The news that the Berserker eliminated the Executioner was relayed all the way to the Blue House through the Awakened Security Office.
I thought bringing a lunatic like him would lead to unfavorable remarks, but the response was quite positive.
“Berserker will be a great strength for our country. I would like to express my gratitude to you for bringing him here.”
I had never seen Cheon Myeong-guk with such a bright expression before. It seemed that Berserker’s power was indeed significant. Perhaps crazy people could be useful.
Well, considering that he showed the resilience of a cockroach, surviving for 15 years in my previous life, he must have been quite troublesome for the government.
“Having a villain like Berserker not acting as a variable already gives a great sense of stability. You never know when a crazy person might go off. However, it’s regrettable that this can’t be easily disclosed to the public.”
It would be appropriate to say that Berserker was currently employed by the government. They even talked about compensation, money, and equipment.
The government had long been keeping an eye on villains who committed relatively fewer crimes and struggled to adapt to society.
They had been pushing plans to rehabilitate them, but the problem was that there was no one to control the villains’ waywardness, so it was indefinitely postponed.
In the midst of this, I took a step forward by forming a bond with Berserker.
This guy, Berserker, should be thankful to me. I even told him how to obtain Complete Immunity. I had a strong desire for it, so I need to research if there’s a way to get it without killing Berserker.
“Forming a pursuit team to chase villains is already a significant burden, and reducing this burden is quite beneficial.”
Was this still the guy who made a compromise to kill me in my last life?
Thinking back to the torment I endured at that time still gave me the chills.
I was starting to get a little grumpy.
“Transcendent, did I say something wrong?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Good. If I ever offend you in any way, please let me know anytime. I will correct it.”
“Berserker is a free spirit, so it’s best not to expect him to cooperate.”
“Yes, I understand that. But that’s enough.”
His calculation was simple. Among the most threatening individuals in South Korea, the Berserker, the Puppeteer, the Executioner, and the Black Reaper, if two died and one became an ally, it would greatly weaken the villain’s forces.
The League had backed off, and demon hunting was going smoothly.
Although more than half of the territory was still occupied by demons, the situation was relatively good compared to other countries where 70-80%, or even over 90%, had been taken over.
“Black Reaper is an elusive villain, so eliminating one of the dangerous villains among them means that the villain forces have diminished significantly.”
The last remaining assassin, the Black Reaper, had an unknown identity.
I hadn’t seen them in my previous life, but their notoriety was tremendous.
There were rumors that he was associated with a villainous organization operating within the city.
“And.”
Cheon Myeong-guk changed the topic as he looked at me.
“Shouldn’t you start forming a hunting team?”
“A hunting team? Why would I need that?”
“Transcendent form hunting teams to maximize their power.”
“Oh, I see.”
“You didn’t know?”
I must have overlooked it because I had no particular interest in hunting. I had only recently learned that it was crucial for the evaluation of Transcendent.
But did I really need a hunting team?
I had been hunting demons alone throughout my previous life.
I had never felt the need for it.
The high-level hunters couldn’t track targets and just rushed in without drawing aggro.
Was it because of the dismantling of the corpse after the hunt? But even with that, there’s no one who could dismantle as perfectly as I do with the Slash Gift.
“Rather than not knowing, I’ve never thought about it.”
“Huh.”
Cheon Myeong-guk’s face changed to an expression I often saw.
Did he really think of me as half-baked?
For now, I should put Cheon Myeong-guk on that list. Of course, if he’s innocent, he could be removed anytime.
Really.
“Rumors are circulating because you haven’t formed a hunting team.”
“Does that mean forming a hunting team is necessary to extinguish the rumors?”
I thought they were spreading rumors because I wasn’t going hunting, but apparently they were making assumptions based on the lack of a hunting team.
It might be hard to get me to talk, but it’s easy to get a hunt team member to talk.
But I didn’t feel the need to dispel the rumors. Those who wanted to curse me would do so anyway, so wouldn’t it be mutually beneficial to pull everyone out of this opportunity?
They could relieve stress by cursing me, and I could find out who’s cursing me.
Was this what they called a win-win situation? What a beautiful word.
“Transcendent, I’m not talking about you. There are a lot of eyes watching to see when you’re going to put together a hunting team.”
“I’ll think about that part. I don’t think a hunting team is really necessary.”
“Huh! A hunting team is very, very important to a Transcendent.”
“It’s not important to me.”
“Transcendent, please...”
It was when Cheon Myeong-guk clung to me persistently that a sudden call came with a loud notification sound.
“Transcendent-nim, it’s a Transcendent Call.”
A Transcendent Call was a request from an outside source for Transcendent assistance. It’s up to the Awakened Security Office and the Transcendent to decide whether or not to respond.
