Chapter 127: Prophet of Wrath (2)
The Zero-grade Manastone obtained as a clear reward this time had no guaranteed stability.
Because the five Hunters, including Jin-young, were the first in the world to obtain it.
Compared to the existing 1st to 9th-grade Manastones, there was no particular reason for it to be dangerous.
The mana contained within did not run wild and remained stably dormant.
However, the Zero-grade Manastone felt unstable, as if it would break its shell and burst out at any moment.
For Jin-young, Manastones obtained from contaminated zone monsters or disaster-grade knights were actually easier.
He could simply suck out only the black mana through the tentacle and absorb the rest.
“I think I should leave now. I hope you succeed.”
Jeon Yu-hwan quickly gathered the important items and left the room after feeling the ominous aura emanating from the Zero-grade Manastone.
Eun Ji-eun, who had been chatting with Director Kim Jeong-moon and then approached, tilted her head.
“Why are you coming out in such a hurry?”
“Psycho Agent-nim is going to absorb the Manastone.”
“Huh…?”
“It seems quite dangerous this time, so you should probably stay a bit farther away too.”
Eun Ji-eun couldn’t understand why everyone was making such a fuss about Manastone absorption.
She observed Jin-young through the workshop window.
His handsome face, well-fitted suit, and tall stature — he truly looked like an elite agent no matter who saw him.
‘He’s cool. I want to be an agent like that too… Wait, no.’
She shook her head after a brief daydream and looked at the large Manastone held in Jin-young’s hands.
It was the same Zero-grade Manastone she had also obtained.
Tztztztztzt—
Soon, red mana began to slowly rise from the Manastone.
It was the same power as the red mana Eun Ji-eun handled.
Since Jin-young naturally did not handle red mana, he had no intention of absorbing it.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
The red mana flowing from the Manastone suddenly turned fierce and began rushing toward Jin-young’s body.
It looked as if it would forcefully pierce into his body and completely contaminate his unique mana.
However, before the red mana could even enter Jin-young’s body,
Kwatzztztzt—
It began spinning around him, forming a red whirlwind.
He had instantly seized it with psychokinesis.
“It’ll be easy for Eun Ji-eun. The other Hunters will have a hard time filtering it out, though.”
Jin-young said while looking at the violently spinning red mana.
He thought that Hunters like Hannah and the American team would be able to repel the red mana and absorb the Manastone without much difficulty.
Of course, Hunters below 1st-grade would be helplessly devoured by the red mana and fall into a coma.
The lower the grade, the more dangerous it became — even to the point of losing their lives.
『If we compress it and send it to subspace, we can use it to turn that red crazy human to our side.』
“Sounds good.”
Kwa-sususus…
Jin-young instantly gathered the red mana swirling around him and compressed it into a small orb.
Shuu—
He then threw it straight into subspace.
The tentacle planned to run a few experiments with the red mana.
Jin-young began absorbing the remaining power of the Manastone.
Kwaaaaaaaa—
A mana storm powerful enough to blow up the entire workshop erupted.
Jin-young immediately controlled it again with psychokinesis.
Patzztztzt…
The blue mana was absorbed into his body in an instant, and the Manastone completely disappeared.
The enormous power absorbed into his body.
If it had been another Hunter, they would have absorbed it slowly and carefully.
But Jin-young took it all in at once, as if cramming it inside.
Because of that, an overflowing energy enveloped him.
Part of the power greatly enhanced his unique mana, while another part greatly strengthened his physical abilities.
Tzt… Tztztztzt…
The mana that had been raging inside his body stabilized, and the lingering traces of power created blue sparks.
“At this level… it’s awkward to call it Zero-grade, but also awkward to call it 1st-grade.”
Somewhere between 1st-grade and Zero-grade.
The drawback that his growth was noticeably slower than others had caught his ankle once again.
There was no particular reason for him, who already handled various energies, to obsess over his Hunter rank.
『You need to obtain mana at Zero-grade or higher to even have the possibility of compressing Mystic Energy.』
“I know.”
