Chapter 143: Reunion (1)
Sa-hyeok said,
“This kind of thing can’t kill me.”
When the sparks from the Hephaestus Hammer grazed his cheek earlier, Sa-hyeok noticed.
That this flame itself was the power of a god.
Because even though such a super-heated substance touched his skin, he didn’t feel any pain.
It was the same feeling as when the Hermes Knife touched his body before. And when Cheon Hun’s Heal touched him.
That’s why Sa-hyeok didn’t even avoid the flames that were engulfing him.
Thud-
Sa-hyeok brushed off the flames that hadn’t completely flowed down yet.
Amid said in a trembling voice,
“H-How……!”
“That’s what I want to ask. How did you only bring things that rely on getting countered by me?”
“……!”
Only then did Amid recall the advice he had received from Yang Gi-uk.
Before heading here, at the Antenon headquarters building, Gi-uk had warned Amid.
That the power of divine weapons doesn’t work on Min Sa-hyeok, that Sa-hyeok’s existence itself is a counter to divine weapons.
‘……That was true, those words.’
At that time, Amid had heard those words and let them go in one ear and out the other.
Because he thought Gi-uk was trying to excuse his mistake.
But now Amid realized that it was a mistake.
‘There really is a human who is unaffected by the power of gods……’
Pfft.
He just let out a hollow laugh.
Thud-
Amid threw the Hephaestus Hammer to the floor.
It was useless now anyway.
He didn’t even think about opening a portal with the Hermes Knife and running away.
Or to be precise, he didn’t even have the strength left in his body to do so.
Because of the rampage just now, there wasn’t a single drop of mana left in his body.
Sa-hyeok looked at the collapsed Amid.
Centered around the injured areas, Amid’s body was hardening like sand and crumbling.
Seeing that, Sa-hyeok instinctively knew that Amid would die soon.
‘At this rate, I won’t be able to extract any more information.’
Sa-hyeok approached Amid and said,
“Any last words?”
“I’ll ask just one thing.”
“Go ahead.”
“What is it that you desire?”
“Revenge.”
“Revenge……”
“I’ll kill all the monsters, eliminate all those who sent them, and get rid of everything that touches me and my people. That’s all.”
“Even with destruction imminent, will you only look towards revenge?”
“Destruction must be stopped. But I won’t join hands with Antenon to do so.”
“Why? If the goal is the same, can’t we be on the same side?”
“Because I don’t want to live in the world you guys will create after stopping the destruction.”
“Haha……”
“Under the pretext of a greater goal, in the name of the benefit of all mankind, I don’t even want to imagine how many more innocent people you will kill.”
“As expected……”
Sigh.
Exhaling his last breath, Amid said,
“……If that is your conviction, then watch closely. I will…… from afar……”
His breath stopped.
With his eyes open, Amid met his final moment.
And-
Shatter!
Amid’s body shattered into pieces.
He returned to dust.
Not figuratively, but literally.
Sa-hyeok reached into his powdered remains.
He pulled out two objects.
A dagger and an iron hammer.
The divine weapons, Hermes Knife and Hephaestus Hammer.
‘I should put these away for now.’
Sa-hyeok looked for his artifact case.
But……
“……It’s shattered.”
The artifacts inside were fine, but the case was broken beyond use.
“Hmm, is there anywhere I can put these even temporarily……”
At that moment.
Kiiing-
The pattern engraved on Sa-hyeok’s left palm began to glow.
══════════════════
About 10 minutes ago, Tolbanieu Village.
The 200 or so Hunters gathered here hadn’t left the village yet.
Sa-hyeok hadn’t returned yet, and more importantly, the situation wasn’t over.
Oh, come to think of it, it was now well over 200 people.
Because more participants had flocked in.
The reasons were varied, from Hunters who simply arrived late to those who wanted to see this historic scene in person.
Anyway, the atmosphere here was distinctly different from before.
Should I say it was much lighter?
