Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: Monster Wave (2)
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“Fuck.”
Something was off.
This day felt way too strange.
“Why the hell did I forget about Seo Young-ho...?”
The roster was wrong, and nothing was going right today.
It felt just like he'd been possessed by something.
“Focus for now.”
He had other things to worry about right now.
No time to waste on minor crap.
Choi Ji-hoon stepped straight out of the barracks and bellowed in a loud voice.
“Everyone assemble right now! Roll call again—move it!”
One thought dominated his mind.
'Please let it be nothing.'
He just hoped it was a simple mix-up and waited for the hunters to gather.
A moment later.
“All present, Captain Choi Ji-hoon!”
His lieutenant's voice rang out.
“Good.”
Choi Ji-hoon quickly scanned the hunters and did another headcount.
“One, two, three, four...”
The real problem was elsewhere.
“...Twenty-two.”
The official count was twenty-one, but there were still twenty-two people there.
He'd prayed the lieutenant's report was wrong, but...
He checked again, and sure enough, twenty-two heads.
“Ha...”
This time, Choi Ji-hoon swept his gaze over every single face.
Just had to spot Seo Young-ho's.
“...”
That's what he'd thought.
But Seo Young-ho was nowhere in sight.
“Fuck! This is insane.”
The hunters jumped at his sudden curse.
But Choi Ji-hoon wasn't stopping there.
“Everyone, hunter IDs out—now!”
He was the patrol captain.
No idea what was going on, but orders from a superior had to be followed.
The hunters pulled out their IDs and held them forward.
“Uh... Captain, sorry. I forgot mine back at the barracks...”
One guy didn't have his.
Choi Ji-hoon eyed him.
“Name and rank!”
He swiftly drew the pistol from his waist.
A mana-powered magic gun.
Choi Ji-hoon aimed it right at the ID-less hunter.
Everyone froze as their captain pulled a gun.
“C-Captain?”
“What the hell's going on?!”
What kind of situation was this?
“Name and rank, hurry up!”
The guy blurted it out at Choi Ji-hoon's shout.
“D-rank hunter, Kang Sung-woo!”
But the gun stayed trained on him.
“C-Captain...?”
Kang Sung-woo, who'd just given his name and rank, called out in a trembling voice.
“Why are you doing this...”
He was on the verge of tears.
Still, the barrel didn't waver.
Choi Ji-hoon kept staring him down.
“Why didn't you bring your ID?”
Hunters always carried their IDs.
No ID? In this situation? Highly suspicious.
“Listen up! One of us isn't human!”
That set it off.
Hunters glanced at each other and started putting distance between themselves.
Eyes mostly locked on one person: ID-less Kang Sung-woo.
“No... guys, why...”
Kang Sung-woo pleaded desperately, but no one listened.
Choi Ji-hoon edged closer, step by step.
He'd meant to just intimidate at first.
But then he saw it.
Kang Sung-woo's neck twisting in an instant.
'What?'
Not just turning his head—his neck snapped in a grotesque direction.
What to call it?
Less human, more monster.
It happened in a split second, but Choi Ji-hoon didn't hesitate.
That glimpse had chilled him to the bone.
Bang—
Blue mana burst from the magic gun.
Bang—
The shot nailed Kang Sung-woo's head dead-on.
“Gah!”
A short scream, then instant death.
The prime suspect was down.
But Choi Ji-hoon couldn't relax.
He swung the gun to the hunter right beside him.
“Name and rank!”
As the guy opened his mouth to speak—
Choi Ji-hoon caught another weird sight.
The corner of the hunter's mouth twitching up.
A sneer.
Why smirk right now?
It was the creepy kind of smile that raised hackles.
This time, no doubt.
Not a hunter.
Bang—
Bang—
Two quick shots rang out.
“Cough...”
Another hunter spat blood and crumpled, just like before.
But it didn't end there.
Choi Ji-hoon aimed at the next one.
Bang—
No hesitation this time.
Just pulled the trigger.
Then the next.
Bang—
By now, the others were in chaos.
Bang—
“The captain's lost it! Stop him!”
They raised their gear to fight back.
But Choi Ji-hoon was B-rank.
Not just any B-rank—top-tier, near A-rank.
Elite enough to lead the patrol squad.
“Keep him pinned!”
Even combined, they were just D- or C-ranks at best.
No other B-ranks besides the captain.
Bang—
They scrambled to block his fire.
But a new problem arose.
Choi Ji-hoon felt the magic gun hit its limit and drew his sword.
“...”
It didn't take long.
Choi Ji-hoon swung relentlessly.
When he snapped out of it, the area was drenched in blood.
“Ah...”
What the hell just happened?
“I...”
His hands shook.
His whole body trembled.
“What have I done...”
He'd gone berserk out of nowhere.
The result: a sea of blood around the dungeon.
Choi Ji-hoon stared blankly around him.
Then he noticed something strange.
“Huh?”
Blood splattered everywhere, but hardly any bodies.
And then his eyes caught something alien.
“Liquid?”
A glowing blue liquid.
It shifted, slowly taking form.
“...Slime.”
No mistaking it—a slime.
Why was a slime here?
Choi Ji-hoon stared at it in a daze.
The blue slime slithered toward the few remaining corpses.
And started absorbing them.
