Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Alice Green (1)
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“Fall back! Keep your distance from the Master and counter the enemies' attacks!”
The hunters from the Caliber Guild pulled away from Alice while blocking the elves swarming in from all sides.
Tatata-tang! Tatang!
“Damn it! Just how many of them are coming?!”
The Ferbane soldiers gritted their teeth and retreated.
The combined forces of the British army, Ferbane army, and British hunters deployed in Glasgow numbered around 200,000.
In contrast, the enemy forces exceeded 500,000.
And Glasgow wasn't the only city under attack.
The elves were striking Edinburgh to the east and all the towns in between as well.
“Is it true that the number of elves descending from the south has surpassed three million?”
“Master! Uh... our forces are pulling back from Edinburgh!”
Edinburgh, Scotland's capital and the second-largest city after Glasgow, had finally fallen into the elves' hands.
The real problem was that the villages and towns between Glasgow and Edinburgh had also been overrun.
“Son of a...!”
Britain's mid-tier and small guild masters spewed curses, gripped by terror.
“Retreat's impossible! We're completely surrounded...!”
“It might be safer to hole up in the buildings!”
It was the worst possible situation.
The soldiers and hunters had no choice but to brace for death.
Even Alice, who had been holding off the slashing attacks, was starting to sweat.
A swarm of attack helicopters had opened up concentrated fire on her.
Ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-kwang!
A massive explosion erupted around Alice.
Then, a barrage of slashing attacks pierced through the blast and bore down on her.
“Ma... Master!”
“No...!”
“We have to protect the Master...!”
As the Caliber Guild hunters rushed toward Alice,
she finally fell back and unleashed a slash of her own.
Kwang!
“Ngh...!”
The shockwave from the explosion right in front of her sent Alice's body flying hundreds of meters.
Kwang!
Crashing into a building, Alice gritted her teeth.
Had she ever taken damage like this in her current life?
The pain surging through her body made it hard to even stay upright.
And from the sky, the concentrated barrage continued raining down on her.
Ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-kwang—!
The elf generals confirmed the direction of the attack helicopters' fire.
“She's flown over there.”
“Keep attacking!”
“My mana is almost depleted! We have to take her out now!”
Once more, the generals' slashes crossed the Clyde River and hurtled toward Alice.
Kuaaaang—! Ku-ku-kwang!
The hunters and soldiers watching the scene could only sink into despair.
Britain's strongest hunter had fallen.
“Ah...”
Thud.
Even the Caliber Guild hunters collapsed to the ground, their morale shattered.
“No... way.”
“Lady... Alice...”
Ku-ku-ku-ku-kwang!
The attacks kept pounding the building Alice had crashed into.
The hunters could only stare blankly at the sight.
And Alice—the target of the barrage—sat slumped on the ground, gazing at the man in front of her.
He was blocking every enemy attack with his slender sword.
“You're... too late.”
“Hup...!”
The man unleashed a massive slash, destroying all incoming attacks and striking the elf generals.
Tu-kuwaaaaang—!
The slash stretched across the Clyde River and swallowed the generals whole.
Then, the man—South Korea's national power-level hunter, Park Kang-hyuk—tilted his head up and launched countless slashes into the sky.
Ku-ku-ku-kwang!
Numerous attack helicopters were shot down, plunging the battlefield into silence.
“Good work. I'll handle the rest.”
“...Please do.”
Kang-hyuk kicked off the ground and leaped into the air.
He then unleashed dozens... hundreds of slashes toward the enemies across the Clyde, turning the city into rubble in an instant.
Ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-kwang!
The buildings were half-destroyed to begin with.
They were going to be demolished anyway... so it was fine if he finished the job.
“You arrogant fools...”
Kang-hyuk's eyes flashed red as he landed on the ground.
He leaped up again, pouring countless slashes toward the elves advancing from the east and south.
Kwang! Ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-kwang!
“Kaaaaah...!”
“Wha... what?! Who the hell is launching these attacks...!”
“Wasn't Alice supposed to be dead?!”
“What are the generals doing...!”
Kuaang!
Elves vaporized amid the chain of explosions.
The Ferbane and British forces, along with the hunters, stared in stunned silence at the enemy lines being massacred by Kang-hyuk.
What in the world was happening?
Hadn't Alice been taken out by the generals' attacks?
“P-Park Kang-hyuk Hunter...! Park Kang-hyuk Hunter has come to reinforce us!”
At the hunter's shout, soldiers and hunters alike let out hollow laughs and slumped to the ground.
“He... he really came.”
“The world's strongest hunter...”
“What about Alice Green Hunter?!”
“She survived thanks to Park Kang-hyuk Hunter. We're told her wounds are being treated with the high-grade potions he brought.”
“Ah...”
Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief knowing Alice was safe.
“With Park Kang-hyuk Hunter and Alice Hunter together, we can take back Edinburgh too!”
The news of Glasgow's victory quickly reached the British government.
The Prime Minister clenched his fist as reports of Kang-hyuk's exploits poured in.
“The title of world's strongest is no empty boast.”
“As soon as Alice Hunter's treatment is complete, they'll head out to reclaim Edinburgh together.”
The Prime Minister nodded gravely at the Deputy Prime Minister's report.
