Chapter 130
Chapter 130
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 130
Chapter Title: Part 2: Prelude to the Age of Predation (4)
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10.
The first clash with Ikhilas took place at Samilgyo Bridge in Jegi-dong.
“What the hell is this…?”
The blizzard that had swallowed Jegi-dong whole.
The moment I stepped through the north gate of Yongshin-dong into that snowstorm, I was stunned.
It was snow, but not snow.
The flakes clinging to my face felt like leeches… biting into my skin with tearing pain.
“It’s not just a simple blizzard.”
Lee Seong-mi nodded weakly, her face drained of color.
Now it all made sense.
I pulled on the [Goean Valley Helmet] and turned to Shin Tae-yeop.
“Artero, Sharvelaros.”
And then.
Incredible… I let out a gasp of admiration at the magic Shin Tae-yeop unleashed.
………Roooaaarrrrrr…………!
The rosary beads spread out wide.
Forming a semicircular flame wall with a fifty-meter radius.
“Whoa!”
“Woooaaah!”
“As expected of Leader Shin Tae-yeop!”
The blizzard blanketing the world in white.
Yet it couldn’t breach the flame wall, vaporizing into steam.
“We’ll proceed as discussed in the strategy meeting.”
But he must have pushed himself too hard.
Sweat glistened on Shin Tae-yeop’s forehead. Shyrak licked it off with its tongue.
“I’ll move at the center of the formation. The flame wall will expand around me.”
I was at the very front.
My assigned role was to protect Park Ji-won. For the same reason, Jeong Ha-kyeong was with me.
“Leader Choi Uk and Ji-won are on recon. Stay behind the lead hunter, Uncle.”
The Jegi-dong search party totaled twenty-five members.
With limits to Shin Tae-yeop’s flame wall, we had no choice but to go with a small elite squad.
“Hyung.”
Park Ji-won approached with a grin.
“You know I’m the main today, right? Take good care of me as support.”
This guy had really grown reliable in the time apart.
[Lv: 109].
His level aside, Park Ji-won was now undeniably one of our veteran Hunters.
“Got it. Alright then… let’s move out.”
At my command, the search party sprang into swift motion.
The advance was flawless.
The flame wall didn’t just repel the blizzard—it melted the snow-covered icy paths too.
“Halt.”
After about fifteen minutes.
A chill ran down my spine, and I raised my left hand.
“There’s… a frozen corpse ahead.”
A corpse frozen white.
It should have been swept by the flame wall, yet it hadn’t thawed at all.
“Fuck, what is this…?”
Jeong Ha-kyeong’s anxious curse.
A chill prickled down my back.
“The face…”
The dead man’s expression was twisted in utter horror.
What terror had he witnessed?
I couldn’t even begin to imagine.
“Looks like it was chased by something.”
“Yeah. It’s in a fallen position. Must’ve been hit right as it tried to stand.”
While Choi Uk and Jeong Ha-kyeong exchanged thoughts, Park Ji-won came over to me.
“Hyung, should we use 《Bloodline Tracking》 here?”
“No… let’s push a bit farther.”
We’d reached the approach to Samilgyo Bridge.
Before us lay a stone bridge.
A frozen river beneath it.
A massive elevated highway stretching above.
Something… felt off.
The closer we got to Samilgyo Bridge, the more I sensed a taut, murderous intent tightening around my heart.
“Hyung, there’s more over there! A ton of them!”
I furrowed my brow.
So… Samilgyo Bridge was the incident site.
Over a dozen frozen corpses.
Preserved in various poses from the far side of the bridge all the way to us.
“Feels like I’m onto something?”
At the far end of Samilgyo Bridge.
Jeong Ha-kyeong beckoned me over. As I approached, she pointed at the bodies.
“What is it?”
“Look at this. Assume this is the first corpse.”
“Yeah.”
“See? No expression at all. This one got ambushed.”
“……?”
“Now the next ones. Second and third corpses. Both turning in a panic, hands reaching for weapons?”
My mind went blank in an instant.
“They saw the first one go down… and reacted?”
