Ch.24Chapter 24 – Escape

# Shin Jaehyuk quickly climbed up the pillar to avoid Li-tem’s charging attack. Having climbed it once before, the second time was much easier.

He did this to avoid becoming a target for the statues while running around on the ground. Though the dust cloud and collapsed stone pillars might help him evade the statues’ gaze now, he judged it safer to attack the demon with his lightning spear from atop the pillar, beyond Li-tem’s reach.

Of course, Li-tem was well aware of this. Though weakened, the demon hadn’t lost its cunning.

Charging through the dust cloud, Li-tem used the momentum of its rush to violently swing the massive tentacle on its back.

KWAAANG!

The powerful strike made the pillar Shin Jaehyuk was climbing shake violently.

“Kuk!”

But it was still holding. The material seemed quite sturdy, as the damage to the stone pillar wasn’t as severe as expected. To topple the pillar would require several more strikes, and by then, Shin Jaehyuk would have reached the top and had enough time to feed his lightning spear to the demon.

Li-tem seemed momentarily confused when the pillar didn’t break with its full-force strike. Taking advantage of this hesitation, Shin Jaehyuk climbed toward the top of the pillar even faster.

At that moment, an eyeball protruding from Li-tem’s swollen flesh looked around at the surrounding statues instead of the pillar. Then Li-tem’s massive tentacle split again into dozens of strands. The demon approached the statues with determined movements, as if it had thought of some scheme.

‘Is it going to pull out the statue and throw it?’

No. Li-tem did something Shin Jaehyuk hadn’t anticipated at all. First, it turned the statue’s head so its gaze was directed at the base of the pillar. Then, with the tentacle, pillar, and statue aligned in a straight line, it dangled one of its tentacles in front of the statue’s eyes and waved it—

“What—!”

The transparent tip of the tentacle gradually became opaque. In response, light began charging in the eyes of the statue watching the tentacle. Intense light gathered in the statue’s eyeballs, and then a death ray capable of annihilating everything was fired.

KWAAAAA!

The beam melted one of Li-tem’s tentacles, continued straight ahead, and struck the base of the pillar. Even a massive stone pillar couldn’t withstand the power of the Edenians’ secret weapon, the magic light cannon. The pillar swayed and began to topple to one side.

‘Damn it! Using the statue like that!’

The demon, imagining Shin Jaehyuk’s future, let out a gleeful scream.

“After I kill you, next I’ll take revenge on that fake demon lord who dared imprison me here! And I will surely find His Majesty Satan and return the throne of hell to its rightful owner!”

As the pillar tilted severely, Shin Jaehyuk immediately abandoned his climb. He retrieved the daggers and spears embedded in the pillar and ran along the slanting stone column as it collapsed, thinking:

‘So when the power of deception is withdrawn, the statues can detect it! Just now, it sacrificed one tentacle to direct the statue’s attack… That means the statues’ attacks can effectively damage Li-tem too!’

As this realization hit him, Shin Jaehyuk began to see a path to victory.

‘One piece, just one piece is missing for victory. Under what conditions, by what principle do the statues detect their targets?’

Concentrating his mind to his toes, he kicked off the edge of the stone pillar and leaped upward. The semi-transparent tentacles rose violently into the air like hands trying to grasp a departing lover. The tips of the tentacles transformed into sharp hooks, trying to snatch him.

“Holy radiance that repels the unholy!”

A sacred shockwave struck away the approaching hands in mid-air. The rising tentacles lost their strength and scattered. Shin Jaehyuk’s body, having kicked off the pillar, reached its apex and then began to fall, unable to escape gravity’s pull. If he landed on the ground without a plan, he would become a target for the statues. He needed to think of a solution.

Feeling the wind brush against his cheek, Shin Jaehyuk replayed fragments from the past in his mind. It was a memory from his previous life—a conversation with a black magician once called Iscariot, who had been his comrade.

“A way to avoid being detected by golems right in front of you? Hmm. Interesting question. For ordinary golems controlled directly by a magician, you’d need to evade the magician’s detection. But for autonomous golems—that’s impossible. Autonomous golems detect ‘moving mana’ and consider it an intruder. And no human in Eden can exist without even a grain of mana…”

“I see it—!”

Landing on the ground, Shin Jaehyuk rolled once to distribute the impact and then began running toward a specific point. It was a place where the statues’ gazes were concentrated, where it seemed impossible to avoid the magic light cannons. Yet there was not a hint of hesitation in his unwavering steps.

The eyes of the statues, detecting the intruder’s presence, began to glow blue.

“Hahaha— You’re walking straight into death with your own feet!”

