Chapter 87: Dungeon Raid (1)
The moment the Red Knight’s head transformed into a massive eyeball.
Pukwakwakwak!
The Heavenly Thunder God Sword streaked in like a bolt of light, shredding the eyeball into tatters.
Puhwaaaak!
Thick, dark-crimson blood splattered in all directions.
It happened before Jin-young could even properly lock eyes with it.
Jin-young furrowed his brow at the almost desperate speed of the Heavenly Thunder God Sword’s strike and asked,
“What’s the rush? I didn’t even get to have a conversation with that eye yet.”
―Conversation? Do you truly believe you can converse with the Heavenly Demon? If so, you are gravely mistaken.
The Heavenly Thunder God Sword spoke in an unusually grave and serious tone.
“That’s something you only know after trying.”
―Of course, considering your martial prowess, it might indeed be possible. However, if the Heavenly Demon’s eye beholds this world, it will hasten its destruction. Are you truly fine with that?
“Hm. Yeah, a lot of them still aren’t ready.”
Jin-young thought of the Hunters excluding himself and shook his head.
Yoon Soo-ho had only just reached Zero-grade, and Shin Soo-jeong was right on the verge of seeing the light.
The Zero-grade Hunters from other countries were still far below Jin-young’s level.
He had no way of knowing exactly how strong the Heavenly Demon was, but even if Jin-young stepped forward to stop it, any localized damage would have to be endured by the remaining Hunters.
To endure that, they needed to become far stronger than they were now.
―The Heavenly Demon is the strongest and most wicked being who annihilated all of humanity in the world of the strong-preying-on-the-weak. I sincerely hope you do not take him lightly.
Jin-young was curious about the relationship between the Heavenly Demon and the Demon King.
Were they the same entity with different names? Or completely different beings with a similar dynamic?
Perhaps they were entirely unrelated deities from different dimensions.
There would be many ways to find clues about them, but on Earth there was only one.
Find the Godfather and interrogate him.
But locating that bastard would take a long time.
That was why he had to seek a method outside of Earth—in another dimension.
Dimensional travel wasn’t something that could be done just because one wished for it; a stable and certain method was required.
Precisely—a Dungeon Raid.
Of course, a dungeon was merely a partial manifestation of another dimension, so information related to deities might not necessarily appear.
However, according to Shin Soo-jeong, the higher the danger level of the dungeon, the more incomprehensible pieces of information tended to surface.
Among them, there would surely be some related to deities.
He thought he should inquire about high-risk dungeons through the World Dungeon Control Organization that Shin Soo-jeong belonged to.
“Fortunately, the brain is still intact.”
Jin-young had thought it would be impossible to salvage the brain once the Red Knight’s head turned into an eyeball, but fortunately it remained perfectly fine.
It seemed to have narrowly avoided even the Heavenly Thunder God Sword’s strike.
Just like the last time with the Black Knight, it had already turned into a black stone glowing with blue light, like a Manastone.
But compared to last time, the blue glow was far more intense, and it felt as though it contained much greater power.
It was probably thanks to Shin Soo-jeong’s All Things Enhancement being properly applied.
It hadn’t quite jumped an entire grade, but it was clearly of much higher quality than the Black Knight’s Manastone.
“But why are there so many scratches on this thing?”
Jin-young muttered while looking at the countless gouge marks on the surface of the blue-glowing stone.
―Ahem. It was not this one’s doing.
The Heavenly Thunder God Sword awkwardly cleared its nonexistent throat.
Jin-young had thought it was lucky enough to dodge the strike, but apparently it had taken the hit and still endured.
No matter how much of a Manastone it was, it shouldn’t have been this durable.
『It might be thanks to Shin Soo-jeong’s reinforcement.』
At the tentacle’s words, Jin-young nodded in understanding, then split open the Red Knight’s chest and pulled out the red Manastone that served as its heart.
The Creep that had been the boss monster was gradually disintegrating after its death.
Standing right there, Jin-young immediately extended his tentacle and absorbed the Manastone without delay.
Shwaaaaak—
As always, the tentacle first devoured all the Black Mana.
Skwaaaaaaaa—
Then it absorbed the energy of the Manastone, and a violent storm of blue and red swirled violently around Jin-young.
In an instant, the absorption was complete.
Now, even in Korea, he would be treated as a key strategic asset—a 3rd-grade Hunter.
Of course, the Hunter grade was merely secondary.
The amount of Cyclic energy infused with the Manastone’s power had increased dramatically compared to before.
