Chapter 26 - B Rank (1)

B Rank (1)

The plane lowered its altitude quickly, letting them see the mess below more clearly.

Seok Pil-jun opened his mouth.

“The gate came by surprise, but how could this happen in just four hours?”

The gate opened there in the Philippines only four hours ago.

Still, four hours was enough time to prepare properly or to ask for help elsewhere.

But now the city has become a wormwood field.

“The local Awakening team took over and was wiped out. They were a decent company that had a few achievements against high-ranking monsters. Perhaps they were banking on that experience and jumped to a scene that they couldn’t handle.”

Jung Jin-sung said with his arms folded.

In the career of an Awakener, experience was deemed important.

Sure, there were tests that could measure an Awakened’s ability, but tests alone could not know the true power of an Awakener.

They have to be in the real world. To accurately measure their skills and reliability, the performance of an Awakened person was measured during battles.

The more powerful and high-level the monsters they faced were, the more respect the Awakened teams get.

That’s why the Philippine Awakening Team, which was wiped out earlier, was trying to get this site – to earn money from the core price and launch their career at the same time.

It would have made great news for reporters covering the Gates. Information about battle experience was also used by fans to compare famous Awakeners.

Lee Soo-yeon and Jung Jin-sung have defeated the A-ranked monsters in the hundreds.

Their careers rank in the Top 20 Worldwide power rankings.

“No matter how. They were insane about jumping into the B-rank gate without experience.”

Lee Soo-yeon shook her head with a pathetic expression.

They gambled with their lives and lost.

The team members, who were close to thirty C-class Awakeners, died fighting the monsters.

Also, the government-level evacuation and safe distance security were not properly conducted, so civilian damage increased.

“The information came in too late. Monsters are the first thing I see below. Be careful, everyone”, said Jeong Jin-sung.

There were fewer than 80 monsters in total, and 10 of them were B-ranked ace monsters.

That was all the information he heard from the analysis team.

As it is a new type of monster that has never appeared before, there was no particular information or precautions.

The plane landed, and the team members immediately scattered and took their positions.

There was no time to relax and talk.

The gate was already closed.

Monsters scattered throughout the city had to be found.

As in other cases, the number of monsters was not high, and it would be much quicker to remove monsters than to find and rescue citizens.

Il-hyun transformed the ground to create a giant hawk. He climbed on its back and headed west.

He found three monsters while flying low.

A humanoid monster with an inverted triangular head, wielding a large sword with both hands.

Il-hyun jumped on the spot and put a sword behind the neck of a monster.

Meanwhile, at a fast speed, the hawk hit another monster.

The enormous hawk grasped the monster’s head with one foot, smashed it to the ground, and dragged it to a distance.

The monster’s head was roughly halved against the ground and thrown into the building, tattered.

Bang!

The two D-rank monsters died in an instant, and a huge thorn surprisingly came out of the ground, stabbing the remaining one all over.

Its ugly body without limbs was drilled full of holes, and it died without being able to make a move.

Wick! When Il-hyun whistled, the hawk flew back to him again.

He jumped on its back, and then it flew across the city.

“- One Ace Monster down.”

“- East base, five down.”

Team members’ radios were heard in the short gap. It was now Il-hyun speaking.

“We also handled three monsters in the west.”

“- Ok, check.”

Lee Soo-yeon, who dealt with the first ace monster she found on the scene, said.

“- Be careful. Your abilities may not work against this Ace mob. Don’t go near it.”

“- I’m annoyed. I understand why the first team got wiped out -”

Ghost grumbled.

High-ranking monsters often have special abilities.

In particular, the higher the level of monsters, the higher the probability that they possess a strong ability.

Therefore, no matter how skillful and strong an Awakened was, one had to approach carefully when dealing with rank A or rank B monsters.

“- because this bunch is too dangerous.”

Ghost was joined by Il-hyun.

“- Checked the location. Going.”

“- Confirmed.”

Ghost and Il-hyun replied to Jeong Jin-sung’s words.

“We will be careful.”

Il-hyun carefully looked around.

He had to be careful if his abilities could not counter a dangerous B-ranked monster.

But at that moment, something they were concerned about happened.

Suddenly, a sharp black thing flew from the right and went through the hawk’s belly. It was a giant spear.

The balance quickly shifted, and he fell down.

“- Damn, I think I came across one!”

“- What? Where are you now!”

Lee Soo-yeon urgently asked, but he could not afford to answer.

The monster who threw the spear leaped in front of him.

It’s really happening.

It didn’t take long for the huge black monster to pull the spear from the hawk and swing it to his direction.

The weapon came at a speed that an ordinary awakener could not have reacted to.

However, Il-hyun is on a different level from the past and was way far from ordinary.

He was able to dodge and react even at that speed and extended his arms.

He tried to attack the monster by transforming the building next door.

But at that moment, he realized that he had made a mistake.

“- Oh, you said they could block abilities?!”

Il-hyun recognized the possibility of failing and frowned.

