Chapter 55
Chapter 55
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: Demon's Awakening
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Boom!
"Wh-what the hell?!"
"Damn it, has it already started!?"
One of Kang Taejong's team members flew out through the open front door, crashing to the ground.
Taejong bit his lip hard. He'd assumed Cheon-il would drag him out, but seeing his teammate get bounced instead left a bitter taste.
"I knew it the moment the screams stopped. Damn it, I told you not to hit him."
Everyone arrived at the same conclusion in that instant.
Cheon-il's curse had activated.
The curse that allowed Cheon-il to clear a gate—one that would take any team at least four full hours—in a mere twenty minutes.
The moment it triggered, the gate would be cleared in twenty minutes flat. That sheer terror made everyone dread Cheon-il's curse.
The team members scowled at their bounced comrade.
"Boss, what do we do?"
"Fits the cursed bastard. Shit. Boss!"
"Boss! What now? Run?"
All eyes turned to Taejong.
But Taejong, who had been silently staring at the front door, suddenly broke into a smile.
"It's not the curse."
"What?"
"Look over there."
Taejong pointed at the door, drawing every gaze.
And as if on cue, they all smiled too.
Because Myung-su was dragging out the remaining team member—still clutching his arm in agony—by the wrist.
Relief washed over them. It wasn't the nightmare scenario they'd feared.
"You cursed fuck. You scared us, asshole."
"Phew, Boss. Looks like one of the Hunters Unwoo Guild assigned?"
"Weird, he looks kinda familiar though?"
Smiles returned as they rallied their fighting spirit once more.
Thud.
"Guh...!"
Myung-su tossed the dragged team member toward them.
The man wailed in pain, his gripped arm still locked tight.
The moment Taejong and the others laid eyes on that arm, their gazes turned ice-cold.
"It's broken."
"No sign of anyone else coming out besides him?"
Taejong spotted no one else emerging except Myung-su and immediately barked orders.
"Make it match. No—kill him."
"K-kill him?"
His team hesitated at the kill order.
But Taejong's mad glare swept over them, proving he wasn't joking.
"Think Unwoo Guild will let us walk if we leave him alive? Kill him and erase the evidence, you idiots."
"G-got it."
"Kill him! L-let's do it!"
"Yeah! Treat him like a monster! Kill!"
Taejong's ten squad members moved in perfect sync, like clearing a gate.
Mage-type Hunters gathered mana from the rear, prepping skills.
Tankers raised shields and charged at Myung-su.
Dealers gripped swords and spears, sticking tight behind the tanks.
They surrounded and attacked him in unison.
"Kill!"
Clang! Thud thud!
Myung-su's limbs blurred in response to the incoming shields and blades.
Even veteran B-Rank Hunters' coordinated strikes wouldn't let him breathe.
Clang! Thud thud!
He'd smack aside a charging shield with his sword, carving space—only for another dealer to slip in and swing.
Dodge the sword, and a shield bashed from behind.
Evade that, and a waiting blade came flying.
"Got him!"
And then.
A teammate's sword thrust toward Myung-su's airborne back, poised to impale him from an unavoidable angle.
A moment of life or death.
Whoosh.
Strength surged into Myung-su's eyes as mana exploded from his body.
Slash!
"Gaaahhh!"
They'd expected the blade to pierce straight through to the front.
But the sight that followed made everyone doubt their eyes.
Fwoosh.
Green mana blazed along Myung-su's sword.
And it shot upward—severing the airborne sword and the team member's arm with it.
"Grrgh...!"
Blood splattered across the green lawn.
Bang!
"Gaaahhh!"
The ambusher, arm freshly severed, took Myung-su's kick and smashed into the wall.
"Wh-what the...?"
Had they really thought he was just some Hunter?
Panic froze the squad's movements.
That brief opening became Myung-su's chance.
His foot slammed the ground, propelling him toward the surrounding team members.
"Hup!"
Slash!
The startled tanker raised his shield, but Myung-su's mana-charged blade explained why he ranked first among A-Rank Hunters.
Its razor edge sheared clean through the shield—and both the tanker's arms.
