Chapter 204: Monster Hunt 3
Junhyuk leaned against the door to block the way, and Sora held the sword to her side and said, "My power is back."
"Let’s wait to see if the iron soldier returns. Maybe the door will hold until then."
He thought it would be better if the iron soldier engaged first. Sora’s defense was shoddy.
The black jaguar also seemed to be lacking in defense, but its reflexes were quite dangerous. It couldn’t get through the door, and the iron soldier, with its superior defense, would be able to deal with it. However, Sora might get torn apart like the R-agents.
Junhyuk rested his back against the door, and Soyeon Shin also leaned on the door to support it.
Boom!
"Aaahh!"
Soyeon had showed courage in following Junhyuk, but was surprised by the impact and screamed. Because she was being courageous, the other employees approached and did the same.
Tsubasa stared at them and stood behind Soyeon. If something dangerous happened, Tsubasa’s attack could hold the jaguar back.
When people came over and leaned against the door, Junhyuk felt something strange. He realized they all had courage and wouldn’t quit the company.
Boom!
They felt another shock through the door, and everyone gritted their teeth. Even while anxious, they remained courageous.
Junhyuk looked around, and suddenly, it all became very quiet. He looked at the monitor and saw the black jaguar crouching, getting ready to pounce. While it prepared, its claw were getting longer. Seeing that, Junhyuk pushed the employees away, and the jaguar tore a hole in the door, attempting to get in.
Junhyuk had barely escaped the claws.
It had taken time for the jaguar to use its claws, and they were sharp enough to tear through steel doors. The jaguar poked its head through the opening on the door and bared its teeth.
"Aaaahh!"
Junhyuk looked at the monitor. The jaguar’s head was through the door, but its torso was exposed on the other side.
"It’s here!" Junhyuk shouted, and the jaguar looked at him. Then, the loud sound of gunfire rang out.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-at!
The iron soldier MK-II’s arms were powerful. It shot at the jaguar’s ribs, peppering it with bullets, and Junhyuk headed toward Sora.
She seemed relieved to see the jaguar’s head being pulled back. After pulling out his head, the jaguar pounced on the iron soldier.
The iron soldier fired at the jaguar, tearing a wall along with one of the jaguar’s legs. However, it got closed to the iron soldier and clawed at it.
The MK-II lost an arm, and the jaguar wrapped its tail around the iron soldier and slammed it against the ground. The iron solder revved its engine, attempting to get up, but the jaguar was already on it, clawing at it and decapitating the iron soldier.
The iron soldier’s defense wasn’t enough to deal with the black jaguar. That was when the other iron soldier arrived and got to the jaguar by taking the elevator shaft.
The jaguar turned away from the decapitated iron soldier, and the other soldier was coming out of the elevator, firing at the monster. The black jaguar kicked the fallen iron soldier, which flew in the air and blocked the incoming bullets.
The iron soldier stopped shooting, and the jaguar pounced on it and sliced its head. It possessed astonishingly fast and strong single blow.
Junhyuk understood something. That black jaguar was an assassin. It had been sent to destroy iron soldier. What it lacked in defense, it used in single strikes to destroy the MK-II.
After destroying both soldiers, it ran toward the shelter. By then, it had lost one leg, and its torso was full of holes.
The jaguar broke down the door, and Junhyuk grabbed a chair next to him. Once the jaguar entered the shelter, Junhyuk threw the chair and shouted, "Sora!"
While the jaguar sliced and diced the chair with its claws, Sora used her power. The jaguar tried to swing at her, but she dodged it, and sliced the monster’s torso. It had already been damaged in the ribs by the iron soldier, so she sliced it in half. Still, she didn’t stop there, finally beheading the black jaguar.
Then, she retreated.
Her attack and retreat had taken one second. The jaguar had tried to swing at her, but had not hurt her.
Sora sighed, relieved, and Junhyuk smiled at her. He had been trusting Tsubasa to take care of everything, but it had been Sora with her longsword who had done so.
She was still sighing when Eunseo and the others came outside. Eunseo bowed to her and said, "Thank you for protecting us from the monsters."
"I did what anyone would do."
Sora swung the longsword once to remove the blood dripping from it and rested it on her shoulder. Everyone expressed their gratitude toward her, and Elise walked over to inspect the black jaguar.
Then, her head turned to looked at the iron soldiers.
"Ouch! We lost a lot of money this time."
Elise operated her tablet, and a wheeled robot entered. It started inspecting the jaguar.
