Chapter 60: Prophet (3)
Artifact ‘Demon Spawn’.
One of Godfather’s treasures, and a staff with the function of producing monsters in contaminated zones.
It gave off a similar feeling to the magic staves used by the black mages during Jin-young’s time in Renard.
The difference was that those black mages had used their staves merely as tools for mana manipulation.
“As you probably guessed, the core is this gem.”
At the end of the violet metal staff hung a golden orb.
The source of the artifact’s mana was precisely this orb.
Kim Jeong-moon continued while looking at the golden gem.
“When the artifact’s durability is fully depleted, this golden light will fade, leaving only a dull gray stone.”
“Have you found any way to use it further?”
Jin-young cut in before Kim Jeong-moon’s explanation could drag on.
“Its original function as Demon Spawn can be considered over, but there’s potential for other uses.”
He approached the glass-walled chamber installed in the center of the lab.
Ziiing—
The chamber door opened, and Kim Jeong-moon placed Demon Spawn inside.
Soon the chamber was completely sealed, and air thick with Creep’s toxicity filled the interior.
Sssss—
In response, Demon Spawn reacted; the golden orb floated into the air.
Jin-young could see a power similar to black mana flowing from the staff.
It resembled the kind of power the black mages of Renard would have used, rather than the usual black mana employed by GODS.
Demon Spawn was clearly an artifact that had emerged from a dungeon, just like a demonic sword.
“Normally, artifacts with durability become unusable once it runs out. But this one—Demon Spawn—is an exception. Strangely, the more its durability depletes, the more peculiar power emerges.”
“So once its power is fully exhausted, another kind of power reveals itself.”
“Exactly. Of course, we haven’t fully identified what that power is. That’s why we held off until you arrived.”
Sssssss…
After emitting power for a while, Demon Spawn’s orb began to flicker with golden light, then turned completely ashen gray.
Its durability had been fully depleted.
The next moment—
Thud—
The gray orb detached from the violet rod and fell to the floor.
But that wasn’t the end.
Shuuut—
Suddenly, the gray orb floated back into the air.
Sssss—
A white power was flowing out from the orb.
Normally, unique mana was blue, polluted mana was black, and so on—each had its color—but the power emanating from this orb was entirely different.
“That’s…”
Kim Jeong-moon watched with eyes full of curiosity, as though he had discovered something new.
He had expected another power to unlock, but clearly hadn’t anticipated this one.
Of course, Jin-young already knew what this power was.
It was commonly called ‘holy power’.
In Renard, only priests who had received God’s grace—among the clergy—could wield this force.
‘So it had been suppressed by the black mana all this time?’
Jin-young concluded that the black mana dominating Demon Spawn had kept the holy power hidden.
Soon, an astonishing phenomenon occurred due to the holy power flowing from the orb.
Shssss…
The Creep’s toxicity was being swallowed and extinguished by the white light.
Seeing this, Kim Jeong-moon spoke with wide eyes.
“Could it… actually purify Creep?”
“Deputy Director, go ahead and open it. It doesn’t seem like a dangerous power.”
“…Understood.”
At Jin-young’s words, Kim Jeong-moon opened the glass door of the chamber without hesitation.
He carefully picked up the orb and took it out.
“As I expected, a new power did emerge… but I never imagined it would be something like this.”
Kim Jeong-moon stared intently at the orb in wonder.
Then suddenly, the orb slipped from his hand.
Jin-young had pulled it over with psychokinesis.
Sssss—
Enveloping the orb with psionic energy, he applied pressure and spun it around.
Sssss…
A little holy power began to leak out from the orb.
Jin-young examined the holy power more closely with his psionic energy.
‘It’s definitely similar to the power used by the priests of the Ramun Church.’
It couldn’t be called exactly the same, but at its root, it was fundamentally alike.
Anyway—to think it possessed the power to eliminate Creep’s toxicity.
Purifying an entire contaminated zone seemed impossible, but there were surely other ways to utilize it.
