Chereads / The Monster Who Levels Up / Chapter 9 - Chapter 9: A Heavenly Gifted Hunter (3)

Chapter 9 - Chapter 9: A Heavenly Gifted Hunter (3)

Sae-Jin's eyeballs busily rolled around, trying to take in all the

words appearing on the various message windows. At a cursory

glance, they all sounded pretty dang great. However, what was

up with this seriously bad timing – right now, he couldn't even

let out an exclamation of happiness for this unexpected

evolution.

'...That's not a bad skill at all.'

The fact that the Orc Form evolved into the Orc Warrior Form

was great, but his attention was currently with the new skill

"Warrior of Reversal". It was truly a wonderful skill since he

could use it even in the Human Form. And just as its suggestive

name implied, the skill could change the outcome of any

situation. In other words... a situation exactly like this one here.

'Now, what should I do about this girl, really.....'

He looked at Yu Sae-Jung with complicated eyes. Even though

she was facing the Troll with outwardly overflowing

confidence, she probably knew better than anyone that it was

nothing but a false bravado. Really, anyone with eyes could tell

that this Troll was in the Ravenous State, what with its

appearance of falling gobs of drool from the lips and all.

Plus, this Monster was most likely a low Mid Tier threat now,

judging by its huge size and the tyrannical aura oozing off from

it. Nominally, a Low Tier Knight should be able to deal with a

Low Tier Monster alone. To be ranked a Low Tier at that young

age, her talents were something to be really proud about, but

unfortunately, it was still way too much for her to fight a low

Mid Tier Monster by herself.

"....*Sigh*..."

Sae-Jin let out a grand sigh. It'd take at least 1 minute for that

other dude to arrive at the nearest Knights Order base, judging

from his running speed. However, what about the time needed

for the help, in the form of high ranked Knights, to arrive here?

– Kwhaaang....

Taking time to think things through was an unaffordable

luxury at the moment. Yu Sae-Jung's mana-infused sword

clashed with the Troll's fist, and the resulting explosive shock

waves, along with a roar, violently shook the lands they were

standing on. She somehow avoided getting knocked out in a

single punch by the skin of her teeth, but that was it, that was

her limit.

– Vuwuououong... (TL: sorry, this is the best I could do with

the Mana onomatopoeia...)

Her face was now full of panic, quite unlike 5 minutes ago

when it was still full of arrogance and relaxed demeanor. But

Trolls knew no such thing as mercy. The huge fists of Troll

created a dark shade as they rained down on top of her head like

a torrential rainfall.

Sae-Jin clenched his teeth. He still felt fearful no matter how

his burning emotions egged him on to face the b*****d. He

wondered if this was what the firefighters felt when trying to

step into a maelstrom of an inferno.

– Thkwang!!

While he was hesitating, Yu Sae-Jung's body got struck by the

Troll's fist and was flung away like a thrown baseball. Her fine

sword got disintegrated into equally fine powder, and her cool

overcoat-like battle armour became an ugly, twisted wreck,

losing all its effectiveness in the process.

– Khung, khung.

The Troll made a huge racket as it advanced forward. And

when it got near the downed Yu Sae-Jung, the b*****d raised its

huge hand up.

'...What the?'

Quietly and weakly staring at this unfolding spectacle, Yu Sae-

Jung couldn't even think about closing her eyes anymore. She

just couldn't believe that this was happening for real. This crazy

situation, this incredible pain that didn't even allow her to voice

out how much it hurt, all of them felt like a bad dream to her.

She just wanted to run away from this terrible nightmare. Only

if she could wake up from this dream right away...

The Troll's huge hand slowly descended.

It was a trick of her mind, the slowing down of the time itself.

Every thought fled from her head, leaving it completely blank.

It was at this very moment.

– Kwhang!!

A man causing a whirlwind to kick up appeared out of

nowhere and blocked the fist of the Troll. Only with his body,

nothing more than his two pairs of arms and legs, and strangely

no emission of Mana coming out of him at all. This guy had

stopped the Troll's advances simply with his own physical

prowess and nothing else.

