Auto Hunting

No. 166

It was the perfect timing.

Just as Yoo-seong’s feet left the ground, the mountain of trash he had been standing on collapsed.

It was as if something had sucked it down.

“……!”

Yoo-seong soared to a hundred meters above the ground, an altitude that transcended the height of most high-rise buildings. From that elevation, he could see countless mountains of trash spreading out endlessly.

Further beyond, there were structures in the form of towers, yet which were seemingly made of a different material. They weren’t made from the “sophisticated” materials from the human world. They were coarse structures that had been built with stones and soil from the wasteland.

Perhaps those crude towers were all that remained for those who claimed to have ruled the Earth once.

‘It’s ridiculous and… creepy.’ Yoo-seong thought about the Grays’ jealousy and hatred for humans.

On the other hand, he was also feeling unbearable contempt toward them.

‘Why?’

‘Is it because what the Grays’ leader told you was an absurd lie?’

‘Or is it because… you think that it could perhaps be true?’

There seemed to be a deep-rooted hatred imprinted within Yoo-seong. He shook his head and looked below him.

Thud-thud-!

The ground below shook, and cracks began to form on the surface.

Something really was sucking down the crumbling garbage mountain!

Despite this, Auto-Hunt did not do anything and allowed Yoo-seong’s body to fall.

The ground’s visible vibration then stopped, and a massive, thick creature burst upward from the hole in the ground, sending dust in all directions.

‘Red.’

It was Yoo-seong’s first impression of the beast as it lunged for his falling body with its mouth wide open. The creature’s mouth reminded him of a starfish. It was split into five parts, and each of those five parts had hundreds of sharp, saw-like teeth.

From Yoo-seong’s distance, those teeth didn’t look as huge, but from his estimate, each of them surpassed the size of an elephant’s ivory tusk.

However, what was more surprising than the creature’s size…

Yoo-seong was several tens of meters from the ground, but the massive mouth was already beneath him in an instant.

Taang-!!

Only then did Auto-Hunt move, sending him in a horizontal direction with Explosive Acceleration.

Yoo-seong threw his head back and glanced at the creature chomping past where he had been.

A legless creature, constantly rising, like a subway going up to the sky.

However, its length was at least ten subway cars combined.

The creature’s skin was not covered with scales. Instead, it looked like a solid rock that had been embedded in the deepest part of the earth for a long time.

It continued rising, and when it finally stopped, it was tens of meters higher than the peak Yoo-seong had reached a while ago.

Considering that the beast wasn’t even fully out of the ground, its total length must have been more than two hundred meters.

“Oh, all the treasures you’ve collected so far have been ruined!” Yoo-seong shouted, mocking the Grays’ leader.

-It’s just clutter through which to gather knowledge on your kind.

The voice replied with these words right away, in a defensive tone.

‘Perhaps the owner of the voice is the one controlling this giant stone snake,’ Yoo-seong thought. ‘There must be limits to these guys’ mind control abilities.’

If there wasn’t any limit, there was no way that the Grays would fall to this extent.

They should have been able to manipulate even the strongest entities and, theoretically, anything that faced them, including Yoo-seong.

Perhaps they needed their target to be completely subdued so they could be manipulated.

There also had to be individual differences when it came to controlling targets. Therefore, those who had been sent to Nashville to hunt the hunters must have been their elites.

It made sense that the owner of the voice, powerful enough to communicate with Yoo-seong telepathically, was the only one that could control this monstrous snake.

The five sections of the giant snake’s mouth snapped open and closed several times. Other than that, there were no visible features on its head. There was nothing that resembled eyes or a nose – just a massive length of rocks and minerals. If he hadn’t seen its nightmare-like mouth, Yoo-seong would have thought he was looking at the creature’s tail.

Suddenly…

Blaah-!

The snake’s mouth snapped open once more. Then it rushed toward Yoo-seong at a tremendous speed!

However…

‘It’s too big,’ Yoo-seong thought.

Despite its speed, its movements were easily predictable due to its size.

Taang-!

With just a quick leap to the side, Yoo-seong escaped the stone snake. Recognizing that it had missed its target, the snake stopped moving and turned its head.

Bang-!

Using Spider Walk, Yoo-seong ran along its body until he reached the beast’s open mouth.

Inside, it was a bright red, sharply contrasting against its dark body, and it was the size of a small playground.

“But that’s all you have…” Yoo-seong muttered.

