Ch.92The Monster That Burned Down Akihabara, Japan

# Hunter’s Blood

In the Japanese map theme dungeon of <Hunter’s Blood>.

The first part of the Kitsune Family episode, the Ballroom Attack Incident, involved monsters escaping from the basement through a dimensional gate over a total of five cycle occurrences.

In other words, if the first blackout had begun, it meant such incidents would happen about four more times.

‘Obviously, the danger level of the monsters increases exponentially with each blackout.’

At first, only disorganized D-rank to semi-C-rank monsters appeared, but during the fifth and final blackout, a dangerous A-rank monster would appear—Gojillia Junior, descendant of “Gojillia,” the monster that once terrorized 20th century Japan with the nickname “Dinosaur Monster.”

‘Of course, bringing Mr. Lorensky would make it easy to catch…’

But there were too many watching eyes to use Lorensky here.

Before being a National Authority-Level Hunter from Russia, he was publicly branded as a “criminal” and former Soviet war criminal, so I couldn’t carelessly call for him.

So what options remained?

‘I guess I’ll have to step up myself…?’

I had anticipated this when entering the ballroom anyway.

Of course, with so many people watching, I couldn’t openly undergo kaijufication here.

Right, I couldn’t transform into a monster where people could “see” me.

However, this was a trick I discovered after wandering around the Kitsune Family map for a full 60 hours.

“Keeeeek!”

“Kigigigigik!”

As soon as the monsters appeared after the blackout, I immediately ducked down.

Then I crawled stealthily to my destination.

That place was none other than under a table covered with a tablecloth.

‘Who would have thought such a crude table would serve as a “hiding spot”~’

Exactly.

It was truly ridiculous, but this ordinary table made with ordinary materials and ordinary methods was the only hiding spot in the Kitsune Family ballroom map.

In other words, as long as I stayed here, monsters wouldn’t find me!

I originally discovered this place while playing as a ranged Hunter class in the game.

I was so surprised then, and briefly worried that such a feature might have disappeared when the game turned into reality.

“Kigikkigik!”

“Kagagak!”

“This really works!”

The monsters just passed by, unable to see under the table.

When I transform, the black lightning that bursts from my body would be invisible during a blackout since it’s the same color.

Flicker.

“Second time…”

As humans were gradually being pushed back.

Waiting for the moment when everyone would be pressed against one wall of the ballroom, safe from my transformation.

Flicker.

“Third time… now!”

Finally, when I sensed only monsters around the table where I was hiding.

“Uraaaaaaaa-!!”

Flicker.

After transforming, I immediately ripped out the throats of all the monsters appearing during the blackout.

“W-what is that…?!”

“A humanoid monster?”

When the lights came back on, numerous monster corpses stained with blood were scattered around me.

“Grrrr…”

‘Thankfully, everyone’s holding out well against the wall.’

While feeling relieved looking toward the people.

“Sh-shoot! Shoot!”

“At whom?!”

“Just everything! Shoot anything that looks like a monster!”

Ratatatatat.

As expected of the security guards protecting one of the World’s 10 Great Families.

I felt somewhat reassured seeing them casually equipped with anti-monster ammunition that’s difficult to obtain unless you’re military.

While enduring their completely painless bullet shower, I assessed the situation.

Princess Kurumi’s side seemed fine, of course, and with the third blackout, I had already dealt with more than half the monsters.

At this rate, we could easily resolve the incident…

“Asuna!”

…or so I thought.

“Kruk?!”

Come to think of it, in the original story, the Ballroom Attack Incident was an episode cleared by forming a party with Asuna as a two-person team.

That meant variables would naturally find Asuna fighting alone without the protagonist.

“Kgagagagak!”

Asuna had gone too far ahead while fighting monsters alone.

Her summoned monster, Tengen, was completely on the opposite side from its master.

There were no allies nearby to protect Asuna as she closed her eyes, prepared for death.

So…

“Watch my death until the end.”

In the original story, she deliberately sought death to eliminate her family’s corruption, no matter what.

I had tried many retries to save her from beyond the screen, but my heart felt truly heavy watching Asuna die with resignation every time.

“Kraaaaa!!”

‘Am I going to see that here too?!’

KWANG-!

Don’t give me stress in a game I bought to relieve stress.

With that mindset, I quickly rushed forward and destroyed all the monsters surrounding Asuna with a single punch.

And that wasn’t all.

KUGUGUGU-!

“T-the wall?!”

Befitting the territory of one of the World’s 10 Great Families, all buildings in the Kitsune Family territory were built with special alloys that don’t exist in reality.

