Chapter 231
The Director of America’s Hunter Bureau, David Brennan, was about to go insane with frustration at the moment.
“What did the Korean Hunter’s Association say??”
“They haven’t made any official announcements yet, sir.”
“Then, what the hell are you here for?!”
“….S-sir?”
But, didn’t the director summon him into the office? The subordinate could only stand there and blink his eyes. The director’s irritation shot up to the top of his head and he loudly yelled out.
“Aren’t you supposed to get a reply from the Korean Association President, even if you resort to wringing his neck?! Isn’t that your godd*mn job?!”
“I, I’m sorry, sir!”
“Get the hell out of here and find out what the f*ck is going on! Right now!!”
The director chased the Chief of the Intelligence Department out of his office, but, as if his anger hadn’t cooled down at all, he continued to seethe for a long time.
The super-massive Gate, judged to be much bigger than the one that appeared in Seoul’s skies, had shown up in Canada, an allied nation that shared a border with the United States of America.
It’d not take much time for the flames of destruction spreading from Canada to reach American soil.
In the best possible scenario that he could think of, this Gate crisis would also end in a similar fashion to the one in Seoul’s sky. And if the monsters Hunter Seong Jin-Woo commanded fell out from there, then that would be even better.
‘However, the real problem is….’
The one holding all the answers, Hunter Seong himself, as well as the Korean Hunter’s Association, had been keeping mum until now.
Three hours passed by since the super-massive Gates appeared in various parts of the world. Meanwhile, the American government was demanding an answer from the Hunter Bureau.
‘To think, one of the greatest intelligence agencies in America, the Hunter Bureau, has no choice but wait for a reply from the Korean Hunter’s Association….’
Just who’d have imagined that such a thing could happen? No wonder the director was anxiously jumping up and down on his spot.
Beep.
The director continued to spew out one sigh after another before noticing that there was a bleeping light on the phone. He snatched the receiver up and barked at it.
“What is it?!”
– “Sir, Mister President is looking for you.”
“Tell him I’m not here.”
– “B-but, sir??”
SLAM!
The director slammed the receiver down as if he was throwing it away and dazedly stared at the ceiling. But then, the Chief of the Intelligence Department, the guy he just chased out, breathlessly rushed back inside the office.
“Director!”
“How dare you crawl back into my office already!!”
The director yanked the receiver up in order to throw it, prompting the chief to quickly raise his arms up.
“T-the Korean Hunter’s Association has sent us a communique!”
Almost instantly, the director’s expression did a 180, with a bright smile now etched on his face.
“You see!! All you had to do was just do it!”
The director put the receiver down and approached the chief.
“Okay, so. What did they say?”
“Ah, well, the thing is…. They said that, if we want to learn more about the super-massive Gates, we should go to Korea right away.”
“…”
Both the director and the Chief of the Intelligence Department wordlessly stared at each other. They remained standing face to face like that for a bit.
Finally managing to grasp hold of the thin thread of his reasoning, the director muttered out a question.
“Who? Who should go there?”
“They say it doesn’t matter, as long as it’s a representative designated by the government.”
“…..”
At that moment…
Beeeep.
The director noticed yet another light blinking on his phone and picked the receiver up.
– “Director, if you keep avoiding Mister President’s call….”
Click.
He quickly put the receiver down and addressed the Chief of the Intelligence Department with a determined expression.
“Tell them I’ll be there.”
“Sir?”
Since the chief seemed to be confused by something, the director began enunciating every single word so his subordinate could understand him just a bit better.
“I. Will. Go. To. Korea. As. America’s. Representative!”
***
Representatives from every country that received the summons issued by the Korean Hunter’s Association quickly climbed aboard the waiting planes.
What an astonishing change this was.
Less than two years ago, Korea’s overall Hunter strength was so pathetic that they even lost a newbie rank S Hunter to America. But now, they were summoning the leaders of the world to their doorsteps.
No, only a year ago, they couldn’t even take care of the dungeon break on their own territory, Jeju Island, and became a laughing stock in Japan.
But then, with the entrance of a Hunter who had far surpassed the classifications of upper, top, elite, or whatever, and stepped into the ranks of transcendence, everything changed.
The man who made every monster pouring out from one of the super-massive Gates obey him; if it was that man, then he might be able to explain the identity of these super-massive Gates covering up the skies all over the globe.
With that, understanding what happened a few days ago would also come about naturally as well.
The keys to everything were held by just one person. The problem here was, they couldn’t use force or concessions to coax the keys out from their opponent this time.
Just who would be able to use force to make him talk, for instance?
Even if you could do something about his individual combat power that defeated a Special Authority-rank Hunter, there was the small matter of a hundred thousand-plus summons right behind him waiting for their turn.
It was an impossible task, in other words.
That was why bigshots perfectly suited for representing their countries such as presidents, prime ministers, premiers, ministers, directors of Hunter-related government bodies, as well as leaders of various Hunter’s Associations, were making a move after the Korean Association requested them to come.
“Has there been anyone else informing us of their intentions to come?”
“No, sir. It’s still 152 countries, as reported in the morning’s briefing, sir.”
“Okay.”
The Association President Woo Jin-Cheol was personally going through every single report detailing the progress of the situation. The emergency response conference hall outfitted for the raid of the super-massive Gate was coming in handy even now.
“Sir, the representative from Hungary has just touched down in the airport.”
“Who’s coming from Hungary?”
“Their President, Yadessi Arnor, has personally come, sir.”
“D*mn….”
When an important dignitary from overseas came for a visit, a person holding a similar office was supposed to go out to welcome him. That was the established etiquette.
Unfortunately, the Hunter’s Association simply lacked the leeway to mind such etiquette every single time at this moment. Association President Woo Jin-Cheol formed a rueful expression for a little while before issuing new orders.
“Guide him to a suitable hotel.”
“Yes, sir.”
The Association employee replied crisply and was about to turn around to leave, but then, it felt as if he was hesitating about something else. So, Woo Jin-Cheol stopped poring over the documents to raise his head again.
“Mm? Is there something else?”
“Uhm….”
The employee deliberated for a bit more before he summoned up enough courage.
“Sir, what did you hear from Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim yesterday inside the President’s office? I’ve never seen you so pale before, you see.”
The thing was, this employee got to realise for the first time that a person’s complexion could pale to that extent after looking at Woo Jin-Cheol’s face yesterday.
Just what sort of a conversation did they share? The employee simply couldn’t forget that look on his boss’s face for the whole night, so, although he knew he was being impolite, he still had to ask and satisfy his curiosity now.
Sure enough, Woo Jin-Cheol’s expression hardened like a rock.
“S-sir, forgive me. I asked you something unnecessary…..”
“No, it’s not that. I am not feeling unhappy about you asking me.”
It was just that, he ended up recalling the scenes that unfolded from Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s fingertip, that was all.
The army of frenzied Dragons rushing out from the other side of darkness. And then, a truly humongous Dragon following after them.
It was so huge, in fact, it seemed to move so slowly as if time had come to a standstill, even though it was flying at a similar sort of speed compared to the rest of the Dragon army.
It possessed an incredible aura that not even the combined might of every single Hunter in the world attacking together at the same time could even scratch. And then, that overwhelming pressure it emitted, something that might easily burn away everything in the world with merely a single breath. That creature possessed both of those.
Simply looking at it made him dizzy.
He didn’t want to ever face that thing, regardless of the level of power he could gain, regardless of the promised reward at the end waiting for him.
‘I can’t do it….’
Because of that, he respected Hunter Seong Jin-Woo even more as the latter wasn’t planning to run away but rather, stay and fight, even though he knew that such creatures existed.
‘Wait, now that I think about it, what is Hunter Seong Jin-Woo doing right now?’
There was still some time left before the representatives of the various nations would arrive.
Woo Jin-Cheol suddenly became curious as to how Jin-Woo would spend his downtime, so he called out to the employee turning around to leave his office.
“Oh, by the way. Do you know where Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim is at the moment?”
“Currently, we believe that he’s resting within his family home, sir.”
***
“Ta-da!”
Jin-Woo placed the pot of piping-hot kimchi stew he cooked himself on top of the dining table. Jin-Ah’s expression brightened in an instant.
“Wow, smells so good!”
On the other hand, mom looked rather apologetic for letting her busy son cook her food like this.
“I should’ve done this, you know….”
Jin-Woo grinned and replied in an unhurried manner.
“I just wanted to show you the cooking skills I got to polish in the last couple of years, Mom.”
Jin-Woo pleaded and persuaded her, and finally managed to wrestle the control of the kitchen away from his mom. This was his ambitious end result.
Swept up by her son’s continuous encouragement that she should have a taste, his mother smiled and picked up her spoon.
“Fuu-.”
She carefully blew on the hot stew and placed a spoonful inside her mouth. Her eyes opened into a round shape almost right away. Jin-Ah began boisterously yapping on from her side.
“Mom, how was it? It’s really good, right?”
“Oh my goodness.”
Seeing how his mom looked surprised, Jin-Woo couldn’t help but strut around a bit.
“I also didn’t know that oppa had a talent in cooking, you know? Mom, try this one, too. Oppa is really good at making side dishes.”
While his sister was relentlessly praising his cooking skills while even forgetting to wipe the bits of rice off her lips, Jin-Woo noticed that his mother’s expression was slowly changing for some reason and carefully asked her.
“Mother?”
She gently set her spoon aside and asked back.
“Jin-Woo…. Isn’t there something I should be worried about?”
Jin-Woo did his very best to maintain a bright expression and played dumb.
“What do you mean by that, Mom?”
“Your dad, he used to prepare meals for me whenever he was planning to participate in dangerous missions, you see.”
“….”
Her son had never done something like this, even when he was about to head to Japan in order to deal with those Giant monsters, or even when that gigantic Gate opened up in Seoul. But now that he did, his mom began to get worried all of a sudden.
A woman’s intuition – no, it was more to do with a mother’s intuition, instead.
‘Like father, like son, is it. I even resemble him in things like this, too….’
Jin-Woo very briefly spat out his complaint that wasn’t really a complaint in his head and shook his head towards his mother.
“There’s no such thing, Mom.”
Whether she wanted to remain as a source of strength for her son as he tried to force a smile on his face, or maybe she really bought his excuse, it was hard to tell. But still, she smiled in reply and picked up her spoon again.
Jin-Ah had been observing the conversation between her oppa and her mom while lightly biting the end of her spoon, before breaking out into a grin herself and resuming her meal.
Around the time the meal was coming to an end…
[My liege.]
….He heard Bellion’s voice.
[As you have commanded, soldiers are now in position.]
‘Got it.’
As if he was waiting for this chance, Beru also raised his voice.
[Oh, my king. The lodging specifically prepared for you has been completed as well.]
‘…..Sure thing. Thanks.’
He didn’t ask it to be built, in the first place, though.
Jin-Woo finished receiving the reports from his Marshals and slowly got up from his seat.
“Thanks for the meal.”
But then, his hands reaching down to pick up the empty plates came to an abrupt halt after sensing the noises coming from the outside.
‘Footsteps of four people….’
He could also hear their hearts racing wildly from excitement, too. Although such categorisation didn’t mean anything to him, all four of them were not Hunters but regular people.
‘What could this be?’
Surely, there wouldn’t be any insane robber wanting to attack the house of a rank S Hunter, now would there?
Also, the entrance of the apartment building was being guarded by the agents from the Monitoring Division due to the consideration from the Association President Woo Jin-Cheol, so no reporters could come up here, either.
Jin-Woo couldn’t figure it out, and soon, his ears were greeted by the sounds of the doorbell.
Ding-dong.
“Let me answer that.”
He quickly dissuaded his mother from getting up and headed over to the front door.
Clunk.
The first thing he saw after opening the door was three well-built young men kitted out in black suits as if they were from some intelligence agency or some such.
‘Doesn’t look like they are from the Hunter Bureau, though….’
Jin-Woo scanned their attire briefly before calmly asking them.
“Can I help you with something?”
When he did, the trio of well-built young men stepped aside and another man standing behind them slowly moved to the front.
“Seong Hunter-nim… I apologise for coming to see you unannounced like this. But, can I speak to you in private for a little while?”
Jin-Woo recognised who it was and his voice rose up a little.
“…..Chairman Yu Myung-Hwan?”
Chapter 232
His heightened emotion was all-too-clear to see on Chairman Yu’s face.
Regardless of what he wanted to say, it shouldn’t be discussed here. Jin-Woo remembered his mom and little sister, and took a quick look towards the dining table, before shifting his gaze back to Chairman Yu.
“…”
The older man was anxiously waiting for Jin-Woo’s reply. After a short deliberation, the latter’s lips finally parted open.
“If it’s somewhere private to quietly talk, then, well….”
Chairman Yu’s expression brightened and a genuine smile quickly formed on his face.
“Allow me to guide you to such a place. Shall we get going, then?”
Jin-Woo went back inside the apartment and told his mom that he’d be out for a bit, put on his coat, and made his way down to the lobby of the building while being accompanied by Chairman Yu and his entourage.
And as expected, the front entrance of the building was occupied by the reporters that had set up a camp there. Most likely, the three well-built young men were Chairman Yu’s bodyguards here to overcome the wall of the reporters.
As for those said reporters, they were far too busy shouting out angrily while pushing and shoving against the Monitoring Division’s Hunters protecting the entrance.
“What the hell?? How can this make sense? It’s fine for the Chairman of Yujin Construction, but we aren’t allowed to go inside?!”
“He’s a guest coming to visit Hunter Seong Jin-Woo? Why can’t reporters be guests, too?! We’re also guests from now on!! We’re guests!!”
“Aaah, is that so? The biggest financial supporter of the Hunter’s Association is okay, but reporters are not, is that it?!”
The reporters crazily pushed and shoved forwards as if they were planning to stampede past the wall of humans were it not for them being Hunters and not regular people.
“Step aside!!”
Things were so bad that the Hunters of the Monitoring Division looked rather pitiable right now.
“Didn’t Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim announce that he won’t do any interviews?!”
“Hey, over there! Step back!!”
“If you wish to visit Hunter-nim’s residence, you must go and obtain a permit from the Association first!!”
Since they were up against regular people, they couldn’t resort to using their real strengths, so the agents from the Monitoring Division could only sweat profusely under the current circumstances. Jin-Woo studied them with sympathetic eyes and eventually, extended his hands out.
“Uh, uh-uh??”
The reporters began floating up into the air.
“S-save me!”
This time, forget about ten centimetres, Jin-Woo lifted the reporters ten metres up in the air. When he stepped outside the entrance, Hunters quickly bowed their heads to welcome him.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim!”
“Hunter-nim!”
Compared to these Hunters who didn’t get too surprised by what was happening – as if they were familiar with this whole thing already – the eyes of Chairman Yu and his three bodyguards went extra round from the sheer unbridled shock.
“O-oh, my god….”
The businessman’s gaze was fixed to the reporter helplessly flailing in the air. He could see their complexion paling greatly, too. For the first time ever, Chairman Yu felt sorry for these people, even though he often times felt sick and tired of dealing with them in the past.
The person in charge of this batch of the Monitoring Division’s agents walked over to Jin-Woo and although there was a troubled expression on his face, his lips began forming a smile, as well.
“Hunter-nim… If you keep doing this, it’s going to come and bite us in the rear later.”
“Well, they were getting a bit too noisy to be left alone, you see.”
“Haha.”
The reporters were continuously shouting something out, but even before anyone had noticed it, a barrier made out of magical energy was surrounding them to cut off all sounds made by their mouths.
The person in charge looked up at them for a little while, before asking Jin-Woo.
“How long will you keep them up there this time?”
“I’m thinking about something like five minutes, so that they can cool their heads up there.”
The Hunters from the Monitoring Division burst out in laughter after hearing his declaration to rewrite the existing record.
Wahahahah-!
“Hey! Hush!”
The person in charge did his best to suppress his own laughter and chided his subordinates before replying politely back to Jin-Woo.
“I pray that you make sure no reporters are harmed today.”
“You don’t have to worry about that.”
It’s been a while since he had become a master in ‘Ruler’s Authority’, or the technique to move Mana to influence an object. Even if he wasn’t here, the Mana would safely lower the reporters at a later time.
‘Nothing I can do about them feeling a bit sick, though…’
However, not only did they try to barge into his home even though his private details were being protected, they even tried to raise a huge ruckus as well, so this level of a warning shouldn’t pose a problem at all.
Screech.
Soon, the waiting limousine Chairman Yu brought along came to a stop before them, and both him and Jin-Woo climbed into the back seat.
The vehicle smoothly glided forward and headed off to Chairman Yu’s private residence.
***
Chairman Yu guided Jin-Woo to the drawing room of his mansion, which should probably be the quietest place they could talk in. They settled down on the couches while facing each other.
“I’d like not to be interrupted during my chat with Seong Hunter-nim.”
“Understood, Chairman.”
After he sent away everyone near their vicinity, Jin-Woo broke the ice first.
“How did you find out?”
There shouldn’t have been any evidence of him helping Chairman Yu out. So, where could he have made a mistake? As Jin-Woo stared with a curious gaze, Chairman Yu began telling him the truth of what happened.
“My daughter saw you leaving the hospital on that day.”
If it was Chairman Yu’s daughter, then….
‘Ah.’
Jin-Woo recalled Yu Jin-Ho’s older sister, the one he ran into in front of his Guild office. He thought that she looked kinda familiar back then. But to think, she was the same person as the one he walked past in front of the hospital that Chairman Yu Myung-Hwan had been admitted to.
Realising that the actions he thought were watertight had been undone by a simple coincidence, Jin-Woo could only form a helpless smile.
At the same time, Chairman Yu was carefully studying Jin-Woo’s expression, and after seeing that smile, he felt greatly relieved.
‘What a relief.’
Even if the deed was done out of goodwill, Jin-Woo tried to hide it so Yu Myung-Hwan was inwardly worried that the young Hunter would get angry at him for exposing the secret like this. He wouldn’t even be able to look the other party in the eye if he somehow ended up displeasing his life’s saviour.
