The battle was fierce.
Moth monsters appeared from all directions and dropped toward the Awakened.
Fortunately, the superpowered people had already formed a formation and blocked the monsters’ approach.
The Defense-type Awakened blocked the monsters with their shields while the Strike-type Awakened behind them launched attacks with spears.
The moth monsters flew above the Awakened’s heads, looking for an opening. It was difficult to break through the defense of the well-formed formation.
Boom!
Another explosion rang out. It came from where Eunseo was. A moth had dived at Eunseo, who was positioned outside the defensive formation.
The moth bounced right off Eunseo’s shield.
The members of Team 1 rushed toward the moth. The Strike-type Awakened ran forward with spears, followed by the Defense-type Awakened.
The Defense-type Awakened raised their shields and kept watch for other moth monsters.
Fortunately, this time the Strike-type Awakened reached it before the moth could take off and managed to slice off its wings.
Moments later, the moth monster finally died under a barrage of spear attacks.
Eunseo kept moving forward to lure the moth monsters, and she successfully brought down two more.
The fallen moth monsters were killed by the combined attacks of Team 1 and Team Crazy.
The last moth was finished off by Team 2. That moth monster ignored Eunseo’s lure and charged at Team 2.
Team 2 and the moth monster engaged in a bloody fight, and eventually, the moth, whose wings had been damaged during the battle, was slain by Team 2’s Strike-type Awakened.
Unfortunately, one Defense-type Awakened was injured during the fight and had to be evacuated to the rear.
Still, people’s expressions brightened. It was a huge victory.
Amid the joyful crowd, Yonghoon looked at his smart watch.
Level D
Dimensional Power 0 / 300
He had finally reached D-Rank.
He had just broken through the final stage.
Dimensional Power surged through his entire body. He could feel his body strengthening in response.
Just one more rank up and he would hit the limit level. It was an incredible growth rate. A C-rank Awakened was growing at the same pace as an A-rank Awakened.
He had worked hard and done crazy things to get here, but now his growth rate made all the hardship worth it.
‘But I need to be even faster.’
He was still only at the level of an A-rank Awakened. Yonghoon hardened his resolve even more.
Just then, Sunhee spoke while watching the other Awakened rejoice.
“They fight well.”
Her teammates nodded at her words. Deep down, they had thought Team Crazy was the strongest Awakened team in Korea.
But after seeing the other Link System Company Awakened team, they realized Team Crazy wasn’t all that different.
Especially Team 1, which had Instructor Seo and a D-rank superpowered person, seemed stronger than their own team.
However,
Sunhee turned to look at Yonghoon.
Yonghoon was brushing off Excrement Powder from his body with a towel.
He was different from the other Awakened. He was the one who had first sliced the wings of the moth monster soaring into the sky and the one who had disabled the third moth by cutting off its antennae.
Among the other Awakened, Yonghoon stood out like a towering figure.
She clenched her fist tightly. The gap was still big.
But one day, she believed she would be able to face enemies at the same level as him.
She resolved to work even harder for that day.
Instructor Seo looked around, calming the excited Awakened. The operation had gone better than he expected.
He had braced himself for a few deaths. But unexpectedly, everyone fought well.
His subordinates had done well, and Eunseo had fought excellently as a D-rank Awakened.
And then he looked at Team Crazy.
It was quite a good team. He was surprised that such a team existed outside the company. And he thought he knew the reason.
Kang Yonghoon.
A trained fighter with sharp instincts. A man who moved toward his goal.
It was clear that he was the one who had shaped that team into what it was now.
“Tsk, what a shame.”
Instructor Seo clicked his tongue as he looked at Yonghoon. Fighting alongside him had been quite fun. He considered making another offer, but shook his head.
Yonghoon was already building his own team. Whatever his goal was, someone charging forward like that wouldn’t listen to him.
Instructor Seo decided to call him often for future large-scale hunts.
