How to Live as a Fencing Genius Hunter - Chapter 24

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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How to Live as a Fencing Genius Hunter
Chapter 24
Demon Slayer (2)
I pressed my attack on the Flame Demon with complete composure.
[Lunge]
[Advance]
[Retreat]
[Balestra]
I stepped forward and back, left and right, in every direction—thrusting at the legs, driving the point into the ribs, finding the elbow.
“If this were broadcast, the donation alerts alone would paint the Milky Way across the screen!”
Lee Hae-il let out a strange cry, her hands trembling with excitement.
“Like a streamer’s going to miss a chance like this!”
Even as she spoke, she swung her Cavalry Sword, drawing the demon’s attention away from me.
[“—!”]
Crack-crack, crack-crack-crack!
The Flame Demon, still on its knees, thrashed its claws in wild desperation.
Five blazing talons tore through the air like a burning maelstrom, raking at everything around it.
Where those nails so much as grazed the basalt floor, the stone itself ignited.
“Aaaaaagh!”
“Get back!”

One touch meant instant death.
Lee Hae-il recoiled in terror, but I stepped forward instead.
It was faster and stronger, yes—but in technical precision, it was nearly my equal, D-rank beast that it was.
I slipped past a talon diving from the upper right, then flowed around a fist sweeping low from the left.
I drove my Estoc into the joint of its wrist.
The meaningless explosions behind my back were nothing but waves of heat singeing my hair.
[“—!?”]
The C-rank beast let out a cry of confusion.
It had never needed technical practice.
Against orcs or lesser demons, raw strength alone would have sufficed.
But now I had matched its weight class.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
Of course, it still overwhelmed me in raw power.
Even a D-rank demon had withstood dozens of my cuts, and its regeneration was far beyond what I could exhaust with thrust-focused strikes alone.
“Sir, give it one big one for me!”
Lee Hae-il moved as if reading my thoughts.
She circled near the surrounding rocks, waiting for her moment, then burst forward in a single decisive rush.
She had a gift for making bold choices that sometimes even surprised me.
She’d rushed to match my footwork before the Amber Strange Dragon itself, and when faced with its explosive power, she’d picked off the fire bats with her Machine Gun.
This moment was no different.
Her waist was lined with Grenades gathered earlier.
The Flame Demon had stopped its wild assault and was focusing on regeneration.
It was just beginning to repair the wounds at its hamstrings and ankles, preparing to rise.
[Jung Jae-ha Unique Skill]
[Attaque composée]
I unleashed that same combination strike once more.
This time, instead of targeting multiple weak points, I focused entirely on one.
Thwack-thwack-thwack-thwack-thwack!
Nine consecutive thrusts carved through its intact right knee like a sculptor hollowing stone.
As the Estoc burrowed between the stones, lava and flame scattered upward, tracing the brilliant arc of the blade like scattered jewels.
Its knee shattered completely, and the beast crashed down onto all fours.
The crown-like horn sprouting from its head struck the rock floor, sending sparks and flame erupting anew.
[“—!”]
I had to scramble backward, dodging the waves of lava and fire cascading from below its ruined knee.
The smell of burning rubber rose thickly from the soles of my combat boots.
“Fall back!”
Lee Hae-il smoothly began pulling the safety pins from the Grenades in rapid succession.
One by one, she rolled them beneath the prone body of the beast.
Normally, a C-rank demon could obliterate a tank’s engine with a mere glance.
But with my knees shattered and my face pressed into the ground, I couldn’t look away.

Boom!
A massive explosion erupted, and the demon’s enormous body convulsed.
Flat shards of carapace scattered in all directions.
“Did we get it?!”
Lee Hae-il stared at the Flame Demon, her expression uncertain.
[“—–!”]
And the Flame Demon unleashed a horrific psychic blast, its upper body lurching upright.
“Ah!”
Lee Hae-il let out a sharp cry and went rigid, crumpling like a felled log.
My vision swam too.
My head pounded as though I had a terrible hangover, and the world spun sickeningly before my eyes.
At C-rank strength, even a psychic blast alone was enough to rob me of bodily control.
Only after several seconds did my vision clear.
[“—, –!”]
“Wow…….”
And then I saw it.
The Flame Demon writhed within a body of billowing flame, roaring.
Its lower half still bore the rocky carapace, but its upper body—the carapace had been completely stripped away, leaving only trembling white fire in its place.
