Chapter 241: The Reason for Choosing Mutual Destruction

Episode 241

“…Are you sure?”

Team Leader Hong asked, still in disbelief.

Yoo Jun-ho nodded.

“Look at their eyes.”

He pointed at the monks flying in the air.

Team Leader Hong channeled Mana into his eyes, enhancing his vision, and looked at the monks’ eyes.

“…They’re bloodshot.”

“They turned bloodshot after they shouted. And their power levels increased significantly at the same time.

You know what that means.”

Team Leader Hong’s face turned grim.

He realized that all the characteristics Yoo Jun-ho had mentioned matched ‘Allobon’.

“Remember what I said before?”

Yoo Jun-ho asked.

“That another clan, not us, would be the first to reveal their ‘hidden card’ when they faced a crisis.”

“…I remember.”

“And I was right, wasn’t I?”

He smirked, but Team Leader Hong didn’t smile. The situation was too serious to celebrate the fulfillment of a prophecy.

“Pandora’s Box has been opened. The Alpha Clan, the leader of the alliance, opened it first. Now, the other clans with ‘hidden cards’ will feel free to reveal them as well.

What do you think, Master?”

He turned to Yong Hangil and asked,

“The situation is perfect for us to reveal ‘Allobon’ now.”

“No!”

Yong Hangil shouted, his face resolute.

“We’re different from the other clans. We’re not first-time offenders! If we commit the same crime twice, we’ll be attacked more fiercely than the other clans!”

“But we can’t hide it forever. Imagine those monsters attacking the Korean Clan.

Can we really defend ourselves without ‘Allobon’?”

Yong Hangil looked at the Alpha Clan headquarters, which had been turned into ruins by the Omurgas.

And the countless bodies scattered on the ground… Some of them were even top 100 Rankers.

“…No. We can only use Allobon as a last resort.”

He refused to budge.

“Remember this! I might allow everything else, but you must obey my orders regarding Allobon! This is an order! Understand?!”

“…Understood, Master.”

Yoo Jun-ho replied reluctantly, but he had no choice.

He might be the chosen successor, but Yong Hangil was still the leader of the Korean Clan.

*Screeeech!*

A scream echoed through the air.

An Omurga, covered in blood, collapsed.

*Thud!*

Team Leader Hong, who had seen it fall, said,

“…It’s almost over.”

He looked at the other Omurgas.

They were all on the verge of death, overwhelmed by the empowered monks.

* * *

Meanwhile,

“…Really…?”

Hong Hyeonjin asked, her face filled with shock, looking at Kim Jinsung.

“You’re saying it’s an ability that permanently increases your power level by sacrificing your lifespan?”

“Yes.”

“No way! There’s no way such an overpowered ability exists!”

Park Do-joon, who had never disagreed with Kim Jinsung before, was shocked.

Kim Jinsung explained calmly,

“There was someone who had that ability. Someone you know very well.”

“Who?”

“Shin Woong.”

“Oh my!”

She gasped, recognizing the name.

“You mean the Shin Woong from the third round of the Colosseum preliminaries?”

“Yes.”

“Wait a minute! Huh? Huh?!”

Park Do-joon’s voice rose in pitch as he realized what had happened.

He remembered the legendary one-on-one battle between Kim Jinsung and Shin Woong.

“So that’s why Shin Woong got stronger after he shouted! He was using his ability?!”

“Yes. Look at their eyes.”

He explained, just like Yoo Jun-ho had done.

“They’re all bloodshot, just like Shin Woong’s eyes after he used his ability. And they’re much stronger now, just like him.”

“…You’re right.”

“Oh my god…”

They were both stunned.

Son Dong-gun, the chief bodyguard, who had regained his composure first, asked,

“Do you know how much lifespan is required to activate the ability? If it only consumes a year of lifespan each time…”

“…Then it’s truly overpowered.”

Park Do-joon said, his face grim.

If it only cost a year of lifespan to activate the ability, then they could potentially activate it dozens of times, assuming an average lifespan of 70 years.

And powerful hunters had longer lifespans than ordinary people. Yong Hangil, the Master of the Korean Clan, was about to turn 100.

“I don’t know.”

Kim Jinsung answered honestly.

He had never used the Allobon trait himself, and he had no intention of doing so just to find out.

“But one thing’s for sure, the Alpha Clan isn’t the only clan with such a hidden ability user.”

“What do you mean? You don’t think…”

“There are so many Major Clans in the Center Zone. You think none of them have such overpowered ability users hidden away?”

