Chapter 59: Prophet (2)
“Ughhh… What the hell are you?”
“H-Huh! What did I just do…?”
One by one, the citizens whose eyes had been glowing red began regaining their senses.
The hunters who had been subduing them also noticed the sudden reversal and quickly scanned their surroundings.
“Association President! Over there, the flower…!”
“I see it.”
Zhou Zihua, the Association President of Taiwan, stared at the massive flower crumbling into powder and scattering in the wind.
It was clearly the work of the Zero-grade hunters from the Federation who had headed to the contaminated zone.
She immediately contacted the Taipei mayor.
“Yes, Mayor. The situation has been resolved. I request police support for on-site cleanup.”
After ending the call, Zhou Zihua headed to the Association headquarters to greet the Federation’s heroes who had worked so hard.
The Federation hunters who had been suppressing the chaos in the city alongside her also followed toward the Association.
Sssss—
Not long after, a blue magic circle formed in front of the Association building.
Soon, accompanied by Marc’s mass-teleportation, several hunters appeared.
They had clearly departed as four, yet six had returned.
The moment Zhou Zihua spotted a familiar face, she flinched.
“······!”
Liu Qinglong, China’s Zero-grade hunter.
She found it strange that he had appeared in Taiwan at some point, but she tried her best to ignore it.
Talking to that lunatic would only bring her trouble.
She bowed her head toward Federation Chair Hannah Adams and spoke.
“Thank you for saving Taiwan, Chairwoman.”
But Hannah wore an ambiguous expression.
While Zhou Zihua was puzzled—
A loud shout rang out.
“Who exactly are you thanking right now? The hero who saved Taiwan from GODS’s Prophet is standing right here!”
Liu Qinglong, his face furious.
Zhou Zihua’s expression hardened as she thought China’s usual bullying was starting again.
Of all people, it had to be Liu Qinglong.
With no choice, she prepared to bow to him as well.
But Liu Qinglong was pointing at someone else.
Hannah Adams chimed in to support him.
“Exactly. The one who resolved this incident is a Korean hunter.”
“…Pardon?”
Zhou Zihua’s eyes widened in complete surprise as she turned to look at the man.
A face she had never seen before.
The only famous Korean hunters she knew were Shin Soo-jeong and Yoon Soo-ho.
The man walked up to Liu Qinglong and spoke in a listless tone.
“Qinglong, why are you getting so worked up? Rough day?”
“No, sir.”
“Handling all of China by yourself must be tough, huh? Want me to split it up a bit for you?”
“If that’s what you desire…”
Liu Qinglong behaved like an obedient dog.
And when had he learned Korean? He was conversing naturally.
Zhou Zihua blinked her large eyes, simply staring at Liu Qinglong.
His attitude had changed so drastically that she almost wondered if only his mind had been swapped into the same body.
Hannah fully understood how Zhou Zihua felt.
Liu Qinglong was the kind of madman who usually stayed silent but, the moment something displeased him, would declare they should settle it with fists and charge in swinging.
“I know it’s hard to believe. I thought the same thing at first.”
“What on earth happened…?”
“That’s something only the two people who were in the contaminated zone know.”
Hannah gave an awkward smile as she spoke.
There were still some uneasy parts lingering, but there was nothing she could do right now.
Liu Qinglong’s mind showed no abnormalities, and if there were any she couldn’t detect, that would be an even bigger problem.
It would mean this Korean hunter was a step above her in ability.
Rather than acting rashly, she judged it better to observe over time and investigate.
Zhou Zihua finally snapped out of it and bowed formally to the Korean hunter.
“I am Zhou Zihua, President of the Taiwan Awakener Association. Thank you for saving Taiwan.”
Hearing her greeting, the man turned to Liu Qinglong with an indifferent expression.
Liu Qinglong immediately translated it into Korean for him.
After listening, the man nodded lightly and gave a faint smile.
“Ah, it was nothing. Anyway—where’s the most delicious and expensive restaurant in Taipei?”
“Excuse me?”
***
The heart of Washington D.C., where the U.S. Capitol, the Federal Supreme Court, the FBI, and the White House were all clustered together.
Amid the generally low and antique-style buildings, one strikingly modern high-rise stood out.
The headquarters of the Federal Awakener Association.
Hannah Adams, America’s Zero-grade hunter, visited the Association immediately after returning from Korea and Taiwan.
A bald man with a thick beard greeted her warmly.
“Well, well, if it isn’t our busy Chairwoman. It’s really hard to catch a glimpse of you these days.”
“Long time no see, Kyle.”
Kyle Anderson. A 1st-grade hunter and the current President of the U.S. Federal Awakener Association.
After Hannah founded the International Federation and became its Chair, he had taken over as head of the national Association in her place.
“I heard you were only staying in Korea for a short while, but you also stopped by Taiwan.”
