Ch.94Chapter 94 – Iscariot (1)

Shin Jaehyuk slowly opened his eyes, clutching his throbbing head. He was inside an unfamiliar building. He let out a low groan, making his presence known.

“Ugh… where am I?”

Fortunately, there were familiar faces around him. The platoon leader, who had been anxiously watching over the unconscious Jaehyuk, immediately brightened.

“You’re awake! Thank goodness…”

The platoon leader, who had been worried sick about what might happen if the S-rank hunter personally appointed by President Park Jugwan died, was genuinely relieved when Jaehyuk regained consciousness. It was terrifying to even imagine what kind of fury would rain down if he had to report that a national asset—an S-rank hunter—had perished without even reaching the gate…

“Thank you again, Elder… If it weren’t for you, Sword Demon Elder, I don’t know what would have happened…”

“Save your thanks. This old man was merely repaying a debt for Aoki’s teachings.”

As the platoon leader repeatedly bowed with excessive deference, the Sword Demon stroked his icicle-like white beard and let out a characteristic elderly chuckle. Watching this scene, Jaehyuk could guess what had happened while he was unconscious.

“…It seems you saved me, Elder. Thank you.”

“It was nothing. I ended up letting that skull-face escape… All I could do was extract you. Fortunately or unfortunately, we both seemed to have urgent matters, so we withdrew quietly without fighting… But his magical power was unsettling. How did you end up meeting such a monstrous fellow?”

The Sword Demon clicked his tongue irritably as he recalled the encounter. When Iscariot, who had been trying to kidnap Jaehyuk, saw the Sword Demon appear, his experienced eye immediately recognized him as an extraordinary swordsman—perhaps comparable to Kyle Leonhardt.

So instead of risking a confrontation with the Sword Demon, Iscariot chose the safer and more certain option of reviving Kyle Leonhardt and proceeding with the Four Heavenly Kings summoning ritual. After all, before the Death Lord Belphegor, life loses all meaning…

The Sword Demon, too, couldn’t recklessly charge at Iscariot since he needed to heal the critically wounded Jaehyuk. Thus, both sides returned to their respective bases without conflict, maintaining a wary distance from each other.

Jaehyuk explained what had happened.

“…I succeeded in dealing with the Death Knight leader, but he was quite skilled and I dragged the fight out too long. Right after I defeated him, I was ambushed by the Lich controlling him, and after that, well, you know…”

“But it’s just a Lich, right? About A-rank boss level. Shouldn’t have been too difficult for you as a holy power user.”

Kwak Taewoo questioned Jaehyuk based on his knowledge from his previous life. Jaehyuk’s face contorted in response.

“This isn’t an ordinary Lich. He’s the master of that S-rank gate.”

“What! Are you certain?”

“Yes… though he’s not one of the Four Heavenly Kings. He seems to be some kind of vanguard commander.”

“The Four Heavenly Kings! I knew it!”

The Sword Demon let out an ecstatic exclamation. As someone who pursued the strong, he had joined this operation hoping to encounter the unprecedented boss monsters known as the Four Heavenly Kings, which had descended upon Incheon and were now expected to appear in Pyongyang…

“You mean like Belial from the Incheon incident?”

“Yes, exactly. That high-intelligence demon capable of communication.”

Jaehyuk affirmed the Sword Demon’s question and continued his explanation.

“It seems the Lich hasn’t performed the summoning ritual yet. His hasty retreat was likely to summon the Four Heavenly Kings.”

“Hmm… we face many enemies.”

The Sword Demon realized that the enemy forces were not something to be taken lightly. An S-rank Death Knight and Lich, plus the Four Heavenly Kings who transcended the existing evaluation system—perhaps deserving of an SS-rank designation—and a significant number of undead that couldn’t be ignored…

“Should we request reinforcements now?”

The platoon leader cautiously suggested. The current team was assembled with only one of the Four Heavenly Kings in mind—an elite squad capable of taking down most bosses head-on. However, facing the unprecedented situation of three S-rank bosses in a single gate made even this dream team seem inadequate.

Kwak Taewoo proposed:

“Can’t we call Jang Wooi from the defense line? If they have three S-ranks and we have three S-ranks, I think we could handle them.”

It wasn’t a bad idea coming from Kwak Taewoo, but the platoon leader, who understood the battle situation, flatly rejected it.

