Chapter 176
Chapter 176
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 176
Chapter Title: Sky One
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"Gacha!"
Polant clenched his fist and yanked it downward.
It was a solid hit on Yong-un, the monster who hadn't allowed even a single blow until now.
"That's weird."
Spears wore a subtle expression at Yong-un's action of taking Zero One's attack without resistance.
"What is?"
"He didn't defend at all."
"Zero One was just too fast. No time to block."
Ollie, standing beside Spears, nodded in agreement.
"No, he really didn't try to defend."
Spears and Ollie were the only magic-type hunters in Death Demon Cry.
Both held S-Rank status.
They were British S-Rank hunters, unregistered on the global list.
Even so, their abilities were on par with any world-class S-Rank.
"He wasn't using mana right up until the moment the attack landed."
Their keen senses had caught it perfectly.
Despite Yong-un's mana control being so precise it mimicked a magic hunter's, he hadn't moved a speck of it against Zero One's strike.
Polant scowled at their words.
"Why the hell not?"
"No idea. But one thing's clear..."
Spears and Ollie simultaneously drew up their mana, preparing their next skill.
"We're not sure that attack fully connected."
They'd first thought they'd seen wrong.
Zero One's destructive mana hadn't pierced Yong-un's body—it had simply flowed off.
A skill that could manipulate others' mana? Unheard of.
'Otherwise, how could he block our attacks single-handedly? Impossible.'
Polant whipped his head around to glare at Zero One and Yong-un.
The air had trembled from the sheer force exploding from Yong-un's gut.
Even Spears or Ollie couldn't guarantee victory in a one-on-one with Polant—his power befitted his role as leader.
Yet even to Polant's eyes, Zero One's blow was devastating enough to shatter his own body if he'd taken it.
But Yong-un, struck dead-on by that force, showed no reaction as expected.
Smoothly.
"Feels familiar, doesn't it."
Yong-un's hand ruffled Zero One's hair.
"Freak."
For a brief moment only.
Zero One shook off Yong-un's hand and launched a fist laced with demonic energy at him.
To Polant's eyes, it was even faster than before.
Clang!
"...?!"
Yet, as if proving the first hit was no fluke, Yong-un casually caught the blistering punch.
Was it frustration at her attack being blocked for the first time?
"Kyaaaaaaah!"
Zero One suddenly shrieked, unfurling wings from her back and erupting with even greater demonic energy.
Yong-un tightened his grip on her hand and hurled her straight at Polant.
'This aura...'
Thud!
Polant smashed Zero One away with his fist as she rocketed toward him.
Yong-un frowned at the un-team-like attitude.
"What was that?"
"Don't worry. She's tough."
"That's not the point. Aren't you a team? You could've caught her."
"This seems more effective, though?"
Polant pointed behind Yong-un with his index finger.
Zero One had taken hits from both Yong-un and Polant.
Yet in that split second, she'd twisted midair, landing silently behind Yong-un.
Just as she placed her hand on his back to release demonic energy again.
A surge of crimson demonic energy erupted from Yong-un's body—on a whole other level from before.
Rooooar.
A fierce wind howled, blasting Zero One backward.
"I knew he'd be strong since the War God handed him off, but whew—this guy's way beyond expectations."
Overwhelmed by the vastly superior crimson demonic energy, Polant betrayed his panic.
He raised both arms in a surrendering gesture, then flashed a grin and sidestepped.
From behind him, Spears and Ollie stepped forward, unleashing their preparations.
A black book etched with the Demon King's runes, and a nearly completed rune pattern.
"What's strength matter? Demons are powerless against runes anyway."
Polant smirked in victory.
"Farewell, scourge of the world. Don't worry about the body you possessed. We'll send it after you."
Spears and Ollie completed the Demon King's runes and chanted.
"Expel."
The Demon King's runes blazed brightly, swallowing Yong-un whole. ◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ A brilliant light scattered across the alley near Yong-un's family home where the War God had arrived.
Sensing the unusual mana signature, the War God raced over and planted himself in front of Polant.
"You've arrived."
Polant wore a victorious smile.
"How'd it go?"
"As you see, it's over. We just activated the rune to forcibly sever the demon contract."
Polant bowed ninety degrees like a gentleman, waving his hand dismissively.
Winner's leisure.
"Just look behind you."
The War God turned.
There stood Yong-un, Demon-Slaying Sword lowered at his side.
"What's changed?"
"Any moment now, he'll expel the demon and pass out..."
Polant trailed off, an odd feeling creeping in.
"He should be expelling the demon..."
The runes had definitely activated.
From past experience, results came within five seconds.
"Any second..."
But Yong-un was different.
Thirty seconds in, and nothing.
"What went wrong?"
The War God turned back to Polant.
"Th-this is weird. It shouldn't be possible..."
Polant glanced pleadingly at Spears and Ollie.
They looked just as flustered, helpless.
The War God chuckled at them.
"Your job's done. I already knew Yong-un wasn't a Demon Cry."
Yong-un, struck by the Demon King's runes, sheathed his Demon-Slaying Sword.
The War God, eyes alight with anticipation, brushed past Polant to stand before Yong-un.
"What I want to see starts now."
As Yong-un moved to approach the War God, intent on shattering every plan.
A familiar aura rushed in from afar.
Simultaneously, ghost souls from Ghost Soul Extermination emerged from the shadows.
"Supreme One! Cheon-il is..."
"I know."
"Pardon?"
What Yong-un sensed wasn't the ghost souls from Mu-hee's skill.
Approaching rapidly from the distance were.
Thud. Thud.
Cheon-il and Barum.
Cheon-il with grayish skin from demonization, and Barum, demonized to keep pace.
"Demons!?"
