24 Hours
Sitting on the sofa in his pajamas, Jeong-Hoon sipped the coffee Jeong I-Yeong had poured him and tried to jolt his brain awake.
The drowsiness had fled long ago, but the suddenness of the situation still left his head refusing to turn properly.
He had barely managed to grasp what Fernandez and I-Yeong had explained.
"So if I just go over and touch them once, it's over. I should step in myself, right?"
Thinking of Anubis, Jeong-Hoon spoke up. Fernandez and I-Yeong both shook their heads at once.
"It is too dangerous."
"They have almost certainly shored up their weaknesses based on Anubis's experience."
If the attempt failed and the Gaju himself was injured, the aftermath would be unmanageable. Both rejected the idea on the spot.
"Then what do you intend to do? Pound them one by one with Butler Ju's Pokroipasung-level attacks?"
With his plan dismissed, Jeong-Hoon shook his head and pushed back.
Aside from that, only one useful method remained.
Because the demonkins were wielding the power of the seal, they would have to be hit with attack power that surpassed the seal itself.
Doing so would mean accepting that a city would be erased for every single demonkin.
"But they are newly created beings—entities that receive the grace of mana for a full twenty-four hours. For the Gaju to step forward is too great a risk."
Had it not been for the invincible power granted by their remaking, the plan would have been to subdue them one by one so Jeong-Hoon could simply lay a hand on them.
In the present situation, that approach was far too dangerous.
"At the very least, we ask that you wait until the twenty-four hours have passed before you move."
Faced with Fernandez's insistence that they prepare for the possibility the seal's power would not work on the demonkins, Jeong-Hoon found he could not simply force the issue.
"…Do we have enough force to hold the demonkins for a full day?"
"More than enough. The Elder Council will take the field."
"Using our hidden card for something like this feels a bit wasteful, but I suppose we have no choice. Tell them to run the moment things get dangerous, though."
Any of the nine elders of the Elder Council could rise to S-class at any time.
The reason they still had not was deliberate: once they ascended to S-class, residual mana would grant them twenty-four hours of invincible power—power the family kept as a hidden card.
The Elder Council judged the present crisis to be exactly that sort of emergency, and Fernandez had conveyed their resolve.
If the demonkins were invincible for twenty-four hours, then the family would answer with twenty-four hours of invincibility of its own.
Jeong-Hoon had no choice but to nod.
It was, without question, the best option available to them right now.
Not all nine elders took the field against the seven demonkins.
The family's hidden card could not be spent as a one-time throwaway.
Some of the targets were left to the 12 Vassals; only the minimum number of elders stepped forward.
In the end, four of the nine emerged.
"I'm grateful the Elder Council is taking more than half, but this is still a pain in the neck."
Of the three remaining demonkins after the elders claimed four, Jeon Mun-Jae—the vassal in charge of Apollon—grumbled under his breath while luring the pig-headed one.
He kept up a steady stream of attacks while drawing it along, yet the creature recovered in an instant. There was no satisfaction in landing a hit.
That was the trouble with facing a demonkin right after its remaking, when it could pour out infinite mana. Even a member of the 12 Vassals found it exasperating.
Butler Ju and Jeong Si-Min were still recovering, and Fernandez and Jeong I-Yeong had to remain at Jeong-Hoon's side. That left the other eight of the 12 Vassals fully deployed.
"Journey to the West is a Tang Dynasty story with nothing to do with seals, so why is Zhu Bajie of all things crawling out of it?"
"President Jeon, you sound like you've got all the free time in the world."
"Ah—no, not at all, Director Han. Just wondering out loud!"
Having let his inner thoughts slip while dealing with a Zhu Bajie that was worthless aside from its infinite mana, Jeon Mun-Jae shook his head and answered Han Su-Ho's radio call.
"Well, a demonkin is a fusion of monster and human. Its outward form is ultimately shaped by the images people carry, so mythology itself doesn't really matter."
