Chapter 165

“I understand. I’ll be there soon.”

It was a brief exchange, but there was no one present who couldn’t hear the phone conversation happening right in front of them.

Having caught the content, Choi Heosu began to ask with a look of uncertainty.

“What happened?”

“It seems my colleagues have found traces of Sharliaete, one of the Fingers. Let’s move for now.”

In truth, Taewoon had asked the two people who had come down to Mokpo with him to track Sharliaete’s movements.

He believed it would be entirely possible if the power of the newly acquired Spirit and Cursed Flower were combined with Yerin’s special ability, which she had developed through her connection with Hwang Gae in the Heavenly Secret Manual Theater.

‘It seems… they’ve achieved some results.’

Upon hearing the news, Taewoon’s party quickly tidied up their surroundings and returned to reunite with the two, soon securing shocking information.

“It appears Sharliaete is traveling to various locations by moving between Holy Grounds using her special ability. Therefore, her actual movements might be completely different from what we’ve speculated so far.”

“…That makes sense. However, even so, now that the existence of the Holy Grounds has been fully revealed, it shouldn’t be easy for her to act covertly.”

“That’s exactly the point. According to our investigation, there are clearly two types of Holy Grounds. One is the form of a massive miracle that significantly alters the surrounding environment, like the ones we’ve seen…”

The other was a form rooted in an extremely localized area, serving to aid Sharliaete’s activities.

In other words, separate Holy Grounds existed that were being used as hideouts and transit corridors.

“No wonder her tracks were so elusive; so that was the reality.”

“It’s reasonable to assume she installed them during the few days she didn’t show herself after arriving in South Korea. In other words, we can only clearly track Sharliaete’s trail once we identify the locations of those secret Holy Grounds.”

At a point where there had been little progress in the situation, this was a significant achievement.

The party hurried to share the findings with Hunters in other regions, asking them to search for the hideouts, and simultaneously received one more piece of information from the two.

“We happened to mark a place suspected to be one of them. Would you like to go together?”

“Fine. Why not. Let’s go stir up that cunning fox’s den.”

Heosu and Miyeong, Hongyeon and Taewoon, and Yerin and Seoyoon.

A total of six high-ranking Hunters began to move to hunt Sharliaete, and their combined strength was comparable to that of an entire army.

Following Yerin’s guidance, the place they eventually arrived at was a small crevice between rocks in a remote part of Mt. Jinrim—hardly even qualifying as a cave.

“It’s hard to tell at a glance… but you all probably notice, right? That an energy similar to a Holy Ground is being detected inside there.”

“…It certainly is.”

“I wondered what a secret hideout would feel like… if it’s like this, it certainly won’t be easy to find them.”

The Holy Grounds of Sharliaete that they had discovered and destroyed previously had very conspicuous magical power and appearances, accompanied by miracle-like phenomena, but this one was not like that at all.

It was difficult to even detect the energy until they were very close, and since it couldn’t be distinguished by the naked eye, it wouldn’t have been strange to pass right by it without noticing.

‘At this rate… finding them all might take longer than expected.’

Unless they were people like Yerin who could exert special search abilities depending on the situation, it seemed unlikely that many such Hunters existed.

For those who needed to track Sharliaete’s traces as quickly as possible, it was a very frustrating situation.

“Monitoring this place is one way, but… I don’t think she would fail to detect that level of scrutiny.”

As Miyeong said, an ordinary method that anyone could execute would be meaningless.

But if so, what about an ‘unordinary’ method that was difficult to predict?

Having made up his mind, Taewoon stepped forward, circulating the magical power within his body and summoning the red mask to bring it to his face.

“Hm? You’re going to try it?”

“Quickly uncovering the existence of the stealth Holy Grounds is a great harvest… but I don’t think it will do any good to drag this out any further.”

The response of the domestic Hunters was certainly swift, but the thought that everything was ultimately moving smoothly according to Sharliaete’s plan wouldn’t leave his mind.

This was evident from the fact that she had separated the Holy Grounds into two purposes from the start and confused the trail by moving as if in a specific direction.

Finally, after reciting the spell for Apostle Transformation, Taewoon entered a higher dimension and began to contemplate the essence of the Holy Ground within his expanded field of vision.

It certainly looked similar, but it was different. The magical power of Sharliaete remaining here was much paler and more secretive than usual, and its structure also took a completely different form than before.

‘I don’t know exactly what the principle is that she uses to utilize the Holy Grounds as corridors…’

In fact, although the method was different, something similar was possible for Taewoon as well.

If so, depending on how he did it, Taewoon might also be able to move to another Holy Ground through the connection Sharliaete had installed.

