The Time-Limited Leader Makes the Raid a Success - Chapter 84



Only Noblemtl

Episode 85

85. I heard he was the mastermind.

“I didn’t know you’d want to meet me in such an open space.”

Ayla was closing her eyes as she felt the wind blowing through the plains. She seemed to be enjoying the special wind for a long time, savoring what was so different about it.

Kang Moo-hyuk watched her closely.

‘Mana… is flowing, enveloping that woman’s body.’

The hand of the woman wearing a robe turned over stroked the wind containing mana. With every gesture of her hand, the mana swayed. And every time, mana appeared in Kang Mu-hyeok’s eyes as if it was popping out.

The mana was green in color. It was a refreshing aura, not an ominous one like the one summoned by the Goblin Matriarch.

Strangely enough, what Kang Mu-hyeok saw seemed completely invisible to other people, even though they were hunters who were closer to Mana than anyone else.

‘I have no idea what this phenomenon is. It seems to have something to do with mana addiction.’

While Kang Mu-hyeok was lost in thought, Aila became interested in Joo Se-ah.

“Is the person next to you Joo Se-ah?”

“You, you have a strange way of speaking.”

“Wow, it’s amazing that a human can be as strong as Gong. By the standards of this place, it’s like an S-rank. I think we can aim for even higher potential.”

“No. Not there yet… … .”

“You don’t need to be humble. You are already an S-rank. You just don’t know it. All it takes is a little bit of encouragement to awaken that level.”

Joo Se Ah was speechless. Who was that woman that she was so sure she was an S-rank? It was a strange feeling to be informed by someone else of a realm that even she could not feel.

“Congratulations, Mr. Han. The S-rank we’ve been waiting for has finally arrived in South Korea.”

“Are you kidding me, Alex? Where in the world is there an S-rank that even I don’t know about?”

“Your eyesight is spot-on, Lady Ayla. I’ve heard from the elders of the Federation that you can only surpass your original level in an instant, and that you only realize it later. When you feel that power and are able to use it, you will soon be recognized as an S-rank.”

Kang Moo-hyuk was more concerned about the men standing on either side of the woman wearing a robe than the fact that Joo Se-ah had become an S-rank.

‘I’m not surprised because I think it’s only a matter of time before the guild leader becomes S-rank, but I’m a bit interested in those two.’

There wasn’t a single hunter here who wasn’t an A-rank hunter, but the men escorting the women seemed especially strong. Excluding Joo Se-ah, they were the strongest of the best, rare even in Korea.

Kang Moo-hyuk, who was not a hunter, ironically felt this fact firsthand. It may have been the effects of his mana addiction, but he felt a pressure weighing on his shoulders that he had never felt from the countless hunters he had encountered.

Kang Moo-hyuk tried to shake off the pressure without showing it.

Then Ayla spoke.

“I think you have some idea of ​​our situation, so shall we introduce ourselves formally? This is Ayla Frigga of the World Hunters’ Association.”

“Lady Ayla!”

Alex shouted in surprise when Ayla suddenly took off the robe she was wearing on her head. Even Han Byeong-gu, who had arranged this place, groaned as if he had not expected her to reveal her identity.

“homecoming…….”

Joo Sea was speechless at the sight of her.

In contrast, Kang Mu-hyeok introduced himself without any emotional ups and downs to the point of being disheartening.

“This is Kang Mu-hyeok of the Iron Will Guild.”

“Aren’t you surprised?”

“As I said on the phone, I expected that it might be an Ainz race.”

“Aha, that spy back then! He must have leaked my information, right? He really was a great guy. It’s not like you two here would miss anything. If you don’t mind, how did you notice me and spy on the Hunter Association?”

“I didn’t have the Federation in mind. I was just checking out the president’s area for other things.”

“No, this guy was gently nagging me to send reinforcements before, and now he’s not satisfied with teasing my granddaughter, and he’s openly going after the president of the Hunters Association of Korea? Did you learn your arrogance from Gilma?!”

Han Byung-goo got angry at Kang Mu-hyeok’s words and intervened. When Han Byung-goo stepped forward, Joo Se-ah naturally did not stay still either.

“Yes, yes, sir. I learned that arrogance from you.”

“Why are you putting me through what you learned from that damn guy?”

“Uncle Jang, the one who taught me was my grandfather. I learned it from him. In the end, I also learned it from my grandfather.”

“If you put it that way, aren’t you my disciple’s disciple? Are you treating your master’s master like this?”

“When did you say that Uncle Jang wasn’t your disciple? He was such a son of a bitch. He felt bad for you, so he taught you a few lessons, but then you got so angry that you kicked him out?”

“Oh my, you must be such a bitch because you learned from that bastard.”

“What should I call the person who taught that son of a bitch how to drive?”

The two argued without saying a word.

