Chapter 120: Disaster-grade Dungeon (3)
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Red liquid falling from the IV pack.
It wasn’t ordinary fluid—it was diluted elixir.
Hannah Adams, lying on the hospital bed, barely raised her upper body and looked out the window.
Beyond the brightly shining sunlight, a well-maintained garden with neatly trimmed trees came into view.
“…….”
While she was blankly admiring the scenery outside,
Creak—
The door opened and Prophet Michelle Graham entered.
Seeing Hannah staring out the window, she asked,
“Want to go outside for a bit?”
“No, I’m fine.”
Hannah answered in a weak voice.
Michelle looked at her with worried eyes.
Right after the battle with Prophet Edgar Malone, Hannah had been on the verge of death.
If Association President Kyle Anderson of the United States hadn’t arrived in time, she might really have died.
The peculiar part was that Edgar Malone himself had informed the Association of Hannah’s location.
The exact reason why GODS hadn’t killed her remained unknown.
Michelle could only guess from the words of Godfather she had seen through foresight.
It was a scheme to make her personally experience a world filled with despair and terror.
And there was likely also Godfather’s twisted desire to watch her slowly die within that despair.
“Want to eat something?”
“No, I’m fine.”
Hannah expressed her refusal with the same words as before. Her voice still lacked energy.
Her physical injuries had almost fully recovered by now, but the psychological issues were severe.
It might seem strange for a mind-type Hunter to show such symptoms due to psychological problems, but there was a clear reason.
The powerful rebound from having erased all pain with Mind Control had come back strongly.
It was only natural—she had been pushed to the brink of death by none other than Edgar Malone’s attack.
Of course, that wasn’t the only reason.
The world’s rank 1 Hunter had suffered an overwhelming defeat.
She had been beaten by Edgar Malone, who had once been her comrade.
Various complex factors had left her psychologically withered.
She could use Mind Control on herself again to regain confidence,
But if her mental state had allowed that in the first place, she would have already done so.
“Hannah. If you don’t pull yourself together, America will be in danger.”
“You’re here. Kyle’s here. Darren’s here…”
“We alone can’t stop GODS’s terrorism.”
Michelle had already seen a horrific future.
A large-scale terror attack at the International Awakener Federation headquarters in New York.
Not only the Federation but the entire Manhattan area—including the UN headquarters and the Empire State Building—would be turned into ruins.
It would cause enormous casualties and serve as an opportunity for GODS to spread its notoriety worldwide and solidify its influence even further.
The chain reactions that would follow terrified her more.
“If we can’t stop it, that will be the end for America. And for the whole world…”
As if recalling the battle with Edgar again, Hannah’s pupils trembled and her voice shook slightly.
“Hannah! Snap out of it already. You’re the Federation Chairman. Do you really want to throw away everything we’ve prepared so far and live like a walking corpse?”
In the end, Michelle, who had been holding back, exploded. She had been gentle out of consideration for Hannah’s physical and mental condition, but after days of this, it was becoming unbearable.
At the same time, she felt self-blame.
If she hadn’t been in Korea when Hannah fought Edgar,
If she had been with her, wouldn’t things have turned out differently?
But regretting it now wouldn’t change anything. All she could do was shake it off and move forward.
Hannah hadn’t even reached the stage of shaking it off and standing up.
“Maybe we were challenging something inevitable.”
“…….”
Michelle hadn’t met Edgar Malone in a long time, so she couldn’t get a sense of it.
Just how strong was he to elicit such a reaction?
While a brief silence hung in the air,
Someone burst open the door and entered the hospital room.
It was Kyle Anderson, the Association President of the United States.
Michelle, who already knew he was coming, stayed quiet, while Hannah simply stared blankly.
Kyle, momentarily flustered by the awkward atmosphere, finally spoke.
“It appeared.”
“What did?”
Hannah responded in a soulless voice.
“A disaster-grade dungeon.”
“I see.”
“Hannah, you absolutely must participate in the raid. Otherwise, it will fail and the gate will go out of control.”
“Then… we should just ban entry.”
“Do you even know where the gate is? It’s in Yellowstone. If the gate runs out of control, the volcano will erupt too! Do you understand what that means?”
“It sounds serious.”
“Ha…”
Kyle was about to say more but stopped when he saw Michelle shaking her head.
There was no progress like this.
He wanted to beat some sense into her even if it meant beating her half to death, but with her Zero-grade body, it probably wouldn’t have much effect anyway.
“See? We can’t do anything about it now.”
“…Damn it.”
Kyle bit his lip at Michelle’s words.
“Now there’s only one last method left.”
“Last method?”
Kyle frowned, expressing doubt.
Instead of answering, Michelle picked up her smartphone and tried calling someone.
“Yes, it’s me.”
―I heard through the CIA that the blue knight at the Canadian border zone has been annihilated. Have you found out who did it?
“No. While I was taking care of Hannah, I was only observing the future around the hospital and missed the timing.”
