Chapter 49: Monster Wave (4)
Jin-young walked across the dissipating Creeps.
The northern Gangwon Province contaminated zone was only wider than Gaeseong, but the boss monsters were relatively weak, so the cleanup finished quickly.
The Geumgangsan contaminated zone, the areas north of Cheorwon, and a total of three contaminated zones had expanded and merged into one, which meant he had effectively hunted three boss monsters.
More time had been spent on movement than on actual hunting.
As a result, dawn had already broken without him realizing.
If he hadn’t flown at high speed using psychokinesis, it would have taken far longer.
‘I used quite a bit of energy after a long time.’
The psionic energy required to levitate his own body and propel it through the air at tremendous speed was truly enormous.
It was even more than what he had released on his last day in Renard while facing the demon king’s army.
In the early days when he had just begun to handle psychokinesis properly, it hadn’t been this exhausting.
But as the amount of psionic energy inherent in his mind grew exponentially, lifting his own body gradually became more difficult.
According to his master, the more psionic energy embedded in Jin-young’s mind, the heavier it became—like trying to lift something increasingly massive.
He wondered if, in about a hundred years, even his little sister would find it hard to lift him.
Just as that thought crossed his mind—
—Oppa, can you hear me?
Her telepathy came through at the perfect moment.
Now, even at this distance, he could hear her clearly. Chae So-young was growing remarkably fast.
‘Yeah. Looks like you arrived in Paju safely. How’s the situation there?’
—Since we’re inside a military base, everything feels very orderly and tightly controlled. If it weren’t for the Association President, I might not have been allowed in.
It seemed Association President Yoon Soo-ho and Commander Kwon Hyeok-gyu were commanding things well.
Thanks to Jin-young having told Yoon Soo-ho in advance that Chae So-young would serve as an important liaison, there were no issues with her entry.
‘Good. Tell Yoon Soo-ho that the entire northern Gangwon contaminated zone has been purified, so they should focus entirely on Paju. Just in case, have him station a few fast-footed hunters along the Gangwon border as well.’
—Got it. Anything else?
‘I’m heading further north to check on the situation. Telepathy might not reach, so keep that in mind ahead of time.’
—Understood. Be careful.
Jin-young began moving westward, toward the contaminated zone beyond Gaeseong.
***
The 1st-grade hunter from India, Sandesh Singh, was blind.
Of course, as a hunter with extreme physical ability and mana development, it caused no inconvenience in daily life.
He hadn’t been born blind. The injury came later, during his time as one of India’s top hunters.
It wasn’t inflicted by a monster or a villain.
The wound had been given by India’s Zero-grade hunter.
The Zero-grade hunter who turned India into an empire and crowned himself emperor had begun a campaign of religious persecution.
When the Sikh community Sandesh belonged to was destroyed, he barely escaped with his life.
The one who helped him flee was none other than the Godfather.
From that moment on, Sandesh began gathering strength while active in GODS.
All to take revenge on the Zero-grade hunter who had become emperor.
Just as Zhu Yinchang was now receiving GODS’s help to swallow Korea whole.
A faint red light flickered for a moment in Sandesh’s faded gray eyes before vanishing.
“The contact came through. He says he’ll be here soon.”
“Hmm… he’s an unpleasant bastard, but for the greater cause, there’s no choice.”
Zhu Yinchang didn’t openly reject the arrival of reinforcements, but his discomfort was still evident.
Of course, that wasn’t an unusual reaction.
Most hunters who knew the man reacted the same way as Zhu Yinchang. For those meeting him for the first time, the aversion was even stronger.
“Kwak Jeong-min, summon the Manastone and the staff. While we wait for him, we’ll produce additional monsters.”
“……”
At Zhu Yinchang’s demand, Kwak Jeong-min stared at him wordlessly for a moment before summoning a massive staff.
Tzzzt—
A staff over two meters long, made of some unknown, eerie purple-black metal, slammed into the ground.
Shhhhuuu—
The staff pierced smoothly through the Creep and sank deep.
The golden orb embedded in the head of the staff began to glow.
Ziiing—
It spread a power similar to black mana across the contaminated zone, breathing life into it.
Gurgle— gurgle—
Soon, the Creeps in the area swelled up like giant eggs, rapidly gestating monsters inside.
“As expected of ‘Demon Spawn.’ If we supply more Manastones, we can fill up hundreds of thousands more in no time.”
Zhu Yinchang gave a wicked smile.
Demon Spawn was one of the many artifacts stored in the Godfather’s treasure vault—and among the more precious ones.
