Ch.8282. Eun Serin Understands.

Lee Myunghyun couldn’t believe her eyes.

Absorbing the Armored Lizard was her final gambit.

‘I’m being pushed back right now. How?’

Her predation ability allows her to absorb the enemy’s energy.

When she became a Kaijin, this ability was enhanced by the beast nature of the nine-tailed fox, allowing her to absorb the characteristics and physical traits of any monster she consumed.

The Armored Lizard was also a synthetic monster enhanced with red powder, and she knew the side effects.

‘But to win, this much is necessary!’

It worked. She could definitely feel herself getting stronger.

But after being thrown once, the difference in their weight classes was immediately apparent.

‘This is impossible. This monster must be at least SS-rank.’

As an S-rank nine-tailed fox with her own S-rank abilities, shouldn’t she be SS-rank now? She had even taken some power from the Armored Lizard King.

The fact that she was being pushed back after consuming all of this power was inconceivable.

‘Don’t make me laugh.’

The opponent had the advantage in raw power. This was evident in their weight class difference.

Though she realized this, Myunghyun felt strangely excited.

‘I’m stronger! You filthy dinosaur!’

For a moment, something like powder passed around her. Excited, she growled and glared at the armored dinosaur.

Still, she had the advantage in agility. As she circled around like a doppelganger once more,

at that moment, she saw claws glowing in the dinosaur’s hands.

[Claw Enhancement]

Ominous magical energy was being channeled into them. Myunghyun instinctively felt she shouldn’t approach, but the red powder tormented her again.

‘With my power, I can crush something like that!’

Excited, she charged in at once. Flames began to blaze and flicker across her entire charging body.

Nine flames flew from behind her like tentacles toward the dinosaur.

Eventually, these nine flames attempted to capture the dinosaur, restricting its movements.

[Curse]

She used her special ability to weaken its movements.

‘Got it. I’ll target the parts not covered by armor.’

[Reflection Wall]

Myunghyun also created a reflection wall to deflect the opponent’s attacks.

In her excited state, she had set a double trap.

While pretending to launch a fierce attack, she would ultimately draw out a powerful attack from the enemy.

The dinosaur was formidable as it stubbornly endured in the flames, but ultimately, the opponent would have to launch a major attack.

Now she leaped onto the massive body that exceeded 9 meters.

Just as this chimera was baiting the opponent’s attack, something unexpected happened.

The skin and scales on Do Jonghyun’s body suddenly transformed into something like metal.

[Sub Card Change]

-Hardening

The nine-tailed fox’s attack stopped with a dull sound. Her claws were now cracked and about to break.

‘What? His body changed!’

While she was confused, the monster’s two hands moved to capture her.

“Huh?”

A red beam was fired in an instant. The Gaia Flame collided with the reflection wall right before her eyes. The reflection wall literally bounced the red beam back, striking the dinosaur’s body.

Up to this point, everything was going according to Myunghyun’s plan.

‘Is he stupid?’

Myunghyun was confident of victory. Before her eyes, the Gaia Flame was clearly damaging the giant dinosaur.

For the first time in the battle, cracks began to appear in the dinosaur’s tough armor.

Blood started flowing from the hardened skin.

‘I’ve won!’

Myunghyun was delighted, just waiting for the dinosaur to harm itself.

But it was enduring for too long.

The dinosaur wasn’t collapsing, and instead, cracks were appearing in the reflection wall she had created.

That’s how powerful the energy was.

‘Fall already, you dinosaur bastard!’

Her reflection wall was crumbling like breaking ice.

The dinosaur too had its armor cracking and was taking damage.

But it endured.

‘Impossible. But I have the power of the Armored Lizard!’

Finally, the reflection wall shattered like glass, revealing protective armor made of protruding metal.

Myunghyun thought she could withstand with this.

Until an attack struck her abdomen.

The enhanced claws pierced through her abdomen in one go.

“Keogh!”

Myunghyun, spitting blood from her mouth, felt something was wrong.

Her body should have been reinforced with armor. But it was pierced too easily.

However, she was mistaken about something. The Armored Lizard originally had no metal near the stomach area, making the inside of the belly its weakness.

“Ah…!”

A purple spray of blood gushed from her waist.

Though her lower body fell off, Myunghyun struggled desperately.

‘I can’t die here. Not here!’

But at some point, her consciousness was gradually turning black and white.

“Why is this happening?”

Though surprised, soon red powder brushed past her consciousness.

“That’s just something we made for experiments?”

She had eaten it in a hurry, but there shouldn’t have been any problems.

However, before Myunghyun, the red powder gathered into a form.

It became a monster and began to occupy her consciousness.

[Need more. More. More power.]

“You… So it was you who sprinkled this red powder…”

Though Myunghyun was bewildered, the red powder was consuming her body.

“Why are you doing this… I’m from Kaijepdan! I’m on your side…”

[Yes. You are being helpful.]

The red powder engulfed Myunghyun and then vanished like dust.

*

An SS-rank special ability is naturally something to be cautious of.

To think it could even reflect the Gaia Flame. My body is aching all over, but I won in the end.

“How annoying.”

It’s been a while since I’ve felt such pain in this body. Is there anything else?

As I looked around, a status window appeared.

[Hybrid Eliminated!]

-Monster Point 1, DNA Point 5,000 acquired!

“Hybrid? It’s been a while since I heard that, except when I defeated that machine guy.”

Shouldn’t it say Kaijin eliminated? Is it called a hybrid because monster abilities were combined with the enemy’s?

Since it became like a chimera, the term hybrid isn’t inappropriate.

Kaijin, hybrid, human monster.

These are the enemies I have to face, but I’ve only seen a hybrid since coming here.