Most of the time, the call falls somewhere in the middle, so the fact that they’re talking to me meant that it was a matter that required consultation.
“Danger Level 7 Black Wyvern has come out of the area, and the hunting team is in danger.”
“They’re all going to die.”
“If we don’t mobilize, the hunting team will be wiped out.”
The problem was that the hunting team wasn’t too far from the city, so there was a risk of the city being attacked inadvertently.
Cheon Myeong-guk’s gaze turned towards me. It was mixed with difficulty and urgency, but it also seemed to lack certainty.
“Let’s go.”
“I’ll prepare the helicopter.”
Cheon Myeong-guk and I headed to the Blue House helicopter pad, where he gave me a quick rundown on the Black Wyvern and how to deal with it.
It could identify prey from 10 kilometers away and would kill anything it saw, even if it’s not prey.
That’s about as much as I knew about it as well.
In simple terms, it’s a story of taking a risk without knowing if it’s a deadly situation that could end up badly.
“What’s important is the survival of the hunting team. They will assist you, Transcendent-nim.”
Since I hadn’t organized a hunting team, I was told to use the ones in the field.
I could tell that he wanted me to hunt well, and that he wanted the government hunting team to survive.
The current location of the Black Wyvern was on the border between Anseong City and Jincheon County.
Before boarding the helicopter, I asked Cheon Myeong-guk.
“My orders come first in the field, right?”
“Yes, that’s correct, but...”
“I understand. I’ll go.”
I silently confirmed the answer while looking at Cheon Myung-guk, who had a somewhat anxious expression.
***
--Support has departed and will arrive in 40 minutes.
“40 minutes.”
Government-affiliated Hellhound hunting team leader Lee Chang-soo repeatedly muttered the word “40 minutes”. Normally, it might not have seemed like such a long time, but at this moment, he thought it would be an excruciatingly long period, one filled with tension and worry.
“He has responded to the Transcendent Call. From now on, we’ll use all our power to escape. In 40 minutes, the Transcendent will face the Black Wyvern.”
“Team leader, can we survive if the Transcendent arrives?”
Lee Chang-soo turned his head in response to the voice full of complaints. There, Han Jung-seok, a 3-year veteran of the Hellhound Team, had a displeased expression.
“We can survive.”
“I’m looking at it with skepticism.”
“What do you want to say?”
“Choi Jun-ho hasn’t been validated as a hunter yet.”
Han Jung-seok, a young hunter at the age of 28 this year, was a talent that Lee Chang-soo cherished. His sharp situational judgment and his passion for protecting his colleagues were great.
He was making efforts in various ways to increase the hunting capabilities of the Hellhound Team under Lee Chang-soo’s guidance. Han Jung-seok’s goal was for the Hellhound Hunter Team to surpass large guilds and become the best.
However, he had a negative perception of Choi Jun-ho.
“If Choi Jun-ho shows up, he could take over the team leader’s command and cause chaos. We’d have a better chance of survival if he didn’t come.”
“So are you suggesting that we ignore the Transcendent who is coming to save us?”
“That’s not the case...”
“Even at this moment, we, along with other hunting teams, are being targeted.”
The closest hunting team fell victim to the Black Wyvern. Even now, many hunting teams were under attack, losing contact one by one.
They were retreating in fear of being targeted at any moment.
Han Jung-seok sighed and revealed his thoughts.
“Honestly, I can’t trust Choi Jun-ho, who has no hunting experience.”
A Transcendent who appeared six months ago, capturing only villains. His most prominent achievement was catching the Puppeteer.
It’s good that he caught hundreds of villains, but his record in hunting demons was nowhere to be found. While his strength could be acknowledged, it’s not strange to have concerns when thinking about the various side effects awakened individuals experienced in the early stages of demon hunting.
Among awakened individuals, there were cases where they acquired trauma while hunting demons and could never hunt again, or they froze in the face of a demon’s presence and died helplessly.
It’s not for nothing that the first demon hunt took the most casualties, and it’s not unusual that large guilds assigned veteran hunters to help new hunters get used to the hunt.
Choi Jun-ho was far less known than his abilities would suggest.
“You’re right about that. However, I don’t think the government made a hasty decision. Becoming a Transcendent at that age means there’s extraordinary talent. Geniuses are different. They easily overcome all the trials and errors we’ve experienced.”
The media had covered numerous geniuses, but among them, there was no one who reached Level 8 in their 20s.
The one who occupied that position was an entirely unknown Choi Jun-ho.
Lee Chang-soo didn’t know Choi Jun-ho. However, he believed in Choi Jun-ho’s talent.
“I think everyone can survive as long as we hold out until Choi Jun-ho arrives. Trust me. We have no other choice.”
“Understood.”
