Returnee's S-Rank Management Guide

Chapter 263 : Dark Star (3)

Dark Star (3)

'The numbers...'

I quickly scanned the surroundings, checking the number of enemies blocking our way.

The number of top-rank demons was roughly three. The number of high-rank and below demons was over thirty.

On top of that, there were twice as many awakeners strengthened beyond A-rank, and if you included ordinary people who had awakened through divine art, the place was literally teeming.

"It's a bit annoying with regular awakeners mixed in."

Shin Ah-yeon also frowned, seeming to have noticed it as well.

Honestly, I could beat as many demons to death as I wanted, but the real problem was the hunters who had sided with the demons or those who'd been deceived into becoming awakened by Jin Su-hyuk.

There was nothing I could do if they lost their lives for taking the demon's side.

After all, it was a choice they'd made.

However, the issue was 'how' they'd come to side with Jin Su-hyuk.

If they'd done so of their own free will, there'd be no problem, but surely there were many who'd been deceived by honeyed words.

"Honestly, I find it tough to raise my hand against people."

"Well, obviously. One punch from you, and a person would become a former person."

If I could afford to hold back, or if the situation was less urgent, it might have been possible, but this was not the time for that.

I wasn't confident I could fight and differentiate them all as I went.

"I'll rush straight to Dark Star, so I'll leave the rest to you."

"You're going ahead?"

"If Dark Star has descended, it's highly likely Jin Su-hyuk has already gone inside."

It wasn't fully activated yet, but once he reached the place with the heart, the situation would become dire.

The demons' strength would double, and even ordinary people would start feeling abnormal.

"And..."

I thought of another, someone who could become a variable.

The demon god.

Probably something Jin Su-hyuk had created through the 'heart'.

That, too, would surely... burst outside.

"I'll take care of that."

Before I could even say anything about it, Shin Ah-yeon answered ahead of me.

"At least let me handle that. I really want to hear the reason, just once."

I'd vaguely sensed it, so Shin Ah-yeon must have started to suspect who the demon god was.

Well, I wasn't sure you could even point to one specific being for that.

'Anyway.'

I clenched my fist.

The enemies who'd been taken down by the surprise attack were now recovering and gathering toward us.

The hunters who'd so far been stopping them from heading toward the civilian shelter had already reached their limit.

Which meant, I had to take them all down as I went.

"Park Jung-woo!!"

Especially those three top-rank demons.

Each wasn't quite on Henate's level, but none of them was to be underestimated.

If it had been the old me, I would've struggled quite a bit.

Fighting while restraining the Demon King's heart.

'But, not anymore.'

There was no need to hold back anymore.

Now that the demonizatino had already started, cutting time with the Demon King's power wouldn't make much difference.

I clenched my fist.

Took a deep breath, and dashed forward.

I batted away the flying magic with my hand, driving my fist into the face of the first demon that charged at me.

One blow.

That alone would have killed an ordinary demon, but the opponent was one of only twenty top-rank demons in existence.

It would not be enough to take it down completely.

In that case, the answer was simple.

Just keep hitting until it fell.

'Why don't you answer?'

I'd opened the door.

It had long since reached the point where I stood before the throne upon which the Demon King sat.

The bastard was staring at me, but hadn't spoken a single word.

Maybe he thought there was no value in talking, or perhaps he simply didn't feel like it.

I was missing that final step.

***

Kwaang! Kwak!!

He smashed down with his fist and stomped, breaking bones underfoot.

It took about five minutes to take down the first top-rank demon that charged at himm.

An absurdly short amount of time.

To have taken one out amidst the coordinated attack of the other two top-rank demons would be shocking.

Jung-woo swept through the swarming demons like a wave, charging forward.

His form as he surged toward the place where Dark Star awaited looked just like a tank.

'My god.'

Those witnessing the scene found it hard to believe what was happening.

These were the very demons that had tormented them so much before.

These beings, who had seemed possessed of overwhelming strength, were now being pummeled and helplessly pushed back by Park Jung-woo's fists.

That wasn't all.

Among those charging Park Jung-woo were awakeners, but Shin Ah-yeon quickly dealt with them, plucking them out as if using a sieve.

As if to ensure no one could block Park Jung-woo's path.

Anyone who got too close was pulled away by something like chains of lightning.

'Monsters.'

Though Shin Ah-yeon didn't display the outlandish power of literally grinding up demons like Park Jung-woo, her actions were far from ordinary.

Especially when considering how many A-rank hunters were present here.

'No matter the difference between S-rank and A-rank hunters...'

Even so, handling so many at once should have been impossible.

In other words, Shin Ah-yeon wasn't just an S-rank, but someone in a much higher class.

'SS-rank.'

So far, only one individual had ever been officially recognized as such.

Owen McGregor alone.

But now, suddenly, those worthy of the SS-rank title had appeared in droves.

Park Jung-woo, Baek Hojun, and Alencia.

And now, even Shin Ah-yeon.

'There are more golden threads now.'

Of course, Shin Ah-yeon was completely oblivious to the attention around her.

She had no leeway to care about such things in this urgent situation.

The distance from here to Dark Star was about 20 kilometers.

Long if long, short if short.

Park Jung-woo had already covered a third of it, but the number of golden threads spreading out was increasing even faster.

Golden threads stretched out toward the world.

Shin Ah-yeon vividly felt the 'wishes' linked to those affected by the divine art.

'Are they inside? Or...'

Would they burst out from within?

Anxious, Shin Ah-yeon gripped the staff tightly in her hand.

'Honestly, the answer is obvious.'

