Chapter 80
Chapter 80
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: The Void Hunter, Cheongun Hyoja-dong (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
2.
We have to run away all of a sudden?
There was no explanation, but the desperation in that voice was far from ordinary.
“Got it for now. Hyeonji, help her up. But where are the other squad members? We have to take them with us.”
“Gone. All dead. Hurry, let’s go.”
“All dead? Wait a second. Did the Subordinates even fly off?”
Shin Tae-yeop argued with the female Hunter, trying to grasp the situation somehow. She shook her head.
“No…… Hunters…… Otherworldly…… Otherworldly Hunters…….”
……Otherworldly Hunters?
Shin Tae-yeop shut his mouth in that instant.
In a silence bordering on shock, they all shot sidelong glances at one another.
Otherworldly Hunters……
The moment they heard those words, it felt like their blood froze in terror.
They’d heard of them before.
Hunters from other worlds who came to hunt this world’s Hunters—manhunters.
That was when it happened.
Crash—the window on the outer wall shattered, and something streaked through the air.
An arrow.
The arrow lodged straight into the female Hunter’s side with immense force. The recoil sent her flying through the air before she tumbled across the floor.
“Sa…… Save──”
The female Hunter mumbled in a raspy voice. What happened next made them doubt their eyes.
A flash of pure white.
In a split second, a lightning bolt that blanketed the world engulfed the place.
A deafening roar as the building collapsed.
The ceiling came crashing down.
Dust swirled violently.
The lightning pierced through it all, reducing the female Hunter to a charred corpse.
In this world……
For a moment, their minds went blank.
In a world like this.
Just as they were about to scream, their bodies lifted off the ground and slammed into the floor. Shin Tae-yeop had thrown himself to pin Do Ye-jin down.
“Focus on the situation.”
Debris from the collapse rained down on Shin Tae-yeop’s back. Once the chaos of the collapse subsided, the building fell eerily silent in an instant.
“Abysses are scattered everywhere.”
Step…… step……
A taciturn voice was followed by the heavy thud of boots from a large man approaching.
“Whether deep or shallow, the stench of the abyss emanates from you all as well.”
Choi Uk……?
That was their first thought.
The Hunter who emerged from the dust wore a crow-beak mask.
“I know it well. The longing…… the sweet whispers of the abyss. And that only death brings liberation from those whispers.”
But Choi Uk wasn’t that tall…… and didn’t command demons.
“I, Roheiritz, shall liberate you from that barbaric desire.”
Tall and stately.
A black crow mask and black longcoat…… a man clad head to toe in black.
With a click, he folded his crossbow and reloaded an arrow. In the meantime, Shin Tae-yeop helped Do Ye-jin to her feet.
“Can you run?”
“Yeah.”
Ryu Hyeonji was unharmed thanks to Black & White, and Park Ji-won had barely survived thanks to Heo Cheon-gyeom’s shield from the paired sword.
“Everyone, run to the exit! Hurry!”
“It’s pointless. There’s no escape.”
The moment Roheiritz aimed his crossbow at them, Shin Tae-yeop clasped his hands together.
Prayer beads unfurled in the air with a rustle.
In an instant, a wall of flames rose between them and the enemy.
“This is……?”
Do Ye-jin saw Roheiritz hesitate for a moment, staring at Shin Tae-yeop through his crow mask.
“No…… how do you……?”
He muttered as much.
Regardless, Shin Tae-yeop grabbed Do Ye-jin’s hand and bolted toward the exit.
There really was no escape.
When they burst out of the half-ruined building, they nearly panicked. Hell had unfolded in the sky.
“……………………………….”
“……………………………….”
“……………………………….”
Countless demons blotted out the sky like a swarm of bats.
“Don’t look! Any of you! Don’t look no matter what!”
Shin Tae-yeop shouted, roughly shoving Do Ye-jin’s head down.
“Don’t look?”
“Those things have no senses…… But if you keep staring, they’ll sense your presence.”
“How do you know? Earlier you said…… you’d never seen them before.”
Shin Tae-yeop groaned, clutching his head as if a headache had struck.
“I don’t know…… I just suddenly knew. It’s complicated to explain, so just take my word for it now.”
That was when a bizarre sound erupted from the collapsed building. Like a whistle or a trumpet……
Was Roheiritz coming out?
They had to flee, and fast.
After running about 80 meters, the demons’ shadows slicing through the starry sky all halted at once.
“Wait, stop for a sec.”
Do Ye-jin said.
Shin Tae-yeop turned back with an irritated look.
“What?”
“Don’t you feel the stares?”
It was less stares and more an overwhelming wave of killing intent.
