132. Turning the Tide
An unnamed island in Norway, a place not visited by humans. On the surface, it was nothing more than an ordinary uninhabited island, but it was the secret hideout of the Six-rays Bridge. Among the enormous facilities constructed underground were several medical facilities. There, groans filled the air.
“Argh!”
Go Geon-ryong groaned and strained against his restraints. His body crumbled like an unripe watermelon. The medical personnel rushed in, horrified, and administered drugs to him. The healers worked hard to prevent his body’s collapse.
Ariena, watching through the glass wall, turned red with anger. Unable to bear it, she sprinted in.
“What the heck! I’ve never seen bastards like you before! Why can’t you fix it? Why do you keep messing around when you have so much money?”
“Ah, Ariena, if you come in carelessly…!”
“Let me go!”
“Ah!”
When Ariena stretched out her arms, the doctor blocking her flew away helplessly. The doctor fell on the bed and Go Geon-ryong’s legs collapsed. The medical staff turned blue, and Ariena flinched.
“You’re crazy! Where do you think you are? Get out of here right now!”
Lan Zhi Ling, one of the last eighteen hunters and an SS-class healer, burst into the room. He ran to Go Geon-ryong, pushing away Ariena. He then healed Go Geon-ryong, his collapsing body retaking form.
Ariena was dissatisfied with being pushed away, but she couldn’t resist. She asked in a more relaxed tone.
“Lan Zhi Ling! What’s wrong with him? Why can’t you fix the Archbishop? Your healing is the best in the world, right?”
“Shoo! You haven’t left yet?”
“Tell me!”
“I don’t know… I don’t know! I’ve never seen anything like this before!”
Lan Zhi Ling asked back with clear irritation.
“Rather, I want to ask. You were with the Archbishop when he fought her. What the hell happened to you?”
“I don’t know. I fainted…”
“I’m so proud of you, you bastard!”
“Ugh! But if it weren’t for me, the Archbishop would be dead already!”
“I don’t want to hear it, so get out of my way!”
Lan Zhi Ling looked back to Go Geon-ryong. He wanted to cry.
‘Why is his body trying to scatter?! It’s like something invisible is forcing him apart.’
Go Geon-ryong’s body was currently like gas that would disperse arbitrarily if they let their guard down a little.
“Ah… Ari…”
Suddenly, a voice leaked out of the unconscious Go Geon-ryong. Ariena ran to his side.
“Archbishop! Are you awake?”
“People… Korea…”
“Huh? What did you say? I can’t understand you. Say it again!”
Go Geon-ryong frowned, trying to focus. He coughed as he tried to force the words out.
“Send someone to Korea. Soon… it will be the day of revelation. We have to empty the ark.”
“Who are you sending?”
“On your own…”
Go Geon-ryong closed his eyes again and fell asleep. His body, which had been collapsing, finally calmed down.
Ariena gathered their last members to follow the archbishop’s order.
***
The leaders of Illumination had been suffering recently. Their mission was to punish all non-believers on the Korean Peninsula after Judgment Day, and they only thought the work would go smoothly. No, in the early days, things were smooth. To be honest, they didn’t have anything to do with it. The monsters killed the unbelievers on their own.
All they had to do was stand still with their hands behind their backs and look around the slaughterhouses.
They were cleaning up Seoul before moving down to the south. However, there was a sudden disturbance near Seoul. At first, it was dismissed as just a small number of survivors who had escaped, but they were no ordinary group of survivors. They haunted them like ghosts and appeared randomly from east to west to kill the believers. The enemy’s power grew, and the damage to Illumination piled up day by day.
Eventually, some of their troops pushing to the south returned to Seoul. Since they couldn’t bear any more damage, they hid in ambush to end everything in one decisive strike. But what was this…?
Monsters that they had never seen before poured into the streets of Seoul.
“Grill them!”
A creature with a head larger than most buildings flailed its hands and legs. It might be a trivial gesture for that monster, but it was a disaster for the people around it. They shoved whatever they saw into their mouths.
“Oh my god!”
“Argh! Please save me!”
“Ahhh!”
There was something else that was even more difficult: standing in front of the black monsters quickly revealed they couldn’t control them. Their 3333 monsters ran away, and Illumination, losing their meat shields, was helpless.
“Why aren’t you listening to me? Fight! Kill that monster, you punks!”
“Oh my god!”
“With their dirty teeth….”
“Kyaaa!”
“Oh my god!”
“Keeek!”
‘I can’t believe it. The ring doesn’t work!’
The rings handed out by Illumination contained Ariena Barbardi’s mind control. It was purely thanks to her that they could play with the monsters. However, it wasn’t working now.
‘Is the fear of that monster beyond the Archbishop’s control?’
One of Illumination’s executives, Do Ji-seung, stood perplexed. What were those monsters that could inspire such fear?
