Side Story 2

Ahmed Hassan, the Director of the Egyptian Safety Management Bureau, was personally directing the hunting scene.

"So that’s ‘Raven’…"

He couldn't believe the spectacle he had just witnessed.

The appearance of a sign of a giant gate in the Baharia Desert had turned Egypt, as well as neighboring countries Libya and Sudan, upside down.

It was a ‘Dragon-class’ monster.

Dragon-class monsters were monsters that could devastate an entire country. Ever since the Age of Great Monsters began, the appearance of Dragon-class monsters has always led to great disasters.

Sydney, where a Dragon-class monster appeared for the first time, was still left as a land of death to this day.

However, at some point, the damage caused by Dragon-class monsters ceased.

All because of just one person.

'Raven' Jung Yi-An, he was the only one who could hunt down Dragon-class monsters.

His power was not something that could be affiliated with just a single nation. It was a global treasure that had to be used for the sake of all humanity.

Thus, he became a sort of freelancer, accepting requests from countries around the world and directly participating in operations based on their importance. He became a global problem solver.

His main tasks involved hunting Dragon-class monsters or reclaiming cities that had become their new lairs.

When the Egyptian government requested salvation from the appearance of a Dragon-class monster, he immediately flew in on his private jet.

And, he slaughtered the Dragon-class monster with a single stroke.

"Indeed, he is humanity's guardian sent by the gods."

That was Ahmed Hassan's impression of Raven.

As the famous greatsword, God Slayer, was swung, the monster's hard shell was split open like tofu. The flames arising from the sword incinerated the monster.

The monster's body was torn apart by his blade, and his sword energy scratched the white sands of Baharia beyond the monster's corpse.

A giant scar in the shape of a fan was created on the surface of the desert.

How could such a feat be accomplished by human strength?

"No one would believe it."

He had taken down a Dragon-class in a single slash, it was truly overwhelming.

He looked up at the sky. The helicopter carrying Jung Yi-An was returning to the headquarters.

The Hunters who were prepared for any off chance that Raven needed backup, along with the staff of the headquarters, came out to greet him. When he got off the helicopter, everyone applauded.

It was an accolade for the world's unparalleled Hunter.

Ahmed Hassan approached Yi-An, who had just hopped out of the helicopter, and offered a handshake.

"Thank you."

"It's nothing."

"I represent all of Egypt once again in expressing our gratitude for your salvation. It was an extraordinary fight."

Even though a translation device replaced his language, the sincerity was fully conveyed.

"And..."

Ahmed Hassan firmly grasped his hand again.

"My son is also a 'Returnee'. I've always wanted to meet you since that day to express my gratitude."

Raven Jung Yi-An…

It was sort of an open secret that he was 'Crockta', the legend of Elder Lord.

"I'm glad to hear that. Is your son doing alright?"

"He’s become a Hunter."

"That's great. I wish him the best of luck. I'll be heading to reclaim Benghazi while I'm here."

The City of Benghazi in the neighboring country of Libya had already been occupied by monsters and become their new lair. Hunters had established a defensive line, but it was proving insufficient.

The African continent, which didn’t have many Elder Lord players in the first place, always needed support due to its smaller Hunter forces.

"Understood. It would be rude to take more of your time. I will contact you again through your agent," Ahmed Hassan nodded.

"Thank you."

Yi-An boarded the helicopter again and moved to the runway where his jet was waiting.

* * *

Feeling the vibration of the helicopter's propellers, Yi-An closed his eyes.

Quite a bit of time had passed since he started traveling around the world.

On the day the interdimensional gate opened on Earth for the first time, Yi-An awakened the powers he had during his Elder Lord days to battle the monsters. He initially thought that it was just a temporary phenomenon, but his powers did not fade, and the monsters continued to appear.

It was the emergence of a common enemy of humanity.

According to the Ashen God, who had peered into the dimension of the monsters, it was a completely different, bizarre place compared to Earth or Elder Lord. Rather, it was a place close to what one might call hell.