“...”
Too much happening—Choi Ji-hoon couldn't process it.
He just gawked at the slime.
As he stood there lost, the slime noticed his gaze and turned.
It began approaching him.
Choi Ji-hoon gripped his weapon tighter.
Normal slimes weren't much threat.
But this one felt different.
His instincts screamed danger.
“...”
But the slime stopped at a certain distance and held still.
Small mercy?
As he caught his breath—
The slime's body began to warp.
“Huh...”
It shifted into a human shape.
“...Lieutenant?”
Choi Ji-hoon called out.
His lieutenant stood before him.
Or rather, the slime had morphed into the lieutenant's form.
And the slime-as-lieutenant opened its mouth.
“Heh.”
A blatant sneer.
“Captain Choi Ji-hoon? Since when did you have a lieutenant?”
Huh?
What was this thing saying?
When did he have a lieutenant?
I've always had one under me...
“Huh...?”
Choi Ji-hoon voiced his confusion.
Something didn't add up.
Right, he'd been assigned a lieutenant.
Definitely...
A lieutenant...
Who was he?
Why couldn't he recall the name?
Doubts piled on doubts in his head.
While he agonized alone—
The slime turned toward the dungeon and spoke.
“Truly, Manager Azmo's skill is impressive.”
The dungeon door creaked open.
Ghouls began pouring out.
Weeeeen—
The siren wailed as monsters emerged, but no hunters guarded the place anymore.
“Haha, I merely received the mercy of the great one.”
And from the ghoul horde, a figure slowly stepped forward.
Incubus Azmo.
Ghouls spilled from the dungeon.
Incubus Azmo strode among them.
His presence exuded masculine elegance and charisma, like a gem gleaming in the darkness.
Sharp horns jutted from his head, symbols of his unyielding strength.
Impeccably groomed, with beautifully defined muscles on full display.
His face was chiseled, features sharp and striking.
His eyes held intellect and profound insight, as if harboring infinite wisdom and secrets.
A faintly lascivious smile played on his lips as he radiated confidence and perilous allure.
Azmo surveyed the area outside the dungeon.
It had become a bloodbath.
A delightful sight.
“Truly, Manager Azmo's skill is impressive.”
A figure amid the blood spoke to him—his lieutenant, Vetter.
Originally a slime, now in human guise.
A master of transformation, as expected.
Azmo replied to Vetter.
“I merely received the mercy of the great one.”
He smiled.
“Thanks to Master's mercy, I gained a new skill.”
'Distorted Charm.'
He'd claimed the Incubus had been gifted a skill by his Master in the past.
First time with one of his own kind—a twinge of reluctance—but the result was power.
He'd grown stronger.
[Distorted Charm]
Now he could charm not just the opposite sex, but his own as well.
The effect on males was negligible compared to females.
But enough to induce mild cognitive distortion and sow confusion, like today.
Azmo glanced at his hand.
He was definitely getting stronger.
A lot had happened.
He'd started as lord of a modest incubus dungeon.
Utterly ordinary.
“When was it...?”
Right, that day.
When Celia first descended and lent her aid.
Celia wielded truly astonishing power.
She neutralized the invading hunters with a mere gesture.
Azmo had been freshly shocked.
I want that power too.
A primal desire welled up.
Until then, he'd pursued physical beauty over raw strength.
Only natural for an incubus.
But seeing Celia shifted his perspective dramatically.
Supreme beauty.
Of course.
Yet true beauty flowed from strength.
Yes, he wanted that power.
Beauty without strength was just prey.
Strength itself was beauty.
Despite the species difference, he yearned to serve under the colossal Celia.
But Celia had said:
—I'm merely a servant following the great one.
Even she, with such power, served another.
'How incredible must that being be...'
That day expanded Azmo's horizons.
But the shocks didn't end there.
Next came the Death Knight and Lich descending into his dungeon.
Awe at casually deploying such powerhouses.
And the amazement peaked.
Azmo witnessed a miracle.
The Lich transcending to Arch Lich before his eyes.
'A miracle unfolding right here.'
Tears streamed from Azmo's eyes in that moment.
A new goal formed.
He wanted rebirth as a greater being.
To achieve it, he needed the great one's mercy.
One requirement to earn it from the exalted Master:
'As Celia said.'
—Act for the Master and spread his will across the world.
Then mercy would come someday.
'Spread the Master's will...'
The Master's will was obvious.
Just infer from Celia's words.
“The world will kneel before the Master.”
And it would start with Azmo's own hands.
“My children!”
He called to the incubi.
“And you who returned from death!”
To the ghouls.
“Go! Show them the Master's will!”
Ghouls and incubi surged forward at his command.
Behind them—
Clank—
Thud—thud—
The Arch Lich and Death Knight followed.
The monster wave had begun.
“Th-this can't be real...”
And the sole human who'd witnessed it from the start: Patrol Captain Choi Ji-hoon.
“Hahaha...”
A death knight clad in black armor and sword.
An undead mage who mocked death itself.
Choi Ji-hoon could only laugh at the scene.
“No way out...”
Maybe humanity never had hope to begin with.
Choi Ji-hoon turned his sword on his own throat.
Nothing had gone right today.
One small win:
At least his end would be on his terms.
He gripped the hilt tight.
Stab—