Thankfully, contrary to his worries, Jin-Woo didn’t look unhappy at all. Indeed, what a wonderful turn of events this was for Chairman Yu.
“As I expected, it was you, Seong Hunter-nim.”
“Yes, it was.”
Jin-Woo didn’t try to deny it.
The moment he heard the answer straight from the person, Chairman Yu’s eyes, locked onto Jin-Woo, shook about greatly.
Up until now, he lost count of just how many people had tried to get in his good books because they wanted something from him. Some of them didn’t even bother to put in any effort whatsoever and simply reached out, hoping to get a hand-out somehow.
But then, what about this young man before his eyes?
He saved a person’s life. No, he saved the life of the top executive of the biggest corporation in the country, yet he wasn’t asking for anything in return.
If Chairman Yu’s daughter didn’t see him and simply walked on by, he would never have found out how he recovered from that illness for the rest of his life.
Yu Myung-Hwan was famous for being a poker face, but just this once, his expression betrayed how emotionally moved he was.
“But, why….?”
He had to say something in order to suppress his overwhelming emotions.
“Why did you help me?”
Back then, even though the demand for a helping hand was made, accompanied by a huge financial incentive, Jin-Woo simply rejected it while saying that he didn’t possess such powers.
So, what made him change his mind, then?
Yu Myung-Hwan brought Jin-Woo here pretty much to ask that one question, even at the risk of offending him.
Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump….
His heart was beating faster and faster as time went by; every passing second felt as long as ten minutes before Jin-Woo chose to make his reply.
And that he finally did.
“I judged you to be a trustworthy person, that was why.”
“….!!”
At that rather unexpected answer, Chairman Yu’s brows rose up higher.
“But…. What does that mean?”
“If you were the type of person who did whatever it takes to accomplish your goal, then I wouldn’t even have considered risking it for your sake.”
“By that, you mean…. Is it because I never tried to use my son, Jin-Ho?”
“That’s correct.”
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
As expected of the leader of a global corporation, Chairman Yu instantly figured out what Jin-Woo was trying to say here.
It was true that Yu Myung-Hwan did possess the one trump card that could have made Jin-Woo act. And that would be his son, the Vice-Chair of the Ah-Jin Guild – Yu Jin-Ho.
However, after his proposal was rejected, he didn’t obsessively cling on and cleanly backed away. Meaning, he believed in Jin-Woo’s words of not possessing the cure.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth – Jin-Woo religiously adhered to this principle so, to Yu Myung-Hwan who believed in him, he replied in kind as well.
Although, it did take a bit of time to figure out whether the businessman was worthy of his trust or not.
‘Still, I didn’t make a wrong decision.’
Jin-Woo formed a grin.
At the same time…
Drip….
A single teardrop trickled down Yu Myung-Hwan’s eye.
“I’m not sure how to express my gratitude to you.”
He quickly wiped the tear away with the back of his hand and stared at the young Hunter with a determined expression on his face.
“Please, allow me to repay this debt, even if it’s only half, no, half of that half. I beg of you.”
Only by doing this, the debt of gratitude he felt in his heart would lessen just a tad. Yu Myung-Hwan quickly carried on.
“Is there anything you’d like, Hunter-nim?”
“It’s not that I want something, but….”
Yu Myung-Hwan’s ears perked up right away. If Hunter Seong Jin-Woo wanted money or something else, he was planning to do everything in his power to make it happen.
However, Jin-Woo’s answer was a bit different to what Yu Myung-Hwan had been thinking of.
“If something ever happens to me…. Can you look after my mother and my sister?”
That was his reply after a short bout of hesitation.
To prepare for the worst-possible-case scenario that may or may not happen, Jin-Woo asked for the favour of his family being taken good care of. He may have already amassed enough money, but unfortunately, money wouldn’t be able to protect them from certain things.
Surely, Chairman Yu Myung-Hwan would prove to be a dependable buffer during those times.
“….Are you really okay with only that, Hunter-nim?”
“Yes, I am.”
It was difficult to imagine something untoward happening to Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, but since he decided to say yes to whatever demand the young man would make, Chairman Yu Myung-Hwan didn’t even hesitate and nodded his head right away.
“I give you my word.”
The lengthy conversation had come to an end here.
“Well, then….”
Jin-Woo tried to get up to leave.
Yu Myung-Hwan watched him and felt rueful about the fact that their conversation had come to an end. He then belatedly realised how much he liked this young man named Jin-Woo.
If Hunter Seong Jin-Woo could become a part of his family…..?
Never once did Yu Myung-Hwan entertain the idea of using his beloved daughter as a tool in an arranged marriage, but he still found himself asking the question anyway.
“By any chance, are you dating someone at the moment?”
If it was this young man, then he’d not feel short-changed by giving away Yu Jin-Hui – for the first time ever, Yu Myung-Hwan had met a young man who made him feel this way.
Too bad, though, Jin-Woo grinned brightly as his reply.
“Actually, there is someone I like.”
“Oh….”
It was then, Yu Myung-Hwan realised that he just asked a really embarrassing question and his face reddened visibly.
That was how impressive this young man was.
However, Chairman Yu wasn’t someone who’d obsess over things he couldn’t obtain. He soon raised his head back up and with a smile on his face, bade him goodbye.
“I shall pray that the promise I made today won’t ever come true in the future.”
Jin-Woo smiled in reply and stood up fully from his seat.
“I’ll do my best to make sure of that, too.”
***
Now that all of his Stat values had reached their maximum attainable limit, the only area left to improve was his ability to command his Shadow Army.
Jin-Woo returned to the entry prohibited area in Japan in order to get his final preparation ready.
The uninhabited sea of forest stretched on forever in his view.
Grand-Marshal Bellion had split the Shadow Army to three separate groups as per Jin-Woo’s instruction and assigned the commands of each to himself, Igrit, and Beru.
Jin-Woo nodded his head while looking at the three separate groups of his soldiers below the hill. He guessed from the aura emitted by the soldiers below that a great deal of thought had been given to creating the balance of strengths between the three groups.
The Grand-Marshal bowed his head after meeting Jin-Woo’s gaze. It seemed that this guy was also the perfectionist-type like Igrit.
On the other hand….
‘This guy….’
Jin-Woo turned around to take a gander at the so-called ‘lodging’ built on the summit of the hill.
“Beru, get over here. Now.”
Whoooosh-!!
Beru dashed forward from the bottom of the hill right up to the summit in the blink of an eye and knelt down before Jin-Woo.
“Oh, my king!”
“Head, floor.”
Even before those words finished coming out of his king’s mouth, Beru quickly rammed his head on the ground. Right away, Jin-Woo yelled out.
“How can you call this a small ‘shelter’? Am I supposed to take a break inside that?! Setting aside its size, is this even a shelter, to begin with?!”
“Kiiehhk….”
Beru cowered from Jin-Woo’s loud shouting and replied with the voice of a guy being wrongfully accused.
“For a lodging befitting my king, at the bare minimum, it must be….”
“…..”
Jin-Woo slowly massaged his forehead. He had completely overlooked the small fact that ants specialised in building ‘houses’.
Indeed, he should’ve seen just what the human-sized ants possessing greater physical strength than superhumans might end up creating in the name of a mere ‘house’.
He slowly raised his lowered face and ended up being overwhelmed by the dignified air of the so-called ‘small shelter’ once more.
A massively-tall fortress built out of white stone – so it could be spotted pretty easily from afar – stretched from this part of the land all the way to over there. It was also dizzyingly tall that, while trying to see where its roof was, his neck actually began aching instead from looking up for too long.
Jin-Woo’s head pulsed painfully again after witnessing the fruit of the ants’ unnecessary devotion. He didn’t even order them to do this, yet here they were.
He roughly massaged his temples before groaning out and asked another question.
“What about that black flag flapping around at the end of this castle…. That, just what were you thinking when putting that up there??”
It was then, Bellion hurriedly ran to where his master was and suddenly planted his head on the ground alongside Beru.
Boom!
Jin-Woo was rendered speechless for a while and alternated his dazed gaze between Bellion and Beru. He slowly turned around and shouted out.
“My soldiers! Now, commence with the combat drill!”
With that, the thunderous roars of the Shadow Soldiers powerfully reverberated throughout the land.
Waaaaaaaaaaahhhh-!!!
Chapter 233
One day. Two days. And then, three days.
It had been three days since the super-massive Gates revealed themselves to the world. Civil unrest quickly broke out in the countries with the Gates and their neighbouring nations, and they grew more violent with each passing day.
That was because none of these countries had come up with a viable response yet.
The enraged mob of citizens filed out onto the streets and went on violent demonstrations to force their governments to come up with a countermeasure.
Meanwhile, news stations emphasized the severity of the situation by continuously showing the alternating images of the demonstrators, growing in number every day, and the giant Gate floating silently high up in the sky.
– It has been over 75 hours since the phenomenon now referred to as the super-massive Gates have appeared in the sky. However, the government hasn’t….
– Over there! As you can see, the demonstrators carrying around the pickets that read ‘Answer us, Governments’ have…..
– The number of demonstrators is increasing with every passing day, and the worries are that this volatile atmosphere is at the breaking point….
This was a completely different spectacle compared to when the super-massive Gate first appeared in South Korea. The experts were quick to figure out why things unfolded differently there. The reason was pretty simple.
On one hand, the quick-witted response from the Korean Hunter’s Association had played a part. As soon as the Gate appeared, they summoned every single Hunter in the country to the capital city.
The other part had to do with the psychological sense of security felt by the Koreans from the fact that their country possessed the greatest Hunter alive that surpassed all Special Authority-rank Hunters.
One of the experts invited to speak in a specially-organised TV show said this in front of the camera.
“Hunter Seong Jin-Woo almost single-handedly took care of two rank S dungeon breaks. Ants and Giants – in a span of a single year, he pretty much resolved two of the most infamous incidents in history with his own hands.”
There was no need to even bring up the Giant-type monsters of Japan; the world’s attention was already boiling red-hot during the Jeju Island ant raid.
What more could be said on that subject when the TV station awarded with the exclusive broadcasting rights had reputedly earned revenue equalling the last three years’ profit in one go?
Nod, nod.
The emcee’s head nodded all by itself while the expert lightly tapped his temple with his index finger.
“And that’s why the Korean citizens naturally believe this in their minds. They believe that, regardless of the danger threatening them, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo will show up and deal with it.”
That was precisely the reason why, even after a super-massive Gate appeared on the skies of a capital city with over ten million souls living in it, people were able to remain relatively calm about it.
The expert emphasized until his throat was hoarse that the existence of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was an immeasurable blessing to the Republic of Korea and its people.
Unfortunately, it was obvious that not every nation on Earth would be blessed with such luck. The number of truly excellent Hunters was very low, and they were not spread out evenly, either.
Many nations within the territory of influence of those super-massive Gates possessed pretty lacklustre Hunter systems, so it was only obvious that the unrest would continue to grow larger.
It reached the point where people were demanding vociferously that more high-ranked Hunters should be hired at the cost of forking out higher taxes, even if it was just one more combatant being added to their defences.
Meanwhile, many governments could barely hide their shock when many wealthy folks, the very same ones that gnashed their teeth come tax collection season, pledged to support them financially.
And so, as the sense of impending crisis continued to heighten, the bigshots representing their respective nations gathered in the capital city of Korea, Seoul, to answer the request of the Korean Hunter’s Association.
What they wanted from this trip was just one thing. And that would be to find out the information regarding the eight super-massive Gates that appeared simultaneously all around the world.
Since the information was to be provided by Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, the man who managed to achieve a rather unbelievable result from the first super-massive Gate, their expectations were understandably huge.
“Whew-woo….”
A certain man spat out a hushed sigh. It was none other than the director of the Hunter’s Bureau, David Brennan, who had opted to travel to Korea after being harassed by his own president. He dabbed away the cold sweat soaking his forehead with a handkerchief and took a look at the faces of everyone sitting around him.
‘….So many of them came.’
Presidents, government ministers, Guild Masters, Chairpersons from various Hunter’s Associations…..
The director of the Hunter Bureau knew the faces of most of these people. They indeed were all bigshots that just their names alone would be enough to get them recognised by everyone in their respective nations.
While seeing the flashes of nervousness in their faces, the director wiped the sweat pooling at the edge of his chin.
‘Regardless of who it is, everyone’s feeling the heat, huh.’
They may all look calm and collected on the surface, but they also knew that inwardly, every single one of them here was anxiously stomping their feet. Well, even the director himself was feeling the same way, after all.
How wonderful would it be if Hunter Seong Jin-Woo stepped forward to say that “This Gate crisis should end painlessly and there’s nothing to worry about”?
If only he could deliver that message to the higher-ups; the POTUS busy pressuring him would instantly back off, then. It would be a wonderful opportunity to restore his damaged pride, in other words.
However, if the truth was completely the opposite, then….
The director felt his heart tumble to the pit of his stomach. He swallowed back his dry saliva and confirmed the time. His wristwatch was precisely pointing at 02:55.
Five minutes remained until the announcement time.
Tick, tock….
While listening to the ticking of the second hand that sounded unusually loud for some reason today, the director raised his stiff face.
***
Around the same time.
Having finished inspecting the Shadow Army just now, Jin-Woo asked Bellion next to him.
“What happens to the armies with no Sovereigns leading them?”
“Marshals of those armies will take over the command of the soldiers in place of the dead Sovereigns.”
He proceeded to add more explanation that the army of Giants was being led by its Marshal instead, after their king had been captured by the Rulers.
Jin-Woo nodded his head in understanding. A total of eight Gates appeared around the world. The phenomenon of Gates for Sovereign-less armies being generated could be explained now if the Marshals were commanding them.
It was then, another question abruptly popped up in Jin-Woo’s head.
“If I die, do you get to command the Shadow Army as its Grand-Marshal?”
Bellion shook his head.
[Our lives are tied to yours, my liege. If you pass on, we will also return to the void.]
As long as their master’s head was attached to the right place, not one soldier’s life would be extinguished – the strong point of the Shadow Army was the loyalty of its soldiers that moved only for the sake of their master while not even caring about their own lives.
But, if one were to flip that around, the moment their master was met with a serious problem, then the Shadow Army would be finished right then and there.
‘…….’
The pros and cons basically worked in the same manner as two sides of a coin. Depending on the situation, the good could become bad, while the weakness could become a strength, instead.
Surely, his enemies wouldn’t overlook that point, now would they? Didn’t that mean he could exploit that, too?
‘……’
Jin-Woo fell deeper into his thoughts, and a glint briefly flickered in his eyes. A different voice then addressed him from the other side.
“My liege.”
It was Igrit.
“We do not stand a chance in a full-scale war, my liege.”
A baritone voice filled with power and conviction, spoken in a low, deep tone. It’d been a while since he started conversing with Igrit, but Jin-Woo still hadn’t really gotten over that voice.
Seriously now, he was kitted out in that lightweight, agile-looking armour, so why did he have to possess such a manly voice??
According to Igrit, he was supposed to be the greatest knight ever in the history of humanoid creatures, before he got reborn through the powers of the previous Shadow Sovereign, so it wasn’t all that hard to understand where that ultra-high level of manliness in his voice came from, but still…
‘What am I supposed to do about this sense of disharmony….?’
Whether he knew about Jin-Woo’s predicament or not, Igrit continued to calmly speak of his concern.
“Unlike the former Shadow Sovereign, who grew doubtful about the battles against the Rulers and stopped shoring up his army, other Sovereigns didn’t hold back and continuously enhanced and increased the scale of their armies.”
“How big do you think is the difference in the combat force?”
This time, Bellion replied.
“We can not be certain, but it could be well over one hundred times larger.”
Only Beru had no way of knowing the scale of other armies, so he quietly listened to the conversation of his master and the other Marshals.
Jin-Woo’s expression stiffened.
Didn’t that mean, in the best-case scenario, his enemies possess over ten million soldiers?!
“Hundred times, huh….”
Jin-Woo mulled over the numbers before replying in a low voice.
“I never was planning for all-out, full-scale warfare, anyway.”
What he meant here was that he never entertained the idea of full-scale warfare while discarding the advantage of his army, where one could become ‘all’, or that ‘all’ could revert back to being one.
Even now, Jin-Woo’s mind was continuously picturing the battles taking place in the future. After a short bout of silence….
Brrr… Brrr….
Jin-Woo pulled out his smartphone vibrating noisily inside his pocket.
He answered the call, but even before he could say something, the familiar voice came out from the device’s speaker.
– “Hunter-nim? It’s me, Woo Jin-Cheol.”
“Ah, yes. Hello.”
– “As you have requested, representatives from various nations have gathered in the auditorium. Where are you now, Hunter-nim?”
Before answering that, Jin-Woo quietly looked behind him.
The hints of heavy fighting were everywhere; the ground that was horrifyingly torn up, gouged out, and blown to bits extended as far as his eyes could see. All those trees forming the green forest, the sea of trees, had evaporated without a trace.
This was the end product of the Shadow Army fighting a mock battle after splitting up into three groups. The earth fortified by Mana had been completely overturned from horrifying impact forces.
The Japanese Hunter’s Association was warned beforehand by Jin-Woo and so, they got to watch the destruction of the entry prohibited area through their spy satellite. All those watching, though, simply couldn’t hide their shock at the collision of enormous amounts of magical energy captured by their satellite.
The power they witnessed, that was the true strength of the Shadow Army. And Jin-Woo also got to witness that strength.
Through this experience, he got to accurately assess the depths of his army’s combat prowess. The end result was completely satisfactory.
Jin-Woo stopped looking behind and shifted his gaze back to his front. Over one hundred thousand soldiers were kneeling on the ground in front of Jin-Woo, waiting for their liege’s next command and not even moving a muscle.
When Jin-Woo’s reply didn’t arrive even after a long pause, the Association President Woo Jin-Cheol cautiously inquired over the phone.
– “….Hunter-nim?”
