Solo Leveling Novel Chapter 67

“Excuse me? The camera?”

“Yes.”

The cameraman looked at Jin-Woo with a flustered expression. But, Jin-Woo’s face was solemn, deeply serious, and unmoving.

“But, why the camera, all of a sudden…?”

Jin-Woo remained silent at the flustered cameraman’s question.

“….”

The cameraman couldn’t come to a decision here. Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was indeed his saviour. He’d gladly heed that man’s request, especially when he was also saving the lives of others here, too.

‘However, to ask me to switch the camera off….’

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that every South Korean citizen must be watching this broadcast, right now. As a broadcaster, he found it hard to press the ‘off’ button on his camera under the current situation.

When he began hesitating like that, Jin-Woo chose to not waste any more time, and spoke up.

“If you don’t, I’ll just break it.”

Hearing Jin-Woo’s icy tone of voice, the cameraman flinched grandly. If Hunter Seong Jin-Woo decided to break the camera, then would the combined efforts of the Hunters present here even be enough to stop him?

The ‘why’ no longer mattered as he was left with no choice in the matter anymore.

“I-I understand. Hold on.”

The cameraman removed the head-mounted camera and switched the device off. After confirming the ‘power’ light of the camera was gone, Jin-Woo took Cha Hae-In back from Baek Yun-Ho.

‘I didn’t want to scare the cameraman, but….’

It couldn’t be helped if he wanted to save Cha Hae-In.

While holding her, Jin-Woo quickly scanned his vicinity. He then took a couple of deep breaths and closed his eyes.

‘What is he trying to do now?’

The attention of the Hunters were all gathered on him now. Soon, he opened his eyes. Finding the location of what he was searching for, Jin-Woo suddenly turned around and headed deeper into the ant tunnel.

His steps were brisk, but he never broke into a full-blown sprint in consideration of Cha Hae-In’s current condition. Others dazedly stared at his back, before quickly recovering their wits to run after him.

Finally, Jin-Woo came to a stop and cautiously put Cha Hae-In down. He then began removing the pile of ant corpses from around her.

“Heok!!”

Discovering something rather unexpected, the cameraman was the first one to gasp out in surprise.

“Mm….”

Other Hunters also let a stunned gasp to leak out from their mouths. Because, the cold, headless body of Min Byung-Gu was there. It was a gruesome sight to behold, where there was literally nothing above his neck area.

Only then did they venture to guess why Hunter Seong Jin-Woo demanded for the camera to be cut off. No one out there would want to witness that horrible scene, after all.

“Keuk.”

The closest person to Min Byung-Gu out of everyone present here, Baek Yun-Ho, squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head away. But then…

‘Wait a minute…’

He suddenly thought of something.

‘How did Hunter Seong Jin-Woo find where Byung-Gu was among all these dead monsters?’

The answer arrived soon enough in his mind.

Without the aid of a special skill, such a thing wouldn’t have been possible. The magic energy emission coming from humans and monsters were minutely different, but Jin-Woo was able to differentiate between the two and managed to locate Min Byung-Gu’s corpse before the emission from him completely dissipated.

If true, then that could only be described as an astonishing sensory perception. Such a task would be impossible even for Baek Yun-Ho’s ‘Eyes of the Beast’, which was supposed to be a specialised trait meant for that kind of job.

After his thoughts reached up to this point, Baek Yun-Ho shifted his head back in the direction of Jin-Woo. Even at the risk of the final appearance of Byung-Gu being deeply etched in his nightmares, Baek Yun-Ho wanted to witness with his own two eyes just what would happen next.

‘Hunter Seong Jin-Woo…. Just what are you trying to do?’

Cold sweat drops formed on his forehead as he alternated his gaze between Jin-Woo, Min Byung-Gu, and Cha Hae-In.

In the meantime, Jin-Woo took a closer look at the status of Min Byung-Gu. The black smokes were rising up from the corpse. Meaning, it was possible to perform the ‘Shadow Extraction’ on it.

