131
131 ― A Whirlpool of Desires
He had to cut it down.
He wasn't talking about Lin Shenlin, but about the cluster of light that was following him around.
Lin Shenlin himself didn't matter. The Muryeon seemed to need Lin Shenlin in custody as a measure to resolve the Qi Deviation, but it was none of Jin-woo's business.
Rather, the cluster of light hovering around him bothered him more. Though he had only seen it briefly, it was definitely the power of the God of Light. The power and a fragment of the soul of the one he had met in the 3rd floor.
If he could cut that down, many things would become possible. Through it, he could try to locate the God of Light in the Spirit Realm, and when battle broke out, he could deal with him the same way he had killed Jeraxon.
Above all, if this White Land was the power of that light, cutting it down could restore the Black Land.
'So killing Jeraxon didn't restore the Black Land after all.'
Though he had thought it might be the case, this made it certain. This White Land hadn't recovered naturally but was the result of the God of Light's intervention.
And considering his tendencies, this was never an act of mercy or kindness. He had done this to take possession of this place, this star where Jeraxon had disappeared.
He needed to cut it down right here and drive him away. If he continued to obsess over it even after that, he would have to chase him to the Spirit Realm, locate him, and have a final showdown.
'First, the light that's appeared right before me.'
After asking his team for permission, Jin-woo pursued Lin Shenlin. Even though he didn't explain the reason properly, the team leader approved. Perhaps Ma Du-sik had given him advance notice.
Not only Jin-woo but many others were pursuing him as well. Hunters from the Muryeon and Hong Kong Hunters, whom the Muryeon had contacted and belatedly summoned.
'Qi Deviation is a critical problem for Hong Kong's Hunters.'
Many of them were warriors in their past lives, so there were many Hunters who had learned martial arts. Though they weren't the only ones in the world who learned martial arts, there was a high proportion of warriors among Hong Kong's Hunters. Just like there were many assassins among Tokyo's Hunters.
It must be the result of various factors like region, national character, or culture working together. Even Jin-woo didn't fully understand the mystery of reincarnation. Perhaps the World Tree, called the Soul Tree of the Spirit Realm and responsible for the reincarnation of Elves, might know something.
"#$%#$"
"@^$#%@#"
In any case, Hong Kong's Hunters weren't pursuing Lin Shenlin simply under orders. Since Qi Deviation was an issue that broadly affected them, they were chasing him more actively.
'This isn't good.'
Jin-woo had a slight advantage in being able to sense flames. Having become a servant of the God of Light, Lin Shenlin possessed black flames, making him easy to distinguish from afar.
However, that was only a very small advantage. Compared to the numerical offensive of Hong Kong Hunters swarming in like a mob, or the cutting-edge equipment they used, it was bound to fall short.
This wasn't a Gate and was right next to Hong Kong. For Jin-woo to capture Lin Shenlin alone, bypassing them, was an arduous task.
'I can't just sit idle because it's difficult.'
Jin-woo clicked his tongue and hid himself in the shade of a tree. In the distance, he could see Hong Kong Hunters moving in an organized manner. By comparison, Jin-woo moving alone at least had a lighter body.
***
Lin Shenlin was gasping for breath as he ran through the forest.
There were many obstacles blocking his path. The forest paths where people didn't walk made it difficult even to find a place to step, yet despite being such a place, it was full of monsters.
The large ones were actually okay. Being big, they couldn't easily move through the forest and were easy to deal with in advance.
The problem was the small ones. Creatures like rabbits or squirrels, or even smaller ones at the insect level. Though small in size, creatures with deadly venom were major obstacles.
However, more than that.
―Catch him!
―He's over here!
The Hunters from his homeland, swarming in, were more troublesome than the monsters.
Even when he thought he had shaken them off, they quickly found him again. Even when he couldn't feel any human presence, he couldn't relax. Machines like drones flew through the sky, locating his position.
Even hiding in caves or tree shade was futile before infrared cameras. No matter how strong an S-rank Hunter he was, he couldn't hide his body temperature.
"Haa... Haa..."
Still, he couldn't run indefinitely, so rest was necessary. After shaking off the enemy as much as possible, he hurriedly caught his breath and closed his eyes.
Circulating his Qi briefly brought forth a bit of vitality. The White Land restored by the God of Light's power contained even more mana than the Black Land or the cities.
That was his only salvation. Since his opponents were pouring out in endless numbers anyway, having more mana than usual was working more favorably for him.
[ Are you alright? ]
"Can't you tell?"
He snapped at the concerned tone. In the first place, things had gotten this bad because this light had arbitrarily restored the Black Land and drawn the world's attention.
"Whatever you're scheming, you should have done it somewhere unrelated to me..."
[ That is impossible. I am intervening in this land through you as a medium. If you dislike that, I have no choice but to withdraw my power, but would that be alright? ]
"...Tch."
He couldn't bring himself to say he disliked it. The reason he had endured this far with a body ruined by Qi Deviation was thanks to his power.
