Dark Fantasy Genius Demon Hunter

Tier 3 Monster

Everything was unknown.

The territory of the Tier 3 monster.

Gaon’s movements were cautious, his every step filled with tension.

But he wasn’t overwhelmed by it. He knew well how to manage his nerves wisely.

After a while, Gaon’s gaze narrowed suddenly.

The ground was deeply scarred, pitted with large holes.

Gaon lowered his body and hid beneath a tree, using it as cover while continuing his reconnaissance.

‘The traces of digging aren’t very deep. The slope is relatively gentle.’

There were pieces of flesh scattered near the pit.

Gaon focused on the flesh.

It was often scattered near the pits, connected to them.

If the pit had been dug out completely, the flesh would have been thrown a bit farther away, and the traces would have been found at a distance from the pit.

‘It wasn’t dug up. That means…’

Gaon’s gaze shifted again.

There were many stones, though not as many as the pit itself.

Cracked or shattered stones caught his attention.

For a moment, Gaon’s expression hardened. He quickly lifted his head.

As expected, a bright red gleam flashed through the purple smoke and murky leaves.

“……!!”

He quickly rolled away, distancing himself from the tree he had used as cover.

Boom! Crash!

Stones rained down where he had just been, causing an explosion-like sound that filled Gaon’s ears.

Flesh that had been in contact with the stones scattered in all directions.

The vibrations from the falling rocks made Gaon swallow nervously.

“Thrown… monkey.”

“Cough, cough.”

The momentary observation was brief.

Gaon had to move quickly.

Boom! Boom!

The sound of violent collisions made his ears ring. He continued to dodge the flying rocks, moving swiftly.

The monster’s dynamic throwing caused the tree to shake, and Gaon briefly caught a glimpse of its silhouette, previously hidden in the shadows.

The creature’s feet tightly gripped the branches like hands, while its hands had a suction-cup-like appearance, helping it stabilize by gripping the stones as it threw them.

‘That’s it.’

Gaon realized where the creature was sourcing its endless supply of rocks.

Beside it, a net full of stones was visible.

“Cough, cough, cough!”

The creature’s voice had become more irritable.

Gaon increased the distance between himself and the creature.

His target wasn’t the creature, but the Lightning Mole, so there was no reason to waste energy fighting the creature.

As the distance grew, the throwing monkey leaped from its position, bouncing off tree branches to close the gap, but still didn’t stop throwing stones.

It seemed the creature had prepared nets filled with stones at various locations.

Gaon ignored the creature’s attacks, focusing entirely on escaping.

“Creak!”

A different sound.

It was like the creature was gathering strength.

A chill ran down Gaon’s spine, alerting him to the danger.

“What?!”

Gaon quickly realized what the threat was.

He shifted his weight back, bracing himself with his thighs to stop his momentum.

Crunch.

The ground just in front of him suddenly bulged upward.

A stone, too small to be a boulder but large enough to trip Gaon, broke through the ground and tore into his flesh.

‘So that’s where all the stones were coming from.’

After narrowly avoiding the next attack, Gaon finally understood the source of the stones in the nets.

“Yikes!”

Perhaps irritated by Gaon evading the attack, the creature relentlessly bombarded him with more.

The rising ground didn’t have as much lethal power, but it was far more difficult to avoid compared to the throwing.

It felt like Phase 2 of the assault.

Several attacks narrowly missed Gaon.

“Ugh.”

The attacks grazed him, but the damage was enough to weaken his leather armor.

“Now!”

Gaon, who had been timing everything, noticed something unusual in the behavior of the Throwing Monkey.

Wham!

The moment the Throwing Monkey moved to its next spot, where it had gathered rocks, Gaon slammed the ground hard.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Gaon quickly dashed away, escaping from the reach of the monster’s attack.

“Ke, kegekk!”

The Throwing Monkey’s voice sounded panicked.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

It threw rocks after Gaon, but only struck the empty space where Gaon had been moments before.

Several days had passed since Gaon had been wandering through the area occupied by level-3 monsters.

He had encountered many types of level-3 monsters, including the Throwing Monkey, Flame-Tailed Foxes, and Water-Shooting Ants.

Some of these monsters had been anticipated, but others were entirely unexpected.

However, the outcome was always the same—he had to flee after getting injured.

There was always a gap between the information he had heard and what he learned in actual combat, so he couldn’t help but face the reality of the situation.

He had encountered many monsters and fought countless battles.

Unlike Gaon, who wanted to avoid as much combat as possible, the monsters were aggressive and showed no mercy.

He was forced to fight over and over again.

Every time, Gaon’s strategy was the same:

To avoid combat as much as possible and run.

However, each time he fled, he was still wounded.

The level-3 monsters were not to be underestimated.

Injuries.

They were the most significant factor affecting his ability to continue fighting.

Of course, injuries were an important issue in battle.

But Gaon didn’t need to worry too much about that, as he possessed a miraculous healing ability.

Thanks to that, Gaon was able to stay in the contaminated areas for long periods without having to return to the city for rest.

While others had to go back and forth between the city, Gaon could invest that time in exploration.

