Login in to Alandal

The Master’s swordsmanship was spectacular.

His level was high, so he could form a Sword Energy that bordered on Strong Energy.

Clank! Clank, clank, clank!- 

There was a loud clanging when our blades collided. Our energy scattered, and I deliberately directed it toward the gathered assassins.

"Kaaaah!"

"Gasp!"

"Ugh!"

While watching our fight, the assassins were hit by splinters of our energy, letting out short screams before collapsing.

"Everyone, step back."

One of the Elders hurriedly pushed the others behind him.

[Just as I expected. That's one of the combined skills used by the Killing Group.]

According to the Heavenly Demon, those assassins from the Martial Arts Society took the techniques used by many different sects and schools and mixed them in various ways.

However, it was tricky even for him to deduce what kind of skills were mixed here.

Many parts were deformed, like the skills of the old Wu-Tang Clan that Oh Young-seok used.

In addition, the skills the Master showed had some unique elements.

‘It's a different feeling from Oh Young-seok.’

In Oh Young-seok's case, he had only used his attack skills after forming Sword's Energy with his magic power. However, while this Master formed Sword's Energy with his magic power, he attacked with the martial arts he had learned instead of his attack skills.

[Certainly, when this old man uses his skills, he only uses the magic power spread throughout his body.]

He didn't use the inner power that came from the energy center.

It seemed the Awakened and martial artists used the energy of Nature, but there was a difference in how it was applied: the Awakened used that energy, called magic power, to invoke their skills, while the martial artists used the energy called inner power.

[I don't see anything more from this old man, but I think it'll be a good experience to fight him. He’s using a lot of different movements in ways that’ll be hard for you to predict.]

So he could predict everything, but the Heavenly Demon wouldn’t speak to me except if I was about to die.

Just like he said, the Master’s sword flew in from all directions, entirely unpredictable.

I could have used Strong Energy to pressure him back, but the Heavenly Demon told me to feel his moves directly with my body.

He claimed it would become an essential clue for a new realization later.

It didn't take long to get used to the old man's movements.

[Good! You figured it out quick.]

I was done with the old man. However, there were still some troublesome people milling around.

The assassins were throwing darts and shuriken whenever they saw an opening in the middle of our fight.

"Damn it. You guys are annoying."

I used the Heavenly Demon Replication to escape the Master’s next attack.

For a moment, he looked astonished. That hesitation gave me all the time I needed.

[Good choice!]

"Y-You!"

The Master was bewildered after realizing my intentions, but it was too late. My retaliation was already flying toward the nearby assassins.

In that short time, I formed the Strong Energy and flung it toward them.

"Demonic Dragon Flash! Demonic Dragon Grief!"

Boom, boom!-

"Aaaaaaah!"

"Aaaah!"

The assassins' shrieks reverberated as the Strong Energy swept past them. That combination of forms had reduced a Stone Golem to dust when I could only wield regular Blade Energy.

They didn’t stand a chance.

"You punk!"

The Master was enraged to see his subordinates fall so helplessly.

"First Elder!"

The Master shouted. Simultaneously, an Elder who had managed to dodge my strike rushed to his aid.

It was obvious they had coordinated their movements.

But that was all. I could easily make out the trajectory of their blades.

After dodging, I sensed two other people flanking the First Elder.

It seemed the Master and First Elder were trying to distract me while the other two were lurking in the shadows, ready to launch a surprise attack.

"So, they were prepared for this."

They probably thought I wouldn't come alone, but with the Management Bureau or my guild's team.

The illusions and traps created by the Mana Stone were intended to snare a group of people. Then, those formations they had set up were to deal with any top-ranked hunters who had managed to make it this far.

This joint attack was now their last line of defense. But contrary to their expectations, I had come alone and demolished all their traps, and I wasn't about to let them beat me now.

I spun around, pretended to take their blows with the Demonic Dragon Gale, and then leapt up.

"Demonic Dragon Power!"

I dropped my body with that skill and split the air with the strongest form among those on the first map.

Whoosh—

Those who tried to hide and launch an ambush were exposed. Their bodies were sliced in two, and they both died without a sound. It took me less than a second to take care of the two hidden assassins.

"Second Elder! Third Elder!"

Judging from the First Elder's cries, those who attempted to sneak up on me were his fellow Elders. But my attack wasn't finished yet. I continued with the first two forms of the second stage towards the Master and the First Elder.

"Demonic Dragon Era! Demonic Dragon Force!"

 Boooom! Baaaaang-

A clap of thunder echoed across the base, and a large explosion struck the Master and the First Elder’s location.

"Ugh!"

Once the dust had settled, the sight of the Master still standing was pitiful.

His right arm, the one he used to wield his sword, had been completely severed from his shoulder with no trace left behind.

He hadn't been able to dodge the relentless onslaught, and I hadn't given him the chance to use his Iron Barrier.

Behind him lay the First Elder's mangled corpse, unrecognizable.

The Master glared at me with bulging eyes.

"What an absurd skill. I was too complacent….”

His expression was stained with pain and regret.

I sensed some of the surviving assassins running away, but there was no need to chase them, since I had their Master right here.

I stopped his bleeding by pressing his Restraining Points. I wouldn’t want him to bleed out before I had the chance to get answers.

"Will you answer my questions now?"

***

The Master was surprised when I asked about the identity of the Killing Group, known in this world as the Shadow Guild, but he soon answered.

