"More! More! More!" "Smash it! Smash the damn thing, Goliath!" "Get him!"
However. The cheers and shouts of encouragement that had filled the streets turned into shocked silence when Goliath's fist was shattered, his arm was broken, and blood and flesh started to splatter. The viewers' hands, which had been raised to the sky, slowly came down. Some people watched the strongest warrior of humanity being惨ly crushed and shed tears without a word. It was as if time had stopped. From the people, struck dumb by too much shock, not even the sound of breathing could be heard. If only this were a dream, they wished it would wake up soon. But the screen just kept showing Goliath's screams. The viewers' expressions gradually changed to deeper despair. But just then. A single Hunter burst out and sent the beast flying. No, it was two. A black-haired Hunter who appeared silently next to the foreign Hunter. The viewers, and even the news anchors, couldn't hide their bewilderment at what had happened. What was going on? Who were those two? It had happened so quickly and the cameras were too far away to show the Hunters' faces clearly. However. Seeing the black soldiers filling the streets in the blink of an eye, the anchors let out screams that were almost cries.
[It's Hunter Sung Jin-Woo! Hunter Sung Jin-Woo has appeared!] [You don't need to see his face! You can't see his face! But you can still tell who it is! Those black soldiers, that's 100 percent Hunter Sung Jin-Woo!] [Goliath has fallen and the baton has been passed to Hunter Sung Jin-Woo! Hunter Sung Jin-Woo's summoned creatures have surrounded the monsters!]
Waaah-! Seeing the black soldiers covering the streets of Seoul, the world's viewers threw their hands up in excitement. In particular, the cheers of Americans, who had recently lost a national-power-level Hunter in a tragedy and were shocked by Thomas being in danger, were loud enough to echo through the entire city. The view count of the video of the Jeju Island ant raid where Jin-Woo had been active had already surpassed 2 billion. A name that was already known to everyone. The world chanted Jin-Woo's name.
"Hey, I know that Hunter! I know that Hunter! That's Renat Niemann from Germany!"
Even the person who briefly tried to show off his knowledge soon followed the others, raising his hands and shouting for Sung Jin-Woo. The world. All eyes in the world were on Jin-Woo's back.
* * *
The Shadow Army had surrounded Jin-Woo and the three Monarchs in a circle. On the streets where shadows were cast by the skill 'Monarch's Domain', the Shadow Army's morale was at its peak. How about it? Jin-Woo looked over each of the Monarchs. They looked amused. The giant female humanoid made of insects looked around the street filled with soldiers and smiled.
[Is this the new Shadow Army?] [There are quite a few of them, but looking at them, they're still a bunch of rags.]
The Monarch of Frost stepped forward, acting as if it was no big deal. Hoo- He took a light breath and exhaled, and in an instant, a terrible coldness spread in all directions. Crackle! In an instant, everything on the ground froze. The Shadow Army was no exception.
'How can this be!'
Jin-Woo's face hardened as he saw the soldiers freezing. The Monarchs' power, which could neutralize the soldiers in an instant. He had experienced this once before when he fought Baran, the Monarch of White Flames, in the Demon Castle dungeon. The difference between then and now was that back then there was one enemy, and now there were three. The command to release the summons didn't work on the soldiers trapped in the ice.
[Your soldiers cannot move a step from the prison I've created.]
The Monarch of Frost, who had tied the Shadow Army's feet, was confident of victory. However. Even in that situation, Jin-Woo's killing intent did not wane.
"You."
The blade of 'Kamish's Wrath' in his right hand pointed at the Monarch of Frost.
"I will definitely kill you."
The Shadow Army's combat power was just a support role. It was regrettable that he couldn't use the soldiers, but that didn't mean he intended to let the Monarch of Frost live. He had a debt to repay to that guy.
[...]
The Monarch of Frost also grimaced, as if the wound on his shoulder from his previous encounter with Jin-Woo was throbbing.
[You!]
As he mimed lifting something with both hands, golems made of ice rose from the ground. At the same time. When the Queen of Insects whistled, the corpses of citizens scattered messily on the road all began to move at once. Crack, crack, crack, crack! The corpses, which had been twisting and adjusting their bones and joints, began crawling on all fours, looking as grotesque as spiders.
'Undead?'
No, they weren't anything as simple as undead. What was moving the corpses were bizarre parasites that had entered their heads. Jin-Woo, who sensed the mana of the bugs moving inside their heads, looked back at the Queen of Insects.
[Did you think we killed humans without any thoughts?]
The Queen had planted special parasite eggs in every single corpse of the humans the beasts had killed. Seeing the enemy's army of golems and parasites, which he couldn't even turn into Shadow Soldiers even if he killed them, Jin-Woo truly realized how much they had been waiting for this opportunity.
'Hoo...'
He steadied his breathing. The golems and corpses that had come past the frozen Shadow Soldiers were beginning to surround him. He quietly listened to the sound of his own heart beating. Thump, thump, thump. On the way here, there had been countless crises. With his eyes closed now, his extremely sharpened senses were picking up every little movement of the enemies. He could do it. As he always had.
'It's coming.'
