Chapter 737

That was reality.

The Ares Guild Paris Branch no longer existed.

Neither did the people who had been peacefully starting their day nearby.

The skyscraper that once brushed the clouds had become a ruin filled with nothing but death, and the people who had been laughing and talking here only minutes ago had crossed a river they could never return from.

Just like the unknown body buried in the rubble I was staring at now.

What were they thinking?

I stared blankly at the corpse, then suddenly reached out and grabbed its arm—only realizing after I pulled that it was someone else’s arm.

And that wasn’t the end.

When one body was dragged up, three more appeared. When those were pulled free, severed limbs surfaced.

“H-how…”

“You wicked human. This… this is really…”

Hearing Team Leader Choi Minwoo and Skeleton King’s voices as if from far away, I silently looked around.

The street, devastated around what had been the Paris Branch. Smoke thick with the stench of burning flesh rose into the air, and bodies that hadn’t been recovered yet lay scattered everywhere.

Then how many people were sleeping beneath the ruins I was standing on?

And why them.

‘Why did they have to die?’

My stomach burned as if I’d swallowed a ball of fire.

I clenched my teeth until they threatened to crack. Swallowing the blood seeping from my torn lip, I forced myself to calm the Scorching Yang Energy—three full cycles of cultivation—writhing in my dantian.

I couldn’t get any more worked up than this. I had to be calm. Even if only a little.

If I couldn’t, I wouldn’t be able to face the owner of that enormous energy approaching from behind me with a clear mind.

‘Michael Silbert.’

With that name in mind, I slowly turned around.

Michael Silbert.

A name no one living in the modern world could fail to know.

He was the leader of the world’s greatest Odin Guild, and an exceptional being among the countless heroes born from the Great Cataclysm.

People loved Michael Silbert, who risked his life to save them.

And I admired him, too.

No. I used to.

Step.

Footsteps stopped behind me.

And when I turned, I saw him.

Above the ashes and ruins still radiating heat, a man looked down at us.

“So, it’s you.”

One sentence that broke the brief silence.

But it was enough. Because both of us recognized the other the instant we met.

Even without his face plastered across every kind of media, nothing would have changed.

‘This is…’

I felt it.

The tremendous power packed into that body—neither large nor small.

It was stronger than Lee Jeong-ryong, stronger than any S-rank Hunter I’d ever faced.

And that wasn’t the only thing I realized.

“…So, it’s you?”

Michael Silbert.

The moment I met his gray eyes, I became certain.

Whose work the ruins beneath my feet were.

Who had started this disaster.

And to my question—echoing his first words but carrying a different meaning—Michael Silbert answered calmly.

“That’s a pointless question. If it isn’t me, who else would it be?”

“What?”

“It’s the same predictable, clichéd story. Not even worth asking and answering anymore.”

‘What is this?’

‘What is this bastard even saying?’

For a moment, I forgot my anger in sheer disbelief. And as if baffled by my expression, he blinked.

“I don’t know why you’re looking at me like that. We already knew each other’s intentions. The negotiations fell through, so this is simply the natural outcome.”

“You bastard…”

“Didn’t Huginn warn you? That if you rejected the offer, you’d have to pay the price.”

Cutting me off as if it were nothing, the hero loved by the entire world reached out and caught the ashes drifting through the air.

“I heard you’ve been quite busy these last few weeks. Looking for an oasis in that vast desert?”

“I’ll give you one piece of advice. There are no perfect secrets in this world. Not even if it’s the Pentagon.”

He opened the fist he’d been clenching.

Ash mixed with a monster’s blood dragged up the scene I’d watched countless times only weeks ago.

Fanatics dying all around. Their screams. Desert sand sticky with blood flowing like a river…

And beyond the memories flashing before my eyes, his low voice pierced my ears.

“If you wanted a peaceful, good world, you should’ve ripped out the roots from the start.”

“…Could it be?”

“Considering the other side was a bunch of deranged fanatics, it was a very reasonable deal. I wanted the price for ignoring my warning, and they wanted a weapon for revenge.”

I understood.

The real reason behind the sudden Monster Wave.

Why the lunatic in front of me could speak with such confidence.

‘Borrowing someone else’s knife to kill someone.’

And the moment everything clicked—

Whoosh.

My vision flared hot. The Scorching Yang Energy surging from my dantian turned to lava and flowed through my limbs.

I was ready.

From the moment I first saw him, my mind had been calculating without pause—searching for the optimal move.

One step.

One step was enough.

The instant my foot hit the ground, the distance between us would vanish, and I’d shut that mouth that spewed nothing but nonsense with the Flame Extinguishing Divine Fist.

No. I had to.

For the innocent people who’d died at the hands of a fellow human being, not a monster.

And to tear out the root that would soon bring an even greater disaster.

But…

Grip.

Two hands clamped down on my shoulders, and a familiar voice stabbed into my ears.

“Jin Taekyung!”

“There are eyes watching. Not now.”

Team Leader Choi Minwoo and Skeleton King.

As I remembered whose hands were holding me back—both of them suppressing their own rage—the boiling in my chest gradually cooled.

I knew they were right.

Charging that bastard right now would be easy.

But dealing with what came after would be difficult, even for me.

‘There’s no evidence. No justification that would convince anyone.’

To the world, Michael Silbert was a hero of the Great Cataclysm—a man who defeated revenge-driven terrorists.

