Chapter 194
Chapter 194
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 194
Chapter Title: Toward Seongsan, Nowon-gu Breakthrough Operation (5)
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10.
Nowon-gu.
This place was truly……a demonic realm far more horrifying than imagination.
“That’s……?”
Shin Tae-yeop first sensed it coming from the citizens.
“People……people are blocking the tracks ahead! A massive number of them.”
As Shin Tae-yeop shouted that.
“Tch.”
Seo Hwa-yoon clicked her tongue, on the verge of yanking the train controls aggressively.
“Ram right through! Now!”
It was Gong Min-yeong.
Gong Min-yeong rushed over from the passenger car and yelled.
“Ram through? Those are civilians!”
“Civilians……?”
Gong Min-yeong mulled over the words, then immediately snorted in contempt.
“I told you! There are no humans in Nowon-gu!”
“What……?”
“Look straight! Those things……aren’t human anymore.”
At that moment came an explosive burst.
A chilling screech in an eerie register that made their skulls throb.
“Kkuuuuuuaaaaa……!”
“Krrrrrrriiiieee……!”
“Kkiiiiiieeeaa……!”
What are those people……?
Why are they clutching their heads with both hands, laughing in agony, sobbing, writhing grotesquely?
“Huh?”
In an instant, the hairs on his entire body stood on end.
???
The pattern engraved on their foreheads…….
That’s definitely the spiral of Iquilla used by Richard Hu.
“Just ram them! The divine weapons are coming out!”
Divine weapons?
The moment Gong Min-yeong shouted urgently.
The citizens’ heads burst open, and something slimy surged out from inside……
Wh-what……
In a split second, his mind went blank.
Snails……?
Not just in the cab, but everyone who had stuck their heads out the passenger car windows screamed.
“F-fuck, what is that……!”
“Not white snails……?”
“They’re white snails! They’re incredibly white, but……they look just like white snails!”
Seo Hwa-yoon, who had been watching the scene in silence, suddenly muttered through gritted teeth.
“I don’t like it…….”
She released the controls in that instant.
“I don’t like it! What pervert called that crap a weapon!”
She dashed to the front of the power car and bellowed.
“Fire room team! Shove every last bit of rad into the furnace! All of it! Full speed!”
The order was carried out immediately.
Pwoooooooo……!
Compressed steam erupted ferociously all at once, propelling the train forward.
It was a scene of slaughter.
The human-snail legion charging straight at the train’s front.
“Wingwiwiwiriring……ririringwiwiwiwi……eeee……!”
“Uururuiiiieee……uwaaaa……iiieee！”
“Te……teacher……you……too……slow……where……are……you……?”
The legion charging forward, their long snail faces wriggling eerily.
“Everyone, brace for impact!”
The train did not alter course.
Pwoooooooo──────
Thus, it barreled ahead insanely, crushing the snail legion beneath its wheels.
────Puhahahaak!
Pakakak……the grinding of bones under the endless tracks, and the vibrations.
Sss……blood clouds billowing thick as mist.
In the train’s wake remained only long pools of blood.
The wheels had.
Indiscriminately pulverized bone and flesh and brains and hair alike.
“This……this is insane.”
Shin Tae-yeop squeezed his eyes shut at the carnage without thinking, when someone muttered.
“There’s no way this is paradise……no way it’s paradise.”
“Only now you get it?”
Gong Min-yeong shot back.
Sweeping back her sweat-matted black bob forcefully, in a deadpan tone.
“This is hell.”
11.
“Down.”
Hwang Ga-in let out a sigh and irritably flicked her hand.
“Hurry it up? You wanna all die?”
Her direct subordinate shamans bowed their heads, then immediately began turning the pulley connected to the gallows.
Kikikikikikikik……
With that, Do Ye-jin’s body.
More precisely, the iron chains binding Do Ye-jin’s hands slowly descended.
“Listen up, you ten-year bitch.”
Hwang Ga-in reached out and caressed Do Ye-jin’s face as she spoke.
“I hate this world the way it is. This dogshit situation where I can’t talk properly with the stars.”
“…….”
“Wherever you go, it’s humans, humans, humans. I’m sick to death of this world stuffed full of humans. Nauseating!”
She wiped the blood and sweat from Do Ye-jin’s face, then smeared it straight onto Do Ye-jin’s body.
