The Late Game Healer Is Way Too Strong – Chapter 146

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟒𝟔: 𝐎𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐬 2

Baltimore, United States.

“Wow, these buildings are incredible.”

Crowel muttered to himself, looking up at the towering skyscrapers.

Every time he left the deserts or the wilderness of Nevada and came to a city like this, he felt a renewed sense of wonder.

He bought some apples from the Baltimore Farmer’s Market and went to sit on a bench in a nearby park.

Even though it wasn’t yet ten in the morning, the park was bustling with elderly people out for their morning walks.

Crowel wiped an unwashed apple roughly on his clothes and took a bite.

The sweet and sour flesh burst in his mouth, drawing an involuntary exclamation from him.

“Mmm, the fruit here at the Farmer’s Market really is something else, isn’t it?”

He asked, not even looking at the person sitting on the bench next to him.

“I didn’t call you here to hear your review of the fruit.”

The middle-aged man answered Crowel’s question with unconcealed irritation.

“That’s the only thing I can say right now.”

“Considering the amount of money I’ve poured into the organization, you should try to be more helpful.”

Crowel stopped chewing his apple and turned his gaze to the man sitting next to him.

Sitting there with a fierce expression and a thick mustache, Cargill Juan glared at him with displeasure.

〈HSIU International Headquarters〉, a key figure in the former president’s faction.

“The organization doesn’t forget those who have supported it. You will be rewarded in some way or another.”

“Rewarded? You dare to speak to me in such a condescending tone after treating the requests of those who have supported the organization this way? Even the people at the top would—”

“Oh, oh, calm down.”

Crowel raised his hand as his counterpart’s face turned red and his voice grew louder.

This is a park.

A place for kind people to walk their dogs and mind their own business without worry.

He had no desire to cause a commotion in the park with unnecessary noise.

“I understand what you mean, so how about you calm down and we talk?”

“Calm down? You think your behavior right now is calling for me to be calm? Then you should have spoken calmly from the start!”

Crowel chewed his apple, his face twisted in annoyance.

The same juicy flavor as before burst in his mouth, but he could no longer bring himself to think of the apple as delicious.

It felt like he was chewing on well-ground sand.

‘So this is what the doctor meant when he said my appetite would go away.’

Crowel threw the rest of his apple in the trash.

“So what do you want me to do?”

“. . . Right now, our faction is currently losing ground. If only Edward would behave himself, we wouldn’t have to make requests like this, but he’s been crossing the line lately.”

“Crossing the line?”

“Amassing his own forces within the association is one thing, but now he’s putting his own people in the spotlight day after day.”

“His own people, you say . . . ?”

“That damn Korean, Min Siwoo! The 〈Gangwon S-Rank Gate〉, the 〈Berlin Auction Raid〉, and even the unofficial defeat of China’s ‘Dae-sung’ were all his doing!”

Cargill Juan couldn’t stop grumbling.

A few old couples passed by, giving him worried looks.

“Is it really such a big deal that one Hunter is doing well?”

“Oh, a big deal? It’s a huge deal! The Hunters of the HSIA headquarters are merit-based. But now a young, capable guy is going around solving international problems? Most Hunters will probably end up supporting him, and even more so, the guy behind him, Edward.”

He took out a cigarette case and put one in his mouth.

Crowel waved his hand, his face wrinkled in disgust as the pungent smoke wafted over.

“Then why don’t you guys just recruit someone like that? A young, capable Hunter.”

“The standards in this world are strict. A Hunter can’t have any history of accidents, nor can they have been affiliated with a large guild. And that’s not all. They also need a recommendation, a record of solving incidents for the HSIU, and. . . Well, there are many requirements because it’s an international organization.”

“In a nutshell, you’re saying it’s incredibly difficult to find someone who meets all those conditions and will support the former president’s faction.”

“That’s pretty much it.”

Cargill Juan flicked the cigarette ash on the ground, letting out a small sigh.