Jin-young recalled what the priests in Renard had done with holy power.
“Deputy Director, excuse me, but could you make a small wound on your body?”
He had already tested it on himself, but super-regeneration made any injury meaningless.
Kim Jeong-moon was suddenly asked to self-harm, yet instead of looking displeased, he seemed oddly excited.
He had the air of a mad scientist on the verge of a groundbreaking discovery.
“How big should the wound be? Should I stab deep?”
“Just lightly scratch your forearm for now.”
Jin-young quickly added the instruction, worried the man might go straight for seppuku.
After glancing around, Kim Jeong-moon picked up a utility knife and drew it across his own arm.
A thin line of red blood welled up and trickled down.
Jin-young used psychokinesis to float the ashen orb over the wound,
Then applied pressure again.
Sssss—
Holy power flowed out and enveloped the cut.
“O-ohhh! The wound is healing!”
Kim Jeong-moon couldn’t contain his excitement and raised his voice without realizing it.
“Do you think we could make something with this?”
At Jin-young’s question, Kim Jeong-moon calmed his excitement and fell into thought for a moment.
He furrowed his brow deeply, pondering, before finally speaking.
“Before we try making artifacts or potions, we need to study this mysterious power first—and that could take quite a long time. Just like Ji-eun’s red mana, this is a completely unprecedented type of energy we’ve never seen before.”
“Then I’ll extract some of this power and leave a sample. Once the research is done, I’ll lend you the orb.”
Kim Jeong-moon nodded at Jin-young’s words.
“That would be great. Thank you.”
Jin-young placed the orb into the blue container Kim Jeong-moon had prepared.
Then, once again using psychokinesis, he squeezed out more holy power before removing the orb.
Kim Jeong-moon quickly sealed the lid.
Since it was a specially crafted mana storage container made from manastones, the energy shouldn’t leak easily.
With his task complete, Jin-young left the research facility and opened a portal.
He headed to the Hongcheon Contaminated Zone—both to test the orb’s holy power and to acquire more manastones.
***
A neatly maintained two-story standalone house set in a well-kept garden.
Late at night, a woman appeared in front of the lit house.
Federation Chair Hannah Adams.
The moment she approached the door—
Creak—
It opened on its own.
Hannah stepped inside naturally and walked toward the living room.
The television was broadcasting news of the riot that had occurred in downtown Taipei, Taiwan.
The appearance of the giant tentacle in the sky above the contaminated zone had, of course, been omitted from the report.
Hannah glanced at the screen briefly before turning to the person sitting on the sofa.
A woman with red hair.
“I’ve been waiting, Hannah.”
“Michelle.”
Michelle turned to look at Hannah.
A black eyepatch covered her left eye, standing out prominently.
“You’re here to ask about the Second Great Cataclysm, right?”
“Yes.”
Hannah nodded without hesitation.
Michelle possessed the ability “Foresight”—the power to see the future.
As a 1st-grade hunter, she could glimpse minor events that wouldn’t greatly affect the future using only a small amount of mana.
But when it came to major branching points—events significant enough to be called divergences—the cost was entirely different.
“Did you bring the manastones?”
At Michelle’s question, Hannah took several manastones out of the pouch at her waist.
Despite the small size of the bag, large manastones kept emerging one after another.
It was an artifact with subspace functionality.
Michelle placed her hand on the table where the manastones lay and closed her eyes.
Sssssss—
All the mana from the manastones was sucked into her hand.
Flash!
With only one eye open, multicolored lights flickered rapidly in her blue pupil.
It looked as though fast-forwarded footage was racing through her mind.
Drip—
Blood tears flowed from her eye.
Crack—!
The manastones shattered all at once, and the light in Michelle’s eye finally faded.
Hannah watched her with a pitying expression.
But for the sake of humanity’s future, there was no choice.
Michelle steadied her breathing, gradually regaining composure.
“Within the next year… the Second Great Cataclysm will not occur.”
“Huu…”
Hannah let out a sigh of relief at the good news.
