Chapter 378

Ding.

System

You have successfully completed Logout.

With the cheerful System notification, the senses that had briefly left me began to return.

The softness of the bed beneath my back. The warm air inside the private jet.

And the hands gripping and shaking both my shoulders, along with the shouts that came with them.

“Mr. Jin Taekyung! Wake up! Mr. Jin Taekyung!”

• Wake up, you vile human!

I blinked at the urgent voices drilling into my ears—two voices, no, one monster’s and one human’s.

As my vision cleared, a familiar face came into view.

“Uh, Team Lea—”

Smack!

“Wake up!”

• Well done, slightly less vile human!

“…”

What the hell was this?

After taking an unexpected slap across the face, I answered in a dazed voice.

“I’m awake…”

“What is wrong with you? I tried so hard to wake you up, so why are you only getting up now?”

• Just die! Go ahead and die!

“S-Sorry…”

Damn, he was intense. This was the first time I’d ever seen Team Leader Choi this furious.

No matter what happened, Team Leader Choi always kept his composure and bragged about his designer goods. Now, lightning was practically shooting from his eyes.

What’s gotten into him? We’re still on the plane, aren’t we?

I had apologized on instinct, but I was still bewildered. Was this really worth slapping me over?

That was when—

“This is no time for this! Hurry and—”

“Aaaah!”

Team Leader Choi’s voice was drowned out by the flight attendants’ screams. The shouts of men I assumed were the pilots followed.

“Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!”

“Control tower! Control towerrrr!”

“…What the fuck?”

What the hell was going on?

As I frantically looked around, Team Leader Choi hit me with an unbelievable statement.

“We’re under attack by monsters!”

“Monsters? An attack?”

What kind of bullshit was that? We were flying at twenty-five thousand feet in a private jet sent by the Chinese Central Committee.

By now, it wouldn’t have been strange for our destination, Chengdu International Airport in Sichuan Province, to have come into view…

“Huh?”

I unconsciously turned toward the window—and stared with my mouth hanging open.

Far below, a massive airport stretched across the ground. Flames surged into the sky, while large and small dots moved through the chaos.

It was a battle. Humans and monsters were locked in a fight to the death.

And that wasn’t all.

• Kyaaaauuu!

The enormous body of a monster was rapidly closing in on the private jet I was riding in.

“That’s…”

There was no mistaking it. Even after rubbing my eyes and looking again, it was still a wyvern.

An A-rank monster classified as dragonkin alongside drakes.

They were a pain in the ass even on the ground, but at twenty-five thousand feet, they were the last things I wanted to encounter.

And there were around a dozen of them!

…What kind of fucked-up situation is this?

A fierce battle was raging around Chengdu International Airport below, while a flock of wyverns chased the private jet carrying me through the sky.

It didn’t take long for my briefly frozen brain to reach a conclusion.

“Lich!”

The shout burst from me like a thunderbolt.

There was no doubt about it. The top-tier undead monster that had appeared with an unprecedented monster wave one week ago in modern-world time had already extended its reach this far.

“The control tower isn’t responding!”

“The wyverns! The wyverns are—!”

“Kyaaaah!”

• I knew this would happen! We’re all dead!

Even in the middle of my panic, I corrected the Skeleton Warlord.

“That’s true, but weren’t you already dead?”

• Shut up, you vile human! This is all your fault! Ahhh, my legion! Forgive your commander!

Screams and shouts rained down from every direction as humans and monsters alike fell into a panic.

Only one person among them managed to retain his sanity.

“Everyone, calm down! What you’re afraid of won’t happen!”

As expected of Team Leader Choi. He was reliable.

He had obviously thought of a way to overcome this crisis.

After calming the chaos with his composed voice, Team Leader Choi pointed at me.

“Mr. Jin Taekyung here will take care of it!”

“…?”

“Mr. Jin Taekyung. What should we do?”

“Why are you asking me?”

“I trust you, Mr. Jin Taekyung!”

“…”

Why did he trust me?

In a situation like this, putting his faith in God, Buddha, or Allah would probably help more.

I was momentarily speechless as people’s gazes came flying toward me from all sides.

“Come to think of it, I’ve heard about that Hunter. They say he’s so formidable that even Comrade Chairman Xiao Yang made a special request for him.”

“I’ve heard the rumors too. They say he might be a new S-rank Hunter. Apparently, he defeated two named monsters all by himself.”

“Ooh! Ooooooh!”

“We’re saved! We’re going to live!”

• You vile human! I knew you were strong, but you’re beyond my wildest imagination! Rejoice, my legion! Your commander has survived!

“…You’re already dead.”

This was driving me insane. None of them were in their right minds anymore.

I stared at Team Leader Choi in disbelief.

“What exactly are you basing this on?”

He answered without hesitation.

“I told you. I trust you.”

“That’s what I’m asking. Where does that baseless trust come from—”

“It isn’t baseless.”

“What?”

“Your attitude, tone of voice, and expression in a situation like this. All of them are grounds for my trust.”

“…!”

Only then did I finally realize it.

I was flustered by the unexpected situation, but I felt no fear or terror whatsoever.

The answer was closer than I had thought.

Because I’m strong.

I was strong. Stronger than ever. Strong enough to avoid any danger.

That was why neither the monsters sweeping across the ground like a wave nor the flock of wyverns right behind us frightened me.

