Chapter 40
Episode 4: Fate Rides the Wind (15)
The appearance of Kang Cheolman in white armor and helmet.
The regular members fell into panic.
There is a saying in Luminous that if you encounter the white armor, you will lose half of your comrades that day.
Indeed, that saying was true.
“First, let’s get rid of the annoying small fry.”
As Kang Cheolman muttered quietly and kicked off the ground.
Boom—! Thud—! Crack—!
“Ugh…!”
“Aaargh!!”
In an instant, his figure disappeared, and three Luminous hunters, who were forming a siege, screamed and perished.
It was a movement on a different level than before.
“This is ridiculous…!”
Hong Jinseong hurriedly used [Touch of Thoughts] on the helpless Luminous hunters, but he couldn’t stop Kang Cheolman.
To directly restrict his movements, he needed to have him in his sight, but his speed was too fast to respond.
Min Soo-ah was no different in being unable to stop Kang Cheolman.
She tried to counterattack by generating harpoons above the shadows of the regular members using a skill, but Kang Cheolman easily dodged them.
There was only one option left.
“T- take the enhancement potion!
Everyone, drink the enhancement potion!!”
They had already drunk to their limits, and taking more could turn them into monsters, but they had no choice.
To survive, they needed more power. Min Soo-ah took out a potion from her pocket, but she never got to drink it.
Slice-
“Huh…?”
At the moment she opened the lid to drink the enhancement potion, her wrist was severed. And by the time she realized the change, it was already too late.
The ground was above, and the sky was below.
Her vision spun, and Min Soo-ah crumbled to the ground.
“D- damn it…!”
“The support team leader is down!”
“Everyone, run away! We can’t win this!!”
Faced with an overwhelming difference in skill, the Luminous hunters were in complete disarray.
Although Deputy Director Hong Jinseong was still alive, the sight of Kang Cheolman rampaging in the armor of Divine Shield shattered their will to fight.
“What are you doing! Maintain the siege! Don’t run away!!”
Hong Jinseong shouted at the top of his lungs, but it was futile.
Dozens of Luminous hunters started getting defeated one by one, not heeding his orders.
Hong Jinseong stopped giving additional orders and took out the enhancement potion from his inner pocket.
It was no longer feasible to face Kang Cheolman with his subordinates.
It seemed like he would have to face Kang Cheolman alone, but the problem was that he had already drunk to his limits before coming here.
If he drank any more, he might turn into a monster.
Once transformed into a monster, without an antidote, he would never return to being human.
For Hong Jinseong, it was a gamble, but there were no other choices.
If things continued like this, it was only a matter of time before they were annihilated.
It was no longer about promotion but survival.
Hong Jinseong, as if determined, took a deep breath and gulped down the enhancement potions in his hand.
Meanwhile, Kang Cheolman continued to eliminate the Luminous hunters.
‘There’s not much time. I need to finish this quickly.’
Thud-!
“Aaargh!!”
Amidst the battlefield filled with spurting blood and screams, Kang Cheolman swung his greatsword with extreme speed.
It was a technique that consumed a lot of stamina, but he had no choice.
[You have awakened Holy Power.]
[Holy Armor]
[Remaining Duration – 3 minutes 28 seconds]
[Remaining Holy Power – 12%]
There wasn’t much time left to use the divine skill, [Holy Armor].
Divine skills are special skills taught directly by Selina Kandeba, the leader of Divine Shield, and unlike regular skills that consume mana, they are maintained with holy power.
And unlike mana, this holy power cannot be replenished with potions, and the duration is short, so it should only be used at critical moments.
Currently, Kang Cheolman had mostly exhausted his holy power due to a mission two days prior.
This was why Kang Cheolman didn’t use the power of Divine Shield until the very last moment.
Because he had little holy power left, he had to save it for when there were no other options.
And strategy was important as well.
Since he didn’t know how long it would take to deal with the most troublesome opponent, he needed to handle the easier ones first.
So Kang Cheolman dealt with the regular members and middle managers, and this worked quite well.
In less than three minutes after awakening his holy power, he had already eliminated more than half of the Luminous hunters.
Now, it seemed he just needed to deal with the remaining ones and eliminate the telekinetic deputy director, but the opponent wasn’t easy.
No, on the contrary, he displayed power beyond Kang Cheolman’s expectations.
“Ugh, spare me!”
Just as he was about to cut down a Luminous hunter begging for life, his movements were suddenly hindered by telekinesis, just like before.
‘There’s no way he can keep up with my speed?’
Kang Cheolman frowned and turned his head.
And then.
“……!”
His eyes widened.
“Ah, it’s like the power of the gods.”
Hong Jinseong, who had just been a little boy moments ago, had grown larger.
Moreover, the Luminous inscriptions engraved all over his body glowed red, and he smiled with red eyes, floating in the air after discarding his robe.
“Oh, the deputy director has awakened!”
“Now Kang Cheolman is finished! We won!!”
The Luminous hunters cheered.
They thought they had regained the advantage since the deputy director had awakened and stopped Kang Cheolman.
But that was a mere illusion.
When Hong Jinseong extended his hand and clenched his fist.
Rumble— Crack—!