Even she couldn't look at it for long; it was a terrible place that endlessly produced hatred. It was a truly ugly dimension.

As long as they targeted Earth, Yi-An couldn't live a peaceful life.

As Yi-An sighed, the secretary sitting next to him asked, "Would you like something to eat?"

"That’s okay, maybe after we check out the site."

The assistant nodded.

He was assigned to Yi-An by the South Korean government.

He was also a former Elder Lord user, specializing in healing powers. Even now, he was extending his hand to heal Yi-An's fatigue.

"You have an injury here."

He suddenly pointed to Yi-An's side.

Blood was seeping out.

"It's nothing serious, just heal it here."

"Ok..."

Though it was a weaker monster for a Dragon-class, it had its powerful moment. It had launched an attack right before dying. If Yi-An hadn’t dodged it, his innards would have been completely torn apart.

But these small injuries were no strangers to Yi-An.

"How's the situation in Benghazi?"

"I’ve just received the intel. But before that..."

The assistant hesitated before continuing, "A video of last month's Kirkias Raid in South Africa was leaked. It was posted on Youvids and other streaming sites but has been taken down now. It seems to be the work of hackers... Leonardo will send a strongly worded letter to the companies."

"Just leave it."

"But..."

"What can we even do? Everyone probably knows already, anyway."

Yi-An shrugged his shoulders.

"It’s not like them watching me does any harm."

As the Age of Great Monsters began, people's focus became concentrated on one thing, Crockta. The hero who was revealed to be a user, and more so, what he was doing in these treacherous times.

When the monsters first appeared, Yi-An was the first to act in service to those helplessly suffering. At that time, he fought wearing a mask. However, due to his greatsword, the tattoos appearing on his body, and amazing strength and power, suspicions that he was Crockta gradually deepened.

He had requested the government to help him keep his identity confidential, but surging suspicions couldn't be stopped.

People were fully convinced he was Crockta.

"Here, this is the overview of Benghazi."

"That looks terrible."

"The lair-ification has progressed significantly. If left alone, it'll end up just like Sydney."

"We can't let that happen."

"This is the first time we’re seeing this particular Dragon-class entity. They've named it 'Parthenon'."

"How’s our support?"

"It’s overflowing. Upon hearing news of your involvement, Hunters from other countries have joined in lumps. Everyone wants to fight alongside Crockta."

"See. Everyone knows already."

"Haha..."

He shifted himself to the global stage after witnessing the tragedy in Sydney.

Since then, he no longer fought his battles in front of the eyes of the public. He faced only the worst enemies in the worst places.

However, stories of Dragon-class monsters and the mysterious Hunter 'Raven' facing them began to spread secretly.

Information on Dragon-class monsters was strictly controlled to maintain the order of the public, but it couldn't be stopped forever. Insiders also sold out information anonymously.

Eventually, people learned about a Hunter bringing down the worst enemies in places no one knew of, and they were convinced that Hunter was Crockta, the man with the greatsword who had vanished.

The suspicions were mostly true.

Now, it was at a level where everyone knew but kept quiet.

Yi-An shrugged his shoulders.

"Anything else?"

"Ah, Rommel contacted. He has a message to deliver. He said it’s urgent."

"Hansung?"

Rommel, Choi Hansung, one of the few who knew Raven's true identity, and a friend of Yi-An.

After the battle with the empire in Elder Lord, Rommel expressed a desire to become Crockta’s friend.

Of course, it was rejected. Tiyo delivered the rejection instead.

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

'If you want to be friends with Crockta, come back after doing something worthy of it.'

‘Something worthy of it...'

'People are judged by their actions. Just as good deeds done only by words are meaningless, you can never get closer by merely saying you want to be friends. If you've truly changed, prove it.'

Yi-An thought that that encounter would be their last, but Rommel was persistent.

As the monsters appeared following the Elder Lord Crisis, Rommel quickly gained fame.

As befitting his 'War Maestro' class, he gathered a team to crush monsters within the Korean peninsula. Thanks to his dedication, he even earned the nickname 'Captain Korea.'

