Chapter 79
Chapter 79
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: The Birth of Demonus
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Jumak Village, also known as Jumak-dong.
Demonus, the settlement dubbed the Village of the Sea of Death.
Its origins traced back to one person's petty greed.
'Buan Shield Guild'
Long ago, it was a massive Korean guild that ruled over all of Buan, including Jumak-dong.
This guild was the first in Korea to uncover the method of contracting with demons.
Using the empowered hunters gained from those contracts, they seized control of Buan faster than any other.
Hunters who borrowed demonic power were extraordinarily strong.
A contract with a demon could elevate even an ordinary person to A-Rank hunter level.
The Buan Shield Guild had their own C-Rank and D-Rank members form these contracts directly.
Naturally, their power far surpassed that of the hunters who had contracted earlier.
They sealed gates faster than any guild in Buan and ended wars with rival guilds in the blink of an eye, bringing the entire region under their control.
The Buan Shield Guild, now eyeing the title of Korea's strongest guild beyond just Buan...
That was when the directive came down from GHO and the World Emergency Response Alliance.
'Hunters who contract with demons will soon have their bodies seized by those demons, becoming demons themselves. To avert global catastrophe, they must be eliminated.'
For the Buan Shield Guild, who believed they were destined for supremacy, this was an unbelievable calamity on the scale of a natural disaster.
At first, like other nations, Korea ignored GHO and the Alliance's warnings.
They feared that having more such powerful hunters would threaten their own positions.
The Buan Shield Guild was no different from any other guild in Korea.
Ignoring the directive, they continued periodic contracts with demons.
And then...
Disaster struck them.
'K-Kraaaagh!'
A peaceful day, thanks to their swift gate clearances.
Starting with the first hunters who had contracted with demons, actual demons began appearing in the Buan Shield Guild's headquarters.
Not hunters borrowing demonic power.
The raw power of true demons was terrifying.
Hunters who rushed to stop them became demon fodder, and guild members who resisted to defend the office were reduced to scattered corpses on the floor.
The situation unfolding across Korea soon hit the news, broadcast nationwide.
Realizing too late that GHO and the Alliance had been right, Korea issued emergency measures to overcome this catastrophe.
Unrestricted entry for GHO's elite hunters.
Korea's bold decision gave GHO the perfect opportunity to provide swift aid.
The arriving GHO elite hunters strategically and rapidly stabilized Korea.
Slaughtering demons worldwide along with contracted hunters, they saved Korea from potentially massive losses.
However, that was when the problem arose.
With everything wrapped up and only the final cleanup left...
The Buan Shield Guild, where it all began and which had blocked GHO entry until the end.
Even in the final stages, they refused GHO access.
The Hunter Management Agency immediately forcibly disbanded the Buan Shield Guild, eliminating the last barrier to GHO.
With their regional authority stripped away, they had no means left to block the GHO elites.
The Buan Shield Guild members who had held the line fell to the GHO hunters.
The demons infesting Buan were systematically purged.
Everyone thought it was over.
They assumed even the contracted hunters from the Buan Shield Guild would be wiped out by GHO elites, bringing the curtain down.
But no one knew.
How reckless and vast the guild master's greed truly was.
"This is the place?"
"Yes."
Dozens of hunters from the Hunter Management Agency's unit greeted Yong-un's group.
Hunters densely lined along the long barricade.
Watching the view of Jumak Village through their ranks, Yong-un turned to the approaching unit members and asked,
"So, what did you say was the reason it ended up like this?"
He ordered them to continue the interrupted explanation.
The Sword Tiger bowed his head slightly and picked up where he left off.
"After everything was cleared and the GHO elites had departed, the Buan Shield Guild master gathered all surviving executives here and conducted new contracts."
Contracts with demons, that is.
He lacked the skill to achieve it again on his own merit.
But his guild master's ambition, far outstripping his confidence, birthed this modern-day Demonus.
It turned their hometown into a land of death they could never return to.
"As expected, those with excessive greed always stir up trouble."
Yong-un nodded as he heard the reason Jumak-dong became Demonus.
How many such people had he encountered in the martial world?
He had witnessed the downfall of the overly greedy countless times.
And their ends were rarely good—scratch that, never good.
"It's quite thick."
The Demonus born of their greed.
Surveying it, Yong-un sensed the dense demonic energy unique to demons emanating from beyond the barricade.
An intensity and vastness that couldn't be built in a day or two.
"Are you Hunter Yong-un?"
The unit members approached.
From their armed rifles and the rigid impassivity on their faces, Yong-un could tell how seriously Korea viewed this place.
Nothing like the peaceful Korea they knew.
Yong-un gave a small nod at the wartime blockade line, prepared for battle every day.
"That's me."
"We've been expecting you. Is the entire group entering?"
"Yes."
"Entry permitted."
The apparent unit commander gestured.
Two unit members approached the firmly locked barricade gate and channeled mana.
After a considerable time activating their skills, the heavy gate finally creaked open.
"Then, we'll be off."
Yong-un moved to step through the wide-open gate.
