Chapter 738
There was a strange magic in the words “New Year.”
The excitement of starting another year. The vague expectation that everything would be better than the last.
But in January, before the first page of the new calendar could even be turned, those hopes and expectations were shattered in an instant.
– This is breaking news. Following the report from Paris just an hour ago, a second Monster Wave has occurred in London, England. Central London is currently in extreme chaos, and King Phillip II of England is…
– Another breaking news report! Another Monster Wave has occurred in Mumbai, India! This is the third Monster Wave to occur in a single day—an unprecedented event since the Great Cataclysm…
– Oh my god. Is everyone seeing this? The symbol of Rio de Janeiro, Christ the Redeemer, is collapsing!
It was the beginning of a disaster.
First, the Luxembourg Gardens in France were stained with blood, the historic London Bridge collapsed, and Brazil’s massive 600-ton statue of Christ the Redeemer fell—crushing buildings and people beneath it.
Rumble!
The ground shook with a roar.
And waiting for the people who barely managed to stay upright was the sound of something crying from beyond the flames rising with the explosions.
Grrr…
Monster Wave.
True to the name synonymous with catastrophe, the monster army that tore through space surged outward like a wave.
Krooooar!
“M-monsters!”
“Evacuate!”
“Aaaaaaah!”
The forest of buildings raised by brilliant civilization drowned in screams.
Some fled. Some were caught and torn apart. Others fought the otherworldly monsters with shining weapons.
“Formation! Don’t back down!”
“Ranged units, fire!”
Kugugung. KRAAAANG!
Humans and monsters. Monsters and humans.
Two races that could never coexist from the beginning crashed into each other, and the fire that started in Paris spread across the world.
[Moscow’s Red Square stained with blood by monsters.]
[Another disaster strikes China. The Forbidden City engulfed in flames.]
[Five Monster Waves in one day. Pope Urbano VIII, upon hearing the news: “Oh, God.”]
[The sixth Monster Wave occurs in New York. Wall Street in shock.]
[Tokyo Tower occupied by flying monsters. Secondary damage caused by the crashed Air Self-Defense Force.]
[Michael Silbert, leader of the Odin Guild, who quickly suppressed the first Monster Wave, releases CCTV footage obtained in Paris: “This is not just a disaster, but a deliberate act of terrorism.”]
Major cities with populations in the millions—tens of millions—plunged into chaos.
People watching the endless stream of shocking reports on TVs and smartphones were left speechless.
Disaster.
The only word that could describe what was happening.
At the same time, fear spread like an epidemic, paralyzing reason.
“Hello? Did you see the news? I’m coming to pick you up from school right now…”
“Hey, what are you doing?”
“Can’t you see? I’m packing.”
“Hey. I still have a long way to go before I get off work. What are you talking about?”
“Damn it, is that what matters right now? I have to take care of my family first.”
“Hey, hey! Manager Kim!”
The Monster Wave was like an unpredictable natural disaster, and people abandoned whatever they were doing and moved as if they’d lost their minds.
Back to homes where their families waited. Or to emergency shelters where their chances of survival were even slightly higher.
As if to prove it, offices emptied, work halted, roads seized up, and crowds in subway stations couldn’t let go of their phones.
What weighed on them now was unseen, extreme fear and anxiety.
The fear that a Monster Wave might erupt right here.
The anxiety that they—or their loved ones—might die because of it.
WEE-OOO, WEE-OOO!
Temporary state of emergency.
– Temporary state of emergency. Residents living nearby should prepare for the worst and evacuate to emergency shelters…
A state of emergency was declared simultaneously across the world.
Sirens wailed through the streets. The military, armed with heavy weapons, and urgently summoned Hunters waited with tense faces for the government’s instructions.
Until the sun—or the moon—over their heads vanished, depending on the region.
Until, after a long wait, the next announcement finally came.
The temporary state of emergency is lifted.
Twenty-four hours after the first Monster Wave struck Paris, France, the disaster that felt like it would last until the world ended finally concluded in Cairo, Egypt.
Leaving behind an unprecedented, horrific record: ten Monster Waves in a single day.
And the hero who successfully stopped five of them stepped before countless cameras.
“The Odin Guild will continue to do its best as your sword and shield.”