Thanks to her Subordinate’s heightened senses, Do Ye-jin could definitely feel it.
Wriggle, wriggle, wriggle, wriggle.
The killing intent groped through heaven and earth like antennae…… searching for them.
“Damn it…… we have to get inside.”
Shin Tae-yeop gestured to the building on the left. As the group rushed in, he immediately shut the front door.
“What, what the hell is──”
“Shh.”
“That guy from before, he’s dead──”
“Shh. Quiet. Shh.”
Shin Tae-yeop calmly silenced the rookies’ questions and peeked outside the front door.
It was a heart-stopping moment.
The demons began landing on the ground one by one. About 5 or 6 meters away.
Up close…… good lord.
They were faceless demons. They had heads, but no faces, and they moved in chilling silence.
The demons prowled the street, sniffing out traces. Then a strange stench hit their noses. The acrid smell of acetic acid from a lab.
And…… step step…… footsteps began approaching.
He’s coming…… it’s him……
The tension was so intense it felt like hyperventilation was whitening their minds.
Dad…… Mom…… Sis……
If Roheiritz came in here…… if they were found…… the deaths of the former First Hunter Squad flashed through their minds.
No, wait……
Why should it end the same way?
Do Ye-jin was completely different now. She was a Subordinate weapon.
Thump…… thump…… thump……
The pulse of despair echoed. Do Ye-jin brought her hand to her chest as if entranced.
Thump.
The moment it resonated with the pulse of despair, Shin Tae-yeop seized her wrist.
‘Don’t.’
He mouthed the words.
‘I can do it.’
‘No. Like Seohwa-yun noona said, your power’s too dangerous.’
That was when terror blackened their vision.
Roheiritz was approaching, flanked by demons on both sides.
I have to.
I have to again.
When her heart beat once.
Shin Tae-yeop wouldn’t let go……
When it beat twice.
Roheiritz reached right in front of the door……
When it beat for the third time.
The sound of a hand on the doorknob pierced their eardrums.
The miracle came just before tragedy.
One demon silently said something to Roheiritz.
“How…… already that far?”
Roheiritz glanced up at the sky briefly, then turned and sprinted to the far end of the street. The faceless demons followed in unison.
It felt eternal.
Those mere 5 seconds until their presence fully vanished.
They exhaled and slumped to the floor.
Their bodies were drenched in cold sweat. Hysterical laughter bubbled up.
“What…… what the hell was that?”
Ryu Hyeonji was the first to break the silence, her face pale.
「It didn’t rise. The star’s fragrance. It didn’t rise.」
「No. No. No.」
Black & White circled Ryu Hyeonji, making incomprehensible noises.
“……Hyung-nim? What now?”
Park Ji-won asked.
Shin Tae-yeop was silently scribbling something in his notebook. Do Ye-jin asked.
“What’re you writing?”
“What that otherworldly Hunter said earlier. Feels like…… I get it.”
Even in this situation…… that’s what he was thinking.
“That Hunter…… he seemed to know you, Oppa.”
Shin Tae-yeop’s busy hand stopped. As he looked up.
“Please, please, please spare meeeee…….”
A chilling death cry rang out.
A flash dyed the world white, followed by the rumbling…… of lightning.
Do Ye-jin plugged her ears, and Shin Tae-yeop closed his notebook.
“About 100 meters down the street, I’d say. If everyone’s calmed down, let’s get out of here now.”
“G-get out?”
Heo Cheon-gyeom grabbed Shin Tae-yeop’s shoulder in confusion.
“Let’s wait here. Reinforcements will come soon. The Association’s main force.”
“Didn’t you see him come right up to the door?”
“……!”
“This whole area’s his turf. It’s just a matter of time before he finds us. If retreating’s impossible, at least we move locations.”
“No way…….”
Heo Cheon-gyeom’s face filled with despair. Park Ji-won bit her lip and chimed in.
“He’s right. We barely survived thanks to…… another Hunter this time.”
Shin Tae-yeop spread a map of Cheongun Hyoja-dong on the floor and pinned it with his dagger.
“Let’s head further north.”
“North? That takes us farther from base. You mean south, right?”
“No way he doesn’t know that. He’ll definitely block the retreat…… Best to swing wide north.”
What an incredible guy.
Was he locked in a fierce game of wits with Roheiritz in his head?
“Of course, I’m not going out without a plan. Hold on.”
Shin Tae-yeop formed a dozen hand seals in rapid succession.
Rustle.
Prayer beads dancing in ecstatic hues of flame.
When the seals finished, the beads turned into fireballs that shot outside…… and began incinerating the entire city.
“Whoa…….”