His clothing got torn apart due to the Troll exerting a massive,

awesome pressure and the ground supporting him caved in, but

his stance didn't crumble one bit. He was truly taking the Troll

head on.

Yu Sae-Jung observed this improbable spectacle completely

speechless. This was an unreal scene that flew in the face of

common sense. Since it was more dream-like than an actual

dream itself, she somehow managed to convince herself that

this was indeed reality and that it was indeed happening right

before her eyes.

"....Go!!"

The guy hurriedly shouted at the stupefied Yu Sae-Jung. But,

perhaps due the prior impact, she was suffering from dizzying

tinnitus in her ears and couldn't hear him well. She shook her

head hard several times and only then could she get what he

was shouting at her about.

"Get the hell away from here, you d**n idiot!!"

Right now, Sae-Jin felt like dying. The weight of this effing

Troll was, simply put, completely, utterly insane. His bones felt

like turning into smithereens from the cruel pain. But, he had

no choice but to endure. He had to, since the reason for this all

effort of buying time, the girl, still seemed out of it and was

simply there spectating this scene.

"...!!"

Maybe him mixing in insults woke her up, she finally seemed

to get the gravity of the situation and began dragging her

broken leg, somehow gaining a distance away from him. When

she was well out of the danger, Sae-Jin quickly rolled his body

out of the way.

– Pwuaaang!!

With an earth-shaking explosion, a crater in the shape of a

Troll's fist was carved right on the ground where Sae-Jin had

been standing just now.

– Krrrrr...!!

Seemingly pissed off at the sudden, unwelcome entrance of a

hindrance, the Troll snorted out in anger and faced towards

Sae-Jin's direction.

And at the same time, strength deserted Sae-Jin's body.

Indeed, 1 minute was a really short amount of time.

Weirdly, though – he didn't feel any pain, even after the skill

had ended.

Most likely, bones in both of his arms, as well as the nerve

endings, got badly damaged in the encounter. He couldn't feel

his arms at all as if they weren't there in the first place.

– Miss Yu!!

– That son of a bi*ch!! Hey!! Stop right there!!

But, like the timely blessings from the heavens, a booming,

powerful and manly voice resounded from a distance. When the

Troll heard that domineering lion-like roar, it showed signs of

pure panic and hurriedly turned its head.

"You foul creature!!"

A baldy exploded out like a bullet from the tall grasses,

splitting the air with his mighty sword that gleamed with a

sharp metallic sheen. Then, towards the Troll, he shot forward

a crescent shaped sword aura that was keen enough to tear out

the sky. The supersonic aura didn't even give the Monster any

time to take evasive actions, and it penetrated the torso of the

creature unopposed, and soon after, the Troll's body split in half

and fell in a heap as if it was nothing to begin with.

"Sae-Jung, are you okay?!"

The Knight that made all of Sae-Jin's death-defying efforts

look meaningless by killing the Troll in one shot, hurriedly ran

towards Yu Sae-Jung, who was lying sprawled on the ground

with broken legs and her body utterly incapacitated.

"Sae-Jung!! This can't be!! How did your beautiful face get

so..."

The man raised a huge fuss and gently hugged Sae-Jung's

body.

'... My body won't move.'

Out of the blue, Sae-Jung coughed out a clot of blood.

"Oh, my god!! What the hell!! Sae-Jung!! Sae-Jung~!!"

The man's face turned red and pale all at once as he cried

while fussing over her, but at the moment, Sae-Jung's thoughts

were focused on something else, so what this guy was doing

only ended up bothering her.

Her face had become swollen up in the meantime and it was

difficult to keep her eyes open. But she still forcibly pried her

lashes open to take look at one specific person, a man.

His clothes were torn to shreds, revealing the hidden ripped,

hard muscles like that of a Greek statue underneath. The limp

arms on his sides were darkly discoloured beyond the purplish

hue, his legs shaking uncontrollably as if he'd falter at any

moment.

