Holy Sword 2.
Gangnam Debrance Hospital's VIP ward on the top floor was already a battlefield beyond control. Even in the pre-dawn hours, they were dealing with the unprecedented crisis of an S-rank hunter's mana rampage. The area in front of room 1701 at the end of the hallway was a chaotic mess of combat agents from the Hunter Association and the nation's top medical team. Their faces clearly showed the helplessness of ordinary humans in the face of the magnetic storm unleashed by an S-rank hunter.
The Hunter Association's central control room director mumbled through pursed lips.
"Did Kwon Si-hyeok quit the drugs or something?"
"He started using them again after the last mana rampage. No hunter wants to turn into a demon from a mana surge."
"Then... why again?"
"We're investigating the cause. The research team's current theory is side effects from pushing too hard on an S-rank gate..."
Weeeeng, weeeeng, weeeeng. The monitor readings suddenly shot up in an exponential curve.
"Shit... the mana rampage is starting."
"Director, we need to kill Kwon Si-hyeok Hunter before he turns into a demon. We have no idea what kind of disaster an S-rank hunter turning demonic would unleash."
"Let's trust Kwon Si-hyeok one more time this round..."
"...Director."
The central control room director gnawed at his lower lip while staring at the monitor set up in the hallway.
"Damn it, crank the mana suppressor to max output! If we leave it like this, the whole ward will get swept up in a flame storm and collapse!"
He bellowed into his headset. But the response crackling through the speaker was hopeless.
"It's no use, Director! Kwon Si-hyeok Hunter's magnetic storm is surging beyond measurable levels! The suppressor's failing! We'll inject more sedatives into Kwon Si-hyeok Hunter."
"No more sedatives! The moment he falls asleep, he turns into a demon!"
The frantic exchange heightened the sense of crisis.
"Has S-rank healer 'Saintess' Ieliya arrived yet? She's the only one who can calm Kwon Si-hyeok Hunter right now—the mana rampage isn't the issue!"
"She's deployed at another S-rank gate site. Minimum 30 more minutes until return! For now... we just have to hold out!"
"What about Hunter Jiwon-yeong?"
"She's in the US right now. Director... Hunter Jiwon-yeong is a dealer, not a healer... Are you assuming Kwon Si-hyeok Hunter turns demonic?"
The central control room director kept gulping down saliva, nervously clicking his index finger against his thumb.
"All patients still on this floor evacuated?"
"Yes."
"Clear out the reporters."
At his firm command, A-rank hunters sensing the crisis began shoving the reporters waiting in the hospital hallway outside. The reporters resisted physically, shouting as they were herded away.
"Hey! Director! What's wrong with Kwon Si-hyeok Hunter?"
"The press has a duty to report the truth! Hey!"
"Don't touch me!! Hands off! Who do you think you're pushing? What's your name?"
"Stop shoving! This camera's expensive!"
As the reporters' screams and yells filled the hallway, Gu Gwang-cheol Team Leader came sprinting up, his face twisted in fury.
"Director Byeon, what the hell are you doing?"
His fists were trembling.
Gu Gwang-cheol Team Leader couldn't comprehend what the central control room director was trying to do. An S-rank hunter's mana rampage was a national crisis. He'd witnessed an entire city vanish from an S-rank rampage in Malaysia.
"Team Leader Gu Gwang-cheol. This isn't for the Scout Team Leader to meddle in. You're overstepping. Overstepping!"
Director Byeon scowled exaggeratedly. Gu Gwang-cheol was an outsider among outsiders even in the Hunter Association.
"Kwon Si-hyeok Hunter has wide-range flame skills. This is worse than the Malaysia rampage incident."
"This is my jurisdiction. Kwon Si-hyeok Hunter can overcome the mana rampage, so don't worry and head back."
"I know Kwon Si-hyeok Hunter stayed in an S-rank gate for 10 straight days. Was that the Hunter Association President's order? Or Japan's request, holding your weakness?"
At Gu Gwang-cheol Team Leader's words, Director Byeon's eyes bulged.
"Hey, Gu Gwang-cheol! You gone insane? What bullshit is this?"
