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Chapter 143: The Harbinger of the Cataclysm Pt. 3

Everyone was taken aback.

"It\'s an earthquake! It\'s an earthquake!" shouted an urgent voice from outside the room.

However, the owner of the voice wasn’t seeing things properly.

These tremors, the ones shaking the ground, weren\'t from an earthquake. No, they were from the collapse of a gate. This was the resulting explosion of mana.

Along with.

“Monsters…!”

The sound of monsters going on a rampage.

Crash!

Someone opened the door and went outside. However, the monster had already become a cold corpse and was lying on the ground.

They couldn’t forget it—even with this crisis, this was still the accommodations of the Korean Association, and there were other Hunters here as well.

“...”

Although this was a possible gate collapse, everyone stood silent and grave.

There were screams coming from outside of the building. The sounds of monsters attacking ordinary humans and the sounds of Hunters clashing with these monsters.

As if the gate that had collapsed, forming a gate break, had a low rating, the grade of the monsters didn’t seem to be that high.

The Hunters outside seemed to be quickly handling the monsters.

However, that wasn’t the problem.

“The gate break was so sudden…”

“There weren’t any signs of it beforehand.”

The gate break had occurred so suddenly.

Generally, a gate break only occurred if a gate wasn’t cleared in time. However, there should have been signs of it. With those signs came some spare time to prepare.

That was why the humans had been able to defend against the monsters after the Hunters had appeared.

However, this time, there were no signs. Moreover, there was an even bigger problem as well.

Horus stepped forward and said, “There wasn’t an existing gate near Cairo.”

Everyone’s expression became even stiffer.

“That means…” Horus said after examining everyone as if attempting to explain the situation. “The gate break that just happened was with a gate that collapsed at the same time as it appeared.”

Horus’ gaze was steely.

This was a never-before-seen occurrence. The fact that a gate had collapsed as soon as it appeared was terrifying.

“This means that there won’t be any time to evacuate or prepare the general public…” Yashin said in a low voice.

As he spoke, the screams outside continued.

“Ahhh!”

The screams of the unprepared public.

Crash!

Horus broke through the window and jumped outside.

As everyone stared at the broken window with dumbfounded expressions for a moment, Lee Jun-Kyeong spoke quietly and slowly leaped out of the window that Horus had thrown himself through.

“The harbinger of the cataclysm…”

He didn’t have the time to talk to them like this any further.

"Argh!"

Even now, they could hear the screams of the general public on the street.

***

As everyone had expected, the collapsed gate was only rated C-grade.

Thus, the situation had been quickly settled because the gate that had collapsed wasn’t ranked either too high or too low.

However, there was still a problem.

"More than a hundred people died,” Jeong In-Chang, who couldn’t make it to the meeting, said to Lee Jun-Kyeong with a serious expression.

“Fortunately, the Hunters and the Nile had responded quickly, but…the gate break happened near a residential area, and it was late, so…”

They had become victims of the explosion of mana that had closely followed the gate break.

“…”

“…”

"…Ha…"

Lee Jun-Kyeong, Jeong In-Chang, and Won-Hwa were silent for a moment before they sighed.

This was a disaster they were unprepared for. Something that they couldn’t stop.

“Is this the cataclysm?” Jeong In-Chang asked Lee Jun-Kyeong. He wondered if this was what had been repeatedly warned and talked about.

However, Lee Jun-Kyeong just shook his head. “This is just an omen.”

The bare face of truth was even harsher when one found out. The disaster that had slaughtered over a hundred ordinary humans had just been a sign.

After thinking about it for a while, Lee Jun-Kyeong spoke to his companions.

"You should go back to Seoul,” he said. “Please hurry to Seoul with both Fenrir and the princess and join the White Tiger Clan.”

“Mr. Lee, what about…”

Lee Jun-Kyeong interrupted, “Right now, this is an opportunity.”

There was a reason why Lee Jun-Kyeong wasn’t returning together with them.

“There are Heroes from all over the world gathered here. They have seen firsthand the omens of the cataclysm. This is an opportunity for us to save more people.”

This made the two’s brows furrow, as if they were uncomfortable with what he was saying. It was clear that he meant that they would have to leave him behind.

