Chapter 211
The Armoured Tree’s ‘roots’ zealously shook around as it approached Jin-Woo. He watched the monster as he reverse-gripped the pair of ‘Kamish’s Wraths’.
‘For the time being, just a light little nudge.’
The shortsword in his right hand drew a diagonal line upwards.
Swish-!
Along with a sharp air-splitting noise, something fell to the ground with a thud.
“…..M-mm?”
The Armoured Tree looked down. One of the thick branches it used as its arm had been severed cleanly and was rolling around on the floor.
Then, the monster discovered the cut wounds with tree sap oozing out like blood next. Its ‘facial expression’ became tearful and it shrieked out a screech that kind of sounded like a scream.
“Kuueeehk!!”
The thing was, though, someone’s pain could also be someone else’s enjoyment, too. After slicing off the concrete pillar-like branch/arm of the Armoured Tree in one hit, Jin-Woo’s surprised eyes were now locked onto his shortsword.
‘Wowsers.’
He only swung it lightly once, yet the end result was already this amazing. No matter how many times he stabbed with the Demon King’s Shortsword, he couldn’t properly damage the Armoured Trees. But now, he sliced off the ‘arm’ of the boss Armoured Tree as if it was made out of tofu?
Should he say it felt terrific in his hand just now?
Buzzzz….
His heart began racing again after sensing the vibration of the ultra-sharp blades, something he hadn’t felt for a long time.
[Oh, my king!]
Beru, standing and watching quietly from the far back, urgently called out.
‘Don’t worry, I know.’
Jin-Woo relaxedly answered before his head shot up.
The Armoured Tree’s expression had changed from tearful to hatred in the meantime, its eyes wide open and glaring as it raised its left arm, no, its left branch up high.
It was as if the monster wanted to slam down as hard as it could and squash him to death, but unfortunately, its opponent today was a really bad match-up.
Jin-Woo quickly swung the ‘Kamish’s Wrath’ one more time before the branch moved.
Slice!
“Ku-uuuhuhk!”
Suddenly losing both of its arms, the Armoured Tree looked up into the sky and screeched out.
‘Very good.’
Jin-Woo lightly nodded his head.
He was now done with confirming the destructive power of the two shortswords when swung lightly. And now, time to confirm what would happen when they were swung with all his power.
‘These things supposedly have excellent compatibility to magical energy because they are made out of a Dragon’s bone, right?’
Jin-Woo’s right hand began gripping the hilt of the shortsword even harder.
Just a little bit more.
A bit more, a bit harder.
Jin-Woo’s eyes narrowed down to a slit. When he focused the magical energy in his entire body to his right hand, the blackish aura subtly billowing around the blade became even more violent until it began to almost go out of control.
To Beru’s eyes, it looked as if the aura was utterly distorting the surrounding space.
‘How could this be!’
The former ant king unconsciously took a step back before catching himself doing that. Even though he knew that the intent to battle wasn’t directed at him, this magical energy was so chill-inducing that it forced him into a retreat.
Beru looked down at both of his trembling hands.
‘Oh, my liege….’
Beru had never felt any other emotion beside absolute loyalty for his Sovereign until now, but for the first time ever, he felt sorry for the tree-shaped monster.
Meanwhile, the Armoured Tree had no idea what was in store for itself and simply screeched out in pure rage.
“Kuuuuueeeeeh-!!”
The bloodshot eyes of the tree monster were, of course, locked in the direction of Jin-Woo’s face. The Armoured Tree’s maw suddenly widened like an entrance to a building.
Just as the b*stard tottered unsteadily and leapt towards Jin-Woo’s location in order to swallow him up, he released his magical energy gathered at the tip of the shortsword held in his right hand.
‘Go!’
Just like his command given to Beru, with everything it had!
From the tip of his toes, his legs, his waist, his shoulder, and even his wrist – his entire body was used to slash out with all his might.
And the end result was….
‘….Uh?!’
The man who swung the shortsword himself realised that something had gone very wrong just then.
‘Ehhh?!’
Kagagagagagahk!!
The black aura shooting out from the tip of the blade split into several thick strands, and as if a gigantic, terrifying beast took a swipe with its claws, everything in front of him was swept away in one go.
Jin-Woo’s dynamic vision that could split a second into dozens, hundreds of smaller units and detect the change within, clearly caught the moments of the aura utterly ripping the Armoured Tree to shreds.
‘Oh, my god!’
The destructive power didn’t stop there and continued on forward to leave behind horrifying scars on the wall and the floor of the gymnasium.
“Huh-uh…..”
Jin-Woo was rendered completely speechless.
Tumble, drop….
Thud.
Bits and pieces of rubble began falling from the gymnasium’s wall, now scarred by what looked like claw marks, and eventually, it couldn’t endure the weight and began crumbling at the same time.
Creak, crumble…
Boom!
The gymnasium’s wall, reinforced with magic energy in order to facilitate unhindered activities of Hunters, couldn’t endure against one single attack and ended up crumbling apart.
Jin-Woo looked at the piled-up debris of the wall as sheer astonishment filled his heart.
“It’s supposed to get stronger depending on the wielder, so this is what it can do?!”
The weapon to wield magical energy, crafted from the Dragon’s remains. This claim was for real.
“Oh, my king!!”
Beru was so moved by the display of his king’s power that he urgently dashed out to kneel in front of Jin-Woo.
“This humble and weak servant can’t hide his deep, heartfelt emotions from his liege’s bottomless, limitless power!”
“…..”
It seemed that Jin-Woo really needed to block the historical drama channel on TV for the time being. It’d be sad news for his mother, who enjoyed watching those dramas, but still.
Of course, it wasn’t as if he couldn’t understand the reason for Beru’s overexcitement. Jin-Woo’s own heart was pounding away from this power that exceeded his wildest imagination, after all.
The scale of destruction the ‘Kamish’s Wrath’ left behind – would a Dragon large enough to cover the sky attacking at full power cause such annihilation?
Jin-Woo clicked his tongue while studying the ripped-to-shreds remains of the Armoured Tree, the ghastly pile of debris that was once a wall, as well as the floor with deep gouges in it.
‘Do I need to change the name of the shortswords from Kamish’s Wrath to Dragon’s Claws or something?’
Of course, this level of destruction was only possible because it was him wielding the weapon, but still.
It was then. Along with the rather pleasant mechanical beep of ‘Tti-ring!’ a new System message suddenly popped up.
[Will you change the name of ‘Item: Kamish’s Wrath’ to ‘Item: Dragon’s Claws’?]
Jin-Woo was taken greatly by surprise by this unexpected response from the System.
‘I can also change the name?’
He hurriedly retracted his command, and only got to breathe a sigh of relief after confirming that the name of the shortswords wasn’t changed.
“Whew….”
That might have been a big problem!
If the original crafter learned that his artefact’s name was swapped from ‘Kamish’s Wrath’ to ‘Dragon’s Claws’, he’d be spinning his grave non-stop.
Just from hearing it, both his hands and feet were curling up from all that cringeyness.
Jin-Woo couldn’t help but chuckle at the ever-unchanging unfriendliness of the System.
In any case, he was satisfied by the power of the new weapon. Both in terms of sharpness or destructiveness, these shortswords easily exceeded his previous weapons by a great deal.
A pleased smile formed on his lips as he alternated his gaze between the two ‘Kamish’s Wrath’ shortswords before storing them in his Inventory.
‘Well, now that the testing is over….’
….It was time to take care of the aftermaths.
Jin-Woo had been drunk on the power of his new weapons, but he eventually came back down to earth. And after he saw the crumbled wall of the gymnasium, he felt his own heart crumble to pieces as well.
He borrowed this place for a little while, yet he messed it up to such a degree.
….What was he supposed to do now?
Jin-Woo deeply deliberated on his options before contacting the Association President Woo Jin-Cheol on the phone.
“Uhm, Association President? Please, I want you to stay calm and listen to what I have to say. You see, I have around three hundred ants that do really fantastic work, and…..”
***
Three days since the Gates had disappeared.
Jin-Woo, who used to allocate a lot of his time to raiding dungeons, was spending his recent days at home with nothing much to do.
While he lay on top of his bed, he continued to spin around ‘Kamish’s Wrath’ just above him.
Exactly like how a fidgety student would spin around a pen, Jin-Woo had been using ‘Ruler’s Authority’ to deal with his boredom.
Of course, there would always be a disruptor to any given situation. His little sister was heading to the bathroom, but then, she suddenly swerved in her direction and yanked open the door to his room. Jin-Woo instantly stored his shortsword in the Inventory and pretended that nothing was amiss.
“Oppa, you were playing with your knife again, weren’t you?”
Technically speaking, he was refining his control over the skill, ‘Ruler’s Authority’, but well….
But, to the worried eyes of his sister, it looked like nothing more than a dangerous fooling around of a bored guy.
“Nope.”
Jin-Woo denied everything as he had already hidden all the evidence away. Jin-Ah’s eyes narrowed down to a slit. She was unconvinced, but there was nothing she could do.
If her oppa, the best rank S Hunter there was, decided to really, really hide the evidence, how could she, a powerless regular person, ever find out the truth?
She glared at Jin-Woo with suspicious eyes for a very long time, before letting a groan escape from her mouth.
“Oppa?”
“Yeah?”
“If you’re that bored, how about going out for a while? I mean, it’s been such a long time since you’ve been resting at home like this, right?”
His little sister suddenly began saying stuff that their mother should be saying, instead. Jin-Woo smirked and closed his eyes as if he wanted to go to sleep.
“I don’t have anywhere to go, you know.”
“Don’t you have someone to meet? Like, your friends?”
Friends, she said. His eyes opened again after hearing those words that vaguely resonated with him. Many faces fleeted in and out of his mind, but only one remained particularly vivid among them.
Since all Hunters were forced to take a break, for the time being, her situation wouldn’t be so different from his own, right about now.
Besides, didn’t he tell himself to treat her to a hearty meal to atone for his sin? That thing, when he inadvertently took a peek at her naked form after unwisely using ‘Sensory Sharing’ through the Shadow Soldier inserted into her shadow?
In normal times, not only him, but even she too would’ve been far too busy to meet up, but the story was different now. She might even be twirling around a sword or something out of this sheer boredom seemingly no one could overcome, just like how it was like for him.
This would be a good opportunity to get rid of that debt in his mind.
“Good thinking, sis.”
Jin-Woo suddenly leapt up from the bed and stood before her, prompting Jin-Ah to flinch and take a hasty step back.
“W-what the heck?”
“Excuse me.”
Jin-Woo expertly slid past her and headed straight into the bathroom.
Jin-Ah quickly detected that her oppa’s expression was now rather suspicious and quickly asked him as he was about to enter the bathroom to wash himself.
“What now? Where are you planning to go?”
He grinned brightly and replied back to her.
“On a date.”
***
“That’s enough for today.”
Cha Hae-In’s hands stopped swinging the wooden sword.
She had been training so hard that her white ‘dobok’ had been soaked through with her sweat and clung onto her figure. She turned around to face her instructor.
He was an elderly man wearing an aged dobok. This man, who was missing an arm, gestured to her that she should take a seat.
Cha Hae-In wordlessly nodded before politely kneeling down on both knees and placed the wooden sword beside her.
This old man was her teacher.
As she was a rank S Hunter, there were very few people who could catch up to her physical abilities, but she still needed corresponding techniques that could maximise her physical status.
That’s why she chose this out-of-the-way kendo dojo, and whenever she found herself with some free time, she came here to polish her ways with the sword.
Her teacher, Song Chi-Yeol, found her drive to never waste a single day quite praiseworthy. He settled down in front of her and spoke.
“I can’t help but sense that, lately, Lady Hae-In’s blade contains a trace of hesitation.”
Cha Hae-In heard her teacher’s voice and raised her head. Her expression was stiff. As their gazes remain locked in this position, Song Chi-Yeol quietly carried on.
“I’m worried that, by chance, you have developed a sense of fear in your heart.”
Cha Hae-In couldn’t answer.
Song Chi-Yeol was a Hunter like her and, even though he operated a dojo, he still went out to hunt down monsters whenever the Association requested his participation. And so, he could very well understand where her fear was coming from.
The Gate that none had seen before. And no one also could tell just what kind of unimaginably terrifying monstrosities would emerge from there.
Just because one was strong, that didn’t mean they couldn’t get scared.
No, on the contrary. They felt to their bones the kind of fear that normal, powerless people couldn’t feel precisely because they were strong.
Song Chi-Yeol closed his eyes as if he was reflecting back on his past and slowly nodded his head.
“I’m sure you’re scared. Indeed, why shouldn’t you be? I also felt the same way. Of course, the monsters that I fought can’t be compared to those you have fought, but when I lost my arm…..”
It was then.
Cha Hae-In’s Hunter-issue smartphone, the one tucked away in the corner of the dojo so it wouldn’t get in the way, began ringing loudly.
“A Hunter should answer her phone, yes?”
“Forgive me, instructor.”
Cha Hae-In briefly bowed her head before running over there to pick up the phone. And then….
Song Chi-Yeol had been waiting for her to end the call so he could continue on with his story, only to see that Cha Hae-In’s expression was getting brighter and brighter with every passing second.
‘Mm….?’
She was definitely trying to hide it, but since she was usually so expressionless in her everyday life, even Song Chi-Yeol could easily spot the changes in her expression.
She ended the call and cautiously walked over to his location.
“Uhm, instructor-nim, I…. There’s an appointment I need to get to, so I should go.”
Her cheeks were flushed warm. Seeing her eyes now filled with vitality, Song Chi-Yeol realised that his thoughts were off the mark. The hesitation evident in her sword wasn’t born from fear.
“Indeed, you should. Of course, you need to.”
Song Chi-Yeol dazedly nodded his head and gave her his permission.
“Well, then….”
Cha Hae-In’s goodbye was kept brief and she left the dojo in light, cheery steps. He stared at her departing back and belatedly, a gentle smile floated up on his lips.
“Ah, so that’s what it was…. Indeed, that was the reason.”
Huhuh….
While wondering who the lucky fella receiving the love of such a wonderful and fine young woman could be, an expression of contentment floated up on Song Chi-Yeol’s face, one that was just as happy as his valued disciple had shown.
Chapter 212
“Hey, isn’t that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo?”
“Where? Where??”
“Hul…. It really is Seong Jin-Woo.”
It was the weekend and many people came to visit a certain theme park. They all recognised Jin-Woo’s face among the visitors and stared at him with eyes filled with amazement.
“Who’s the lady next to him? Is she his girlfriend?”
“Hold up…. Isn’t she Hunter Cha Hae-In from the Hunters Guild??”
“Hul! This is huge!”
“What the heck? Are the two of them dating now?”
There was a woman next to Jin-Woo. She was famed for always maintaining a clean short hairstyle to ensure that nothing would hinder her movements.
She was Cha Hae-In, of course. She slightly lowered her head as if she couldn’t really get used to all the attention from the people surrounding them, and whispered in a small voice.
“Do you enjoy going to places like this theme park?”
Jin-Woo replied with a grin.
“It’s not that I enjoy it, but I wanted to come here at least once in my life, you see.”
Cha Hae-In stared at Jin-Woo’s current child-like expression with his previous ice-cold demeanour when slicing up monsters nowhere to be seen. Only then did she realise how fast her heart was racing right now.
Too bad for her, the man walking alongside her just so happened to be truly exceptional among the rank S Hunters. Cha Hae-In’s cheeks flushed red by a lot after realising that he must’ve heard her pounding heart as well.
She tried to divert Jin-Woo’s attention, even if only by a little, by changing the topic of the conversation.
“If you wanted to come here, then why me….”
“Miss Hae-In is the only friend I have.”
“Pardon?”
Since when did she become friends with Hunter Seong Jin-Woo?
She racked her brain trying to recall the memory she clearly didn’t possess before she unconsciously looked up. That’s when her eyes locked onto Jin-Woo’s rather mischievous grin.
“You know, in front of that strange stone statue….”
‘Ah, that day.’
Back on that day when she and her colleagues entered the dual dungeon to rescue Jin-Woo, that angel statue asked her the question, didn’t it?
– “What is your relationship with Seong Jin-Woo?”
– “….A friend.”
It seemed that Jin-Woo remembered that brief exchange.
“You were listening back then?”
“Well, yeah. Somehow, I could hear you. I have better-than-average hearing, you see.”
She felt a tiny bit wronged here somehow, but she knew that even back then, she ended up being saved by him rather than saving him, instead.
It was then she became conscious once more of just how many times Jin-Woo had saved her life.
“By the way…. What was the identity of that strange dungeon?”
She had been waiting to hear his explanation on this one ever since that day. Unfortunately, he figured that now wasn’t the right time to tell her.
“Can I tell you later when I’ve managed to properly sort out my own thoughts first? Even I can’t tell what’s what at the moment.”
Cha Hae-In nodded her head to say that she understood.
When their conversation entered a bit of a lull, Jin-Woo began taking a look around their surroundings.
“Excuse me! Please look over here!”
“I’m your biggest fan!”
Just like when a celebrity was walking on a busy street, people crowded around the two like a swarm of bees and were busily snapping away with their smartphones.
Jin-Woo’s face was far more well-known to regular people than some superstars nowadays. That was because, regardless of which TV channel they tuned into, they would always play clips containing Jin-Woo’s face ever since that super-massive Gate appeared in the air.
If this was any other day, he’d simply smile and let it slide. However, he didn’t feel like having his day off being disrupted like this, especially when he had a company.
‘Come out.’
The moment Jin-Woo issued his command, his own retinue of bodyguards willing to work their butts off for absolutely nothing revealed themselves.
They were none other than Igrit and the elite knights.
Around thirty or so knights emerged from his shadow and surrounded both him and Cha Hae-In in a protective cordon. They walked in perfect synch with their boss’s pace, too.
Igrit was especially proactive as he personally went around wherever cameras flashed and wagged his finger to warn the would-be paparazzo.
Meanwhile, Cha Hae-In became even more flustered by the fact that they were now being escorted by a cordon of well-armed knights.
“Wouldn’t doing this be even more eye-catching?”
“Well, as long as we aren’t bothered, isn’t it fine?”
His words carried this inexplicable persuasive power and Cha Hae-In found her head nodding all by itself. Truth be told, she really did feel somewhat better now that all those gazes pouring down on her had disappeared.
When she thought about it, she couldn’t remember the last time she went out for fun with a relaxed mindset.
It had already been almost two years since she became a Hunter. During this period, not even once did she take a day off to relax.
She always remained tense and wasted each hour feeling nervous – on days she wasn’t participating in raids, she’d be worried about her colleagues, and when she was in the raid, then she’d be worried about making mistakes.
But for today….
‘….It’s a different story when I’m with him.’
A man she can depend on.
When she was with Jin-Woo, it felt as if she no longer had to meet the expectations of her comrades that depended on her and could go back to being just a regular woman living her life.
She took one step closer. Her cheeks blushed a little more as her body grew closer to Jin-Woo even before she had noticed it.
‘His scent…. I can smell it.’
Jin-Woo watched her complexion get so much brighter and belatedly reflected on his shortcomings.
‘I should’ve done this earlier.’
He scanned the theme park’s various rides, before pointing at the roller coaster falling at a scary speed from a dizzying height and asked her.
“Should we get on that one?”
“Okay.”
Since she answered too easily, Jin-Woo felt unconvinced and pointed at another ride.
“How about that one?”
“It’s okay, too.”
“In that case, how about the one next to it?”
“That’s also okay.”
“Everything’s okay??”
“Yes. They are all okay.”
Jin-Woo stared at the excited face she made during her answers and simply chuckled to himself.
‘What the heck. I guess I wasn’t the only one who wanted to come here.’
