Chapter 21

: Phantomvein (1)
Zin seemed ready to smack them both with the shovel as the two got off the junkwagon.

Huh? Hunter…?

Charl looked at Zin perplexed.

Not good…

Frightened, Leona ducked her head. Zin pointed next to the junkwagon with his shovel.
Get off.
Charl and Leona knew what he meant. They got off the junkwagon.

You need to turn off the engine.


Ah, okay!

Charl turned off the engine and left the junkwagon.

Do I have to explain to you how crazy it is to start a junkwagon in the middle of nowhere?


Well…


It’s crazy to be making any sound when we don’t know what might be lying around here. This is not a fortress where we can get support, and you don’t have any men to help you out.

Zin pointed to the ground he was standing on.

We are in the desert. The Reavers are crazy for driving on the junkwagons because those vehicles are unstable, and more importantly, for the loud noise that they make.

Monsters lurking around the area could come after the noise. Zin explained why Charl’s actions were dangerous, and Charl nodded slowly with a gloomy face.

Sorry… I didn’t think it through…


Yeah, mister. Charl didn’t know about it…


…You think that I don’t know you’re trying to slip out of this?


Sorry!

Leona became gloomy as Zin stared at her.

Don’t do anything stupid and stay still.


Sure!


Yes!

Zin had been yelling at the Wargrave officer, but Charl remained silent as he nodded his head. Zin went back and started digging again. Charl’s actions had been very careless and Zin was extremely upset.
Since Charl was still gloomy, Leona tapped him to get his attention.
That guy really, really hates junkwagons.
I see.
Let him be.
The two whispered, and as Zin stared at them again, they shut their mouths. Charl started feeling upset as well.
I know it was a mistake. What’s his problem? If there’s a monster, then he could hunt it down.
Charl himself was confident with his combat skills. He’d hunted down big monsters at MCP. This trip with Zin was getting very boring. Zin was overly cautious, quiet, and stealthy.
For Charl who had overpowered monsters with heavy artillery, it was rather an underwhelming trip.
Pfft. The seniors mentioned that hunters are all cowards, and that looks to be the case here.
Charl couldn’t help but think that Zin’s behavior was cowardly. He thought it would be easier to wipe out any incoming monsters and claim the chips. Charl grumbled and watched Zin who was consistently digging. To Charl, Zin looked like a seasoned veteran hunter but was overly self-centered. Zin seemed to be a person who stuck to his own opinion. As an example, during the trip, he suggested taking the long and hard route because the easy route was dangerous.
I could easily kill hundreds of monsters in the Ancient-Korea region.
Charl just needed the coordinates, but not Zin’s power.
He thought that he could overcome any danger with the weapons that he had at hand.
And what’s up with that coat? Isn’t he hot? What a show-off.
Charl was starting to get angry about everything related to Zin. If it weren’t for Leona, he wouldn’t have tagged along with Zin.
—whoosh!—
All of a sudden, as if Zin had read Charl’s mind, he took something out from his coat. Charl had no time to react to Zin’s sudden move.
—crank!—
Zin aimed the AKM at Charl.

You’re crazy!


Aaahh!

Charl drew Leona near him and activated the reactive gloves.
—ratatattaatatat!—
Gunfire blazed out of the assault rifle with tremendous speed.
But, nothing hit the reactive gloves.
Kraaarggggh!
The shots that Zin fired pounded something behind Charl. As Charl looked back, he became astonished.

What… What is this…?


Krrrk. Kr! Krrra!

A person who’d been shot multiple times was shaking violently, covered with bubbles of blood. Zin replaced the magazine on the rifle.

It’s a vagabond. Come over here.

Charl pulled Leona back and moved out. The corpse was riddled with bullets, but it did not stop moving.

Did you know… that that thing was around?


I always assume that something is around me.

Zin was always scanning his surroundings, and he would find enemies before they attacked.
If Zin hadn’t acted fast, Leona and Charl would have had their heads chopped off by the vagabond.

Of course, I spotted it before, but I allowed it to attack us. I’m sorry about that.

Zin put away the AKM into his void storage and pulled out the semi-automatic shotgun.

Think of this as a punishment for ignoring my warning.

The junkwagon’s noise had alerted the vagabond that was hiding in Ard Point. Charl watched as something formed within the blood-bubbling corpse.

I’ll put in an additional claim for the ammo used in a fight caused by your carelessness. Do you agree?

—cluck!—
Zin asked the question as he loaded a powercell.

Sure, I do…

Charl nodded his head vigorously as he realized that he could have died. Zin aimed at the monster coming out of the corpse.
—babang!—
Large, blue-colored gunfire came out of the shotgun.
—kaboooom!—
And a bigger fire blasted out as the corpse was hit with the gunshot.
The 7.62mm buckshot was a shotgun bullet that was modified with a regular bullet.
In a similar way, regular shotgun bullets were modified. A powercell, which was made by replacing the pellets with explosive chip powder, became more powerful in magnitude. The shot that Zin fired was so powerful that his clothes flapped violently from the explosion.
The monster’s torso was blown away. It was clear that the monster had been taken down, but Zin gestured the two to move out.