Ever since meeting the Ancient Dragon and quasi-deity Nekraksia, Jin-young had become very interested in Mystic Energy.
This was an energy that not only he but also Hunters with exceptional talent had a chance to reach.
For example, people like Hannah Adams, Liu Qinglong, Yoon Soo-ho, and Choi Hee-yeon.
Yoon Soo-ho even handled holy power, so he could aim for Cyclic energy as well.
Knock knock.
At that moment, a knocking sound was heard.
When Jin-young turned toward the door, Eun Ji-eun poked her head in.
“Have you finished, sunbae-nim?”
“You came at the right time. Let’s start your Manastone absorption too.”
“Yes! But why are we doing it in the craftsman’s workshop?”
“This spot has good energy.”
Jin-young answered Eun Ji-eun’s question.
Jeon Yu-hwan, who had been about to follow her in, gave up and turned back.
***
The news that Psycho Agent had returned quickly brought Executor Hong Jun-su to the secret research division.
He happened to spot Eun Ji-eun and Jin-young coming out of Jeon Yu-hwan’s workshop.
“Psycho, Silver Snow junior.”
“Hello, sunbae-nim!”
Eun Ji-eun bowed first in greeting.
Then Psycho asked after him.
“Executor sunbae, have you finished organizing your thoughts? My schedule in America took longer than expected, so I ended up giving you one extra day.”
Four days ago, Psycho had proposed to Hong Jun-su whether he wanted to handle black mana.
After thinking for three days and making his decision, he heard that Psycho had gone to America and waited one more day.
“I’ve decided. I will accept black mana.”
Hong Jun-su chose practicality over ideology.
It wasn’t that black mana itself was wrong, but rather that GODS, who used it, was wrong.
He also believed that depending on how it was handled, it could save South Korea and even the entire world.
There was a possibility that accepting black mana would make him mentally unstable like GODS, but he believed that if it was Psycho, there would be a way to solve it.
“Good. From now on, you must endure the hell training course in my subspace. Are you still sure you want to do this?”
“Before I became an agent, I worked at UDU. I’m more confident in enduring than anyone.”
As expected of the Intelligence Department’s training instructor — even before becoming a Hunter, he had served in the special forces.
Executor Hong Jun-su’s Hunter rank was still stuck at 3rd-grade, but his mindset was above 3rd -grade.
With this kind of spirit, he should be able to accept Void energy.
Of course, it would take quite a long time and require tremendous effort on his part.
Psycho briefly assessed Hong Jun-su’s mind and became certain.
He was a talent with sufficient potential.
“Then, welcome to Hell.”
“…….”
Hong Jun-su silently nodded.
Shuuu—
His body was instantly sucked into subspace.
“……!”
Hong Jun-su felt goosebumps from the bizarre sensation covering his entire body.
Even though his eyes were wide open, no visual information entered his sight.
He was simply endlessly falling into a void where nothing existed.
How much time had passed?
When the bizarre sensation finally disappeared,
Hong Jun-su turned his head left and right.
The tingling sensation on his skin did not feel like ordinary black mana.
Hwooooo—
A savage sandstorm that always greeted new recruits.
Following the wind thick with the smell of death, Hong Jun-su unknowingly began walking.
“Woof woof!”
At that moment, an animal came barking toward him.
It looked similar to a jackal, but much larger — a monster.
For a moment he wondered if he should fight it, but the jackal didn’t seem to have any intention of attacking.
Instead, it turned around and barked again.
“Woof!”
“Follow you?”
“Woof!”
Hong Jun-su, as if possessed, followed the monster.
A huge forest of buildings appeared before his eyes.
Buildings made of black and red walls, with a completely different atmosphere from Earth.
He stopped in front of an arch-shaped entrance and read the sign.
“Hell… Training Center?”
Realizing he had come to the right place, Hong Jun-su stepped inside without hesitation.
He spotted other humans and was about to approach to talk when—
Puk—
A long spear pierced through his thigh.
Startled, he turned around to see a red demon cackling.
Realizing that this was just the beginning, Hong Jun-su quickly pulled out the spear from his thigh and
Shwaaak—
Threw it straight at the demon.
