Yu Je-hyun possessed the ability to manipulate any kind of metal at will.
In a world where metal was everywhere, his power offered endless possibilities. However, the effectiveness of his attacks still depended on the metal’s durability and weight. For that reason, he usually wore rings made of special alloy on both his forearms and ankles.
Today was supposed to be his day off, so there was no real need to wear them—but just in case, he had put them on anyway.
From beneath his clothes, the metal slithered out like a serpent and gathered midair, merging into the shape of a massive sword. Both the blade and the hilt were forged from a single, solid piece of metal.
Without hesitation, Yu Je-hyun gripped the hilt and swung the sword down onto the monster’s skull.
The speed was beyond what any normal human could possibly track. The monster appeared to be cleaved in half. But the lack of resistance told him everything—he had only sliced through an afterimage.
“So, you’re fast. That it?”
In reality, the monster had already slipped behind him and was now looming there, jaws spread wide.
The moment Yu Je-hyun turned to face it, a searing white beam shot from the creature’s open mouth.
There was no time to dodge. He had no choice but to raise his sword and use it as a shield.
Fortunately, the blade’s sheer size was enough to cover a large portion of his head and torso.
BOOM—!
“Guh…!”
The beam struck the sword dead-on with a thunderous blast. He could have stepped back to absorb some of the impact—but Yu Je-hyun stood his ground.
The monster had moved too close to Lee Haru.
Lee Haru remained hidden beneath the table where Yu Je-hyun had stashed him earlier, staring blankly and blinking slowly.
It seemed like he might be under the influence of some kind of mental-type magic, though it was hard to say for sure. His body was not frozen like the others.
The occasional twitch of his upper body showed that he could still move. But the way he stared ahead—like someone dreaming with their eyes wide open—was unnatural.
Yu Je-hyun clenched his jaw. The monster’s gaze locked squarely on Lee Haru’s face.
The moment a trace of a smirk flickered across its eyes, Yu Je-hyun shouted.
“Lee Haru! Snap out of it!”
Even then, Lee Haru continued to blink without focus.
The beam had already begun to melt part of the blade.
Thinking fast, Yu Je-hyun broke the sword in two and hurled a portion toward Lee Haru.
The blade-shaped metal rapidly unfolded, spreading thin and wide until it transformed into a dome large enough to shield Lee Haru’s body.
ROAAAAR!
As if infuriated by the interference, the monster let out a furious bellow and lunged, jaws open as though to devour the dome whole. Its fangs gleamed sharply in the ambient light.
Yu Je-hyun believed the metal, reinforced by the power of an S-Class Esper, would be strong enough to withstand the attack.
But the moment the beast’s teeth made contact, the metal crumpled with alarming ease.
At this rate, either its fangs would tear through to Lee Haru, or the crushing force of the collapsing dome would turn him into a mangled pulp.
“Fucking hell. What a pain in the ass.”
Just imagining Lee Haru getting torn apart stirred a sickening fury in his gut.
In an instant, the sword in Yu Je-hyun’s hand morphed into a long, metallic whip. The whip arched and coiled fluidly, wrapping around the monster’s head just as it gnawed at the metal dome.
“Grrrrr…”
Against its will, the monster was pulled back, dragged away from the crushed dome by sheer force.
In the meantime, Yu Je-hyun restored the protective dome, pouring in a torrent of mana to fortify it even more.
“Weren’t you looking for a strong opponent? Then why the hell are you going after someone powerless?”
Was it possible the monster responded not just to Esper mana—but to Guide mana as well? If so, that made it even more dangerous. An S-Class monster that prioritized targeting Guides? If Espers around the world found out, they would stop at nothing to wipe out its entire species.
S-Class Dungeons were rare to begin with. Perhaps intentionally so, to match the scarcity of S-Class Espers.
Globally speaking, a country might see one open once a year, if that.
Yu Je-hyun had never encountered a monster like this before.
Most nations shared information about monsters from S-Class Dungeons, since a dungeon break at that level could mean the collapse of an entire country.
In South Korea, S-Class Espers were gathered quarterly for briefings on monsters that had appeared overseas.
Yu Je-hyun had been the kind of student who slept through those sessions or spent them goofing off—but even so, he had memorized at least the names and appearances of major threats.
“What the hell are you?”
ROAAAAR—!