“Everyone move out! We’re almost there.”
At Instructor Seo’s words, the group began marching forward again.
Unlike the group’s lively energy, their fight with the moth monsters had drawn in the surrounding silkworm monsters.
Silkworm monsters began to appear one by one in front of the advancing group. Some fell from the windows of nearby buildings, while others crawled back out from buildings they had already searched.
In the end, dozens of silkworm monsters began to surround the group.
“Defense team, hurry up!”
Seeing the silkworm monsters pushing in from the front, Instructor Seo shouted loudly.
Team 1’s Defense-type Awakened raised their shields at the front.
[Team 3 cleared. Heading to support Team 4.]
[Monsters are pouring out of the building. Team 2 is being pushed back! Requesting support!]
The voices of each team leader overlapped through the earpieces.
Yonghoon, waiting behind Team 1, confirmed they were holding off the silkworm monsters well and turned to look toward Team 2.
Silkworm monsters were pouring out of the building on the left and attacking Team 2.
“Team Crazy will support Team 2!”
Yonghoon shouted to Instructor Seo and led his teammates toward Team 2.
Team 2 continued to be pushed back.
“Damn! I should’ve brought more F-Rank Awakened!”
A human-sized silkworm monster slammed onto a grumbling Awakened’s shield. The Defense-type Awakened gritted his teeth and held the shield firm.
The silkworm monster bounced off the shield, but another one clung onto the Awakened.
“Damn it!”
Unable to infuse Dimensional Power into the shield in time, the Awakened braced to be crushed and raised the shield.
Thud!
A spear shot out beside the Awakened’s neck and pierced the silkworm monster’s body.
The silkworm monster staggered back from the impact.
“It’s Team Crazy! We’re here to help!”
Jimin shouted to him and ran toward another Defense-type Awakened.
With Team Crazy’s arrival, Team 2 was barely able to hold their ground. But the number of silkworm monsters kept increasing.
Silkworm monsters continued pouring out from the building behind the monsters Team 2 was defending against.
Eventually, one Defense-type Awakened was crushed by a silkworm monster. The surrounding Strike-type Awakened stabbed wildly with their spears, but the silkworm monster sank its teeth into the Defense-type Awakened’s neck.
“Aaargh!”
Other Awakened desperately attacked and finally managed to kill the silkworm.
But by the time they pulled the silkworm off, the Awakened was already dead.
“This is Team 2! We need additional support!”
[Other teams are currently unavailable! Hold out a bit longer!]
A negative response came back to Team 2’s leader’s call.
Yonghoon pulled his spear from the silkworm monster in front of him and looked toward Instructor Seo. That side was also surrounded and fighting frantically.
But it seemed no more monsters were appearing there. It looked like they would be finished soon.
But this side was different. If things continued like this, the damage would be too great. Team Crazy was fighting hard, but they were outnumbered.
Someone had to go into the building and cut off the wave of monsters pouring out.
Yonghoon shouted to Team Leader Han.
“Take command of the team! I’ll cut them off from behind!”
And before Team Leader Han could respond, he dashed forward. Bursting out of the defensive formation, he drove his spear into the head of the silkworm in front of him.
The silkworm monster screamed and thrashed its body. The spear slipped from his hand.
He gave up on the spear and drew his sword from his waist. Then he leapt into the swarm of monsters.
“Crazy bastard!”
Seeing Yonghoon’s actions, Team Leader Han cursed. He seemed to be getting bolder by the minute.
When he moved with the team, there was a certain level of safety in the hunt, but when he moved alone, it was like he was charging straight into death.
But now he was already buried among the monsters, and Yonghoon was nowhere to be seen.
Team Leader Han cursed inwardly and shouted to the team members.
“Hold on a little longer! The captain will cut them off from the back. Focus entirely on defense!”
At his words, all the team members gripped their weapons tightly.
Sunhee also clutched her spear and looked toward the building Yonghoon had run into.
