When I Returned to Farming, National-level Big Juniors Flock - Chapter 122



Only Krnovel

122. Civilian on top of Three Star

In the dense forest.

Hunters gathered together wearing military uniforms that were somewhat different from the regular military uniforms.

Among them, there was a man who was looking at the completely spread out vehicle with a somewhat annoyed look.

“Haa, I can’t move because of these guys.”

A monster’s grip dangling from a vehicle’s wheel.

The cleanly cut cross-section of the sword was clearly visible, and Jang Seo-jun muttered as he kicked away the pieces of the body with his foot.

Then, a colleague who was nearby approached me.

“These guys were relentlessly targeting vehicles while fighting.”

“Yeah, I saw that too, the last one in particular, he threw himself at the swords flying and destroyed the engine.”

Monsters always prioritize the elimination of humans.

Although there were differences in intelligence and tendencies between each individual, it was similar to a basic instinct that monsters had.

The obsession of those who border on hatred.

But there was a human being right in front of him, and instead of attacking the person, he ran into the vehicle.

Although they had faced numerous monsters in the border area, this was the first time they had seen such behavior.

“What kind of car are you fighting against?”

“… By any chance. What if they destroyed the vehicle with the intention of catching us by the ankle?”

“No way. Even so, do you really think he has that level of intelligence?”

“You heard the instructions given a while ago. The monsters’ strange behavior was the reason we came up here in the first place.”

“Even so, it’s still like that…”

Jang Seo-jun muttered doubtfully.

Monsters also had an instinct for survival.

Even though the will to eliminate humans was strong, there were many individuals who ran away in unfavorable situations.

But why do they hold back even while dying?

Also, how did a monster without intelligence make such a judgment, and what kind of being gave such orders to these monsters?

Wince!

“What, what is it?”

“Did you feel it too?”

The two hunters quickly straightened up.

An ominous presence drawing near.

But even though I looked around, I couldn’t see anything.

Kwaaaaang!

“Kwaaaaak!”

A hunter screamed after being shot in the ankle.

A man suddenly impaled by a sharp thorn that rose from underground.

A colleague who was nearby hurriedly cut the thorn and pulled the man out, but only a small part of the thorn was exposed.

“Blood, damage!”

Kwakwakwakwang!

The sharp, thorny tentacles swung and swept the surrounding area.

The hunters quickly dodged, each throwing their bodies.

However, the armored vehicle within that range was completely torn to pieces, losing its original form.

The power is so great that even armored vehicles made of special materials that can withstand attacks from medium-sized monsters can be cut through like paper.

Even if you were a hunter, your human body would be torn to pieces if you got caught up in it.

But there was no time to sigh in relief at having avoided such an attack.

The thorny tentacles were not just one-pronged, and soon they sprouted from all directions.

“This, this is crazy!”

The ground split open and a huge chaos broke out.

Hunters trying to respond in a flustered manner.

However, they were in a hurry just to evade the attacks that were coming at them, and the hunters were scattered in the midst of the sudden surprise attack and chaos.

‘Wow, this is no ordinary monster.’

Jang Seo-jun let out a rough breath and looked around.

An opponent whose monster you can’t even guess what it is.

Although it is said that the northern region is a place called the Demon Realm where all kinds of monsters are swarming, I have never seen a monster of this type.

A tentacle swept over my head and smashed the rock.

Thud thud thud!

“Ugh…!”

Cutting off the flying tentacles was not easy even with the Hunter’s strength and body vision, and even if he managed to cut them off with difficulty, they would spring up again and attack.

Rather, the number of thorny tentacles increases with time.

Jang Seo-jun, who intuitively felt that there would be no answer if things continued this way, put his hands on the ground.

‘We need to find the guy’s body.’

The main body of a monster hidden somewhere underground.

There was no sign of movement at all, which was too subtle to detect with normal senses.

However, Jang Seo-jun was a person with a special ability to detect things, and he projected his magical powers underground.

It wasn’t so easily revealed that I wondered if it was really underneath, but as a result of projecting all my magical power, the location of the main body writhing underground was revealed.

