Hell Train Raid

A pitch-black train pulled in.

- Rumble rumble rumble...

It felt just like the Jeju dungeon, slathered in layers of rotten filth. No windows, just entry doors.

I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had the spy villain's—Cheopbo from now on—field of view up on the screen, recording everything that happened from here on out.

They'd said for sure it was a train heading to the Hell Gate.

- Clang...

The hell train's doors slid open.

The interior surprisingly wasn't all that different from a real subway car. The main difference was the filth plastered over the outside of the windows. Otherwise, it was clean and completely empty.

『......』

Cheopbo, who had been reciting prayers nonstop, boarded the train with heavy steps. He clasped his hands neatly in front, assuming a devout posture like a monk. As if entering a holy sanctuary.

The doors shut right after Cheopbo got on, and the train set off. It seemed to know there was only one passenger this time.

- Groooar...

Cheopbo didn't sit in a seat. He kept murmuring unintelligible prayers in that prayer stance.

"Where's it heading?"

"S-Super weird yo."

The train barreled on for quite a while.

The problem was, with no view out the windows from inside, there was no way to tell where it was going.

The method was to track the position on the screen.

What was crazy was that the ♠ marker was still right at Incheon Station.

"Altitude's the same too yo. Hard to wrap my head around it."

Even smart Ollie said it was his first time seeing something like this.

The train ride dragged on for over ten minutes like that, until brake noises signaled it was slowing at some point.

- Screeeeech...

"What the."

The scene unfolding before us was some abandoned platform.

It looked like a disused subway station, crawling with rats, cobwebs, and bugs everywhere.

Cheopbo stepped off the train naturally, as if he knew the way, and headed somewhere.

The station seemed even bigger than a standard subway stop. The issue was,

"How many are there exactly."

"Looks like the villains' final hideout yo."

This place was the real deal.

There were countless villains with pitch-black, discolored skin, and even some in near-perfect condition that could pass for beautiful humans. Probably the executives.

As Cheopbo kept walking, the regular villains bowed their heads like they were facing a superior officer and scattered to the sides.

"Looks like our spy had some rank to him yo." Ollie twirled his mustache as he said it.

"Yeah, seems that way."

But executive-level villains occasionally exchanged eye contact or made Cheopbo bow first. So not quite at the absolute top.

"What the hell is that anyway."

Every single villain in the subway station had one thing in common: a strange wooden plaque hanging around their necks.

"Like a ticket to enter the station? Villain ID? Something like that???"

Jenny, watching the footage with us, offered her take. Made sense to me.

I'd seen plenty of villain footage in the ops room. Especially high-ranker ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠combat analysis.

Never once seen wooden plaques like that before, and everyone here was wearing them.

While we analyzed the video, Cheopbo arrived somewhere.

An abandoned information center.

"Ah, that's."

"Eh? Isn't that it, Captain!" "Y-Yeah yeah."

Inside the info center was the summoning stone we'd seen before—the one for entering the Hell Gate interior. But not just one this time. Hundreds of them.

Then, someone spoke to Cheopbo from behind.

A voice that sounded familiar from somewhere.

Cheopbo turned around and immediately prostrated himself on the floor.

High Priest.

Looked like one of the top positions in Necrophilia.

No idea what "transfer ritual" meant. For now, jot down every keyword.

The cathedral intruder was probably me. With the micro-drone exploding and causing a ruckus, a report would've gone up for sure.

Cheopbo rose from his prostrated position after receiving orders.

"!!!"

Now I could finally ID the high priest bastard on screen.

"You son of a bitch."

It was that priest from the cathedral.

Two glistening gems hanging around his neck.

Definitely Power Fragments, even on second look.

'Gotta catch that bastard no matter what.'

He'd swiped two of my items and vanished—who knows where. Took damn long to track him.

"Jenny."

"Yes!"

"Contact distortion behind that priest bastard."

My spur-of-the-moment plan was this:

1. Pin the priest so he can't go anywhere.

2. Snag the necklace first.

Killing the high priest right now would be tough.

Miss and shatter the necklace? That'd be a colossal fuckup. Plus, he's got info we need to extract.