The man who had saved her, she didn't even know his name.

But it seemed like he did mention it before... she must've

forgotten it. She found herself pathetic, realising this. She

should have remembered it.

It was then, the man gazed at her direction briefly, before

turning to walk away to a destination unknown.

Yu Sae-Jung wanted to reach out her hands to the man

walking unsteadily on his legs, seemingly only seconds away

from collapsing on the ground. But her body would not move.

She just wanted to ask him to wait for a second. But she seemed

to have lost all feelings in her mouth, too.

"..."

So, the only thing she could do for now, was to engrave the

back of the man as her heavy eyelids slowly closed down on her.

*

Fighting the urge to give up and fall down, he continued to

push his body hard. Finding his bloodied and damaged body

bothersome, Sae-Jin promptly changed into the Wolf Form as

soon as he couldn't sense the presence of people. The wounds

and the weakening consciousness remained the same, however.

But he forced the two okay limbs to run as if his life depended

on it. To lose his consciousness in the Monster Field was the

same thing as dying, after all.

He ran without a rest until he finally arrived at the cave.

Changing back to his Human Form, he hurriedly drank the

potions he brewed earlier on. His arms couldn't move, so he had

to pop the lid of the bottle open with his lips, but fortunately,

his wounds recovered almost right away, so that was that.

But it was another matter altogether for his wavering

consciousness. It seemed like this was one of the backlashes of

using that skill. Sae-Jin passed out on the ground and fell into a

deep slumber.

****

The greatest Knight Order in Korea was, nominally, the Raven

Knight Order, but if the Knights Orders were grouped

separately into the privately run entities and the government-

owned ones, then the story became slightly more murkier to

tell. Of course, the Raven remained as the example for other

Knights Orders to strive for. But when discussing the private

Knight Orders, the matters became complicated somewhat.

There were 2 Orders considered to be in the top flight, 9 Orders

in the mid tier, and further 12 smaller Orders out there, with all

these numerous organizations busy competing against each

other.

One of those 2 top dogs were called "Saebyuk" Knights Order,

which was in turn, owned by a very powerful global

conglomerate "Saebyukdahl". When the Order opened its doors,

people regularly disparaged it for being a lowest ranked Order

with only a wealthy patron supporting it like a personal

plaything, but thanks to the rapid development brought on by

that absolutely enormous wealth, the popular consensus had

reversed and they were now treated as the very models of

modern miracle. If the question of who the top Knights Orders

were came up, the names of the "Raven", "Goryeo" and Saebyuk

would have been mentioned. And of course, Saebyuk Order's

financial treatment was incomparably better than all its

competition. (Saebyuk literally means a dawn, Saebyukdahl is a

moon appearing at dawn. Goryeo was a name for an ancient

Korean kingdom.)

"It was not the fault of uncle Hyun-Oh. So, please stop

apologising. It's actually all my fault..."

And Yu Sae-Jung just so happened to be the granddaughter of

Saebyukdahl's Chairman, one of the world's biggest

corporations, as well as the daughter of the current Master of

the Saebyuk Knight Order. She was an incredibly giant

existence, a child born with an unobtainium spoon firmly stuck

in her mouth, and was important enough to make a famous

High Tier ranked Knight like Park Hyun-Oh to fret over her like

this.

"...No, that's not it. Whatever the case may have been, I

should've been right there, watching out for you...."

Not only her background was very impressive, her talents

were just as perfect, however, as she received the official

government acknowledgement as a Low Tier Knight at the

young age of only 17 years and 45 days. This was only a month

off from what Kim Yu-Rin had achieved – a Low Tier Knight at

17 years and 6 days – which only served to showcase Yu Sae-

Jung's amazing talents that were basically without equal among

her peers.

"Enough with the self pity, seriously, and I hope you have

already uncovered the information I asked you about?"

"...Eh? Oh, that?"

