Chapter 747

Beneath a sky shrouded in dark clouds, Sugihara Kyoiku stared blankly into space, lost in thought.

‘What on earth is happening?’

His mind, that of a mere ordinary civilian, couldn’t accept the situation unfolding around him.

His trembling limbs no longer obeyed him, and his stomach—still full of the briny taste of seawater—couldn’t endure the rescue helicopter’s violent sway.

No, maybe what Kyoiku truly couldn’t withstand was the sudden, horrifying reality that had crashed down upon him.

“Urgh, guehehegh!”

Filthy vomit splattered in all directions.

Some of it landed on others tangled in the rescue net with Kyoiku, but no one complained or paid it any mind.

They only stared with vacant eyes at the scene below.

Crrrrrumble!

Shattering, collapsing, being swept away.

A massive wave—tens of meters high. Maybe even hundreds.

A maritime catastrophe, unbelievable even as they witnessed it firsthand, was swallowing everything.

The port of Tokyo Bay, where hundreds of ships came and went daily, had already vanished without a trace. Freighters weighing tens of thousands of tons were smashed like styrofoam, then swept inland to drown the nearby industrial complex.

BOOM! KABOOOM!

A fierce blaze erupted with a deafening roar, swallowing the screams of the people.

Under the incessant blare of sirens, cars and crowds that looked as small as ants scattered in all directions.

To escape the disaster.

To escape this horrific calamity.

Unable to accept the fate that had befallen them.

And behind them, as they struggled desperately to survive, a massive shadow loomed.

ROOOOOAR!

“Ah, aah…”

The survivors watching the spectacle from the air let out stunned gasps.

The home they had painstakingly restored with blood, sweat, and tears over the decades since the Great Cataclysm. Their brilliant civilization was crumbling.

The once-white sea foam that used to scatter against the breakwater, the once-blue seawater—now everything was stained red.

There was nothing that could stop that colossal wave as it smashed through everything in its path.

No, even if the wave were to subside, it would be the same.

Because this was no mere natural disaster.

Because beneath those deep currents that had swallowed the port and industrial complex, an even greater calamity lurked.

The survivors who had miraculously stayed alive knew that truth. That was why, the moment they spotted dozens of fighter jets flying in from the opposite direction, they could only scream as if coughing up blood.

“Ah, no!”

“Don’t come!”

But their desperate cries reached nowhere.

Not to the fighter squadron tearing across the sky with sonic booms.

Not to Japan’s elite Hunters aboard those fighters, rushing in to contain the situation.

And… not to the deep-sea monster that had awakened from its long slumber.

BOOOOOOM.

A low yet massive reverberation stirred the subsiding waves back to life.

The intensifying wind twisted into a storm, and a roar echoed from within the countless dark clouds that now smothered the sky.

RUMMMMMBLE…!

Every living creature nearby, as if turned to stone, stared vacantly upward.

It was terror etched deep into their bones—an instinctive certainty they felt because they were alive.

Power.

The power of nature, yet at the same time, something unnatural.

“What on earth is that…”

The moment the pilot, about to relay the descent order to the waiting Hunters, muttered the words like a groan—

WHOOSH!

Hundreds, thousands of streaks of lightning plunged from the sky, bleaching the entire world white.

The Japanese Ministry of Defense’s operations control room, assembled on emergency orders, was quiet.

A suffocating silence. Throats bobbing soundlessly. Pupils unfocused.

Despite dozens of high-ranking officials and generals packed into the room, not a single person spoke first.

All they could do was stare with vacant eyes at the hologram screens installed throughout the control room.

‘Right now… what on earth is happening?’

The one thought occupying everyone’s minds.

What they had just witnessed was that shocking.

A brilliant flash intense enough to fill the hologram screens. And after they reflexively squeezed their eyes shut, all that remained was the sight of dozens of aircraft plummeting from the sky, and the wave swallowing them whole.

“Tha… that’s total annihilation.”

Someone’s tactless report weakly shattered the silence, voicing the truth everyone wanted to deny.

Everything was gone. No, dead.

Those hundreds, thousands of lightning bolts had turned everything within their range to ash.

The rescue helicopters carrying the miraculously surviving victims, the fighter squadron the Air Self-Defense Force prided itself on, and the hundreds of Hunters mobilized in an emergency—all met their end.

But what plunged the operations control room into a deathly silence wasn’t only the tsunami that had already swallowed up to ten cities and was now threatening the capital itself.

Monster.

They had seen the form of a monster that had disappeared decades ago, one they believed would never appear again.

“…Susanoo.”

The monster’s epithet, given for its supposed dominion over the sea and storms.

But the general who muttered that name like a groan hurriedly shut his mouth.

The next moment, he felt the Minister of Defense’s glare bore into him.

“Tha, that’s…”

“Shut your trap and stay put, Yoshimura.”

The Japanese Minister of Defense cut off the hurried explanation and looked around.

Half of those who should have been proposing countermeasures immediately were still floundering, unable to break free from the shock. The other half simply waited for him to speak again.