Spears and Ollie hurriedly prepped combat skills.
Polant stepped in front of them with a smile.
"No, Demon Cries. Check their shoulders."
True to Death Demon Cry's expertise, Polant spotted the markings on Cheon-il and Barum's shoulders.
His own worth nearly denied.
Now, the perfect opportunity arose.
"Prep the Demon King runes. War God?"
Polant proudly positioned himself before the War God, who eyed Cheon-il and Barum.
He bowed with a mad grin.
As they redrew the runes to sever the demon contract, Yong-un drew his Demon-Slaying Sword once more.
'Worst-case scenario.'
His efforts to dispel misunderstandings with the War God and hide Ghost Soul Extermination's ghost souls had crumbled.
He gazed down at Cheon-il, entranced like under a spell.
Cheon-il, who'd once had his demon contract forcibly severed.
Yong-un had witnessed it then.
Forced severance again—even a sturdy body like Cheon-il's wouldn't survive unscathed.
'Only two options.'
End it all with overwhelming force.
"Talk later."
The hunter world was Supremacy of the Strong, ruthless might above all.
Misunderstandings or explanations could wait.
"N-noona? You're Noona, right?"
As he channeled demonic energy into the Demon-Slaying Sword, Cheon-il's pitiful voice rang out for all to hear.
"Noona?"
Polant and Yong-un both twitched their brows at Cheon-il's word.
Noona?
Among Polant, the War God, and their group, only two could be called that by Cheon-il.
Spears and Zero One.
Polant eyed Spears questioningly.
"You know I have no siblings."
A Demon Cry as a little brother? Spears shot Polant a disgusted look.
"Then..."
Polant turned to Zero One.
He spotted the anomaly in her vacant, soulless eyes and stillness.
Her gaze, which should have been unfocused, shook in panic.
"No way..."
A forgotten memory flashed in Polant's mind.
"Gacha!"
Whip.
Polant's head snapped toward Cheon-il, glaring.
The black-haired Eastern boy, demonization released, stared straight at Zero One to be recognized.
A slow smile spread across Polant's lips.
"Zero One."
"Yes."
"That lost little brother from back then—is that him?"
"......"
Zero One, who answered any question instantly, stayed silent for the first time.
Answer enough.
Suspicion turned to certainty.
"Found you! Sky One. Cheon-il!"
From Polant's mouth spilled the name of Ghost Soul Extermination's ear ghost soul.
Cheon-il. ◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Death Demon Cry had existed for a very long time.
Back when it was revealed that hunters contracted with demons—Demon Cries—could turn into demons at any moment, a disaster waiting to happen.
The Global Hunter Organization, GHO, secretly launched a project.
Demon Cry detection and elimination operation.
GHO secretly bought land at the eastern edge of Los Angeles.
There, with the bare minimum of tight-lipped personnel, they built a lab.
First order: Gather young hunters with exceptional mana sensitivity...
And contract them with demons.
"To catch Demon Cries, you need to know them inside out."
Words from the executives involved in the experiment.
That's why it was secret.
They had to create Demon Cries for live experiments against them.
An inhumane act that would invite public outrage if known.
Shockingly, GHO ran this for over twenty years and produced.
'Death Demon Cry.'
A special team.
But every endeavor has its crisis.
GHO's humane experiments for humanity's sake neared completion—then faced exposure.
One researcher, horrified, blew the whistle internally.
[GHO, upheld in humanity's name, commits live experiments for Demon Cry ops.]
[GHO vows to exterminate Demon Cries—yet creates them.]
America reeled in shock.
GHO, humanity's hope and global focus, guilty of this?
In the end, GHO scrapped the nearly finished first-generation Death Demon Cry units and demolished the lab amid backlash.
Their swift action buried the scandal via backchannel rumors worldwide.
Thus...
GHO's first-generation Death Demon Cry, unable to continue, returned to dust. ◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 'That's what they thought.'
Polant smiled at Cheon-il.
'GHO quit, but our grandfathers didn't.'
Surprisingly, as the uproar faded.
A group dug up the supposedly buried lab by force.
Inside, they recovered two first-generation Death Demon Cry units thought fully scrapped.
British researchers, they smuggled the pair to the UK and restarted experiments.
'Twenty more years passed, and we were born.'
The current Death Demon Cry was their masterpiece.
Polant, leader trained to detect Demon Cries.
Spears and Ollie, magic hunters versed in the ancient black book's Demon King runes.
And finally, the two GHO first-gen units once deemed scrapped.
'Zero One and Sky One.'
That was the history behind capturing hundreds of Demon Cries over years.
But while Death Demon Cry thrived, trouble brewed within.
The two first-gen units contracted with demons—both escaped.
Amid their glory, the group broke into cold sweats.
'Still gives me chills thinking about it.'
Polant shuddered.
With good reason: First-gen Death Demon Cries were GHO's creations, injected with drugs to control power from high demons—non-noble ones selected for peak strength.
Their might far surpassed the current non-contracted Death Demon Cry.
'But we got lucky.'
Polant grinned at the memory.
'They were kids, and we were in the middle of the ocean.'
Zero One and Sky One, too young for judgment.
Soon after escaping, adrift on endless seas with nowhere to go, they hesitated—until spotted.
True to their secret hunter-killing origins, the group bound the pair leaping for the ocean with mana threads.
But older Zero One cleverly wrapped the threads around her arm meant for Sky One, shoving him into the sea.
They thought him lost.
Dead, drowned in those cold depths.
Yet...
'He's alive!'
Polant's eyes gleamed.
Different demonized form had fooled him, but reverting confirmed it.
"Cheon-il!"
He was unmistakably first-gen Death Demon Cry—Sky One.
"Time to come home, Cheon-il."