The corners of Jin-Woo’s lips arched up and he replied as matter-of-factly as he could.
“Ah, yes. I’ve just arrived there now.”
***
“You’ve arrived? But when….?”
Woo Jin-Cheol had ordered his subordinates to inform him the moment Jin-Woo arrived in the venue, so he had asked back in a puzzled voice while turning around. But at that very moment….
He got to discover Jin-Woo standing right behind him.
“Keok!”
Woo Jin-Cheol unwittingly spat out a surprised gasp and blinked his eyes for a moment there, before a helpless grin formed on his lips. He quietly pocketed his phone away.
“….I guess that question has lost much of its meaning now. You know, asking you where you are.”
Jin-Woo reciprocated that smile and shrugged his shoulders once as his reply.
Currently, they were standing inside the waiting room of the auditorium. Beyond that door, representatives from various countries filling up every available seat were waiting for Jin-Woo’s entrance with bated breaths.
Woo Jin-Cheol confirmed the current time. The clock on his phone’s screen informed him that there were still two minutes left until the announcement time. Meaning, there was a little bit of time left.
He felt this unexplainable sense of ease and raised his head.
“Hunter-nim, are you really planning to tell the truth to these people?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Once they learn of the truth, there could be huge unrest breaking out everywhere. And more than a few nations won’t be able to deal with such unrest.”
“I know that.”
That would be an obvious development. Even the Rulers knew that things would unfold this way and hid their intentions right until the end.
However, even if everything were to come to an end through the upcoming event, shouldn’t one know what’s happening to them, at least?
‘I mean, it’s one hell of an unfair thing not knowing what killed you, isn’t it?’
That’s why Jin-Woo decided to tell the truth to everyone. It wouldn’t only be him that might need time to prepare themselves in the heart, after all.
Seeing Jin-Woo’s determined expression, the Association President Woo Jin-Cheol could only nod his head.
“I see. If that’s what you’ve decided, then….”
Jin-Woo walked past Woo Jin-Cheol and approached the door leading to the auditorium, but then, the latter discovered something and hurriedly called out.
“Excuse me, Hunter-nim!”
‘….??’
Jin-Woo turned around with a confused expression, and Woo Jin-Cheol formed a sheepish expression as his reply and opened his mouth.
“There are quite a lot of reporters waiting for you outside.”
“….Oh.”
Jin-Woo looked at his current duds.
He had been staying in the entry prohibited area for the past few days to control his soldiers, so the state of his clothing was rather wretched at the moment.
‘What am I to do now….?’
The thing was, though, he didn’t want to make a big deal out of a simple matter like changing clothes by moving to another location, etc, etc.
But then, he couldn’t buy whatever outfit available in the Store anymore and change into that, as he had done in the past.
‘….Hang on a bit.’
Buy clothes from the Store?
With the System gone, he could no longer utilise the services of the Store, but the power that the System used to sustain itself belonged to the Shadow Sovereign, to begin with.
In that case, creating clothing and putting it on was, theoretically speaking at least, eminently possible for him. At that moment, Jin-Woo recalled the sole clothing type he should be able to create right now.
Shu-ahahk!
In the blink of an eye, the waiting room was suddenly filled up by the black smoke, and as if it was alive, it quickly enveloped Jin-Woo’s body.
“Heok?!”
Woo Jin-Cheol jumped up in fright and took several steps back in a hurry. As his brows shot up real high….
The black smoke had transformed into a set of jet-black armour on Jin-Woo.
“How about this?”
Now normally, Hunters always made sure to wear armour in order to protect themselves from the monsters and their preternatural powers.
When these extraordinary-looking equipment were added on top of a powerful Hunter like Jin-Woo, an overwhelming pressure seemed to automatically ooze out from him.
Woo Jin-Cheol was completely suppressed by this amazing aura and could barely move his lips to make his reply.
“It’s… it’s really something else.”
Jin-Woo formed a thin smile.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Jin-Woo turned back towards the door and slowly entered the auditorium. Almost in an instant, all unimportant noise disappeared within the venue.
‘Hunter Seong Jin-Woo….!!’
‘He’s finally here.’
The attention of every single one gathered here focused on one man standing on the rostrum, Jin-Woo. He took a sweeping look at their faces and calmly organised several thoughts currently crisscrossing inside his brain.
He was here to inform these folks on what was to come – about the arrival of eight great armies desiring the destruction of this world. Also, the fact that each and every one of these armies being made up of soldiers from the Chaos World, ones that humanity would find very difficult to fight against.
‘……’
They were waiting for the official announcement with those anxious expressions etched on their faces. After learning of the truth, though, what would their expressions change to next?
The tension tightening around their hearts was transmitted in full to Jin-Woo and his own expression darkened as a result.
“…”
Everyone held their breath and listened to his voice. The auditorium might have been quiet before, but now, it was even quieter than ever.
A short while later – Jin-Woo didn’t need the aid of a microphone and simply loaded Mana to his vocal cords to speak.
“I know that things will become incredibly difficult for everyone.”
His voice seemed to softly ripple within the eerily-silent auditorium.
Jin-Woo’s ears could pick up on the noises of representatives swallowing their dry saliva along with their violently pounding hearts.
Funnily enough, the louder their heartbeats became, the calmer Jin-Woo’s own heart got. The light shining in his eyes became more determined than before.
‘….Am I actually feeling calmer than before?’
From a certain moment on, Jin-Woo had completely regained his composure. He calmly addressed his audience with these closing words.
“However, no one alive will be able to avoid fighting the upcoming battle. Those creatures will appear before you, and they will try to destroy everything you hold dear.”
Chapter 234
How were they supposed to take this?
Once Jin-Woo’s lengthy explanation came to an end, an uncontrollable fluster floated up on the faces of representatives. Even the carefully-chosen contingent of reporters forgot their jobs and were too busy looking at each other’s reactions.
Noisy, noisy….
The auditorium that used to be draped in eerie silence was now filled up with loud chatter in an instant.
Eventually, someone unable to beat back his fear-filled curiosity and shouted at Jin-Woo.
“Y-you, you expect us to believe that story?!”
How could anyone believe the story of horrifying creatures capable of destroying everything on this land creeping every closer to this planet?
That voice of an elderly man was now filled with a palpable sense of desperation.
“Evidence…. Show me the evidence! Without that, I won’t ever believe you!!”
“T-that’s right!”
“Aren’t your claims far too absurd to be believable?!”
“Out of the blue, you tell us that hundreds of creatures similar to Kamish will show up, but how can that even make sense?!”
Humans, when facing a reality that they couldn’t deal with, would automatically resort to denying it or get angry as their defence mechanism. These representatives from various nations wilfully forgot about the many miracles Jin-Woo had shown them so far, and directed their furious words of denial towards him standing on the rostrum.
Too bad for them, just one swish of his hands was enough to silence them immediately.
“Heok!!”
“…..!!”
Dozens of Gates suddenly appeared right behind Jin-Woo.
Using the powers of the Sovereign, he generated several tens of Gates, which were basically a doorway connecting different dimensions.
‘I don’t need to create Gates since travelling through shadows is faster for me, but still….’
There should be nothing more efficient for making these people understand than this method. He could generate Gates the size of a person without breaking a sweat.
Jin-Woo stopped looking at the Gates and shifted his gaze to his audience.
Sure enough, not a single person out of the gathered representatives, reporters, and even the staff members of the Korean Hunter’s Association, who trusted in Jin-Woo’s words implicitly, could close their slack jaws shut, never mind averting their gazes elsewhere.
“Those…. Aren’t those all Gates?”
“B-b-but, how can such a thing even be….??”
‘Hunter Seong Jin-Woo can create Gates, and not only that, several of them at the same time in front of all these people?’
The eyes of everyone present began trembling powerfully, as if there was an earthquake happening right now.
The director of the Hunter Bureau, David Brennan, continued to rub his eyes in utter disbelief. He was someone who personally witnessed the Dragon ‘Kamish’ take its first step in this world as the dungeon break unfolded, but even then, he just couldn’t believe this.
‘As I thought, it’s working.’
Jin-Woo was satisfied by their reactions after witnessing the powers of the Sovereign and closed the Gates behind him.
As if what happened only a second ago had been a hallucination, every single Gate simply vanished without a trace, faster than the witnesses could blink.
‘Ah, no!!’
At the same time, a reporter was hit with a sensation of his heart tumbling to the pit of his stomach. He quickly asked the other reporters next to him.
“H-has anyone taken pictures of those Gates?? Doesn’t matter if it’s a camera or a phone, did anyone record that phenomenon??”
“….Ah!!!”
Reporters began despairing right there and then, some hugging their heads while some spat out painful groans. It happened too fast, and they were all too stunned out of their minds, so they had momentarily forgotten to take the visual proof of what happened here.
As if the unrest unfolding within the ranks of the reporters was the signal flare, voices of shock and fluster exploded out from all corners of the auditorium next.
Noisy, noisy….
Loud noises shaking one’s eardrums filled up this huge open interior. But, then…
“Hunter Seong Jin-Woo!!!!”
The British representative suddenly shot up from his seat and managed to attract everyone’s attention via his shrill cry.
“Could it be that you’re one of them?! The creatures that appeared from the first super-massive Gate, weren’t they summoned here to kill us all, to begin with?!”
His utterances caused pretty much everyone here to freeze up instantly. They unwittingly ended up imagining the worst possible situation, that was why.
A vague, formless fear of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo being on the enemy’s side began spreading among the hearts of these people like an infection. Well, didn’t he just display the power to create Gates that drove so many humans to their deaths and grips of terror right before their eyes?
“…..”
Jin-Woo wordlessly stared at the British representative for a while. Only then did the Briton finally realise the mistake he just made.
If Hunter Seong indeed was on humanity’s side, then this man sure made an a*s of himself due to his fear, but if the opposite turned out to be true, then didn’t that mean it’d be really difficult for him to keep his life now?
“Ah, uh, well…. Of course, I, uh, unreservedly believe in you, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim….”
The complexion of the British representative paled in an instant and the ends of his sentence progressively got smaller and smaller. Jin-Woo spat out a sigh as if he found this whole thing idiotic.
“Fuu.”
He did what he came here to do. Jin-Woo didn’t particularly feel the need to plead with these people, asking them to believe him.
“Whether you believe my words or not, whether you accept my words or not…. That’s your choice. I’ve finished saying my piece, so everyone, make up your own minds now.”
Reporters sensed that the announcement had come to an end, and that allowed them to finally free themselves from the stupefaction they were trapped in due to the continuous assault of one shock after another. Soon, camera flashes urgently exploded forth.
Click, click, click, click, click!!
Jin-Woo took one last sweeping look at the audience members and just as he was about to turn around….
….David Brennan, the director of the American Hunter Bureau, finally decided to break the silence he had been maintaining until then and raised his hand up high.
Jin-Woo recognised him, of course, since they met each other before. He pointed the American out.
“Director Brennan?”
With a hardened expression on his face, the director slowly stood up from his seat. There was no one present here who didn’t know the name of the leader of the Hunter Bureau, so almost immediately, another bout of silence descended on the auditorium.
“It’s been a while, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
He politely bowed his head, and Jin-Woo reciprocated that gesture with a bow of his own. The director continued on from there.
“I understand now what will come out those Gates.”
The hundred thousand-plus black monsters that poured out from the first super-massive Gate. Thankfully, they turned out to be the subordinates of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo who had ‘coincidentally’ inherited the powers of a Sovereign. And he immediately had them submit to him.
And now, today in this place, the truth about other creatures scheduled to make their entrance not being friends of humanity had been revealed in full. In that case, how was mankind supposed to respond to this?
The director tried to calm his shuddering heart and cautiously asked his question.
“What should we do next?”
Jin-Woo quietly studied the director for a little while, before slowly shifting his gaze to take in the faces of every single person present within the auditorium.
Through his eyes, he could feel their worries, anxiety, nervousness, fear, shock, confusion, etc. Indeed, his sensory perception that had far surpassed the limits of a human didn’t always prove to be helpful, especially in a situation like this one.
A short while later.
‘…….’
Jin-Woo made up his mind and gave them the best advice he could think of.
“I pray that you get as far away from those Gates as humanly possible. As far as you can. I hope that you evacuate to the furthest location you can find, even if it’s only by a little.”
***
The ripples caused by the information Jin-Woo provided were enormous.
It was none other than Jin-Woo who provided the info. A man who created an unbelievable spectacle with the first super-massive Gate and shocked the entire world, had provided them with this knowledge.
People heard the warning about the invasion of huge monster armies that humanity would never be able to fight against, and struck by fear, they began doing whatever they could to distance themselves as far away from the Gates as possible.
Every road was clogged up by evacuating vehicles. Every avenue was filled with ear-bleeding honkings of car horns.
Didn’t matter which newspaper one clapped their eyes on, Jin-Woo’s visage and the three accompanying words below dominated every single front page.
– Evacuate far away!
Those words were enough to mobilise the entire world.
The thing was, though, when the movement of people become huge in scale, it was only natural that the opposition to that movement would also gain following, as well.
It wasn’t as if everyone believed in Jin-Woo’s words. Especially so for someone like this Canadian Hunter named Jay Mills, who confidently declared his objections. Incidentally, Canada’s Gate was observed to be the largest of the eight super-massive Gates.
“Tell him that he can take his horsesh*t story and shove it.”
Invited to say his piece on a program on ‘Hunter Channel’, the Canadian Hunter began bad-mouthing Jin-Woo in front of the esteemed panel of experts sitting in the studio.
“If I knew Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s personal contact number, I’d have said the exact same thing, eh. If, by any chance, someone who knows him personally is watching this show, I want you to repeat what I just said here. Okay?”
The emcee quickly assumed the standard broadcaster’s smile in order to cool down the heated atmosphere.
“Whoa, there. Let’s all take a breather, first. Even still, Seong Hunter-nim is one of the very best Hunters in the world, isn’t he? Should we really ignore the warning issued by a Hunter of his calibre?”
Jay Mills’ Hunter ranking was only about 17th on the list. Even when considering the fact that he was a relative newbie who only started his Hunter career three years ago, there was no way he could be compared to Jin-Woo.
He himself already had acknowledged that difference of class between them. Regardless….
“Yes, of course, Seong Jin-Woo is an incredible Hunter. He possesses enough power to destroy Thomas Andre, and then, all those summoned creatures, too…. However, just because he’s an incredible man, that doesn’t mean everything he says is credible, am I right?”
“In that case, do you have any evidence that contradicts what Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim has said?”
Jay Mills smirked derisively.
“Oh? What about Seong Jin-Woo, then? What evidence does he have?”
While the emcee was left searching for a suitable response, Jay Mills stared straight into the camera and spoke up.
“This is what I think. Seong Jin-Woo was standing right in the front of the Seoul Gate, wasn’t he? And that’s why all those scary black things knelt down after seeing him standing there. If it was a different Hunter and not him, who knows if those monsters would have submitted to that person, instead?”
Veins began bulging on the Canadian Hunter’s neck as he raised his voice – as if he was addressing Jin-Woo who should be at home watching the program.
“Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, you may have scared other people away with your bullsh*t, but let me tell you this. You won’t get to monopolise all these Gates. Why? Because, I am not scared by you. Not even by a little bit.”
Beep.
The Association President Woo Jin-Cheol switched the TV off.
He quietly put the remote down and shifted his gaze over to where Jin-Woo currently sat.
“Hunters are gathering around Jay Mills in Canada as we speak. It seems that the nations possessing strong Hunter systems, such as India, are preparing for their own raids.”
Jin-Woo didn’t say anything and simply nodded his head.
The choice was theirs to make, to begin with. As for him, he now needed to focus on the upcoming battle against the rest of the Sovereigns.
“The United States government is keeping a close eye on your next move, Hunter-nim. No, hang on. I’m sure it’s not an exaggeration to say under the current circumstances that the entire world is watching your every move.”
Woo Jin-Cheol got their conversation going like that and cautiously steered the topic to what he wished to talk about.
“What will you do now, Hunter-nim?”
He worked really hard to control his pounding heart while observing for any change in Jin-Woo’s reaction.
‘I must not become a hindrance in Seong Hunter-nim’s decision-making process.’
Actually, he had hidden something from Jin-Woo just now.
And that would be the fact that SOS requests towards Jin-Woo had been flooding in from all corners of the globe. The truth was, the Association was finding it hard to function properly because of all the incoming calls right now.
Amidst of those, the Americans – who shared a border with Canada, which was an unfortunate event in this case – were desperately requesting for Jin-Woo’s aide, so much so that it even made outside observers feel pity for them.
The role of the Hunter’s Association was to help with Hunters so they could focus their whole beings in hunting down monsters.
Woo Jin-Cheol didn’t say anything so as to not go against the principle the late Association President Goh Gun-Hui always emphasized. He chose to wait for Jin-Woo’s decision, instead.
Too bad, Woo Jin-Cheol’s consideration as he anxiously waited for an answer had been betrayed somewhat, as Jin-Woo already made up his mind on what to do next a while ago.
‘It’s simply impossible to fight against all eight armies at once.’
In that case, he needed to get rid of the one that threatened South Korea first, where his family was staying. As for the remaining Sovereigns, he would deal with them later.
Because, the longer the fight dragged on, the better the odds of his victory would get, that was why.
‘First of all….’
Jin-Woo raised his head and spoke to Woo Jin-Cheol.
“I’ll be heading off to China.”
Chapter 235
[Hero of the Republic of Korea, we welcome you to China!]
[1.5 billion people send their gratitude! Thank you very much, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim!]
[For the continued and everlasting friendship between Korea and China!]
Large placards written in Korean – so Jin-Woo would be able to understand them – were hung up on various places of the airport.
Liu Zhigeng, here to welcome Jin-Woo personally, frowned somewhat while glaring at the placards plastered all over the place. There were so many of them here, he could hardly see an empty spot on the building itself.
It wasn’t as if he didn’t like the contents of those placards. Oh, no.
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo choosing China over other nations with super-massive Gates in their territories was, without a doubt, something to celebrate as far as the Chinese Hunter was concerned.