So, warning shot to bind him, then yoink the necklace.

Mysterious damage etched into the mind—he won't move a muscle.

Jenny immediately tried contact distortion.

Cheopbo's chat was wrapping up. One shot at this.

But the screen footage was low-res and vague, making it a real challenge for Jenny.

- Based on Cheopbo chip's location data + reconstructing footage from the skin-piercing semi-transparent nano-cam inside the chip to display on ops room screen yo! Think of this as CG reconstruction...

Anyway.

"I'll make it happen! That's four if we get it!"

- ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Whirrr...

This time, a somewhat imperfect distortion point formed.

The high priest didn't seem to notice anyway, so I fired Warning straight through the distortion point.

- Pew!

The bullet rode the distortion and hit the priest's back.

『......!』

The priest froze instantly. Warning landed clean.

No one could move after taking mysterious mental damage.

The priest suddenly vomited blood from all seven orifices and convulsed. Cheopbo rushed over and grabbed him.

"No time. Grab it now."

Next step: distortion point right in front of the necklace. If it works, reach through and rip it off.

But with Cheopbo holding the priest, success wasn't guaranteed.

- Whirrr...

Jenny formed a contact-shot distortion right at the priest's chest. Ollie immediately reached for it, but

"Shit."

Cheopbo spotted the distortion. If a hand came through there, he'd grab or attack it for sure.

"Close the distortion point."

I halted Jenny's spell and checked Cheopbo's screen again.

They were taking the priest somewhere—looked like a staff lounge.

The abandoned subway station erupted into pure chaos after that.

With the priest attacked and distortions spotted, they were dead certain there was an intruder. Executives formed a defensive line around the staff lounge.

Villains scoured the station for traces. My read on the scene:

"Failed to steal the necklace."

"S-Sorry, Captain!" "If Ollie had sharpened the footage..."

Not the agents' fault.

Situation was shit from the start.

Anyway, no more access to the priest. Executives on full guard.

Even Cheopbo couldn't get in—the defense was ironclad. No more contact distortion.

"Anything worth grabbing nearby."

Or wipe out the villains entirely. Letting them prep whatever they're planning felt too ominous.

So I focused on a pile of objects in the corner of the info booth via Cheopbo's screen.

Wooden plaques.

Definitely linked to this place somehow.

No other standout items.

- Whirrr...

- Shff.

Slipped a distortion point in unnoticed and snagged 4-5 wooden plaques back to the shelter.

"Phew. Knew it."

I'd figured as much.

Problem: item needed for boarding.

"Ollie. Hold onto these items."

"ROGER!"

From the look of them, this was our way inside.

But I wasn't stopping here. Gonna wreck the place max, thin out the priest's forces.

Cheopbo was inside the info center, near the lounge.

Tried a blind-spot distortion in the corner to snipe the guarding executives first, but

- Flash!

"Ah, something interfered!"

No more distortion points inside the info center. One executive was spreading weird energy around the lounge and center.

'Trying to detect distortions?'

That ended up blocking Jenny's magic instead.

Too bad the lounge had no sniper angle from outside. Even from the info center, it'd require going deep inside—and I couldn't risk hitting the priest's fragments.

"Jenny. Then here this time."

Next distortion: subway station ceiling.

Rain hell from above on the villain troops. Max damage within limits. That'd flush out the lounge execs, right?

- Whirrr...

Formed it high up where it's hard to spot—no immediate interference.

Stealth, Chain, Pierce.

"One by one. One by one."

That'd chain mysterious damage around. No need to aim carefully. All villains here anyway.

2x zoom. Never trained close-quarters like this. Black villain faces zipped across the scope.

'Fire.'

- Pew!

- BOOM!

"!!!" "!!!"

Several villains vanished without a scream in an instant.

No bones or flesh left where they exploded. Just bloodstains.

"Gasp!"

"What the fuck!"

Hundreds of unscathed villains freaked out in unison, going on high alert everywhere.

Now their voices came through live, not screen audio. Since my distortion linked here.

Then,

"Un, un, un, unregistered!"

They knew me.

Constellation Anubis and his kin treat Unregistered as enemies, right.

