Chapter 306

Snow blanketed the fields, stretching all the way to the horizon—but with this many hunters on the job, there was little to worry about. Snow could be melted.

Jinchul didn’t even need Jongin’s firepower, since the hunters under his command had enough flame skills to handle the task. In fact, keeping the S-rank hunter out of it was probably for the best, since Jongin’s overwhelming firepower might accidentally incinerate any important evidence buried beneath the snow.

Following Jinchul’s guidance, the association’s hunters spread out, melting the snow and searching the frozen wasteland for clues.

Meanwhile, those without flame skills focused on setting up camps. No one knew how long their search would last, and so they had decided to build a base more substantial than simple tents. They were especially dedicated to fortifying the area surrounding the towering ice pillar.

“When you live long enough, you get to see all sorts of things,” Jinchul muttered as he gazed at the enormous ice pillar that he was carefully guarding.

This pillar was said to contain Sirka, the ice elf who was Suho’s companion. According to Suho, she was encased in something like an egg, and there was no knowing when it would hatch. He said that upon emerging, Sirka would inherit the power of the Frost Monarch and be reborn.

“Who would have thought the day would come when I would protect the successor of the Monarch of Frost?”

The Monarch of Frost had once murdered Go Gunhee, but here Jinchul was, guarding the being who would take the Monarch’s place. An enemy of an enemy was a friend, as the saying went, but now that he actually found himself in this situation, he wasn’t quite sure what to think.

“Perhaps I have lived too long after all,” he said. There was a hollow look on his face as he pulled himself together.

But then again, time hasn’t exactly flowed normally.

After the entire timeline had been reset, Gunhee had lived a long and healthy life, passing away peacefully with countless people honoring and mourning him. It seemed pointless to seek a blood payment from the young elf for something that hadn’t even happened in this timeline.

This is a temporary alliance that will enable us to fight a greater enemy.

Let’s leave it at that for now.

That was the full extent of Jinchul’s thoughts regarding Sirka.

Besides, she was an asset as well. He didn’t fully understand how powerful these Monarchs were, but he knew that they were at least far stronger than any human could be. If Sirka successfully inherited the power of a Monarch, she would undoubtedly become a powerful asset for Jinwoo and Suho.

At the same time, Jinchul was painfully reminded of how helpless humanity was in this war. The thought brought a bitter smile to his lips.

Humanity has no active role in this war, anyway.

At best, we are a weight on Sung Suho’s ankles, pulling him down.

It was a brutal assessment, but it was clearly true, and he had already learned it through experience. In the end times, Jinchul had come to a devastating realization about how powerless humanity truly was.

The best we can do is avoid pointless chaos and keep from dragging ourselves down.

If this were a war, then humanity’s role would be nothing more than civilian defense. Jinchul couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought.

Still, it’s a relief.

It seems that the son has his father’s back.

Jinchul had seen what Jinwoo’s one and only son was capable of. Since then, he had felt a sort of relief that he had not felt in a very long time. The crushing weight of responsibility that had burdened his shoulders for so long had melted away.

In particular, the night when Suho had opened the gate and Jinchul had been able to lie in a comfortable bed at Ahjin Hospital with an IV drip in his arm—that was the first time in ages that he had slept so soundly. The insomnia that had plagued him for years, along with the dark circles hidden behind his sunglasses, had vanished overnight. That was why he was laughing in such disbelief now.

Without even meaning to, he spoke his thoughts. “Now that the actual war has begun, I suppose I can finally step down as chairman of the association. It never suited me anyway.”

“I’m sorry?!”

“Wh-what did you just say?!”

His sudden words left the nearby hunters, who were busy clearing the snow, completely dumbfounded. Had they heard that right? Was the great Woo Jinchul quitting? Why now, of all times? Considering the impressive influence he wielded in South Korea, they couldn’t imagine anyone else filling his shoes.

But Jinchul was perfectly serious. “Preparing for the war was my goal and purpose. Nothing more,” he stated.

Smiling like a man who was truly thankful to be rid of a burden, he gazed at the shocked hunters. His black sunglasses glinted as they reflected the bright snow.

“And I can’t shake the thought that I am better suited to head the Surveillance Division.”

The hunters couldn’t hide their confusion.

The what division?

What is Mr. Woo even talking about?

The Surveillance Division...

The department Jinchul was referring to was once responsible for monitoring crimes committed by hunters and subduing criminal offenders. Rather than dealing with dungeons or monsters, the Surveillance Division was a group that specialized in dealing with other humans. In a history that no one remembered, Jinchul had been the most elite member of that division, the one with the most powerful anti-human skill set of all.

“To put it simply...” Jinchul relaxed his shoulders, which felt noticeably lighter now, and gently lifted his weapon. “It’s time to cast aside any useless titles and return to being a hunter.”

Suddenly, the hunters who had been searching under the snow for traces of the bank called out at once.

“We found something!”

“It’s a suspicious stone tablet...”

“We sense the mana— Wait, it’s increasing!”

Before they had even finished speaking, a wave of mana spread across all the hunters in the area.

