Chapter 91
Chapter 91
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 91
Chapter Title: The Battle Begins
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A figure entered the first-floor command center of the Mad Castle base.
"Welcome, Bureau Director."
"We don't have time for greetings. I'll be taking command from this point forward."
The arrivals were Kang Il-seop and five elite agents from the Hunter Management Bureau.
They quickly took their seats and began rearranging the data displayed on dozens of monitors according to priority.
"Bureau Director, we have the Prime Minister of New Zealand on the line."
Kang Il-seop immediately heard the Prime Minister's voice through his earpiece.
"I am officially transferring operational command of New Zealand's hunters to you. We will also share all the intelligence we possess."
"Thank you. We will protect New Zealand."
"We're counting on you."
New Zealand was in a state of national emergency, and the Prime Minister recognized that they couldn't handle it with their own strength.
Other nations were already suggesting that military action might be necessary.
"In the worst-case scenario, we may have to launch missiles."
Of course, this was a last resort.
"We are doing everything in our power to evacuate our citizens."
This was all the Prime Minister of New Zealand could do at the moment.
Reinforcements from other countries were only just beginning to depart, and some nations hadn't even made a decision yet.
"Alright, let's begin. Bring up the status of the gate occurrences."
Currently, a total of nine gates had appeared in New Zealand.
"Filter it to show only the gates opening within the next 24 hours."
Five of the nine gates disappeared from the screen.
Four gates were set to break within 24 hours.
Two of them were acute.
"Fortunately, they aren't far."
The two acute gates had formed not far from where the Death King appeared.
"What's the evacuation status for the residents near the other two gates?"
"One has no towns nearby, but the one near Queenstown is C-rank, so it seems they intend to defend against it."
Kang Il-seop stroked his chin, his eyes fixed on the monitor.
"Queenstown will mount a defense. We'll abandon the gate at Snares Park. Redeploy the forces from there to the acute gates."
"Understood."
"Contact the Prime Minister and tell him to wipe out the monsters from the Snares Park gate with military firepower. Since it's C-rank, it should be possible."
It meant the area would be reduced to ruins, but right now, they needed to pick their battles.
They had to gather as many hunters as possible to stop the acute gates.
"If they're hell ants, we can overwhelm them with numbers."
The individual creatures weren't overwhelmingly strong, so the number of hunters was key.
"We need to finish this as quickly as possible. Connect me with Agent Min Ha-na."
"Yes, Bureau Director."
"The gate measurements indicate it's not a labyrinth type. We won't be splitting our forces."
"We're going in all at once?"
"Concentrate your firepower and take them down one by one, quickly. We'll assault the first gate in 45 minutes. You have 30 minutes. If you can't finish it by then, consider the next gate a break."
"Time attacks are my specialty."
"I'm sending the detailed tactical statistics. I'm counting on you for field command."
The most efficient strategy for the current situation was calculated using the Hunter Management Bureau's data.
It was immediately sent to the field commander, Min Ha-na, who would use it as a basis to formulate her tactics.
Kang Il-seop swiftly brought the situation under control.
Watching from behind, Oh Min-jae was inwardly surprised.
'So he's not just a nice old guy.'
As the situation became organized in an instant, Oh Min-jae remembered what he needed to do.
"Hyung, can you hear me?"
"Just arrived. The situation isn't good."
"What's wrong?"
"It seems to be moving toward living creatures. At this rate, it'll reach Wellington soon."
Wellington was the capital of New Zealand.
As the center of politics and culture, its fall would be a devastating blow to New Zealand.
Most importantly, 200,000 people who hadn't evacuated yet were still there.
The roads had already turned into parking lots, and the typhoon made it impossible to escape by sea.
"What's the current evacuation status in Wellington?"
Oh Min-jae answered while looking at the numbers and CCTV footage on the monitor.
"It's total panic. At this rate, at least 150,000 people won't be able to evacuate."
This number was only this low because of New Zealand's sparse population density.
Still, 150,000 was by no means a small number.