Seemed they had some intel on my power too.

Hm. Their intel wasn't spot-on.

Not getting caught, not taking a single hit.

That was my one slogan.

- Pew!

- BOOM!

Damage was always side dish.

Means to survive.

Try and catch me.

'Fire.'

- BOOM!

3x over there. Took out the one hiding behind the pillar.

- BOOM!

No zoom right below. Cleared all close enough to spot the distortion.

- BOOM!

4x across. Three executive-types blew up together.

Hell this, god that.

Didn't care. Don't do scary dangerous shit, hand over the Power Fragments.

One more.

- BOOM!

Some now prostrated, babbling mad prayers. Gave up on living. Not pitiful. Absurd, really.

Thirsting to slaughter innocents, but their own lives precious. All they had precious were the Power Fragments.

"Hand 'em over."

Annoyance building as they kept popping up everywhere no matter how many I killed. Pointless.

Confirmed in this gate: not all, but some special ammo works.

Test range showed lightning rounds qualify.

And from Cartibes, they zap surroundings in one shot.

- Pew!

- ZZZAPPPPPPP!

32x at the farthest cluster—lightning reached here. Hundreds dead at once.

Bodies intact this time, charred by lightning. Burnt flesh stench everywhere.

Then,

One exec finally broke from the last lightning round and ordered everyone.

They had an escape route?

That complicates things.

Hundreds left started grabbing gear and prepping to bail immediately.

Heading to the station's deep interior, where distortions won't form.

The lounge.

.

.

.

Thud thud thud... Jenny dashed into Incheon Station after ending the run.

"Don't board no matter what. Just scout methods."

- Yes!

With Jenny walking the platform live, the screen showed crystal-clear footage compared to Cheopbo's.

"Definitely boarded there. 10 meters ahead." Ollie guided from ops.

Cross-checked with Cheopbo: door 14. Follow every detail to find entry.

Jenny arrived, then

- Eh?

She tilted her head, puzzled.

"What is it, Jenny!"

- Something appeared in front! Looks like entry! Captain!

Message in Jenny's view. Angled right—we saw it too.

"I'll go in! Jenny can do it!"

"No."

No matter the max safety for agents, couldn't send my precious agent solo into a villain-infested unknown subway.

For two Power Fragments,

Wait for next chance, or force entry and rampage?

But saw them retreating clear as day.

"Contacting Hunter Management Bureau now."

We didn't have to go in.

Necrophilia purge wasn't my solo homework.

I had five tickets—send in bureau high-rankers to clear and recover fragments.

Was about to fire off a direct line to the director when,

"Gasp! Entry window's almost up!"

"?"

As Jenny hit NO per my order, another message popped up.

"Ah, damn it."

Seemed it only opened at specific times.

After the last train passes, hell train runs briefly. Guessing.

Miss now, at least 24 hours. Bureau could come, but even tighter timeline.

Firmly shut down Jenny's brave offer to go in and fight with me.

"Jenny, no."

Time crunch same either way.

They relocate again, when next see priest bastard—no, high priest?

"Whew. Didn't think I'd use this right away."

Decision made.

Play a card I didn't fully trust yet.

"Open mail and sponsorship together. Ollie."

The mail was concise. Tons to say, but crammed tight.

Massive effect from putting Dream Demon to sleep,

And solid payback from a reliable guild.

Shelter handed Jenny the Thread of Fate and tools.

"R-Right away!"

Lifted the thread, lit it with a match.

- Whoosh!

Blood-red flames erupted huge.

Big enough to engulf Jenny, but she was unharmed.

The blood flames shifted before her, burning in midair to form a shape.

A slender woman.

"......"

Top infiltrator/scout among my contacts.

Hongmaehwa's Seol, summoned.

Seol slowly opened her closed eyes.

"......Didn't think you'd really call me."

Her usual icy voice remained, but softer somehow. Definitely felt like she saw us as allies now.

Seol eyed Jenny, spun her dagger, and scanned surroundings.

Checking the situation she'd been summoned into.

"Alright then,"

Time to run the dungeon with the top assassin.

Speed run from now.