Ambush (2)
The sudden tremor hit right as I received Eudes from Marquis Cunningham.
‘An earthquake?’
While I was still wondering, the marquis’s aide—who had gone out to check on the situation—came rushing back.
“Your Excellency, we have a serious problem.”
“What is it?”
“Someone has erected a barrier around the entire convention center.”
“Hmm.”
Marquis Cunningham rose from his seat.
“Let’s go see.”
“Yes, let’s.”
I followed Marquis Cunningham out to the lobby.
The spacious hall was packed with Hunters who had come to enjoy the festival. Although it wasn’t the main venue, the crowd here was still quite large. Startled by the abrupt quake, they had all surged toward the exits, their voices laced with confusion.
“W-what the hell is this?!”
“The outside is gone!”
Beyond the doors, there was nothing. It was as if someone had taken an eraser and wiped the world clean, leaving only blank white space. An empty void. Pure nothingness.
Thud. Thud!
Trying to step outside was useless. The void refused to let anyone through, as solid as the glass walls of a zoo enclosure.
“Maybe it’s only this area.”
“Check the other exits!”
The Hunters scattered in every direction, searching for any way out. Windows, emergency exits, back doors, underground parking, the rooftop… Every possible exit was thrown open. Even places that weren’t exits.
But.
“This is insane! The windows are blocked too!”
“The roof is sealed off!”
No matter where they looked, only blank white space stretched out. It felt like the entire convention center had been ripped out of reality and dropped into its own isolated game map.
“How did this happen?”
“Is this some kind of special Gate?”
The bewildered Hunters buzzed with anxiety. Their voices carried the creeping fear that they might never escape.
“Everyone, please calm down and gather.”
A deep, authoritative voice cut through the chaos at that moment. A group of people emerged from the inner chambers of the convention center. The one who had spoken was a dignified British gentleman leading the pack.
“It’s Marquis Cunningham!”
“Oh, that’s him?”
The Hunters who recognized the marquis whispered among themselves and quickly cleared a path.
Following the opened corridor, Marquis Cunningham approached the exit and reached out toward the void.
Tap.
His hand stopped at the boundary, unable to advance any further.
“Hmm. It’s an isolation-type barrier.”
With his wealth of experience, Marquis Cunningham immediately assessed their predicament.
“Can we get out?” I asked.
He shook his head.
“We cannot.”
Staring into the emptiness, he continued, “Someone has locked the door from the outside.”
“What do you mean by ‘locked the door’?”
“It means the medium sustaining the barrier is located outside.”
Marquis Cunningham described the barrier as a ‘door’ and its core medium as the ‘lock.’
“As long as the lock remains outside, there is no way to open it from within.”
“Is there truly no method of escape?”
“Correct. We must wait for someone outside to either destroy or release the lock.”
Or wait until the barrier’s duration naturally expired. In short, we were trapped inside an inescapable prison.
‘This is a disaster.’
I hadn’t imagined that coming here to negotiate would end with me getting locked inside, so I frowned. According to the marquis, the convention center was now completely cut off from the outside world.
The one silver lining was that we were in the heart of Seoul, and the headquarters of the Constellation of Dawn was nearby. If we waited, they would surely find a way to resolve this.
‘The real problem is figuring out the caster’s intention…’
If this wasn’t some random prank, then there had to be a purpose behind the barrier. And that purpose wasn’t hard to guess.
‘Are they after the Essence?’
Or perhaps the demonic sword Eudes. Either one made logical sense. Those were the only two truly valuable items here.
If that was the case, the caster wouldn’t simply wait for the barrier to dissipate. They would act before then.
Whoosh—!
In an instant, one side of the hall blazed with light as a group of intruders materialized. Two factions: one dressed in white robes, the other clad in traditional Chinese armor.
“W-what the—?!”
“Why are there suddenly people…”
The Hunters’ shock at the sudden appearance lasted only a moment.
Boom—!
Several intruders moved swiftly to slam and lock the doors leading to the corridors. The emergency stairwell doors were sealed next, and the elevators were seized. Their movements were precise and practiced, as if they had rehearsed this many times.
The Hunters could only watch in stunned silence. After all, they had come to enjoy a festival and carried no weapons.
Step. Step.
One of the white-robed intruders walked forward leisurely. After scanning the frozen Hunters, he spoke in fluent Korean.
“No one will be leaving this place now.”
His relaxed tone served as a grim reminder that they were all trapped.
Outside the convention center.
A massive crowd of Hunters had gathered in front of the pure-white barrier. The enclosure surrounding the building formed a perfect rectangular prism.
“It’s a Complete Isolation Barrier,” said Shin Sua, Guild Master of the Constellation of Dawn.
This type was particularly troublesome. The only way to dispel it was to locate and destroy the hidden ‘medium’ somewhere within the barrier. There was, of course, the brute-force option of smashing the barrier from the outside.
If you didn’t have the key, you could simply break the lock with raw power.
It was crude, but effective.
“Can you break it?”
“Do I look stupid enough to smash an isolation barrier, Team Leader 1?”