That’s why the buildings remained intact without major renovations since ancient times.

But thanks to my anger-filled fist, a huge hole appeared in the wall of the building that had served as a place of harmony for 2,200 years and was currently used as a ballroom.

“H-how is this possible…!”

The ballroom, which originally couldn’t be exited until after five blackouts.

We naturally made eye contact with people who looked like the masterminds behind this incident, secretly chanting spells outside.

“You are… people of the Shiburou Family?”

“P-Princess Asuna?! You broke through that wall and came out? How…?”

“Ah, well…”

Asuna couldn’t answer properly since she hadn’t done it herself.

‘Are these the fallen Hunter families that were only mentioned in the original story?’

Meanwhile, to quickly skip this attack part without waiting for all five blackouts:

“Kruk! Kruk!”

“A-a monster?!”

I tried to walk toward those Shiburou Family people.

“Fine! In that case, we’ll show you our desperate measure that costs our lives!”

Mumble mumble mumble mumble.

The fallen family members before us began chanting something like a spell.

Though I’d never seen this pattern in the original story, their desperate measure was obvious.

“Come forth! The legendary National Disaster-Level monster that once terrorized the entire Japanese archipelago!”

“N-no way…!”

“Yes, that’s right!”

“Shiburou Family! Are you truly intent on committing an unforgivable sin?!”

“Hmph! Such things… we’ve been prepared for since planning this terror attack!”

A massive magic circle began forming among the Shiburou Family members covered in black cloth.

Simultaneously, a gigantic being began to rise from within the magic circle.

“Appear! The offspring of Gojillia who once burned all of Akihabara in Tokyo, the great monster ‘Gojillia Junior’!”

“Krururururuk…!”

Just like the Tyrannosaurus from Jurassic Park.

A giant lizard large enough to be visually compared to the castle built within the Kitsune Family territory revealed itself.

“KRAAAAAAAAAAA-!!”

At least carnivorous dinosaurs have small arms.

This was a true monster with even large arms.

‘It’s about 50 meters tall, I guess?’

“Gojillia Junior! To think you’d release a National Disaster-Level candidate monster sealed beneath the Kitsune Family grounds…!”

“Hahaha! Our family had no future anyway! If you had helped when we reached out, this wouldn’t have happened!”

“What nonsense…! The reason the Shiburou Family was facing extinction was because of internal corruption, why blame us?!”

“Kuk?! You… silver spoon princess! What would you know about the circumstances of a noble family facing extinction?!”

Unable to die alone, so let’s die together.

Seeing the Shiburou Family members making this sentiment sound plausible, Asuna stopped trying to reason with them.

It felt like talking to a rock that couldn’t understand words.

“Y-you, the black monster there!”

“Kruk…?”

‘Me?’

“You seem to be a humanoid summoned monster capable of some communication. Quickly bring my sister Kurumi here. Only she can stop that monster!”

Asuna seemed to recognize me as an ally who had protected her and gave me orders in place of her master.

‘Is she planning to kill it with Amaterasu?’

Well, from my experience fighting Amaterasu, she could probably handle not just Gojillia Junior but even the original Gojillia.

‘But with me here…’

This hurts my pride a bit.

I’m standing right here after defeating Amaterasu (with one broken arm), yet why does she have no expectations of me?

“Kruk? Kruk?”

‘What about me?’

“…Huh? Why are you suddenly pointing at yourself?”

“There’s no time, hurry and bring my sister Kurumi! Even a monster should know the famous Kurumi.”

That’s really unfair.

This is the first time I’ve been treated like a background character after transforming, and it’s making me stubborn.

“KRAAAAAAAA-!”

“Uwahaha! Yes! Go, Gojillia Junior! Go and annihilate all humans in Japan, including the Kitsune Family!”

That big lizard monster.

I’ll “subjugate” it.

Personally, as a martial artist, I couldn’t let disrespect slide.

As Gojillia Junior charged toward us, I prepared to deliver a clean knife-hand strike to its belly…

PUNG-!

“Huh?”

“Eh?”

“Kruk?”

…or so I intended.

“Monster of Jamsil! They say enemies meet on a narrow bridge, yet here we are again!”

The figure who landed in front of the collapsing corpse after exploding Gojillia Junior’s menacing face like fireworks:

“You haven’t forgotten Lorensky, have you?!”

“……”

‘Shit, why are you showing up here?!’

With Mr. Lorensky’s sudden appearance, I immediately abandoned my knife-hand strike and prepared Han Shinwoo’s original not-quite-lethal forehead flick instead.