If he drove him away here, he would return to those days of pain. If it were only pain, he could endure it, but he couldn't lose his martial arts. Having his Danjeon and energy channels completely destroyed by Qi Deviation was the ending he most wanted to avoid.
'Now even self-recovery is impossible.'
Qi Deviation itself was like an incurable disease that couldn't be handled alone, but now even miraculous possibilities no longer existed.
Because he had already been forcibly corrected once by an external power, by the blessing of the Sky God.
Having once touched external power, solving it by his own strength now was impossible. One could say he had completely misbuttoned from the first button. However.
'I had no choice!'
It had been unavoidable for him.
At the time, his body, mind, and even soul had been in tatters, and in that state, he couldn't refuse the lifeline that came down. If he hadn't accepted the Sky God's proposal, then he would have already been a dead man.
'Thinking about it that way... is my current self forcibly extending a life that should have died?'
'Just like an undead.' That's what he thought.
His heart was certainly beating, and his lungs moved when he breathed. Fresh red blood flowed through his body, so he was definitely a living human. Yet was he sinking into pessimistic thoughts because of the desperate situation of being pursued?
―Found him!
"Kuk..."
Lin Shenlin's eyes snapped open as he finished circulating his Qi and ran. Cutting down those Muryeon bastards was nothing, but the problem was that it didn't end with cutting down just one. In the end, he had no choice but to flee from this spot.
'I can't keep wandering around just this area.'
He could no longer keep running around only within the white land. The situation had already become as cornered as it could be. There was no reason to insist on staying in this land in this situation, so he ran outside. To the plains that hadn't yet recovered. Onto the Black Land.
[ ...While the truly important one won't come pursue me, only these flies keep buzzing around. ]
Watching Lin Shenlin's back as he fled to the Black Land, the cluster of light muttered to itself. Using him as bait was true, but the prey it wanted just wouldn't bite.
Did it need to stimulate the world a bit more? She shone her light a bit brighter, and the Black Land began to recover as before.
***
Lin Shenlin's escape became more widely known than expected. The Muryeon's large-scale movement was one thing, but it was also because of the information that the Black Land was recovering following him.
└ Lin Shenlin is a swordsman. He couldn't possibly have such an ability.
└ But it's true that the white land is expanding. And that phenomenon is occurring around Lin Shenlin.
└ Is it true that he commands a white light? Swordsmen don't have spirits!
The world was noisy with speculation that Lin Shenlin possessed the ability to restore the Black Land.
Though it was a completely different ability from Lin Shenlin's well-known martial arts, no one could definitively deny it.
He had some connection in a Gate that led him to possess a spirit, and that spirit's power was restoring the Black Land. This was the commonly accepted consensus.
└ If that's true, we must capture him! Whoever catches him will possess the world!
└ That's overblown... But we can't just watch. Land reclamation is essential for humanity's survival.
└ Did the Muryeon already know this fact? I know the Muryeon was the first to start pursuing him.
All kinds of incoherent speculation ran rampant, with lies and truth dominating the scene. Among them, the only truth was that Lin Shenlin commanded a light, and the white land was expanding following that light.
Hunters from all cities who had originally gathered in Hong Kong for investigation began tracking Lin Shenlin's whereabouts. The Muryeon and Hong Kong Hunters, who had been pursuing him from the start, dug in even more tenaciously.
Still, was the reason he hadn't been caught yet because he was an S-rank Hunter?
"Yes, Shartia. I'm pursuing it alone. Sorry to say this, but alone is faster."
Amid this global flow, Jin-woo was still pursuing him—no, pursuing the light attached to him.
The fact that he hadn't caught him despite chasing this far couldn't be explained simply by him being an S-rank Hunter. It was clear that the God of Light's power was intervening.
"Please take care of things on your end. I'll somehow handle Lin Shenlin's side."
After exchanging a few more words, he hung up. From atop a tree that must have been 30 meters high, Jin-woo held up binoculars and surveyed the surroundings.
It was a rough forest and crawling with monsters, but there were even more Hunters. He could see white and black Hunters as well, but the overwhelming majority were Asians. They were Hunters affiliated with Hong Kong.
'There are no black flames in this vicinity.'
The ability to sense flames had its limits. He couldn't detect them from too far away, so he at least needed to know the direction in which the guy had fled.
'Overall, he continues to flee northward.'
Jin-woo took out a map and a pen to mark the movement route. So far, Lin Shenlin had been moving away from Hong Kong. A large number of Hunters were tracking his traces and moving north in the same way.
Was it because he was watching from a high tree? He could feel the series of flows, the large number of people of various races and nationalities moving in a rush.
'...It's gradually becoming just as she likes it.'
The God of Light's tendencies and behavior that he had seen in the 3rd floor. A jar where everyone's desires swirled, craving a single light.
He was already inside it himself. To shatter this, he needed to find and cut down the person involved, the magician stirring up this situation, one way or another.