Chapter 405
Chapter 405
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 406
Chapter Title: Demonic Onslaught
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A sudden explosion rocked the area, causing the building to crumble as citizens screamed and fled.
[Static... Hurry... Static... Please evacuate... Static...]
I quickly scanned my surroundings, sensing the bursts of explosive energy.
“......What is it?”
It wasn’t an explosion caused by pure mana.
Hidden within the mana was a strangely familiar aura...
This was—
“Watch out!”
I grabbed Choi Seo-yoon’s arm and pulled her close, erecting a barrier of mana.
Moments later, the building beside her exploded, unleashing a massive blaze.
KABOOM!
“......S-Sunbae?”
Choi Seo-yoon, now in my arms, called out to me with a stunned expression.
At the end of her gaze lay a citizen mangled by the explosion’s aftermath.
“W-What’s going on?”
“I don’t know.”
I truly didn’t.
This was an event that never appeared in the original story.
But if asked whether there were no similar incidents at all, that wouldn’t be true.
It was just something that happened much later.
In the future, a cornered Han Se-jin would ally with the demons and use a Mystery to unleash this very terror.
Which meant...
And as if confirming my suspicions, an ominous black demonic energy swirled like a vortex from somewhere nearby.
Choi Seo-yoon stared at it in a daze and murmured,
“Demons?”
A horde of demons revealed themselves amid the foul black aura.
And it wasn’t just here.
Demonic energy began emanating from all directions, from demons who had been hiding.
Choi Seo-yoon and I immediately drew upon our mana.
Though it deviated slightly from the original, this terror was exactly as expected: the work of an alliance between the demons and Han Se-jin.
I had anticipated a day like this would come, but not that it would be today.
There was something off, though.
If something this big was going to happen, Haryeong surely would have warned me ahead of time.
“Sunbae!”
At that moment, the demon in front of me gripped a red sword and charged.
I calmly conjured a magic sphere and unleashed it at the bastard.
BANG!
“Gaaah!”
The demon’s head exploded, and another immediately rushed at me.
But this time, I didn’t need to act. Choi Seo-yoon, standing beside me, impaled it with an ice spear, taking it down.
“Whew.”
As she caught her breath and prepared for the next fight, a chilling surge of killing intent and demonic energy prickled my skin from somewhere nearby.
Turning my head, I saw a massive man approaching with a sinister grin.
I recognized the face.
Jeong-hwan.
One of the few remaining S-rank demons in the Society of Ten Demons.
This was our second encounter.
The first had been as Kim Jin-woo, alongside Han Se-yeon in the Sword Ghost’s mansion.
Recalling that time, he had feared me as the “demon hunter,” but now his expression brimmed with confidence.
Did he still not know Kim Seon-woo and Kim Jin-woo were the same person?
“Our second meeting.”
But his following words suggested he did know I was the same person.
Which meant... they had likely orchestrated this to eliminate me, the one they believed to be the “Child of Prophecy.”
I just hadn’t expected it to unfold so abruptly.
Choi Seo-yoon turned to me, puzzled by Jeong-hwan’s mention of a second meeting.
I told her,
“Run.”
“Huh?”
She blinked blankly, not understanding.
“It’s dangerous, so escape first.”
“What about you, Sunbae?”
“I’ll find an opening and slip away.”
I meant it to reassure her, but she took it differently.
She furrowed her brow and said,
“What are you talking about? We have to escape together!”
“No. You’ll be in danger too. I’ll buy time, so go first.”
“Th-Then let’s run in different directions.”
I shook my head.
If I really wanted to, escaping wouldn’t be hard.
The problem was that Jeong-hwan was infamous even within the Society of Ten Demons for his brutality...
If he lost me, he’d surely use Choi Seo-yoon as bait to lure me out.
Or worse, target her first just to provoke me.
“He’s after me anyway. And the Special Task Force will be here soon, so it’ll be fine.”
Choi Seo-yoon looked unconvinced and said,
“Why would a demon target you, Sunbae?”
Swoosh...
At that moment, a blue aura began emanating from Jeong-hwan’s body.
Startled by the energy, I quickly turned to him.
“A Mystery?”
The aura of the Mystery pouring from Jeong-hwan. I could guess its nature.
Spacetime Binding Art.
One of the Han family’s Mystery weapons that bound a target within a spacetime barrier.
“......This is such a pain.”
I rapid-fired magic spheres to stop him.
But he casually blocked my attacks with black demonic energy.
The Mystery’s aura soon converged in one spot and shot toward me.
Swoooosh!
What to do?
Dodging was impossible. The energy was about to engulf me.
I could break the binding, but if he used that opening to target Choi Seo-yoon, it’d be disastrous.
Right then—
CRACKLE-BOOM!
Something enormous boomed across the entire sky, like a thunderbolt.
The heavens tore open with a rift, and at the same moment, the Mystery energy shooting at me evaporated.
Not just the Mystery.
All nearby electronics and magitech devices flickered out, as if losing power.
“......Huh?”
Jeong-hwan’s face twisted in confusion, clearly unprepared for this.
Looking up at the sky in bewilderment, the rift had already vanished, returning everything to normal.
“......What the hell?”
Jeong-hwan stared blankly at the sudden natural phenomenon.
He glanced down at the purple stone in his hand, the ‘Spacetime Binding Art.’
“Why isn’t this thing working?”
He tapped the Mystery and infused it with mana, but it wouldn’t activate.