The very first thing Yu Sae-Jung asked for after waking up

from the two-day long coma was about the identity of a certain

man. A mystery man that Park Hyun-Oh couldn't recall as he

was far too focused on saving Yu Sae-Jung at that time – but she

insisted that this mystery guy was the one who saved her life.

"Wait a minute, you haven't even bothered to check, have

you?"

Yu Sae-Jung's eyes grew sharp enough to give chills at the

sight of Park Hyun-Oh's hesitating appearance.

"No, no way!! Honestly, even I thought it was unlikely. I

seriously thought that maybe you were seeing things. I mean,

it's plainly impossible for a Low Tier Hunter to stop a Troll all

alone. However...."

He stopped speaking for a second as he began rummaging

through his pockets, before he fished out a bronze-coloured

Hunter licence.

"Here it is, for real. Even I was surprised, you know. Found it

among all the shredded clothing on the ground."

Since Yu Sae-Jung couldn't move her body due to the

paralysis, Park Hyun-Oh had to bring the licence card right

before her eyes.

"A Heavenly Gifted Hunter, Kim Sae-Jin.... Wait a minute, a

Heavenly Gifted?"

"Yeah. That's right. It's been a long time since I saw one of

those titles, but hell, if you think about it, it makes perfect

sense. I mean, all the Hunters with that crazy title were a bit...

abnormal, weren't they?"

"...You can find him, right?"

"Of course. Already began looking for him. It's only a matter

of time before he's standing right in front of you. Oh, right,

before that, you are not..."

Suddenly, Park Hyun-Oh narrowed his eyes and intensely

stared at Yu Sae-Jung.

Unlike her age, her actions were very grown-up but in the

end, she was still a child. She was at an age where it wouldn't be

strange to find her head full of unrealistic fantasies and useless

ideas of romance. So, what if, in that dangerous life or death

situation, she had developed a crush on the man that rescued

her...

"Fuhut. No freaking way. That's not it. Me, I'm not a child.

It's just that... it's like what Grandpa always have said. If it's a

favour, repay it as soon as possible, and if it's a grudge, grind it

out as long as possible. I've deeply engraved that teaching into

my heart, is all."

Yu Sae-Jung carried an assured smile of denial, before she

remembered something important, and asked with her brows

raised high.

"That's that taken care of, but more importantly, can I be

fully healed? I've heard by accident that my current paralysis is

pretty serious."

Park Hyun-Oh stiffened up momentarily.

"You heard that? I thought you were asleep."

"Yeah, you guys did say it's really serious."

Only 10 years ago, paralysis like Yu Sae-Jung's would have

been a very painful and incurable condition, but that wasn't the

case any more. With the advent of alchemy and its continued

research and development, nowadays it only took a single

potion to cure it.

But her paralysis was more severe than the usual case, so it

was determined that a powerful potion with a upper Mid grade

or higher was needed to heal her.

"Don't you worry about that. I just got a news that there's an

Alchemy House in Gangwon with a supply of upper Mid grade

potions that can heal and regenerate. The effects of Gangwon's

output has always been good, and since the Chairman made that

very generous deal under the table with the House, we'll get the

first dibs when they get the stuff."

"...Is that so? That's a relief."

Yu Sae-Jung nodded her head without showing much interest.

"What's the name of the potion though? Is it a product from

one of the workshops on the Eastern Seaboard? I did hear they

were still on strike. But did they end it?"

"Nope. They are still doing that industrial action thing. This is

a new product. And I do mean, like brand-spanking new. I hear

it's from a totally unknown personage, who just appeared outta

nowhere, and left a seriously incredible product behind, just

like that. The people handling the stuff apparently raised a huge

ruckus saying that a new genius has appeared or some such."

"Okay, fine. Just tell me the name, will you."

"Well, yeah, the thing is... it's something of an untrustworthy

name, you see."

Park Hyun-Oh hesitated somewhat to say the name out aloud,

but under the sharp gazes of impatient Yu Sae-Jung, he finally

relented and stuttered out the name.

"I did ask a few times if it was real... Well, the potion is

called... A Goblin's Kindness."