Something Keeps Appearing in My Subspace - Chapter 42

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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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42. Emission-Type Gate (5)
Through the deserted urban landscape, Han Hye sprinted at full speed down a road cleared by abandoned vehicles pulled to the shoulder.
Four Grendels pursued her relentlessly in her wake.
“W-watch out!”
Kim Jung-do, observing from the helicopter, clenched his fists. Han Hye ran with all her might, but the Grendels’ speed was simply overwhelming.
From above, the distance between them was visibly shrinking by the second.
The sight of 2.5-meter-tall creatures charging forward was threatening enough to make one’s heart pound, even from a distance.
Eventually, a Grendel caught up to Han Hye. Its razor-sharp claws aimed for her back.
“No—!”
Just as Kim Jung-do gasped in alarm, Han Hye vanished from sight. She had used Leap.
The Grendel, having lost its prey, let out a mournful roar.
-Uuuuu!
Kim Jung-do, positioned higher in the sky than the Grendel, spotted Han Hye’s location first and shouted.
“Space Shift! Another Space Shift! She’s escaped to a building rooftop!”
The Grendel didn’t remain idle. It quickly located Han Hye’s position and leaped up the wall, scaling it with impressive speed.
Using its agility and thick claws, it pierced the building’s exterior wall repeatedly as it climbed—a sight that seemed almost unreal.
Han Hye sensed the Grendel through her spatial awareness and continued running across the rooftop. She vaulted over the railings and used Leap when the heights didn’t align.
However, she couldn’t maintain this pattern indefinitely. Once the Grendel reached the rooftop, the distance between them closed again.
-Whoosh!
Han Hye then used Leap once more to descend to ground level, successfully shaking off the Grendel.
Thud—thud—. The Grendels landed with heavy impacts after jumping down from the rooftop.
The chase resumed.
Han Hye ran a bit further before leaping back to the rooftop. Witnessing this, Kim Jung-do cried out with exhilaration.
“She’s creating distance again! A brilliant strategy utilizing Space Shift! That’s right! When the Grendels come down, she goes back up!”
After repeating this pattern twice, the Grendels proved they weren’t entirely foolish.
Two pursued from ground level while two chased along the rooftops of buildings on either side of the street.
Though some buildings had misaligned rooftop heights, the Grendels’ speed prevented the gap from widening.
During this chase, one of the Grendels running on a rooftop suddenly leaped down toward Han Hye.
“Han Hye’s speed seems to be dropping slightly. Is she tiring? Oh no! The Grendel is—”
Kim Jung-do let out a sigh, having lost sight of her in a blind spot. From the helicopter’s vantage point, it looked like she wouldn’t escape.
But Han Hye possessed spatial awareness.
The moment she detected the Grendel descending from above, she halted her body. Lowering her center of gravity, she placed her right palm on the ground.
Though she slid slightly from the momentum, she managed to evade the Grendel’s attack.
“How?”
Witnessing such a technique—as if she had eyes in the back of her head—Kim Jung-do forgot he was broadcasting and gaped in astonishment.
The problem, however, came from the two Grendels charging from behind. Han Hye spun her body and extended her hand.
Whooom—.
An open Subspace manifested, blocking the attacking Grendels. With a heavy impact—crack!—the Grendels shrieked in agony.
The Subspace granted physical immunity. For a human, it would be equivalent to punching an asphalt wall with bare fists.
Snap—. As a result, the Grendel’s claws, which could pierce building exteriors, shattered and fell to the ground.
Kim Jung-do gasped once more.
“She blocked it! Those are Grendel’s claws—the ones that can tear through asphalt itself. Could it be that the Subspace has physical immunity? There’s no other explanation!”
The internet erupted just as wildly as the live broadcast unfolded.
-Wow, insane;;
-Isn’t she D-rank?
-Yeah, that’s right
-How is she blocking Grendel’s attacks?
-Her skill is S+ rank though
-Subspace with physical immunity? Makes sense why she killed the Ogre
Han Hye leaped again, widening the distance between herself and Grendel. But this time, she didn’t run.
She opened the Subspace from the center of the four-lane road.
“Han Hye has opened a Subspace. What could she be planning?”
There was only one reason I opened the Subspace: I had reached my physical limit.
Ever since the pursuit with Grendel began, I’d been running at full speed.
No matter how much my stamina stat had increased, I couldn’t maintain an all-out sprint indefinitely.
My mana had also depleted from using Leap without pause.
‘Keep chasing. I’m going to rest.’
