Weak Class of Anti-Hero
Chapter 31: Rise of a Hunter

Chapter 31: Rise of a Hunter

I pushed myself up, my ribs protesting painfully. The creature was turning back to me, its red eyes glowing with intense fury.

"It’s not working! Its hide is too tough!" I yelled to Min-Soo.

"Keep it busy! I’m looking!" he replied, his fingers flying across his terminal.

Bora unleashed another flash. The monster turned its head, annoyed. It seemed to be getting used to her attacks.

It ignored me and charged toward Bora.

"No!"

I used my Aura Blade, the power I had stolen from Lee Jin-Hyuk. A blade of energy shot from my hand and struck the monster in the leg.

It only left a small scratch, but it got its attention. It turned back to me.

That’s what I wanted.

The fight turned into a deadly game of cat and mouse. I ran, I dodged, using my enhanced speed to stay just out of reach of its claws. Bora harassed it with her flashes of light, forcing it to turn and turn again.

We weren’t doing any real damage. We were just buying time.

"I’ve got something!" Min-Soo yelled.

All my attention was on the monster, but I was listening.

"This isn’t a normal creature! It’s an ’Aura Devourer’! An old experiment from this lab! They were trying to create a biological weapon that could absorb Aura!"

That explained the dead Aura on the island. The monster had devoured it all.

"Its body is almost invulnerable, but it has a weak spot!" Min-Soo continued. "The experiment went wrong! To contain its power, the scientists implanted a ’Regulator Core’ in its chest! It’s the only part of its body that isn’t reinforced! If we destroy it, the creature will collapse!"

The chest. I looked at the creature. Its torso was a mass of bone and taut skin. There was no obvious target.

The monster, tired of our game, let out a deafening roar. It slammed its fists on the ground.

The basement shook. Chunks of the ceiling began to fall.

It was done playing. It was going to destroy everything.

Rubble was falling around us. The exit was collapsing. We were trapped.

"We have to do it now!" I screamed.

"But how do we reach its chest? It’ll never let us get close!" Bora shouted.

The monster raised its claws, ready to tear us to pieces.

I looked at Min-Soo. I looked at Bora.

A crazy idea crossed my mind. A stupid plan. A gamble.

"I need an opening. The biggest one you can create," I said to Bora.

She understood. She closed her eyes, concentrating all her Aura.

"Min-Soo! Trust me!"

I turned to the monster. I threw my dagger. Not at it.

I threw it at the ceiling, right above its head. It stuck in the concrete.

The monster looked at me, perplexed.

"ALL YOUR LIGHT! NOW!" I yelled at Bora.

Bora opened her eyes. She didn’t create a flash. She created a sun.

The entire room was flooded with a light so intense, so pure, it was solid. The monster screamed, this time in real pain, its red orbs completely blinded. It thrashed about, striking blindly.

This was my moment.

I used my Aquakinesis ability. I drew the moisture from the air, from the puddles on the floor, and concentrated it beneath my feet.

I created a geyser.

A powerful jet of water shot me into the air, straight toward the ceiling.

I grabbed my dagger, embedded in the concrete.

And I let myself fall. Straight down onto the blinded monster below.

I was falling, dagger pointed down, aiming for its chest.

I only had one shot.

Time seemed to slow down.

I was falling. The monster was right below, still struggling in Bora’s blinding light.

I saw the target. Right in the center of its chest, there was a very slight depression in its ribcage. An area where the skin looked thinner. The Regulator Core.

I infused all my remaining Aura into my dagger. Black energy swirled around the blade, making it denser, deadlier.

I struck.

The tip of the dagger hit its chest. There was resistance. Immense.

Then, with a sound like shattering glass, the blade sank in.

The creature let out a howl that was not of this world. A sound of pure agony that vibrated through my bones.

Bora’s light died out. She was spent.

The monster looked up at me, its red eyes fixing on me. There was surprise, pain, and something else. Respect?

Its massive body began to tremble. Cracks appeared on its gray skin. The dead Aura it contained began to escape, like black smoke.

It collapsed in on itself, turning into a pile of dust and bone.

Silence fell in the basement.

I stood there, in the middle of the monster’s remains, dagger in hand, panting.

We had done it. We had survived.

My terminal vibrated, displaying a notification I hadn’t expected.

[A-Rank Entity Eliminated.]

[Exceptional group performance. Analyzing individual contributions...]

[Major Contribution: Kang Ji-Hoon (Strategy and Final Blow)]

[Massive ranking point bonus awarded.]

I looked at Min-Soo and Bora. They were looking at me, their faces a mixture of exhaustion, relief, and utter awe.

We were more than just a forced pairing and a friend.

We were a real team.

The exit to the basement was completely blocked by rubble. We were trapped.

"Now what?" Bora asked, her voice still weak.

"Now, we wait," Min-Soo said. "The coach must have seen our terminal signals disappear from the map, then the A-rank entity combat alert. Rescuers are probably already on their way."

He was right. All we could do was wait.

We sat down in the middle of the lab’s ruins, among the bodies of the other team’s students. The silence was heavy.

"You were incredible, Ji-Hoon," Bora finally said. "What you did... it was completely insane. But incredible."

"We were all incredible," I corrected. "Without your light, I never would have had an opening. Without Min-Soo’s information, we would have been hitting a wall until we got ourselves killed."

It was the truth. Alone, I would have died.

Min-Soo smiled, a genuine, tired smile. "The A-team, huh?" he said, looking at Bora.

She managed a small smile back.

We sat there in the silence, more of a team than ever before. The rivalry, the fear, all of it had been swept away by the fight we had just endured together.

About an hour later, we heard noises from above. The sound of machinery, of rocks being moved.

A light broke through the rubble. The rescuers were here.

When they finally managed to clear an opening, the first person to come down wasn’t a rescuer.

It was Coach Hwan.

He surveyed the scene. The three bodies of the other team. The monster’s remains. And the three of us, exhausted but alive.

He didn’t look surprised. He didn’t look angry.

He looked at us, one by one. Then, a very slight smile appeared on his scarred face.

"Not bad," he said. "Not bad at all. Class is dismissed. You get full marks."

The return to the academy was a whirlwind.

We were taken directly to the infirmary. We had no serious injuries, just bruises and exhaustion. But they kept us for observation.

The news of our feat spread even faster than last time.

"The C-rank team that took down an A-rank monster."

We had become legends on campus.

The next day, the director summoned me to his office. Alone.

He sat behind his large desk, watching me with his calm expression.

"The Aura Devourer," he began. "A failed secret project from forty years ago. We thought it had been destroyed. We were wrong."

He folded his hands. "Coach Hwan told me everything. Your strategy. Your cooperation. Your courage."

"I’m not a hero," I said. "I just survived."

"Survival is a hero’s first duty," he retorted. "But that’s not why I summoned you."

He pushed a terminal across the desk toward me.

"Your ranking has changed again."

I looked at the screen.

[Academy Ranking Update.]

[Kang Ji-Hoon - Former Rank: 49/478]

[New Rank: 11/478]

Number 11.

I was just outside the Top 10. Just below the Kings. The S-ranks.

"You are the fastest-rising student in this academy’s history," the director said. "You have a talent we can no longer ignore."

He stood up and looked out the window.

"That is why I have a proposition for you. An opportunity. Something we only offer to the best of the best."

He turned back to me.

"What would you say to participating in the S-Rank Promotion Exam?"