“The others too. Some tried to flee, some to fight…”
Jeong Ha-kyeong nodded gravely.
“It wasn’t up close. There was a sniper.”
“No way…”
What if it was still here…?
The horrifying possibility flashed through my mind just as Park Ji-won cried out, “Huh?”
“Ji-won!”
In that instant.
I whipped around urgently, but…
“H-Hyung! Over here! Here!”
…Park Ji-won was fine.
But his face wasn’t. He’d picked something up off the ground.
“This… it’s a blood crystal.”
What…?
I clamped my mouth shut.
“A blood crystal? No way.”
Choi Uk took it from Park Ji-won, examined it, and nodded.
“It’s real.”
“…………?!”
“And look at the ground? Burned corpses here. Looks scorched by the flame wall.”
A torso with only the lower half left behind.
What set my heart racing was the cut surface.
Not from a blade or blunt weapon.
It looked… chewed off by massive teeth… what the hell?
“This is weird. Something’s off.”
No matter how I thought about it, it was eerie.
Frozen corpses aside, ones killed differently?
Was this… really a Subordinate?
Did that mean two Subordinates?
“Read it!”
Jeong Ha-kyeong shouted breathlessly.
“Check the tooltip! Was it a <Guild> guy’s blood crystal?!”
A grim silence fell.
Then Choi Uk glanced at the tooltip.
And in that instant.
The world turned into hell.
──Chaaaaang!
I instinctively drew the Dawn Sword from my back and yelled urgently.
“Choi Uk! Take Ji-won and fall back!”
The ground where Choi Uk and Park Ji-won stood flashed pale.
A spiral… magic circle?
A nauseating stench poured out, numbing my nose.
「PhyShyaaAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!」
A laugh that shredded eardrums erupted.
…Bubble bubble bubble bubble…
Blood began filling the magic circle.
Not human blood.
Thick, blackish… a Subordinate? No… Subordinates in Paradise Zone?
In that moment.
The blood surged up massively, taking on a grotesque form.
A demon… it was a demon.
Humanoid build around three meters tall.
Bone axes gripped in its two pairs of twisted, malformed limbs.
Its head was purely equine skull.
Nightmares writhing in its empty eye sockets.
Overwhelming murderous intent crushing my bones.
“W-What the hell is that?”
“G-Gh… a Subordinate?”
“Fuck, this is Paradise Zone?”
“Battle stations, everyone!”
I shouted urgently, but… soon realized it was impossible.
“…My God.”
“…What… what is that?”
“…They’re pouring out endlessly!”
The elevated highway over Samilgyo Bridge.
Grotesque beings were cascading down from it.
Rats…?
Only in overall shape…
Their heads were equine, size comparable to hunting dogs.
“The flame… flame wall can’t hold…!”
Shin Tae-yeop groaned.
In that instant, a massive hole tore open in the flame wall… and a waterfall of monster rats crashed into the search party.
“U… Uwaaaah!”
“They’re climbing up from below too!”
I thought.
To control this chaos, I had to take out the leader.
“Ha-kyeong! Those guys!”
“What?”
“I’ll handle this one.”
11.
“I’ll handle this one.”
Jeong Ha-kyeong immediately drew a grenade launcher from her backpack holster.
She spread her left palm.
A sphere of Iron-Cutting energy coalescing there.
“Everyone, fall back behind me.”
[Exclusive skill, 《Three Iron Heart Methods》 activated!]
[Unique skill, 《Spacetime Slowdown》 activated!]
《Spacetime Slowdown》.
Her second unique skill, awakened after nearly losing her body that one time.
After that incident.
Baladon’s top manager—that madwoman—had granted even greater power.
‘Probably… to honor the contract she forced on me back then.’
Jeong Ha-kyeong shook her head.
Then, focusing her mind, her vision tinted dark blue.
The world slowed to a crawl.
Everyone except Jeong Ha-kyeong… and for some reason, Kim Baek-jun.
‘Similar power lineage?’
In that slowed time.
Jeong Ha-kyeong deployed countless trap zones ahead.
Wires woven like spiderwebs.
