Chapter 89: Dungeon Raid (3)
“Do you know why I still haven’t killed you yet, Prophet Michelle?”
The man spoke with a face blurred and hazy, like a screen full of noise.
Michelle was so crushed by fear and pressure that she couldn’t properly open her mouth.
Whether she responded or not, the man continued.
“If the futures you see are filled with nothing but despair, there could be no greater pleasure than that.”
“……”
“The futures you’ve blabbed about will plant yet another layer of terror in the hearts of fools, and that terror will spread across the entire world.”
The man suddenly turned around, his coat tails fluttering dramatically.
As if drawing with a brush, dark-crimson mana ink painted shapes in the empty air.
Shssss…
Hands, ears, mouth, eyes, and brain.
The scattered fragments of the drawing gathered in one place and began to form a proper shape.
Gurgle—gurgle…
A head formed, covering the eyes, ears, mouth, and brain, and then the upper body connected to the hands started to emerge.
“Kuuuugh…”
Michelle let out a groan as red blood streamed from her eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.
She wanted to look away, but she couldn’t.
Her head felt fixed in place, forced to stare directly into the black figure’s eyes.
And just before something was completed—
Srrrr…
As if it had all been an illusion, the image scattered like a mirage and vanished.
The man looked at Michelle and said,
“How was it? The despair and terror you felt indirectly.”
“……”
“I don’t know whether you’re seeing this future right now, but if you are, I’ll give you one piece of advice.”
“……”
Michelle swallowed hard.
The man’s face was still invisible, yet somehow a faint smile seemed to emerge from within the noise.
“If you’ve come this far, just give up. The most august and noble Sovereign is already prepared to descend.”
Flash—the man raised both arms high.
In that instant, Michelle felt a surge of dread, but she could do nothing to resist.
“Let the new world arrive.”
Pukwak!
Her head exploded like a firecracker.
***
“Haaah!”
Michelle’s eyes snapped open as she gasped for breath.
Hannah Adams, sitting beside her, looked over with deep concern.
“Are you okay, Michelle?”
“……”
Michelle, her entire face drenched in cold sweat, turned to look at Hannah.
Red blood was trickling from her eyes, nose, ears, and mouth.
Hannah took out a handkerchief and gently wiped away the blood and sweat.
“Don’t push yourself too hard. You said we still have plenty of time left.”
“You’re right. But…”
Michelle hesitated, trailing off.
Hannah didn’t press her and simply waited.
“It would be better to talk about this after we meet Psycho.”
“Okay.”
By now, the plane the two of them were on had arrived at Gimpo Airport.
As they disembarked, a white man was waiting for them.
Hannah frowned, trying to recall why the face seemed so familiar.
The man introduced himself first.
“Jacob Harrison. One of Psycho’s partners.”
“Jacob Harrison… the red-grade villain who used to work with Layla Piper?”
“As expected from the Federation Chairperson. You already know about me.”
Only after hearing the name did Hannah realize who he was.
After Yoon Soo-ho had executed Layla, Jacob’s whereabouts had remained unknown for a long time.
She had wondered if he had been killed by the Godfather as punishment for the failed mission.
She never imagined he would be working with Psycho.
But one thing was strange.
“Why don’t I sense any mana from you?”
“Because I am no longer bound by such things.”
“What are you even talking about?”
Hannah wondered if Jacob had joined some bizarre cult.
The man had once held a high position even within GODS.
This could all be another deception.
She had to consider the possibility that the Godfather had laid a trap.
“You still don’t trust me.”
Hannah ignored Jacob’s words and stared straight into his eyes.
Sss—
Blue mana flared like flames from her eyes, her gaze flashing intensely.
She peered deep into Jacob’s mind, but found no traces of mental brainwashing or the like.
Still, she couldn’t let her guard down.
She remembered how Liu Qinglong had once shown excessive loyalty toward Psycho.
Even after meeting Liu Qinglong several more times since then, the mystery remained unsolved.
“Why are you working with Psycho?”
“Because the great being guided me to do so.”
“The great being?”
“You don’t need to know more than that.”
Tsutsuts—
At that moment, a black portal formed behind Jacob’s back.
“Come in. Psycho is waiting.”