―Right. I heard Chairman Hannah was badly injured. Is she okay?
“Her body has mostly recovered, but her mind seems to be in a lot of pain.”
―Really? In cases like that, rolling her around properly usually helps.
“By the way, a disaster-grade dungeon finally appeared in Yellowstone.”
―Nice. I’ll get ready and head over soon.
“While you’re at it, could you take a look at Hannah too? Is that okay?”
―I’ll come right now. Send me the coordinates.
“Right now?”
―The longer you drag these things out, the longer it takes.
“Understood.”
Michelle ended the call and sent a message.
Kyle, who had been eavesdropping, asked with a serious expression.
“Who were you talking to? It’s not the person I’m thinking of… right?”
“It probably is.”
“Oh my…”
Tzzzt—
A portal opened in front of him, and Psycho appeared.
***
Chae Jin-young faced Hannah Adams, who was staring at him blankly.
Her face looked fine. He had heard she suffered severe full-body injuries, but it seemed she had almost fully recovered.
However, a problem more serious than the external wounds remained.
Post-traumatic stress disorder. Commonly known as PTSD.
It was ironic that the Hunter called the strongest in the mental category was suffering from mental issues.
But even body reinforcement-type Hunters could lose limbs when facing a much stronger opponent.
Seeing her in person, it didn’t seem like something that could be solved by simply beating her up.
『Her mental world is extremely unstable. It’s a miracle it hasn’t collapsed yet.』
‘Yeah, it really looks that way.’
At that moment, the tentacle snorted and spoke.
『Hah, look at this. That prophet Malone guy did something quite cute.』
‘Cute?’
『He planted filthy mana in her mental world. It’s acting like a kind of virus.』
Having obtained Void energy and leveled up, the tentacle had now reached the point where it could diagnose just by looking through Jin-young’s eyes.
‘Is demonic energy-like stuff contaminating the mental world and trying to erase the ego? Like the Four Calamity Knights.’
『Exactly. Of course, at this level, it would take a long time to achieve complete erosion like the calamity knights. That’s why this human can still maintain her ego.』
‘Then the solution should be simple.’
After finishing the diagnosis, Jin-young turned to Michelle and Kyle and said,
“I need to start the procedure now, and it’s a private one.”
“Then we’ll step out for a bit.”
Michelle, who understood Korean, immediately stood up.
But Kyle looked bewildered.
“What? What is it?”
“While Psycho-nim treats Hannah, we just need to wait outside.”
“Tsk… I’m uneasy. Are you sure it’s okay?”
Ever since being thoroughly beaten by Jin-young at the last Federation General Assembly, Kyle no longer recklessly challenged him.
Still, his eyes were full of distrust.
“I told you. It’s the last method. All we can do is hope it goes well.”
“…If anything happens to Hannah, then I’ll go all out too.”
Kyle muttered as he left the hospital room with Michelle.
Once they had all left, Hannah stared at Jin-young and said,
“It’s useless. This world will soon be conquered by GODS anyway.”
“I don’t know what you’re saying, but it sounds like nonsense.”
Jin-young couldn’t understand English, but from the context he figured it was nonsense.
Her mental world was contaminated after all.
The severe external injuries she suffered during battle had clearly accelerated the mental contamination.
Tzzzt—
A thin tentacle emerged from a small opened portal.
Hannah slowly turned her head. The moment she saw the tentacle, her eyes widened for the first time.
“What is that? Get it away right now.”
Her voice trembled slightly.
But the tentacle mercilessly pierced into her forehead.
Since it wasn’t a physical penetration, no blood came out at all.
Gurgle— Glug—
The tentacle skillfully and swiftly swam through her mental world and began cleaning.
It sucked up the demonic energy contaminating her mind in an instant, like a vacuum cleaner.
And as it went deeper, it discovered the barrier that had been set up to prevent her ego from escaping.
『It’s at the level of children’s toys.』
The moment the tentacle lightly touched it—
Crash!
The mental barrier shattered and collapsed instantly.
Having finished its task, the tentacle quickly exited the mental world and disappeared back into the portal.
“Haaah!”
Hannah’s eyes snapped wide open as she gasped violently.
Her body was trembling like an aspen leaf.
Since the mental contamination had just been removed, it would take some time for her to recover.
No matter how strong she was, recovering her senses as quickly as the calamity knights was difficult.
“Huff… huff…”
Sssss…
Jin-young released psionic energy and gently massaged her mental world.
Full recovery was up to her, but he could at least help.
“Fuuu…”
Her breathing gradually stabilized and her trembling body began to calm down.
“Michelle.”
Jin-young’s low voice flowed out smoothly and reached outside the hospital room.
Michelle and Kyle immediately opened the door and entered.
Just by looking at Hannah’s eyes, they could tell.
She had regained her mind.
“Hannah!”
“…….”
But Hannah couldn’t meet their eyes directly.
Because the words she had spat out while her mind was contaminated were vividly coming back to her.
