The place that Kran had been sent to was Seoul, the city that had been the capital of South Korea in the past.
But when he landed, at first, he thought that he might have been sent to the wrong place. This was because the place he found himself in could only be described as a barren ruin.
It was widely known that Korea had been relatively unaffected by the Demon invasion, and while this city had suffered from a certain amount of damage, there was still a large number living here.
The most important facilities in the city had managed to survive the attack. This meant that as long as they were able to secure food and water, humans could continue living here.
But this place was different. Contrary to what he’d heard, Kran couldn’t find the slightest trace of a person.
Of course, he was easily able to find the reason why. The earth in this place had died.
A lethal amount of demonic energy filled the air, and the ground seemed to have been burned. In this place, an ordinary human with a weak body would definitely die before they could even take five breaths.
Of course, this wasn’t an issue for Kran, who was a hybrid.
He looked around.
At first, he thought that his ‘target’ was nearby like Ringo said. But after searching for a day, he came to the conclusion that that wasn’t the case.
He had only managed to find a few Demon Beasts and low-grade Demons in the vicinity of Seoul.
For Kran, weak beings like those couldn’t even serve as a warm-up.
As he easily disposed of them as though they were garbage, he couldn’t help but frown.
‘Did Ringo trick me?’
That couldn’t be true.
They’d been acquainted for quite a while now.
Although she was still extremely mysterious and he had no way of knowing what she was thinking, she had never done anything to betray his trust.
In fact, even if she might have tricked him to some extent, he still decided to overlook it.
Because Ringo’s support was extremely useful to him. In fact, after obtaining her assistance, the efficiency with which he hunted Demons had increased by at least three times.
With that thought in mind, Kran wandered around the area, trying to figure out why Ringo had chosen to send him to Seoul.
A few days passed like that.
Then, finally, after he rescued a group of people from a desperate situation, a hunter spoke to him.
“It would be best if you stayed away from Busan.”
“Why?”
“There are rumours that two extremely powerful Demons are on their way there.”
Rumors were often exaggerated, but this one was the truth. Kran was certain of it.
According to the hunter, two Demons suddenly appeared, sweeping away everything in their path like a natural disaster, and it seemed that they were headed towards Busan.
‘That’s my prey.’
Nevertheless, a question still appeared in his mind.
‘Two?’
Ringo always knew exactly how strong Kran was. So the targets she chose were always based on Kran’s level. This was the case every single time without exception.
Kran didn’t believe that this time was any different.
He had recently defeated one of the Five Dukes. Ringo was also aware of this.
In other words, in the worst case scenario, both of these Demons might have been members of the Five Dukes.
“…”
Kran’s expression became a bit harsh at that realisation.
No matter how much stronger he had become, it would certainly be hard to deal with two of the Five Dukes at the same time.
‘If there was even one other reliable person…’
As he had that thought, his mind couldn’t help but shift to the person he’d met in Africa, but he quickly shook his head.
This wasn’t the time for such frivolous thoughts.
He knew just how powerful the Demon Dukes were. But he also knew that they never worked together. There had never before been a report of two Dukes attacking the same place together.
At most, it was usually a Duke and a Marquis.
Or even a group of Marquises.
Even that was enough to be described as a disaster by most humans.
With that observation in mind, Kran made his way towards Busan.
When he got there, traces of his targets could be found everywhere.
He’d heard that Busan was where the largest branch of the Hunter Association in the Korean Peninsula was located. So naturally, there would be a large number of civilians under their protection.
But most of these people had already died.
There were no corpses in sight, but Kran was able to smell the thick stench of blood.
It was a bit annoying, but at least it made it easy for him to track them down. After a while, he was finally able to find them.
The sky.
It would soon be time for the sun to rise, but the sky above Busan was completely black. The wind blowing against his cheeks was slow and viscous as if it was filled with demonic energy.
