Choi Kahng-Sik circled around the perimeter of the battlefield.
His trusty camera was mounted on his left shoulder, while his right hand held the giant aeroplane door. Even while lugging around these fairly heavy items, his steps were quick.
Kwaboom!!
Moooo!!
Flash!!
Mooo-eeeh?!
On the other side of the field, Buff-Palrogs and Espers were having a fierce showdown. The entire Gimpo Airport rocked from the chaotic explosions and angry roars.
Choi Kahng-Sik spoke to the camera as if people shouldn't worry.
"Dear viewers, please be at ease. Both MSes, Miss Kim Soh-Yun and Mister Hahn Joh-Seop, are the proud warriors of Korea who'd never give up, no matter what. They will do a fine job, without a doubt. So, instead of worrying about them, worry about me..... Ohh! Thank you very much for your generous donation!"
Choi Kahng-Sik wasn't planning to help out the MS duo even if they found themselves in a tight spot. Well, a Buff-Palrog enhanced with eight different buffs would be way too strong for him to handle, after all.
All the powers of one-star monsters rolled into one!
Increased physical strength, increased intelligence, increased physical resistance, increased cold resistance, increased flame resistance, increased lightning resistance, and even increased gravity resistance.....
And then, the most annoying of them all.....
'Increase in physical size....'
Suddenly, the whole world became enshrouded in darkness.
MOOOOOOOOHHH!!!
The roar so nonsensically loud, the ground trembled in shock from its echo.
A water buffalo-like creature, its fur glowing in the seven shades of the rainbow, blocked out the sky. Annnd, that wasn't the end, unfortunately.
*SFX for the monster growing even larger*
The dang thing kept on getting bigger and bigger, as the buffs sent by the other Buff-Palrogs stacked on top of each other.
Was this expansion solely due to the large size of the herd? Choi Kahng-Sik couldn't even dare to guess how much bigger the d*mn monster would get at this rate.
Even then, he still shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.
"Oh, well. They are experienced warriors, so they should be fine."
MOOOOOOOOO!!
*SFX for the ground shaking*
The ground shook around even harder.
"....Maybe, they do need a bit of help, after all?"
Choi Kahng-Sik rubbed his aching ears and hurried his steps.
[A certain god is watching on quite intently.]
'What? But, Why so suddenly?'
Choi Kahng-Sik couldn't help but snigger after hearing a word that didn't fit at all with these gods who were just too carefree.
But, he flinched a little, and hurriedly changed his expression.
Well, he was still on the air, you see.
"Hmm, hmm! I'm sure that many of you are wondering why I chose this huge door instead of some steel pipe or some such. However, this is one of the many small giveaway events I'm planning to do! I shall reward the first viewer to correctly guess the purpose of this shield. Yes, it'll be first come, first served!"
┖ So you can hit the monster with the edge of the door?
┖ You can tell that it's literally a shield. ㅡ.,ㅡ
┖ I know you'll change the answer because you don't wanna give out a prize! Heng!
┖ The right answer is hiding in plain sight! ㅇ.ㅇ+
Comments began flooding in. Although the chatroom window refreshed at a frightening speed, it was not a problem for Choi Kahng-Sik, who had been trained by the messages from the gods that kept inundating him throughout every single night.
'It's not like I've been doing nothing as an MS manager, you know!'
While running, he carefully checked each and every comment. Since he said the first correct guess would win, he couldn't afford to miss a single comment.
However, quite unexpectedly, he found the correct guess sooner than he thought.
"We've got our correct answer! Yes, it's for camouflage! The winner's ID is... Thumbelina. Congratulations! Thanks to its facial structure, a Buff-Palrog doesn't see all too well what's right in front of its face. Also, it suffers from a serious case of astigmatism. It's so severe, as long as I cover myself and approach from the front, the monster will mistakenly think I'm just a background object."
Choi Kahng-Sik hid behind the plane door. And then, boldly moved forward in this position!
When viewed from the front, one wouldn't pick up on any obvious movements that a human should make. He couldn't do anything about the door seemingly getting bigger in the perspective of the monster, but even then, all thanks to that severe case of astigmatism, it was unable to even realise that.
Also... these monsters were incredibly stupid, too.
"Moo."
A Buff-Palrog, having finished buffing up its kin fighting the humans at the front, began leisurely munching on the grass at the far back.
If it had detected a human approaching it, it would've never been this relaxed.
Understandably, viewers were utterly flabbergasted.
┖ It really can't see??!! =ㅅ=;;;
┖ XX Happens all the time in this broadcast, I guess? ㅋㅋㅋ
┖ You can shoot a documentary at this rate. :-)
Not many people knew of this weakness. Because the trusted monster encyclopedia only told people to snipe a Buff-Palrog from afar.
It only taught the least troublesome methods to deal with monsters.
Was that the reason for his slight confusion?
Choi Kahng-Sik's expression showed how surprised he was. He really didn't expect the correct answer to appear so soon.
'Thumbelina, eh... A princess syndrome sufferer?'
Whatever the case may have been, the viewer's ID was pretty memorable, to say the least.
"Congratulations. Once you send me your address and contact details via the DM, I will send you, Thumbelinnim, the prize of a Buff-Palrog's horn. Of course, that is if I don't die here today. Please forgive me on that one."
The one-star monster, Buff-Palrog.
Normally, it resembled a water buffalo with white fur. The size? About as big as the minivan used to ferry kindergarten children around.
If it didn't get buffed by its own kin, it was no different from a water buffalo with a big frame.