Jinchul, who was quicker than anyone else to detect the danger, immediately turned his attention to the source and assumed a combat stance.

“Here it comes. Prepare for battle, everyone.”

The stone tablet, previously buried beneath the snow, began to glow as a mysterious gate formed above it. Inexplicably, human figures began pouring out from inside.

“What’s with this place?”

“We barely escaped from Liu Zhigang, and now this?”

They were speaking Chinese.

The strangers, who exuded an unmistakable air of danger, grumbled as they surveyed the snow-covered field. It was obvious at a glance that these men, drenched in blood from head to toe, had been through some kind of carnage. They looked every bit like villains.

They grinned when they saw the hunters of South Korea’s association around them.

“And who the hell are these bastards?”

“You wanna pick a fight with us?”

The villains from China couldn’t have foreseen this, but they didn’t seem fazed at all. Instead, they smiled wickedly at the association’s hunters.

At that moment, the scores of Chinese villains stepping through the gate easily numbered in the hundreds. In contrast, the Korean side had only a few dozen hunters at most. It was a clear and undeniable difference in numbers.

Adding to the crisis, the Korean side was without their S-rank combatant, Jongin. Meanwhile, there were even a few A-rank villains among the Chinese group.

Amid the volatile situation, Jinchul spoke to them in flawless Chinese. “You’ve crossed the border.”

“What did you just say, bastard?”

“And what if we did?”

There was no point in replying to their crude remarks. Jinchul had already noticed the odd weapons in their hands. The designs were reminiscent of the Harvest Scythe.

“Outer Artifacts... That’s what I’ve chosen to call them for now,” he said.

“What...?”

Jinchul had already decided on a name for the weapons developed by the Doctor. He was well aware of how powerful they were, since he had heard from Haseul how it felt to use one—not that their power particularly mattered.

“Villains from a foreign country holding Outer Artifacts have crossed the border,” he stated. “We will not hesitate to use force.”

Despite being at a staggering disadvantage, Jinchul charged forward to attack.

“S-sir!”

Even the association hunters waiting nearby were taken aback by his speed.

At the same time, the Chinese villains laughed mockingly, unleashing thick, murderous auras from their forms.

“You must be an idiot!”

“You’ve just walked right into your own death!”

It wasn’t surprising that it seemed that way to them, at least. But once again, Jinchul was the former head of the Surveillance Division in the previous timeline. He was a highly specialized, elite agent whose skills were most suited for combat against other humans. This was even more the case in this era, where the rule was that conflicts between humans should be resolved by humans.

“Area Debuff.”

In an instant, a silent wave rippled out from Jinchul, marking the beginning. The skills he unleashed began to engulf the entire area.

“Weaken Attack Power.”

“Slow Speed.”

“Slow Senses.”

“Ignore Defense.”

“Block Sight.”

The Chinese villains stiffened. Suddenly, their bodies felt heavy, their strength was draining away, and their vision was growing dim.

“Wh-what the hell!”

“These trifling skills are nothing!”

Their panic was evident, but despite their frantic attempts to gather their mana and dispel the debuff skills Jinchul had cast, it was clear they also had experience surviving in chaos. It was all pointless. It had only been two years since the Great Cataclysm, meaning the hell

they

had survived amounted to just two years.

A single slash from Jinchul’s sword sent a head flying. There wasn’t even time for the villain to scream.

In the blink of an eye, another head, then another, fell to the ground.

“S-stop him!”

“Augh!”

When it came to fighting other humans, Jinchul was invincible.

Wiping the blood from his face, he looked back at his subordinates and gave the order. “Well? Go on. Kill them all and retrieve their weapons.”

“Y-yes sir!”

Loud replies, a beat late, burst from the hunters’ mouths. At the same time, they finally understood what the chairman meant when he mentioned going back to being a simple hunter.

Jinchul had accomplished some incredible things over the past two years, showing immense political acumen and administrative ability. The path he walked became the very history of Korea’s hunter industry, and there was no one more fitting for the role of chairman.

But that wasn’t all there was to him. Jinchul was a hunter, a veteran warrior who truly lived up to the name. On the battlefield, he fought without hesitation or even concern for his life.

Having sliced through dozens of necks in an instant, Jinchul was smiling, feeling lighter and freer than ever.

“This is what it means to say you can die without regrets.”

He was tired of holding back.

He furrowed his brow as he looked at the countless villains still crawling out from beyond the gate. He quickly realized why so many of them were flooding into this ruined, devastated wasteland at this exact moment—Sirka. Trapped within the ice, the elven princess was the only thing of value they could hope to gain from this place.

It was a pity he had sent Jongin elsewhere, but he already had an alternate solution ready.

“Come on out, Hwang Dongsoo.”

“Call me Greed. That is the name my master has seen fit to give me.”

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Jinchul’s shadow lengthened, and the shadow soldier Greed rose to his feet, his massive frame towering over the battlefield. He raised his fists toward the invaders with a smile worthy of any villain.

“Welcome, you criminals corrupted by your twisted cult.”

With that, Greed, the former high priest of the Church of the Outer Gods, struck them down with his full strength.