Yonghoon began to step through the monsters.
Dodging the silkworm monsters lunging from the side and leaping over the ones blocking his way, he kept running forward.
It had been a long time since he’d been in a large-scale battle. Thanks to the monsters charging from all directions, his nerves were coming alive.
‘Nice!’
As his movements became smoother, a smile formed on Yonghoon’s face.
He could feel that sense-what people called a sixth sense-awakening. The Dimensional Power flowing from the monsters around him was stimulating the Dimensional Power within his own body.
As time passed, the stimulation from that energy allowed him to sense the monsters’ movements even without seeing them.
Before long, he saw the entrance of the building where the monsters were crawling out.
Monsters were pouring out from all sides of the massive factory building. Some were crawling down the walls from the windows, and others were dropping from the rooftop.
But most of the silkworm monsters were coming out through the entrance. Several of them were squeezing through the small doorway.
He focused his Dimensional Power into his skewer-like sword. Power many times greater than that of an E-Rank surged into the blade. The sword now glowed faintly and vibrated in Yonghoon’s hand.
It was D-Rank Dimensional Power.
Yonghoon smiled. He could finally start to show some of his true skills.
It was swordsmanship he had honed for nine years on the battlefield of hell. Moreover, it was a style forged through constant chaos and crisis.
He hurled himself toward the entrance where the monsters were pouring out. A bright wave of light burst forward from his hand.
Team 2 and Team Crazy were overwhelmed trying to fend off the silkworm monsters. Over twenty monsters had already fallen nearby, and just as many were still clinging to the Awakened.
But no more monsters were appearing.
“The monsters’ attacks are weakening! Push through now!”
Team 2’s leader shouted loudly to the surrounding superpowered people.
“Yeah!”
The Awakened shouted back and charged the monsters once more.
It was then, as Team 2 and Team Crazy were desperately fighting the monsters.
“Team 1, coming in to support!”
From the side of the monsters, Instructor Seo’s voice rang out. Then voices from other teams followed.
With all the teams joining in, the battle ended in a one-sided victory for the Awakened.
But this time, no one cheered.
Team 2’s members collapsed on the spot. They were too exhausted to move.
The others were also breathing heavily. Quite a few were visibly injured.
But Team Crazy ran toward the building the monsters had poured out of. That was because Yonghoon was nowhere to be seen.
They pushed through the monster corpses and entered the building’s entrance. The floor was littered with the bodies of silkworm monsters.
And there, in the center of the massive factory, they found Yonghoon.
He was leaning against a machine shelf, gasping for breath.
All around the factory were the corpses of silkworm monsters. Just from what they could see, there were over twenty.
“Wow! As expected, Captain, you’re amazing!”
Jimin shouted when she saw Yonghoon. The others also looked impressed by the number of monster corpses. It was a number too great for an E-Rank Awakened to handle alone.
“But with the captain’s skills…”
Kangwoo looked around and spoke. For those who had watched Yonghoon hunt, it was a scene they could somewhat understand.
“But this time, that was too reckless. If there had been just a few more monsters, it would’ve been dangerous.”
Team Leader Han said sternly to Yonghoon.
Yonghoon nodded. The battle had been tougher than he expected. As expected, it wasn’t easy for a Strike-type Awakened to hunt alone.
Yonghoon stepped down from the shelf. Then he walked out of the building with the others.
“Team Leader Han, please make sure the credit for hunting the monsters inside the building goes 100% to Team Crazy.”
Yonghoon said to Team Leader Han as he walked outside.
“Of course. It’s all yours, Yonghoon. Don’t worry.”
Yonghoon nodded.
Team Crazy walked past the monsters and headed toward the Link System Company Awakened resting in the middle of the road.
The other Awakened greeted the Team Crazy members warmly.
And in a corner of the factory hall that Team Crazy had left behind, a moth monster lay dead, both its wings severed.