Since she didn’t seem to hate this place, Jin-Woo’s mind could relax even further now. He lightly grasped her wrist and led her to the nearest ride.
“Well, then. Why don’t we ride all of them?”
***
Unfortunately….
It wasn’t as fun as he imagined.
“Kyaaahk! Kyahk!”
“Whoa-!!”
As luck would have it, Jin-Woo got to sit on the very front of the roller coaster. While the people behind were screaming their heads off, he spectated on the passing scenery without feeling much of an excitement.
‘Huh? That kid’s gonna drop his ice cream pretty soon. Oopsie, I knew it. Hold on, the food court was over that side? But, it’s still too early to buy dinner, so….’
Hmm….
Even though the roller coaster was rushing forward at full tilt, everything seemed to have come to a crawl, like extreme slow motion, to Jin-Woo and he was feeling really bored right now.
If he was allowed to, then he thought that he could stand up straight until the ride was over and he’d be unaffected in the slightest.
‘…..’
He did his very best to suppress a yawn trying to break out and sneaked a glance behind him. Beyond Igrit and a couple of knights sitting immediately behind him – they wanted to ride on the roller coaster for some reason – he could see the regular people screaming and enjoying themselves.
From every single muscle on their faces, he could feel the sensation of thrill and joy they were experiencing right now. He also heard their racing hearts, pounding away hard enough to seemingly explode at any second.
On the other hand…
Jin-Woo placed his hand on the chest to feel his heart beating as normal and broke into a slight grin.
Honestly, it was a lot more exciting to jump up high in the sky with everything he had so he could punch that titanic god statue in the face.
‘What about back then when I was being chased around by those centipedes in the penalty zone?’
It was hundreds, no, ten thousand times scarier than right now.
‘Oops.’
Jin-Woo quickly shook his head in order to get rid of the useless thoughts.
‘I came here to relax, yet here I am, thinking about monsters.’
He began wondering if this was an illness or something. Around at the same time, he discovered his companion with a similar sort of expression on her face sitting next to him.
Smirk.
He couldn’t help but chuckle here. Jin-Woo asked Cha Hae-In as she continued to swim in her dazed thoughts.
“Is it not fun playing around here?”
“Ah…. No, it’s fun.”
Since her conversation partner possessed sharp hearing, she found it convenient that she didn’t have to shout at him.
“Then, why haven’t you screamed at least once so far?”
They had already ridden on five different attractions so far. All of them could be described as top thrill rides to normal people, but she hadn’t even muttered out the common “Ah!” once yet.
She too was a rank S Hunter. Maybe not as extreme as Jin-Woo, but she had also surpassed the realms of normal people by a wide margin as well. Suddenly, he felt rather relieved by the fact that he wasn’t the only one so far removed from the other people here.
It was then.
He was tempted to show her the world that he saw.
Beru sensed Jin-Woo’s desire and hurriedly began dissuading him.
[Oh, my king… It might be too dangerous for this woman.]
‘It’ll be fine. Besides, I’ll put you in charge of catching her if she falls off. If you fail to do so…. You know already, right?’
[….Your wish is my command, my liege.]
Now that the voice of dissent had been suppressed, Jin-Woo spoke to Cha Hae-In next.
“Instead of this, do you want to ride on something really exciting?”
“Something…. really exciting?”
After the roller coaster came to an end, Jin-Woo led the still-puzzled Cha Hae-In out to a large plaza.
Whoa-!!
The theme park goers saw the cordon of black knights guarding the two of them and gasped out in sheer amazement. But then, their gasps soon turned into shocked screams.
“Heok!!”
“What is that thing?!”
The crowd was pushed back by the Shadow Soldiers. And on the now-created open space, a large, black monster suddenly rose up from the ground. It flapped its massive wings and screeched loudly towards the sky.
Kiiiaaaahhkk-!
It was also Cha Hae-In’s first time seeing the Sky Dragon up close, so her response wasn’t all that much different from the regular spectators.
“O-oh my god….”
Jin-Woo gestured towards Cha Hae-In, her eyes still resembling round dots from sheer amazement.
“Hurry, come on up.”
She realised that Jin-Woo had already climbed up on the back of the Sky Dragon and became utterly flabbergasted.
“You… you want me to ride that creature??”
“I told you, didn’t I?”
Unable to watch on any longer, Jin-Woo activated the skill ‘Ruler’s Authority’ to pull her in.
“Ah?!”
She gasped out in shock again as this unseen force dragged her in. However, that reaction wasn’t what Jin-Woo was hoping to see from her. Indeed, this was merely the beginning.
Even though her lips hadn’t closed from the shock yet, he made her settle down right behind him and issued a command to Kaisel.
“Go up.”
Kiiaahk-!
As if it was waiting for that, the Sky Dragon flapped its huge wings and began rising up in the air.
Cha Hae-In looked down as the crowd below gradually grew distant and swallowed her saliva. For sure, the sense of tension she felt right now was on another dimension when compared to being on those theme park rides.
Almost instinctively, her arms went around Jin-Woo’s waist. Once they got high enough that the spectators below couldn’t be seen anymore, her voice grew louder as well.
“E-excuse me?”
“Yes?”
“Why is that ant following us?”
Jin-Woo craned his neck to the side and looked down to spot Beru rising up just below Kaisel’s belly. Seeing how determined the former ant king’s expression was right now, he couldn’t help but break out in a soft chuckle.
“He’s the lifeguard!”
“Eh??”
“Hold on to me tight. We’re going to fly now.”
“Ehhhh??”
Was there a reason for more explanation now? Because he definitely could feel an incredible amount of pressure being exerted by Cha Hae-In’s arms wrapped around his waist.
‘What the heck. A regular guy would’ve been folded in half!’
But, this showed how scared she must’ve been feeling right now. Jin-Woo had half succeeded in his mission and spoke loudly with an excited voice.
“Kaisel, go faster! Faster!”
Kiiahk!
As Kaisel began flying at its fastest speed, Cha Hae-In’s screams, heard for the very first time today, resounded out right behind him.
***
A smaller-scale Dragon was splitting the air as it speedily flew forward.
Swish-!
Riding on top of Kaisel, Jin-Woo and Cha Hae-In were able to fly into places where one wouldn’t normally survive unless one was a rank S Hunter.
They entered the storm clouds where rain and wind wildly lashed out; they flew so close to a mountain range that they could almost touch it; they even flew past the seemingly-endless field of snow.
But the most beautiful sight still had to be watching the setting sun on top of the ocean.
Kaisel gradually slowed down.
Accompanied by the chilly wind brushing past their cheeks, the two of them watched the sun slowly disappear below the distant horizon, the skies being dyed in the amber-orange hue.
Just like the coloured sky, Cha Hae-In’s eyes as she took in the spectacular sight also gently glowed in that orange hue. Abruptly, she felt curious and just had to ask him.
“Mister Jin-Woo.”
“Yes?”
“Even though you can experience stuff like this, why did we go to that theme park first?”
“That theme park, well….”
Jin-Woo fell into reminiscence and slowly told her the reason.
“That’s where the Gate my dad went missing opened up.”
“Oh…”
If his father failed and the dungeon break really happened back then, the theme park would have ceased to exist. Yet, it was full of people today.
At first, he resented his old man for leaving behind his family in that manner, but now, he felt as if something warm had filled up the void in his heart after he witnessed all those smiling families having a fun day out in the theme park.
That was enough for him.
“That’s why I always wanted to go there at least once.”
Jin-Woo’s voice sounded lonely for some reason and Cha Hae-In wordlessly hugged him from behind. Her warmth was transmitted through his back.
She spoke to him again.
“Thank you.”
Her sudden thanks prompted him to look behind him, but since she was pressing up close to his back, there was no way he could see the expression on her face.
“Pardon me?”
“I wanted to…. say thank you for everything. You’ve been helping me out all this time, so….”
Through their bodies pressing against each other, through her warm breaths tickling his neck, and from her powerfully beating heart, he sensed from her what she wanted to say.
Indeed.
This was enough for him.
Jin-Woo smiled softly and commanded Kaisel to head in the opposite direction.
“Where are we going now?”
Cha Hae-In sounded somewhat rueful as she asked him. Jin-Woo replied with a smile.
“There’s something I want to show you.”
***
The destination they got to after a lengthy flight wasn’t Korea, but Japan.
More specifically, an area designated as a restricted zone. Which meant that there was not one soul to be found here. Even the wild animals were driven away by the horrible auras oozing off from the monsters and thus no one lived in this area.
In this expansive forest where not even the breathing of a small animal could be heard, Kaisel slowly made its descent.
Kiiahk-!
The Sky Dragon lay flat on the ground and Jin-Woo climbed off first. He turned around to assist Cha Hae-In next.
“Be careful….”
Even before he could reach out, though, she jumped lightly and easily landed on the ground, before shrugging her shoulders. Jin-Woo had momentarily forgotten what her job was and could only chuckle again.
“Where are we….?”
She had been experiencing some extraordinary sights for almost the whole day today, and so, she expectantly began scanning her new surroundings with curious eyes.
However, besides the near-endless sea of trees, she couldn’t see anything particularly interesting out here.
Jin-Woo sneakily bought a blanket from the System’s Store and laid it down on the ground before opening his mouth.
“There’s no fun if I let you in on the secret already, so why don’t we lie down first?”
“Ehh?”
Did she hear him wrong??
Unfortunately, there was no way that a rank S Hunter’s hearing would hear such a clear enunciation of words incorrectly. Besides, Jin-Woo was already getting ready to lay down on the blanket, anyway.
“Please, hurry.”
Seeing how nonchalant he was in his invitation, Cha Hae-In’s heart began pounding as if it was about to explode.
“Are, are you…. being serious?”
She simply had to confirm his intentions one more time.
Too bad for her, perhaps, he didn’t show not one bit of hesitation as he nodded his head in a determined way.
It was her turn to hesitate, but in the end, she approached the blanket. Jin-Woo confirmed this and slowly laid down first. Soon, she too lied down next to him, and as if she had made a big decision about something, she straightened her legs.
“I’m… ready.”
Jin-Woo looked at Cha Hae-In murmuring with tightly closed eyes and replied to her.
“In that case, please open your eyes.”
When her eyes creaked open just a bit, he wordlessly pointed at the night sky above.
….Towards the cascading light of the stars.𝖓𝑜ν𝙚𝘭𝘣Ꭵ𝒏.𝒏𝙚𝒕
“Ah…..”
Cha Hae-In gasped out inadvertently after looking at the stunning parade of the starlight filling up the heavens.
Beautiful.
Could she be able to describe this spectacle with any other words besides ‘beautiful’?
Jin-Woo was pleased by her response and smiled in satisfaction.
“I arrived here to deal with a dungeon break and ended up looking at the night sky.”
Back then, he felt just too fatigued and wanted to lay his weary body down and close his eyes to rest. But, because the surroundings were so bright, he couldn’t go to sleep.
He got irritated and opened his eyes and that’s when he got to see this brilliant echo of stars enveloping the sky.
Just seeing them made his heart melt down that night.
“I thought that it’d be wonderful to share this night sky with someone else, you see.”
The only thing filling up this still forest with nary a squeak of sound was the endless river of starlight.
Jin-Woo wanted to share this feeling, this moment, with someone else.
Fortunately, the result of his desire was this strong sense of relief. He felt relieved by the fact that there was someone close by who could also feel what he had felt then.
And his heart, once hardened and lumpy, seemed to soften and become untangled now.
But then, this happened.
‘Uh….?’
He felt the warmth of Cha Hae-In’s hand climbing up on top of his own.
“Can I… hold your hand?”
But, she was already holding it, though?
Jin-Woo smiled before shifting his hand to interlock his fingers with hers. The cold yet smooth hand of a woman filled his palm up.
So still, so quiet….
Countless starlight sparkled and rained down, as the heads of two young people slowly became one.
Chapter 213
Next day.
The news of various Hunters had taken over the sports newspapers from the likes of actual athletes or celebrities a long time ago. And on this particular day, a rather sensational headline found itself on one such publication’s front page.
[Seong Jin-Woo and Cha Hae-In go to a theme park; birth of the strongest couple?]
The articles contained many large photos of the two people in question visiting a theme park, taken by various smartphones. The last image was of them riding on a large monster to fly off to elsewhere.
The personal affairs of these two Hunters were supposed to be protected and couldn’t be reported to the public, but the boss of this particular newspaper went mad from this massive breaking news and, even under the threat of sanctions, decided to release the article nonetheless.
Of course, the response had been tremendous.
The ‘scandal’ concerning two rank S Hunters whose names everyone could recognise brought about renewed vitality to the psyches of everyone who was fatigued by the constant stream of articles related to the super-massive Gate in the sky.
The world’s greatest Hunter and Korea’s best female Hunter were dating. Obviously, people would display an incredible amount of interest in this matter.
Especially online, where the story of the two Hunters was spreading out with an even more rabid intensity.
– Hang on, if Seong Jin-Woo and Cha Hae-In marry and have a kid together, wouldn’t Seong Jin-Woo Junior go around killing every single monster in the entire world?
└ Seong Jin-Woo Junior LOL
└ It’s not official that they are dating, yet look at all these idiots jumping to conclusions. Tsk, tsk.
└ Going by that example, you think we got Seong Jin-Woo because his parents were both super duper top Hunters? You sound like a little kid who don’t know how Hunters awaken their powers.
└ Even then, doesn’t those two dating make you feel excited?
└ I wish it was true. Them having a marriage argument will be an epic encounter that flattens their surroundings. LOL
– I live in the outskirts of Seoul, and when I saw that Gate floating in the sky while travelling near Gangnam, I thought the world was coming to an end. But now that I see the Hunters going on a date like this and enjoying their lives, I feel like there’s hope left for us still and I’m relieved by that.
└ This. ㅇㅈ
└ I hope TV stations will stop playing special reports on the Gate now.
└ Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim, Cha Hae-In Hunter-nim, whether it’s a super-massive Gate or a super-duper-massive Gate, please stop it for us!
“Tsk, tsk.”
The Chairman of the White Tiger Guild, Baek Yun-Ho, clicked his tongue and folded close the newspaper in his hand.
He wondered why Hunter Cha Hae-In’s eyes were gleaming suspiciously whenever she looked at Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, and so, this here was the reason.
However, he wasn’t clicking his tongue because the two of them were going on a date.
“Look at this headline. It’s complete rubbish. What do they even mean, strongest couple?”
Section Chief Ahn Sahng-Min, sitting near his boss and his rather displeased expression, asked him while sounding puzzled.
“What’s the matter, sir? The way I see it, Hunters Seong Jin-Woo and Cha Hae-In would definitely be worthy of the title of ‘strongest couple’.”
“Doesn’t matter who Hunter Seong Jin-Woo dates, we’ll still get the ‘birth of the strongest couple’ anyways, so what’s the point of attaching this sort of a headline?”
‘Eh?’
Now that it was said out loud, that certainly sounded logical.
Ahn Sahng-Min began placing all the female Hunters he knew next to Jin-Woo in his mind, and began nodding his head at Baek Yun-Ho’s opinion.
Even if Hunter Seong was dating that high school girl Hunter, he just couldn’t think of anyone capable of winning against them. None at all.
The female high school Hunter might be not much to write home about, but well, her partner would be too much of a cheat, after all.
“You’re completely correct, Chairman.”
“Yes, I’m telling you.”
Ahn Sahng-Min nodded his head again and began sipping the coffee he bought from the vending machine not too long ago. He slowly shifted his gaze outside the window.
“By the way, this issue with fine dust is really getting serious, sir. I’m actually scared of opening the windows nowadays.”
Ahn Sahng-Min frowned and got up to close the half-open window. However, Baek Yun-Ho stopped him from doing so.
“Hang on.”
“Sir?”
Baek Yun-Ho stood up from his seat and walked over to Ahn Sahng-Min, before opening the window wide to reach outside.
“This…. This isn’t fine dust at all.”
The feeling he got at the tips of his fingers was icy cold.
This was actually a fog. Not only that, a fog that carried this extreme coldness, bitter enough to make one’s bones shiver.
“This is weird.”
It was only around the middle of Autumn, but to think, there would be a wintery fog enveloping the entirety of Seoul. At that moment, he felt this creepy chilling sensation brushing past the back of his neck.
Baek Yun-Ho’s eyes changed to that of the ‘Eyes of the Beast’ and he glared outside the window. He muttered to himself, his expression hardening gradually.
“Something… something feels really off.”
***
Jin-Woo was the first one to open his eyes.
Hae-In must’ve been exhausted from yesterday as she hadn’t woken up from her sweet slumber yet.
Just how long had it been since he greeted the morning together with someone else?
Jin-Woo cautiously got up to make sure not to rouse Hae-In and walked over to the nearby forest.
‘It was definitely around here….’
He found the stream he used the last time he was here and washed up. After he was done, he walked back to where Hae-In was still asleep but then….
He discovered something strange and his steps came to an abrupt halt.
‘What is this….?’
There was this small tree with new buds sprouting up. One might be tempted to say that it was a plant commonly seen anywhere, but the thing was, its leaves were gently shimmering in a silvery colour.
It was a tree never before seen on Earth, in other words.
And sure enough, this strange tree was emitting a very faint amount of magical energy, something only Jin-Woo’s level of sensory perception could have picked up on.
‘It’s not from our world.’
The plant’s magical energy emission was different from that of a monster’s, so it clearly wasn’t one. Jin-Woo observed the tree for a little while longer, before raising his head to discover more of the same silvery leaves here and there.
It was such a contrast to the sight of regular surrounding trees all drying up gradually.
‘Even the ground… is changing.’
Was this also the part of the Rulers’ plan? Or, was it more like the after-effects of monsters pillaging the land?
Jin-Woo scooped a little bit of soil and smelt it, before rubbing his hands together to scatter it away little by little. Even the falling soil contained a minute trace, a scent, of magic energy.
Maybe it was only the humans that hadn’t noticed the truth yet. It might be that this world had become deeply mired in the magical energy already.
It was at this moment, he sensed Cha Hae-In’s movement from afar as she slowly woke up from her slumber. Jin-Woo dusted his hands and stood back up.
It was indeed important to worry about the consequences of the transforming world, but there was something even more important than that right now.
And that would be to calm Hae-In down, when she’d no doubt start panicking after realising that he wasn’t there. Jin-Woo deliberately made some noises as he approached her. She quickly discovered him and let out a soft sigh of relief.
He smiled and greeted her.
“Good morning. Did you rest well?”
Her complexion reddened for some reason. She replied while averting her gaze away from him.
“…..Yes.”
Jin-Woo sent her a puzzled look, prompting her to sneakily raise her head.
“Where were you coming from?”
Hae-In’s question sounded cautious. He used the towel around his neck to rub his still-moist hair and replied.
“I was washing myself, actually.”
Now that he thought about it, she must’ve wanted to clean herself just as badly, too. Especially with all that ocean breeze – even a little bit of exposure would leave behind plenty of salt on one’s skin.
‘Still, I can’t let a young lady wash herself in a place like this….’
Jin-Woo pondered his options for a bit, before a smile floated up on his lips. Going to ‘that place’ would solve the issues of both taking a bath and breakfast in one go.
“I know a hotel with a killer breakfast nearby, so how about going there for our meal?”
Although she didn’t verbalise her answer, Hae-In must’ve felt really hungry, because she immediately nodded her head, her lips firmly closed shut.
Jin-Woo reached out to her and helped her to stand back up, before summoning Kaisel out again.
Kiiiaaahk!
Hae-In tilted her head while looking at the Sky Dragon unfurl its wings.
“But, didn’t you say it was nearby?”
“Well, it’s about a five-minute distance if I run with everything I have, so…. Would you like to run alongside me, then?”