“So that’s it…”

I muttered under my breath, then spoke up.

“Who’s the captain?”

A hand shot up from the cockpit ahead.

It was trembling violently. His other hand must have been gripping the controls for dear life as he desperately tried to evade the wyverns lunging at us.

“I-I am.”

“Can I open the door for a second?”

“What?”

“I said, can I open the plane door?”

The captain was so shocked that he poked his head out and stared at me as if I were insane.

“Of course not! The pressure-sealing system won’t even let you open it, and the aircraft will be damaged because it can’t withstand the pressure difference! We won’t be able to breathe properly, either!”

Team Leader Choi, fiddling with the ring on his finger, cut in.

“I think I can block the pressure. I don’t know what you have in mind, but go ahead and try.”

“Okay.”

“Don’t! You bangzi bastards!¹ Are you trying to kill us all?”

“…What did you just call us?”

The nerve of him, insulting Koreans right in front of a proud Korean kimchi man like me!

The captain realized what had slipped out, and his face turned white.

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

“You fucking Chink bastard. Damn it.”

“…!”

“Hey, Captain!”

“Y-Yes?”

“I’m opening it.”

“Ah! Ahhh!”

Before the captain could stop me, I opened the door.

No—I cut it open.

Shhk!

Sword qi—the force called an Aura Blade in the modern world—sliced through the sturdy alloy and created a small door.

It was the tremendous power wielded by Supreme Peak masters in Murim and, in this world, only by S-rank Hunters.

Team Leader Choi’s eyes widened in shock.

“Mr. Jin Taekyung, this is—”

“Team Leader!”

Whoooosh!

This was no time to be surprised. The tremendous wind and pressure were making the aircraft lurch, turning the cabin into a complete mess.

The screams and my shout snapped Team Leader Choi back to his senses. He rubbed his ring.

“An airtight barrier surrounds us. Barrier!”

“Oh.”

With the incantation, a transparent membrane of energy sealed the new opening without leaving the slightest gap.

So there was a way to do this.

With a brief exclamation of admiration, I stuck my upper body out of the cabin.

Team Leader Choi’s barrier recognized me as an ally and let me pass through without resistance.

Rrrrrumble!

The wind pressure slammed into my upper body as if trying to crush me to death. I grinned.

This is no joke.

But it wasn’t unbearable.

Actually, it would have been strange if I couldn’t withstand it. Compared to the waves of qi the Western Heaven Demon Lord had emitted, this was no more than a gentle spring breeze.

• Kyaaaauuu!

The monster’s sharp cry mixed into that spring breeze.

The flock of wyverns had already drawn close enough for me to judge the distance.

About a hundred meters. I’ve never tried this before, but… at this distance, it should be enough.

Open Inventory. Equip.

Ssswish.

A spear I had bought at a discount from the Hunter Market appeared in my hand.

Like a javelin thrower, I drew my shoulder all the way back. From my waist to my wrist, every muscle and tendon I needed pulled taut like a bowstring.

• Kyaau!

The lead wyvern—their chief—sensed something was wrong and threw back its head with a shriek.

I could see a pure-white current of air being sucked toward its snout.

That’s…

• Breath! It’s Breath! Dodge it, you vile human!

The Skeleton Warlord was right.

Of all the countless monsters, Breath was a power granted only to the dragonkin. I could clearly see it taking shape inside the wyvern’s gaping maw.

Whooooom.

A massive sphere of wind. The Air Breath, powerful enough to shred metal like paper, finished taking shape.

“Hey, wyvern!”

• Kya?

“I’m putting it in!”

I shouted like a thunderbolt and whipped my drawn-back shoulder forward.

Fwoom—whooosh!

Fiery concentrated qi sheathed the spearhead, burning through the air and cleaving the wind.

The wyvern’s bright yellow eyes widened at the blue-white streak of light shooting straight toward it.

• Kiiiiiik!

Whoooom!

Compressed air burst from the tip of the spear. A cloud of white.

And then—

Thwack! Boom-boom!

A massive body plummeted toward the ground like a kite with its string cut.

• Kyaau?

• Kiiit?

Around a dozen pairs of bright yellow eyes stared at one another.

Wyverns were ferocious creatures from the moment they were born, but at this moment, they were utterly bewildered and had no idea what to do.

• Kikikit?

• Kiiik…

What? Is the boss dead?

Looks that way…

After exchanging words in their own language, the wyverns were dumbfounded.

Their leader was exceptionally powerful even among their own kind—so powerful that he was known as the “Black Star.”

And now, the Black Star had become a black speck falling toward the impossibly distant ground.

• Kiririk?

• Grrrrr.

None of them had even properly seen how he died.

They could only guess that the tiny human had thrown a spear and hit him.

But that was impossible.

How could a mere human dare lay a hand on a descendant of the great dragons…

“Hey, green wyvern over there!”

• Kiiik?

“I’m putting it in!”

Thwack!

This time, they saw it clearly: their companion’s head bursting apart in the beam of light.

• Kiiik!

• Kyaaaauuu!

Another of our bloodline has died after the boss!

Furious beyond measure, the wyverns vowed revenge against that damned human.

• Kiiit!

Of course, not today.

They would get their revenge later. A little later.

“Hey, blue wyvern over there!”

Thwack!

…Would they ever get their revenge?

Around a dozen pairs of wings began flapping desperately.