Chapter 736
The beginning was certainly insignificant.
Just a slight tremor. Nothing more, nothing less.
But that was only a small prelude.
The ground shook.
The visitors lined up in front of the Louvre instinctively ducked, and the lower-class residents of the 10th arrondissement of Paris—who had been grabbing each other by the collars and brawling—scattered with curses.
And the citizens of the 6th arrondissement of Paris…
“Ah…”
They forgot to scream, staring blankly at the scene unfolding before their eyes.
Gooooong.
Dark-red darkness surged upward, coiling around the towering skyscrapers.
Everyone held their breath before that ominous, overwhelming energy—something they had never experienced before.
KRAAAANG!
The skyscraper that had housed the Ares Guild Paris Branch exploded as if it had burst from within.
The layered defensive magic wrapping the building’s exterior.
The solid framework designed to withstand missile strikes.
All of it shattered and blew apart.
Large and small fragments—once part of the fifty-story building—rained down, engulfed in flames.
Fwoosh, whoooom!
Unbelievable, yet undeniable reality.
Faced with countless fragments pouring down and blotting out the sky, people suddenly thought that the day of the apocalypse spoken of in the Bible might be today.
And as they watched the strangely warped air that followed, that guess hardened into desperate certainty.
Flaaash!
Though they had never witnessed it firsthand, people living amid a civilization more brilliant than any before knew the name of this phenomenon.
“Monster Wave.”
Someone’s voice spilled out like a groan.
But even as countless fragments rained down on their heads, and monsters stepped out from beyond the distorted space, no one could run.
The Sorbonne students biking to school.
The young couple strolling through the Luxembourg Gardens with a stroller.
The police officers rushing to calm the citizens.
Everyone moving busily in their respective places—everyone in the 6th arrondissement of Paris—froze, seized by bone-deep fear and a creeping chill.
And the next moment.
KRA-KRA-KABOOM!
With a rain of fire covering a radius of about a hundred meters, the gate to hell opened.
Thump. Thump.
Arms and legs as thick as temple pillars.
Giant monsters with two heads on a single body roared, pounding their chests.
— Guwoooooooo!
Chachang!
Glass shattered everywhere, unable to endure the tremors packed into that roar.
Fear—something only upper-level monsters could emit—lashed out like an invisible rope, binding thousands of humans.
— Krreureu.
A whimper steeped in deep satisfaction.
The time for hunting had come.
No, it certainly should have.
Swish—WHOOM!
At that moment, in a flash of light, the monster at the very front staggered. Everything above its shoulders was gone.
Kuoong!
The ground shook as the monsters—now numbering around a hundred—raised their heads as if on cue.
Among the thousands of humans standing as if nailed in place, the beasts hidden among the sheep revealed themselves.
With a dazzling flash too fast for the eye to follow.
Swish—THWACK!
Thud-thud-thud.
Flesh and bone were crushed, and blue blood sprayed everywhere.
The Twin Head Ogre, having lost one of its two heads, stumbled back without even understanding what danger awaited it.
Crack!
A huge fist burst its remaining head like a watermelon.
A fearsome strength and physique unlike other ogres.
In the giant’s massive pupils—as it licked the brains smeared across its fist—the figure of a human with golden eyes was reflected.
Karsh. Marto.
A demonic tongue that sounded like a curse.
But the human with golden eyes, Huginn, ignored it, turned his head, and politely bowed to someone behind him.
“It’s a Named Monster, a Giant Ogre. What would you like to do?”
A calm voice answered.
“Not bad. This is enough to show them.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll handle it. Clean up the rest.”
That was all.
The moment the order fell, Huginn and a hundred Hunters became one and crossed the space—like storm and lightning drawn across their armor.
Like the two letters that symbolized them.
Odin, the ancient god.
Swish! Chwaak!
Collision. And slaughter.
Arms and legs as thick as logs soared into the air, and dazzling Aura split the overflowing magic power.
It was like a scene from mythology.
Even in myths filled with countless characters, there is always a single protagonist who shines alone.
— Kuwoooooooo!
Splat!
With one strike, the roar that seemed ready to swallow the city vanished.
Kuuuuung!
The Giant Ogre—tens of meters tall—dropped to its knees.
Before a human who was, compared to the mountain-like monster, insignificantly small.
But to those who witnessed everything without missing a second, he didn’t look insignificant at all.
The hero who protected them from danger.
A true giant stood there.
The people who had returned from the brink of death screamed the name of that hero—or those heroes—in one voice.
“Michael! Michael!”
“Odin Guild!”
Amid the deafening roar spreading like wildfire, Michael declared in a powerful voice.
“Rest assured. As long as I and the Odin Guild protect you, there will be no danger.”
And as he looked at the ruins buried under concrete rubble, he added in a voice too small for anyone else to hear.
“At least for today.”
With a faint smile, he stepped toward the remaining monster horde.