A brilliantly white flame was devouring the deep crimson fire that made up the majority of its form.
Twisting its entire body to consume a deep crimson flame so vastly larger than itself.
It wasn’t difficult to grasp what I was witnessing: the demon, using its dominion over the elements, was attempting to swallow even the grenades’ explosions.
Anew, that creature seemed truly magnificent.
Its power—commanding the elements, warping the laws of physics itself—burned so brilliantly before me.
I wanted to burn like that too.
“Hah.”
I extended the Estoc and drove it hard against the earth.
I shot forward more than ten meters in a single stride, hurling myself at the Flame Demon.
Even from a distance, the heat rolled off it so intensely my combat suit seemed ready to melt.
My face burned and my eyes watered shut.
I felt my skin charring, blisters rising across it.
Yet the Sword Path has always lain beyond that threshold of endurance.
“Ha, aaaaah!”
[Jung Jae-ha Unique Skill]
[Attaque au Fer]
If Prise de Fer was defense while maintaining contact with the opponent’s blade, then Attaque au Fer was attack while maintaining that contact.
Though this demon possessed no sword, Attaque au Fer was one of the rare fencing strikes where the blade’s trajectory inscribed a line.
As a curved line meant to disrupt the opponent’s point, the twist of force behind it was formidable.
Crash!
I scattered the white flame composing the Flame Demon in all directions.
My body lifted clear of the ground as the great blast detonated.
* * *
Time slowed like a procession of lanterns at my funeral.
It was a sensation I’d experienced several times before—back when I’d pushed my concentration to its absolute limit during my fencing days.
I remembered learning that it was the result of the hippocampus and cortical networks suddenly activating.
I’d even trained several times to induce it deliberately.
What were the results?
I couldn’t quite remember.
Whether I truly couldn’t recall, or whether the urgency of processing the flood of information in this moment took precedence, I couldn’t say.
The density of pain was extraordinary.
The charred gauntlet pressed into my palm, sizzling and steaming.
From inhaling the superheated air, my throat burned too.
But the density of joy was even greater.
The sight before my eyes was so fantastic it made me forget the pain entirely.
Four spiraling streams of flame whirled like a pinwheel, spreading outward along the exact arc my Attaque au Fer had traced.
White flame erupted from the rocky-carapaced lower body and was drawn up toward the sky.
The sight was both mystical and sublime.
This was my doing.
The fact that my blade had created this—the pride of it was almost unbearable.
[“—–!”]
The Flame Demon unleashed a psychic burst in its final throes.
It tried to gather the scattering flames.
The whirlwind warped into a spiral, nearly forming a wall of fire, but even as the world tilted dizzily before my eyes, I drove my leg upward.
It wasn’t over until it was over.
I twisted my body toward the sky.
And I plunged my Estoc into the heart of the roaring inferno.
[Jung Jae-ha’s Unique Skill]
[Attaque]
The most fundamental and most elegant of thrusts.
After countless repetitions across ages, the blade honed to the level of skill pierced the very essence of the Demon Beast.
Whoosh!
Even by my own judgment, it was a flawless strike.
For a moment, the world fell silent.
Boom!
The Flame Demon tore into a thousand pieces and scattered.
The sight looked like fireworks celebrating my victory.
I laughed out loud as I fell to the ground.
* * *
Intangible power seeped into my body.
“Ha……!”
My wounded body drank in the Flame Demon’s strength as parched earth thirsts for rain.
The same intense exultation that had swept through me when I’d defeated the Amber Strange Dragon came rushing back.
A cool, prickling, addictive sense of fullness washed over me completely.
I controlled my expression before it could break into an unseemly grin and pushed myself up.
“I, I can’t even find words. This is—”
“I know. Just enjoy it.”
Lee Hae-il wore a similar expression, which meant she’d also received a share of the Flame Demon’s Mana.
When a Demon Beast dies, its Mana scatters outward, and nearby Awakened Ones split the absorption among themselves.
“Feels amazing.”
I didn’t feel the slightest regret.
I wouldn’t have been able to absorb it all alone anyway.
I could feel that I’d taken in the maximum I was capable of accepting right now.
A full satisfaction settled across my entire body, as though I’d finished a hearty meal.
And it wasn’t just Mana-based satisfaction—there was a spiritual fullness too.
“You did great!”
