Chapter 40 |
‘I can’t give him time!’
Sooho immediately rushed at Secretary Kim.
The opponent was a B-class Hunter. He had to keep attacking without giving him a chance to recover from the shock.
‘Kidnapping people because of Stardust? How is that any different from demons!’
The effect of ‘Skill: Smash’ on his fist had already disappeared. In its place, Sooho held Rakan’s Fang and Vulcan’s Horn in his hands.
Shuaak!
“Wait, why are you attacking me…!?” Secretary Kim, whose legs were still weak, avoided Sooho’s attacks and stepped back. At the same time, he continued to try to talk to Sooho. “Wait! Stop attacking! I’m from the Fiend Guild!”
“…” However, Sooho remained silent and kept attacking him.
Secretary Kim didn’t know what to do and kept stepping back.
Numerous questions swirled in his mind.
For the past year, the Fiend Guild’s Vice Master Lee Minsung and the demons of the factory had been conducting a tight trade. Of course, there was hardly any direct interaction as the Hyena Guild was involved in between, but if he had revealed that he was from the Fiend Guild, shouldn’t Sooho have stopped attacking and at least tried to talk first!?
And Sooho succeeded. He had appeared with a crow mask precisely to create this confusion.
“I said I’m from the Fiend Guild…!”
Tak.
‘Oh no!’
As Secretary Kim took steps back, the wall eventually blocked his back. Desperately turning around, a transparent glass window appeared.
‘I need to get out of here first!’
Without hesitation, Secretary Kim threw himself out the window.
Crash! Secretary Kim broke through the window and escaped from the building.
‘Well, that worked out well.’
Sooho’s eyes lit up as he watched him go. Wielding his sword outside, where there was plenty of space, was easier than indoors.
Secretary Kim probably felt the same way. He must’ve thought the building could collapse if a B-rank Hunter used his strength properly.
‘Alright, let’s fight properly!’
Bang!
Sooho immediately followed Secretary Kim by jumping out the window.
And behind them…
“Oh…”
Min Byung-gyu was left standing there, unsure of what to do.
[Ahem.]
A small shadow approached him quietly at that moment. Awkwardly clearing his throat, Beru spoke to him.
[Don’t worry too much. My little king will take care of it…]
“Aaaah! A-a-a-ants!?”
[Kieek?]
As soon as he saw Beru, Min Byung-gyu passed out again, causing a commotion.
[It’s not fair. He’s even received my blessings…]
Beru was indignant.
***
Crash!
Citizens walking in the city suddenly heard a loud noise and looked up simultaneously. Then their eyes widened in surprise.
“Wh-what is that!?”
“Someone jumped!”
Someone was breaking a window on the fifth floor of a building and jumping out.
“Ah!”
“Watch out!”
The citizens scattered in fear of getting hurt by the broken glass shards.
But then, another person jumped out the same window right after the first one. The second person swung a pair of swords in mid-air with a skill called “Storm Slash” before the first person even hit the ground.
[Use ‘Skill: Storm Slash’.]
Kwaaang!
“Ah!?”
The first person who jumped out was hit by the fierce blade storm and fell to the ground.
Thud!
“Ah!”
“The Hunters are fighting!”
The citizens realized the seriousness of the situation and screamed as they ran away.
“Ouch…” Meanwhile, Secretary Kim got up with a battered body. The look of defeat was evident on his face.
But now was not the time to be dramatic.
Thunk. Sooho landed right before him and swung his sword without giving him any chance to rest.
“Damn it!” Secretary Kim quickly stood up and raised mana in both hands. “Explode!”
Whoosh- Crash!
A blazing fireball exploded in front of Sooho. Sooho crossed his swords and blocked the magic.
‘Magic Hunter!’
Sooho had already expected that he was a magic Hunter, so he was prepared to deal with it quickly.
He couldn’t fight back properly indoors, and all the movements that kept taking a step back instinctively were all characteristics of a magic Hunter.
On the other hand, Sooho was the exact opposite.
‘You can’t give distance to a magic user!’
Crack! Sooho stuck close to Secretary Kim and launched an onslaught.
But Secretary Kim’s response was also quick.
“Explode! Explode!”
Crash! Clang clang!
“Explode!”
Bang, bang!
Numerous fireballs exploded, accumulating damage on Sooho’s body. As a result, Sooho’s HP was gradually decreasing.
‘I’m still okay!’
Sooho continued to attack Secretary Kim, relying on his total HP.
Secretary Kim was already at his limit, having fallen five stories and been hit by the powerful skill Storm Slash. It was a miracle that he was still standing on his two feet.
“Argh! Please, just leave me alone! Why are you attacking me?” Secretary Kim’s frustrated cries echoed through the city.
“Is that your final word?”
Gulp. Sooho drank a mana potion then, and his MP gradually rose above 300.
[Use ‘Skill: Smash’.]
Gooooh! Black energy wrapped around Sooho’s fist and forearm.
“Wait, hold on…” Secretary Kim’s complexion grew pale as the ominous flaming fist approached him. He urgently shouted out, “Let’s negotiate instead! I’ll do anything you want to resolve this!”
“Anything? What do you think I want?”
As Sooho approached him, Secretary Kim couldn’t help but brighten up with hope at his seemingly meaningless words. “I know that one of your factories was destroyed! We’re also struggling with the shortage of Stardust because of it!”
“And?” Sooho raised his fist.
Secretary Kim closed his eyes tightly and shouted aloud, “So we built a new factory!”
Shrug.
“… What?” Sooho’s movements came to a halt.
‘It worked!’
