Ch.16054. Soso’s Blood Demon Awakening (1)

# Hunter Guild Flame.

The elite hunter guild known as the 7th Regiment in the Three-Nation Allied Forces.

Even at this late midnight hour, the executives of Flame were still in a meeting, unable to sleep.

Maria, the executive director of Flame in charge of the briefing, addressed the meeting attendees.

“It seems we will likely withdraw from Japan soon.”

The participants murmured at Maria’s words. All eyes turned to Team Leader Seo Doo-ho. He pushed up his glasses and spoke.

“That means the alliance will have achieved only half a victory.”

“That’s correct, Team Leader Seo. The Allied Forces mobilized all the elites they could gather. Three members of the Five Great Celestial Saints converged here in Tokyo, but… failing to eliminate Juan Soriano and Seo Moon-yeom is undeniably disappointing.”

Everyone’s expressions darkened at those words.

One man among them exclaimed.

“Those damn villains! They’ve been running away the entire time since coming to Japan. They refused a direct confrontation until the end and slipped away!”

He was Pyo Sung-hoon, the Busan branch manager of Flame. But Maria shook her head at his words.

“Perhaps they didn’t think that way from the beginning. Juan Soriano and Seo Moon-yeom are the highest-ranking villains among the Twelve Apostles. They’re essentially the core of the Red Lake.”

The fact that those two were assigned to occupy Japan showed that the villains were undoubtedly serious about conquering Japan.

“But despite their presence, the Allied Forces fought too well.”

“After the Red Lake’s uprising, when normal nations fell so helplessly to the villains, they probably calculated that Japan would be easy to occupy at first. Well, they failed.”

Team Leader Seo Doo-ho was right.

Three of the Five Great Celestial Saints.

Gwangje Jeon Tae-hyun, Grand Duke Andrei, and Cheonma Yeon Se-hwi were all hunters from a generation ago.

All had stepped back from the front lines, serving more as heads of massive organizations than as hunters.

But their skills hadn’t rusted despite their long absence from the battlefield. Team Leader Seo continued.

“The villain forces gathered in Japan were undoubtedly elite. They even summoned more than nineteen greater demons to the surface. But the leaders of the Allied Forces were too strong.”

In terms of pure manpower, the Red Lake’s villain army outnumbered them by more than three times.

However, thanks to the superhuman efforts of those three individuals, they were able to push back the villain army. It seemed the villain forces had revised their strategy because of this.

“The Allied Forces headquarters has apparently confirmed that Seo Moon-yeom and Juan Soriano are no longer in Tokyo.”

At Team Leader Seo Doo-ho’s words, the expressions of all meeting participants hardened.

“If those two remain intact, the villains can create new forces anytime. It truly is only half a victory.”

“But isn’t it better than a defeat? And withdrawing safely won’t be easy either. The whole of Japan is in chaos from the villains’ and demons’ sorcery. We don’t know what kind of ambush might await us…”

Executive Director Maria nodded.

‘Something feels unsettling. Even if they were pushed back by the Allied Forces, the idea that the cunning Seo Moon-yeom fled without doing anything…’

That’s probably why headquarters was rushing to withdraw. With Seo Moon-yeom and Juan Soriano gone, everyone would be worried about their unguarded home countries.

And until the withdrawal was complete, they couldn’t let their guard down. Their opponents were villains of boundless malice. There was no telling what traps might be waiting.

Maria emphasized this fact to the guild members.

“So headquarters’ instructions are to maintain vigilance and a state of alert. At least until we complete our withdrawal to Korea.”

As Maria said, villains specialized in ambushes and terrorism rather than direct confrontation.

All the Flame meeting attendees maintained the tension in their eyes.

“Especially our 7th Regiment… Flame has achieved great accomplishments in this operation, so our guild members might be feeling elated. Please ensure everyone stays disciplined and doesn’t become lax, all executives gathered here.”

“Understood!”

Everyone responded in unison to Maria’s words.

As she said, Flame had achieved great success in this operation in Japan.

If they withdrew successfully, Flame’s status would rise considerably.

