The Weight of the Battlefield
Han Yujin could barely make out how the battle between the two powerhouses was unfolding, aside from the aftershocks.
It felt like watching the fight from the perspective of some minor character in a certain manga about collecting dragon balls to make a wish—one who shows up briefly in the early chapters only to become completely irrelevant.
Flashes of light erupted, leaving dozens of unidentifiable trajectories lingering in the air like afterimages.
Before the shockwaves that kept bursting forth and the sky-shaking phenomena could even fade, a pitch-black tower suddenly appeared above the pterosaur’s head, radiating an eerie glow. Then a crude stone sword materialized and smashed the tower apart in a burst of light, only for the pterosaur to unleash a breath attack.
The moment that breath seemed to split in two by some unseen force, the pterosaur let out a monstrous roar, flapped its wings, and covered an enormous distance in an instant. A clear metallic ring then erupted from nowhere, completely canceling out the pterosaur’s roar.
The only things Yujin could truly grasp were that the two were locked in an intense, evenly matched battle, and that every surge of spiritual energy and demonic qi carried enough power to split mountains.
‘If they gather their full strength for a single strike, they wouldn’t just split a mountain—they’d cleave Mount Tai itself.’
Unfortunately, Han Yujin didn’t get to admire the battle between these Incarnation Stage powerhouses for long. Quite apart from their duel, countless demonic races were surging toward Cheonwon Castle.
“Defend the walls—!!”
A voice amplified by mystical arts thundered across the battlefield. One might wonder what use walls served in a war between investigators and demonic races, but once you understood they acted as catalysts to activate defensive formations, it made perfect sense.
The sense of crisis that had arisen when the central golden barrier first began to warp had been considerably alleviated by the appearance of Gu Sobo, the Incarnation Stage investigator and lord of this castle.
The magnificent battle unfolding high in the sky naturally stirred the fighters’ morale, and Han Yujin found himself swept up in it as well, his courage surging.
‘This is the perfect chance to see how far my skills actually reach!’
With that thought in mind, he climbed onto the wall. The sight of the multicolored demonic horde surging forward like a tidal wave from the horizon beyond the walls left his mouth hanging open and a chill racing down his spine.
Only now did he feel like he was catching a glimpse of the true scale of the great war being waged with an entire world as its battlefield.
— Kiiiiaaaaak—!!
At that moment, a demonic creature flew low through the air and slipped through the heavily damaged central golden barrier. Han Yujin and the surrounding investigators unleashed their attacks at the bird-of-prey-like monster in unison.
Most of the strikes were delivered through mystical weapons, and Yujin manipulated the formation patterns on the Five Elements Sword to fire off a golden energy blast.
The raptor-like demon that had charged in with such vigor couldn’t withstand the sheer volume of attacks. It plummeted outside the walls in a pitiful, mangled state. But in that brief window, several more demonic creatures had already infiltrated from different positions.
— Kihihihik…!
A monster resembling the cyclopes from fantasy novels—humanoid but with a single eye and three heads, plus six arms—had broken through. It began swinging its six weapons at once. It was incredibly tough, shrugging off ordinary mystical arts with its body alone.
Since Yujin happened to be nearby, he had no time to observe the other intruders. He focused entirely on cooperating with the nearby investigators to kill or drive off the beast.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang—! Pa-ga-gak!
“Huk…!”
A sinister golden weapon, gleaming like a storm, hammered down on a barrier one of the investigators had created with his mystical weapon. It moved so fast that fierce winds whipped up afterimages in its wake. Even a graze looked like it could tear flesh from bone.
While the female Dharma Soul Stage investigator inside the barrier vomited blood from all seven orifices and desperately held on, the other investigators attacked with everything they had—both to save their comrade and to avoid becoming the next target.
All kinds of attacks using mystical weapons and arts rained down, turning the six-armed, three-headed monster into a bloody mess. One strike in particular thundered like lightning and finally severed one of its arms.
Yet even with such a grievous wound, the creature shattered the protective barrier, skewered the investigator inside with its sword, and brought him to its mouth. No one had time to stop it.
Crunch—!
The investigator’s head was crushed like fruit inside the cyclops-like monster’s maw. Blood and brain matter dribbled from its lips as it continued tearing into the rest of the corpse like it was eating pulp, while its remaining hands deflected every incoming attack. It then quickly retreated.
Despite its astonishing physical ability and weapon technique, the sight inspired revulsion rather than admiration. The horror felt even worse knowing the investigator it had devoured was at the Dharma Soul Stage—a realm Yujin had yet to reach.
His own attacks couldn’t even properly scratch the monster’s skin. Every strike was blocked by its bronze-colored glow, like throwing eggs at a boulder.
The fighting spirit that had briefly flared from the Incarnation Stage expert’s arrival, the resounding mental message, and the grand battle cooled rapidly.
‘People who train to achieve immortality… are dying like ants all over the place!’
He looked around with a dazed expression before he even realized it.
This was the first time he had witnessed the brutality and madness of the battlefield.
The demonic races looked terrifying, but to Yujin’s eyes, the human investigators who showed no sign of retreating against such horrors appeared just as monstrous.
They were allies for now, but he could easily imagine how vicious they would become if friction ever arose between them in the future.
Perhaps it was because his complexion had grown so poor.
Weak-looking targets tended to stand out more to the enemy than to their own side.
A demonic creature that looked like a mix between a praying mantis and a scorpion, which had infiltrated inside the central golden barrier and was flying through the air, suddenly dove toward him like a hawk spotting prey.
Yujin instinctively activated the Jade Skin Technique and created a bell-shaped defensive barrier using the Five Elements Sword. The moment the attack was blocked, he planned to detonate the barrier and shred the enemy.