Li-tem chased after him, mocking Shin Jaehyuk for his apparent blunder. Shin Jaehyuk was like a mouse trapped in a cage. Just by containing him, this insect would be surrounded by statues and meet his death…

The statues’ eyes glowed as if on fire. In a few seconds, when the beams fired, Shin Jaehyuk would undoubtedly be reduced to ashes. He had to make a decision. It was time to play his trump card.

Shin Jaehyuk quickly tore his hip bag from his waist. His heart was pounding violently. What he was about to do was a gamble—an equation leading to victory, combining information gained from memory and observation. If his reasoning was wrong, he would die in the statues’ barrage.

But having come this far, there was no other way. He lightly licked his lips, dry from tension. In his hand was a mana compass taken from his hip bag.

“Now!”

Timing it carefully, Shin Jaehyuk threw the compass hard into the air.

The compass flew in a parabolic arc toward Li-tem.

‘If my prediction is correct—!’

Perceiving the flying object as some kind of attack, Li-tem caught the compass with its tentacle hand. It briefly retracted its tentacles, preparing for an attack, but nothing happened.

Emboldened, Li-tem mocked Shin Jaehyuk, anticipating his demise.

“It was a futile struggle, insect!”

The statues began firing their magic light cannons in unison. Dozens of pairs of magical beams were emitted, targeting what was in their sight.

“What—?”

But the statues weren’t looking at Shin Jaehyuk. The beams were targeting Li-tem, or more precisely, the mana compass held in Li-tem’s tentacle. They had detected the “movement of mana” in the compass.

‘It worked!’

A smile of victory spread across Shin Jaehyuk’s face.

KRRUUUGGAAAHHHH—!!!

The demon’s flesh was torn apart by the merciless concentrated fire. The high-density magic beams seared and melted the demon’s flesh where they touched. Li-tem desperately tried to inflate its flesh, but the swollen mass only became new fodder for the voracious beams.

In the agony of its entire body burning, the demon wailed.

“H-how are you unharmed from those statues?!”

Shin Jaehyuk caught his breath, calming his pounding heartbeat.

“Golems detect moving mana to identify enemies.

But I don’t have any mana.”

Unlike in Eden, humans on Earth aren’t born with mana. Only the Awakened are granted the miracle of mana. But Shin Jaehyuk wasn’t an Awakened. He didn’t possess even a grain of mana.

Therefore, he wasn’t a target for the statues.

“KRAAAA—, YOU—!”

Li-tem’s body suddenly shrank, then began to swell up faster than ever before. It even abandoned the form of Hunter Lee Jaeyeon it had been maintaining, and tentacles burst out from its body in all directions like a sea urchin or a chestnut burr, thrashing wildly. It seemed to be making a final, desperate effort with all its remaining strength.

This desperate struggle was indeed effective. The frantically extended tentacles glowed and smashed the surrounding statues. Each time a tentacle lashed down like a whip, tearing through the air, statues in its path were shattered. As the barrage weakened, Li-tem’s regeneration speed increased.

‘I can’t let that happen!’

“Eloah— Your light, through my hands—!”

Concentrating all his nerves on his outstretched palm, he channeled divine power. Divine power poured from Shin Jaehyuk’s soul like a waterfall, forming into a spear shape on his palm.

‘More, just a little more—!’

He needed to deliver the finishing blow while the demon’s body was bound and immobile. An enormous amount of divine power, beyond what Shin Jaehyuk could normally control, was concentrated into a single lightning spear. Static electricity crackled from the lightning, larger than his own body, scorching his armor and the ground black.

Shin Jaehyuk let out a shallow groan at the heavy sensation. His hand was tingling. It was becoming difficult to control any further.

“Eloah—!”

Calling out the name of God, Shin Jaehyuk delivered his final strike against his opponent. The most powerful technique currently available to him was unleashed. The lightning spear, leaving Shin Jaehyuk’s hand, shot toward its target at the speed of lightning. A beam of light split the plaza, with thunder following close behind.

KWAAAAAAANG—!!!

AAAAHHHHHH—

The thunderous explosion of the spear embedded deep in the demon’s flesh mass sent powerful lightning currents tearing through its insides.

“——————!!!!!”

Li-tem, with all its organs seared, trembled without even being able to scream. It was a critical hit. The convulsing body gradually became opaque, regaining its color. At some point, the statues had also stopped their attacks and stood deactivated.

A gentle breeze swept through the desolate ruins. The sun still shone brightly from the hazy gray sky. The dust cloud gradually settled, and silence returned to the ruins. Shin Jaehyuk cautiously approached the demon’s body sprawled on the ground, wary of any sudden movements.

