Even when a thick fog hides the sea, anyone can tell there’s an ocean beyond it. They can hear the faint cries of gulls and feel the salt in the wind.
A battlefield is the same.
Screams and blood fly in every direction. Countless blades clash, throwing off sparks. And yet, something with a special power can change the air of a battlefield simply by existing.
Just like now.
Rrrrmmm.
The air trembled.
A deep rumble rolling in from far away shook the desert.
The monsters that had been charging over the bodies of their own kind came to a halt as if on cue. People stiffened with a start.
What were they feeling at that moment?
A chill creeping down their spines? Or fear they’d briefly forgotten?
I didn’t know exactly what it was, but I wasn’t feeling either one.
What you saw depended on where you stood.
Unlike them, I stood on a peak. From there, I could see farther and sense more.
And I wasn’t the only one.
“This is…”
The Skeleton King, who’d come up beside me at some point, murmured as if groaning.
Magic Johnson, who’d been saving his strength by focusing on defense in the rear, looked grim. So did Yamamoto Genji, an S-rank Hunter at least in name, and Team Leader Choi, whose Qi Sense was nearly as sharp as his.
“Fuck.”
“Chikushō.1 This is insane. I have to get out of here.”
“So the leaders are finally making their move.”
Whack!
There’s always a reason when some bastard gets hit.
I kicked Yamamoto Genji in the shin for spouting nonsense at a time like this. As I turned away, I stirred my internal energy and stamped down with a quake step.
Boom!
The ground shuddered around me, and a wall of sand surged upward.
Through the countless grains falling back down, I saw the Hunters’ faces. They looked as if they’d just been doused in cold water.
“What are you all scared of? You that eager to die?”
“B-but this is…”
“However you rank them, they’re still monsters. And we’re all still Hunters. So quit freezing up like you’re about to die and…”
Thud!
I drove a dagger into the head of an ogre still writhing and clinging stubbornly to life, then finished my sentence.
“Fight. Like Hunters.”
Ding.
System
Defeated Lv. 95 Ogre!
Gained a tiny amount of EXP!
The effect of the Title One Against a Thousand activates!
Intimidation has greatly increased!
Enemies are rapidly losing confidence due to your Intimidation!
The status effect Fear, which had been applied to numerous allies, has been removed!
Ally morale has greatly increased. Those who follow your leadership will share a strong bond and perform even better!
Certain stats increase when facing numerous enemies!
One Against a Thousand was the Title I’d earned while fighting the Arch Lich’s army in Sichuan Province. For a reward earned through such a rare feat, it certainly delivered.
“GRAAAAAH!”
A few Hunters who’d been swallowing nervously until now roared, their eyes bloodshot. A tremendous cheer followed, heating the air around us.
Of course, there were always exceptions.
“No, even so, that was a bit much…”
I clicked my tongue softly at the sight of Yamamoto Genji rubbing his shin where I’d kicked it, watching me warily. Then I turned my eyes toward the monster army stretching endlessly across the vast desert.
Clack. Clack-clack.
Their movements were orderly now, unlike before.
A force of well over ten thousand marched with measured precision, parting to the left and right. Three paths opened, and at last, the beings radiating an overwhelming presence appeared.
The S-rank monsters.
Some were huge and grotesque. Others were so small compared to the monsters around them that they barely stood out.
But the demonic qi and Fear pouring from them were as overwhelming as all those countless monsters put together.
Enough to frighten even Yamamoto Genji. Cowardly and less capable though he was, he was still an S-rank Hunter.
“So those are the commanders leading this monster army,” the Skeleton King murmured.
“But the most important one is still missing,” I said.
“…The Prophet.”
“Right. The Prophet’s the head. Those guys are the hands and feet.”
“But is he here now? It pains me to admit it, but… I haven’t seen or sensed anyone I’d take to be The Prophet.”
To be honest, neither had I.
But there was one thing I was sure of.
The Prophet was somewhere on this battlefield.
Given how meticulous the bastard was, he was probably watching everything unfold from some distance away.
If he came close, I’d sense him right away.
The enemies were too numerous, and the battlefield too vast, for me to get a clear read with Qi Sense.
On top of that, the monster army’s momentum had changed with the arrival of its S-rank commanders. It was nothing like before.
“Jin.”
Magic Johnson’s low voice reached my ears. His eyes had sunk deep, as if he could already guess what the battle about to begin again would cost us.
He was worried about me, too—the one who would have to bear it all.
“If you’ll let me, I’d like to take command instead.”
I stared silently at Magic Johnson for a moment, then shook my head.
“No. I’m in command.”
Of course, Magic Johnson had the skill and the qualifications. He was a veteran of the Great Cataclysm and a fine commander who’d led his forces to victory in more than ten major battles.
But…
“If there’s something I have to bear, I won’t push it onto someone else.”
“…!”
“That’s one of the reasons I’m here, isn’t it?”