“No way! That can’t be true. No way…”

He kept denying it, but his face was grim.

Hong Hyeonjin also had a worried expression on her face as she asked,

“Then how are we supposed to deal with those monsters?”

“We’ll figure it out.”

“You don’t have an answer yet?”

“Not yet.”

He answered honestly and then asked Dantalian in his mind,

‘Is there an effective way to deal with them?’

[Hmm… I’ll have to check my books.]

‘You don’t know either?’

He was getting anxious, hearing Dantalian’s vague answer.

[You’re asking me for a way to fight multiple opponents at once, not one-on-one, right?]

‘Yes. I can handle one-on-one fights with the time manipulation abilities I got from Hemingston.’

[Then we need to find a common weakness of those life-sacrificing ability users. But this is the first time I’ve seen Middle Realm creatures use such abilities.]

‘Find out quickly. They could be the final obstacle in the Middle Realm.’

[Don’t rush me… Alright.]

*Screeeech!*

Another scream echoed through the air.

He looked ahead and saw the last remaining Omurga collapsing, covered in blood.

“They killed them all…”

“They finished them off in five minutes. That’s pretty fast.”

Park Do-joon and Hong Hyeonjin said, looking at the fallen Omurgas.

At that moment,

“……!”

“…Huh?”

“Oh my!”

“What?”

They all gasped in unison, their eyes following the same figure.

Two of the monks had suddenly started flying towards the alliance troops surrounding the Alpha Clan headquarters.

* * *

“W-what?!”

Duke was also bewildered by the monks’ sudden actions.

“Why are they going there?! Stop!! Come back!!”

He shouted, holding a Mana stone orb with strange symbols engraved on it.

But the two monks continued flying, ignoring his orders.

“Team Leader! What’s going on?! Why aren’t they listening to me?!”

“I don’t know… I followed the instructions written on the orb…”

Quinton was flustered.

He didn’t know much about how to control the Martyrs. It was a technique developed by Hemingston, the former Master.

He had simply channeled Mana into the orb and released the Martyrs from their seal, as instructed.

But they had suddenly started malfunctioning.

“This is bad. The rest of you, go after them and stop them! You can kill them if they resist!”

[Acknowledged.]

The remaining monks chased after the two who had gone rogue.

But it was too late.

The two monks had already reached the Birmingham Clan of England and the Korean Clan, their swords drawn, their eyes filled with hostility.

“Gasp!”

“They’re attacking us!”

“Everyone, get into defensive formation!”

“Executives, step back!”

The Korean Clan members were startled, but they quickly formed a defensive formation, their bodies moving instinctively from their training.

Yong Hangil and Team Leader Hong also moved to the rear of the formation.

But Yoo Jun-ho didn’t move.

“Yoo Jun-ho!!”

Yong Hangil shouted in alarm, seeing him standing there, his hand on the hilt of his sword.

One of the monks reached him and swung his sword horizontally.

*Slice.*

Yoo Jun-ho’s head flew off his shoulders.

And at the same time, the monk’s head also flew off.

Yoo Jun-ho had also beheaded the monk as he swung his sword.

“Vice Master!!”

Team Leader Hong screamed, seeing both heads flying through the air.

He instinctively tried to rush forward, but Yong Hangil stopped him.

“Calm down. He’s not dead.”

“What?”

He looked at him, confused, but Yong Hangil ignored him and walked forward.

He caught Yoo Jun-ho’s head in mid-air and threw it towards his body.

Yoo Jun-ho’s headless body, surprisingly, moved its hands and caught his head.

“Thank you, Master.”

He said calmly, placing his head back on his neck.

The bleeding stopped, and the wound disappeared, as if it had never been there.

He was back to his original state.

“…N-no way…?”

Team Leader Hong stammered, his face filled with disbelief.

Yoo Jun-ho bowed his head apologetically to his teammates, who were also looking at him with the same expression.

“I didn’t want to risk the clan members’ lives. I’m sorry for surprising you.”

Mutual destruction.

That was the method he had chosen.

He had used the fact that he couldn’t die from decapitation to his advantage, deliberately letting the monk behead him while simultaneously beheading the monk.

As a result, the monk was killed instantly, and the Korean Clan suffered no casualties.

“You fool! That’s not the point!”

Yong Hangil shouted at him.

“You revealed your unique ability to the world, just to kill one monk!!”

The ‘hidden card’ that every top Ranker possessed.

Yoo Jun-ho had just revealed it in front of everyone.

—