Because the good news that the colossal golem, presumed to be the boss golem of Tolvern Island, had collapsed had just arrived.
This fight will be over soon.
Just that fact alone allowed most of the Hunters to relax and rest comfortably.
Except for two.
Polar Greyney, Combat Supervisor of the Quarantine Organization, and Paul Hussey, the only Hunter residing in Tolbanieu.
Unlike the others, these two hadn’t let go of their tension even a little.
The weapons they still held in their hands were proof of that.
Swish-
A Hunter approached Polar and Paul with two cans of beer and said,
“Have these while they’re cold. Don’t be too tense.”
“I’m fine.”
“I’m okay too.”
Polar and Paul both waved their hands.
The man who brought the beer shrugged, pulled the beer back, and said,
“Oh well, if beer isn’t your taste, there’s nothing I can do. But isn’t it almost over now?”
“Almost over?”
Polar’s voice, asking back like that, had become a little chilly.
“Well, I heard they caught the boss golem? It seems like there’s additional combat going on, but……”
“There’s no such thing as ‘almost over’ in battle. It’s either over, or it’s not, one of the two.”
“Ah, right, that’s, ahem.”
He retreated with an awkward expression, still holding the beers.
Polar turned her gaze back towards Tolvern Island.
The cold and heat rising from the island, and the widespread shimmering haze caused by them.
The size of the power erupting from there was overwhelming, to the point where the entire island seemed distorted.
‘Mr. Min…… what are you doing……’
Then, Paul said,
“Polar.”
“Yes?”
“Be honest. There’s another reason you’re not letting your guard down, right?”
“……”
After a brief silence, Polar opened her mouth.
“……Did it show?”
“Yes. The feeling of being simply tense and being anxious is different.”
“……”
“You know something more about that island, right?”
“Yes. But…… it’s just speculation……”
“Tell me.”
After a moment of thought, Polar opened her mouth.
“Before coming here, we checked the mana concentration of Tolvern Island via satellite. You know that the mana concentration within a space is related to the number of monsters inside, right?”
“I know.”
“But the current mana concentration of Tolvern Island and the mana concentration from a year ago were almost unchanged.”
“You’re saying there was almost no change in the number of monsters, the golems. But why is that……?”
“You know the characteristics of the contaminated golem seed, right? Once they’re planted, they keep multiplying.”
“Of course I know. Wait, then the mana concentration couldn’t have remained the same for a year……?”
“That’s right. If they kept multiplying, there’s no way the concentration could have remained this unchanged.”
After a moment of thought, Paul said,
“Maybe they stopped multiplying? For example, if the iron ore deposits on the island were depleted……”
“Actually, the Quarantine Organization thought so too. It was the most likely hypothesis. However……”
“However?”
“……What if they didn’t stop multiplying?”
“Yes……?”
“What if they kept multiplying, but we couldn’t detect it?”
“Are there cases where you can’t detect it?”
“If they burrowed very deep underground, it’s possible.”
Paul’s eyes wavered for a moment.
Golems basically have a habit of making their dwelling underground.
It wasn’t theoretically impossible for them to go deep underground, to the point where satellites couldn’t detect them.
“……Even if that’s the case, it’s fortunate. Tolvern is an island, you know. It’s completely isolated……”
“I thought so too. But the moment I realized this was France, my thoughts changed.”
“Why France?”
“The Channel Tunnel.”
The name of the undersea tunnel connecting Calais, France, and Folkestone, England.
“The Channel Tunnel? That’s quite far from here?”
“……What if the golems dug through the seabed, from Tolvern Island to Tolbanieu, and are coming through an undersea tunnel?”
If this hypothesis is true, it leads to the terrifying conclusion that the golem army is digging tunnels and advancing.
Paul nodded and said,
“An undersea tunnel…… It’s not an impossible story.”
“That’s the problem.”