And, sure enough….

Tti-ring.

[It is possible to perform Shadow Extraction on the selected target.]

The familiar mechanical beep and the System’s message informed him in such a ‘friendly’ way that what he wanted to do was, well, doable.

Of course, Jin-Woo was cognisant of the fact that Hunter Min Byung-Gu could be turned into a Shadow Soldier the moment he heard of the latter meeting an unfortunate fate.

Only that he didn’t feel like doing it.

To turn a blameless guy into an undead and use him as a soldier…. Even if the corpse belonged to a rank S Hunter, he’d still reject the idea outright. That was not something a human being should do. However…

Jin-Woo stared at Cha Hae-In’s gradually paling face.

‘….This is the best way.’

What if, in a situation where every second counted, he could entrust the gravely injured to the best Healer in South Korea? What was there to even think about here?

If the decision was left up to Min Byung-Gu himself, he’d have made the same call 100 times out of 100. Jin-Woo formed a solemn expression and issued an order to the shadow.

“Rise up.”

However, the end result was different from what he expected.

Tti-ring!

[The Shadow Extraction has failed.]

Confusion and anxiety began entering Jin-Woo’s expression.

Was this because the skill level was too low compared to the target’s Stat values? Or, was it because he wasn’t really feeling it with this particular Shadow Extraction?

Jin-Woo quickly shook off all distracting thoughts. And then, spoke up once more, his voice now containing his will.

“Rise up.”

The desirable changes took place, then.

Uaaaaahhhh—!

A low, heavy sound that could be described as either a victorious roar or a scream resounded out from the distant somewhere, and an eerie wind suddenly swept past everyone. The eyes of the Hunters were shot open in shock as the creeping chill crawled down their spines.

“Oh, my god!!”

“That, isn’t that…?!”

From Min Byung-Gu’s shadow, a black hand rose up. As if it didn’t want to go back inside the shadow again, the black hand powerfully grabbed the ground. And then, it began pulling itself out from the darkness.

‘How, how can this be?!’

Baek Yun-Ho felt as if his heart would explode from what he was seeing right now. Other people might not see it, but his eyes clearly captured everything.

Min Byung-Gu’s magic energy rising up from his shadow was slowly solidifying into the shape of a person. More specifically, a soldier decked out in jet-black armour.

And soon, the so-called ‘summoned’ creature finally revealed itself.

“….”

The Hunters were rendered utterly speechless and dazedly stared at the new summoned creature of Jin-Woo. And from this creature, they could sense the kind of magical energy that could only be felt from a top-ranked Hunter.

‘No, wait a minute…?’

The quick-witted Choi Jong-In flinched grandly in realisation as his brows shot up.

As everyone watched with bated breaths, Jin-Woo’s calm eyes were studying the shadow of Min Byung-Gu. When their gazes met, the new Shadow Soldier nodded his head.

The moment a shadow was transformed into one of his soldiers, it would immediately form a mental link with Jin-Woo. They would know what their sovereign wanted from them. Without needing any further orders, Min Byung-Gu’s shadow knelt down and began casting healing magic on Cha Hae-In.

Wuuoonngg…

As soon as the warm rays of light escaped from the Shadow Soldier’s hands, Cha Hae-In’s pale complexion began recovering gradually. This was the top level healing magic at work.

‘I knew it!!’

Choi Jung-Hoon was properly freaking out now. He was completely sure of his guesses, now that he had seen those lights heal Cha Hae-In. The identity of that black ‘soldier’ was none other than Min Byung-Gu!

By then, other Hunters were also beginning to realise what was going on here.

Mah Dong-Wook hadn’t been able to shut his slack jaw from the moment that black hand rose up from Min Byung-Gu’s shadow, but now, he was able to collect himself enough to finally express his astonishment.

“Instructor Seong, you… weren’t an ordinary Summoner, I see.”

Jin-Woo neither agreed or denied it.