"I know you're getting paid as an outside director from Japan's Mitsuda Industries."
Director Byeon swallowed hard in panic and blurted out.
"Mitsuda Industries is just a company I'm connected to..."
"I hope it's unrelated to this. I'll formally request an investigation from the Audit Team."
"You crazy bastard, threatening me? You. Fuck. Lost your mind?"
"Turning Korea's strategic asset, an S-rank hunter, into a guinea pig for a prolonged S-rank gate experiment even other countries avoid... Director Byeon. I'll drag you down from that position myself."
"You crazy son of a—"
That was when it happened.
Boom!!!! The door to room 1701, where Kwon Si-hyeok Hunter was hospitalized, exploded with a deafening roar.
"Goddamn it... the mana rampage has started!!"
Gu Gwang-cheol Team Leader watched through the shattered doorframe as Kwon Si-hyeok Hunter floated above the bed.
# # #
"This is the place."
Yes, that's right. Kwon Si-hyeok Hunter is in room 1701. Mana rampage seems imminent.
The hallway was already pandemonium. Hunter Association agents, medical staff, and reporters who'd been holding out for a scoop moments ago mingled in a hellish scene. Amid the chaos, I spotted an intriguing standoff.
Gu Gwang-cheol Team Leader charging down the hall like an enraged bull. And blocking him, Director Byeon with his cold, serpentine eyes.
Gu Gwang-cheol's exposé that Director Byeon was taking Japan's dirty money to push an S-rank hunter into inhumane experiments hinted this disaster wasn't just an accident.
"Everyone knows hunters are fated to become Baal's apostles anyway, but traitors stabbing their country in the back just piss me off."
I shrugged and spectated their argument. Gu Gwang-cheol's patriotic fury was justified, but powerless against Director Byeon's authority. I had no special patriotism myself, but watching Korea—a nation swayed by Japanese capital in media and Chinese money in real estate—made my blood boil in helpless rage.
Right then.
Kwaaaang!!!! The special reinforced door of room 1701 couldn't withstand the internal pressure and tore apart like paper with a thunderous boom. The explosion's shockwave swept the hallway, and screams erupted amid flying debris and dust clouds.
"Goddamn it... the mana rampage has started!!"
Gu Gwang-cheol Team Leader dropped into a low stance with a sharp cry. As the dust cleared through the doorframe, a hellish sight revealed itself.
Kwon Si-hyeok Hunter floated above the bed. His body was no longer human. Crimson-black veins writhed like snakes across his skin, uncontrolled mana swirling as pitch-black haze enveloped him. That mana scorched the air, walls, and ceiling black wherever it touched.
"GRRAAAAAHHH-!!!"
What burst from his mouth wasn't a human voice but a beast's roar. His reason-lost red eyes burned with hostility toward every living thing in the hallway.
"E-everyone, defensive positions! Evacuate medical staff and civilians to the lower floors immediately!"
Director Byeon shouted, his face drained pale. His voice trembled with terror.
"We need to kill Kwon Si-hyeok Hunter before he turns demonic! No telling what catastrophe an S-rank demon would bring!"
Gu Gwang-cheol yelled, but Director Byeon blocked him.
"Shut your bullshit! He's still Korea's top hero! We'll hold him somehow! The Saintess is coming soon!"
Director Byeon summoned his weapon from thin air—a massive tower shield. The blue-mana-glowing barrier stood before him. So Director Byeon was a hunter too.
But Kwon Si-hyeok's crimson mana lashed out, smashing the shield.
Bang!!! The impact was sonic-boom strong. Director Byeon glanced repeatedly between the fallen shield and Kwon Si-hyeok, then bolted in 'save my legs' panic.
But Gu Gwang-cheol was different. He raised Director Byeon's dropped shield and began softening his body like rubber.
"Oh? Rubberization ability, huh?"
First time seeing Gu Gwang-cheol Team Leader's power. He deformed the shield and his body to block the attack. A flicker of fear in his eyes, but filled with resolve to stop Kwon Si-hyeok.
"Foolish. Wanna die a hero?"
