Against the Clock: The Team Leader’s Pursuit of Glory

Then he asked No Song-rin to burn the map with mana. Although they might need the map later, it didn't matter because he had already memorized all the information. Rather, he was worried that the plan would be exposed if the enemy got their hands on it.

Watching Kang Mu-hyuk, who was staggering and holding onto his cane, made No Song-rin's steps heavy.

"Will you be okay? Going there alone?"

"The path to retreat is still secure, so I'll be fine."

"That's not what I meant..."

"Gilyoung will help me. It's still bearable. That kid, Cheol-i. I hope you're able to rescue him."

"Th-... Oi, kid. Take good care of the Guild Leader Kang."

"Yes. I'll make sure to escort him safely to the base."

No Song-rin followed the information given by Gilyoung to find where Park Cheol-i was. Fortunately, it was a more accurate description than the note Mr. Cho handed over.

After running anxiously, he soon found the debris of a collapsed building. No Song-rin listened carefully under the rubble. He heard faint breathing and groans of pain. He carefully cleared the debris and spoke.

"Cheol-i. Park Cheol-i."

At first, there was no answer, but after a while, he heard a trembling voice.

"U-Uncle N-No...?"

"Uncle No? If anyone hears that, they'll think I'm some old... man."

No Song-rin flinched when he found Park Cheol-i through the debris. The boy was missing an arm. Although he knew about it, facing it in reality left him at a loss for words. At times like this, he missed Kang Mu-hyuk's eloquence more than his own rank.

"Uncle... This."

From under the still uncleared rubble, Park Cheol-i handed over something he was holding dearly.

A karambit knife.

It was not particularly expensive or some special consumable weapon.

Standing outside the rubble, No Song-rin hesitated for a moment before stepping back slightly. From a blind spot where Park Cheol-i couldn't see, he took off the sword he had on his waist and roughly threw it nearby. Then, to ensure the boy's safety, he cleared the remaining debris and accepted the knife.

"Uncle, your knife... Now you can fight, right?"

Park Cheol-i and Kim Gilyoung had misunderstood something. There was a common belief that Hunters had to use their main weapon to exert their full power.

Unfortunately, the karambit knife wasn't No Song-rin's main weapon. It was just a matter of preference. Plus, at No Song-rin's level, unless it was a Hunter of equal rank, the choice of weapon didn't significantly affect him.

No Song-rin didn't bother to point this out. Instead, he gripped the karambit knife firmly and replied.

"Yeah. I got it for sure, kid."

No Song-rin checked Park Cheol-i's condition.

'To think he's still alive after losing so much blood. It's a miracle. The mana laceration helped too. In fact, did cutting off and cauterizing the arm reduce the blood loss? But it won't regenerate because of that. The rest... Somehow, the bleeding has stopped on its own.'

Park Cheol-i, noticing No Song-rin's uneasy expression, asked tearfully, "I won't be able to become a Hunter now, will I? Because I don't have an arm..."

"You haven't even awakened yet. What are you worrying about?"

"Still..."

"There are plenty of Hunters missing a limb. There's even a famous one-armed swordsman among the top Hunters. It all depends on you."

"Oh, I see. So I can do it?"

"Yeah. As long as you try hard... Damn it, what am I saying? This doesn't even suit me... Hey, are you sleeping? Snap out of it, kid!"

No Song-rin lightly tapped Park Cheol-i's cheek as he suddenly lost consciousness. He hurriedly checked his pulse. Fortunately, it was strong. He stared intently at the boy's face. Park Cheol-i's eyes were stained with tears.

"If it weren't for that damn contract. Ugh!"

Clearing the rest of the debris and carefully lifting the child, No Song-rin sensed a presence around him. It was an enemy party of six. He activated the interpretation artifact he had used during the Russian expedition and had yet to return.

He really wanted to ask. Was all this necessary? He wanted to hear their excuses.

"There's another one of those Bangtz punks here."

"Seems this one didn't get far."

"Looks like he was late because he was saving the kid? O! Sorry, but we can't just let you go. Heh."

"I guess there's no need to even ask. As expected. Let me go? You're not the one who should be saying that."

No Song-rin placed Park Cheol-i on the flat ground and gripped the karambit knife in a reverse hold.

"Is this guy crazy? There are six of us."