Kang Moo-hyuk and Ayla distanced themselves from them. Ayla introduced Alex and Raven one by one as they got away from the commotion.

As soon as the announcement was over, Alex handed over the documents and got to the main point.

“Goblin Godmother Report. Is this what Mr. Kang wrote?”

“That must be why. Yes. I wrote it.”

“Do you know anything about the Goblin Godmother?”

“I know that the Brazilian A-class guild was wiped out in the Amazon. I don’t know the exact process though.”

“Even though it is public data, it is a foreign report. How dare you understand it so well?”

“Because it’s my hobby. I like looking at raids and monster information from other countries.”

“The reason for the annihilation is not written in the report. What do you think, Mr. Kang?”

“Is this about summoning?”

“… … .”

Alex hesitated for a moment.

‘Are you just guessing? Or do you really know something?’

At the moment when she was trying to figure out the other person’s intentions, Ayla said.

“The Federation calls it the ‘Unknown Being.’”

“Ah, Lady Ayla, please… … .”

“Alex, why are you hiding? You’re the only one who survived the summoning of that being. It’s a shame for us.”

“Only? It sounds like there are more nuances than just the Amazon case.”

“That’s right. For example, there was the ‘Necromancer of Sader’ incident.”

“Sadder?”

“This is an incident that happened in the African country of Chad.”

“Chad… Are you talking about the undead rebellion? That it was caused by the necromancer?”

“Yes, that’s right. I heard that in your tribe’s language, they call Chad Sade. That tribe first discovered him and named him ‘Sade’s Necromancer.’”

Kang Moo-hyuk looked through the raid records he had seen before. It clearly stated that the undead were unleashed when a gate in the remote African region, where public security was unstable, burst open.

The number of undead was not small, so it expanded into a war-level mission, and as corpses rose one after another, the surrounding countries began to respond jointly.

It was later upgraded to a destruction-level mission, and was barely able to be stopped by mobilizing all of Africa’s best hunters.

“I heard that a lot of hunters lost their lives back then. Because of that, half of Africa has now become a den of monsters and villains… Did that necromancer come out of the gate?”

“No, there was no gate. That’s an external report.”

“Didn’t you just say that a necromancer appeared?”

“It wasn’t that I came out. To be exact, it was the necromancer who came into being. By transforming ordinary humans.”

“It happened?! And it happened because the person changed?”

Joo Se-ah, who had just finished arguing and joined the group, asked back in shock.

Kang Moo-hyuk knew why she was so surprised. It was because he had a history of hunting necromancers at the gate during his time in the Slayer Guild.

That’s why he knew better than anyone else the horrors of necromancers. It was only natural that he would be surprised that such a monster could appear outside the gates. He felt the same way.

Ayla nodded and continued.

“As a result, the being summoned by the necromancer in the end annihilated the African hunters. However, the cause of the necromancer’s creation was somewhere else. We also assume that the ‘unknown being’ was the cause.”

“What was the cause?”

“It was because of a certain book.”

“book?”

“There just so happens to be a word here: the code of the dead. We named it the Necronomicon.”

* * *

“Crazy! ‘Iga-jo’ came to Korea?”

It was natural for Kim Myung-jun to be surprised. This was because a Japanese guild union assassination squad had suddenly entered Korea.

Moreover, the true identity of the assassination squad is the elite Iga squad that carries on the ninja lineage.

He was the famous ‘Iga Ninja’ known as Hattori Hanzo, a vassal of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

‘Ninja is a pun. They just took the name of a ninja because they had no other name for their assassination organization. Those damned bastards. Do they know what the Sengoku period is like?’

Kim Myung-jun couldn’t hide his embarrassment. It was because of the Slayer Guild.

If it were the Japanese forces, wouldn’t they, who are shaking their heads, not know about the Igajo’s entry?

In Japan, it may not have been known, but in Korea, it was a guild that reigned as king. It would take time to figure out its identity, but at the very least, it was likely that the Japanese hunter community would have noticed the movement to interfere in Korea.

‘Even a shit dog eats half of its food in its own yard. Even though the Korean Hunter community once fell into ruin, Slayer is definitely not a place to be taken lightly. The Union is looking down on this place too much.’

With the Slayer Guild’s information power, even if there was only a thin clue left, they could have doggedly pursued it and found out his relationship with Japan.

Perhaps I didn’t know that the moment of decision was approaching. That was the situation I was in now.

Either way, it’s a one-way street.

Whether things were successful or not, his identity would be revealed.

‘Well, it did hold out for a long time. There hasn’t been much change in the domestic hunter world during that time.’

As I thought about it, the reason why this incident occurred to me.

“Kang Mu-hyeok… . Crash! Nothing has gone his way since he became the captain. Damn it, why did he have to stick with Joo Se-ah!”