"Is that so? Thanks for the kind expla—yikes!"
Jeon Mun-Jae had been nodding along to Dong Sa-Seong's interruption when Zhu Bajie suddenly enlarged the saw in its hand and swung. Clicking his tongue, he wrapped electricity around his body and slipped through the arc of the blade.
Had the attack not been sheathed in mana, he could simply have turned his entire body into lightning and phased through it. Because it was, he had to rely on pure speed.
For Jeon Mun-Jae, that was no great difficulty.
He might be the youngest of the 12 Vassals, but he was an SS-class Awakened who commanded Apollon, the family's combat arm.
"Whew. That almost got ugly."
He had dodged everything with room to spare, yet he still made a show of complaint. Electricity coiled around his leg as he slammed a kick into Zhu Bajie.
The Organization had named the creature Jeong Dansaja, but Jeon Mun-Jae—and the family—neither knew nor cared.
Even if they had known, they would never have followed the Organization's preferences.
Jeong-Hoon had looked at it and called it Zhu Bajie; therefore it was Zhu Bajie.
"Die! Just die already, you Lumen dog!"
"…It's Aurora, not Lumen. Your intel seems a little outdated. Wait—were you a prisoner?"
Slightly shoved back by the kick, Zhu Bajie swung its saw in a frenzy. Jeon Mun-Jae only shrugged and weaved through the blows with easy speed.
"Don't tell me you don't even know the AP Guild!!!"
"Uh… what was that again?"
He shrugged as though he genuinely could not recall, then cocked his head at the raving Zhu Bajie.
It was not an act. He honestly did not remember.
"Ah! Got it. If you'd just stayed locked up and lived like a corpse, you might've kept your life. Shame."
Never imagining Zhu Bajie's true identity had been the master of the AP Guild, Jeon Mun-Jae shrugged once more and drew one of the two longswords hanging at his waist.
Even against an opponent this leisurely, relying solely on superpowers and raw physical ability was starting to drain him.
He decided to fight properly with martial arts. The moment the sword left its sheath, current raced along the blade.
Zap. Crackle!
"Thunderlight!"
A flash.
The current flowing through the sword fused with sword aura and sheared clean through Zhu Bajie's saw.
"Urgh!"
Boom!
The aura collided with the mana coating the saw and detonated, hurling Zhu Bajie backward.
Jeon Mun-Jae immediately drew the second longsword and locked the hilts together.
The two blades became a single double-edged sword.
He spun the weapon in a great arc and carved into Zhu Bajie.
Current-laced sword aura opened a long gash across the creature, then reversed and cut again.
He spun his body and sliced through its legs.
"Kuaaak!"
Infinite mana restored the wounds in an instant, yet it did not erase the pain.
Unable to endure the agony of being butchered, Zhu Bajie screamed.
"T-This can't be… This was supposed to be the power of a god!"
"God, my ass. You just stole a scrap of our Gaju's power!"
Even as he spoke, Jeon Mun-Jae poured mana into the double-edged blade and unleashed sword aura.
The energy that had flowed along both edges concentrated on one side, swelling into a massive blade of pure current.
"Aurora Slash."
He spoke the name of the technique under his breath and swung.
A flash of light split Zhu Bajie and soared into the sky.
The demonkin's eyes filled completely with terror.
Baek Si-Hwan sprinted under acceleration, glancing back at the monkey demonkin—Sun Wukong—that pursued him, then focused once more on flight.
They had not even exchanged blows. The moment Sun Wukong saw the acceleration, it had flown into a solitary rage and begun chasing him like a mad thing.
"I never expected this mission to be so easy…"
"I'll kill you, Han Si-Eun!!!"
Watching Sun Wukong associate him with Han Si-Eun from acceleration alone and then erupt in fury, Si-Hwan immediately guessed the creature's original identity.
It had been a robber who specialized in preying on newly awakened hunters. Not long after Han Si-Eun's own awakening, it had attacked her and been arrested.
