Chapter 80: Crisis in Russia (2)
Igor, the attendant, couldn’t help but tremble uncontrollably.
“I’m not exactly someone who’s obsessed with money. I’m just making it clear that this isn’t some kind of charity service.”
The hunter who appeared wearing a black suit said.
He was the Korean hunter who had reportedly turned the entire conference upside down.
According to intelligence obtained by SVR agents from Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, there was a high probability that he was a black agent of the Korean National Intelligence Service.
But why a black agent would step forward at the conference and pull off something like that remained a mystery.
Neither Igor nor the other Russian hunters had been present at the scene, so the exact reason was hard to grasp.
Some suspected it might have been a performance meant to silence the controversy over disaster subjugation compensation.
“Money is money, but…”
In truth, 1 trillion won in Korean currency wasn’t an especially large sum for Russia.
When considering the cost of completely eliminating a disaster that could erupt at any moment, it could even be seen as rather cheap.
The real issue was having to pay it as an advance when it wasn’t even certain whether Korea could actually remove the disaster, and the fact that Russia’s price had been doubled compared to others.
Yes, they had arrived late to the conference, but that didn’t warrant such harsh retaliation, they thought.
Above all, the biggest problem was the demand for twenty 1st-grade mana stones.
Of course, Russia—one of the major hunter powerhouses—didn’t have a small stockpile of 1st-grade mana stones, but twenty was still an undeniable burden.
Mana stones directly contributed to increasing a hunter’s combat power, making them strategic resources tied to a nation’s overall military strength.
Among them, 1st-grade mana stones held astronomical value.
Twenty of them were enough to make someone forget about 1 trillion won without batting an eye.
And again, the fact that it had to be paid in advance was the issue.
No mere attendant could rashly accept such terms, and the person in charge was none other than Vladimir Zhukov.
Even though he had swallowed his pride and come all the way to Korea, if such unfair conditions were shoved in his face, no one could predict how he might explode.
Considering his fiery temper, another catastrophe might occur.
Igor swallowed hard and glanced at Vladimir.
“Mr. Zh-Zhukov…”
“……”
Vladimir was staring at the black agent with an expressionless face.
Unable to read his thoughts, Igor found it difficult to speak up.
At that moment, the black agent opened his mouth again.
“The distance between Volgograd and Moscow is less than 1,000 kilometers, right? How many days do you think it will take for the Red Knight and the monsters under his command to march here?”
“……”
Igor had no answer.
He had never once seen the disaster-grade monster known as the Red Knight.
But Vladimir knew more about the Red Knight than anyone else.
He also knew just how powerful the monsters from the Volgograd Contaminated Zone were.
Finally, Vladimir spoke.
“How much do you know about the Red Knight?”
“That he’s red?”
“And?”
“Nothing else.”
“……”
The absurd reply from the black agent caused the atmosphere in the hospital room to sink even further.
Ironically, it was Yoon Soo-ho, Myung Ji-yoon, and Chae So-young—who weren’t even directly involved—who looked the most flustered.
Igor fidgeted nervously, stealing glances at Vladimir.
Yet Vladimir continued speaking in a voice and expression devoid of any noticeable emotional change.
“So even though you don’t know what abilities the Red Knight possesses or how strong he is, you’re confident you can subjugate him.”
“Whether it’s the Black Knight or the Red Knight, they’re all more or less the same.”
“Impressive.”
Everyone was shocked by the unexpected words that came from Vladimir’s mouth.
Only the black agent himself remained calm and nonchalant as he replied.
“So. Are you going to do it or not?”
“I’ll entrust it to you with confidence.”
“Mr. Zhukov…?”
Igor seriously wondered if Vladimir had suffered brain damage.
He had heard that the black agent had given him a harsh beating, but since Vladimir had already been unconscious, he didn’t know exactly what had happened.
“This man is the strongest hunter on Earth that I acknowledge. If there is any hunter capable of eliminating a disaster, it is him alone.”
Vladimir was an arrogant, stubborn man who rarely bent, but he knew how to bow his head before someone he truly recognized as strong.
The only problem was that, until now, he had never acknowledged a single hunter.
He was the only one who refused to recognize Liu Qinglong and Prasad Bachchan, both of whom ranked higher than him on the world list.
He even despised Hannah Adams, the world’s number one, calling her overrated.
To begin with, since she was a psychic type rather than a physical powerhouse, she was exactly the kind of hunter Vladimir typically loathed.