Kran looked at the being who had caused all of this to happen. This being was looking down at a large skyscraper with the black sky behind him.
‘Demon.’
If the Devil from the Bible truly existed, he felt that it would look like this.
Kran, who had killed hundreds of Demons, had this thought for the first time.
He had never felt like this before.
Just looking at this being made his instincts alarm like crazy, and his entire body tingled. A mysterious pressure seemed to cling to his skin, causing him to slow down significantly.
They weren’t even meeting face to face. He was simply looking at the other from afar, and yet, he could already foresee his defeat and eventually death.
He hadn’t felt this way even when facing Gullard, one of the Five Dukes.
And that was why he was able to realise who this brutal being in the sky was.
‘Demon King.’
He saw him standing there with his fists clenched at his sides.
This gave him a very strange feeling. After all, this stance seemed to be very similar to the opening movements of many martial arts that humans studied.
However, the devastation that he witnessed next was completely out of the realm of what could be accomplished by humans.
Boom!
The Demon King punched forward, and vicious demonic energy poured out of his fist before taking on a distinct shape that was reminiscent of the face of a screaming devil.
The devil’s face opened its mouth and seemed to want to devour the entire building.
Boom!
But a bluish barrier quickly appeared and blocked the attack.
This scene caused Kran to be even more surprised than when he saw the Demon King.
‘An attack like that could be blocked?’
Unfortunately, that miracle only happened once.
The Demon King punched forward once more, and the barrier shattered like a pane of glass.
The devil face pierced into the building, and two beings, who appeared to be the Dukes he was after, followed after it.
[…]
The Demon King looked down at the scene below for a moment before disappearing into the dark clouds.
Kran clicked his tongue.
He wasn’t entirely sure about the current situation, but his body was already moving.
Before long, he found himself standing above the large hole the Demon King had created.
He looked down and was immediately greeted by an incredible sight.
The sight of a young girl going toe-to-toe with two of the Five Dukes.
* * *
Kran glanced at Sedi.
She looked terrible. From the outside, one might think that this little girl was being toyed with by the two Dukes.
But her eyes told an entirely different story. The battle lust blazing in her fiery eyes was so potent that even Kran was surprised.
“Who are you?”
“A hunter.”
This was the word that best described Kran’s identity.
Nevertheless, Sedi frowned slightly when she heard it.
“A hunter?”
“Right. Why? Do you find that hard to believe?”
“No. It’s not that.”
After all, there was no way that he would just barge into their fight and throw his sword at Sipakna’s body if he wasn’t a hunter.
It was just that she hadn’t known that there was such a strong human hunter.
‘Human…’
Was he human?
Sedi narrowed her eyes slightly.
At that moment, she recalled the power Kran had just displayed as his sword pierced through Sipakna’s body in an instant.
This was a level of power and control that humans couldn’t even wish to have.
On top of that, Sedi had felt faint traces of demonic energy in his attack.
“And who are you?”
It was natural that Kran would have his suspicions.
After all, this frail little girl had been able to fight against two of the Five Dukes on her own.
Was she a hybrid like him? This thought had circled in his mind, but he didn’t think that was the case.
After all, she was covered in wounds. If she were a hybrid, it would have been easy to regenerate injuries like those.
“Sedi.”
“…Sedi?”
This was the first time he’d heard that name.
It was the same for Lukas. Where had these strangely powerful people been hiding all this time?
At that moment, Ugkas interrupted their conversation.
“The target came to us on his own.”
He cracked his neck as he pondered the current situation.
One of the Top Three, Kran, had now joined the battle. This was something that Ugkas had been worried about, and naturally, it wasn’t a good sign.
But he didn’t think the situation was too bad.
‘That black-haired girl is already close to dying.’
She had already exhausted most of her power, so she wouldn’t be much of a threat now. If they had both been in peak condition, then he might have had to risk his life for the first time in a few centuries, but he didn’t think that he would lose now.