Still, the Lightning Mole had yet to show itself.

Deep holes occasionally appeared, giving Gaon a vague sense of its presence, but it was still difficult to find it.

Gaon had no choice but to admit it now.

There had been a flaw in the scouting method he had been using.

“So, I need to change my approach.”

Gaon muttered quietly, a firm resolve in his eyes.

How could he encounter the Lightning Mole?

After much thought, Gaon decided to enter the Throwing Monkey’s territory.

Perhaps because they had clashed several times before, the Throwing Monkey seemed very agitated when it saw Gaon and immediately launched an attack.

“Ugh.”

Gaon raised his shield to deflect the attack, but he still felt the impact as it pushed into his body.

Unlike the times when he was wandering around searching for the Lightning Mole, Gaon didn’t try to distance himself to flee this time.

He was prepared to fight.

‘Make it more noisy.’

Gaon’s eyes narrowed.

Boom! Boom!

He calmly dodged the rocks thrown by the Throwing Monkey.

The sharp stone spikes that were rising from the ground were no different.

Thud!

Gaon could sense the vibrations on the ground just before the spikes erupted, giving him a warning. The rocks the Throwing Monkey threw also caused vibrations on the ground, which could have confused him, but it didn’t matter.

Gaon’s finely honed combat senses allowed him to distinguish the difference clearly.

“Kehekk! Kek! Kek!”

The Throwing Monkey, perhaps annoyed by Gaon’s dodging, let out a furious roar.

He continued to dodge and block.

Gaon focused more on defense than offense.

It might have seemed like he had no intention of attacking at all.

Was it because the monster was up in the tree?

Or perhaps because he had no suitable way to attack?

No.

Gaon had plenty of ways to target at this range.

Though his proficiency with a bow wasn’t as high as with other weapons, it was certainly enough to hit an enemy at such a close distance.

When he had aimed at those who sought his vision, the distance had been much greater.

So, was it due to Gaon’s combat style?

Was it because he tended to focus on defense rather than offense in battle?

That wasn’t it either.

Even when he first arrived in this place, knowing nothing, Gaon had hunted Shark-Tooth Wolves with just a dagger.

The aggressiveness he showed when rushing at monsters with a short-ranged dagger hadn’t changed.

‘Not yet.’

It was simply…

He wasn’t ready to let go of his shield yet.

Gaon had been timing his movements throughout the battle.

‘It should be about time.’

His eyes were aimed at the trees above, but his focus was on the ground below his feet.

And finally,

Boom!

The timing he had been waiting for had arrived.

‘It’s coming!’

The vibrations traveling up his legs were unlike the ones he had felt from the rocks or the spikes emerging from the ground. It was a sensation he had never experienced before.

That was why, even while engaged in the battle, Gaon had focused on the ground beneath him rather than the tree above.

‘Don’t get excited. Stick to the plan.’

Gaon stopped his defense and immediately began to run.

“Kek, kegekk?”

It hadn’t been a long battle.

Had the Throwing Monkey grown accustomed to Gaon’s patterns?

The monster let out a confused noise.

It hurriedly climbed up the tree to follow Gaon.

“Yeah, come on.”

Gaon glanced at the tree above as he maintained a steady pace.

He could move faster than the monster could follow, but he deliberately maintained a steady pace.

It was almost as if he were trying to lure it.

“Kek! Kek!”

‘It’s getting impatient. Good.’

Yes, it was a trap.

Gaon was deliberately leading the Throwing Monkey to the edge of its territory.

He had been in this area for quite some time, and since he hadn’t been careless with mapping, he could easily identify the boundaries of the Throwing Monkey’s domain.

It seemed the edge of the territory was approaching.

Gaon could feel the urgency in the Throwing Monkey’s movements.

“Huff!”

Gaon took a deep breath and, at the same time, exploded forward with tremendous speed.

At a steady pace, with consistent timing.

The Throwing Monkey, who had become so accustomed to the regularity, was a step behind in reacting to the sudden change in movement.

There, Gaon added another variation.

Wham!

Gaon pushed one step further than his previous running pace.

He pulled his back foot and planted it sideways instead of forward, simultaneously rotating his body to change direction.

It was a movement that naturally put a strain on his body, but his well-developed muscles handled it effortlessly.

Thanks to that, the energy from his movement flowed smoothly from his ankle, through his thigh and waist, and then along his shoulder, guiding the power to his fingertips.

Before he knew it, the spear he had drawn was filled with that energy.

Swoosh—!

Fwoooosh—!

The spear sliced through the air and struck the Throwing Monkey.

Crunch.

The branch the monkey was holding onto couldn’t handle the force of the spear and broke, sending the monkey crashing to the ground.

“Kieek!”

A late, pain-filled cry escaped the Throwing Monkey.

It had been struck right below the collarbone, where the spear had pierced deeply.

“Gyaaah!”

The pain quickly turned to anger, but the fury wasn’t directed at Gaon.

Boom!

Suddenly, the ground below him shook,

Crackle!

Electricity surged.

“Keck, keck!”

It was the Lightning Mole.

The very creature Gaon had been searching for, but could only find traces of, had finally appeared.