She had been on edge, fearing the Great Cataclysm might begin before proper preparations were even complete.
But it was too early to celebrate.
“However, disasters will begin erupting all over the world. Soon, dungeons surpassing 1st-grade will start to form.”
“Dungeons surpassing 1st-grade?”
Until now, the highest danger level for dungeons had been 1st-grade.
Since the emergence of Zero-grade hunters, the clear rate for 1st-grade dungeons had risen significantly, but before that, they had been places where one had to risk their life.
If dungeons beyond that existed, even with Zero-grade hunters, clearing them couldn’t be guaranteed.
And the problem didn’t end there.
“Contaminated zones harboring disaster-grade monsters will experience monster waves.”
“Monster waves…”
Hannah recalled the monster wave that had recently struck Korea.
The one that originated in North Korea and swept through Paju had ultimately been attributed to GODS.
Of course, the presumed ringleaders—including Zhu Yinchang—had gone missing and couldn’t be located.
Another monster wave meant GODS was resuming activity.
But there was an issue far more critical than the monster waves themselves.
Hannah furrowed her brow as she added,
“Disaster-grade monsters… are you referring to the Four Horsemen?”
“Yes. The disasters will begin to move.”
“······.”
Hannah’s mind grew chaotic.
Typically, unpurified contaminated zones were vast in their core areas, with exceptionally powerful boss monsters.
Even a 1st-grade boss was enough to make most nations hesitate.
Yet there were also contaminated zones containing monsters classified as disaster-grade—far beyond 1st-grade.
A prime example was Korea’s Hongcheon Contaminated Zone.
There lurked a disaster-grade boss monster known as the ‘Black Knight.’
It was said that Russia, Canada, and India each had their own: the White Knight, Red Knight, and Blue Knight.
When first discovered, they hadn’t borne those names, but through people’s legends, they had come to be called the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Given their similar appearances and apocalyptic power, the title fit perfectly.
“Is there any chance the wave from the Hamilton Contaminated Zone could head toward the United States?”
The contaminated zone in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, was so vast that it extended right up to the U.S. border.
No matter how strong a Zero-grade hunter was, they couldn’t realistically subjugate a disaster-grade monster while bearing the risks of a contaminated zone.
Based on bitter past experiences, the Federation had estimated that subjugating a disaster-grade monster required at least three Zero-grade hunters.
Even that was merely a guideline for preserving forces in unfavorable conditions—not a guarantee of successful purification.
There were officially only six Zero-grade hunters in the world at present.
Considering the strategic value each one held, even a temporary absence would cause enormous damage.
‘Above all, there’s no justification for taking the gamble. Not as long as they don’t come out of the contaminated zones.’
Russia and India, despite having Zero-grade hunters, had long ago given up on subjugating their disaster-grade monsters and simply quarantined the zones.
Hannah herself had once challenged the disaster-grade monster in the Hamilton Contaminated Zone, but after losing two 2nd-grade hunters, she had no choice but to retreat.
Even if the United States mobilized every high-grade hunter nationwide, it might be possible—but it wasn’t even worth considering.
Even if successful, the price would be dungeon gate explosions erupting across the entire country.
“It probably will.”
“Probably?”
Hannah tilted her head at Michelle’s ambiguous answer—that the monster wave might head toward the U.S. mainland.
Normally, Michelle never spoke uncertainly about the future.
What she saw through Foresight was immutable truth, and it had never been wrong.
Michelle moved her lips with difficulty before speaking.
“…You know, Hannah. It feels like either something’s wrong with me… or something’s wrong with this world. One of the two.”
“What do you mean?”
This was the first time Michelle had ever said anything like this while prophesying the future, and Hannah felt a surge of unease.
Without Foresight, Hannah would have died dozens of times before even reaching world rank 1.
A future without Michelle was something she couldn’t even imagine—terrifying beyond words.
“Something that had never appeared in Foresight before… at some point, it began twisting causality. All the disasters set to occur around the world… I can no longer see their outcomes.”
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