However, just what kind of people were they, to begin with? Every single one of them was an excellent Hunter who each represented the largest Guilds in South Korea. They didn’t need to hear a confirmation to understand the gist of it.

“By any chance… Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim, you can utilise the powers of the deceased?”

Choi Jong-In asked with a nervous tension writ large on his face.

Jin-Woo simply nodded his head, once. Now that he found himself here, there was no more reason to hide his powers, nor did he want to mask it with lies, either.

‘Well, it’s not like these folks will fall for some random lies I cook up on the spot, anyway.’

Actually, he felt as if a load was taken off his shoulders now that he had revealed his powers to someone else.

Other people might fear it, but to Jin-Woo, he’d feel eternally grateful towards this power for helping him get to where he was. He was proud of the power of the Shadow Sovereign.

Seeing that confident look on Jin-Woo’s face, other Hunters began to fear the extent of his powers.

‘He can summon creatures using the powers of the deceased??’

‘Wouldn’t he become stronger and stronger as the battle becomes fiercer? What a scary ability this is….’

‘I don’t even know what to say anymore.’

To these Hunters, having bore witness to Jin-Woo’s ability today, this revelation left different types of impressions.

However, Baek Yun-Ho was privy to one more piece of secret info that others didn’t know.

‘Not only can his own powers continue to grow stronger, but he can also even control his vanquished enemies as his own summoned creatures. Wouldn’t that mean…..’

Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s current level of power had already reached an unfathomable degree. But when Baek Yun-Ho thought about the kind of strength the youth would possess in the future, his entire body began shuddering uncontrollably.

Suddenly, the cameraman spoke up as if he remembered something just then.

“Ah! Then the reason why you requested the camera to be turned off was because….”

This power was capable of making the nation’s top Hunters scared. Anyone could’ve easily guessed the reason why Jin-Woo didn’t want to reveal such a power to the rest of the country.

It was around then that Min Byung-Gu’s shadow stood back up. The treatment process must’ve been finished, because there was a hint of crimson colour gently glowing on Hunter Cha Hae-In’s face.

‘Whew-woo….’

After confirming her status, Jin-Woo sighed out in relief. Although she was still unconscious, her breathing and her heartbeat had returned to normal. As a matter of fact, her wounds were completely healed now.

Jin-Woo patted the shoulder of Min Byung-Gu’s shadow. That was the gesture of appreciation for the job well done.

‘……’

Jin-Woo guessed what kind of person Min Byung-Gu must’ve been when he was still alive, from the gentle eyes of the Shadow Soldier looking back at him.

Jin-Woo slowly took his hand away from the shoulder, and then…

‘Extraction cancellation.’

With a slight smile on his lips, he let the shadow return to the abyss.

No matter what, he didn’t possess the right to lord over this man as one of his soldiers, when Min Byung-Gu even sacrificed his life to fight against the monster threats. Indeed, he thought that such an act was not fitting for a fallen hero.

‘…Let’s get out of here.’

Putting aside the slight regret in his heart, Jin-Woo picked up Cha Hae-In from the ground.

After losing their two leaders – the queen and the king – the ant monsters scattered and fled to the ends of the island in order to hide from the Shadow Soldiers. The ant tunnel, once filled to the brim with ants, was now completely empty.

Jin-Woo took several steps forward before looking behind him to speak to other Hunters.

“Let’s get going.”

Their bodies and physical fatigue might have been recovered to some extent from the potions they ingested, but their mental fatigue had almost reached a breaking point by now. So, when they heard his suggestion, the expressions of the Hunters brightened up considerably.

It was now finally over.

Their smile-filled faces perfectly expressed their current emotions.

After they safely got out from the ant tunnel, they found a helicopter hovering in the air, having arrived in their location just now with an exquisite sense of timing.

“There they are! Hunters are coming out!”

“Yes!! Well done!”

The helicopter carefully descended and landed on the ground after its occupants discovered the exact location of the Hunters. The tired Hunters entered the vehicle one by one until only two people remained.

They were Jin-Woo and Baek Yun-Ho.