‘Above all, Team Leader Yeon So-so and Sister Seong A-rin’s contributions were enormous.’

Maria unconsciously recalled the achievements of those two.

***

For the past week.

Due to a special mission from headquarters, Flame’s core forces, Yuri and Lee Min-su, had been away from the battlefield.

But thanks to the outstanding performance of Yeon So-so, the elite team leader, and the holy maiden Seong A-rin, their absence wasn’t felt at all.

‘Especially Team Leader Yeon…’

Yeon So-so, already evaluated as beyond S+ rank to SS rank. Her reputation was growing beyond being the junior leader of the Cheonma Religion to being called the Sword Empress.

Excluding the three Great Celestial Saints, So-so showed the most superhuman performance in Tokyo.

She literally turned hundreds of monsters and villains into pieces of meat. Thus, everyone in the Allied Forces considered So-so their ace.

So much so that when So-so appeared, villains would abandon the fight and flee.

But at the same time, Flame’s executives had headaches because of So-so.

“By the way, Executive Director Maria. Speaking of controlling guild members, about Team Leader Yeon So-so…”

At that moment, Pyo Sung-hoon spoke cautiously.

With his words, all the executives fell silent. Even Team Leader Seo Doo-ho’s expression hardened at the mention of So-so’s name.

Maria responded.

“Yes. Team Leader Yeon…”

Maria paused briefly. While Yeon So-so was the ace of the Allied Forces and an executive of Flame, she was causing many problems within Flame.

‘No one can control Team Leader Yeon So-so now.’

As Maria thought.

The current So-so had become frighteningly fierce and cruel. And she didn’t follow the orders of Flame’s command.

Originally, as the leader of the elite team, she wasn’t in a position to take orders from anyone in terms of authority.

But at least during operations, So-so should have moved according to Flame’s operational tactics.

The people currently overseeing those operational tactics were Maria and Team Leader Seo Doo-ho. But So-so didn’t listen to either of them.

‘She just rushed into places with more enemies.’

As if craving more blood. She would dash out recklessly beyond Flame’s operational radius, as long as she could swing her sword.

And when killing enemies, she was unnecessarily cruel.

While monsters were one thing, villains outwardly looked no different from humans. Yet So-so tore them limb from limb.

Fortunately, since everyone in the Allied Forces hated monsters and villains, So-so’s actions actually boosted morale.

But with So-so, who should be commanding guild members, forgetting her duty and rampaging wildly, Flame’s leadership couldn’t help but have headaches.

“If we talk about withdrawal, I’m not sure if Team Leader Yeon will comply.”

Maria’s head throbbed again.

She had sent a message asking So-so to attend this meeting, but So-so didn’t show up.

‘She’s probably still slaughtering monsters and villains right now.’

So-so was a hunter, not a villain. But her obsession with blood was so extreme that even Maria, a fellow hunter, felt chills.

‘She’s so different from her usual self.’

Normally, Yeon So-so was a kind person, though a bit slow and quirky.

At the very least, she wasn’t someone who would forget her position as the leader of Flame’s elite team.

‘I know that well, having worked with her for almost three years.’

That’s why So-so had a very good reputation among guild members.

She was always the raid team leader who threw herself into the most dangerous parts of missions first.

And despite being the daughter of Cheonma Yeon Se-hwi of the Five Great Celestial Saints, she had a gentle personality without any sense of authority.

Everyone in Flame knew the warmth hidden beneath her strange speech patterns and personality.

Even among the people from the Busan branch who hadn’t joined long ago, So-so was very popular.

‘But now…’

Even Maria, who had worked with her for a long time, felt fear when she saw So-so’s current ferocious gaze.

If they withdrew like this, she worried that So-so, with nothing left to cut with her sword, might draw her blade against allies.

Maria prayed inwardly.

‘I hope Team Leader Yeon returns to her normal self. And that Yuri and Min-su return quickly…’

Fortunately, they had received contact from those two today.

If Guild Master Yuri and Main Operator Lee Min-su returned, they could somehow calm So-so down.

