Human Hunter — Part 2
I quickly assessed the situation.
I was surrounded by vagrants.
An unknown enemy had laid a meticulous trap, cornering me.
But if they think they can take me down this easily, they’re sorely mistaken.
I put on my helmet.
The detection ability activated.
Combined with my [Insight] trait, I could clearly discern the vagrants’ positioning and their attack routes.
Someone took aim.
At me.
Aimed right at my chest—straight for my heart.
“Damn it!”
I threw myself to the side immediately.
Leap.
I moved over ten meters away in an instant, just as gunfire erupted.
Tat-tat-tat!
A precise three-round burst.
If I’d been a second slower, I’d be dead.
Bullets embedded themselves in the concrete wall, scattering shards of stone.
The vagrants yelled as they saw me.
“Ten billion won bounty!”
“He’s running away!”
“Kill him!”
Their bodies swayed, drugged up and unstable.
But their aim was disturbingly precise.
My [Insight] trait flashed a bright red warning.
A prickling instinct shot through my mind.
There’s no way to dodge this.
“Damn it!”
I switched traits on the spot.
[Mana Shield][Defense][Iron Skin]
[Einherjar Cultivation Technique][Mana Core][Mana Stabilization]
I poured everything I had into defense.
Raising my left arm, I covered both my chest and face.
A shield deployed, and my body grew heavy like a fortress.
A transparent barrier spread, and then the storm hit.
Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
A hail of bullets from dozens of attackers.
Whatever drugs they were on, their accuracy rivaled that of seasoned soldiers.
Hundreds of bullets hammered at me.
Now that I was Level 3, I could block standard rifle rounds with my Mana Shield.
But hundreds of rounds?
If dozens turned into hundreds?
“Guh!”
A heavy impact slammed into me.
My Mana Shield shattered, and my mana started to backlash.
Just shy of a full mana overload.
Even as I spat blood, my instincts drove me to hurl myself forward.
Toward the convenience store’s glass window in front of me.
Crash!
The glass shattered, tearing into my tracksuit.
Some shards even pierced through my protective suit.
At least it ended there.
Tat-tat-tat-tat!
More gunfire ripped apart the spot where I’d just been.
‘Crazy bastards.’
An outdoor battle is a no-go.
There were too many of them. And unlike the usual thugs I’d encountered, these guys knew their way around firearms.
I sprang up again, smashing through the glass door leading further inside the building.
Then, I sprinted up a nearby staircase, quickly reaching the third floor.
The vagrants gleefully chased after me.
“Kill him!”
“Get the money!”
“Drugs! Give us drugs!”
“If we kill that guy, we’re rich!”
I clutched my chest, wincing.
It hurt like hell, like my veins were filled with boiling water instead of blood.
My entire bloodstream seethed, and my mana circuits were on the brink of overload.
I should be heading to a hospital or a shrine, but instead, I just swapped out my traits.
[Einherjar Cultivation Technique][Vigor][Vitality]
These three should keep me going for a while.
[Shooting][Insight][Stealth]
I’d rely on these for combat.
I crouched in the third-floor hallway, observing their movements.
‘Four of them.’
Two pairs, carefully making their way up the stairs, each covering the other’s blind spots.
That’s when I realized.
The drugs these guys were on weren’t normal.
It was combat drugs—known among users simply as “doping.”
The reflection of my own eyes in the glass wall looked cold and detached.
‘This is familiar…’
In Arcane Seoul, random events sometimes happen.
One common one is an ambush.
Some superhumans force vagrants to take combat drugs, arm them with firearms, and send them to attack.
You could recruit them after subduing them, or just kill them and raid their hideout for loot.
‘If we’re in Daelim-dong at this stage… it’s one of three possible scenarios.’
No time to think further.
Thud.
Heavy footsteps echoed nearby.
Switching from [Shooting] to [Throw], I rolled the grenade in my hand.
It tumbled down the stairs with a soft clink, clink, clink.
“Huh?”
“What’s that?”
The vagrants barely had time to react.
Their fates were sealed.
Boom!
An explosion ripped through the stairwell, shrapnel sweeping away the vagrants.
Not just the four climbing up, but even those waiting below.
“Die!”
I leaned out and fired a three-round burst.
I took out the vagrants sprawled on the ground, as well as one I spotted on the second floor.
Bodies dropped, one by one.
‘Time to get out.’
I hadn’t seen any grenade launchers or rocket launchers yet.
But it wouldn’t be surprising if these vagrants had grenades on them.
If they started lobbing them to clear the third floor, I wouldn’t survive either.
I quickly headed for the rooftop.
Boom! Boom!
Explosions erupted from below, a bit too late.
“Heh.”
I kicked open the rooftop door and stepped outside, letting out a faint sigh.
