𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟒𝟑: 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐚𝐥 2
〈World Hunter Association〉 President Marquis Charles de Bernadotte and 〈HSIU International Headquarters〉 President Edward C. Blackwood visited the Blue House’s Guest House.
They first greeted a copper-skinned beauty sitting in the corner of the Guest House.
“Long time no see, Gandharva.”
“Long time no see, Gandharva.”
She waved her hand at them, gulping down a bottle of strong whiskey.
“You still like drinking.”
“Would it be weird if I didn’t?”
“I thought Merlin or Izanami would come as a proxy, but Gandharva was unexpected.”
President Charles said, taking off his bowler hat and sitting on a chair.
Edward had heard it from Siwoo beforehand, so he was not so surprised to see her.
“I heard that you came to offer ‘Misteltein’ to Hunter Siwoo. That you wanted to see him in person.”
“Haha. . . Gandharva is more than enough for that. By the way, isn’t President Choi Dae-soo here yet?”
“He’s coming right now.”
The door opened and a burly man appeared in a neat suit.
A stern face, a short beard in an odd harmony, and a gold eyepatch covering one side of his face.
“I’m sorry to keep you waiting.”
Before Siwoo appeared, Choi Dae-soo, who was the world’s top hunter, sat down, exuding a strong aura.
“I’ve heard the general gist. Hunter Siwoo rejected ‘Misteltein.’ Any reason why?”
President Charles asked Choi Dae-soo first.
“I’ve known Hunter Siwoo for a long time, but he has no desire for power or wealth. He’s also quite proud of his work with HSIU. And this is close to my guess. . . I think the many constraints played a part.”
“Many constraints? On the contrary, isn’t ‘Misteltein’ a position without constraints?”
Choi Dae-soo’s answer made President Charles widen his eyes and retort.
‘Misteltein’ was a position with no taxes, no subordination to the state, and countless legal privileges.
To hear that such a position had many constraints sounded almost laughable to President Charles.
Choi Dae-soo chuckled and nodded.
“The freedom we think of and the freedom that Hunter Siwoo wants are different.”
“The freedom he wants. . .? What kind of freedom is that?”
“It’s probably the freedom to fight whoever he wants.”
If he lives as HSIU, he can fight anyone he doesn’t like like he does now, but if he lives as ‘Misteltein,’ he won’t be able to fight at least 12 people.
And if the person Siwoo needed to kill happened to be among those 12, he would surely kill him even if he had to turn the remaining 11 into his enemies.
So instead of going through all that trouble, he might have chosen not to get involved in the first place.
“The freedom to fight. . .? I don’t know where such freedom exists in the world. Do you understand, Edward?”
“Honestly, it’s not something I relate to. . . but if I could be a hero, I think I would go around fighting bad guys too. Not because it’s something that someone has to do, but because it’s something I could do.”
“That sounds like a plausible argument.”
President Charles nodded.
“I never thought I would see someone reject ‘Misteltein,’ but in any case, Hunter Choi Dae-soo, is your acceptance the right answer?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“I understand. Now you are officially a candidate for ‘Misteltein.’ You will be officially inducted into the floating island soon with the ceremony. The problem is that you are the president of a country. . .”
“I will finish that part and take over after the handover.”
“Very well. Gandharva, you attended this meeting as a proxy.”
President Charles turned his head and spoke to Gandharva as if shouting.
She kept her liquor bottle in her mouth and waved her hand.
“I don’t think she was this sloppy before.”
Edward muttered, tilting his head.
“It seems she was shocked that Hunter Siwoo refused. She’s been drinking ever since.”
“I see. I don’t know what she was expecting. . . Anyway, congratulations, Hunter Choi Dae-soo. Now we have to treat you as ‘Misteltein.’”
Edward reached out and congratulated Choi Dae-soo.
“Thank you.”
“Oh, by the way, have you thought of a name?”
“I have something in mind. I don’t know if it’s good.”
Choi Dae-soo replied with a grin.
“I see. Then I’ll see you again at the ceremony.”
“Congratulations, Hunter Choi Dae-soo.”
“Thank you. Lord Charles.”
Choi Dae-soo returned to the presidential office after seeing them off, loosened his tie, and sat down.
Entering ‘Misteltein’ that he had dreamed of.
He lit the cigar he had been holding.
He inhaled the smoke deeply and exhaled it into the ceiling.
He felt less excitement or thrill than he had expected.
“Keugkeugkeug. . . I’d rather have a fierce fight with you.”
He followed the dissipating cigarette smoke with somewhat bitter eyes.
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
Yeo Jin-sik was the first to take the lead.
He easily deactivated the traps set by the enemies with Planar Restraint and headed toward the entrance of Pandemonium.
Two men were guarding the entrance to the hideout.
“Let’s take care of this quietly without causing a commotion.”
Crow whispered.
“Heuk heuk heuk. . . I’ll go. . .”
At her words, Albino stepped forward quietly, turning his robe inside out.
As his name suggests, he was an albino with snow-white skin, eyebrows, and hair.
At the same time, Albino was also the greatest assassin who had terrorized the Middle East.
In the Islamic world, ‘The Silent Blade’ referred to him, and it is said that the tribal chiefs in North Africa took turns living day and night for fear of Albino.
