How to Live as a Fencing Genius Hunter - Chapter 9

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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 a Fencing Prodigy Lives as a Hunter
Episode 9
Tutorial (1)
“The Gate designated for this cohort’s Tutorial, the Pumpkin Forest, carries a Comprehensive Assessment of C-rank.”
I returned to my seat, and Hong Si-yu launched into a full briefing.
“In the past, before tactics against Demonic Beasts were systematized, the Ironblood Guild secured it as a mining operation. After their Raid Team was annihilated, it was transferred to the Gate Management Division.”
With each word she spoke, the Awakeners stirred restlessly.
“Wait, annihilated?”
“C-rank Comprehensive Assessment? We’re Hunters who just debuted. How are we supposed to clear that?”
“The Ironblood Guild is top five. Why would we be sent to a place where their Raid Team was wiped out?”
Lee Hae-il, too, wore the look of someone whose courage had drained away.
“Maybe they’re setting up a free buffet for the Demonic Beasts?”
“How do you come up with all these things?”
I couldn’t help but laugh at his hollow tone.
“Focus, please.”
Hong Si-yu, as if determined to fan the flames of their anxiety, started a video.
Combat footage from the Ironblood Guild spilled across the front screen.
[Recording]
‘Let’s go!’
‘Push them back!’
‘Ironblood! Ironblood! Ironblood!’
The Ironblood Guild was exactly what their name suggested—Hunters outfitted with staggering heavy weaponry.
They wore thick Exoskeleton Armor that looked like something out of a science fiction film, and carried M134 Miniguns and K6 Medium Machine Guns weighing tens of kilograms as if they were toys.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
The firepower pouring from those muzzles—thousands of rounds per minute—looked powerful enough to mow down hundreds of Demonic Beasts in mere seconds.
‘Orcs!’
‘Fire!’
‘They’re not falling back!’
‘Argh!’
‘Jack O’Lanterns!’
That awesome display of force crumbled in less than ten minutes.
Every time the muzzles flashed, the Jack O’Lanterns filling the pumpkin forest began to glow.
As thermal and kinetic energy was stripped away, rounds that should have pierced concrete walls fell to the ground without traveling more than tens of meters.
‘Screee! Screee!’
‘More coming!’
‘The gunfire—the gunfire brought them!’
Orcs and Goblins, drawn by the sound of gunfire, swarmed in like a pack of hounds.
‘Form up!’
The Ironblood Hunters pressed their backs together, fixed bayonets, and drew their blades.
‘A Jack O’Lantern?’
The Jack O’Lantern advanced toward the clustered Hunters.
Its pumpkin-like mouth gaped wide.
‘Pumpkin Shrapnel……!’
Whoooosh!
Crimson-hot fragments tore through the air like a crème brûlée torch gone berserk.
The Jack O’Lantern had released the thermal energy it had been charging.
The tightly clustered Ironblood Hunters were knocked sprawling to the ground as one.
Goblins rushed forward over the fallen Hunters’ bodies, daggers drawn.
The footage ended there.
…
The Awakeners fell silent.
They simply curled in on themselves, trembling like frightened mice.
Lee Hae-il, sitting beside me, sent a look heavy with dread.
“B-brother, this isn’t a free buffet level—this is delivery service, a catering operation. At this rate, we’ll all die breathing orc stench.”
I did not share his view.
“No, you won’t.”
“No? You just saw it! Those powerful Awakeners holding Miniguns in one hand—they all got swept away! You might somehow survive, but the rest of us are really going to die.”
I looked at my earnest and passionate disciple’s wavering eyes—only two weeks of training, but so devoted—and opened my mouth quietly.
“They might still be alive if they hadn’t fired the Miniguns.”
“Sir?”
“You don’t follow?”
Just as I was about to explain something, Hong Si-yu continued.
“As you can see, the Pumpkin Forest is a woodland rich in Jack O’Lanterns. The firearms issued to you should be used sparingly.”
That was exactly what I’d been about to say.
“The orcs and goblins in the Pumpkin Forest travel in groups of dozens. If you can dispatch tens of them quickly using the melee weapons you’ve trained with, you can move forward without further combat.”