The world rankings weren’t determined through direct combat but based on measurement grades, so it was understandable why he felt that way.
Vladimir had briefly clashed with Liu Qinglong and Prasad Bachchan in the past, so he had a rough sense of their strength.
He believed that if he fought them seriously, he could win.
But the black agent standing before him gave him no such impression at all.
It was just the feeling of being blocked by a massive wall.
Igor, who had no way of knowing what was going on inside Vladimir’s mind, still couldn’t shake his doubts.
Still, since Russia’s real power holder had given his approval, Igor had no choice but to follow.
“Then we’ll escort you on the private jet we arrived on. When would be a good time to depart?”
At Igor’s question, the black agent stroked his chin and replied.
“Tomorrow afternoon. I have a few things to take care of. And I need to check on my little sister too.”
At those words, Chae So-young secretly swallowed hard.
***
Kwaaaaa— Pukwak!
A white beam as thick as a log pierced straight through the monster’s head and torso.
The instantly killed monster collapsed right onto the Creep.
Chae So-young, who had emitted the beam from her palm, turned to look at Jin-young.
Her eyes seemed to demand praise right away.
“It’s definitely improved a lot. You’ve been raiding frequently lately and training hard, haven’t you?”
“Lately, every time I face a monster, I get this tingly, electric sensation now and then.”
“You might be on the verge of a second awakening at this rate.”
Jin-young wasn’t just saying empty words.
Not every hunter experiences it, but many report feeling a special energy just before achieving a second awakening.
He himself had never experienced it, though.
“I’m this good now. You have to admit it, oppa. That I’ve been putting in this much effort.”
Chae So-young puffed out her cheeks as she spoke, basking in the continued praise.
But Jin-young immediately started pointing out flaws.
“Your mana is fine, but your physical abilities are a bit lacking.”
“I’m a long-range dealer. I know physical stats matter, but I prioritize mana.”
“What if a monster that uses teleportation or invisibility ambushes you? There could also be traitor hunters targeting your back.”
“Suddenly talking about traitors…”
Chae So-young thought her brother’s imagination was running too wild, but then she suddenly remembered something from the past.
Not long ago, the guild she had belonged to—SP Guild.
Starting with Guild Master Min Hae-joon, several hunters had been plotting to betray her.
Of course, the main instigator and accomplices were all dead, and even the guild members not directly involved were still under surveillance by Intelligence Department agents.
“That’s exactly why you need to grow your psionic energy even more—to cover those weaknesses.”
“Haa…”
Chae So-young couldn’t come up with any more counterarguments.
Psionic energy was undeniably useful in many ways.
Once spread out, it allowed her to sense who was around her.
Moreover, with telepathy, she could easily read the thoughts of most ordinary people.
The problem was that she still couldn’t spread the energy very far, and using telepathy required intense concentration.
To detect someone far away harboring intent to harm her, she needed not only a large quantity of energy but also to reach the level where she could use telepathy as naturally as breathing.
“If repeatedly using the energy doesn’t make it grow, then we’ll have to try other methods.”
Jin-young had already anticipated that Chae So-young would eventually hit a wall someday.
Still, he believed she would break through it easily.
Because she shared the same bloodline as him.
But talent for psionic energy didn’t seem to have much to do with bloodline.
To Jin-young, who possessed genius-level talent in psionic energy, a “wall” was no thicker than a sheet of paper.
He could break through it without much effort. He had never even felt truly blocked by one.
Right now he was in a plateau phase, but once he seriously started training again, he could keep growing.
He was simply searching for an easier, faster, and more efficient training method.
One of those was exploring and fusing other energies, like Cyclic energy.
Jin-young imagined whether Chae So-young could also train using Cyclic energy.
“For now, try releasing your energy. Concentration doesn’t matter—just spread it as wide as possible.”
“Okay.”
Chae So-young closed her eyes and focused, beginning to spread her psionic energy wider and wider.
Kwa-tz-tz! Tz-tz-tz…
The explosive power she had shown during her first release quickly subsided.
And starting from just beyond a 1-meter radius, the density began to thin dramatically.
She was good at utilizing energy for things like telepathy or psychometry, but the total quantity and qualitative level of her energy were still low.
Jin-young judged that it was still too early for her to accept Cyclic energy.
For now, the priority was to purely train psionic energy and improve both its quality and quantity.
“I think you’re not training your mind diligently enough.”