“Your information network is as fast as ever.”
“The CIA’s intelligence capabilities are still going strong.”
Kyle shrugged.
Within the CIA, there was indeed an intelligence division composed entirely of hunters.
As the world’s strongest nation in terms of hunters, not only guilds but also state-affiliated hunters were of exceptionally high caliber.
“Then you must already have a rough idea of what happened in Taiwan.”
“Of course. GODS pulled another stunt, and it was cleaned up by a Korean secret agent.”
“That’s exactly who I wanted to talk about. Please call in the head of the CIA’s Awakener Intelligence Division as well.”
“Okay. By when?”
“Right now.”
At Hannah’s single sentence, Kyle immediately sprang into action.
She was the only person in the world who could make the president of the association of the world’s strongest nation move with just a word.
Once inside the building, she was escorted by the secretary’s office protocol team and took the elevator to the top floor.
The observation deck of the skyscraper offered a panoramic view of Washington D.C.
Hannah gazed at the scenery for a moment, lost in thought.
‘So far, the prophecies have never been wrong. Not even when I’ve done things that could have changed the future.’
The terrifying giant black tentacles she had seen in the sky above the Taiwan contaminated zone.
According to the prophecy, a divinity—an entity that mere humans could never oppose—would descend.
One of its defining characteristics was precisely those black tentacles.
At the time, Hannah had mistaken it for the arrival of the Second Great Cataclysm and seriously considered contacting the Prophet.
Fortunately—or unfortunately—the tentacles had vanished.
‘What in the world is that man’s true identity?’
A hunter who had stood unscathed beneath those tentacles and the massive flower—an utterly enigmatic existence.
At first she had suspected he might be with GODS, but after sharing a meal and conversation, he seemed like an ordinary person.
Of course, that alone wasn’t enough to dispel suspicion.
She still hadn’t figured out exactly why Liu Qinglong was submitting to him so completely.
‘I can’t solve everything on my own.’
Just then, she sensed someone approaching and turned her head.
“Have you been well, Chairwoman?”
A young woman appeared alongside Association President Kyle.
It was Lily Dalton, Director of the CIA’s Awakener Intelligence Division.
“More or less. Let’s move.”
They entered a secret conference room completely isolated from the outside world.
The meeting agenda, naturally, centered on the major incident that had occurred in Taiwan—
—and the unknown hunter at the heart of it.
“If even someone as prideful as Liu Qinglong is bowing his head, there’s a high probability he’s at least Zero-grade. Of course, since I’ve never seen him actually use his power, it remains uncertain.”
After Hannah finished, Kyle turned to Lily.
“No matter how secretly Korea tried to cultivate such a hunter, there’s no way the CIA wouldn’t know, right?”
“We’ve collected information from various sources over the years—the National Intelligence Service’s Awakener Intelligence Department, the Korean Awakener Association, the Crystal Guild, the Guardian Guild, and so on. But no such hunter existed.”
“He’s not even officially registered with the Korean government?”
“If there were any official records, we would have known. It’s possible the government has been secretly developing him in the shadows… or perhaps he isn’t even a hunter raised in Korea.”
Kyle stroked his chin as he listened to Lily.
“Then shouldn’t we start digging into this agent right now? Plant some operatives in the NIS or—”
“No. If we recklessly initiate espionage, we could end up provoking a counterattack.”
Hannah quickly shook her head.
Lily nodded in agreement.
“She’s right. If the opponent truly is Zero-grade, the CIA’s hunters won’t be able to handle him.”
After a brief moment of thought, Hannah spoke.
“In my opinion, the best course is to propose mutual cooperation between the CIA and the Korean National Intelligence Service. We already share the common goal of opposing GODS.”
“Cooperation with Korea…”
Kyle looked like he had something to say but held back, perhaps because the person in front of him was Hannah.
“I’ll relay the matter of cooperating with the NIS to our Director.”
“Good. Now, the next topic is even more important than the secret agent. It’s the ‘Second Great Cataclysm.’”
At Hannah’s words, both Kyle’s and Lily’s expressions stiffened.
They already knew what had appeared in the skies over Taiwan.
Of course, no ordinary human could have captured footage of it—but a hunter who had witnessed it with their own eyes was sitting right in front of them.
“According to the prophecy… wasn’t the Second Great Cataclysm supposed to happen three years from now?”
To Lily’s question, Hannah answered with a grave expression.
“I’d already been thinking GODS’s recent movements were suspicious… but it’s possible their immense power has distorted the prophecy. That’s why I intend to ask directly. The Prophet.”
***
“You’re here, Hunter-nim!”
Jeon Yu-hwan greeted Jin-young with an excited voice.
Dressed neatly in a pristine white lab coat, it was hard to believe he had once come from the black market.
“The manastones?”