It seemed that forest became a nightmare the moment you fired a single shot.
Jack O’Lanterns awakened by thermal energy, and orcs and goblins summoned by gunfire converged in greater numbers.
From that point on, the situation became unmanageable without firearms’ firepower, yet you couldn’t shoot because of the Jack O’Lanterns.
Scatter and fight, you’d be picked off by orcs and goblins; stand together, you’d be shredded by Pumpkin Shrapnel.
There was only one strategy for such a situation.
Dispatch groups of dozens rapidly and keep moving without stopping.
“Of course, we won’t demand any particular strategy from you.”
By the time I’d thought that far, Hong Si-yu advanced the slide.
“The Pumpkin Forest is managed across five zones. The closer to the central region, the stronger the Demonic Beasts; the closer to the edges, the weaker.”
A mental image took shape—three concentric circles, divided into quarters by a cross.
“You must enter Zone 1 where the Gate is located, pass through Zone 2 or Zone 4, and advance to Zone 3, directly opposite the Gate.”
Everyone’s attention fixed on the map.
“If you harvest the Jack O’Lantern Sapling that currently exists only in Zone 3 and bring it back, you’ve cleared the Tutorial.”
Hong Si-yu pointed to the rings formed by the overlapping circles.
“The outermost green zones in any sector have few Demonic Beasts. However, since you’d have to go the long way around, it will take considerable time. By the time you’ve made the detour, other trainees who took risks may have already harvested all the Jack O’Lantern Saplings.”
The outer ring was colored green.
“The middle zones should be manageable despite reasonable combat encounters. The Ironblood Guild failed in the past due to lack of information, but I believe you can succeed.”
The middle ring was colored yellow.
“Zone 5, the central region—I advise against entering it. If you venture there, we cannot guarantee your safety regardless of your scores.”
The center circle was colored red.
A low-quality photograph appeared alongside it: an enormous pumpkin of grotesque proportions, and before it a dragon curled in upon itself.
“What is that?”
“The bosses. A Field Boss and a Gate Boss. Breaking that pumpkin probably clears the Gate.”
“Either way, we’re not going anywhere near there.”
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
“Direct combat between trainees is strictly prohibited. Instructors stationed throughout the forest, cloaked in Concealment Barriers, will watch over you. Your firearms have sensors attached; they’ll auto-lock if your barrel ever points at another trainee.”
Hong Si-yu finished her briefing and opened the floor.
“Now then—we’ll answer questions, gear up, and depart. Any questions?”
Countless hands shot up.
“You in front?”
“Is solo action or group action permitted?”
“Either works fine. You can move alone, or all thousand of you can move together. That said, group size won’t confer advantage or disadvantage. Next.”
“How many magazines can we take?”
“Take as many as you can carry. Just mind the weight.”
“If we come under attack by Demonic Beasts, you instructors will help us, correct?”
Someone posed that question.
“No.”
Hong Si-yu shook her head as though she’d been waiting for exactly this.
Her crimson bob swayed briskly, a picture of cheerful certainty.
“What?”
“Wait—you won’t help us?”
“That doesn’t make sense. You’re saying we could actually die?”
“Are you serious?”
This time, genuine unrest spread through the room.
“Damn it. This is insane.”
I watched Lee Hae-il’s face drain of color.
I was not surprised.
“If you’re the kind to die here, you won’t get hired by any major corporation or public agency. If you die despite having information, you’ll die just as quickly in any guild.”
Hong Si-yu laughed with satisfaction, as though she’d been itching to say this for ages.
I’d expected as much.
“What the hell kind of answer is that?!”
“Are you telling us all to just die?!”
“Get me a lawyer! This is a human rights violation!”
Curses erupted from various corners, but she didn’t furrow her brow once.
“How can a country operate like this?!”
One of them cried out, voice quivering with indignation.
“Yes. This is acceptable.”
Hong Si-yu answered with perfect composure.
“The nation needs Hunters. And so if you become a Hunter, you can acquire wealth. You can earn honor. Even if you commit a crime, you won’t go to prison.”
The tattooed convicts lowered their eyes in unison, as though remembering the fury of that first day.
