Chapter 202: #Troubling Hunter War (2)

“Meteor Shower.”

Despite the cool-sounding name, the skill was basically about releasing and detonating a bunch of Mana Bombs stored in a subspace at once. If Choi Bong-Shik could use teleportation and subspace, there was no reason I couldn’t.

During the Cold War, the Americans ran a weapon project called

Rods from God.

For all its fancy name, it employed a simple principle that even children could understand: using the potential energy of an object to fly a satellite. They’d drop a ten-ton tungsten column from a high enough altitude. It remained a pipe dream due to the immense cost and political hurdles of launching such a heavy object into space.

Of course, I wouldn’t have such issues.

Ssss!

As the air tore open, the rocks I’d stored in subspace materialized around me. Although they weren’t tungsten columns, they were just the right size for me.

“Rod of Gods, what an exquisite name.” It was as if a seer had named it with me in mind. “Don’t you agree, Bong-Shik?”

“

Eeeek!

Oh, my god! God, help me!

” he shouted in agreement.

Now, shall I pick a target?

[The innate power Blind Eyes of God has been activated.]

I could see the S-rank monsters plaguing the African continent, some fighting neck to neck against the S-rank Hunters. But to me, they were all mere insects.

“Meteor Shower.”

Swoosh! Swooooosh!

Thousands of tons of rocks rained down on the ground like an actual meteor shower. I cackled sinisterly at the sight. “

Muahahaha!

Die, you insects!”

“

Waaaaah!

A-Armageddon! E-earth! Save

meeeee!

”

***

America’s SS-rank Hunter, Gillian, became stone-faced when his opponent snickered and sneered at him.

-Where was that arrogance from before? Have you finally realized the difference between us?

The Lich—no, it couldn’t even be called that anymore. The camera drones flying around Gillian captured the giant as it continued to grow in size, sucking all the corpses in the area. Then, Gillian’s earphones started buzzing.

「S-rank Undead-type Lich has evolved into SSS-rank Ultimate Undead-type Death Lord!

Changing assigned points from 440 to 10,000!

Emergency! Hunters in the immediate vicinity, please provide immediate assistance!」

Fuck! SSS-rank?!

Gillian broke into a cold sweat. Misclassifying monsters wasn’t uncommon, but this went far beyond that! How could an SSS-rank monster—a global catastrophe—remain in this place for so long?!

The mountainous corpse looked down at the ground, making a declaration while raising both arms.

-All the preparations are complete! From today onward, I’ll spread the Death Plague throughout the world and offer their deaths to the great god I worship, Lord of Rotten Corpses!

Gillian turned grim as his nerve had been struck.

“As if I’ll let you!”

Pzzz!

A storm of lightning surged through Gillian. “Thunder God’s Hammer!”

With him at the epicenter, the lightning turned into a massive hammer, hundreds of meters wide, crashing down on the Death Lord.

“Take this!”

Ruuuumble! Baaaam!

Deafening sound reverberated in all directions as blinding brilliance engulfed the world.

-

Keekee.

Hey, that tickles!

The monster's laughter rang out, dripping with mockery.

Gillian staggered, gasping for air. The attack that should’ve been powerful enough to decimate a city left only a few scorch marks on the Death Lord.

I’m not strong enough! I need Royce or Jack White with me at the very least!

Seeing no chance of winning, Gillian decided to back off for now.

Pzz!

The Death Lord’s eyes glinted as he noticed Gillian trying to flee.

-

Keekee,

did you think I’ll just let you go?

It snapped its fingers.

Kwaaaaa! Ruuuumble!

An ominous, vile black aura formed a dome around him.

“Damn it!”

Gillian tried to shatter the barrier with his lightning, but to no avail.

-How futile. No living soul shall penetrate this barrier. All that awaits you is death.

The Death Lord’s shadow loomed over Gillian, trapping him like a cornered rat. Nevertheless, Gillian managed to evade the Death Lord’s attacks. He was confident that he could hold on until help arrived.

-

Keekee.

Bloom, Death Mist.

As if reading Gillian’s thoughts, the Death Lord summoned a cloud of deadly toxic gas from its hand.

Fuck, I’m done for!

...Booooom!

Suddenly, an explosion rocked the dome.

-...

Huh?

The Death Lord was caught off guard.

Baaaaam!

A far greater explosion tore a hole in the dome, making the previous one look like child's play. Now, the Death Lord and Gillian could make direct eye contact. They were under a barrage of meteor showers.

-N-no way! How can a sub-civilization have an ultimate skill of this level...!

