Chapter 46: Monster Wave (1)
Captain Kim Dae-woong, company commander of the 1st Company, Paju Guard Battalion, had been resting in the administrative office of the barracks.
Today was his duty day as officer of the watch, so he couldn’t go home and was just killing time scrolling through YouTube on his smartphone.
Then—
“……?”
Suddenly, an inexplicable force lifted his body into the air.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
He smashed straight through the wall and was hurled outside.
“What the hell?!”
Kim Dae-woong almost reflexively released black mana from his body.
But when he saw several people in black suits standing in front of him, he held back.
“Commander…?”
Spotting Brigadier General Kwon Hyeok-gyu among them, he congratulated himself on his restraint.
He had powerful backing from the Director of the Ministry of National Defense, but carelessly revealing this kind of power could cause serious trouble.
“Company Commander.”
“Yes?”
Kwon Hyeok-gyu called his name, yet Kim Dae-woong responded with a dazed voice instead of proper rank and name protocol.
“Did you accept black mana?”
“What are you—”
As Kim Dae-woong tried to deny it, blue mana erupted from Kwon Hyeok-gyu’s body.
Sssss—
The overwhelming pressure made Kim Dae-woong swallow involuntarily.
But thanks to the black mana he had accepted, the pressure felt far less intense than before.
‘This might actually be manageable.’
Confidence began to rise within him.
Of course, he had no intention of actually attacking the Commander.
His plan was to hold out at the Border Command, climb the ranks quickly to general, then transfer to the rear and enjoy an easy military career.
Even now, thanks to his father’s influence, his life wasn’t particularly difficult.
Occasionally dealing with monsters leaking from the contaminated zone was annoying, but they weren’t high-risk.
“I’ll ask again. Did you accept black mana?”
At Kwon Hyeok-gyu’s repeated question, Kim Dae-woong straightened his expression and shot back.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Commander, why are you threatening me? My father—”
That was when—
“Hey, Kim Dae-woong.”
Some guy in a black suit casually called him by name.
He wasn’t even wearing a uniform, yet he was inside the compound—and accompanied by the Commander, no less.
‘Intelligence?’
Even if he really was from the Defense Security Command, Kim Dae-woong felt no particular intimidation.
The man looked young—probably not high-ranking.
Of course, Intelligence agents didn’t care much about rank, but with the Director of the Ministry of National Defense as his father, that didn’t matter to him.
“If you’re military too, you should show mutual res—”
“Respect? You’re not military anymore.”
At those words, Kim Dae-woong frowned.
Not military anymore—what the hell did that even mean?
“Hey. Do you even know who I am to talk to me like that?”
“Yeah. Bait.”
“Bait?”
“Let’s test how good the bait performs.”
Suddenly, Kim Dae-woong’s body floated into the air again.
Just like when he’d been yanked out of the administrative office earlier.
“What the—”
The next moment—
Swoooosh— BOOM!
He crashed straight into the ground.
Before he could pull himself free, an unknown force dragged him out again.
BOOM! BOOM BOOM!
He was slammed into the earth over and over, changing locations each time.
Even when he tried to release his innate mana to escape, his entire body was locked tight—not a single inch could move.
In this state, even activating his ability ‘Sprint’ was impossible.
The problem was that if his grade had been lower, he might have passed out—but the black mana kept his mind painfully clear.
‘This crazy bastard is trying to force the black mana out of me?’
That was the only explanation Kim Dae-woong could come up with.
But how the hell did they even know he had black mana?
The only people who knew were his father and the Communist Party hunter who had given it to him.
Neither of them had any reason to expose him.
‘I’ll just endure it.’
Even if they were from Military Intelligence, they wouldn’t dare kill a soldier outright.
It would probably end at some reasonable point.
Soon after, the man in the black suit spoke.
“Stubborn one, aren’t you? Or maybe you want to follow in your father’s footsteps?”
“…What?”
The moment his father was mentioned, Kim Dae-woong’s mind went completely blank.
Then, pitch-black mana exploded from his body.
At the same time, something pounded against his brain for a brief moment, but he ignored it and unleashed his power.