Like baby birds waiting to be fed.

Or maybe they wanted a single sacrificial lamb to shoulder the responsibility for this incident in their place.

Grind.

The old Minister of Defense gritted his teeth.

With so many generals and officials present, no matter how he looked, there was no suitable person.

The foolish and cowardly Prime Minister had already holed up in a bunker. And the few capable, responsible commanders lacked the backing needed to even enter this Ministry of Defense control room.

In the end, there was only one person who could shoulder the burden immediately.

‘These incompetent bastards!’

Forgetting that he himself had risen thanks to ancestors who were feudal lords, the Minister of Defense spat curses in his mind. But he wasn’t so ignorant as to deny the reality crashing down before his eyes.

“Stop it. Stop that thing with all our might. It doesn’t matter if it’s the Self-Defense Forces or Hunters. Mobilize every possible means at our disposal.”

“Yes, yessir!”

“And…”

Bang!

The Minister of Defense slammed the table with his wrinkled hand, then tightly shut his eyes, unable to continue.

‘Really. Do we really have to go this far?!’

A brief conflict flashed through his mind.

But it lasted only an instant.

The situation had already spiraled beyond control, and to prevent an even greater catastrophe, ‘his’ existence was more suitable than anyone else’s.

“Request aid from the world. Especially him. We must call him, no matter the diplomatic cost.”

“Excuse me?”

“Him…”

Lips trembling like a child forced to eat broccoli, the Minister of Defense faced the incomprehension in their eyes and screamed as if coughing up blood.

“Him! Call that Chosen One! Jin Taekyung!”

As a proud citizen of the Great Empire, his pride couldn’t bear it, but he had no other choice.

That monster, Leviathan, was a devil sent by the heavens.

‘We cannot repeat that nightmare again!’

And not long after, the news streaming from the large and small hologram TVs throughout the control room proved that the Minister of Defense’s choice was correct.

The world is once again engulfed in flames. Ten days ago, the so-called ‘Prophet,’ who perpetrated an unprecedented series of terror attacks, forewarned a second series of attacks through a video…

Breaking news. A Monster Wave has occurred in Manhattan, USA. Starting with this, the United States and the entire world have entered a state of maximum emergency…

Entry and exit bans have been issued for countries where Monster Waves have occurred. Accordingly, the temporary conscription order for Hunters to support Tokyo, Japan, has been partially canceled. In Asia, only South Korea is judged to be capable of providing support…

The Japanese Ministry of Defense has formally requested emergency support through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The news delivered by President Baek Hanseong was a signal flare announcing that everything had begun.

“Ares and the Peace Guild are deploying as the vanguard. Five teams, comprised only of volunteers B-rank or higher, are already on standby.”

Team Leader Choi Minwoo’s response was faster than anyone’s.

He issued the mobilization order the moment he first received word from Tokyo, and President Baek Hanseong had the Air Force prepared to reach the destination as quickly—and as safely—as possible.

“What about the Teleportation Magic Circle?”

At my question as I gathered the necessary equipment, Team Leader Choi Minwoo shook his head.

“We can try, but the probability of failure is too high right now. The Magical Power Distribution in the Tokyo area was already sharply increased by the Monster Wave ten days ago, and it’s now recording levels over three times higher.”

“Damn it. Reminds me of China.”

“Yes. It’s the same situation as back then.”

Mana and Magical Power are mutually antagonistic.

Attempting spatial teleportation when the Magical Power Distribution is rapidly increasing and unstable like this could end with your body disassembled like a thousand-piece puzzle, even if it were made of solid iron.

“Then the estimated time?”

“Considering the worsening weather in the area, about thirty minutes.”

“Thirty minutes…”

Of course, there would be no such thing as a safe landing on a wide airport runway.

There was a more than ninety percent chance that Tokyo International Airport, which Japan prided itself on, was already smashed to pieces.

‘And the remaining ten percent is the chance it gets smashed while we’re on our way.’

I took a deep breath.

The footage from the Japanese Ministry of Defense replayed in my mind.

The Maritime Self-Defense Force being swept away by a massive triangular wave, and the land sinking under it.

The extensive Defense Magic installed along the Japanese coastline shattering as if it were nothing.

It swallowed tens of thousands of people, then reduced what little hope remained to ash with countless bolts of lightning.

As if proving a power passed down from distant myth.

‘Leviathan.’

The devil of the sea that ruled the oceans during the Great Cataclysm.

One of the most powerful S-rank monsters under the command of the Demon King Asmodeus—a calamity that vanished with his death.

Some claimed Leviathan had died with the Demon King. Others insisted it had survived and was merely biding its time. But with no evidence or proof, time had flowed on endlessly.

And today.

The nightmare named Leviathan had revived—leaping over thirty-some years, straight into this world.

‘Is its appearance a coincidence? Or…’

An inevitability intended by someone.

Swallowing that unanswered question, I finished my preparations and strode toward the waiting Hunters and aircraft.

The wind blowing from afar seemed to carry a faint scent of blood.