In fact, it wasn’t even a skill, just rocks that Yu Il-Shin picked up from the atmosphere. Of course, there was no way Death Lord would know about that.

“

Holy shit!

”

Flash!

Gillian took the opportunity and dashed out through the hole in the dome. It was the fastest sprint he had ever done in his life.

-

Gaaaah!

Lord of Rotten Corpses! Save—!

Baaaam!

The last camera drone shattered as the meteor shower obliterated the Death Lord and Dodoma in one strike.

SSS-rank Ultimate Undead-type Death Lord annihilated by an unidentified attack!

And that wasn’t the only event.

S-rank Beast-type Leviathan annihilated by an unidentified attack!

S-rank Giant-type Gigantic Ogre annihilated by an unidentified attack!

S-rank Demon-type Arch Demon annihilated by an unidentified attack!

...

...

Swoosh!

A beautiful meteor shower rained down on the entire African continent, eradicating humanity’s nightmare in the middle of the day.

***

The Hunter War preliminaries had come to an abrupt stop due to a mysterious meteor shower that rained throughout the African continent. Over 90% of the S-rank monsters in the area were wiped out by it, as reported by the World Hunter Association.

Of course, the organizers were upset by this turn of events. The head of the World Hunter Association clutched his head in anguish as he asked, “...How many casualties are there?”

An American Hunter overseeing the preliminaries answered, “Thankfully, there are no fatalities. The Homeless, Gillian, was badly injured since he was caught in the meteor shower, but the elven healers assured it wouldn’t affect the Hunter War.”

“

Phew.

That’s a relief. It’s divine intervention.”

“However, the meteor shower's impact was so massive that almost no monster byproducts remained.”

“

Ahem

.”

Everyone in the organizing team was put in an awkward position.

The concept behind the Hunter War was global unity and relief, but the reality was vastly different. Not only did it affect the vested interests of global powers, activating the portal alone also incurred astronomical costs. The only source of income that could cover it was the monsters’ byproducts. Monsters invading through gates and dungeons were a catastrophe for humanity but also a catalyst, reviving the stagnant 21st-century economy.

The new materials, substances, as well as Mana Stones made huge improvements to mankind's civilization. Selling monster byproducts for millions or even billions had long funded the Hunter War, but the earlier meteor shower wiped out that tradition entirely.

Just then, a staff member burst through the meeting room doors.

“We've found the culprit responsible for the meteor shower!”

“W-who is it?!”

To think they’d found the one who was responsible for the phenomenon that not even NASA could predict! However, only a single image was shown on the projector screen in the meeting room.

“What's this?”

“It's a photo taken from America’s observation satellite Landsat-4!”

A man was shown summoning hundreds of rocks from the atmosphere.

The lips of the president of the World Hunter Association trembled. “A-are you saying that it was the work of a single person?”

“U-unbelievable...”

“I'm more shocked that there were no casualties. If he planned that, he'd be even more terrifying than SSS-rank Hunter Royce...”

“Who is this man?”

They zoomed in on the face of the roaring blond man. At the same time, his profile appeared on the screen. Choi Bong-Shik, publicly known as Hunter Steve Choi, the Spatial-type Hunter and a member of Korea’s national team.

***

After a long, drawn-out meeting, the organizers finally reached a conclusion.

“First of all, let’s send a Hunter team to clear out the remaining monsters to speed up the preliminaries. The passing benchmark will be lowered to a third of what we have now.”

“What should we do about the Korean team—I mean, Hunter Steve Choi?”

“We have to pass him, no doubt. His skills today alone prove he's a top contender, and we might even witness history—a Hunter from Earth surpassing SSS-rank Hunter Royce.”

Liam, president of the America Hunter Association, watched leisurely as the leaders of the other Hunter Associations hurried out of the room. There’d be a huge under-the-radar battle to get Steve Choi as their own country’s Hunter from now on. And, of course, all their efforts would be for naught.

A staff from the organizing team whispered privately to Liam, “Everything has been carried out as you instructed."

“Good work.”

In fact, there were two Hunters in the photo taken by America’s observation satellite. Aside from Steve Choi, there was another mystery Hunter who’d taken part in exterminating the gate phenomenon at America’s Dysneiland.

They had finally caught on his tail.

“Get me on the hotline with Mr. President.”

Just as they once took in the elves—former wanderers from another world—to defeat humanity’s greatest foe, the Despair Dragon, the United States of America, as the world’s police force, should once again be the one to possess such a dangerous weapon.

Absolutely.