My Assigned Hunters Climb the Tower - Chapter 10

========== CHAPTER 10 ==========

Seoul, Jongno-gu, rooftop of the Old Clock Museum.

Facing the gate where the space itself shimmered like a heat haze, Kang Hoon desperately turned his head. He shot the most pleading look in the world at his damn mentor, Lee Seong-ha, who was caught in his line of sight.

To that desperation, Lee Seong-ha smiled the brightest smile in the world.

“Go, kid. Today, my choice is you.”

“Hyung! Is this the time for jokes?!”

When Kang Hoon shouted, as if Lee Seong-ha were some kind of Poke-trainer, Lee Seong-ha laughed, revealing his Adam’s apple, as if he found it amusing. Go Gyeol, who had been watching with his arms crossed, stepped in.

“Hey, stop whining and get in. We don’t have time.”

“Go Gyeol-hyung….”

“Or do you want me to shove you in myself?”

He was clearly smiling, but there was a murderous aura as if he would grab him by the collar and shove him into the gate right now. Kang Hoon took a deep breath.

‘Right. They wouldn’t actually kill me, would they? They wouldn’t, right?’

Having desperately brainwashed himself, Kang Hoon finally steeled his resolve. He squeezed his eyes shut and threw his body toward the shimmering gate. Lee Seong-ha and Go Gyeol followed him, lightly passing through the barrier of space.

The smell of thick dust and rusted iron pierced his nose. It was the smell of stopped time.

“Wow….”

Kang Hoon let out an exclamation without realizing it at the surreal scenery unfolding before his eyes. Giant gears that seemed to pierce the sky. It was the interior of a massive, stopped clock itself.

But the appreciation was short-lived. The reality that he had to fight a monster that would pop out from somewhere in that bizarre structure dragged his heart down to his feet.

“Now, the rules are simple.”

Lee Seong-ha, standing right next to him, said in an incredibly cheerful voice.

“Go Gyeol and I are just going to watch from here. You’re clearing this dungeon alone. Got it?”

At that moment, with the sensation of space slightly twisting, the presence of Lee Seong-ha and Go Gyeol was softly erased. It was the ‘Sanctuary of Observer’ deployed by the A-rank Gravity User, Lee Seong-ha. The Sanctuary of Observer was his unique skill that blocked all external physical and magical interference. The monsters would not even be able to perceive the two of them now.

“Hey, Lee Seong-ha! Is this really okay? He’s completely frozen!”

At Go Gyeol’s question, Lee Seong-ha gestured toward Kang Hoon with his chin.

“Shut up. It’s started. Should’ve brought popcorn. It’d be nice to eat while watching.”

Kkigigik-.

An old, unpleasant friction sound echoed inside the clock tower.

From the gaps in the walls and ceiling, and between the stopped gears, old brass dolls began to crawl out. Eyes embedded with red jewels turned in unison toward the dungeon’s only ‘intruder’, Kang Hoon.

“……!”

They were on a different level from the mannequins at the training center where he had trained with Lee Seong-ha.

Pure murderous intent that made the fine hairs all over his body stand on end. Overwhelmed by the reality of a living, moving monster, Kang Hoon even forgot to breathe. His legs froze as if they had taken root in the ground.

“Hey, that thing is completely frozen. Wasn’t it too early?”

At Go Gyeol’s worried words, Lee Seong-ha scoffed.

“Shut up and watch. That’s the first wall a hunter must overcome: fear. Whether he breaks through it or gets eaten by it, it’ll end one way or the other. And if he gets eaten, you have to give up on making him a hunter. A hunter who’s been eaten once can never be used again.”

Kkigigigik-!

Finally, the lead clockwork soldier rushed forward, rotating its gear blade. Kang Hoon knew he had to dodge, but his body, gripped by fear, refused his brain’s commands.

Death was rising up to his chin.

At that very moment.

‘Don’t think. Feel. And move!’

Kang Hoon’s voice, which he had heard until his ears bled throughout the training, flashed through his mind.

Instinct devoured his frozen reason.

“Hup!”

Kang Hoon rolled to the side almost reflexively.

Ka-gang!

With a gruesome metallic sound, the gear blade sliced through the spot where his neck had been just a moment ago. Lying on the floor, he gasped for air until his lungs felt like they would burst.

He survived.

That single fact melted his frozen thought circuits.

Kkigik!

The clockwork soldier that failed its attack turned its body with a creak. In that split second, Kang Hoon grabbed a sharp gear fragment scattered on the floor. And without hesitation, he lunged like a starving beast.

“Kyaaaak!”

With a scream that seemed to erase his fear, he struck the clockwork soldier’s torso.

Kwajik!

A dull, rupturing sound. The mechanical doll that had lost its power tumbled to the floor. The sensation transmitted to his hand was disgusting, but a more intense sense of survival enveloped his whole body.

“……Huck, huff…….”

He was afraid. He was insanely scared.

But, he could fight. These things were beings that could be broken.

That realization changed the look in Kang Hoon’s eyes. He glared at the remaining soldiers surrounding him.

“Yeah…… come at me, you damn pieces of junk!”

He jumped up, using a giant gear as a foothold. Once he climbed onto the narrow steel platform, he could clearly see the soldiers milling about below. He had taken the high ground. He ripped off an iron pipe fixed to the platform and gripped it in his hand.

Now, he even had a proper weapon.

Go Gyeol, watching the scene from within the sanctuary, burst into a dry laugh.

“What the hell is he doing. Is that fighting, or is he just flailing?”

“That fucking idiot.”

Lee Seong-ha muttered a curse while rubbing his temples.

