Chapter 752

Leviathan.

The nightmare of the sea had slowly faded from memory. News of its return drew more attention worldwide than any of the other Monster Waves that day.

[Breaking News: Leviathan Appears—Disaster Descends on Japan]

[The Star of Asia, Jin Taekyung, Saves Japan Despite the Suspicions Surrounding Him; Wounded Leviathan Disappears]

[Anonymous Senior Japanese Official: “We Had a Real Chance to Kill Leviathan—If the Defense Minister Hadn’t Suddenly Shit Himself.” Complacency at Japan’s Defense Ministry?]

[Casualties Confirmed So Far Reach 100,000. The Archipelago in Crisis.]

[Japanese Defense Minister Fujiwara: “I Will Risk My Life to Protect the Imperial Subjects—No, the Citizens.” The True Feelings of an Imperialist Who Can’t Keep Up with the Times?]

[Japanese Defense Minister Fujiwara Leaves the Press Conference as Though Fleeing (Photo)]

[Japanese Prime Minister Vows: “We Will Kill That Monster Within Three Days and Show the Archipelago’s Strength.” Asked How by a Foreign Reporter, He Smiles Faintly: “We Will Succeed. That Is My Promise.”]

[Japanese Netizens Speak as One: “Please, Someone Shut the Prime Minister’s Mouth.”]

[The Young Hero from the Peninsula Who Saved the Archipelago. But Light and Shadow Surround Him.]

[Chinese Chairman Xiao Yang: “Mr. Jin Is a True Hero. Only Cowardly, Narrow-Minded Petty Men Would Insult Him.”]

[Operator of China’s Biggest Anti–Jin Taekyung Website Arrested by Public Security. The Charge? Being a Petty Man.]

[Leviathan Disappears Once Again. Terrorist Attacks and Monster Waves Continue.]

[Michael Silbert and Odin Guild Suppress a Third Monster Wave in a Single Day. Praise Pours in from Around the World, Along with Questions About Sky: “Why Hasn’t He Appeared?”]

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.

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Tap.

Huginn set down his tablet.

Just as I thought. This isn’t good.

Public opinion was slowly shifting. Japan’s Defense Ministry was taking the blame for letting Leviathan escape, and even the outlets that had rushed to attack Jin Taekyung were quietly changing their tune.

What if Jin Taekyung actually kills Leviathan now?

The damage their media campaign had done to his image could vanish in an instant. That would disrupt the plan they had prepared down to the last detail.

Huginn turned toward his superior. Michael Silbert, his back to him as he made coffee, spoke without looking around.

“The back of my head suddenly feels prickly. Is that just my imagination?”

“…Probably not.”

“If you have something to say, say it. Unless it’s about Jin Taekyung. Keep that to yourself.”

Normally, Huginn would have obeyed. But the battle that had ended only thirty minutes ago still had his blood up, and he couldn’t ignore how badly things seemed to be turning in Japan.

“Have you not heard the news?”

Michael gave a quiet laugh at the frustration in Huginn’s voice and lifted his coffee cup.

“Huginn, my friend. Do you think you know something I don’t?”

“Then why—”

“The coffee smells especially good today. Shall I make you a cup?”

“…Guild Master, if Jin Taekyung kills Leviathan, we’ll have trouble afterward.”

Click.

Michael set down his cup and leaned back against the leather sofa.

The inside of the tent, enchanted with spatial expansion, was as luxurious as a suite in a seven-star hotel. Michael seemed so relaxed that it was hard to believe he had defeated an S-rank monster only moments earlier.

“Huginn, I’ll say this once. Listen carefully.”

“Yes.”

“There’s nothing to worry about. All the conditions are in place, and Leviathan won’t be so easily killed.”

“But…”

“I want Jin Taekyung and Leviathan to give it everything they have. To struggle with all their might to kill each other and stay alive. That’s all I want.”

“…!”

“Of course, if Jin Taekyung dies in the process, so much the better.”

Michael winked at the bewildered Huginn and reached for the cup he had set down.

Click. Splash.

Coffee spilled across the table, steam rising from it.

Huginn, lost in thought, looked up in surprise.

“Are you all right?”

“…”

“Guild Master?”

“Ah.”

Michael’s face had gone rigid as stone. Now it relaxed, and his usual calm expression returned.

“I’m fine. I suppose several hard battles have left me a little tired.”

But Huginn had served at his side for too many years to take that at face value. He glanced at Michael’s trembling fingers.

“You’ve been training too hard these past few months.”

“Have I?”

“Yes. Especially since you learned about Jin Taekyung, you’ve been…”

Huginn trailed off. Michael was watching him. He lowered his head.

“I spoke out of turn.”

A heavy silence fell between them. Michael broke it.

“Is the press conference ready?”

“Yes. They’ve been waiting for an hour.”