“Feels like human stink is soaking into my barely purified body. No, it already has. Right?”
“…….”
“We have to end this fucked-up situation. See my hair color? When I achieve transcendence, divine possession, this nauseating black will vanish completely.”
“………….”
“You’ve got the switch to end this situation.”
Hwang Ga-in’s hand, stroking Do Ye-jin’s face, grabbed her eyelid as if to rip it apart.
And then.
Staring into the forcibly pried-open eye, she whispered.
“Press it.”
“…….”
“Press it.”
“………….”
“Press that goddamn switch already, you bitch!”
Do Ye-jin gave no reply.
Instead, she merely wore a hollow, contemptuous smile.
“This bitch really thinks……”
The moment Hwang Ga-in unfurled her fan and swung it overhead.
────Tak.
A heavy, sturdy hand.
Caught her delicate wrist out of thin air.
“Shaman-nim.”
“What?”
“Our one and only clue.”
The eyepatched white-haired young man.
Choi Sin-yul, clad in pure white priestly robes, stood behind her with his usual blank expression.
“I know. Who doesn’t?”
Hwang Ga-in glared at Choi Sin-yul, then took a deep breath along with a sigh.
“If you know, then please calm yourself.”
Right, she had a point……
Do Ye-jin was their sole remaining clue. One they couldn’t rediscover if lost.
“That’s exactly why I’m this pissed.”
“……?”
“If Shealzbel swallows that bitch and still can’t extract the info?”
Hwang Ga-in indicated the pale worm, Baalzbel.
“Then we’re stuck living in this world forever? Until we hunt down every other Lead Hunter.”
Choi Sin-yul stared wordlessly at Hwang Ga-in, then flinched in shock for an instant and turned away.
Overwhelming killing intent.
In that split second, what exploded from Choi Sin-yul’s body was divine killing intent lethal enough to crush any ordinary person.
This feeling……
This presence……
Watching Choi Sin-yul’s back, Hwang Ga-in spoke first.
“What’s wrong?”
“Didn’t you sense it just now?”
“Sense what?”
“The south end’s getting rowdy……Something’s gone wrong.”
“Wrong? What wrong?”
“Only one reason we can predict. The <Association> is here.”
At Choi Sin-yul’s first bit of wordplay, Hwang Ga-in could only let out a flirtatious laugh.
“Making puns to cheer me up? No need.”
Impossible.
They’d only set out today. For that massive force to traverse from Seodaemun-gu through the Hunting Zone to here would take a full day.
It should, but……why was Choi Sin-yul so grave?
“No telling.”
“……What?”
“Please complete the ritual here, Shaman-nim. I’ll go assess the situation.”
Choi Sin-yul moved off swiftly.
At the divine palace’s exit, a boy blocked his path.
「Lowly scum have indeed slithered in. But Choi Sin-yul, no need for you to intervene.」
The prince of bitter cold, Saito Nan.
Choi Sin-yul glared silently, and Saito Nan’s lips curled upward.
「Heh heh heh heh heh, what’s this? The face of a man frustrated from not getting to draw his blade.」
“…….”
「Give it up. No opponent left in this world to satisfy you. Not even among the Apostles.」
Why……
Why so certain……?
Choi Sin-yul clenched his left fist until his bones might shatter.
「So Choi Sin-yul, you……right, if you’re that worried, just guard Seongsan’s entrance.」
Sherashul’Toryak.
You promised me, after all.
If I devote my soul in submission, someday you’ll let me fight an opponent worthy of me.
「Im Ga-hee, you go.」
Memories of my human days grow hazier with each passing day.
Even the dreams I cherished as a human.
At this rate……even if I find the opponent I’ve sought my whole life, the me then won’t be me anymore……
「Body been itching lately?」
“Yes.”
「Then here’s a gift. So you can rampage freely.」
The orb in Saito Nan’s grasp.
Iquilla’s second sun belched pale radiance. In that instant.
Puhahahaak─────!
Im Ga-hee’s skull tore open hideously, and a single white snail burst forth.
───Whirhihihihiennnnnng?
Odd. Unlike the snails from other hunters, this one has three heads.
「Bring back any worthwhile ones as live offerings. I need the nourishment for my body.」
Choi Sin-yul thought. By then, I might’ve become a doll like that woman.