It was a far more tangible surge than when he had absorbed twenty 1st-grade Manastones back in Russia.
Truly worthy of a Disaster-grade monster’s Manastone. And on top of that, enhanced by Shin Soo-jeong’s reinforcement.
The suddenly enlarged Cyclic energy began to slip out of control.
Kwazuzuzuzu—
The Cyclic energy spun with ferocious intensity, and the psionic energy writhed as if it might explode at any moment.
Jin-young stood still for a moment, eyes closed in meditation-like focus, and forcibly calmed the abruptly swollen Cyclic energy.
Tsuzuzuzu…
If it had been psionic energy, he might have managed it effortlessly. But Cyclic energy was something he had not yet perfectly mastered.
In such a state, with its power suddenly ballooning, it naturally tried to break free on its own.
Jin-young meticulously controlled his psionic energy while gradually suppressing the force of the Cyclic energy.
If he tried to forcibly slam the brakes and compress it too aggressively, a massive energy explosion would erupt inside his mental world.
It probably wouldn’t end with just his body bursting apart—it might even trigger an Earth-destroying scenario.
That was why he handled the energy with greater caution than ever before.
Sssss…
Finally, the rotation speed of the Cyclic energy slowed, settling into a stable phase.
Thanks to that, the proficiency of both energies was rising at an even faster rate.
Jin-young thought that situations like this could be incorporated into training.
『Just like last time, absorbing a Disaster-grade Manastone is causing the Silver Sword’s ability to assimilate into me.』
‘Then… does that mean I can summon the super-gigantic battleship now too?’
『We’ll have to wait and see.』
***
Tsuzuzuzu…
The vast Creep that was slowly disintegrating.
The Russian soldiers who had been hunting the occasional monsters that leaked out from the edges all blinked in unison.
They doubted whether what they were seeing was truly reality.
The Creep that they had believed would cover this region forever was vanishing—an utterly surreal sight.
“Kiiiiiik…”
The monsters that had been standing on the Creep lost their footing as it dissolved beneath them, stumbling in confusion.
Under the barrage of Russian gunfire, the monsters began to fall rapidly.
At that moment—
“Something’s approaching over there! It looks human—two of them!”
“Is it a Demon-possessed? Or is it Comrade Zhukov?”
The soldier on the outpost adjusted the magnification on his binoculars, then shouted in astonishment.
“C-Comrade Zhukov has returned alive! And Korea’s Shin Soo-jeong is with him!”
At that cry, the Russian soldiers and Hunters all raised their fists and roared in unison.
“Waaaa! Zhukov! Zhukov!”
Watching the scene from the outpost was a Russian soldier—or rather, a Korean secret agent disguised as one.
The Imposter let out a quiet sigh of relief upon confirming that Shin Soo-jeong was alive.
When he had first heard that she—a still 1st-grade Hunter—had been included in the Disaster subjugation party, he had practically interrogated the Intelligence Department Director about it.
Of course, Jeong Bo-hoon had drawn a firm line, saying it wasn’t his decision—it was Psycho’s.
‘Even for Psycho, I thought it was too much… but to think it would turn out like this.’
The Imposter had been the very first person in the Intelligence Department to recognize Psycho’s true caliber and propose recruiting him.
He had known the man was extraordinary, but he never imagined it would reach this level.
Since then, the Imposter had been constantly engaged in overseas intelligence operations as usual, so he rarely had the chance to witness Psycho’s feats firsthand.
He had only started to feel it bit by bit when rumors began circulating covertly about an unidentified Korean Hunter running rampant.
And now.
He had seen with his own two eyes that Psycho had even taken down Russia’s Disaster.
He had only caught glimpses of white lightning crashing deep in the heart of the zone and several massive explosions, but no other Hunter could exude such overwhelming presence.
‘If I’d known he could even kill a Disaster, I would’ve gotten closer to him.’
The Imposter indulged in that half-joking thought and raised his binoculars again.
Shin Soo-jeong and Vladimir had been safely handed over to the Russian forces.
Now, all that remained was Psycho.
Believing Psycho would return soon as well, he turned his gaze toward the direction of the heart of the zone—but no one appeared.
‘Don’t tell me…’
The Imposter told himself it couldn’t possibly be true, yet even the thought that Psycho might have fallen in battle crossed his mind.
He desperately wanted to go straight to Shin Soo-jeong and ask, but he was in the middle of covert operations—he couldn’t afford to break character.
