Chapter 66
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: Special Pursuit 0 Squad (1)
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Company’s high-end dessert cafe, Fall in Love.
On the outdoor terrace sat a creature munching away at a loaf of bread as big as itself.
When it took a huge bite of the chocolate-slathered eclair, a flush bloomed across its face, radiating pure bliss.
“Eating delicious stuff is always better when it’s big, right?”
- Providing service to a servant angel is the master’s duty. Could you not get so smug about it?
She grumbled without even glancing at Gonghyeok.
But the sight of her stuffing her cheeks full of dessert undermined any persuasiveness.
He gently stroked the crown of her head as she focused intently on eating.
- Grrr...
Nathaniel startled at the sound she’d made without realizing it.
She whipped around to glare at her master.
- I told you, I’m not a pet!
“Grrr~”
Mimicking her sound, he brought his finger to her cheek.
He wiped away the cute smudge of chocolate and licked it off.
- Hey. Is there honey on my cheek or something? Why do you lick stuff off my face every single day without fail?
“Heh heh. Stuff on an angel’s cheek tastes even better.”
He pulled a napkin from nearby and wiped the chocolate mess around her mouth, then cut a small piece to make a little chin bib for her.
“It’s cute when you eat fast, but try eating slower.”
- You’re always looking for chances to tease me. Even this morning, you were sexually harassing me...
With her chin bib like a baby, Nathaniel turned away in embarrassment.
He etched that dainty sight into his eyes, then looked across the table.
Count Sand flinched while dipping his bread in soup.
“Wh-what...”
Smack!
Crash!
A supersonic flick to the forehead struck home.
The count face-planted into his soup plate in an undignified heap.
“Cough! Cough!”
“Oh, sorry. There was soup on your head, so I wiped it off.”
“There’s no way soup was on my head!!”
Smack!
A supersonic uppercut slammed into the count’s chin.
“Oh, sorry. There was soup on your chin.”
“Urgh... I’ll apologize. Just stop...”
Thud!
“Gah!”
“Oh, sorry. Soup on my fist.”
“There’s no more soup on me!”
Thud!
Guard Sand crumpled to his knees after two blows to the gut, defeated.
“Oh, got soup on my hand. Guess I’ll wipe it on Guard Sand.”
“Why me... why...”
Former heavenly knight, Guard Sand.
Former former great vampire count.
And current sandbag.
Tears like chicken droppings streamed down his face as he lamented his lot.
“Waaah, why me? Why inflict this senseless, unjust violence?”
“Unjust?”
“Yes! Explain yourself! Why are you hitting me?!”
Guard Sand’s indignant outburst.
Gonghyeok’s face grew slightly serious.
“Guard Sand.”
Ju Gonghyeok gazed at the sun in the sky with distant eyes.
“What do you think people are? Where do they come from, and where do they go?”
“Huh?”
“That’s why you need to get hit.”
“You bastard...! You bastard...!”
Guard Sand, sensing something, slumped and scooted back.
“You’re gonna hit me more!”
“The less you know, the more fun it is later.”
From the shadowy corner of the terrace echoed the crisp sounds of beatings and silent screams.
Nathaniel finished munching her eclair and picked up another.
A shadow fell over her.
The all-too-familiar presence made Nathaniel’s skin crawl.
She looked up, trembling, to see a beaming smile.
“Little angel. Hello.”
Remnants of Lilianne’s past legacies lingered.
Striped panties, teddy bear ones, pumpkin ones...
One person had inherited them and evolved them in her own way.
Ha Yeonsi dangled stockings and a school uniform in front of her.
“How’s today’s dress code?”
- I’d rather you ask about my human rights?
“Human rights come after you’re even human.”
No time for questions.
Nathaniel tossed her bread and spread her wings.
But a devilish hand snatched her wing like it was waiting.
- Aaaah! No! Don’t strip me! It’s filthy!
“You should’ve listened when I told you nicely.”
A doll dress-up station appeared on the table, filled with plaintive screams.
“I’m sullied...”
Overwhelmed by the inexplicable “school uniform angel” concept, Nathaniel collapsed and sobbed.
“But oppa. Why aren’t you at the rendezvous? And why are you here?”
Yeonsi asked while braiding Nathaniel’s hair.
“Our mission today is scouting Sector 54 dungeon. Departure at 8, but you’re two hours late.”
“Nah, we’re not going today.”
She chuckled.
“Oppa, whenever you say that, something always goes wrong.”
“Sorry. If it bugs you, tell him to fire me.”
Gonghyeok put his pipe in his mouth and handed over his ID badge.
‘Special Pursuit 0 Squad Leader Ju Gonghyeok.’
She sighed as she took it.
“You don’t need to apologize to me. Chief Jung’s gonna blow a fuse again. Soma’s supposedly got ulcers from the stress. Stress ulcers in a Durability A-rank is rare, they say.”
“Then tell him to quit.”
“Watch your mouth, seriously.”
She grabbed Nathaniel’s ankle as she tried to flee and stroked her wing.
Ever since that incident, she’d developed a thing for ankles.
Gonghyeok lit his pipe and stood.
“Gotta check on Sanchez today instead of mission stuff.”