Feeling proud that he knew it would work, Secretary Kim yelled at Sooho, “Stardust research lab! That was the reason we were trying to persuade Min Byung-gyu in the first place! We’ve already prepared the facilities and materials but don’t know how to produce the Stardust!”
Dr. Min Byung-gyu was the only Stardust researcher in the country. If he could develop a Stardust doping test, it was more than possible to produce Stardust with the facilities and materials that had been prepared.
But now that the demon had appeared before them, there was no longer reason to cling to Min Byung-gyu.
“That’s why we’re going to hand over the facility we’ve built to you! Use it as you please! We’ll also take responsibility for the materials supply in the future!”
“Materials supply?”
“Yes, we’ve already prepared about ten people! We were planning to have Min Byung-gyu perform an experiment from today! If you need more materials, just say so. We’ll grab as many people as we need!”
“…”
Sooho’s expression grew colder and colder. Perhaps Secretary Kim didn’t know that his words had decided his fate just now. From the moment he called humans the ingredients for Stardust, in Sooho’s mind, he was no different from a demon.
Sooho asked for the last time, “So where is the factory located?”
“Well, um…” Secretary Kim noticed Sooho’s suspicion, and his eyes wandered cravenly. “If you let me go here, I’ll contact you separately.”
“You’re asking me to spare your life.”
“Of course…”
“Don’t worry.”
“What?”
“There are many ways to find out even if I kill you.”
The conversation ended there.
Sooho mercilessly punched him.
Crack!
“…!”
Skill Smash.
In the end, Secretary Kim died without even being able to scream.
Ding!
[A quest has been activated.]
A message arrived just in time.
[Quest: Rescue]
Rescue the people kidnapped in the Stardust research lab.
– Current number of people kidnapped: 10
– Current number of people rescued: 0
Sooho stared at the quest window that opened in front of him and opened his mouth. “Beru.”
[Yes.]
Beru appeared before Secretary Kim’s corpse.
“Do you know what I will ask you to do?”
At Sooho’s words, Beru’s mouth twisted into a long, wicked grin that may have been eviler than a demon’s.
***
Some time later.
“Did he…leave?”
“Seems like it.”
As Sooho disappeared with Secretary Kim’s body, the people who had been hiding from the battle began to emerge onto the streets one by one.
“Phew, what the hell was that? Why were those Hunters fighting?”
“Why are the police always so slow? It’s been reported for a while now.”
“It hasn’t even been 10 minutes since the report. They’ll be here soon…”
It was truly an event that happened in the blink of an eye.
The window suddenly shattered, and then explosions rang out… And just when it seemed like they were fighting each other to death, both sides disappeared without a trace in less than 10 minutes.
“But wasn’t that person Crow?”
That time, someone remembered Sooho’s appearance and muttered to themselves.
The people around them murmured.
“What? Crow?”
“You mean the Beast King Crow?”
“Yeah. Haven’t you seen him wearing a crow mask?”
As luck would have it, an article about Magok Field had just come out the night before. Today, it was the talk of the town, and then someone wearing a crow mask appeared right in the middle of the city.
The Beast King Crow. The one who had overcome the trials and gained the power of the King of Beasts. According to the testimony of the survivors of Magok Field at the time, he wore a crow mask on his face.
“Wow, you’re right! The crow mask!”
“Wow! That guy was Crow!”
“No wonder he was so strong!”
Although they couldn’t hear their conversation from a distance, many people had witnessed Crow’s fighting. Of course, it was too fast to follow his swordsmanship with the naked eye. But at least on the final blow, the massive fist overflowing with black energy was clearly imprinted in everyone’s eyes.
“…Is that perhaps the power of the King of Beasts?”
Those who witnessed the powerful blow speculated and muttered the name of the Beast King Crow.
And a few moments later, new articles appeared on the internet.
***
“What is this now!?”
Lee Minsung, the vice master of the Fiend Guild, widened his eyes as he saw the news articles popping up one after another.
– (Breaking News) Beast King Crow appears in Seoul!
– (Breaking News) Clash between two Hunters!
– (Breaking news) Witnesses of the Beast King’s power.
Unlike at Magok, the articles included photos taken by witnesses’ phones this time. As the Hunters moved so fast, most of the photos were blurry, but Lee Minsung noticed one of the Hunters’ faces in particular.
The problem was that the collapsed Hunter was carried away on Crow’s shoulder in the last photo.
Lee Minsung immediately called Secretary Kim.
Ring, ring…
But no matter how many times he called, Secretary Kim didn’t answer.
“Secretary Kim! Secretary Kim! Answer the phone! Answer it!” Lee Minsung nervously shouted at his phone.
Then, his phone received an urgent message.
Ding!
– Vice Master, please contact me. There’s a problem with the facility right now.”
“…!”
As soon as he saw the message, a sense of unease flooded Lee Minsung’s mind.
The word ‘facility’ was a euphemism for the Stardust research lab he had devoted so much effort to building. He had also ordered Secretary Kim, who was caught by Crow, to capture Dr. Min Byung-gyu, the most important element of the lab, and bring him in today.
Lee Minsung urgently called the lab.
Ring, ring… click. Fortunately, they answered the phone quickly.
“What’s going on? What’s the problem with the facility?”
– V-Vice Master! That… Aaahh!
“…!?”
Startled by the sudden scream, Lee Minsung looked at his phone in surprise.
– Ahh! Aaaagh!
All kinds of terrible screams were coming from the other side of the phone.
“What’s going on there!? What’s happening right now!?”
– M-monster…! Aaaaaah!
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