Chapter 65: Federation General Assembly (1)
Jin-young examined the scale still clutched in the Black Knight’s severed hand.
It had a golden sheen and an antique design.
Even though it had been separated from its owner, the ominous demonic energy showed no sign of fading.
Still, since the disaster the Black Knight had been trying to unleash had been stopped, there was no longer any need to worry.
It was undeniably a dangerous object, so he stored it in his subspace and turned back to the Black Knight.
With its horse’s legs broken and the scale taken away, the creature continued to emit demonic energy, stubbornly resisting the psychokinesis holding it down.
『This… cannot be…』
The Black Knight muttered in a hollow voice, staring at Jin-young with empty eyes.
“I thought you were just a simple monster, but it looks like you know something.”
Jin-young felt it would be a waste to simply kill it.
More than that, he doubted whether interrogating a monster was even possible.
Sssss…
Two portals opened on either side of the Black Knight, and tentacles emerged.
『This… cannot be…』
The moment it saw the tentacles, the Black Knight trembled violently.
But unlike humans, it didn’t lose its mind from sheer terror of the tentacles.
“Do you know something about tentacles?”
『This cannot be…』
The Black Knight didn’t answer Jin-young’s question and simply repeated the same phrase.
Talking to a monster was absurd in itself.
Yet Jin-young didn’t give up.
Sssss—
Black mana swirled out from his body, forming a small vortex.
Kwa-r-r-r-rumble—
A black lightning bolt shot toward the Black Knight.
It was the ability once possessed by the Devil’s Flower he had absorbed in Taiwan.
‘Black Thunder’—a power that shattered mental barriers.
Kwa-jijijijik—
Struck directly by Black Thunder, the Black Knight shuddered.
Immediately afterward, the tentacles wrapped around its body.
Kwa-r-r-rumble—
Black Thunder struck its mental barrier again and again.
But even then, it wasn’t dealing significant damage to its mind.
『Its mental barrier is being reinforced by Legacy energy.』
The tentacles, attempting to infiltrate its mind, spoke up.
Hearing that only made Jin-young more eager to break through the Black Knight’s mental defenses and interrogate it.
‘Do you have a way to strip away that Legacy energy?’
『Our black mana-based power won’t be enough. But the opposite might work.』
‘Holy power.’
Jin-young took out the ashen orb from his subspace.
Since Yoon Soo-ho had once forced it to release its power, the holy energy felt denser than before.
The ashen orb flew toward the Black Knight.
Before Jin-young could even apply pressure with psychokinesis—
Paaaaat—
It spontaneously emitted pure white light, as though trying to purify the Black Knight.
Holy power poured out in waves.
Shssss…
The tentacles quickly retreated into the portals to avoid the holy power.
Of course, at their level they could endure this much holy power, but there was no reason to take unnecessary damage.
The Black Knight was engulfed in the torrent of white light.
Kuuuu…
Its black armor, flesh, and the black horse’s hide began to erode little by little under the holy power.
The empty eyes started swirling with a mix of demonic energy and holy power.
『Betrayal… master… repentance…』
The Black Knight suddenly began spouting fragmented words.
It seemed the Legacy energy dominating its mind was gradually weakening.
Sssss…
At that moment, the orb emitting holy power reverted to ashen gray.
It appeared to have exhausted the amount of holy power it could release at once.
Jin-young retrieved the ashen orb and summoned the tentacles again.
Shwaaa—
The tentacles wrapped around the Black Knight once more and began infiltrating its mind.
『The Legacy energy hasn’t completely disappeared, but this should be manageable now.』
The tentacles began gathering black mana.
Sssss…
At the tip of the tentacles, the concentrated black mana formed into thin, needle-like shapes.
Puuuk—
They pierced straight into the Black Knight’s head.
Yet no physical wound appeared.
This wasn’t a physical attack—it was purely mental.
As the tentacles ravaged the consciousness domain polluted by the Black Knight’s demonic energy, they spoke.
『Forcibly breaking through the mental barrier might be a gamble. Its mind could collapse entirely and dissipate.』
‘But there’s no other way, is there?’
In any case, the Black Knight was a disaster that had to be eliminated.
It didn’t matter if it died.
If the gamble succeeded and its mind remained intact, that would be ideal.
