Against the Clock: The Team Leader’s Pursuit of Glory

The mother plant of the bomb spores crashed into the building. Screams echoed as spores darted through the collapsing walls, and people scattered in panic. The mother plant didn't chase after the fleeing crowd. Instead, it watched calmly, almost like a proud parent observing its offspring hone their hunting instincts.

Soon, a deathly silence settled. The spores clung to people's faces and greedily drained their life force. Those who were unlucky enough to become hosts withered visibly. The more aggressive spores sucked them dry so fast that they died before they were completely drained.

When a host perished, the spores separated themselves from it and sought out fresh prey. When they eyed the occupied spots, they had to back off because there wasn't any room left to latch on.

At that moment, a group of humans burst out of an alley, slicing through the spores. Even the mother plant was within the range for their counterattack with their greatswords. But with spores clinging to their ankles, they missed their chance to take it down.

The team searched the wreckage. No one was left alive. They stopped looking for survivors and headed straight for their next target. They progressed very slowly as they battled the relentless onslaught of spores.

"No. 7 secured! All temporarily joining Hunters, report to the command team! Everyone, move to No. 2! Party 2, take the lead, with Hunter Mo Ilju at the front!"

Hwang Dongsu and his team fell back on Kang Mu-hyuk's orders as No Song-rin's team took the lead. Mo Ilju guided them. He prided himself on his knowledge of the area. He was one of the three who made it to the county office alive and had been instrumental in helping Kang Mu-hyuk locate the 71 isolated Hunters using his messaging skill.

He checked his phone to confirm the location of No. 2. It showed a photo of the map that Kang Mu-hyuk had marked.

Kang Mu-hyuk shouted urgently when he noticed this, "Eyes forward! To the five-way intersection near the Hongdan Café! Real estate agency!"

"Y-yes, sir!"

Knowing the lay of the land and strategic points was raiding 101, but with everything happening so fast, memorizing all 21 locations was nearly impossible. For someone like Mo Ilju, with little raiding experience, just keeping up with the flood of information was a monumental task.

'How can anyone memorize all that? Only someone crazy could do it.'

Mo Ilju felt a wave of frustration. No Song-rin, who was backing him up, gave him a reassuring pat on the back.

"Don't stress about it. He just loses it when people's lives are on the line. Damn, these spores are persistent."

As No Song-rin slashed through the spores, Kang Mu-hyuk rallied the new recruits and began gathering intel.

"Name, rank, position, main weapon, specialty, and hunting style. Quick rundown, starting from the right."

The first Hunter to catch on to his orders spoke up, "Jeon Seungjo. B-Rank. Ranged dealer. Bow. I specialize in rapid and quick shots, with a stance-dealing style."

As Jeon Seungjo introduced himself, the other three Hunters followed suit, sharing their details. Kang Mu-hyuk quickly sized them up and restructured the party.

'Four dealers, two archers. Stance-dealing sounds fancy, but really, it just means they're the stand-still-and-shoot type. Probably the kind who just fires away without much thought.'

At first glance, it might seem normal for an archer to stay put while shooting, but for Hunters who could maintain their stance even while moving, staying in one spot meant a lack of adaptability or little sense for mobile combat. This style was common among freelancers who didn't think much about tactics---basically, the kind of 'brainless dealers' that raid leaders hate to deal with.

Seeing a Hunter unsuitable even for lower-tier hunting grounds on the front lines of Daehongdan was baffling.

'No, I shouldn't rush to form a judgment. I'll see how they perform in action. But they might lag behind during mobile combat while trying to deal, so I'll have to stick them close to Hyun Junggeon.'

So far, they'd only secured three bases, with 13 members total: two tanks and eleven dealers, 7 of whom were ranged. Only a few of them had solid skills or standard hunting styles.

The only good news was that the two tanks were locals from the north. They were experienced on the front lines, so they instinctively knew how to be the main tanks for parties 4 and 5 and also served as backup tanks for the raid.

And the other dealers, all from the local guild, weren't too bad in terms of hunting instincts.

