Chapter 86

Hunter Board.

The largest online community in the country where most Hunters shared various kinds of information.

One day, a live broadcast suddenly popped up there.

“Passionate Reporter Han Live!”

“A battle between Skeletons that somehow don’t look like Skeletons.”

“It’s live! You’ll regret it if you miss it!”

“Viewers: 124”

Since only officially licensed reporters approved by the Korean Hunter Association could post on the broadcast board, it wasn’t hard for him to get exposure near the top at first.

On the top-left corner of the broadcast screen.

A red dot, marking it as “LIVE,” was blinking.

“Huff! Huff! Hello!”

A reporter with his face covered in dirt pointed the camera at himself.

“This is HBS’s very own Passionate Reporter Han, working tirelessly even on weekends for your right to know! Haa, haa!”

The prefix “Passionate” attached to Reporter Han’s name was the keyword he’d been pushing lately.

Rather than editing delayed information into articles and uploading them, he preferred to film and stream it himself on-site.

└ Oh, what’s up on a weekend?
└ Yoo~ Reporter Han! Got another scoop today?
└ Why are you so out of breath though? What’s with all that dust on your face?

These days, reporters’ live streams worked like that—communicating directly with viewers.

Especially since Reporter Han was quite well-known, viewers started flooding in as soon as he went live.

“Hehe, hurry and join! You’re really in for a treat today. I’m literally risking my life right now. You hear that rumbling sound?”

Rumble…

Boom! Boom!

Explosions roared like dynamite going off.

Even the camera shook occasionally.

└ Holy crap, is there a war?
└ Look at the title—‘Skeletons that don’t look like Skeletons’? What’s that supposed to mean?
└ Stop teasing and just show it already! I’m dying of curiosity!
└ It’s not another Ranker fight, is it?
└ Kim~ Soo Han Moo~ Turtle and Crane~ Samcheon Gapja Dongbangsak~

Some reacted to his tense tone, others filled the chat with nonsense.

But Reporter Han silently waited.

You had to time it perfectly to maximize the impact of a good scene.

“Viewers: 532”

…

“Viewers: 1,052”

…

“Viewers: 1,335”

The view count easily surpassed a thousand.

It showed just how active the Hunter Board community was!

Reporter Han swallowed hard.

‘Sometimes I forget whether I’m a reporter or a streamer…’

Well, what could he do?

Even journalists had to evolve with the times.

‘Besides.’

Those two—fighting furiously in the clearing ahead.

How could he possibly watch such a spectacular battle alone?

That’s why he loved this job.

Because he could gift these rare, high-definition moments to viewers watching from home.

“Alright, I’ll show you now. Honestly, I’m kind of scared myself. If I die filming this, you’ll at least visit my funeral, right?”

└ Huh?
└ Is it that bad?
└ Haha, just show us! We’ll judge for ourselves.
└ If it’s nothing, I’m never watching HBS again.
└ Hehe, Reporter Han. You’re always working so hard~ We really appreciate the good info.

Glancing at the rapidly moving chat window, Reporter Han adjusted his stance.

Thankfully, the clearing was on low ground, giving him the perfect shooting angle from the ridge.

Thunk! Thunk!

He drove the tripod deep into the soil and turned the camera.

“Alright, take a look, everyone!”

Then—

The cause of the deafening explosions appeared clearly on screen.

Whoosh! Whoom!

A Skeleton wielding a spear that gleamed like sunlight, thrusting endlessly.

And—

Swish! Swish!

A Skeleton archer dodging every attack while returning arrows in between.

Boom! Boom!

Everywhere they passed turned into complete ruin.

Massive trees were shredded into splinters, and boulders crumbled to sand from the sheer power.

“Everyone… do those look like Skeletons to you?”

└ ???
└ What the hell?
└ What am I looking at?
└ ??

The chat instantly filled with question marks.

The power was one thing—but the fact that both were Skeletons shocked everyone.

What kind of monster was a Skeleton?

They were the lowest of the low among E-rank monsters.

└ Is that CGI? No way real Skeletons fight like that. Each one’s like an A or S-rank Hunter!
└ That can’t be real.
└ The Skeletons my Necromancer friend summons are total weaklings though.
└ Damn, if this is real, Reporter Han’s life might actually be in danger.
└ I’m getting chills just watching this.

Each time the spear flashed with sunlight, the ground exploded with blinding bursts.

Each arrow, glowing with moonlight, hit like a carpet bomb, tearing through the air.

“I didn’t believe it myself. I never expected to find a fight like this out here in the mountains…”

Even as he spoke, Reporter Han kept shifting the camera restlessly.

The Skeletons were moving so fast he could easily miss a key moment.

“Huff, huff! Reporter Han! I told you we should’ve come together… What are you—!”

The reporter trailing behind him, Kim, panted heavily but soon fell silent.

He too was frozen by what he saw.

Trembling, the timid man crouched low and stared at Reporter Han.

“Th-That’s insane. What even is that?”