He reeled the monster in with the whip and locked eyes with it.
Those vivid red pupils—just staring into them made his skin crawl.
As if furious at being interrupted, the beast’s eyes glimmered with bloodthirsty rage.
Was this its first appearance in Korea? Or had it already shown up somewhere else and been covered up?
Some countries definitely kept their data under wraps.
But of all the S-Class monsters Yu Je-hyun had fought, this one ranked near the top in terms of intelligence.
And now…
“Guh…!”
The creature’s snake-like tail snapped out and coiled tightly around Yu Je-hyun’s wrist.
It spiraled upward along his arm—and then shot straight for his face.
Raw power was one thing—but the real threat lay in the monster’s erratic, hard-to-predict attack patterns. Its serpent-like tail elongated unnaturally, mimicking the fluid reach of Yu Je-hyun’s own metal whip.
“Kiiiiik—!”
Venom dripped thickly from beneath its fangs, splattering onto his clothes. Wherever it landed, fabric sizzled and burned away in seconds.
He had not been wearing specialized combat gear, so his shirt dissolved instantly—gone before he could even react.
And it did not stop there. The venom was potent enough to eat away at the skin of an S-Class Esper, something most weapons could not even scratch.
“Shit, that stings.”
Yu Je-hyun winced as the searing pain gnawed into his flesh. It had been a long time since pain felt this sharp—so vivid it jolted his senses awake.
And now it was time to return the pain in kind.
His left arm was still entangled in the snake’s grip, so he reached out with his right and clutched the creature’s throat. He squeezed, putting enough pressure behind his grip to crush bone. The serpent’s eyes began to bulge, unable to withstand the force.
“KRAAAHH!”
The lion’s head roared in agony, proving the two creatures were one and the same. Yu Je-hyun smirked, eyeing its twisted, snarling face.
“What? You fucked up my arm. Seems fair you lose a tail.”
Black veins spread out grotesquely from where the venom had touched, creeping through his skin like cracks in glass. A wave of dizziness hit him, and his heartbeat spiked.
The monster’s poison was effective—even against an S-Class Esper like him. Eventually, his body would flush it out, but during a live fight, the effects were a serious hindrance.
He could already feel his arm growing sluggish, less responsive by the second.
Still, there was not a trace of panic on his face. If anything, the grin pulling at his lips made him look positively thrilled—like a kid unwrapping an unexpected birthday gift.
Yes, the situation was dangerous. But he had managed to separate the monster from Lee Haru. That gave him room to breathe—finally.
And now that he could enjoy the fight for what it was, he realized he had a proper opponent on his hands. A-rank Dungeons were more like annoying chores than real battles—he could get through them without breaking a sweat.
But this? This was different. One wrong move against an S-Class monster could mean serious injury or worse. The high-stakes tension kept his adrenaline burning.
With a sharp crack, the serpent tail tore free from the monster’s body.
Yu Je-hyun tossed the limp, twitching snake aside and reformed his whip into a long spear.
“How about putting up more of a fight? If that was your best, I’m seriously disappointed.”
He would come to regret those words almost immediately.
“Hey! Come on! You’ve got to be kidding me—that’s just fucking dirty!”
Apparently realizing its life was truly in danger after losing its tail, the monster began pulling every underhanded trick it could.
It seized control of the frozen civilians still under its influence and started using them as human shields.
Lee Haru remained safe, hidden beneath the protective metal dome Yu Je-hyun had crafted—but the others were fully exposed.
A glint flashed in the monster’s eyes, and in the next instant, people began floating into the air—one by one—launched at Yu Je-hyun like living cannonballs.
“I’ll take this bastard down in no time. Just close your eyes and hang on.”
As he caught his fifth airborne civilian and gently lowered them to the ground, Yu Je-hyun tried to reassure the terrified person.
Their lips were sealed shut, body rigid with fear, but they blinked rapidly in response. The kid looked barely out of their teens, pale as a ghost.
This has to end. Now. Someone is going to get seriously hurt if this keeps up.
He ground his teeth as the situation grew more dire. From the shaft of his metal spear, he crafted a set of fine, interlinking rings.
Before the monster could seize another victim, he used the rings to tether the civilians in place, holding them down with precision.
Now, all he had left was a single sliver of metal—just enough to wrap around one clenched fist.
