Ch.134Resurrection Ritual Is Dangerous (2)

Thump.

Thump.

In an eerie space of unknown origin, footsteps broke the silence, echoing through the void.

Their owner was Fabio, the S-rank hunter from Italy known as the Butcher.

“Hey, stop trying to set the mood and come out already.”

As if on cue, human figures began to appear one by one in what had seemed like an empty space.

“Don’t make such a commotion. He will be here soon.”

“Hah. Let’s put aside the trivial matters. It’s tiresome.”

Soon, blue flames ignited, revealing a man seated on a throne, his face concealed.

It was Heimbell, the true leader of Hades.

He tilted his head slightly and asked Fabio:

“Is the information accurate?”

“Of course. I can’t say it’s 100 percent certain, but looking at Baek Eunha’s behavior pattern, it’s almost definite. She must have overexerted herself in the S2-rank dungeon.”

“Based on past instances, she won’t be in proper condition for the next few days.”

That statement was synonymous with the fact that the moment they had been waiting for had finally arrived.

Seeing Heimbell’s reaction, Fabio posed a somewhat puzzled question.

“I’ve been curious about this for a while, but you seem to hold her in quite high regard.”

“…”

“I don’t know how impressive she is, but she’s definitely the strongest human I’ve ever encountered. Wouldn’t a direct confrontation be worth trying?”

Of course, Baek Eunha is strong.

Not only is she superior to ordinary S-rank hunters, but there’s no guarantee that even the Seven Stars could defeat her.

Fabio knew this well.

However, in Fabio’s opinion, Heimbell standing before him possessed equal skill.

That’s why he couldn’t understand why Heimbell was so concerned about Baek Eunha at this crucial moment before their grand plan.

Hearing those words, Heimbell remained silent for a moment before letting out a long laugh.

It was a strange laugh that seemed to mock Fabio’s thoughts, or perhaps was self-deprecating.

Just as Fabio began to feel a slight chill, Heimbell provided an answer to his question.

“…Well, I suppose it might appear that way to your eyes, unaware of its true nature.”

“True nature?”

“Originally, it is not a being that immature vessels like us could challenge, no matter how many of us gather. From its perspective… yes. We are merely a cluster of insects.”

It was an extremely blunt expression lacking confidence.

Fabio couldn’t even begin to imagine what Heimbell had seen to make him speak that way.

“Therefore, we must avoid it and summon Lord Gildeon to this world first. Only he can erase it from this place.”

Heimbell, a formidable power, held such reverence for this being.

Whatever its identity, if they succeeded in resurrecting this Gildeon, great chaos would surely befall the world.

And that was precisely what Fabio earnestly desired.

“Fabio, your contribution has been significant. As promised, I will ensure your wish is fulfilled.”

“…I’d appreciate that. So, where will the ritual take place?”

The reason Hades had been inactive until now was simple.

They needed a moment when Baek Eunha couldn’t interfere, and a location to perform the ritual.

These two conditions had not been met.

To Fabio’s question, Heimbell answered with a satisfied smile:

“I don’t understand what you’re asking.”

“What?”

“A perfect location for the ritual has just revealed itself.”

As Heimbell flicked his finger, an image appeared in mid-air through the shared vision of his undead.

It was a massive island in the Mediterranean, Spanish territory.

It was Mallorca Island, where the S2-rank dungeon had appeared.

#

After conquering the dungeon, I was back to my repetitive daily routine.

“This is such a pain…”

It was always like this, but after demolishing an S2-rank dungeon in just one day, contacts began pouring in from everywhere.

Naturalization offers from foreign countries, employment requests from wealthy individuals who controlled the world’s economy, and solicitations from various media outlets.

It felt like there wasn’t a place that didn’t want me.

“Being too competent really is troublesome.”

“…It can’t be helped. There’s no one among active hunters who matches you, brother.”

Especially in times like these, no one can guarantee their own safety.

Even the wealthy from around the world who had previously entrusted themselves to their nations have recently been trending toward personally employing skilled hunters.

“I didn’t know this, but you’re surprisingly popular abroad too, Master?”

