novelraw Chapter 153 : Mission 10: The Hunters of Old (26)
Chapter 153 : Mission 10: The Hunters of Old (26)
Chevalier, leading the Knights’ main force, stared at Jae-hee in astonishment.
“You… did you just… use a Domain Break?”
The fissure Jae-hee had opened closed as quickly as it had appeared.
Muttering that he felt much cooler now, he plopped onto the ground and began to doze off.
Chevalier was utterly dumbfounded.
Did that kid really just use that power, even for a moment?
No one truly knew the conditions for manifesting a Domain Break—the mark of an S-Rank Awakened. The only common thread was its tendency to appear under extreme stress in the most dire of situations.
Driven by his own ambition to become an S-Rank, Chevalier had pushed himself to the absolute limit in his training, but it had yielded nothing. He’d given up long ago.
But this kid… he’d done it so easily? Just by getting a little drunk?
Chevalier’s eyes narrowed. No, perhaps… he Awakened it a long, long time ago.
Regardless, thanks to Jae-hee, the Demon Lord’s toxic fog had been cleared away.
“Advance!” Chevalier commanded the Knights. “Now’s our chance! The poison fog is gone! Push through at once!”
The Knights advanced in perfect formation down the valley of corruption, followed by the three units from the Hunter Association.
Razor watched them march into the valley of death, then glanced at Jae-hee.
He asked, “So what did this kid do, exactly?”
“It was temporary, but he used a Domain Break, I tell you desu! A Domain Break! Like a Bankai! Domain Expansion! Unlimited Blade Works! Don’t you know desu?”
Seeing the blank faces around him, Status Window pounded his chest in frustration.
“Aargh, this is why I can’t talk to you non-otaku desu! You have no idea how awesome this is! I knew from the start our Boy was destined for greatness desu!”
Just then.
“Hey.”
The voice made them all jump.
It was Chevalier. After sending his men forward, he had returned alone and now jerked his chin toward the Deck 1 team.
“You lot are with me.”
***
At the front line.
“You have a damn good eye for apprentices, Ghost,” Iron Knight said with a hollow laugh. “Did you see that? The lad opened his own ‘door.’”
“He only just cracked it open,” Ghost scoffed. “It wasn’t a proper opening. He got lucky.”
“Even so, if you were to guide him just a little…”
“Do you really have time to be chattering about that little fool right now?”
Fwoosh!
The Demon Lord’s toxic breath washed over them.
Cursing, Iron Knight raised an endless fortress wall while Ghost unleashed a ceaseless storm of blades.
Deyana Ludens fought the two S-Ranks on equal footing, all while tracking the approach of the so-called main force.
With every gesture from the Demon Lord, countless Dragon Tooth Soldiers rose from the canyon floor, blocking the Hunters’ advance.
Its attention was now divided.
This is all a feint.
The main force was a decoy—the Shield Team, meant only to draw the Demon Lord’s eye.
Ghost sent a covert hand signal.
The real Sword Team, her own Deck 0 unit, had already closed in, hidden in the shadows of the ravine.
Now!
The instant Ghost gave the signal, Iron Knight gritted his teeth and erected a massive fortress, obscuring Deyana Ludens’s vision.
Walls shot forward like a missile.
From behind them, the concealed Deck 0 team crossed the distance to the Demon Lord in a single breath.
Cleaner’s Bleach.
Poison Centipede’s Paralysis.
Puppeteer’s Control.
And Firestarter’s Firepower.
Every one of them was AA-Rank.
The techniques they had honed to fight Iron Knight, honed over countless black ops, now struck Deyana Ludens with flawless, coordinated precision.
Cleaner’s ability bleached the Demon Lord’s consciousness; in that gap, Poison Centipede’s touch paralyzed its entire body; Puppeteer seized control, neutralizing its defenses; and into that opening, Firestarter unleashed an all-out barrage.
And to top it all off…
I will cut you down!
Ghost’s Severance.
Slice!
The Demon Lord’s head was lopped off.
Fwoosh!
A storm of blades wreathed in colossal flames descended, rending Deyana Ludens’s body apart. Flesh, muscle, bone, and veins were shredded in turn, until the onslaught carved its way to the Gate Core buried deep within.
Ghost spat, “I don’t need to wake Seong-ah… just to clean up a piece of filth like you.”
The convicts’ abilities had left the Demon Lord utterly defenseless for a fleeting instant.
Into that opening, she had driven a swirling vortex of blades combined with the fire of Firestarter, whose raw power was among the greatest of all AA-Rank Awakened.
The force of the single strike was far greater than it had been thirty years ago.
“Stay down and rot, monster.”
The storm of blades struck the Gate Core.
Ghost was certain of her victory.
And then.
“…?!”
The moment the storm touched the Gate Core, it disintegrated like pulpy flesh—only to coalesce back into one piece an instant later.
“What…?”
Then, as if time were reversing, blood vessels reattached, bones reassembled, organs and muscles filled in.
“What reason could I have for allowing myself to become this hideous spectacle?”
The Demon Lord’s body, scattered across the battlefield like shattered mosaic pieces, began to reassemble.
Deyana Ludens was serene.
“It was only to have my revenge on you all.”
“…!”
The monstrous flesh, like a mass of slimy mollusks, fused together and regained its original, complete form.
“All these years, I have thought of nothing but how to kill you.”