Even though it wasn’t purely her own will, the words had still come out of her mouth.
Michelle, noticing her feelings, spoke first.
“You don’t need to blame yourself, Hannah. You did better than anyone. If it weren’t for you, Malone would have destroyed even more.”
“That’s right. If anyone should blame themselves, it’s me.”
Kyle had failed to properly respond to GODS’s terrorism and gate outbursts occurring across the United States.
It was because the guilds belonging to the American Awakener Association had split and clashed with each other, even leading to bloodshed.
He had realized too late that it was all the work of GODS spies, but as Association President, he could only feel his own incompetence.
At that moment, Hannah, who had been silent, finally opened her mouth.
“Thank you. For waiting for me.”
Then, frowning slightly, she pushed herself up from the bed.
Michelle and Kyle did not try to support her.
She would want to stand up on her own.
Walking slowly, she stood face to face with Jin-young.
“Thank you for pulling me out.”
Hannah spoke in awkward but accurate Korean.
Jin-young took out a red bottle from subspace.
It was the latest elixir, developed and repeatedly improved using holy power orbs at the secret research division.
“Drink it. All of it.”
“…….”
Hannah looked bewildered at being offered such a precious elixir out of nowhere, but she obediently drank every drop as instructed.
Immediately, her stiff body loosened and her dulled mana began circulating rapidly.
“You can fight right away, right?”
“Yes? Well… if I have to fight, I’ll fight.”
“Good. You three are coming too.”
At Jin-young’s words, Michelle tilted her head.
“You mean the disaster-grade dungeon?”
“Yeah.”
“But I stopped Hunter activities a long time ago…”
“That’s exactly why you’re going. As of today, you’re back on active duty as a Hunter. You already knew this day would come eventually.”
Faced with Jin-young’s uncompromising declaration of her return, Michelle could only sigh.
Meanwhile, Kyle, who couldn’t understand Korean, listened to Michelle’s explanation and widened his eyes.
“What the… Why do I have to go there too?”
“Should I tell him you’re not going?”
“W-wait…”
Kyle waved his hands at Michelle’s words.
The memory of the Federation General Assembly had flashed through his mind.
“Then it looks like we’re all here. Let’s head out right away.”
Tzzzt—
Jin-young opened a portal and stepped inside.
Hannah, who had already changed from her patient gown into combat gear, followed behind him. Kyle licked his lips nervously, hesitating for a moment, but was eventually pulled along by Michelle.
Shuu—
A damp wetland surrounded by lush green forest.
In the middle of it was a blue hot spring emitting steam.
“It’s been a really long time, hasn’t it?”
“It’s been a long time, but I don’t feel particularly good about it.”
Kyle replied in a stiff voice to Hannah’s words.
Yellowstone, America’s largest national park. It was also a famous tourist spot filled with primeval forests, geysers, hot springs, and diverse wildlife.
But today, there was no way he could feel good.
A massive dungeon gate shimmered right in front of the hot spring.
Kwatzztztzt—
A gate swirling with red sparks.
Its identity was a disaster-grade dungeon.
It was clearly emitting mana on a completely different level from ordinary dungeons.
Kyle had only received reports that a disaster-grade dungeon had appeared here; this was his first time seeing it in person.
Just then, Association staff and government-affiliated Hunter officials approached.
“Association President, Chairman. What brings you here…”
At the Association Hunter’s question, Kyle licked his lips and answered.
“We’re here for a raid.”
“A raid… you say? On a disaster-grade dungeon?”
The Association Hunter asked as if he couldn’t believe it.
It was a natural reaction.
Charging into a dungeon with unknown dangers without any prior reconnaissance was practically suicide.
Even Kyle himself still couldn’t fully believe they were doing a raid.
“Yeah. The four of us…”
Tzzzt—
Eun Ji-eun walked out of the portal Jin-young had opened.
“Wow, is this America? The scenery is amazing!”
Kyle muttered while looking at her unnecessarily cheerful face.
“I don’t know whether to be happy that we’ve increased to five.”
“…I’m very sorry to say this, but are you sure you’ve decided carefully? If the raid fails repeatedly…”
At the Association staff’s worried words, Kyle nodded heavily.
“I know. If the gate goes out of control, the damage will be beyond imagination.”
This wasn’t just anywhere—it was Yellowstone National Park.
Beneath this park lay a still-active supervolcano.
If the enormous energy from a gate outburst affected that supervolcano?
It would lead to a catastrophe not only for America but for the entire world.
But they couldn’t leave it unchecked forever either, as that would also lead to a gate outburst.
According to Michelle’s foresight, disaster-grade dungeons took a shorter time to reach outburst compared to other gates.
In the end, whether they liked it or not, a raid had to be done.
“Then… since the Association President has come in person, we can skip all procedures and enter.”
Kyle half-listened to the Association Hunter’s words and followed behind Jin-young.
And he stepped into the maw of the disaster-grade dungeon that wriggled as if ready to devour him.
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