He was tasked with taking the lead in the fight against the monsters that would pour out from that massive Gate in the sky, so he felt a massive amount of gratitude to Hunter Seong Jin-Woo for being here.
His problem, though, was with the totally different attitudes his own countrymen showed him back then when he stepped up to aide South Korea. That was what pushed his annoyance level to a dangerous height.
Even now, the memories of those times still remained vividly in his head.
‘Don’t these people understand the concept of shame??’
All those fellow Chinese citizens who pointed at him and berated him for being a traitor, were currently busy praising and cheering Jin-Woo in one voice and one heart.
So, it was only obvious that Liu Zhigeng wouldn’t look at those placards plastered all over the airport in a favourable light.
‘If I hadn’t dragged our Hunters and made the trip down to Korea, would we even have the face to greet Hunter Seong Jin-Woo today….?’
Liu Zhigeng inwardly clicked his tongue and turned around towards the aeroplane touching down in the airport just beyond the window.
He could already tell. Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was riding in that plane.
The sole Seven Star-rank Hunter of China, Liu Zhigeng, felt a sensation chilly enough to make all the hair on his body stand up emanating from that plane. There could only be one person in the entire world who could pressure him to this degree.
Sure enough – the message of Jin-Woo finally arriving reached the ears of high-ranking government officials as well as executives of the Chinese Hunter’s Association waiting around. They hurriedly rose up from their chairs and began raising an almighty fuss.
‘This isn’t right…. Doing things this way is wrong.’
His already-displeased mood due to the placards had become even sourer after watching these people making noise like this. Weren’t they the same idiots who raised their voices and loudly opposed him when he said they needed to help the Koreans?
Indeed, these people would’ve done anything to stop him from going to Korea if he wasn’t the Seven Star-rank Hunter – if he wasn’t the one and only Liu Zhigeng.
It simply wouldn’t do for these pigs to welcome a warrior risking his life to fight for this land. Liu Zhigeng’s expression hardened, and he spoke to his personal gopher.
“Deliver this message to the premier. I’m cancelling this charade of a planned welcoming party, and I shall take full responsibility for greeting and guiding Hunter Seong.”
“Sir? B-but, these people are….”
The gopher took a look behind at all the important politicians and executives, his hesitation easy to see. Meanwhile, the folks in question overheard the conversation and began coughing uncomfortably to clear their throats.
Smirk.
Liu Zhigeng broke out in a smirk and stood before these people.
“I’d like you folks to disappear from my sight right this moment. Is there anyone here with a good reason why you can’t do that?”
These high-ranking politicians and executives from Hunter’s Association knew how crappy Liu Zhigeng’s personality was, so as soon as his words came to an end, not one person chose to remain and hurriedly escaped from the waiting area.
Liu Zhigeng scanned the now-empty waiting area in satisfaction and reverted his gaze back to the gopher.
“How about now?”
“Yes… Yes! I shall immediately send the word to the premier!”
While the gopher was hurriedly operating his phone, Liu Zhigeng walked over to the ‘Arrival’ gates where the travellers were now pouring into the airport.
“Over there! Hunter-nim has arrived!”
“Take his pictures!”
Click, click, click, click, click, click!!
Reporters, waiting the whole day in order to occupy the best position possible to snap their shots, spotted Jin-Woo in the distance and almost immediately, countless camera flashes went off simultaneously.
He was looking around his vicinity after feeling puzzled by the atmosphere of the airport which seemed slightly different from what he’d been told before arriving here.
‘Weird. Didn’t they tell me that close to a hundred government officials were here to greet me….?’
Not just him, but the accompanying Korean Hunter’s Association employee was also scratching his head in confusion. They were also getting rather greatly flustered too, since the Chinese Association’s employee that was supposed to guide them around was nowhere to be found, either.
But, with great timing, a familiar face walked over from the distance and a happy smile floated up on Jin-Woo’s lips.
“Liu Hunter-nim.”
“Seong Hunter-nim.”
As befitting the warriors getting ready for battle, these two shared short but manly handshake. The first person to ask his question was Jin-Woo.
“By the way…. What about the other people?”
Liu Zhigeng listened as the Association employee tasked with translation passionately did his job, and grinned brightly while replying to Jin-Woo’s inquiry.
“Ah, that. You see, Chinese people can be quite impatient at times. They couldn’t wait for that long and decided to go home, so I’m now tasked with guiding you around.”
For some reason, Jin-Woo began thinking that quite a hefty chunk of how that situation came about had been omitted here, but as he didn’t dislike Liu Zhigeng as a person, he decided not to pursue this issue anymore.
The Chinese Hunter felt relieved that Jin-Woo didn’t display any signs of displeasure, as well. He quickly assumed the role of guiding the group to the airport’s exit.
“It’s this way.”
They couldn’t take many steps, though, as Jin-Woo came to an abrupt halt first. That meant Liu Zhigeng had to stop, too.
A portion of that massive Gate covering the sky could be seen through the clear glass wall of the airport.
“So, that thing is….”
….The super-massive Gate appeared in China.
Jin-Woo stared at the Gate with a hardened expression, and Liu Zhigeng stood next to him with a solemn expression.
“I can’t deal with something like that alone.”
If it was something impossible for him, then there was no need to even mention other Chinese Hunters. That was why he felt so elated after hearing of the news of Jin-Woo’s decision to come here.
He wanted to express his gratitude to his Korean counterpart, even if only by a little bit. He pondered carefully about this issue, before speaking with a voice filled with his heartfelt sincerity.
“I can’t speak for the rest of China, but I, Liu Zhigeng, swear to never forget your help in this matter.”
***
As the hour of the Gate’s opening approached closer and closer, breaking news from the affected nations around the world continued to fly in.
[Hunter Seong Jin-Woo chooses China!]
[Both Japan and Russia decide to support Hunter Seong Jin-Woo….]
[Planes carrying Hunters scheduled to depart in the afternoon today….]
[On the other hand, the white-coloured fortress discovered near Japan’s sea of forest revealed to be unrelated to these Gates….]
[Finally, five hours before the dungeon break. Will Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s warning come true? Or….]
Jay Mills began swearing almost right away.
“Both Japan and Russia are way too busy flattering Seong Jin-Woo, eh.”
Why would those two countries try to help China? It was bleedingly obvious.
Weren’t they trying to get some brownie points with Seong Jin-Woo and ask for his help when they find themselves in grave danger later on?
How weak.
China, Japan, Russia – they were all too weak.
How could anyone call those people Hunters when they couldn’t even protect their mother nations with their own powers?
‘Compared to them, how great are we?’
Canadian Hunters had willingly gathered here in order to protect their land.
‘We did not waver in our convictions.’
The crap about getting as far away from the Gates couldn’t make these great Hunters of Canada waver and falter. Jay Mills proudly looked at tens of thousands of Hunters who had voluntarily gathered here to participate in the raid.
Waaaah-!
Their fighting spirit seemed to pierce into the heavens. Regular people standing quite a bit of distance away were also sharing these Hunter’s sentiments as well.
[We shall never give up on Canada!]
[Wanna run away? Not us!]
[Our Hunters will protect our land and our lives!]
Citizens carrying around pickets of all sizes and various colours were cheering on the Hunters.
Jay Mills stared up at the super-massive Gate floating high up above his head and became convinced of his victory.
‘Regardless of which monster shows up from there, we can win this!’
He felt really pumped up and, while turning around towards the other Hunters, he raised both of his fists up high. He was then greeted by a loud, energetic roar.
Waaaaaah-!!
***
The preparation on the Chinese side had been completed as well.
Just like how it had been like back in Seoul, a raid team consisting of several nationalities was surrounding the ground right below the Gate. The biggest portion of that force was made up of, as one would expect, the elite Chinese Hunters which numbered well over one hundred thousand.
As befitting a nation boasting the highest number of Hunters in the populace, the upper-ranked Hunters carefully selected for this raid alone numbered over a hundred thousand.
Jin-Woo had warned them before that monsters far too difficult for humans to fight against would fall out of the Gate in droves. However, looking at the headcount of over a hundred thousand Hunters gathered here, a certain thought of “Maybe, we might stand a chance here” began germinating within their heads.
As if to remind them that they were being far too optimistic, Jin-Woo summoned out his Shadow Soldiers.
‘Come out.’
The wide-open space behind Jin-Woo deliberately left unoccupied was instantly filled up by the 130,000-strong Shadow Army.
Guoooooh….
The nearby Hunters couldn’t even breathe properly from all the spooky aura oozing out from these summons. Cold sweat drops rapidly formed on the foreheads of the humans.
‘The gap between our strengths… It’s too much.’
‘Things like them are going to fall out from the sky? Right here?!’
‘No freaking way….’
This was an overwhelming fear.
The highly-enhanced sensory perceptions of these upper-ranked Hunters were warning them of the dangers posed by the beings that had appeared before them. Even Liu Zhigeng, who’d hardly get surprised by what life would throw at him by this point, gasped out in shock as well.
“All these things…. Are they all your summoned creatures, Seong Hunter-nim?”
Jin-Woo nodded his head. As their master, he could clearly sense the burning fighting spirit of his Shadow Soldiers finely honed like a sharp blade.
‘Nice.’
Jin-Woo looked up at the sky. There were only a few minutes remaining until that Gate opened up. He needed to achieve victory here and convert as many creatures of the Chaos World into his Shadow Soldiers and absorb them into his army.
That would be his first step in this war.
The noisy, bustling vicinity instantly became dead quiet with the entrance of the Shadow Army. They all could sense it – that the moment of bitter battle was just around the corner. The weighty nervousness began pressing down on the shoulders of the waiting Hunters.
Gulp.
Jin-Woo swallowed his dry saliva.
Out of the eight armies, which one would come out this Gate?
It was then.
“My liege.”
Bellion informed his master that the time had come and Jin-Woo replied in a low voice.
“I know.”
Liu Zhigeng witnessed Jin-Woo sharing a conversation with his summon as if it was the most natural thing in the world, and opened his eyes real wide in surprise.
“Hunter-nim, is it possible to converse with your summons….??”
It was at that point that Beru determined Liu Zhigeng had come, unnecessarily, too close to his liege and in the blink of an eye, blocked the Chinese Hunter’s path.
Growl.
An overwhelming killing intent leaked out from this ant-shaped soldier.
“Heok!!”
Liu Zhigeng flinched in nasty surprise and hurriedly distanced himself. Jin-Woo watched this scene unfold and unhappily smacked the back of the rather-agitated Beru’s head.
“Hey, he’s an ally.”
Beru bowed his head non-stop to his master and stepped aside. Jin-Woo apologised for his soldier instead.
“Sorry about that. He’s a bit on edge because of the upcoming battle, you see.”
“It’s… It’s fine.”
Right there and then, Liu Zhigeng decided to give up on trying to understand Jin-Woo using logic.
That was because he got a fairly strong premonition just now that he’d never be able to understand the Korean Hunter with his common sense.
It was then.
“It, it’s opening up!!”
Someone shouted out loudly. Everyone’s head snapped up towards the sky.
The light shining in Jin-Woo’s eyes transformed. Just as that unknown person had shouted out, the Gate’s gigantic mouth was slowly opening up. The choking tension began tightening the chests of everyone below the Gate.
However, even though the Gate was now fully open, nothing happened.
The one most surprised among the crowd was Jin-Woo. He focused his perception but discovered that there was not a single presence beyond the Gate itself.
Meaning, this particular Gate was empty.
‘What the hell?!’
A chill suddenly brushed past the back of Jin-Woo’s neck.
Could he have….?
Something he had overlooked until now; one certain possibility he hadn’t yet thought of abruptly entered his head. And the ominous foreboding gradually morphed into a certainty as time continued to tick by.
“Huh?”
Hunters also began realising that something was wrong here.
Liu Zhigeng turned to look at a Hunter charged with communication next to him and urgently asked his question.
“What about other locations?”
“It seems to be the same story with other locations. They say nothing has happened so far.”
“In that case, are all these Gates empty, to begin with?”
“That… uhm… I don’t….”
Liu Zhigeng’s head swivelled to the side again. His gaze stopped by at Jin-Woo. Unfortunately, the Korean Hunter’s expression had hardened to such a scary degree that he couldn’t even dare to ask for a clarification anymore.
Was he making that face because his prediction turned out to be incorrect?
No.
That emotion on display wasn’t as simple as that.
The one and only Liu Zhigeng couldn’t even dare to get close to Jin-Woo, simply because he felt greatly shaken up by the unrest bubbling within the latter’s emotions.
‘I… I made a mistake.’
Realising the error in his judgement, Jin-Woo bit his lower lip.
Why….
Just why did he treat the Sovereigns as simple creatures?
‘They should have anticipated that I’d try to utilise the advantages of my Shadow Army.’
If his thoughts were correct, then….
Jin-Woo raised his head, quickly walked past Liu Zhigeng, and asked the communication Hunter.
“What about Canada??”
“Pardon?”
Unable to hold back his agitation, Jin-Woo’s voice got louder.
“Tell me what’s going on in Canada!!”
***
Around the same time, the Gate also opened up in Canada as well.
Strangely enough, nothing happened here as well, just like with other locations. Hunters rousing up their fighting spirit for the upcoming raid tilted their heads and busy glanced at each other in confusion.
“What’s this?”
“But, weren’t the monsters supposed to rain down from there?”
“Did Seong Jin-Woo really bullsh*t us all?”
It was then.
Jay Mills discovered something strange in the distance and quickly shouted out towards other Hunters.
“Silence!”
Rather fitting for the strongest Hunter present today, his warning that carried a great deal of magical energy managed to shut the mouths of every Hunter here.
Now that the surroundings had become silent once more, Jay Mills began glaring at the Gate again.
As he suspected, he hadn’t seen it wrong. A certain humanoid figure was leisurely making its descent. That was the only thing that came out of the Gate so far.
‘No, hang on. It’s not a humanoid figure. It’s just a…. person?’
Jay reconfirmed the appearance of ‘something’ that lightly made its landing. He stopped other Hunters from rushing past him and he alone walked towards the landing spot.
Gulp.
He unknowingly swallowed his saliva after sensing this heavy tension in the air.
The closer he got, the better he was able to see his opponent. It was a middle-aged man with reddish-black hair and beard.
As for his attire, this man was kitted out in the most gorgeous metallic armour that boasted an arresting blend of silvery and reddish colours, extending from just below his neck right down to his toes.
Jay finally arrived there and stared at this unknown man.
[Are you the king of this place, then?]
Even though this mystery man didn’t open his mouth, his voice resounded out within Jay’s head. Naturally, he could understand the meaning of these words as if it was his mother tongue being spoken.
Jay’s heart began racing really fast now.
“I knew it! Yes! I knew sh*t would go down like this!!”
Here was the reason why Seong Jin-Woo could turn all those soldiers coming out of the first Gate into his pets. They had been in secret communication like this, that’s how!
“That d*mn lying con man, I knew it’d be like this! I bloody knew it!!”
Now that his prediction had come true, the inside of his head began filling up rapidly with sheer joy.
He failed to cool down his excitement and raised his fist up high towards other Hunters. They also raised their fists up and cheered on energetically.
Waaaah-!!
Jay turned around towards the mystery man again.
The latter was quietly waiting for an answer even then.
‘So, the process is, it asks the first person it sees if he’s a king, and if the answer is yes, it submits to him, is that it?’
It was unknown whether this mysterious man was a human or a monster. Jay Mills studied ‘him’ as the corners of his lips arched up.
“What if I am?”
Since he was the leader of all the Hunters gathered here, it’d not be an exaggeration to call him a ‘king’ now, would it?
His voice was filled with his strong self-confidence.
But then…
[It seems that b*stard isn’t here.]
When the mysterious man opened his closed his eyes, the irises of a lizard hungry for blood blinked ominously from within.
Chapter 236
“T-the situation in Canada is still….”
The Hunter in charge of communication stuttered like a broken clock. Jin-Woo, feeling genuinely frustrated now, pulled out his smartphone, instead.
There was only one person who could give him the most accurate information as quickly as possible. Jin-Woo searched through his contact list before tapping on the contact number of the Special Agent in charge of the Hunter Bureau’s Asia Branch, ‘Adam White’.
With the current timing being what it was, he was briefly worried whether his call would get through or not, but then…
– “Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim!”
A really tense voice came out from the phone’s speaker. There was no time to mouth a proper greeting, so he jumped straight to the main topic.
“Adam? Can you tell me what’s happening with the super-massive Gate in Canada….”
It was then – he heard a loud cheering of “Waaaah-!!” coming out from the phone’s speaker, as well.
Although it was a soft, almost inaudible background noise even his highly-developed hearing could barely catch, that was more than enough for him. Jin-Woo urgently asked over the phone, his expression harder than a stone now.
“Where are you right now??”
– “I’m at the location of Canada’s super-massive Gate to provide support, alongside other agents.”
“And why are you even there in the first place?!”
Jin-Woo’s voice cracked up from agitation, and that caused Adam to reply in a surprised voice, quite obviously failing to hide his fluster.
– “We simply couldn’t watch the events in Canada unfold as if it’s unrelated to us…. Not just myself, but many other agents are currently assigned to deal with this matter, and…”
Adam White then added that his current location was quite a distance away from where the Canadian Hunters were, so if something bad were to happen, he should be able to escape relatively easily.
Hearing that explanation, Jin-Woo was suddenly overcome with sheer frustration that couldn’t be described in words.
‘The things I’ve warned everyone of….’
None of these people seemed to have understood the scale of the enemy just yet.
However, Adam still being unscathed could mean that his prediction was wrong. Jin-Woo collected himself and calmly asked his next question.
“What about the Gate…? Has there been any changes yet?”
– “No. It seems that the inside was empty, just like every other Gates. It’s really quiet here in the location, actually.”
What a relief that was.
Even after taking into consideration the world pointing their fingers of ridicule and blame at him for his warning being false, he could still breathe a sigh of relief.
