Chapter 86: End Cave

“…!”

What the hell is this?

The moment the white robe’s hood fell away and his bare face was revealed, I was stunned.

The world’s strongest Hunter, who single-handedly defeated Apollo, the boss of the S-Rank Gate, Dark Moon.

Moonlight, Ludwig Light, was staring at me with lifeless eyes.

‘Not yet!’

His dead pupils moved. At the same time, the sword in his hand moved too.

A sword that erases the space its blade passes through.

That sword swung toward me.

‘Tch!’

I immediately kicked Ludwig in the stomach and used the recoil to escape the sword’s path.

‘What the hell is going on?’

Ludwig, who had been knocked over by my kick, slowly rose to his feet.

His appearance… it was no different from a zombie.

‘First Apollo, and now you, Ludwig — why are you here?’

A being called the world’s strongest Hunter.

But that title was a complete farce.

SHRING!

The sword he swung as he charged at me was absurdly crude. His swordsmanship was at a beginner’s level — sloppy and pathetic. I couldn’t parry it because of his space-erasing ability, but dodging wasn’t that hard.

‘You’ve got to be kidding me…!’

…Yeah, it was too easy.

Ludwig’s swordsmanship was utterly pathetic. Even I, a mage who had been overwhelmed by Jihyeok in close combat, was now overwhelming Ludwig.

Of course, I hadn’t landed a clean hit. Even if I wanted to, Karelin behind him kept interfering. But still, it was infuriating.

‘Is this really the world’s strongest Hunter?’

I… I had genuinely admired Ludwig.

When I first met him during Dark Moon, he crossed a mountain of corpses with a calm demeanor, charged at Apollo, and fought him on equal footing.

With swordsmanship that seemed possessed by a demon, he overwhelmed Apollo and, in a single instant, cut off his head. Even I couldn’t properly see that moment.

Even though I wasn’t the one fighting him, I felt overwhelmed.

I felt that no matter what I did, I could never beat this guy.

That was the only time.

A powerhouse standing atop an impossibly high wall.

The moment I saw him, I had a clear goal.

I didn’t need to be the strongest. I just wanted the guy called the world’s strongest to notice me. I wanted the strongest to think, ‘Oh, there’s someone like this?’ and acknowledge my existence.

So I worked desperately to become stronger than before. But after that, I never met Ludwig again, and before I could, that incident happened.

And now, of all places, I run into him here.

‘Ha, haha…’

A hollow laugh escaped me.

The world’s strongest Hunter I had admired.

That guy — why was he here in this state?

The cause was obvious.

Karelin.

I stared at that detestable woman. She had lost her composure when she almost got cut by me earlier, but she was slowly regaining her smile.

That look.

That look was so loathsome. I couldn’t stand it. I didn’t know why Moonlight had ended up like this, but I couldn’t bear seeing him… his corpse being desecrated like this.

Ludwig shouldn’t have ended up like this. The Ludwig in my heart should have been living a leisurely life somewhere, only stepping in when the world faced an unprecedented crisis, cutting down villains.

The ultimate powerhouse that ignited a man’s romantic ideals.

But reality was.

A corpse, no different from a zombie being controlled by someone.

I remembered the sight of Ludwig cutting down Apollo.

That image.

I couldn’t associate it at all with the zombie Ludwig standing before me now.

Swoosh—!

Swordsmanship so sloppy that even I could easily dodge and counterattack.

The Ludwig I knew wasn’t like this.

He parried every one of Apollo’s strikes, which were reminiscent of a demonic path.

He erased every one of Apollo’s sword auras, which were like a living hell.

In the end, he succeeded in cutting off Apollo’s head — something no one else had managed.

The time it took was only 18 seconds.

Apollo, who had driven half of the High-Rank Hunters to their deaths, had his head severed in less than 30 seconds. That was possible because Ludwig’s swordsmanship was divine.

Sword Saint. Sword God.

Various titles related to the sword. None of them were undeserved for Moonlight. No one could deny him.

But now, Ludwig’s swordsmanship was utterly crude. Someone had made it that way.

The moment I thought that, my emotions surged.

“Kareliiiiiin!!”

I shouted the name of the one who had made him like this, my voice filled with rage.

*SHRING!*

The sword that erased space itself came at me. I dodged it lightly, then kicked Ludwig. *Thud.* He collapsed to the floor, pitifully. Ignoring him, I charged at Karelin again.

I wanted to drive my fist into that face. I wanted to blow away the face of that detestable woman who had turned the one I admired into this.

At that woman, who had shattered my admiration, my dreams.

But my fist didn’t reach her.

“You’re not too late.”

“What?”

It was right after I heard a man’s voice for the first time.

‘My body won’t move?’

My body stopped, fist still extended. As if I’d turned to stone. I could move my eyes. But that was it.

“Are you unharmed, Lady Karelin?”

The one who revealed himself, saying that, was a figure clad head to toe in Western-style armor. I couldn’t tell who it was, but from the voice alone, it was definitely a man.

“Well, more or less. Why are you so late?”

“The coordinates of the Gate you made were off.”

“…The coordinates were off? That can’t be.”

Karelin frowned and tilted her head at the Armor’s words.

“I’m not joking. If it had gone wrong, I would have fallen into the Boss Room here. I don’t know about the others.”

“Hmph, that can’t be right… I’ve never made a mistake like that before, you know that, right?”

“That may be, but after this incident, it’s hard to give you unconditional trust.”

“…Well, I’ll apologize for that. But don’t worry. It won’t happen again. More importantly.”

Karelin, who had been talking to the Armor, turned her gaze back to me.

“Hoo, finally caught you. This cheeky brat.”

Realizing I was frozen in place, Karelin slowly approached me.

Soon, she stopped in front of me, brought her face close to mine, and sneered as she spoke.