Is the reason I didn’t see them before my regression because they were failures? Or was it because I was just a low-ranking member and didn’t have access to important information?

A hybrid could be a stage before becoming a Kaijin, or it could be an evolved version.

Kaijins are already complete forms, whether from the academy attack incident or now.

By the way, how is Eun Serin? She must be badly injured.

But then a sudden change occurred in the nine-tailed fox’s body.

Crystal-like formations began to appear on the fox’s body, which had resembled an awkward quadrupedal chimera.

Dark red jewels were consuming its body.

“~~~!”

The nine-tailed fox’s voice began to cry out in pain.

Eventually, the dark red jewels grew larger, as if sucking the life out of the nine-tailed fox.

“What the hell?”

I was alarmed and on guard, but by the time the nine-tailed fox became withered, the jewels simply disappeared.

“…What did I just see?”

Silence.

I maintained this state for a while, looking at the nine-tailed fox that seemed to have died from having its energy drained.

I endured the aches all over my body. First, I needed to check if anyone was around.

No one.

Eun Serin was still collapsed, with blood… pooling around her.

I hurriedly released my transformation before she could die from excessive bleeding.

“Ugh!”

As soon as I released the transformation, pain surged throughout my body.

“Ow, damn it!”

But I couldn’t just collapse like this, as Eun Serin’s blood loss looked dangerously severe.

“Ngh!”

I urgently tore clothes and began applying pressure to stop the bleeding, using first aid techniques learned in class.

“Hnng.”

But due to my body’s pain, I couldn’t possibly carry Eun Serin, so I crawled out of the gate, almost dragging myself.

“Security guard!”

When I managed to make contact with difficulty, those waiting outside rushed over.

“What happened?”

“Some strange guys attacked us. Instructor Eun was fighting to protect me and…”

I made up an excuse as best I could. It’s fortunate she’s unconscious, but aren’t you on the same side as Kaijepdan?

Why were we attacked?

It wasn’t a mission prioritizing me; they focused on Eun Serin.

Even the way they spoke seemed vengeful. Was I not the target?

Seeing how they had subordinates attack me too, they clearly came to deal with both of us at the same time.

“Do Jonghyun. You’re going straight to the dormitory. We’ll investigate there. Hey! At least two escorts! Call more people!”

“Yes, yes.”

More security personnel were added to escort me.

This is convenient at times like this.

But will I have to go around like this in my second year too?

I don’t know how this incident will be interpreted. Whether they’ll consider me the cause of another attack, or just see it as a personal grudge.

“Excuse me. I think I’m hurt.”

“What? Again?”

As always, I returned being carried by security. At least I earned some points, so that’s a silver lining, I guess?

*

VIP room at the Jaeger-exclusive hospital. Eun Serin was receiving treatment here under the guard of Jaegers.

Her injuries were not light. She had been stabbed in the abdomen more than twice and even cursed.

It was fortunate she had held out until Do Jonghyun rescued her.

An investigation team was at Eun Serin’s side.

“This could have been targeting Do Jonghyun. He has already been attacked unusually many times. I think this case is the same.”

“At least not this time.”

Eun Serin weakly turned her head.

“The Kaijin was Lee Myunghyun, someone I met a few times before. We had an argument about monsters then, and she seemed to hate me.”

“Over an argument from before?”

“There was also a man involved.”

As Eun Serin smiled slightly, the investigation team nodded as if entranced.

“W-well, if it wasn’t just bad blood but a matter of jealousy…”

It made some sense.

“Where specifically did you meet?”

“When I followed a friend to a training session, it was a strange place. Like a cult.”

“Where was that?”

“Kaijepdan.”

Eun Serin dropped the bombshell casually. If Dokgo Jun had heard this, he would have cheered.

“Kaijepdan?”

“Yes. We fought over a man there and then parted ways, but she came this time with that grudge. As a Kaijin.”

The investigation team’s expressions changed.

“Wait, does that mean there’s a connection between Kaijepdan and Kaijins?”

“I don’t know that much. All I know is that Lee Myunghyun attacked me and that she had transformed into a Kaijin.”

At Eun Serin’s words, the investigation team moved to report this fact to the association.

Left alone, she was checking if there were any listening devices.

After confirming there were none, she lay back comfortably.

She didn’t know how Kaijepdan would react to this incident, but they would contact her again.

‘Trying to eliminate me? I won’t die alone. I haven’t even gotten my revenge yet.’

Her revelation now was retaliation for being attacked. If Kaijepdan tried to expose her, it would only work if they had unilateral leverage, not in a situation like this where Kaijepdan wasn’t in a clean position either.

It was a small revenge. Even if Kaijepdan was caught by this, the tail always escapes well.

‘Whether Kaijepdan contacts me next or not, it’s all the same.’

She got up from her bed. Despite her severe injuries, she had a baby at home.

“I have a child at home. I’ll commute for treatment.”

She ignored the hospital’s attempts to dissuade her and discharged herself.

‘They say they’ll bring the baby?’

Who would she show a baby in that condition to?

“I must be crazy too.”

Eun Serin looked at herself reflected in a mirror as she left. Her beauty remained, but she somehow looked withered.

It could be because she was completely drained today, or because fatigue had accumulated.

But she also had a lot to think about. There were many shocking things.

She recalled the scene she had witnessed.

It wasn’t just the attack from Lee Myunghyun, with whom she had never been on good terms.

She had confirmed Do Jonghyun’s appearance as his transformation was released before her eyes.

‘So it is you, Do Jonghyun.’

Eun Serin’s suspicion had now become undeniable certainty.

‘If Kaijepdan is going to act like this, I have no choice but to take out insurance. Do Jonghyun, can you help me?’

Eun Serin’s inner thoughts were flowing even more complexly than what was in her mind right now.