159

C159 - Monarch of the Shadow

The surveillance team arrived on the scene.

There were seven high-ranking hunters.

He had assembled the best elite of the association that could mobilize at this moment.

But. . .

Woo Jin-chul knew it.

Only this power would not be enough to help Hunter Sung Jin-Woo.

"But in the worst case ..."

The surveillance team could provide some time for Hunter Jin-Woo to escape the Double Dungeon.

Therefore, he decided to go to the scene.

"Here is, boss?"

"I think so."

The surveillance team left the truck and stepped on the school grounds.

The hunters who watched the door and waited for news saw the approaching surveillance team and their faces lit up.

"This is it, they've arrived!"

The master of the Brave Guild ran to meet the surveillance team.

But Woo Jin-chul's gaze was still focused on the Portal.

An incredible aura came from him.

Woo Jin-chul looked at his subordinates and gave orders.

"Let's hurry."

"Yes."

The surveillance team came forward. They crossed the courtyard and quickly reached the Portal.

But nevertheless...

Woo Jin-chul stopped.

"Boss?"

"Sir?"

The steps of the subordinates who followed Woo Jin-chul also stopped.

Woo Jin-chul took off his sunglasses carefully, as he did not want to make them fall in amazement.

'This ... this is ...'

A terrible storm of mana

It seemed that the space near the Portal was being distorted by how cruel the mana's escape from the Portal was.

For that, he took a step back in surprise.

'Is it an optical illusion or a bad omen?'

At first, a dark curtain hung over the Portal.

It was the shadow of death.

Woo Jin-chul knew instinctively.

No matter what's happening inside the Portal, it was not a place where a Range -A could interrupt.

One of Woo Jin-chul's subordinates was surprised by his supervisor's face,

"Sir, are you okay?"

"..."

Woo Jin-chul asked a question instead.

"Is there a Great Guild waiting for an incursion?"

The subordinate, who was looking for a while in the archives, responded quickly.

"Yes. The Hunters Guild is waiting for an incursion."

"Class S hunters are available?"

"Choi Jong-in, and his vice president, Cha Hae-in, are available."

Upon hearing that ...

Woo Jin-chul turned his gaze to the Portal. A small tremor started from the tips of his fingers and gradually spread throughout the body.

Woo Jin-chul wanted to talk to his subordinates, however ...

Woo Jin-chul struggled to compose his trembling voice.

"Submit an urgent request to the Hunters' Guild to come here."

* * * * * * *

* * * * * * *

Jin-Woo asked his first question.

Instead of asking who the statue was, he asked who he was.

That brief moment.

Jin-woo took a moment to recover his original breathing rhythm. Since although it did not look like it, there was an incredible fierce battle a few moments ago.

His shoulders, which moved rhythmically, also calmed down.

[...]

The angel's response seemed to slow down, and Jin-woo pushed the dagger. The blade of the dagger penetrated the neck of the stone statue.

If I were human and had skin, I would bleed.

The statue could not bleed, but there was no problem cutting its neck in this way.

"Do you know, angel?"

[Now.]

The angel's voice was even stranger when he listened closely.

[You asked the right question.]

Then the angel smiled.

Even though several of his arms were cut and a knife fell under his chin, there were no signs of fear in his eyes.

"This will not be your real body? Will it have a real body somewhere else?"

However, Jin-Woo did not have the energy or patience to look around.

After...

Even with a smile on his face, the angel said.

[The answer is in you.]

'In Myself?'

Jin-woo's eyes were sharp as he distrusted the angel's words.

For a long time as a low-status hunter, Jin-woo had faced many powerful enemies that could kill him.

It was not easy for a Class E Hunter, who was the lowest class, to survive for 4 years while exploring dungeons.

Thanks to that, Jim-woo learned a skill that was choosing the right paths in times of trouble.

An ability that gained over 4 years of experience as a hunter.

as expected

Shudder!

Jin-Woo heard the familiar voice of the system, a little louder than usual.

It was a woman's voice, unlike the angel's.

[There are loads of data stored in the memories.]

[OK?] (Y / N)

Not only did the voice appear, but also the message screen.

Yes or no.

The letters Y and N began to blink slowly in front of his eyes as if the system was waiting for an answer.

'This is ... '

What else could I do?

Jin-Woo's gaze moved from the message screen to the angel.

The angelic figure whose smile disappeared from his face suddenly said with a face without emotion.

"I'll give you the option"

Unlike before, the voice was different from the system. A male voice, hard as a machine, reached his ears.

Jin-woo kept his mouth shut.

'Data stored in memory ...'

"So when he said the answer was in me ..."

"Did you mean I kept a file of saved data like it normally happens in a game?"

"And can I check that file now?"

"..."

For a long period of time, innumerable thoughts crossed his mind.

But the answer was fixed.

"Maybe I had the opportunity to verify the truth from the first time the system appeared"

When thinking that, Jin-Woo dismissed the idea that this was a trap.

If this were a system trap, I would not have to go through this cumbersome process.

It is the authority of the system that can determine when Jin-Woo's heart will stop.

"As the angel said, if this whole process was a test ... although all the data was in me, I was only qualified to access the data"

Before the fight began, the words of the angel statue passed through the mind.

"If you can still stand after the test, I'll let you know, that's the reward I'll give you."