Five minutes at Jin-Woo’s top speed; Hae-In quickly calculated just how far that would be in her head, and without saying anything, she climbed on the back of Kaisel.
‘Yup, it’s great that she understands me so quickly.’
Jin-Woo grinned and took his place in front of her. Kaisel flapped its wings and flew up.
The Koreans had seen Kaisel fairly often on TV so their reactions were not as severe, but he wondered how the Japanese staff of the hotel would react after seeing his ride.
He prayed that the chef working this morning wouldn’t be too frightened. Meanwhile, Kaisel slowly began heading in the direction of the hotel.
***
‘It’ suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
The first person to discover ‘it’ was a middle-aged man who got evaluated as a rank B Awakened in the Hunter’s Association only a few moments ago.
Thud.
The man ended up bumping shoulders with ‘it’ appearing suddenly before him in the middle of the busy street and stopped walking right then.
“What the….?”
The man raised his head while chasing after the silhouette of the shadow. There was a big, hulking man of over two metres tall standing right before him.
This dangerous sense of wild beast oozed out from the man wearing some sort of leather clothing. No, rather than just some ‘sense’, this man was a wild beast personified.
Since the man’s huge physique was so eye-catching, the gazes of the passersby quickly focused on this person, and the middle-aged man that had run into him.
“What’s this? Are they going to fight?”
“Wow! Look at that man’s size. He’s no joke. Even Mah Dong-Wook would take a bow, man.”
“By the way, that uncle must’ve lost his mind. He might end up in the hospital at this rate.”
Even though the street was filled with people, there was this heavy silence descending on it. That’s what the middle-aged man thought after becoming the centre of attention of the passersby.
Now normally, he’d have apologised and stepped aside, but he was a different person compared to the past.
He’d no longer suffer the ignominy of kowtowing before his superior or be ignored by his junior workers.
‘I’m a rank B Awakened now.’
Not only that, among the upper tier of the rank B, too. There was no need to act subservient towards a ‘regular’ person like this who only relied on his massive frame.
The middle-aged man carefully put down the bag of documents on the ground and roared out at the top of his lungs.
“Oii! You’re supposed to apologise when running into someone!”
Once his agitated heart began racing away, he felt his magical energy moving vigorously from within every inch of his body.
Cells in his flesh were telling him.
That he was alive.
That he was ready to start a new life as a Hunter.
Perhaps suppressed by his spirit, the beast-like man didn’t say anything while standing rooted in the same spot. The middle-aged man saw this reaction and became even more excited.
“You think everything will be over just because you’re standing still looking at me like that? If you made a mistake, you’re supposed to admit to it and start begging for forgiveness to the person you’ve wronged…. Ah?! Ah, aaah!!”
When the huge man grabbed the middle-aged man by his head and lifted the poor man up, the passersby watching began screaming at the top of their lungs.
“Ah!! Ah, aaaaah!!”
Thick, reddish veins bulged on the head of the middle-aged man as he was being squeezed.
A bear. No, a tiger; a lion, a shark, a crocodile, a poisonous snake – which predator existing on this world was capable of frightening a human being to this degree?
The fear of the predator ingrained into humanity’s DNA caused the middle-aged man to wet his pants.
“Ah….. Ah…..”
And eventually…
CRACK!
Accompanied by the sounds of something shattering, blood and brain mass splattered to everywhere.
“Kyyyaaaaahhk!!”
The huge man didn’t stop there; he began to voraciously devour the sagging, lifeless body of the middle-aged man on the ground.
“He, he’s eating that man!”
“U-uwaaaah?!”
“Wha-what the hell is this?! What’s going on?!”
The noisy meal time came to an end in an instant. The huge ‘man’ wiped the corners of his mouth, still dirty with bits of flesh, with his hand while slowly standing back up.
A wild beast.
Not even a hint of intelligence could be seen behind the eyes of the huge man. They definitely resembled a wild beast’s eyes now.
While many people screamed and ran away, there were just as many who had failed to recognise the severity of the situation and continued to spectate on the next actions of this huge man.
This ‘wild beast’ roared out towards the humans around it.
[Listen well, you lowly humans! Starting from now, I will hunt all of you down!!]
The thunderclap-like roar paralysed all who listened. They stood there on the spot shivering, tears rolling down their cheeks.
Before anyone had noticed it, sharp fangs were jutting out gloriously from the huge man’s mouth.
[My fangs and claws will mercilessly rip apart the flesh and skin of you weaklings!]
It was the King of Beasts. The roar from the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs baring its sharp canines reverberated loudly against the entirety of the streets.
[I dare you to come and stop me!]
***
The Association President Woo Jin-Cheol finally received the report on the ‘horrifying being’ that appeared in the middle of the city without any prior warning.
“How many victims so far?”
“At the moment, it’s impossible to tally the number of the dead, sir.”
The ‘thing’ was first spotted in the district of Myeong-dong and while moving in a straight line, the creature proceeded to kill every human it laid its eyes on.
“When taken into account the direction this creature has taken, its destination could be…”
“…..It’s the Hunter’s Association, isn’t it?”
Woo Jin-Cheol bit his lower lip and clenched his fists.
“We’ve got our hands full worrying about the d*mn Gate right now, but just where did such a monster even…..”
Unfortunately, there was no time to stew in his anger right now. No, he had to come up with a solution to stop that thing somehow.
“What about Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim?”
“We still can’t contact him.”
“God d*mn it…”
He cursed out involuntarily.
Only a few minutes ago, he heard the news that a Guild stepped forward to stop this monster only to be annihilated without being able to do anything.
The only consolation right now was that the creature moved at a slow pace as if it was waiting for someone to show up. But still, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that, as long as it was not stopped soon, the total number of victims would end up being astronomical.
In such a situation, the fact that the country’s most powerful combat force couldn’t be reached was probably the worst news imaginable.
‘If things go wrong, even the country can….’
Woo Jin-Cheol gritted his teeth as he kept his mouth shut, his determination firming up. It was then, a welcome piece of news came at his way.
“Association President!”
Woo Jin-Cheol shot up from his seat as an Association employee burst into his office without permission.
“Did you get in touch with Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim??”
“No, sir. That’s not it. However, I just learned that a world-class Hunter staying nearby is getting ready to stop the monster!”
“What? Really? Who is it?”
“That is….”
***
Ranked as the number one in the German Hunter community, Lennart Niermann, could sense the aura of the monster approaching closer as it dyed the streets red with blood.
‘Will I… be able to win?’
Even though he was doubtful, as a Hunter, there was no way he’d ignore the screams of terror coming from the innocent citizens.
And when he took a look at the brightening expressions of the escaping citizens as they recognised him, the Hunter ranked twelfth in the American Hunter Bureau’s ‘Hunter Point’ list, Lennart Niermann was overcome with this great weight of responsibility bearing down on his shoulders.
Yes, it was not a matter of whether he could do it or not. No, he simply had to do it. That was the purpose, the duty, of a Hunter.
‘Maybe….’ 𝕟𝗼𝘷𝑒𝐥𝙗𝔦𝗻.𝗻ℯ𝚝
The reason why he ended up staying in Seoul was probably the trickery of fate so that he could stop that monstrosity with his own two hands.
Lennart Niermann formed a grave but determined expression and undid a couple of buttons on his shirt. Just as he was about to take his step towards the monster that finally revealed itself at the far end of the street….
A heavy voice came from behind him.
“Get out of the way.”
Chapter 214
Jin-Woo’s smartphone began ringing off the hook as soon as he entered the reception range.
‘From the Hunter’s Association?’
His expression hardened when he confirmed who the caller was. Could something bad have happened while he was away for a bit?
He quickly answered the call.
– “H-Hunter-nim?!”
“Yes, it’s me, Seong Jin-Woo.”
He sensed that something was definitely wrong after hearing the urgency in the Association employee’s voice. Feeling suspicious, he quickly asked.
“What happened?”
– “That, that, the thing is, no, hang on, the Association President will explain it to you. Let me patch you through to him right away.”
A problem serious enough to make the leader of the Association personally step up?
Jin-Woo realised that the matter at hand couldn’t be a simple one and wordlessly waited for the reply. The distinct connecting signal tone soon ended, and as if he had been desperately waiting for the call, Woo Jin-Cheol hurriedly answered the phone, his anxious voice leaking out from the speaker.
– “Seong Hunter-nim!! Why couldn’t we get a hold of you?”
“I was outside the reception range until a moment ago.”
Perhaps because of being contaminated by the frequent dungeon breaks, it was almost impossible to contact outside when within that vast ocean of trees.
However, he thought it was more than sufficient enough to leave behind his Shadow Soldiers with those whom he wanted to protect. That’s what he believed.
‘Could the super-massive Gate have opened up while I was in the forest?’
But, there should have been at least two more days left still?
All manners of hypotheses bubbled up in Jin-Woo’s mind and just before he could urge Woo Jin-Cheol to spit out the truth, the latter told him the greatly simplified version of the current crisis.
– “A monster has appeared in the middle of Seoul and is going on a rampage!”
Tumble.
Jin-Woo had been feeling energised after enjoying a rare break from the action. But now, he felt as if his heart had fallen to the pit of his stomach.
“How big is the size of the monster horde??”
– “No, there’s no horde. It’s just one creature.”
‘Just one?’
Currently, all Korean Hunters had gathered in Seoul.
They were summoned to the city in order to fight against the potential dungeon break from the super-massive Gate, so they should be on their toes, getting ready to move at a moment’s notice.
On top of that, the Association was even supplying weapons to those Hunters lacking in proper equipment, too.
‘But then, they are getting destroyed by a monster that suddenly appeared out of nowhere?’
As Jin-Woo fell ever deeper into confusion, Woo Jin-Cheol hurriedly continued on with his explanation.
– “A Guild that tried to fight the creature was annihilated in an instant. It looks like the monster is no ordinary creature at all.”
“What about its current location?”
– “We believe it’s currently near Seoul Grand Hotel.”
Could this be chalked up to being mere coincidence?
The moment Woo Jin-Cheol mentioned the name of the ultra-luxurious hotel where Thomas Andre was staying, Jin-Woo felt this sense of creeping unease tickle him in his throat.
Sure enough….
The Association President’s voice speaking the American’s name was filled to the brim with anxiety.𝕟𝗼𝘷𝑒𝐥𝙗𝔦𝗻.𝗻ℯ𝚝
– “I received a call not too long ago that Thomas Andre Hunter-nim was getting ready to fight the monster.”
But, that couldn’t be.
Just in case, Jin-Woo had left a Shadow Soldier behind with Thomas Andre. The order issued to the soldier was to ‘send a signal right away if something strange is sensed in the immediate vicinity’.
But then, the target for protection started fighting alone against a monster capable of wiping out a Guild and yet, there was no signal?
‘….Hang on.’
Only now did Jin-Woo realise something was off.
The signals coming from the Shadow Soldiers spread throughout Seoul were extremely weak. As if something was interfering with the transmission.
‘What is going on?’
An enemy possessing incredible power, a Special Authority-rank Hunter fighting it, and finally, signals being blocked off.
Could it be?
One distinct possibility popped up in Jin-Woo’s head. He asked in a hurry to confirm.
“Association President! Did that monster possess a shadow?”
– “Excuse me?”
“Please, confirm if that monster has a shadow!”
Woo Jin-Cheol’s voice seemingly got cut out for a moment, then – before continuing on with greater urgency.
– “How can this be…. You’re right, Seong Hunter-nim! I just confirmed with the photos, and the monster does not have a shadow!”
‘Oh, my god.’
Jin-Woo recalled that the Ice Elf attacking Goh Gun-Hui also didn’t possess a shadow and loudly cried out.
“You must never let Thomas Andre fight that monster!”
There was a good chance that the monster had been aiming for Thomas Andre all along.
– “Excuse me? But, they have already….”
Time was of the essence right now.
Jin-Woo realised that he had no need to listen to any further explanation and tried to activate ‘Shadow Exchange’ with the Shadow Soldier attached to Thomas Andre.
Tti-ring.
Accompanied by a rather ominous-sounding alert noise, a clear holographic message suddenly popped up in his view.
[The designated Shadow Soldier cannot be located.]
Jin-Woo tried several times more, but it was the same story.
Tti-ring, tti-ring….
[The designated Shadow Soldier cannot be located.]
[The designated Shadow Soldier cannot be located.]
‘How could this be!’
Jin-Woo began freaking out, his expression gradually hardening like stone.
‘My soldier… has disappeared?’
The Shadow Soldier he needed to use as his coordinates for the skill ‘Shadow Exchange’ had disappeared without a trace, somehow.
He couldn’t detect any trace of that particular solder at all.
And he could now definitely sense that the connection he shared with the soldier attached to Thomas Andre had been severed, just like when he sent some of the soldiers back to the void.
The cancellation of the Shadow Soldier independent of his will??
A confused-sounding voice leaked out of Jin-Woo’s mouth next.
“What the hell has happened here?”
***
Lennart Niermann heard the weighty voice coming from behind him.
“Get out of the way.”
The German had experienced a similar sort of situation before, but the emotion he felt right now was quite different compared to back then.
“Thomas Andre!”
The giant of a man large enough to block out the sun, that’s Thomas Andre. Lennart Niermann’s expression brightened the moment he discovered the American standing behind him.
Thomas Andre wordlessly walked past Lennart and slowly went up ahead.
Even those screaming people running away from the scene recognised the Special Authority-rank Hunter and his hulking physique, and their steps all gradually came to a stop.
“He, he’s that American Hunter…..”
“T-Thomas Andre??”
“It’s the Goliath! THE Goliath!!”
Even the first rate Hunter Lennart Niermann felt his heart pound excitedly when seeing Thomas Andre’s broad back as he walked forward. So, how would the regular people feel, when they were desperately fleeing in terror from the monster’s dense killing intent?
“Ah, ah!”
“Oh, dear lord! Thank you!”
Some people even began plopping down on the ground from the sense of relief robbing their built-up tension, knowing that one of the world’s best Hunters had come to save them.
Meanwhile, Thomas Andre angrily shouted at the other Hunters nearby who were all frozen stiff from the powerful pressure emitted by the unknown monster.
“Stop standing around like idiots, and start evacuating these citizens, you b*stards!”
The roar from the Special Authority-rank Hunter was more than enough to blow away the stifling pressure dulling the thought process of the other Hunters.
They understood his intention through that thunderous roar and began grabbing those citizens that had fallen behind to drag them far away from Thomas Andre. Lennart Niermann also cooperated with the evacuation of the powerless citizens along with his Korean counterparts.
The American stood tall in the middle of the street as if to protect them. And that ‘monster’ slowly made its way over in his direction.
The Special Authority-rank Hunter took off his sunglasses, his eyes narrowing to a slit.
“….”
What he saw was a beast covered in blood. Although it vaguely looked like one, there was simply no way that thing was a human being.
Veins bulged on Thomas Andre’s face as he spotted the bits and pieces of the victims strewn messily about behind this ‘beast’.
“A stinking beast who doesn’t know its place has rampaged around for far too long.”
As if to mock Thomas Andre’s rage, the ‘beast’ bared its fangs covered in bits of flesh in a toothy grin.
Putting down a crazed animal was a universal truth, no matter where one was from. Thomas Andre’s eyes became incomparably murderous right away.
“Reinforcement.”
His muscles transformed like armour and his already-hulking physique grew larger and larger than before. As far as one’s physical size was concerned, he was a step larger than this monster.
To find out the gap in the strength, Thomas Andre rushed towards his target.
A tank!
People watching and sensing the ground tremble every time he took a step forward instinctively pictured a powerful tank.
The beast smacked its lips at the appearance of a new prey and made its move as well.
Two giants closed their distance in an instant and stood before each other. At first, they exchanged glances studying their new opponent, and soon, they squeezed their muscles laden with massive magical energy while roaring out at the same time.
Two monstrous beings and their fists powerful enough to crush concrete like tofu began exploding out like bullets towards one another.
Boomboomboomboomboomboom!!
This exchange of fists relied solely on brute force with no consideration towards any type of techniques. Hunters watching on were left absolutely awestruck by this spectacle.
Just being kissed by one of those fists would result in instant death for these Hunters. But these two were trading such lethal blows without even taking a breather, without even bothering to block them, as if these punches were just light probing jabs.
‘It’s working.’
Thomas Andre grew sure of it now.
Pow!
His punch caused the beast’s head to spin to the side. This heavy sensation of impact got transmitted to his left hand. This attack definitely worked.
After losing to Jin-Woo, the Goliath felt his confidence had plummeted somewhat, but through this dogfight, he felt it growing back again.
Boomboomboomboomboomboom!!
The continuous stream of powerful punches pushed the beast gradually backwards. Grabbing hold of this opening, Thomas Andre’s fearsome full swing of his fist floored the b*stard right into the ground.
Kwa-boooom!!
Kwa-jeeeeeeeck!
The beast was shoved away as the concrete below split apart from the sheer force. The creature smashed into the side of a building and demolished its wall; only then did it finally stop moving.
Other Hunters watching on punched the air and celebrated, but the person responsible, Thomas Andre himself, didn’t display any hints of joy.
‘No, that was wrong. It wasn’t…. as deep as I wanted.’
The thick dust cloud spread out, obscuring the vision. However, he could still sense the presence of the beast emitting the dense murderous intent from beyond the collapsed debris of the building.
Swish-!
Swiiish-!!
Suddenly, heavy hunks of metal flew out from the dust and at Thomas Andre’s location. He smacked these flying cars away from him and quickly activated the skill, ‘Capture’, to yank the beast hidden from his sight closer to his position.
Wuuwoong!
The resisting beast was brought right up to the American’s nose; he immediately activated his strongest skill.
“Demolition!!”
Muscles on both of Thomas Andre’s arms ballooned up until they nearly popped. He slammed down on the ground with everything he had.
KWA-BOOM!!
The horrifying shockwave arising from the ground pummelled the beast.
[Kuuwahhh!!]
The beast cried out in agony as it was flung into the air before it came crashing back down.
Thomas Andre seized upon this chance and jumped on top of the monster, before proceeding to rain down his fists laden with an unbelievable amount of magic energy.
Skill ‘Power Smash’!!
Boomboomboomboomboomboom!!
Waaaah!!
The citizens watching the battle between the Goliath and the beast from afar with anxious minds all began raising excited cheers. Even the Hunters began breaking out in relieved smiles as well.
No matter who saw it, this fight now had a clear victor. It was an overwhelming victory befitting the Special Authority-rank Hunter, often referred to as the world’s best.
However….
Thicker and thicker drops of cold sweat began forming on Thomas Andre’s forehead even as he mercilessly pummelled the beast down below.
‘What is this?’
What was this anxiety, born from this sensation of a noose gradually tightening around his neck the closer he got to his victory?
Each and every one of his attacks was landing splendidly, and the beast being floored down below wasn’t showing any signs of resistance.
So, why….?
‘Why do I feel this anxious, even though I’m clearly in an advantageous position?’
Fairly quickly, though, Thomas Andre got to discover the source of his anxiety.
It was the eyes.
From the very beginning of the fight right up until now, the beast had been looking at him with the exact same apathetic eyes, even going so far to completely disregard the indiscriminate outpouring of his attacks.
It was as if the thing was mocking him, telling him to try and give his best shot.
Grit.
The Goliath was thoroughly enraged and raised his interlocked fists up high.
His shoulder muscles expanded in an instant, and thick veins bulged on his skin. Horrifying amounts of magic energy flowed into his shoulders, arms, wrists and fists, emitting a bone-chilling aura at the same time.
With this, it’d be the end.
Could this beast reopen those eyes again after being struck by ‘Demolition’ right in the epicentre of the skill?
With everything he had, Thomas Andre slammed down both of his fists.
“Demolition!!!!”
It was then.
He clearly saw it.
