Chapter 126
Chapter 126
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 126
Chapter Title: Demon Wave Onslaught
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All the hunters deployed for the weakening operation were A-Rank.
No matter how vast the monster horde was, the monsters that had halted their charge were no longer a match for the national team hunters.
It was then, while they were smoothly hunting down the monsters...
"D-Demons!!"
The cry from the Mercenary King's disciple threw the hunters, who had been slaying monsters, into great chaos.
"Damn it!"
"The wave's almost over, and now another one's coming?"
"It's not just any wave. It's a demon wave."
"Leader! Leader!!"
The hunters, who had been processing monsters and even collecting mana stones, began gathering around their team leaders.
"Oscar!"
The British national team, delayed by Oscar the Mercenary King's disciple's swift pace, came rushing over.
He turned his head briefly at the call, but soon furrowed his brow and glared at the demons flapping their wings in the distance.
Every minute, every second counted.
Oscar shouted loudly.
"Has the War God given any orders!?"
"None. It's just like the rumors. Once the fight starts, he doesn't see anything else."
A British team hunter pointed to the War God in the distance, ripping monsters apart.
His body drenched in monster blood, a smile playing on his lips.
His gaze didn't wander to his surroundings.
He was utterly focused on how to dispatch the monsters right in front of him.
"Damn it."
Oscar deepened the frown between his brows as he watched the War God.
"He hasn't noticed the demons yet."
"What do we do? The other countries are thinking of retreating."
"Retreat? In this situation?"
"They seem scared of dying in the fight."
The demon unit was certainly fewer in number than the monster horde.
They were also much slower than the life-risking monster swarm.
It was as if the demons' arrogance as the strong shone through—they weren't trying to kill the hunters instantly but savor it slowly.
'Can't blame them.'
Even a demon squad without ranks possessed power equivalent to at least an A-Rank gate each.
In other words, dozens of A-Rank gates were flying in from afar.
'What should we do...'
Should they retreat?
That would be the right call for his team members.
Just like every major power's national team leader had been earnestly urged to preserve their precious high-rank hunters, Britain had received the same plea.
'But...'
Oscar's eyes turned to the hunters from other countries, diligently slaying monsters unaware of the demons' approach.
If the national teams who knew about the demon wave decided to retreat unilaterally now, those hunters would all...
"Die."
As a coalition of high-rank hunters, they wouldn't go down easily.
No, they might even win.
But their casualties would be devastating enough to consider it annihilation.
Demons were that kind of existence.
"Oscar."
"Oscar, we need to decide quick."
"Oscar!"
The British team hunters stamped their feet anxiously as the demons drew closer.
Oscar's gaze shifted to the surrounding hunters still hunting monsters from behind.
He spotted hunters from a few countries slyly backing away, as if they'd decided to retreat.
"Oscar!"
Time was running out.
Whatever decision he made, whatever the consequences...
He had to answer now.
Oscar, deep in thought, finally opened his tightly shut mouth as he looked at the retreating hunters.
"We..."
And it was then, just as he was about to declare his decision to everyone.
Swoosh. Whoooosh—
Something streaked past Oscar's eyes at blinding speed.
Followed by a fierce wind matching that velocity.
"Wh-What was that?"
Were they so unnerved by the unknown skills of the demons that even a gust of wind rattled the team?
A speed too fast to perceive.
But unlike his team members who didn't even know what passed by, Oscar's eyes snapped toward the demon wave.
'That person...'
He caught sight of a hunter's back charging toward the demons at incredible speed.
A broad back that didn't match his modest build.
And on that back, a white background with black bars at the edges, and in the center, a harmonious red and blue circle.
"Yong-un...?"
Yes. It was South Korea's Taegukgi flag.
The one bearing the Taegukgi, moving at a speed even he could barely track.
Who else could it be?
The realization was fleeting.
"Wait a second."
Whoosh! Whoosh!
With words scattering in the air from the speed, a few more figures flashed past Oscar and the British team.
"Those people..."
This time, not just Oscar, but all the British team members recognized them.
And they stared at the national flags embroidered on their backs.
The Taegukgi representing South Korea.
"Are they insane? Charging at a demon wave?"
"Suicide. They're crazy."
"Shouldn't we stop them!?"
"Oscar! What do we do? Let's retreat. Yeah? Retreat!"
Oscar, who had seemed ready to decide, clamped his mouth shut despite his team's panic.
As if he couldn't hear them, he kept his eyes fixed on the backs of the South Korean national team charging toward the approaching demons.
"Oscar!"
He simply stood there, silently watching only them.
The demons had closed in enough for every national team hunter, who hadn't noticed their presence before, to become aware.
The unexpected demon wave brought immense shock to all the national team hunters.
And as they belatedly rushed to their leaders awaiting orders...
A sight unfolded that made every hunter doubt their eyes.
"Th-Those people..."
In a situation dangerous enough to consider retreat.
A group was charging straight at dozens of demons.
"They're gonna die..."
"That's madness."
"Those guys are different from monsters!"
Their reactions weren't much different from the British team's.
Everyone saw the South Korean national team as moths flying into flames.
Moths charging into fire knowing they'd die.
All who recognized the South Korean team shook their heads.
And at that moment.
Thud.