Jin-Woo was standing closer to the helicopter. He carefully handed Cha Hae-In over to Baek Yun-Ho.

“What are you doing, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim?”

“I still have some unfinished business to take care of on this island.”

Hearing that, Baek Yun-Ho could only smirk softly.

There were still plenty of ant monsters that had escaped death roaming around on the Jeju Island. If some other people said that they wanted to remain here, then Baek Yun-Ho would’ve questioned their sanity, but the man in front of his eyes was definitely not included in that group.

To fight monsters, you needed a monster.

Baek Yun-Ho thought that he wouldn’t get surprised anymore regardless of what Jin-Woo was planning to do on this island.

“Excuse me.”

Before leaving the island, Baek Yun-Ho threw out one last question.

“Byung-Gu…. No, wait. What will happen to the summoned creature that came out from Byung-Gu? Will he… stay as your soldier and continue to fight on?”

Jin-Woo shook his head.

“I’ve cancelled the summoning. It won’t be possible to see him again.”

Baek Yun-Ho nodded his head and formed a content smile.

“That’s a relief.”

“Pardon?”

“That guy, he… really hated fighting, you know? I’m sure that he’s thanking you right now, wherever he is.”

And so, the six warriors and one cameraman who had bravely fought on finally left the island of Jeju.

Their fight was over. However, it was merely another beginning for Jin-Woo.

‘I need only one more level up to hit 100.’

He’d get there no problem, considering the number of remaining monsters on this island. And besides, there were plenty of shadows waiting to be extracted back inside the ant tunnel, as well.

So, then – should he get started now?

‘First of all, I should take care of the ants that had run away….’

Jin-Woo formed a deep smile and summoned Kaisel out.

***

Inside the Japanese Hunter’s Association.

The Association President Matsumoto Shigeo switched the giant TV screen off, his expression one of deep sorrow and defeat. A monster strong enough to instantly annihilate ten of the best Hunters from Japan, was killed off by a single Hunter from South Korea.

‘How come, why, what is….?’

Matsumoto Shigeo’s trembling hands began tearing at what little hair remained on the side of his head.

A completely illogical event had unfolded in front of his eyes just now.

Thanks to that, Japan’s total combat potential had declined by over half, and even his position as the Association President was under threat now. If the Koreans also failed, then he might have tried to come up with some vague excuses to gloss over this whole thing, and then ask the international community for their help, but….

Not only had the Koreans managed to kill the ant queen, they even escaped safely from the clutches of the thousands of ant monsters as well as that mutated freak of an ant, too.

Seong Jin-Woo.

That one Hunter was responsible for smashing everything apart.

‘Seong Jin-Woo… Seong Jin-Woo…..’

Inexplicably, the contents of the phone call he shared with Goto Ryuji while the latter was still in Korea played back in his mind.

[“In South Korea…. There’s an incredible Hunter in South Korea.”]

[“More than you?”]

[“More than likely, sir.”]

[“…..”]

[“I think there’s a need to modify our plan a little bit, sir.”]

If only.

If only he paid attention to what Goto Ryuji was saying back then.

Wasn’t he the most knowledgeable person when it came to understanding the differences of strength in Hunters? For the first time ever, such a man had assessed a Korean Hunter as “incredible”, yet why did he…..

‘Why was I so arrogant….?’

If they had completely analysed the capabilities of Seong Jin-Woo beforehand, they might have cooperated with the Koreans in good faith, and resolved everything without a single problem.

No, wait. Even if the Japanese didn’t do anything, the Koreans might have stepped forward themselves to take care of the problem, instead.

But then, he ended up digging his own grave just because he resorted to underhanded schemes.

“A-Association President? Sir?”

Seeing how wane his face had become, the Association employee next to him began asking in a worried voice. However, Matsumoto Shigeo didn’t bother to raise his head and simply waved his hand to dismiss the employee.

The employee bowed his head and left the office as if he was running away.