He saw the beast close its eyes for the briefest of brief moments before opening them to reveal that those eyes, previously resembling that of a human’s, now fully resembling a wild predator’s.
Grab.
The beast leisurely raised one hand up to easily stop Thomas Andre’s two fists swung down with all his might.
“…..??”
The American looked at his hands, now held tight and couldn’t be pulled back at all, and felt a chill run down his back.
[Even though you’re a mere puppet of a Fragment, you managed to drag out this much power.]
The sounds similar to a predator growling caused Thomas Andre’s expression to crumble.
“What was that?”
Right at that moment.
The black hair of the beast began to grow longer and longer as its colour changed to white.
That wasn’t all; the nails resembling awls grew lengthier as well, while its fangs grew sharper, too. Soon, whitish fur covered its entire body.
‘A Werewolf?!’
Unfortunately, there never had been a single instance of a white Werewolf making its appearance in ten years of humans going on raids.
“You…. Just what is your true identity?”
Thomas Andre threw that question out as he felt this ominous chill from the disgusting, vile magical energy oozing out from the beast’s eyes.
Too bad, the creature didn’t bother to answer him and proceeded to shatter the bones in the human’s hands with nothing but sheer physical strength.
Wuduk!!
“Wuuuuaaahk!!”
Chapter 215
Unbridled astonishment!
The strongest Hunter screamed out and everyone else in the vicinity couldn’t hide their shock and astonishment.
The helicopter dispatched from the TV station flying in the air filmed in its entirety Thomas Andre suffering in great pain.
Right in the middle of Korea’s capital city, Seoul, where the focus of the world had gathered due to the appearance of the super-massive Gate – to think, a Special Authority-rank Hunter trying to stop a monster was screaming out in pain like that?
“How can this be….??”
All those watching the two being’s fight, whether in the location itself or through various screens, prayed fervently in their hearts that this wasn’t the end of this battle.
Too bad, the ‘beast’ snatched and then, slammed Thomas Andre’s wrists into the ground as if to mock their prayers.
BOOM!!
It then climbed on top of Thomas Andre, reversing the previous position.
“Keo-heok!”
Blood spewed out from the Goliath’s mouth as he bitterly resisted even with his broken hands, but now that the beast had fully revealed its true powers, he was unable to endure against his opponent’s physical prowess.
The beast stomped on Thomas Andre’s face and roared loudly into the sky.
Kuuwaaaaahhh-!!
The horrifying howl loud enough to tear out the eardrums of everyone listening reverberated like a thunderclap in the city’s streets.
A predator didn’t fight. It simply hunted its prey.
The Hunters nearby were overwhelmed by the howl containing an inconceivable amount of magical energy and began kneeling down one by one from the closest position to the furthest back.
As for Thomas Andre, the closest one to hear the howling, his eardrums had ruptured and blood leaked out from his ears.
The beast smirked derisively.
[Are you scared now?]
One of the joys a hunter could derive from the process of hunting was seeing the prey shiver in fear.
However, Thomas Andre didn’t give up. He clenched his messed-up fist with great difficulty and threw a counterattack.
Pow!
Quite unlike before, when they exchanged many crippling blows earlier, the beast’s head didn’t even rock once.
The wall.
He looked into the disinterested eyes of the beast glaring down at him and began picturing an imposing wall stretching endlessly into the sky standing tall to block his path.
He had felt something similar to this once before.
What a strange thing this was; for a moment there, Thomas Andre thought he saw Jin-Woo within the beast’s glare.
‘But, how come….?’
He didn’t have any chance to sort out his confusion, though, as an attack from the beast rocked his head violently side to side, the ground underneath caving into a crater.
BOOM!!
“Keok!”
That was just the start of the onslaught, though.
Boomboomboomboomboom!!
Just like how he had done, the beast began raining down powerful attacks from above. As if to teach the human what true attacks looked like, the vicious punches continuously slammed down without mercy.
Boomboomboomboomboom!!
Thomas Andre’s lips continued to issue pained grunts over and over again, unlike back then when the beast simply withstood his punches.
“Keo-heok!”
It was then; the beast, in the midst of enjoying the pain of its prey, discovered something odd just beyond the human.
[….??]
The beast stopped its attacks. What it was glaring at, as if to bore a hole into it, was Thomas Andre’s shadow.
[I see that there’s a rat hiding in there.]
Stab!
The beast stabbed its hand deep into the shadow and grabbed ‘something’ within the subspace.
Paht!
When the creature pulled its hand out, an ant soldier hiding inside the human’s shadow was dragged out along as well.
The beast stood upright again. The ant soldier, its neck tightly grabbed by the powerful grip, desperately struggled but the monster didn’t even budge from the spot.
“Kiiieehk!”
This one was a soldier belonging to the Shadow Sovereign.
It was impossible to destroy an immortal soldier like this one through regular means. However, the creature holding onto the ant’s neck was no ordinary being, either.
The Sovereign of Beastly Fangs was a higher existence. It simply focused the energy inherent within the spiritual body to erase this ant soldier from the very fabric of existence altogether.
“Kiiahk!”
The ant soldier spat out a short death throe and turned into dust, returning to the void beyond. The beast grinned as it watched the grey ash scatter in the air.
It was then.
Thomas Andre got up and positioned himself behind the beast before anyone had noticed it. He then wrapped his arm around the creature’s neck and secured his grip with the other arm.
If he lacked teeth, then he’d bite with his gums, instead!
His hands may be broken, but his arms and shoulders were still fine. Thick veins bulged on his arms as he poured in all his might to exert enough pressure to crush a steel beam in one breath.
“Pant, pant….”
Thomas Andre continued to gasp out breathlessly and concentrated on this final attack.
There would be nothing left after this. His eyes shot wide open in concentration as he clenched his teeth, fully knowing that he’d get killed if he missed this chance.
Wududuk, wuduk….
He heard the displeasing noises similar to bones being crushed into powder. If that was the sound of the enemy’s neck breaking, then there was still a chance of victory here.
‘….I’ve done it!’
Unfortunately, the incoming rush of pain had been slightly delayed by the adrenaline coursing through his body. Thomas Andre bore the full brunt and screamed out in agony.
“Wuaaaaahhhk!!”
The beast shattered the American’s arms locked onto its neck with nothing but sheer physical hand grip. It then grabbed his head with both hands before proceeding to slam him down on the ground.
THUD!
Viewers watching this scene through their screens saw the Goliath’s arms dangling around and quickly averted their gazes. It was a scene they simply couldn’t bear to watch with their eyes open.
Too bad, the horrifying scene didn’t stop there and continued on. The beast pounced on the sprawled Goliath and began biting him.
The predator’s mealtime had begun.
Dozens of sharp, knife-like fangs began tearing into Thomas Andre’s skin and made a mess out of his flesh.𝔫𝙤ѵ𝑒𝙡𝖇Ꭵ𝖓.𝘯𝙚𝘵
“Euh-euhk! Wuaahk!!”
He didn’t give up until the end and continued to desperately struggle, but it was obvious that he had no chance in hell right now. His blood poured out and the bits of his flesh flung into the air.
“Wuuuaahk!”
Seeing this horrendous, sickening sight, the other Hunters supposedly guarding the location began backtracking inadvertently in terror.
As for the regular people that had bet their hopes on the Goliath, they had scattered away in fear a long time ago after seeing the incoming end result.
However, something unexpected happened then; among the ranks of the hesitating Hunters, one man dashed forward like a bolt of lightning and ran straight towards the beast.
Boom-!!
The monster had been drunk on the victory and the taste of its loot, so it got caught unaware and was struck cleanly by this unexpected attack, which resulted in it getting flung away.
It was none other than Lennart Niermann. Germany’s best Hunter quickly stood next to the grievously wounded Goliath.
Thomas Andre recognised Lennart and somehow managed to squeeze out his voice.
“Run… away….”
However, Lennart shook his hardened face.
“I’m also a Hunter, you know.”
‘….Although I’m far weaker than you.’
Back when he Awakened his powers and made up his mind to become a Hunter, Lennart had promised himself this one thing – that he’d never turn his back on a comrade.
Sure, they might not even be in the same team, but from Lennart’s perspective, Thomas Andre was an exemplary comrade who was fighting against a common enemy.
Didn’t matter what the American thought of him, because as a Hunter, the German simply couldn’t back away from this situation.
‘However…. Just staring at that thing face to face is making me break out in cold sweat here.’
Lennart watched the beast’s expression crumple unsightly after its mealtime had been unceremoniously interrupted, and his own legs began turning to jelly right then.
Seeing him shiver like that, Thomas Andre opened his mouth again.
“You… will… die….”
He knew that already. Of course, Lennart knew that.
He didn’t even have his equipment with him. And his strongest one-hit-kill trump card, the skill ‘Charge’, only managed to shove the beast away.
Germany’s best Hunter?
12th in the world rankings?
He knew better than anyone that such things had no meaning in the current situation.
Even then…
‘….I don’t regret anything.’
Even if this moment turned out to be his last, he’d still choose exactly the same over and over again. Rather than the life of a coward, he would choose to go out in a blaze of glory!
‘I’m not wrong. I am not wrong!’
Lennart continued to psyche himself up as he glared at the massive power gradually running faster and faster towards him.
‘I’m definitely not wrong!’
He locked his eyes on the chill-inducing maw of the beast opening up wide as the monster closed the distance in an instant. Lennart summoned up every ounce of energy and swung his fist.
For a very moment there, the life he led up until this moment flashed past him like a revolving lantern. He didn’t even work that hard yet this incredible power was handed to him, allowing him to live an overabundant and perhaps undeserved lifestyle.
But, he did live a happy life, didn’t he?
That’s right, he did.
A grin floated up on Lennart’s lips as he saw the beast’s throat approaching ever closer.
Indeed, he was not wrong. Right up until the end, he didn’t live an embarrassing life.
Just before the beast’s maw swallowed his head, Lennart quietly closed his eyes, thinking that there would be no more need to open them again.
But then!
Kwa-boom!!
A sudden noise of explosion coming from his front shocked Lennart and he quickly opened his eyes.
‘What was that?!’
The beast struck by his fist was flying away in a straight line for dozens of metres before rolling ungainly on the ground. The asphalt cracked up into pieces, cars were blown away, and street lights were bent in the middle.
“Uh?”
‘Was I this strong?’
Lennart dazedly stared at his fist, only to realise that someone was standing right next to him.
“Uh, uh??”
Confirming that man’s face, Lennart joyfully cried out in a half-tearful voice.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim!”
***
He was cutting it really close.
If he hadn’t attached a Shadow Soldier to Lennart Niermann when the German came to the Guild office, would he be able to make it in time, even?
After confirming that the Shadow Soldier attached to Thomas Andre had disappeared, Jin-Woo searched for another one near the location and activated ‘Shadow Exchange’. But to think, that Shadow Soldier just so happened to be the one in Lennart Niermann’s shadow.
Thanks to that, he got to save the lives of these two men.
Jin-Woo hurriedly checked Thomas Andre’s wounds and breathed a sigh of relief. The American’s wounds looked pretty serious, but thankfully, he’d be able to survive.
He must’ve had no more energy left to even speak, as Thomas Andre could only quietly look up at Jin-Woo. The latter also remained silent but nodded his head as his reply.
He silently thanked the Goliath for his courageous effort in stalling for more time.
When he turned around, his ears were filled up with Lennart’s emotional voice.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim!!”
“Thank you for stopping that b*stard. My apologies, but can you evacuate Thomas to somewhere safe?”
Jin-Woo politely asked in English, and Lennart nodded his head energetically. Compared to fighting that monstrosity, this job sounded so much easier.
“Ah, yes! You don’t have to worry about that one.”
The German cautiously lifted Thomas up and hurriedly distanced himself. Meanwhile, Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to the beast raising its body up.
Tangible, horrifying, murderous intent oozed from the creature. He sensed power on another realm compared to other monsters from the b*stard.
‘I knew it….’
His guess was on the money.
This thing possessed a similar sort of aura to the Ice Elf he met earlier. It was, indeed, one of the Sovereigns that were hunting down the Hunters.
However, what was going on here? Unlike with the Ice Elf, this thing showed no signs of panic. No, more than that – even though its fight had been interfered with, it looked composed, nay, relaxed, even.
‘But, why….?’
Did it possess a calm personality, to begin with? Even though it looked half man, half beast?
While Jin-Woo was stewing in his confusion, the beast emerged fully from the building’s debris and walked leisurely over in his direction.
It was sloshing something in its mouth before spitting whatever it was to the floor. They turned out to be its broken fangs.
The beast glared at Jin-Woo who managed to break off several of its fangs with just a single punch and didn’t even bother to disguise its surprise.
[So, it was for real. The smell of the Shadow b*stard is mixed in among that human’s scent.]
The beast sniffed the air noisily and asked as if it had discovered something rather amazing.
[But then…. how can a human manage to bring out the power of a higher existence to this degree?]
‘I raised up my levels, that’s how. You dumba*s.’
Rather than choosing to solve the b*stard’s curiosity, he summoned the pair of ‘Kamish’s Wrath’, instead.
He had a lot of things to ask this Sovereign. But, the Q&A session could only take place after the battle was over and he had grasped the right to decide the creature’s fate.
Glance.
Jin-Woo glanced at the traces of the victims still visible here and there in the street and an ice-cold murderous rage began overflowing out of his eyes.
But, then….
….The voice he hadn’t forgotten yet suddenly resounded out right from next to the beast.
[It’s possible that the architect has found a way. Well, the business dealings between the Shadow Sovereign and the architect started a long time ago, after all.]
The thin, fog-like smoke suddenly coagulated into a singular mass before morphing into a humanoid shape.
‘Isn’t that….?’
It was the ancient Ice Elf. The Sovereign of Frost, hiding its presence as a fog until now, had finally revealed itself.
Jin-Woo realised that the fog wrapped around the city was not a natural phenomenon the moment he came in contact with it.
And this time, it was from his behind.
[In that case, I can eat the corpse of this human, right?]
A weird female voice harsh enough to grate his ears came from behind him, and Jin-Woo quickly looked back.
And that’s where he discovered a spectacle that made him doubt his own eyes.
Bashushushushu….
A horde of insects poured out from the sewerage and began merging into one to assume the shape of a humanoid female.
[I really want to find out what a fellow Sovereign tastes like, you see.]
Jin-Woo’s expression hardened, now that he found himself suddenly surrounded by his enemies. And then, he realised it.
They gagged his Shadow Soldiers by confusing the signals not because they were worried about their hunt being disrupted by him. No, they did that in order to hide the fact that there were more than one of them here.
In other words, this was a trap. A trap laid out in the entirety of Seoul in order to box Jin-Woo in.
Sure enough, the System finally recognised the severity of the situation and urgently sent out warning messages.
[The King of Snow Folk, the Sovereign of Frost has designated you as an enemy.]
[The King of Beasts, the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs has designated you as an enemy.]
[The Queen of Insects, the Sovereign of Plagues has designated you as an enemy.]
Enemies possessing power on another scale altogether, and three of them to boot, too! His Black Heart, sleeping quietly until now, began to pound away madly at the entrance of these three incredibly powerful foes.
Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump!
‘Isn’t this….’
….Good?
The corners of Jin-Woo’s lips arched up.
These things were thinking that they had managed to surround him, but the thing was, he wasn’t alone. In reality, they were the ones surrounded now.
Jin-Woo kept his senses ultra-sharp in order to not miss their movements and summoned out his army that’d surround his enemies.
‘Come out!’
Chapter 216
New York, London, Shanghai, Paris.
Besides these cities, others around the world were all experiencing the phenomenon of their streets being draped in eerie silence right now. People had stopped walking and found themselves unable to tear their eyes away from the many electronic screens installed here and there.
Those large screens were continuously showing the breaking news regarding the horrifying tragedy unfolding in the capital city of South Korea, Seoul.
Because of the super-massive Gate’s presence, the world’s attention had been focused there already, so it was only normal that the news spread around like a wildfire.
TV stations in many countries interrupted their regular programming to broadcast live the current situation unfolding in Seoul.
Once the sight of a cityscape dripping with blood as filmed by the camera lens from the sky, the viewers around the world recoiled in sheer horror.
Seoul was one of the biggest metropolises in the entire world. But with such a city lying in ruins like that, it implied that their safety couldn’t be guaranteed even within their own cities.
The tragedy of Seoul didn’t feel like an incident happening in some distant country, but something that was happening to them personally.
Was that the reason why they felt relieved when Thomas Andre stepped up to put an end to the monster’s rampage? The obviously-excited foreign correspondents, after their cameras caught the sight of America’s best Hunter, began crying out his name repeatedly as if they wanted to damage their own vocal cords.
The viewers gathered their hands in prayer and with one heart, cheered Goliath on. And that was why the streets were filled with elated cries every time Goliath roughed up that beast-like monster.
“Yes! More! More!!”
“Destroy that thing! Goliath, kill that thing dead!!”
“Send it to hell!!”
Unfortunately….
The cheering and elated cries filling up the streets soon morphed into shocked silence as Goliath’s fists were shattered, his arms were broken, and his blood and flesh were spilt onto the ground.
The viewers’ arms raised up high in the air slowly lowered back to their sides. Some even began wordlessly shedding tears as they watched humanity’s best warrior being horribly destroyed like that.
It was as if the time itself had frozen.
People rendered utterly speechless by the overwhelming shock couldn’t even hear their own breathing. If this was a dream, then they wanted to wake up right about now.
Too bad, though, that the screen kept transmitting the images of Goliath and his pained screaming over and over again. The expression on the viewers’ faces changed to that of even greater despair.
It was then.
A lone Hunter jumped out from somewhere and blew away the beast.
No, there were two of them. A black-haired man appeared without warning right next to the Caucasian Hunter.
Not just the viewers, but even the news anchors couldn’t figure out what was going on and failed to hide their confusion.
Just what had happened?
Who were those two people?
It happened far too quickly, and also, the camera was filming from too far and couldn’t capture their faces properly.
However….
The anchors saw the black soldiers filling up the streets in the blink of an eye and cried out until their voices turned hoarse.
[It’s Hunter Seong Jin-Woo! Hunter Seong Jin-Woo has finally made his entrance!]
[We don’t have to see his face! You can block out his name! Even then, we know who it is! Those black soldiers, that’s 100% Hunter Seong Jin-Woo!!]
[The Goliath might have fallen, but the baton has been handed over to Hunter Seong Jin-Woo! His summoned creatures have surrounded the monsters!]𝔫𝙤ѵ𝑒𝙡𝖇Ꭵ𝖓.𝘯𝙚𝘵
Waaaaah-!!
The viewers all around the world punched the air and cried out in elation once more as they watched the black soldiers completely cover up the streets of Seoul.
Especially the Americans, their unified roars were so loud that their cities seemed to rock from the noise itself. It was understandable, since they had lost one of their Special Authority-rank Hunters through tragic circumstances recently, and when even Thomas Andre found himself in danger, they had all fallen into a deep pit of mental shock.
Besides, the total number of views online for the Jeju Island raid featuring Jin-Woo had already surpassed 2 billion. Meaning, pretty much everyone knew his name by now.
And so, the whole world had begun chanting his name.
“Hey, hang on a minute! I know who that other Hunter is! Yeah, I know that guy! He’s Germany’s Lennart Niermann!”
This guy, who wished to boast about his discerning eyes, couldn’t help but get swept away by the atmosphere and started chanting ‘Seong Jin-Woo’, his hands raised up high in the air.
The focus of the whole world was now on Jin-Woo’s back.
***
The Shadow Army surrounded the three Sovereigns in a circle.
On top of the streets now darkened by the shadow with the help of the skill, ‘Sovereign’s Territory’, the army’s morale had hit its highest peak.
