Chapter 42
Chapter 42
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: Wave
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Their response to my firm words was simple.
“Fuck! Hit him!”
“But he looks like an angel?”
“Is that the problem right now? You idiot!”
Attacks flew in immediately. At that moment, a strange thought crossed my mind. When I manifest, they should perceive me as an Archangel. And yet they came at me with attacks right away. I felt the need to properly interrogate them about what they were up to. I reflected the shockwave that one Hunter on the left had released in a hurry right back at him with my shield.
“Argh!”
The Hunter struck by his own reflected skill tumbled backward and didn’t get up. A barrage of follow-up attacks came next, but there were too many to send back.
I leaped back, swatting them all aside with my shield before going on the offensive.
Whoosh!
I activated Shield Bounce, and the shield shot forward ferociously, ricocheting wildly among the enemies.
“Arghhh!”
“Ack!”
“Fuck!”
Using the shield left my defense wide open, and attacks poured in during that gap. But thanks to the incarnation’s sturdy body, I weathered them with ease.
I even slapped away a blow that hit like a truck with the back of my hand, leaving the screaming Hunter who’d thrown it utterly dumbfounded. What could he do? We were on completely different levels.
After manifesting, I selected Charge—a skill now available to me.
It was the same move that had landed a critical hit on the Lord-level monster Urukel. There was no way these Hunters could withstand it.
The ground shattered with every step I took to build momentum for the charge. Once I barreled forward with that force, it was all over. The six Hunters caught in the straight-line attack path were ripped to shreds and reduced to chunks of flesh.
“Arghhh!”
“Ack!”
Their dying screams echoed as what had once been people rolled across the ground in bloody lumps. Another Hunter, his head splattered with his comrade’s guts, stared in a daze. I really shouldn’t be thinking this right now, but he looked like a dreadlocked Rasta.
“Surrender. Resist, and I’ll kill you all. I am the proxy of Metatron, and this is Metatron’s holy land. Know that there are no restrictions on me taking your lives.”
They hadn’t only kidnapped a female Hunter in Metatron’s holy land—they’d attacked the incarnation without a word.
That was already grounds for summary execution. I’d spared the rest only because I wanted to interrogate them and get the full story.
“Ha, we surrender!”
“Please spare us!”
The Hunters dropped their weapons and surrendered to a person. I freed the two female Hunters who were still bound. They turned out to be twin sisters. Maybe it was the ordeal they’d been through or just sheer relief, but one of them burst into tears. The other hugged her tight and bowed her head to me.
“Thank you so much, Archangel.”
“Which family do you belong to?”
“The Ariel Family.”
“Let’s head back. I have a lot I want to hear.”
***
The incident turned the entire Noryangjin area upside down. This unimaginable kidnapping of a female Hunter drew the eyes of Hunters everywhere—even as they fought to endure the Wave. Michaela even called me personally on the phone, promising whatever support I needed.
It was the kind of unprecedented event that caught the attention of Archangels too.
The investigation took several days, but fortunately, the week-long monster Wave had entered a lull, so we got help from the other families.
And the results were these.
Fifteen Hunters from the Ariel Family had tried to flee to Gangwon Province—and in the process, they’d attempted to kidnap the Ariel Family’s female Hunters, the twin sisters Ham Ga-hyun and Ham Ga-yoon.
Even Angel Ariel’s own crimes came to light, and she was summoned. It wasn’t just her; all her Hunters who’d remained in her holy land were rounded up and brought to Noryangjin.
Michaela sent the Fallen Angels Dipinel and Apinel to assist. The two, brimming with formidable power, hauled in Ariel, her champion, and the remaining seven Hunters.
Her holy land in Seongnam lay in ruins, and her family was shattered.
***
Three days later.
The newly built grand hall teemed with hundreds of Hunters. Among the packed crowd were Korea’s one and only S-rank Hunter, Lim Cheol-woong, as well as members of the 11-Member Committee—plenty of big names. They were all here to support the Wave effort.
Bound at the center of the crowd stood Common Angel Ariel and her champion, her Hunters, and the twin sisters who’d nearly been kidnapped—the victims.
Metatron was in attendance as well, and Angels unable to leave their own holy lands had sent representatives. That was how serious the matter was. The hall brimmed with such heavyweights that not a single raised voice could be heard.