But I had the Subspace. Lacking stamina and mana?
I could simply rest and recover.
The enraged Grendel came to the entrance of the Subspace and shrieked, but it couldn’t harm me.
After all, the Subspace was something even the Red Dragon couldn’t penetrate.
“Grendel cannot break through the Subspace! Wait? Hold on! The Subspace is closing….”
I closed the Subspace and rested thoroughly for about four hours. I wiped away the sweat and washed my face to feel refreshed.
Of course, I slept as well. Only after my stamina and mana had fully recovered did I open the Subspace’s door again.
“It’s opening again!”
But from the outside, it simply looked like it had closed and reopened.
“It seemed safe before, so I’m not sure why she reopened it. Could the Subspace have limitations? However, the entrance is noticeably smaller than before!”
Those watching the situation found it difficult to comprehend.
Then Han Hye threw something out of the Subspace. It was a magic bomb she’d received from the Night of Despair Gate.
Boom—!
She’d timed the explosion perfectly as she threw it out. Four nearby Grendels were caught in the blast.
However, she didn’t kill them. The magic bomb had been calibrated for a 16-20 level Gate.
It wasn’t powerful enough to destroy a monster of Ogre-class strength.
Still, the effect was certain. The Grendels that flew back were bleeding considerably.
Opening the Subspace door wider again, I swung the Wind Blade from inside. Sharp gusts of wind shot toward the scattered Grendels, but unfortunately, the damage was minimal.
From the start, I had no intention of dealing serious damage.
I simply unleashed Wind Slash on all four of them to secure their aggression.
Just in case the explosion’s impact had left the Grendels’ minds muddled.
“Heading out again!”
And so the pursuit resumed.
Kim Jung-do paused in thought. The Subspace was immune to physical attacks, yet he’d seen things enter it.
Just moments ago, he’d thrown a bomb and launched a one-sided assault.
If Han Hye took damage from Grendel and hid in the Subspace, she could have been safe.
“I understand now! Hunter Han Hye is maintaining Grendel’s aggression! She’s risking herself because if she hid, the citizens could be harmed!”
The onlookers finally grasped Han Hye’s intention upon hearing his words.
“Hunter Han Hye! The chase continues. Your stamina is impossible. Even with an S+ rank skill, you’re currently a D-rank hunter. A prolonged chase against Grendel will exhaust you.”
Overwhelmed with emotion, Kim Jung-do spoke as if possessed.
“But! She doesn’t tire! Or rather, she must be tired! Yet she keeps running! She displays impossible devotion for the citizens’ safety. That is what a true hunter is!”
Of course, I’d rested thoroughly in the Subspace before emerging, but from the outside, it looked nothing like that.
The internet reaction was indeed intense.
-You’re a fool ㅜㅜ
-What the hell, who said on Hunter Net that the Space Mage had no manners? Who was it? How is this not showing manners?
-Wow, that’s insane. Isn’t Grendel a monster that even level 30 rogues can’t escape from?
-Yeah, unless you’re a decent B-rank rogue, you’ll definitely get caught
-I thought they’d give billions to an inventory ability user, but they just keep giving
I’m so moved, I could cry.
* * *
“Damn it.”
The curse escaped naturally. It wasn’t a stamina issue. I’d been resting continuously in the Subspace before coming out.
These creatures were relentlessly persistent in their pursuit.
Of course, I had to maintain aggression, but the curse came from their cunning.
These bastards started out chasing stupidly, but gradually began learning from me. They’d grasped the range of my leap.
Only one was chasing me directly. The other three maintained roughly a 35-meter distance centered on me.
“Huff!”
After leaping, I blocked or evaded using the Subspace, but my stamina consumption was intensifying.
Their attacks were becoming incrementally more threatening, which was unsettling. I needed to enter the Subspace more frequently.
There was a slight regret. If I kept Grendel occupied, wouldn’t the bodyguard the Hunter Association had assigned—the one Lee Shin-hee mentioned—appear?
Nothing like that happened.
Well, if they were going to appear, wouldn’t they have shown up already? Besides, a large Gate and a medium Gate had erupted consecutively.
They were probably dealing with those.
‘Übermenschen wouldn’t be able to predict emission-type Gates either.’
Grendel’s movement was detected from the upper right. I immediately used leap. To an ambiguous distance about 15 meters above ground.
This was also something I’d learned from their pursuit. I’d be defenseless for a moment, but they’d have difficulty catching me.
It was a technique of using leap to escape while falling from the air to the ground.
Originally, I never would have thought of it, but it occurred to me while resting in the Subspace.
