The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 665: Fortress Defense (1)

“Peace, just for today, only until sunset, do what Mr. Shishio tells you. Got it?”

– Kkiang.

Peace answered vigorously—or so I wished. In reality, it was a reluctant little cry. Still, an answer was an answer. I patted Peace and straightened up. The sky far off was starting to grow faintly bright. Three minutes left. I turned around.

“Don’t worry, Chief Han!”

Shishio waved energetically in Peace’s place and shouted. Okay, I’ll trust you. I walked toward the building in the center of the fortress and put my palm against the door.

[This is the King’s Quarters. Until all affiliated Hunters have died, monsters are forbidden from entering. Until all monsters have been dealt with, affiliated Hunters are forbidden from entering. Would you like to enter?]

Some “king’s quarters.” When I said I would enter, my body was transported into the building. A wide room of stone walls and stone floor appeared. The ceiling rose far above, and the space was about the size of a small sports field. In the middle, a throne sat.

One minute earlier. I ran toward the throne. There wasn’t any actual rule saying I had to sit there, but it had to be better than just plopping down on the floor. It looked hard and cold though, this thing. My footsteps echoed sharply against the stone. The throne itself also looked stiff, but at least it had a cushion. The instant I sat down, I used the Teacher skill.

To everyone within range.

“…Hff!”

I sucked in a breath with difficulty. Every sense burst in at once like a waterfall. My vision split into dozens of pieces like a kaleidoscope, then blended together again, repeating several times. It was my first time using the Teacher skill on this many people at once. Even if the skill’s grade had gone up, handling it was anything but easy.

“Haa…”

At some point my hands had clamped down on the armrests. My fingers were curled tight, beads of blood welling at my fingernails. Dark violet rushed up into my dizzy vision, overlaid with the red glow of the rising sun. It was hard to tell whose view I was seeing. Voices marveling at the Teacher skill’s effect sounded vivid, as if they were right beside me.

[This is incredible. Hey, hit me once! I want to see if I can really feel your movements.]

[There seems to be a range limit. About a ten–meter radius?]

[Even so, this is enough that we won’t be stabbing each other.]

Originally the shared–sense range had been wider, but maybe it was because there were so many people. My stomach was still churning and my head spinning, but I was adapting enough to check what was happening outside.

[Monsters!]

Someone shouted. I linked to the senses of the Hunter on the highest spire. Beyond the land faintly lit by dawn, something was moving. The wasteland trembled ever so slightly and dust billowed high.

[Woooooom–]

A low, conch–like sound rolled in from far away. The glint of blades catching the early light studded the walls of the fortress. You could tell that even high–ranked Hunters were just people too by the faint, tense breaths leaking out.

Because everyone’s senses were so heightened, the monsters’ approach felt almost annoyingly slow. In reality, the distance shrank in an instant. Dust clouds several meters high swirled, and from within them a shaggy head suddenly burst out.

[–Graaaar!]

A head as thick as a buffalo’s swept two pairs of sharp horns through the air and roared. Its hooves pounded the earth with a heavy thump, and behind them sharp claws scraped deep lines into the ground. Some monsters cackled, some hissed, some made no sound at all; all manner of beasts bared teeth, horns, and claws.

[Kiiiiik–]

No signal was needed. Hunters posted on the towers and watchtowers simultaneously pulled back their bowstrings, drew back arms holding spears, and raised staves high as they pulled up mana. At the same time, support–type Hunters poured out every kind of buff and auxiliary skill.

A dizzying whirl of mana surged.

[Twang!]

A greatbow fired an arrow as massive as its own body. Arrows, spears, and skills chased after it with almost no delay.

[Crack!]

[–Grrrk!]

The first arrow shot pierced straight through the buffalo–headed monster’s skull. Its massive body tumbled through the dust, and a wolf leapt lightly over it. The moment its fangs bared with a snarl—

[Sssshhhh–!]

Dozens of steel fangs rained from above, mingled with wind and flame skills! There weren’t many ranged Hunters. At most, five. But all of them were S–class. Their rate of fire was terrifying, and almost none of them fired just a single shot at a time.

