Chapter 390: Rukainu |
“Who is it? Is it Arkhizar?”
Upon hearing Black Scythe’s question, Boluak could only stare at him in terror.
‘How did he know?’
He never expected anyone to be able to hear the telepathic conversation.
Ryu Min looked at Boluak with an arrogant expression.
“Do you think, as the God of Time, I wouldn’t be able to hear telepathy?”
“Ah...”
“Arkhizar contacted you first, didn’t he? He asked if you were injured.”
“Y-Yes.”
“Y-Yes...”
“I told you, didn’t I? Arkhizar wants to kill you. He contacted me as well, but I deliberately didn’t respond. That’s why he reached out to you.”
“Ah...”
It was all lies, but Boluak believed it completely.
He couldn’t imagine that Ryu Min could know everything thanks to the Rune of True Feelings.
“And now, what do we do, sir?”
“What else? We must hunt all the hosts on this land so that Arkhizar cannot grow. First, deal with that host.”
“Understood.”
In front of Boluak lay a completely charred human corpse.
It was the host from Mexico who tried to massacre humans but was incinerated by Ryu Min’s Rune of Lightning before he could absorb any biological energy.
Gurgle...
Black liquid oozed out of the corpse and was absorbed into Boluak’s palm.
“It has no taste since there’s no biological energy, but I still feel like I’ve grown.”
“Of course. If you absorb all the hosts on Earth, you’ll be able to keep Arkhizar at bay and have the power to face him.”
“Yes. We must find the other hosts quickly.”
“Then search quickly. We have no time to waste.”
“Yes.”
Despite the reprimand, Boluak closed his eyes without showing any signs of displeasure.
“The nearest location is... about 1,400 km southeast.”
“Lead the way.”
“Yes.”
Boluak took off first, followed by Ryu Min, who spread his wings.
————-
The mission to eliminate hosts with Boluak progressed smoothly.
They had already hunted 50.
“How many are left?”
“I’m not sure, but there should be around 250 remaining.”
According to Boluak, around 300 hosts were sent to this land.
They all arrived simultaneously to collapse the world’s timelines.
‘Even though I’ve read his mind, it seems he doesn’t know where Deorant is.’
The seeds were Deorant’s agents and the key to collapsing the timelines, but they didn’t know where their leader was.
The hosts, who had no consciousness, knew even less.
‘First, we need to annihilate all the hosts. Then we’ll think about what’s next.’
If he continued to use Boluak as a kind of GPS for hosts, extermination would only be a matter of time.
“The next host?”
“It’s not far from here.”
After absorbing the host in Nigeria, Boluak flew 400 km to Cameroon.
“Ahhh!”
“Help!”
“Hahaha! You will all become my biological energy!”
The moment they saw the host, who was massacring humans while spreading a black rain, Ryu Min generated sparks across his body.
‘Amplification.’
A Rune of Lightning technique that doubled attack speed and movement by charging his body with current.
Using this technique, he closed thousands of meters in an instant.
“Huh! Who are you?”
“Projection.”
The host barely had time to be surprised at the sudden appearance of a human.
“Rrrr!”
The host’s body, struck by the current, was charred and fell to the ground.
Boluak, who arrived late, looked at Ryu Min in awe.
‘He’s strong... Of course, he’s a god; his level is different.’
Although he had seen Ryu Min kill hosts in a single strike many times, he had never witnessed such rapid movement before.
‘If he fought against Deorant, the god of the dimension, who would win?’
While Boluak pondered that, Ryu Min urged him on.
“What are you doing? Absorb quickly!”
“Y-Yes...”
Boluak received another baseless reprimand.
As he extended his hand to absorb the host, Ryu Min sighed internally.
‘It’s frustrating to use someone slower than me as a guide.’
They had hunted around 50 hosts, but many still remained.
There were many hosts left to hunt, and at this moment, they could be massacring humans.
‘If only I had the skill to detect hosts, I could hunt them much faster...’
They had killed 50 hosts in 3 hours.
Although it was relatively short, he couldn’t help but feel it was slow.
He could move much faster on his own.
‘There’s no helping it. When will it appear?’
Ryu Min was certain that sooner or later, a seed would appear.
They had hunted so many hosts that it was impossible for them not to have noticed.
And they had the skill to detect host signals.
‘I hope Arkhizar shows up...’
Perhaps they were struggling to keep up due to his rapid movements.
Or maybe they couldn’t predict where he would go.
‘If they could predict his movement radius, they’d find the answer.’
The seeds, considered Supreme Beings, should at least have that level of intelligence.
“I’m done absorbing. Let’s go.”
“Good.”
As he followed Boluak, who was flying ahead, Boluak suddenly came to an abrupt stop.