“If I don’t double his training time starting today, I’m not human. Look at that form.”

“Hey, it’s his first time, don’t be like that. I think it’s not bad.”

Just as Go Gyeol said, rather than a battle, it was a desperate struggle, but Kang Hoon eventually took care of the last soldier. Huffing and puffing, his eyes were shining intensely from the excess adrenaline secretion.

“Hyungs….”

“It’s not over yet. Don’t let your guard down.”

No sooner had Lee Seong-ha’s cold warning ended than the entire dungeon began to vibrate.

Uuuuuung-!

The giant gears that had been stopped began to move, making an unpleasant sound. And from the center of the clock tower, the heart of the largest clock mechanism, a blue light of magic power erupted like an explosion.

Dozens of clock hands and gears merged together, creating a massive human shape.

[Time’s Guardian, Chronos Golem]

It was the appearance of the boss.

Lee Seong-ha muttered with a satisfied smile.

“Now, kid. The appetizer is over. Now it’s the main dish.”

It didn’t take long for him to realize what Lee Seong-ha meant by saying the appetizer was over.

Uuuuuung-!

The entire dungeon howled like a giant creature. The gears that had been stopped began to mesh and turn in unison, and an explosive blue magic power burst forth from the massive clock mechanism in the center of the clock tower.

Dozens of clock hands and gears merged together with a bizarre sound. As if metal were becoming flesh and magic power were becoming veins. Finally, a golem in the shape of a giant human revealed its majesty.

“……No way.”

A hollow groan flowed from Kang Hoon’s lips. The dopamine that had been over-secreted from the joy of survival had already turned cold. What filled its place was a bone-deep fatigue. He had only dealt with a few small fry, yet every muscle in his body was screaming. And yet, that thing in front of him was emitting an overwhelming pressure that was on a different level from the clockwork soldiers from just a moment ago.

Kuuuung-!

The Chronos Golem lifted its massive gear arm. And without hesitation, it slammed it down toward the steel platform where Kang Hoon was standing.

[Gear Pulverization]

“Crazy!”

Kang Hoon threw his body instinctively. Right behind him, the platform he had been standing on crumpled like paper and made a roaring sound. The shockwave alone made his body wobble. It was power that would separate bone from flesh even if it just grazed him.

“Hey.”

Inside the sanctuary, Lee Seong-ha’s low voice rang out. His eyebrows were twitching slightly.

“Is that really a D-rank boss? If he gets grazed by that kid’s durability, he’s a goner.”

He pretended to be calm on the outside, but his fists were already clenched so tight they were turning white. The urge to break the sanctuary right now, jump out, and crush that tin can with a gravity field was rising up to his throat.

But Go Gyeol grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.

“Leave it. He won’t die.”

Go Gyeol was different from Lee Seong-ha. He was calmly analyzing Kang Hoon’s movements and the boss’s patterns as if watching a screen.

“With that level of reaction speed, he won’t take a direct hit. What he needs right now is technique. It’s something that kid has to realize for himself.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than the core on the golem’s chest emitted a green light. Then, the broken parts on the floor began to wiggle as if they were alive, and they started to take the shape of clockwork soldiers again.

“Fuck, are they coming again!”

It was overwhelming enough just to dodge the boss’s attacks, but he also had to deal with the clockwork soldiers closing in from all sides. Kang Hoon swung the iron pipe like a madman to break the soldiers, but the more he did, the less room he had to deal with the boss’s next attack.

It was a perfect vicious cycle. Kang Hoon’s movements were visibly slowing down.

“Hey, Go Gyeol. That bastard is exhausted. He’s going to die for real!”

Anxiety was laced in Lee Seong-ha’s voice. He was already on the verge of lifting the sanctuary.

“Not yet.”

Go Gyeol firmly held his arm.

“Lee Seong-ha, get a grip. If you go out and break that now, that guy will hide behind your back for the rest of his life, let alone the tower, even in a D-rank dungeon. Is that what you want?”

“…….”

“Trust him. You’re raising him, aren’t you? Trust his survival instinct.”

Go Gyeol’s cold words cooled Lee Seong-ha’s boiling head. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists tighter. Even at that moment, Kang Hoon was staggering heavily, caught in a suicide attack by a clockwork soldier.

“Damn it….”

“Tsk. This won’t do.”

Unable to watch any longer, Go Gyeol stepped forward. Helping and giving a hint were different matters.

“Hey, Kang Hoon! Get a grip! How long are you going to get pushed around by the mobs!”

At the sudden shout, Kang Hoon’s shoulders flinched.

“Go Gyeol-hyung?!”

“Find the boss’s weak point! Watch how the core on its chest glows every time that tin can summons the soldiers! Every attack has a preliminary motion! Read it!”

Go Gyeol’s voice was like an ice pick. It forcibly pierced through Kang Hoon’s mind, which had been becoming paralyzed by fear and fatigue.

‘Weak point… preliminary motion….’

At that moment, it felt like Kang Hoon’s mind flashed open.

Why hadn’t he thought of that? The words Lee Seong-ha had drilled into his ears every time he trained. ‘Fighting isn’t done with strength, it’s done with your head, you idiot!’

The look in Kang Hoon’s eyes changed. He narrowly dodged the clockwork soldier’s charge and focused all his attention on the Chronos Golem’s movements.

It was just as Go Gyeol said. Every action of the golem had a clear ‘sign’. And now, the golem was gathering a massive amount of magic power into its chest core, to a degree incomparable to before.

‘It’s coming! The big one!’

“Dodge, kid! The front is dangerous!”

Simultaneously with Go Gyeol’s shout, the golem exploded its magic power toward the ceiling.