"Let's take him out quickly. We'll be in trouble if we're late to the prison compared to other parties."

They aimed their weapons and approached, smirking.

No Song-rin asked, "Do you know what I hate the most?"

"What nonsense is this idiot spouting now?"

"The sound of kids crying. I really hate it. So---"

"Someone shut this crazy bastard up. He's pissing me off. Tch!"

"Why the hell are you making kids cry and pissing me off?!"

No Song-rin charged. The karambit knife, which had been warm in Park Cheol-i's embrace a moment ago, was now cold. As the blade flashed several times, jets of blood spurted into the air.

The six Hunters fell, their throats slit, unable to offer any real resistance, making gurgling sounds.

"You f*cking bastards."

Spitting on the dead Hunters, No Song-rin carried Park Cheol-i and left the area.

Go Eul-ji received a call from Kang Mu-hyuk while en route to the patrol base. When he ordered the execution of the final operation, a sense of tension surged.

-I'll confirm once again, Hunter Go Eul-ji. There are at least three or four anti-aircraft gun squads for large monsters, maybe more. There are also many long-range mages and snipers.

"It's definitely a hassle. With that many, even an average mage would hesitate to infiltrate from the air. After all, you'd be exposed from all directions. And on the ground, you can't dodge anything."

-You're right. It's difficult for ordinary Hunters. As I thought, it's too much even for you, huh, Go Eul-ji?

"Ueck. What do you mean, too much?! Guild Leader Kang, my grandfather always told me something. 'This is no normal kid.' I'm not an ordinary Hunter."

For a moment, Kang Mu-hyuk wanted to argue.

'He probably meant something else.'

That was more about her personality than her skills. But he held back with superhuman patience.

-Then, I'll trust you. In 10 minutes. Start the operation.

"Don't worry. I'm the Go Eul-ji. I'll show you what an extraordinary Hunter can do."

She ended the call and started a timer on her smartphone. Setting it for 10 minutes, she sat down and closed her eyes. Meditating with deep breaths, the timer soon went off.

Go Eul-ji slowly opened her eyes.

"Let's see who wins, shall we?"

Boom!

Go Eul-ji kicked off the ground and soared into the sky.

"Ron!"

"Ugh, again? How is this guy getting such good cards today? How many games is he going to win?"

"Hehehe! Looks like all your salary for this month is going into my wallet."

In a corner of Sinuiju, on the rooftop of a half-collapsed building, Hunters were enjoying a peaceful game of mahjong, starkly different from the intensity of the prison village. Just as they were about to start a new round, one Hunter with a cigarette in his mouth suddenly looked up at the sky in surprise.

"Oh? Damn! Six o'clock! The sensor went off! Ugh, it's big!"

"What is it? A wyvern?"

"No... It's a Hunter."

His detection skill not only tracked entities but also measured their power by their magnitude. He mistook the magnitude for a large monster since he felt something big, but he soon realized the truth and was shocked.

"It's a high ranker! An A-rank Hunter!"

"Commence interception!"

"Prep the anti-aircraft guns! Get the mana stones!"

The long-range dealers who had overturned the mahjong table began launching skills and arrows into the sky. This building wasn't the only one that had begun attacking. Anti-air defense units spread all around began their response.

Anti-aircraft gun barrels turned skyward. Charged with mana stones and electricity, the anti-aircraft guns quickly heated up and spat fire. These massive guns, consuming vast amounts of power, were almost useless outside of base defense, but they boasted excellent performance against airborne monsters and magic-wielding Hunters.

But--

"What the hell? They're not hitting her!"

"Don't try to bring her down! Just push her away! Don't let her get close!"

"Argh!"

Boom! Bang! Crash! Kwang!

The building where the mahjong game had taken place became as much of a battlefield as the prison village. The mahjong players were swiftly annihilated as well. Other buildings continued to spew beams of light.

"Wow, that's a scary high school kid."

Passing by an anti-aircraft position and seeing the building get demolished, Hyun Junggeon broke out in a cold sweat. If he had been up there, even he would have been seriously injured.

"When Guild Leader Kang said she was the secret weapon during the operation planning, I thought he was kidding. But he really meant it. Wasn't Iron Will supposed to be C-rank? This guild is full of surprises."

Unlike the tense moments earlier, Hyun Junggeon now had a smile on his face.

