The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low

Chapter 212

As the enormous mouth snapped shut, a sticky sound echoed, and bright red blood splattered at Uijae's feet. *Crunch, crunch…* The deafening noise of bones being ground into pieces followed. Gradually, the white dust began to settle.

The white creature that had fallen from the sky looked like a massive snake—or perhaps a sea cucumber. Its long body, disproportionate to its short, wriggling limbs, squirmed like a lamppost come to life. Its head tilted toward the sky as if swallowing one final piece, while its bluish eyes scanned its surroundings. Even under the gaze of a skilled tracker, there was nothing remarkable about it. In fact…

'It has an oddly weak presence.'

Uijae glanced down at the cowering Gyu-Gyu.

"Hey, do you know what that thing is? I’ve never seen anything like it."

"......"

"...Gyu-Gyu?"

"Cluck?"

The small beady eyes blinked. Its sleek head tilted to the side. It was just Gyu-Gyu! Uijae felt like he could go crazy. He crouched down and grabbed Gyu-Gyu, shaking it vigorously.

"Hey! Hey, you little brat! Where did you suddenly disappear to?"

"Cluck?"

"Hah, you said you'd keep an eye on things, but you always run off when it matters most!"

But Gyu-Gyu just stared back innocently, blinking its eyes. While Hong Yeseong might be at fault, Gyu-Gyu certainly wasn’t. In the end, Uijae placed Gyu-Gyu back on his head and tightened his grip on his spear, glaring at the monster.

Charging at a monster you've never encountered before is pure madness. It might reflect attacks or explode upon death, which could be a nightmare to handle. Worse, the situation now was far from ideal—there were civilians everywhere, and evacuating them wasn’t an option.

"......"

He needed to minimize civilian casualties.

Uijae picked up a fist-sized chunk of concrete from the ground and threw it in the direction where there were no people. *Thud!* The chunk hit the wall and rolled to a stop. A moment later, the creature slowly turned its head toward the noise. Blood dripped from its crooked mouth as it tilted its head. There were no visible eyes.

'It's slow. No eyes. It reacts to sound, at least.'

The monster quickly lost interest in the concrete. Its large throat bobbed once. And then…

“…It’s growing?”

It grew slightly larger. The blood-soaked tongue licked the edges of its mouth. If it gained size every time it consumed a human, this was going to be a real problem. There was no telling how big it could get.

The creature sniffed the air as it began to crawl again. *Screech, screech*—a trail of blood was left in its wake. The massive mouth opened wide toward the Prometheus members. At that moment, Uijae launched himself forward.

'It’s instinctively moving toward the largest group of people.'

Just before the enormous teeth could snap up the humans—

*Bam!* *Thud!*

Uijae’s foot slammed into the monster’s mouth. The sound of shattering teeth echoed clearly as the broken pieces bounced off his boot. Uijae spun backward after stomping on the monster and landed lightly. Gyu-Gyu, who had flapped away, returned to settle back on Uijae’s head. The monster collapsed to the side, its stubby limbs flailing in agony.

A high-pitched screech echoed across the street. Uijae brushed the blood off his pants. After a long bout of shrieking, the creature wriggled and began crawling again, heading straight toward its original target. Uijae readied his spear.

'It doesn't attack the one who hurt it… it just keeps chasing its original target.'

It would have been better if the monster had shown hostility toward Uijae. That way, he could have lured it away to a place with no people. But instead of retaliating, it simply kept moving toward its prey. It seemed as though its very instinct was to devour as many humans as possible.

Suddenly, a thought struck him.

This isn’t the end.

'What?'

There will be more. Many more of them.

"......"

Uijae didn’t hesitate.

*Thunk—*

The massive spear pierced through the serpent-like monster’s mouth, skewering it from head to tail. Bright red blood splattered everywhere. At the same time—

“…Huff, huff.”

A small gasp escaped.

“Ahhhh! AHHHHHH!”

A person screamed and collapsed, scrambling backward. It was one of the humans who had come face-to-face with the monster. His white coat was drenched in so much blood that its original color was unrecognizable. He was likely a member of Prometheus. It seemed people were starting to wake up, as screams began to erupt from various directions. Uijae yanked out his spear. *Squelch*—blood splattered everywhere. Both the spear and his hand were soaked in red.

Uijae could feel the eyes of the people on him. Somewhere, he could hear quiet sobbing. Was there anyone to help evacuate the civilians? Uijae lifted his head. Somewhere in the distance, more cries could be heard. There was no time to hesitate!

