Chapter 94
Chapter 94
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 94
Chapter Title: Waterfall Rendezvous
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After some deliberation, I quickly spoke up.
"As expected, landmarks are the way to go for meeting people."
I muttered as I gazed at the massive waterfall in the distance, relentlessly spewing rainbow-colored water. Its scale was practically Niagara Falls level. There probably wasn't a single spot where you couldn't see it.
Even if it wasn't immediately visible, a little wandering around would make it easy to find. I just had to tell everyone to head to the north side of the waterfall.
After broadcasting the message via radio, I headed to the waterfall with Han Sang-ah and the other hunters whose authenticity we'd verified.
"That's nasty."
The water cascading from the waterfall wasn't ordinary water. It was a liquid packed with hallucinogenic toxins you wouldn't find on Earth.
"This must be what paradise looks like for black market dealers. Right, buddy?"
Upon reaching the north side of the waterfall, I turned at the voice behind me and confirmed the guy.
"Name."
"Jeong No-hoon. You?"
Instead of answering, I fired back another question.
"After interning at Team Headhunter, what was the first thing you did in the training room?"
"Egg-cracking. Damn it, is this Chan-seok or Sang-ah?"
"Yoo Chan-seok."
At my words, the guy scratched his head.
"Then the one next to you must be Han Sang-ah?"
"That's right."
At Han Sang-ah's confirmation, Jeong No-hoon pulled something out with a suspicious look.
"What's that?"
"An anion bracelet. They say it's good for your health."
Han Sang-ah responded to Jeong No-hoon's words.
"There's no verified evidence that anions benefit health. Anions are just ions with a negative charge to begin with. They're not a specific substance or ingredient—they're just a term describing a state an atom can have."
Han Sang-ah paused thoughtfully before continuing.
"If you believe anions are good for you, go ahead and eat cyanide or rub it on your skin. That's an anion too."
Right away, a welcoming response came from Jeong No-hoon.
"Hah, it really is Han Sang-ah."
"Both you and Yoo Chan-seok—how do you guys know for sure? You haven't even asked me a single question about myself."
Jeong No-hoon said it like he couldn't figure out how we'd pegged Han Sang-ah as real.
I didn't bother explaining.
"Anyway, that bracelet does nothing."
"Really? Truth is, it's just a regular bracelet."
He'd lied to test if she was genuine. As we chatted, more hunters trickled in one by one.
"We don't need to fight. Let's just weed them out in one go."
I said that to the gathered hunters.
"Weed them out in one go?"
Common knowledge true-or-false quiz. A few among the group spoke up at my words.
"What if someone's real but gets the quiz wrong...?"
I gave a pitying look at that. What can you do? They'd have to die. Call it the price of lacking common sense.
Truth be told, I wasn't planning anything too tough anyway.
All the hunters who'd entered this Erosion Core were Korean except for Adakawa Nanami. So I'd use stuff any Korean would know.
Of course, we'd blindfold everyone to keep it fair. No point if they peeked and copied.
But first, I had to single out Adakawa Nanami.
"I'm Adakawa Nanami. Raise your hands."
Four hands went up. Pinpointing them wasn't hard—we'd spent plenty of time together during this op.
A few quick questions later, I'd isolated the real one, then kicked off the fun OX quiz game with the rest.
"Let's begin. In a Korean restaurant, a bowl of steamed rice costs 2,000 won on average. Right hand if true, left if false."
If you didn't know that was wrong, you weren't Korean. Heck, if you died because of that, I'd say it was on you.
Even at that rip-off valley restaurant, it was only 1,000 won.
You could skimp on the rice amount, but charge over 1,000? That place would tank for sure. Or customers would complain nonstop.
Repeating questions like this would thin out the fakes—even lucky guessers—fast.
Five 50% shots in a row? Tough odds. I checked the failures and started smashing heads one by one.
"When eating ssam at a Korean BBQ joint, the proper way is to stuff it all in one bite. Right hand if true, left if false."
"Order fried dumplings at a Chinese place, and they give you sweet-and-sour pork for free. Right hand if true, left if false."
Keep filtering like that, and we were down to 98.
"...How'd two extras bite it?"
No kidding—no questions a Korean should miss. And the Erosion Core interior hadn't changed much yet. Meaning a few lucky fakes were still in the 98.
Didn't know how many, but it wouldn't take long. Radio check: everyone else had arrived.