"Maybe I can join them? Guild Leader Kang doesn't like me, but maybe if I take a pay cut... It seems more fun than Titan."

Go Eul-ji ascended rapidly to a height beyond detection skills, overlooking Sinuiju and surveying the entire city. Her ability, named Telekinesis, was more accurately a power to understand and control space. When it was first discovered, people saw only the aspect of moving objects in the air and categorized it as a psychic ability.

But as Hunters' levels increased, they realized it wasn't limited to telekinesis. However, the name never changed once it was given.

"It's hard to fully figure out everything from this distance. I guess I'll have to confront them directly."

Go Eul-ji inhaled the cold northern air deeply.

"Ugh, my throat is freezing."

She muttered, complaining about the sharp pain in her throat, then suddenly began going down. At first, she free-fell without using her power. As she fell from the sky, just before entering the detection skill range, she aimed her head downwards and began to fly at high speed.

'Ugh, my eyes. I should've brought goggles. Who would've thought I'd be flying in the sky? Whoa! They're starting to attack? Let's pick up speed then.'

Boom! Bang! Boom boom boom! Boom boom boom!

Fireworks exploded in the sky. Light flashed and burned the air. Their destructive power was enough for Go Eul-ji to suffer a major blow if hit directly. Fortunately, the attacks didn't reach her. The barrage only struck the afterimages left by her high-speed flight. But she wasn't entirely unscathed. She had to engage in tactical retreats, unable to land and had to focus on evasive maneuvers.

As she zigzagged through the air over Sinuiju, more and more firepower concentrated on her. She waited for the right moment.

'Anti-aircraft guns aren't invincible.'

Being massive in size and resource-heavy weren't the only drawbacks. There were good reasons why anti-aircraft guns weren't the mainstay.

'Good. The barrage of attack is thinning  now. They must be cooling the barrels or swapping mana stones.'

Go Eul-ji grabbed this opportunity.

【Divine Punishment】

Above her raised hand, a hammer with layers of gravity appeared. And the moment the hammer struck down.

Boom! Crash!

An anti-aircraft gun encampment was crushed along with the entire building.

"That's it! Don't act out, you bastards!"

Bang!

In the moment she paused to use her skill, a spell hit her directly. She instinctively put up a barrier, and wasn't injured, but Go Eul-ji looked annoyed.

'Useless shit attacking me. Draining my energy. I still have many more of them to deal with.'

For the first stage of the final operation, Go Eul-ji had to dismantle this anti-air defense network. To ensure the safety of the incoming support helicopters, it was crucial to clear this obstacle in advance.

'If I break the encampments with my skills, I'll have to stop each time, and I'll get attacked in the process.'

That would drain her energy and consume time.

Go Eul-ji knew Kang Mu-hyuk didn't have time to spare. Calling her earlier than expected was enough to give her an idea of the situation. She recalled her rigorous training with her grandfather.

'The best hunting is thoroughly calculated. But sometimes you have to take risks. Especially to protect people, you must do your best within the bounds of self-protection.'

Go Eul-ji took out a hairpin from her pocket. Telekinesis wrapped around her hair. She tied her hair into a bun and pinned it with the hairpin, muttering to herself, "I have no choice, Grandpa. I'm doing it the way I was taught."

The hairpin glowed, and Go Eul-ji's eyes glowed with the same light.

"Well, let's push it a bit."

【Sonic Boom】

Boom!

Go Eul-ji's body accelerated to the maximum.

"Eighty percent of Yeon Jung-moon's squad has retreated! Seventy percent of Hwang Dongsu's units have retreated to. The rest... They won't make it."

"Cheon Deok-soo's squad is... Half. There's no certainty about the fate of the other huntsmen."

Hunters were flocking to the patrol base, which used to be the old Sinuiju prison. Both enemies and allies. Although they were forming defensive lines leaning against broken concrete walls, the walls provided little real protection. They served merely as psychological comfort.

People entered the underground of the central building. It was too cramped to accommodate everyone, so children, women, and the elderly were prioritized. The rest were in the sturdier prison cells.

Kang Mu-hyuk stood in the empty yard. Danger was everywhere. It was better to be with No Song-rin for command purposes.

"Is the child okay?"

"I handed him over to someone they call a healer. But without medicine, I don't know what will happen. If we lose here, it's all over anyway."

"If we want to get him treated outside, we need to win first."

