The Absolute Will of Deus
Bang! Bang! Bang!
With a thunderous roar, a flash of light burst from straight ahead. The Special Police armored car at the front flipped over in an explosion. The armored vehicles operated by the Special Police Bureau were only classified as light armor, so they were no match for a rocket barrage.
“W-What the hell? Rocket rounds in the middle of downtown?”
Han Seok stared in shock at the brazen ambush, one that clearly showed no fear of what would happen afterward. Hyun-jun finally understood why Tae-sik had said even the Special Police building was not safe.
“Halt. Return fire.”
At Tae-sik’s order over the radio, the convoy came to a stop all at once. The two armored cars that had escaped the rocket attack moved to shield the sedan carrying Hyun-jun, one blocking the front and the other the rear. While the armored car in front raked the enemy position with machine-gun fire, everyone who had been in the sedan got out together and took up battle stances without a word.
“They’re coming.”
Hyun-jun spoke. He could feel multiple presences closing in rapidly from all sides, and there were far too many of them to dismiss. It was shocking enough to wonder who had the nerve to stage something like this not in some remote alley, but right in the heart of the city.
“Does this happen often?”
“It happens now and then when black magic stones are involved.”
“Then why have I never seen news about this?”
He considered himself someone who kept up with internet articles and news channels. And yet he had no memory of ever seeing reports about a battle of this scale, with no clear identity behind it.
Since the dawn of the dungeon raid era, public order had deteriorated and the internet’s daily crime-and-incident coverage had been updated nonstop, but there was no way a major case this large could have slipped past him.
“Kang Hyun-jun. Have you ever heard of media control?” Tae-sik asked. Around him, more than ten fireballs the size of human heads formed in the air. Hyun-jun gave a silent nod, and Tae-sik resumed his explanation.
“The Republic of Korea isn’t as clean as you think, Kang Hyun-jun.”
He said nothing more, but it was enough. The enemy presences were drawing closer, and there was no room left for conversation.
“Fly!”
“I’ll cover too!”
Jina used flight magic first, and Han Seok shouted confidently as he shot upward. He had already recovered from the injuries he’d taken in the fight with the mutants at the Special Police Bureau, so he was full of energy.
The rocket attackers had apparently been suppressed by the machine-gun operators, because the front was quiet. But the battle had only just begun. In the darkness, more than ten masked figures revealed themselves. Dozens of crimson-black flames aimed at the two people in the air. As Jina raised a defensive spell, she counterattacked with Wind Cutter.
“They’re coming here too.”
While the aerial battle raged above, the ground forces watched one another warily, waiting for an opening.
“Be careful. They’re not weak—Kang Hyun-jun!”
Tae-sik was warning them about the masked men when Hyun-jun was already hurling himself at the enemy. Seeing that, Tae-sik let out a sigh and began providing cover.
“Fire Cannon!”
The special ability Tae-sik had awakened as an S-Class Hunter was magic. That was why, despite being a combat-type hunter, he could use high-grade magic.
A massive fireball shot toward the masked men. It was a powerful high-level spell, but they calmly dispersed in perfect coordination, attempting to defend or evade it.
“Gah!”
“Kuhk!”
Two were engulfed in flames and collapsed, while the rest turned their attention to Hyun-jun and Tae-sik.
“Come on.”
Hyun-jun calmly drew up his mana and activated his blessing.
Sidenmiller's Brave Sword stands with you. As long as righteous courage does not break, the sword will not shatter.
He wasn’t carrying a shield right now, so he only activated Sidenmiller’s blessing. Blue aura settled over his sword.
“Oh? Aura Blade?”
“Don’t get cocky just because you can use aura.”
“We cannot be defeated by one chosen by that one.”
“We are special.”
Their friendly-sounding explanation continued, and aura also gathered over the spears and swords held by the four masked figures standing before Hyun-jun. The difference was that theirs shimmered with a crimson-black glow instead of blue.
“You don’t even look like you’re from the Special Police Bureau. Move now while I’m still speaking politely.”
There was no need to answer.
Hyun-jun closed the distance in an instant and swung his sword.
“Kraaah!”
The masked man with the spear screamed, blood spraying as he fell.
“He’s the strongest among us!”
“One strike from big brother?”
“This is no ordinary opponent!”
Even with their comrade’s blood pooling red at their feet, they did not stop explaining things.
“In that case!”
“We have no choice but to use the formation!”
“Unit Two! Unit Three! Formation!”
They moved with flashy, hero-like choreography, as if they were characters from a live-action sentai show, but Hyun-jun had no intention of standing by and watching.
“H-His... he disappeared…”
By the time they came to their senses, Hyun-jun was gone from their sight. He was too fast to track.
“Ugh, kuhk...?”
“Tch!”
“Aagh!”
Only after their arms and legs were severed, only after their hearts were pierced, did they realize they had been attacked at all. Even then, they died without ever locating his presence. Hyun-jun finished off the four masked men in an instant, then moved his eyes quickly to assess the situation.
Above him, the aerial battle was in full swing, magic flying back and forth through the sky. Right in front of him, Tae-sik was handling two masked men on his own. From the way they fought, the three masked men seemed to be at least upper A-Class in strength, but Tae-sik looked composed.
We need to handle the ranged ones...
That was when he turned, entirely unconcerned.
“Kraaagh!”