"Jeon Seungjo, Kim Namhoon, and Lee Byunggi, you three join Hunter Hyun Junggeon's Party 3 on the right. Follow the party leader's orders. Hunter Chae Chiwoon, move to the rear left with Party 4."

After Hunters positioned themselves, the raid group gradually took shape while going through a few skirmishes, assessing their skills and hunting styles along the way. But Kang Mu-hyuk was fully aware of how unstable the balance of his makeshift raid team was.

Aside from Hwang Dongsu, the tank lineup was barely enough, even as backups. At best, they could manage monsters of the same level as them in a small party. But relying on them for a boss-level raid? That was a stretch.

When skills fall short, they at least need gear to make up for it, but the freelancers' armor was just mid-quality 'Crocodile Jaw Hippo' leather or mass-produced alloy from small-time manufacturers.

Mass-produced gear was a joke---low-purity Gate minerals and far from artisan quality. These off-the-shelf pieces rattled every time they moved, and that was a dead giveaway of their shoddy build.

"Shouldn't we just go after the mother plants directly?"

Lee Sookyoung asked this as she worried that gathering the Hunters would take longer than planned.

"The mother plants will take off if they feel threatened. We don't have any magic forces for aerial combat, nor the long-range firepower to bring them down, so once they're in the air, we'd have a hard time catching them."

"Couldn't Huntsman Hwang Dongsu... I mean, couldn't Hunter Hwang Dongsu just take them out in one go?"

Lee Sookyoung asked again while correcting herself as she was still getting used to the northern term for Hunter, but Kang Mu-hyuk shook his head.

"That time was just a stroke of luck. We turned a corner and ran right into the mother plant, so it couldn't escape. Its floating lung got shredded in the first strike, so it couldn't breathe. If we hadn't hit its flight organ, it would've gotten away."

This was the main reason they couldn't easily take down the bomb-spore flower mother plants. The real problem wasn't just that the mother plants were quick to flee---it was that the raid team simply wasn't skilled enough.

"We won't be able to take them down in time."

"What do you mean by 'in time'? Why are we in such a rush?"

"Well..."

Before Kang Mu-hyuk could finish, No Song-rin interrupted, "Guild Leader! The spores are pulling back!"

"Whoo!"

"Did we win? We won, right?"

"We made it!"

The Hunters cheered, thinking the retreat meant victory, but Kang Mu-hyuk had a different take.

"Which direction?"

"Towards Number 3."

"That's one of the places we expected. Hunter Lee Sookyoung."

"Yes?"

"Do you still have those map photos from the operations room?"

"Yes, I took them just in case."

"Hunter Mo Ilju! Hunter Wang Gicheol!"

The two Hunters stepped forward at Kang Mu-hyuk's call.

"Lee Sookyoung, take these two and round up the rest of the team."

"What about you, Guild Leader?"

"The third phase of the bomb-spore flower wave is about to start. We're entering raid mode now."

The Hunters' cheers quickly faded.

Kang Mu-hyuk couldn't help but feel he was unlucky.

"Of all things, a bomb-spore flower. And it's a large-scale wave mode. The third phase is basically a boss-level raid. Plus, we're mostly working with freelancers. There might be casualties."

But at the same time, he felt a bit lucky.

'At least it's a spore flower with a predictable attack pattern. And thank God we have three A-rank vets. The fact that the Hunters haven't bailed yet is a good sign. Even if it's tricky, the raid difficulty isn't too bad---we should be able to pull through.'

Area 3 was a rotary where several roads met. It wasn't a huge space, but the roundabout made it feel like a small plaza. They passed damaged buildings and people lying on the ground on their way there. Their faces were covered with spores.

The Hunters took out every spore they encountered. It was too late to save the people, but they couldn't let the spores feed, grow, and escape the area. Of course, the spores needed time to mature, and the raid was the top priority, but they couldn't just ignore seeing humans being devoured by monsters.

Still, Kang Mu-hyuk gave a clear, no-nonsense order.

"Don't bother with them. We can't clear them all out anyway. Once someone's been hit by a spore, it's over unless we respond right away. Focus on the raid. If we lose here, who knows how far these things will spread."