“I’m the only one who can persuade the Heroes. I don’t think that it will take that long, so don’t worry and go back first.”

Jeong In-Chang protested, “But…”

“Korea,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said as he looked straight into Jeong In-Chang’s eyes.

Soon after, his gaze turned over to Won-Hwa.

“China.”

“...”

“The same thing will happen there. We need as many Hunters as we can gather right now. In addition… The Association President is missing in Korea.”

“What?”

Lee Jun-Kyeong slowly took out the Bifrost from his inventory as he spoke.

“Odin is missing. Your help will be desperately needed."

Before they knew it, a rainbow-colored door opened next to them. They didn’t have the luxury to go by plane right now.

“Jun-Kyeong,” Fenrir said as he approached Lee Jun-Kyeong. The boy also seemed reluctant to be separated from Lee Jun-Kyeong.

However, as he threw himself through the rainbow door, he simply said in fairly accurate Korean, "Come quickly.”

“Fenrir…”

Jeong In-Chang seemed a little flustered as he didn’t think that Fenrir would just leave like that, but he still nodded at once.

Even Fenrir was following Lee Jun-Kyeong’s orders. The two had to recognize the seriousness of the situation right now.

“Here.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong took off a part of the skull-shaped bracelet and handed it to Jeong In-Chang. “Hyeon-Mu. Go and help them.”

He even wanted to send Hyeon-Mu along with them for safety.

–I’ve…received your order.

Hyeon-Mu also entrusted itself to Jeong In-chang.

All Lee Jun-Kyeong had left at this point was Muspel’s Spear.

[A Skull That Contains Souls is absorbing Anubis’ soul.]

And, he also had the soul of Anubis, which hadn’t been processed yet.

Jeong In-Chang said with a worried expression, “I’ll wait for you to return as always.”

Then, soon, he threw himself into the rainbow-colored door

Won-Hwa was left. Instead of heading for the Bifrost, he approached Lee Jun-Kyeong and handed him something. It was a medicinal pill.

“This is a medicine that I made using what I had felt when I treated Horus as a reference. It’s not perfect yet, but…”

Lee Jun-Kyeong could see worry on Won-Hwa’s face as well.

"It may help a little to contain Madness."

Lee Jun-Kyeong smiled at him. Although it was true that they had spent a lot of time in Egypt, to think that he was doing this instead of taking a break.

“Thank you,” he said as he accepted the medicinal pill.

Won-Hwa then turned around and walked into the Bifrost. Now, he had no other colleagues here except for Yeo Seong-Gu.

Lee Jun-Kyeong looked forward with a determined expression.

Although there had been no other omens since the gate collapse last night, no one knew when something would happen.

The only thing he was sure about was that there wasn’t much time left now.

Swish.

Lee Jun-Kyeong walked out of the room as the Bifrost closed behind him.

***

“Set told me this,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said as he looked throughout the hall.

Something had changed between when he had met them the first and second time, and things were even more different now.

The reception of the Heroes that were listening to him had changed. After all, they had seen the omens of the cataclysm firsthand yesterday: the appearance and collapse of gates without any warning.

Now.

‘They also know how serious this is.’

Lee Jun-Kyeong spoke.

“There will be three omens of the cataclysm.”

He chuckled a little. It astounded him that he was actually grateful for the interest that Set had shown in himself and the subsequent battle with him.

He was going to sell the name of Set in order to prepare these Hunters for the cataclysm.

“The first is the collapse of the gates. As you saw yesterday, the unannounced occurrence and collapse of the gates, causing immediate gate breaks, seems to be one of the first signs.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong only conveyed what Set had said to him, or at least that was what he was trying to make them believe.

“The second omen is the strengthening of the monsters. It was easy for a C-Rank Hunter to deal with the monsters in the current C-Grade Gates, but soon, a B-Rank or even an A-Rank Hunter may have to be the ones to deal with them.”

“Hmm…”

“Hm.”

The Heroes stayed silent.

The unannounced gate breaks could cause the deaths of a small number of people, but this was something they could still prevent.

However, the strengthening of the monsters meant something different.

If a country didn’t have a large number of Heroes or higher-ranked Hunters, then it would end up sacrificing a great deal more.

More importantly, this referenced a sacrifice of Hunters, not ordinary humans.

