Chapter 61: Black Knight (1)
Sssss—
Jin-young applied pressure to the ashen orb with psychokinesis, squeezing out holy power.
The pure white light that flowed from the orb spread across the Creep on the ground.
Psssss…
Just like when a boss monster was defeated and the contaminated zone began to purify, the Creep hardened stiffly and turned to powder.
However, because the Creep’s regeneration far outpaced the holy power’s destructive effect, the results weren’t particularly impressive.
‘Still, since it can remove Creep at all, maybe it can purify Mines too.’
On his way toward the core of the Hongcheon Contaminated Zone, Jin-young encountered Mines and monsters wandering about.
The moment they spotted him, quadrupedal monsters charged like a pack of wild dogs.
“Kieeeek!”
Before they could even reach him, they were all bound in place by psychokinesis.
All they could do now was drool and snarl in threat.
“Uwoooooh!”
Jin-young let out a Battle Cry of his own in response.
“Kyaeng!”
Instead, the monsters were the ones who cowered, trembling all over.
If not for the psychokinesis holding them, they would have shrunk back or turned tail and fled.
The Mines weren’t much different.
“Sc… scary…”
Jin-young sent the ashen orb flying toward the Mine and scattered holy power.
Pssss…
Soon the Creep covering the Mine’s body began to melt away.
By applying even more pressure to the orb and increasing the holy power output—
Pssshhhk!
The Creep peeled off in an instant.
Even the Creep that had invaded the Mine’s insides was being extinguished.
“Oh.”
Jin-young watched with interest as the Mine’s red pupils slowly turned back to black.
But he quickly realized they hadn’t returned to their original color.
The eyes were lifeless—pure black, devoid of any vitality.
“Grrrrr…”
Now the Mine could no longer even speak words, only growling like a zombie.
Once fully transformed into a Mine, removing the Creep didn’t turn them back into a human.
‘Still, it might be quite useful for people in the middle of turning into Mines.’
It could have a significant effect on someone like Executor Hong Jun-su, whom he had saved before.
Back then, when he used tentacles to absorb the polluted mana, all mana ended up being extinguished as a side effect.
But if this orb could selectively eliminate only Creep, that problem would disappear.
‘It would help a lot with the anti-Mine transformation treatment the lab hasn’t finished yet.’
Jin-young planned to go back later and tell Deputy Director Kim Jeong-moon to treat him to a really big meal.
Of course, first they needed to find a stable way to handle holy power in the lab.
While kneading the ashen orb with psionic energy and observing it—
‘There has to be a way to fully release its power…’
He could feel an enormous amount of holy power compressed inside the orb.
But since it didn’t release the power on its own, so far he’d had no choice but to forcibly squeeze it out with psychokinesis.
If he could find a method to unlock it, he would be able to use far stronger and greater quantities of holy power than now.
『It seems the power will only be released if someone with holy power handles it.』
The tentacles, observing the orb alongside him, spoke up.
‘I haven’t seen any hunters who can wield holy power. And I can’t exactly bring priests here.’
『Alternatively, forcibly injecting holy power into a human and turning them into a priest might work.』
Jin-young furrowed his brow at the tentacles’ inhuman suggestion.
‘You inhuman bastard. But the idea isn’t bad.’
While he pondered who to inject holy power into, he arrived near the core.
Before stepping through the toxic fog, Jin-young casually operated his watch and called someone.
—This is Association President Yoon Soo-ho.
“Soo-ho, it’s me.”
—Psycho…?
Yoon Soo-ho’s voice sounded flustered at the sudden call.
The secret agent’s smartphone and watch constantly changed to fake numbers, so he couldn’t have recognized it immediately.
“Come to the core of the Hongcheon Contaminated Zone.”
—Why all of a sudden…?
“Why else? Korea needs at least one Zero-grade hunter, doesn’t it? Let’s go beat up some disasters together.”
***
Large eyes with thick double eyelids. A graceful, curvaceous figure.
A woman with distinctly Arab features walked barefoot across the Creep with wet slaps.
