Apocalypse Hunter

Chapter 86: Kalpa (Part 1)

The heavy storm passed. The ghosts were being slashed by the Godly Fighters, but more were heading to the area surrounding the castle. Asura wouldn’t be able to camp here for long. There was a limit to the number of Godly Fighters she could summon.

On top of that, many of their equipment blew away in the storm, so it was difficult to continue their work. Asura commanded the Reavers to retreat to an area north of the Heavenly Power Castle. Most of the junkwagons wouldn’t even start because of water damage, so the Reavers gathered whatever they could and began their retreat.

Certainly, Asura referred to herself as the king, but in a matter of minutes, the king was alone in the Heavenly Power Castle. The Reavers didn’t mind leaving the king by herself. They had no doubt that their king was the most powerful.

Frightened by the great force of the Godly Fighters, the ghosts were busy fleeing as they were getting wiped out. Asura mounted her motorbike and started to head somewhere.

There were three people standing at her destination. She took off her mask and slid it to the left side of her head so that it sat there a little tilted.

“Alright… this seems like a good time for a chat.”

“…”

All had an intense look of suspicion, except for one.

“Why are you interfering? Do you want to die, brother?”

All color drained from one of the member’s face.

———

Asura snickered as she checked out Zin and the gang and said, “Have you made some new drinking buddies since the last time I saw you? They don’t look like regular folk.”

One appeared to be a hunter, and the other, a child. The child aside, Asura saw at a glance that the hunter was not a typical hunter.

More importantly, their possession of an AV indicated that there was something out of the ordinary about this group. Despite sensing this, SoSeoLan remained calm.

A deeply ingrained fear is hard to get rid of. The other two remained silent as they observed the scene.

“S-sis…”

Cho-yul started to stutter. Other than mumbling a few words, he couldn’t communicate. At least in the past, he had been able to even in his drunken stupor, but now, facing her menacing attitude, he looked as if he had just peed in his pants.

As he watched Cho-yul’s reaction, Zin let out a sigh of grief. Fortunately, their opponent was conceited and had full confidence that she could easily handle all three of them at any time.

There might be some room for negotiation.

“I’ll get right to the point,” Zin started to speak.

“I’m talking to my brother. You, I didn’t give permission to talk,” SoSeoLan cut Zin off instantly as if to say that she had better things to do than listen to him. He felt his forehead veins bulging, but he knew better than to start a fight.

“I don’t need your permission to talk–”

“I said, I’m not talking to you!” yelled SoSeoLan. The whole place reverberated. Zin winced at her booming voice.

After a moment of silence, Leona opened her mouth to speak, “What a crazy bitch you are!”

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“W-What?” SoSeoLan’s eyes widened as she didn’t anticipate a child, whom she had completely dismissed in her mind, to direct profanity at her.

Leona continued, “You should listen when a person talks to you. Why the hell are you yelling, you crazy bitch?! Aw, man, my ears hurt.” She wiggled a finger in her ear as if her eardrums had been blown.

Zin found this funny and turned his face away for a moment to chuckle. Cho-yul was shocked and looking like he was in a daze, he laughed weakly. He could barely speak to SoSeoLan, so he was shocked to hear Leona use swear at her.

“H-how d-dare… you! You, little brraaat!” SoSeoLan was red-faced, having never expected to be demeaned by a child still wet behind the ears. “You must want to die at once–”

‘Zzing!’

But before SoSeoLan could finish her sentence, she sensed an ominous presence aiming at her neck. Someone had come up behind her without her noticing and was now pointing a lasersaber at her.

“You’re quite a harsh chick,” with an icy expression, Ramphil whispered to her.

SoSeoLan bit her lips at being called a “chick.” Having spent enough time with Zin, Ramphil knew just how to push people’s buttons.

For someone deluded enough to think of herself as king, nothing would be more infuriating than being called a chick.

“A-a chi-chick?!” SoSeoLan shuddered in anger but couldn’t move.

———–

SoSeoLan could take the lasersaber, but it was noteworthy that he had approached her without her realizing it. She wasn’t sure how he had managed it, but she had sensed nothing until he had her.

And for some reason, the hunter and the girl appeared to not be threatened by her at all.

SoSeoLan was confident in her abilities, but underestimating her opponents wouldn’t be wise. Some could be, others not.

“I don’t know how you managed to manipulate my brother, but you’ll regret this for sure.”

“We have our reasons, so why don’t you, the Street Lord of the North, just calm down.”

“Street lord?!”

“That’s right. I said street lord,” Zin taunted mockingly, and SoSeoLan’s face turned even redder. As the shit-talking continued, Cho-yul grew more anxious.

At last, SoSeoLan was ready to blow. “I’m not going to stand here and be humiliated like thi–.”

“He’s the Grandmaster, sister!” Cho-yul blurted out just before SoSeoLan was about to blow.

“What did you say? The Grandmaster?”

“Yes! He’s the devil hunter of the previous order. Please, c-calm down.”

As ridiculous as it was, Cho-yul’s statement gave her pause. She was furious, but considering the lineage of the devil hunters, he wasn’t someone she could mess with.

Both the code of honor and his level of skill demanded her discretion.

But the first devil hunter? That was hard to believe.

“Is this true? If you’re really the devil hunter–”

“Are you trying to bring up the DarkBorn? I’m sure I know more about that than you do.”

Only the devil hunter could’ve said what he had just said. Cho-yul had no knowledge of it, so the person in front of her could be the devil hunter. When Zin briefly exposed some black energy rising from his fingertips, she had no reason to doubt him anymore.

