Chapter 114
Chapter 114
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 114
Chapter Title: Subduing the Angels
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The head of the Archangelus reaching out toward Nayeong, who had subdued the worshippers, vanished with a dull thud.
It was Changhee's long-range support. Nayeong was too far away to see him clearly, but she waved in the direction where Changhee was positioned.
Changhee, who had become a B-Rank Hunter at superhuman speed, was using the large-caliber sniper rifle that Jaein had made. It was expensive since it used magic stones as ammunition, so not just anyone could wield it, but Regen had sponsored it to train Changhee.
Changhee wasn't a Hunter with overwhelming attack power or special skills, but his precise control far surpassed others of his rank. That made him one of the few who could handle the magic stone sniper rifle, which had intense recoil and tricky firing controls to match its power.
It was an attack that could take down B-Rank monsters—and even A-Rank ones depending on the type—in a single shot. The heads of these mere C-Rank angels were more than enough to handle with one bullet.
"Surrender?"
I asked Principatus, who stood at the forefront, eyeing the Archangelus that lay there with only its body remaining.
"For Metatron! Warriors, attack!"
At Principatus's command, all the surviving monsters and angels charged. Even after we'd killed so many, there were still hundreds left. Hundreds of angels with massive wings flying toward me made the sky look blanketed in white feathers. But their faces were twisted like demons, clashing with their pure white plumage.
"True colors showing on your faces, huh."
Boom boom boom boom!
Before they could even get close, dozens burst apart. There was more than one sniper.
The survivors who made it past the long-range fire surged toward me like waves.
Angelus clawed with their sharpened nails, Archangelus thrust swords. Principatus fired beams of light indiscriminately, not caring if nearby angels caught fire.
My form vanished under the swarm of dozens of angels.
Thud!
I grew massive, enveloping myself in armor. Swinging my arm as I rose sent the angels atop me flying like flies to crash on the ground.
"Kill him!"
The angels shouted. Even as comrades died under the attacks from the Hunters encircling the area, they dove at me like moths to flame. There was no chance. The gap in power was like heaven and earth. Yet not a trace of fear showed on the angels' faces—only rage and madness.
I smashed down with my fist on an Archangelus diving at my eyes with its sword. It collided with incoming Angelus and turned to mush.
I yanked the wings off an Angelus clinging to my leg.
Rip!
"Gaaaaaaah!!!"
Even as its wings tore off, peeling back its back skin and claws ripping free, it kept clawing at my leg without letting go.
I battered the angels one by one, crushed them in my grip, and slammed them into the ground.
My entire body was splattered with the angels' red blood. Covered in black scaled armor soaked in gore, beating angels to death, I figured I must look like a devil myself.
With long-range support added in, it took less than a few minutes for the hundreds of angels to litter the ground.
I shrank back to normal size and stood before the surviving Principatus.
"Savor this fleeting victory. We are merely the vanguard from the Heavenly Realm. True warriors will soon arrive here. Tremble in fear until then."
"Bullshit. The moment that Metega-tron or whatever sets foot on Earth, it's over."
"It's Metatron!"
"Ah, mixed it up."
Too many names to memorize these days.
"Uwaaaah!!!"
Principatus screamed and fired light from its staff.
"Sleep."
I spun away, circled behind Principatus, and struck its neck with a hand chop.
"Gurk!"
"Hmm... For a human, that'd knock 'em out cold..."
Different structure, apparently. I followed up with a sleep punch to the face.
"Sleep... sleep... Still not out?"
Thud thud thud!
I gradually increased the force with each slow punch. Tricky to calibrate so its head didn't explode. Meanwhile, the remaining three angels swung swords at my neck, but it barely tickled.
"Will it pass out at all?"
Thud thud thud!
Not sure if it fainted, but with its face turned to pulp and twitching, it was out of commission for now.
"Okay. One down."
I shoved aside the three angels that had been pounding on me as I stood.
To extract information, we'd agreed not to capture all of them, leaving a few as prisoners, so the Hunters held back accordingly.
"Passing out would make this easier."
I raised my bloodied fist and flashed the angels the same gentle smile they'd shown us earlier.
* * *
I failed to control my strength during capture and killed one more, ending with three prisoners. All other angels gathered at the holy site, along with the monsters they'd collected, were dead.
The place where people had gathered was now filled with ash and corpses—it looked less like a holy site and more like a battlefield. Just cleaning up the monster and angel bodies would take considerable time.
Some countries had suffered casualties because they failed to detonate monster-removal bombs in time or neutralize civilians. But through joint operations, Earth had successfully eliminated most of the angels.
"How is it?"
Nayeong kneaded the Angelus's head. Its body twitched with every movement of her fingers.
"The structure... it's completely different from humans. Feels like they share one brain across the collective, each individual holding a piece."
"So ten thousand of them means ten thousand brains?"
"Won't make their intelligence ten times higher, but they're all linked. Good thing I didn't connect mentally beforehand. If I'd linked while so many were active, my mind wouldn't have held."
Nayeong replied with her eyes closed.
She massaged the Angelus's brain for a while, and we waited quietly behind her.