For a moment the sky was thick with projectiles as if dozens of archers had all loosed their bows at once. And all of it hammered the monsters’ vanguard mercilessly.

[Boom! Boom!]

[–Kyeek!]

[–Kririk!]

Explosions erupted and the ground flipped. Dust clouds tinged with blood rose, turning red. We’d been told monsters from S– to at most SS–class would appear, but early on there must have been some A–class mixed in; a few of them were blown apart by a single arrow.

The monster pack that had charged in with such momentum faltered for a moment. The ranged Hunters didn’t miss that opening, once more filling the sky and shredding the ground. It was less a volley of arrows and spears and more an outright bombardment, flames roaring up again and again. Smoke heavy with the stink of blood billowed up, obscuring everything.

The moment that brief silence fell—

[–Kuaaa!!]

Boom! A huge black–scaled forepaw tore through the smoke. It belonged to a massive monster whose shoulder height alone easily exceeded ten meters. Arrows scraped along its scales with a harsh grating sound. They left scratches, but failed to pierce. At least S–class, a defensive–type monster.

Taking it down with ranged attacks would be difficult. Not impossible, but inefficient. The ranged Hunters changed targets, and the surviving monsters, with the defensive ones at their center, started charging toward the walls again.

[Thud, thud, thud!]

The ground tremors, like an earthquake, reached striking distance. Hunters behind the barricades set up in front of the gate tightened their grips on their weapons. Between them—

Flap– Shishio’s cloak billowed as he came to an abrupt stop. The dawn light had become full morning sun, its strong rays cutting through the thick dust clouds. Shishio stared straight at the onrushing monster horde and used a skill.

[Declaration of the Lion’s Domain!]

That’s what he shouted, but the actual name was Mud Playground (SS). Back when he’d fought Yuhyun, it had been an S–class skill; now it had grown to SS–class. The skill, with an even wider range than back then, spread out in front of the fortress.

[–Kuok?]

Fwump— The foot of the foremost monster suddenly plunged into ground turned soft and mushy. It had literally become a mud pit. And the moment its legs sank in, the ground hardened again, making it impossible to pull free. Within the playground, allies’ defense rose, while enemies’ defense and speed dropped.

[Let’s go!]

Shishio shouted energetically, and the Hunters charged at the monsters whose legs were stuck in the mud and slowed.

[Peeling scales is my specialty!]

A Hunter vaulted up onto the body of a huge armored monster in an instant and swung a hook–tipped spear viciously. The hook lodged in a gap between the scales, and a defense–weakening skill rode down the shaft straight into the monster.

Right after that—

[Shraaaak–!]

The thick scales began to shatter one after another. Crack! An arrow drove into the area where the scales had been stripped away, right on cue, and the Hunter with the hooked spear quickly withdrew. Boom! The arrow exploded, and the monster collapsed, blood spraying.

Beside it, Valerie swung a sword nearly three meters long with all her strength, using both hands. Her feet kicked off the ground—which, for allies, had turned even more solid—and she leapt. The simple but overwhelmingly destructive blow smashed up into the armored monster’s lower jaw.

[Thuuud!]

The blunt greatsword didn’t pierce the scales. But it still crushed the monster’s jaw, scales and even bone, pushing it in by tens of centimeters. The huge quadruped’s body lurched up as if it were rearing onto two legs.

Just before Valerie’s airborne body began to fall, someone hurled a monster corpse toward her and—thump! Valerie’s foot landed on it. Using it as a springboard, she shot up even higher, above the monster’s head.

Then she dropped straight down—

[Crash!]

Her greatsword slammed down on the scale–covered crown of its head. With its lower jaw and skull almost crushed together, the monster toppled to the ground without strength.

Death cries rose here and there, all of them belonging to monsters. The Hunters hadn’t taken so much as a glancing hit yet. These were S–class Hunters who’d spent the last several years hunting high–tier monsters by the dozens. With the Teacher skill erasing the difficulty of coordination, they were now displaying power beyond what they could in solo fights, sweeping through the horde.