“We've incurred a massive debt to Korea.”
Losing Alice would have shaken Britain's security to its core.
A national power-level hunter was the pillar of a nation.
If that pillar never existed in the first place, it might be different.
But losing one they had would crush the morale of soldiers and hunters alike.
Park Kang-hyuk, Alice Green, and hundreds of other hunters piled into vehicles and set off for Edinburgh.
Meanwhile, the British and Ferbane armies moved with the remaining hunters to reclaim the small towns and villages.
Tatata-tang! Tatang!
“Erect... the barrier!”
The elves used spirit magic to block the British gunfire.
“Why are enemies coming from Glasgow?!”
“Squad leader! Park Kang-hyuk took down the generals in Glasgow!”
“What bullshit is that?! Who the hell is Park Kang-hyuk?!”
“Didn't you hear a few days ago? The new national power-level hunter from that small country Korea! The one who beat Lucas Howard...!”
“Fuck!”
He didn't remember the name Park Kang-hyuk.
But Lucas Howard was unforgettable.
The world's most powerful hunter, or so it was said.
Whoever took him down had to possess immense power.
“Fall back! Retreat!”
“Yes, sir!”
The elves hurriedly withdrew toward Edinburgh.
Meanwhile, Kang-hyuk raced along the highway into Edinburgh and dove into the city alongside Alice.
Papapap!
“Up to the rooftops!”
Alice nodded and followed Kang-hyuk up onto the buildings.
They unleashed slashes at every enemy in sight.
Ku-ku-ku-ku-kwang!
“E-enemy raid!”
The elves leaped out from buildings in a panic, unleashing attacks at Kang-hyuk and Alice.
Of course, all their strikes were devoured by Kang-hyuk and Alice's slashes.
Explosions rocked the city everywhere, screams echoing in their wake.
The British hunters mopping up stragglers could only chuckle bitterly.
“Wasn't Alice Green Hunter badly injured just a few hours ago?”
“Plus, she must've burned through a ton of mana clashing with the generals.”
“Park Kang-hyuk Hunter had to use a lot of mana wiping out Glasgow's enemies too...”
“Even for national power-level hunters...”
Could they even be called human like the rest of them?
The hunters watched Kang-hyuk and Alice like monsters, small smiles creeping onto their faces.
Two national power-level hunters fighting together.
How reassuring was that?
“Let's go!”
Tatata-tang!
“Fuck!”
Hunters hurriedly cast attack spells to counter the gunfire pouring from ahead.
The hundreds of thousands of elves who had wiped out the British and Ferbane garrisons in Edinburgh.
Resting in buildings, they were suddenly struck by lightning from a clear sky and fell into panic.
Kwang!
“What's all this commotion?!”
“General! Alice Green and Park Kang-hyuk are attacking Edinburgh!”
“What the fuck?! Those two were in Glasgow just a moment ago...!”
“They held Glasgow and came straight here!”
The general's face twisted in fury.
Three generals had led forces in Glasgow.
Eight were stationed in Edinburgh.
Though the numbers favored Edinburgh more than twofold, the quality gap was immense.
Five lowest Grand Masters and three low Grand Masters among them.
Even all together, they couldn't take down Glasgow's generals.
“The enemy must be exhausted from fighting our generals! Now's our chance...!”
He was right.
There was no way they could face Edinburgh's generals unscathed after Glasgow.
They had to have depleted their mana at minimum.
“Call the generals now! Hold off their attacks!”
“Yes, sir!”
The generals gathered at Edinburgh's Waverley Station, preparing to confront Kang-hyuk and Alice.
Shing!
The generals gripped their straight swords, greatswords, staves, bows, and other weapons.
Ku-ku-kwang! Kwang!
The explosions grew closer.
“They're coming! Everyone, prepare to attack!”
As the generals readied their spirit magic, countless slashes flew toward them.
“B-block them!”
Ku-ku-ku-kwang!
The generals barely blocked Kang-hyuk's mid-Grand Master slash.
Then Alice's slash closed in right on their faces.
“Damn it...!”
Tu-kuwaaaang—!
Alice's slash devoured the generals in one go.
Despite gaining massive experience points, Alice wasn't overly thrilled.
“Should've let you handle those Glasgow generals after all?”
“We're almost there. A little more, and you'll reach the pinnacle realm.”
“Yeah. Let's keep going.”
“Yes.”
Kang-hyuk and Alice obliterated every tank and armored vehicle in Edinburgh, vaporizing the elves clustered in the streets.
“R-run away!”
At news of the generals' deaths, the elf warriors scattered in terror.
The elves attacking small towns and villages fled northwest the moment they reached Edinburgh.
The sea lay to Edinburgh's north.
To escape, they'd have to cross bridges like the Forth Bridge and Forth Road Bridge to the west or flee northwest by land.
Alice hunted the fleeing elves, securing experience points.
“Hup...!”
Swooooosh!
With the enemies clearing out of the city, Alice could unleash her slashes freely.
Ku-ku-kwang! Kwang!
Kang-hyuk turned to gaze at the Edinburgh Armory.
“Come forth.”
Ten thousand skeletons rose from the ground.
Armed with rifles, they began mopping up the remaining stragglers in Edinburgh.