Chapter 15

15

"...Stop, everyone. Stop where you are-!"

Ho cried out loud, but it seemed like the hunters didn't hear him as they continued to approach them in a hurry. It was only then that Lee Ho noticed the transparent Mana barrier blocking the surroundings and preventing his men from hearing him.

He raised his head and looked at Lee Hwan with trembling eyes. Was this his doing? When the hell did he...?

Hwan laughed out loud and raised his right hand.

"It is up to the protagonist to do something like this."

He touched his middle finger to the thumb of his right hand as he continued to smile brightly.

"I am Iron Man."

He snapped his fingers.

Tack-!

***

The secretary of Providence Guild, S-rated Hunter Jung Gi-Hoon, clenched his teeth. Lee Ho and Lee Hwan, who had just been talking quietly in front of the mausoleum a short while ago, had suddenly raised their energies.

Fuck.

The curse came out of his mouth naturally. The power that that man Lee Hwan was hiding was indeed real. When Hunter Lee Joo-Heon had been wiped out from the world, Jeong Gi-Hoon, an S-class Hunter, didn't even feel anything. And when he and Lee Hwan had fought, Gi-Hoon couldn't do anything to defend himself.

It seemed impossible to even imagine what kind of power he possessed.

Yes, it was certainly something new. However, Lee Ho, who has been called a state-level weapon and has marked a milestone in the history of Hunters, was also exceptionally strong.

But Hwan was different from that. There was a power that was unknown in him, similar to theirs but different. A monster just a few levels above them all.

Alarm bells rang in his head that he should not let Lee Ho fight this man, but they ended up fighting anyway.

Lee Ho took out his dagger Mara's Breath from space and immediately ran to cut Lee Hwan's throat.

"Huh...?"

It wasn't just Jung Gi-Hoon who expressed surprise at this sudden turn of events. Everyone around him had the same reaction.

'What, did he kill him?'

Did he just cut his throat like that and end up killing him?

However, their thoughts lasted only for a while because they realized it was just an illusion from their viewpoints. It looked like Ho had cut Hwan's throat, but he had just come really close.

Jeong Gi-Hoon cringed without realizing it. He had already experienced Hwan's power in front of the apartment. That man, using only a minimal amount of energy, could achieve maximum efficiency. He didn't know whether it was from pure talent or from experience, but what was certain was that he was a monster. A monster in human form.

'This is driving me crazy.'

Thud-!

A loud sound rang out across the area, and Lee Hwan disappeared into thin air. Ho turned around just as his dagger was snatched away, and Hwan dealt a heavy kick to Ho's side.

Phaaaak~!! Kwaaaaaargh-!!

Jung Gi-Hoon was surprised. The shield surrounding Lee Ho's body, the powerful barrier that was dubbed as the best self-defense in the world, had cracked. The sound they heard was quite evidently the sound of the shield being broken.

'What on earth...'

He had broken it with just one kick?

But there was no time to think.

Puughh-!

The snatched dagger, Mara's Breath, was suddenly stuck in Lee Ho's side. Yes, that was it. One way or another, he was somehow a Master.

The Hunters who had been guarding their boss stepped up as soon as they saw him stabbed. They had to protect him; they had to help. Everyone was sincerely worried about Lee Ho.

Seeing them approach, Lee Hwan raised his right hand and connected his middle finger and thumb.

He seemed to be filming a movie by himself. No, but what kind of Iron Man is he?

At this, Jeong Gi-Hoon raised his Mana. He was afraid, but he brought out his weapon. He had to fight; the situation called for it. As he was thinking of his next move...

Tack-!

There was a clear snapping sound.

Huuuuh-!!

Jung Gi-Hoon's vision went dark.

***

The sound of bodies falling almost at the exact same time surrounded us. About sixty hunters who had rushed to our location had fallen where they were.

I turned my head to the side and saw Lee Ho trying to retreat from behind. We both knew I wasn't a crazy killer. I wasn't going to kill him.

"In about ten to twenty minutes, they'll wake up on their own, so don't you worry."

I put my hands behind my back.

The ten circles in my heart had been spinning since the start of our fight, and black smoke rose from my body. In Valhalla, this energy was called Black Mana.

There was a system of Mana in Valhalla where I had been. First of all, the Mana User, it went without saying that Mana Users used the circle. The more important factors are the Masters, who use ten circles.

Those who became Masters for the first time used Blue Mana, just like ordinary circle users. Well, granted, it was more like navy than blue, and to be more accurate, it was a dark shade of blue. When they were able to break the wall and grow further, they then would use Gold Mana. After that, next came the Red Mana, and then the Black Mana.

Now, to be honest, no one really knew if Black Mana came after Red Mana. What I meant was that I was the only one in Valhalla who had gone above the Red Mana. There were no other examples. For all we know, it could be white energy or maybe even pink energy that came next. It had been called Black Mana because I was the only person to achieve it, and mine was black.

I was the strongest in the Valhalla continent, the world's first sword and the greatest of all time.

I waited for Lee Ho to make the next move. Lee Ho's nickname was Manifester or Implementer.