[–Krrrrr!]

[–Piiiii!]

Then long, sharp cries began to sound from above. Feathered wings and membranous wings beat wide under the now bright sky.

[Flying–type monsters sighted!]

[Ranged Hunters, focus on the aerial fight!]

One of the Hunters on the ground quickly gathered the arrows and throwing spears stuck in monster bodies and the earth and threw them toward the tower. A long rope snapped out from the tower, whipping around to bundle the scattered arrows and spears in the air and reel them in.

[Prioritize protecting the support– and healer–types!]

The greatest danger of flying–type monsters was that they could go for the support and healer types sheltered in the rear. Even if a person had a flight skill, it was hard for a human to keep up with the speed of monsters with true wings. However—

[–Grrrr]

A huge monster spread long, blazing wings of flame and soared up over the fortress. Flame Horned Lion, Peace.

Seeing Peace, who had returned to his adult form and on top of that used his Gigantification skill, the flying–type monsters that had been darting in fast faltered. But emboldened by their numbers, they began closing in on the fortress again.

Peace also advanced. His snow–white fangs bared, his red fur rippling like fire.

[Kwooooooosh–!]

Flame Breath flooded the sky. The tremendous heat instantly wrapped around the flying–type monsters. Peace had originally been an S–class boss monster. Now he’d grown enough that he was probably close to SS–class.

Under Peace’s attack, feathers burned away and holes opened in wing membranes.

A flying–type monster’s greatest strength was its wings—but those wings were also its greatest weakness.

[–Krirrk!]

Monsters whose wings had caught fire couldn’t stay aloft and plummeted one after another. The few that managed to escape the flames thanks to fire resistance were greeted by the ranged Hunters.

[–Kyeee!]

Arrows flew toward their heads and wings. Even if they tried to dodge with their speed, there was no way Peace would just sit back and watch. The Flame Horned Lion’s fangs sank into a flying–type monster’s neck, piercing it in a single bite.

Bodies piled up in front of the fortress. Along with them, the points in the support window stacked up.

‘It’s still okay.’

No one had been hurt. We were hunting the monsters without too much difficulty. Even though the sun had only just risen. I took a long breath and emptied my second mana potion.

“This is no joke.”

The Grace lockout even included the Mana Spring. At least my Earrings and mana inscriptions were helping refill me, but mana was being sucked out of my whole body in real time. And that was with me not using anything except the Teacher skill. Well, it was affecting well over twenty people.

“Uuugh…”

Every time I moved even a little, all the hairs on my body stood on end. The already sharp senses of dozens of high–ranked Hunters were flowing through my body. In the middle of battle, they were even more razor–edged. Thanks to that, my own nerves were stretched tight as well.

Muttering a little prayer for the barely risen sun to hurry up and set already, I stared at the support window.

‘Save up as much as possible.’

There was one thing I absolutely had to buy. If I purchased it, the odds of everyone making it out safe would jump way up. So please, just hold out without support until I can collect all the points.

Things were still easy enough, but this was only the beginning, and no SS–class monster had appeared yet. It was obvious it would only get harder from here.

[Retrieve as many weapons as you can!]

[Top off your mana!]

[Hey, you there! Don’t chase them out there! Injuries are minus points too. Don’t get separated!]

[Fight as close to the fortress as possible!]

Taking advantage of the lull as the monsters’ momentum flagged, a few of them reorganized the battle lines. Because of the flying–type monsters, they had to recycle arrows and throwing spears as much as possible.

[–Kraaaa!]

Before long, new roars echoed from beyond the wasteland. The monster corpses that had been piled up melted away like snow, leaving only the thick stench of blood hanging in the air. And the second monster horde drew close.

[Victory is ours!]

Shishio threw the mana potion bottle he’d just drained high into the air. This time, there were no A–class monsters. Every last one was S–class. Some of them endured even after taking two or three arrows directly.

[–Kyaaaak!]

Thud! The monsters and S–class Hunters slammed into each other. Thanks to Shishio’s wide–area skill, the flow of battle was still in the Hunters’ favor. Weapons swung everywhere, skills poured down, and blood sprayed.