If the demon god was who she expected, there was only one strategy they would adopt.

'Just as we're trying to use them, they'll try to use us.'

So, it had to come out.

If it didn't, then the 'demon god' wouldn't be able to do anything from the start.

'To steal the wishes we've gathered.'

Her back felt hot.

She could feel the wishes spreading in real time, quickening all over the world.

With that, the number of golden threads increased.

Surely, the other side was being influenced in the same way as herself.

'It's only natural, considering who is the source of the divine art.'

Why did the demons provoke Park Jung-woo?

Why did they not bother to hide themselves and cause all this havoc?

Divine art, and the demon god the demons sought to create through it.

If a god was to be created by divine art, there could only ever be one such being.

If you thought about whose authority was needed for its creation.

The Goddess of Wishes, Estella.

'...a fake one.'

Why did Ivan Hunt help Park Jung-woo?

Soon, the reason would reveal itself.

Shin Ah-yeon was certain.

***

A broadcast by Alencia was being streamed worldwide.

In the midst of the upheavals all over the globe and the fierce battle around Dark Star.

At the time when all attention was drawn there.

In a place unseen, Lee Soo-ah was present.

"Ryan Knox."

Lee Soo-ah gripped her sword tightly.

She could feel a presence.

No, he was intentionally letting her sense it.

Ironically, that was a great benefit for Lee Soo-ah.

If Ryan Knox had joined those attacking Unique, it would've been far more troublesome.

But as he hadn't, it meant his purpose had nothing to do with rescuing Damian.

Ssssssh!!

At that moment, a white sword energy flew toward Lee Soo-ah.

The building to her right, where she'd been walking, split vertically as the sword energy sliced through the air. Reflexively, she raised her sword and deflected it.

She didn't see anyone, but she already knew.

The distorted flow of magic power had told her long ago.

"... As expected."

From the collapsed building came the sound of light footsteps.

Silently faint sounds.

So faint you'd miss them if you weren't paying attention.

It was unthinkable, considering the strength and presence that body contained.

"Genius works differently. Isn't that right, hunter Lee Soo-ah?"

A calm voice.

Walking out from the murky dust was a young man with blond hair.

Considering Ryan Knox's original middle-aged appearance, this youthfulness was hard to believe.

'Cade.'

It was Ryan Knox, but there was also something else inside that body, something familiar.

Lee Soo-ah had once experienced the true nature of that power.

The Blade of Malice.

Cade Barel.

The power she sensed from Ryan Knox now was very similar to the aura that man had radiated.

"Hmm? You're not telling me you didn't recognize who I am, right?"

"No, of course not. I wouldn't fail to recognize you, no matter how much younger you look."

But it wasn't the same as with 'Owen'.

Owen had been swallowed by Cade, but in Ryan's case, he, himself, was in control of the body.

After all, Cade had perished entirely in the demonic zone.

There might have been the faintest remnant of consciousness lingering in the heart, but that was all.

Like the remains of Yuriah's consciousness inside Hwang Yeon-ji, it would never manifest outwardly.

So everything being done or said now was Ryan Knox's own will.

"Why?"

Lee Soo-ah asked calmly as she looked at the smiling Ryan Knox.

That smile was just as she'd seen before.

The only person considered as talented as Owen McGregor, who was hailed as the greatest prodigy in American history.

Back at the Grand Canyon, he'd fought for humanity against the demons.

"You never seemed like someone who would fall to the demons' temptation."

"Heh. You overrate me."

Ryan gripped his sword as he spoke, just as Lee Soo-ah did.

"Of course, even as you say, I'm not really on the side of the demons right now."

"So then...!"

"That doesn't mean I'm on humanity's side, either. Frankly, who cares about that?"

For him, the end result didn't matter.

Whether all awakeners disappeared, or all ordinary people vanished.

Whether the demons won, or humankind did.

None of that mattered to him.

"I used to think I was a genius."

Everyone praised him as such.

From the moment he first picked up his sword, he thought he was the protagonist of this world.

Owen was a rival he'd overcome, and he believed that after some time, he could surpass him as well.

About three years.

That amount of time, and he'd defeat Owen and become unchallenged as the number one hunter.

That was the conclusion Ryan Knox had envisioned.

"But to think I'd see something like that."

It started with Alencia.

A being fundamentally different from normal awakeners.

A 'god in the shape of a human' who could unleash overwhelming power merely by absorbing electricity.

True extraordinariness that reduced his 'specialness' to mere normalcy.

And then it was Lee Soo-ah.

Ryan could never forget the sight of Lee Soo-ah easily defeating Kian Rogers in Odyssey.

Lee Soo-ah wasn't some special 'holy woman', just an ordinary human, a 'genius'.

Yes, a genius.

The very word Ryan had heard all his life.

What he felt while watching her was emptiness.

'I was mistaken all along.'

That's what talent was.

That's what a real genius looked like.

Because he'd been just talented enough himself, he could all the more keenly sense the gulf of Lee Soo-ah's talent.

"And finally, that rift."

A cataclysm humans could not stop.

A calamity before which the S-rank hunters could do nothing but pray—and a single human shattered it.

Park Jung-woo.

The 'returnee' from Korea.

At first, it hadn't felt real.

For a single man to break a rift was just too unreal.

What used to constitute Ryan Knox's own 'specialness' now seemed utterly insignificant.

Even holding a sword meant nothing anymore.

Genius?

Specialness?

All that was left to him was hollowness.

Now, only the ordinary human called Ryan Knox remained in the world.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

Another lump of inferiority.

19 chapters left.

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