At that moment, the unit commander called out to him.
"Could you wait a moment?"
A phone call came in for the unit commander.
Recognizing the familiar voice from the line, Yong-un furrowed his brow slightly.
"The Minister."
As suspected.
At the Minister's ensuing order, Yong-un's expression soured.
"The Minister's trying to block us."
"Pardon? But we just had that talk..."
Myung-su looked shocked.
But Yong-un, as if he had anticipated this, issued orders to his subordinates.
"Go in first. Split into the Left Demon Dragon Corps and Right Ghost Slaughter Annihilation to begin the conquest."
"What about Master...?"
The Sword Tiger started drawing his sword but glanced at Yong-un.
Yong-un smiled and replied,
"Worried about me?"
"My apologies..."
"Go."
"Yes, Master!"
The Sword Tiger drew the sword at his side.
Jeong-won and Jong-hyeon behind him did the same, swiftly following the Sword Tiger as he dashed inside the barricade.
"We'll see you soon."
With Yong-un's orders given, Myung-su bowed to the still-standing Yong-un without further word.
He then turned to the group positioned behind—First Ghost Soul Cheon-il, Third Ghost Soul Poison Witch, Fourth Ghost Soul Dancer—and shouted,
"Let's go!"
"Yes, First Ghost Soul!"
Both the Demon Dragon Corps and Ghost Slaughter Annihilation entered beyond the barricade.
The unit members tried to stop them belatedly, but the gap in ability was too vast to catch up.
"Damn, I'm gonna get an earful."
The unit commander grimaced and yelled.
But only for a moment— he then shouted at the lone remaining Yong-un.
"Minister's orders. Entry denied. Order everyone to return!"
He figured if they caught Yong-un after letting the others slip, at least the reprimand might be lighter.
After all, he was their leader.
"If you defy the Minister's orders..."
"And what happens if I do?"
"If you defy... well..."
Legal penalties and hunter license revocation.
The words floated in his mind, but he couldn't voice them.
Who was Yong-un?
An S-Rank hunter in the world rankings.
Yong-un's hunter license was issued not by Korea, but globally.
How could Korea enforce its revocation?
"So..."
Knowing this full well, the commander couldn't bring himself to say it.
Yong-un chuckled softly at the flustered commander.
"Tell the Minister this: If I and all my subordinates leave this land entirely, ask him what will become of it."
Yong-un and the Sword Tiger, who had elevated Korea to great power status.
Everyone who needed to know already knew the Sword Tiger was Yong-un's subordinate.
If Yong-un and his entire retinue left Korea, the nation would plummet overnight.
The power of the authority and influence Yong-un had so relentlessly pursued.
A force so immense even his home country couldn't compel him.
Whoosh.
Yong-un stirred his demonic energy and stepped forward.
With a playful tap of his foot, as if kicking a ball, the demonic energy seeped into the ground.
"Tell the Minister: Before heading into battle, a leader doesn't crush the general's morale but silently prays for his success."
Crackle.
As Yong-un's foot lifted, black lightning crackled from the demon-infused earth.
"Don't blunder in and get hurt. Just wait. It won't take long."
With that, Yong-un turned and strode into the Demonus beyond the barricade, just like his subordinates.
"Wha... what?"
The unit members and commander snapped out of it, replaying Yong-un's words.
Their duty to block them resurfaced.
"Stop him!"
Yong-un was walking slowly enough that they could catch up if they ran.
The commander hurriedly gathered mana to leap inside.
Thud!
He was about to vault swiftly through the gate.
Crackle-crackle!
But the moment he crossed the ground where Yong-un had planted his demonic energy...
Lightning erupted from the earth, engulfing the commander.
'Guh... grrrgh!'
From the sudden shock, the commander flew sideways, rolling across the ground.
"C-Commander!"
The startled unit members rushed to him.
But the shock, mild compared to the lightning, prompted him to raise a hand, halting them.
Wincing in pain, he stared at Yong-un's receding back.
"What the hell is that guy? How can one person spam skills like that?"
A confident stride, utterly fearless of entering Demonus.
Gazing at that massive silhouette, the commander rose.
Brushing off the dirt, he grimaced and shouted to everyone,
"Enough. Close the gate. They're already beyond our reach."
"C-Commander? But the Minister's orders..."
"It'll work out somehow. How were we supposed to stop him? Of all people, Hunter Yong-un."
At the commander's grumbling, all the unit members nodded in understanding.
They glanced at the spot where Yong-un had vanished completely into Demonus, then slowly closed the gate.
Boom!
Amid the attention of all unit members and the commander.
Not long after, a massive explosion rocked the 200-meter mark—even the Iron Army Guild members had been driven to death there.
And with that as the signal, mana explosions echoed from multiple locations.
The heavy shockwaves and blasts, shaking their very hearts, left the barricade guards gripping their weapons in sweat.
'What will happen?'
Even now, every moment was shaped by choices and coincidences.
The Minister's minor interference had scattered Yong-un's subordinates who meant to enter with him.
This happenstance, and Yong-un's resulting decision.
No one knew how it would unfold.