“Fuu…”
His prediction seemed to be wrong.
But, then this happened.
– “Uh? Please hold.”
After hearing Adam’s voice that sounded uneasy for some reason, a creeping dread travelled down Jin-Woo’s spine. Why did his ominous forebodings always have to come true?
Adam quickly explained the current situation.
– “Right now! Something is making its descent. Uh? Uh, uh? A person… A person is descending from the Gate!”
Jin-Woo’s heart that regained its calm a few seconds ago began racing faster and faster again.
‘Just one… person?’
All the hair on the back of his head stood up. Jin-Woo’s voice rose up really high.
“The hair colour!”
Adam said that his current location was quite far away from the Hunters. In that case, it’d be impossible for him to see the creepy eyes of that non-human creature.
“What is the hair colour of that person??”
– “H-hang on….”
Adam’s voice of borrowing special equipment from an agent nearby could be heard for a brief moment then.
– “Black and red colours are mixed together… It’s reddish black.”
Oh my god.
Jin-Woo’s eyes widened.
“Adam! Run away from there, now!! Doesn’t matter if it’s a car, whatever, get on it, and escape from there right now!!”
– “Pardon me??”
Before Adam could ask what was going on here…
KWA-BOOOOOM-!!!!
A loud explosion so horrifying that its brutality could be heard even through the phone’s speaker resounded out next.
– “Oh, dear lord!!”
Adam’s voice had transformed into a scream now.
“ADAM!!”
As if he had regained his wits for a brief moment there from Jin-Woo’s shout, Adam began muttering in a tearful voice.
– “H-Hunters….!! The top-ranked Hunters in the front row all got turned into charcoal in less than a second!! T-the flames burning on their bodies are still raging on!! Oh, my god!!”
“Adam! Adam, listen to me! It’s going to be alright, so start running now! You gotta escape from there as soon as possible!”
Jin-Woo tried to calm Adam down, but unfortunately, the American agent seemed half-crazed by then.
– “Oh, Jesus….”
Even though he began sobbing softly, he still explained everything he could see and hear to Jin-Woo as if doing that was his final duty.
– “Dragons, Dragons from the sky…. Dragons and other monsters are pouring down endlessly from the Gate!! All sorts of monsters mixed in the horde!! Ah, ah, how could something like this even be…..”
The emotions of sorrowful determination could be heard from his voice.
Jin-Woo couldn’t just sit back and listen anymore; despite the risk, he connected his senses with the Shadow Soldier inserted into Adam’s shadow.
When he did, he got to see the spectacle the American agent got to see, as well.
It was as if he was seeing the scenes of the apocalypse.
From the wide-open Gate, messengers of death and destruction were pouring out in droves, dyeing the heavens black. The skies and the ground were being rapidly filled up by horrifying monsters. The roars of beasts rocked the world, and the flying creatures and their powerfully-beating wings dominated the sky.
Hunters gathered here to fight against them had all been turned into ash even before the creatures landed on Earth from a single flick of the Sovereign of Destruction’s hand, who had arrived before everyone else.
The remaining people were trying to run away in pure pandemonium, but unfortunately, their odds of escaping from there seemed pretty dismal at this point.
‘Even still…’
He should be able to save one person… Adam White.
The High Orc Shadow Soldier currently being controlled by Jin-Woo reached out and grasped the wrist of the deeply-terrified Adam.
“U-uwaahk!”
He screamed out in fear after seeing that High Orc kitted out in black armour, but he soon saw the shadow of a familiar man within the eyes of this monster.
“S-Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim??”
There was no time to explain the situation. That could be done after he had been safely transported out of there. Still possessing the High Orc, Jin-Woo got ready to drag Adam White into the shadow below his feet, but then…
….Something approached them before anyone had noticed it and grabbed the shoulder of the High Orc real tightly.
Swiiish.
The High Orc looked back in a hurry and spotted a middle-aged man with a pair of bizarre reptilian eyes glaring in his direction.
[Where do you think you are going, oh, child of Shadow?]
The middle-aged man opened his mouth wide. A truly gob-smacking level of power suddenly began gathering inside his mouth, then.
Wordlessly, Jin-Woo shifted his gaze back to Adam.
At that moment, as if he had realised something just then, Adam White stared deeply at Jin-Woo – no, more correctly, the High Orc Jin-Woo was controlling.
“Hunter-nim, I….”
KWWUAAAAHHH-!!!
The Breath attack pouring out from the middle-aged man’s mouth erased the Shadow Soldier completely out of existence.
“Keu-heuk!!”
Jin-Woo was beset with the sensation of his entire being set on fire and his body powerfully shuddered from the cruel pain.
He was connected to the High Orc with his mind only, so he could escape from there no problem, but it was a different story for Agent Adam White.
The American man’s final moments Jin-Woo saw…..
Recalling Adam’s eyes as he turned into scorched ash in the flames, Jin-Woo began gnashing his teeth in pure rage.
BOOM!!
He slammed his fist on the ground, causing the world to shake like the advent of an earthquake.
‘God d*mn it….’
He should’ve expected it.
He should’ve guessed that, once the enemy knew they were going to face off against the Shadow Army – which got stronger the longer the battle wore on – they would then try to decrease the number of the potential battle locations down to an absolute minimum and gather their combat force into one chosen location, instead.
The Sovereigns even went so far to generate all eight portals as if they were sticking to their original plan.
‘They gathered their forces in the Gate that’s the furthest away from me.’
What a painful oversight on his part this was.
His plan of increasing his Shadow Soldiers while other locations were being attacked and then make his counterattack went down the crapper in a spectacular fashion now.
Liu Zhigeng realised from Jin-Woo’s expression that something terrible had happened and cautiously approached the latter’s side.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunte….”
It was then.
The Hunter in charge of the communication belatedly received the news and, with a completely pale face, hurriedly ran towards the duo.
“H-hunters…. Canada, Canada is….”
The rest of his sentence didn’t need to be heard at this point.
When Jin-Woo glared upwards, the Gate covering up the sky was already disappearing from the view as if it had served its purpose now.
***
A lone Shadow Soldier and a human standing next to it both evaporated into ash. This was the power of the Breath of Destruction capable of erasing even the soldier of immortality.
‘……’
The Dragon Emperor looked at the results of its actions, the piles upon piles of ash beneath its feet, with a great deal of satisfaction and soon spun on its heels.
It now saw the soldiers of the Chaos World, trapped within the gap between dimensions and unable to wield their powers properly for far too long, enjoy their freedom with reckless abandon like fish meeting water.
The Dragon Emperor slowly closed its eyes and opened its arms wide to enjoy its own freedom.
The pounding heartbeats of all living things….
And their dying screams….
The noises of all creations being destroyed continued to ring out like a wonderful symphony.
It was then.
RUMBLE-!!
Accompanied by Ancient-grade Dragons powerfully landing on the ground, two other Sovereigns gently landed in front of them. Right behind them, there were several Marshals of the invading armies.
Every single one of them politely knelt before the strongest Sovereign in existence, the Dragon Emperor.
The creature in the appearance of a middle-aged man formed a meaningful smile. The Mana trembling within the atmosphere was finally theirs. Mana let loose in this world in order to fortify it served to also enhance the strengths of those who could wield it.
Indeed, their ‘preparation’ had been completed now, as well.
“KUWAHAHAHAHA!!!”
The Dragon Emperor let out a roar of laughter powerful enough to shake the land and shouted out towards the monsters still pouring out from the Gate.
[Destroy everything! That is the one and only glorious mission bestowed upon us!]
Hundreds of Dragons flew above its head next, and vicious flames rained down from their maws to burn away every single thing on the ground.
Kuwaaaaahhh-!!
***
The director of the Hunter Bureau, David Brennan, found himself sitting alone in his office with all lights switched off.
While ignoring the endless streams of reports flooding in to his desk as well as the incoming calls from the higher-ups, he slowly sipped a glass of expensive alcohol he’d been saving for his oldest daughter’s wedding day.
Inside his darkened office, images inside the muted TV screen flickered and danced. Monsters could be seen briefly in those images.
He knew why the TV station covering the breaking news was playing the exact same footage over and over again.
‘Because they are all dead by now.’
….Just like every single Hunter Bureau agent sent there to support the Canadian Hunters.
Not one person would have survived that.
Hunters, agents, reporters and cameramen filming the scene.
Every one of them, dead.
Thankfully, though, a cameraman risked his life and did his job, resulting in short footage that at least helped everyone with understanding the scale of the enemy’s invading force.
“It’s all over!!”
The director suddenly yelled out like a mad man.
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo wasn’t exaggerating back then.
Dragons alone numbered in the hundreds. Behind those, Giants, beasts, and insect-like things rushed out like tidal waves. They were creatures of calamity that mankind simply could never fight against.
He now understood the reason why Hunter Seong Jin-Woo repeatedly told everyone in no uncertain terms to distance themselves as far away from the Gates.
This world was now over.
But, still….
“What a crazy b*stard!”
Didn’t Seong Jin-Woo go to China with his summons in order to fight against creatures like that? How could he even think about fighting against them when he knew that such monsters existed?
If it was at all possible, David Brennan wouldn’t have minded cracking open the Korean Hunter’s head and take a look at his brain.
‘Before that, though, I should crack my head open into several pieces first.’
Huhuh….
Evidently finding something really funny now, the director formed a grin and pulled out a single photograph from his inner jacket.
It was a photo of himself, forming a clearly-annoyed expression, as well as his daughter wearing a party hat.
‘This was when she was around sixteen, wasn’t it?’
If only he knew that she’d become a victim of a dungeon break a year later, then he’d have taken lots more photos like this one, even if that meant giving up on his job.
Thinking about there being only one photo containing both him and his daughter, made this father’s chest numb from his belated shock and sorrow.
Sip.
Yet another glass became empty.
After burying his daughter, he never expected to crack open the lid of this booze, but here he was. He smacked his lips in bitterness and shook the bottle around a little.
Before he had noticed it, it was almost half-empty now.
“Right…. It’s all over.”
Almost half of Canada had been wiped off the map the last time he bothered to listen to the reports. That was only a rough estimation, though.
No one could know for sure how fast those creatures were marching towards the United States.
The director angrily loosened his tie.
“I won’t die by your hands.”
Back then, he swore on his daughter’s grave that he’d get his revenge against the monsters, that he’d not die at the hands of these d*mnable things. At the bare minimum, he’d go out from this world in his own terms.
Such a determination filled his head and he was soon standing next to the window sill where the distant ground below could be seen.
The chilly wind was brushing past his sweat-soaked forehead.
‘….I hope that my daughter is waiting for me where I’m about to go.’
He squeezed his tearful eyes shut and was about to leap to the ground, but then….
….Someone suddenly grabbed his shoulder.
“Heok?!”
He nearly jumped out of his shoes from sheer fright and quickly looked back with his eyes wide open, only to discover a man with a very familiar face standing there.
“H-Hunter S-Seong Jin-Woo???”
As the director’s face paled like a man seeing a scary ghost, Jin-Woo quietly spoke to him.
“I’m looking for something.”
Chapter 237
What could he possibly be looking for when the world was facing certain annihilation? No, besides all that, was the man in front of the director’s eyes the real Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, to begin with?
Wondering if he got too drunk and was seeing things, the director roughly shook his head from side to side.
But, Jin-Woo’s figure became even clearer and in focus from that action, leading the director to realise that the man in front of him was not a figment of his imagination.
His intoxication flew away in an instant and his voice rose up an octave.
“W-what are you looking for?”
“The Rune Stone.”
Jin-Woo told the director precisely what he was here for.
“The Rune Stone from Kamish, give it to me.”
“…..!!”
His surprised lasted only for a short while; the director reflexively shook his head.
“As you may well know, Hunter-nim, the Kamish’s Rune Stone is the Hunter Bureau’s…..”
That was when his words came to a choking halt.
This d*mn work-related habit of his. What about the Hunter Bureau? So what? Never mind the Bureau, the whole of the United States of America was about to go up in flames, so who cared about a measly little Run Stone now?
‘Looks like I haven’t fully woken up from the booze yet.’
The director loudly slapped his cheeks with his palms. After his skin reddened up from the stinging impact, he finally felt as if his brain was getting in gear.
His once-blurry eyes regained their focus as well.
He then arrived at a certain conclusion that to the Hunter Bureau, no, to the entire United States of America, the reason why Jin-Woo wanted the Rune Stone in the first place was far more important than its financial value.
A short bout of deliberation later. The director asked cautiously as to not sour Jin-Woo’s moods.
“I can definitely give you the Rune Stone, but why do you need it?”
Without a single shred of hesitation, Jin-Woo replied back.
“I’ll use it as a tool for my counter-attack.”
***
Through the eyes of the System, Jin-Woo got to confirm the ‘Skill’ sleeping within the Rune Stone in question pretty early on. It definitely contained a certain power of a Dragon.
There was a reason why he showed no interest whatsoever to this Rune Stone until now, though – this Skill had a rather serious drawback.
Meaning, it was a power he didn’t need.
‘However…. The story has changed now.’
After descending to the ninth underground floor of the Hunter Bureau’s HQ, the director and Jin-Woo now stood before the reinforced glass case that housed the Rune Stone in question.
Rather than through the System, Jin-Woo only needed his eyes and senses this time to accurately decipher the Skill contained with that little ‘stone’. It was as exactly as he remembered it.
A ‘Skill’ that boasted a truly horrifying power. The seriousness of the current situation should be more than enough to offset the drawback of such a horrifying power.
Ba-thump. His heart pulsed softly in approval.
The director wordlessly stared at the Rune Stone before asking his question.
“Hunter-nim, you once told me that the monsters of the dungeons were sent here by the beings called the Rulers, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did.”
“In that case, what are these Rune Stones found inside the bodies of the monsters?”
“They are gifts from the Rulers to enable humanity to hunt monsters down more efficiently.”
What the Rulers wanted was to spread Mana around this world through violent clashes between monsters and mankind. The sacrifices made by humans were simply a side-effect, not their true end goal.
Indeed, these Rune Stones – stones inserted into the monsters so, upon their deaths, their powers could be sealed within – were the sign of the Rulers’ consideration towards mankind’s monster hunting.
And so, Kamish’s power was stored within this stone.
Jin-Woo took hold of the Dragon’s power that would play the crucial role in his fightback.
The director tensely observed Jin-Woo grasping the Rune Stone tightly and swallowed his dry saliva.
“Truly…. Can you truly stop the monsters with that thing?”
“Well, I should at least give it a shot.”
Even at this very moment, the armies led by the Dragon Emperor were repeating the actions of destroying everything in their paths and advancing forward before stopping to destroy some more.
Thanks to the Mana from the Rulers fortifying the planet, the marching speed of the Army of Destruction had been pegged back somewhat, but that would only last for a short while.
Soon, every inch of this land would be engulfed in the conflagration of war. He simply couldn’t sit back and watch as the world crumbled, now could he?
The powers of the Shadow Sovereign that they feared so much – they tried to cowardly hit him from behind and prevent that power from blossoming, but now, it was time to show them what this power in the hands of a measly little lifeform was capable of achieving.
“I’m planning to do everything within my power.”
The unwavering will within Jin-Woo’s two eyes left a powerful impact on the director’s heart.
Seeing that this young Korean Hunter wasn’t trying to avoid fighting the enemy, even though he knew full well their frightening scale, the older American man realised how pathetic he was behaving not too long ago when his mind was still filled with thoughts of running away and nothing else besides.
‘I wanted to go to where my daughter was? You stupid son of a b*tch….’
He felt so, so ashamed of himself. And also, he wanted to witness this young man’s battle right up until its conclusion, regardless of how everything would play out.
“I know I have no right to ask you of this, but…. Please, I beg of you. Please, stop those b*stards, those monsters.”
The director bowed his head deeply as tears trickled down his face again. Maybe, what he really wanted to avoid was not his impending doom, which would most likely be at the hands of the monsters.
No, the truth was, he simply lacked the courage to witness his countrymen getting killed and pillaged by these abominable monsters when he was supposed to be the leader of the Hunter Bureau, a man whose job was to be at the forefront, leading the Hunters in the battle against humanity’s enemies.
Even if it was nothing but a straw, it didn’t matter.
Just a single strand was enough at this point.
If there was one glimmer of hope, then he’d do anything to grasp it.
His emotions had morphed into hot tears as they flooded out of his eyes. Jin-Woo wordlessly grabbed the director’s shoulder.
“…”
That single gesture felt a hundred times more reassuring than any words for the director. He belatedly wiped his tears away.
“I ended up showing you something pretty disgraceful. My apologies, Hunter-nim.”
Jin-Woo waited for a little while until the director regained his calm before opening his mouth.
“There is something else as well. I’m looking for a person now.”
***
Jin-Woo followed after the director and entered a certain apartment building near the Hunter Bureau’s HQ.
“You had her stay so close by?”
“We at the Hunter Bureau believe that the things we’re supposed to protect should always be within reach, you see.”
Perhaps their destination wasn’t high up, the director chose the stairs, instead. Just as his back was getting soaked by the sweat, they stopped at a certain door on the fourth floor. The director turned about to look at Jin-Woo.
“We’re here.”
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
Knock, knock.
There must’ve been some sort of a security arrangement, because rather than pressing the doorbell, the director lightly knocked on the door twice, instead.
A short bout of silence later.
An agent confirmed the face of the director through the peephole and opened the door.
“…..Director??”
The agent frowned slightly at the strong stench of booze stinging his nose, before belatedly discovering Jin-Woo standing behind his boss and jumped up in surprise.
“…!!”
Should one call this a piece of good fortune when the agent didn’t immediately yank out his firearm, just like back when they met him for the first time?
The agent instinctively reached down to his waist after spotting the unfamiliar visitor, but perhaps he recalled the events of the past, a flustered expression quickly bloomed on his face, instead.
“S-Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim?”
The agent wasn’t even given a chance to think about why the world’s most powerful Hunter showed up here, because the director simply led the visitor straight into the apartment.
The other agent waiting on standby greeted the director.