“Sanchez? That demon hunter Sanchez? He seemed super strong last time.”
“Yeah. But he’s dying today.”
“Oh, got it.”
“Got a call from Sanchez an hour ago. He fell into a Necro Mafia trap in the company’s underground sealed zone.”
‘A call that never even came.’ Yeonsi muttered, but he pretended not to hear and kept going.
“I tried my best to do today’s mission, but a hunter’s top priority is catching demons. Plus, couldn’t abandon Sanchez after he helped me before.
“So Ju Gonghyeok turned in his badge and went alone to save him.”
The smoke lingered in his mouth before drifting into the air.
“Spin it like that.”
“Got it.”
Nathaniel flailed her arms and climbed onto his head.
‘That woman scares me.’ She whimpered, and he soothed the angel while pulling out his hammer, Huntar.
“Time to go smash some stuff today.”
＊ ＊ ＊
“Why thaaat—!”
Mercenary Division Special Pursuit 0 Squad Chief Jung Hyun-do vented his rage.
Simada, who’d relayed Yeonsi’s story politely, was sweating bullets.
“Why’d that guy run off on his own again?!”
“He has to save Sanchez, who helped him before...”
Chief Jung grabbed Simada’s collar, and the deputy avoided his gaze.
“That’s not the point! Necro Mafia set a trap there, right?!”
He shook Simada’s collar wildly, screaming.
“That’s got nothing to do with our mission! Demon hunter Sanchez isn’t even from our city! Why’s he covering for that guy messing with the mafia and screwing up his life?!”
“Hunter’s top priority is catching demons. Doesn’t care if he gets fired for disobeying orders.”
“Damn punk! Tell him to quit! No, I’ll file the report to fire him myself!”
“Chief. You know he’s backed by the executive director?”
“......”
Right.
The SS-rank super rookie they were grooming as next Mercenary Division head.
No mere chief could fire him.
Plus, even if you ignored his boss’s orders, his results were solid, so the executive director openly backed him.
It’d just bring more flak down on Chief Jung.
“Man, I just wanna have a smooth office life.”
Chief Jung clutched his receding hairline.
Deputy Simada dusted off his loosened collar and asked,
“Chief, just let him be. He’s a parachute golden boy lone wolf, but he delivers results, right?”
“Ugh...”
“He caught that demon contractor who laundered as a contractor, teamed up with freelance fixers to nab a ton of mafia. His methods are shady, but we can just watch and eat snacks.”
Chief Jung let out an invisible sigh.
“Goddamn... that’s the problem.”
“Huh?”
Simada didn’t catch his mutter and asked again.
But what came back was a slap.
Smack!
“That’s exactly it, you punk!”
“Then why chew me out when I’ve got nothing to do with it? I’m reporting this!”
Deputy Simada bristled in anger, and Chief Jung inwardly flinched.
But he cleared his throat, feigning composure.
“Anyway, that guy’s trouble dead or alive. Round up the team for backup?”
“Backup? Nah... better do cleanup after.”
Simada looked queasy toward where Gonghyeok had gone.
“That guy’s a total maniac when it comes to demon hunting.”
＊ ＊ ＊
Company’s underground sealed zone.
An undeveloped area off-limits to civilians.
And there, hiding from the light, lurked certain existences.
A haven for dimensional refugees who predated human cities, a hideout for demon contractors who couldn’t roam freely, and a go-to spot for necromancer mafia to handle shady business.
Plenty loved this secret place—debtors fleeing garnishments, mad alchemists experimenting on them—but today, they’d cleared out to the corners.
Stairs and ledges swarmed with squads of skeleton archers and mages.
On the ground, beasts and chimeras roared, spewing saliva and venom.
They’d all been summoned to face one man.
The army of the dead encircled him in a ring.
Around him lay the shattered corpses of beasts and undead.
The avatar ‘Baskerville Hell Hound’ and Hell Mace Palgarr howled in fury.
Their master, demon hunter Sanchez, heaved ragged breaths, splattered in blood.
Piiiik—
At the horn pipe’s call, beasts and undead perked their ears.
They parted to form a path.
An old man walked up to it.
The summoner of this underground army of the dead.
Right eye of Death God Urben.
Top exec of the necro mafia spanning humanity.
Commander of the vanished.
Staff of Ruin. Isaac Jerolbane.
He appeared before Sanchez, who’d tormented necro mafia and demon contractors endlessly.
“Mortal. Are you in pain?”
From the half-lich Isaac’s eye bloomed blue ghostfire.
“I know you bear us grudge. But death makes it all meaningless.”
His bony hand pointed at Sanchez.
Isaac’s boasted eight death knights surrounded him.
“I’ll give you two choices. Live as flesh to welcome Death God’s new world? Or as undead, serve me and Death God?”
The death knights stamped and raised weapons to punctuate.
“Either way, you’ll be freed from worldly pain.”
The man’s face and head scarred hideously with burns.
“It doesn’t hurt.”
He who lost family to necro mafia, bore the demon hunter’s burden.
Cruz Clemente Sanchez replied.
“Not one bit.”
One scene was etched in his eyes like a photo.
[Chapter 66 - Special Pursuit 0 Squad (1)] End