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An explosion ruptured close to Lee Jun-Kyeong and Arthur as an arrow fired by one of the Hunters who had absorbed the power of a Ruler fell in front of them.

However, Lee Jun-Kyeong appeared leisurely, standing in the midst of it. He crossed his arms, not even taking a defensive stance.

“Oops.”

A voice passed by Lee Jun-Kyeong’s ear so fast it was but a whisper.

It was Zeus.

Crackle!

After Lee Jun-Kyeong heard his voice, a bright blue electric current hit the spot where the Hunter who had just fired the arrow was.

BOOOM!

As the current landed on the ground, the explosion that followed was incomparable to that of the arrow fired by the Hunter.

“Ugh!”

Screams quickly rang.

“...”

As Lee Jun-Kyeong listened to the screams, he was also observing the enemies. He knew they couldn’t just leave them all to Zeus and Merlin and move on.

‘More are coming.’

Powerful Hunters with the strength of Rulers were approaching like a flood, and while he had no doubt that Zeus and Merlin could take care of them all, he wasn’t sure Odin was. Moreover, there was also the missing Baldur.

They had no idea if those two would come here either. That wasn’t the only reason that Lee Jun-Kyeong didn’t leave.

‘Those bastards…’

He looked over at the Hunters, who had been strengthened by absorbing the powers of the Rulers.

“...”

Saeynkaed was also looking over at them with a curiosity that was even greater than his own. Their existence in itself was contradictory, and they had to observe them carefully.

‘While they can create Rulers…’

Instilling the powers of a Ruler within a Hunter…was something different.

“This was what Sponsors wanted the most,” Saeynkaed said.

The Sponsors had always desperately desired to be able to rapidly strengthen the Hunters in a short period of time. Sponsorship from the Sponsors wasn’t something that could be given all at once, and it was normal for Hunters only to be given what they could accept.

“These Hunters are exceeding the power that they should have.”

By gaining the powers of a Ruler in an instant, they were able to receive rapid strengthening. How was something like that possible? What was their secret?

Lee Jun-Kyeong had one more question deep inside.

‘Why do I feel such strange emotions when I see them?’

As soon as he laid eyes upon them, his heart began to ache. He didn’t know why or what that feeling could be. That was why he was still watching them.

“More are coming,” Arthur said, breaking Lee Jun-Kyeong’s train of thought. “And they’re even stronger.”

Those that were approaching had mana levels much higher than the Hunters whom Zeus and Merlin were currently dealing with.

Lee Jun-Kyeong properly observed the faces of those they were facing now.

‘It seems that they are ordinary Hunters—no, Hunters that had the potential to become Heroes that have accepted the powers of the Rulers.’

After all, he could see among the people who were rumored to be Hero candidates.

“...”

Arthur’s stiff expression corroborated with what he thought. Zeus’s and Merlin’s victory, which they had already assumed would be guaranteed, might be difficult to bring to fruition.

As if there had been an earthquake, the ground cracked open, and explosions rocked the air.

CLANG!

Swords began to plummet down with a tremendous clanging sound.

***

The number of the Hunters who had appeared this time was quite small as there were only six of them. However, their skills were greater than all of the Hunters that Zeus and Merlin had been facing combined.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The enemies’ weapons collided with Zeus’ Thunderbolt repeatedly, causing sparks of electricity to shoot in all directions.

‘Those weapons should be melting right now.’

Zeus’ Thunderbolt was a divine weapon that emitted as much heat as Lee Jun-Kyeong’s flames. Thus, it was normal for any weapons struck by it to melt because they would be unable to overcome the force of the blow and the heat emitted. But these weapons were different.

“Is it because of their mana?”

Intense mana was tightly imbued in their weapons, protecting them—mana strong enough to block even Zeus’ Thunderbolt.

CLANG!

Even with such mana imbued into their weapons, the Hunters’ movement were still incredibly fast. To be able to imbue mana into their weapons and reinforce their bodies, all the while using skills, meant that their control of mana wasn’t something that just anyone could do.

“As expected, they’re Heroes,” Arthur said.

All of that combined revealed that these Hunters had been Heroes even before receiving the powers of the Rulers. Athena even seemed to recognize some of their faces.

“They were the elites of the Hexagon Guild, the number one guild in Korea.”

Moreover, these Hunters also seemed to recognize Zeus, Athena, and the others.

Even as Athena spoke, the battle continued.

Zeus took one step and soared high into the sky.

Tak, tak, tak!

As he rose into the air, the ground cracked into pieces and dozens of blades emerged, intertwining amongst one another and forming a spear.

CRACK, CRACK, CRACK!

It soared through the air with a horrifying sound toward Zeus, who was floating in the air. Zeus stamped his foot once in the sky, standing on nothing as he quickly redirected himself.

SCREECH!

However, there was still more than one of the Hunters around him as an arrow flew towards him with a piercing sound. It was so big that it seemed incorrect to call it an arrow, resembling the Mistilteinn that Elfame had fired.

CLANG!

Zeus struck it down with Thunderbolt, but as if the giant arrow contained an enormous mana, Zeus lost his balance for a moment after hitting the arrow and spun through the air.

“Ugh.”

His gray hair flew freely through the air, but Zeus didn’t let his guard down while trying to stabilize himself.

At that moment, a cold and unfamiliar voice came from behind Zeus. “Checkmate.”