When I first heard the news that a commoner would become the leader, I thought it was a mistake to laugh at it. I should have actively intervened from then on. I should have sowed discord with the Hunter Association and other guilds that looked down on the leader system and nibbled it in the bud.

Kim Myeong-jun took a deep breath to calm his excitement.

‘What’s the use of regretting what’s already past?’

His eyes were slit like a snake’s eyes. They were the very eyes that Nosongrin had described as indicating a person who could become cruel at any time.

“Now that I’m in Korea, I guess I should meet him.”

Kim Myeong-jun moved to the place that Union Asset Management’s Chae Dae-su had told him to go to to make contact with the leader of Lee Ga-jo.

The place we actually went to for our appointment was an unexpected place.

“Whoa! Brother!”

“BTA! BTA! BTA!”

A stage with lively dance music and splendid dance moves.

It was backstage in a large theater with thousands of people gathered.

“This is Ryu Shin Handa.”

“You seem to like noisy places. This is definitely a place where you can avoid attention. This is Kim Myeong-jun, executive director of Hansung Enterprise.”

Kim Myeong-jun offered to shake hands with him in fluent Japanese, but Ryu Shin ignored him and said,

“I came here simply for business. Igajo works in the entertainment industry. The purpose of my visit was to bring a Korean idol concert to Japan.”

“Are you aiming for Joo Se-ah too?”

“How can we catch Joo Se Ah when we’re not even S-rank? We never overestimate our abilities.”

“But why in Korea… … .”

“If you want to be a general, you must first knock down your horse.”

“no way…….”

“Kang.Mu.Hyeok.”

Kim Myeong-jun swallowed dry saliva.

“I heard he was the mastermind.”

* * *

‘Oh my, why Japanese? I have no idea what it’s saying. It seems like it was something about Kang Mu-hyeok or something. I guess I should get some interpretation skills or something. Huh? Is that too expensive?’

Mr. Joe was hiding in the dark, eavesdropping on their conversation.

He usually had his agents spy on Hansung Enterprise and wiretapped their phones, but whenever Kim Myeong-jun made a move, he would tail him himself.

Today, I followed Kim Myung-jun without thinking much, but I suddenly found myself meeting a suspicious person.

‘If it’s Japanese, it must be related to the Union. Considering that he’s a fairly high-level hunter, he must belong to some guild in Japan. It’s a bit hard to get close to him, isn’t it? There are too many guys hiding their presence around him. I think Kim Myung-jun knows too, but… he doesn’t seem to have figured out their exact location. Well, I guess I can guess where they are, since I’m someone like him.’

Mr. Joe knew exactly where the hunters hiding around him were. On the other hand, they were completely unaware of his presence. As hunters of the same profession, he was one step ahead of them.

‘Come to think of it, I heard there are guys similar to these guys in Japan… . Some kind of ninja, I think? Are these guys by any chance those guys?’

An anachronistic group of hunters who engage in special operations such as assassination, infiltration, and espionage.

Mr. Joe thought of the ninjas that each guild in Japan trains.

‘Hehe, whatever. These guys, this smells like money. Kang Mu-hyeok, customer, I’ll charge you for the association work from last time as well.’

* * *

“Oh my, this is annoying.”

“Huh? Euljiya, what did you say?!”

“It’s nothing.”

“what?!”

“It’s nothing!”

Amidst the cheers, Go Eul-ji raised her voice and sang along to BTA’s song while waving her fan club cheering stick.

Kim Na-ri also turned her attention to the stage, but Go Eul-ji couldn’t concentrate at all. It was because of the sounds coming and going behind the stage.

‘Hey, what kind of idol fan meeting are there so many hunters? They’re not even bodyguards. It’s annoying.’

I was just using my powers to check when BTA would come on stage before the show started, but I caught some suspicious sounds.

Goeulji’s special ability is telekinesis.

It was a superpower commonly called telekinesis. However, this ability was not simply the ability to exercise physical force. To be precise, it was the ability to control space. Telekinesis was defined as the ability to move objects in space.

Dominating space held greater potential than mere combat power.

Kang Mu-hyeok also knew this well, so he immediately recruited him, thinking that a treasure had fallen from the sky.

‘Especially that one over there. Wow! If it weren’t for my powers, I wouldn’t have noticed? It’s hiding somewhere so you don’t even know what’s there. Ugh, that thing really bothers me. If I didn’t concentrate for a bit, I think I’d miss it right away.’

On the surface, she looked like an ordinary high school girl who liked idols, but Go Eul-ji was also a top-tier A-rank hunter. Even if she tried to intentionally cut off interest, she would instinctively be wary of any secretive and sticky aura lurking around her.

Go Eul Ji was furious at those who ruined the fan meeting she had been waiting for.

‘I already have a meal voucher with the BTA guys, so are you going to just throw them away? No, no. That’s not polite to the other fans. Ugh… Hold on, hold on.’