While he was pointlessly scanning the ruined buildings around him—
He suddenly looked up at the heart of the zone, where the dark-crimson clouds were finally parting.
‘What the hell is that.’
A faint afterimage of mana lingered in the Imposter’s eyes.
A circular residual trace that looked exactly like an enormous portal.
But it lasted only for the briefest instant; the sky cleared completely, and the image vanished as if it had been washed away.
‘What in the world… Ah. There he is.’
Without realizing it, the Imposter lowered his gaze—and finally spotted Psycho entering his field of vision.
The soldiers initially raised their weapons in caution at the approaching figure, but the Imposter stepped forward and explained.
“That Hunter also took down the Disaster together with Comrade Zhukov. He’s from Korea.”
Only then did the soldiers lower their guns, convinced by the words of the man disguised as a Russian officer.
He was about to send Psycho the secret agent’s discreet signal.
But before he could, Psycho met his eyes and spoke first.
“Hey, Imposter sunbae. Long time no see?”
“……”
The Imposter was inwardly flustered, but he maintained a perfect poker face on the outside.
He was shocked that his possessed identity had been seen through so instantly—but more than that, he was panicking at the thought that his cover might be blown in front of all these soldiers.
Fortunately, the feared scenario never came to pass.
Somehow—whether by some trick Psycho had pulled—the soldiers acted as if they hadn’t heard a single word of the exchange; they didn’t even glance their way.
“Fancy running into you in a place like this.”
“Yeah, small world.”
After exchanging brief greetings, the Imposter lowered his voice and asked seriously,
“While you were in the heart of the zone… did you happen to sense anything strange in the sky?”
***
“Please come this way.”
As soon as they entered the luxury hotel, the manager personally guided Jin-young.
The restaurant he was led to was empty except for one table.
Sitting there were Vladimir Zhukov and his aide Igor, along with Shin Soo-jeong.
It was only the day after the Disaster subjugation, so Vladimir was wrapped head to toe in bandages.
He still needed more rest to recover from his injuries, but he had stubbornly insisted on attending this dinner with Jin-young—no matter what.
Shin Soo-jeong had been waiting awkwardly alone with the two Russians, but the moment she saw Jin-young her face brightened.
“Welcome, Hunter-nim.”
Igor sprang to his feet the instant he spotted Jin-young and pulled out a chair for him.
His attitude was far more respectful and courteous than the first time they had met.
It was only natural—Jin-young had eliminated Russia’s single greatest headache: the Disaster.
“We wanted to hold a press conference to announce your feats to the entire world, Hunter-nim, but since you declined… we can only offer this modest meal as thanks.”
While half-listening to Igor’s lengthy speech with one ear, Jin-young surveyed the food.
The table was covered with high-end hotel dishes, starting with steak and continuing through various luxurious courses.
Nestled among them was a perfectly fermented batch of baechu kimchi—specially requested by Jin-young himself.
The food was excellent, but one could eventually grow tired of even the finest Western cuisine. A bite of kimchi here and there would always reset the palate.
Jin-young began eating in earnest.
“I never imagined I’d walk into a contaminated zone of my own volition to face a Disaster. I feel like I only held everyone back because I’m still lacking… I’m truly sorry.”
Shin Soo-jeong said while cutting her steak.
This was a side of her no one had ever seen before—her spirit so subdued.
Before Yoon Soo-ho’s revival, she had been Korea’s undisputed strongest Hunter.
One of the world-class stars who traveled the globe successfully leading raids.
But ever since resting after this Disaster subjugation, the memories of that day seemed to torment her relentlessly.
She believed she had failed to live up to expectations with her performance.
“Don’t think you absolutely had to be the one putting on a grand show. You definitely learned something irreplaceable from being there.”
“You’re right. It was a precious, once-in-a-lifetime experience I could never have had otherwise.”
Shin Soo-jeong nodded.
The moment their conversation paused, Vladimir immediately spoke up.
“Thank you. Truly. As a man, and as a warrior—I respect you more than anyone.”
The most shocked person at the table was none other than Igor.
He had never imagined such words would come out of Vladimir’s mouth.
Jin-young replied with a calm expression.
“You need to work on building up your durability.”
“I realized during this how much I still lack. From now on, I’ll train even harder so that one day I can surpass you.”
Vladimir spoke with dead seriousness; Jin-young let out a short chuckle.
“Nice spirit. But listen—didn’t you say Siberia is full of unidentified dungeons?”
“That’s correct.”
“If you’re not going to clear them, hand over the raid rights.”
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