Maybe that reward meant the right of access to the data.

Jin-Woo came to a decision.

Jin-Woo's lips, which had made a decision, opened slowly.

"...Yes."

Then, suddenly, darkness surrounded him.

A 'Ring ~' rang.

After the familiar sound hit his ears, the voice of the system has spoken.

[The data was imported successfully.]

* * * * * * * *

* * * * * * * *

Jin-Woo felt as if he had walked through a long tunnel at an infinite speed.

The darkness passed in an instant and reached the light that was in the distance after a brief flash of light.

Jin-woo moaned inwardly at the scene unfolding before and under him.

'Oh my God...'

It was an endless army of magical beasts.

From one side to another.

The beasts covered the ground without a hole.

It was a terrible sight.

If those beasts came out of a Portal, let alone Korea, humanity would be doomed.

"Wait ... What is this place?"

It certainly was not Planet Earth.

Above the rustic reddish-brown plain, where no vegetation was visible, the long, thin, oddly shaped rocks stretched toward the sky.

A strange landscape that I had never seen before.

The only thing that was visible was the reddish brown earth, the rocks and the army that covered the whole earth.

Jin-Woo turned his gaze towards the magical beasts.

From High Orcs of Lower and Middle Dungeons to White Walkers that can only be found in Superior Dungeons.

Regardless of grade and class, the multitude of magical beasts looked up and waited for something.

"Where are you looking?"

Jin-Woo's gaze also naturally turned upward.

And he found it.

"...!"

A black lake floating high in the sky.

No, it was not a lake.

It was a Portal. . .

The looks of the beasts were pointing towards that Portal, it was so difficult to imagine its scale, it could be mistaken for a large lake.

That Portal covered the purple sky.

'Wait ... purple sky? ...'

At that very moment Jin-Woo was more convinced that this was not Earth, because he could not see the color of the sky that the Earth had.

Something was happening between the monsters and that Portal, but what was happening was not on earth.

Jin-woo's sweat was dripping.

The tension increased in proportion to the time I spent here.

Gao-Oh-

"What will come out there?

Jin-Woo expected an army of humans to come out.

But.

"Oh my God!"

Instead, they were soldiers in silver armor with black wings that flocked in from the entrance of the Portal

As the beasts covered the ground, this time the winged soldiers covered the sky.

The soldiers in silver armor descended like a cloud of angry bees.

Jin-Woo was impressed with how extensive these soldiers were.

But the thoughts of the beasts were different and when they saw the soldiers filling the sky, they began to be excited and scrambled.

No need to look to know the result of this.

It was a war.

* Shots *

The soldiers in the sky rushed down quickly.

The two groups that were burning with enmity against each other soon clashed on the ground.

It was a fight of massive (and epic) proportions.

WAAAAAAAAAAA!

The cries of the beasts shook the ground.

Bu Boo -

The silver soldiers blew horns that sounded magnificently.

The weapons collided and the armor collided. The screams soon became screams and moans, and the floor was dyed red.

The dominance appeared quickly.

The silver soldiers were stronger.

Only they would destroy the highest ranking hunters in the world.

The game was tilted.

However, the Portal was still constantly pouring silver soldiers.

The wave of the silver soldiers, which began to rise like a tsunami, erased the traces of the beasts that were left on the plains in a moment.

Kie eek!

The first battle was the war, but now it was just a killing.

There was no mercy in the swords and spears of the soldiers. Thanks to that, the number of beasts decreased considerably.

While watching the horrible monsters being dragged, Jin-Woo felt a complex sense of ignorance.

'Do I feel bad for the beasts that have been killed by that silver army, or do I feel bad because the beasts did not have the power to defend themselves?

However ... something extraordinary happened right after that.

When the destruction of the beasts was not far away.

The soldiers of heaven, who pursued their enemies with fury, began to stop moving one by one.

'Why?'

When Jin-Woo looked at the soldiers, he saw that the weapons held by them trembled ...

In addition, the sensation in their faces was not for pity to the beasts ...

They were obviously terrified expressions.

Their eyes went to a place.

Jin-woo had a hunch.

He could feel that something was happening right behind his back.

But Jin-Woo's gaze was not pointing back, but down.

On the floor.

A shadow stretched over the red-hot floor.

It spread rapidly through the reddish blood of the earth and the accumulated bodies. Every time I passed under a corpse, there was a scream.

Shouts were heard out of nowhere.

Jin-Woo had a skill, very similar to this one.

"The Territory of the Monarch ..."

Goosebumps ran down his back.

Jin-woo slowly turned around and looked back.

I was there.

There was a knight armed with black armor from head to toe.

An aura like a black spirit radiated constantly from him.

'Why?'

There was only one word that came to mind when he saw it.

"... Monarch of the Shadow".

Jin-Woo felt the oppressive pressure of standing in front of him.

Soldiers from heaven and the beasts of the earth stopped breathing and then watched the Monarch of the Shadow.

All the eyes of the battlefield gathered before the Shadow King.

[...]

The monarch, who was looking at the soldiers in the sky, stepped forward with a hand that held something.

Suddenly.

The soldiers in the sky retreated and retreated.

An impressive silence touched the shoulders of all beings under the sky.

And then.

The solemn voice of the monarch broke the silence.

[Arise]