Ares.
Trampling on that name—its luster gone—fallen from the building along with countless fragments.
[Odin Guild Declares Support for Ares]
[Odin Guild Leader Michael Silbert, “I applaud Ares’ efforts for the public good and will walk alongside them.”]
[Odin Guild Suddenly Releases New Mana Cultivation Method!]
[Odin Guild High-Ranking Official, “A large-scale project we’ve prepared for several years. You may say we’re doing this with public opinion in mind, but we will endure it…” Dismissing controversy ahead of release.]
Early morning.
The news I heard through Skeleton King was surprising enough.
The problem was that before that surprise could even fade, another wave crashed in.
A much bigger, far more terrifying wave.
Bzzz. Bzzzz.
Team Leader Choi Minwoo’s smartphone, lying on the table, vibrated.
The breaking news that came through the hologram TV a few seconds later was unbelievable.
A Monster Wave has occurred in Paris, France. The location of the incident is a high-rise building in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, and it has been revealed to be the Ares Guild Paris Branch, causing widespread shock…
The French government has begun a blockade operation in the 6th arrondissement of Paris in accordance with international emergency law, and the exact number of casualties and details of the suppression operation are not yet known.
Locals testify that the Odin Guild, located nearby, was the first to head to the scene…
News spilling out from the several TVs installed around the restaurant.
But among the many words pouring from mouths of different skin colors and languages, only three phrases pierced my ears.
Monster Wave. Ares Guild Paris Branch.
And…
Odin.
Ding.
— Sudden Quest, [Darkness Descends on Paris] has been generated!
— You cannot decide whether to accept this quest. The quest will be forcibly carried out by the system’s authority!
[Darkness Descends on Paris]
Every choice always has consequences.
Your enemies have destroyed the Ares Guild Paris Branch, and the city once full of vitality is now buried beneath monsters’ roars and darkness.
Save them as soon as possible, repel the monster army, and prevent innocent victims!
Difficulty: Super Extreme
Restriction: Jin Taekyung
Mission: Rescue survivors of the Paris Branch (Incomplete).
Suppress the Monster Wave (Incomplete).
Reward: Determined by the result.
Failure: Determined by the result.
Everything was sudden.
The system notifications ringing in my ears, the hologram windows floating in the air before me.
But the moment I saw and heard it all, my body was already moving on instinct.
No—so were all of us.
“Gather around me. Quickly!”
The moment Team Leader Choi Minwoo barked the urgent order and tore the Magic Scroll from his pocket—
Flaaash!
A dazzling light swallowed us whole.
If I can’t come to help, and you need to move somewhere as quickly as possible, make sure to use this. If you know the exact coordinates, you’ll be able to arrive at your destination safely.
A few weeks ago, around the time the Middle East Suppression Operation ended, Magic Johnson had handed me that Magic Scroll with those words.
And the dozens of Teleport Scrolls I received then were being burned through in seconds now.
Riiip!
The specially treated, tough parchment tore. At once, the mana sleeping inside awakened, and the bright flash embraced us again—leaping toward the chosen coordinates.
Paaat!
Flashes erupted without pause.
As we kept hopping across space—tens of kilometers at a time nearby, hundreds of kilometers at a time farther out—our bodies began to creak, and our minds started screaming with fatigue.
‘Hop.’
The overload from repeatedly activating space-movement magic.
But no one stopped.
Not even Team Leader Choi Minwoo, who was likely bearing the greatest burden.
Crunch.
He clenched his teeth and pulled out another scroll.
Ignoring the foreign airport Hunters thrown into confusion by the unauthorized space movement, he tore one scroll, then another, before the backlash could even fade.
He tore and tore, without end.
Each time the flash blazed, the scenery changed—and so did the skin and language of the people around us.
And when the flash—after I’d lost count—finally subsided…
We saw it.
The ruins that had once been called the Ares Guild Paris Branch.
The corpses of giant monsters scattered everywhere, and a tomb of concrete and rebar where not even a trace of life remained.
At the same time, a sound only I could hear stabbed into my ears.
Beep.
— You have not completed any missions.
— The Sudden Quest, [Darkness Descends on Paris] fails.
— There are always rewards and prices for everything. Penalties will be given for quest failure.
— Experience is greatly reduced.
— Fame is greatly reduced.
— Special Title, [Bystander] will be applied for the next 30 days.
— All stats are reduced by 10% due to the penalty effect of the Special Title, [Bystander].
“…Ah.”
A short groan slipped out.
Quest failure?
Massive penalties?
None of that mattered.
Neither did the surrounding commotion as the area belatedly noticed our arrival, nor the group moving through the ruins.
All my senses were fixed on just one line among the hologram windows floating in the air.
You have not completed any missions.
That was all.
That cold, rigid sentence pierced my eyes, scraped through my head, and I already knew what it meant.
‘They’re dead. All of them.’