“Where is Madam?”
“She’s waiting for you inside. Heok!”
Like his partner that opened the door, this agent also jumped up in surprise after seeing Jin-Woo here.
“S-sir, this gentleman….?”
“Hunter-nim wishes to speak to the Madam, so I guided him here. Can you inform her that Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim is here to speak to her?”
“….Understood, sir.”
It was then.
“….I didn’t expect you to pay me a visit during such times.”
As if she was waiting for Jin-Woo’s arrival, the door to her room opened up and the Madam slowly walked out.
It was none other than Madam Norma Selner.
Currently, she was acting as the ‘Upgrader’, capable of enhancing the strengths of Hunters to their maximum potential, but before she awakened her powers, she used to work as a psychic.
Jin-Woo took a step forward and politely bowed his head towards the middle-aged woman.
“Please, this way.”
She guided him into the room. The director standing behind Jin-Woo also tried to come in, but Madam Selner stopped him with a gentle voice.
“I believe that Seong Hunter-nim would want to speak to me in private. Am I wrong?”
She looked behind her and asked, prompting Jin-Woo to nod his head. It was as she said. The director spat out a couple of fake coughs and began fixing his attire a little as the room’s door closed shut.
She closed shut the door completely and slowly turned around to face Jin-Woo, patiently waiting for her at the corner of the room.
The moment she took a look at his entire being, she failed to stop the shocked gasp from bursting out of her mouth.
“Oh, my gosh!”
He looked completely different from the last time she saw him.
“You are…. You’re not the same person as the one I know.”
Her eyes began trembling fearfully.
Back then, the darkness had been hiding deep, deep within him somewhere, but now, he had become the perfect darkness itself. She could clearly see the power of ‘death’ enveloping Jin-Woo. However, he quickly shook his head and corrected her misunderstanding.
“I’m still the same person you know, Madam. Except that I’ve become one with the darkness you saw inside me.”
“Ah, ah….”
Which words in the known vocabulary would be adequate enough to describe this truly wondrous development? The power of a god, now dwelling inside a human being!
She studied just the tail-end of that incredulous power leaking out of Jin-Woo and continued to gasp out in pure admiration. Her slack jaw didn’t want to shut close for a long while, but eventually, she did recover her wits somehow.
“Looks like…. I don’t possess the necessary power to help you, Hunter-nim.”
No, could there be someone possessing an ability capable of helping this man out in this entire world? Because… he had already transcended the limitation of humanity.
The thing was, though, Jin-Woo was thinking of something else. He cautiously approached the still-terrified woman and asked her.
“Madam, you said that you can glimpse into the future, yes?”
“To a certain extent, yes….”
“In that case, can you tell me about my future?”
Before he was about to enter the battle properly, he wanted to see the end through her eyes first. He thought that, regardless of what she saw, he’d be more relaxed going in.
Madam Selner hesitated somewhat before she nodded her head slowly. She reached out and grasped both of Jin-Woo’s hands and closed her eyes.
To look deeper into the inner workings of the darkness – she needed a big dollop of courage for that.
However, she couldn’t dare to refuse the request of a warrior about to go to war against the foes that required a far greater level of courage than hers. No, the level of courage required would be so great that it defied all attempts to compare it.
The time flew past as if it was merely a moment and, when she finally opened her eyes, uncontrollable tears began trickling down her cheeks.
“You… Are you really going to carry all that burden by yourself?”
“….”
Jin-Woo didn’t answer her.
“But, how can it be…. How can just one person carry all those terrible burdens…. Are you going to sacrifice one to save everyone?”
Jin-Woo’s expression brightened.
“Sounds like I can at least get that far. That’s a relief.”
“What do you mean, you’re relieved?! No one will be able to remember you. You’ll end up fighting a lonesome battle all by yourself!”
Jin-Woo let go of her hands as she tried to dissuade him. Back when he made up his mind to fight, he was already prepared to go that far. He took a step back from Madam and bade farewell in a dignified manner.
“I’m sorry for coming by unannounced and asking you for something like this.”
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim!!”
Even before her earnestly pleading voice came to an end, Jin-Woo slid into the shadow beneath his feet and disappeared from there.
The agents outside were taken surprise by her cries and hurriedly rushed into the room, but he was long gone by then.
***
‘……’
Just like back when he was searching for Yu Jin-Ho, Jin-Woo climbed back up on top of the tallest building in the city and expanded his sensory perception as much as he could.
At the far, far off distance, towards the far end of the land up north….
….He felt the presence of so, so many monster soldiers that couldn’t even be counted anymore, making their march south. There seemed to be almost no presence of life beyond the advancing army.
Meaning, they had become prey of the denizens of the Chaos World.
Min Byung-Gu, Goh Gun-Hui, Adam White, and even his own dad.
Faces of many people who became sacrifices in this war against those creatures fleeted in and out of Jin-Woo’s mind.
Pure anger.
Anger gradually welling up from the depths of his chest began dyeing the Black Heart. Jin-Woo closed his eyes and began searching for the Dragon Emperor’s aura within that massive army.
As it turned out, it wasn’t all that difficult to spot the centre of the mass of ‘power’ that raged on like a violent storm and swallowing up everything in its wake.
‘….Found you.’
Jin-Woo saw the Dragon Emperor.
At that moment, the Sovereign of Destruction also saw Jin-Woo.
That sharp sensory perception that swept past it – there could only be one possessing senses like that. The Dragon Emperor abruptly came to a halt and glared in Jin-Woo’s direction.
Its demonic snake-like eyes didn’t shy away from the darkness in the distance for a long while. It had finally sensed the presence of the true enemy that could threaten its existence over yonder, that was why.
‘…..’
‘…..’
The Shadow Sovereign and the Sovereign of Destruction glared at each other while transcending past the distance itself. The latter bared its fangs first.
[I am right here!]
Its terrifying roar as loud as hundreds, no, thousands of lightning bolts exploding at the same time resounded throughout the entire planet.
[Tens of millions of your kin have died already! So, how long are you planning to hide like this?]
Murderous glare flickered for a moment within Jin-Woo’s eyes.
‘Don’t you worry. I’ll see you soon.’
And when I do….
Jin-Woo swallowed back the words he wanted to say and submerged quietly into the shadow.
Chapter 238
If one were to transplant ‘Hell’ to Earth, would it resemble something like this?
The skies were filled with thick black clouds that showed no signs of abating. The ground below was, in turn, filled with blood, screams, ashes, and acrid stink.
Sovereigns were born from the darkness with the sole purpose of destroying everything, and so, they proceeded to systematically erase any semblance of light and life from this world.
The Dragon Emperor stood in front of them. It stepped proudly on top of the city now reduced to ash and swept its gaze all over its surroundings.
‘What is going on with that b*stard, I wonder?’
After that brief stare-down, the Shadow Sovereign went into hiding and didn’t appear again, even until now.
When he used his sensory perception to reveal his existence, the Dragon Emperor took that as the sign of the Shadow Sovereign finally declaring war.
And that was why, for the first time in an extremely long while, the Dragon Emperor’s heart that went dormant while wandering within the gap between dimensions had begun beating powerfully once again.
Finally, one of only a few enemies that could truly threaten its life had bared his fangs at it. The true war was at hand.
To the ‘Sovereign of Destruction’, the sight of the battlefield filled with sheer, uncontrolled madness from all parties involved was pretty much the same thing as a marvellous gift from the heavens.
Could anything be compared to the pure joy derived from the battles?
Too bad, the event it had been waiting for didn’t materialise.
The Shadow Sovereign vanished without a trace and showed no signs of appearing again even after a nation of his kin had been annihilated completely.
Of course, it’d be no different than killing himself to fight against the combined army of the Chaos World that easily numbered in the ten-plus millions with just over one hundred thousand of his servants.
However, if he was planning to run away from the get-go, he wouldn’t have tried to threaten the Dragon Emperor even at the risk of exposing his current whereabouts.
‘….Could he be aiming for something else?’
The Dragon Emperor grew more anxious as time continued to pass by.
Now that they had no clue when and where the Shadow Sovereign would begin his assault, the soldiers under the Dragon had no choice but to move at a much more cautious pace. Obviously, their marching speed had slowed down to a crawl as a result.
The Dragon Emperor wanted to get rid of all the nuisances bothering them as soon as possible and get ready for the battle against the Rulers, so without a doubt, the current situation was proving to be rather annoying.
Could it be….?
‘….He’s waiting for the annihilation of his kin so he can convert them all into his Shadow Soldiers?’
However, turning humans who didn’t know how to wield Mana into his soldiers wouldn’t be much help against the Army of Destruction. Surely, that b*stard would know of this fact, too.
It was then.
A voice interrupted the deep deliberation of the Dragon Emperor.
“Humans are coming, my liege.”
One of the Ancient-class Dragons acting as its bodyguard informed it of the incoming attacks of the humans. But, didn’t all the humans of this nation capable of wielding Mana, ‘Hunters’, die? If so, what could this be?
The Dragon Emperor formed a puzzled expression and raised its head, and with excellent timing, countless missiles rained down from the sky.
BOOOOOM-!!!
This was the final struggle of the weak creatures, so pathetically meaningless that even the Sovereign of Destruction felt sorry for them. Humans knew that their weapons not imbued with Mana couldn’t even touch a single hair on the Army of Destruction, yet they stubbornly refused to give up.
‘….This is getting boring.’
The brows of the Dragon Emperor quivered slightly. Anxiety morphed into annoyance, and soon, annoyance transformed into anger.
[None of you step forward.]
The Dragon Emperor warned its underlings not to make a move and for the first time ever since setting foot in this world, revealed its true appearance.
These fighter pilots had flown here while risking their lives in order to buy time, however little it’d be, for the civilians to evacuate. But then, after seeing the truly nonsensical size of the personified calamity approaching them, every single one of these brave men and women became completely speechless.
“Mommy….”
The terror and shock of these pilots only lasted for a brief moment. Soon, the breath of pure destruction fired out in a straight line from the jaw of the calamity, swallowing up all of the fighter jets in the air.
Kuwaaaaah-!
In less than one minute. The lives of these pilots couldn’t even buy one minute and their sacrifice was ultimately in vain.
Unfortunately, the Dragon Emperor wasn’t satisfied by these humans’ sacrifices and raised its head to spew out a terrifying roar at the heavens.
KUWAAAAAAHHH-!!!
That was the Sovereign of Destruction declaring war against the Shadow Sovereign.
***
Jin-Woo also heard that roar.
His eyes, closed in stillness so that he could organise his thoughts, quietly opened up.
‘….It’s time.’
The moment his eyelids lifted up, the sight of the ‘lodging’ Beru had constructed immediately entered his view. Darkness and silence seemed to have taken over the dominion of this needlessly humongous room.
Was it because the current atmosphere resembled the moments of eternal rest? Jin-Woo didn’t dislike the combination of darkness and silence as experienced within this empty, wide-open space.
He felt guilty about scolding Beru initially after clapping his eyes on this white fortress for the first time back then, so he quietly summoned the former ant king to his side.
“Hey, Beru. Thanks.”
Beru had been silently waiting in Jin-Woo’s shadow until then. He sneaked his head out of the darkness below to speak.
“Oh, my king….”
“Yeah, I know.”
Jin-Woo cut off Beru’s sentence even before another word could be uttered. This time, Bellion rose up to the surface from the side of the ant king.
“It’s far too dangerous, my liege.”
Even Igrit emerged from below too, as if he was waiting for this chance. He knelt down and lowered his head, his voice sounding earnest.
“I share their opinions, my liege.”
All three Marshals were trying to dissuade Jin-Woo from enacting his plan. Wordlessly, their master studied the trio.
Shadow Soldiers would never die unless their Sovereign was killed off. Which meant that they would always worry about the safety of their Sovereign first and foremost.
However, sometimes one had no choice but to make a move even though he knew of the dangers waiting for him on the other side.
For Jin-Woo, this was one such occasion.
“Osborne…. The former Shadow Sovereign said that he liked this aspect of me.”
That would be the aspect of him willing to tackle the seemingly-dangerous problem head-on first to see what’s what, even though he looked cold and calculating on the outside.
Jin-Woo continued on.
“If he was in the same situation as I am now, what would he have done?”
“…”
Bellion recalled the past actions of the former Shadow Sovereign and realised that he couldn’t readily provide an answer.
Osborne, the former Shadow Sovereign, was someone who stepped up all by himself to try and stop the rebellion of every other Fragment of the Brilliant Light marching forward to kill their creator, the Absolute Being.
If it was him, he’d never give up on his duty regardless of the situation facing him. Once Bellion’s thoughts arrived there, he raised his faltering head up high.
Jin-Woo was smiling back at him.
‘They… resemble each other.’
Jin-Woo’s face overlapped with that of Osborne’s in Bellion’s eyes, just then.
‘As expected.’
Bellion lowered his head again and made an earnest pledge towards Jin-Woo.
“I shall accompany you till the end, my liege.”
It seemed that other Marshals shared his sentiment because they no longer bothered to dissuade Jin-Woo.
Perfect.
“You should’ve come out like that from the beginning, you know.”
Jin-Woo grinned refreshingly at them.
He felt that there really wasn’t much time remaining, and pulled out his phone from the pocket. This might prove to be his last chance to speak to his family.
‘……’
In the end, though, he couldn’t bring himself to tap the ‘Call’ icon. He thought that, if he heard the voices of his loved ones now, he’d not be able to take another step forward.
That’s the feeling he got.
Crack!
The crushed phone slowly fell from Jin-Woo’s hand.
It’d be perfectly fine to delay listening to their voices until the end of the upcoming battle. Jin-Woo reaffirmed his resolve and summoned the pair of Kamish’s Wrath from the storage within the subspace.
And then, he tore the T-shirt he was wearing to create long ropes and wrapped them around his hands holding the shortswords. His weapons shouldn’t slip out of his grasp during the battle, but in reality, he was doing this to rouse his fighting spirit up.
The rope made out of his torn T-shirt tightly secured the shortswords in his both of hands.
His firm, well-developed torso muscles, fully on display now that his top was gone, quivered and writhed every time he breathed deeply in and out as if they were alive.
‘Alright, good.’
The heightened sensation before the battle quietly made its descent on his shoulders. His heart was steadily pounding away, too.
Jin-Woo always liked this heightened sensation spreading throughout his entire body just before he was about to step into a dungeon.
Both his mind and body were prepared now.
Fuu….
He let a soft sigh leave his lips, and chilling light began shining from deep within his eyes.
The plan he ran countless simulations of in his head raced past his mind one more time. He could not afford to make any mistake from here on.
His expression now reflected the weight of his determination. His Marshals, having read their liege’s will to fight, nodded their heads in unison.
Jin-Woo spoke with a determined voice.
“Let’s get going.”
***
Inside the office of the Korean Hunter’s Association President.
Woo Jin-Cheol was busy recalling the sage advice his grandfather had left behind some time ago.
If he wanted to figure out the severity of an incident, then he’d have to take a closer look at the expressions of the news anchor.
His grandfather had personally experienced and survived the war and various calamities that came to visit Korea in the past, so he knew what he was talking about. After placing a very young Woo Jin-Cheol on his lap, he said these words.
– If the expression of the news anchor is on the bright side, then it’s nothing to worry about. If the anchor’s expression is a little gloomy, then you should be a little bit cautious. However…. The moments you should really feel scared would be….
Woo Jin-Cheol was studying the expression of the female news anchor and muttered softly without even consciously realising it.
“….When the anchor is trying to maintain a calm expression.”
In cases of truly calamitous events, news readers would try to prevent the unrest and agitation blooming in the hearts of the viewers at home by doing their best to project how calm they were.
His grandfather always told him not to miss the moment when such grim determination would be shown on live TV.
And sure enough, the lady anchor of the TV news was ably maintaining a calm expression as well as a level voice to report on the events unfolding in North America – exactly as his grandfather had warned.
[….When all contact with the Hunters stepping forward to stop the advance had been cut off, the American government has urgently mobilised all of their military forces to buy enough time for civilians to evacuate…..]
Woo Jin-Cheol squeezed his eyes shut.
He just didn’t feel confident of continuously watching the unfolding tragedy happening on the other side of the planet.
Through Jin-Woo’s memory, he had witnessed the grand scale of the enemy’s invading forces. He was being serious here – that was a calamity nothing in this world could defend against.
The nation boasting the greatest combat strength, the United States of America, was crumbling helplessly at the hands of those d*mn monsters. And right now, the only thing humanity could do was to pray for a miracle.
Unfortunately, just what kind of a miracle would it have to be to stop those creatures?
Imagination filled with ominous foreboding and terrible imagery continued to bubble one after the other in his head as if they had formed a long, unbroken chain. Woo Jin-Cheol slowly shook his head, hoping to get rid of those distracting thoughts.
A miracle, was it?
‘Now that I think about it…’
It had been already over three days since all contact with Hunter Seong Jin-Woo had been cut off.
Woo Jin-Cheol got to clearly see Jin-Woo’s ability to create dozens of Gates, back when the representatives of the world’s nations had gathered in one place. As long as he wanted to, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo would be able to escape to another world.
It could very well be that he had already evacuated to somewhere safe by now. But, even if he did that, who here could criticise his decision?
It was either fight against ten million soldiers born for the sake of destruction with no one else but himself, or escape to somewhere far away, where their hands didn’t reach.
Even if it was Woo Jin-Cheol making this decision, he wasn’t confident of choosing the former over the latter.
So, all that remained was to truly pray fervently for a miracle.
“Please, I beg of you. Don’t….”
Although there would never be a reply, Woo Jin-Cheol still looked up at the ceiling of his office and whispered softly.
“…..Don’t forsake us.”
But, it happened right then.
“…???”
Woo Jin-Cheol jumped up in shock and his gaze was locked onto the TV immediately.
There was an earthquake erupting within his eyes now.
***
“Uwaaaahk!!”
The best air force in the world, the United States Air Force that proudly boasted the history of zero defeats, didn’t fare any better compared to their Canadian counterparts when subjected to the power of the Army of Destruction.