The lofty dragon had fallen to become an undead for a simple reason: it offered the highest chance of victory.
“Every technique you used to kill me… I have a counter for them all.”
Deyana Ludens had devised a countermeasure for every method of attack used by the Old Five Heroes, especially Ghost’s sword, which had delivered the final blow.
If the enemy’s sword was a storm of countless blades, then it needed only the ability to reassemble itself after being torn apart.
“I am death incarnate, already in pieces.”
Never imagining that even the Gate Core could regenerate, Ghost gritted her teeth.
Facing its bewildered nemesis, the Demon Lord smiled in satisfaction.
“And if I stall for time, I win.”
The sound of someone violently coughing up blood echoed through the din.
Startled, Ghost turned to see Iron Knight wiping a trickle of blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.
Having borne the brunt of Deyana Ludens’s corruption since its first appearance, he was already deeply poisoned.
“My nest has already matured.”
The entire Gate area was infected. This was the Demon Lord of Corruption’s way of battle. Thirty years ago, it had endured with its near-invincible body, spreading its poison to slowly kill the entire world.
“Back then, the Savior purified my poison. But I do not see her now.”
If not for the Savior, Seoul would have been a land of poison for the last thirty years. Every veteran of that war would have died from the toxin, even in victory.
Back then, the Saint of Light had purified it all.
But she wasn’t here now.
The Demon Lord lowered its long neck and grinned.
“How will you stop me this time, Champion?”
Ghost clenched her jaw. Even if the New Five Heroes were here… could they completely purify this corruption?
The government was biding its time, waiting for the safest moment to deploy them.
But what if they missed their chance and failed to subjugate the Demon Lord? What if they succeeded, but the aftereffects remained?
What would happen to this city… to its people?
Just then, Iron Knight spoke beside her.
“So the old ways no longer work.” The old knight was smiling faintly. “Then we have no choice but to let a new wind from a new era blow away the remnants of the old.”
“What?”
As Ghost turned, Iron Knight calmly keyed his comms.
Beep—
“Vice-Commander.”
«Yes, Commander.»
“Bring the Boy. Whatever it takes, get him here. Safely.”
Iron Knight’s eyes met Ghost’s.
He spat out the words.
“That kid is our hope.”
***
They were called Hunters.
Even now—on the eve of the system’s official abolition—they remained the last units still fighting monsters under that name.
They were freelance mercenaries, a private militia.
The Knights and the Hunter Association. Their role was to draw the Demon Lord’s attention with their numbers.
The deeper they advanced into the valley of corruption, the stronger the poison seeped through their gas masks.
Breathing became a struggle as the old soldiers fought desperately against the Dragon Tooth Soldiers swarming from all sides.
Just then.
«Hear me, Knights.»
The Commander’s hardened voice came through the comms.
«This is the final mission I give as your commander.»
“…!”
«All units are to protect Callsign ‘Boy.’ He is being escorted by the Vice-Commander. Deliver him to the front line.»
The Knights looked to their rear and saw Chevalier charging toward them like a tank. He smashed through the swarming Dragon Tooth Soldiers with his greatsword, clearing a path as the Deck 1 team scrambled to keep up.
«This is the last way to protect Seoul… this goddamn Paradise City.»
After a brief silence, Shin-woo continued.
«From the moment we started this, we had no path of retreat. Whatever our purpose, our methods were wrong. We are traitors. Even so…»
The old soldiers’ eyes widened.
«We are also patriots who have spent our entire lives defending this nation and this city.»
“…!”
«No one knows that better than we do. Am I wrong?»
The stooped backs of the old soldiers—bent by poison, fatigue, and age—slowly straightened.
«This is the last battle we fight under the name of the Knights! Stand tall and proud! Show them the strength of old soldiers!»
Wrinkled, weakened hands gripped their weapons tight.
«Escort the children to the future!»
The Commander’s final shout rang out.
«You are the main force!»
With a unified roar, the old soldiers formed a wall with their bodies.
“Goooo!”
“Clear a path for Boy!”
“Clear a path!”
They held back the tide of monsters and poison fog with their own bodies. Through the gap they created, the Deck 1 team sprinted.
“Forward!”
“Forward!”
“To the future!”
“To the future—!”
Pushing the Vice-Commander and the boy ahead, they grappled with the monsters, rolling in the toxic mire as they shouted one by one.
“Good hunting!”
“Good hunting—!”
From the highest ridge of the canyon to its very bottom, with the help of every Hunter present, Chevalier and the Deck 1 team reached the front line in no time.
“Commander.”
Chevalier was covered in wounds, but he showed no sign of it as he stood before Shin-woo and bowed his head.
“Mission complete.”
“Well done.”
At the same time, Iron Knight deployed dozens of fortress walls, stacking them high before them.
His voice thick with blood, he said, “Ghost. I’ll buy as much time as I can.”
“…”
“In the meantime, you teach the Boy his Domain Break.”
This was the only hope they could cling to now.
Without another word, Ghost moved to stand before Jae-hee.
The apprentice she faced was tattered from head to toe, his face caked with grime. On top of that, he reeked of alcohol, having somehow found a drink in the middle of all this.
His round eyes were glazed over, and he couldn’t seem to get a grip on himself.
“Get up, kid.”
Gently, Ghost placed her cold hands on the Boy’s cheeks.
With a sigh, she said, “It’s time to open the door and become an adult.”