Swoooosh—
When he activated Sprint while cloaked in black mana, not only did his speed become terrifyingly fast—
But any hunter-level trash who collided with him would have their body explode on impact.
“What did you do to my father?!”
At that moment, the unknown force binding his body finally vanished.
Kim Dae-woong immediately activated his Sprint ability using black mana.
Though it didn’t quite reach the level of Yoon Soo-ho’s signature “Lightning Flash,” it was still comparable in speed.
His body shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bowstring.
***
“Even the company commander ended up…”
Kwon Hyeok-gyu covered his face with his hand as he watched Kim Dae-woong unleash black mana.
He had already known the truth ever since Kim Won-gu admitted his son had received black mana too—but seeing it with his own eyes made the reality sink in even deeper.
He had suspected the Communist Party’s reach wouldn’t be limited to just Kim Dae-woong.
All this time, he had turned a blind eye to the father and son’s collusion with the Communist Party without even realizing it—and now he blamed himself bitterly.
Regardless of Kwon Hyeok-gyu’s turmoil, Chae Jin-young seized Kim Dae-woong’s charging body with psychokinesis.
Crack— Swoooosh!
He launched him upward like a rocket.
Kim Dae-woong soared high into the sky, black mana pouring out of his body and spreading wide in all directions.
Would the monsters really be drawn by that scent and cross out of the contaminated zone to come here?
“Ughhh…!”
Suspended in midair, Kim Dae-woong began releasing even more black mana.
Swoooosh—
Now that his black mana was fully exposed, it seemed he intended to go all out.
His only thought was to escape this place somehow.
That was when—
Rumble rumble…
A suspicious vibration began to echo from beyond the barrier wall.
The wall stood about ten meters high, so it was impossible to see what was happening on the other side.
Jin-young wasn’t the only one who felt it.
“Something suspicious is coming from the contaminated zone side. Looks like more monsters are trying to crawl out…”
Kwon Hyeok-gyu said while turning toward the wall.
Jin-young released additional psionic energy and lifted his own body into the air.
“Let’s go check it out.”
In an instant, he soared up to the top of the ten-meter wall.
Kwon Hyeok-gyu, Choi Hee-yeon, and Na Ji-hwan quickly followed.
Kwon Hyeok-gyu, using his superior physical ability, kicked off the wall several times and reached the top first.
When he saw the Creep stretching beyond the Imjin River, his expression turned to shock.
“How did so many monsters gather there so quickly…?”
Originally, there shouldn’t have been any monsters in the outer regions of the Paju contaminated zone.
During the previous expedition into North Korean territory, they had cleared that area once, and afterward the Border Command had steadily conducted cleanup operations.
“This is only a tiny fraction. There must be far more hiding deeper inside.”
Jin-young looked down at the roughly hundred monsters darting across the Creep and spoke.
Now it was certain.
Kim Dae-woong was bait designed to lure contaminated zone monsters.
‘So that’s why the Monster Wave reached all the way to Seoul in the previous timeline.’
Before the regression, there had been optimistic predictions that the Monster Wave might not reach Seoul.
Of course, very few actually believed that—because the monsters had come in insane numbers.
But it wasn’t entirely wrong.
Monsters that left the Creep had a natural instinct to return to it.
If there was no prey nearby or they wandered too far, they would head straight back to their habitat.
But if there was mana like Kim Dae-woong’s that strongly attracted them?
‘With his Sprint ability, they must have thought he was perfect for luring monsters all the way to Seoul.’
The Communist Party had planned this quite thoroughly.
In Jin-young’s opinion, Kim Dae-woong alone wouldn’t be enough as bait.
They would need to station several more people at intervals between Paju and Seoul to ensure the plan went smoothly.
But Jin-young had no intention of hunting them all down one by one.
The monsters wouldn’t be able to breach this barrier anyway.
‘Can we absorb the black mana Kim Dae-woong released and inject it into Lee Ju-hong?’
『Lee Ju-hong has quite a lot of mana, so he should be able to endure it.』
‘Good. Let’s do it.’