Team Lead Yeo Baek rushed toward me.
“Ho-min’s been bragging about it non-stop. Says the police commissioner’s office and major corporations were both eyeing him—and he finally managed to land you. Those terms were well worth it!”
Her smile was bright and cool, like a blue jay’s.
Hearing those words and seeing that smile made the corners of my own mouth threaten to crack wide open again.
“……Courting misfortune, aren’t we?”
Choi Jong-hyeok broke his silence.
“But do you have the skill to prevent misfortune from becoming tragedy? At least you understand the difference between the two.”
“I’d appreciate your guidance.”
He still wore an expression of displeasure, but I knew that truly displeased people don’t bother wearing that kind of face.
At my request for guidance, the corners of his mouth seemed to shift just slightly.
“I won’t actively push you toward certain death, so keep struggling like that until you die and contribute to this society.”
Choi Jong-hyeok turned to leave.
“What he says—never mind it! He’s always like that. Come on, let’s go. The air in here is terrible.”
Yeo Baek gestured to Lee Hae-il, and her body floated up lightly.
“We’re out!”
“Did you die?”
“I lived, though?”
We returned to the Saebyeol Branch.
Non-Awakened Hunters and Jong-hyeok’s crew were waiting outside for us.
“You chickened out halfway through and came back. You didn’t even know that?”
Jong-hyeok’s eyes wavered with the thought, ‘Could they have actually caught it?’
I understood that feeling.
If he had any sense, he’d know that Lee Hae-il and I had been treating him and his people as opposition.
He might not yet know that we were planning to move against the Scorpion Crew, but he had to understand that as we grew stronger, his group’s place in this world would disappear.
“Hae-il.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Isn’t that heavy?”
“Not at all! I’m going to hang it in my living room when I get home!”
“Let’s clean it up here first.”
“I think that’s a good idea.”
I chuckled and pulled back the combat uniform that had been covering the object Lee Hae-il was carrying.
A massive head emerged, with four horns jutting upward like a crown.
The magma and flames inside had long since vanished, but the rocky carapace remained like a fossil skull.
“Wow……!”
“That’s C-rank, isn’t it?”
“Demon Slayer!”
The non-Awakened Hunters who’d been smoking even abandoned their cigarettes and rushed over.
“You took that down on the first day? You guys aren’t messing around!”
“Guys? These are Awakened One Hunters!”
“That’s insane. This month’s bonus is going to be sweet.”
Jung Ho-min stood alone, trembling visibly.
Ash fell from the cigarette in his hand in small flakes.
I looked at him and broke into a broad grin.
“You haven’t Ranked Up yet?”
“I’m still at E-plus.”
“I dropped down and then hit D-zero.”
“Congratulations! You’re the best, sir! I think I’ll hit D soon too, so I’ll go ahead and order a D-shaped cake.”
“Should we order a Demon head-shaped cake too?”
“You’re a genius, sir.”
Jung Ho-min spoke loud enough for everyone to hear.
His expression twisted further.
A satisfying sense of having landed a solid blow mingled with the steady satisfaction of tightening the noose around his neck.
I suspect it won’t be even a month before he makes contact with the Scorpion Crew.
+
[User: Jung Jae-ha]
[Ability: Body Enhancement (D)]
+
Ah, but I wasn’t exaggerating.
I really did hit D.
In the Hunter industry, each Rank carried its meaning.
F stands for Fighter—the entry level for the superhuman, the rank where you can fight Demon Beasts.
E stands for Elite—the rank where you can fight Demon Beasts well.
D stands for Defender—the rank where you can protect someone or something.
True to the name, today I had protected something within myself.
“Team leader. Say something for us?”
A short while later, all our new Hunters gathered in the lobby of the Saebyeol Branch.
Yeo Baek and Choi Jong-hyeok entered the lobby.
“Not interested. I’ll see you at the team leader meeting later.”
Choi Jong-hyeok headed straight upstairs, and Yeo Baek watched his back with a frown.
“You all worked hard today. Go rest up inside, and make sure to eat a good dinner.”
Even so, she smiled at us with that characteristic warmth in her eyes.
“Starting tomorrow, you’ll be officially assigned to teams. Hunter work won’t be easy, but you’ll gain a lot from it too, so let’s give it our all. Fighting!”
“Thank you!”
That day ended just like that.
Not knowing which team I’d be assigned to the next day.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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