‘… Over there!’

Jang Seo-jun grabbed his sword and ran out.

But even though the location of the main body was derived, one big problem remained.

He needs to dig out the monster buried deep in the ground, but he currently has no way to do so.

It was a chaotic situation that couldn’t be resolved with just one or two supernatural hunters, and it was impossible to gather all the other unit members.

Kwajijijik!

‘What, what is it…?’

But at that moment.

The ground split open and a monster hiding inside was pulled out.

As if it had been forcibly dragged in, the body of the struggling monster was already skewered with thorns made of dirt and rocks.

As Jang Seo-jun was momentarily dumbfounded, a man suddenly ran in front of him and swung his sword.

Oh my god!

The monster’s body cut in half.

The body fell to the floor with a groan, spewing out dark blood.

The back of the man standing in front of Jang Seo-jun, his mouth wide open.

He was an outsider who wasn’t even wearing a military uniform.

*

Tsk tsk tsk!

Oh Hyun-seong, standing in front of the monster’s corpse, absorbed the monster’s soul contained within it.

The soul size is quite large for a normal monster.

I felt my magical power increase in proportion to the amount of souls I consumed.

‘Thorns… Why are those who should be in northern China here?’

Oh Hyeon-seong narrowed his eyebrows slightly as he looked down at the monster that had lost its light.

But before he could think, the special forces’ hunters gathered around him.

As the main body was removed, the fight with the thorn tentacles was also over, and they were driven towards the monster’s corpse and the suspicious outsider.

“You don’t seem to be in the military. Where are you from, sir?”

“I came out to investigate the northern ecology at the request of a research institute.”

Oh Hyun-seong handed over the permit to a man who seemed to be in charge.

But the man who received the permit frowned and said.

“What are you talking about? Ever since the abnormal movement of monsters was observed in the North, the government hasn’t issued any permits.”

“…What did you say?”

“All the permits that were issued in the past have been suspended for a long time. It would have been impossible to even pass through the checkpoint. How did you get here?”

‘Um… this is difficult.’

An unexpected situation.

Since I had already received the permit in advance after my last visit, I was unaware of the recent situation in the north.

“First, you must come with us and be investigated.”

“… Right.”

Oh Hyun-seong nodded and obediently cooperated with them.

I handed over the weapon I was carrying and even had my wrists bound, albeit formally.

It felt like they were treating me kindly, as if they thought I had killed the monster that was attacking them.

‘It’s easy to run away from here, but it’s better to follow for now.’

For a moment, Oh Hyeon-seong thought about just shaking it off and running away.

If your opponents are agents of the National Security Agency, it may be a bit tricky to shake off their tracking.

However, the unit here was designed for an all-out war against multiple monsters, and there were no personnel with proper tracking abilities.

In a forest this dense, we could easily shake off the number of people ten times our number.

‘But I feel it’s a waste to abandon the vehicle I worked so hard to repair here, and I’m also curious about what’s going on in the North.’

All permits for crossing the border have been suspended.

There have been several suspensions of new permits over the past few years, depending on circumstances across the border.

However, this was the first time that even existing licenses were suspended at once.

The fact that a thorn ear, which should not be present on the Korean Peninsula, appeared in a place like this made me feel that something was going on.

‘If it’s a minor problem, I don’t care, but I need to be prepared if something happens that could cause problems to the seed vault I’ve hidden away.’

That’s how the brief wait began.

After waiting at the scene for about 30 minutes, support arrived from another nearby unit.

Hunters boarding vehicles that have been brought in abundance.

They were about to start moving to join the garrison, which was also the unit’s original destination.

However, there was something we should not forget before that.

There was a car that Oh Hyun-seong had brought nearby, and he expressed his opinion that he would like to ride in that car if possible.

I wanted to board the train myself so that I wouldn’t have to touch the luggage that was loaded after other soldiers got on it.

Camping gear and other small items were fine, but I also had food harvested from the field with me, so I didn’t want to create any unnecessary trouble.

