chapter_0079

Chapter 77: Hello. We’re from the Villain Association.

“Good work.”

“Yes, thank you as well, Hunter Cheong Ha-rin.”

With Jin Teje’s death, the gate had been cleared.

But it would take a little more time before anyone could truly relax.

There was still the chance that a hidden boss might appear again, or that another demon could possess Jin Teje’s corpse and bring it back to life.

Is that too much worry?

‘Strange situations had become my everyday.’

A monster as strong as an A-rank coming out of a D-rank gate, a so-called harmless succubus gate turning out to have actual demon worshippers, a beheaded succubus getting up and moving again, after experiencing all that, how could you not worry?

If you couldn’t, you had no place being a Hunter.

Si-woo stayed on guard, tense, until Jin Teje’s body finally crumbled into ash.

Only then did he let out a sigh of relief.

“This one was pretty tough.”

“But the reward was worth it, wasn’t it?”

Thanks to the Black Flame, Jin Teje’s corpse had burned cleanly to ashes.

But the items were an exception.

The demon byproducts like horns and the heart were burnt, but clothing and equipment had survived outside the Black Flame’s range.

‘Technically, these things were also used to kill demons… Oh.’

Demons live in hell.

Only demons live in hell.

“… The only good demon is a dead one?”

A part of him thought, No way…

But another part, looking at the Black Flame, thought it might just be possible.

After all, the Black Flame wasn’t some ordinary skill.

It was the embodiment of someone’s will.

It had been created from the burning desire that became the basis of the Demon Hatred Sigil.

“This sword is also demon-classified. But since it’s from a dead demon, it didn’t burn…”

Wouldn’t it be great if it could talk at times like this?

Just in case, he tried talking to the flame.

“Yeah, no, this really isn’t it.”

All he got in return was a wave of self-doubt.

The flame did not reply.

With a sigh, Si-woo lifted Jin Teje’s black sword.

Unlike the standard-issue steel swords from the Arkineth Guild, this two-handed sword had a bit of heft, but Si-woo smiled in satisfaction.

‘Finally, I can say goodbye to mass-produced gear.’

The steel sword provided by the Arkineth Guild wasn’t bad.

The problem was that it was just barely usable.

As expected from a factory-made product, it was hard to call it something worth dying for.

Especially when wrapped in Black Flame—even the blade would be ruined as a matter of course, and with prolonged use, the sword itself would shatter, unable to withstand the fire.

“If that weapon belonged to a demon, it must be at least B-rank, right?”

“Probably. But considering it didn’t seem to have any special abilities, I’d say it’s unlikely to be an S-rank weapon.”

Even better, honestly.

Part of it was personal preference, but all the sword techniques Si-woo had learned were meant for regular swords.

And if there were special abilities, they didn’t need to be attached to a weapon.

‘With the abilities engraved into my body, I can handle almost anything anyway.’

Allure, freezing, even flame.

Even as he was now, Si-woo had powers rivaling most mages.

If he started adding weird powers to his sword on top of that, calling himself a swordsman would feel off.

Plus, he had no intention of developing his supernatural abilities any further.

He just needed a sword that was sturdy and fit for technique.

If it could withstand Black Flame, even better.

“From that perspective, this is a top-tier sword for me.”

He didn’t know the full extent of the purple flame Jin used.

But there was one thing he’d realized after clashing flames directly.

Fwoosh!

“Oh.”

That flame and his Black Flame shared the same fundamental nature.

Flames formed by willpower—though their goals were different, their origin was the same.

A strong desire had taken the form of fire.

“Yeah, I knew you’d hold up.”

The black blade that had calmly endured the full force of that purple flame

Even as the flames roared around it, it didn’t change in the slightest.

A regular steel sword would’ve screeched and buckled by now, but this black blade remained unmoved—unchanging.

It looked perfectly fine, making all his earlier worries seem silly.

“There really is a huge difference between having a core and not having one.”

“…What exactly are you doing?”