“All finished.”
Jeon Yu-hwan placed two red manastones and two blue manastones on the table.
They had been obtained from the 1st-grade boss monsters Brachio and Ogre King that Jin-young had defeated in the North Korean contaminated zone.
While crafting the manastones, Jeon Yu-hwan had reached the level where he could completely remove black mana—but at Jin-young’s request, he had deliberately left some behind.
Chwaaaak—
Tentacles burst from his chest and snatched all four manastones at once.
Sssssss—
Jeon Yu-hwan had already quietly left the workshop before the absorption even began.
The black mana from the manastones was absorbed in an instant.
Immediately afterward, the manastones’ original energy flowed into Jin-young’s body.
The influx of power began causing a violent upheaval within him.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
Red and blue whirlwinds raged as if they would destroy everything around them.
The entire workshop vibrated with the force, yet nothing actually broke.
Kwaaaassss—
Soon, the red and blue whirlwinds were completely sucked back into Jin-young’s body.
Sssss…
The lingering afterimage of the manastones sparked and flickered around him like static.
‘I’ve reached it. 7th grade.’
With four 1st-grade manastones, Jin-young had successfully advanced to 7th grade.
As before, the amount of manastones required for grade progression was far greater than for ordinary hunters of the same level.
In exchange, his physical abilities and mana capacity were on a much higher level than those of hunters at the same grade.
The more manastones it took, the steeper the ability gains became—and it seemed the gap with ordinary hunters would widen even further at higher grades.
Of course, reaching 6th grade would require roughly double the current amount of 1st-grade manastones.
‘He eats a lot. At the very least, it’d be nice to climb to 1st grade quickly.’
Mana could be replenished with black mana, but physical abilities were different.
Since an especially large amount of psionic energy was consumed to support his body, the higher his grade rose—shedding the limits of humanity—the more usable psionic energy he would gain explosively.
Judging from the current rate of increase, by Jin-young’s standards, reaching just 1st grade would easily put him on par with Liu Qinglong’s level.
‘At that point, I should be able to project maximum output without much strain.’
Considering the additional psionic energy he would gain through future training, grade advancement was absolutely essential.
The problem was that acquiring manastones required dungeon raids—and 1st-grade or higher dungeons didn’t appear frequently.
There were probably still some 1st-grade dungeons left in countries with weaker hunter forces overseas, but…
‘Come to think of it, there’s something good right nearby.’
The disaster-grade boss monster in the Hongcheon Contaminated Zone—the Black Knight.
Originally, he had planned to leave it as an ant-lure trap to draw in GODS.
But the situation had changed.
He couldn’t allow something like what happened in Taiwan to occur in Korea’s contaminated zone.
“You finished absorbing them well.”
Jeon Yu-hwan cautiously opened the door and stepped back in.
“Uwooooooh!”
The moment he saw him, Jin-young let out a loud roar.
“······!”
Jeon Yu-hwan flinched at first, but soon felt his body lighten and a surge of willpower rising within him.
It was the skill Jin-young had acquired from the Ogre King: “Battle Cry.”
It boosted morale and enhanced abilities for allies, while instilling fear and lowering morale in enemies.
Unfortunately, the Ogre King never got the chance to let out even one cry—its head had been severed by the demonic sword before it could.
“Good work. See you next time.”
“Take care.”
After leaving Jeon Yu-hwan’s workshop, Jin-young met Deputy Director Kim Jeong-moon in the lab.
“Deputy Director Kim.”
“Ah, come on in, Agent Psycho.”
“How’s Director Kim Won-gu’s research going?”
Kim Won-gu, Director of the Ministry of National Defense’s Awakener Policy Division—and father of Captain Kim Dae-woong—had been kidnapped by Jin-young and brought to the secret research facility.
Despite being an ordinary person, he had accepted black mana into his body and could even use it.
The kidnapping incident had caused chaos in the Ministry of National Defense, and the National Intelligence Service had apparently broken a sweat cleaning it up.
For some reason, the image of the suffering Intelligence Officer came to mind, but Jin-young quickly pushed it aside.
At Jin-young’s question, Kim Jeong-moon scratched his head awkwardly.
“Well… the research isn’t going smoothly. The black mana in Director Kim’s body is, simply put… disposable.”
“Disposable?”
“Normally, mana doesn’t completely disappear from the body when consumed, right? But this black mana vanishes once used. Even when we extract it for research, the same thing happens.”
“Hmm… I see.”
Jin-young had planned to experiment on Jacob and the Stalker based on the black mana injected into Director Kim Won-gu.
But it seemed that wouldn’t be possible for now.
“Still, there is one piece of good news.”
Kim Jeong-moon gave a light smile.
“What is it?”
“The ‘Demon Spawn’ you entrusted to us—we’ve found a way to utilize it.”
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