All around me, I was surrounded.
The building entrance, the entire perimeter—vagrants formed a human chain, all with guns aimed up at me.
One of them pointed and shouted.
“There he is! On the rooftop!”
“Fire! Shoot!”
“The money’s on the rooftop!”
Tat-tat-tat-tat!
That relentless gunfire again.
But hitting me from below the rooftop would be difficult.
Calmly, I unzipped the golf bag.
Swapping out the rifle, I pulled out my grenade launcher.
This wasn’t the under-barrel, single-shot grenade launcher I’d used before.
This was my new toy—a six-shot standalone grenade launcher.
With a heavy, revolver-style cylinder, it was bulky but packed serious firepower.
More than enough to clear out these drugged-up lunatics.
I loaded each chamber with a grenade.
In the other hand, I prepped more grenades and tossed them in all directions.
“Eat this!”
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Tear gas grenades activated, spewing thick smoke.
With my gas mask on, I was unaffected. But the vagrants?
Their reactions came quickly.
“Gah! Cough!”
“Shit!”
“It’s tear gas!”
“Damn it! He’s got a gas mask!”
“You think I carry a gas mask, you idiot?”
Chaos erupted below.
The vagrants, already high, started coughing and crying uncontrollably.
It was my cue to move.
I slung the golf bag over my shoulder, packing grenades into my ammo belt one by one.
Step.
I planted my foot on the ledge.
Gunfire erupted sporadically, but nothing threatening.
Even with my [Insight] and detection abilities pushed to the max, I felt no danger.
Only a thrill for the impending counterattack.
Whish!
I leapt.
With one jump, I landed on the rooftop of the opposite building.
But I didn’t stop. I ran, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, moving like a flying squirrel across the buildings.
“Wha—!”
“There! Over there!”
One vagrant pointed at me, but it was already too late.
I aimed my grenade launcher right at him.
A weapon with a shape distinctly different from an ordinary gun.
A much shorter, fatter barrel.
Thunk!
I pulled the trigger.
A hefty recoil jolted my shoulder.
I saw a small black dot fly straight into the cluster of vagrants, a clear image burned into my retinas.
Boom!
There were no flames.
Just an explosion and a cloud of dust.
The result was brutal.
A blast radius of five meters, designed for anti-personnel combat, wiped out everything in its range.
“Gah!”
“Agh!”
The vagrants collapsed.
Covered in blood, they cursed the world, begged for divine mercy, and took their last breaths.
And the scariest part?
My grenade launcher could fire six rounds.
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
Five more shots!
Every vagrant in my line of sight was now a corpse.
Tat-tat-tat!
A few stray shots came my way, but they posed no threat.
Even my [Danger Sense] trait remained silent.
But I wasn’t about to get careless.
I repositioned again.
Circling wide, I leapt across an alley and took aim once more, launching another round of grenades.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The vagrants fell in droves, swept away by the relentless blasts.
Dozens of vagrants were obliterated by the grenades.
But alas, the massacre could go on no longer.
The reason I ran out of grenades.
‘I should’ve bought more grenades.’
Regret crept in as I thought of the weight and bulkiness that limited my stock.
I tossed the grenade launcher aside without a second thought.
Drawing my rifle, I reached up to touch my chest.
In the brief moment since, the mana backlash had subsided, and my mana flow was back to normal.
[Shoot][Aim][Snipe]
[Insight][Sensitivity][Stealth]
It was hunting time.
I attached a sniper scope and suppressor to the rifle and moved out.
Instead of making bold leaps, I moved carefully, deliberately.
From one rooftop, I’d take a single shot, then immediately change positions.
Shot. Relocate. Shot. Relocate. Over and over.
The vagrants below started to panic, scattering in confusion.
“Damn it! Where is he? Where the hell is he?”
“I can’t see him!”
“Shouldn’t we run?”
“Run? You think that bastard will let us go if we try? You really think so?”
“Shit… I need the antidote…”
Was it because of my [Sensitivity] trait?
Or were the vagrants just being loud?
Even from the rooftop, their voices echoed clearly in my ears.
And from that, I picked up a crucial hint.
‘Antidote.’
A superhuman who poisons their targets and then ambushes them to claim the bounty.
Operating in Guro District, especially around Daerim-dong.
There’s only one person who fits all these conditions.
[R-Rank Human Hunter]
Just because he’s low-ranking doesn’t mean you can underestimate him.
He’s a master of dirty, underhanded, cowardly combat.
Not just Human Hunter—his brothers, Bomber and Dismantling Expert are the same.
In fact, many of the tactics I use in combat were inspired by him.
The strategy of hiding in a safe position and bombarding the enemy with overwhelming firepower to win.
‘Where is he hiding?’
I’d already dismantled his traps.