Instead of answering, Hannah turned to look at Michelle. Michelle nodded without a moment’s hesitation.
“It really is a portal leading to Psycho.”
“Hm.”
Hannah still felt that Psycho was an unknowable figure.
He was clearly hiding something, yet he was not someone she could carelessly pry into.
Right now, with the Godfather and GODS as the greatest threat and common enemy, they were cooperating.
But if they didn’t exist, Psycho might very well have become the biggest enemy instead.
Shwooot—
In an instant, the scenery shifted from the airport to an indoor space.
Besides Psycho, two other people were present.
They were Association President Yoon Soo-ho and Crystal Guild Master Shin Soo-jeong—people Hannah knew well.
The three pillars of the Korean Hunter world had gathered in one place.
“You said you had business with me.”
Psycho spoke first.
Michelle nodded and said,
“The Godfather has resumed full-scale operations. The relay zones are being taken over by GODS one by one, and eventually, the grand picture they’re drawing will be completed.”
“How much time is left?”
“Roughly a little over a year. Depending on what you do, it could speed up or slow down.”
“One year is both enough and not enough.”
Psycho muttered while stroking his chin.
At that moment, Hannah interjected.
“The original plan in the United States was to completely wipe out GODS and locate and eliminate the Godfather before the Second Great Cataclysm occurs.”
“And after that?”
Caught off guard by Psycho’s sudden question, Hannah hesitated for a split second before answering.
“After that… we’d continue with dungeon raids as usual, purify contaminated zones, and build a peaceful world.”
“That’s naïve. Do you really think that just by eliminating the Godfather, the Second Great Cataclysm you speak of won’t happen?”
“What do you mean by that?”
Hannah furrowed her brow. She understood what he was implying, but she couldn’t grasp why he thought that way.
“Even without the Godfather, ‘that thing’ will find a way to come to Earth anyway.”
His words, spoken with absolute conviction, made everyone tilt their heads in confusion.
***
“Actually, the time when the Godfather is plotting his pathetic schemes right now might be the most peaceful period of all.”
At Jin-young’s words, the others looked puzzled.
It was understandable.
They knew nothing about the ‘Demon King.’
Of course, even Jin-young didn’t know much.
He had only briefly clashed with it in Renard.
In truth, it could hardly even be called a clash.
Jin-young had staked his life and pushed his psionic energy beyond its limits.
The Demon King had merely extended a hand.
Then, the over-output psionic energy collided with the unidentified power dwelling in the Demon King’s hand, and Jin-young was sent back to the past.
If that coincidental event hadn’t occurred, he might not even be sitting here right now.
“So even if the Godfather dies, the Second Great Cataclysm will still happen for some other reason?”
Hannah asked.
“That’s what I think.”
In Renard, there had been the so-called ‘Demon King’s Army’—cavalry that spread plague and demonic energy everywhere.
In the world where the Disaster-transformed Black Knight and Red Knight had lived, the Demon King had descended for entirely different reasons.
The Godfather was merely one of countless possible mediums; even if he disappeared, the Demon King would simply find another way.
Jin-young couldn’t reveal all the information here, so he didn’t give a firm confirmation.
Hannah turned to Michelle and asked,
“What do you think, Michelle?”
“Hm… I haven’t seen that future yet, but I’ll trust him.”
Michelle said while looking at Jin-young.
Hannah still couldn’t fully trust Jin-young one hundred percent, but she decided to follow Michelle’s judgment.
“Then I’ll trust you for now too.”
“Whether you trust me or not is your choice. More importantly, there are a few things I’d like to ask you to handle while I’m gone.”
At Jin-young’s words, Michelle reacted immediately.
“While I’m away on the raid, cooperate with Crystal to hold GODS back. Right?”
Crystal was one of the nicknames for Shin Soo-jeong.
“That’s right. You must have seen it in the future.”
“It wasn’t exactly a good future. While you were gone, we were helplessly overrun by GODS.”
“Is that the future you saw today?”
“No. I saw it the day before yesterday.”
Jin-young glanced at Shin Soo-jeong and said,
“I’ve entrusted the sword to you today, so that future will probably change now.”
“The sword?”