“……”
Ha Jinwu couldn’t answer. He had honestly been thinking exactly that, but he wasn’t about to say it out loud.
“Well… it’s not that I can’t…”
“What did you just say?”
“I didn’t say anything?”
Shin Sua feigned innocence and quickly changed the subject.
“Anyway, breaking it today is impossible.”
“So it is possible, just not today.”
“To dismantle a Complete Isolation Barrier, you need someone who can interfere with its mana flow. But that’s beyond me.”
Shin Sua continued as if she hadn’t heard Ha Jinwu’s earlier comment.
“My specialty is pure physical force, after all.”
She cutely swung her slender arms in a playful ‘yap yap’ motion. As she said, the most effective way to destroy a barrier wasn’t physical power but ‘mana.’ Since barriers were constructed from mana, the same type of energy worked best against them.
More importantly, one needed the sharpness to sever the barrier’s ‘flow.’ Cutting the flow was far easier than trying to smash it outright.
Mana manipulation and precision were neither in Shin Sua’s wheelhouse.
She turned around and asked, “Do you think you can do it?”
“I’ll have to try to find out.”
A woman stepped up beside Shin Sua.
Whiiiish…
A gentle breeze followed in her wake. Her silver hair fluttered in the wind. Her blue eyes, catching the sunlight, sparkled like a clear lake.
It was none other than France’s S-class Hunter, Rachel Bonaparte.
Shing—
The Golden Sword Sabre slid free from Rachel’s waist. At the same moment, the gentle breeze transformed into a violent gale.
Armor of the Wind King
The signature ability of Rachel, an S-class Wind Attribute Awakened. A destructive gale capable of shredding everything in its path now coiled around the Golden Sword Sabre.
Once the blade was fully enveloped by the storm, an eerie calm devoid of even the slightest breeze settled around Rachel.
And then—
──────.
Rachel swung her sword toward the barrier.
BOOOOM—!
The barrier began to shake violently.
Bishop Nikolai slowly scanned the Hunters gathered in the hall, as if searching for someone.
‘The Saintess is not here.’
Marquis Cunningham had visited the convention center to purify Eudes. Had the person negotiating with him been the Saintess, Nikolai would never have proceeded with this operation.
Yet even after confirming every single person who entered the building, the Saintess was nowhere to be seen. He had checked meticulously—twice, three times—even after the barrier had been cast.
‘The purifier is not the Saintess.’
Now certain, Bishop Nikolai smiled.
BOOM—! BOOOOM—!
Suddenly the barrier began to tremble. It seemed someone outside had started trying to break it.
‘We need to finish this quickly.’
Clang! Clang-clang!
In the hall, the Chinese Hunters led by Ambassador Wang Wei were already facing off against Marquis Cunningham’s group. The Essence in the marquis’s possession was what the Chinese side wanted, after all.
However, Eudes was not with Marquis Cunningham.
‘Eudes is…’
Nikolai’s gaze swept across the hall and suddenly stopped at one spot.
In a corner of the hall, a young man stood holding Eudes, calmly observing the situation.
Nikolai began walking toward the youth.
‘Hmm.’
I was deep in thought.
Marquis Cunningham and his aides were engaged in combat with the intruders. The regular Hunters had been taken hostage by the white-robed faction and could only watch helplessly.
‘I guess I have to call them.’
There was no way I could handle this many enemies alone. To minimize casualties, I needed to summon Jeanne and Vanessa.
The only issue was that this was a crowded hall. Summoning the two of them would definitely draw attention.
At that moment, one of the white-robed intruders walked straight toward me, pointing at the demonic sword in my hand.
“Hand over that sword.”
“Jeanne, Vanessa.”
Instead of answering, I summoned the two of them.
“Ancestor, what is the current situation?”
“It does not look favorable.”
“Here, take these back.”
I returned the borrowed flag and scissors to the two women who had appeared.
“Whoa.”
A sudden unpleasant sensation shot up my hand, causing me to drop Eudes.
‘So this is why they call it a demonic sword.’
While I was shaking my hand and looking down at the fallen sword, a stunned voice rang out.
“W-why are you here…”
The intruder who had demanded Eudes froze with a look of pure horror, as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have. His eyes were locked onto Vanessa.
Vanessa stared quietly at the sword the man had raised toward me, her gaze cold and calm.
“T-this is a m-misunderstanding! I-I am a saint—”
The man lowered his weapon and stumbled backward, trying to explain, but—
Slice—
Before he could finish, his head was already flying through the air.
“My lord, are you unharmed?”
“Ah, yes. I’m fine.”
I tilted my head in confusion.
The intruder had reacted as if he knew Vanessa. But since his head had been severed before he could finish speaking, I had no way of knowing what he meant. Besides, he had muttered in Russian, so I couldn’t understand it anyway.
‘There’s no way Vanessa would know some Russian guy.’
I shook my head, dismissing the thought. This wasn’t the time for that.
“Vanessa, please take care of those white-robed bastards.”
“Understood.”
After entrusting the white-robed enemies to Vanessa, I turned my gaze toward Marquis Cunningham’s side.
‘I’ll go help over there.’
The Twin Dragon Sword materialized above my hand.