"Do you think we can win this? I strongly feel like we're screwed."

"We've done everything we could. They're fighting with all their might too. Now it's just a matter of who strikes first."

As soon as Kang Mu-hyuk finished speaking, new messages started flooding in. All bad news.

"They say the Chinese have arrived from the south and the north. Oh? The west too. Now the only place left is the east... At this point, does it even matter? Damn, it looks like my life's ending here."

Kang Mu-hyuk wondered if he could have made better choices. He ran through dozens of simulations in his head, but no matter how he planned, there was no way to avoid bloodshed.

The only way left was to hope for the enemy's mercy.

'If they had that much of a conscience, they wouldn't have launched this attack in the first place. There's no way out. We've lost contact with Mr. Cho. Did he manage to escape on his own?'

At this point, relaying orders was meaningless. Even if No Song-rin was deployed, there was no way to hold up the defensive lines that were collapsing from all directions. Eventually, the walls of the base began to crumble. Chinese Hunters appeared over the fallen concrete debris.

The Hunters from the prison village, barely alive and retreating, were more like walking corpses than defeated soldiers. Still, fighting here without proper equipment or supplies showed their bravery. If they weren't skilled, they would have fallen long ago.

From the south, Yeon Jung-moon, from the north, Hwang Dongsu, and from the east, Cheon Deok-soo were all retreating, backs turned. They were also in bad shape.

"There are too many of them. I wonder how many we can kill."

No Song-rin grumbled as he took his place in the now-vacant west.

"Why aren't those bastards coming at us?"

Cheon Deok-soo spat blood and steadied his breathing. He was puzzled that the enemy was just surrounding them without attacking but tried to regain some strength before the final fight.

Then the eastern ranks parted as out stepped Zhang Zhongxun.

Kang Mu-hyuk extended his hand to No Song-rin.

"Hunter No Song-rin. Hand me the interpretation artifact."

"Are you taking back what you gave me?"

"It's the guild's property."

"Tch! I was planning to take it to my grave though."

Kang Mu-hyuk accepted the interpretation artifact and stepped forward. Zhang Zhongxun spoke.

"Are you really Kang Mu-hyuk?"

"You're asking if I'm real at this point?"

"Looks like you are the real one."

"So what will make you want to stop the attack after surrounding us?"

"This battle was quite impressive. I never thought a non-Hunter would give us such a hard hit."

"Not just one hard hit, I think we gave you two or three."

"Ha! You've got a sharp tongue. Makes sense. You need guts to mess with me, Zhang Zhongxun."

With an air of assured victory, Zhang Zhongxun laughed heartily.

A power differential that could clearly not be overturned. And having the perfect upper hand. It was natural for him to revel in his victory.

"I have a proposal."

"Let's hear it."

"How about becoming my subordinate? I'll make you my Vice-Guild Master. You can use your abilities under me. It's a shame for you to die like this, isn't it?"

Kang Mu-hyuk gazed at the sky, lost in thought. Zhang Zhongxun waited patiently.

After a moment, Kang Mu-hyuk responded, "I've always had a superior, so being a subordinate doesn't bother me. But not under you."

"Why? Do I seem lacking? That's because you don't know me well."

"Someone once said it's better to be the head of a snake than the tail of a dragon. But if given the choice, I'd rather be with the dragon."

"What are you saying...?"

"At best, you're just a lackey for a Chinese guild. If you want to use me, come as a dragon, you snake."

Zhang Zhongxun's expression changed.

"So you won't listen to reason, huh? I'm embarrassed that I was tempted by your abilities. I'll kill you as you wish."

Zhang Zhongxun waved his hand. The atmosphere among the Hunters from the Goryeo Alliance turned deadly. Hunters armed with mana-infused weapons charged.

"Damn it, Guild Leader Kang! Is this really the end? Do we have nothing left?!"

No Song-rin shouted angrily, and Kang Mu-hyuk responded, "Of course..."

Enemy Hunters swarmed toward Kang Mu-hyuk. Cheon Deok-soo stepped in front to block them.

"We do."

Boom!

A light descended from the sky, crashing into the ground. The charging Hunters were blown back in the direction they had come from.

"Am I not too late, Guild Leader Kang?"

"Perfect timing. Begin the final phase, Hunter Go Eul-ji."

"Yes, sir!"