He said the Killing Group was an organization rooted in China, with descendants who fled to Korea and Japan during the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

They had formed an independent organization with the same name and roots.

However, he said the Killing Group in Japan integrated with ninja groups of Awakened there and sought to unite the assassination guilds across Northeast Asia.

In addition, he said the sword skills he had learned were passed down from generation to generation, so their exact origin was unknown to him.

Anyway, the one pulling the strings behind the Killing Group was the Guild Association.

Surprisingly, the Killing Group wasn't appointed by them but was being manipulated; they would be executed if they didn't obey.

However, I didn't get an answer from him about who had imposed those conditions.

He died with blood spewing from his eyes and nose when he tried to answer that question.

This must be what Oh Young-seok had mentioned.

"I think the dark forces mentioned by the President and the other forces mentioned by this guy are the same organization."

[You said Lee Seong-jin was their original target. It's turned to you now.]

"He was at first."

As the Heavenly Demon said, their original target had been Lee Seong-jin, naturally, as he was known to be the president of the BnS Guild.

It had been Oh Young-seok’s arbitrary judgment to attack me first.

Well, that was their deal. I didn't need to know the specifics.

But it was clear that it was that other entity, the one who tried to lure me here to kill me, the Master spoke of. The Guild Association just happened to get caught up in it.

[The Gate Managers made their presence known by appearing in front of you. I don't think this is a coincidence.]

"He even told me to build up my strength.”

[This is complicated, and they're a pain, so wipe them all out. I think that's the most efficient way to solve this.]

That was just the Heavenly Demon's style.

I'd love to, but I still needed to build my strength before I could. I figured I could handle them without any worries, at least when I reached the level of the Heavenly Demon.

[Why did that old man tell you everything when he knew he would die?]

"The Killing Group can no longer maintain its existence in our country. It’s also true the Guild Association and these other forces used them. He wants revenge.”

[So, he’s using you to create a double K.O. situation.]

"I'm not sure, but he was hoping to hurt them no matter which side I’m on.”

[This time, you need to mess with the Guild Association.]

"I need to strike while the iron is hot. We can’t give them a break. If we get rid of them one by one like this, we'll end up catching their tail.”

***

The Hunter Guild Association of Korea was located near the Yangjae Citizens' Forest in Seoul.

It was a busy place before the Cataclysms began, but now few people visited due to the frequent Gates.

Although the Gangnam Station was close, it had been a while since civilians were prohibited from entering the area, and the Hunter Administration left the management of it entirely to the Guild Association. Only the Guild Association's buildings remained here, standing in all their grandeur.

Even though it was dawn, the lights in the Guild Association's underground conference room were bright.

In this conference room, the leaders of each guild in the Association sat around the table.

These participants were hunters commonly referred to as the Top Ten, and their rankings were as follows:

Ranking #2: Lv. 70 Park Hyun-chul – Taebaek Guild

Ranking #3: Lv. 70 Choi Woo-min - Always Blue Guild

Ranking #4: Lv. 69 Park Yong-ro – The Magical Guild

Ranking #5: Lv. 68 Kim Seung-hyun – Turbo Guild

Ranking #6: Lv. 68 Kim Mi-eun – Phoenix Guild

Ranking #7: Lv. 68 Kim Jung-hee – Phoenix Guild

Ranking #9: Lv. 68 Lee Soo-jung – The Magical Guild

Ranking #10: Lv. 67 Lee Geun-gu – Taebaek Guild

Initially, they consisted of nine people, including Oh Young-seok, and within the Association, their gathering was referred to as the Meeting of Nine.

However, Oh Young-seok was currently absent.

"Any news about president Oh Young-seok?"

Lee Geun-gu asked Kim Mi-eun.

"I haven't heard anything so far. The Shadow Guild said they found nothing."

"I wonder if the BnS Guild and the Management Bureau were caught in the trap.”

Although the Phoenix Guild led the BnS Guild's forcible merger and vitality potion operation, the answer came from another hunter.

He was Park Hyun-chul, an Awakened from the First Cataclysm, ranked second even though he was in his 60s and had gray hair.

"Even if Director Koh Tae-wook joins us, it won’t be easy to confront them."

Choi Woo-min, ranked third, nodded.

"Hmm. You said that old man belonged to an organization related to the Real Ranking with representative Oh Young-seok, right?"

Real Ranking!

Why did Choi Woo-min say that?

But the others nodded as if they knew what he meant.

"It's great they can use that stubborn old man."

It was Kim Seung-hyun, ranked fifth, who responded.

"That's how powerful they are, right?

Choi Woo-min, ranked fourth, expressed his doubts.

"But I don't know why they're interested in the BnS Guild. It's not like they can take advantage of selling those vitality potions like us."

"It's none of our business. All we have to do is take advantage of this opportunity."

Choi Woo-min shut up at Park Hyun-chul's reply.

"It's not easy to get together like this, so let's cut to the chase."

Thus, the meeting kicked off at Park Hyun-chul's suggestion.

They spent a long time discussing how to handle the Phoenix Guild's situation and how to divvy up the profits after they merged the BnS Guild into the Association.

Then someone's phone started ringing.

Kim Mi-eun, ranked sixth, answered it. Her voice got louder as she spoke.

"The Shadow Guild collapsed?"

Everyone looked up as her sharp voice cut through the conference room.

It was then that the building shook, and an alarm sounded.