Chapter 140
Chapter 140
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 140
Chapter Title: Contact Request, Nowon-gu Hunters (2)
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2.
“It seems best for you to judge this matter yourself. This could drag on forever.”
Complicated.
What to do about this?
I didn’t have time to ponder it. Because right then.
Caw. Caw. Caw. Caw caw.
Large crows came flying in.
What…… is going on? A chill ran down my spine.
“Fuck, how many are those?”
It wasn’t just one.
Dozens…… no, over a hundred, blacking out the sky as they flew in.
“From the west……?”
“That’s the direction of Jongno-gu, right?”
The large crows cawed sharply as they landed around me.
On my crown. Both arms. Both shoulders. Both hands.
What is this? Does that mean the recipient is specified as me, Kim Baek-jun……?
“These bastards right now──!”
“──Wait, Ha-kyeong! This seems like a letter for me.”
No sooner had they landed.
Dozens of [info windows] popped up chaotically.
[Came…… right here……]
[Do Ye-jin and…… Seo Hwa-yoon……]
[Lead……]
Disconnected words.
What does it mean? The urgency coming through felt off somehow.
[Already to Cheongun Hyoja-dong……]
No matter how rushed, they’d never fail to complete sentences.
[Maybe…… everyone……]
It was as if…… someone who wasn’t a Hunter had forcibly grabbed a crow and written this, then given up.
[No one but hyung to help……]
“Wait. Hold on.”
If no Hunter could send a letter?
One, then another.
I carefully pieced together the fragmented text like shards.
And.
The moment I read the crisis this situation implied.
In this world……
A shiver ran down my spine as I jerked my head up.
“The Lead Hunter is…… right now…… in Jongno-gu……?”
3.
“Do Ye-jin! Hey, Do Ye-jin!”
Shin Tae-yeop’s hoarse shout echoed through the blood-soaked snowy landscape.
“Hey…… answer me! Answer! Seo Hwa-yoon noona! Noona!”
Damn it all……
The snow had stopped, but the city lay quietly dead beneath it.
What the hell happened?
As I scanned our surroundings, a devastating chill pounded at my heart.
“What the fuck……? The city’s completely sunk.”
Jeong Ha-kyeong muttered as she surveyed the ruins of Cheongun Hyoja-dong. Lee Seong-mi spoke up.
“Yeah. Not a single building left intact.”
Even walking was a struggle.
Thanks to the debris and fragments buried under snow and blood puddles.
“And that, but look at these fucking…… dead animals.”
Livestock like horses and pigs buried in the snow, dead.
The livestock stared blankly with clouded eyes.
Their flesh gruesomely eaten away, exposing their innards raw underneath.
“Weird…… isn’t it weird?”
That was when.
Something even more chilling than the scene hit me.
“In a situation like this, why…… are there…… no human corpses…… anywhere?”
My question silenced the surroundings like a bucket of ice water. Lee Seong-mi furrowed her brows.
“Now that you mention it…… no blood crystals either.”
“What are you talking about? Who gives a shit about that right now? Do Ye-jin…… that idiot’s gone! Aren’t you worried? Hwa-yoon noona’s gone too!”
Shin Tae-yeop screamed like a madman.
He was jumping up and down like a child, unlike his usual self…… but it wasn’t unreasonable. He was the one who’d suggested subordinating her through training to keep Do Ye-jin safe. The guilt must be immense.
On top of that, his mental fatigue looked extreme…… I grabbed his shoulder.
“Calm down! Who said we’re not worried? You know that! Especially now, we need to stay cool-headed.”
“……!”
“And you think that stuff’s not important? Of course it is. Maybe…… Ye-jin’s still alive.”
For a split second, light flickered in Shin Tae-yeop’s eyes, and he shouted along with Jeong Ha-kyeong.
“What do you mean?”
“Fuck…… maybe she is.”
“No human bodies. Means they took everyone, dead or alive.”
I suppressed my surging rage.
Just like that psycho kidnapping-murder case. No guarantee on their condition if alive……
“The whole city’s melted down.”
That was when Mun Ji-hyo, scanning the city with 《Heavenly Insight》, spoke up.
“Hmm…… like rotten teeth…… corroded……? Would that make sense?”
Corrosion……?
Jeong Ha-kyeong and I exchanged horrified glances.
Since we’d been on the subjugation team, we recognized it immediately.
The old town battle in Gyo-nam-dong.
AriShell’rab’s ultimate area attack there. The corrosive spit from its maw.
And that was the problem.
Do Ye-jin hadn’t reproduced that skill even once since the subordination training.
Only one conclusion from these facts.
“Ye-jin went berserk……”
“The city ended up like this…… because of that kid Do Ye-jin……?”
That’s how dire it was?
A cold dread began pulsing in my heart.
“Then we just need to see what happened ourselves.”
The one who said that was Park Ji-won.
A feeble voice, hazy eyes.
Anemic…… not surprising. He’d rushed here after using 《Bloodline Pursuit》 all over Jegi-dong.
“Hyung, let me try 《Bloodline Pursuit》.”
“How? Look at you. And to manifest AriShell’rab in blood──”
“──I can find her. 《Bloodline Pursuit》 has powered up a lot. Just needs more blood. Like this.”
I swallowed my words in shock.
Park Ji-won had sliced his wrist artery lengthwise with his triple dagger. Not across, but down.
“Hey, Park Ji-won! What the hell──”
“──Stop.”
But Jeong Ha-kyeong held me back in that instant.
“Park Ji-won’s not a kid anymore. He knows enough, does enough.”
“………!”
“How long you gonna treat him like something to protect? Just…… trust him and watch.”
I was more shocked by Jeong Ha-kyeong’s words than Park Ji-won’s self-harm.