He even found Yi-An, who was fighting behind a mask. After finishing a battle alongside him, he asked.

‘Am I worthy now, Crockta?’

Yi-An could only nod in response.

Thus, they became friends not as the once adversarial Crockta and Rommel but as Hunters Jung Yi-An and Choi Hansung, standing together against monsters.

"Tell him I’ll contact him after I get Benghazi back."

"He did say that it was urgent..."

"That guy… Whenever he said something was urgent, never once was it an actual big deal. He probably wants some advice because he fought with his girlfriend or something."

The newly befriended Choi Hansung turned out to have many surprisingly clumsy sides.

Bringing Yi-An out of ‘urgency’ only to end up introducing him to a group of women he had never met before or getting drunk and lamenting over a breakup with his girlfriend.

People who have only seen the heroic side of Rommel could never imagine him in such scenarios.

"Is that true?"

"Yup."

The secretary tilted his head in disbelief.

"Understood. We will be landing soon."

The jet began its descent toward a runway stretched across the Libyan desert.

There was only one thing that he had to do at that moment, to reclaim the city of humans that was taken by the monsters, the City of Benghazi.

* * *

"I can’t reach him right now. He must be busy."

"I see."

Rommel, Choi Hansung, suddenly became the guardian of four beings from another world.

Though the government cast suspicious glances, Rommel vouched for them. He promised to provide their identities later.

After all, they were monsters that had crossed over from another world after killing a Basilisk. There was no way to detain them by force, and besides, they were friends of Jung Yi-An. There wasn’t a single country on Earth that could afford to be on bad terms with him.

"This contraption called a car is truly fascinating!"

"What kind of tool is this? Does it have intelligence? Can it fight?"

"People are staring."

"Bul’tar..."

Tiyo, Anor, and Driden were fine as they resembled humans, but Tashaquil the orc had come with them.

They covered his face with a hood.

Rommel usually drove a sports car, but for them, he borrowed a van from the support team to head to his house.

"I'll explain everything in a bit, but please close the window for now. People are staring..."

"How do you close it? Shoot, how was it done?" Tiyo struggled with the modern technology of power windows.

"Press that button."

"Huh? It’s just opening more?"

"The other way!"

"This is too complicated!"

The four caused quite a commotion.

Choi Hansung glanced at the rear-view mirror and paused.

"Impressive! Well done, Tashaquil!"

"Heh, with everyone being so hasty, I couldn’t help but step in."

When Tiyo couldn't close the window, Tashaquil acted on it.

His magic froze the window, creating a barrier of ice instead of putting the window up.

It was an extraordinary feat.

"..."

The van sped down the road with ice clinging to its windows.

"This dimension is fascinating. Compared to our world, it seems highly developed," Anor remarked.

Their attire and culture were different, and it was pretty clear to see that they were a significantly more advanced civilization.

Just the steel carriage they were in, filling the roads and moving at such speed that the scenery changed in an instant, was proof enough.

Sturdy buildings blocked the sky, and the city lights were dazzling.

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, Tashaquil turned his head and the others did the same.

"Do you feel that strange energy?"

"Ahh."

Choi Hansung nodded.

Police were controlling the traffic.

A gate had opened not far from there. Since Rommel wasn’t informed, it seemed to be a Goblin-class or similarly low-threat gate.

"It looks like a gate has opened."

"Gate?"

As Choi Hansung explained the situation, they showed interest.

"Can we see it?" Tiyo asked.

"You mean you want to see the raid?"

"That's right. I’m curious about these monsters from another dimension."

Choi Hansung pondered for a moment before nodding.

Though it was unclear how they had crossed over to Earth’s dimension, they mentioned that they couldn't simply go back at will once they were here. Thus, they were going to have to stay in this dimension for a while.

All four of them were once companions of Crockta, which meant that they possessed amazing abilities.

If they helped in monster subjugation, it would be more than ideal.

"Alright. Let's go."

Especially for Rommel, a well-recognized Hunter, entering the operation area was no challenge. As soon as he showed his Hunter ID, the police immediately cleared the way.