I stood at the center of everyone seated in a circle, moments from announcing the results of the investigation. All eyes were fixed on me, waiting for it to start.
I took a light deep breath and opened my mouth.
“I regret having to summon everyone for such an unfortunate affair. But we’ve all agreed that this incident must be handled fairly and transparently. And please keep in mind that what I’m about to announce isn’t the judgment of the Metatron Family alone—it has the approval of several major families.”
High-ranking Hunters from the Archangels’ families had been dispatched for the investigation. The conclusion was already set.
“Now, I’ll explain the results of the investigation.”
My voice alone echoed through the silent hall.
“The Ariel Family may not have seemed troubled from the outside, but internally, it had reached an irredeemable state. Hunter corruption and negligence from the Angel leading the family had rotted it through. We raided the Ariel Family’s holy land and uncovered a large number of highly suspicious ledgers.”
The Ariel Family had been a hotbed of every kind of corruption.
They’d even been implicated in murders.
When I revealed evidence that Hunters had secretly killed civilians, angry shouts erupted from all sides.
“These crazy bastards!”
“How is this even possible!”
That was hardly the end of it. They’d stolen civilians’ property and assaulted people—it was a total cesspool. They’d even colluded with local police to cover it up.
We’d already requested a formal investigation from the prosecutors on that front. Such matters weren’t for an outsider like me anyway; they belonged in expert hands. What we were addressing here concerned only the Angels and Hunters.
“Quiet.”
I raised my hand to silence the crowd and continued.
“Of course, not every member of the Ariel Family was involved. There were those like the victims of this incident, the Ham sisters, who had no idea what was going on.”
At least five Hunters had been clean.
I cleared up the misunderstandings about them and pressed on with the explanation.
“The Hunters implicated in the recent corruption seemed to be backed into a corner in all directions. A long tail always gets stepped on eventually. So they hatched this bold plan to escape to Gangwon Province. They intended to serve under an independent Lord monster there.”
The hall exploded in uproar.
It was understandable. Even I had been skeptical when they first spilled everything. According to them, sticking it out in the Ariel Family was just a matter of time before their crimes came out. So they’d made an extreme choice.
To make their escape, they’d volunteered for the Noryangjin Wave. From there, they planned to slip away to monster-occupied Gangwon Province and join the ranks of an independent Lord monster.
Naturally, leaving Ariel’s service would strip them of their Hunter powers entirely. That was why they’d aimed for a Lord-level monster.
There were rumors that this independent Lord had broken free from the monster kings and was enlisting Hunters who’d fled to the Gangwon outskirts. Whispers spoke of fallen Hunters and monsters coexisting in their remote territory.
Now that it had been confirmed, the Hunters had no choice but to be shocked.
Some of them might have already known the truth.
As for targeting the Ham sisters, the reason was simple. The stunning twin beauties were meant to become sex slaves once they reached Gangwon. If there was more to it, the sisters’ upright behavior had put them at odds with the group—and their rare Prestige Class had rubbed the other Hunters the wrong way.
Their inferiority complexes had exploded in true lowlife fashion. They’d harbored grudges for a while and had clearly planned this out. The tragedy was that, Prestige Class or not, the sisters were a support type—they couldn’t fend off a sudden attack from fifteen burly Hunters.
“Investigating this case, I could barely contain my rage. Kidnapping their own comrades to sate their desires, exploiting their overseeing Angel’s negligence to defect to our monstrous enemies! How could this not incense both heaven and earth?”
The outrage was so universal that I didn’t even need a particularly stirring speech. Raising my voice was enough to set the room ablaze.
“Kill them!”
“Trash!”
I raised my hand once more to quiet them and pointed out one final thing.
“It’s clear beyond doubt that the Hunters behind this have no excuses.”
The ones bound to chairs sat in silence, as if they’d already given up. They had no way out, no defense left.
“But there’s one more thing we must address properly. Why Common Angel Ariel, as the manager of her own domain, allowed her family to fester like this.”
Every eye turned to Ariel.
The observing Hunters shot her dark looks. The truth was, Ariel had neglected her family for one simple reason: she’d grown lazy and fed up.
She’d been sick of the endless wars with her enemies long before becoming an Angel.
She made a habit of ignoring even the Archangels, which had marked her as one to watch. Michaela’s reaction had basically been, “It was bound to blow up eventually.”