All sorts of magic power and mana tangled, vanished, then surged into being again, raging across the field. It was a mess so wild that even an S–class would have trouble staying clear–headed. I dry–heaved several times myself. I took a deep breath and tried to focus again when—

“…Ah!”

I felt something. Faintly, below. I hurriedly grabbed the microphone connected to the loudspeaker mounted on the outside wall of the building.

“Underground! Monster!”

My voice exploded out of the loudspeaker, boosted by an amplification skill. The Hunters reacted immediately, and one of them raised his spear high, then drove it down into the ground.

[BOOM!!]

The earth exploded, accompanied by a massive tremor.

[Rrrrrrrrumble!]

A monster that had burrowed underground thrust its head out. It was a gigantic worm.

[–Kririririri!]

A long, round body, its diameter several meters across, bared rows upon rows of saw–like teeth and shrieked. From all along that body, whose end you couldn’t even guess at, tentacle–like appendages extended.

[Don’t let it get back in!]

Clang, crack! Hooks on thick wires dug into the giant worm’s body in several places. They were as experienced as you could get in monster hunting, so their response was swift. In no time, the bound worm’s head was smashed.

But in that brief gap, a few monsters reached the fortress wall.

[Thud!]

A rhino–like monster rammed its head into the wall. It didn’t collapse, but cracks spiderwebbed along it.

‘Damn it!’

Now I’d have to spend points to repair that!

Fortunately, the Hunters quickly dealt with the monsters that had gotten to the wall. Just when I thought we’d made it through this round more or less safely—

[Urk!]

One Hunter was shoved back by a monster’s attack, stumbling away. He shouted.

[SS–class!]

At last, a higher–tier monster appeared. It wasn’t very big. Maybe two meters at the head—a white–furred fox. The fox, which had been quietly watching the Hunters, vanished in an instant.

[Dodge!]

Even S–class eyes couldn’t follow that speed! The Hunter that the fox was targeting tried to evade, but the monster moved faster. The moment bluish poison glimmered on the fox’s fangs—

[Rrrrumble!]

Mud golems rose from the ground. It was an additional effect that had appeared when Shishio’s Mud Playground advanced to SS–class.

[–Kek!]

The fox, whose mouth had suddenly filled with mud, gagged. In that time, the Hunters began to respond. Poison and speed—if its speed was that high, its defense would be relatively weak. Support–type Hunters, and even combat–types with combat support skills, dumped every speed–reduction debuff they had onto the fox. Then the Hunters confident in their speed stepped forward. They also received speed–boost buffs.

An ordinary S–class alone would struggle to take on an SS–class monster. But right now—

[–Kyeng!]

A blade pierced the SS–class fox’s neck. With everyone’s help, they caught up to its speed, surpassed it, and that was the end of it.

I let out a sigh of relief. One or two SS–class monsters, we could handle. Keeping a constant eye on the situation, I recalled the SS–class monsters I’d seen before my regression. That fox just now was a monster I’d never seen before, but once you knew the info, it was much easier to deal with. I emptied another mana potion and gripped the mic tightly.

After a brief lull, a new monster horde appeared. The battle began again.

“Has fire resistance! Weak to cold!”

“Slow movement, shoots poisoned stingers from the tail!”

“Two heads! One of them is hidden!”

I shouted out every bit of information I knew.

Time passed slow and fast all at once. Monsters kept pouring in, bodies piled up and vanished, and points stacked up steadily. At the same time, Hunters’ wounds also began to accumulate bit by bit. SS–class monsters showed up more and more often, and the exhausted started using stamina potions one by one.

The sun reached its peak.

[Grrrrrr]

With a heavy rumble, the shadow of a gigantic monster appeared. The monsters surrounding it didn’t look ordinary, either. I drew in a breath and checked the points in the support window. Not much left now.

“Mr. Shishio.”

At my call, Shishio shrugged off his tattered cloak and stepped forward.

“Get ready.”

When it’s time to use it, you use it. Time to show just how amazing my kid is—here comes the Look How Talented My Kid Is skill.