BOOM!!
A fighter jet’s engine was destroyed in an instant and its pilot hurriedly attempted to eject from the plane.
As this pilot made his rapid descent towards the ground, he began screaming out in despair as he watched his friends and colleagues getting massacred in the blink of an eye.
“No!! Nooo!!”
Boom!! Bang! Ka-boom!
Booming exploding noises and flashes of fireballs filled up the sky.
The pilot continued to cry out the names of his dying friends even as the disorientating chaos pushed his head into a dizzy spin.
The ground approached at the rate of knots. Just before he was about to become a flat pancake, his parachute unfurled itself in time.
He messily tumbled and rolled around on the ground several times before coming to a stop. He then emptied the contents of his stomach from the extreme case of dizziness.
“Blergh, blergh….”
Were the tears pooling on the edges of his eyes the result of the pain wracking his body, or because of the resentment he felt at his own powerlessness?
Unfortunately, he wasn’t given a lot of time to consider that dilemma.
Even though the surroundings were filled with the acrid stink of blood and stinging fumes of chemicals, monsters still managed to sense the breathing of a lifeform from far away and began rushing towards his location.
The pilot hurriedly cut himself loose from the parachute’s straps and yanked out a pistol mounted on his hips.
“Die!! Die, you sons of b*tches!!”
Blam! Blam!! Blam!!! Blam!!!!
Several ear-piercing gunshots echoed in the air, but as expected, they were simply inadequate to slow down the monsters by one bit.
Click, click, click….
Now that he ran out of bullets, the pilot instantly began regretting his actions. He should have reserved the last shot for his own final moment.
His hands powerlessly sagged to the ground.
The very first monster to arrive his location as he stood there dazed and numb was a denizen of the Chaos World that resembled a giant cockroach.
Shashashashak!
After seeing the insect-type monster utterly filling up his view, all strength in the pilot’s legs abandoned him and he sunk down to the floor.
A despairing moan leaked out of his mouth.
“D*mn it….”
Right at that moment….
kwagagagagahk!!
All those insects rushing at him were suddenly torn apart at once as if a claw from a gigantic creature took a swipe at them.
“Jesus Christ?!”
His tearful eyes anxiously sought out the origin of that miracle. And soon, he found a single Asian man gently landing in front of his eyes.
Although it was only his back, the pilot found it not too difficult to guess this man’s name by looking at the pair of uniquely-shaped shortswords in his hands.
“Seong Jin-Woo…. Hunter Jin-Woo Seong??”
Jin-Woo took a look at the pilot behind him.
There was an incredibly intense scowl on his face that made it hard to tell whether he was an ally or an enemy. But, his eyes definitely said, “Run away, now!”
Sure enough, a horde of monsters far outnumbering the ones that got killed was rushing towards them from the distance. The pilot’s voice rose up an octave just then.
“Even if it’s you, Hunter Seong, you can’t do this alone….”
That was as far as his words could go.
KWA-GAGAGAGAHK!!
Jin-Woo furiously swung Kamish’s Wraths, resulting in the monsters to get torn apart into bits and pieces like dolls made out of paper. Having successfully bought more time, Jin-Woo looked back at the pilot again.
“Go, now!”
“Ah, y-yes!”
The pilot finally managed to ungainly push himself off from the ground and he began running away using everything in his power. Jin-Woo briefly watched the back of the departing man, before shifting his gaze back to his front again.
He had cut down dozens upon dozens of enemies with those two attacks, but that was like shaving a tiny piece off a massive iceberg.
Enemies hundreds of times greater in number seemed to have latched onto the smell of combat that had taken place here.
This would be the first steps of the war. His first victims would be with these insect-type monsters.
Fuu….
Jin-Woo sucked in a quick but deep breath, and in the direction of the Chaos World’s soldiers rushing towards his location, he spat out the two words that would become the turning point in this war.
“Rise up.”
Chapter 239
“Rise up.”
As soon as Jin-Woo issued his command….
Kiiieeehk-!!
All those insect monsters that got torn to shreds just now stood back up as new Shadow Soldiers.
In the past, he also revived monsters that got killed during the battles and added them to his stock of soldiers, but these new additions were on a different scale altogether compared to those guys.
Quite far removed from the recent past when the System suppressed the powers of the Shadow Sovereign and resulted in the creation of Shadow Soldiers that were weaker than their living counterparts, Jin-Woo was now the bonafide King of the Dead, and the restrictions of the System no longer affected him. He could create the perfect Shadow Soldiers at will now.
Kiiehk!
These soldiers were so much stronger than when they were still alive. Black smoke rose up vigorously like flames from their bodies. It was pretty obvious that the stronger the soldiers of the Chaos World, the stronger his Soldiers extracted from their shadows would be.
And so, this would be how the unparalleled power that tried to destroy this world ended up becoming the noose that tightened around his enemies’ necks.
Jin-Woo issued his first command to these new soldiers, overflowing with fighting spirit.
‘Go rampage to your heart’s content.’
Kiiiiieeeeehkkk-!!
The insect-type Shadow Soldiers madly rushed towards the incoming waves of Chaos World’s forces. Jin-Woo also dashed forward, as well.
He instantly overtook the insect-type Shadow Soldier at the very front of the pack and leapt into the midst of the Orcs unfortunate enough to be marching at the forefront.
Keu-hahk!!
The panicking hordes of Orcs, as well as Ogres standing here and there among them, blindly swung their weapons in a hurry, but the odds of those hits landing on him were zero.
Jin-Woo evaded every attack pouring in from all sides with consummate ease before swinging his shortswords. Like being sucked into the centre of a whirlpool, the hapless Orcs were swept away in one go without any mercy.
Every time he sliced down, the black aura shooting out from his blades utterly tore through not just the Orcs, but the ground they were standing on, too.
Simply put, it was a hellish storm.
The headcount of Orcs decreased a lot faster than the screams exploding out from their mouths could be heard.
It was then. A tall shade was suddenly cast above Jin-Woo’s head. He raised his head to look.
Guooo….
A Giant-type monster, so humongous that tilting one’s head to look might actually injure one’s neck, was busy glaring down at him. And it was also in the middle of raising up high a pillar of stone that matched the length of its arms.
It must’ve devoured innumerable humans while getting here because the blood of its victims had dyed the vicinity of its mouth dark red.
Jin-Woo’s brows creased up. Even before the creature could smash down its stone pillar, he made his move first. In the blink of an eye, he arrived right below the Giant’s groin area and swung his reverse-gripped Kamish’s Wrath with a crap-ton of power.
SLICE!
The black aura dancing around on the edge of the blade cleanly severed the Giant’s thick ankle.
Wuh-uh-uh-uh-uh!!
Suddenly losing one of its ankles, the Giant’s body tilted to one side and it cried out in alarm before its balance eventually broke. That humongous body tipped over to its back and soon, gained momentum as it crashed down to the ground.
Ka-boom-!!!
Countless monsters located behind the Giant couldn’t evade in time and were crushed to death quite unexpectedly by that huge falling body.
Next up was the turn of the Shadow Soldiers.
As the Giant lay on its back breathing heavily in pain, the insect-type Shadow Soldiers quickly began climbing up on the creature.
Shashashashashak-!!
The Giant struggled mightily to shake off the insects, but too bad, they reached the panicking creature’s face in no time at all. And soon, their ravenous feeding time began.
Uwuuuuhhh-!!
The screaming Giant’s convulsion ended pretty quickly. However, that wasn’t the end for this Giant, not by a long shot. Once more, the Shadow Sovereign issued his command.
“Rise up.”
When he did….
Wu-uh-uhhh….
Next to the corpse of the Giant with its face mostly gone from the insects and their vicious bites, a Shadow with the exact same height slowly rose back up. Not just this guy, but other Shadow Soldiers began crawling out one by one from beneath this gigantic shadow, too.
These new Shadow Soldiers created out of the Orc remains were already outfitted with their own weapons. Their hostile eyes were now glaring at their former, still-alive comrades.
In no time at all, over one hundred of Chaos World’s forces had been absorbed into the Shadow Army.
Wuuuong….
When the Giant soldier made its move, the enemies flinched greatly. Ignoring them for now, it bent all the way down to the ground where the original’s body lay, unfurled the dead monster’s fingers, before yanking back the stone pillar for itself.
That was how the massive object had become the new weapon for the Giant soldier.
Tumble, duduk….
Clumps of soil clinging onto the stone pillar tumbled and fell to the ground.
As if not being able to swing its pillar while still alive was its greatest regret ever, the Giant soldier cocked that enormous weapon behind it and got ready to take an almighty swing.
Only then did the soldiers of the Chaos World realise just what kind of authority their enemy possessed.
Stagger, stagger….
These monsters used to enjoy fighting in this so-called war, but now, they all began taking retreating steps in fear. Their unchecked terror travelled through the air of the battlefield and got transmitted in full to Jin-Woo.
He roared out in the languages of the Sovereigns towards these creatures.
[What are you all scared of?]
After all, his counterattack had only just begun. It was indeed far, far too early to feel fear from only this much. A murderous, chilly glare flickered within Jin-Woo’s eyes.
In that moment…
WHOOSH-!!
The stone pillar powerfully swung by the Giant soldier brushed past and swept away every single enemy in its path as if they were mere small toys.
Kwa-ga-ga-ga-gahk!!
***
Immediately after Jin-Woo made his entrance to the battlefield.
The Dragon Emperor, having never let its guard down once, finally detected the presence of the Shadow Sovereign.
‘Towards the eastern front.’
Right at the eastern end of the gigantic army spreading out with itself as the centre – that was where the Shadow Sovereign decided to make his appearance.
Although a bit later than their leader, the Ancient-class Dragons as well as other Sovereigns also eventually detected the Shadow Sovereign’s movements.
The King of Demonic Spectres, the Sovereign of Transfiguration, addressed the Dragon Emperor respectfully.
[We should lead all of our forces and….]
However, the latter raised its hand up and abruptly cut off the words of the former.
The Emperor’s underlings formed various puzzled expressions.
The one who waited for the entrance of the Shadow Sovereign with the greatest anticipation was the Sovereign of Destruction right before their eyes. So, why did it choose not to make a move even after the much-awaited enemy had finally signalled the earnest beginning of this war?
Even at this moment, the forces of the Chaos World were rapidly morphing into the Shadow Army’s soldiers.
The anxiety felt by the Sovereign of Transfiguration, currently occupying the body of a short-statured middle-aged man, forced it to open its mouth, but before any words could be spoken, the Dragon Emperor voiced his opinion first.
[The Shadow Army…. Can you see where the Army of the Dead is?]
Even though they were separated by an incredible distance, the Emperor of Dragons didn’t miss the crucial fact that the Shadow Sovereign’s loyal soldiers were not present within his shadow.
‘But, that can’t be….?’
The Sovereign of Transfiguration hurriedly closed its eyes shut.
At the Eastern battlefront – a large illusory eyeball created using magic appeared in the air just above the location where the Shadow Sovereign had begun his warfare.
This magical eye took a sweeping look at the battlefield.
‘….!!’
It was as the Dragon Emperor had said.
The Shadow Sovereign was freely roaming through the middle of the battlefield as the storm of blood raged on, but not one single hint of the army that should have been hidden within his shadow could be detected.
The Sovereign of Transfiguration opened its eyes and looked at the Dragon Emperor and discovered that the latter’s glare was now half-made up of rage and unanswered questions.
‘Just what….?’
What was the Shadow Sovereign thinking of by stepping into the battlefield without the army to protect him?
At a casual glance, this seemed to be the most perfect opportunity to eliminate him for good. However, they simply couldn’t mobilise the entire army when it was unknown what their enemy was scheming right now. In a way, doing precisely that might be the true aim of the enemy, to begin with.
Anxiety akin to a veil of fog clogging up one’s vision grabbed hold of the Dragon Emperor and it couldn’t readily make its next move. One of the Ancient-class Dragon worriedly called out to its master.
[Oh, my Sovereign….]
The Dragon Emperor shot a glare at its servant, and all of the Ancient-class Dragons lowered their heads.
Having silenced them all with nothing but sheer intense pressure, the Sovereign of Destruction shifted its glare back towards the eastern battlefield, where Jin-Woo was going on a rampage at the moment.
The number of the Chaos World’s soldiers were decreasing at a noticeable rate. And at the same time, that b*stard’s own forces were increasing rapidly.
The decision needed to be made right now. The quicker the better.
Too bad, the Dragon Emperor couldn’t readily make a choice when the battlefield’s direction was unfolding in an unexpected direction through one man’s actions that seemed to defy all attempts to predict what his next moves would be.
The Dragon Emperor’s brows creased up.
‘Shadow Sovereign…. Just what is it that you’re aiming for?’
***
From a certain point onwards, Jin-Woo gave up on consciously cutting down on the vast sea of enemies. There were simply far too many of them for that.
The number of his own allies was increasing at a rapid pace, but still, the scale of the enemy forces was just so ridiculous that it almost rendered all of his actions so far inconsequential.
‘Fuu.’
After he sucked in a deep breath, Jin-Woo entrusted himself not to his logical reasoning, but to his senses. When he did, reflexive movements that seemed to have transcended the limits of human anatomy began repeating as if he was a machine created solely to murder and destroy.
Just one strike from him tore through hundreds of monsters. And then,
“Rise up!!”
Then, hundreds of new Shadow Soldiers joined his army. Like a gigantic tsunami wave crashing and swallowing everything up, the Shadows gradually dyed the battlefield black.
Every time Jin-Woo moved, black waves rumbled and rose up from the ground.
“Uwahhh-!!”
A thunderous cry filled with Mana exploded from Jin-Woo and it proceeded to knock down all the monsters standing in the frontline of the battlefield.
Their eardrums must’ve blown up because blood was trickling down from their ears; as the creatures gruntled out in pain and failed to orient themselves properly….
….Shadow Soldiers pounced on them without mercy.
Screams of monsters reverberating from all corners completely filled up the battlefield.
And so, just how much time went by in this manner?
Jin-Woo finally detected the approach of existences quite different from the forces of the Chaos World that he’d been fighting so far.
He raised his head to spot hundreds of Sky Dragons, as well as Dragonewts possessing humanoid appearances riding on top of them, completely blanket the sky above.
‘Is the Army of Destruction finally making its move?’
However, he still couldn’t sense the presence of the Dragon Emperor yet.
Not yet, huh?
There was no need to be disappointed, though – because, he had plenty of time on his hands, after all. Besides, if that b*stard was reluctant to make a move, then all he had to do was to give it a good enough reason.
Kiiihak!
The Dragonewt flying at the front of the pack let out a loud shriek which in turn made every single Sky Dragon change their heading and rush towards Jin-Woo’s location.
At that moment, determination filled up his eyes.
The reason for the Dragon Emperor to make a move? He’d create that through his overwhelming power that these measly underlings were incapable of dealing with.
Jin-Woo reached out with both of his hands towards the Sky Dragons descending towards him.
‘Ruler’s Authority!!’
As if to squeeze dry the heavens itself, he strengthened his grip and dragged ‘something’ that eyes could not see. Mana in the atmosphere answered the will of the Shadow Sovereign next.
Without a single exception, hundreds of Sky Dragons buzzing towards him like a swarm of bees were caught by the invisible hands and were slammed down to the ground.
KWA-GAH-GAH-GAH-GAH-GAHNG!!!
It was a spectacular sight to behold.
The earth rocked violently from the Sky Dragons seemingly endlessly crash landing to their deaths.
What a truly absurd level of power this was. Even Jin-Woo himself got stunned by this display of the Shadow Sovereign’s power that was no longer restricted by anything.
Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to stew in his surprise for long.
A Dragon that was previously hidden from his view by the swarm of Sky Dragons revealed itself. And he witnessed a cluster of energy gathering in the flying creature’s jaw.
‘….!!’
Sure enough, the horrifying Breath of a Dragon made up purely of flames fell from the sky.
Kuwaaaaaaaah-!!
Having accurately fired the Breath attack on the target, this Dragon then increased its altitude.
The enemy’s presence couldn’t be detected. Could the human have been melted away by its Breath, then? Thinking that it had reached a safe-enough altitude, the Dragon stopped flying up and looked down at the ground to confirm the fate of the Shadow Sovereign.
The raging flames died down, and the black smoke dissipated, but…
….But, not a trace of the Shadow Sovereign could be seen anywhere.
‘Where is he…??’
It was then.
A presence could be felt on top of the Dragon’s head. A chill-inducing sensation brushed past the back of this creature’s neck, but by then, it was already too late.
– You b*stard!!
Even before the Dragon could look up, Jin-Woo standing on its head stabbed down with ‘Kamish’s Wrath’.
Kwa-jeehck!!
Sharp black aura shooting out from the tip of the shortsword penetrated clean through the Dragon’s head and exited from underneath its chin.
Rather obviously, the dead flying lizard lost its ability to stay airborne and helplessly fell towards the earth.
The ground rapidly closed in, and eventually, collided with the Dragon.
BOOM-!!
Jin-Woo lightly jumped off from the head of the unmoving, sagging Dragon and while walking towards the approaching enemies, spoke without even bothering to look behind him.
“Rise up.”
Just like that, the Dragon and hundreds of Dragonewts began rising up again right behind him.
***
The Dragon Emperor also felt it.
Its own army shouldn’t even be compared to the ragtag bunch calling themselves soldiers that belonged to other Sovereigns. But now, a portion of its proud army had been lost to the Shadow Sovereign.
With that, the situation was now beyond the point of wait-and-see in regards to whatever schemes the b*stard had cooked up. The event of the Army of Destruction being swallowed up by the Shadow Sovereign must be prevented at any cost.
[We shall strike him down.]
The Dragon Emperor issued a new order to the Ancient-class Dragons waiting for their chance to participate in the war.
[All of you shall accompany me.]
And just in case, it issued a different command to the Sovereign of Transfiguration.