“I train really… hard, you know?”
Chae So-young’s voice had lost a bit of confidence.
She wasn’t completely neglecting mental training, but it was surely different from what her brother expected.
As she had predicted, the kind of mental training Jin-young was talking about was on the level of wringing her out completely.
“Focus your mind. Gather the energy in your head.”
“……”
At those words, Chae So-young widened her eyes and concentrated her psionic energy around her head.
Having experienced it a few times in the early days, she handled it with apparent skill.
Then Jin-young released his own psionic energy.
Pazzzzt—
The psionic energy he emitted transformed into something like a human hand and tightly gripped Chae So-young’s head.
“Mental strength massage, commencing.”
“……!”
Though no actual sound of crunching could be heard, Chae So-young felt as though a grinding noise was coming from inside her skull.
A crude and primitive training method that directly shocks the mental world to increase psionic energy.
Among the techniques Jin-young had learned from his master, this was the most barbaric yet also the most effective.
Of course, resistance builds up over time, so it can’t be used frequently, and eventually its effectiveness drops sharply.
But in a situation like now, it wasn’t a bad choice.
“Ughhh…!”
Chae So-young clenched her teeth and strained with all her might, desperately trying to release her psionic energy.
Yet it was completely blocked by Jin-young’s energy with no gaps.
The training would only end once she broke through it.
Since it was impossible for this to finish in just an hour or two, Jin-young decided to test Cyclic energy in the meantime.
Worried it might affect his sister, he left the area and headed deeper into the zone.
This was the former North Korean Wonsan Contaminated Zone. During the Monster Wave, the boss monster here hadn’t been drawn out, so the area remained unpurified.
He was heading out both to purify the contaminated zone and to hunt down the boss.
Jin-young attempted to release Cyclic energy together with his psionic energy.
『Hasn’t the reinforcement of the Demonic Sword—or whatever it is—already passed its time limit? Or not?』
The tentacle’s voice, laced with irritation, rang out again.
‘Why? Still rampaging?’
『It’s getting worse by the day.』
‘Since when did you learn to talk like that?’
Jin-young still found it strange that the reinforcement of the Demonic Sword hadn’t finished yet.
But since Shin Soo-jeong had said she couldn’t pinpoint the exact time either, he figured there might be a slight margin of error.
‘I’ll pull it out once my sister’s training is done.’
After calming the tentacle first, Jin-young released both energies.
Kwa-tz-tz-tz—
Even though he released only a small amount of Cyclic energy, it spun with ferocious momentum.
With him as the central axis, his psionic energy began rotating alongside it—a sight reminiscent of a galaxy.
‘Even a small energy explosion has tremendous destructive power.’
Jin-young recalled the energy explosion he had experienced in Renard.
The massive blast caused by the clash between psionic energy and Legacy energy.
Without the help of the priest who had accompanied him to the ancient temple back then, he might have lived the rest of his life without arms.
Of course, after regressing, they would have grown back anyway.
Kuo0000…
The once-grating friction between psionic energy and Cyclic energy gradually synchronized, beginning to rotate quietly and harmoniously.
Then Jin-young reversed the direction of his psionic energy relative to the Cyclic energy.
Tz-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa—
With an enormous roar, the energy rapidly became unstable.
It looked as though the slightest touch would cause it to explode.
“Grrrrr…”
Deep inside the zone, Jin-young spotted a black tiger-like monster approaching from ahead.
Judging by the aura it gave off, it was a boss monster around 1st to 2nd grade.
“Kwaaaaarrr!”
The creature let out a thunderous roar and charged straight toward Jin-young.
Tz-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
As it ran, black mana explosively erupted from its back.
This level wasn’t 2nd grade—it was 1st grade, and among the top tier at that.
Before the lightning-fast black tiger could close the distance—
Tz-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
The unstable mass of rotating energy flew toward it.
Jin-young intensified the reverse rotation of his psionic energy even further.
Tzkakakakakang— Pat!
A blinding white light burst forth silently for a split second.
Kwaaaaaaaaang!
With a colossal explosion, the surrounding area was completely devastated.
Not only did the Creepers in the vicinity vanish entirely, but the ground itself was cratered as if shelled by artillery.
Even the thick poisonous miasma that had filled the area was cleanly wiped away.
“…My mana stone.”
Jin-young muttered to himself as he stared at the spot where not even dust from the black tiger’s corpse remained.