Chapter 162 - Chapter 162 (1/2)

"Ah....."

They all became utterly speechless. There could not have been a more fitting description than that.

Choi Jung-Hoon forgot what he wanted to say. But, he was certain of something. The origin of that ominous energy he sensed before entering this Gate was that living sculpture.

The magic energy leaking out of that thing was so great that the space surrounding the d*mn creature seemed to twist around in his view.

He was simply staring at it from far away, yet goosebumps were breaking out on his entire body.

Glance.

His gaze was redirected towards Jin-Woo.

It made some sense to see someone as strong as Hunter Seong lying unconscious if he had been in a battle against a 'thing' like that.

No, hold on.

Fighting against such a 'thing' while also finding enough leeway to destroy all these other enemies – the stone statues – was only possible precisely because it was Hunter Seong Jin-Woo and not someone else.

He felt nothing but admiration in his heart. However....

'It's our turn to fight against such an opponent now.'

A thick drop of sweat slid down the side of his face and stopped on his chin.

The strength of this one monster easily exceeded that of the mutated ant that appeared on Jeju Island. No, it was unknown whether this enemy was really a monster or not, to begin with.

Gulp.

His dry saliva painfully slid down his throat.

Choi Jong-In glanced to his side and found that the complexions of Cha Hae-In and Woo Jin-Cheol were utterly pale from fright as well. These two had also figured out the depths of the enemy's power and were in the middle of inwardly freaking out.

On the other hand, the Hunters behind them were getting surprised by something else entirely.

"That thing... did that thing just speak??"

"Wait, I didn't hear incorrectly just now, did I?"

"A monster can speak our language?"

Hunters exchanged glances with one another, their faces filled with incredulity. Something like this seemed impossible.

It was already public knowledge that the monsters with intelligence spoke the language of their own.

Back when these Gates began appearing for the first time, some tried to learn the language of the monsters. Of course, their attempts all ended in failure.

The sole reason for that was the violent tendencies of the monsters. Monsters captured alive through great difficulties couldn't seem to endure being around humans the longer they remained in contact.

Even if their entire bodies were restrained, they tried to rampage around trying to attack humans - even when under the intense pain of their flesh being ripped apart and their bones snapping in half. In the end, either they were killed off by their human captors, or died naturally after being unable to win against the tides of their rage.

- It is impossible for monsters and humans to coexist. It is also impossible to communicate with them.

This was the unanimous conclusion reached by the scientists researching monsters from all over the globe, one they were completely certain of.

However, the monster in front of their eyes was speaking in Korean as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

A monster that could be seen as the find of the century had made its entrance, but for some reason, these Hunters all felt this inexplicable sense of dread in their hearts.

That was the warning bell rung by the primal instinct only detectable by the first-class Hunters such as these people.

Flinch.

The angel statue took one step forward, causing the trembling Hunters to hurriedly back away. The creature slowly shifted its gaze left to right as if to appreciate the sight of these humans and their expressions of fear and terror.

"Oh, strong humans."

The statue spoke up as it began looking at the Hunters with the eyes of someone finding a delicious snack.

"It seems that there are no shortages for the first sacrifices prepared for the king."

If a snake could smile, would that be as disgusting as the one on this creature? The movements of the Hunters froze stiff from the smile forming on the angel statue's face.

'….The king?'

Could there have been yet another monster here?

Choi Jong-In's head slanted to the side briefly, but too bad for him, now wasn't the time to dissect what the monster was saying.

The angel statue ripped up the arm of one of the stone statues strewn about on the floor.

Crack!!

'What is it trying to do?'

Hunters and their confusion didn't last for long. It placed the torn arm in its right shoulder socket that was already missing a limb, and the two parts suddenly began fusing by themselves.

'Heok...!'

As the Hunters gasped out in astonishment, the angel statue moved the newly-regenerated arm around this way and that. It was then.

Shooph.

The statue suddenly appeared before the Hunters. They didn't even have any time to respond. The angel statue took a swing with its right arm. The face of the Hunter standing in front of the group was crushed inward.

Peo-geok!!

The Hunter and his crushed face flew backwards and slammed into the wall. Other Hunters nearby threw out urgent counterattacks, but by then, the angel statue was already gone.

"Where...?!"

"Over there!!"

The creature was now standing on the same spot as before as if it never made a move in the first place. As a matter of fact, it was busy fidgeting with its newly-attached right hand and its fingers. It looked like it was testing out whether its new limb was functioning properly or not.

"M-Myung-Cheol-ah!!"

"Euh, uwaaaahh!!"

Hunters belatedly discovered the casualty among them and began crying out in anguish. He was killed instantly. A rank A Tanker working for South Korea's best Guild had died in a single hit.

Choi Jong-In's eyes as he stared at the angel statue began shaking unsteadily now.

'Hunter Seong Jin-Woo fought against such a thing all by himself...?'

Rather than the pain of losing one of his comrades, his mind was overcome with this hopeless sense of vagueness at not knowing how to break out of the current situation.

Unfortunately, not everyone was capable of rational thought process like Choi Jong-In.

"You son of a b*tch!!"

One of the female Hunters, the lover of the deceased Hunter, screamed out and dashed forward in anger. A pair of flames were burning brightly in both of her hands as she did so.

Just as she was about to launch those flames, someone grabbed her wrists from behind. The female Hunter looked to her side and discovered that Cha Hae-In had approached her before she noticed it. The female Hunter shook her arm and yelled out.

"Let me go!"

"Unni, you must hold it back."

"I said, let go of me, right now!!"

"Please, you gotta hold it back!"

The female Hunter glared straight at Cha Hae-In's face. The latter carried a grave but determined expression as she bit her lower lip.

"I'm also holding back, you know...."

Cha Hae-In's hardened expression caused the female Hunter to stop writhing around in anger. Because... even she knew it was unwise to agitate a monster that no longer showed any interest in their group after making that initial attack.

It was just that, she found it nearly impossible to hold herself back. Someone she loved was met with a horrific death, yet she was unable to do anything. The female Hunter began sobbing under her breath.

"Heuk...."

Once she stopped displaying hints of making a rash decision, Cha Hae-In shifted her attention over to Jin-Woo lying on the ground far away. The female Hunter wasn't the only one holding herself back, indeed.

For some reason, the monster had stopped attacking the group. And Jin-Woo looked unhurt as he continued to breathe normally. His expression was peaceful, as if he was simply asleep right now.

'For now...'

….She and others had to buy as much time as possible until Jin-Woo woke up. That was the best they could do.

It was then.

The angel statue moved its body this way and that before laughter abruptly broke out from its lips.

"Haha."

The empty interior of the underground temple was suddenly filled up with the echoes of the angel statue's voice. It kept its laughter short and shifted its gaze over to the Hunters.

"Well now, should I get the fun started?"

The colour of the angel statue's eyes suddenly reddened up.

Was that the beginning of the assault? The Hunters strengthened their grips on their chosen weapons and prepared for battle.

If it was only one... if it was only one enemy, couldn't they be able to do something here? Not only did they have two rank S Hunters present, but there were also dozens of top local Hunters gathered here at the moment, too.

As such an optimistic outlook quickly raced past the minds of the Hunters, this happened.

Dududududududuk.

Suddenly, an earthquake broke out inside this huge, open chamber.

"Ah.... No, this can't be...."