“That’s impossible. Currently, the ESPer is single-handedly handling 50% of the undead pouring in from the north. If he leaves the frontline even for an hour, our defense line will collapse…”

“F-fifty percent?”

Hayato, the leader of the First Sword Team who had been listening to their conversation, gaped in disbelief. It was an unbelievable figure. He had struggled to handle just one Death Knight by himself… As he inwardly marveled and reeled from shock, their dilemma deepened.

“We need to deal with the undead swarming everywhere before we can do anything else…”

“Let’s request bombing support from headquarters first. They should be able to send a few fighter jets.”

“What if they get shot down by zombie fighter jets again?”

“We still have to try. We’ll also contact our guild to ask if air support from our home country is possible.”

The prevailing opinion was to wait for bombing aircraft to eliminate all the undead, after which the party would handle any surviving boss monsters.

However, Jaehyuk strongly opposed this idea.

“No, we don’t have that luxury. We must stop the summoning immediately. Right now, with two S-ranks on each side, we have a fighting chance, but the moment a Heavenly King is summoned on their side, our odds will diminish drastically.”

Iscariot’s immediate return without delay likely meant he intended to perform the ritual right away. In other words, it was a time-sensitive situation where a Heavenly King could descend at any moment.

“Those undead may seem frightening now, but once you witness a Heavenly King, you’ll realize that one of them is more terrifying than all those undead combined.”

Despite Jaehyuk’s grave warning, people still looked dubious. Having never witnessed a Heavenly King firsthand, they couldn’t grasp the danger of a single boss monster through words alone. However, besides Jaehyuk, there was one other person who had actually seen a Heavenly King.

“There’s not a shred of exaggeration in Jaehyuk’s words. I too witnessed Belial, one of the Four Heavenly Kings in Incheon… He was truly horrifying. I dare say even the great Sword Demon wouldn’t last an hour against Belial. That’s what a Heavenly King is.”

“Hmm, this old man has different opinions on that… but I understand your point, so let’s move on.”

Kwak Taewoo didn’t mention that the Belial he saw was from the first timeline, much stronger than the one in the current timeline. With Kwak Taewoo’s support, others began to take the threat of the Heavenly Kings seriously.

“…If that’s the case, it would be wiser to attack immediately, even if we take some losses.”

“This old man agrees.”

“Me too. And I’d rather quickly deal with the boss and get out than wait here trembling in fear of being discovered by the undead…”

The military and guild opinions aligned. Even those who initially opposed were convinced by the words of the platoon leader, the Sword Demon, and Hayato.

“Now the question is how to reach the gate…”

According to satellite images reviewed during the mission briefing, high-level mobs were heavily stationed around the gate. To interrupt Iscariot’s ritual, they needed to infiltrate without being detected by the security forces.

At that moment, a child sitting in the corner timidly raised her hand. It was the survivor they had found before encountering the Death Knight army—a little girl who had introduced herself as Ri Young-ae and somehow managed to escape with the hunters.

“I, I know the way!”

“Oh? You were here too? I don’t think I saw you earlier. How did you find us?”

“Somehow the black knights didn’t attack me… But anyway! The gate is like a big circle that looks like a burnt potato, right? I know where it is!”

“What? How do you know?”

“I’ve been wandering around looking for food, so I know the terrain and monster movements like the back of my hand! Take me with you! I’ll be your guide!”

“No! It’s too dangerous! This is no job for a little kid like you. You stay here and wait!”

The platoon leader firmly refused. No matter how urgent the situation, modern South Korea couldn’t employ child soldiers. However, despite the sharp rebuke, Ri Young-ae didn’t give up.

“What could you possibly do? With that frail body, you’d be lucky not to collapse on the way.”

“I can do it! I want to avenge my comrades…!”

“I said no! Keep this up and those scary men will scold you!”

“I can do it! I can do it! I can do it!”

The child threw a tantrum. The platoon leader tried to make eye contact with Ri Young-ae to remind her of the harsh reality—that she was just a child who would be of no help in combat.

But the moment he looked into the child’s eyes, the platoon leader couldn’t bring himself to say those words. Eyes empty and hollow, having lost everything. After staring into those eyes for a while, the platoon leader finally relented.

“…Get the kid a bulletproof vest.”

“Th-thank you! I’ll work hard! Thank you, comrade!”

Only Jaehyuk watched the child’s unbridled joy with a strange expression.