“But no matter how many there are, wouldn’t the story be over if Mr. Min Sa-hyeok caught the boss golem? If you catch the boss, the rest of the golems stop moving, right?”
“That’s right. But if they reach here before that……”
At that moment.
Thump-
He felt a vibration from under his feet.
“Huh……?”
“I’ll check it out.”
Thud!
Paul struck the ground with his staff.
The mana that spread from the tip of his staff seeped into the ground below.
Paul’s class was Earth Sorcerer.
His mana quickly dug into the ground below and read the state of the earth.
At that moment, Paul’s expression hardened.
Paul said,
“……D*mn it.”
“Mr. Hussey?”
“Get into battle formation right now, now!”
At that moment.
Crash!!
A metal golem’s hand broke through the ground and rose up.
Crack-
Crash!!
The hands of other golems also broke through the ground and rose up in succession.
Infiltration through an undersea passage.
The worst situation Polar had imagined suddenly began to unfold before her eyes.
“W-What?!”
“Why are those things here……!”
“Did Min Sa-hyeok fail to catch the boss?!”
The other Hunters also started to panic.
“Weapons up! Get into formation immediately!!”
While Polar quickly regained control of the scattered forces.
Paul was casting a spell with his staff planted in the ground.
Thud thud thud thud-
The structure of the ground became denser and harder.
The Ground Hardening spell.
It was an attempt to make the ground hard to delay the golems from coming out of the ground, even a little.
But the desperate attempt only bought a few seconds.
Crash!!
The metal golems burst out, breaking through the ground.
They were the same as before, but one thing was different.
Their two eyes glowing crimson red.
And even their strangely distorted movements.
Something wasn’t right with them.
“What’s wrong with these guys……?”
But even though they were messed up, their power hadn’t diminished.
Crash!!
The ground shook as they slammed their fists into it.
“This is crazy……!”
“Fire! Pour it on!! We can’t let these bastards escape from here!!”
Crash crash crash crash!!
The long-range magic of the mages exploded towards the golem horde.
It managed to stop their advance for a moment, but that was the limit.
Because-
Crash!
Boom!!
Golems were springing up endlessly.
A total of over 100 golems appeared on the coast of Tolbanieu.
They had struggled against 6, but 100?
The small chance of winning they had left evaporated.
“F*ck……”
“It’s all over……!”
Those who dropped their weapons, those who were frozen in despair, appeared one after another.
But even at the forefront of that despair, there were those who stepped forward towards the enemy.
Starting with Polar and Paul, about 50 Hunters stepped forward.
In truth, they knew.
That this was practically a suicide mission.
Even so, they moved forward.
Simply because it was something they had to do.
Because it was the responsibility of the power they possessed.
Just as the curtain was about to rise on that desperate decisive battle.
Swish-
A man stepped in between the Hunters and the golems.
Short black hair, tall, slim and lean physique, an East Asian face.
He looked to be in his early 20s.
He said to the Hunters,
“Luckily, I arrived just in time.”
“……?”
The bewildered Hunters momentarily stopped and murmured.
“Who is he?”
“I don’t know, he’s not Min Sa-hyeok……”
But the golems didn’t.
Whoosh!
A golem’s fist flew towards the man.
Polar shouted in horror,
“Dodge!!”
Crash!!
The golem’s fist directly hit the man.
But……
“Is that it?”
The man didn’t even flinch after being hit by the golem’s fist.
Not a single scratch appeared even though he was hit directly.
The man said,
“Now it’s my turn.”
The man lightly threw a jab.
Without any preparatory movements, it was truly a casually thrown punch.
But-
Thwack.
With that one blow, a huge hole was punched through the golem’s body.
A hole cleanly cut out as if it had been erased.
Thud!!
Just one blow.
With that, the golem collapsed.
Then, the man spoke to Polar, who was watching with a lost expression,
“It’s been a while, Miss Greyney.”
Polar replied in a trembling voice,
“……Who are you?”
