DPGR 151

The monster may have been slow, but there was no way to stop it from moving where it wanted.

Just what in the world was its body made of?

Boom! Bang!

Even after countless espers unleashed attacks on it, not a single scratch appeared on its body.

“Do everything you can to slow it down! We need to buy time!”

Dojin led the espers in focusing all their efforts on impeding the monster’s movement. It was the best they could do for now.

The other espers gritted their teeth and continued their attacks. They knew this kind of attrition would only put them at a disadvantage, but they had no choice.

Whoosh

Dojin used telekinesis to lift his body into the air and flew toward the monster.

Its appearance and movement resembled a stone golem, so he had no choice but to rely on what he knew of hunting them.

‘Start with the joints…!’

Stone golems, made entirely of rock, had only a few weak points: the joints, the eyes, and the inside of the mouth. For now, disrupting the monster’s movement and buying time was the top priority, so he aimed for one of its knee joints.

He waited for it to pull its foot back to take a step and struck in the moment the joint opened.

Boom!

But even then, he couldn’t get the spear in.

Unlike a stone golem’s soft joints, the monster’s were just as solid as the rest of its body. The spear couldn’t pierce through.

Even so, Dojin didn’t give up. He tried several more times, this time wrapping the spearhead in flames before slamming it down.

Boom! Bang! Crack–crunch

Fortunately, after repeated attempts, the thick icy outer shell that formed the joint finally broke. The tip of Dojin’s spear slipped into the cracked opening.

‘Got it.’

If he couldn’t destroy the joint completely with his spear, he had to try something else.

Twisting the spear, Dojin poured a flood of his energy into the joint. Then he yanked the spear free and shouted down to the espers fighting below.

“Back off! Get some distance!”

He also flew backward to get clear. A moment later, a loud explosion erupted from within the monster’s knee.

Red flames lashed out like tongues, engulfing one of its knees and swelling larger.

Grooooo

This time, the attack seemed to land. The monster let out a strange cry and stumbled before crashing to the side.

“Get out of the way! It’s falling!”

“This is it! Everyone, attack now!”

The espers didn’t miss their chance and charged in, unleashing a barrage of attacks. Dojin followed suit.

But just then, the growling monster curled in on itself.

‘Damn it…’

Its back, shaped like a mountain, deflected all incoming attacks.

Should he try another explosion?

‘Even if I do, would it really break that mountain-like shell?’

He hesitated for a moment.

Crunch–pop–crack

Then, a strange sound came from the curled-up monster. Only Dojin, floating close in the air, could hear it.

He looked closely. Its shell was twitching erratically.

‘No way…!’

Dojin’s face went pale. Before he could react, the monster rose up and let out a hideous roar.

Grooooo

Black-red fluid dripped from its gaping jaws, along with half-digested monster corpses that spilled to the ground.

It had eaten the monsters crushed beneath it while hiding from their attacks.

Ice-like horns sprouted from what had been its shattered jaw and broken knee, healing those injuries.

Rumble

The moment it stood, the monster inhaled deeply, as if it had been waiting.

A black-red energy began gathering in its mouth.

“……!”

Cold sweat ran down Dojin’s back. His mind went blank as instinct flared in alarm.

The monster was now aiming directly for the safe zone.

Several guides and support- and defense-type espers were still in the safe zone. While the attackers held the monster back, they had tried to evacuate, only to be blocked in by surrounding monsters.

‘No…’

Dojin’s face went ghostly pale. His jaw clenched tight.

‘No…!’

Among the people back there, Jiho was one of them.

His body moved on instinct. Leaping with all his strength, Dojin soared high, reaching the monster’s mouth.

Time seemed to slow down. He hurled a massive flame directly into the heart of the gathering energy.

At the same time, the energy surged into its throat and detonated with the fire.

A blast even more powerful than before erupted, blowing off the monster’s jaw.

Unlike last time, when only part of it was destroyed, the entire lower jaw was now gone, exposing the insides of its mouth completely.

Grooo–guhh–!

The monster roared, panting hard.

–How dare… how dare a mere human…!

Its gaze locked onto Dojin again. It swung its arm at him.

But even that motion looked slow to Dojin’s eyes.

Whoosh

He easily dodged the attack and launched another assault.

Boom! Bang! Boom!

Explosion after explosion rocked the monster’s body.

“What the hell?”

“It’s… going better than I thought?”

The expressions of the attacking espers brightened. Dojin’s efforts had lifted their spirits.

“Yaaaaa!”

“Attack!”

They quickly cleaned up the surrounding monsters and joined the fight.

A sliver of hope bloomed in their hearts, that with this momentum, they could take the monster down alongside Dojin.

But while the espers were filled with hope, Dojin wasn’t doing as well as he appeared.

Boom! Bang!

“Huff, huff…!”

To actually damage the monster, he had to use several times more energy than normal. His strength was draining fast.

‘Damn it…!’

Dodging attacks, aiming for its joints, eyes, and mouth, all of it consumed energy at a terrifying rate.

He could feel his guiding energy running low.

‘I’ve drawn its attention again, so I’ll lead it away as far as possible.’

While maintaining his attacks, Dojin racked his brain for another strategy.

But nothing came to mind.

When he had blown up its mouth earlier, he thought he’d seen a magic stone gleaming deep in its throat, but he wasn’t certain.

Even if it was the monster’s core, there was still a problem.

‘It’s in a bad spot. Way too deep.’

The stone had been lodged near what would be the esophagus in a human.

He should’ve attacked when its jaw shattered, but the monster hadn’t given him another chance.

Now, he tried to approach its face when possible, but it either turned its head or batted him away with its arms.

‘Judging by its reaction, it probably was the magic stone I saw.’

Just as Dojin avoided one of the monster’s arms and moved in again.

“Ugh…”

A wave of dizziness hit him. His lack of guiding energy was finally taking a toll on his body.

The monster didn’t miss the opening and slammed him aside.

Crash!

“Guh…!”

He raised both arms just in time, but he couldn’t withstand the impact. Dojin’s body plummeted rapidly.

Grooooo!

The monster roared and began stomping humans underfoot and scooping up monsters into its mouth.

They’d assumed it couldn’t eat more with its jaw gone, but that had been a mistake.

Gulp

It didn’t need to chew. It just swallowed everything whole.

Soon, a new jaw began growing from the broken one. Unlike before, it resembled solid ice.

“E-Esper Baek Dojin!”

Dojin watched the entire sequence through fading vision.

If only he’d landed on soft snow. But of course, he crashed into a field of jagged rocks.

“Cough… ugh…”

His body was a wreck.

The arms that had blocked the monster’s strike were completely shattered. Blood streamed from a wound on the left side of his head where he’d hit the rocks.

His left shoulder was wrecked, and his breathing was labored, likely from a broken rib pressing on his lung.

If he’d had enough guiding energy, he could’ve recovered. But he was already running on empty.

It wasn’t that healing was impossible, just that it would be painfully slow.

“Ugh…”

Of course.

Dojin tried to lift himself, only to collapse again under excruciating pain. His vision blurred as he lay sprawled across the rocks.

‘I can’t…’

He knew losing consciousness here would be fatal. But he couldn’t fight the pull.

He sank helplessly into the depths of unconsciousness.

“…Esper! Baek Do…!”

An esper whose name he didn’t catch arrived and called out to him.

But Dojin had already lost consciousness.