‘So, how about it now?’
Jin-Woo scanned the faces of the three Sovereigns. They carried rather amused expressions.
The female giant, created out of insects, took a sweeping look at the streets filled with Shadow Soldiers and chuckled derisively.
[So, this is the new Shadow Army, is it?]
[The overall number isn’t bad, but even then, they are nothing but a bunch of riffraff.]
Looking unconcerned in the slightest, the Sovereign of Frost took a step forward.
Fuu-whoop…
It sucked its breath in lightly before spitting out horrifyingly cold air that spread out everywhere in an instant.
Kwajeeck!
And in just one moment, everything standing on the ground became frozen ice sculptures. Even the Shadow Army was no exception.
‘How can this be?!’
Jin-Woo confirmed that his soldiers had all frozen up and his expression hardened gradually.
The power of the Sovereigns that rendered the soldiers useless in one stroke – he had experienced something like this before, when he was facing off against the Sovereign of White Flames, Baran, back in the Demon’s Castle instant dungeon.
If there was one glaring difference between then and now, that would be him having to face three enemies instead of one.
The soldiers trapped within the ice couldn’t be freed even with his ability to store them back in his shadow.
[Your pitiful soldiers won’t be able to take a single step outside the prison I have manifested.]
The Sovereign of Frost sounded confident of its victory after imprisoning the Shadow Army.
However, Jin-Woo’s killing intent didn’t waver for a second even under the current situation.
“You.”
The tip of the Kamish’s Wrath held in his right hand was pointed at the Sovereign of Frost.
“You will definitely die today.”
The war potential of the Shadow Army always had been supplementary to his own. It was too bad that he couldn’t rely on his soldiers now, but even then, he wasn’t thinking of letting that Sovereign of Frost leave here alive.
After all, he had a score to settle with that b*stard,
[….]
Perhaps the Ice Elf felt the aching from the wound on its shoulder inflicted by Jin-Woo the last time, since its expression crumpled unsightly rather quickly.
[You insolent b*stard!]
The creature then raised its arms as if to lift something up, and suddenly, Golems made out of ice rose up from the ground.
At the same time, the queen of the insects whistled loudly. The corpses of humans lying strewn about all began standing up as well.
Kwa-duduk, kwa-dududuk, kwa-duk!!
The bones and joints of the corpses repeatedly twisted and shifted around until finally, they resembled monstrous spiders crawling on all four legs.
‘Undead?’
….No, those weren’t undead at all.
What moved the corpses were strange little parasites that had bored into the brains of the dead humans. Jin-Woo sensed the minute level of magic energy emitted from the parasites wiggling around inside the heads and he shifted his gaze over to the Queen of Insects.
[You think we killed all these humans indiscriminately for no reason?]
The Queen had inseminated the eggs of a very special parasite within the corpses of all the humans the beast had murdered.
Golems and parasites.
Jin-Woo stared at the enemy’s army that couldn’t be turned into Shadow Soldiers upon their deaths and realised how much his opponents had been planning for this day.
“Fuu-woo….”
He controlled his breathing.
The Golems and the animated corpses waltzed right past the frozen Shadow Soldiers and slowly encircled him. Meanwhile, he focused on the sounds of his heart quietly pounding away.
Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump….
On his path to get here, he had encountered countless dangerous situations.
At this moment, as he closed his eyes, his extremely-honed senses accurately read and picked up on even the most minute movements his enemies made.
He could do this.
Just like how it had always been.
‘….They’re coming.’
He opened his eyes only to be greeted by the sight of the spider-humans pouncing on him. As the time slowed down, the pair of ‘Kamish’s Wraths’ roared out in sheer anguish.
Sliiiiiice-!!
In an instant, every spider-human leaping in the air was bisected.
Boom!
Jin-Woo lightly kicked and leapt away from the punch of a Golem pounding down on his original position and searched for his primary elimination target. That would be the Sovereign of Frost, of course.
That b*stard was currently shouting at its Golems with an enraged face. However, it was impossible for these slow and lumbering things to catch up to Jin-Woo’s speed.
He used ‘Ruler’s Authority’ to fling himself at the Sovereign of Frost. Like a bullet, he flew forward in a scarcely-believable velocity.
He closed the distance in an instant. The Sovereign of Frost was panicking. Jin-Woo swung his shortsword with great power.
His aim was the skin on the b*stard’s face that resembled the bark of an aged tree.
Unfortunately….
CLANG!
Just before the Kamish’s Wrath could split the creature’s face in half, something really hard blocked the trajectory of the blade. The beast, the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs, responded to Jin-Woo’s attack with lightning-quick reflexes and blocked the shortsword in time.
[You think such a puny metallic toy can wound me in the slightest?]
The beast toothily grinned, its disgusting teeth full of blood and flesh now on full display. However, Jin-Woo also replied with a smirk.
‘The human’s laughing?’
Even before the beast had the time to sense the ominous foreboding, ‘Kamish’s Wrath’ was suddenly enveloped in the black aura.
Slice!
The beast’s wrist that rightfully boasted incredible hardness was cleanly severed from its arm. The creature’s eyes opened wide.
It barely dodged the tip of the blade by leaning its torso backwards, but still, a lengthy and bloody line was drawn upon its chest.
It was then, Jin-Woo picked up on some powerful energy above him and he quickly looked up.
‘….!!’
The Queen of Insects had formed a giant fist out of magical energy and was in the midst of slamming it down.
Swoooosh-!!
As he landed on the ground, Jin-Woo activated the skill ‘Ruler’s Authority’ to shove away the Queen’s fist. However, the force behind that attack was much greater than he anticipated and he could only barely stop it.
Boom!!
The invisible shield made out of ‘Ruler’s Authority’ clashed against the Queen’s fist and created a powerful shockwave that swept away the surrounding spider-humans.
Unfortunately, the number of animated corpses that still managed to rush at and pounce on his position far exceeded those who were swept away.
Jin-Woo stepped on the head of one spider-human and leapt up in the air. Then, he focused his magic energy in the ‘Kamish’s Wrath’.
BUZZ-!!
The black aura condensed on the vibrating blade began distorting the surrounding space.
In that moment….
“Uwaaah-!!”
Jin-Woo roared out powerfully as he swung the shortsword with all his might.
Kagagagagagagack!!
The magical energy concentrating on the end of the shortsword split into dozens upon dozens of slashes and swept away all the enemies right below him.
The Dragon’s Claw!
The ranks of Ice Golems and spider-humans were halved in an instant from that single attack.
Unfortunately….
Swish-!
Jin-Woo quickly shifted his head to the side to find a large palm already arriving right in front of his nose. It cast a giant, dark shadow on his face.
‘D*mn it.’
Realising that the attack was coming in at an unavoidable angle, he decided to raise his guard up, instead.
The Queen of Insects swatted Jin-Woo as if it was a human swatting a fly out of the air and slammed him into a building nearby.
BOOM!!
The impact force from that was so severe that another building across the road shook hard from the vibration.
Jin-Woo emerged out from the debris of the fallen building and keeled over to the floor to spit out a heavy gasp.
“Keo-heok.”
He felt dizzy.
Vzzzz…..
Loud buzzing tinnitus assaulted his ears. His breathing quickened and his vision grew just a bit fuzzy. However, he had no time to stay here and catch his breath.
As soon as he raised his head, he spotted thousands of ice arrows floating up dozens of metres in the air above his head, all of them being the handiwork of the Sovereign of Frost.
Jin-Woo stood back up and stopped breathing for a moment there. And almost right away, the ice arrows filling up the sky shot down accurately to his current position.
Faster, faster!
Jin-Woo swung his shortswords and deflected away the magic arrows raining down without any break or gap in-between.
He was so fast that several afterimages began overlapping on top of one another.
‘However, just how long will you be able to withstand our combined attacks?’
The Sovereign of Frost continued to fire the arrows endlessly as a sly grin floated up on its lips. When this human b*stard’s movement slows down even for a second….
It was then.
Stab!
[…..??]
The Ice Elf’s quaking eyes looked down to confirm the shortsword stabbing deeply into its chest. The liquid staining its hands was its own blood.
When it raised its head to look, the insolent human was glaring right back at the Sovereign, having had enough leeway to throw one of his shortswords even in the midst of deflecting all the ice arrows.
The burning rage, hot enough to boil all the blood in its body, rushed up to the Ice Elf’s head.
[You d*mn human! How dare a measly little human wound a Sovereign like me!!]
Pah-ahhck!
Jin-Woo rapidly recalled the shortsword out of the creature’s chest.
He struck the b*stard in the heart. Such a wound was more than enough to kill any regular humanoid creature, but unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be a mortal wound to the Sovereign.
Still, that brought about an end to the rain of ice arrows. He firmly grasped the returning ‘Kamish’s Wrath’ and grinned toothily at the Sovereign of Frost.
“I told you, didn’t I? You won’t be getting out of here alive.”
[Kuwaaaahhh!!]
The Sovereign of Frost, thoroughly enraged while controlling its Ice Golems; the spider-humans controlled by the Sovereign of Plagues; and finally, the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs that had regenerated its severed wrist.
The latter moved its new wrist this way and that to test it out, before summoning out its own sword from the subspace, just like Jin-Woo had done.
All of their movements were caught in one go within Jin-Woo’s vision. He grasped both Kamish’s Wraths tightly and calmly collected his breaths as his enemies rushed at him again.
It was then.
Kwajijijick!
Accompanied by the noise of something solid splitting up, he was greeted from behind by a voice that sounded so much more brilliant to his ears today.
[My kingggggg!!]
Chapter 217
Only a few minutes ago.
Beru always prided himself as the most loyal subject to his king. But now, after getting trapped within the ice prison of the Sovereign of Frost, he realised what the taste of sheer powerlessness was like.
Was I really this weak?
Why did I continue to grow stronger? For what purpose was it?
Beru felt so pathetic by the fact that he couldn’t do anything while his liege was being besieged by his enemies. However, there was nothing the former ant king could do.
The Sovereign of Frost was an existence on another level compared to Beru. And he didn’t possess the requisite power to escape from this magic. All he could do now while trapped in ice was to pray that his liege would be safe.
Fortunately, his liege wasn’t pushed back at all, even when facing off against transcendental enemies.
‘As expected of my liege…. This lowly slave can only be moved by your greatness.’
Beru was so emotionally moved by his master’s display of power that tears overflowed from his eyes as he continued to watch Jin-Woo’s battle.
But then, the disadvantage of numbers gradually tightened around the neck of his liege. The progressively-worsening cycle of attacks and defences of the enemies began pushing Jin-Woo back and Beru desperately struggled against his restraints.
‘My king!! My king!!!’
And finally, Beru watched as Jin-Woo was sent flying by the Sovereign of Plagues’ large palm and slam into a wall.
The king was in danger. The king was in danger. The king was in danger!
‘I must protect my king.’
Snap.
Something inside Beru’s head snapped loose. The empty void where his reasoning used to be was replaced by the ’emergency mode’ designed to protect his king.
“Kiiiiieeeehhk!”
Beru’s expression crumpled to resemble a frightening devil as he screeched out loudly.
Arms, shoulders, neck, chest, thighs, calves, ankles! Every part of his body ballooned up at the same time and began pushing away the block of ice imprisoning him.
Crack, craaack!
The seemingly-inescapable ice prison began to develop several large cracks. Beru shook his entire body.
Kwa-jeeck!
The ice prison could no longer contain the power of the ant soldier going crazy inside and its surface cracked even more so. Even in the midst of this, there was only one thing in Beru’s head – the thought of rescuing his king.
Kiiieeehk!
He poured out all his strength and twisted his body, causing a big crack to run down the ice block.
Kwa-jijijik!!
He used his sheer physical strength to prise out the gap even further and extricated himself from the ice prison. Beru then disregarded everything else while flying straight towards Jin-Woo’s side.
“My kingggggg!!”
“Beru!”
Even before he felt happy at his master looking back at him, all those little nicks and scrapes on Jin-Woo’s body entered Beru’s vision first. They were caused by the insect woman when she smacked his liege into the building just now.
A mere insect woman dared to lay her hands on his king!
She dared to touch his king!!!
“Kiiiieeeehhk!!”
Beru’s anger reached a new height and he flew directly at the Queen of the Insects. The thunderous screech of Beru reverberating throughout the battlefield that used to be city streets rendered the Sovereign of Frost quite surprised.
[A measly Shadow Soldier managed to break free of my binding magic?!]
Such a thing shouldn’t even happen. It took a closer look at Beru’s power in the ’emergency mode’ for a second there and spat out a gasp of shock next.
This power didn’t belong to some ‘measly’ Shadow Soldier at all.
[How did a mere human manage to rear up a Marshal grade being?]
Each and every single one of the soldiers with ‘Marshal’ grade acting as the Shadow Sovereign’s hands and feet could be considered as destruction personified.
The Sovereign of Frost couldn’t have imagined that it would see a Marshal grade creature today and failed to hide its astonishment. In the meantime, Beru had arrived right before the Queen of Insects, the target for his unquenchable rage.
[I must punish an unruly child that can’t even recognise his own mother!]
“Kiiiieehhk, shut up, you crazy wench!”
[What did you say?!]
The resident of the Chaos World and the master of all insects living there, the Sovereign of Plagues got triggered by the former ant king’s statement.
Vuuwoong!
Beru ably dodged an attack from the Insect Queen and took aim at the centre of the insects swarming together to form a single body before screeching out with his magical energy.
“Kyaaahk-!!”
The former ant king’s thunderous roar forced the insects to fall off from the Queen’s body in an instant, causing the real body of the Sovereign of Plagues hiding within to briefly reveal itself.
It was a humanoid female with rotting, distorted skin, and a pair of empty eye sockets filled with wriggling maggots.
The Sovereign of Plagues displayed violent rage against the detestable former ant king that dared to bare its fangs at its original owner.
“Kiiiaaahhk!!”
The screech from the Insect Queen resounded out loudly enough to tear asunder the heavens, and Beru was forced back with no way to block the attack.
He was pushed far, far back before he managed to regain his balance and floated back down to the ground.
“Kiiechk, kyahk, kyaahk.”
While Beru was shaking his head left and right, a heavy groan leaking out of his mouth….
The Queen of Insects had managed to recall the bugs back to rebuild its giant body once more.
‘Okay, that’s good.’
Jin-Woo nodded his head after watching the exchange between those two.
Of course, he knew that Beru wouldn’t last long. The enemy was far too strong for that. However, if he could just steal away the attention of one of these three….
While Beru was fighting against the Queen, Jin-Woo shifted his eyes back to the other two Sovereigns. The tension hidden within their eyes was transmitted in the air, and he could clearly sense it.
The amount of time Beru could buy him wasn’t much.
So, move faster than anticipated!
Jin-Woo dashed towards the Sovereign of Frost with all his power.
Kwagagagagagak!
The impact force from each and every one of his steps destroyed the ground below. The Sovereign of Frost glared at Jin-Woo making a beeline towards him and created a sharp ice spear between its two hands.
But, just before he collided with his target, Jin-Woo abruptly changed his direction and leapt towards the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs, instead.
[……!!]
The Sovereign of Beastly Fangs was getting ready to counter the moment Jin-Woo attacked its fellow Sovereign, but it flinched in nasty surprise at this stunning movement.
By a mere whisker, the beast managed to block Jin-Woo’s shortsword by nothing but sheer primal instinct. Its eyes shook hard.
Jin-Woo could only click his tongue as their blades remained locked like this.
‘Che.’
He was planning to fatally wound this beast-like thing after making it assume that he was aiming for the ancient Ice Elf, instead. The reflexes of the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs were faster than Jin-Woo’s expectation.
However, it wasn’t as if it was a total waste of time. He sensed the creature getting flustered just then.
‘I must push this b*stard back like this.’
In the blink of an eye, he gripped the Kamish’s Wrath in reverse grip and rained down a barrage of powerful attacks.
The horrifying sounds of air tearing up resounded throughout the area as the ultra-sharp blades left behind countless cut marks in the surroundings.
Clang!! Khang! Claaang!! Cah-hang!! Clang!!
The beast became fully occupied with defending against Jin-Woo’s shortswords. Step by step, the creature was pushed back as it gradually lost out to his speed. The look of panic began clouding its face.
But then…
Jin-Woo sensed this sharp killing intent right behind him and urgently tilted his torso out of the way. The Sovereign of Frost thrust its ice spear and it slid past the location where his waist had been, barely missing him.
The ancient Ice Elf had entered the fray between Jin-Woo and the beast.
For the brief moment their eyes met, Jin-Woo discovered this incredibly heavy enmity from the eyes of the Elf b*stard.
Grit.
The grating noises of grinding teeth leaked out from Jin-Woo’s mouth.
He slapped away the ice spear with his shortsword and quickly closed the distance as the Sovereign of Frost’s posture crumbled from the after-effects of the weapon shaking loose in its grip.
Swish-!
He swung his blade, hoping to slice up the arrogant eyes of the creature, but regrettably, he missed by a hair’s breadth. Instinctively pulling its head back to escape the danger, the expression on the ancient Ice Elf crumpled into something unsightly.
‘Too bad, but….’
What followed after the attack was to defend. Jin-Woo ably blocked the beast’s blade as if he knew it was coming.
CLANG!𝔫𝙤ѵ𝑒𝙡𝖇Ꭵ𝖓.𝘯𝙚𝘵
Blocked again by a whisker; however, there was no time to sigh in relief after blocking the attack. The Sovereign of Frost grasped its spear again and commenced with its counterattack. The beast, too, came at him with its own barrage of attacks.
At the back, the Sovereign of Frost.
From the front, the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs.
Scary attacks from the two monsters possessing powers on another level rained down on him.
However…
Clang! Claaang!! Clang, clang, clang!! Claaang!! Claaang! Clang, clang, clank, clang, clank, clang!!
Two lengthy shortswords flashed about like bolts of lightning to either block or deflect all attacks coming from the two monsters.
Jin-Woo’s movements had now firmly surpassed the limits of one’s vision and they resembled just one long afterimage. It even looked as if he was blending into the already-blurry shapes of the two Sovereigns.
It went without saying that he couldn’t possibly have seen every single attack coming in from his front and back, and respond to them in time with nothing but his eyes.
However, he could see something else, and that was the flow of each incoming attack. Things like pre-movement, the eyes, breathing, muscles twitching, the direction of magic energy, etc.
His sensory perception pushed to the absolute limit didn’t miss out on a single little thing and accurately read each and every one of the enemies’ attacks.
‘….I can see it.’
That was why, just a little bit more! If he could go a little bit faster and surpass these b*stards…
‘Faster, faster, faster, faster, faster!’
As the countless hits were exchanged, he got faster and faster. The complexions of the two Sovereigns fighting Jin-Woo hardened more and more.
‘But, how…. how could this….?!’
‘It’s impossible! This human can’t be fully utilising the power of the Shadow Sovereign!!’
But that wasn’t it. Their enemy had exceeded the limits of humanity and was evolving further and further right before their eyes. That’s when the two Sovereigns remembered it – the fear they held towards the strongest king that ruled the Chaos World.
And this happened around the same time.
Pah-ahck!!
Jin-Woo crossed blades with the weapons of both Sovereigns and then, with nothing but his physical strength, shoved them both far away.
[….!!]
[….!!]
Shock and astonishment quickly dyed the expressions of the two Sovereigns.
***
Lennart Niermann was sure of it now.
He was sure that there was no one else around here that could chase after the battle of those three with their bare eyes except himself, as long as the grievously-wounded Thomas Andre remained lying on the ground while being treated by the Healers surrounding him.
Even then, he couldn’t clearly chase after Jin-Woo’s movements with his eyes.
“….”
Only sighs of admiration kept leaking out of his mouth.
