary
-ㅇㅇ : What's the last line supposed to mean?
ㄴ데데뎃 : When the controversy blew up over why they were driving cars even when the place was close, they said there wasn't a hunter who could run faster on foot than their vehicles, lol
ㄴ 동경버튜버 : The bullshit part is that Kim Hyeok-seon's burst speed was measured at 180 km/h
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : Kim Hyeok-seon really doesn't get dispatched much
ㄴ 동경버튜버 : That's the problem
-ㅇㅇ : In reality, their combat power is just lacking
-호드까기인형 : But where the hell does Nova keep popping out from?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : These guys take turns standing watch, don't they
ㄴ 호드까기인형 : Lord Nova, damn
ㄴ 유니온제리 : That's all just to create an aura of intimidation, and they say it's great, idiot lol
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : Aura of intimidation (they rush over the moment a gate pops)
As expected, it's the so-called 'fan war' to protect the clan they like. While Nova dogs and Union dogs are biting into each other to protect their masters, one popular post also went up in Real-Time Best Gallery.
“Uh..?”
[Analysis post) Evidence that Nova's hidden new A-rank hunter is a summoner-class hunter]