“So risk your lives to become Hunters.”
I understood what kind of heart drove Hong Si-yu to speak those words.
It was the demand of someone who had staked her own life and won wealth and honor in return.
Lee Hae-il exhaled, his breath heavy with tension.
“That’s intense.”
I drew in a breath trembling with excitement.
“And I like it.”
“What?!”
“Don’t you think it’s good?”
“You really are an eccentric, aren’t you?”
A challenge was always something worth relishing.
Especially when the person standing before you had already conquered that very challenge—and doubly so when your favorite tool would be employed in facing it.
“If you want different results, you have to live differently.”
I turned the Status Window Ring on my finger over and over.
+
[Name: (Temporary User)]
[Awakening Ability: Physical Enhancement]
[Unique Skills: Lunge, Retreat, Advance, Balestra, Parry Sixte Riposte, Fleche……]
+
To be honest.
I was confident.
* * *
The Awakeners from the penal facility boarded dozens of large forty-five-seater buses bound for Pumpkin Forest.
They were armed with sensor-equipped MP5 Submachine Guns, tactical black combat uniforms, and various melee weapons of their own.
Swish.
Jung Jae-ha had just drawn back the curtain to look out the window.
[Proceed with Seoul Reclamation! Preserve Seoul Metropolitan Area Assets!]
[Murim Guild Hiring Porters Now.]
[A World Where Anyone Can Become a Hunter. Samjeong Psychonic 2.0]
[Compensate Wounded Veterans!]
His expression shifted slightly.
‘These words… I’ve never seen them before.’
The colorful banners and LED screens were crammed with expressions unfamiliar to him.
On one side of the street were homeless people; on another, people wearing headbands held a protest.
Across from them, elegantly dressed men and women laughed and enjoyed dates, while a massive screen flashed an advertisement for some top-ranked Hunter.
This was ordinary Korea in the age of Hunters.
Meanwhile, Hong Si-yu had moved to the command center near the Gate in advance and was observing the trainees.
Footage transmitted from the miniature observation golems created by Ji In-hui appeared on the eight-panel screen.
Creak.
The command center door opened and a group entered.
“You’re here early?”
“You made it?”
“Thanks for last time. You saved five people this round.”
“Five? We all got wiped out.”
“Didn’t you take more than ten of ours? Be sparing with the burn. They’re all resources, even if they’re shit.”
Most of them wore sharp suits, but interspersed among them were those in military uniforms or police uniforms.
All appeared to be in their mid-twenties regardless of actual age, their hair and eyes tinted in rainbow hues from which flowed a subtle Mana Glow.
Their overflowing vitality had reset their biological clocks to the body’s peak—overflowing mana had altered the color of their hair and irises.
In other words, they were Korea’s Hunters.
“When does it start?”
“A tall man in a military uniform shouldn’t speak like that, if there’s any rule to it at all.”
“Point out the promising newbies, will you? More, more, more!”
“That catlike talk again. Somebody give that magical girl some catnip.”
Hong Si-yu, director of the Policy Coordination Division of the Awakener Association’s Special Cooperation Bureau, greeted the scouts from each guild, the government, and major corporations with relaxed familiarity.
Most of them were comrades who had survived and fought hard together in the isolated Seoul of the early Gate crisis.
“Just so you know upfront—we’re out of the running. We won’t be taking any rookies this time. So don’t mind us. Take them wherever you want.”
“Why?”
“The last batch was terrible. Hunters abandoning their teammates and running away—does that even make sense? And the few who were worth anything already went to the big corporations.”
……
“The incident reports on reformed Hunters have reached all the way to our chairman. He says Si-yu left the guild, and standards have dropped ever since. He’s saying we’re sending out hunters who should have been burned alive, calling them rookies.”
So when the scout from her former guild, Sambyeol, came and criticized her, she didn’t feel fire rising in her chest.
“Anyway, Sambyeol won’t take anyone unless they’re talented enough to shake the chairman’s conviction.”
Honestly.
This time, it was almost funny.
“Do whatever you want. But.”
“But?”
“You can’t be the one deciding whether they go or stay, can you?”

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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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