Trust…… and watch?
Jeong Ha-kyeong, poster child for human distrust, showing that kind of faith……?
“Ha-kyeong?”
“Why stare like that? Something on my face?”
“Nothing.”
Ha-kyeong, you’re changing more and more.
Right then.
The blood surged up like a massive mountain.
As expected…… it’s you, Ye-jin……
A humanoid form clad in milky-white dragon scales like armor.
The strongest subordinate, AriShell’rab.
A being that made heaven and earth tremble with its presence alone, that could tear the world apart with a swing of its arms.
That existence rampaging in all directions was perfectly recreated in the blood.
Slamming fiercely into building blocks.
Sweeping streets with forelimbs or tail…… opening its maw to spew corrosive fluid.
“Where…… are the enemies? Find them.”
Shin Tae-yeop said, anxiously watching the 《Bloodline Pursuit》.
“If they enter range, it’ll show…… hold on……”
Park Ji-won, trying to stand, staggered. I supported him immediately.
“Told you not to push it.”
“Move me a bit, hyung…… circling around here should do it……”
I could only nod helplessly.
Park Ji-won’s not a kid anymore.
Muttering that to myself over and over.
“Anyway…… found one.”
I froze, sucking in a breath.
Song Chan-un…… you bastard.
Recognizable instantly by his bishop robes. So the main body was here.
“Not much action…… just evasion maneuvers……”
Park Ji-won pointed elsewhere.
Blood dripped steadily from him onto the street as I carried him there.
“They all seem gathered here…… let’s see……”
First came some woman.
Then demons and Hunters.
No doubt…… the ones we fought in Jegi-dong.
But what shocked us all wasn’t them.
It was one man.
Motion like removing an eyepatch.
As he extended his right hand, AriShell’rab roared in agony and faltered.
A shaman-type Hunter?
This time, he traced an arc with his left hand.
Following that path, AriShell’rab’s right arm vanished.
What…… in one strike?
《Bloodline Pursuit》 only showed movements, not the technique…… but damn.
“He’s coming. Just like back then.”
Then AriShell’rab spread its wings and leaped. Maw gaping wide at the same time.
Some kind of aerial bombardment?
Goosebumps covered me. Stronger than in Gyo-nam-dong……?
“Had to be……”
Shin Tae-yeop replied, exhaustion clear.
“Do Ye-jin kept absorbing…… the subordinate’s soulstone……”
Right. That’s it.
Makes perfect sense.
We turned back to the 《Bloodline Pursuit》.
Facing AriShell’rab’s aerial corrosive spew, the man traced a circle with both hands.
The woman and Song Chan-un hid behind him.
“……What?”
“……Monsters all dying?”
“……Why not those guys?”
How much time passed?
AriShell’rab landed again, but the man, woman, and Song Chan-un were unscathed.
“He…… blocked all that?”
Maybe because I see more than others. I watched the scene in a daze.
Even Lee Seong-mi’s 《Lotus Cloud》 reduces damage by over 90%.
“But my skill is only…… for an instant.”
“Exactly. It has limits.”
“And can’t use it offensively. But…… this guy……”
Next moment.
The man clasped his hands together, fingers interlocked, from the circle.
Then something eerie unfolded.
AriShell’rab…… thrashed wildly but ultimately collapsed to the ground.
“What…… did he do?”
“Saw AriShell’rab lift its head? Something poured from the sky, right……?”
I chimed in on Lee Seong-mi and Jeong Ha-kyeong’s exchange.
“Yeah. Looked crushed by countless somethings.”
Right then, we doubted our eyes.
The man started running.
Straight at AriShell’rab.
Direction was bad enough, but the motion too. Like gripping a sword.
Not a shaman-type Hunter?
AriShell’rab opened its maw.
He dodged the spewing corrosive with a leap.
“Motion’s so casual?”
“Seems slow but dodges super lightly. Obviously a top-tier master, this fucker?”
AriShell’rab shook something off and swung its left arm.
But the man languidly extended his left hand.
Something poured again? Left arm slammed back to the ground.
The man charged leisurely.
Up onto AriShell’rab’s head.
I swallowed hard seeing him slash its nape like with a blade.
Right…… it’s this bastard……
I knew instinctively.
This was the Lead Hunter.
Overwhelmingly seasoned combat instincts.
Magic power ravaging a subordinate solo.
Strength to sever AriShell’rab’s nape in one stroke.
Finally, dragging Do Ye-jin out of its brain like discarded luggage.
“You motherfucker……”
We fell silent for a moment.
First time? Second? Seeing Shin Tae-yeop curse.
Right then.
Splat, squelch. The blood pooled on the ground.
Park Ji-won……?
At the same time, Park Ji-won went limp in my arms like he was dead.
“Over here. Turn him this way.”
Jeong Ha-kyeong immediately checked Park Ji-won’s heartbeat, then his carotid pulse.
“He’s fine. Alive. Paradise’ll heal him too.”
I finally exhaled in relief.
Right…… this is Paradise.
Starlight flickered from the artery Park Ji-won had cut.
“First thought he was some pathetic kid…… but the more I see, the better he looks.”
What would Park Ji-won say if he heard.
I know.
This is the highest praise Jeong Ha-kyeong can give.
“So…… what happened?”
Shin Tae-yeop knelt, gasping for breath.
“Do Ye-jin got…… captured like that──”
──Splash.
Just one instant.
Time for the entire Cheongun Hyoja-dong search team to go combat-ready.
“Who…… who’s coming.”
Lee Seong-mi drew her [Lotus Sword].
Confirming what we all sensed instantly.
“Enemies…… right?”
“No allies here!”
Splash…… splish…… splash……
Footsteps.
Each step.
Half-frozen blood puddles crumbling stickily.