Matsumoto Shigeo’s expression crumpled unsightly.

‘There can only be one way out of this for me.’

And that would be to raise the Japanese Association back on its feet, and make it stronger than ever before. In order to do so, he needed just one man.

‘Seong Jin-Woo….’

No matter what, he must reel that man in. With Goto Ryuji dying in vain like that, there was only one way to revitalise the Japanese Hunter’s Association.

The entirety of Korea’s citizens would have witnessed live the grand feats of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo so it would not be easy, but well, there was already precedence of a top Hunter abandoning South Korea, which meant there was still hope.

‘What should I do to reel Hunter Seong Jin-Woo over to this side?’

Matsumoto Shigeo’s brain, momentarily frozen from despair, began spinning rapidly again.

***

The Eastern United States.

Ringgg…. Ringgg…. Ringgg….

The phone rang endlessly off the hook.

Unable to endure that racket any longer, David Brennan angrily snatched at the receiver.

‘Which insane motherf*cker is calling me at this time of the night?!’

He was the director of the most powerful organisation in the States, the Hunter Bureau. Promising himself to find the son of a b*tch regardless of the method or cost and throw him in a jail cell if this turned out to be a prank call, he answered the call in a testy voice.

Click.

“Who is this?”

– “Director, it’s me.”

“Deputy….?”

David Brennan’s sleep flew away the moment he heard that familiar voice and he raised his torso up.

“It’s already pretty late. What’s the matter?”

– “There’s a video you must see. Right now.”

“A video…?”

When he checked his mobile phone, there were seven missed calls as well as a video file. It seemed that he missed them all because he had muted the phone before going to bed.

“I understand. I’ll give you a call after watching the clip.”

– “No need, director.”

“…..What do you mean by that?”

– “I’m already in front of your house, sir.”

“What?”

David Brennan jumped up from the bed and took a look at the alarm sitting on the bedside bureau. It said ’04:12 AM’.

He discarded the phone on the bed and ran towards the bedroom window to take a look, and indeed, the deputy director was waiting for him outside the front of the house with his car parked right there. Once their gazes met, the deputy director nodded his greeting.

David Brennan stared back somewhat dumbfounded, his head tilting to the side, before turning around.

‘What’s going on?’

Sensing that something big must’ve happened, he picked his phone up, the video clip still waiting to be played on the device.

---

The video clip finally finished playing on the phone.

“….”

The footage of a raid taking place in a small nation to the Far East left a pretty hefty mental shock to David Brennan, the director of America’s Hunter Bureau.

“What do you think?”

The deputy director cautiously asked his boss. And the director was quick with his reply.

“Never mind what I think, aren’t you here in these early hours because you already know what I’m about to say? Am I right?”

That was indeed true.

It was already an uncommon occurrence for the director of the mighty Hunter Bureau and his deputy to have a meeting at four in the morning, but then, their meeting place also happened to be the kitchen of the director’s private residence, as well.

A heavy silence descended between two men sitting opposite side of the dining table.

Puff, puff….

The director replayed the video one more time as he sucked on his cigarette. He was still getting shocked by what he was watching. Especially when he got to the part where the Hunter summoned out black ‘soldiers’ to sweep away the swarm of ants, the director’s entire body shuddered noticeably.

‘…….’

What could anyone say after viewing this crazy video?

And so, as he continued sucking on another cigarette in silence….

The director’s wife came down from the upstairs bedroom in search of her missing husband, and called out his name after spotting the light in the kitchen.

“Dave? Is everything alright?”

When the director wordlessly gestured with his hand, the wife looked at him worriedly for a moment or two before going back to the bedroom.

Exactly three cigarettes later, the director quietly opened his mouth.

“What a waste of talent to be confined in a small country like South Korea.”

“I agree.”

“What do we know about him?”

The deputy director readily brought out a file containing all the pertinent information related to Seong Jin-Woo. The director scanned the files and formed a satisfied smile.

“Very good.”