One of the seven Prophets—Talida Abdullah.
After pledging herself to GODS, she had abandoned Islam entirely and no longer wore a hijab or chador.
Her outfit completely exposed her midriff.
Three GODS organization members followed behind her.
“This is the spot, right? The place where the gateway was supposed to be installed.”
At her question, one of the male members answered.
“Yes, Prophet. Jacob’s whereabouts, who went missing that day, are still unknown.”
“Why would they be unknown? Because he’s dead. Yoon Soo-ho deliberately hid it. His corpse.”
Talida was convinced Jacob was dead.
Even if he was only half-baked, a 1st-grade was still a 1st-grade.
It was simply unimaginable that he would remain imprisoned for this long or submit to someone else.
“I agree with the Prophet’s words.”
“Do you know the exact location? Where the gateway was to be installed.”
“Yes. If we head straight in this direction toward the core, it should appear soon.”
With a sullen expression, Talida stepped into the core area.
While the organization members had all wrapped themselves in black mana to filter out the toxic fog, she inhaled it without a care.
As if it were refreshing air.
After walking for a while, Talida sensed a foreign power ahead.
She extended her hand and released black mana.
Crackle—
It collided with an invisible barrier, sparking.
As she drew closer, a hemispherical transparent barrier came into view.
The surroundings were filled with toxic fog, but the inside of the barrier held clean air.
“Shall we go in? Inside.”
At Talida’s words, the GODS members hurriedly entered the barrier.
Their faces showed clear relief at escaping the Creep’s toxicity.
“Not bad. Quite well prepared.”
Talida said while surveying the interior of the barrier.
There was just the right amount of sacrifices to activate the magic circle, and once the relay points installed around the world were activated, it could be used immediately.
“They must have died here, right? Min Hae-joon and Layla.”
She scanned the inside of the barrier once more, then released black mana from her body.
Sssss—
Pure, high-density black mana descended onto the Creep, exuding an ominous aura.
Immediately, black silhouettes rose up from the Creep.
Pshhh—
They were all human-shaped figures that looked identical, yet each performed different actions.
Among them were bulging egg-like objects, and black hands stretched out here and there, grabbing and absorbing other silhouettes.
“Hmm, interesting.”
Talida observed the frantically moving silhouettes with fascination.
The ability ‘Projection’—replaying exactly what had happened here in the past.
Though it had been a long time since the events, causing some parts to be omitted and details to be lacking,
It was still easy enough to grasp roughly what had transpired.
While the record was being projected, at some point a silhouette appeared and began tidying everything up.
“Oh.”
Talida looked at the pitch-black silhouette and recalled something.
The recent Prophets’ meeting at the Antarctic headquarters.
At that time, Godfather had mentioned something about a Korean hunter.
—Yoon Soo-ho couldn’t have stopped our entire grand plan alone. There may be another hunter in Korea with abilities like the Prophet.
The operations in Korea had been blocked so perfectly it was as if someone had anticipated and prepared for them.
It would have been impossible without a Prophet.
There was a possibility that America’s Prophet, Michelle, had helped Korea.
‘But she doesn’t have the luxury to help others. She’s barely keeping her own head above water.’
In the past, Michelle had overexerted herself by activating Foresight at maximum output, breaking through her limits to glimpse Earth’s fate.
As a result, she completely lost her left eye, and since then she had avoided pushing Foresight to its limits.
Therefore, it had to be someone new—not Michelle—who had awakened abilities similar to a Prophet.
“Who could it be? Korea’s new hunter.”
Talida replayed the final part of the record repeatedly.
Shwaa—
A tentacle suddenly shot out from thin air, snatching one silhouette and vanishing with it.
She guessed the vanished silhouette had been Jacob.
“What is this? These tentacle-like things.”
Talida muttered to herself.
The three organization members who had followed her had no idea either, so they simply stood there blankly.
“Hmm. It seems the culprit is someone who wields tentacles. Just like in Taiwan.”
Before coming to Korea, Talida had stopped by Taiwan and visited the site where Yoshida Satoru had died.
