Auto Hunting

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Episode 28

Lee Jin-wook, the vice team leader, was a platinum seal Hunter with nine years of experience. He ranked 16th among the Top 20 hunters in domestic rankings.

“From now on, I’m assuming control!” he announced through the communicator.

He planned to have hunters with long-range ammunition to cover the duo headed for the rift; however, his eyes had caught onto Yoo-seong’s trajectory.

In two seconds, the rookie had gone further than Jin-wook had expected.

He then changed his mind.

“Keep the existing formation! Stop the Shantigas in this area as much as possible!”

The most important thing at that point was keeping the beasts in their zone.

With the pace at which Yoo-seong was going, covering them was not necessary. The Shantigas in the air had noticed Yoo-seong climbing up the building, and they became curious.

They began to rush towards him.

Although Yoo-seong had defeated 4-star monsters before, this time, there were more than one. Even with Auto-Hunting, it would be difficult to climb up the wall while fighting the Shantiga.

However, he had the necessary equipment. He didn’t feel perturbed. He and Yoo-hee knew what they had to do.

Yoo-seong began to weave around on the building wall.

Yoo-hee’s eyes didn’t waver. She raised her Geller-gun towards the monsters. The moment they went around the corner of the building, she shot at the Shantiga.

With her mind, she caused the aura bullets to explode, killing some Shantigas. The explosions also confused the other monsters.

Yoo-seong came around the corner of the building, whirling one of the ropes in his hands.

‘He means to throw that into the crack, Shin Yoo-hee speculated.’

The edges of the crack had tremendous suction power so that anything that came close enough was sucked in.

If Yoo-seong threw the rope at the crack, they would be sucked in with the rope.

There was just one problem: if they went into the world beyond in such a haphazard manner, they would be unable to defend themselves against anything they come upon.

Besides, they also had to defend themselves against the Shantigas around them.

She would be unable to aim properly with such a haphazard movement.

However, Yoo-seong knew what he had to do.

He threw one end of the rope at a pole on top of the building, and then he threw the other end towards the crack. One end of the rope curled around the pole while the other got sucked into it.

The rope became taut enough for Yoo-seong to run upon.

As Shin Yoo-hee expected, the Shantiga rushed at them.

The next second, Yoo-seong took out a switchblade then used his Aura to surround the blade. It was a simpler technique than creating a blade of pure Aura, though it was of relatively less power.

It was enough to deal with Shantigas coming ahead, though.

Shin Yoo-hee was surprised by how calm she felt, hanging by an arm around a man running on a rope. Hanging on tightly, she turned backward, aiming her gun at the Shantigas coming from behind while doing her best to maintain balance.

As both of them annihilated the Shantigas from in front and behind, Yoo-hee wondered whether Yoo-seong was indeed a beginner.

The thoughts didn’t last long in her head.

Suddenly, her communicator began to screech with the interference from the magnetic field around the crack. There was a blinding flash as they went through the portal, and, soon, their eyes adjusted to the new world.

Shin Yoo-hee was familiar with being inside the crack.

She had been a part of numerous operations with the rift collapse team. The world beyond had a humid tropical climate that seemed dangerous to the skin.

However, there was one more thing she didn’t expect to see in the landscape.

“Oops, damn,” she said, almost barfing in disgust as she and Yoo-seong fell from the sky.

The ground beneath the rift was littered with corpses of the Maruchan team.

She knew they were never careless. To close the rift, they had to get a pulse breaker close to it.

In other words, the pulse breaker had to be around there.

After a quick scan, she found it by a tree close to the pile of corpses. The pulse breaker was something that had to be started with a recharger using Aura.

One hunter with Aura recharged it with a manual turbine while the rest of the personnel covered the first hunter and handled the beasts around the rift.

Shantigas were still swarming around the crack’s opening. However, rather than heading towards the two who suddenly appeared, the monsters continued to rush into the rift.

“There, Yoo-seong. That’s the breaker. We need it to stop the rift,” she said.

Yoo-seong nodded and approached the breaker.

Soon, they landed on the ground, and he ended up dropping Shin Yoo-hee off.

Shin Yoo-hee looked at the gauge of the breaker. Fortunately, the Maruchan team had almost charged it fully. If she were able to charge it for just a minute more…

Suddenly, she heard murmuring sounds, and she turned towards its source. Her eyes widened, and she wondered how she hadn’t seen it before.

Shantiga Prime-★★★★★★

It was the leader of the pack. It had to be at least three meters tall. Unlike the common Shantigas, it had white skin.

Suddenly, everything made sense.

The Maruchan team must have been charging the pulse breaker before the hordes of Shantigas assaulted them. The Shantiga Prime had been feasting on their bodies.

She stood and faced the monster.

It was the first 6-star monster she had ever faced alone. She didn’t know if she could win this. Even if she did, would she have enough Aura left to charge the Pulse Breaker?

However, she had no choice. She had to fight.

She raised her Geller-Gun as the monster made a low growl.

Yoo-seong stood in her way.

“What are you doing?” she asked him.

“Please deal with the pulse breaker. I’ll handle this,” he said.

Shin Yu-hee stared at him.

‘Had his helmet interfered with his reasoning?’

“You know how to operate the recharger, don’t you?” he asked.

“Yes. But I can’t spend my energy there and still be able to take out the monster. Now, this monster isn’t going to wait for us to keep talking,” she rapidly charged her gun.

“It’s probably confused as to why we are still alive, but it isn’t going to keep wondering,” she continued.

Yoo-seong was still in her way.

“The opponent is six stars,” Yoo-seong said.