But the night felt too long before those two joined them. It would take a few more days until the complete withdrawal.

As the meeting atmosphere grew heavy over the issue of So-so, someone broke the silence.

“May I go see Team Leader Yeon So-so?”

Everyone in the meeting room focused on the speaker.

A young woman with pink hair wearing a pure white nun’s habit. Seong A-rin stood up from her seat.

***

“Haa… Haa… Haa…”

Yeon So-so breathed heavily. In her right hand was a sword.

Payeong Sword. A famous blade said to destroy even the shadow of an enemy.

Crimson blood flowed down the blade of the Payeong Sword, which was pointed downward.

Drip, drip—

Of course, it wasn’t So-so’s blood. It was probably the blood of monsters or villains. But So-so didn’t need to distinguish between them.

Whether monsters or villains, all became equal pieces of meat before the Payeong Sword that So-so wielded.

Wooooong—

And the Payeong Sword was an Ancient Gear.

The gear, released to its third form, absorbed all the flowing blood into its blade according to its master’s will.

The Payeong Sword, having absorbed all that blood.

The moonlight reflected blue on the now clean blade. Seeing that light, So-so laughed like a madwoman.

“Kekek… More, more blood…”

And the scenes that had been haunting her mind for the past week began to resurface.

Yuri Tarkovskaya and Lee Min-su.

The two people who had disappeared for a week on a special mission from headquarters. And also the cause that reawakened the blood demon inside So-so.

‘Unforgivable… Yuri Tarkovskaya.’

So far, So-so had already turned hundreds of monsters and villains into corpses.

All creatures before her eyes overlapped with the image of Yuri Tarkovskaya. So So-so repeatedly hacked at that Yuri with her sword.

But no matter how many times she killed, killed, and killed again.

Yuri would revive and move again in So-so’s mind. And whisper to So-so.

‘You loser.’

The two people who appeared in her mind were endlessly making love.

And in that imagination, Yuri, fully indulging in Min-su, laughed at So-so with sounds of pleasure.

‘Min-su will never go to you. As always, I’m the only one Min-su loves.’

At that image of Yuri, So-so’s head grew cold again. And she whispered quietly to herself.

“I must kill… Yuri Tarkovskaya.”

Yuri and Min-su had been away from the Allied Forces for a week.

Although they left on a mission, it was a mission just for those two people.

With a young man and woman gone alone like that, there was no telling what might have happened during that week. Imagining what occurred during that week was agonizing for So-so.

‘Min-su clearly said he loved me, but…’

Still, Yuri Tarkovskaya. There’s no knowing what fox-like words that woman might use to bewitch Min-su.

She had just gotten close to Min-su as a couple. Min-su had said he loved her too. But So-so was anxious. The anxiety that Min-su might be taken away by that cunning Yuri at any moment was driving her crazy.

“Kill… I’ll kill her…”

That’s why the blood demon inside her had awakened.

From that moment, everything before her eyes looked like Yuri Tarkovskaya. So-so killed all those Yuris, killed them again, and hacked them to pieces.

But even after killing her like that, Yuri revived in So-so’s mind. And took away Min-su, whom So-so loved.

So-so moved to find another enemy, another Yuri.

Another monster appeared. No, that was Yuri Tarkovskaya. So-so raised the Payeong Sword again to cut that Yuri into pieces.

“Stop, Senior So-so.”

But someone was blocking So-so.

“Yuri… Tarkovskaya?”

Everyone blocking So-so was Yuri Tarkovskaya. So she was about to swing her sword at the person right in front of her, but.

The sliver of reason that barely remained managed to stop the sword. So-so spoke to the woman wearing a nun’s habit.

“Seong A-rin…? What’s the matter? Even if it’s you, if you interfere with me…”

The Payeong Sword resonated with terrible killing intent.

But Seong A-rin’s expression remained calm. Not showing any fear of the sword at all, she spoke calmly.

“Senior So-so. Of all people, you shouldn’t be like this. Don’t you agree?”

At that moment, So-so’s gaze turned toward Seong A-rin.