Ch.95Revenge Plays Are Dangerous (4)

I finally found her.

“……”

No matter how quickly she tried to hide, I could faintly detect her traces through the soul path connecting me to Chae Hwain.

I glared at Chae Hwain with a face full of discontent and said:

“What do you think you’re doing? Are you completely out of control now?”

“…I had no choice.”

“Shut up. I barely restrained myself from beating that Ivan or whatever his name was, and now you’ve ruined everything.”

I’ve now become an undeniable enemy of the American hunter community.

Honestly, I was furious, but what’s done is done. To find a solution to this situation, I asked Chae Hwain for her reasons.

“So, why did you do it?”

Seeming to understand that I was involved in this incident because of her, Chae Hwain didn’t hide anything and told me all the relevant facts.

To summarize, in the past, American hunters who feared Chae Hwain’s power ambushed and killed her in an S-rank dungeon.

After hearing everything, I honestly couldn’t help but understand her actions.

‘Well, he certainly deserved to die.’

If it had been me, I would have hunted down everyone involved in the revenge and rushed to destroy the upper echelons too.

Wait, thinking about it now makes me angry.

“So they’re making a fuss about their hunters being killed after doing something like that?”

There’s a limit to hypocrisy. I thought it was entirely our fault, but honestly, we have nothing to feel guilty about.

“This is ridiculous. Just go and kill the remaining three as well.”

“…Is it okay to say that?”

“I don’t like their attitude.”

They’ve already decided I’m definitely the culprit, so rather than being falsely accused and chased, I’d rather kill those irritating people and then be chased.

‘This isn’t something that can be resolved through words anymore.’

Even if we tried to prove America’s wrongdoing, there’s no evidence, and even if it were proven, it would still be a problem.

A hunter superpower like America would rather silence us and cover up the facts than quietly admit their country’s shame.

In the end, conflict was inevitable.

After hearing my thoughts, Chae Hwain nodded with a surprised expression, as if she hadn’t expected this from me.

“…You’re more thoughtful than I expected.”

“I’ve always been smart.”

“……”

“I-I just didn’t need to think much about most things before.”

Anyway, if conflict was unavoidable, we needed to change our approach.

“We need to make their upper echelons feel that conflict would be too costly for them.”

Just like in Thebes in that other world, those who stand above others don’t change their minds until they get beaten.

Hearing my opinion, Chae Hwain couldn’t readily provide an answer.

“…It will be difficult.”

“Well, you couldn’t move when there were more than three of them.”

Looking slightly offended, Chae Hwain frowned and continued.

“Those people were just a fraction. Besides, most of them in the back were just watching and not actively participating.”

Indeed, most of those who blocked Chae Hwain at the banquet were American hunters.

High-ranking hunters from other countries didn’t know the exact circumstances and didn’t want to create reasons to be blamed, so they didn’t step forward.

Chae Hwain didn’t stop there.

“…And among them, there are some with formidable power.”

“Ah, I did notice a few.”

Beatrice from Italy, Yesiel known as the Saint of France.

And finally, someone unidentified who was deliberately suppressing their presence.

Those three were noticeably stronger than the other S-rank hunters present.

‘…She understands the situation better than I thought.’

I thought she had acted purely out of revenge after regaining her memories, but it wasn’t just that.

I intuitively realized her intention and spoke.

“You deliberately dragged me into this, didn’t you?”

“……”

“You assessed the situation and realized you couldn’t do it alone. Am I right?”

Chae Hwain nodded slightly with a somewhat guilty expression.

Then she answered me.

“…When I first came back to life, I could feel it.”

“Feel what?”

“The enormous power sleeping inside you.”

In Chae Hwain’s eyes, there was a hint of fear and at the same time, reverence.

“I thought that if that power was used, it could overwhelmingly crush even a massive force.”

“Ah, I see you have good eyes.”

I hid a slight smile that was escaping, quickly changed my expression, and wagged my finger.

“But your approach was wrong. You should have formally asked me for help.”

“…I’m sorry.”

Chae Hwain bowed deeply to me, but I wasn’t satisfied with that.

“Not ‘I’m sorry,’ but ‘I sincerely apologize.’ And you should kneel and bow properly. How dare you in front of the great Lord of Death…”

“…I don’t want to go that far.”

Really, even now.

I tried to suppress my twitching eye and changed the subject.

“A-Anyway, a direct confrontation is difficult. I can’t freely use my power either.”

In a short battle, I could release my power through necromancy to face them, but the backlash from breaking the seal would come faster than making all the pursuers kneel.

‘Restoring my power is a card I can only use in the final battle.’

Until then, we needed to find another way to shake off the pursuers.

To be honest, we were lacking in both power and firepower.

‘If only my level was a bit higher, it would have been much easier.’

Although I have an advantage in large-scale battles, realistically, in my current state, it would be difficult to overpower even one S-rank hunter head-on.

After pondering deeply, I quickly made an assessment and spoke to Chae Hwain again.

“Let’s change our approach.”

“…In what way?”

“There’s no reason to fight where the opponent has the advantage.”

No matter how I looked at it, this American land was too disadvantageous for us.

It’s vast, and the number of hunters affiliated with the country is proportionally large.

Finally understanding what I was trying to say, Chae Hwain’s expression changed for the first time.

“…Do you think that’s possible?”

“Why not? It’s actually the optimal location.”

That’s right.

Whatever the case, I am a necromancer.

And the place where a necromancer can be most effective is right in the middle of a battlefield filled with corpses.

“We’ll enter the dungeon first.”

And there, we’ll level up, build an army, and wait for the raid party to come.

That’s when the American hunters would truly experience the terror of the Lord of Death.

#

“What are you saying?”

Joshua, the current vice president of the American Hunter Association, had just heard incredibly absurd news.

“A-As I said, the duo who killed Austin have broken through the boundary guards of the S-rank large dungeon in Iowa and entered inside.”

“…Is this information reliable?”

“Yes. All the circumstances are captured on video. You can check it yourself.”

When he played the hastily prepared video, it was indeed Chae Hwain and Baek Eunha.

Joshua fell into confusion and urgently began to think.

‘Why would they go into a dungeon…?’

It didn’t make sense. An S-rank large dungeon was a place where even the highest-level hunters couldn’t guarantee survival—a true hell beyond human comprehension.

The fact that just two people walked into such a hell was so obvious that one didn’t need to check directly.

‘But that can’t be right.’

Who would willingly walk into certain death?

Thinking from their perspective, it could be inferred that the enemies possessed some method to survive in there.

Looking at the silent Joshua, the subordinate who delivered the news carefully spoke.

“O-One of the culprits, Baek Eunha, is said to be a necromancer. Could she be planning something with her abilities?”

“…That’s certainly a possibility.”

Of course, an ordinary necromancer couldn’t do such a thing. But Baek Eunha was a high-caliber necromancer who had resurrected Chae Hwain, the first S-rank hunter who was believed to be dead.

Perhaps she was at a similar level to the infamous Helena, the Goddess of Hell.

‘…Top-level necromancy is an unknown realm. We can’t even predict what they might do in there.’

What was certain was that giving them time could result in unpredictable consequences.

Therefore, after reporting to the upper echelons, Joshua immediately disbanded the pursuit team and summoned hunters from the raid team.

If they were planning something, all they needed to do was destroy it before it was completed.

Now was the time for them to make their move as well.