"Gaaahhh!"
"Urraaah!"
Myung-su sliced the legs off the dealer behind the tanker, then planted a foot on the bending man's back.
He kicked off hard, launching upward while severing the arms of the Hunters ambushing from behind.
Fluid offense and defense, paired with an unstoppable mana blade.
In under five minutes, six team members writhed on the ground, spraying blood.
Whoosh.
But it wasn't over.
Nothing's more terrifying than a mage-type Hunter who's been charging mana for ages.
Myung-su whipped his head around and bolted across the lawn toward the skill-prepping mages.
"Fire...!"
"Shh."
He jammed his mana blade against the chanting mage's throat.
"H-heek!"
Ssshh.
The interrupted chant dispersed the mage's mana, snuffing out the flames hovering in the air.
A skill-blocked mage was less than a civilian.
Myung-su glanced away from the toppled mage and scanned the rest.
"Anyone else? Come on."
"Ugh..."
The fight was effectively over.
The remaining tanks and dealers stood frozen, awed by Myung-su's prowess—no thought of attacking.
The two mages were mana-drained, helpless.
"Drop your weapons."
With nothing left, the Hunters obeyed Myung-su's command, lowering their gear.
They didn't want to end up like those armless, legless, drooling wrecks.
"It's done."
With the morning brawl over, Myung-su scanned for the ringleader, Kang Taejong.
"...?"
But no matter where he looked, Taejong was gone.
Sensing something off, Myung-su raised his sword to the throats of nearby mages—who'd been close to Taejong.
"Where'd he go?"
"I-I don't know. He just... went inside...!"
Terror-stricken, the mage pointed at the house while sprawled backward.
'Inside the house? No way...'
Myung-su whipped around to stare at the house. His eyes widened.
"No!"
He pulled the blade from the mage and sprinted toward the house.
'No... don't touch Cheon-il!'
If he touches Cheon-il...
"Everyone here dies!!"
Yong-un's steps toward Mokdong were sharper and swifter than ever.
'Please be safe. You have to be.'
His worry for that place outpaced even his rapid strides.
More precisely, not for Cheon-il—the target of Kang Taejong and Hanbit Guild—but for Myung-su.
'If worst comes to worst, just escape.'
He hoped Myung-su wouldn't die at the hands of the demonized Cheon-il.
Landscapes whipped by as Yong-un's feet moved busily.
Myung-su's steps halted abruptly upon entering the house.
Not just that.
His quick advance reversed into a slow retreat, as if spotting something, until he backed onto the lawn.
Two figures emerged with him through the front door.
Cheon-il, with gray skin and blackened eyes, dragging Taejong by the face.
"Heh heh heh heh."
What could be so funny in the face of death?
Blood trickled from Taejong's gripped face as he laughed through the pain.
Myung-su's expression darkened.
"Everyone here's gonna die because of you. What's so damn funny?"
"Funny as hell. Thanks to me, you'll die—and so will this cursed bastard."
"What...?"
Yong-un closely examined Cheon-il at Taejong's cryptic words.
"Pfft!"
He was about to dismiss it as bullshit—nothing seemed off.
Then the demonized Cheon-il suddenly vomited blood.
"Wh-what...?"
"Poison from the Poison Witch. Kills demons too. Heh heh heh."
"Shut up!"
Realizing what he'd done, Myung-su charged at the prone Taejong in rage.
His mana-charged sword swung down—
But Cheon-il's nails smacked it away from Taejong's head.
Clang!
Myung-su flew back, slamming into the wall.
Boom!
"Guh!"
Just one clash.
Yet the impact felt like a truck to Myung-su.
'This... is a demon?'
The power gap was immense.
Yong-un marveled at how he'd casually tanked such force before.
Myung-su clenched his fist, forcing himself upright as if unfazed.
Pfft.
Cheon-il staggered, vomiting blood again.
Myung-su bit his lip, glaring at Taejong with fury.
"Give it up. He won't let go of the prey he chose."
Taejong grinned at Myung-su.
"Wait your turn."