Ku ku ku ku ku…
An unusual power flowed from the tentacles wrapped around the Black Knight’s body.
It was the ability ‘Charm’ from Zhu Meiling, fused and further strengthened into mental domination.
The swirling vortex in the Black Knight’s eyes began to spin faster and faster.
Its entire body trembled violently, teeth clacking together.
And then—
Puk!
Both of its eyes burst open.
Yet even then, its mind hadn’t fully dissipated.
『Please… forgive me…』
The Black Knight pleaded for forgiveness from someone unknown.
Jin-young ignored the words and began the interrogation.
“You seem to know something about psionic energy.”
『The power of an ancient god… I do not serve it…』
Jin-young recalled what his master had once told him.
A power passed down from ancient Renard. A primitive form of religion had preserved psionic energy through the ages.
But wars of religion, natural disasters, and other calamities had nearly erased all records, bringing the lineage to the brink of extinction.
A small handful had barely kept it alive, and the last successor had been Jin-young himself.
“Are you from Renard?”
『Renard… I do not know…』
Knowing about psionic energy despite not being from Renard meant it wasn’t a god exclusive to a single world.
But Jin-young had other questions, so he didn’t press further.
“Where did you come from?”
『The stolen… homeland… Generos…』
“Stolen? By whom?”
Just as the Black Knight was about to answer, its eyes suddenly widened.
『I can never… speak the name…』
Its voice grew unstable, and its mind began to collapse along with it.
Jin-young quickly changed the subject.
“Why are you a disaster trying to destroy our world?”
『That is… the fate… of those who have submitted…』
The Black Knight abruptly fell silent mid-sentence.
Then, as if noticing something, its pupils shook violently.
Jin-young followed its gaze and turned his head, but there was nothing there.
『Its mind has collapsed after all.』
At the tentacles’ words, Jin-young looked back at the now-empty Black Knight.
‘So its homeland was conquered by the Demon King, and it was reborn as a disaster and sent to our world.’
That was as much as he could infer so far.
The fact that GODS possessed artifacts capable of controlling disasters strongly suggested a connection to the Demon King.
Likely not just the Black Knight—the other disasters would be mobilized as well.
The remaining three knights in Pakistan, Russia, and Canada.
If they moved, not only those nations but neighboring countries would suffer catastrophic damage.
‘I should give the Chairwoman a heads-up in advance. If the conditions are right, I can even provide on-site service.’
To Jin-young, these disasters were little more than walking vending machines for rank-ups, but he had no intention of hunting them for free.
‘If I do everything they ask, they’ll get spoiled.’
Of course, since humanity’s survival was on the line, he wouldn’t be too stingy.
Any byproducts from killing the disasters would naturally belong to him, with additional conditions depending on each country’s circumstances.
For now, it was time to collect the Black Knight’s byproducts.
Crack—
Jin-young sliced open the Black Knight’s torso, searching for its heart and brain.
He probed inside with psionic energy, but no heart or brain could be felt.
Instead, he extracted two large gems—one blue, one red.
They looked like fully completed manastones.
Since no disaster-grade monster had ever been subjugated before, there was zero information on them.
Rather than absorbing them immediately, Jin-young decided to show them to Jeon Yu-hwan first and stored them in his subspace.
“How’s our Association President doing?”
Jin-young turned to look at Yoon Soo-ho, who was still fighting the Prophet.
***
Yoon Soo-ho, his entire body enveloped in white mana.
While holding his own against the temporarily Zero-grade Talida and the countless Locust swarm, a major change had occurred within him.
By pushing his stamina and mana to their absolute limits in sustained combat, he had transcended his current state.
Even though his mana was nearly depleted, consumption had drastically decreased, and his body felt lighter.
If he absorbed just a few 1st-grade manastones to raise his cap, reaching Zero-grade immediately wouldn’t be strange at all.
“Why… why on earth…?”
Watching Yoon Soo-ho grow stronger by the moment, Talida was reduced to frantic evasion.
Her abilities were heavily defense-oriented, but even defending was becoming difficult.
She couldn’t generate barriers fast enough to block the relentless attacks.
Chwaaaak—
She absorbed Creep bit by bit to build power, waiting for a chance to turn the tables.