"Found it."
Nayeong opened her eyes. She'd located the surviving angels from the previous operation.
Now, only a few hundred were hiding across the world. The World Hunter Association coordinated cleanup operations against the remnants.
In Korea, they were holed up deep in the mountains of former North Korean territory.
"Run!"
When we stormed in, the angels scattered like seagulls fleeing people on the beach, but they couldn't escape us, who had come intent on capture.
Surrounded, they fell under spells and gunfire, wings burning black like moths in flames, plummeting to the ground.
"You, we're keeping alive for some questioning."
I told the last remaining Principatus.
"If we'd had just a little more time..."
Principatus glanced back and gnashed its teeth.
Behind it, a massive magic circle was etched into the ground. Huge magic stones were embedded everywhere, and naked corpses lay at each corner. Blood from their bodies was gradually mixing into the light-formed magic circle.
Judging by the scale and the quantity of magic stones, this wasn't prepared in a day or two. Stirring up division among people from the front, while crafting this in the back.
"Once the blood fully mixes, it's complete?"
I unleashed aura blasts from my hand in rapid succession, shattering the magic circle.
"Now what?"
"Fool. Why assume this is the only one? Even one success means our victory."
Thud!
I clubbed its head, slamming it to the ground.
"Report status on remnant cleanup operations in each country."
I asked the control room via in-ear comms.
[Operations complete in 43 regions. Awaiting reports from the remaining 12.]
"Relay urgently: destroy any magic circles found immediately. And demand faster reports."
A few minutes passed as we sorted the scene.
"Hunter Ijiseok! All countries report extermination complete!"
An Awakening Bureau official ran up to inform me.
"Phew..."
I didn't know what that magic circle was for, but given how long the angels had prepared it, success wouldn't have been good for us.
* * *
A group in military uniforms surrounded the Angelus bound to the operating table.
"Takashi, Junior Special Officer, you're certain?"
Japanese Prime Minister Saika glared at Takashi, director of the Special Anomaly Research Institute under the Special Self-Defense Forces. Junior Special Officer was a rank equivalent to a Korean army warrant officer—hardly typical for a director. But the previous director had been disciplined for poor performance, and Takashi, with his exceptional R&D skills, had taken over.
"Certain, sir. It's a magic circle enabling unlimited heals at minimal cost for constant operation. We're designing it based on info extracted from the angel's brain."
Takashi pushed up his thick glasses. His lab coat was stained with blood.
"Good. But don't they communicate with each other? The other countries won't detect our captives?"
"We destroyed the communication organs upon capture, so no."
During the sparrow hunt, an angel survived a headshot. Noticing the angels, who usually sensed each other without sight, couldn't locate it, Japan's Self-Defense Forces and Hunters experimented: destroy the comm organ and transport survivors to the lab.
"If this specimen's comms were intact, a mental manipulation Hunter would've detected it, and the World Hunter Association would've already raided us."
"Good. With those Joseon bastards monopolizing the World Tree, we must succeed in this project to restore the Greater Japanese Empire's glory. Accelerate the timeline."
"We need... more sacrifices."
"Haven't we provided dozens already?"
"Info shortages mean many experiments to perfect the infinite healing circle."
"Tch... Fine. Send more. How long?"
"About three months."
"Finish in one."
"But—"
"Fail, and you'll be the next sacrifice."
Recalling the previous director's fate, Takashi felt a monster gripping his throat and swallowed hard.
"...We'll complete it within the month, Prime Minister."
"For the day the Greater Japanese Empire reclaims its glory!"
Saika raised a vein-popping salute to the Rising Sun flag first, and everyone in the lab followed in unison.
* * *
"Gaf... not going home?"
Eres had stayed away for a while too, but now Gaf had nested in the house I'd set up in the World Tree for him.
"Huh? Want me gone? It's not over yet."
Gaf, eyes shadowed from nonstop console gaming, turned to me. He'd found the games I'd brought for the World Tree spirits and played 24/7.
"Not over?"
"The angels you caught are small fry. Principatus is 7th Hierarchy, Archangelus 8th, Angelus the bottom rung at 9th. Bottom of the bottom, basically. Not even all of them came—most died crossing, only some made it."
Gaf turned back to the screen, manipulating the controller at pro-gamer speed after just a day.
"Tens of thousands came down, and that's 'some'?"
"Low-tier angels like those sprout like weeds in the Heavenly Realm. What came is a speck compared to the total. But with the vanguard wiped, next might be 6th Hierarchy or higher."
"Stronger than me?"
"Hahahahaha! So confident. Love it. Love it."
Gaf burst out laughing. But his eyes stayed glued to the screen.
"Metatron's same tier as me. 1st Hierarchy. Even 2nd would be too much for you. Lucky for you, they can't cross preserving full power."
Gaf's offhand info drops were invaluable for us short on intel.
"Don't the Destruction God's armies have tons of soldiers too? Why not swarm all at once?"
With Gaf spilling info freely amid his gaming, I kept probing. A golden chance to effortlessly glean what little we knew about the Destruction God.