“The third omen is…”

Lee Jun-Kyeong pointed at a desk as he spoke.

Everyone was listening to him at this point, as the cataclysm had already begun to show its omens.

“Gateization.”

“Gateization?”

“I don’t understand the details either. I’m just guessing here…”

Lee Jun-Kyeong was conveying the words of ‘Set’ until the very end.

“But it seems to mean changes in the same way China has changed,” he said.

“...!”

“What do…”

“Like the gates, access will be blocked, and many will die from the rapid increase in the density of mana. Moreover, like the second omen…”

“The monsters will be stronger,” Yashin said.

“How insane.”

Everyone rubbed at their brows.

Now that they thought that Lee Jun-Kyeong’s words were true, they could feel the seriousness more clearly.

This was a disaster.

Looking at their reactions, Lee Jun-Kyeong thought that he had suddenly become a scientist who was informing them about an asteroid collision.[1]

“Is there no way to stop…” someone started to ask.

"I don\'t know," Lee Jun-Kyeong responded.

It wasn’t that he was answering that way to try to make them believe that this was just Set’s words being delivered to them.

It was the truth.

“I don\'t know anything about a way to prevent the cataclysm.”

He didn’t even know if Set was even alive, and time was running out to find him.

“Then, let me ask you one more question.”

Yashin asked Lee Jun-Kyeong while looking at him with a clear gaze.

“What will happen to the world when all the omens have appeared, and the cataclysm begins?”

This was the most crucial question. The things close to the disaster were just omens. The important thing was what would happen once the cataclysm arrived.

“I don’t know,” Lee Jun-Kyeong replied once again. However, this time, it was different.

‘Everything will change.’

There would be a sudden change that spread throughout the world. The gates will emit more mana, and people will die without any distinction between who they were.

‘A lot of Hunters will be born.’

In an instant, Hunters will be born, and it would be the same amount of Hunters as there were born up until now.

Moreover, there would be countless Sponsors.

‘Sponsors who hadn’t shown their faces up till now will show up to participate in the game.’

Just as the monsters grew stronger, Hunters would grow strong.

The Hunters, who were already strong to the point where there was a great divide between them and the ordinary humans, would grow even stronger, forming an uncrossable chasm.

‘The ordinary humans who had overcome a cataclysm that had culled them will be persecuted.’

No, this was something he couldn’t tell them. After all, there was only one thing that Lee Jun-Kyeong wanted.

"We have to save the people."

“…”

The Heroes all had indecipherable expressions. They were already all used to life as Hunters.

The people that Lee Jun-Kyeong was talking about, the ordinary people, were more like consumables to them, unavoidable and acceptable collateral damage.

They all exuded a sense of rejection at the thought of having to sacrifice in order to save them.

‘To think he would ask us to do this for the purpose of saving mankind.’

That was the sort of response they gave when he asked them to save the people.

Lee Jun-Kyeong continued to speak, swallowing up his growing disgust, “Most likely, the number of Hunters will not be enough in the future.”

“I suppose so,” Yashin said, understanding where Lee Jun-Kyeong was going.

“This is nothing short of a war against the coming disaster. Our soldiers will die…”

Yashin suddenly rose from his seat.

“So what you’re saying is that we’ll have to replenish the soldiers.”

Hunters weren’t born just out of nothing.

The ordinary people were transformed into Hunters by obtaining the attention of their Sponsors.

"Yes. That\'s why you have to protect the common people."

Lee Jun-Kyeong had finally achieved his goal.

Yashin looked over at Lee Jun-Kyeong again. “I’ll suggest this again. Come to Japan. I’ll give you a rank equal to mine.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong didn’t even know the representative’s title. Still, he couldn’t even imagine what position he held, considering that he could unilaterally offer him equal power and influence over Takamagahara.

He looked over at Yashin, who was standing there offering him an equal position.

However, just like yesterday, the building shook once more.

RUMBLE!

The tremors were worse than yesterday.

Alongside them were screams again.

“It’s the monsters!”

Then, news came that another gate had collapsed. However, everyone here felt it. This was a completely different collapse than yesterday\'s.

“This is at least…”

This time, it was an S-Grade Break.

1. Most likely a reference to Armageddon or Deep Impact.