It had been less than an hour since the raid came to an end on the island of Jeju in the country far, far east, yet the related data was already in his hands. Not only that, the file contained everything from that Hunter’s type as well as his close associates and relatives, too.

Now, this was the power of the United States, the Hunter ‘superpower’ in the world.

On the other side of the table, the deputy was smiling inwardly to himself.

‘We got lucky on this one.’

Sure, the swiftness of the American intelligence network was one thing, but luck played a big part, as well. To be more precise, the ‘Seong Il-Hwan’ incident.

An existence that could either be a human or a monster in disguise exited from a dungeon and claimed that he was a Korean Hunter. The data compiled back then still remained in the database of the Hunter Bureau.

In the current situation where no other nation even knew what his name was – with the exception of South Korea, of course – the Americans were able to get two steps ahead of everyone else.

‘God bless America.’

Indeed, if this wasn’t the heavens helping them out, then what was?

However, it wouldn’t do to get all worked up over a minor lucky coincidence like this one. No, it all depended on the abilities of the individuals involved when it came to turning a lucky coincidence into a genuine opportunity.

The deputy formed a pretty serious expression.

“His father went missing in a Gate, but he still hasn’t received any proper compensation until now.”

“H-mm….”

“And also, before he went through a Re-Awakening process, he risked death countless times to pay for his mother’s hospital fees.”

“….What an inconceivable tale that is.”

How could they treat the wife and the son of a hero this badly, when he lost his life fighting against monsters all for the sake of his nation? Such a thing was completely unimaginable in the US.

“And well, this isn’t confirmed information, but…”

The director lifted his gaze off from the files. The deputy took his time to build suspense and finally murmured out.

“Apparently, he hasn’t signed up with any Guilds yet.”

“…..!!”

Now that piece of news managed to perk up the director’s ears even more. He closed the file with a sombre expression on his face.

“This is a different matter altogether from Hwang Dong-Su’s case.”

When that familiar name was mentioned, the glint in the deputy’s eyes changed.

“Taking away two rank S Hunters from a single country…. That’d be akin to declaring that we are turning our backs on that particular nation.”

South Korea and America had been allied nations for a very long time. What the director was implying here was that the impact of this matter would mushroom into something rather substantial in the near future.

However, the deputy replied with a confident tone of voice.

“Even still….. Don’t you think he’s a talent worth all that trouble?”

“…”

Of course.

The director couldn’t deny that. So, he answered with a question, instead.

“Can you do it?”

The deputy answered with the exact same words he used back during the Hwang Dong-Su’s case.

“I’ll do my best.”

Because of those four words, the deputy was able to quickly climb the career ladder to get to where he was now. As for the man that the deputy director had locked his sights on…

The United States of America already boasted two of the most powerful Hunters in the world, the so-called ‘Special Authority-ranks’ in their roster, but even then, the director David Brennan wanted to naturalise that youth as an American citizen.

The director placed his fourth cigarette of the morning in his lips and spoke in a grave tone of voice.

“Regardless of what conditions he puts forth, you will bring him over to this side.”

***

Jin-Woo rode on the back of Kaisel to hunt down and kill every single ant monster his Shadow Soldiers missed the first time around.

Kiieeehhk!!

Yet another ant fell after getting struck by the skill, Dagger Throw. Jin-Woo didn’t bother to step down from Kaisel and simply used the skill, Ruler’s Reach, to easily retrieve his shortsword.

‘I must be pretty close to levelling up now.’

There weren’t that many ants left to be found on the island. Jin-Woo really preferred that he’d get to level up by killing the remaining ants in this place.

First of all, just a single level up would take him to level 100. For Jin-Woo, who loved to see numbers ending in the multiples of five, 100 was such a fantastic level that he simply had to get there as soon as possible.

Since he hadn’t booked any Gates, once he leaves Jeju Island he wouldn’t have any other avenues to earn experience points for a while. As long as he didn’t get lucky and another key to an instant dungeon popped out of the random boxes, or a dungeon break occurred near where he lived, of course.

