Suppression
"Kang Hanul! If we take that guy down, we can become legends!"
"We've got new powers too. We can take him!"
Dozens of Hunter Army soldiers charged at Hanul all at once. Skills and bullets poured down in a relentless barrage.
Black Magic Spell
Rebound
The skills rebounded off the mana-woven Rebound formula. Hanul reconstructed the formula on the fly, packing even greater force into the return.
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWANG— KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWANG!
The Hunter Army soldiers were flung in every direction, limbs twisted and broken.
"First floor breached! The enemy—no, Kang Hanul has entered!"
"All units, rally in the second-floor lobby! Concentrate firepower—GAAAH!"
A scream tore through the radio. Hanul never broke stride. He reached toward the ceiling; space warped, and a hole punched straight through to the floor above.
"A hole just opened in the floor!"
"It's him! Kang Hanul punched a hole through the ceiling below and he's coming straight up here!"
The company-sized Hunter force holding the second floor swung their muzzles toward him. Mana rounds fell like a rainstorm.
TU-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA—
Hanul flicked a finger. The bullets froze midair, then reverse-fired under the Rebound formula.
PU-PU-PU-PUK—!
Hunters who had raised defensive barriers were punched clean through by their own rounds and collapsed. Hanul strode over their screams without a glance.
-Establish a defensive line on the third floor! Prepare the heavy weapons...!
A field-grade officer of the Hunter Army was still screaming into the radio when the transmission cut out. Violet mana erupted through the third-floor floorboards and smashed the hunters into the ceiling.
KWA-JIK, KWA-DEUK!
The wet crunch of shattering skeletons filled the corridor.
Hanul walked to the elevator. The sealed doors crumpled like paper under the residual force of his mana. He threw himself into the empty shaft, defied gravity, and leapt all the way to the top floor—right outside the minister's office.
Park Mugang and his elite personal guard had formed their final blocking line there.
"He's here."
Gulp.
They hadn't even finished adjusting their grips on their weapons.
KWA-AAAAANG!
The elevator doors were ripped clean off and sent flying the length of the corridor. Through the dust walked a pair of violet eyes.
"Stop him! Kill him!"
"Dump every skill you've got! Open fire!"
"UAAAAAAAH!"
The elite Hunter soldiers unleashed their ultimate techniques. Flames, lightning, and stone pillars flooded the hallway.
Pa-chit!
The cascading mana skills shattered like glass the moment Hanul's hand brushed past them. Space itself distorted. Rebound, amplified by output reinforcement, sent everything straight back.
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWANG— PU-PU-PU-PU-PUK!
Park Mugang's carefully selected elites slammed into the walls like rag dolls.
Thud—thud—
Hanul closed the distance on Park Mugang and the handful of remaining confidants. A report crackled from a radio that had fallen at their feet.
-Fourth floor wiped out!
-Fifth floor contact lost!
-General, we can't stop him—static!
Hanul was already standing in front of the office; the radio reports were only now catching up. He crushed the radio underfoot with a wet crunch.
"You dared lay hands on my niece without knowing your place."
Hanul's gaze locked onto Park Mugang. In the general's hand was a bizarre ring—cubes studded with bloodshot eyeballs linked together, spinning in a vast circle.
That thing?!
Every time the ring traced its orbit, it sucked in surrounding mana like a black hole and compressed it. It swelled and shrank like a beating heart.
What a goddamn mess. Even Heavenly Realm trash has found its way here.
A moment later, every eyeball embedded in the cubes snapped open at once.
"Perfect timing. Kang Hanul—even you won't walk away unscathed against me now that I've grown this strong! This is a brand-new weapon I received straight from the United States!"
Park Mugang poured mana into it. The cube ring expanded. Several more rings began orbiting him like satellites around a planet.
"I don't know if you've even heard of the Heavenly Realm. Kuhahaha!"
"Park Mugang! Don't you realize the United States is using you to test their new weapon?!"
Eunha shouted from behind him.
"They're turning Korea into a testing ground, and you're playing right into their hands!"
"I don't care! I've already obtained power that rivals the gods! With this, I'll open a new era! HAAAAH!"
ZZZZZEOK—!
The eyeball-studded cubes disassembled and fused across Park Mugang's entire body.
HWIIIIIIING—
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA!
A mana storm howled through the office interior. The tempest swallowed even the subordinate hunters standing nearby and began forcibly absorbing them.
"Gaaahk! General!"
"General, please save us!"
"My body... my body's melting! UAAAAH!"
"Why us too?!"
The remaining subordinates crawled desperately across the floor, only to be dragged by the immense gravitational pull and collapse into Park Mugang's body. Using their agonized screams as background music, Park Mugang wore a smile of pure madness. Having drained his men's life force, his presence shattered its limits and soared. The aftershocks of the storm shook the entire office.
ZZZZZEOK— ZZZZZEOK!
Spiderweb cracks raced across the barrier Hatchery had raised. Eunha's face went bone-white.
"Don't worry."
Hanul stepped in front of the barrier. He touched empty air, and the crumbling shield restored itself in an instant. Beyond that solid back, Eunha saw golden streams descending from the ceiling—straight toward Park Mugang standing in the center of the office.
Radiant light wrapped around him as though an angel were descending. At the same time, a grotesque noise erupted from the empty air.
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■
A sacred hymn?
It almost felt like one. Yet at the same time it was a grotesque melody, as if dragged up from the depths of hell.
"Kuhahaha! Do you hear it?! The sound of the gods bestowing their blessing!"
Park Mugang screamed in ecstasy. At the heart of the swirling mana storm, his form slowly rose into the air. Countless eyeballs studded his entire body, rolling grotesquely in every direction. Bands of eyes spun in orbit; a halo and wings of light flickered across his back.