"Can't be helped. I'll have to stop it."
"Hyung, wait a second."
Oh Min-jae quickly reviewed the recorded footage. He zoomed in on the highest-quality aerial photo of the Death King.
"Just as I thought. It's there."
"What is?"
"According to the records from when the Death King was sealed, the one who delivered the final blow was Damond."
"That's a name I'd rather not hear."
"Same here. But the important thing is that the battle ended when Damond plunged his sword into the crown of the Death King's head. And that crack is still visible on the screen."
"So it has a weak point. Good."
"It knows its own weakness, so it'll definitely try to protect it."
"Knowing there's a weakness is enough. Good work."
Wang-sik replied with satisfaction, watching the giant moving in the distance.
The Death King swung its scythe at any living thing that moved, whether human or animal.
Then, it absorbed the dark energy flowing from the dead bodies.
"Its demonic energy is growing stronger. Is it trying to recover?"
For a being whose source was death, the scene he had just witnessed was unsettling.
As the Death King walked toward Wellington, it occasionally glanced in Wang-sik's direction.
"Why isn't it attacking?"
The Death King was clearly aware of Wang-sik. Yet it didn't attack first.
"Oho."
Wang-sik realized the reason.
Its old memories had surfaced.
The memory of being defeated by a human.
And the wound it had sustained.
That's why it was even killing animals to replenish its strength.
However, Wang-sik couldn't rush in recklessly either.
'I need to buy some time.'
But time was not on Wang-sik's side.
The Death King, which had been hunting living creatures, discovered the road leading out of Wellington.
A road tangled with countless cars.
And on it, naturally, were many people.
The Death King's eyes turned red, and the people who saw it screamed.
The Death King instantly moved to the road and swung its massive scythe.
Faced with this sight, the people could only stare blankly, awaiting death.
*Screeeech!*
What snapped the people back to their senses was a flash of sparks that lit up their vision.
Before the afterimage of light that spread like fireworks stood a man who had blocked the scythe.
"Evacuate."
Wang-sik's voice cut through the brief silence, reaching the people.
At that moment, the Death King's scythe unleashed a shockwave.
*Vwoom.*
As the Holy Shield blocked even that shockwave, it gave the people a chance to turn back.
"What are you doing?! Run!"
Wang-sik's shout jolted them awake.
The people screamed and ran in the opposite direction, while Wang-sik created a wall to buy them time.
"We've entered the second gate. Avoid fighting as much as possible."
The first acute gate had been cleared, and they had just entered the second one.
"That's not going to be possible."
"Has it already started?"
Wang-sik faced the 10-meter giant glaring at him with red eyes.
"Look down, you skeletal bastard."
*Whoosh!*
The answer was a colossal scythe.
Faced with power completely different from before, Wang-sik erected multiple layers of barriers.
*BOOM!*
An ear-splitting roar echoed, and Wang-sik's body lost its balance.
"Kugh!"
Despite planting his shield into the ground, he was pushed back 10 meters.
A long furrow was carved into the road where his shield had been dragged.
"Is that all you've got?"
Before he could finish his words, hundreds of black spears shot out from the cloak that formed the Death King's body.
Even as the spears of demonic energy rained down like a bombardment, Wang-sik held his ground.
Because many people were still evacuating.
He absolutely could not move from his position.
*Vwoooom!*
Erecting a Holy Shield and a Holy Fence simultaneously, Wang-sik took the full force of the bombardment.
"Hyung! Are you alri—"
The impact even broke his earpiece.
Though it was just a voice, Wang-sik felt a great sense of emptiness.
Nevertheless, he didn't forget what he had to do.
*Zzzt!*
Having blocked the bombardment, Wang-sik's chains wrapped around the scythe as it tried to move again.
"Now, shall we begin for real?"
Wang-sik walked confidently toward the Death King.
*KRA-KA-BOOM!*
The massive explosion created a shockwave powerful enough to collapse the entire gate.
"So that's the power of an S-rank..."