"Show them the results of your secluded training."
A booming voice resounded, shaking the hearts of every national team far and wide.
Mana-infused responses followed immediately.
"Yes, Supreme One!"
Bang!
In the narrowing distance between them and the enemy.
A fierce shockwave erupted from Yong-un's foot as he led the charge, warping space before snapping back.
His figure then rocketed toward the demon wave at unimaginable speed.
The spectacle that followed left onlookers gaping.
Kaboooom!
The clash between Yong-un and the demon wave.
The demons' dull, massive grayish-black demonic energy collided with Yong-un's pristine crimson-black Crimson Demon Aura, triggering a mana explosion.
Several frontline demons plummeted to the ground simultaneously.
"Wha—?"
"It's Yong-un the hunter. No worries there. The problem's after."
Few hunters thought they might actually win.
Yong-un's power was already well-known to all hunters as overwhelming.
But the scene that defied expectations came next.
"Wh-What's this? Is Yong-un handling them alone?"
"No? He's only dealing with the demons charging from the front."
Demons from the wave's rear, not near Yong-un, began dropping one by one.
Yong-un had long pierced through the demon wave.
Yet demons within kept falling like they were haunted.
The unexpected didn't end there.
Another group of hunters raced past Yong-un.
They unleashed massive demonic energy and power before the eyes of every hunter expecting their death, knocking demons down one after another.
Stylishly, for all the doubters to see.
As the battle raged on.
The tide shifted, and worried or pitying gazes gradually transformed.
"This... might actually work?"
It was a battle they'd predicted would end in death.
But the South Korean team's unforeseen prowess, dwindling demon numbers, and mounting demon corpses ignited sparks in every hunter's heart.
Many clenched their fists tightly.
Unknowingly, sweat slicked their palms.
"They're not crazy...?"
The words from when they first spotted the South Korean team charging resurfaced.
But the atmosphere had flipped 180 degrees.
It was then, as everyone watched in stunned silence.
Oscar, who hadn't yet answered his still-watching British teammates, shouted.
"What are you doing?"
"Uh, yeah?"
All the British team members gawked at Oscar.
Oscar smirked, slinging a massive great sword onto his shoulder—he didn't know when he'd even drawn it.
"Time to fight."
"So... your decision as leader..."
"Can't you tell? We can't let the South Korean team hog it all. Latecomers get no scraps."
Thud.
Oscar bounded forward swiftly, even with the huge sword on his back.
The British team shook off their daze and yelled.
"Th-That lunatic, let's go!"
"Ah, that bastard ditched us again."
"Less talking, more running."
"Charge!!"
The British team's roar and charge ignited the frozen atmosphere, thanks to the South Korean team's divine prowess.
And so.
"Charge!!"
"Let's go!!!"
"Waaaaah!!!"
Every national team that had considered retreat now surged toward the demon wave as if it had never happened.
Invisible, unfelt assassin strikes.
Stab. Stab-stab-stab.
Allies dropping pointlessly one by one plunged the demons into total panic.
This was a terror they'd never felt, even with vast combat experience.
"You bastards!"
Claws that had ripped monsters and gripped their flesh slashed empty air.
Nothing caught.
As if battling an indescribable death.
'That first guy, and these ones too.'
He wanted to retreat.
But the monster who'd halved their wave with that initial massive explosion stood at the retreat path.
A human with arms crossed, coldly watching the one-sided slaughter.
His body shuddered involuntarily.
His mind screamed for the best option.
Staying meant silent death could claim him anytime.
His head snapped toward the monster's opposite side.
Crackle-crackle.
That was the demon's final memory.
The black sparks and the sword brimming with them in his view.
Slash.
'What are these guys...'
The demon's severed head spun in the air, despairing at the revolving world.
He saw his own body in the endless spin.
Thud.
The last sight of his life.
The world stopped spinning.
And straight ahead, another grinning monster.
"Gotta leave the mana stone behind."
Sword Tiger, leader of the Dragon Demon Corps.
His face became the demon's final memory.
Crunch. Slash.
Sword Tiger pulled the mana stone from the demon's head, smiled, and wiped the blood on his clothes.
Then pocketed the mana stone contentedly.
"Amazing!"
Catching his ragged breath, Sword Tiger scanned the surroundings.
The South Korean national team's prestige towering among the world's elites.
Other national teams jumped in late between the Ghost Slaughter Annihilation Corps, Dragon Demon Corps, and Demon Shadow Assassin Corps.
But all subtly gave way to avoid hindering the Taegukgi-bearing South Koreans.
Showing respect to the strong.
Sudden, but dreamlike.
"Really... makes me wanna cry."
A tiny land scorned as hunter-weak now had its strongmen respected amid global powerhouses.
Amid the demon wave scrambling to flee in terror.
They'd carved out a dominant position.
"Kuhuhu."
Tears welling, he turned his head.
And gazed at the dazzling being watching from afar.
"Supreme One..."
Our god who made this longed-for scene reality.
Sword Tiger bowed deeply in reverence, expressing his emotions.
"Thank you."
Raising his head, Sword Tiger gripped his sword again.
He swept the battlefield with strikes infused with black lightning.
The Taegukgi, soaked in South Korean national team and monster blood, shone amid the world's strongest.