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was not being pushed back by an inch even though he was fighting against the ‘beast’ that subdued the Special Authority-rank Tanker with brute strength, as well as a monster that froze up the vast ground with a single breath.
And soon, Hunter Seong’s shape simply melted into thin air and only the series of unending metallic clangs reverberated around the battlefield.
It was as if there was a violent storm whipping about only around where he was.
“What….”
Thomas Andre couldn’t win against his curiosity, roused up from all those suspicious explosive noises, and had to ask.
“….What is going on?”
Lennart murmured with disbelieving voice, unable to tear his gaze away from Jin-Woo.
“It’s as if….”
If the monsters capable of destroying the world were engaged in an almighty dogfight, would it create a situation similar to this one?
“….I’m looking at the end of the world.”
Lennart spat out his genuine thought stewing in his head, not even bothering to dress it up in fancy words, and shook his head. The sole silver lining in this dark cloud was the fact that one of the three happened to be on the side of humanity.
***
It was then.
“Kiiiieeeeeehhhk!!”
Jin-Woo heard Beru’s scream and his head snapped in that direction.
The former ant king was being trampled under the Queen of Insect’s foot and was putting up a desperate struggle to escape, but it was proving to be inadequate.
At that moment, Jin-Woo’s eyes widened. Magical energy was leaving Beru’s body and his existence was gradually thinning out.
‘Could that be how the soldier attached to Thomas’s shadow was erased, too?’
Jin-Woo quickly slapped back the attacks of the two Sovereigns and tried to summon Beru back to his shadow.
Unfortunately….
[The designated target cannot be called back.]
[The designated target cannot be called back.]
The System repeated the same message over and over again like a dumb little parrot. Jin-Woo’s expression hardened.
He couldn’t afford to lose Beru like this. That guy was one of his most precious soldiers and at the same time, the greatest fighting power within the Shadow Army.
‘If Beru disappears and stops distracting the Queen of Insects, then this precarious balance will break down.’
This problem was also linked to his current battle as well. Jin-Woo once more shook off the ice spear and the blade heading his way and dashed towards the Queen of Insects.
Since the Queen was far too focused on destroying the most powerful Shadow Soldier, it discovered Jin-Woo’s approach a little too late.
[Human!!!]
Just like what Beru showed him, he concentrated his magical energy in his throat.
“Uwaaaah-!!”
His loud yell, carrying a horrendous amount of magic energy, slammed into the insects wrapped around the Queen and blew them away. After its true visage was revealed once more, the Queen failed to disguise its fluster.
[Kyahk!!]
It hurriedly spat out a green-coloured liquid onto Jin-Woo’s face, but he simply activated ‘Ruler’s Authority’ to deflect it away. As for the obvious poison remaining in the air, his passive buff easily neutralised it.
[Effects from ‘Skill: Strong Poison’ have been detected in the surrounding air.]
[Effects of ‘Buff: Detox’ will now commence.]
[3, 2, 1…. Detoxification has been completed.]
The powers of the Sovereign of Plagues couldn’t threaten Jin-Woo in the slightest, and she was already within his attack radius. In that brief moment, a cold gleam flickered within his eyes.
‘Just now, the Sovereign of Frost didn’t die when its heart was pierced.’
There was a good chance it’d be the same story for this Sovereign of Plagues, too.
In that case – since he had no idea where this creature’s weakness was, he might as well continue to attack until he found it. Jin-Woo got even closer until he was within touching distance to the Queen of Insects and gripped his shortswords real tight.
‘Violent Slash!’
Dududududududududu!!
The blades rained down like buckshots on the Queen of Insects and turned the creature’s entire body into a torn rag in an instant.
[Aaaaaahahk?!!!]
However, the maggots wiggled and tangled with each other inside the monster’s body to quickly restore its body.
‘Regeneration?’
It wasn’t a problem, though. If it possessed an ability to regenerate its body, then all he had to do was continuously pour out attacks that surpassed the rate of regeneration. That was all.
Jin-Woo chased after the Queen of Insects being knocked back and activated the skill, ‘Violent Slash’, over and over again.
Dududududu!! Dududududu!!
[Aaahahahaaahk!!]
The ‘Kamish’s Wraths’, carrying the jet-black aura, fired out without a single break like a gun with infinite ammo.
“Uwaaaaah-!!”
He activated ‘Violent Slash’ with all his might, repeatedly, until he completely disintegrated every little bit of flesh that the Queen of Insects could potentially regenerate.
And eventually….
[You have killed one of the Nine Sovereigns, the Sovereign of Plagues, ‘Querehsha’.]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
…
…..
The ecstasy of level-up messages filling up his vision still felt great.
‘Nice!’
However, when recalling the fact that he still had two more enemies aiming for his neck, he couldn’t lounge around feeling happy for himself.
Jin-Woo urgently tried to turn around towards the direction of the intense murderous intent in order to defend himself, but….
….His enemy was just a little bit quicker.
While he was preoccupied with killing the Sovereign of Plagues, someone rushed towards him and extended its long hand. Five separate strands of sharp wind blew in from behind his back.
Stab!
Jin-Woo discovered five claws plunging past his chest.
‘….’
The beastly Sovereign had completely transformed itself into a Werewolf and accurately stabbed Jin-Woo’s back with five blade-like claws on its right hand. All five had penetrated through his vital point. Jin-Woo’s body froze up at that moment.
Drop.
Clang…
The pair of ‘Kamish’s Wraths’ fell from Jin-Woo’s hands.
The Sovereign of Frost stood before him. Icy cold air spun and coagulated in the Ice Elf’s hand and created an ice dagger.
[This is the end.]
The ice dagger stabbed Jin-Woo in his belly.
Stab!
Beru had barely regained his consciousness by then and cried out in anguish.
“M-my king!!!”
The ant soldier forced himself to stand back up on his unsteady legs but Jin-Woo simply shook his head at him. Even then, Beru extended his claws and tottered ungainly towards the Sovereign of Frost.
“Kiiieeehk!”
The despair and sorrow Beru felt was being transmitted in full to Jin-Woo as well. And that was why he didn’t want to see his ant soldier get erased at the hands of these Sovereigns.
Just before Jin-Woo could issue an order to return, it was now the turn of Beru to shake his head as tears fell from his eyes.
However, Jin-Woo still had Beru return to his shadow. Against his will, the former ant king reverted back to the shadow form and quietly merged with his master’s shadow.
Completely assured of its victory now, the ancient Ice Elf began moving that tree-bark-like skin to form a contorted grin.
[Is this as far as you can go, human?]
The b*stard leaned in closer to whisper in Jin-Woo’s ear.
[In that case, I guess you won’t be able to see it, then. You will not get to see the moment our armies set foot in this world. When that happens, the corpses of humans will form mountains, and their blood will form endless rivers.]
The Sovereign of Frost distanced itself from Jin-Woo’s ear and stared at his hardened expression before forming an insidious grin.
[However, this country you grew up in will be different. I shall personally freeze every single human on this land and make sure they suffer eternal hell, all because you walked among them. I shall ensure that they enjoy an existence neither living nor dead for all eternity.]
The icy coldness spread out from the dagger stabbing into his belly and froze up Jin-Woo’s body. As the icicle reached up to his face, his eyes continued to emit flames of sheer anger.
Even then, the Sovereign of Frost was smirking derisively.
[Yes, resent me endlessly in your death. That, too, will serve to please me even more.]
The Ice Elf yanked the dagger out and immediately, stabbed it into Jin-Woo’s heart. The icy blade oozing whitish light easily shattered his rib bones and accurately penetrated his heart.
Stab!
The Sovereign of Frost confirmed that the human’s heart had been destroyed and pulled the dagger out. Jin-Woo powerlessly collapsed to the ground.
His head clattered on the hard surface and he felt this crippling vertigo. At the same time, he sensed his two enemies getting further away from him.
‘Not yet….I can still….’
He tried to move again, but he didn’t possess a single bit of energy left to even lift a finger. Along with the abrupt loss of all senses, his consciousness rapidly dimmed.
And everything he could see and hear became submerged within inky darkness.
The human’s heart finally stopped operating.
When that happened…
On top of the unmoving Jin-Woo, several System messages began floating up.
[HP of ‘Player’ has reached ‘0’.]
[‘Player’ has died.]
[‘Player’ is in possession of the ‘Black Heart’.]
[You have met all the requirements for ‘Passive Skill: (Unknown)’.]
[‘Passive Skill: (Unknown)’ has been activated.]
The Skills information window opened up by itself and a small change occurred to one of the Skills within the blinking ‘Passive’ column.
[Skills]
Passive Skills
– (Unknown) Lv. MAX
– Tenacity Lv.1
– Master of Shortsword Lv. MAX
Shururuk….
[Skills]
Passive Skills
– Evolution Lv. MAX
– Tenacity Lv.1
– Master of Shortsword Lv. MAX
Chapter 218
“Are you awake now?”
After hearing that familiar voice, Jin-Woo quickly opened his eyes. He saw a white ceiling, and the smell of disinfectant stung his nose. Although the sensation of the hard bed kissing his back was different, he could easily tell just where he was.
This was a hospital.
But, didn’t he definitely feel the sensation of his heart shattering when the ice-cold dagger stabbed into his chest?
‘Even then…. I’m still alive?’
Jin-Woo raised his upper torso up.
He immediately spotted two men standing near his bed, making anxious faces as if they had been waiting for him to regain his consciousness for a long time. One of them was someone Jin-Woo knew very well.
“Association President Woo Jin-Cheol! The Sovereigns….. No, what happened to those monsters? How am I still alive?”
Woo Jin-Cheol shared confused looks with the fellow agent of the Monitoring Division next to him, took his sunglasses off before addressing Jin-Woo.
“There are three things I must tell you.”
He pulled a chair close to the bed and settled down. The junior agent quickly stepped behind him.
“Firstly, I’m not the Association President, but the Chief of the Monitoring Division. Secondly, we are here to ask you about the animated stone statues. And finally….”
A powerful glare oozed out from Woo Jin-Cheol’s scrutinising eyes.
“….How do you know about me? Have we met before, somewhere?”
“H-hold on, wait! You said something about animated stone statues?!”
“After we received the report from the survivors and arrived on site with the White Tiger Guild, it was already….”
“No, no. Hang on. That’s not it….”
Jin-Woo quickly cut Woo Jin-Cheol off and shook his head in dumbfoundedness. Several emotions, impossible to describe in words, rushed in.
Could it be….?
Jin-Woo raised his head and stared at the ceiling.
He was thinking that it was an oddly familiar sight ever since he opened his eyes, but he really was back here.
‘Makes sense why it’s so familiar….’
He spent almost two weeks in this place, after all. This was the VIP patient room provided by the Hunter’s Association.
He was back in the hospital room where he opened his eyes for the first time after barely managing to survive the dual dungeon incident. Thinking back to what Woo Jin-Cheol said just now, it didn’t seem like the location wasn’t the only thing here that was the same.
‘But… how can such a thing even be possible?’
Jin-Woo remained utterly confused and dazed, leading Woo Jin-Cheol to cautiously ask him.
“….Are you feeling alright?”
Jin-Woo’s head dropped lower and he massaged his temples as a migraine gradually crept in. He didn’t forget to wave around his hand as a gesture to tell the others to not to worry about him.
“I…. Can I be left alone to organise my thoughts? Please hurry up with measuring my magical energy so we can end this quickly.”
Woo Jin-Cheol stared dazedly at Jin-Woo with an expression that roughly said, “How did you know that we have been suspecting you going through a Re-Awakening?” before he quickly shook his head as if to get rid of all the distracting thoughts.
“We’d like to hear what happened inside there before we proceed. If you have seen something strange before losing your consciousness….”
“Like I told you before, I don’t remember anything.”
Did they ever meet and converse with Hunter Seong Jin-Woo before?
No, never.
Definitely not.
As a man of the Monitoring Division, Woo Jin-Cheol never forgot the face of a Hunter he met, even if it was only one time. And his memory definitely didn’t hold information on anyone with the name of ‘Seong Jin-Woo’.
‘Looks like his memories are all jumbled up from going through a serious mental shock.’
Woo Jin-Cheol decided as thus while looking at Jin-Woo’s current condition. In that case, he figured that he might as well finish what he came here to do and return as soon as possible. He addressed his underling next.
“Bring it here.”
The junior agent heard the order and brought along the miniature magic energy measuring device.
‘Hah….’
A helpless chuckle leaked out of Jin-Woo’s lips as things played out exactly like his memories.
“All you have to do is to place your hand on this magic crystal for a little while.”
“Okay.”
The measuring process ended quickly thanks to Jin-Woo’s cooperation.
However, Woo Jin-Cheol began frowning greatly as he tried to confirm the results. He prodded the device several times before shifting his gaze over to the junior agent.
“Why isn’t the device working? Didn’t I tell you to check it before leaving the HQ?”
“Pardon me?”
The junior agent couldn’t hide his fluster and hurriedly inspected the device from this angle and that, but obviously, nothing changed by doing that.
The device that was operating perfectly up until just now suddenly switched itself off as soon as it touched the hand of the subject. And it didn’t want to work again.
‘Tsk.’
Woo Jin-Cheol quietly tutted at the mistake of his junior agent and apologised to Jin-Woo before asking for his understanding.
“Looks like there has been some sort of mistake on our part here. Do you mind waiting for a little bit? We should be able to go and fetch a new device very soon. This process must be performed during the investigation of this incident, and we ask for your coopera…..”
Even before his words came to an end, Jin-Woo nodded his head. Woo Jin-Cheol led his junior agent and left the hospital room. However, he only took a few more steps before coming to a stop. He turned around again.
‘What’s going on?’
Jin-Woo raised his head slightly when Woo Jin-Cheol acted a little differently to how he remembered it.
The Chief of the Monitoring Division stood before the bed and asked.
“By any chance…. Are you aware of the punishment in store for being a fake registrant?”
“…”
“I’ve met my fair share of high-ranking Hunters in my life. However, I’ve never met any Hunter with eyes like yours. If you’re hiding something, now’s the time to….”
“I’ve nothing to hide.”
Jin-Woo cut him off again. Woo Jin-Cheol wordlessly studied the man sitting up on the bed before politely bowing his head.
“We’ve inconvenienced you.”
Jin-Woo watched Woo Jin-Cheol leaving the hospital room’s door and inwardly thought that he definitely better suited the role of the boss of the Monitoring Division rather than that of the Association President.
Besides all that, though….
“….Status Window.”
He wasn’t surprised in the least by the message floating in the air and took a look at the Status Window displaying his current level.
Name: Seong Jin-Woo
Level: 146
Class: Shadow Sovereign
Title: Demon Hunter (extra 2)
HP: 93,300
MP: 155,720
Tiredness: 0
[Stats]
Strength: 324
Endurance: 320
Agility: 340
Intelligence: 340
Perception: 321
(Available points to distribute: 0)
Reduction in physical damage: 65%
Reduction in magical damage: 44%
[Skills]
Passive Skills
– Tenacity Lv.1
– Master of Shortsword Lv. MAX
Active Skills
– Quicksilver Lv. MAX
– Intimidation Lv. 2
– Violent Slash Lv. MAX
– Dagger Rush Lv. MAX
– Stealth Lv. MAX
– Ruler’s Authority Lv. MAX
[Class-specific Skills]
Active Skills
– Shadow Extraction Lv. 2
– Shadow Storage Lv. 2
– Sovereign’s Territory Lv. 2
– Shadow Exchange Lv. 2
‘My level’s gone up a lot since the last time I took a look at it. Is it because of the experience points I earned after killing the Sovereign of Plagues?’
That wasn’t all, either.
Everything he had stored in his Inventory until now was also waiting for him as they always had been. He even spotted the pair of ‘Kamish’s Wraths’ resting quietly on the very first column of the Inventory and formed a hollow smile.
He had somehow returned to the beginning with everything he had achieved so far.
‘Well, the Shadow Soldiers aren’t here anymore, but….’
But, his army could be rebuilt in no time at all. Since he had retained all of his prior abilities and memories, he was confident of doing a better job this time around.
However….
….Just how did this happen?
Why was this thing happening?
Although he was given the second go at life here, all sorts of possibilities fleeted in and out of his head and he couldn’t be happy about his current situation at all.
Jin-Woo carefully combed over his memories, wondering if he had overlooked something, before his head rose up.
‘Should be here soon….’
As he expected; just like how he remembered it, his little sister pounced into the hospital room with excellent timing.
“Oppa!!”
After she lost almost all of her school friends at the hands of the Orcs, there always had been a shadow cast on her expression even when she was smiling. But, right now, there was no hint of such darkness on her face.
Jin-Woo’s heart softened from seeing her expression and he tightly hugged her.
“O-Oppa??”
Jin-Ah was planning to urge her oppa to give up being a Hunter when he regained his consciousness, but now that she lost her initiative to him, she became rather flustered, instead.
“What’s going on? What’s gotten into you? Did you hit your head?”
Eventually, her oppa ended the hug and grinned refreshingly. Seeing him behaving like this, all thoughts of anger dissipated from her mind and she could only tilt her head this way and that with a puzzled look on her face.
She couldn’t put her finger on it, but her oppa seemed somewhat different from the normal. Now that she took a closer look, she kind of got the impression that her oppa had grown a lot taller since the last time she saw him a few days ago.
While Jin-Ah was falling deeper into confusion, Jin-Woo was able to use this lull to organise his thoughts better. He then began thinking about things he needed to do, step by step.
A short while later, he lightly chased his little sister out and changed his clothes before stepping outside the hospital room himself.
Since these clothes were his old ones, they didn’t fit his size now, and because he had survived a life or death situation, their condition was at their absolute worst, as well. But what choice did he have?
He certainly couldn’t walk around the city in a patient gown now, could he?
Jin-Ah watched her brother walk right past her in hurried steps and called out to him.
“Oppa?! Where are you going now?”
“To the Hunter’s Association.”
“Why there??”
“To tell them I’m giving up being a Hunter.”
“Really???”
Jin-Woo looked back at his little sister and her wide open eyes.
“I know that you asked permission to leave from your school to come here, so you should go back now.”
“Whaaat-?!”
Jin-Ah watched on with an expression gradually becoming even more confused as her oppa’s back disappeared from view.
***
The Association employee confirmed the re-evaluation test results once more and continued to rub his eyes over and over again.
It had been two years since Cha Hae-In’s appearance, hadn’t it?
The employee looked up at the tenth Hunter to reach the ‘unable-to-measure’ category in Korea and his complexion paled greatly. Since Jin-Woo’s outward appearance looked so wretched like a pauper, the employee was dismissive about this young man, but to think, he turned out to be a genuine rank S Hunter.
“T-the device we have right now can’t measure your magic energy level, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
“I know. But before we do the re-test, I’d like to speak to the Association President first. Will that be alright with you?”
“Y-you mean, the Association President??”
“Yes.”
Jin-Woo was already familiar with the re-evaluation procedures. The Association employee became dazed by this request for a meeting with the Association President and picked up the phone to make the call.
“Y-yes, yes. That’s correct. He’s definitely ‘unable-to-measure’. Understood. Yes. I shall give him the message.”
Indeed, the Association President agreed to meet this young man.
“I, I shall escort you to the office of the Association President….”
“I know where it is already. Thanks for the offer, but it’s okay.”
Jin-Woo bade a short goodbye and walked straight to the elevator. The employee looked at his departing back with an expression of utter loss.
‘How can an outsider know where the President’s office is?’
Too bad for the employee, the elevator stopped on the correct floor where the Association President’s office was.
“Heot….”
The employee watched the floor display of the elevator with a worried expression before gasping out softly in surprise.
Ting….
Jin-Woo stepped out of the elevator and immediately discovered a familiar face walking past him in order to enter the lift. He turned around to address this man.