Apart from the hellish mouth and the quick-burst attacks, the creature had nothing that could inflict damage on Yoo-seong.

Of course, with its weight and length, it could crush its enemies as it moved around. Perhaps if this beast popped out of a rift and into a populated city, it would result in an unprecedented catastrophe claiming thousands of casualties.

However, against Yoo-seong in this free space, in a one-on-one battle, it had no chance.

Go-oh-oh-oh-!

Aura filled the Lightning Bow. He had no arrows, but Yoo-seong didn’t need one in close combat. He was going to use the bow as a spear.

Crack-!

Like an upside-down bat in a dark cave, Yoo-seong plunged in and ran on the roof of the beast’s mouth. His destination was the snake’s narrow throat.

For its size, its throat was awkwardly small, barely enough to fit an adult male.

Fuwook-!

A blow charged with lightning rushed towards the beast’s weak spot.

The end of the Lightning Bow pierced through the snake’s throat perfectly and unleashed an explosive burst of electricity.

Chieeek-!

However…

“Did… did you eat it?!” Yoo-seong exclaimed desolately as his high-powered attack had no effect.

It wasn’t that the beast had consumed the energy. The problem was compatibility. Even the strongest lightning could not burn off a stone mountain. The celestial bolt had no effect on creatures that lived deep on the earth.

In that instant, the confused Yoo-seong paused inside the beast’s mouth. It was too late for him to realize that the darkness was closing upon him.

Snap-!

All of a sudden, the snake snapped its five mouths closed. Hundreds of saw-like teeth crushed the tiny creature inside its mouth. The snake survived by consuming the hardest rocks and metals buried deep in the earth.

A creature made of flesh and bone did not stand a chance against its teeth.

Wood-duk-duk-!

After listening to the satisfying crunch, the snake swallowed its prey.

The end had indeed come.

***

Ka-Velin, the leader of the Grays, burst into laughter.

“All that talk! Haha! Livestock! By now, his bones must have been crushed!”

Through several years of “anatomical studies” and actual autopsies on humans, Ka-Velin had gained some mastery of the human body. It was important to keep this prey alive, so as soon as he felt the sensation of breaking bones through the monster’s mouth, he swallowed it immediately.

At this stage, the human would still be breathing, but it would have no more capacity to fight back.

“I will get inside its head and control it. Even if its body does not fully recover, I will force it to move under my command until it reaches its limit.”

To be honest, Ka-Velin had felt a little anxious at first. The human had seemed too quick for the stone snake.

‘But what did it do?’ He grinned at the thought.

The human had felt overconfident in its abilities and jumped into the beast’s mouth. Of course, victory had already been decided in the first place. No matter how quick it was, humans were bound to get tired. It could not keep dodging forever.

At the same time, its destructive lightning power had no effect on the snake’s hard rock body. Unless the human could find where Ka-Velin was hiding, it was a hopeless battle.

Of course, it was impossible to find Ka-Velin’s hideout.

He felt so relieved that it was over.

‘I have to go see it with my own eyes,’ he thought as he tried to leave the hideout.

Just then…

Crunch-!

Beyond the walls of the hideout, he heard the sound of bones snapping.

“What…?”

Before Ka-Velin could even think what the sound was…

Woogoong-!

The entire hideout shook.

The hideout he was in right then was deep inside the snake’s body. While he was intoxicated with relief and victory, he had disconnected his senses from the beast’s.

He rushed to connect with them once more. Only then did Ka-Velin figure out what was happening.

“Aaargh-!”

The pain burned through him, pushing him to disconnect immediately.

Something that had enormous heat was inside the snake’s body, turning its hard rock insides into magma.

Then…

Boowook-!

A red-hot blade pierced through the wall of Ka-Velin’s hideout.

Crunch-!

The sound of bones snapping could now be heard more clearly.

“Woo!” a familiar voice sighed as the last of its dislocated bones snapped into place.

“It doesn’t feel good to get chewed on, but sometimes, you can’t avoid it,” Yoo-seong said as he tore through the walls of Ka-Velin’s hideout.

The stone snake’s skin had seemed too hard for him to penetrate. The Lightning Bow hadn’t had any effect. Yoo-seong had realized he had no choice but to get swallowed to reach the beast’s soft insides.

While protecting his whole body with focused Aura, he’d allowed his bones to be dislocated by the pressure of the snake’s mouth.

Now…

“Let’s start over,” Yoo-seong declared to the stunned Ka-Velin.