Its incredible ability to produce monsters in contaminated zones was one thing, but it was also highly useful even outside contaminated zones.
The problem was that its durability wore down with each use, requiring careful handling.
That was why removing it without permission was strictly forbidden.
Of course, Zhu Yinchang had suddenly changed the plan, so there was no way he had received any approval.
“I wonder what kind of punishment the Godfather will hand down once he learns of this.”
Kwak Jeong-min looked at Zhu Yinchang and spoke.
It was Zhu Yinchang who had ordered the summoning of Demon Spawn, and it was Zhu Yinchang who had led the operation that used it.
In other words, all responsibility lay with Zhu Yinchang.
But Zhu Yinchang didn’t seem to care in the slightest.
“When the Godfather learns that a Zero-grade hunter has been hidden in Korea, he’ll understand.”
“Will he really…?”
In truth, it wasn’t something Kwak Jeong-min needed to worry about.
If this incident led to Zhu Yinchang being eliminated, that would only be a benefit to him.
Just then.
“He’s here.”
The moment Sandesh spoke—
Tzzzt-zzzzzt—
Before them, the Creep rippled violently, and something began surging upward.
At the appearance of the figure completely covered in black Creep, bewilderment appeared on the faces of everyone except Zhu Yinchang and Sandesh.
To anyone’s eyes, it looked no different from a demon.
Soon, the figure opened its mouth.
“Did you… call… me…?”
***
Jin-young arrived at the entrance of the contaminated zone that covered most of Hwanghae Province.
Since the Gaeseong contaminated zone had been purified, he began moving northward from the Seohung-gun area.
The Hwanghae Province contaminated zone was connected to the Pyongyang contaminated zone in the north.
As far as Jin-young knew, an enormous number of monsters were gathered in the Pyongyang contaminated zone.
To assemble hundreds of thousands of monsters, it was a place they would inevitably have to pass through.
Since he didn’t know exactly where the GODS bastards were located, his plan was to sweep from Seohung all the way up to Pyongyang.
He couldn’t cover the entire region on foot, so the best option was to look down from a high vantage point.
Tzzzt-zzzzzt—
Jin-young once again released a large amount of psionic energy.
He had recovered quite a bit of energy while walking here, so there was no strain at all.
Rising high into the sky, Jin-young looked down below as he moved.
Using Sensory Manipulation, he freely zoomed his vision in and out like a camera lens, scanning the surroundings.
At that moment, countless monsters entered his field of view.
They densely filled the Creep, not wandering aimlessly but standing in perfect, disciplined formation.
‘They’ve already nearly finished preparations for the wave.’
If Jin-young hadn’t purified the Gaeseong contaminated zone, the wave might have already begun—the sheer number prepared was that overwhelming.
No, compared to what he remembered from before the regression, the quantity was far greater.
Back then, he hadn’t counted precisely and had estimated roughly 400,000 to 600,000.
But the monsters he could see now numbered at least 700,000.
Counting them one by one with his eyes would take too long, so he had roughly calculated the number by sweeping over them with psionic energy.
Moreover, even now, more monsters were continuing to pour down from the north.
‘So they’re planning to throw in even the monsters that were supposed to be mobilized for the second Monster Wave this time.’
With numbers this large, the hunters remaining in Korea might not face a hunting ground—they might face hell itself.
Even the house where Jin-young lived would be turned into ruins.
Above all, he could never allow his sister’s safety to be threatened.
‘I’ll just clear them out enough to make hunting easier, then head up.’
Using psychokinesis, Jin-young slowly descended toward the ground.
While observing below, a single figure caught his eye.
Completely covered in pitch-black Creep, it looked far more like a demon than a human.
He had never seen a demon appear during a Monster Wave before, so Jin-young found it strange.
Shhh…
Activating the ‘Assimilation’ ability he had absorbed from the Stalker, Jin-young completely concealed his presence.
He quietly followed the demon heading toward the boundary of the contaminated zone.
This was the first time he had seen a demon voluntarily walk out to the edge of the contaminated zone, so he was curious what it was thinking.
When the demon reached the outermost edge, it spread both arms wide and released black mana.
Tzzzt-zzzz…
Immediately, Creep began spreading outward from where the demon stood.
Jin-young had seen Manastones placed at the core to expand contaminated zones before, but this was the first time he had witnessed a demon personally taking action like this.
“Hey.”
Jin-young released Assimilation from behind the demon and called out.
The demon, who had been expanding the Creep, turned around and asked,
“You too… are from GODS…?”