Because the contaminated zone had been completely purified, the Projection ability couldn’t display its full effect, but she had still roughly grasped what had happened.
There too, someone had extended tentacles from their body and subdued Satoru.
“For now, at least I know what to watch out for.”
Whether the tentacle-wielding hunter was the same person as this new Prophet-like figure remained uncertain.
But in Talida’s mind, the one to be most cautious of was undoubtedly the tentacle user.
After all, it was none other than fellow Prophet Yoshida Satoru who had been so helplessly overpowered.
“Ah, I’m starving to death. Using power really takes it out of you.”
Talida rubbed her stomach as she spoke, and the organization members hurriedly pulled food out of their bags.
The moment she saw the food, her eyes rolled back. She grabbed whatever was within reach and stuffed it into her mouth haphazardly.
She didn’t even bother with the packaging.
When she ate, it was as if her mouth expanded several times over—she swallowed multiple items in one go.
Chewing barely, she devoured everything at lightning speed, forcing the members to frantically unpack more.
Fortunately, the bag was an artifact with subspace functionality, so there was plenty of food.
If it ran out, they themselves might become the next target.
After several minutes of cramming food down her throat like this,
Talida’s previously flat stomach now protruded noticeably.
The shiny grease smeared around her mouth was proof of her gluttonous feast.
“Now I feel alive again. Let’s get moving. Time to do what we came here for.”
The reason Talida had come to the Hongcheon Contaminated Zone wasn’t for an on-site investigation.
Nor was it to finish the unfinished work from before.
In any case, she couldn’t complete the task here alone.
To activate the gateway in this place, sacrifices were required first, and above all, the relay points scattered across the world had to be activated.
Since Yoshida Satoru had failed to establish the first relay point, they would likely prepare even more thoroughly next time.
To make up for at least part of that failure, Talida had come to Hongcheon.
“······.”
The organization members swallowed nervously, faces tense.
Compared to what they were about to do, offering food to Talida had been nothing.
“Shall we wake it up? The disaster.”
***
A man walking across the Creep.
Carrying a massive hammer over his shoulder, Yoon Soo-ho had arrived in Hongcheon.
He had come in response to Psycho’s sudden summons.
“······.”
Now the Guild Master of the Guardian Guild and even holding the title of Association President, he was moving at the single word of a secret agent.
He had no idea how he’d ended up in this position, but he couldn’t exactly call it all bad.
Aside from the man’s extreme methods and complete lack of prior notice, he had brought tangible benefits.
It was Psycho who had pulled Yoon Soo-ho back from the edge when his abilities and will were deteriorating.
Still, no matter how much he thought about it, today didn’t sit right with him.
‘This feels like crossing a line.’
To go so far as to hunt the disaster in the core of the Hongcheon Contaminated Zone…
Disaster-grade boss monsters were the very things Zero-grade hunters around the world had given up on.
Of course, he had a vague feeling that Psycho might actually be capable of subjugating one.
‘But the moment he started talking about “Korea’s birth of a Zero-grade” or whatever, it already felt off.’
Trying to suppress that uneasy intuition, Yoon Soo-ho was heading toward the core when—
“······!”
He sensed an enormous power right nearby and immediately moved.
The source of that power was quite familiar to him.
Shwaat—
Using his lightning-speed ability, Yoon Soo-ho pierced through the toxic fog in an instant.
He passed straight through the transparent barrier and arrived in the fog-free zone.
Sure enough.
Traces of someone releasing black mana remained inside the barrier that GODS had once installed here.
“Did they come back again?”
Thanks to Psycho, he already knew GODS had been up to something in this place.
That was precisely why he had deliberately passed through here.
Yoon Soo-ho quickly realized the black mana didn’t belong to just one person.
There were at least three more.
The trace of the one who had unleashed the massive power ended here, but the traces of the other three continued outside the barrier.
Yoon Soo-ho followed those traces.
Just then—
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa—
The Creep-covered ground split open, and pitch-black thorns erupted wildly.
In an instant, they reached Yoon Soo-ho.
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