“Aaaaargh!!”
The space distorted, and the bodies of the Luminous hunters twisted and broke.
“D- deputy director…? Ugh!!”
The subordinates called out to their superior with puzzled expressions, but it was useless.
Hong Jinseong continued to crush the Luminous hunters.
It was not an act born out of hatred for his subordinates.
It was just.
Boom-! Flash-!
An action that happened as he followed and attacked the fleeing Kang Cheolman.
Originally, he would have worried about the safety of his subordinates and either not attacked properly or at least reduced the range, but the current Hong Jinseong was focused solely on capturing Kang Cheolman.
And there was a reason for this change.
While evading by kicking off the ground, Kang Cheolman opened his mouth.
“Idiots. Does he still look human to you?”
“……!”
“Damn! The deputy director has also…!”
At Kang Cheolman’s words, the Luminous hunters clenched their teeth.
They hadn’t realized from high up in the air, but above Hong Jinseong’s head, a monster identification tag was floating.
[Inferior Thought Manipulator Hong Jinseong (SS)]
Hong Jinseong was classified as an SS rank.
“Damn, SS rank…!”
“Everyone run! Now that he’s turned into a monster, he won’t recognize us!!”
Realizing the situation, the Luminous hunters were in total disarray.
Knowing better than anyone about the side effects of enhancement potions, they realized there was no longer any hope for the operation.
But by then, it was already too late.
Boom!!
The monster Hong Jinseong swung his staff, deploying [Touch of Thoughts].
“Ugh! W- what pressure…!”
“Aaaargh! Help!!”
From various parts of the underground cave, which had turned into a crater, screams of pain erupted.
Luminous hunters with low magic resistance had their entire bodies crushed, or blood poured from their eyes, noses, and mouths.
The monster Hong Jinseong spread [Touch of Thoughts] throughout the entire underground cave, pressing down to catch Kang Cheolman.
The telekinesis, tightly packed with no gaps for even a drop of water to escape, was strong enough to wipe out the Luminous hunters, but it didn’t take Kang Cheolman’s life.
“Huuuh!!”
Kang Cheolman, hidden among the rubble, kicked off the ground, leaping into the air and swinging his greatsword.
It was a charge executed with the best timing and at the highest speed possible.
His propulsion was so strong that he broke through [Touch of Thoughts] and flew straight to the monster Hong Jinseong.
However.
Kang Cheolman could not cut down Hong Jinseong.
The greatsword imbued with holy power stopped right in front of Hong Jinseong’s neck, blocked by telekinesis.
And to make matters worse.
[You have exhausted all your holy power.]
[Holy Armor is deactivated.]
The power of Divine Shield had run out.
Furthermore.
“Oh, as expected of Divine Shield. But… weak. Too weak.”
The monster Hong Jinseong still retained his sanity.
‘Even after turning into a monster, he retains his sanity…?’
Based on the encounters with the monster Hwang Daegun and various test subjects, when humans turned into monsters, they all lost their sanity, but Hong Jinseong was speaking.
This was quite a significant issue.
Being able to speak meant that rational judgment was possible, and this meant that he could employ various strategies, making his combat patterns more complex.
Indeed, the monster Hong Jinseong was a tricky opponent.
[Meteor’s Judgment]
While Kang Cheolman was in a stalemate, he used the remaining mana to secretly activate a skill, but.
“Do you think such a pathetic trick will work?”
The monster Hong Jinseong saw through this and altered the course of the meteors falling from above.
Simultaneously.
“Ugh!!”
Boooom!!
The monster Hong Jinseong pushed Kang Cheolman back with [Touch of Thoughts] and slammed him into the ground.
As a result.
Swooosh— Whoooosh—!!
[Meteor’s Judgment] fell upon Kang Cheolman.
Currently, Kang Cheolman had even lost his Holy Armor.
If he took a direct hit, his life would be in grave danger.
To survive, he needed to get up immediately, but.
“Keuk, you’ve fallen into your own trap.”
The monster Hong Jinseong pressed down with telekinesis, making it impossible for him to rise.
‘Is this the end?’
All that was left was resignation.
Kang Cheolman bit his lip and tightly closed his eyes.
But just as he was about to collide with the blazing meteor without any means of escape.
Thud-!
A figure appeared in front of Kang Cheolman.
And.
Booom!!
The figure raised a shield and blocked the meteor descending at high speed.
‘Who could this be…?’
In an inexplicable situation, Kang Cheolman opened his eyes and looked at the back of the person standing before him.
The first thing that came into view was golden hair and a red cloak fluttering in the aftershock.
Kang Cheolman thought of several comrades in his mind, but no one fit the description.
It was someone he had never seen before.
Yet somehow.
He felt oddly familiar.
Kang Cheolman thought he could remember if he tried a little harder, but he couldn’t keep recalling.
“Who is this guy all of a sudden?”
Monster Hong Jinseong gritted his teeth from afar in the air.
Thump-
Another unexpected person, along with the red-caped knight, appeared riding the wind.
“Please keep what you’re about to see a secret.”
Han Sangwoo.
The B-rank hunter, who had fallen into Luminous’s trap, had quietly approached Kang Cheolman’s side.
