Chapter 183

“Come to think of it, that’s right! I felt like information was leaking ever since he joined!”

“Our youngest member went missing recently too, right? And strangely, he was the only one who came back alive! Ha! It all makes sense now!”

“Were you a lackey for Gotham?”

“You’re saying all of them are spies…?”

A murmur spread.

The members of Idam surrounded the fifty hunters, including Bokdeong, Geumdeong, and Eundeong, and began to chatter.

For a long time.

Some cursed, while others dredged up the strange incidents they’d experienced.

Step.

Vladimir stood at the center.

The Leader of 「Idam」.

The man who wished to annihilate the mafia more than anyone else in the world.

The man who chose to become mafia to kill the mafia.

Gulp!

Vladimir swallowed the lump rising in his throat.

“……”

Bow.

He bowed his head politely.

“I apologize. This is my failing as the inadequate head of the Idam organization.”

“……”

He’d been busy becoming a Ranker.

He’d received a recommendation for a good opportunity.

It all happened while he was striving for a better situation.

Managing everything was difficult because too many organizations had gathered in too short a time.

And so on.

There were many excuses, but there was no need to list them.

To be precise, he didn’t even have the energy to.

Grind!

Because he was more furious than anyone else here.

“Boss! It’s not your fault!”

“…The truth is, one of Gotham’s Rankers threatened me. Sob! He said he’d kill my only little brother!”

“M-me too! They’re the bad guys! We’re victims too!”

Maybe they’d realized there was no other way.

Bokdeong, Geumdeong, and Eundeong—the Ddeong-i brothers—finally admitted they were spies.

‘Brothers….’

Pfft.

A bitter laugh escaped Vladimir.

Did they even have brothers in the first place?

It was the first he’d heard of it.

When they joined the organization, they’d said their whole families had been killed by the mafia.

They’d said they wanted to use that anger to get revenge.

‘Well.’

If their purpose had been to spy from the beginning, that story could have been fabricated too.

“I-I had my reasons too!”

“Do you think we wanted to do this? You all know what happens in Russia if you defy Gotham!”

One by one, the spies started making excuses.

“……”

Vladimir clenched his fists.

Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind.

What if what they were saying was true?

What if it really had been unavoidable?

What if they’d acted not out of greed, but to protect someone?

Should he still hate them?

No.

In the first place, did he even have the right to judge them?

“It’s all lies.”

Fwoosh!

At that moment, Judgment Spear stepped forward, lowering his spear.

“Vladimir. I didn’t pick anyone who turned traitor for reasons like that in the first place.”

“……!”

Did that mean…

There were other traitors?

Had Judgment Spear already filtered them out by his own standards?

Zhang Wei turned his head and looked them over.

“I can clearly see the intent behind your betrayal. Petty greed. Arson. Drugs. Gambling. Murder. Abandonment. Confinement. Molestation—your intentions of avarice and crime……”

Zhang Wei recited without wavering.

“Everyone gathered here is human trash that deserves to be judged. I only picked those whose intentions can no longer be seen as human.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!”

“Who do you think you are?!”

“That’s right! Are you saying you’re some kind of god?!”

Naturally, the backlash was fierce.

A spearman shows up out of nowhere, points people out one by one, and declares them human trash.

Who wouldn’t protest?

“I am not a god, but I am Judgment Spear. And in my book, I have never failed to judge a target I have chosen.”

“……!”

It was the members of 「Idam」 who looked startled at that name.

“…Judgment Spear?”

“You mean the Hunter who only picks off villains, right? I heard China’s crime rate dropped because of Judgment Spear.”

“That’s right! They said he became a Ranker this time! Wait… it’s true! Rank 654!”

First, they recalled who he was.

“If he’s a Ranker… and not just any Ranker, but Judgment Spear, he’s trustworthy.”

“Besides, he’s the Spear King’s disciple, isn’t he?”

“Right. The Spear King’s disciple has no reason to come all this way and lie.”

