Chapter 138 – SSS-Rank Hunter (13)
[Chapter 7 – Section 6] I Love You!
Hunter novels vary, but in this world—based on <I Became an SSS-Rank Hunter> and <I’m the Only SSS-Rank Hunter>—hunters’ supernatural abilities are extremely specialized and biased.
There are rare multi-ability users like the dream’s protagonist Park Hyo-man-ssi, who awakened two abilities, but they’re very uncommon.
“To help Amolang-nim understand, I’ve prepared footage of an SS-rank monster, Bat Sniper, being subjugated.”
“Oh!”
While the human reindeer pulling the sled and the green fairies assisting rested, I viewed classified material with Natalia’s help.
Why classified?
“Material released to the public—including ordinary hunters—is edited to remove horrific scenes, screams, and profanity. Uplifting background music is standard.”
“That much…?”
“We have to go that far to get hunters to volunteer for SS-rank subjugations. Show the original, and they’d all run.”
“Hmm.”
“Judge for yourself now. The video is long, so I’ll skip to the key combat scenes.”
Whirr~
Natalia operated the laptop, fast-forwarding the beam projector footage.
(Aaaargh?!)
(Damn it! Kanf is down…!)
(No way! We were jamming Bat Sniper’s ultrasound?!)
(We’re trying! Without it, we’d have been sniped from even farther!)
(Trying? You said you could block it perfectly! Acting all high and mighty as an S-rank from the start—)
(Calm down! Is this the time to fight among ourselves?!)
(This won’t work! It’s too fast and stealthy!)
(Deploy pursuit and attack teams! And expand the barrier! If headquarters falls, it’s over! Move!)
(A mere A-rank insect daring to order me, an SSS-rank.)
(…Please provide support, Witch of the Far East Kim Ji-young-nim.)
(Hmph!)
The first native I met upon entering this world appeared in the video, making me feel a slight fondness.
Using her ability to float objects, she lifted multiple ability users into the sky to track Bat Sniper.
From the ground, they strained their necks upward, firing abilities at the sniper flying at supersonic speed through clouds.
Lightning, fireballs, water cannons, lasers…
Varied attack methods. Useless since they couldn’t hit.
Meanwhile,
(Gaaah?!)
Bat Sniper’s deadly venom shots hit every time!
Hell unfolded.
(Kyaa?!)
(Insane! Aim properly?! The venom pierced the barrier!)
(Stop complaining! Without the barrier, it’d be instant death…!)
(What are you staring at? Heal now!)
An ability that perfectly restored limbs melted by venom!
But most healed hunters—likely from pain shock—couldn’t rejoin the fight and withdrew.
(Aaagh?!)
(Kyaaaa?!)
(Gaaah?!)
Hunters’ screams and curses continued from start to finish.
A 4-hour game of hide-and-seek with Bat Sniper, which grasped all their positions via ultrasound!
Even after its wings were shot down and it crashed to the ground—
(Keeaaaa!)
It sprayed toxic blood from wounds, trying to take as many hunters as possible with it.
(Dodge!)
(It’s coming!)
Hunters with close-range attack abilities couldn’t approach—covered in venom, they’d die before healing!
They had to fight the bat monster solely with long-range attacks, yet even wingless, it charged across the ground at terrifying speed.
Another hour.
(Keeaaaa~!)
(Thud!)
The SS-rank monster finally collapsed when its hide was shredded like a blood-soaked rag.
(D-Did we do it?)
(Don’t jinx it!)
(We won!)
(Woooaaah!)
No horrific revival occurred, but the hunters looked utterly defeated—like routed soldiers.
This is an SS-rank monster.
Beep—
The 6-hour Bat Sniper hunt video ended.
“Did you watch it well, Amolang-nim?”
“Probably?”
It was shocking.
“This is the video with the least casualties among Bat Sniper hunts. There are many cases where subjugation failed, resulting in annihilation or near-annihilation.”
“Hah…”
“As you saw, it was a hunt with SSS-rank hunters participating. Without the Witch of the Far East Kim Ji-young-nim, flying ability users and hunters would have to pair up in teams of two to pursue Bat Sniper. Thanks to her, the aerial battle ended relatively easily.”
“4 hours…?”
“Usually it takes 10 hours.”
“……”
“Not all aerial battles are like this. Bat Sniper is special because it uses ultrasound.”
“Hmm.”
It was miraculous that humanity in this world hadn’t gone extinct yet.
“That’s why Amolang-nim is even more amazing. Bat Sniper isn’t a monster that can be hunted solo.”
“…I got lucky.”
“No way. You nullified Bat Sniper’s ultrasound and venom, treating it like an oversized bat.”
“Well…”
She wasn’t wrong.
“If Amolang-nim is the ultimate defense, the Super Grand Galaxy General Infinity Blade is the ultimate offense. You’re a perfect combination alone.”
“Ahem!”
That’s because I’m walking the exact same path as the protagonist of <I’m the Only SSS-Rank Hunter>.
Protagonist buff, perhaps?
The buff is so strong it’s almost troublesome.
“Our job is to secure the only weakness Amolang-nim has—mobility. Bat Sniper helped a lot. Headquarters decided to reinforce Rudolph further.”
“Reinforce meaning?”
“Obviously, more personnel. More reindeer and fairies.”
“Aha!”
We’ll definitely travel the world properly.
“And there was a debate to define Amolang-nim.”
“Debate?”
“Your rank.”
“Ah.”