The Hunters shuddered at the harsh reality of his words.

It wasn't easy leaving behind the people convulsing with vines wrapped around their faces. Hunters usually put their own safety first, but even they felt a nagging sense of unease they couldn't quite shake off.

"There, in the center of the rotary. They're already starting to merge."

Noh Song-rin pointed towards a field packed with spore seeds. Behind them, mother creatures were flying in, tangling together. As more mothers gathered, they grew larger, eventually fusing into a single massive entity.

The spore seeds extended thorn-like tendrils outward as if they were protecting the mothers. This created a barrier that looked like a wall of barbed wire. Sensing the attack squad closing in, the monsters hunched down in response.

Kang Mu-hyuk gave his orders after assessing the monsters' movements.

"Party 1, break through the center. Parties 2 and 3, support from the left and right wings---don't let Party 1 get isolated. Parties 4 and 5, cover the left; 5 and 6, maintain the right flank. Stand by to push the entire line forward when I signal. The last two parties, hold the center and be ready to reinforce any breach or swap out with tired teams."

With that, Kang Mu-hyuk had the entire attack squad advance, leaving just one Hunter with messaging skills at his side. Each party had Hunters who could relay orders instantly, thanks to their messaging skills.

Normally message skills were hard to find among freelancers, but since this was the entrance to the Demonic Realm, these Hunters were surprisingly common.

After confirming the squads' positions, Kang Mu-hyuk sent the go-ahead signal.

"Party 1, move out!"

Hwang Dongsu thrust his greatsword forward like a battering ram. Equipped with tank gear designed for Demonic Realm exploration by Iron Will, he charged like a bulldozer plowing through the field of spore seeds. The wall in front of him was ripped apart in an instant.

When the greatsword lost momentum after slicing through thick, paper-like obstacles, the spore seeds closed in from both sides. Hwang Dongsu channeled mana throughout his body. His core---arms, shoulders, spine, and lower body---anchored him to the ground like steel stakes.

In an instant, a giant windmill-like force swept through, carving a path in the field of spore seeds.

Hwang Dongsu let out a deep breath he'd been holding. It felt like they had pushed through a significant stretch, but the path ahead was still thickly barricaded. He realized he'd have to factor in the energy drain he hadn't accounted for.

When he started thinking too much, he slowed down and his reactions dulled.

Kang Mu-hyuk, noticing this, sent a message through a Hunter.

"Parties 2 and 3 are on their way to support. Don't stop---keep pushing!"

Hwang Dongsu snapped back to reality.

'Right. What's the point of overthinking? The Guild Leader will handle all of that. All I have to do is--'

Follow orders.

"Alright, let's try again, shall we?"

The party members, who had barely managed to catch their breath after chasing the relentless main tanker, cried out in terror.

"Again?!"

"C-can't we get a break...?"

"We're gonna die at this rate!"

Without replying, Hwang Dongsu infused his sword with mana and slashed forward. Dozens of spore seeds were scorched by the mana flames.

"If anyone's dying first, it'll be me. If you stop here, I'm leaving you behind."

And with that, he charged forward.

The Hunters had no choice but to follow, grumbling as they went. Falling behind meant they'd die for sure.

"Damn it! You think you can do anything you want if you're a high-ranker?!"

"I'm going to sue you after this!"

"You crazy bastard... Can't you take it easy?!"

"By now, the Tumen Riverfront should be in chaos."

"I'm worried we might've acted too soon."

"Doesn't matter even if Korea stops the monster wave. As long as they're thrown into chaos, it's a win. Our real target is Russia."

"I'm worried it won't just end with them being in chaos. You know what kind of monster the Gate Boss here is. If it's lured the wrong way and it heads down to Dandong, that city's as good as gone. The Party's not going to like that."

"Since when has the Party cared about the lives of the people? Focus on the bigger picture. If this plan works, the Demonic Realm will belong to us. Russia and Korea won't dare to interfere. This is the start of the great Unification Guild of the People. Just trust me, Guan Hong."

"Yes, Mr. Bi Wenjun. I will dedicate myself to your grand cause."