Ryu Min noticed someone blocking Boluak’s path.
At first glance, it seemed human, but flying in the sky indicated it wasn’t a common entity.
Ryu Min immediately recognized the opponent’s identity.
‘It’s a seed.’
Its name is Rukainu.
As expected, they encountered each other while he was investigating the massacre of the hosts.
“Who are you...?”
“My name is Rukainu. State your name.”
“I’m Boluak.”
It seemed Rukainu recognized the name, as his eyebrows twitched slightly.
“So, you’re Boluak.”
“You know me?”
“I was nearby when you were telepathically communicating with Arkhizar.”
Hearing Arkhizar’s name, Boluak’s eyebrows furrowed automatically.
Arkhizar was a target of revenge.
Knowing that this seed was associated with him, Boluak’s gaze turned severe.
“What do you want?”
“I was investigating the deaths of the hosts. But...”
Rukainu looked over Boluak’s shoulder.
“Are you traveling with a human?”
It was evident they weren’t of the same species.
Seeds emit a unique vibration that allows them to recognize each other.
But the entity behind Boluak emitted no vibration.
That meant it was a common human.
“Why are you traveling with a human?”
Rukainu’s previously relaxed gaze now showed distrust.
“Don’t tell me that human is Black Scythe?”
“Can’t you see?”
It wasn’t Boluak who answered.
Flap-
With a flap of his black wings, Ryu Min moved forward.
“Would someone with these wings be an ordinary human?”
“Black Scythe...?”
The distrust in Rukainu’s eyes turned into rage.
“Are you the hunter that’s been eliminating our hosts?”
“Yes, I am. Why? Are you upset?”
“I’ll tear you apart limb by limb right here!”
With those bold words, Rukainu moved as if on cue.
In the blink of an eye, his figure vanished.
Turning his head, Ryu Min saw him above, already pouring out black liquid.
Papapapapa!
Even a single drop of that liquid could absorb all the biological energy in the body.
But Ryu Min wasn’t going to be caught.
“Here.”
“...!!?”
Just as Rukainu thought he had hit his mark, he heard a voice behind him.
Even for a player, the speed was astounding.
Rukainu tried to react quickly, but it was already too late.
Zap!
“Arrrgh!”
Struck directly by an electric current, Rukainu crashed to the ground.
Ryu Min followed him down to the forest floor.
Thud-
“Gruu...”
“You held on well. Most fall with a single electric strike. It seems you’re different from a host.”
Rukainu was still breathing.
Although Ryu Min intended to kill him in one strike, at that moment...
-Arkhizar! Beware of Black Scythe. He’s going after the hosts and then coming for me...
Rukainu had sent a telepathic message to Arkhizar.
There was no way to stop it.
Zap!
Ryu Min quickly sent more current to ensure Rukainu was completely dead.
‘He must have received the message.’
It was very likely that Arkhizar heard the telepathy.
‘Now he’ll try to prepare a defense against me...’
The initial plan was to eliminate the hosts as quickly as possible and then deal with the seeds that came to investigate.
He didn’t expect Rukainu to contact his leader directly before dying.
‘No matter. I can handle whatever defense he tries to prepare.’
At that moment, Boluak, who arrived late, examined Rukainu’s corpse.
“Is he dead?”
“Yes. You can’t absorb seeds, right?”
“No, we can only harvest hosts.”
“Then let’s go. We have more hosts to hunt.”
Ryu Min didn’t mention to Boluak the telepathy sent before Rukainu died.
It wouldn’t change anything anyway.
Flap!
The two hunters took to the sky again, searching for more hosts.
———————
‘That... Is that Rukainu’s voice?’
Arkhizar had heard the telepathic message moments ago.
It was a warning about Black Scythe.
‘It’s definitely Rukainu’s voice.’
He tried to adjust the frequency and send a telepathic reply, but there was no response.
‘Did Black Scythe get to him?’
The desperate tone and the message about being hunted made it clear that Rukainu had fallen victim to Black Scythe.
‘He didn’t even have time to send a proper telepathy. That means Black Scythe is much stronger than our seeds.’
This cannot continue.
If the situation is left as it is, Black Scythe will exterminate all the hosts and eventually target the seeds as well.
‘Is he trying to prevent the collapse of the timelines? Why is he doing this?’
Arkhizar didn’t know the reason, but he needed to quickly devise a strategy against Black Scythe.
After a moment of deep thought, Arkhizar considered a solution.
‘If we can’t defeat him by force, a threat might work.’
Arkhizar recalled that humans often use their families as leverage for blackmail.
‘Black Scythe. Surely he has a family.’
Even if he was a player, he was still human.
And Arkhizar knew well that family was a human’s greatest weakness.