While Kwon Hyeok-gyu and the others were distracted by the monsters in the contaminated zone,
Jin-young created a portal behind Kim Dae-woong, who was still floating inside the barrier.
Sssht—
Tentacles shot out from the portal, sucked in the black mana dispersed in the air, then dragged Lee Ju-hong out from subspace.
His head was almost completely bald from stress, and his overall appearance was gaunt and haggard.
His eyes were unfocused—his mind half-broken.
The tentacles paid no attention and began injecting the black mana into his body.
“Ugh!”
Lee Ju-hong’s eyes snapped wide open as if jolted awake.
Soon after, his body too began emitting mana that attracted contaminated zone monsters.
『But this black mana is different from what GODS uses.』
‘Is there something more to it besides attracting monsters?’
『It seems to have a self-destructive property. It has no effect on us, so I can’t gauge its destructive power.』
‘Hmm. We’ll have to watch closely.’
By the time the procedure finished, the monsters that had already left the contaminated zone were plunging into the Imjin River.
The moment they swam across, they would have to scale the ten-meter wall.
Right now there were only about a hundred, so they wouldn’t make it over easily—but if thousands gathered, the story would change.
“I’ll handle it.”
Kwon Hyeok-gyu released blue mana and activated his ability.
***
Rumble rumble—
As soon as someone’s military boot touched the ground, the Creep parted like it was making way.
A man in his early thirties wearing a People’s Liberation Army uniform.
1st-grade hunter, China’s youngest general, and the supreme power behind the Communist Party.
Zhu Yinchang, Commander of the Awakener Military.
Behind him followed hunters of various appearances and nationalities.
The largest villain organization driving the world deeper into chaos—GODS.
Among them, a man wearing a turban and black sunglasses spoke up.
“Zhu Yinchang, I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“If the Monster Wave operation turns Korea into a wasteland, what’s the point of ruling over ruins?”
“Heh heh heh…”
Zhu Yinchang gave a light chuckle before continuing.
“Of course, if they can’t stop the Monster Wave, Korea will disappear. But do you think our great nation would just sit by and watch?”
The man in the black robe with black hair—not the turbaned one—interjected.
“So you plan to provide hunter support to Korea under the pretext of aid, then seize command authority and expand influence.”
“Oh, as expected from someone who’s Korean—you saw right through it.”
Zhu Yinchang turned to the black-haired man with a grin.
Kwak Jeong-min, a GODS member of Korean origin.
He had been reluctant to participate in this operation, but the Godfather’s order left him no choice.
While they talked, Zhu Yinchang’s group advanced deep into the core without encountering any monster interference.
The toxic fog was thick, yet none of them showed the slightest sign of struggle.
“Kwak Jeong-min.”
At Zhu Yinchang’s call, Kwak Jeong-min summoned a massive boulder in midair.
No—a rock far larger than a boulder.
Sssss—
A soccer goal-sized blue stone appeared: a mana stone.
Thud—
The mana stone landed on the Creep and glowed blue for a moment.
Sssss—
But soon it was overtaken by Creep and began turning pitch black.
Then, Kwak Jeong-min and six other GODS members surrounded the blackened mana stone.
In the center, standing beside the stone, Zhu Yinchang raised both hands.
Crackle crackle crackle—
Black mana began swirling violently around him.
Across the contaminated zone, monsters began moving south in obedience to Zhu Yinchang’s will.
And then—
“Mo… ve…”
Veins bulging on his forehead, Zhu Yinchang strained with all his might, pushing the black mana to its absolute limit.
Thump—
A heavy, dull sound echoed through the contaminated zone.
The 1st-grade boss monster had begun to move.
_____________________________________________
TL Note:
Thanks for reading!
Want 22 extra chapters ahead + 9 chapters/week? Join my Patreon for early access:
Link: https://www.patreon.com/cw/Vritratls?utm_source=search
For this novel specifically, check the collection under “Transcendent Psychic Regressor (TPR)”
Also all my other translated novels additional chapters are available on Premium Tier.
Appreciate all the support! ❤️
_____________________________________________