Although the Hunter that spoke had clearly been standing between the two that had just attacked him, he had moved behind Zeus’ back at a speed so fast it was invisible to the naked eye. Zeus quickly turned around and raised Thunderbolt.

“It seems I can’t avoid this, then.”

However, the enemy’s dagger had already made contact with the skin on Zeus’ stomach.

This surprised both Lee Jun-Kyeong and Arthur. Zeus\' skills weren’t lacking. Instead, the Hunter had moved in such a manner that none of them could even sense his presence.

‘What was that?’

Still, neither Lee Jun-Kyeong nor anyone else moved.

“I guess you forgot,” said Zeus, feeling the cold touch.

Before they knew it, the dagger had begun to pierce Zeus\'s skin just a little.

“I’m not alone here.”

Thump!

The sound of a blow was heard as the man who had stabbed the dagger toward Zeus\'s stomach disappeared.

Drip, drip, drip.

In his place, blood-red rain fell from the sky. Everyone looked over toward the side.

“It’s just as he said. If you ignore me, things will become difficult for you,” Merlin said, having dealt with the Hunters who had appeared before the Heroes who had absorbed the powers of the Rulers.

Having taken care of them, she rejoined Zeus and the others.

“It looks like he had put everything he had into concealment and speed,” Saeynkaed said.

Merlin’s attack had just been a small-scale spell that she had cast in the split second she had taken notice of Zeus’ plight. It had just been a small magic cast to ward the Hunter off from stabbing Zeus, but the result was the Hunter turning into a bloody mess.

“Now I understand,” Arthur said.

Lee Jun-Kyeong also nodded.

Although they hadn’t understood all of their secrets, there was still one thing that they all knew.

“They’re all unfinished.” Arthur\'s cold voice rang through the air.

He was right.

“All of their strength and potential had been transformed into one thing, the greatest ability the Ruler in question had.”

It was clear that it was an important distinction to be had, as this meant that all of the pre-established abilities of the Hunters had been forcibly merged into one. In addition, because that power had been extremely strengthened in this manner, it had also achieved the same result as the rapid strengthening of the Hunters that the Sponsors had wanted.

But they were unfinished products.

"Hmph."

Zeus snorted as if his pride had been hurt.

“Is this enough?” he said while looking at Lee Jun-Kyeong.

Lee Jun-Kyeong nodded.

“Yes, you can finish it.”

Only then did a smile spread across Zeus\'s lips. On the contrary, the expressions of the Hunters, who thought they had won against Zeus, turned harrowing and pale.

“Did you think I was being serious?”

They had just realized that Zeus had been playing a trick on them all this time.

“Now that we’ve gotten all that we needed to know from you, we’re done here.”

All of that fake struggle had been just playing them to get information. However, that dagger seemed to have damaged his pride.

“I will kill you brutally.”

Zeus unleashed his ferocious mana endlessly.

“And just take the rest of what we want from you from your bones.”

Simultaneously, an electric current flowed from Zeus’ entire body.

CRACKLE!

Thunderbolt was no longer visible in his hands.

‘So that’s the form of Jupiter…’

Just as Lee Jun-Kyeong had obtained the form of Surtr, Zeus had obtained his own form as well. No matter who came now, Lee Jun-Kyeong didn’t think they would be able to stop Zeus or even Merlin now.

He looked toward the left.

CRASH!

Waves crashed all across the Han River, filled with mana. No one at this moment could forget who she was.

“Merlin, the Queen of the Lake.” Zeus commented, “As expected, our compatibility is the best,” Zeus said.

WHOOSH!

The river overflowed over the edge and torrented over the enemies. Within the tidal wave of the river, Merlin’s figure could be seen assimilating into the water.

CRASH!

She had also fully unleashed her mana and turned into water. That was the real thing.

“The Queen of the Lake...”

Then, lightning crashed down upon the water-soaked enemies.

***

Crack!

The black charred object that Zeus stepped on broke and scattered in the wind.

“How disgusting.”

It was the corpse of a Hunter who had held on with all of his might just moments before. Zeus\' face showed genuine fatigue.

“It really is…”

As he said, they really had been beings for whom the word ‘disgusting’ was appropriate. While most of them had died instantly in the first attack that Zeus had struck them with after he had shown his full strength, two of them had still survived the aftermath.

They all assumed that these two were those who had specialized in regeneration and defense because of how relentlessly they came back even after being hit hard enough to be killed. It was almost reminiscent of immortality.

Eventually, the remaining two were left begging and begging to please be set free of their suffering. However, the only reason they had been put through such torture was just that it really had been that difficult to do so.

“These bastards aren’t ones to show mercy to,” Zeus said after apparently seeing Lee Jun-Kyeong frown at the cruel sight. “These bastards were famous for their evil deeds even before the world had gone to hell. You heard about that father-daughter murder case, right? It had been buried because this bastard was a promising Hunter.”

He continued as he pointed at the ashes, “It was these bastards over here. The others are similar too. All of those that I had recognized were criminals.”

Thus, none of them worried about the cruelty after a moment.

“Thank you for your consideration.”

Only then did Lee Jun-Kyeong smile slightly and nod.

"By the way…” Merlin stood next to him while wiping the moisture off of her entire body. “What else do you think could be left now?”

They all looked in one direction toward Gangnam across the river.

Everything that they had seen so far had been more than enough to be alarming, but they couldn’t get over the thought that there was still something left hidden.

“It must be the real stuff from this point on, right?” she asked.