“Phew… anyway, that ability of his must be something else. How is he so accurate?”

The atmosphere was already irreversible.

Everyone here had seen it.

Hadn’t even the traitors themselves admitted it?

Step.

Vladimir, who stepped forward, muttered without realizing it.

“…Why did you do it?”

His gaze was fixed on Bokdeong.

“……”

Bokdeong, who looked like he’d already resigned himself to his fate, kept his head down.

Vladimir continued.

“Your precious families died tragically because of them. You’re still human, after all… You just sold information? And with such heinous intent?”

“……”

Bokdeong’s shoulders flinched.

They shook up and down repeatedly.

Was he crying?

“Heh… heheheh… heh.”

No.

Bokdeong was laughing.

“What a load of bullshit.”

“What?”

“What did we do that was so wrong?”

Clack!

As if he’d lost his mind, Bokdeong grabbed the staff at his waist.

“Do you think the world is full of people like you? Do you think it’s only full of people who want to fight?!”

“……”

“We just adapted. Fourteen years ago, the world started running on the logic of power, and we followed the stronger power. Morality? Screw that!”

Bokdeong slammed his staff into the ground.

He shouted at all the hunters surrounding him.

“The crimes you all cry about have already become the new morality of this world! Is it so wrong to adapt to survive? Fuck, what do you want me to do?!”

“What do you mean, what should you do?”

Vladimir fired back immediately.

The anger and sorrow had vanished from his eyes.

It was like looking at a real insect.

Whatever lingering emotions he had, he’d shed them completely.

“If an enemy spy gets caught, they die. That’s all.”

Fwoong! Thud!

The spatial gate Bokdeong was about to open closed with a simple gesture from Vladimir.

They were both Space Mages.

But the gap in their level was stark.

“Dammit!”

“Whether you’re right or wrong, or what you think, doesn’t matter. Our 「Idam」 was created to stop 「Gotham」. And what we’re about to do now is face our main enemy.”

Vladimir nodded once.

“You are our main enemy. That’s all.”

With that signal, the executives of 「Idam」 drew their weapons and charged.

—

“Wow, that’s brutal.”

Asura Im Sujin grimaced in disgust.

My classmates, along with Ki Soyul and Kwon Soye, were each taking position and preparing for battle.

“It can’t be helped. This is war,” I muttered.

Vladimir dealt with the traitors brutally.

Those who resisted were killed in gruesome ways.

The rest were tortured over time to extract information.

Maybe they were all low-level members.

Or maybe Andrey had really cut off the flow of information.

Either way, none of them spit out anything useful.

In the process, some bit down on poison capsules and died.

Others died during the torture.

Vladimir didn’t bother keeping the traitors alive.

[Space Mage: Thank you for the time.]

[Space Mage: Should we prepare now?]

After all, I’d declared I would destroy everything anyway.

I’d said the information didn’t matter in the end.

More than their words, a single word from the Elder floating beside me was far more valuable.

[Space Mage: Understood.]

[Space Mage: We will get ready immediately.]

Rumble…

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

The ground trembled as a considerable number of people began to move.

I roughly counted the combatants of 「Idam」.

‘Around 7,000….’

That was almost the same size as my Skeleton Legion.

Vladimir controlled the leaders of each organization, arranging the troops in perfect order.

“Waaaaaah!”

“We’ll chew up all those Gotham bastards! Let’s avenge the citizens who died unjustly!”

“Fight! We must fight to protect our families!”

“Ugh! Uwaaaaaaah!”

As he moved, he raised morale with speeches.

He also spread word about which Rankers were helping.

[Space Mage: What should we do now?]

[Space Mage: Do we attack right away?]

[Skeleton King: Yes, we should.]

Grin.

I smiled.

Now that they were done, was it my turn?

‘Usually.’

You need a bit of a show before a battle begins.

Skeletons might not care.

But for humans, this kind of thing really boosts fighting spirit.

Thud!

I dropped my staff to the ground.