She’d even brushed off Michaela, the second-in-command among Angels. True, the Archangels could have forced compliance or erased Ariel outright with their power—but the unexpectedly gentle lady Michaela wasn’t the type.
Having heard all this beforehand, the Hunters had no kind words for her.
“Ariel, care to offer any defense?”
Ariel, who’d been silently hanging her head, finally spoke.
“I have no interest. Whether your human race perishes or not. What’s the difference between you and the bugs buzzing around those fluorescent lights up there?”
Her provocative words unleashed a torrent of condemnation from all sides.
“What did you say? How dare you!”
“Comparing humans to bugs!”
Over a dozen landless Angels like Fallen Angels Dipinel and Apinel were in the hall, and even they couldn’t hide their agitation.
“Ariel! You shameful wretch!”
This time, the crowd refused to settle. The sense of betrayal among the Hunters ran deep.
“Quiet! Be silent!”
It took several shouts to finally seal their lips.
“I’ve left Ariel’s disposition to the Archangels. It goes without saying that humans can’t decide an Angel’s fate. And one more thing: we mustn’t show disrespect to our devoted Angels over this highly exceptional case.”
The Hunters were quick to nod in agreement. Without the Angels, it was game over for them. Some glanced nervously at the Angels nearby, perhaps regretting how harshly they’d criticized Ariel earlier.
“On Ariel’s punishment, Archangel Metatron—the foremost among Angels—will now speak. Know that this has already been agreed upon by the other Archangels.”
I took my seat. Metatron, who’d been silent until then, stood.
The mere motion of her cold expression sent hundreds of Hunters flinching in place. Even the world’s strongest, the Hunter King Lim Cheol-woong, twitched his brow.
“I now inform you all. Ordinarily, crimes by a Common Angel are deliberated by the Archangel council. But this occurred in my holy land and tarnished my honor, so the other Archangels have left the judgment entirely to me.”
In plain terms, everyone had washed their hands of it and let Metatron handle it as she saw fit. Ariel belonged to no faction and had long been a problem child—no one wanted to get involved. Had she been under a specific Archangel, it wouldn’t have been settled so neatly.
Metatron delivered our pre-arranged decision without hesitation.
“Thus, I now rule. Common Angel Ariel is to serve for 120 years as the slave of Yu Je-a, incarnation of mine. Let that humiliation be her atonement for her crimes.”
The hall fell into pandemonium.
“What! What did the Archangel just say?”
“Is that even possible?”
“Quiet! Silence, everyone!”
She’d ordered an Angel to serve a human.
But Metatron’s next words plunged the chaos into utter bedlam.
“Yu Je-a shall dominate Ariel for those 120 years with the power bestowed upon her by me.”
Hunters and Angels alike stared at me in utter confusion.
Well, better to just show them. I’d already decided to weather the fallout.
I strode forward and stopped in front of Ariel.
“What is this?”
Ignoring her question, I grabbed a fistful of her hair with my left hand and pressed my right against her forehead. Ariel recoiled in shock and tried to resist, but my grip was ironclad. I roughly seized the hair of this noble Angel and crushed my palm against her forehead. Ariel couldn’t conceal her bewilderment at the humiliation she’d never known in her life. My touch was like that of a brutal bandit capturing an innocent princess ignorant of the world.
Crackle!
Black sparks erupted, and Ariel’s scream rang out.
“Kyaaah! Human! How dare you—!”
Everyone in the hall held their breath, watching the scene unfold. When the domination process finally ended, Ariel wore a bewildered expression. Her mind was intact, but everything had changed.
“What in the world?”
No longer composed like before, Ariel floundered as I issued my command.
“Kneel. Before your new master.”
============================ Author's Note ============================
Think it's about time to go paid?
Since wrapping up 'Dungeon Majesty' back in January, I still haven't seen any real income, and I'm hitting my economic limit. If this keeps up, I'll start dipping into my studio deposit savings lol. I am serializing 'Dragon Hunter' on Noblesse, but that only brings in about 200,000 won a month—not even enough for rent. My rent here's 560,000 won lol;; It's not even a big place, just 6.5 pyeong, but the location's super niche...;; Anyway, I can't keep this up, so I'm planning to move next year.
I wanna go paid and get some fried chicken. ㅠㅠ