I felt just as baffled by the incomprehensible event and looked skyward.
That massive reverberation just now...
Even I had never experienced anything like it.
Nothing like this appeared in the original story either.
What was it?
[You have achieved the ‘Great Fortune’ accomplishment.]
[You have obtained 10,000 points as a reward.]
[The backlash from great fortune has stacked.]
[Your causality rate has increased by 2 as a reward.]
......Great Fortune?
This was just luck?
I felt disoriented by the utterly unexpected situation.
......And instinctively knew.
This wasn’t mere luck.
My eyes fixed on the word ‘backlash’ beneath the message.
Magic Association.
Three hours after Kim Jin-cheol departed for Baekdu Mountain to hunt the Demon King.
The sudden demon terror had thrown them into chaos.
“Gangseo district suppression complete!”
“What was that weird phenomenon just now?”
“Huh? Communications are down with the Gangbuk agents.”
“Team leader! The machines aren’t working!”
“It must be from that anomaly earlier!”
One team suppressed the terror, while another dealt with malfunctioning equipment.
Michael, one of the executives left at the Association, rubbed his forehead in bewilderment.
What in the world was happening?
An inexplicable anomaly from the sky had worsened the situation.
“Has the cause of the anomaly been identified yet?”
Then one agent raised a hand.
“......Me! The analysis is done, but... it’s a bit strange.”
“What’s strange about it?”
“......It doesn’t resemble a natural phenomenon or a Mystery. It’s more like a pattern akin to a living being’s physiological response.”
“......A living being?”
The door burst open, and a man rushed in.
“Disaster Management Team here! Black Dragon mana has just been detected!”
“You mean Horyong, Cruas...?”
“Yes, exactly!”
With Kim Jin-cheol away supervising the Black Dragon, its mana had suddenly been sensed.
How could the timing be so perfect?
Michael felt absurd amid the string of anomalies but quickly regained his composure and asked,
“Where is the Black Dragon now?”
“The eastern steppes of China!”
“......China?”
Had it moved from the Himalayas to China?
“Which direction is it heading now?”
“Well...... At the exact moment of that sky-shaking anomaly, the mana signature vanished completely. Tracking failed.”
Once again.
Previously, Cruas’s mana had been detected in the Himalayas, only to disappear without a trace.
“......Then that anomaly might be the Black Dragon’s doing.”
Michael’s face grew grave.
Demon terror erupting the moment Kim Jin-cheol left the Association, followed by Cruas’s mana detection.
“......Could this be a demon trap?”
Amid the demon assault, Lee Seo-jun’s group fought to protect the citizens.
“Run this way!”
Lee Hyun-joo evacuated civilians using her summons, while Shin Young-jun swung his spear, slaying demons one by one.
And Yoon Ha-young...
“Seo-jun! Have you seen Seon-woo?”
“No, comms are down, so I can’t reach him.”
“......Ugh.”
The abrupt demon terror.
She knew from Kim Seon-woo that the demons’ goal was the “Child of Prophecy.”
And that they currently suspected Kim Seon-woo, not “Yoon Ha-young,” as the Child.
Which meant this crisis was highly likely aimed at Kim Seon-woo.
And perhaps... the “Demon King” he had warned about so gravely might be here.
“We need to find Seon-woo!”
At Yoon Ha-young’s shout, Lee Seo-jun felled the demon before him and turned.
“Kim Seon-woo? Why him?”
“Seon-woo’s in danger!”
“......In danger?”
Her urgent tone made it clear this was more than mere worry.
Sensing the gravity, Lee Seo-jun asked,
“What do you mean?”
Yoon Ha-young clamped her mouth shut, organized her thoughts, and spoke.
“The demons’ target is most likely Seon-woo.”
......The demons’ target was most likely Kim Seon-woo?
Yu Ah-ra, Shin Young-jun, and Lee Hyun-joo approached, puzzled.
“Yoon Ha-young? Is that true?”
“Yeah.”
As someone always close to Kim Seon-woo and sharing secrets, her words carried weight.
He wanted to ask more, but the situation didn’t allow it.
“Leave this to the other agents and find Kim Seon-woo first!”
Society of Ten Demons headquarters.
The King gazed at Seoul’s crumbling skyline through a Mystery.
Everything was proceeding according to plan.
Draw attention with terror, have Jeong-hwan attack Kim Seon-woo, suspected to be the Child of Prophecy.
Even if the Child wasn’t Kim Seon-woo, it didn’t matter.
As the terror dragged on, the Child of Prophecy would reveal themselves.
Once found, the “King’s” authority would...
The losses would be great, but no plan had higher odds.
Of course, “that one” had to show up here of their own accord.
The King turned his gaze.
There, Haryeong—bound in black demonic energy—glared at him.
“Haryeong, I’ve known for ages that you’ve been feeding me false info.
The only reason I’ve kept you alive this long is because you know the ‘previous King’s’ dying words.”
Haryeong fell silent.
“Once this is over, you’ll confess everything.”
BOOM!
Right then, an enormous mana surge echoed from somewhere.
Even the King felt chills from its overwhelming power.
And he instantly recognized its source.
The strongest wizard, Kim Jin-cheol.
He had come to kill him, right on schedule.
Earlier than anticipated, but with the plan’s final piece in place, the King felt satisfied.
“Then shall I go greet our guest.”
The King rose from his seat.
The Regressed Extra Became a Genius