‘Yes!’

Gaon cheered internally upon seeing the Lightning Mole.

‘Changing my strategy was the right call.’

Gaon had spent a long time in the territory of the level-3 monsters trying to find the Lightning Mole, but had no luck until now.

Then, a conversation he had with Ren came to mind.

Ren had advised him not to be deceived by the “Lightning” in its name, but to focus on the mole aspect.

Gaon remembered that advice and began to devise the strategy he was using now.

His highly developed sense of touch allowed him to read the situation on the ground.

The Lightning Mole had failed to show itself despite the ample opportunity to do so, which led Gaon to realize its crafty nature.

It was different from the other monsters, who would attack aggressively as soon as they met someone. This made Gaon hesitate at first, but once he figured out its habits, setting the situation up became easy.

Using the Lightning Mole’s heightened sensitivity to small vibrations, Gaon created the perfect scenario where it couldn’t resist showing itself.

“Yeah, the temptation of picking up scraps must have been too much to resist.”

Gaon muttered quietly to himself as he cautiously moved forward.

While Gaon avoided the Lightning Mole’s senses, the fight between the two monsters was going in one-sidedly.

The spear Gaon had thrown earlier turned out to be the key.

The spear’s shaft had acted like a lightning rod, directing the electricity’s flow.

The iron spearhead helped channel the electricity throughout the body of the Lightning Mole.

The mole’s natural advantage of being a creature of the earth couldn’t help against the electricity flowing through its body.

“Ke, ke.”

Crackle, crackle.

Sparks flew as the residual electricity continued to arc.

The mole twitched as if it had been hit with a minor seizure.

Despite that, the Throwing Monkey didn’t seem to give up. It threw rocks to block the Lightning Mole from advancing.

However,

Wham!

The rocks the Throwing Monkey hastily placed were as weak as tofu under the sharp claws of the Lightning Mole.

The excited mole, intent on catching its prey, emerged from its burrow and lunged at the Throwing Monkey.

It had hoped to quickly subdue the Throwing Monkey and return underground, but,

Shweeek—!

This was exactly the situation Gaon had been hoping for.

The spear Gaon had thrown without a running start was weaker than the one he had thrown at the Throwing Monkey, but,

Thud!

It had enough power to pierce the soft hide of the Lightning Mole because it was driven into the ground.

“Kwiik!”

The mole let out a frantic cry as it was impaled by the spear lodged in its back.

The direction it had been heading towards the Throwing Monkey changed, and it fell to the ground.

Thud! Thud!

The mole’s claws began to tear into the earth as it tried to escape.

“Not so fast!”

Wham, wham. Wham!

With every powerful step Gaon took, his speed increased.

Without the weight of his iron armor and shield, as well as his other metal gear,

Gaon’s movements were much lighter.

The only metal gear he had left was his sword.

A single sword capable of cutting through the creature’s body and taking its life.

Gaon was now almost right next to the mole and lunged with his sword.

“Kyack!”

Feeling the threat to its life, the Lightning Mole desperately shot out a bolt of lightning.

Crackle!

The eerie sound spread through the air.

And the lightning was faster than the sound.

Zzzzzt.

The lightning struck Gaon, coursing through his entire body.

It was only natural that his body would stiffen from the shock.

However,

Thud!

Contrary to expectations, Gaon’s sword ultimately pierced the mole’s body.

“Kwi, kwiek.”

The Lightning Mole let out a final scream before meeting its death.

Gaon then swiftly took the life of the dying Throwing Monkey.

“Phew.”

Gaon briefly looked down at the result of his efforts, then took a deep breath before reaching into his coat.

Moments later, his hand emerged from his coat.

In his hand was a neatly folded handkerchief.

Gaon carefully unfolded it.

And inside was a single leaf.

The leaf had completely lost its color and had turned a dull gray.

“Just as I thought. It was a good call to bring it, just like Ren said.”

‘Make sure to bring the Calling Leaf, Gaon. It’ll protect you from the Lightning Mole.’

Gaon recalled Ren’s words, who had stopped him before he left the shop to explain about the Calling Leaf.

The Calling Tree.

A tree named for its ability to attract lightning, with leaves that fall off when they can’t withstand the lightning, leaving only the ones that endure.

‘The leaves that survive turn a deep yellow depending on how many times they’ve withstood lightning, and they’re known for their high electrical resistance.’

‘Normally, only the bright yellow leaves are considered valuable and undergo processing, but even less yellow ones still have some commercial value.’

These leaves were highly popular as consumable resistance items.

So, Gaon hadn’t recklessly charged at the Lightning Mole with a high-conductivity iron weapon.

Following Ren’s advice, he had prepared a safeguard that would protect him from the mole’s lightning.

‘Well, they are a bit expensive, but with your financial situation, I don’t think you’ll have trouble getting one?’

And he had gotten one.

It had been more expensive than he expected, so he was only able to buy a single leaf, which was a bit of a downside.

“…Well, at least it helped me catch the Lightning Mole.”

Gaon wiped away a faint, bitter smile and blew a long breath.

The Calling Leaf, having served its purpose, crumbled and scattered in the wind.