Ch.82Chapter 82 – Operation (4)

As the ceiling door opened, wind rushed inside. The violent gusts struck their ears so forcefully that the squad leader, who had been trying to stop Geomgwi’s impulsive action, covered his ears tightly instead.

“Ugh! Guild Master! It’s dangerous!”

Ignoring his guild members’ protests, Geomgwi swiftly passed through the door and stood atop the aircraft.

“When things have come to this point, I can’t just stand by idly. Being an S-rank hunter, I should show some skill…”

Standing on an aircraft flying at 800 km/h, the wind pressure alone made it difficult to maintain balance. Geomgwi had to grip with his toes to avoid being blown off the plane. The metal beneath his feet dented like paper, firmly supporting his weight.

“Hmm… They’re still a bit far. I’ll have to wait.”

Standing rigidly on top of the aircraft, Geomgwi observed four enemy fighters approaching from the distance. Magic attacks poured from the transport plane trying to shoot down the four aircraft approaching with fierce momentum, but the pilots must have been quite skilled in their previous lives—they were evading the attacks with extraordinary flying techniques, tilting their fighters this way and that.

As Geomgwi merely watched the kamikaze squad’s approach, Shin Jaehyuk poked his head out through the door and shouted.

“You crazy old man…! It’s dangerous! Come back down!”

“Heh heh, just watch.”

Takahashi calmly replied as he raised his katana to chest height and concentrated. A blue mana light enveloped the blade, covering it with a thin layer. This phenomenon was known as an aura blade, or sword energy. It was a technique difficult even for top-tier A-rank hunters to perform. In his previous life, it had been the exclusive domain of those called Sword Masters.

With his katana wrapped in sword energy, Takahashi closed his eyes and focused more intently on controlling his mana. The layer covering the sword grew thinner and extended further. It stretched beyond the tip of the blade—10 cm, 50 cm, 1 m… The sword energy showed no sign of stopping as it continued to lengthen.

‘Insane… how many meters is that?’

Shin Jaehyuk was astonished watching this spectacle. An aura blade is a technique granted only to swordsmen who have trained their mana control to the extreme. Normally, just covering a sword with it was taxing enough, and changing the shape of the sword energy was incredibly difficult. Only about one in a hundred Sword Masters could succeed at it, and even then, they rarely exceeded 1 meter. Even Kyle Leonhardt, the Lion King, who was known as the greatest swordsman of the era, could only extend it by 30 cm.

Yet the Sword Demon before him was transcending such common sense.

‘He’s a monster… No wonder he earned the title of Sword Demon.’

The aura, now longer than the aircraft’s body, had become so thin it was barely visible, but the thickness of sword energy didn’t determine its power.

Sword energy was the manifestation of the concept of a “sword” through the medium of mana. As such, it could cut through anything except special abilities like barriers or other sword energy. In other words, even if the sword energy was less than 0.01mm thick, if it was tens of meters long, it was no different from a sword of that length.

‘The body is the trunk, and the sword is the branch. So this is the meaning of unity between sword and self…!’

While Shin Jaehyuk trembled in awe, the Sword Demon held his massive sword of pure concept horizontally. Looking at the fighter jets now approaching within a hundred meters, he smiled.

“Number 900, it took quite a while. It was certainly difficult… Fortunately, the timing is just right.”

The Sword Demon lightly swept through the air from left to right, as if drawing a single stroke with a brush on canvas.

And everything in its path was severed.

The fighter jets, the clouds, even the sky itself.

All four fighter jets caught in that single stroke exploded simultaneously.

The drifting clouds were bisected.

The sky split apart like cracked glass.

“Excellent. If I were to name it… Sasae-ryu, Sky Cutter.”

An achievement accomplished by individual power. It was incredibly destructive, yet at the same time, a beautiful sight beyond compare. It even created the illusion that the sunlight itself was splitting as it fell.

The swordsman who had cut the sky cackled.

“How close the sky was. There was nothing I couldn’t cut beneath the sky, and now I’ve even cut the sky itself. Should I now seek what lies beyond the heavens?”

As he passed back through the ceiling door into the aircraft, his expression was paradoxically both relieved yet not particularly joyful.