Principalities-class.
A seventh-rank Principality. Not a high-ranking angel, but Heavenly Realm power had still taken root in a human. Guanghan Tianzun's warning flashed through Hanul's mind—the Heavenly Realm, the Blood Realm, and the Outer Universe had all begun to covet Earth.
If this is happening, dimensional rifts must already have opened on other continents.
"Kneel, Kang Hanul. If you kneel now, I'll spare—"
PAK—!
The words never finished. Hanul's fist buried itself dead-center in Park Mugang's face.
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWANG—!
Park Mugang's body broke the sound barrier and punched straight through the floor—through the office floor all the way down to the building's subterranean foundation in a single blow.
"Eunha, wait right there. I'll be back in a moment."
Hanul dove into the hole. In the dust-choked basement—
"KRAAAAH, Kang Hanul!"
Park Mugang thrashed, swinging wings and rings. The moment they touched Hanul they shattered instead. Hanul closed in, seized him by the collar, and slammed him into the ground.
KWA-AANG!
He grabbed the wings and spinning rings and ripped them free.
KWA-DEUK, PA-JI-JIK!
With grotesque tearing sounds, the crude halo and wings were plucked out one by one in Hanul's hands.
"Keheuk! KRAAAAAH!"
CHWA-AAAAANG—
Park Mugang fired beams from the eyeballs still attached to the rings. Hanul tilted his head slightly, let the rays slide past, then uppercut the man's jaw.
PU-EOK—!
As Park Mugang floated upward, Hanul's consecutive punches hammered into his chest. These were no ordinary fists—each carried a Disintegration formula. With every impact the Heavenly Realm shell wrapping Park Mugang's body split apart at the molecular level and scattered.
-You're transmitting the dimensional information rooted in your body in real time to the Heavenly Realm or whatever lackey is pulling your strings, aren't you.
Linked to the Abyss Spectrum, Hanul drove the thought straight into Park Mugang's mind.
-Then you'd better transmit the pain and terror you're feeling right now to them properly as well.
The eyeballs embedded in Park Mugang's skin rolled wildly in terror. Hanul crushed and destroyed every remaining authority the man possessed.
HWA-REU-REUK!
The fragments turned into ash-like streams of light and were sucked into a dimensional rift. Hanul brushed the dust from his clothes and lightly leapt back up to the office.
"Eunha, are you all right?"
Behind the barrier, Eunha let out a trembling breath and nodded.
"I'm fine. But the country is a mess. Lieutenant General Park's subordinates have taken the National Assembly and the Blue House..."
-Hatchery. Clean out every last scrap of trash that seized the Blue House, the National Assembly, and every other key government facility.
-Yup! The Veteran Guild's cooperating too-yong! The goat demons are doing great, and I'll take Baek Hayan and the somewhat useful kids with me-yong!
"You heard that? I sent Hatchery, so it'll be fine. What do you want to do now?"
"I'd like to go to the Blue House. The president is there. Could you take me?"
"Not difficult at all. Let's go right now. Secretary Min, handle the cleanup here in Eunha's place."
"Yes, sir! Leave it to me."
Hanul lightly wrapped an arm around Eunha's waist and stamped his foot.
Pat—!
Their forms ignored gravity and shot through the air toward the Blue House.
Around the Blue House.
The grounds had become a scene of pure slaughter, stained with blood and screams.
"UAAAAH! What the hell are these monsters?!"
"We're under Lieutenant General Park Mugang's orders—urk!"
"Th-these things are wrong. Our attacks aren't working at all!"
Massive figures in black suits swung cold weapons—polearms, bardiches, halberds—and tore the coup Hunter forces apart. They were the polymorph goat-demon unit Hatchery had dispatched.
HWA-REUK— HWA-REU-REUK—
In places, mana flames roared up and cleanly incinerated the Hunter corpses.
"This is impossible! My power should be stronger than an S-class Hunter..."
"Where did these monsters even come from—UAAAAH!"
The same scene played out inside the Blue House. Screams of terrified hunters filled the corridors. The goat demons' blades showed no mercy.
Blind.
Illusion.
Hanul cast a formula so that Eunha's vision would be censored, then led her straight through the corridor where the goat demons were massacring the Hunter Army. They arrived at the presidential office.
"Mr. President, give it up already. The world is already in our general's hands."
"Ugh... what do you think you're doing? When the nation is in crisis, instead of helping you stage a coup—urk!"
Colonel Kim Jincheol, one of Park Mugang's confidants, was still threatening the president, completely unaware of the situation outside. The two S-class Hunters who had been protecting the president lay sprawled on the floor, limbs broken, reduced to bloody pulp.
"Mr. President!"
"Minister Kang Eunha? And Director Kang Hanul as well?! How?!"
Colonel Park's eyes flooded with shock.
"The general went to the Dungeon Management Department himself..."
"Colonel, what do we do?"
"Attack first! Kang Hanul—that man cannot be ignored!"
The subordinate hunters beside him drew up their mana. They charged as one, but Hanul didn't even spare them a glance. Instead, goat demons polymorphed into men in suits poured in from the corridor. They filled the office with sheer numbers; hands shot out from every direction, seized the hunters by their limbs, and dragged them outside.
"Keheok!"
"What is this—KRAAAAAH!"
U-DEUK, KWA-DEUK!
Limbs tore and bones twisted as they were hauled away. Like the other Hunter Army corpses, they would be transported to Hatchery's workshop, turned into experimental subjects, and suffer for eternity.
HWA-REU-REUK—
Hanul finished cleaning by erasing the bloodstains with abyssal flames.
"Are you the president?"
"Y-yes, I am."
It was the first time Kang Hanul had ever met President Namgung Hyeon.