‘There’s no point in observing the properties of the magical power any further. I can’t perfectly mimic Sharliaete’s method anyway.’

If that was the case, Taewoon just had to focus on what he could do.

Finally, having found the answer, red mist began to rise from Taewoon’s entire body, and having cast Thousand-League Perception, Taewoon’s vision reached beyond the corridor connecting the Holy Grounds to perceive the landscape beyond.

‘If I can see it… it’s possible.’

【Condition Fulfilled】

【Cinema Skill: The Red Man】

Soon, along with an explosive burst of red mist, Taewoon vanished from his spot in an instant, traversing the hidden corridor and extending his reach toward the landscape beyond his vision.

At that exact moment.

[Hmm… I don’t welcome uninvited guests, you know?]

A strange golden light flashed, immediately seizing Taewoon’s foot and beginning to blur his vision.

‘Is this… Sharliaete’s magical power?’

He wasn’t certain, but it was clear that she had detected Taewoon’s intervention through some means and had stepped in to interfere.

Taewoon felt a strange pressure weighing down his body and a certain ‘rule’ formed in this place, but Taewoon’s power now did not fall behind even when compared to a powerhouse of her caliber.

Soon, the red mist flowing from Taewoon’s body began to devour all of Sharliaete’s magical power, forcibly observing the space beyond the corridor.

[Ugh, this is…]

A flustered Sharliaete tried to interfere with Taewoon once more, and Taewoon silently pushed through it, intending to complete his objective.

In that momentary clash, the one who gained the upper hand was Taewoon. However, unfortunately, this was Sharliaete’s domain, and in the end, having failed to decisively subdue the opponent within the time limit, Taewoon’s form was bounced out of the corridor and returned to the original location.

“Kugh… Hey, are you alright?”

Watching Taewoon be flung back from the Holy Ground along with a tumultuous storm of magical power, Choi Heosu looked on with a worried gaze.

Of course, he didn’t achieve the desired result, but he had still gained sufficient results.

In that momentary clash, he had been able to clearly capture the traces that a flustered Sharliaete had failed to hide.

“…I have found her current location. The Uljin area of Gyeongbuk, specifically a space where the sound of the sea can be heard.”

“Did you clash with her? But even if you find her current location, it’ll be meaningless unless you can destroy all the Holy Grounds.”

Choi Heosu’s words were certainly correct, but Taewoon shook his head slowly, denying that fact.

He had noticed that the clash between the two great powers just now had caused a certain crack in the connection linking the Holy Grounds themselves.

“I’m not entirely sure… but if my prediction is correct, she will be unable to use the Holy Ground corridors for a while and will be stuck in that spot. If we narrow the encirclement now, it’s not impossible to secure her.”

“What? Is that true?”

“Yes. Due to the clash of power just now, some cracks have appeared in the connection of the Holy Grounds. She will likely try to repair the cracks quickly… but in such an unstable situation, she won’t be able to gamble by easily using the corridors.”

Given that Taewoon was extremely sensitive to such domains due to the nature of his power, there was little room for his analysis to be wrong.

Accepting this, Choi Heosu and Hongyeon quickly contacted the Guilds near Gyeongbuk, and Taewoon’s party also left everything behind and immediately began heading toward the location where the trace was captured.

Just 40 minutes.

In just 40 minutes, an encirclement completely blocking the Uljin area was formed, and Hunters who had secured a real-time communication network under the control of the Najin Guild, which possessed related ability users, began to slowly tighten the net.

And finally.

[Third Finger Sharliaete, location captured! I will transmit the coordinates immediately!]

Along with a voice ringing in their heads, an image was projected into everyone’s vision, and without exception, everyone began to move toward the designated location using their own means.

“…We will depart as well. Everyone, be careful.”

Although many high-ranking Hunters were gathered here now, Sharliaete was a core figure of the Gwangseong Church who held the trust of Kyurihi even more than Kalliedu.

Having faced Kalliedu personally, Taewoon was all too aware of what variables that fact could bring.

‘The location… is not far from here. I should be able to arrive soon.’

As Taewoon’s party continued to move rapidly, a giant pillar of light soaring into the sky began to be observed beyond their vision.

Simultaneously, a strange noise echoed in their minds, and the voice of a flustered Najin Guild Hunter shook their ears.

[A, a Holy Ground! And it’s like a fortress… With my, abilities, I can no longer…]

With that short burst of static, the voice being transmitted to their minds vanished, and a moment of silence followed.

It was the signal flare announcing the start of a grand final battle that would shake the land of South Korea.