"Isn't this too easy?"
I turned to Adakawa Nanami's words.
"Any concerns?"
Her input was worth hearing. She replied.
"The gimmick was a bit tricky, but not insanely hard. Plus, barely any monsters inside, and the ones there weren't threatening. Usually, that means the core's a beast or there's another gimmick incoming."
Something big waiting? Fair point—compared to Bratsk's fridge gimmick, this felt underwhelming.
"Let's handle this first."
Time for round two of filtering. Feeling like interviewers, the four of us sat and called hunters one by one, quizzed them, and verified answers.
Wrong answer? We mobbed and beat them down.
Time ticked by, passed hunters piling in one corner, failures' corpses stacking nearby.
We nailed 14 more. I muttered blankly.
"Sixteen people didn't know restaurant rice bowls cost 1,000 won?"
Han Sang-ah replied.
"I knew that."
See? Even a chaebol heiress knows it! How do you not?
Right then, the gray masks hiding our faces melted away, our drab gray clothes dissolving to reveal our true appearances.
"Looks like we've got 'em all."
So, what's next? I was pondering when the massive waterfall before us bubbled violently, and something enormously huge surged up.
"Whoa. A monster?"
It took the form of a little girl—but huge, making Niagara-scale falls look like a bathtub. Hair glittered like obsidian, eyes shifting colors endlessly.
Staring made intricate patterns flicker in and out, dizzying the eyes.
"Fake."
And an illusion. Faint mana tingled.
—How can it end like this? That's cheating. I wanted something more fun.
A voice echoed. Old man's timbre mixed with child's, young woman's with man's... hundreds overlapping.
—I just wanted to watch you a bit longer.
With that, the giant girl's form opened its mouth, unleashing a wail. Instantly, my mind reeled dizzily.
Ah, it wants inside my soul. Probably to poke around, tear it apart, break the person.
Glancing around, the others were entranced too, eyes vacant. I clicked my tongue.
"No need to fight this one."
Surprisingly, after such a long buildup, Zaun Valley subjugation would wrap up easily. As my mind fogged, I smiled faintly.
Come on in. Take a good look with your own eyes.
At what kind of guy I am. And whose soul you're messing with.
"It won't be a pleasant experience, I guarantee."
I closed my eyes.
Banshee Narsenti was the core of this Erosion Core. An undead who'd lived thousands of years, growing ever stronger. Among ghosts, banshees already got special treatment.
And Narsenti, over eons, became exceptional even among them. Her wail shook souls, letting her slip in and shred them.
Tragic experiences, traumas, painful pasts, hardships—she exploited them all to crack souls, widening fissures until collapse.
Or dredged up happy memories, contrasting the present to render victims powerless.
"Reunion with a dead lover, abusive childhood parents, betrayal memories..."
This time was no different. She'd dissect the souls of those inside, shatter and absorb them.
Bits of their power would bolster her. Splitting her soul into dozens, she shoved fragments into the dazed hunters.
Soon, terror crawled up Narsenti's spine. Instinctively, her split soul reformed as one.
"What is this?"
Narsenti had believed it impossible. She, a banshee of millennia, crushed by mere human souls? No way.
Before her loomed a massive burning black flame, shaped like a beast.
"..."
It towered so high she craned her neck. Sky-piercing, the beast-form black flame was bound in crimson chains.
"No."
Terror—abyssal, primal—overwhelmed her. Just looking felt like her brain melted like butter on a hot griddle.
Eyes burned like bursting. Head spun with surging dread. This... in a mortal's soul?
"Impossible. This can't..."
Not other dooms. This was doom incarnate—the end of all things made manifest.
A predator devouring everything, leaving nothing. And that burning black flame? Not even this mortal's full soul.
The chains binding that absurd, despairing apocalypse—that was the soul she'd entered.
"That thing. How... World, I... Impossible. Can't comprehend. Why..."
Holding back something monstrous like that. Success terrified her more. Narsenti couldn't believe the soul-form she saw.
Crushed. Her cognition and reason ground to dust in incomprehensible vistas.
An all-too-real embodiment of end times. And chains suppressing, controlling, binding that end.
"No."
Even the emperor ruling the undead legions from distant Beijing would buckle. He'd hold briefly, but not forever. Never.
Different league. The emperor's soul exuded immense pressure. But this? Existence itself was violence.