And then.
One shot, two, three, four.
She fired the grenade launcher repeatedly at the monster rat waterfall, then hurled every flashbang she had.
Grenades and flashbangs hanging motionless in the air.
What.
Time to spare even after this?
Then… she lowered her gas mask, lit a cigarette, and struck a match.
[Unique skill, 《Spacetime Slowdown》 deactivated]
As the skill ended.
──Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom!
Grenades and flashbangs detonated in unison.
Blowing monster rats’ heads apart, incinerating torsos, shredding bones.
──Ping ping ping ping ping ping ping!
The first to land.
Screamed as iron needles pierced skulls and limbs from all sides.
“Whew…”
Jeong Ha-kyeong exhaled smoke.
“Oooooh!”
“Aim hack! Aim hack! Aim hack!”
Cheers erupted from behind.
As Jeong Ha-kyeong turned, blushing.
“Aim hack my ass. Whoever gave me that nickname, I’ll fucking smash their mouth.”
In that instant.
A bizarre roar echoed… and Lee Seong-mi shouted.
“Ha-kyeong! Behind! Behind! Behind!”
Behind?
She spun around.
Through the smoke, something leaped straight at her.
…Impossible?
In this split second… right in front of her?
Incredible physical prowess. One word flashed in her mind.
Subordinate.
[Unique skill, 《Super Acceleration》 activated!]
A hair’s breadth.
She leaped back ten paces.
A heavy boom, and her original spot cratered.
Samilgyo Bridge shook like it would collapse.
“You fucking huge bastard!”
Jeong Ha-kyeong barely regained her balance and drew her shotgun.
A Subordinate in Paradise…?
Staring into the dust cloud, brow furrowed… she doubted her eyes.
What.
What the hell is that.
She rubbed them, but nothing changed.
[Lv: 96]
Level.
The numerical mark of transcendence.
In this world, levels appeared only for…
Tok. Her cigarette fell to the ground.
Jeong Ha-kyeong muttered blankly.
“…A Hunter?”
12.
“I’ll handle this one.”
In the next instant, I charged straight at the overwhelming presence before me.
Exclusive skill, 《Abyss Burst》.
The abyss creeping into every corner of my body. Transcendent amplification of physical abilities.
Senses heightened to superhuman levels in a flash.
I could see its momentum.
The momentum of its massive bone axe arcing toward Choi Uk and Park Ji-won.
Thud, my left foot slammed the ground.
Dozens, hundreds of times amplified leg strength.
My footprint sank deep into the stone bridge as the earth quaked.
Unique skill, 《Holy Dawn Sword》.
Crimson threads rose from the broken blade, coalescing into a dawn-forged edge.
“Aaaaaaaaah!”
A fierce kiai.
Landing between Park Ji-won and the demon, I swung the Dawn Sword upward with all my might.
──Kaaaaang!
A heavy metallic clang.
Sparks flew as aftershocks whipped my coat tails.
「Obe…… Riossssihi?????」
The demon staggered back from my blow.
I’d won the first clash, but my wrist throbbed like it would shatter.
As expected… 《Abyss Burst》 was the right call.
Without 《Abyss Burst》 amplifying my body… my wrist would’ve broken.
《Abyss Burst》 lasted seven seconds.
So… I’d end it here, no matter what.
“Again!”
I immediately recovered my momentum.
Pulling the hilt to my waist, stepping forward with my left foot.
[Unique skill, 《Second Liberation: Holy Dawn Sword》 activated!]
The overwhelming heat of humanity focused at the tip liberated as a crimson wedge.
──Charararararang!
It couldn’t even recover its stance.
Right as it tried.
The wedge pierced its chest, unleashing a storm.
The next instant.
A hole gaped through its torso, big enough to see the other side, and bloodlight devoured its body.
[Exclusive skill, 《Abyss Burst》 duration expired: 0 / 1]
The ecstatic transcendence cloaking my body vanished in a flash.
Agony like aftershock wracked me.
Drenched in cold sweat, I dropped to one knee, gasping.
What…?
And then I doubted my eyes.