“We’ll begin in thirty minutes. We leave as soon as it’s over, so have everything ready by then.”

“Understood, Guild Master.”

Huginn answered without hesitation. He didn’t ask why they were leaving already, or where they were going. He would find out once the preparations were complete.

Another terrorist attack. Another Monster Wave. And somewhere, more glory and fame would be waiting for them.

In this cruelly well-crafted script, Odin Guild was always a step ahead, building a reputation that would never die.

“I’ll return to escort you shortly.”

Huginn bowed and left. Alone, Michael Silbert murmured, “You’re right, Huginn. Perhaps that’s exactly what it is.”

Jin Taekyung.

From the moment Michael had first learned of him, a feeling he couldn’t explain had filled his chest. Hazy as fog, it was impatience.

And anxiety.

An old memory surfaced: himself with nothing but ambition to his name, forced to lie low and stay out of Cheon Taemin’s sight. The humiliation of those days.

But…

“In the end, I’ll be the only one who wins.”

The words slipped from his lips in a low murmur.

Feeling the mighty energy coursing through his body, Michael Silbert was certain the day of his victory was near.

Whoooooosh.

The wind blowing from far away was thick with the smell of salt.

Near the Philippine Sea, close to the Japanese archipelago, a whale surfaced through the rolling water and blinked its enormous eyes.

The sea was strangely quiet today, even to a creature as vast as this one. It had roamed for hours without seeing a whaling ship—or even an ordinary fishing boat.

Pfooout.

The whale sent a spout of water into the air and dove deep again. Hundreds of schooling fish followed it.

Splash.

The creatures that had fallen in together swam on without rest.

Not farther away, but deeper, following a call from somewhere in the dark depths.

Gooooong.

Hundreds became thousands, drawn from more and more species. Yet none of the sea creatures following that call sensed anything wrong.

Not even when a vast darkness unlike anything they had seen closed around them like a net.

GRAAAAAH. CRUNCH!

That was the end.

Teeth harder than steel tore the whale and sharks apart. Thousands of fish were sucked in. The monster opened its enormous jaws, chewed and swallowed everything, then savored the taste for a moment.

No. It absorbed every trace of energy and every memory they held.

Whoooooosh.

A dim light rose in the place known as the deep sea. But even after taking in that new energy, the monster’s eyes were full of hunger.

That’s all?

It hadn’t been like this when it roamed the five oceans at its master’s command. From the moment the Demon King Asmodeus descended, the whole world—land and sea alike—had been full of delectable magical power. Even the smallest fish had carried a little of it.

Now everything was different.

Its once-great master was gone. The monster that had ruled every sea in the world had been forced to hide from human eyes in the deep sea once more, gravely wounded.

Hisssss.

Green blood seeped from its unhealed wounds and mingled with the seawater. Leviathan’s enormous body shuddered with rage.

How dare… How dare a mere human…

But rage wasn’t all it felt.

Fear.

That loathsome feeling, born of an impossibly small human, held the mighty monster captive in the deep sea.

What are you? How can a lowly human possess such power?

Leviathan couldn’t understand it.

Over the course of roughly a day, Leviathan had completely absorbed the masses of magical power that humans called S-rank Magic Gems.

It had been certain that the healing power of water, combined with the new magical power, would make any injury vanish without a trace. Yet everything had gone as badly as it could.

The moment I leave the deep sea, the humans will target me. Better to gather as much strength as I can here before I go…

Then its enormous eye stopped roving.

Unfamiliar memories, memories that weren’t its own, had flashed through its mind.

What’s this?

The question lasted only an instant. The memories of the countless sea creatures it had just swallowed surged into its mind like waves.

Blue sky. A calm sea without a single fishing boat.

And…

What is that?

A small boat bobbed on waters that, only hours ago, had been full of human warships and submarines. The image came from a school of fish that had seen it an hour earlier, near an uninhabited island a few hundred kilometers¹ away.

Too close. And the sea has gone too quiet.

Leviathan knew at once that the humans had set a trap, and scoffed.

Fools. Do they think they can deceive me—

The thought broke off. Leviathan turned its head toward the surface above. All five of its senses sharpened at an alluring scent carried down through the water.

Magical power. An enormous amount of it.

A fierce craving seized its entire body.

If I had that… If I could take that power, greater even than what I absorbed before, these wounds would be nothing.

I could kill the human who humiliated me in an instant.

Muttering as if entranced, Leviathan ground its teeth.

I mustn’t be swayed. It’s clearly a human trap.

But its resolve soon crumbled.

The memories showed no humans anywhere. Nor did the information reaching it through the water now.

I can’t sense the life force unique to humans. In that case…

Leviathan made its decision. It would go willingly into the trap they had prepared.

Splash!

Its enormous body surged upward, cutting through the currents of the deep sea.