How To Survive as a Class a Hunter

45. A-Class Hunter Nguyen – [3]

It made a ‘clang’ sound as if I had struck metal.

As soon as my feet touched the ground, Ogre staggered. The hammer blow must have shaken his brain violently inside his skull. He looked like he could barely keep his balance.

I gave him another hammer blow to the back of his head, and finally, Ogre fell.

I was briefly happy, thinking the opportunity to finish him had come. But just as I was about to hammer the fallen Ogre again, I opened my eyes wide.

Ogre, still lying down, was not holding his head with his hands. It was a shocking sight.

Had he already regained his senses? Even after being struck on the head so hard in a surprise attack?

I knew that those with super-regeneration abilities recovered quickly from shocks, but this was…

Even as Ogre was repeatedly struck by my hammer, he began to get up. Not wrapped in a force field or anything, just with his flesh and muscles showing that kind of toughness.

Eventually, Ogre stood up completely. His beastly gaze was fixed straight at me.

Facing that gigantic monster, I felt one intense emotion.

Boredom? No. Fear? Not that either.

It was awe.

My body, which is supposed to be enhanced, would be shattered by a few cannon shots, but this guy, even after being hit by my cannon shots, was not only alive but also showing this much strength even in a surprise attack.

The abilities of gigantification and physical enhancement are actually the same kind of ability. I desperately hoped that one day I could become like that too.

I already knew how to make that happen. I had to kill that guy and take his power.

That guy was also a monster who followed Behemoth and ate many people. Just like the boar I saw earlier, that guy must have rampaged in Australia. How many people did he kill there to gain such immense power?

I want to make that power mine.

So give me your power and your life, you ugly gorilla b*stard.

The surging desire already gave my exhausted body energy. As I stared intently at the ogre, a low-frequency growl of anger flowed from its mouth.

‘Uooo―’

The ogre howled at me. Was it a threat to stay away? Or a declaration that it would definitely kill me? It didn’t matter either way.

I suddenly lunged. I hammered the ogre’s mouth, which was wide open from howling.

‘Crack!’ Its jaw and teeth broke simultaneously, and blood splattered.

The enraged ogre screamed in pain and swung its fist down, but I had already teleported away.

I teleported just enough to avoid its punch and then swung my hammer again. My hammer struck the ogre’s fingers that had hit the ground. The impact fully reached its fingers.

The sound of my hammering was like breaking concrete, and a terrible sound came from the ogre’s fingers, as if its finger bones were shattered.

The ogre screamed again. Earlier, it had already taken a lot of hits from my hammer while covering its head with its hands. Adding another hammer blow to those fingers, which must have been full of cracks, made the ogre want to die from joy.

The ogre hid its completely crushed hand. Then, as it swung its intact hand at me, I decided to do the same to that hand.

I swung my hammer hard. The target was its fist.

Both the ogre’s fist and my hammer cut through the air towards each other.

The ogre’s fist and my hammer collided in midair. The shockwave scratched my face painfully. And the hammer vibrated. A tingling shock flowed through my arm.

And the ogre?

With a desperate scream, the ogre jumped back to create distance. The anger disappeared from its eyes, replaced by fear.

Seeing the ogre hide both its hands between its legs, it seemed that both of its hands were completely ruined.

The ogre didn’t try to buy time until its broken finger bones healed or attempt a kick.

As beasts often do when they feel disadvantaged in a fight, the ogre jumped back and then…

“Hey, don’t run away!”

I shouted as I watched the ogre turn around and start to flee. Of course, it kept running away.

Should I chase after it and hammer it? No, it’s faster than me, so catching up would be tough. I’d probably have to teleport multiple times while swinging my hammer, which would be a waste.

I teleported back.

When I returned to my hunter team, they had already reloaded their magazines. They seemed like cute guys who knew how to serve an awakened one.

“Where’s Dambi? I don’t see her…”

“Dambi went to find the gate!”

Engaging in a brief conversation, I lifted my hunter rifle. Just as I was about to teleport, Jeong Jin-young’s voice pierced through.

“Stay strong!”

Thanks to that, I could teleport with a smile despite my fatigue.

My view changed once again. Ahead, I saw the back of an ogre busy running.

I pulled the trigger of my hunter rifle at its back.

Just like archers showing off their skill by hitting arrow after arrow, I did the same.

I connected the golden line emitted from the hunter rifle to the ogre’s exposed back, its spine.

The machine gun bullets, fired in rapid succession, began to fiercely penetrate its back.

There was no chance of the bullets missing or hitting other parts. As I kept shooting accurately at the same spot, the ogre couldn’t hold out any longer.

The ogre took a few more steps before collapsing. As I approached and fired a few more shots, it finally met its end.

With the death of the mighty enemy, a hallucination of people chanting my name began in my head.

“Kim Geuk! Kim Geuk! Kim Geuk―!”

This time, the cheers were louder and longer than usual, and the power flowing newly through my body was greater than ever.

And also the exhilaration…

The exhilaration I felt now was far greater than any I had experienced after defeating an enemy before. Why?

I guessed it was because this creature was an awakened being of the same type as a body enhancer. They say that spiritual absorption is much better when you defeat an awakened being of the same type. I might have achieved the greatest spiritual growth ever…

“Kim Geuk, Kim Geuk!”