Judging by the charges that later surfaced, only the abolition of the death penalty had saved it from execution.
That same demonkin, upon merely witnessing Si-Hwan's acceleration, had lost its mind and was now pursuing him of its own accord.
"Still as good at running as ever!"
"…Hmm. Listening to this nonstop is starting to get on my nerves."
Maintaining a careful distance while he ran, Baek Si-Hwan suddenly stopped dead.
Then he drove an acceleration-boosted kick straight into Sun Wukong's stomach.
"Keuk!"
"It's a problem if you mistake me for Hunter Han Si-Eun when the only thing we have in common is acceleration."
Han Si-Eun might be the youngest SS-class and therefore higher-ranked than Si-Hwan, but Si-Hwan was still one of the 12 Vassals and the leader of the family's assassination unit.
His strength transcended rank.
Having someone constantly compare him to Han Si-Eun under those circumstances grated on him. He stared into the eyes of the Sun Wukong whose face was twisted from the kick.
Those eyes were drowned in pure madness; not a scrap of reason remained.
"I'll kill you! Ukkiiik!!!"
With a monkey's shriek, Sun Wukong charged. Si-Hwan activated acceleration again.
He slipped past the staff by a paper-thin margin, raised his dagger, and drove it straight through the creature's neck.
"Kiiik!"
Even with its throat pierced, Sun Wukong regenerated in an instant and lunged once more. Si-Hwan dodged by another hair's breadth and stabbed in rapid succession.
Unlike Jeon Mun-Jae's leisurely evasions, these were razor-edge near-misses.
Yet it was not because Si-Hwan was slower. He was faster, and that very speed made the hair-trigger counters possible.
"That should be enough venting."
Lately his near-constant partner Park Jin-Yang had been hovering on the verge of SS-class, leaving Si-Hwan unusually sensitive about ranks. After freely tormenting Sun Wukong to his heart's content, the irritation finally eased. He layered on acceleration again and resumed his run.
"Stop right there!!! You acceleration bastards! I'll kill every last one of you!!!"
Believing Si-Hwan was fleeing, the thoroughly battered and enraged Sun Wukong poured on speed and gave chase.
Si-Hwan kept just enough distance that capture always seemed a breath away. Foam flecked the demonkin's mouth as it howled its distinctive "ukki" cries and hurtled after him.
"Kuwaaak!!!"
Realizing it could never catch him no matter how hard it ran, Sun Wukong hurled its staff.
Whoosh!
The staff that split the air flew not toward Si-Hwan but straight into the sky.
Seeing it, Si-Hwan decided the creature had finally discarded every last scrap of reason.
"Hmm. I didn't see this coming."
But the staff that had soared skyward suddenly ballooned in size and plummeted toward the earth.
It was the exact usage of the real Sun Wukong's Ruyi Jingu Bang.
Si-Hwan accelerated hard and slipped out of the staff's range.
Fleeing forward would have been useless; the staff was expanding faster than he could run.
They were the same S-class, so their output was equal. On top of that, the twenty-four-hour invincibility let the demonkin pour out far more mana than Si-Hwan. Simply outrunning the enlargement was impossible.
So instead Si-Hwan spun around and circled behind Sun Wukong.
"Ukki! Got you!"
Grinning at the man who had returned to its rear, Sun Wukong stretched out a hand.
Si-Hwan concentrated his mana. The power that had been circulating to enhance acceleration collapsed into a single point and surged through his entire body.
It climbed all the way to his head, then instantly funneled into his right leg.
"Ha!"
Matching the exact moment Sun Wukong reached for him, Si-Hwan pivoted and drove a spinning kick into the demonkin's skull.
Boom!
The concentrated mana detonated the head.
Against an ordinary S-class Awakened the blow would have been instantly fatal.
Sun Wukong, however, merely lost half its head and still endured.
It regenerated with stubborn persistence and reached out again. Si-Hwan swept his dagger toward the extended hand.