The other person seemed to hesitate for a moment at his words, but then it was Lieutenant Jang Seo-jun who stepped forward.

“I will stay by your side and keep watch.”

“… Will it be enough for you alone?”

“Don’t worry.”

A brief moment of gossip among the soldiers.

And soon after, a decision was made, and Jang Seo-jun guided him.

“Take a ride.”

A very polite attitude for someone who claims to be a watchdog.

He even untied the wrist restraints on Oh Hyun-seong, who was sitting in the passenger seat.

“…Why are you letting me go?”

“I know that if you put your mind to it, you can easily break free from these bonds.”

Unlike the other soldiers who rushed in after the situation was over, Jang Seo-jun was the only one who saw Oh Hyeon-seong’s skills with his own eyes.

I saw the monster’s body before it was torn apart, and I could tell that Oh Hyeon-seong, who cut it down in one breath, was a hunter of quite a high level.

At least, this is an opponent that cannot be captured with normal restraints, not even with a restraining artifact.

“And yet you volunteered to ride alone? What if I’m some crazy, quack, or a bad guy?”

“If we had just left him alone, our unit could have been annihilated. He was the one who saved everyone’s lives, so I thought there was no need to doubt him.”

‘Hmm… so naive.’

He has the naive side of a young, rookie soldier.

When you roll around and get beat up on the battlefield, you will learn that you cannot trust those who saved you.

Rather, it was a place overflowing with people who had ulterior motives. But that immaturity didn’t feel like a bad thing.

“Is it true that it was not a coincidence that the monster was pulled out of the ground, but that it was the work of your summons?”

“… How did you know it was a summoned beast?”

“It’s a completely new kind of presence for me… but as a detection hunter, I can tell the difference.”

Oh Hyeon-seong was quite surprised by his words.

Even if you knew that it wasn’t a coincidence that the thorn ear came out of the ground, you would normally think that it was because of some kind of power.

But the fact that he specifically mentioned the summons meant that he had accurately read what was happening underground.

You can read the Multz in the ground on your own home ground.

It wasn’t just a rumor, it was something truly amazing.

At the time, there were several people within the special forces who specialized in detection capabilities, but there was no one who could read Meltz’s movements.

‘It seems like he just displayed his magical powers normally, but is it because his innate senses are extremely sensitive?’

Either way, finding the body of the lurking thorn ear is no ordinary talent.

A level that even the most advanced detection capabilities cannot imitate.

Of course, judging from the fact that he was assigned to this common rear support unit, he seemed to not know anything about the organization or himself.

There were many cases like that originally.

The unique constitutions of each hunter were so different that most of them were unaware of their own potential.

‘Since it has been deployed in various fields so far, the detection range and accuracy for detecting common enemies would have been similar. It must have been thought to be no different from other common detection capabilities.’

Oh Hyun-seong became quite interested in his fellow passenger.

Thanks to this, the two were able to talk about various things during the potentially boring moving time, and they became comfortable talking to each other.

“If you had gone to a private agency, you could have earned more money and lived comfortably in the city, so why did you enlist in the military?”

“I also wanted to contribute to protecting the country like the legends of the past. I think the money I receive here is more than enough. And… there was someone I really wanted to meet up close.”

Jang Seo-jun said with a slightly excited expression.

Then Oh Hyeon-seong let out a sly laugh.

If a hunter enlists in the military and says there’s an idol he wants to see in person, it’s obvious who he’s referring to.

“Have you ever seen Kang Seok?”

“That… is impossible. I’d really like to meet you at least once… but it’s out of the question for someone as lowly as me.”

Jang Seo-jun shook his head.

Kang Seok was a legendary hunter whose name was known to everyone in Korea, and he was also the commander of a large group called the Special Forces Command.

As a low-ranking soldier, I have never had the chance to see his face before, and if I am unlucky, I might not be able to see him again until the day I am discharged.

It is a pity for him.

But unexpectedly, the opportunity came faster than expected.

*

“Uh… uh…?”