“Excuse me.”
The man pressed the ‘door open’ button to stop the elevator when Jin-Woo turned to look at him.
“Are you talking to me?”
“You haven’t disclosed the fact that you possess the ‘Stealth’ skill. You’re an upper-rank Hunter, but your name wasn’t on the list of those under the Association’s strict management.”
The Hunter affiliated with the Monitoring Division, Kahng Tae-Sik’s expression hardened instantly.
“But how….?”
“Someone will ask you to avenge his daughter soon. I don’t care what happens to the criminals. However, if the innocent Hunters get hurt in that incident, you will die by my hands. Understand?”
Jin-Woo emitted just a little bit of his killing intent, causing Kahng Tae-Sik to flinch and reach into his waist. However, it wasn’t there.
Kahng Tae-Sik continued to rummage around his waist for a while before finally realising that his knife had disappeared.
“You looking for this?”
Jin-Woo casually tossed a knife up and down before handing it back to him.
Kahng Tae-Sik quickly recognised that Jin-Woo was on a completely different level compared to all the other Hunters he had been dealing with so far and wordlessly took the knife back.
“You get only one warning.”
Knowing that this young man could easily dissect him into tiny little pieces if he wanted to, Kahng Tae-Sik slowly nodded his head while pocketing the knife. And then, he asked a question as Jin-Woo turned around to leave.
“Look here, man…. Just who are you? Have we ever met before?”
Jin-Woo didn’t bother to reply and quietly continued to make his way to the Association President’s office. After this mysterious man went away, Kahng Tae-Sik looked down at his cold sweat-soaked palms and lifted his finger away from the ‘door open’ button.
“….Feels like I’ve been entranced by a phantom, doesn’t it?”
***
‘Association President….’
Jin-Woo’s steps came to a halt.
Goh Gun-Hui, still alive, was sitting behind his desk going through his documents right now. Jin-Woo stood by the doorway and stared at the Association President with eyes filled with nostalgia.
Meanwhile, Goh Gun-Hui chuckled good-naturedly.
“Although you opened my door with so much confidence, it seems that you’re a bit lacking in spirit there. It’s fine for you to come inside, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
Goh Gun-Hui stood up from his chair and walked out in front while suggesting that they take a seat on the couch. He settled down on the couch opposite of Jin-Woo and asked the younger man.
“Would you like to sit down?”
Abruptly, the current Goh Gun-Hui overlapped with that of the Goh Gun-Hui he met for the first time and Jin-Woo’s expression stiffened for a brief moment. He stood there with an expressionless face for a second or two, before settling down as well.
“Thank you. I will.”
Goh Gun-Hui studied the young man before him and spoke up first.𝔫𝙤ѵ𝑒𝙡𝖇Ꭵ𝖓.𝘯𝙚𝘵
“Seeing that you came to see me right away after your re-evaluation test, may I assume that you know about the ‘normal’ procedures?”
“Yes, basically.”
“In that case, let me not beat around the bush and be direct with you.”
“Before that, I’d like to make a deal with you first, Association President.”
“A deal?”
Initially, Goh Gun-Hui felt rather flustered by this young man, who was acting as if he knew he’d be a rank S Hunter from the beginning. However, being spunky was an excellent weapon wielded by the young, was it not?
For some reason, Goh Gun-Hui didn’t find this young man in front of his eyes dislikeable at all. Maybe that was why he didn’t bother to hide the smile naturally floating up on his lips and paid attention to Jin-Woo’s words.
“What is it that you want from us, Hunter-nim?”
“Please, change the regulations so that even the summoned creatures called out by the Hunters are counted as raid team members.”
“You want me to change the regulation…. That’s a rather difficult request, isn’t it? I expect an attractive offer from you, powerful enough to sway my mind.”
Jin-Woo took his time before making his reply.
“I will kill all the ants on Jeju Island.”
Right now, replenishing his army took precedence over everything. And Jeju Island was practically crawling with the finest quality monsters ready to be turned into Shadow Soldiers.
As long as this offer was accepted, not only would he get to solve the issue of filling up the ranks of the Shadow Army, he would also be spared from the headache of not having usable members in the future as well.
Before he woke his mother up with the ‘Divine Water of Life’, he wanted to finish this part of the job first.
However, what Jin-Woo said came across as a desire to kill himself to Goh Gun-Hui’s ears.
“Don’t say something that nonsensical, young man!”
Such a reaction was fully expected. Jin-Woo didn’t lose his cool and calmly released all of the magical energy resting within himself for a very brief moment.
A bottomless and vast power defying all attempts to estimate its true scope spread out from Jin-Woo’s body.
The truly strong could recognise a fellow strong being; the Association President, often called the ‘sky above the sky’ shook his head in utter disbelief.
“How…. Just how…. What on earth… is this?”
He powerfully shuddered. Never before in his entire life had he felt this amount of magic energy emitted from another human being.
A Special Authority-rank Hunter? No, this power had far surpassed their levels. The Association President simply couldn’t bring his slack jaw to a close.
“I can take care of all the ants on Jeju Island.”
Didn’t Goh Gun-Hui once say that doing so was his life’s wish?
The older man was about to chide Jin-Woo for being immature and reckless, but after seeing the resolute expression on Jin-Woo’s face, his own expression quickly changed as well.
“Are you… being serious?”
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
“This is something only I can do. Please, leave it to me.”
***
Jin-Woo took a long sweeping look at the corpses of ants strewn about from one end of the land all the way to the other side. And he looked below his feet where Beru, no, the ant king’s corpse was resting quietly.
It hadn’t been that long since he had seen his loyal soldier, but Jin-Woo yearned to hear Beru’s voice busily calling out to his king again. So, he quickly shouted out towards the ants.
“Rise up.”
When he did, Shadow Soldiers rose up from the shadows of every single ant he could see. Beru was among them, too.
“Oh, my king….”
Jin-Woo took in the sight of several thousand ants kneeling all around him and slowly nodded his head. A brand new army was here.
The new Shadow Army, starting from the most perfect state imaginable, swore their loyalty to their new master.
However…
After talking to his new soldiers, he became sure of it.
“….Let’s stop this.”
Even though a new Shadow Army had been created, there was this gaping hole in his heart that didn’t want to fill back up.
Beru looked up with worry, but Jin-Woo knew that even that expression and emotion were all a lie. And that was why his heart ached even more so as he looked at his soldiers.
Thick veins popped up in his throat as he loudly yelled out.
“I know all of this is just an illusion! Why don’t you stop this charade and reveal yourself?!”
This illusion was incredibly life-like. Because of that, there had been some moments that he dearly wished for this thing to be his true reality. However, there was no hiding the emptiness in his heart that seemed to grow larger and larger the longer he spent inside this illusion.
That was why….
“Hurry up!!”
Jin-Woo loudly roared into the empty sky above, before finally realising that a change had taken place – that time had frozen still.
The gazes of every single ant soldier and their raised heads were directed towards him. For a moment there, he felt goosebumps break out on his skin from receiving all those mechanical stares.
It was then.
Below his feet, the Sovereign’s Territory, a jet-black shadow rapidly spread out. Everything touched by that shadow all vanished without exception. Beru, the soldiers, corpses, the ground, the sea, and finally, even the sky itself.
Soon, the entire ‘world’ became submerged in shadow. No, everything simply transformed into darkness, instead.
Only then did a weighty, heavy voice come at him from a place within this darkness.
[As long as you want, you can live in this world for all eternity. It will be the same as you never waking from the most wonderful dream.]
Jin-Woo searched for the voice coming from an unknown direction and made his reply.
“Are you telling me to stay trapped within this illusion you have created?”
[No. I did not create this world. You are responsible for its creation.]
“I created this world?”
Jin-Woo was about to reply with “Nonsense!” but sensed something approach him. It was his rear.
He quickly spun around. Sure enough, someone was walking closer from within the impenetrable darkness.
This figure was kitted out in this exquisite black armour that no other Shadow Soldier could even hope to match. And he also emitted an utterly shocking amount of pressure that no other living being Jin-Woo ever met possessed.
He found it hard to open his mouth when he came face to face with this figure. This being spoke to him.
[This world was created when your desire to fix all the mistakes you’ve made so far was added to my own power. This place is the world of death. Meaning, this is my true territory.]
Jin-Woo finally realised then.
He finally realised that this dark world he was standing in had been gently and invitingly embracing him all this time.
‘So, this is the eternal rest, is it….’
Death.
If so, the man who claimed this world on the other side of consciousness as his territory had to be….
Jin-Woo wanted to hear the answer straight from the man’s mouth and asked the question.
“And you must be….?”
The man in the black armour slowly walked closer to Jin-Woo.
[I have been watching you for far longer than you can imagine. You, who had always been striding close to death, yet always had been resisting bitterly against it.]
‘You’ve been…. watching me?’
Eventually, the man stood right before Jin-Woo and stared with those black eyes that seemed to suck everything in.
[I am the record of your bitter struggle. I am the evidence of your resistance. I am the reward of your pain. I am death, I am eternal rest, and I am also ‘terror’.]
Every word he spoke reverberated weightily within Jin-Woo’s soul.
All those memories of him struggling hard to survive despite his weakness fleeted in and out of his mind like a revolving lantern, and made his heart palpitate faster.
The figure reached down and grabbed Jin-Woo’s hand and placed it on his own armoured chest.
That’s when Jin-Woo’s eyes widened in shock. He could definitely feel ‘it’ beyond the thick metal armour plate.
How could he not recognise it?
How could he not recognise the vigorous pounding of the heart that he always got to hear by concentrating just a little bit harder?
How could he not recognise the sounds of his second heart, the one where he had no clue where it was beating from?
It was the Black Heart.
The Black Heart was powerfully beating within this armoured figure’s chest.
[I am….]
The figure quietly finished his words.
[….You.]
Chapter 219
The words of ‘I am you’.
Since he had been exposed to the Black Heart, Jin-Woo could understand the meaning behind those words.
He looked to his right.
Suddenly, a massive tree the size of several dozen skyscrapers bound together rose up to pierce the heavens above.
He looked to the other side next.
When his head turned to the left, a maglev train suddenly emerged from the distant darkness and shot past his position in the blink of an eye. These two appeared out of nowhere simply because Jin-Woo wished to see them.
In other words, something was created from nothing.
[That’s right.]
The Shadow Sovereign addressed him.
[Within my territory, you can do anything you want.]
“Because you and I possess the same power?”
The Shadow Sovereign nodded his head. His gaze shifted over to the giant tree Jin-Woo created. In an instant, the tree’s size decreased and changed to a single little flower commonly seen everywhere.
Although this power to create and change worlds was limited to the Shadow Sovereign’s territory, Jin-Woo still ended up letting out a sigh of admiration.
This omnipotent power had become his now. Jin-Woo briefly closed his eyes before opening them up, and that prompted a field of flowers to bloom before his feet and spread out in all directions.
It was the same type of flower as the one the Shadow Sovereign created by changing the tree.
Was this the result of the excellent Perception, or because he was connected to the Shadow Sovereign? Jin-Woo could sense the Sovereign feeling satisfied while looking at the field of flowers.
The Sovereign shifted his gaze over to his human counterpart.
[I have been looking forward to this moment, this meeting with you, for a very long time.]
The Shadow Sovereign officially introduced himself.
[I am the Shadow Sovereign. I am the King of the Dead, ruler of death’s power, and an administrator of the deepest part of the darkness.]
Awesome, dignified presence oozed out from the Sovereign. However, Jin-Woo didn’t feel scared even though true death capable of reducing any living being into a shuddering mess was right before him.
This being was him. He felt his emotions soar higher after meeting another version of himself.
Finally.
Finally, he could ask that one question stuck in his head, not wanting to let him go ever since the System became a part of his life.
“Why…. was I chosen?”
Why did the System choose him as the ‘Player’? Was it because he managed to survive the dual dungeon that day?
No, it couldn’t have been. He believed that there had to be another reason. And this was the moment that his question might get an answer.
[I shall show you.]
The Shadow Sovereign slowly extended his hand towards Jin-Woo’s forehead. The moment that forefinger touched him, the entire world changed.
[This is our beginning and the end. And also, your beginning.]
***
Would there ever have been a moment in history that so many people in so many countries screamed out at the same time?
In that cruel moment when the monster’s dagger penetrated Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s chest, people held their heads or screamed their lungs out. What came to visit them after the screaming was silence as heavy as blocks of steel.
Grief-stricken gasps escaped from the lips of everyone watching Hunter Seong Jin-Woo powerlessly crumble to the ground.
“Ah…”
First, it was the Special Authority-rank Hunter, Thomas Andre. And now, even Seong Jin-Woo had fallen.
If so, who else was left?
There was no one.
Knowing full well that there was no one else left to stop these monsters, the expressions of people began hardening like stone.
And then, a short while later.
– Uh? Wha-what’s going on here? Uh? Uhhh??
Shortly after the cameraman cried out in panic, even the transmission got cut off.
The super-massive Gate floating above the skies of Seoul, and then, the monsters that appeared out of nowhere to continuously murder the top-ranked Hunters in the world. The viewers around the world couldn’t erase the thoughts of ‘Are we seeing the advent of the world’s end?’ out of their minds.
In the midst of all the shock and panic, people couldn’t move away from the front of their screens even though the transmission had been cut off for a long time now.
***
The filming helicopter, now frozen solid and smoke pouring out from the side, crashed back to earth. The Sovereign of Frost withdrew its hand, having successfully destroyed the annoying flying contraption.
Its gaze shifted over to Jin-Woo next. The creature’s ice-covered lips bobbed up and down to announce Jin-Woo’s status.
[His life has come to an end.]
The eyes and the ears of the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs confirmed the death of his prey. It could not sense any hint of life from the subject at all.
They managed to succeed in stopping one of the most powerful kings from turning into an unwelcome variable in their plan. Their eyes were now swimming in the ecstasy of victory.
However, this wasn’t the end of their work. Not yet.
The two Sovereigns raised their heads and their glares simultaneously locked onto Thomas Andre, currently evacuated a good distance away.
Lennart Niermann flinched nastily after sensing their gaze.
“D*mn it….”
He had to prepare himself to lose his life just from trying to fend off one beast-like humanoid creature, but now, there was an Ice Elf on a similar level as the beast to contend with, too….
‘How did Hunter Seong Jin-Woo manage to fight against them….?’
His heart rate got faster and faster. The thing was, he was the only Hunter capable of buying even a second of time against those two monsters.
Lennart took a deep breath.
“Hey, man…. Hunter Seong’s presence vanished just now. Can’t you tell me what’s going on?”
Thomas Andre, his wounds not even half-healed yet, threw out a question.
Lennart forced his unwilling lips to part.
“He’s….”
It was then.
The two Sovereigns walking leisurely over in Lennart’s direction simultaneously looked behind them.
[…..!!]
[…..!!]
Something impossible happened, just then. From the body of the human whose heart was confirmed to be destroyed, they could hear vigorous, pounding heartbeats.
But, how?
How could such a thing be possible?
The two Sovereigns exchanged disbelieving gazes with each other. And then, the absolute worst possibility entered their heads next. They had been overlooking this crucial fact until now.
[Can it be….?]
These two thought that, by killing the human host, they would also get to extinguish the Shadow Sovereign within, too. Just like how they themselves would die after taking over their hosts.
However, their opponent this time was the King of the Dead. There was no guarantee that death, supposed to treat everyone equally regardless of who, would be applied to him in the same manner.
The end of one could also become the beginning for someone else.
[No…! We can’t let this happen!!]
They had to stop this at all costs.
They had to stop the descent of the true king via this fake death.
Their expression turned utterly pale before they reacted almost instinctively. Two Sovereigns instantly closed the distance to Jin-Woo and reached out with their long claws and ice spear.
In order to completely destroy the body that’d act as the tool of the King’s descent, they poured in their entire magical energy into their weapons.
Unfortunately….
A figure hidden in ‘Stealth’ lightly landed on the ground before them and his shortswords blocked the claws and the ice spear quite ably.
The Shadow Sovereign hadn’t regained his consciousness yet. In that case, who could this being be?
[…..??]
The two Sovereigns couldn’t hide their shock and fluster after their desperate attacks were defended against.
The owner of the shortswords undid his Stealth and finally revealed himself. It was a figure cloaked in a hood. A pair of eyes gleaming in pure golden light were glaring at the Sovereigns from below the hood.
“From here on, none shall touch this child.”
***
In another world.
Light and darkness existed in an age where nothing else yet existed.
The Absolute Being split the light and created the Emissaries of God. As for the darkness, it was split to create eight Sovereigns.
Heeding the command issued during their birth, the Sovereigns born to destroy worlds and the Emissaries born to maintain the worlds began killing each other’s soldiers over and over again.
At the end of the lengthy war.
Fatigued by the constant and unending war, the most bright Fragment of the Brilliant Light asked the Absolute Being.
‘Oh, our Absolute Ruler.
Why does thee not aid thy most faithful subjects fighting in thy honour?
Why does thee ignore thy subjects’ pain?
Doth thee really not hear the screams of countless soldiers dying for thy honour?
Aid us.
Lend us the strength to extinguish our opponents. We shall cut off their heads and offer them as the tribute to thy glory.’
However, the Absolute Being didn’t reply back to the Fragment.
It was at that moment the Fragments came to a realisation. And that would be the truth of the battle between themselves and the Sovereigns being nothing more than a form of entertainment to the Absolute Being. And that their Ruler didn’t wish for the battles to end.
Now knowing that the war would never end as long as the Absolute Being continued to exist, the Fragments fell into despair. The despair they felt transformed into rage, and rage soon morphed into hatred.
To end this meaningless war, they unsheathed their blades.
It was the start of the rebellion.
Jin-Woo witnessed the endless march of the soldiers spanning the cosmos itself.
“Oh, my god….”
However, a group of soldiers suddenly appeared from the distance and blocked the march. The Shadow Sovereign next to Jin-Woo pointed at the Fragment of the Brilliant Light with six wings, standing in front of the blocking group.
[That was the me of the distant past.]
He was the sole Emissary of God who stood up against the rebellion of the other Emissaries. In the end, though, the pitiful number of soldiers he led powerlessly fell before the united armies of the Emissaries.
The Fragment of the Brilliant Light never lost his absolute loyalty until the end. He died watching his brave subordinates get swept away by their enemies.
He thought that this was the end.
But when he reopened his eyes within the embrace of the darkness, he came to realise that the Absolute Being had hidden a certain power inside of him.
For that eventuality when everything went wrong, the Absolute Being had hidden a truly fiendish power capable of ending everything, inside its most loyal slave.
And so, floating within this endless abyss of darkness, the Sovereign of Death had finally opened his eyes towards his power. He tore off the remaining traces of his wings, all burnt away from the battle, and crafted brand new armour out of the surrounding darkness.
[ARISE-!!]
Souls sleeping within this abyss heard the call and swore eternal allegiance to their new king.
He led his brand new army and made his return. But when he finally came back, everything was already over.
The remaining Fragments of Brilliant Light had killed the Absolute Being and called themselves the new gods, thus assuming the position of the ‘Rulers’. And using various tools containing the might of the Absolute Being, they hunted down the Sovereigns.
When the King of Giants, the Sovereign of the Beginning, Reghia, was captured, the balance between the two sides collapsed and the remaining Sovereigns realised the severity of the situation.
It was at that moment that the Shadow Sovereign extended his hands to them. To combat their common enemy, every existing Sovereign combined their forces.
And in this manner, the war between seven ‘Rulers’ and nine ‘Sovereigns’ continued on, forever.
The longer this war continued on, however, the greater the army of the Shadow Sovereign grew. Time was on his side.
Thanks to his brilliant achievements, it seemed as if the victors of this long, long war would be the Sovereigns.