'Well, it does possess a high vitality, though.'
The Core of a Buff-Palrog was located in the middle of its forehead.
There was no way for Choi Kahng-Sik, who couldn't use any superpowers whatsoever, to destroy the Core from a distance.
That was why he had come in closer.
'My role's been reversed from my original plan, huh.'
The MS duo was doing their splendid best to act as bait instead of Choi Kahng-Sik over yonder.
┖ Thumbelina: I'm looking forward to it. *^^*
A direct message appeared on the chatroom window.
The address provided by the winner was located in the most secure place in the middle of Seoul, which was already seen as the safest city in South Korea.
'Yeoui island, is it?'
The up-scale suburb where the real estate price was astronomical.
'Well, that's not important.'
He stopped guessing what the viewer's personal details could mean. Really now, He was just glad that the provided address wasn't in the Jeju Island, or heaven forbid, in another country.
He just saved a ton of money on delivery costs.
"Next up is...."
After securing the winner's address and the contact details, Choi Kahng-Sik lowered his upper body and bent his knees in order to quickly gain momentum when the right time came.
'If one hit isn't enough, then two.'
He was now within the touching distance, almost, of the Buff-Palrog's head.
He couldn't help but suspect what was in that monster's big head that still failed to notice his existence even now. But, that wasn't something Choi Kahng-Sik should worry about.
"Munch, munch."
Soon enough, the Buff-Palrog lowered its head to graze.
*SFX for feet hitting the ground*
Figuring that the monster's head was within striking distance, the youth rushed forward like a bolt of lightning.
He lifted up high the aeroplane door that served him so well as camouflage.
┖ XX I was right!
┖ Camouflage, my a*s!! That's a blunt weapon! ㅋㅋ
┖ That's actually a shield. People used shields as a weapon back in the Middle Ages!
┖ MS is selling medicine. >0< (TL: Again, I don't get the reference here. TLed as is.)
The protesting comments of the viewers quickly filled up the display screen of the camera, now unceremoniously left behind the thicket without a prior notice.
Of course, Choi Kahng-Sik wasn't going to stop just because of them, though!
Slam!
He slammed the edge of the aeroplane door on the forehead of the Buff-Palrog. The impact was transmitted directly to its Core, the organ far more important than its brain or its heart.
"Moooo?!"
The relaxedly-grazing bovine monster emitted a squeal of surprise.
"I knew it!!"
He knew that one blow wouldn't be enough.
Choi Kahng-Sik didn't give the monster a chance to respond. Since he didn't expect the first blow to do the job, he was already getting ready to attack for the second time.
*SFX for bones breaking*
And with the second blow, the monster's cranium, which was already in danger of breaking, caved in noticeably.
"Mooooohhh....!"
The Buff-Palrog shook its head from side to side to shove aside the human, raising its head up high and roaring out.
Plop.
And that was the monster's last hurrah.
Its Core damaged beyond repair, the one-star monster fell to the ground.
"Mooo....."
After shooting a glare at the human attacking it, the monster's large eyes soon lost all signs of life and dimmed.
And it stopped moving.
'T-that was too close!'
Choi Kahng-Sik kept his pounding chest down.
If he couldn't finish the monster by the second blow, then it'd be him lying on the ground dead, instead.
In any case, he did it.
He immediately focused on managing his facial expression.
"...Ahaha! Once more, things worked out as I planned. You can compare the layer of protection surrounding a monster's Core to a sandbag. A gun is more threatening and deadly compared to a shovel, for instance. However, a bullet will have a hard time trying to penetrate past all that sand. This is basically the same story."
The advanced weapons of humanity proved to be useless against the layers of protection around the monsters' Cores.
One of two known exceptions to this rule was to attack directly.
And the other one was superpowers that seemed to possess a similar sort of 'nature' as those layers of protection, thus being able to damage the monsters. Scientists were still trying to figure out what was going on there.
Well, it'd be better for your mental health to think of all these as a part of supernatural shenanigans. Probably.
'This... This ain't gonna work.'
From Choi Kahng-Sik's perspective, the situation looked quite grim.
It'd take literally forever if he were to hunt each monster in this fashion. There was no way Kim Soh-Yun and Hahn Joh-Seop would hold out until he was done.
What if they retreated outta here?
Then, the herd of Buff-Palrogs would zero in on him, and he'd be a very dead MS!
Killing a single one-star monster couldn't even begin to scratch the most important itch. What he did was nothing more than getting rid of a single buff out of the dozens upon dozens stacked atop one another.
This wasn't the answer.
[A certain god is warming up the sweet potatoes.]
[A certain impatient god is feeling very frustrated.]
'What the?! Hey, it's me who's really frustrated, you know?'
Well, it was beyond obvious what would happen if he broadcasted himself running away while abandoning those two Monster Streamers behind.
Right now, he couldn't see a way out of this mess.
He might possess all the knowledge, but this was all meaningless if there was no way for him to carry them out. He definitely needed something to fight against the monsters.
"I, I need a way...something, anything....."
[A certain god makes a grave decision.]
[You've received a donation.]
"Mm?"
Choi Kahng-Sik was in the midst of searching for a better weapon than his aeroplane door before his movements came to a halt. His eyes narrowed to a slit.
'Did you just say a 'donation'?'
He rubbed his eyes several times and looked again, but the contents of the message remained the same.
"Just what did I ge....."
It was then, he spotted something reflecting light from within the dead Buff-Palrog's mouth.
And the eyes of Choi Kahng-Sik began gleaming as well.
< Chapter 11: A Star (3) > Fin.