Cheong Ha-rin, who had been quietly watching from the side, tilted her head in confusion.

At her words, Si-woo suddenly remembered that Black Flame wasn’t visible to others.

So he pulled out Blue Flame from his ring.

Since he still had many uses for it, he infused a small amount of Blue Flame into the Black Flame already wrapped around the sword.

Originally, only demons and Si-woo, the caster himself, could see the Black Flame.

But if the essence of the Black Flame was slightly diluted, the story changed.

Fwoosh!!

Simply adding scattered malice to the Black Flame, which was tightly bound by hatred toward demons, made it faintly perceptible to other humans as well.

“At this level, it shouldn’t be hot—just visible, I think.”

“…It feels like whenever I’m with you, Hunter Si-woo, I end up seeing things that go far beyond imagination.”

Just as Si-woo said, there was no heat coming from the fiercely blazing flame before them.

But Cheong Ha-rin instinctively realized that this Black Flame was far more dangerous than ordinary flame magic.

There was a pressure to it—similar to killing intent—that made her hesitate to even get close.

‘…What would happen if someone like him ever turned against us?’

Hunters who grew at this pace were rare even on a global scale, but they did exist.

Cheong Ha-rin, who served under a Guild Master known as a genius, wasn’t surprised by how fast geniuses grew.

However, there were no rookies who could emit killing intent like this.

Modern-day Hunters in the 21st century took quite some time to learn how to wield killing intent.

After all, how many chances did one have to confront true killing intent or murderous aura in a lawful, structured society?

Even war had been replaced with missiles and bullets, you hardly ever faced someone filled with raw murderous intent.

That’s why only C-rank and above Hunters, those who had experienced the killing aura of monsters beyond the gates, could gradually acquire the skills to wield killing intent.

“Hunter Si-woo, do you remember how many gates you’ve cleared so far?”

“Yes, only eighteen so far.”

And yet, a Hunter-in-training who hadn’t even cleared fifty gates had already manifested killing intent in such a clear, tangible form.

How many Hunters in the world could pull that off?

Even those born with engravings related to killing intent couldn’t control it so freely.

A chilling thought brushed past Cheong Ha-rin’s mind.

What if Hunter Si-woo ever tried to kill someone…?

Hunters unfamiliar with killing intent—or regular people, would faint from just touching that flame.

His performance in the battle with Jin Teje, his hidden strength that had never been fully shown before…

No, honestly, none of that really mattered.

He has the ability of Allure.

People said it didn’t work on S-ranks, but that also meant that even A-rank Hunters could fall for it if they let their guard down.

Cheong Ha-rin remembered the succubi who had fallen under Si-woo’s Allure.

“End yourself.”

‘Yes!’

The succubi who had fallen under Allure didn’t even fear death.

No—more honestly, it wasn’t that they weren’t afraid.

They simply didn’t question it at all.

They received an order, so they carried it out.

Not like slaves, more like puppets, hollow and controlled.

That disturbing image was still burned into her memory.

“Well, I guess that’s enough flame talk for now. By the way, could you ask the guild if I could take this sword instead of the reward from the gate clear? I do have some sense of shame, after all…”

“…That was a pointless worry.”

Yeah.

That really had been an unnecessary worry.

Come to think of it, if Si-woo ever intended to become a villain, he would’ve gone down that path a long time ago.

Instead of working so hard to clear gates, he could’ve just kidnapped a few Hunters and forced them to do it for him, and the money would’ve rolled in.

And if he really were the type to turn into some pleasure-driven killer…

‘He’d already be famous for it.’

Famous, among villains, that is.

“In that case, would you be open to negotiating with us?”

“…Hey, don’t you think something’s gone really, really wrong here?”

“Yes, I do think that. But if we don’t do this… we die.”

And just as Cheong Ha-rin had feared, there were villain groups now approaching Si-woo, drawn in by his growing reputation.

“When you’re dealing with lunatics, sometimes we have to act crazy too, or they won’t even talk to us.”

These ones… were villains who were a little too kind, a little too human.