“… How do you do, Grandmaster?” SoSeoLan reluctantly bowed her head.

Zin chuckled out of embarrassment as he said, “The Emperor seems to have trained his pupils well.”

Not all devil hunters were like this, but the Emperor had always put a lot of importance on his students showing proper respect to fellow clan members.

Thanks to the Emperor, Zin had the upperhand in this situation.

However, SoSeoLan was unique among all of the Emperor’s students.

She lifted her head and, with a cold expression on her face, began to speak, “You should know in advance that I don’t like the devil hunters of the previous order or any devil hunters for that matter.” Looking straight at him, she continued, “Don’t expect me to pay any more respect to you than as my senior.”

SoSeoLan, indeed, was special. She was notorious for her impudence.

—-

But since learning that Zin was the Grandmaster, she assumed a posture that was less hostile and more open to negotiation.

“Ramphil, put down your saber.” Following Zin’s instruction, Ramphil deactivated his lasersaber and walked closer to him. For a moment, SoSeoLan stared at the stoic Wargrave soldier. She wanted to break his neck for coming at her from behind.

Zin didn’t want to have a long conversation with a delusional psycho playing king, so he got right to the point, “I’m not sure what shenanigans you’re up to here, but let me make a request.”

“OK.”

“Leave the Heavenly Power Castle alone. This place is not for you to mess with.”

“My plan is to take over the Heavenly Power Castle as the capital city of our group. Is there a good reason for your request?”

“The Immortals are sealed here.”

“…”

“Which means that you ancestors hunted here. I’m sure you already know that you shouldn’t turn a place like this into a hub of war. If the forcefield dampening evil energy gets destroyed, all kinds of ghosts will be attracted to this place. Are you sure you want this place as your capital city?”

“If that’s the case, I better make sure it is my capital.”

Zin’s grimaced upon hearing that statement.

“Those large number of spirits could be used as my defense against attacks, so that’s not a reason to not make this my capital, and I may be able to channel some of the evil energy leaking out of here for my sorcery, so that’s all the more reason that this place should be my capital. I don’t see why it shouldn’t.”

“…”

“If this is the place where the Immortals are sealed, then it belongs to my mentor, the Emperor. Doesn’t it make sense that I, his successor, take it over?”

“You talk a good game.”

“It’s not just talk.” SoSeoLan’s gaze was full of hatred. It was apparent that she didn’t like the devil hunters at all for some reason. “Besides, I don’t take advice from someone who sells his power for a few chips.”

“Is that why you sell your power to the cannibals? What an auspicious act that is?”

Even SoSeoLan’s rudeness was no match for Zin. Tit for tat, they continued for awhile. This was a precarious situation, and no one was willing to budge.

“OK, let’s recap. A deluded maniac, who claims herself as the leader of the Reavers, wants to declare the Heavenly Power Castle, the most strategic point and a powder keg, as the capital city of her new nation. Is that the situation?”

“…”

“Would you let that happen?”

Unless the person was bat-shit crazy, any reasonable person would agree that that shouldn’t happen. However, SoSeoLan seemed unaffected.

“I don’t need you to understand, and I have no desire to explain myself.”

She was only speaking her mind. Her opponents were a devil hunter, a Wargrave soldier, and a high-level sorcerer with whom she trained.

There was no telling what her opponents were capable of. There were only four of them but there could be a lot more than what meets the eye.

SoSeoLan knew she shouldn’t risk confrontation if the victory was uncertain, and that it was time to retreat.

“This is a warning, not a ploy to persuade,” she continued. “When I return, you won’t be able to fend my army off with a cheap spell.” SoSeoLan seemed to have no problem disparaging sorcery even though she herself was a sorcerer. “Choose your actions wisely. At that time, I won’t show mercy, even to a devil hunter.” With this statement, she focused her gaze briefly on Cho-yul, who hurriedly looked down to avoid it. He couldn’t tell what kind of look she was giving him.

Soon after, SoSeoLan turned around and walked away. She would return with her massive army to take over the Heavenly Power Castle and, at that time, she would not retreat. Everything that stood in her way would be demolished. From the beginning, she had no intention of convincing anyone.

“Let me tell you one thing,” Zin smirked as he watched her walk away, “There have been other devil hunters with a dream.”

“…”

“But they all just turned out to be pipe dreams.”

Only a devil hunter would understand Zin’s ambiguous statement. Because Zin was Zin, he could somewhat understand SoSeoLan, and because SoSeoLan was SoSeoLan, she could understand what he had meant.

However, as if to say she couldn’t care less, SoSeoLan walked away.

Zin did not make a move, so Ramphil stayed put.

Looking at Zin, Ramphil asked, “Are you going to let her go like this?”

It was the perfect opportunity to get rid of the king, and SoSeoLan would not give up the Heavenly Power Castle.

“If we fight now, more than one of us will die.”

Victory was uncertain, but it was also certain that someone would die. Zin didn’t make a move because there was a high probability that either Cho-yul or Leona would get killed.

Each had their reasons for not fighting now. But what about later? SoSeoLan would bring her massive army to take over the Heavenly Power Castle.

They had only managed to delay the war.

The Godly Fighters that had been destroying the ghosts returned to SoSeoLan.

‘Vvroom!’

SoSeoLan got on her giant motorbike, and the whole gang sped off in a frenzy without looking back. The four focused their gazes on SoSeoLan until she disappeared from sight.