But the instant that thought crossed his mind, the creature’s scythe-like arm had already torn through the bell-shaped barrier like paper and was flying straight at his face.
‘Fuck.’
Before he could even utter the curse, an overwhelming impact swallowed him. His vision went completely dark.
— Death Confirmed —
Han Yujin stared at the mysterious silver characters floating before him in a somewhat hollow state.
Choose your loot.
* * *
The obvious choice for loot was the alchemy primer he had received from the Core Formation alchemist Won Baekryeong. Items like jade plaques were practically useless back on Earth.
When he woke up in bed, he picked up the alchemy primer that had appeared beside him and fell into thought for a moment.
Although he had died rather pathetically, this visit to the other world had fulfilled his original goals remarkably well. It had even satisfied his wish not to stay for very long.
‘Yeah… looking back, it seems I died at just the right time.’
His plan to test how useful Yeon Biwon’s identity could be had failed, but he had made excellent use of the moment when the central golden barrier was neutralized.
‘And at least dying didn’t hurt much.’
Aside from the shitty feeling of helplessness that came from being unable to resist even for a second, it was hard to die more cleanly than that. At least he hadn’t had his head chewed off while still alive, right?
Thinking about that scene made his stomach churn again, but it wasn’t unbearable.
‘I’ve died in all sorts of ways before.’
One of those times, he had been turned into a pile of cube steak by some terrifying ghost.
As he thought about it, he roughly sketched out his future plans.
Since he had gained quite a bit from the alchemy lecture this time, it would be good to spend two or three days organizing what he had learned before visiting Cheonwon Castle again to attend other lectures on mystical techniques.
‘If I just learn all the public lecture content from Cheonwon Castle, I should be able to make decent use of it up to the Dharma Soul Stage.’
He was also tempted to learn proper mystical arts rather than just mystical techniques.
That final battle at Cheonwon Castle had made him keenly feel the importance of power. He had also witnessed several investigators at the same realm as him displaying far superior offensive and defensive capabilities.
But after thinking about it a little more, Han Yujin shook his head.
He hadn’t died because he lacked variety or proficiency in the mystical arts he had learned. From the beginning, the opponent’s power had simply been too overwhelming for any means of resistance to work.
‘If I’m going to learn mystical arts anyway, it seems best to start with stealth and escape techniques.’
The more he thought about it, the more he realized he had been far too exposed in that battle despite being only at the Qi Condensation stage. Even devoting himself fully to concealment and cover would have barely been enough.
That didn’t mean he should only run away. After all, surviving longer would let him stall the enemy more effectively and ultimately contribute more, wouldn’t it?
Since it had been his first experience with a chaotic melee inside a massive war completely different from any fight he had known before, it wasn’t necessarily foolish. Fortunately, he had plenty of opportunities, and he would do better next time.
‘As long as I don’t do anything stupid back on Earth.’
Having finished organizing the results of this adventure, he began prioritizing the tasks he needed to handle in reality.
* * *
There was a lot to do.
Organizing the knowledge of mystical arts wasn’t difficult but required a great deal of time. On that note, a sample contract from the Ability Management Bureau had arrived, so he had to find a skilled lawyer to review it.
Quite apart from whether he trusted the Ability Management Bureau, the matter was simply too important to treat lightly. Once the legal expert’s review was complete, he felt considerably more at ease.
In the meantime, digesting the alchemy knowledge he had gained from the Cheonwon Castle lecture—and from his loot selection—took longer than expected. The process was further complicated by cross-referencing it with the Bloodwood Essence and Yang Brew Technique.
Naturally, time passed quickly, and the nighttime preparatory course at the Hunter Specialized School began.
Surprisingly, more than twenty people were taking the class. It seemed that even those who had awakened quite a while ago were only now receiving the education due to various circumstances.
The content was by no means lacking.
In just four days, they covered everything from the basic common sense a hunter should possess to how to operate in the field, how to respond when facing various dangers, and even some legal knowledge and obligations they needed to keep in mind.
It felt less like the material had been poorly compressed within the short training period and more like it was slightly excessive.
When he considered that more than ten days of such education remained, along with strict exams in the middle and at the end, it reminded him of his senior year of high school all over again. Especially since he had so much personal knowledge to organize and digest on top of it.
Still, what left the deepest impression was the section on precautions to take when dealing with rifts.
‘They say all safety rules are written in blood.’
The lessons were structured so that each point was backed by real cases, making it easy to understand why such precautions existed.
Although a little unfamiliar, the days were extremely busy and fulfilling. There was nothing particularly unusual.
Except for one thing—the civilian investigation request report that had strangely stopped arriving two days ago.
It was late at night after class had ended once again.
As he rode a taxi home, Han Yujin thought to himself.
‘Today is the last day of the one-week contract…’
He wondered if they had simply ghosted him, but remembering how the reports had arrived diligently with solid content until now, it felt like something else must have happened.
That was why he had waited two full days. He had assumed a delay of a day or two was possible depending on the situation.
But he couldn’t wait any longer. Staying quiet here any further would make him look like a pushover.
‘If it doesn’t arrive by today, I’ll call first thing during business hours tomorrow.’
As he thought that, he figured it couldn’t be anything serious.
After all, South Korea’s ability crime occurrence rate was among the lowest in the world, competing for first or second place, while its arrest rate ranked in the global top three.
The high arrest rate was probably thanks to fewer cases overall, allowing manpower to be concentrated more effectively, but that didn’t diminish the meaning of those high numbers.
As he gazed at the night scenery flowing past the taxi window, Han Yujin suddenly recalled the powerful ghost he had encountered at that school on the post-apocalyptic Earth—Wonhui.
A slight chill ran across his skin, and an ominous worry rose unbidden.
Could it really be nothing serious?