It spoke in English, but the words were simple enough to understand.
Jin-young couldn’t tell whether this demon was clever or foolish for mistaking him for GODS.
Judging from the fact that it could speak properly, it was at least a 2nd-grade demon or higher.
The problem was that it was using English.
After a moment of hesitation, Jin-young uttered just one word.
“Yes.”
“First time… seeing you… Introduce yourself… briefly…”
The moment those words ended, the demon’s body floated into the air.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa—
It was hurled straight out of the Creep and slammed into the clean, uncontaminated ground.
Jin-young stepped out of the contaminated zone with both hands in his pockets.
“Why are you speaking English? We can’t have a proper conversation like this.”
But that wasn’t the real reason he was acting this way.
As the dust settled, what emerged was not a Creep-covered demon, but an ordinary-looking hunter.
Simply leaving the contaminated zone didn’t allow one to freely put on or take off Creep at will.
Demons naturally lost power at an extreme rate the instant they exited the Creep, disintegrating like vampires exposed to sunlight.
“Damn it. Is this the guy Zhu Yinchang warned us about?”
“Oh, you know Zhu Yinchang? So he really was behind this after all.”
Jin-young nodded, having caught only the name “Zhu Yinchang.”
Whether he did or not, the demon glanced around nervously and tried to leap back into the Creep.
It seemed intent on regaining its strength to either counterattack or flee.
But Jin-young instantly created a subspace portal.
Tzzzt—
Black tentacles shot out from within and seized the demon.
“Gahk! Wai—”
In the blink of an eye, it was sucked into the subspace.
“I’ve got a lot to do right now. We’ll talk later.”
Jin-young returned to where the monster horde was gathered.
The creatures, having received orders to assemble in one place, showed no sign of moving.
“Grrrrr…”
But the moment Jin-young entered their field of view, they immediately bared their hostility and growled.
No matter how tightly they were controlled, not every monster could be perfectly restrained.
Doing so would place too much strain on the body, no matter how vast the mana reserves.
In other words, they weren’t about to leave the prey right in front of them alone.
“Grrrrraaaah!”
A massive, ferocious monster resembling an enormous sword-toothed tiger roared and charged first.
Kududududu…
Behind it, hundreds of thousands of monsters surged forward, drawn by the leaders at the front.
The sheer scale of their movement was enough to shake the earth.
Shwooooo—
At the same time, the toxic Creep emitted by the contaminated-zone monsters swept across the area like a violet storm.
This was something that could never be felt in an ordinary contaminated zone.
It was possible only because hundreds of thousands of monsters had gathered.
What’s more, since they hadn’t even left the Creep, they retained their full original power.
Watching the overwhelming march of that colossal number, Jin-young felt a thrill he hadn’t experienced in a very long time.
Since his regression, he had never felt this way—so a faint smile even appeared on his lips.
It wasn’t simply because he was facing hundreds of thousands of monsters.
“Something fun just came to mind.”
To Jin-young’s eyes, each individual monster looked like raw ingredients.
Tzzzt-zzzzzt—
Soon, streams of blue and red light poured from his body.
Kugugugugu—
They clashed against the violet storm unleashed by the contaminated-zone monsters, creating a massive vortex.
The instant the monsters stepped into that domain of power invisible to their eyes—
Shwaaaaak—
Monsters were swept up into the multicolored vortex and launched into the air.
Hundreds of them floated in midair, clustering together and thrashing helplessly.
It looked exactly as if they had been caught in an invisible net trap.
Kwa-tz-tz-tz-tz—
Soon, tens of thousands of monsters formed a gigantic sphere in the sky and began to rotate.
It was like a miniature Earth had been created above the real one and set spinning.
Kwa-jik— Kwa-deuk!
Jin-young compressed the now-overly-massive sphere once with psychokinesis.
Shwaaaaa—
Black blood poured from the sphere like a waterfall, drenching the ground below.
Even as that happened, tens of thousands more monsters were continuously drawn upward like magnets attaching to the sphere.
After several more compressions, a staggering 300,000 monsters had merged into it.
The surreal sight resembled a sphere the size of a World Cup stadium floating in midair.
Tz-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa—
Jin-young released far more psionic energy than usual.
It wasn’t just to control a larger volume.
Even finer, more precise manipulation was applied to the sphere.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwak!
The enormous size rapidly shrank until it was no bigger than a motorcycle.
And then.
Tzzzt-zzzz…
A single orb was born—containing the distilled essence of 300,000 monsters.
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