"What are you standing around gawking for! Move, unless you want to die by my hand!"
A command as harsh as her powerful fire magic erupted.
"Mr. Wang-sik has engaged in combat."
An Awakened who had been waiting outside the gate rushed in to deliver the news.
The news spurred Min Ha-na and Sa Seon-gi to hurry.
Min Ha-na unleashed an almost reckless barrage of powerful magic straight ahead, while Sa Seon-gi waged a bloody battle amidst the hell ants escaping the explosions.
"Stand back!"
Whenever Gong Yeong-ji saw a New Zealand hunter who was incapacitated, she immediately approached and began to heal them.
'Strength! Repair!'
At the same time, she didn't forget to cast buffs on Sa Seon-gi and Min Ha-na.
"Hah... Hah..."
Because the New Zealand hunters were also risking their lives, Gong Yeong-ji's healing never stopped.
She pushed through, panting heavily, but her head was starting to feel dizzy.
She had already healed over 100 people.
"Thank you!"
A boy in his late teens, freshly healed, rushed back into the fray as soon as the pain vanished.
A hunter whose arm had been torn off by a hell spider picked up his sword with his other hand as soon as the bleeding stopped.
Gong Yeong-ji felt like she was in a dream.
*Being a hero wasn't glamorous.*
She only realized that after coming to the field.
Whether S-rank or C-rank, they were all risking their lives, so every single one of them fought with a desperate expression.
It was as if they were walking a tightrope between hell and the world of the living.
"Huh?"
Was it because her mind had wandered for a moment?
A hell ant shoved its face toward Gong Yeong-ji.
In the instant she thought of death...
*BANG!*
A New Zealand hunter blocked the way.
"Keuk!"
Protecting the healer is a tanker's duty.
In return, his shoulder was torn off by the hell ant's mandible, which had broken through his shattered shield.
Fortunately, a nearby hunter shoved a spear into the hell ant's thin neck, preventing further harm, but the tanker had sustained an injury that would never fully heal.
"I'm sorry."
Gong Yeong-ji began to heal him, tears streaming down her face.
"Please protect New Zealand. I'm begging you."
The tanker said those words while being healed before losing consciousness.
It wasn't just desperation.
For the first time, Gong Yeong-ji could feel the weight of duty on her shoulders.
"Push forward!"
Regardless of individual feelings, Min Ha-na, a mage, was leading from the front.
She shot a Fire Breath straight ahead, turning the densely packed hell ants into black ash.
"Fire Burst!"
*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*
Five consecutive explosions sent the corpses of hell ants flying, followed by a vortex of flames.
The hell ants, despite sensing the danger, revealed their madness and launched a counterattack.
Fortunately, Min Ha-na wasn't fighting alone.
Dozens of spells bombarded the approaching ants.
It was an attack from the New Zealand hunters.
"Not much longer! Focus!"
Was it because Min Ha-na, the one in command, was at the forefront?
Not a single person participating in the operation took a step back.
Though there were numerous casualties, the hunters gritted their teeth and pressed forward.
And then, a voice announced the end of their desperate struggle.
"Gate clear!"
As the last remaining hell ant was beheaded by Sa Seon-gi's dagger, the unstable gate stabilized.
"Waaaaah!"
In that moment, a cheer erupted.
It was the roar of the survivors.
But Min Ha-na had no time for that.
She stood before Gong Yeong-ji, who was on the ground, panting with her hands on the floor.
"Get up. This is just the beginning."
The New Zealand hunters' mission was over, but for Mad Castle, the real fight was yet to come.
Gong Yeong-ji staggered to her feet.
"This is the path you chose. If you want to give up, now is your only chance. No one will blame you if you do. But if you choose to fight, there will be no more special treatment."
"I'll do it! I will!"
Gong Yeong-ji shouted with all her might.
"Good. Then let's go together. Our leader will be waiting."
Sa Seon-gi had come to her side at some point.
Min Ha-na led Sa Seon-gi and Gong Yeong-ji out of the gate.