Han Jung-seok nodded, his voice filled with unwavering faith. It was the only way now.
***
The helicopter that took off from the Blue House quickly passed over Seoul and headed towards the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province.
During that time, communication was active, and real-time reports were received on how many casualties occurred and where the Black Wyvern was located.
Having a helicopter meant not being envious of most spatial-type Gifts.
“We will soon enter the border.”
I nodded in response to the pilot’s words. The helicopter arrived near the location of the Black Wyvern at a high speed.
“Should we land nearby?”
“Let’s keep going like this.”
“What? But if we keep going like this, we’ll encounter the Black Wyvern.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“...!”
The pilot turned his head to look at me in surprise.
We’re heading toward where the Black Wyvern was. Why was he so surprised?
“We have to get closer to the Black Wyvern to catch it.”
“...”
The Black Wyvern could identify prey within a 10km radius.
This was assuming that there was prey on the ground. In the unobstructed sky, its field of view would undoubtedly be broader. If anything entered its line of sight, it would attack anyway.
“Let’s go.”
“All right.”
Even without activating on-site command authority, the authority of a Transcendent was evident. The conflicted pilot nodded and steered towards the location of the Black Wyvern.
“There is the Black Wyvern. Within 10km.”
We must have already entered the Black Wyvern’s field of vision. The pilot began to tremble. It wasn’t the helicopter that was shaking, after all.
I said to the trembling pilot, “Let’s keep going.”
“Yes, yes!”
The helicopter approached Black Wyvern at a rapid speed. As it got closer, the pilot’s trembling became more pronounced.
“Distance to Black Wyvern, 5km!”
Black Wyvern started to come into view. Its body, shaped like a lizard, was about 20 meters long, and its wings resembled those of a bat. Despite its relatively small wings, it was fascinating to see how it could fly.
By the way, Black Wyvern meat wasn’t very tasty.
“Distance to Black Wyvern, 3km!”
“Keep going.”
“Distance to Black Wyvern, 2km! It’s looking this way! It’s starting to approach!”
It was a report mixed with screams. I was also watching.
Black Wyvern’s flying speed was impressive. As we got closer, the distance between us rapidly decreased.
“Distance to Black Wyvern, 1km! Transcendent! What should we do?”
“I’ll catch it.”
“Yes?”
“When I get out, you can do evasive maneuvers.”
I opened the helicopter door.
A tremendously strong wind rushed in. I looked at the Black Wyvern flying ahead. It had the intelligence of a lizard, mistaking us for prey and charging toward us.
Come to think of it, higher-level demons often couldn’t grasp the situation and acted recklessly. On the other hand, lower-level demons were more specialized in their survival instincts and managed to avoid trouble on their own.
That’s why there’s no need for a hunting team. As long as I could catch and kill them when they attacked, why bother forming a hunting team? The more people there were, the more troublesome things would become.
I kicked the ground and threw myself into the air.
Dwoong!
The Force flowed out of me, creating a Force foothold at my feet. I stepped on it and charged at Black Wyvern.
Since I didn’t have a flight Gift, I unleashed an enormous amount of Force to keep myself up. It was roughly equivalent to spreading a beach towel on the ocean.
As I Black Wyvern approached, it opened its mouth wide. It was preparing to unleash its fire breath.
It considered me as prey it had captured. That’s why it was aiming to use its fire breath.
Kyaaaaaah!
A stream of flames shot out. I jumped high, spurred on by the Force footholds, and dodged. The surrounding air ignited, and intense heat radiated. This fellow could cause wildfires, which would be troublesome.
As I dodged upwards, the Black Wyvern followed, its eyes tracking my movement.
The challenge with aerial creatures was that they could freely roam the skies, giving them the advantage. When attacking from the sky like the fire breath it had just unleashed, there were limited means of retaliation.
However, now that I could move freely in the air, it had lost that advantage. Instead, it became a stationary target when firing its fire breath, making it an easy target.
“It’s the most common mistake made by fledglings.”
Thud!
The Black Wyvern’s head dented. It didn’t penetrate the hard hide, but my land mine crushed the brain inside.
No matter how resilient a creature’s life force might be, once its brain was destroyed, it couldn’t survive.
“Kyaah!”
The Black Wyvern let out a final scream. Its eyes rolled back in its head, and it died instantly.
I had hunted many fledglings in this manner during my time as the Blood Master. Fledglings always thought they were the predators, so approaching them and planting a land mine in their brains was a guaranteed kill.
The demon with a danger level 8, Nuri, might not be an easy target, though. But I would soon get a chance to find out.
“Noisy little fledgling.”
I looked down from the sky at the falling Black Wyvern before turning towards the approaching helicopter.
Hunting while riding a helicopter was actually a bit challenging.