“G-Guild Master! How did you—! More importantly, are you alright?”

“What just happened? When I saw them approaching within a hundred meters, I thought we were done for…!”

The guild members and soldiers inside the transport plane couldn’t see what the Sword Demon had done because of the ceiling. However, they could only guess that he had done something when they saw the approaching fighter jets simultaneously explode.

Hayato, the team leader and the only guild member who grasped the principle behind the technique, cautiously asked.

“Guild Master, that technique seems unfamiliar…!”

“Heh heh, of course it would. I just created it. It’s quite useful for a hastily made technique… Though it would be difficult to use in actual combat since enemies wouldn’t wait for you to draw out your sword energy, except in special circumstances.”

A newly created technique…! If anyone else had said this, it would have been dismissed as boasting, but having witnessed the Sword Demon drawing out his aura, Shin Jaehyuk couldn’t dismiss it as mere bragging.

‘Is this what they call a once-in-a-generation genius…? Something like that should qualify as an <Achievement>. I wonder why the “Genius” achievement that Kim Jaemin had doesn’t appear on his status window.’

While Shin Jaehyuk pondered this, the transport plane filled with cheers. In an instant, they had completely forgotten about the Aoki incident, and the atmosphere turned harmonious with both Koreans and Japanese showing respect for the Sword Demon.

‘This worked out well. We’ve reached the landing point as planned, and the awkward atmosphere between the two teams has dissipated. The severe mana consumption before even reaching the ground is painful, but… we still have two S-ranks with us.’

The squad leader thought this as he calmed the crowd.

“Alright! Cheering is fine, but we’re about to land, so stay alert! There are more terrifying things crawling on the ground than those we just faced! The commotion probably attracted the aggro of nearby mobs, so we need to evacuate quickly after landing! Magic-type hunters have used a lot of mana, so a frontal battle would be disadvantageous. We’ll move quickly to the checkpoint and take a rest. Understood?”

“Yes!”

“Understood!”

As the squad leader instilled vigilance, the relaxed atmosphere was replaced by tense anticipation. While the squad leader explained the operation once more, the transport plane found a flat area and landed.

“Landing complete. Good luck! We’ll see you at the checkpoint in 24 hours!”

“Good! Everyone’s out! Team A will take the lead, and Team B will cover the rear! Run!”

“Yes sir!”

***

“My Lord. The preparations for the ritual are complete.”

Inside a gloomy building, a figure in a black robe muttered to a skull. The skull was placed on a chair, and the robed figure knelt respectfully before it, as if attending to a noble being.

It might seem like the ravings of a madman to speak to a skull, but surprisingly, the skull’s jawbone clattered, and a malevolent voice emerged.

“Excellent, my servant. And the execution of the ritual?”

The robed figure bowed his head even lower, honored by the praise from the skull with blue ghostly flames burning in its empty eye sockets.

“At your command, anytime… I have prepared six hundred and sixty-six thousand nine complete corpses, so unlike King Belial, you can manifest in a perfect state. Of course, if my Lord wishes, you could even summon that servant you cherish the most.”

The malevolent voice laughed with satisfaction at the robed figure’s report.

“Even my pet! Indeed, my Iscariot! Your work is impeccable. Have you found out about what I instructed?”

The robed figure, the black magician Iscariot, reported what he had discovered through Earth’s information networks.

“Yes… As you predicted, I confirmed that the Hero, Kim Jaemin, is alive on Earth. However, he is currently preoccupied with other gates, so there should be no issues with the ritual for your manifestation.”

“I see… So that’s how it is.”

The entity beyond the skull fell silent for a moment, showing signs of contemplation.

The being called the Lord, Belphegor, pondered with his extraordinary intellect. The Hero was a troublesome opponent. He could fight if necessary, but the Hero possessed power comparable to the previous Demon King, Satan. For Belphegor, known as the symbol of sloth, such a high-risk situation was unwelcome.

Belphegor was the demon of sloth and boredom.

Belphegor’s motivation was solely to alleviate his own boredom, and the invasion of the human realm was merely an extension of his amusement. Currently, his goal was to find “Longinus,” who was suspected of killing Belial.