It wasn’t as if the former president’s faction hadn’t tried.

They had brought in several HSIU Hunters who they thought were promising and made them Hunters at headquarters.

They had tried to raise them up, to make them into Hunters who would support them and, by extension, solidify the position of Cargill, the head of the former president’s faction.

However, there was a significant gap between the desire to raise a star and the results of doing so.

Unlike monsters with vulnerabilities to exploit, there were no international criminals, and thus, achieving results by standing up to various murders and acts of terrorism was as distant as the stars in the sky.

In conclusion, the Hunter named Min Siwoo was a very special case.

As a rookie, he traveled the world fighting terrorist organizations, protecting the countries where terrorism occurred, and even being praised as a hero and loved by people all over the world?

It was like an epic from a mythology book.

“Why don’t we try to bring Min Siwoo over to our side? If we offer him a tempting enough reward, he might at least waver a little.”

“Ugh. . . I think it’s a bit too late for that.”

“Why?”

Cargill Juan hesitated for a moment before confiding in him about something that had happened in the past.

“. . . You tried to assassinate him?!”

“It was a mistake I made before he became so powerful. . . .”

Crowel looked at Cargill Juan with disbelief.

Is this idiot incapable of thinking?

The Hunter who defeated IZIZ at the ‘Nuremberg Ghoul Raid,’ killed all the ‘Ghost Corps’ who came to assassinate him, and stormed the ‘Abyss’ to bring down McJester’s palace? Assassinate him?

Crowel had never even thought of such a thing, nor would he ever have considered it.

‘This isn’t just foolish; it’s pathological.’

It’s not like the Hunter had won his achievements through gambling.

Crowel seriously downgraded his evaluation of Cargill Juan.

He had known it before, but this man was an idiot who would even sell out his family for his own ambitions.

“Don’t look at me like that. I was just. . . making a difficult decision.”

What kind of excuse is that now?

Crowel narrowed his eyes and asked pointedly.

“What happened to the assassins?”

“. . . We lost contact with them.”

“And there was no response from Hunter Min Siwoo?”

“None at all, not even the slightest movement.”

“Is it possible that they leaked information about their client and ran away?”

“No. . . They were quite famous in the industry, so I don’t think that’s what happened. . . .”

He didn’t seem very sure.

Crowel scratched his head, turning the situation over in his mind.

The assassination failed, and they ran away.

They didn’t even try to assassinate him and ran away.

The assassination failed, and they died.

The assassination failed, but they didn’t die (bribery, kidnapping).

Of these, 1 and 2 could be easily investigated by sending out people.

The problem was 3 and 4.

Depending on Min Siwoo’s abilities, it was possible that he had hidden them so perfectly that they couldn’t be detected.

Furthermore, the possibility of leaking information about the client, ‘Cargill Juan,’ was . . . present in all four situations.

Crowel clicked his tongue.

In cases like 2, where they didn’t even try to assassinate their target and instead sold the information to the other side to collect money from both parties, were not uncommon in the assassination industry.

Of course, such people would not live long.

“I’ll have the organization look into this for now.”

“Thank you, that’s a relief.”

“And from now on, if something like this happens, don’t try to handle it on your own; report it to the organization first.”

“Well, it’s because you guys are too slow at processing things. . . . . . .”

Cargill Juan grumbled, but he shut his mouth when he saw Crowel’s glare.

“Finish your sentence, Cargill Juan.”

“Ah, I understand. . . Take care.”

Crowel threw the entire bag of apples, which still had some left, into the trash and slowly left the park.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

Crackle. . . Crackle. . . !!

The black orb emitted an ominous sound.

Dark clouds followed, covering the area and howling.

Rumble. . . .

Orobas poured all the magic he had into the orb.

The boiling magic had passed its peak and reached a critical point.

『Disappear.』

Thud.

The orb shot forward with a faint flick.

One could sense its power without even trying to grasp the extent of its force.