Residual electrical energy crackled and sparked from the well-cooked demon’s body. Golden divine power suppressed the demon’s magical energy operation, inhibiting regeneration. The bloodshot eyes in the demon’s body, where regeneration had stopped, were slowly closing.

The tendons around its eyes were broken and dangling, and its pupils were dilated and cloudy. Pale fluid gushed from wounds all over its body that weren’t regenerating. The tentacles that had been trembling had already lost their form and were spread out on the floor like puddles of water.

Li-tem barely managed to lift one of its charred tentacles, quivering. At the end of this final outstretched tentacle stood the black-armored holy knight, standing proudly on his own two legs.

“Your Majesty… His Majesty Satan couldn’t have returned…”

Li-tem’s final words rode the dusty wind, fading away with the whirlwind. The tentacle fell limply to the ground, raising a small cloud of dust.

Shin Jaehyuk relaxed his posture and exhaled a sigh of relief.

***

「===

System Log

The boss has been defeated.

You have gained experience.

Civilization Military Power [0/5 Lv] has gained experience.

Surviving members: 13/30

The gate will be activated soon…

===」

***

“Damn, how am I supposed to report this…”

Commander Ha Jeongjae pressed his smooth head firmly with both hands. Having miraculously escaped through the gate, he was now sitting at a table in his tent. On the laptop monitor in front of him was a report about this “Christmas Disaster”—a report he had written himself.

‘Thankfully, being Christmas, there were no reporters around…’

He grabbed a cup from the desk and gulped down cold water. Only as the cold liquid flowed down his throat did he truly feel alive. He recalled how he had managed to survive…

Realizing through the system that one survivor remained in the death plaza among the terrifying statues, he had abandoned any rescue attempt. It was right after experiencing defeat. Taking hunters paralyzed by fear back there would only lead to total annihilation.

However, about 30 minutes later, loud noises suddenly began coming from inside the temple. It sounded like something breaking and the ground being overturned. Strange screaming sounds could also be heard. It was clear that some anomaly was occurring in the plaza. Perhaps that survivor was doing something!

Another 30 minutes passed. The noise from the temple ceased, and the forest regained its breathtaking silence. Someone screamed. They had discovered through their status window that the boss had been defeated and the gate activated. Though they didn’t understand what had happened, hunters cheered at having survived safely. A few minutes later, a hunter in black armor slowly walked out from the temple entrance.

The black knight explained that shortly after the hunters fled, a giant boss monster had emerged from the altar on the opposite side of the plaza entrance, and the statues had attacked this boss monster, allowing him to survive. Indeed, when they followed him back to the plaza, the once-threatening statues were all broken and scattered everywhere, with signs of battle and destruction throughout the ruins. Above all, in the middle of the broken statues lay a huge mass of flesh of unknown identity, which at a glance was unmistakably the boss of this gate.

‘But… that corpse wasn’t melted by the statues’ light, but rather seemed as if it had been seared by lightning—’

“Squad leader, a visitor has arrived.”

A voice interrupted the squad leader’s contemplation.

“I’m pretty sure I said absolutely no vultures—”

“It’s not a reporter.”

A cold voice cut off his words as someone entered the tent. It was a beautiful woman with a haughty expression. Wearing a sophisticated suit, she approached Ha Jeongjae’s desk with clicking heels. She reached into her pocket, took out a business card, and placed it on the desk.

“Why would the National Intelligence Service come here…”

Ha Jeongjae broke into a cold sweat. His sweaty scalp shone even more brightly, reflecting the light. It was a well-known secret among military officers that President Park Jugwan, once a high-ranking officer himself, had close connections with the upper echelons of the military. And that the NIS was a faithful messenger and hunting dog following Park Jugwan’s orders.

“Cover it up. Orders from above.”

The woman commanded in a calm tone—a voice that neither rose nor fell, showing no emotional fluctuation. Ha Jeongjae raised his gaze to glare at her looking down at him. Their gazes clashed in mid-air.

“…Understood.”

Ha Jeongjae, who lowered his gaze first, clenched his fist tightly under the desk where she couldn’t see. After watching this for a moment, the woman snorted and turned the laptop screen toward herself. Her eyes quickly scanned the report, stopping at a certain word.

“This person…!”

She muttered quietly. Thinking she was speaking to him, Ha Jeongjae looked up at her.

“Pardon?”

“Immediately destroy all information about this person. Everything.”

“What? Yes…”

Without even confirming his response, she quickly turned and left the tent with rapid steps. She seemed to have urgent business. Ha Jeongjae turned the monitor back toward himself to check the name the woman had pointed to.

‘This man,’

It was that hunter.

The black knight who had survived alone among the statues and testified to the boss’s death.

Shin Jaehyuk.