[You shall remain here and prepare for the possible surprise attack by the Shadow Sovereign.]
[It shall be done.]
Hundreds of Gates connected to the battlefield in the east suddenly materialised in front of the Dragon Emperor and the Ancient-class Dragons.
‘I shall not let you escape.’
With that thought in its head, the Dragon Emperor and its eyes burning in the flames of rage disappeared into the Gate. Right behind it, the Ancient-class Dragons also entered their respective Gates.
Finally, the Army of Destruction, shrinking back and not doing anything until now, was forced to make their move after the Shadow Sovereign successfully managed to provoke them.
***
Quite unlike in the east where the violent storms of power were on a collision course, a comparatively quieter battle was coming to an end on the opposite side, on the western front.
The American military that had set up their final defensive line here was tragically being torn apart by the fangs and claws of the monsters.
What these soldiers had bet their last hopes on were the weapons used by the Hunters. Unfortunately, there was simply no way that these regular people could effectively use the Hunter-issue weapons that were originally designed for raid situations.
And so, the American military rapidly crumbled away in defeat.
“Uwaaahk! Uwaahk?!”
The role of the marauding army’s spearhead for the western front was also given to the insect-type monsters that possessed great agility and sharp senses.
Shashashashak…
The insect monsters quickly closed in on the human soldiers.
Blam, blam, blam, blam, blam!!
These creatures completely ignored the barrage of bullets and pounced on the humans to tear them apart.
“Uwaahk!!”
The survivors retreated and continued to fire away with their guns, but as expected, their actions were completely ineffective. However, it was even more unimaginable that they would suddenly start swinging swords around to fight these insect monsters now.
While they found themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place…
Kiieek.
The insects, having finished their feast on the human soldiers, swivelled their heads towards the next wave of prey. It was now the turn of the survivors.
The platoon commander’s expression hardened as he took a look at his soldiers to the side. They were nodding their heads back to him.
From the moment they learned that this mission was simply a ploy to buy enough time for the civilians to evacuate, they all had prepared themselves for this moment.
The platoon commander pulled out a hand grenade. This little modern-day explosive might not be able to kill these enemies, but on the flip side, they couldn’t avoid becoming food for their enemies, either.
The platoon commander yanked out the safety pin.
The insect-type monsters sensed that the atmosphere had turned weird from the human’s action and while screeching out loudly, they madly pounced on the platoon commander.
Kiiiiaaaahhkk-!!
His eyes grew wider as he watched the insects swarm towards him. It truly happened in the blink of an eye.
These insects arrived right before his nose in less than a breath. Just before their sharp mandibles split open wide to swallow him up…
….A certain figure stepped before the platoon commander faster than any of the insects could and took the hand grenade away, while blocking the attacks of the monsters with his bare back.
The commander could only look up in a total daze at the man blocking his view, who was also at least a good two heads taller than he was.
“T-Thomas Andre???”
Thomas winked and spun around towards the insects before shoving the grenade into the open mouth of one of them.
Although there wouldn’t be any tangible damage suffered by the d*mn thing from the grenade, but, it still should get really surprised by a strange object suddenly entering its gut like that.
The corners of his lips arched up as a rather humorous situation played out in his head. Meanwhile, he swung his massive fist and easily blew away the head of that insect.
Kwa-boooom!!
The dead headless insect flew away and landed far away.
“Oops…. That thing’s not gonna get surprised now, is it?”
As Thomas stood there scratching the back of his head, top-ranked Hunters urgently rushing forward from somewhere behind him began their desperate struggle against the insect-type monsters.
Kiiieeehk!
Kiiaaahk!
Painful screeches of dying insects noisily rang around. The surviving soldiers quickly recognised who these people coming to their aid were and bright expressions filled up their faces.
“I-it’s the Scavenger!!”
“They’re Hunters from the Scavenger Guild!”
“Ah, ahh!! Thank you, Lord!”
As befitting a Guild consisting of truly exceptional Hunters, the current situation was resolved in no time at all. However, they didn’t have any breathing room whatsoever as yet another wave of monsters was madly rushing towards them.
Thomas Andre’s ultra-sharp glare swept across the incoming enemies.
Orcs, Ogres, Trolls, Minotaurs, Cyclops, etc….
All of them were monsters commonly seen inside dungeons. No matter how many of them were here, they didn’t pose any challenge to him.
‘Except….’
In the middle of this sea of weaklings, there hid a nonsensically powerful being. Just like how other monsters were scared by Thomas’s presence, he too couldn’t make a move because of that one presence.
Eventually, this creature slowly walked to the front of the horde, as if it was done observing the situation.
[You’re the human from that time, aren’t you? The weakling vessel of the Rulers, almost driven to death by the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs.]
The King of Monstrous Humanoids formed a sinister grin.
The Sovereign of Beastly Fangs did indeed possess powers of a predator, but basically, it was more specialised towards hunting down its prey, instead. However, this particular King was different from its now-dead comrade in that it ruled over Monstrous Humanoids such as Orcs and Ogres, and its speciality was in up-close-and-personal physical confrontations.
So, it was quite obvious that it’d find this human acting so flippant when he had only a pathetic little bit of strength to fall back on rather humorous to behold.
The King of Monstrous Humanoids, the Sovereign of Iron Body, began unleashing its enormous Mana reserve.
Pressuring the opponent’s fighting spirit through aura alone. This was a display of confidence from the Sovereign, implying that it could easily kill off a measly human like Thomas Andre in a heartbeat.
But then….
[….?]
In stark contrast to the Hunters behind him with their rapidly-paling complexions, the vessel of the Rulers didn’t seem to lose his relaxed demeanour at all.
The Sovereign began to wonder if this human had some sort of a scheme, a trick up his sleeve, but then…
“…..So, this much should be enough, right?”
….Thomas Andre muttered to himself.
When he did, the darkness suddenly spread out from beneath his feet and in the blink of an eye, completely covered up the land.
The Sovereign’s brow quivered greatly.
‘Shadow….?’
This was, without a doubt, the skill belonging to the Shadow Sovereign.
The odd thing was, though, if he was here, then there was no way that the King of Monstrous Humanoids would have missed the source of that enormous power.
At that moment, a familiar voice suddenly rose up from right behind Thomas Andre.
[It’s been a long time, oh, King of Monstrous Humanoids.]
The Grand-Marshal Bellion sent his greeting in a polite yet still threatening tone of voice. And right behind him, over 130 thousand Shadow Soldiers, hiding within Thomas Andre’s shadow while patiently biding their time, were rising up above the ground at the same time.
Chapter 240
The elite Shadow Soldiers numbering over 130 thousand that managed to survive the last war under the guidance of their Sovereign erased their presence as much as possible and hid within the human’s shadow.
It was a trap.
Now suddenly finding itself coming face-to-face with the Shadow Army, the Sovereign of Iron Body felt this dizzying sensation of being sucked into a quagmire.
‘They got me.’
Currently, the army manning the western battlefront didn’t possess enough power to face off against the Shadow Army. Not only that, the ones leading this Army of the Dead were Bellion and Igrit, so the Sovereign in charge now had to worry about its own neck, instead.
Most likely, the Shadow Army – no, the Shadow Sovereign, was aiming for this result.
‘….I need to let them know.’
The Sovereign of Iron Body urgently tried to communicate with the Dragon Emperor. However, some kind of ‘power’ was blocking its attempts to send the word out.
‘Could it be….??’
Did the Shadow Sovereign plan this far ahead?
The Sovereign of Iron Body hurriedly activated its sensory perception to locate the source of the ‘power’ interrupting the contact with the other side. When it did, it discovered a certain High Orc Shaman standing next to Igrit, diligently murmuring out some kind of an incantation while holding onto something small in his hand.
‘….!!’
That d*mn creature’s spell was disrupting all forms of communication with the other Sovereigns.
The spell from the Commander-grade Fangs, now that he had experienced a rebirth as a true Shadow Soldier, as well as borrowing the power of the Bead of Avarice, was more than strong enough to perform that role.
Grin.
Fangs blushed slightly when his gaze met that of the king he used to serve. Even then, he didn’t try to stop casting his spell.
The King of Monstrous Humanoids, the Sovereign of Iron Body felt as if it was being made fun of after looking at Fangs’ smile. An uncontrollable rage welled up from deep within.
[You pathetic insects dare to…!!]
No, hang on – this tactic was not something the Shadow Sovereign would have cooked up, never mind his Shadow Soldiers. Indeed, this was not how the Shadow Army conducted its business; this army used to proudly announce the approach of unavoidable death right in front of their enemies every single time.
This was….
‘….A human’s way of thinking.’
The current Shadow Sovereign, the human, had perverted how the war was supposed to be fought. Didn’t he possess any pride as a Sovereign?!
Now thoroughly enraged, the Sovereign of Iron Body expanded its muscles. As his body ballooned up to a near-bursting size, thick veins bulged up on its various muscles.
The Sovereign of Iron Body roared out.
[That b*stard is not qualified to be called a Sovereign!]
It then arrived right in front of Fangs in less than a blink of an eye, but its path was suddenly blocked off by Beru.
Boom-!!
The former ant king grabbed both hands of the Sovereign and began a contest of pure physical strength. He glared at the enemy and growled in the language of the monsters.
[What you said just now…. Retract it. Or else, you shall pay a heavy price for the sin of insulting my liege.]
As a reply, the Sovereign of Iron Body exerted enough power to twist and yank off Beru’s arms while shouting out even louder than before.
[How dare a measly little soldier try to stop a Sovereign!!]
And when that happened….
Kiiieeeehhhk-!!!
An ear-splitting screech exploded out from Beru’s mouth as his entire body quickly expanded to double his previous size.
***
The Dragon Emperor saw it.
It saw the corpses of countless soldiers of the Chaos World that died during its brief period of hesitation, as well as the number of Shadow Soldiers that matched those that had fallen.
Figurative flames erupted out from the Dragon Emperor’s eyes as it strode outside the Gate. The end of its glare was locked onto Jin-Woo, currently swallowing whole a portion of the Chaos World’s army after becoming a literal giant storm in their midst.
The man…
‘That b*stard must die!!’
The Dragon Emperor didn’t even have the necessary time to transform back to its original appearance, so it hurriedly fired the Breath of Destruction, instead.
Kuwaaah-!!
A flash of light flared brightly in the distance and Jin-Woo, even though he was in a trance-like state while butchering the forces of the Chaos World, didn’t miss that blink-and-miss-it moment.
‘It’s him!’
Jin-Woo’s figure vanished from the spot. Right afterwards, all the soldiers of the Chaos World as well as the new Shadow Soldiers were exposed to the Breath and got incinerated without a trace.
Kuwaaaaaahhhh-!!!
Jin-Woo made his timely escape and settled down on a location not too far away.
Ending its Breath attack, the Dragon Emperor glared right at him. Countless Gates opened up behind it and through them, Ancient-class Dragons and Dragonewts revealed themselves.
And so, the King of Berserk Dragons, the Sovereign of Destruction, had entered the fray. What appeared now alongside it was the main portion of the Army of Destruction.
Forces capable of destroying this planet in one day had been mobilised in their entirety just to deal with the lone Shadow Sovereign. And in front of them stood the King of Kings, the Sovereign that lorded over other Sovereigns – the Dragon Emperor.
‘….’
Jin-Woo had to quickly swallow back his saliva after sensing the truly vast, seemingly-limitless sea of power from the Dragon Emperor.
At once, every single Shadow Soldier still fighting against the forces of the Chaos World stopped and retreated according to his new command. Just like the army of Dragons choosing to stand behind the Dragon Emperor, the Shadow Soldiers also stood right behind Jin-Woo.
The leader of the Army of Destruction formed a mocking grin.
[Are those pathetic soldiers everything you possess?]
There were several thousand Shadow Soldiers hurriedly ‘recruited’ to his cause after killing the enemy forces. However, he was facing off against nearly ten million soldiers, hundreds of Dragons, and most importantly, the truly dangerous existence called the Dragon Emperor.
Of course, Jin-Woo knew full well the differences in the size of their armies. That was why he chose to enact this plan from the get-go.
“Advance!”
Jin-Woo had his Shadow Soldiers, initially brought to one location, march forward again. An expression of confusion floated up on the Dragon Emperor’s face.
‘He saw my soldiers, yet he wishes to confront me head-on?’
Those were the actions of an insane fool!
As if to mock the Dragon Emperor’s suspicion, the Shadow Soldiers simply rushed forward towards their enemies. Dragons immediately fired powerful, vicious flames at them.
Huwaaaa-aahk!!
With that, Shadow Soldiers were enveloped in flames before disappearing away like expendables, with nary a hint of regeneration happening among them.
Almost instantly, the Dragon Emperor realised that these were simply decoys to buy time.
‘Where is he….?!’
It quickly expanded its sensory perception. The Shadow Sovereign was using his shadow to escape to somewhere.
Seeing this shameful sight, the Dragon Emperor formed a mocking grin. It seemed that the human b*stard was planning to slowly shave down the forces of the Chaos World by repeating the tactics of hit-and-run, but he had made one crucial oversight, something he had failed to consider.
And that would be the fact the leader of the enemy’s forces could chase after him no problem. The Dragon Emperor easily traced Jin-Woo’s shadow now being connected to the western front.
‘There you are!’
It’d never let him get away.
The Dragon Emperor quickly generated a Gate connected to the exact spot where Jin-Woo had fled to and jumped in without hesitation.
Just as it took the first step out of the Gate….
‘……’
….It was greeted by the sight of the 130,000-strong great army surrounding it.
That wasn’t all.
Jin-Woo had been waiting for the Dragon Emperor’s arrival and spoke in a calm voice when it did show up.
“….Rise up.”
Just one command and every single creature belonging to the Western portion of the Chaos army that were killed at the hands of the true Shadow Army rose up as new Shadow Soldiers.
The Dragon Emperor took a sweeping look at the Shadow Soldiers that now numbered well past two hundred thousand and spoke.
[Is this what you were aiming for?]
Draw your enemy to the battlefield of your choosing and establish the upper hand – since the Shadow Army was facing an overwhelmingly disadvantageous number of enemies, the current tactic could be seen as a must, but still, a mocking grin didn’t want to leave the face of the Dragon Emperor.
[How laughable.]
It finally understood what the scheme of the Shadow Sovereign was. Although the process of uncovering the plot resulted in the loss of the western portion of the Chaos World’s army, that was not a large cost to bare as long as the Shadow Sovereign could be killed here today.
‘Even losing half of all the soldiers would not be a loss.’
‘Fear’ would bloom in one’s heart when one couldn’t predict the events of the future. But its opponent had been laid bare here.
[Oh, Shadow Sovereign.]
The Dragon Emperor chuckled and looked back at Jin-Woo.
[You must’ve thought that only I was capable of chasing you down, but….]
‘You are wrong.’
In reality, there stood a certain Sovereign that could be seen as the greatest sorcerer in the Chaos World waiting right behind the Dragon Emperor.
Not too long afterwards, the Sovereign of Transfiguration waiting for the surprise attack from the Shadow Army created countless Gates that connected two battlefields.
Before long, a seemingly-endless number of soldiers from the Chaos World poured out before the measly two hundred thousand or so Shadow Army.
‘So, how do you feel now?’
With this, your plan has been smashed to bits.
Your miscalculation will result in your death today.
The Dragon Emperor stared at Jin-Woo with a triumphant expression on its face.
[This is your defeat.]
However, Jin-Woo grinned as his reply.
He actually smiled right back at the Dragon Emperor and his satisfied expression.
‘He got suckered in.’
Indeed, the Dragon Emperor had acted exactly according to his will.
The King of Berserk Dragons, of course, didn’t miss that brief flash of a smile on the human’s face.
‘….He smiled?’
Sure enough – the summoning of the Shadow Soldiers was cancelled in an instant, and they all got sucked into the dark shade below the Shadow Sovereign’s feet.
Just what was this human thinking?
Withdrawing his soldiers now was no different from trying to kill himself. If he had no soldiers to buy him time, then he’d not even be able to escape to somewhere else, either.
Even if he didn’t want to lose his precious Shadow Soldiers, no one would’ve taken him for a fool who would expose his back to his mortal enemies while hurriedly scurrying away!
Before Jin-Woo could do something else, the Dragon Emperor closed the distance first. At the same time, the entirety of the forces of the Chaos World also pounced towards Jin-Woo’s direction.
The gazes of tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of soldiers still breathlessly emerging from the Gates were locked on Jin-Woo and Jin-Woo alone.
It was then – just as the Dragon Emperor arrived right before Jin-Woo’s nose and reached out towards him…
….At that moment, Jin-Woo’s eyes changed to resemble a Dragon’s.
Only then did the Dragon Emperor realise that something had gone terribly awry.
[You….!!]
A moment of stillness came and went.
‘…..’
From Jin-Woo’s mouth, a loud and vicious roar exploded out. It was the cry from the soul that pushed every single being near him, every single being weaker than him, into a state of pure despair!
[Kuwaaaaaaahhh-]
It was the Dragon’s Fear. The vilest and cruellest Skill of Dragons he learned from Kamish’s Rune Stone. He hadn’t been interested in it since its powers didn’t differentiate allies from enemies, but now…
‘But now, it’s different!’
The skill that drove hundreds of elite Hunters gathered to hunt down a Dragon to the pits of hell had now been used against the Dragons, instead.
[-Aaaaaaaahhh-!!!]
Just like how Kamish had done to the human Hunters all those years ago, the Shadow Sovereign froze up all the soldiers of the Dragon Emperor, too.
There was no being alive that could break from the effects of Fear produced by the near-bottomless supply of Mana belonging to the Shadow Sovereign, save for one lone individual, and that would be the Dragon Emperor.
After making every single one of the enemy forces freeze up in an instant, Jin-Woo reached out and grabbed the Dragon Emperor’s arm next.
[You b*stard…!!]
The brows of the King of Berserk Dragons crumpled.
Jin-Woo gripped the arm tighter as a grin suffused on his lips.
“You, come with me for a sec.”
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