It’s a gel type. Run.


It managed to survive from all the gunshots.

The corpse had blown to pieces from the powercell explosion, but the severed parts of its body were combining into one form. It was an unbelievable sight to see the red, bloody pieces of flesh gathering into one body. Leona did not leave Zin, and was ready to move at any point. Charl was stunned as he looked at the vagabond monster.

What type of monster is this?


This must be your first time seeing a vagabond. Vagabonds never morph into a type of monster that we know.

All vagabonds transformed into different form of monsters. It didn’t transform into the types of monsters that were known of before. Charl didn’t have any knowledge of other monsters as he only hunted monsters in the MCP.
Charl felt disheartened.

Be careful! We don’t know how the monster might attack.

The monster could attacking from a close range, far range, or some unknown way.
It was better to finish off a vagabond before it completely turned into a monster. The hunters hated any battle that was unpredictable.
They were about 60 feet away from the gelatinous monster, and Charl looked at Zin with his weapon drawn.

What do we do now, hunter?


Why even ask?

—clack!—
Zin loaded a different type of ammo into the Saiga shotgun, and then aimed at the monster.

Attack is the best defense.

—kaboom!—
Massive gunfire came from the muzzle of the Saiga and hit the monster directly. It was a dragonbreath bullet that shot out a high-temperature blaze.
Most of the monsters were weak to fire, and it was wise to set fire on a monster that one had never encountered before. As soon as it hit monster, it exploded into fumes.

Did it die…?


No, it vaporized. Run, now!

The enemy wasn’t dead, but it turned into vapor and was roaming freely as a red mist. As soon as Zin shouted, Leona and Charl started running in the opposite direction of the red mist. Although they didn’t know what it was, they were certain that they would be in trouble if they breathed the red mist.
—zap!—
Charl fired some shots using his laser pistol, but it was ineffective against the mist. Charl’s laser pistol looked like an ordinary pistol, but it was a cutting-edge weapon that could take out low-level monsters with a single shot. It was different than the usual firearms. When he realized that his weapon was ineffective, he started to yell.

My weapon’s not working against that thing!


Just run!

The red mist was permeating the air towards the three, and it was fast approaching them.
Zin was also running, and he thought:
Immune to explosions.
Immune to laser.
It tried to dodge the flame shot, so that may be its weakness, but it’s still ineffective.
Gel, slime types are usually weak against fire and lasers, but this one’s different.
And it turned itself into vapor. Gel types can regenerate through splitting… Did it get a special ability because it’s a vagabond? No, that’s almost impossible.
That’s not a regular vagabond.
I can assume that monster is immune to physical attacks.
If it’s a gel-type monster that’s immune to physical attacks…
Zin thought.
Ectoplasm.
The enemy is a spirit. Ordinary attacks won’t work.
I will attack with magic.
All hunting begins with understanding the characteristics of the prey.

It’s a ghost-type! Do not confront it—just run!


Ghost?


Ghooooost! Ahhhhh!

Leona and Charl freaked out.
—pzzzz!—
The red mist was closing in, and Zin took out a charm from his coat.
He brought it to his mouth and blew.
Kyahhhh!
It was the evil spirit flute that he’d shown Charl before.

Ahhh!

The red mist backed off after the horrifying scream, and Leona also freaked out and rolled on the floor. Charl had goosebumps. Zin stopped fleeing as he held the flute on one of his hands, with a weapon on the other.
—clank!—
Zin was holding a large, dark-metallic sword in his right hand. He looked like a beast holding onto a two-handed sword with one hand, when other people would have a hard time holding it with both hands.
Zin, who preferred safe battles, didn’t like to engage in melee fights. But even though he didn’t prefer it, it didn’t mean that he wasn’t skilled at it.

Hey, hunter! You’ve seen how our weapons didn’t work against that thing!

Charl looked at Zin as if he was crazy to fight against an enemy with just a big sword.

Just watch.

Zin backed off and then dashed forwards towards the red mist.
Kyahhhh!
Zin swung the two-handed sword down at the red mist, which had been stunned by the sound of the evil spirit flute.

Huzzzah!

—slash!—

Kraaaaah!

It was simple slash, but Zin split the red mist into two. The mist that was split into two displayed a red light, indicating that the sword had damaged it.
The dark hue of Zin’s two-handed sword was not a metallic color. Rather it was a dark, bloody color that was created from a devil’s blood as a charm. The sword itself was a charm. It was the magic sword of exorcism, Phantomvein.
Charms were made from devil’s blood. But it was not created from a single being’s amount of blood. The charm used the blood of both evil spirits and vampires to create the Phantomvein.