The power to block abilities was one of the reasons Awakened people who faced these monsters were wiped out.

At that moment, he really wanted to use his abilities. It was his only chance to stay alive.

“Well?”

Il-hyun’s expression changed once again.

Suddenly, his ability worked! He transformed the building into a giant fist and gave the black monster a massive punch!

The monster trying to swing the spear was smashed to the ground.

Il-hyun did not know how he managed it, but he was able to attack right in front of the monster who can suppress abilities.

“- Kang Il-hyun, answer me! Are you ok?”

“- Yes, I’m ok. By the way, I just used my ability.”

“- What? No, then just hold on! I’m coming over there.”

Lee Soo-yeon said with relief.

It was weird, but he thought it would be possible to survive against this monster if he could use his ability anyway.

He went a step further, walking towards the monster.

“- I think I can deal with it myself.”

He grabbed his sword and faced the monster.

The monster’s predatory instinct smelled him as prey.

* * *

B-rank monster.

He shouldn’t try to deal with it alone.

In the test he did with Aegis, he got a result that was barely in the rank of C

In the overhaul he received from Aegis, he was able to get a result that was barely in the rank of C, and he knew how big the difference between the ranks was.

But why?

He thought he could win somehow.

It’s been just a week since he’s been to Russia, and he’s been on quite a few sites.

He has been able to absorb many ethers over the past week.

It was a number that would have been impossible elsewhere, but thanks to Aegis, he was able to get that ether smoothly.

In the meantime, having absorbed ethers, his physical abilities have improved remarkably, and his relatively insufficient battle experience has rapidly toppled.

He could see for himself that he was quite different from when he first joined.

Besides, the most challenging factor, which was the ability to block instincts, didn’t work at all for him.

Instead, it was the same as if the monster’s abilities were lost.

Of course, even so, it didn’t change the fact that the monster is a B-rank.

Moreover, in this situation, he did not know the apparent power of the opponent.

If he thought rationally, it was silly to deal with an Ace Monster alone in this situation.

But his instincts were telling him: He’s food.

Kring!

The monster’s black spear and Il-hyun’s sword collided.

Il-hyun raised his arms and blocked the sharp spear.

Kagagak! Their weapons continued to collide with heavy force.

He could see the furious eyes of the black monster.

Monster eyes.

What is it thinking inside, why is it attacking people, where is the monster from?

After becoming an Awakener, he was always curious as he faced the monsters.

However, even a large number of researchers did not find any answers to those same questions.

But what he can tell for sure now was that the monster in front of him was staring straight at his face, and he could feel a real murderous drive in it.

The tendency to kill people.

Getting angry against how the monster looked at him, Il-hyun’s hostility broke out.

He stepped back, and in that instant, dozens of sharp thorns rose from the ground aimed at the monster.

However, B-rank ace monsters could not be brought down by such techniques, and it simply jumped high to avoid the attack.

Seeing that the attack missed, Il-hyun immediately reached out and changed their direction to follow the monster.

The sharp thorns turned in an instant, quickly followed the monster.

The monster swung its spear, smashing all the thorns that came near it.

Il-hyun took the lighter out of his arms and flicked out a fire; then, he threw it up.

The lighter thrown into the sky burst, and a huge, powerful flame appeared and engulfed the monster as it floated in the air.

Wow!

It was as if he used a flamethrower. Fire soared above him and lit up the surroundings.

At that time, a spear flew in between the fireworks.

Il-hyun was almost pierced in the head by the spear, but he was able to dodge it at the last second. It stuck to the ground behind him.

The monster, slightly tanned and breathing heavily, landed on the ground and stared at him.

Il-hyun did not hesitate. He rushed at the monster, who had no weapon anymore.

But the monster did not run away. It, too, approached him.

Yum!

The spear that was stuck in the ground behind him suddenly flew back, brushing his sleeves, into the hands of the monster.

The monster rushed at Il-hyun, holding the black spear once more.

Whaack!

Il-hyun was caught when the monster swung the spear!

He flew through a building and got stuck against the wall.

The defensive coat he was wearing was torn.

“Shhh!”

Il-hyun spat as he felt something loose was in his mouth. His spit had his tooth with it, and was full of blood.

The weapon flew again.

This time, the spear that flew to Il-hyun’s side smashed the pillars and walls of the building.

Kugu-gu! The building began to collapse with a loud noise.

Il-hyun tried to escape quickly but noticed that there were startled children right next to him, so he used the ground to create a large golem.

The golem appeared as the floor slumped. It used both arms and body to block the collapsing building from falling atop the children.

Il-hyun then summoned the wolf to evacuate the children.

It was like fighting an Awakened and not a monster.

It was different from the monsters he dealt with in the past.

Wielding weapons with this level of expertise, it seems that this monster has high combat intelligence.

Perhaps it even saw the children and intentionally targeted the building instead of aiming at Il-hyun.

“I don’t like it anymore.”

Il-hyun raised his sword.