Albino approached the men guarding the gate.
And he disappeared.
No, to be precise, it only looked like he disappeared.
A unique ability given to him, a half-demon and another form of existence.
[Tabula Rasa]
Albino was not recognized by anyone, as if he had been erased from the world.
Not only the IZIZ members who were watching him, but even his existence disappeared from the detection artifact.
‘𝘛𝘢𝘣𝘶𝘭𝘢 𝘙𝘢𝘴𝘢’ 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵.
Albino, who had literally become as white as paper, walked over to the entrance.
And he pulled out two rustic, unadorned short swords and slit their throats in an instant.
Screech!
Blood spread, soaking the white snowfield.
IZIZ, who saw this, headed straight for the entrance.
If you were to choose the quietest assassin in the world, Albino would be ranked at the top.
“Now it’s time for. . .”
Crow at the entrance looked around at the members and spoke, but someone came forward first, panting.
“It’s my turn from now on~~~!”
Centered on Ivan, dark and sticky demonic energy bloomed in stark contrast to the white snow.
He ripped off the dirty bandages wrapped around both arms.
His forearms were already covered in scabs, filled with wounds and scars.
But Ivan seemed to ignore it and dug his fingernails into it and pulled it down.
Tar-like, thick, and foul-smelling blood spurted out, screaming.
GhoulS.
Since the previous Nuremberg incident, he seems to have improved his abilities, and the quality of his appearance and demonic energy has increased dramatically.
The ghouls grew to different sizes depending on the amount of blood, showing off their terrifying teeth and claws and flashing their eyeballs.
“Kkkkkkkkkkkkk go inside and eat as much as you want~~~!”
At Ivan’s command, hundreds of ghouls rushed into the cave.
He didn’t stop there, and approached the two dead men with Albino and put his hand on their hearts.
Distorted shapes and symbols squirmed like worms, forming a ritual, and a black magic circle emitted a peculiar energy.
[Necromancy: Raise Dead]
The bodies of the two men were raised from the torso up.
“You are Night Walkers~~~. Go and command the ghouls and kill the enemies~~~.”
━Grrrrrr.
“Actually, if we do this, we won’t have anything to do.”
Galsiryang said, listening to the screams coming out of the cave.
“Was there another entrance besides this one?”
“To my knowledge, there wasn’t.”
Yeo Jin-sik shook his head at Crow’s question.
“Then let’s leave only the ones guarding the entrance and the rest go inside. Albino, Yeo Jin-sik, you two guard it.”
“Heuk heuk heuk. . . I will follow the order. . .”
“I understand.”
Crow entered the cave with Ivan, Raphel, Kaleo, Bicataur, and Galsiryang.
〈Pandemonium〉’s hideout was already close to chaos.
In the narrow cave, hundreds of ghouls were tearing people apart and ripping them to shreds, the smell of blood vibrating.
‘𝘖𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴.’
It wouldn’t be possible unless a large-scale area skill was used, as the cave would collapse if even a moderately strong skill was used.
“Let’s split up in twos. Me and Ivan, Raphel and Kaleo, Bicataur and Galsiryang. The goal is to annihilate 〈Pandemonium〉.”
“Got it!”
“I understand.”
They scattered in different directions at Crow’s command and began to kill any 〈Pandemonium〉 members they could see.
Although they are vicious escapees, IZIZ are also terrorist lunatics second to none in the world.
They seized the opportunity when the 〈Pandemonium〉 members were in chaos and cut off their breath.
“What the hell are you bastards doing!!”
“We’re IZIZ.”
Beep beep beep. BANG!!
Kaleo planted a bomb on his opponent’s body, killing nearly twenty people and entering deep into the cave.
The power was not that great, but since it exploded directly inside the body, most of them died on the spot.
Those who didn’t die were immediately eaten by Raphel.
“Raphel, don’t get too far away.”
Kaleo said to Raphel, wiping the blood splashed on his glasses.
“Got it!”
She answered, following Kaleo.
That was when.
“M-My children, Mommy’s here.”
An eerie voice came from the deepest part of the cave.
A rustling voice, as if a worm was crawling.
“Who are you?”
Kaleo asked in an emotionless, blunt tone.
“I- I am the one who takes care of the children. Who, who are you?”
“We are 〈IZIZ〉. We came here to kill all of you.”
“Hoo hoo hoo. Y-Yes. Mommy is here. My, my children, it’s time to feed Mommy.”
Kaleo thought his opponent was crazy.
Whether he was crazy because of the ghouls or because of the prisoners here, he was not a sane person.
As he thought that and was about to approach,
━Screech.
Dozens of bugs popped out from behind the opponent and bared their teeth at Kaleo.
“A Bugman. . .?”
“Y-Yes. I am a 2nd-Hierarchy Bugman, Rokuten. You guys will be my children’s Mommy.”
He put forward the most poisonous bugs among his bugs.
They were not ordinary bug sizes.
The small ones were as big as a palm, and the large ones seemed to be over 1m in size.
“This is messed up. If another team had come this way, it would have been a disaster.”
Kaleo adjusted his glasses and looked at Raphel.
“Eat them all, Raphel.”
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