‘Wait, it’s not cool to think of a dungeon break as being lucky, is it.’

If a dungeon break occurred, then that meant one or more teams had failed in their raids. So, to him, it was far more preferable to get to level 100 in this place.

And, if there was another reason for doing so, then….

He ended up recalling a painful memory while trying to extract Hunter Min Byung-Gu’s shadow.

The leader of the White Phantoms, Baruka.

After failing three times to extract his shadow, Jin-Woo couldn’t convert him into his Shadow Soldier.

When he failed in his first attempt earlier in the day, his heart fell to the pit of his stomach, as the thoughts of ‘Am I going to have another episode like that’ filled his head.

‘Well, I did manage somehow to succeed on my second try, but still…’

Wasn’t this the case of ‘A burnt child fears fire’?

There was no guarantee that the same thing as Baruka wouldn’t happen later when trying to extract the ant king’s shadow. That guy’s Stat values were so high that comparing Hunter Min Byung-Gu to that monster was a time-wasting gesture.

Even if it was by a small margin, Jin-Woo wanted to increase his odds of successfully extracting that guy’s shadow by raising his level. He was sure that, although there was only one level difference, it would definitely help out his cause.

‘….Uh?’

After discovering something on the ground, Jin-Woo ordered Kaisel to land.

Kiiahhk!

Kaisel flapped its wings and lightly landed on the ground. Jin-Woo climbed down from his back and scanned his surroundings.

‘It was around here….’

He rummaged through the tall grasses, before discovering the corpses lying there hidden. A deep frown immediately formed on his face. He had discovered the bodies of the Japanese Hunters, lying here and there. There were several with their heads missing, but there was also one that got mangled beyond recognition, as well.

Jin-Woo took a closer look at the bodies.

‘Pretty strong magic energy….’

Without a doubt, these people were strong. They didn’t look like they would die in this place in such a manner. The fact that they did die so gruesomely could only mean that an extremely powerful ‘something’ had paid them a visit.

‘Probably the handiwork of that mutated ant….’

He was unconvinced that something else was responsible for this massacre. Well, when he was struck for the first time by the ant king, his jaw stung pretty sharply, didn’t it? If it were any other Hunters, they wouldn’t have been able to endure it even once.

Jin-Woo looked around the ground while feeling somewhat bitter, before his steps came to a halt on a certain spot.

‘This aura….’

Jin-Woo crouched down and took a closer look at the ground. The soil here was all muddy and sticky from a prodigious amount of blood having soaked the earth. A faint trace of magical energy emanated from the wet ground. He had encountered this magic energy emission once before.

‘…..Goto Ryuji.’

Jin-Woo searched his vicinity again. Goto’s magic energy could still be felt, but his remains were nowhere to be seen. Most likely, he had been completely devoured by the mutated ant monster.

“Tsk, tsk.”

Jin-Woo could only tut to himself at the ultimately meaningless death of Japan’s strongest Hunter, before standing back up again. With excellent timing, the Shadow Soldiers he dispatched to the all corners of the island reported back to him that the remnants of the ant monsters had been completely exterminated.

‘….In the end, I killed them all, huh.’

Every Korean citizen would 100 times out of 100 cry out in elation from that news, but Jin-Woo could only lick his lower lip in disappointment. Because, his level didn’t go up in the end.

Now that there were no more monsters remaining, he figured that the only thing left to do would be to go back inside the ant tunnel to extract the shadows of the mutated ant and the queen. But then….

….His steps came to an abrupt halt.

‘Wait a second… there are still monsters remaining?’

His extended senses picked up the presences of monsters from nearby. Not only that, there were so many, too!

A smile quickly bloomed on Jin-Woo’s face to replace the look of disappointment. He lightly jumped back up on Kaisel.

“Let’s go!”

***

Just as expected….

Jin-Woo’s expression brightened greatly as soon as he stepped inside the nursery area. There were countless eggs lining up the floor, pillars, and even the ceiling.