“Shh. Quiet. I’m live.”

“Crazy bastard…”

Ignoring Kim, Reporter Han glanced at the viewer count.

“Viewers: 24,377”

‘Jackpot.’

This was beyond huge.

The kind of scoop that could earn him not just a bonus, but a paid vacation at HBS.

As the viewer count climbed, so did the energy in the chat.

└ Wow, they don’t even move like Skeletons. Look at that! It’s like they have muscles or something.
└ No, seriously, what is that? How’s it firing arrows without even pulling the string?
└ It’s moving faster than your eyes can track. Slow it down later and you’ll see.
└ That’s possible? That’s insane.

Viewers analyzed every move in awe.

└ Hey, I’m an A-rank spearman. That Skeleton’s a total freak.
└ Why?
└ His technique is insane.
└ Technique?
└ Normally, a spear’s too long—so you only stab or thrust. Your footwork gets tangled otherwise. But look—he’s switching flawlessly between two-hand, overhand, and underhand grips. He’s blocking arrows mid-step. That’s absurd.
└ I don’t get it, can you explain simply?
└ Basically, S-rank level. Maybe even like the Spear King himself.
└ Dude, come on. The Spear King’s top ten in the world! You’re the crazy one, not the Skeleton.
└ I’m serious… He’s not as strong as the Spear King, sure, but his understanding of the spear? That’s the same level.

The chat overflowed with praise for the technique.

There was a reason people were going wild.

Fights like this were rare.

Most Rankers avoided having their battle footage exposed, and since they already had influence and money, they rarely fought each other.

The previous Berserker terror incident had drawn huge attention for the same reason.

“Everyone, the fight’s one thing—but look over there!”

Reporter Han suddenly shifted the camera.

There sat a woman munching popcorn and drinking cola, beside a man watching the battle with a serious expression.

└ ???
└ What?
└ She’s eating popcorn there? What kind of steel nerves are those?

Especially—

Crunch, crunch.

Why did the woman calmly chewing popcorn—Kim Jina—look so oddly eerie?

└ Huh?

With so many viewers, it was inevitable that someone recognized them.

└ I know him!
└ ???
└ Who?
└ That person… yeah! From that “GoTo Mall’s Unique Workshop” episode! Dmir Workshop, right?
└ Oh? You’re right! The one who builds equipments and weapons with Skeletons?
└ Damn, he’s the one who made that recent S-rank weapon!
└ Wait, wasn’t he a production type?

The chat exploded.

No one had realized that the summoner from Dmir Workshop—known as a producer—had Skeletons this strong.

“Ah…”

Reporter Han’s jaw dropped.

He’d heard of them before, but with the chaos, it hadn’t clicked.

“Hey, Reporter Han.”

Kim spoke up beside him.

“Yeah?”

“The fight’s… almost over.”

“What?”

Reporter Han turned the camera back toward the battle.

Long-range couldn’t win against close-range forever.

Both were battered to the bone—literally—but there was no such thing as a draw.

Thunk!

“It was a good fight, Eldrin.”

With a deep voice, the Sun Spear thrust through Eldrin’s neck.

“……”

With a faint look of regret, Eldrin dropped his bow. (T/N: As expected. But noooooooo, my Eldrin!)

The loser had no words.

Clatter! Bones scattered across the ground.

A razor-thin victory for the spear.

└ Damn.
└ That felt like a whole movie packed into minutes.
└ Already clipped it.
└ Holy crap, both were insane.
└ Never seen anyone use a bow like that. Or a spear like that.
└ I’m a fan now. That’s gotta be a Necromancer, right? Must be S-rank. Does he have a title?

The chat went wild.

Praise flooded in nonstop, scrolling too fast to read.

While Reporter Han basked in pride at the spectacle—

“Hey.”

A man’s voice suddenly struck his ear.

Someone had appeared behind him without a sound.

“…?”

Confused, he turned his head slightly.

Kim was already frozen stiff.

Completely rigid, sweating bullets, as if he’d just seen a ghost.

‘Wh-What is it?’

Reporter Han’s heart dropped.

A chill ran down his spine.

Filming high-ranker battles without permission was strictly taboo.

If you were unlucky, you could vanish without a trace—that was the Hunter world.

And yet, he hadn’t just filmed.

He’d broadcast it live.

‘I just wanted to film a fight between Skeletons…’

Ah.

Maybe he should’ve stopped once Dmir Workshop’s master appeared.

Yeah, he admitted it.

He couldn’t bring himself to stop the stream—too blinded by the thirst for views.

“Haha, to think someone still dares to film without permission.”

“S-Sorry…”

Reporter Han quickly stood up and turned around to apologize.

But then, he froze like Kim.

“Wha—”

A man covered in solid muscle from head to toe.

The kind of lunatic who’d destroy people, companies, or Rankers alike if they annoyed him.

“Berserker…?”

The man standing behind them was none other than—

World Rank 20.

The Berserker, Jang Daewoong.