“I know.”

The Shantiga Prime crouched slowly.

It had almost finished assessing its new enemies. They didn’t seem to be of much threat.

“Let me hold it off while you deal with the pulse breaker. The only way we’re going to win is if we work as a team,” he said.

Shin Yoo-hee sighed. “But I don’t want to put you at risk. This is my job, not yours.”

“Well, it has become mine now. Trust me. I’ll do the best I can.”

They stared at each other. Then, she nodded slowly.

The next second, the Shantiga leaped at them. Yoo-seong turned and leaped at it just in time. With a punch, he sent the creature falling back then, he turned and returned Yoo-hee’s nod.

She noticed he had started acting like a robot again, but she wasn’t bothered by that.

She just hoped he’d live through it. She didn’t understand him, but she held on to his words.

‘I’ll do my best…’

Turning away, she bent over the pulse breaker and placed her hand on the recharger, focusing her Aura on it.

Behind her, Yoo-seong escaped the slash of the Prime Shantiga’s claws.

He was using Automatic Hunting to divert the attention of the Prime Shantiga from Yoo-hee. For some reason, it seemed to want to go to her.

The Prime Shantiga charged at him and butted him with its head, sending him sprawling on the ground. When he stood up, his body ached all over so that he could hardly bring himself to move.

The Prime Shantiga cried in triumph, focusing its gaze on the other prey as its wings flapped aggressively and its feet stomped the wet soil.

Automatic Hunting moved Yoo-seong’s body, this time, not in the Prime Shantiga’s direction. He went towards the corpses the Shantiga had been eating and picked one.

He hurled the body at the beast, catching it in surprise.

The Prime Shantiga turned its gaze from Yoo-hee to see Yoo-seong standing again.

It bellowed in wrath and charged towards Yoo-seong.

Yoo-seong didn’t flinch as the Shantiga came at him with speed.

-Posture setting.-

-Assault form applied.-

With speed, he pulled out his switchblade and surrounded it with Aura.

This time, though, its strength couldn’t be compared with the previous one. He focused his entire Aura on the blade.

Yoo-seong and the Prime Shantiga clashed. From the corner of her eye, Yoo-hee saw the collision.

She couldn’t be distracted from what she was doing. She focused. The monster butted Yoo-seong and sent him soaring through the air.

This time, there was no aura to protect his body. He only had the suit to protect himself.

He could feel the cracks in his suit already. His skin had also been bruised.

However, it was a worthy cause. The monster had lost one of its arms and cried in pain.

Yoo-seong stood up. Once again, he ran towards the terrible lizard and swung the blade. It was a 6-star monster, and so its brain was advanced. It flapped its wings and rose into the air.

‘Do not miss…’

Auto-Hunting held the rope around Yoo-seong’s body. It fixed Yoo-seong’s eyes on the slot.

-Make eye contact, blink to activate utility slot-1.-

Yoo-seong pulled out what he had put in the slot.

A rope appeared in the hands of Yoo-seong. He formed a knot with the end of one rope and threw it at the monster.

The Shantiga was unable to balance itself in the air since it had lost an arm. The rope did its job right, vibrating and digging into the beast’s neck.

The tug of war then began.

The Shantiga Prime tried to escape by flapping its wings, while Yoo-seong tried to pull him down.

Yoo-seong’s feet were dragged along the wet soil. The monster was stronger than him. Suddenly, he heard something that sounded like a car engine from behind him.

The next second, he watched as the bullets from a Geller Gun hit the Shantiga.

Shin Yoo-hee finished charging and was ready to fight.

“Down, boy,” she said as she clenched her left fist.

The bullets exploded, and a hole the size of a basketball was left at the Prime Shantiga’s chest. She hoped it would be enough to kill it.

Unfortunately, its wings didn’t stop flapping, and it didn’t stop howling.

Shin Yoo-hee raised her gun again to shoot, but Yoo-seong raised his fist, signaling for her to stop. At first, she didn’t understand why.

“Forget about killing it! We need to get out of here first!” he yelled.

“Why?” she asked.

She wanted to kill the monster that had killed all her fellow hunters.

“Come quickly! The crack will close soon!” Yoo-seong said.

That was when she remembered that the breaker had already been activated.

The crack was vibrating louder.

Shin Yoo-hee ran towards the crack, took one glance to make sure that Yoo-seong was right behind him, before jumping out.

It was a relief to see the real world again. However, she realized they had a problem.

The rope they used as a bridge had been completely sucked into the crack.

It would be a free fall to the ground. Suddenly, she felt a hand grasp her from behind, and the free fall quickly turned into a gentle descent feeling.

It was Yoo-seong.

It was as if they had a parachute. As she lifted her eyes, she understood.

The crack was gone. In its place was the clear blue sky. Above them was the weakened Shantiga Prime, flapping its wings desperately.

The Shantiga Prime was too weak to escape, but its flapping wings was just enough to provide resistance and allow them to land safely.

Yoo-seong was still gripping the rope tightly. They had managed to catch a 6-star monster.

She smiled as she looked at Yoo-seong’s face, which was covered by a helmet.

Strangely, Yoo-seong remained silent throughout. Every hunter rushed to them as they landed, surrounding them with bewildered gazes.

The secret that Yoo-seong’s helmet had hidden was revealed.

Yoo-seong had fallen unconscious at some point during the descent. Facing a six-star monster with Automatic Hunting had drained him.

The hunters carefully carried him to where he could rest, and Yoo-seong slept peacefully.

If he knew what was happening as he slept, he would have awakened.

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