“Some said it should be based on combat power, but then only Amolang-nim would be SSS-rank, and existing SS-rank hunters would be reclassified as A-rank.”
“What about Natalia?”
“……”
“Sorry. That was a sensitive question.”
“No. I was just thinking… I’d be at least B-rank.”
“Aha!”
Dropping from S to B would make me protest too. It’s just a title change, but feelings matter.
“Strong opposition was expected, so they decided to create a new standard and rank just for Amolang-nim.”
“Oho~”
Just for me?
That one phrase tugged at my heartstrings, making me a little excited.
“GG-rank.”
“…Alphabetically, isn’t that lower than F-rank?”
“It means God.”
“Uh… That’s a bit embarrassing.”
“Hunting an S-rank monster solo is G-rank, SS-rank is GG-rank, SSS-rank is GGG-rank. So currently, Amolang-nim is GG-rank. It sounds like a dream, but if you solo an SSS-rank monster later, you’ll become a GGG-rank hunter.”
“Hmm.”
Because of me, this world’s ranking system changed.
Only I’m GG-rank?
And though I don’t know the combat power difference between SS-rank and SSS-rank monsters, GGG-rank hunter isn’t just a dream!
The problem is,
‘What is Park Hyo-man-ssi thinking?’
Betrayed by trusted SSS-rank comrades and eaten by a monster elephant. That alone would be a massive mental blow, but I don’t understand why he’d judge the monster’s stomach better than reality.
‘…Did I miss something?’
The truth will only be known by slicing open the elephant monster’s belly and rescuing Park Hyo-man-ssi.
It’s not a problem solved by me pondering alone. Hearing it directly from him is the most accurate and fastest way.
To do that,
“Prepare for the next hunt… No, let’s sweep from East Asia to Western Europe while moving.”
“Huh? Sweep?”
“Hunting.”
“……”
“More elegantly, call it a massacre.”
Super Grand Galaxy General Infinity Blade.
Let’s test how far those blades can be summoned.
Blink, blink~
***
The number of blades summoned by the Infinity Blade cannot exceed the range its owner can perceive.
Why is that?
I don’t understand why a monster with a perfectly functional eyeball relies on a human’s detection ability.
However,
‘From the perspective of a novel rather than reality, it makes sense.’
Imagine if the protagonist’s role in the original hunter novel <I’m the Only SSS-Rank Hunter> was just to carry the sword.
Stab the Infinity Blade into the ground, and most monsters are massacred!
There’d be no content to write—the novel would end in one volume. So they forcibly assigned a “role” to prevent that.
In other words,
“It’s too advantageous for me.”
According to the senior’s explanation, the original novel’s protagonist of <I’m the Only SSS-Rank Hunter> was a hunter with the sole F-rank ability of “mental protection.”
The only F-rank ability.
Aside from that, he’s an ordinary human you could find anywhere. Dodging a sniper’s bullet without warning, shaving an hour off the Olympic marathon record, or single-handedly wiping out an armed group…
No extraordinary abilities like that.
“Shall we begin?”
Blink, blink!
Standing in the middle of the snowy Siberian plains in northern East Asia, gripping the Infinity Blade, I focused my mind.
Perception.
The power to know a target.
‘How can I expand the recognition range?’
The most common means of perception are seeing with eyes and hearing with ears.
If I slightly abandon being human, I could use ultrasound like dolphins or bats, become a dog with a sense of smell 100 times stronger than a human’s, or have insect antennae that predict natural disasters even supercomputers can’t…
The answer was decided from the start.
Stab!
I plunged the Infinity Blade’s blade into the ground and concentrated.
‘My world.’
And I am a shaman.
Growth gained from patients’ dreams partially applies in reality, allowing me to slightly ignore common sense.
How much more in a dream?
“…I can see.”
Not with my eyes. Information about every monster’s location—360 degrees around me, no blind spots—flooded in.
Drip…
Overloaded by the vast amount of information I couldn’t handle? Blood began flowing from my eyes, nose, and ears.
“Amolang-nim…!”
Natalia, watching from the side, jumped in shock.
My appearance must be that messed up.
My head was already spinning like altitude sickness.
“Is this the limit?”
Blink? Blink!
Receiving my signal, the Super Grand Galaxy General Infinity Blade activated its ability.
“Kyaaak?!”
“Kyaaang?!”
“Kraaang?!”
“Hiiiing~?!”
Screams of monsters living on the snow-covered Siberian plains echoed from all directions.
Stab! Stab! Stab…!
Relatively weak monsters were pierced or severed by blades and died, while a few survivors weren’t unscathed.
“Grrrr!”
And the very few SS-rank or higher monsters that casually blocked or evaded this level of attack.
Taking it as provocation, they charged at me all at once.
“…Impressive.”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The ground screamed each time the massive-bodied monsters ran.
“W-what is this…?!”
“Natalia. Return to Rudolph. And don’t come near until it’s over.”
“Until what’s over?”
“Massacre, obviously.”
Sliiide—
Starlight grains gathered on the Infinity Blade’s blade pulled from the ground, shining like a galaxy.
Swordsmanship?
In the world of the martial arts novel <Is This Heavenly Demon for Real?>, martial artists insisted this was high-level swordsmanship, but to me, it’s a shotgun without bullets or a barrel.
Meaning it hits everything even if aimed roughly.
“…Sun-young.”
As if shaking off the utopia this world offered me,
“I love you!”
Flash!
I swung the Infinity Blade with full spirit.
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TL Note:
The novel is fully completed (231 chapters)
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