His spine tingled with the overflowing power, as if the world map was about to be redrawn.

【𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐲, 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐞.】

“Why?”

【𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐫𝐮𝐧 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞.】

“. . . . . . .”

【𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐥, 𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐝.】

Siwoo ignored Pre’s words and drew Balmung.

And he began to pour all the magic power flowing through his body into the sword.

Balmung seemed to shudder as it greedily absorbed the power Siwoo poured into it.

In an instant, the magic power flowing through his dantian and mana veins was depleted.

“I’ve finished the appetizer, so let’s move on to the main course.”

Siwoo prepared his second dantian, the Dragon’s Core.

He carefully opened the 1st Core, which was the area he could currently handle, and slowly drew in the dark blue magic power.

A wave of rough, violent power surged in like a tidal wave and crashed against Siwoo’s body.

A throbbing sensation spread throughout his body, and his muscles began to tighten like a well-stretched bowstring.

Siwoo took a deep breath.

He raised his sword-wielding hand behind his head.

Orobas’s magic was coming down like a meteor, cutting through the atmosphere.

Clatter.

His hands, which gripped the sword, were filled with power.

The black orb rushed forward.

Right in front of him.

Siwoo swung his sword vertically.

Boom—

Balmung emitted a tremendous flash of light, dividing the magic power it had absorbed into two.

A white halo burst out like a storm.

The darkness that confronted the magic also surged with a fierce gravity, sucking in everything.

Zzzzzz—!!!

An explosion that distorted the surroundings.

A shockwave tore through the atmosphere, cutting through the area and extending in all directions.

Flames flickered, and a dazzling flash of light blazed.

Siwoo gritted his teeth so hard his jaw ached.

The taste of blood filled his mouth.

He took another step forward and pulled out another handful of magic power from the Core.

His blood vessels swelled as if they were about to burst, and his muscles screamed.

The blade of Balmung, which was absorbing the magic power, shook and trembled, giving off a sense of strain.

“Hwaaaaaaaah!!”

He let out a roar that was like spitting up blood.

The white flash of light traced a path of light and cut through the black orb.

Kwaaa—!!!

A second shockwave devastated the area.

The ground collapsed, the forest turned upside down, and mounds of earth rose up.

Orobas’s face turned pale when his attack, which had used all of his power, failed to kill even one person.

『This can’t be. . . It’s impossible. . . I am Orobas, the noble demon prince of Hell. . . There’s no way a human can handle my magic. . . .』

He fluttered his wings in dismay at the disastrous result.

The races that could handle magic were only devils and the demon race, and the exceptions were half-demons born between the demon race and humans, or humans who directly contracted like Ruslana.

And magic was known to be more powerful than magic power in terms of destructive power.

It carried that much more risk, but since the physical abilities of those who handled magic were much better than those of humans in the first place, it was within the realm of what they could handle.

Furthermore, if humans who couldn’t handle magic were exposed to magic beyond a certain level, it would often cause abnormalities in their bodies.

This was an unfillable chasm and a pyramid of class that could not be overcome through effort.

Orobas scanned the ground to find Siwoo.

He couldn’t find a single trace of him in the place that had completely collapsed.

『Look at that. . .! I won. . . My Ruslana. . . I killed that bug. . . .』

Just then, something grabbed Orobas’s ankle and yanked him down to the ground with all its might.

Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!!

『Khueeee. . . .』

“Now it’s time for round 2, you piece of sh*t.”

Siwoo twisted the corners of his mouth and grinned as he grabbed Orobas by the neck.

Translator’s Blog

Blog

• Demon Slayer: Tengen Uzui – The Ultimate Husbando?
• Loid Forger: The Ultimate Husbando?
• 30-Year-Old Me Watching Skibidi Toilet TikTok: A Descent into Madness
• Anime With Good Plot, But One Thing Makes It Unwatchable: My ‘Black Clover’ Criticism
• Should You Return To That Dropped Novel? The Light Novel Comeback Arc