Fortunately, the Locust swarm was harassing Yoon Soo-ho and buying her time.
Just then—
Pssss…
Thousands of Locusts suddenly began vanishing.
Even the Creep started hardening stiffly.
The disaster-grade boss monster—the Black Knight—had died.
“No… it can’t be…”
A single human had extinguished a disaster.
It was beyond Talida’s comprehension, so she instinctively denied it.
“No… this is the end for me.”
But even with her eyes wide open, she couldn’t deny the undeniable truth staring her in the face.
Not only had she failed to unleash the disaster—she had lost it entirely.
Godfather would never let this slide.
“Father, I…”
Talida, momentarily off guard after the Locusts vanished and her focus shattered—
Shwaat—
Yoon Soo-ho didn’t miss the opening. He activated Lightning Flash and penetrated her rear guard.
Boooong— Tzu-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
Destroyer struck her with full force, white lightning tearing her massive fly body to shreds.
“KyaAAAAAAH!”
Talida screamed in agony.
Black blood sprayed from her entire body, creating a thick, poisonous mist that spread in all directions.
But Yoon Soo-ho, cloaked in holy power, ignored the mist and delivered another blow.
Pukwa-kwa-kwak!
The giant fly exploded, scattering black blood everywhere.
Sssss…
Thanks to the holy power enveloping him, the blood evaporated before it could even touch his skin.
“Huu…”
Yoon Soo-ho lowered Destroyer, leaning on it to catch his breath.
Just then—
Puk!
A tiny popping sound echoed from midair.
It was one last microscopic fragment of Talida trying to escape unnoticed.
“Don’t let even a drop escape.”
Psycho, who had approached at some point, spoke calmly.
Floating beside him was the skull-adorned incense burner.
“The GODS I fought… was she really a Prophet?”
“Yeah. I originally planned to give them a taste of disaster, but an uninvited guest showed up and complicated things.”
“They were planning to use that artifact to move the Black Knight and bring disaster to Korea. But thanks to you, we stopped it.”
Once again, thanks to Psycho, Korea had been spared catastrophe.
Only now did Yoon Soo-ho fully grasp the meaning behind Talida’s earlier words.
Prophet.
GODS had clearly mistaken Psycho for a Prophet.
Even now, Psycho was speaking as if it had all been a coincidence.
‘He really might be a Prophet.’
A powerful suspicion took root in Yoon Soo-ho’s mind.
Unless someone had the ability to foresee the future, performing feats like this would be impossible.
Sssss…
Before long, the hardened Creep began crumbling into powder and scattering.
Korea’s largest contaminated zone—the Hongcheon Contaminated Zone, a long-standing latent threat—had finally been purified.
Yoon Soo-ho had always thought he would never live to see such a sight.
Most Koreans probably felt the same.
To stand at the center of this historic, glorious moment felt unreal.
“Korea’s disaster is over, but you know there are still three more out there, right?”
Yoon Soo-ho snapped out of his brief euphoria at Psycho’s words.
“GODS will target those places too.”
“That’s why I’m saying—we need to hold a meeting of the International Awakener Federation.”
Yoon Soo-ho was momentarily stunned by Psycho’s bold demand.
“…You want me to call it?”
“You’re Korea’s Association President, aren’t you? Every national association is part of the Federation.”
“That’s true, but… Korea’s influence hasn’t exactly been significant until now.”
For a long time, the Federation had been led by Chairwoman Hannah Adams and the United States.
The other five nations with Zero-grade hunters—India, China, France, Russia, and Japan—formed the core.
Below them were Korea, the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and others—but compared to the top six, they were clearly weaker.
“You think a country that took down two Prophets and one disaster has no say?”
“…Come to think of it…”
He had a point.
“And you’re Zero-grade now, aren’t you?”
At Psycho’s words, Yoon Soo-ho’s gaze sharpened.
The common trait among the six leading nations in the Federation was the presence of a Zero-grade hunter.
The so-called Zero Club.
If Korea officially produced a seventh Zero-grade hunter, that alone would be more than enough justification to convene a general assembly.
“Fine. I’ll notify the Federation to hold a general assembly.”
Then Psycho added casually,
“Oh, and tell them to hold it in Korea. I don’t feel like getting on a plane.”
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