"Why did it only petrify you, Seo-yeon, and the tanks?" Seung-hoo asked, his voice full of confusion. He wasn't really asking anyone in particular—just trying to make sense of what he had seen.
Seo-yeon stood frozen in stone, her dagger still raised, her face locked in determination. The tanks nearby were the same, their shields half-lifted, bodies stiff like ancient statues carved into the forest floor.
Byung-chul staggered a step forward, rubbing his arms and neck as if trying to wake himself up from a bad dream.
"I-I think…" he said slowly, blinking over and over again. "There's a reason it chose me and others."
Seung-hoo turned to him. "A reason?"
Byung-chul swallowed and pointed weakly toward Seo-yeon and the tanks. "We all don't have magic. We rely on physical strength only.
Seung-hoo froze for a second.
Then he looked again.
Seo-yeon—assassin class.
Pure speed. Pure blade.
No spells.
The tanks—heavy armor, shields, brute force.
Defense and muscle.
No mana techniques.
"…You're right," Seung-hoo murmured. "None of you use magic."
Byung-chul exhaled shakily. "Maybe… the bird targets people like us. Those who can't protect themselves with mana."
For a moment, the only sound was the distant splashing of water from the wounded bird and the faint crackling of burning trees.
Then Byung-chul suddenly groaned and covered his eyes with both hands.
"Gnh—!"
He stumbled a little. "I haven't blinked in… I don't even know how long.
Seung-hoo glanced at him. "Yeah. You were petrified."
"That's not comforting," Byung-chul muttered, forcing his eyes open and shut repeatedly. "Everything feels stiff… like my bones are still stone."
While Seung-hoo stayed beside him, making sure he didn't collapse, the lake behind them began to rumble.
The massive bird slowly lifted its head.
Its chest expanded.
Its throat glowed with a deep red light.
Seung-hoo noticed instantly. "Byung-chul… don't move."
The bird opened its beak wide.
Heat warped the air inside its mouth. Flames twisted together, forming the shape of a long spear—exactly like the mage's spell from earlier.
Hunters shouted in panic.
"It copied the spell!"
"Back up!"
"It's aiming this way!"
The fire spear shot forward, tearing through the air in a blazing trail.
It brushed past several hunters, forcing them to dive aside. The petrified tanks couldn't move at all, frozen in place as the heat passed dangerously close to them.
Byung-chul's eyes widened. "It's coming straight for us—!"
Before he could finish, Seung-hoo stepped forward.
He raised his hand and caught the fire spear midair.
The flames wrapped around his fingers, crackling loudly.
Everything went silent.
Byung-chul flinched so hard his knees almost gave out. "W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
Seung-hoo stared at the burning spear in his hand. "…So it really can copy attacks."
Then, without thinking, he dropped it near Byung-chul's feet.
"Here—"
"GNT—WHAT THE HELL?!" Byung-chul shouted, jumping back in terror.
The spear hit the ground with a hiss, burning into the mud.
Seung-hoo suddenly shook his hand violently. "HOT! HOT! HOT!"
He shook his hand in the air and blew on his fingers like a kid who had just touched a hot stove.
"Why did I catch that like it was nothing?!"
Byung-chul stared at him as if he had just witnessed something impossible. His mouth opened slightly before any words came out.
"…You just grabbed a monster's spell," he said slowly. "S-ranks can't do that."
Seung-hoo blinked. "What?"
"And now my hand smells like smoke," Seung-hoo muttered. Then he registered what Byung-chul had said and looked back at him. "Wait… I thought S-ranks could do that?"
Byung-chul snapped out of his shock and raised his voice.
"No, they don't!" he shouted, still half in disbelief. "Monster spells damage the body directly. They burn, crush, or pierce through mana defenses. You didn't block it with magic. You grabbed it with your bare hand!"
Seung-hoo frowned and examined his palm. It was red, slightly smoking, but already fading.
"You didn't see my hand just now!" he protested. "It did damage me!"
"That's not the point!" Byung-chul said, running a hand through his hair. "You should've lost that hand. At least three fingers. Maybe your whole arm!"
Seung-hoo stared at his fingers again, flexing them slowly.
"…Huh."
Behind them, the other hunters stood frozen, their earlier panic replaced by stunned silence.
"That wasn't magic…"
"He stopped it with his body…"
"No S-ranks could do that…"
"Did you see how fast he moved…?"
Some of them looked at Seung-hoo with awe.
Others with fear.
A few with something close to confusion, as if their understanding of power had just cracked.
Water exploded behind them as the giant bird slammed its wings against the lake again. Waves rushed toward the shore, soaking the ground and splashing against fallen trees.