Interesting……
So this is the price of selling one’s soul to a devil.
12.
“Enemies appearing on all sides……!”
Not even a moment to catch their breath.
The very next instant, Mun Ji-hyo’s hushed cry rang out as she used 《Thousand Ri Eye》.
“All of them are hunters!”
Those things transformed into monsters……?
The moment his heart turned ice-cold.
Peering out the car window, chills raced up his spine.
He could see them.
Silhouettes bounding across rooftops on all fours like wild beasts through the cityscape.
Chasing after us……
True monsters wielding power incomparable to the divine weapon-augmented civilians.
“What……?”
“……?”
“Different from what we saw before……heads, heads, they’re snails.”
As Mun Ji-hyo muttered while trembling all over, Gong Min-yeong said.
“Probably because Song Chan-un died! All the divine weapons lost control.”
If only that were the extent……
Shin Tae-yeop shook off the bizarre unease and urgently shouted to Seo Hwa-yoon.
“Noona, I’ll handle all of them!”
“Shirak!”
“Yeah, just us two!”
Perfect sync.
Like the Castle Beia assault. Let’s spread flame walls on both sides.
“No, conserve your strength! You’re our main firepower now!”
“……!”
“Forgot? You’re the one facing Hwang Ga-in or Choi Sin-yul.”
Seo Hwa-yoon blocked him that way, then issued the command from the power car.
“Pilot unit, prepare intercept.”
RX-78: Gundam.
Clank! The pilots in their modern reinforced exoskeletons thrust gun barrels out the windows.
“Hold! Hold! Hold! Fire!”
In that moment, a monster hunter hurled itself onto the train’s outer wall.
But right then.
It unleashed an eerie wail and tumbled feebly to the ground.
Tadadadadadad───!
The thunderous barrage poured out relentlessly.
Turned into a mass of gore from head to toe by the hail of bullets.
“O, ooooooooh!”
Cheers erupted, but only briefly.
Soon, despair born of overwhelming numerical inferiority crashed down.
“No end to them, no end!”
“Fuck, reload!”
“Left side too! Left! Left!”
Running parallel to the train on both flanks.
The monster hunters with long snail faces wriggling, and as the gunfire slackened, they leaped up one after another.
Onto the train roof.
Onto the train windows.
Kuuung……!
Even the cab ceiling.
A dull metallic clang, and the ceiling buckled inward.
“Above, above, above!”
“Calm down, everyone!”
“Tch……! Everyone to battle stations!”
The moment Seo Hwa-yoon shouted that.
Pssshhh……the ceiling melted away, molten metal dripping down.
“Shishishishishishishiiiieeeeeengriririririiiieeeeee！”
Through the vanished ceiling.
The snail face protruded, unleashing a sticky, spine-chilling roar.
[Unique skill 《Eternal Flame Wheel》 activated!]
At that moment, Shin Tae-yeop.
With superhuman cognition and reflexes, unleashed a 5-star spell.
Hwarrrrrrrrk───!
In an instant, a ring of flames forged from his mana hurtled fiercely toward the snail.
“Kkiiiiiheeeeeeek────!”
Snail engulfed in fire.
It shrieked insanely, staggered, then tumbled into the cab interior.
“Drop dead already……!”
《Eternal Flame Wheel》.
A spell derived from one of the dragon clan’s secret arts, the dragon tongue.
“No mere hunter……could withstand it……!”
The moment he gasped that out.
The snail abruptly sprang upright and lunged at Shin Tae-yeop, clawing for his head.
No, this is crazy……?
He might’ve been caught flat-footed.
Had Gong Min-yeong not drawn her shepherd’s staff blade in a flash and slashed its throat.
“Don’t drop your guard!”
“Shishishishi……!”
“Song Chan-un’s death lifted the limiter. They’ve fully absorbed the divinity.”
“Divinity……you say?”
“Put simply, these things are three or four times stronger now.”
Song Chan-un, Song Chan-un, Song Chan-un.
A name invoked repeatedly even in death. Just how monstrous an influence had the bastard wielded?
And.
The Kim Baek-jun who defeated such a monster……
A sharp headache stabbed in, and Shin Tae-yeop shook his head violently to banish the grief.
Not the time to cry……