***

At dawn that day, one child and twenty hunters headed toward the gate.

The child’s guidance seemed both right and oddly wrong. While they were clearly taking shortcuts, they occasionally encountered powerful undead that hindered their progress.

“This isn’t right…! They weren’t here before!”

Ri Young-ae stomped her feet in frustration as another group of ghouls unexpectedly emerged from a corner. It wasn’t very reassuring behavior for a guide.

“Again?”

“How many times is this now? The fifth?”

The group’s plan to enter the gate before sunrise was already significantly delayed. Ignoring the sun rising over the horizon, Jaehyuk impaled and killed the ghouls.

‘As I suspected…’

Jaehyuk had noticed a possibility but didn’t act hastily. He wasn’t completely certain yet.

“It seems the enemy anticipated our infiltration and changed their security arrangements.”

“I suppose so. Still, we’re fortunate not to have encountered too many. No major dangers so far…”

“Judging by the stable magical fluctuations from the gate, it seems the ritual hasn’t been completed yet. But we can’t let our guard down, so let’s move quickly.”

The platoon leader and the First Team leader exchanged opinions. It was slightly unsettling that no high-level monsters had appeared, but they couldn’t turn back just because of a bad feeling. Having come this far, it was all or nothing.

The group eventually reached a point where the gate was visible to the naked eye—an unnatural massive structure located in the center of the urban area.

“Huh? Kid, why aren’t we going straight to the gate?”

“There are many corpse soldiers this way, so we need to take a detour! This alley is safer-!”

Ri Young-ae explained as she led the group toward an alternate route. That’s when Jaehyuk stopped everyone.

“Wait, let’s go straight ahead instead of taking a detour.”

“Why? The guide says it’s dangerous.”

“We’ve come this far, so we can take that risk. If we don’t know where monsters might be hiding, whether we detour or go straight, isn’t it better to take the quicker path? And Ri Young-ae? Thanks for guiding us this far. It’s really dangerous from here on, so you should head back now.”

Ri Young-ae immediately protested.

“N-no! I know this area well! I can guide you all the way to the gate!”

Jaehyuk placed his hand on the excited child’s head, crouched down to meet her eye level, and suddenly raised a small protective barrier around just himself and Ri Young-ae.

“Jaehyuk? What’s this all about?”

Kwak Taewoo knocked on the barrier in confusion. But Jaehyuk neither removed the barrier nor took his hand off Ri Young-ae’s head.

“You’ve done well.”

“What? What do you—”

Holy power flowed like a stream from his hand as he stroked Ri Young-ae’s head. Starting from her head, the holy power drenched the child’s entire body. It was a sacred scene, like performing a baptism. However, the result of this act was anything but sacred.

Hissssss—

Like flesh touched by acid, the child’s skin slowly began to melt.

“What—!”

“F-fuck! What’s happening?!”

The hunters outside the barrier were horrified at the sight of a living person’s skin melting like ice cream. They couldn’t comprehend what was happening. Only two individuals understood this moment, and one of them asked through a melting tongue:

“…How did you know?”

“Isn’t this your specialty? Planting spies, setting ambushes, leading parties into traps.”

Iscariot, who had been controlling the corpse named Ri Young-ae, laughed through the child’s mouth.

“Hehehe, impressive. So you have developed somewhat after all. Then you must know what I’m about to do, Longinus?”

“…Get it over with, you bastard.”

Light suddenly burst from every orifice—eyes, nose, mouth, ears… Powerful magical energy exploded inside the barrier, and Ri Young-ae’s body shattered into six hundred pieces, scattering in all directions like shrapnel from a grenade.

KABOOM!

The platoon leader jumped in shock and covered his face with both hands. When the expected pain didn’t come, he sighed in relief, realizing the explosion had been contained within the barrier. Then, remembering that Jaehyuk was inside the barrier, he panicked again.

“H-Hunter Shin Jaehyuk! Are you alright?!”

As if in response, the barrier dissipated. As the dust cloud that had filled the inside of the barrier began to settle, a silhouette could be seen rising. A hand suddenly emerged, cutting through the dust. The face that roughly pushed through had skin half peeled off, actively regenerating in real time.

“…I’m fine. Let’s go.”

The platoon leader thought Jaehyuk didn’t look fine at all, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it. Jaehyuk’s contorted face was too terrifying to approach with casual conversation…