“A-abroad?”

“Yes. I think it’s because Xavier and other famous hunters mention you a lot.”

Song Hayeon nodded with satisfaction as she ate a slice of apple.

Looking at her, I asked:

“…By the way, aren’t you going home? I told you I don’t need you today since Seoha is here.”

“Well, actually, there were some parts of what you taught me last time that I didn’t understand… hehe.”

While I was caught up in various incidents, Song Hayeon had been consistently training and finally succeeded in reaching the level I had demanded.

As promised, I had just taught her how to create high-level undead.

“I-I told you last time. There’s no point in explaining more from that point. You need to redefine those parts according to your own style.”

“But what you taught me is too difficult…”

I understand her struggle. Unlike me, Song Hayeon didn’t build her theoretical foundation from the ground up, so she would naturally have difficulty grasping certain concepts.

But it can’t be helped.

Isn’t it the law that if your brain falls short, your body must work harder?

Eventually, Song Hayeon slumped down and began reviewing the theoretical process organized on her tablet.

‘It’s been quiet though.’

Despite the bad feeling that kept nagging at a corner of my mind, surprisingly nothing unusual had happened.

If Hades had made any noticeable moves, Joseph would have detected something, so there was nothing particularly suspicious.

“He-Helena entered the dungeon yesterday, right?”

“Yes, yesterday afternoon.”

“…Then maybe they really aren’t planning to move.”

Although my worries seemed unfounded, I still felt uneasy.

That’s why, quite unusually, I wasn’t even playing games but instead sat with the TV and laptop, constantly checking news and articles.

Then, I found something that caught my attention.

‘Power outage across Mallorca Island?’

Mallorca Island was where the S2-rank dungeon had appeared in Spain.

The article speculated that the large-scale power outage was due to the dungeon’s emergence.

‘…’

Being quite far from the mainland, Mallorca has its own independent power system, and recently they had implemented commercialized magic stone technology.

Experts claimed that a power outage shouldn’t occur under normal circumstances, which led to the anomalous dungeon being identified as the cause.

However, having cleared the S2-rank dungeon myself, I knew better.

Structurally, the dungeon’s magical energy had nothing to do with such phenomena.

One could consider the possibility of resonance between the magic stones used in power technology and the dungeon, but that had been extensively verified, and personally, I thought the probability was low.

Then why did a large-scale power outage occur?

I could think of one very plausible possibility.

‘If it’s the influence of magic, it’s entirely possible.’

Even if not intended to cause a power outage, the use of large-scale magic would affect the surrounding area.

And strangely enough, at the center of the area where the massive power outage occurred was exactly where the dungeon was located.

‘…I hoped I was wrong, but I have a bad feeling about this.’

Normally, I might have dismissed it. It was more of a wild speculation than a reasoned hypothesis.

But I had actually wondered about this before.

If I were Hades, where and how would I resurrect Gildeon?

One of the candidates was a high-rank dungeon.

‘It’s overflowing with magical energy and sacrifices, and it’s suitable for deploying magical formations.’

If I could think of it, so could they.

After all, he was also a necromancer.

And if they really thought that way, they would have targeted Spain, where there was still no news, rather than England, where a raid party was quickly formed. They would have entered the dungeon secretly to prevent information from reaching me and Helena.

What if they used large-scale sleep magic, memory manipulation, or concealment spells in the process? And what if the magical waves caused the power outage in the area?

Some might say I’m overthinking, but all the pieces fit together.

Having reached a conclusion, I jumped up from my seat and said to Song Hayeon, who was tapping on her tablet:

“Ha-Hades has made their move.”

“What? Where?”

“They plan to use the Spanish dungeon itself as an altar for the resurrection ritual. We’re leaving immediately, so get ready.”

As I rushed to my room to pack my clothes, Song Hayeon and Seoha quickly followed.

While following, Song Hayeon asked me:

“But how are you going to handle this when you can’t use your power?”

To that, I answered with a vile smile, avoiding her gaze:

“I-I have lots of friends now. Let them experience a group beating for once.”

It was the moment a multinational raid party was being formed, solely to confront Hades.