“You know him?”

Strictly speaking, we weren’t acquaintances. It was a one-sided feeling on my part. But I had no intention of saying that out loud.

“Get lost.”

So I said that. My body was frozen, but my mouth worked fine.

“Hmph, acting tough.”

“What do you plan to do now?”

The Armor asked Karelin.

“I need to question her about the egg first. Extracting the mana comes after that.”

“…!”

Extract the mana?

A chill ran down my spine for a moment.

Karelin stepped in front of me and raised her hand.

*Slap!*

She struck my cheek so hard the sound echoed through the entire cave.

“…?”

It hurt. It hurt, but… I was so stunned I couldn’t say anything.

“You have to pay for making me go through all that trouble.”

Then Karelin grabbed my chin firmly and shoved her face close to mine.

“You’d better talk before I get rougher. Where’s the egg?”

She asked. But instead of answering,

“Ptui!”

I spat in her face.

“…?”

Karelin tilted her head. Her expression, I thought, was probably exactly the same as mine had been when she slapped me.

“Ugh!”

Watching her wipe the spit off her face was immensely satisfying. I stuck out my tongue to mock her for good measure. You fucking bitch.

“You little shit!”

Just as Karelin raised her hand high again.

*Rumble…*

A sudden tremor made everyone, including me, tilt our heads. Even the Armor who had appeared last did the same.

“What…?”

That was the moment Karelin muttered.

“Oh, Saintess!!”

A man’s shout rang out of nowhere.

‘…That voice.’

I didn’t even need to think about who it belonged to…

A man I once wanted to neither hear nor see, just as much as Hames.

But like Hames, a man whose image had shifted considerably for the better.

Mateo Kvachi.

Wasn’t he running this way?

And that wasn’t all. The sound of footsteps kept coming without pause.

I could tell right away what those footsteps belonged to.

White Robes.

The followers were running in behind Mateo.

“What the hell, Mateo?”

Karelin looked bewildered at the sight.

“Hah!”

Mateo stared straight at me and let out a Lion’s Roar.

“Whuh?”

At that moment, my body, which had been frozen by the Armor’s ability, slowly started moving, and I fell from the air down to the ground.

‘That was close…’

I activated my Mana Shield just before hitting the ground, so there was no impact.

I realized why Mateo had aimed his Lion’s Roar at me.

Clairvoyance. When he roared, his eyes briefly flashed gold.

…I don’t know why he had to roar for an eye-related ability, but it worked, anyway.

Anyway, as I got back to my feet, Karelin was still flustered by Mateo’s sudden move.

“You son of a bitch!”

With a shout full of fury, I swung my fist straight into Karelin’s distracted face.

*THWACK!*

With a satisfying sound, Karelin’s body flew through the air and crashed to the ground.

“Ughk!”

As she let out a scream and flopped face-first onto the floor.

“Saintess, while my followers buy us time, let’s escape quickly!”

Mateo had already come up beside me and said that, glancing toward his followers.

I looked over at the followers he’d brought.

Followers of various ages met my eyes, then bowed their heads.

The sight made me feel solemn despite myself.

When I first saw them, I thought, ‘Great, another shitty outfit,’ but… now I felt a little guilty.

But wait.

“But what about your followers?”

“…In this situation, sacrifice is unavoidable. They all came fully prepared to save you, Saintess. Please don’t let their resolve go to waste.”

Mateo said that, but my heart wasn’t at ease.

Using the followers as sacrificial lambs…

I was wavering, unsure what to do.

“Mateo, are you betraying us?!”

The Armor who had frozen me earlier shouted.

“It’s not betrayal. I was never your ally to begin with.”

Mateo brushed off the Armor’s words lightly.

“This is why cults are—”

The Armor shouted and reached a hand toward me, as if about to activate his ability.

I still didn’t fully understand his ability. Something that stops targets, maybe?

A ridiculously overpowered ability.

But still.

“No chance.”

I said that and stepped in front of the Armor.

“S-Saintess!”

“What’s this? A new way to commit suicide?”

Mateo cried out in worry, and the Armor followed up with a confused remark.

But standing in front of him, I smiled confidently and reached out my hand.

“What? How…”

As the Armor looked back and forth between his hand and me in confusion.

[ Superheat Element — Eternal Flame ]

Five magic circles glowing red appeared in front of my palm, and flames shot out from them, engulfing the Armor in an instant.

“Kyaaahhh!!”

The Armor collapsed and started rolling on the ground under the super-high heat flames. The sight was utterly pathetic, but I didn’t care.

“How did you do that?”

I snorted at Mateo’s question.

“Mana Shield.”

My Mana Shield is the one that blocked Vasquez’s domination ability. I stood in front of him with the shield up just in case, and just as I expected, his stopping ability didn’t work.

“Impressive!”

Mateo’s admiration made me feel a little smug… but it wasn’t over yet.

“…You little shit…”

A trembling voice.

Karelin, who had been rubbing the spot where I punched her, staggered to her feet.

“Licht!”

She called out to her zombie.

Ludwig. No, the zombie now named Licht responded to Karelin’s call and slowly walked toward us.

“Mr. Mateo.”

“Yes.”

“I appreciate you coming to save me, but could you save someone else first? Ask your followers to do it.”

“If it’s a request from the Saintess.”

“Please get that woman lying over there to a safe place.”

I pointed at Claire as I spoke. Unlike Mr. Luca, her condition wasn’t critical, but the fact that she still hadn’t woken up was deeply unsettling. I couldn’t just let her die.

“And what do you intend to do, Saintess?”

“I intend to put an end to that thing.”

I pointed at the one I had once admired, but who had now become a zombie.

…I had no idea why it had turned out this way.

‘I’ll save you.’

Saying that, I reached my hand out toward Licht.