When he opened his eyes, his vision was filled with spider-humans lunging at him from all sides. In the slowed-down time. Two 'Kamish's Wrath' daggers vented their fury. Slash, slash, slash! All the spider-humans that jumped up were disassembled in mid-air at once. Bang! Jin-Woo lightly kicked off the golem's fist that was swung down at him and leaped, first looking for a target to eliminate. The Monarch of Frost. That guy was pointing at Jin-Woo with an angry face and shouting at the golems. But the slow-moving golems could never catch up to Jin-Woo's speed. Jin-Woo used 'Ruler's Authority' to shoot his body towards the Monarch of Frost. Launched like a bullet, Jin-Woo flew at a terrifying speed. The distance, closed in a flash; the horrified Monarch of Frost; Jin-Woo swung his daggers with all his might. He was aiming for the face of the guy with skin like old tree bark. However. Clang! Just before 'Kamish's Wrath' could slash across his face, something hard blocked the daggers' path. The beast, reacting to Jin-Woo's instantaneous speed, blocked 'Kamish's Wrath' with its wrist.
[Do you think you can leave even a scratch on me with this piece of metal?]
The beast grinned, revealing its ugly teeth stained with blood and flesh. But Jin-Woo also smiled.
'You're smiling?'
Before the beast could sense the eeriness, a black aura enveloped 'Kamish's Wrath'. Snick! The beast's wrist, which had boasted its sturdiness, was cleanly severed. The beast's eyes widened. As it leaned its upper body back to barely avoid the blade's tip, a long, straight wound appeared on its chest. Just then, Jin-Woo's head was forced up as he sensed a powerful force.
'...!'
The Queen of Insects was striking down with a giant fist made of mana. Whoosh! Jin-Woo landed on the ground at the same time and tried to push back the Queen of Insects' fist with the skill 'Ruler's Authority'. But the Queen of Insects' power was stronger than he had expected, and he could only block it. Boom! The shockwave generated when the shield made by 'Ruler's Authority' collided with the Queen of Insects' fist swept away the spider-humans. However, there were many more spider-humans than those swept away, gathering in a pitch-black mass. Jin-Woo stomped on the head of one of them and jumped into the air. And he concentrated mana into 'Kamish's Wrath'. Vrrr- The condensed black aura on the trembling blade distorted the surrounding space. At that moment.
"Aaargh!"
Jin-Woo let out a battle cry and swung the daggers with all his might. Slash, slash, slash! The mana concentrated at the tips of the daggers shot out in dozens of streams, sweeping away the enemies below. Dragon's Claw! About half of the ice golems and spider-humans were wiped out by that single attack. However. Swish! When Jin-Woo turned his head to the side, he saw a giant palm that had already reached him. The deep shadow created by the palm fell over Jin-Woo's face.
'Damn it.'
Facing an attack from an angle where there was no way to dodge, Jin-Woo set up a guard for the time being. The Queen of Insects swatted Jin-Woo like a human crushing a bug, slamming him into a building. Boom! The impact was so great that the building across the street shook. Jin-Woo, emerging from the rubble of the collapsed building, fell face down on the ground and let out a rough groan.
"Cough."
He was dizzy. Eeee- Tinnitus lingered in his ears. His breathing gradually quickened, and his vision blurred slightly. However. There was no time to leisurely catch his breath here. When he looked up. Above his head, dozens of meters away, thousands of ice arrows created by the Monarch of Frost came into view. Jin-Woo stood up and held his breath. Soon, the ice arrows that filled the sky charged straight at him. Faster, faster! Jin-Woo began to deflect all the magic arrows raining down without a single gap using his daggers. They were so fast that multiple afterimages seemed to overlap.
'But how much longer can you withstand our combined attack?'
The Monarch of Frost continued to summon arrows and let out a wicked smile. The moment his movements slowed even a little. Right then. Thud!
[......?]
The Monarch of Frost, with trembling eyes, looked at the dagger embedded in his chest. What he saw on his hand was his own blood. When he looked up, the insolent human, who had sent a dagger flying even while deflecting the arrows, was looking straight at him. A rage so intense it felt like all the blood in his body was boiling surged to the top of his head.
[You, you dare, a mere human, to attack me, a Monarch!]
Whack! Jin-Woo quickly retrieved the dagger embedded in his chest. The spot he hit was the heart. Although it would have been a fatal wound for a human, it didn't seem to be fatal for those guys. Still, thanks to that, the rain of arrows that had covered the sky had stopped. Gripping 'Kamish's Wrath' once again, Jin-Woo bared his teeth at the Monarch of Frost.
"I told you. You'll never walk away from here alive." [Aaaaargh!]
The enraged Monarch of Frost controlling the golems, the Plague Monarch commanding the spider-humans, and the Beast Monarch, whose arm had already regenerated. The Beast Monarch, moving its arm back and forth, brought its own sword from beyond the subspace just as Jin-Woo had done. The sight of the enemies resuming their movements was clear in Jin-Woo's eyes. Jin-Woo gripped 'Kamish's Wrath' with both hands, glared at the approaching enemies, and calmly steadied his breathing. Just then. Krrr-rrr! With a sound like something chunky splitting apart, a voice that was several times more welcome today echoed from behind him.
[My King!]