The second wave of vagrant ambushes was practically over.
The third wave—sniper fire—was about to come next.
My Mana Shield wouldn’t be enough to block it.
He’d be using a high-caliber anti-materiel sniper rifle.
To block that, I’d need to use a Mana Barrier, but how can I deploy one without knowing where the shot will come from?
‘Should I retreat?’
For a moment, that thought crossed my mind, but I shook it off.
If I let him escape now, Human Hunter would come back with an even deadlier plan.
He might even bring his brother, the Bomber, and the Dismantling Expert with him next time.
Think about it.
Today alone, he mobilized the Iron Fist Gang’s thugs, dozens of Daerim-dong vagrants, bombs, poison, drugs, rifles, submachine guns, grenades, and more.
At least a few billion won in resources, right?
If he escalated the scale of the next attack?
At that point, even I would struggle to deal with it.
I have to end this.
Here and now.
“Die!”
I decided to take the risk.
The vagrants, demoralized and floundering.
I charged right into the center of them.
[Leap]
A jump from the fifth floor.
The gas station fire had spread here by now.
Within the blazing inferno, the gusts of hot air clawed at me as I soared.
But I didn’t even feel the heat.
My mind was honed to a razor-sharp focus, my sights and target lining up as if magnified.
[Focus][Shoot][Aim]
Bang! Bang-bang!
I squeezed the trigger, like a man possessed.
Not in bursts, but single shots.
Not a three-round burst, just single shots.
One by one, the vagrants dropped.
Not a single one could resist the bullets raining down from above.
Some took a bullet to the crown of the head, others between the eyes, some at the temple—blood and brain matter splattered from each hit.
Boom!
I landed with a thunderous crash.
A vagrant nearby raised his gun, but I was faster.
I reversed my grip on the rifle and swung it.
The stock crushed his face, sending him sprawling.
[Gunplay][Strike]
Two other vagrants reacted, raising their guns.
Tat-tat-tat!
This time, I was a bit late.
Bullets hit me point-blank.
But I blocked them easily.
I’d already switched traits.
[Mana Shield][Defense]
Dozens of bullets rained down, but my Mana Shield held firm.
Click. Click.
Their magazines were empty in seconds.
The two vagrants looked at each other in panic.
A smirk spread across my face—hidden behind my gas mask, of course.
I pulled out a fresh magazine from my belt and reloaded.
The metallic clink echoed, and their eyes widened in fear.
Then, as if in unison, they turned and ran.
“R-Run!”
“Spare us!”
There was no mercy.
I’m not soft enough to show mercy to those who’d pointed guns at me first.
Bang! Bang!
Just two shots.
The fleeing vagrants stumbled and fell.
A small murmur spread through the group.
They’d all seen it.
They saw me deflect their wild gunfire with my Mana Shield.
And they’d seen me descend from above, hitting every shot dead-on, and smashing faces with my rifle stock.
All of it pointed to one conclusion.
“Shit! He’s a superhuman!”
“He’s at least Level 3!”
“Nobody told us he was a superhuman!”
“Run! We’re all gonna die! We’re all dead!”
They dropped their rifles and submachine guns, turning to flee.
Took you long enough to figure it out.
But then again, what could you expect?
They were poisoned, high on drugs—what kind of judgment could they make?
Combat drugs might have improved their aim, but…
Tat-tat-tat!
I fired without hesitation.
Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
I let loose in rapid fire.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
At longer distances, I switched to single shots.
Every nerve in my body was on high alert.
My mind, sharpened like a blade, took in every detail around me.
And so, the vagrants couldn’t escape.
Not a single one.
At least, not any that I could see.
Each and every one of them was dead.
Either shredded by grenades or shot through the head or heart.
My head was hot.
Steam rose from the rifle barrel.
Maybe it was from constantly swapping out magazines and firing non-stop?
My hands felt light as a feather, and the last magazine slipped into place as if drawn in by gravity.
[Rapid Reload] trait.
Click.
Not even a second to reload.
But there were no more targets to shoot.
Which only made me more tense.
If Human Hunter was going to take a shot, it would be right now.
And sure enough.
Eleven o’clock, slightly to the left.
A five-story building silhouetted against a backdrop of flames.
For a split second, a glint of light flickered from the rooftop.
The reflection from a sniper scope.
A sniper’s deadly declaration.
My neck tingled.
The hairs on my body stood on end.
Both my [Insight] and [Danger Sense] traits activated simultaneously.
My goggles zoomed in quickly, revealing a small spark blossoming into life.
The muzzle flash.
Before the sound of the gunshot could reach me, the murderous intent had already drilled into my forehead.
Just as the delayed gunshot was about to hit me—
I clenched the unused magic chip in my hand, and a cold smile crossed my face.
–TL Notes–
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