A sharp scream rang out. It sounded familiar for a masked man’s voice. Hyun-jun whipped around in alarm, and there was Tae-sik, splashing blood as he put distance between himself and the masked men.
“Damn it!”
Hyun-jun spat a curse. Two of the three masked men were no longer human at all, having transformed into mutants. They looked even more monstrous than the mutant they’d first encountered on the way back from Han Seok’s place.
“Uooooo!”
The remaining one was apparently in the middle of transforming, twisting his body violently while spraying filthy bodily fluids everywhere.
The third one has to be stopped.
He drove his mana upward.
Telekinetic Sword Control
At the trigger word, the Butcher’s Dagger hanging at his waist shot forward like a bullet toward the mutant in the middle of transforming. The dagger flew viciously, seeming to aim for the thigh, but in the end it buried itself in the throat. Caught off guard by the unpredictable, irregular trajectory of Telekinetic Sword Control, the mutant had no choice but to take the hit.
Hyun-jun kept his sword in hand and moved to block the remaining two mutants. They thrust out tentacles and razor-sharp claws while spewing crimson-black flames.
Carthago's Righteous Shield protects you. As long as the great guardian stands with you, nothing can threaten you.
Before he knew it, a shield was in his left hand. As aura infused it with the blessing’s activation, Hyun-jun lifted the shield and blocked the crimson-black flames.
“I’ll assist you.”
“T-Thank you.”
Tae-sik offered his thanks, and the mutants charged at Hyun-jun. To an ordinary eye, it would have been nothing more than a blink, less than 0.1 seconds. The mutants had taken positions in front of and behind Hyun-jun.
Ripper's Cruel Killing Intent awakens. Any living thing cannot escape the instinctive terror.
Instead of defending with sword and shield, he channeled his mana and activated Ripper’s blessing. As the chilling killing intent was released, the mutants trying to attack him froze, if only for a brief instant. But their suppression by killing intent did not last long.
“Graaah!”
One mutant released a surge of pure mana, and a storm of raw mana raged around him. It was a crude but effective way to break free from restraint. Once free of the killing intent, the two mutants launched a pincer attack at Hyun-jun.
“Raaaargh!”
Several tentacles packed with crimson-black flames struck from every direction, while the other swung his spear in a dazzling blur.
“I’ll cover you! Wind Cutter!”
Jina and Han Seok were too occupied with their own magic duel to help. Tae-sik shouted the incantation and completed his attack spell. Four blades of wind pierced the mutant wielding the spear. And Tae-sik was astonished.
“Wh-What the hell!”
Even though the upper-level spell Wind Cutter, sharp enough to cleave through the body of a hardened A-Class Hunter, had landed squarely, the mutant only swayed slightly and spilled a little blood, showing no sign of serious damage.
I’m not a magic-type hunter, but this is definitely an upper-level spell...
Tae-sik swallowed hard. The enemy’s level was higher than he had expected. A moment ago, he had thought they could suppress them without much trouble, but once they transformed into mutants, everything changed.
He was only an F-Class Hunter until half a year ago? That’s absurd...
Tae-sik’s eyes wavered as he looked at Hyun-jun’s back while he fought fiercely against the two mutants. There was no way someone who had supposedly been an F-Class Hunter could move this cleanly. Even when hunters gained overwhelming force through a second awakening, their actual combat effectiveness often fell short of their rank because of lacking real battle experience, but Kang Hyun-jun standing before him was not like that.
“Graaagh!”
In a flash, dozens of sword strikes whirled like a storm, and the mutant’s tentacles were chopped apart, tumbling down in wet chunks.
“You damned human!”
“You say that as if you’re not human yourself.”
Hyun-jun answered while recalling his sword. The grotesque life form in front of him had already long since left the category of human beings behind.
“Looks like I’m not, huh.”
“Graaagh!”
The mutant that had lost its tentacles charged again, sword in hand. The one with the spear stepped aside and covered his ally with crimson-black fireballs. Hyun-jun cut through the fireball with his sword and swung his shield.
Crash!
The mutant that had been hit by the shield was sent flying far away.
“Telekinetic Sword Control!”
Hyun-jun moved the Butcher’s Dagger and slit the throat of the mutant pinned into a building wall. Then, just as he turned toward the last one...
“Watch out!”
Along with Tae-sik’s shout, the mutant holding the spear exploded.
“Kuhk!”
It wasn’t a large explosion. At most, it was the force of a grenade going off. They were a little far away, and Hyun-jun had his shield up, so the shrapnel didn’t injure him. But that wasn’t the real problem.
“A psychic type...?”
His head spun and his stomach churned. He kept gagging, and his vision darkened little by little. Hyun-jun barely managed to lift his head and look around.
Han Seok had already fallen out of the sky and slammed face-first into the cold road, and Jina was descending weakly to the ground as well. Tae-sik had also slumped to the ground, blood spilling from his mouth. The Special Police officers had collapsed too, not moving at all.
“What the hell is this...”
He was reaching his limit. Jina and Tae-sik could no longer hold on either, and they collapsed.
“Da... Dantzig...”
Now that there was no one left to protect, Dantzig no longer answered. One by one, the masked men who had been waiting in the darkness revealed themselves. If he fell now, their weapons would begin to tear everything apart. Then it would all be over.
“Kuhh...”
His strength was draining away. Just when he thought everything was finished...
Deus's absolute will interferes with fate.
A voice spoke.