Magic Johnson looked at me with wide eyes, then gave a small nod.
When he spoke, I heard firm trust and the faintest trace of a smile.
“All right, young friend. Give us our orders.”
I took a deep breath and looked around at everyone.
A thousand Hunters in all. I didn’t know every name or every face.
But if someone fell here and never got back up, I’d remember everything about them for the rest of my life.
Yeah. That was enough.
If I died, they’d do the same for me.
“I’m dropping the formalities now, Magic Johnson.”
“Yes, young boss.”
“Keep the enemies in the air in check and focus on protecting our allies. The Hunters under you are to follow your orders until I say otherwise.”
“Yes, sir!”
Magic Johnson shouted his answer and rose into the air.
The Grand Mage’s eyes, alight with a keen edge, followed hundreds of specks slowly crossing the cloudless sky—and the eagle beating its wings at their head.
More precisely, he was watching a monster with enormous wings tens of meters2 across and a lion’s lower body: a Griffon.
“Choi Minwoo.”
“Yes.”
“Take a hundred troops and hold the front line. If the tanks break formation, hand in your sword and retire.”
Team Leader Choi raised the Hero’s Sword, its blade shining with transparent light, and answered.
“That won’t happen.”
Team Leader Choi was the great hero Cheon Taemin’s only blood descendant and the master of the Ares Guild, yet he’d never once slacked off.
Sometimes I thought that if a new S-rank Hunter emerged anytime soon, it would be him.
I let out a quiet laugh at his calm confidence, then turned to the others still waiting.
“Skeleton King. Yamamoto Genji. You two…”
“No need to waste time saying it. There are three S-rank monsters on the ground, so we can each take one.”
“M-me too?”
I silenced Yamamoto Genji with a hard stare, then corrected the Skeleton King.
“You and him take one each. I’ll take two.”
“What?”
“Huh?”
The two of them questioned me at the same time. I turned away and muttered inwardly.
Open Inventory. Summon.
The two daggers that had served me so well in close combat disappeared. The cool, solid feel of a spear shaft filled my hand, which had been empty for an instant.
A flame warped the space around it.
Fwoosh.
Force formed around the transparent spearhead, wrapping it in a clear sheen.
In an instant too brief to measure, I gripped the spear in reverse and drove it down like a streak of light.
At an unseen enemy that had approached from deep in the desert without anyone noticing.
Shhk. KRAAAAAASH!
The heat-soaked ground split like tofu.
Hard sand and earth beneath my feet shot high into the air. In the ground, gouged out like a vast crater, countless writhing creatures came into view.
Among them was the largest of all, a monster gleaming red.
That’s…
A warning light flashed in my mind.
At the same time, the blue circle of Qi Sense spread out alongside my spearhead and reached the monster’s hard body.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
System
Your Qi Sense is currently at eight stars.
You have detected targets within range using Qi Sense!
Lv. 87 Soldier Scorpion
Lv. 76 Worker Scorpion
Lv. 99 Elite Scorpion
System
Your Qi Sense is currently at the eighth stage.
You have detected targets within range using Qi Sense!
Lv. 87 Soldier Scorpion
Lv. 76 Worker Scorpion
Lv. 99 Elite Scorpion
Countless details reached me through my eyes and ears.
But my attention was fixed on only one of them.
System
Lv. 140 Scorpion King
Countless scorpions as large as grown men—and one scorpion larger than dozens of them put together.
The Scorpion King.
That was the enemy I had to take down first.
KRAAAAAASH! Crunch!
Superheated flames scorched the monsters’ lair, deep beneath the ground.
Their hard carapaces, sharp pincers, even the venomous stingers on their tails—all of it melted away.
Kiiiiieeet!
The scorpions—or rather, the monsters—screamed in agony. Their dying cries spilled out of the pit and into the world.
Humans and monsters.
Monsters and humans.
Everyone could hear their screams, and everyone reacted.
“Kill. The. Humans!”
The Demon Realm language erupted like a roar from an S-rank monster, and a massive tremor swept in every direction.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
Their numbers weren’t the problem.
Their momentum, and the quantity and quality of the demonic qi they emitted, were beyond comparison with what we’d faced before.
The elite monsters waiting in the rear charged after their S-rank commanders. More than ten thousand monsters surged behind them like a wave.
KRAAAAAH!
On the ground came an enormous force led by three S-rank monsters. Over everyone’s heads, hundreds of flying monsters shrieked, led by the Griffon spreading its unusually large wings.
Kiaaaak!
The attack began across both sky and ground.
But I neither feared nor hesitated.
Kiaaaat!
The Scorpion King screamed as it burst out of the pit. I drove one decisive strike into it.
Crunch! Fwoooooosh!
Its acidic blood melted away in the flames.
Ding.
With the System alert I’d been waiting for, I charged like a beast toward the S-rank monsters.
KRAAAAAASH!
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