Michael Silbert.
As he shed hot tears and honored the souls of the fallen, people wept with him.
Everyone cheered the hero who had saved so many, and the Odin Guild.
No. Not exactly everyone.
Bang!
A dozen hologram TVs shattered into dust with a roar.
Staring at the empty space where his face had been just moments ago, I finally opened my mouth.
“Should I apologize?”
Team Leader Choi Minwoo, sitting on a nearby sofa, shook his head.
“It’s fine. Either way, if Jin Taekyung hadn’t stepped in, I would’ve smashed them myself.”
It wasn’t exaggeration. It wasn’t empty talk.
I stared at his clenched fist. Blood dripped from his pale knuckles.
Mixed with the green blood of a monster he hadn’t wiped away.
Drip. Drip.
The pure white wool carpet stained red and blue, but no one in the room cared.
Everything around us just felt cold and hollow.
‘We’ve been played. Completely.’
Ten times.
We failed to stop even one of the ten Monster Waves. No—more accurately, we couldn’t stop them.
‘Because it was planned from the beginning.’
It was impossible to stop Monster Waves erupting in major cities thousands—tens of thousands—of kilometers apart.
Even if Magic Johnson had been with us, nothing would have changed.
Today’s Monster Waves were terrorism from start to finish—bombs that went off regardless of time or place.
And what awaited us when we arrived too late, chasing after the reports, was more ruins and more corpses.
The only difference from Paris was where the later Monster Waves occurred.
‘What they were aiming for weren’t the Ares Guild’s overseas branches.’
The targets chosen by the terrorists working hand in hand with Michael Silbert were diverse.
Tourist attractions packed with people. Headquarters of major companies everyone knew by name.
But among them, the most frequently struck targets were the branches of major guilds—like Ares.
“Why the hell…?”
At the single word that slipped out, I added another for Team Leader Choi Minwoo, who lifted his head.
“Target.”
That alone was enough. Team Leader Choi Minwoo, staring at the empty space with hollow eyes, answered.
“Isolation.”
“Isolation?”
“Yes. Isolating the Ares Guild. That must be Michael Silbert’s aim.”
“But why… like the Paris Branch—”
I trailed off. Thoughts tangled and raced through my head. Somewhere in them was an answer I still hadn’t fully grasped.
‘A Middle Eastern terrorist organization.’
The mission of the ones who joined hands with Michael Silbert wasn’t over.
The final blow—the blue blade that would isolate the Ares Guild from the world—was already rushing toward us.
Maybe even now.
===
Step. Step.
Footsteps echoed in the dark, sounding unnaturally loud.
Whether it was because there were dozens of them, or because they were crossing a space like a cavern of pitch-black stone, one thing was certain.
This was a place no one knew, and no one could find.
Step.
The footsteps that seemed endless stopped all at once.
Something flickered in the darkness.
“Inshallah.”
At the whisper that brushed their ears, dozens of people dropped to their knees and prostrated themselves.
And as one, they answered.
“Inshallah.”
God willing.
A spell that bound them together, and a prayer that reminded them of their own greatness.
And the figure flickering beyond the darkness finally revealed itself.
Swish.
A long robe brushed the ground. The people lowered their heads even further and murmured in unison.
“The lowly servants of Allah greet the great Prophet.”
Prophet.
Those three letters—referring to a being whose face they didn’t dare look upon—were inviolable to them.
“Raise your heads.”
At the mysterious voice, impossible to place by gender or age, the people trembled.
They answered with their faces still pressed to the ground.
“How could lowly servants dare to face the great Prophet?”
“Please withdraw the order.”
Whoosh.
A gust of wind from nowhere wrapped around them.
And within that wind, the Prophet’s voice reached their ears.
“What happened to them?”
No one misunderstood who “them” meant.
The old man prostrating at the very front opened his mouth.
“They completed their assigned mission and returned to God’s embrace.”
The Prophet nodded faintly.
“Inshallah. So it must be.”
“Inshallah.”
Ten warriors scattered across the five oceans and six continents beyond the desert.
They had completed their mission as warriors of God and returned to His embrace.
Now it was time to collect the blood price.
The Prophet spoke in that mysterious voice.
“Let the whole world know what caused all of these disasters.”