However, it wasn’t only the Rulers fearing the might of the Shadow Army that had grown, unbeknownst to all, to equal the Army of Destruction led by the King of Berserk Dragons.
Two Sovereigns feared the Shadow Sovereign. The Two of them were the Sovereign of White Flames and the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs. They aimed for the back of the former Emissary just as the war was drawing to a close.𝗻𝗼𝘷𝑒𝘭𝗯𝓲𝒏.𝓃𝑒𝒕
It was at this point that Jin-Woo got to witness again the scenes he saw within the ‘saved data’ back in the dual dungeon. The armies of demons and beasts joined hands with the armies of the Rulers and pounced on the Shadow Sovereign and his army.
And that resulted in him being driven to near-annihilation.
But then, the King of Beasts, the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs ran away to save its own life, while forsaking its own soldiers. Meanwhile, the King of Demons, the Sovereign of White Flames, Baran, had to pay the ultimate price.
The words Jin-Woo couldn’t understand; when he heard the words of the dying Baran, his eyes shook around really hard back then.
And then, above his head – four angels with six wings slowly descended from the sky. That was where the video playback of the ‘data’ Jin-Woo watched came to an end.
The four Rulers soon surrounded the Shadow Sovereign, who no longer possessed enough strength to command his own Shadow Army. The Sovereign must’ve figured out what the inevitable result of this fight would be and discarded his sword to the ground.
But, if those Rulers had killed the Shadow Sovereign back then, how could the existence of this Shadow Sovereign even be explained?
Jin-Woo swallowed his dry saliva and paid even closer attention, to what could possibly be the end of the Shadow Sovereign.
But then….
The Rulers began kneeling before the Shadow Sovereign one by one. And a short while later, the six-winged angel kneeling in front raised his voice.
[Please, it’s time that you forgive us, oh, greatest Fragment of Brilliant Light.]
Chapter 220
The Rulers were asking for forgiveness from the Shadow Sovereign.
They occupied an overwhelmingly advantageous position. As long as they willed it, they could have sent the Shadow Sovereign back to the empty void, yet they wished to make up with him, instead.
This was their own way of showing their respect towards a comrade, born together at the same time, as well as the greatest warrior who once stood at the forefront with his Army of Brilliant Light, in the war against the powers of the Sovereigns.
Although the Shadow Sovereign was never their leader, his comrades nevertheless respected him greatly.
And that was why they ignored the command from their leader, the ‘brightest Fragment of Brilliant Light’, to get rid of the Sovereign and instead chose to kneel before him.
[We no longer have any reason to fight each other.]
The enraged voice of the Shadow Sovereign resounded throughout the land next.
[What do you mean, there’s no reason??!]
The Sovereign reached down and grabbed the collar of the Ruler asking for forgiveness and yanked him up by force.
[Have you not harmed my liege with your swords and spears?!]
[He was our master as well.]
[That is precisely why your crimes are even more heinous!]
The Rulers maintained a courteous attitude, even towards the enraged Shadow Sovereign.
[You know better than anyone what we felt in our hearts when we raised our banners of rebellion against our master.]
The Shadow Sovereign raised his head and discovered that the silver-clad winged soldiers had gathered around them before he had noticed it, and they were looking in his direction with worried expressions etched on their faces.
These were truly loyal soldiers.
How could he not know what they felt, watching their comrades die at the hands of their enemies? It was him who led these soldiers in countless battlefields and shed blood in honour of their master, after all.
[We only wished to end this war. That was all.]
The Sovereign’s grip holding onto the Ruler’s collars loosened just a tad.
[And finally, we have the opportunity to do so.]
[That’s right. You can finally end this war.]
The Shadow Sovereign let go of the Ruler, picked up his discarded sword, and made the angel grip the weapon’s hilt.
[Strike me down with this sword.]
And then, he looked at the other Rulers and shouted out.
[Pierce my heart with your spears! That is the end that you so desperately seek! With this act, you shall finally become the victor of this war!]
But, the sword powerlessly fell from the Ruler’s grasp and clattered noisily onto the ground. No one else tried to push forward their spears against the Shadow Sovereign. Only the pleading voice came back his way.
[Please, find it in your heart to forgive us.]
Unfortunately, their earnest plea struck the Shadow Sovereign more painfully than any weapon known to man.
After he lost his subordinates, after he lost his master, and after he himself was trapped within the darkness, the only thing that motivated him to carry on were the thoughts of revenge.
The desire for vengeance helped him to endure until now.
He had led the army of the dead with the singular thought of making these Rulers pay for their transgressions.
But now, how could he continue to hate those asking for his forgiveness in order to save their own soldiers from this endless cycle of warfare?
After all, both he, fighting to protect his master, and these Rulers, who fought to keep their subordinates alive, were victims of fate’s cruelty, were they not?
The truth, that these kneeling angels weren’t his detestable enemies, but comrades who went through hell together, began tearing at his heart mercilessly now.
With that, the sole reason for his existence gone, the Shadow Sovereign cried out towards the others as if he was vomiting blood.
[Come! Kill me!]
Everything shall end here.
He’d rather return to the embrace of the void and rest for eternity while forgetting everything that had happened.
[Hurry!]
None of the Rulers moved an inch.
No, they remained kneeling on the ground, their heads pressed to the floor, just like how it was from the beginning.
The Shadow Sovereign raised his head up next.
That prompted all the silver-clad soldiers in the air, still remembering the greatest warrior ever to grace the heavens, to place their fists where their hearts were and lower their heads.
[…….]
Although they had to fight against him because of the differing ideals, they still hadn’t forgotten about their admiration towards him in their hearts and consequently, they paid their utmost respect.
The number of such soldiers utterly dominated the entire sky. And when all of them lowered their heads, the Shadow Sovereign stopped silently watching them and turned around to leave.
The Sovereign of Death left the scene just like that, and afterwards, he completely vanished without a trace. Meanwhile, the combined forces of the Sovereigns, now that their own armies had been greatly depleted by the internal conflict of the three Sovereigns, met with a resounding defeat at the hands of the Rulers.
The defeated remnants escaped to the crack between dimensions with their remaining forces. Jin-Woo watched the Sovereigns and their defeated army escaping through the enormous Gate and became utterly dumbstruck.
‘The scale of the defeated remnants were that big….?!’
He couldn’t even begin to imagine just how many soldiers from both sides had to be sacrificed for the sake of the Absolute Being’s entertainment.
He kind of understood where these Rulers were coming from when they rebelled against their master’s rule.
But, it was then.
The Shadow Sovereign that secluded himself from the worldly affairs, appeared before the other Sovereigns again.
When the Shadow Sovereign and the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs ran into each other, others became extremely tense that another violent clash might take place, but due to the intervention from the Dragon Emperor, the feared event didn’t come to pass.
[Now is the time to replenish our depleted forces. I understand the history between you two, but I shan’t allow a fight to take place.]
The Dragon Emperor then accepted the Shadow Sovereign back to their fold once more with open arms.
Jin-Woo swallowed his nervous saliva as he watched the Dragon Emperor in humanoid form. He was aware of the fact that the figure before his eyes was nothing more than a fragment of the Shadow Sovereign’s memories, but still….
‘So, this guy is the King of Berserk Dragons, the Sovereign of Destruction….’
The insane level of power oozing out from nothing more than just a glare even made Jin-Woo’s teeth clatter.
Having evacuated to the crack between dimensions, the Sovereigns avoided the Rulers’ detection and searched for a new world where they would nurture their army again.
Countless galaxies and planets flew past Jin-Woo’s eyes. And eventually, the footage came to a stop right before a certain planet.
He unconsciously let out a gasp.
“Ah…..”
It was a beautiful blue planet shining all alone within the darkness of space. It was Earth.
Through their concerted efforts over a long period of time, the Sovereigns succeeded in tunnelling a portal from the crack between dimensions, to Earth that existed in another dimension.
And thanks to the entrance of unprecedented enemies, mankind couldn’t avoid the fate of being annihilated.
Jin-Woo’s expression hardened as he watched the cities get reduced to smouldering rubble, as first seen inside the ‘Demon’s Castle’ instant dungeon.
“Is this what will happen in the future?”
[No. This is a record of the past.]
Jin-Woo’s eyes quaked powerfully from that unexpected answer. But, his shock could linger around only for a short while. Because the Shadow Sovereign continued on with his explanation.
[The Rulers belatedly detected the movements of the Sovereigns and sent their armies, but by then, everything had already come to an end.]
If the purpose of the Sovereigns was to destroy, then the role of the Rulers was to maintain the worlds.
Naturally, the Rulers grew angry at the fact that the thugs of the Chaos World they failed to eradicate the last time managed to bring down yet another world.
In order to right the wrong, they resorted to activating a certain tool of God that they themselves had prohibited from use.
The tool of God was called ‘Chalice of Rebirth’ – an item they made sure to steal first as their top priority from God’s storage, just before they started their rebellion. It was an incredible item that could reverse time by around ten Earth years.
‘Ten years?!’
Jin-Woo’s eyes shot wide open.
Could this be pure coincidence that the number of years matched the time when Gates began generating out of thin air, and Hunters appeared to stop them?
[It is as you suspect.]
The Rulers did their best to rescue other worlds, but Earth was simply too fragile to host the battles between themselves and the Sovereigns. This planet with no magical energy couldn’t endure against the mass-scale battles.
Didn’t matter who won in the end between the Rulers or the Sovereigns, the result waiting for this planet remained the same. After going through several cycles of war and the destruction of the planet, the Rulers came to a drastic decision.
If saving everyone was impossible, then make sure that some would still survive and continue the life on this planet.
“If so, does that mean….?!”
[Gates are the process to create humans that would survive the collision of two forces. That’s how much the Rulers wanted to guard humanity.]
Only then did Jin-Woo finally realise it.
He realised the reason why these Rulers stayed behind the scenes and quietly let the process take place without getting in touch with humanity, even if they knew that there was a calamity coming.
‘Humans capable of surviving in the changed world are…..’
If humanity learned that everyone in the world would die soon with the sole exception of the small number of people referred to as Hunters, would the human societies be able to function properly ever again?
No, hang on. Jin-Woo inwardly shook his head.
He finally heard the reasons for the Gates and the Hunters after this lengthy tale. However, the one thing he really wanted to hear about, he still hadn’t heard the answer yet.
As if he had read Jin-Woo’s mind, the Shadow Sovereign gestured with his hands and the surroundings changed completely again.
[The higher existences, such as Rulers and Sovereigns, are able to perceive the change in the flow of time created by the tool of God.]
Even if they couldn’t do anything about it, said the Sovereign afterwards.
While the Rulers busily tried to fix their mistakes several times, the Sovereigns also began modifying their plan continuously, as well.
….Until the tool of God couldn’t be used anymore.
“Hold up…. Are you telling me that there’s a limit to this ‘Chalice of Rebirth’?”
[There are no such things as infinite power. Just as the Absolute Being capable of creating the universe was eliminated by his own creations, no power lasts forever.]
There was a hint of this tangible bitterness in his voice and that prompted Jin-Woo to turn his head towards the Shadow Sovereign before he had time to even notice it.
“I’m asking you because it was brought up first, but, how can creations kill the creator?”
[It is not too different from you dying at the wiles of the machines you have created.]
That sounded logical. Even if machines were created for the sake of humanity’s convenience, they could still harm humans depending on how they were utilised. It was a similar sort of reason as to why humans feared artificial intelligence they themselves had created.
[We were created to fight, and our powers were more than enough to bring down our own master.]
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
Soon, the figures of several familiar Sovereigns appeared around Jin-Woo and the Shadow Sovereign.
[The Sovereigns had a ‘light-bulb’ moment from the methods employed by the Rulers.]
And that would be to copy the method of the Rulers, that lent the portions of their powers to various humans and had them kill monsters, in order to spread magic energy throughout the planet. Sovereigns would also ‘borrow’ the bodies of human hosts to descend on the world and bring their armies far earlier than what the Rulers had been expecting.
[They plan to use the magical energy spread around the planet by the Rulers and turn the entirety of Earth into one large trap.]
“To devour the Rulers’ armies coming to aid humanity in one go….”
[That’s right.]
For a Sovereign possessing incredible power to cross over into this world, it needed a host body.
Sovereigns searched for and found suitable hosts for themselves one by one.
However, only the two, the Sovereign of Destruction and the Shadow Sovereign, the possessors of two indescribably enormous powers, couldn’t find human hosts with a physique that could handle their powers.
[It was around that time when the greatest wizard, working under one of the Kings, came to me with an offer. He said that he’d find me a suitable human host.]
The ‘Architect’. This wizard, referred to as the Architect by the Sovereigns, promised to aid the Shadow Sovereign’s descent to this world for the price of turning him into a true immortal.
Since he was already somewhat interested in the ongoings of the human world, the Shadow Sovereign agreed to this offer. Unfortunately, no human alive could handle the power of ‘death’.
[The human with high sensitivity towards magic energy. The human with an overwhelmingly superior physical condition. The human with amazing mental faculty. All of them couldn’t handle my power and either became mentally crippled or died.]
No living lifeform could become a vessel for death itself.
The contract with a Sovereign – this act possessed a meaning on a whole different realm compared to other types of promises. Obviously, the Architect became rather anxious as time ticked by.
While the Architect was sweating buckets trying to locate suitable candidates, the Shadow Sovereign actually went ahead and found himself a potential host first.
“…”
Jin-Woo raised his head.
As if there were hundreds of monitors displaying all sorts of varied and colourful images of him, his past self doing various things appeared in all directions.
[I saw you. You, who always accompanies death so closely yet still desperately escapes from its grasp every time.]
He had been working as a Hunter for four years.
Jin-Woo was ranked E. Not only that, at the bottom of the lowest rank, too. Yet, despite experiencing the life-threatening dangers of dungeons every day, he didn’t stop entering them. It was all for the sake of his mother and his little sister.
He sacrificed himself for his family and desperately struggled on. The records of the past four years were all preserved in their entirety within the Shadow Sovereign’s memories.
[The Architect opposed it, but I still chose you.]
The Shadow Sovereign was now pointing at Jin-Woo, and seeing that unwavering finger, he felt his heart race faster and faster.
The Sovereign did say it before, didn’t he?
– I am the record of your bitter struggle. I am the evidence of your resistance. I am the reward of your pain.
Those words weren’t describing Jin-Woo’s life after he had become a ‘Player’. No, it was about his life before he got to enjoy the benefit of the System. Every one of those words rang weightily within his chest once more.
[The anxious Architect agreed to carry out my wish, and in the end, he lured you into his grand plan.]
The dual dungeon, the test of his survival, and then, the ‘Player’.
All of these were part of the plan of the Architect to create a suitable vessel for the Shadow Sovereign.
[As your world continued to repeat itself, the Architect got to observe humans closely. And he created a system based on what humans enjoyed playing and were also good at, in order for you to adapt to my great powers.]
What humans enjoyed playing and were also good at, he said.
Jin-Woo knew right away what that thing was as soon as he heard the Sovereign. It was none other than video games.
Here was the reason why the System designed to manage the ‘Player’ possessed such a similar layout to a video game.
And Jin-Woo was the lone successful case among all the test subjects.
[The System the Architect created by borrowing my power slowly changed your physique step-by-step to better suit me.]
“But then, you betrayed the Architect, didn’t you?”
Jin-Woo recalled the sight of the angel statue jumping up and down in fury while busily crying out that the other Sovereigns had been deceived back inside the second dual dungeon.
The puzzling thing was, why did the Shadow Sovereign deceive the one he was in contract with, and choose Jin-Woo, instead?
He simply had to ask for clarification here.
“But, why?”
[……]
For the first time ever, the Shadow Sovereign hesitated. He looked to be agonising over something, and Jin-Woo didn’t press him for an immediate answer.
Eventually, the Sovereign opened his mouth again.
[Because… I wanted to.]
Compared to how lengthy his deliberation was, that answer was way too simple. Strangely enough, Jin-Woo couldn’t hold back his chuckle, though.
[Perhaps, I enjoyed the time I spent with you far too much and didn’t want to lose ‘you’.]
Rather than erasing Jin-Woo’s ego and taking over his body, the Shadow Sovereign had chosen to assimilate with him, instead. Meaning, he chose to become a part of him.
And the end result was….
The Sovereign slowly raised his hands and grasped the sides of the helm covering his head, lifting it up slowly. And, as the face hidden beneath it was finally revealed, Jin-Woo’s eyes gradually widened.
‘….!!’
It was his own face.
The Shadow Sovereign possessed the exact same face as him.
But, was that all?
Jin-Woo’s gaze dropped back down to himself only to discover that the surrounding darkness had wrapped around him to form new armour.
The appearance of the armour was exactly the same as that of the Shadow Sovereign. It was as if they were looking at their mirror reflections and they continued to gaze at each other.
[I have become you, and you have become me.]
‘I am you.’
That was the undeniable truth, with not an ounce of falsehood within.
[It won’t matter who gets to control our body, whether it’s me or you.]
Because… they were the same person now.𝕟𝗼𝘷𝑒𝐥𝙗𝔦𝗻.𝗻ℯ𝚝
[And that is why… I shall give you the opportunity. Now, choose.]
The Shadow Sovereign raised his left hand and all those faces Jin-Woo missed seeing appeared one after another.
[You can enjoy eternal rest inside this beautiful dream you have created within the territory of death.]
First, it was the face of the gently-laughing Association President Goh Gun-Hui, followed by his young-looking mother well before she collapsed from the illness. And finally, even the scene of his much younger self that existed within the time now long forgotten, drew up in the darkened surroundings.
[However, if you don’t want that….]
The Shadow Sovereign lowered his left hand raised the right one, instead. In an instant, all those faces disappeared, only to be replaced by a humongous Dragon flying in from the darkened sky high above. And then, an army entirely consisting of countless Dragons following after it to incinerate every city they could find.
[….You shall return to reality and fight them.]
Jin-Woo stared at the Army of Destruction led by the Dragon Emperor with a hardened face before making his reply.
No, he asked a question, instead.
“Why did you run away to another world with the other Sovereigns when you had no desire to fight against the Rulers?”
[Because… there was no place for me to remain anymore.]
The Shadow Sovereign was a Ruler and at the same time, a Sovereign. And he couldn’t find the place he could call home with either group. That was why he chose to wander in other worlds he was not originally a part of, hoping to find his place.
Hearing the Sovereign’s answer, Jin-Woo finally made his decision.
“My answer is the same.”
An imperceptible smile had already floated up on the Sovereign’s face even before Jin-Woo made his reply.
“This is not where I belong.”
[….Very good.]
The Shadow Sovereign nodded, saying, [That’s why I chose you.]
“Does this mean I won’t ever get to see you again?”
[I shall be taking my eternal rest. And as the new Shadow Sovereign, you shall live an eternal life. Surely, there won’t be a reason why we have to meet again.]
Despite saying those words, there was the look of a relieved man on the Sovereign’s face. Finally, the time of rest had come after an eternity of waiting.
Jin-Woo watched the Sovereign genuinely feeling happy for himself and bade his last goodbye.
“I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity.”
[…….]
For a brief moment there, a look of wistful longing brushed past the Sovereign’s expression before disappearing altogether.
[With your death, your powers have become complete. As for how to return, its….]
Jin-Woo stopped him there.
“I know.”
Because… I am you.
A smile floated up on the Shadow Sovereign’s face as the time of departure drew near. After a long, long journey, he had reached a place he could rest now.
The Sovereign addressed Jin-Woo.
[This is our farewell.]
He took a step back and wordlessly stared at Jin-Woo nodding his head.
Two words that would allow him to be reborn as the perfect Shadow Sovereign left his lips in a low, hushed voice.
“Rise up.”
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