Seeing that there were wiggling movements from underneath the semi-transparent shells, these things were definitely monsters, too.

‘Not sure how much experience points I will get here, but…’

But then again, with this many monsters here, he was sure of making up for the lacking amount of experience points. Jin-Woo summoned out the Shadow Soldiers specialised in wide-range attacks.

“Gather around.”

Fangs and three Magic Soldiers stood in line, according to their grades.

Jin-Woo handed over the Bead of Avarice over to Fangs, and studied each of the four soldiers in turn.

“You all understand what you need to do, right?”

The Magic Soldiers all nodded their heads in unison. Jin-Woo pointed at the eggs.

“Begin.”

Right away, Fangs grew to an incredible height and spat out the horrifying flames at the eggs. The other Magic Soldiers finished chanting their magic and began chucking large balls of flames here and there as well.

Kuwaaahahhh-!

KWABOOM!!

Boom!!

Eggs had no means of resisting, and in no time at all, began to burn up and explode one by one.

Kiieehhhk!

Jin-Woo took a closer look at one of the dead ant larvae leaning against the corner of the broken egg. He discovered the corpse of an ant, near adulthood, just below the melted-down shell of the larva. As it turned out, every single one of them he saw sported a pair of wings, without exceptions.

‘If these things reached maturity and crossed the ocean with that mutated ant in the lead, then….’

Even though the queen was successfully subjugated, both South Korea and Japan would’ve suffered tremendous losses.

What a relief that he was able to stop that from becoming reality.

BLAM!!

Boom!!

Jin-Woo noticed that his boys were breaking out in buckets of sweat, and summoned the Demon King’s Longsword out from the Inventory.

‘Should I have a go with this one?’

Every time he moved this cool-looking blue-coloured longsword, arcs of electricity crackled up from the blade itself. He had stored it inside the Inventory after defeating the Demon King Baran back in the Demon’s Castle. There was a reason why he brought this longsword out instead of his main weapons, the daggers/shortswords.

….Because of the added magic attribute of the longsword.

Swish-!

When Jin-Woo energetically swung the sword….

Bzzzzz-!!!

Lightning crackled boisterously all over the place and caused the blue-coloured storm to kick up.

‘Ohhh!’

A wide smile formed on Jin-Woo’s face.

Although he couldn’t recreate the destructive might or the added ‘Stun’ effect as displayed by the Demon King, it was still more than enough to burn these ant eggs, that’s for sure.

‘Isn’t it too wasteful to leave inside the Inventory?’

Because he was already far too familiar with the daggers, he would probably never use this sword again in the near future, but still, he felt that this weapon was too good to be left forgotten inside his Inventory.

And so…. just how long did he spend wrestling with these eggs?

Eventually, he got to hear the familiar and very welcoming mechanical beep.

Tti-ring.

[Level up!]

‘Finally!’

Jin-Woo cried out in elation. Inwardly, of course.

He immediately returned the Demon King’s Longsword back inside the Inventory and headed straight to the ant queen’s chamber, leaving the mop-up operation to his Shadow Soldiers.

He found the mutated ant monster still lying dead on the same spot. Jin-Woo stood next to it.

His heart was already pounding hard from his intense desire to turn this mutated ant into his Shadow Soldier.

However….

He had learned that the power of concentration was critically important during his attempts to extract Hunter Min Byung-Gu’s shadow.

‘I gotta calm down.’

Gradually, Jin-Woo’s gaze grew colder, and his breathing regained its usual calmness as well.

‘…..Okay, good.’

His condition was now back to its peak.

Jin-Woo’s gaze shifted lower to the ground. Thicker and greatly more ominous black smoke compared to other monsters were oozing out of the mutated ant’s corpse.

Was this because the creature was so extraordinarily strong? So strong that Jin-Woo didn’t even know who to compare it to?

While thinking like that, he calmly extended his hands out towards the rising black smoke.

“Rise up.”

< Chapter 67 > Fin.

Let’s read Chapter 68