He gestured urgently to the crowd.

“You all know the designated shelter locations, right? Head to the shelters now, hurry!”

“Cluckkkkk!”

Gyu-Gyu squawked loudly, then bolted in the direction of the shelters. Slowly, the dazed civilians began to run after him. Uijae jumped down from the monster’s body and grabbed the collar of a man in a red coat who was crawling on all fours. The man let out a terrified squeal. Uijae yanked him up by the collar and bent down.

“Hey.”

The man choked and nodded frantically.

“P-Please, spare me! Spare me! I don’t want to die! Please!”

“I’m not going to kill you. Just answer my questions, quickly.”

“Ask me anything, anything at all, just please spare my life! I want to live! Don’t take me, please! Let me go back to my family, I beg you!”

The man’s body shook violently as he clasped his hands together in prayer. Blood-streaked tears ran down his face. He couldn’t even bring himself to look directly at Uijae. His gaze kept drifting toward the air, avoiding Uijae’s masked face. Uijae frowned.

'Let me go back to my family?'

It sounded like something a kidnapped person would say. Uijae loosened his grip on the man's coat slightly.

“Are you originally with Prometheus?”

“Pr-Prome… huh? No, no! I’m not! I’m not, I swear!”

“Then what? Were you kidnapped?”

“Huh? I… I don’t know, I don’t know! Who am I? I… I, I, I…”

The man's eyes glazed over. His lips trembled uncontrollably. Damn it. Had they brainwashed him? Uijae grabbed the man by the throat. He let out a strangled cry as Uijae pulled him closer.

“You said you have a family. Think about your family!”

“F-Family…”

A strand of saliva dripped from the man’s mouth. His eyes were already unfocused. The fear that had once gripped him seemed to have disappeared entirely. Damn it. Uijae shook the man violently.

“Just answer me this: Did you know this would happen when you pulled this stunt?”

“A-Ahh…”

Uijae brought his face closer, shouting into the man’s ear.

“Did you know this would bring about the apocalypse, you bastard?!”

“…A-Apocalypse? Apocalypse? …Has the apocalypse arrived? Is it here?”

The moment the man heard the word "apocalypse," his eyes rolled back in his head before snapping back into place. His gaze now gleamed with a deranged light. He reached out with bloody fingers, grasping desperately at Uijae's hand. He didn’t seem to care about the blood on his hands as he grinned maniacally.

“The apocalypse, it’s here, isn’t it? The apocalypse is finally here?”

He no longer looked like the man who had been begging for his life moments ago. A chill ran down Uijae’s spine. The man clawed at Uijae's hand, trying to dig his nails in, but couldn’t leave a scratch. Instead, his own nails started to bend and break, but he didn’t even seem to feel the pain. He muttered ecstatically.

“Yes, yes… the Seer said… when the apocalypse comes, we’ll be rewarded… we’ll all be… blessed…”

“……”

“It’s here. It’s finally here. We did it. We succeeded…”

The man’s body trembled. He was laughing.

“Kuh, kuh, kuh, hahaha! Hahaha….”

The man laughed, rocking back and forth. But even his laughter didn’t last long. His head suddenly snapped up, and he glared at Uijae. His bloodshot eyes fixed on Uijae’s black mask.

“You!”

“……”

“You’re the one who fled from the apocalypse! The enemy of the world!”

*Snap!* The sound of nails breaking echoed in the air. And then,

*Thud.*

The hand that had been clutching at Uijae fell limply to the ground. The man had been scratching and clawing desperately, but hadn’t left a single mark. His head twisted at an unnatural angle as he slumped in Uijae’s grip. Uijae let go of the man's collar. *Thud*, the man collapsed onto the ground.

"......"

There was no life left in his eyes.

Uijae quietly looked down at the man. He tore off a clean, dry piece of the man's blood-stained coat, shook off the dust, and carefully draped it over the man’s face. The half-closed eyes disappeared beneath the white fabric.

"......"

Uijae straightened up and gazed toward the sky. All around him, white things were falling from the White Hole. *Thud, thud, thud...* The heavy sound of more creatures landing echoed in the distance.

He needed to move.

But his feet felt heavy, stuck in place.

And then—

"......"

*Bzzz*, his phone vibrated. Uijae wearily pulled it out and checked the screen.

**[Where are you?]**

It was a message from Sayoung.