Michelle tilted her head in confusion, and Jin-young answered as if it were no big deal.
“There’s such a thing. Anyway, don’t provoke them unnecessarily—just buy time until I get back.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Jin-young had been a little uneasy about leaving Shin Soo-jeong with only the Heavenly Thunder God Sword, so he planned to leave a variant behind as well.
With Michelle and Hannah added to the mix, he felt somewhat reassured.
Moreover, even if Liu Qinglong and Vladimir Zhukov lent their strength, they wouldn’t be overwhelmingly pushed back against GODS.
If all seven Prophets were still alive, the situation would have been completely different.
But right now, even GODS had lost a significant portion of their power, so it was more than feasible.
Of course, if the Godfather personally stepped in or pulled out a hidden card, the outcome would be unpredictable.
That was why avoiding direct confrontation and minimizing damage was the best course of action for the time being.
“I don’t know how long the raid will take, but hold out well until then.”
“Yes. I hope you return safely too.”
At Michelle’s farewell, Jin-young gave a short chuckle.
“It’s been a while since I’ve heard something like that.”
***
Huuuuooh—
A cold wind blew across the barren land.
The Creep that formed the contaminated zone had spread like cancer all around, and every path suitable for human travel had been sealed off.
Since vehicles could no longer proceed, Jin-young’s party got out of the truck.
The people who had come along for the raid were Yoon Soo-ho and Choi Hee-yeon.
He had deliberately brought her—who had only recently become a 2nd-grade Hunter—to rapidly push her up to 1st-grade.
If he brought Dolsae along as well, it would create a gap in the Intelligence Department’s combat power, so he planned to rotate them.
Vroom—
The truck that had carried them sped away as if fleeing, leaving only the three of them behind.
“It’s chilly, but for Siberia, it’s not that cold.”
At Jin-young’s comment, Choi Hee-yeon replied,
“This is southern Siberia, and it’s not winter yet, so that’s probably why.”
She checked her watch to confirm the dungeon’s location.
This area had many abandoned dungeon gates that had gone berserk, causing the contaminated zone to spread quite far.
Even so, a few dungeons that had not yet gone berserk still remained.
Especially since higher-danger-level dungeons were less prone to going berserk easily, most of the surviving ones were 1st- to 2nd-grade.
Jin-young had come here specifically to conquer a 1st-grade dungeon recommended by Vladimir.
As they passed through paths completely obscured by Creep, monsters fearlessly charged at them.
Pukwak! Pukwaak—
Before Jin-young even lifted a finger, Yoon Soo-ho and Choi Hee-yeon stepped forward and took down the monsters.
The brains and hearts of the monsters they killed were instantly extracted by Jin-young’s psychokinesis and naturally transferred into sub-space.
It would have been a waste to discard them, troublesome to process by hand, and a waste of space to store them.
Jin-young had solved all those problems in one go.
He planned to personally collect the monster parts even inside the dungeon.
While passing through the contaminated zone—
Beep beep—
A signal sounded from Choi Hee-yeon’s watch.
It meant they were nearing the set coordinates.
The once-faint mana waves grew increasingly intense, pressing against their skin.
After leaving the Creep behind and passing through sparse, bare trees—
Tsutsutsuts—
A ring of blue mana spun fiercely, emitting waves in all directions.
It was unmistakably a dungeon gate.
With mana waves exerting this level of pressure, it was definitely a danger level 1 dungeon.
Inside the blue ring was pitch-black darkness—nothing visible at all.
Stepping into that void-like interior would mean entering the dungeon.
The three people gazed at the 1st-grade dungeon, each with different emotions.
“Enough sightseeing. Shall we go in?”
Jin-young stepped forward first.
Shuuuoot—
In an instant, it felt as though their bodies were being sucked somewhere; their vision was completely swallowed by black.
Then—
Pop!
Like a light being switched on, their vision cleared, revealing an unfamiliar landscape.
Barren ground. Swarms of monsters crawling everywhere.
And in the far distance, towering mountains and a volcano constantly spewing black flames.
He thought it was a place he had never seen before, but it wasn’t.
Jin-young looked at the black hellfire burning at the mountain’s peak and muttered,
“We came to the right place.”
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