Ah, it seemed there was an actual audience this time. The voice from reality stimulated my nerves, which were immersed in exhilaration.

“It was completely one-sided! As expected, when facing just one, it was a piece of cake!”

Turning my head towards the sound, I saw the man who claimed to be my fan.

He had been filming me with his smartphone all along. The man asked,

“Can I upload what I just filmed on YouTube?”

When I nodded, the man repeatedly thanked me and continued to ask,

“Now, are you going to catch that earless boar?”

“I have to.”

“Then, could you possibly take me with you…?”

What an idiot.

I twisted my face and yelled at him.

“What kind of question is that?”

“Oh, sorry…”

“Of course.”

As the man’s expression brightened, I grabbed his wrist and teleported. I took him to the rooftop of a building and looked down below the railing.

There were the boar monster and Nguyen.

There wasn’t any flashy action going on between them.

It seemed that both the boar and Nguyen were exhausted.

The boar had clear marks of being hit by machine gun bullets all over its body. The boar, with blisters forming here and there, stood still in place.

It was scratching the ground with its hooves as if it was about to charge at any moment, but it seemed to be just a threat. It didn’t actually charge. Had it lost its strength after several unsuccessful charges?

Meanwhile, Nguyen, who was hiding in a commercial building, was in a similar state. He seemed to be lacking both ammunition and energy. His T-shirt was soaked with sweat, and he was just aiming his hunter rifle at the boar without actually firing.

I wasn’t in good shape either. I had already overused teleportation and had just come from smashing a gorilla with a sledgehammer.

So, I concluded that I had to finish this as quickly as possible.

I spoke into the radio.

“Mr. Nguyen? I don’t know how much ammo you have left, but can you shoot all your remaining bullets at that thing’s forehead?”

“Kim Geuk? Okay, okay…”

With that, Nguyen suddenly stood up and pulled the trigger. The bullets from his gun hit the boar’s forehead as I had ordered, but the boar’s skull was so hard that it didn’t cause much damage. It only managed to make a small wound on its forehead.

But to me, that was enough.

“Make sure to get a good video!”

Shouting that, I teleported. I landed on the head of the now furious boar.

As soon as I did, I stomped down with all my might.

I shoved my foot into the wound that had just formed on the boar’s forehead.

The boar’s super-regeneration ability was already kicking in. As new flesh grew around the wound where my foot was, it held my foot tightly, preventing me from pulling it out.

Even at a glance, the boar’s regeneration was terrifying. My foot hurt so much it felt like it was going to be crushed, but I endured it. That boar must be in even more pain.

Sure enough, the boar, feeling the foreign object, started to go berserk. The sound of a pig being slaughtered echoed painfully in my ears.

It slammed its jaw into the ground repeatedly, trying to shake me off, but with my foot fixed in its wound, I didn’t fall off.

And despite being shaken violently, I aimed my hunter rifle. I pulled the trigger at the boar’s eye, which was surely the softest part of its otherwise rock-hard body. ‘Ratatat!’

The gunshot rang out loudly, and the boar’s scream drowned out the sound.

As my bullet pierced through its eye and dug deep inside, the boar started to run wildly.

It was probably trying to crush me against a suitable building.

I suddenly remembered the battle with Kang Joon-chi in the hallucination. In the hallucination, I had failed to teleport because my foot was stuck in concrete.

If that’s the case, I wouldn’t be able to escape this crisis with teleportation either, but it didn’t matter. I didn’t have the energy to teleport anymore anyway.

Even as the boar ran wildly, I didn’t let go of the trigger, and machine gun bullets continued to pour out of the barrel. The bullets steadily pierced through its eyelids and eyeball.

As his eyes burst, the stupid pig seemed unable to grasp the direction properly. He ran around aimlessly, unable to run straight.

During that time, I could shoot continuously, and the machine gun bullets that kept firing would have eventually reached his brain. His brain wouldn’t have been hard either, so it would have turned to mush.

Indeed, there was a sound of something bursting, and the death race stopped.

The wild boar knelt down, and its massive body fell sideways. At the same time, my name started to echo in my head again.

Ah, ah…

This guy seemed to be a stronger monster than that gorilla earlier. The exhilaration and the new power flowing through my body this time were much greater than when I defeated the ogre earlier…

When I pulled my foot out with all my might, the flesh and muscles of the wild boar, which had already lost its super-regenerative ability, could no longer hold onto my foot.

With my blood-stained foot, I trampled the giant monster and climbed onto its body. From the high position, I looked at my fan.

With his mouth wide open, he was pointing his smartphone camera at me. It would be good to strike a pose in front of the cameraman.

Looking at the octagon under the brilliant lights in front of me, I raised one hand high to declare my victory.

As it was worth striking a pose, he was shouting that it was cool and awesome, and Nguyen’s voice was heard.

“As I heard, you’re crazy? You’re really half-insane, my friend…”

When I glanced over, I met Nguyen’s gaze. He smiled broadly, showing his white teeth. He smiled like that when I first saw him, too. I don’t know what he finds so amusing.

Of course, I didn’t care. I was just enjoying the exhilaration and sense of victory of this moment, striking poses for five minutes straight.

Not long after, helicopters and tanks appeared in the city, but the situation was already over.

*