And to introduce his faithful servant, Iscariot, to Longinus and observe their reaction…

“Ah, I can hardly contain myself… I’m so excited I can barely wait.”

Belphegor let out an ecstatic exclamation. Longinus and Iscariot. Hundreds of years ago, Belphegor had made a contract with the black magician Iscariot solely for his own amusement. He was curious about how a noble holy knight would react if betrayed at the final moment by the black magician who had raised him and was like a father and mentor to him—that was his only reason.

Indeed, Longinus’s reaction did not disappoint Belphegor. Abandoning his noble and honorable demeanor as a holy knight, he had gone berserk like a madman. Watching this, Belphegor had laughed until his sides hurt.

It was an event that had brought Belphegor supreme pleasure during his immensely long and tedious life in hell.

He thought he would never taste such catharsis again, but what was this? Longinus’s reincarnation existed on Earth?

Watching footage of the being presumed to be Longinus defeating Belial, Belphegor felt like fireworks had exploded in his head. To think he could see a sequel to that entertaining story!

What reaction would the holy knight show upon reuniting with the black magician who had killed him?

Solely for this purpose, Belphegor appointed Iscariot as his vanguard and commander. Whether his subordinate Iscariot perished or broke in the process was of no concern to him. The only thing that mattered was what story the puppets on stage would show him.

The demon of sloth licked his lips.

“I’m really looking forward to it. Enough to make me willing to take on the risk of facing the Hero.”

However, he thought carefully. The Hero was as excellent a magician as he was a swordsman. If he manifested in this world before finding Longinus, there was a high probability that the Hero would detect his energy and teleport to him.

“That won’t do, not at all.”

It wouldn’t do to be interrupted before playing with his toy.

Belphegor hid his true intentions and gazed at Iscariot prostrating before the skull. Ah, amusing Iscariot. You think you’ve been appointed commander because you’re trusted, don’t you? Not knowing who awaits you on the other side…

“Guard the ritual gate. The moment to perform the ritual will naturally become clear to you.”

After giving his final order, the ghostly flames in the skull extinguished, and it returned to being an ordinary skull.

Iscariot carefully rose from his place and gripped the skull tightly with both hands. His hands trembled slightly before crushing the skull with a crack. His hands quivered with an emotion that was hard to define—whether it was anger or ecstasy.

“The fulfillment of the contract is near… When that day comes, finally my son’s soul…”

His eyes flickered dimly as he recalled a distant past. Before he was a black magician researching forbidden arts, before he was a priest serving God, he had been a woman’s husband and a child’s father. For that alone, he had abandoned God, abandoned his comrades, abandoned peace after death, and sacrificed hundreds of years of freedom…

“The end is finally approaching…”

And to meet that end, he had to end the life on this planet called Earth. Iscariot calmly composed his emotions.

When Iscariot stepped outside the building, it was truly the rebirth of hell. Liches controlled lower entities, skeletons gathered war materials, and zombies built massive structures to welcome the king’s arrival. Furnaces melted materials collected from urban areas to craft cold weapons, and factories continuously spewed smoke as they produced firearms for the lower undead.

Once the king manifested and raised his army, they could immediately begin the war… As Iscariot was observing the war preparations progressing steadily, a lich approached him. The lich’s mental wave pierced into his mind.

“Great one’s servant.”

“What is it?”

The lich raised a crystal ball. Mist swirled inside the crystal ball before projecting an image.

“We’ve discovered intruders. We sent flying zombie units and shot down eight of nine aircraft, but we confirmed about thirty humans disembarking from the surviving plane. What would you like us to do?”

Iscariot considered. Intruders? Though only thirty in number, they were potential threats who might disrupt the ritual. However, Iscariot could not leave his post as he always needed to be ready for the ritual’s execution.

So he made a choice befitting a necromancer.

“Direct all remaining forces toward them, except for the minimal guard required to protect the ritual site. I will also send my finest servant to eliminate the intruders.”

“As you command…”

Watching the lich depart, Iscariot thought of his greatest undead servant. His command was sent as a mental wave to his distant servant.

“Go, Death Knight. Go and deliver the intruders into the embrace of death.”