"Grrr..."
Annoyed by the chatter, Cheon-il slammed Taejong's head into the ground.
Boom!
The lawn cratered as Taejong's head sank in.
Blood burst from his skull onto Cheon-il's gray palm.
"Kuh, heh... hurts."
Perhaps satisfied that his scheme had played out fully.
Amid agony, he smiled coldly at Myung-su.
"Think it's a... contract with a demon?"
"Shut it. Want to spin theories? Cough up the antidote first."
"You know nothing about the Poison Witch's venom? No antidote. It's instant death once it hits."
Free from Cheon-il's grip but immobilized, Taejong met the demon's black eyes.
"Contract my ass... it's just..."
Boom!
As he started something crucial, Cheon-il's nails pierced his face outright—instant death.
Drip.
Taejong's blood soaked the lawn and soil.
Myung-su glanced around; Hanbit Guild members had already fled.
Only the limbless wounded and Myung-su—facing Cheon-il's black eyes head-on—remained.
"Pfft!"
Cheon-il vomited blood once more.
He wobbled, then rocketed toward Myung-su using the momentum.
"Hup!"
Myung-su maxed his mana, raising his sword to block the crimson nails.
But.
Clang! Whoosh—boom!
Neither mana nor strength outmatched Cheon-il's.
His body stayed intact—no shredding—but his sword snapped in half, hurling him into the opposite wall.
"Cough!"
Blood mixed with his cough.
Yet Cheon-il's assault pressed on relentlessly, poison or no.
The demon closed the gap in a flash, swinging crimson nails again.
'Dodge.'
Myung-su ducked; the brutal strike—lethal even to block—severed hairs and cleaved air.
His half-sword spun 180 degrees in his palm, grip reversing.
"...?"
Cheon-il's eyes shifted at the sight.
Just a grip change.
But facing Myung-su's reverse-held blade, the demon sensed danger and shifted to defense.
"One Kill."
Slash!
Cheon-il crossed arms to shield his face.
Blood sprayed before his eyes; searing pain gripped both arms.
Myung-su hadn't moved.
How the hell did he attack?
Reverse grip made Myung-su seem an even tougher foe to Cheon-il than before.
"One..."
"...?!"
Myung-su's mouth opened again; Cheon-il leaped back hastily.
"...Kill."
But what was this?
Myung-su's speed boost wasn't sword-limited.
He should've been distant after the leap.
Yet there he stood, reverse-gripped sword ready, right in front.
"...Krk!"
The demonized Cheon-il clutched his throat in panic with both hands.
To stop decapitation.
Bracing for pain, he squeezed his eyes shut.
Blood would spray.
Lose fingers? Fine—as long as his head stayed on.
Please, just the neck intact.
With that desperate wish, Cheon-il tensed every muscle.
"...Kr?"
But.
No pain, no sound came with time.
Eerily silent surroundings.
Cheon-il slowly opened his eyes.
Thud!
"You win, you rascal."
Not Myung-su's reverse-held sword.
A neatly clenched fist tapped Cheon-il's open chest.
Then Myung-su's body slowly toppled sideways as a faint voice trailed into the air.
"Pushed... too hard... used it unfinished..."
Thud.
Myung-su collapsed.
By the demonized Cheon-il's side, unconscious.
Cheon-il's black eyes—radiating slaughter intent toward all life—shook.
Crimson nails, thick with blood, reached slowly toward the fallen Cheon-il.
The same nails that pierced Taejong's face now moved for his throat.
Thump.
Everyone expected instant death.
But what was this?
The trembling crimson nails veered to his shoulder instead.
They gripped and shook it, a voice emerging.
"Hey... bro! Unknown bro!!"
Not the demon Cheon-il's voice.
The human Cheon-il's cried out to the fallen Myung-su.
"Success."
Yong-un smiled faintly from behind the wall.
Demonic energy dispersed from his raised hand.
The ambient aura he'd summoned to prevent mishaps seeped back into him as he gazed skyward.
"You've gained One Demon Soul. One Ghost Soul."
With that, Yong-un vanished from the spot.