Shwaaaaek— Thud!
The demon simply tilted its head and dodged the spear.
The spear pierced into an innocent wall.
The demon showed a sinister smile and shouted loudly.
“New recruit received!”
Sssss…
Numerous demons revealed themselves from all over the building.
“Damn it.”
Hong Jun-su thought he might have taken things too lightly, but
“Come at me, you bastards.”
He immediately drew the sword from his waist.
***
A lakeside turned into black mud due to Creep.
Inside it, a half-naked woman was soaking her body.
With purple hair and emerald-colored eyes.
Her appearance was so beautiful it was as if the goddess of beauty had descended.
If only the location wasn’t a contaminated zone.
Splash. Splash.
And a large shadow approaching her.
“Did you succeed, darling?”
At the woman’s question, the man stopped walking.
A Dragonian with large horns and a red tail — Edgar Malone — answered.
“No. As expected, you failed too.”
“Yeah, still not yet.”
The Prophet of Lust, Liliana Belanov, said in a calm voice.
As if displeased by her relaxed attitude, a hint of anger mixed into Edgar’s voice.
“But do you have time to slack off here? In the end, Zhang Weiren has also been missing for several days now. Only the two of us are left.”
“Only the two of us now. That’s quite a pleasing sentence.”
“…….”
Edgar was rendered speechless by Liliana’s seductive voice.
She continued without minding.
“Anyway, we were always going to have to kill each other eventually as rivals. But since they removed themselves, isn’t that fine?”
“Then you and I are the same, aren’t we?”
“That could be one way, but my thoughts are a little different.”
“You don’t have the confidence to beat me.”
Edgar said with a smirk.
Liliana continued speaking as if it wasn’t even worth replying to.
“Let’s do this. Since we have to go back and forth through contaminated zones to open the gates of hell anyway, if we act separately we’ll end up like Zhang Weiren again. So…”
“You mean we should travel together.”
“Yes, that’s right. If the two of us join forces, no one will be able to stop us. Even that false prophet.”
“Kuhuhuhu…”
Edgar suddenly started laughing.
Liliana frowned deeply, unable to understand what he was thinking.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Liliana. Do I look like the kind of person who would cooperate with someone?”
“Honestly, I never thought so.”
“I don’t do cowardly things like that. Now that I’ve obtained new power, no one will be able to stop me.”
Kwaduduk—
Edgar clenched his fists tightly. Red lightning flashed threateningly from his hands.
Liliana watched with a look of pity and shook her head.
“I don’t know. Don’t come looking for me later in regret.”
“Hold onto your own lifeline tightly. You have to see the new world arrive and me taking the Earth, don’t you?”
“Have you already forgotten, darling? Among the seven prophets, my lifeline is the toughest. I won’t die easily even if I meet the false prophet now.”
“With the toy you obtained this time?”
Edgar gestured with his chin toward the black lake.
Liliana raised her hand, and a man submerged in the lake floated into the air.
A black man whose entire body was covered in Creep.
It was Marc Diaby, the Zero-grade Hunter from France.
He looked unconscious, but suddenly coughed and barely regained his senses.
“Cough! Damn it… Where the hell is this…”
“Still not fully ripe. Don’t die before you’re complete.”
Edgar, having roughly grasped Liliana’s full strength, turned around without wasting any more time.
“Where are you going now, darling?”
“I’m heading to North Korea, where there are still usable contaminated zones left. Until the gates of hell open, we won’t meet again.”
“How cold.”
Shusss…
Edgar disappeared as if melting into the Creep after leaving those words.
Liliana stared blankly at the spot where he had been standing and murmured softly.
“Unfortunately, the one who survives until the end will be me. You are nothing but material for Father’s great plan.”
At that moment, Marc spoke with difficulty.
“Liliana… Belanov… What did you do to me…”
She showed a beautiful smile and answered in a low, alluring voice.
“Just endure a little longer, darling. We will become one forever.”
Tztztztzt—
“N-no… stop…”
Marc’s body was once again sucked back into the black lake.
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