I watched their desperate resistance from the empty patient room with interest. Kwon Si-hyeok swung his hand through the air. A portion of the crimson-black mana enveloping him morphed into a massive spear and hurtled toward Gu Gwang-cheol.
"Everyone, dodge!"
Gu Gwang-cheol thrust the shield forward, concentrating all his mana. His malleable body formed braces around the shield, bracing for impact.
Kaaaaang-! Mana spear met shield in a eardrum-shattering clash. Spiderweb cracks spread across Gu Gwang-cheol's shield, his body hurled dozens of meters to crash into the hallway's end wall.
"Kuhk...!"
Just one hit. A top A-rank like Gu Gwang-cheol was pushed to combat-ineffective from the S-rank's rampage alone.
"This is... big trouble..."
Blood trickled from the corner of the dismayed Gu Gwang-cheol's mouth.
"Ptooey..."
He spat thick, bloody phlegm. Raising his head, his gaze met mine in the adjacent room where I'd been hiding.
"Ah??"
Caught hiding, I awkwardly scratched my head. A smile crept onto the dismayed Gu Gwang-cheol Team Leader's lips. As if he believed I'd fix everything.
"Hunter Park Woojin! You came after all!"
I scratched my head at his excessive expectation.
"Ahahaha. You've been watching the whole thing, huh? Ah... embarrassing."
He realized I was in empty room 1702, so I'd seen it all.
"Team Leader... aren't you expecting too much from me?"
"Hunter Park Woojin. If we leave Kwon Si-hyeok alone, the whole hospital could be obliterated. Please, take care of Kwon Si-hyeok..."
"Kill him?"
"Yes, no choice..."
That was when Kwon Si-hyeok emerged into the hallway, crimson-black mana roiling around him.
"You dare... tell me to die, you worm..."
The moment the crimson-black mana touched the hallway floor, walls melted like vinyl on a hot iron, sizzling.
"Feel the hellfire!! No mere human can withstand it."
Kwon Si-hyeok shrieked in frenzy, wrapping his body in hellflame.
"Hunter Park Woojin! Dangerous! You can't block hellflame head-on!"
Gu Gwang-cheol Team Leader's sharp scream. Even denser mana condensed in Kwon Si-hyeok's hand. If that blew, the ward and surrounding area would be incinerated.
"Don't strut with your hellflame. My friend's fire is a hundred times hotter."
"Ridiculous human... you're begging to die."
The instant Kwon Si-hyeok completed the mana orb of condensed hellflame, Gu Gwang-cheol gritted his teeth, pouring his last mana into the shield. Everyone left in the hallway sensed their deaths.
Gu Gwang-cheol despaired. If Hunter Park Woojin hadn't been so casual...
Could it have been stopped? If that mana orb in Kwon Si-hyeok's hand detonated now... this building and the area around...
In that absolute despair, all noise ceased like a lie. No one registered when or how I'd positioned myself before Kwon Si-hyeok. As if I'd always been there, I stood calmly at the eye of the storm.
Kwon Si-hyeok's eyes bulged. For the first time, his red pupils held 'wariness' toward me. The beast's instincts sensed a superior predator—or an incomprehensible existence—in me.
"Wh-who are you...!"
I didn't answer. Instead, I summoned my sword from thin air. What emerged from subspace wasn't the vulgar white dildo shape. It was a sleek, pristine silver dagger, morphed to my will.
The holy sword, Pnoeuma.
As the holy sword appeared, the crimson-black mana filling the room screamed and retreated. Like darkness fleeing light.
Ignoring the stunned onlookers, I thrust the sword into Kwon Si-hyeok's chest. He instinctively swung at me, but my movements transcended his perception.
I plunged the holy sword unhesitatingly into his heart.
Shunk— With a dull sound, the Pnoeuma in my grip pierced his tough pectorals like paper, accurately impaling the rampaging mana's core.
"Guh... heuk...!"
Kwon Si-hyeok's roar turned to agonized groan. Gu Gwang-cheol's eyes widened in disbelief. Time froze for everyone in the hallway.
In their gazes, I whispered softly into the tyrant's ear with emotionless eyes.
"Treatment... begins."