“We’re doomed! We’ve never encountered anything that could resist!”
He nervously grabbed his spear. Since the monsters wouldn’t listen, they had no choice but to flee. A monster caught his gaze as he was about to run away.
“What’s that?”
It was a Goblin. However, it looked quite different from any other Goblin. Its features were straight, and its body was strong. It stood on a streetlamp, looking down his way. Unlike the other monsters, it didn’t seem confused.
‘That aura isn’t normal. Is there a Goblin like that? I think it’ll be at least an S-class.’
The strongest of the Goblins was the King Goblin since it had about A to B-class combat power, but that Goblin was twice as strong.
‘Well, many new monsters have been appearing after the Monster Wave.’
Do Ji-seung drew out the ring’s power with that thought. He called on the Goblin from far away. The Goblin turned his head their way. Suddenly, it jumped down and walked closer.
“Good! He’s listening! Either way, monsters or humans are useless when they’re weak!”
Do Ji-seung smiled joyfully. The Goblin said blankly:
“I was looking for the human reigning above them, but you just sold yourself out. You saved me some effort.”
“Seeing that you can speak, you seem to have a high level of intelligence. I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
Do Ji-seung stretched out his spear and pointed at the giant Gruggle. He simultaneously instilled the command through the ring.
“Go and kill that monster! Even if your body is torn to shreds, kill it!”
“You can’t be so foolish.”
Dorma didn’t budge, and Do Ji-seung’s face wrinkled. He threateningly swung his spear.
“What are you waiting for? I want you to kill that monster!”
“Turka, you’re a strong one. Take a chance and finish it.”
“I got it.”
Dorma’s shadow stretched long. Do Ji-seung didn’t notice the slight movement since all his nerves were focused on, ‘Why won’t this Goblin obey my orders?’. A second later, Dorma’s shadow wriggled, and a giant popped out. S-class Hunter Do Ji-seung responded with beast-like reflexes, but it was already too late.
“Oh!”
Turka’s heavy fist struck Do Ji-seung in the spine. Even though his Karma Barrier absorbed some damage, his limbs went stiff. Dorma didn’t miss that opening and stretched his arms to grab Do Ji-seung’s face.
The next moment, Do Ji-seung witnessed several dark daggers soaring toward him before his head rolled into the shadows.
“Let’s go back to Lord.”
“Okay.”
The two Goblins leisurely left the battlefield.
***
Ko Byeong-gap and his party no longer engaged in guerrilla warfare. Instead, they waged an all-out war using the hundreds of thousands of Gruggles. The result was a great victory for their side. It was an overwhelming victory that he didn’t expect, thanks to some luck.
‘I didn’t know the monsters would fold because of the Gruggles.’
Most monsters lost their will to fight when they encountered the Gruggles. In other words, their tails folded between their legs, and they hurried to run away. Ko Byeong-gap was able to vaguely infer the reason why.
‘The fear imprinted in them by the Devil has been revived.’
In the distant past, the monsters were unilaterally devoured by demons. That ruthless predation lasted for more than 300 years. Although the demons weren’t in their full form, this was more than enough to evoke the fear located deep in their genes. In the same context, dogs would worry just about smelling a tiger.
So, why weren’t the Goblins afraid of the Gruggles? Ko Byeong-gap asked his beloved subordinates why, and he received a clear answer.
-With the Lord by our side, what in the world will make us afraid? With Lord, we can jump off a cliff with a smile.
As expected, it was an answer from a blind believer. Ko Byeong-gap was satisfied.
“Ugh! Ji-seung hyung, why did you enter such a pseudo-religion? Damn, what kind of wealth and glory did you want for you to do something like this!”
In the corner of the battlefield, Hunter Ho Chan-myeong cried out, holding his friend’s corpse.
This time, Dorma and Turka handled the executives of Illumination.
‘It’s amazing. There are only 450 S-class hunters in Korea, but more than half were followers of the Six-rays Bridge. Have you been pretending all this time while hiding that fact? I’m getting goosebumps.’
A few days ago, Ko Byeong-gap and his party made a list of S-class hunters, and 245 of them were sure to be in Illumination. There were 117 S-class hunters whose affiliations were unclear, and only 88 could be recruited. It was unclear whether those remaining had even survived.
‘Since there are seventeen S-class hunters that we’ve killed so far… there’s still a long way to go.’
There was still a long way to go. However, the road was no longer shrouded in darkness. The situation in front of him had completely reversed. Now the Illumination’s biggest weapon, their quantity, had become their weapon.
Ko Byeong-gap passed over to Earth without anyone knowing. He went up a building that hadn’t yet collapsed and looked down. The night had turned completely dark thanks to the Gruggles.
Ko Byeong-gap concentrated his mind and sent his orders to them.
“March south.”
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