"Did you know that your brother is hanging out with Hunter Yoo Ee-Na these days?"

"......."

"I heard rumors that you are one of the ten Hunters who have developed a 'unique ability.' The Implementer, whose unique ability is the Implementation Technique. I have never seen it in person."

"So what?"

"Now that there's no one watching us, show me everything you can. Don't get hit twice."

As my words continued, Lee Ho's hard expression gradually eased.

"You're very similar to the older brother I used to know."

"I'm not similar. I AM the older brother you used to know!"

"...You do look alike, but I don't know for sure yet."

He indeed still doubted me. How many times did he get hit in the back of his head?

Subsequently, the blue energy rising from Lee Ho's body gradually changed color. As if he had been planning this from the beginning, Ho's body was now covered in gold.

Gold Mana.

"When I was a kid, I got hit by my brother a lot."

I looked up at his words. There was a strange figure behind Lee Ho's body that stood about ten meters tall. The mysterious being, stained with gold all over, was something that even I couldn't explain.

'What is that?'

I looked at Ho, but he seemed to have no idea of the existence of the mysterious entity. So the strange figure behind him was only visible to my eyes...

Or that was what it seemed like.

Lee Ho opened his mouth and addressed me.

"I don't know if it works, but try to stop it."

In his hand was a piece of paper that had been rolled up, similar to when he pulled out a Pig's Breath or a llama's Breath or something like that. It was taken out from the place where there was nothing, which I had learned was called a sub-space when I searched for it on the Internet.

It was stunning.

Even in Valhalla, there weren't many wizards who could use sub-space, maybe just about twelve people, plus the two of whom I know. Twelve of them were dragons, and one of the other two people was Yeo-Hwa. However, Lee Ho could do it so easily.

Looking at his level, he seemed to only be equivalent to Yeo-Hwa's toes, but for his ability to use subspaces? It was certainly surprising.

Obviously, the system was the same... There was no good way to explain anything. It was just amazing. I think it would be better to think about it that way.

"Do you know about the Gate?"

"A bit."

"Mythical beings appear at the Gate."

I didn't bother to answer that.

"Greek and Roman mythology, as well as Egyptian mythology."

His scroll unfolded, and I could see a very realistic snake drawn on the scroll.

"Apophis, the Serpent of Regeneration."

The scroll began to glow, and the snake illustration in the paper moved and looked straight at me. Then, gradually, it began to slip out of the scroll.

So this was it, his unique ability.

"Not long ago, I went to the United States and got in an alliance with the American Striker Team to catch this. It took us a whole day."

However, that wasn't all. Several other scrolls began to unfold in succession from Lee Ho's hand.

"Because they are beings from a myth, each gate has a 'story.' This Apophis is the one who was sealed in this story. The ones who sealed this Apophis are Osiris and his younger brother Set. And..."

The light continued to burst brightly. There were no mirrors here, but I think I'm smiling now.

In front of me was a gigantic black snake about thirty meters long. Beside it were two humans dressed in ancient style clothing, the kind that one might see in a drama. Aside from those, there were also soldiers with dog faces on human bodies. I remembered seeing something like this while studying for the GED, and they reminded me more of jackals than dogs.

Lee Ho continued.

"The army of Anubis, which served as their bodyguard."

The serpent called Apophis, two kings, and about one hundred and fifty soldiers stood in front of me. Even in Valhalla, this could be said to be more than the overall power of a whole country because the strength and ability of each individual were different.

Only then did I understand why Lee Ho was part of the world's top three Hunters, why people around the world dubbed him as the top of the future.

"Can you draw a 'monster' you saw once in a 'picture' and 'summon' it?"

"There are several conditions, but yes, something like that."

It sounded like a one-man army. I gently stretched and loosened my back.

Suddenly, Lee Ho pointed at me with his index finger. Of course, it would be anticlimactic if he simply pointed to me, so the Implementer also said something pretty creepy.

"[Kill him.]"

That was an order, a command to the nature of existence.

With this, the summoned soldiers of Lee Ho stepped forward in unison.

***

Lee Ho took a breath. He had to heal the large wound on his side where his skin was torn and his flesh was tattered. He slowly used his recovery skills while focusing on what was happening in front of him.

The first beings that ran toward Lee Hwan were Set and Osiris. Between the two of them, Set, a man with a strong body clutching a double-edged ax, was faster.

One hundred ten A-rated Hunters and forty S-rated Hunters had been deployed to capture Set. The being that was worth a hundred people like Zhang Fei of the Three Kingdoms had a strong grip on its double-edged ax.

A loud, buzzing sound rang all over the place.

In an instant, Set had swung its double-edged ax toward Lee Hwan's head. Hwan did not seem like he had any plans to avoid the attack. He simply raised his left hand toward the approaching ax.

Seeing that, Ho's eyes widened. This was a situation that was hard for him to comprehend, even with his common sense.

The blade of Set's ax collided with Lee Hwan's left arm. It touched his skin, but upon contact, the ax completely changed directions. It produced no sound, and the blade looked eerily like a stream of water flowing.

The blade of the ax touched Lee Hwan's hand and twisted lightly before flowing away.