‘Well, it’s not like I’ve only suffered.’
[Skill, Leap (A-rank) level increases.]
I’d used leap so much that the skill reached level 3. I could use it slightly faster now.
It was a minute difference, but in this situation, I was satisfied. That minute difference could mean the difference between danger and safety.
“Huh?”
At that moment, I felt a surge of mana from behind. It was emanating from Grendel.
Chun-bae issued a warning.
-Danger! It’s awakening!
My heart lurched in that instant.
‘Awakening?’
Strictly speaking, it should be called a ‘Second Awakening’. All monsters of Troll-class and above possessed mana inverse fields, making them awakened beings.
This sort of thing happened to hunters fairly often. A Second Awakening didn’t mean gaining a second profession.
Just as awakening occurred in extreme crisis situations, it meant learning skills or abilities suited to the moment.
In reality, Grendel’s speed as it charged from behind became incomparably faster than before.
‘A leap…’
The distance had been slightly comfortable, so I wasn’t prepared yet. I frantically calculated the space.
But it was slightly faster than I expected.
“…?”
What was that?
In an extremely brief moment, I sensed something foreign.
Through my spatial sense, I felt something moving at tremendous speed. The charging Grendel wavered momentarily in mid-air.
But there was no time to dwell on it. Though its body had wavered, its claws were still at close range.
Screech—!
My protective amulet activated as the attack grazed my body. It was an artifact I’d obtained from the Labyrinth Dead End.
It had even reacted to an attack that merely brushed my collar. In that window, I barely succeeded in my leap.
“Damn it.”
I didn’t know what had happened, but the safety mechanism that had protected my life once was now broken. It would need a full day to recharge, so I couldn’t use it anymore.
From now on, I’d have to evade in a state of extreme tension.
‘Who helped me?’
The fact that I hadn’t taken damage this time was because someone had intervened.
A thin line of blood trickled from the body of the creature attacking me. I didn’t know what it was, but it was certain that some attack had struck it.
‘Could it be the bodyguard Lee Shin-hee mentioned?’
There was no time for deep thought. Rather than hoping for luck, I needed to focus on the immediate situation.
The awakened Grendel pursued me at high speed despite bleeding.
Whoosh—!
I evaded again using another leap. The sound of claws tearing through the air was chilling. The speed had increased, it seemed. Uuung—.
I took a short, sharp breath and thought rapidly.
‘I can’t hold out like this.’
By stats alone, I was over mid-level 30, but my individual stats weren’t distributed that way.
Unlike other hunters who allocated stats according to their profession, I’d distributed mine evenly.
Without Leap, I wouldn’t have even considered fleeing with Grendel in the first place.
I had to enter the Subspace first.
‘I need to raise my agility.’
I had an elixir from the Farm. Crimson Vine. Chun-bae had definitely said it helped with agility.
I’d take that and allocate the spare stats I’d saved for situations like this to agility as well.
—Uuuugh!
While my mind raced, Grendel charged forward. Even with my 30-meter spatial awareness, the speed was difficult to react to.
I hurled myself out of the way and used Leap. After the spatial displacement, inertia sent me sliding across the asphalt.
Whoosh—.
Just as I was about to quickly open a Subspace portal and retreat.
“Huh?”
Something streaked past at tremendous speed, detected by my spatial awareness just like before. The Grendel that had been chasing me suddenly erupted in blood, then collapsed limply with a wet thud.
And then….
Ta-bang!
A gunshot rang out belatedly. What was that? I was bewildered. Could it have been this that stopped the Grendel earlier?
I don’t know. There was no gunshot back then.
The Grendels that had been pursuing me hesitated, sensing something amiss.
Thud-thud-thud-thud—.
I was already aware of the helicopter following from above, but now another helicopter sound joined from far away.
And something flew from the helicopter. It was a spear.
Despite the considerable distance, the spear that flew through the air pierced straight through a Grendel’s torso.
Another Grendel fell.
Ta-bang! Ta-bang!
Two more gunshots in succession.
All the Grendels collapsed.
[Your level has increased.]
A level-up notification appeared—apparently the monsters I’d been dragging along counted toward combat experience.
Normally I would have gained two or three levels, but since I hadn’t directly defeated them, I only gained one.
Thump—.
Someone jumped down from the helicopter that had stopped above me. I recognized him instantly by his face.
The nation’s highest-ranked S-Class Hunter.
Shin Chang.
“….”
Shin Chang, having retrieved his spear, approached me without a word and extended his hand.

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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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