And at the same time, I used my skeleton summoning skill.

“Bone One, Sunny, Kayden, Bone Five, Dana, Bone Eight. Come forth.”

Rattle-rattle-rattle!

Six dependable skeletons rose through billowing dust.

“My liege.”

“We await your command.”

“Oh, Master…”

As if on cue, they slammed their weapons into the ground.

Thud! Thud-thud-thud!

At the same time, the subordinates of my subordinates began to appear in a chain reaction.

S-ranks summoned A-ranks.

A-ranks summoned B-ranks.

A Skeleton Legion of 6,666 in total.

[Absolute Unrivaled: Kya, there they are?]

[Spring Apostle: This really gives me goosebumps every time I see it. The Skeleton Legion.]

[Water Witch: They’re not even just skeletons. Each and every one of them is like a boss-level monster.]

[Absolute Unrivaled: The funniest part is that the summoner who summoned them is the strongest of all.]

My classmates marveled in the chat.

“Huh…”

“…Crazy.”

Kwon Soye and Im Sujin watched with appalled expressions.

“Ooooh!”

“C-crazy? What is all that?!”

“They say it’s the skill of the person called Skeleton King!”

“Waaaah! Our forces have nearly doubled!”

“But aren’t those just skeletons? Will they really be helpful?”

“Are you crazy? Can’t you see? Does that magnificent sight look like ordinary skeletons to you? Besides, look at those commanders. They’re oozing with presence!”

“…You’re right. And he’s the highest-ranked Ranker among us. Let’s be grateful instead of doubting him.”

As expected, the members of 「Idam」 cheered enthusiastically.

Enjoying their reaction, I summoned the Elder next to me.

[Using skill, ‘Legacy of the Ten Thousand Arts’ (SS-rank).]

[Consuming 20 Energy.]

[‘Master of the Ten Thousand Arts’ appears.]

– “Kekeke, are you ready?”

“Yes, Elder.”

– “Then what are you waiting for? We must hurry and go see, kekeke.”

For some reason, the Elder seemed to be looking forward to it.

—

The center of the Dungeon.

In a corner of the Formation Andrey had cast, The Ruthless Zima came to find Andrey.

“Andrey.”

“Yeah. How’s Steel Fist?”

“That guy? His will is almost broken. He looks like he’ll fall for it soon.”

“It’s only natural he’d break. He’s been fighting nonstop for three days.”

Andrey nodded.

“What about the others?”

“Those guys who came in droves? About fifty percent are dead. Some melted in the poison while trying to escape, and some committed suicide. Heheh, what morons.”

The survivors Steel Fist had brought with him hadn’t been wiped out for one simple reason.

It was so they could be completely controlled by the Vile Dokgo Andrey had spread.

“Then they’ll be ready soon too.”

For the Vile Dokgo to take effect, their will to fight had to be completely broken.

Dokgo didn’t feed on patience or fighting spirit.

It fed on negative emotions like fear, despair, and anger.

“Heheheh.”

Zima laughed as if he found it amusing.

“Still, we harvested quite a lot this time. I saw a few Rankers too. Oh, and that Skeleton King—you know him. Looks like he’s gathered even more Rankers. Isn’t this going to be a headache?”

“…It’s fine. As long as we don’t go outside the Formation.”

“Are you sure it’s fine?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry, just get the kids and the troops ready. If Steel Fist has been taken, add him to the forces too.”

Steel Fist was a Ranker.

And if you used Vile Dokgo on a Ranker, you could create a truly absurd monster.

“…Yeah, that’s not a problem.”

“Then that’s it. The guys outside? They’re nothing, I tell you. Just do what we always do.”

Andrey lowered his voice, as if he had no worries at all.

“Because no matter who they are, they’ll just become food for my Dokgo…”

The Elder floated in the air, sitting cross-legged.

Andrey glanced at him furtively.

‘Dang Hwipyeong.’

He was—

‘A monster among monsters, one that can truly be called a monster.’