“Incredible.”
As the rookies gasped in awe.
“……Hngh.”
Had he overdone it?
Shin Tae-yeop’s knees buckled. Do Ye-jin quickly supported him.
“You okay?”
“Yeah…… fine…….”
Even as he said it, beads of cold sweat dotted his forehead.
“Now smoke’ll block their sense of smell. With Heteromorphs rampaging, hearing’ll be blocked too…… Let’s move in the meantime.”
Ahh…… so that was the point.
The streets turned into pandemonium in seconds. A city shrouded in smoke and eerie howls.
“Why’re those bastards acting up?”
That was when the demons in the sky began slaughtering the Heteromorphs howling at the heavens.
“……………………….”
“……………………….”
“……………………….”
Heteromorphs…… hunting other Heteromorphs?
“Don’t gawk, focus! Follow me!”
As soon as they stepped out, Shin Tae-yeop veered off the main road into shadowy alleys.
Main street, alley, main street.
How far had they run?
Just as they were gasping for breath.
Boom───!
The door right beside them shattered, and a Heteromorph burst out…… only to writhe engulfed in blinding flames the next instant.
“Kiiiiieeeeeee……!”
Shin Tae-yeop’s immediate response. Focus, focus, focus. His heart pounded wildly.
“Park Ji-won, Ryu Hyeonji—you two flank Ye-jin. Heo Cheon-gyeom, you’re rear guard.”
“G-got it!”
“Then──”
The moment Shin Tae-yeop grabbed Do Ye-jin’s hand again, a sharp whoosh tore at their eardrums.
……An arrow?
The arrow grazed Shin Tae-yeop’s cheek and embedded in the ruined building ahead.
It meant only one thing.
Roheiritz had already caught up. A sickening cold sweat soaked their bodies.
No way.
The instant they glanced back in horror…… their teeth began chattering in fear.
The otherworldly Hunter was coming.
Roheiritz was charging at full speed. Shin Tae-yeop yelled desperately.
“Run!”
The First Hunter Squad sprinted down the street like mad. Their hearts throbbed painfully.
Stop and you die……
“Sh-shit! How’s that bastard so fast?!”
“Shut up and run!”
Faster, faster.
A strange sense of floating. The only sound in their ears was their own ragged breathing.
Please, please, please.
Do Ye-jin prayed.
She didn’t know to which god. But…… escape seemed nearly impossible.
“Heeheeheeheeheeheeheehee!”
“Hahahahahahahahahahaha!”
Heteromorphs poured out from the flame-enshrouded ruins, blackening the streets.
The moment that thought crossed her mind, true crisis struck.
“……………….”
It happened in a flash.
A faceless demon dove from the sky.
“Aaack!”
Ryu Hyeonji’s frail scream.
The demon had seized her head and slammed it into the ground.
“Hyeonji!”
It happened in an instant.
Just as she drew Cannon Axe from her back and stopped, someone shoved Do Ye-jin from behind.
“Just keep running, you idiot!”
It was Heo Cheon-gyeom.
“What’re you saying? Hyeonji’s right there!”
“Who’s abandoning her? You go! I’ll handle it!”
The next moment.
Heo Cheon-gyeom roared and charged the demon with his shield raised.
The demon about to pierce Ryu Hyeonji’s skull with its claw. It tumbled across the ground with Heo Cheon-gyeom instead.
“Do what Heo Cheon-gyeom says. Go with Ji-won! Don’t stop!”
Shin Tae-yeop shoved Do Ye-jin forward, then dashed toward Ryu Hyeonji and Heo Cheon-gyeom.
Her mind…… her mind was blank…… Her heart hammered like it would shatter her chest.
Demons endlessly plummeting from the sky.
“……………….”
“……………….”
“……………….”
Heteromorphs surging from both sides like mountains.
“Heeheeheeheeheeheeheehee!”
“Heehee hahahahahahaha!”
And right behind, Roheiritz closing in tight.
Hallucinations overlaid reality in that instant.
That day’s parting.
The slaughter in the Great Library.
The First Hunter Squad dying in Do Ye-jin’s place. Severed bonds. Hong Byeong-gyu, Cha Seung-hyeon, Yoon Geon-woo.
Was it happening again?
“……Don’t.”
Her mouth opened unbidden.
“Don’t do it.”
At first, like a mutter.
The next instant, she screamed it at Roheiritz in rage.
“Please, just stop already!”
It wasn’t a mere shout.
It was a scream.
A girl’s scream spat at the cruel world, a girl’s scream offered to her tragic fate.
A scream is the cry of despair.
Thus, in that one moment. The abyss responded to its master’s command.