Then, she looked down the hallway and clicked her tongue. It was filled with fallen R-agents and iron soldier parts. The robot took the corpses and the iron soldier debris and disappeared.
She went back to the group and said, "We have to relocate quickly."
Eunseo nodded heavily. The day had been a disaster.
"The monster attacks are getting more dangerous."
"Yes, we are in tough spot."
"First, let’s check take stock of the damage and check on the attacks around the world," Eunseo said camly.
The new employees were looking at the broken door, and Eunseo gave them a quick order, "Take your seats."
Everyone sat down. She looked at Elise, and Elise pulled out six laptops.
"With Zaira’s help, work will be easier. Browse the internet for monster attacks."
Eunseo nodded and looked at the new employees.
"The Administrative Department will check the internet for videos of monsters. Check if there is any problem and find out more information about the body transfers to Korea."
"Yes."
She looked at Junhyuk and added, "Find out more about the monster attacks, and send each nation a cooperation report."
"Sure."
"Teach them about monster attacks and what to do in such circumstances."
"Yes."
It was a good chance to transfer his workload to the new employees. Junhyuk took a seat and taught them what to do. He told them about how to use Zaira. When they found out how powerful Zaira was, everyone was speechless.
Once they had learned about the AI supercomputer, they started working with Zaira’s help.
---
Sora looked at the longsword she was holding. It had been coated in decomposition liquid to be used against huge monsters. Because she had her own power, she had been able to kills monsters with it.
"You did well."
Sora turned to see Elise smiling.
"Your power is beyond my expectations. Maybe you will be the one to safeguard Guardians."
"What about the iron soldiers?"
"They helped, but you saw everything! You would be more effective in dealing with monsters."
"It’s a relief that I was able to help."
"By the way, congratulations!"
"On what?"
Elise smiled and said, "Sora, you killed the jaguars, and there were mana stones inside them. They were bigger than expected, so you should get $3 million for each."
"What?!"
She was surprised, and Elise continued, "We still have to do a more accurate appraisal, but as soon as that’s over, you’ll be paid."
Sora couldn’t believe it, and Elise focused on the screen.
"The weapons worked, but we still need better armor. I wasn’t expecting that."
She looked at the robot holding the black jaguar’s claws. They had started out short, but but the jaguar enlarged them by one meter, and they had easily sliced through barium titanate steel.
Even if they had the monster decomposition liquid, they had no answers for the claws. They would have to kill the jaguar before it struck.
Elise touched her chin and murmured, "They are coming out this way." She smiled and added, "OK. I’ve figured out what they are trying to do!"
They had to disable the monsters. Elise didn’t know who was sending them, but she was feeling confident.
They’d have to strengthen the HQ’s defenses.
"We have to spend more money!"
She was working busily, and Sora stared at her and turned away to look at Junhyuk working. She had been courageous because of him.
Sora looked at the steel door. It still contained some residue of Junhyuk supporting it with his back.
Then, she looked at her sword. It had been very useful. It wouldn’t help against heroes, but it had proven to kill monsters.
"I’ll take it with me."
---
Junhyuk was very busy. Both the crowded areas around Namdaemun and Seoul Station had been attack, but they had been able to predict the appearance of the monsters and evacuate the people.
If the iron soldiers had been deployed after the monsters had appeared, many people would have died, but they had been mostly wounded. The supersonic flight in Namdaemun had broken a lot of glass that hurt a lot of people.
People hadn’t been killed by monsters, but they had been wounded by the iron soldier, and Junhyuk didn’t know how they would respond to it. In Paju, there were fewer people, so no one was killed.
It was a huge relief.
After gathering the information on what happened in South Korea, he turned to the international attacks and frowned. South Korea had been the only country able to predict monster attacks, so the other nations deployed iron soldiers after the monsters showed up.
And there were many casualties.
He looked at the laptop’s screen and froze the video and rewound it. It was the feed from the iron soldier in China. The video showed a monster that looked like a huge ox. The iron soldier had been able to capture it on video. The monster measured five meters from head to tail and was running wild in a market.
Then, a little girl stood in front of it. She looked to be about fifteen years old and she extended her hands toward the ox. Suddenly, the rushing ox was sliced in half, and Junhyuk’s eyes widened.
"A wind blade?"
Even the ground had been cut. It was certainly a wind blade.
"Another novice?"
However, it didn’t look like the girl had activated her power in China. She looked too calm, so she had to have been to the Dimensional Battlefield.
The number of novices was increasing, and some of those might become experts, and some of those experts might become champions.
"China!"