Even if I could kill him, if I attacked him here, I’d be branded a public enemy in an instant.

And maybe that was…

‘Exactly what that bastard wants.’

Cheon Taeman—the beginning and end of the Ares Guild—had been unconscious for a long time.

What if something happened to me now?

‘Even if I kill him here, I can’t take responsibility for what follows.’

The greatest enemy stood in front of me, but there were enemies still hidden.

By the time my thoughts reached that point, my head and heart had already cooled.

Ssssss.

As the pressure that had swelled to the brink of bursting subsided, Michael Silbert let out a small sigh.

“Ah, what a shame. I liked you better when you were full of fire.”

“Shut up. Before I tear your mouth apart.”

“If it were a mouth that could be torn that easily, someone would’ve done it hundreds of times already. But do you know what?”

He smiled faintly.

“One day, when I came to my senses, the ones who’d said the same thing as you had completely disappeared. I learned a more certain method than tearing mouths apart.”

“So be grateful you have good friends today. And it’s your great fortune that those friends are remarkably capable. Isn’t that right?”

His words were aimed at me, but his gaze wasn’t.

The way his eyes lingered past my shoulder, oddly intent, snapped my dulled vigilance back to life.

‘Skeleton King.’

He’d already had his identity thoroughly cleaned through Magic Johnson and was working as a Hunter affiliated with the Peace Guild, but it would be troublesome if he drew unnecessary attention.

Michael Silbert was exactly the kind of enemy who, once he found a weakness, would sink his teeth in without mercy.

‘Shouldn’t I have brought him?’

But as if the thought was meaningless, Michael Silbert’s interest shifted elsewhere.

“So you’re the young vice guild leader of the Ares Guild I’ve only heard about. How is your maternal grandfather?”

Team Leader Choi Minwoo replied coldly.

“He’s doing well. I don’t know how he’ll react when I deliver the news from the Paris Branch.”

“I’m sorry it turned out this way. I respect your maternal grandfather. So please, tell him properly.”

“I will. Exactly as I saw and heard.”

A reply without a moment’s hesitation.

And it was then—while Michael Silbert was looking at Team Leader Choi Minwoo.

Boom!

A group cut through the ruins with a sonic boom and arrived. At the forefront was Huginn, the herald who had visited the Ares Guild only days ago.

After flicking a glance our way, he ran straight to his master and bowed.

“Guild Leader. Everything is ready.”

“Start with the damage count.”

“Approximately three hundred casualties. Of those, forty-five survivors were rescued.”

“That’s enough. Have many people gathered?”

“Not just nearby citizens. Every reporter in Paris is waiting for the Guild Leader.”

“That’s faster than I expected.”

“We were lucky. With the release of the new Mana Cultivation Method, even foreign media were already paying close attention.”

“What about the CCTV?”

“We secured it immediately. It captured everything cleanly from start to finish. From the terrorist’s suicide bombing using raw Magic Crystal Stones and explosives, to our Odin Guild suppressing the Monster Wave.”

At first, I didn’t understand what Huginn meant by “ready.”

But as I listened to the two bastards talk, my mind turned to ice.

‘This is…’

Elaborate.

The release of the new Mana Cultivation Method.

An attack on the Paris Branch and a Monster Wave using revenge-driven Middle Eastern terrorists.

Even the press conference with every eye fixed on them.

As if dozens of gears—large and small—were meshing without a single hair’s breadth of error, everything moved according to a meticulously written plan.

And that was why they could speak so openly in front of us.

Because they knew there was no way to stop gears that had already begun turning.

Even if I screamed the truth for three days and nights in front of the countless cameras waiting in the distance, no one would believe me.

But the bigger problem was that their logic was real.

A reality that couldn’t be solved by force alone.

“I’m sorry, but I have to go now. There are many people waiting.”

Michael Silbert met my eyes, then Team Leader Choi Minwoo’s, and finally Skeleton King’s, before slowly turning away.

Then he stopped and added one last line.

“You’re going to be very busy from now on. Much more than you think.”

Clench.

I squeezed my fist as I watched his back recede, but in the end, I couldn’t reach out.

And soon enough, I understood what his last words meant.

[Ding.]

[Sudden Quest, [A Chain of Terror Has Been Created!] has been generated!]

[You cannot decide whether to accept this quest. The quest will be forcibly carried out by the system’s authority!]

It was January, when the joy of the new year hadn’t yet faded.

Winter was dyed red.

“It has begun.”

At Huginn’s low report, Michael Silbert asked calmly.

“Where is it this time?”

“It’s London.”

“The old king will be furious.”

“Buckingham Palace will be fine. But London Bridge will collapse.”

Michael Silbert chuckled at his subordinate’s dry joke.

“If we handle London… there are eight more after that.”

“Yes.”

There were ten people Huginn had brought back from the desert.

Each one a deranged fanatic and a skilled Hunter, and they would carry out their missions without a single mistake.

The bombs they set off would bring buildings down.

And the raw Magic Crystal Stones would be enough to shatter people’s hope.

‘And our Odin Guild will piece that shattered hope back together.’

Everything was already prepared.

A position reached through countless sacrifices and effort.

Not even the smallest mistake could be tolerated.

Listening to the cheers of the citizens and the approaching reporters, Michael Silbert hid his smile beneath a mournful expression.

(T/N : Shit. They’ve been had this time. I must admit, the opponent this time is not only strong but very cunning. A total counter to Taekyung. )