The creature screamed—long, sharp, and broken—its voice echoing through the forest canopy.
Seung-hoo slowly turned away from the hunters and looked back at Seo-yeon.
She was still frozen in stone, her body leaning forward like she had been about to run. Her eyes were wide, her dagger half-raised.
The tanks beside her were the same—immobile, locked in the last moment of defense.
His joking expression disappeared.
"So…" Seung-hoo said quietly, more to himself than to anyone else, "it petrifies physical fighters… copies magic… and heals unless I destroy that organ."
Byung-chul clenched his fists, his jaw tightening.
"That thing isn't just strong," he said. "It's cruel. It petrifice it's targets with no magic."
The barren forest trembled again.
A deep red glow began to gather inside the bird's throat, brighter than before. Heat rippled through the air, distorting the space in front of its beak.
Dry leaves curled and blackened on the ground.
Water near the lake's edge started to steam.
Hunters backed away instinctively.
"It's charging another one!"
"Get down!"
"Protect the petrified ones!"
Seung-hoo didn't move.
He stood there, staring straight at the glowing throat of the monster, his hand still tingling from where he had caught the fire spear earlier.
"…So it can copy spells," he muttered. "And it can turn anyone to stone if they dont have magic."
The bird lifted its head higher, wings spreading wide again, shadow swallowing the trees beneath it.
The sound of burning air grew louder.
Seung-hoo slowly rolled his shoulders, tightening his grip on the dagger.
Behind him, Byung-chul swallowed hard.
"This time… don't catch it with your hand."
Seung-hoo let out a small breath that almost sounded like a laugh.
"Yeah. I don't think my skin will forgive me twice."
The bird lifted its head again.
Flames gathered in its throat, brighter and angrier than before. The heat rolled across the lake in visible waves, turning the air thick and suffocating. This time, there was no confusion about its target.
Its burning eye fixed itself on Seung-hoo alone.
Hunters noticed immediately.
"…It's aiming only at him."
"Even for an S-rank… that's too much fire."
"Is he really going to take that head-on?"
They knew he was an S-rank now.
They had seen his card.
They had watched him tear through monsters earlier.
And yet—
What stood in front of them now felt beyond what an S-rank was supposed to be.
Seung-hoo stepped forward.
Not in a rush.
Not with bravado.
Just calmly, as if walking toward a door he had already opened once before.
The bird shrieked and released another Fire Spear.
The attack ripped through the air with a sound like tearing metal. Trees burst into flame behind it. The ground cracked from the heat.
Several hunters instinctively raised their shields.
"He's not dodging?!"
"No—wait—he is!"
At the last moment, Seung-hoo shifted his body half a step to the side.
The fire spear passed so close it singed the edge of his jacket. His hair fluttered from the force of it, but his eyes never left the bird.
He didn't run.
He didn't leap.
He simply… walked.
Another spear formed.
Then another.
The bird began firing them one after the other, faster now, wider now, each one more violent than the last. The forest turned into a storm of heat and flame.
To the A-rank hunters, it looked like suicide.
"Even an S-rank shouldn't be able to do that…"
"That's not dodging—that's predicting."
"Is he really human…?"
Seung-hoo weaved through the attacks with minimal movement.
A tilt of the shoulder.
A step forward.
A shift of his foot in the mud.
Every motion was efficient, like he already knew where the flames would go before they were released.
He passed through a wall of fire so narrowly that sparks danced across his boots.
His sleeve caught flame again. He slapped it out with annoyance.
"Tch… this bird really likes that spell."
The bird's breathing grew rough. Its wings beat unevenly now, water splashing wildly as it tried to keep distance.
Its next Fire Spear was enormous—thicker than a tree trunk, stretching across the air like a burning lance.
Hunters shouted.
"Seung-hoo, fall back!"
"Even you can't block that!"
"Move!"
But he didn't retreat.
He walked straight toward it.
The fire rushed at him.
For a split second, it swallowed his silhouette in orange light.
Gasps filled the forest.
Then—
He stepped out of the flames.
Smoke curled off his shoulders. His boots hissed where they met the wet ground. His breathing was steady, his gaze sharp.
The bird recoiled, letting out a confused, furious cry.
It had thrown everything at him.
And he was still coming.
The hunters stared, torn between awe and fear.
"So… he really is S-rank," one whispered.
"No… this is more than that," another said.
"How many limits does he even have…?"
Seung-hoo kept walking forward, eyes locked with the creature's glowing eye, his posture relaxed but deadly calm, while behind him, leaves from the barren forest burned.