SMH 166

Chapter 52 – Righteous Shield (3)

TL: Boko

Kwang!

Hundreds of Orcs ‘ceased to exist’ from the
explosion. No, it merely looked that way. They were instantly reduced to ashes and
disappeared, so it only looked that way.

“Shit!” Kalleak cursed.

Before he’d been hit by the lightning bolt, he had
used high-speed movement to get out of the way.

He sensed a powerful mana reaction from above. Just
a short while ago, it was as quiet as the night sea, but now, the air was
shaking, as if a tsunami was coming. It was a huge flow of mana.

“I told before. That ‘that’s enough’,
Orc.”

He hadn’t heard it that well before, but now he
heard it clearly. It was definitely the otherworld language.

She warned, and landed upon the bloodstained road.

“Y-You’re…” Idun said. He knew who she
was.

“Ms. Leia…”

He had his suspicions when he saw her kill hundreds
of Orcs, which included at least twenty Orc Blademasters with a single spell. Leia
was the name of the only SSS-rank Hunter in the world.

“Y-You damn human!”

“Shut up.”

Leia expressionlessly swung her staff, as if it were
a pain to even do so. And then, with a wave of mana, a aura clad blade storm struck
Kalleak.

It was already too late by the time Kalleak had
sensed the mana reaction. Since the sharp, aura clad winds had already passed
him.

By the time he felt the pain, his left arm and right
leg had been severed.

“Her casting speed’s incredibly fast. So this
is an SSS-rank Hunter, huh?”

Even Sung Joon was surprised by her casting speed. Seeing
that, Rishubalt smiled faintly and said.

“Have you forgotten? You were much stronger, my
lord.”

Sung Joon smiled, as Rishubalt’s words hand caused
him to reminisce.  

“Thanks.”

While they spoke, Leia continued to use lightning
magic to attack Kalleak.

Kalleak wasn’t able to deal with Leia’s repeat high-speed
casting. The lightning raged without rest and ultimately, Kalleak was burnt black
and fell to the floor.

“Hmm.”

Leia cast another lightning spell to confirm
Kalleak’s death, and once she was sure he was dead, she turned her head towards
Sung Joon.

“Mr. Kang Sung Joon?”

She spoke in Korean. He could tell that she was
using Translation Magic based on the flow of mana.

“Yes, that’s me.”

“First off, thanks. If you hadn’t warned us beforehand,
then I wouldn’t have been able to get here so soon.”

She was going to do some covert operation for the
U.S. government, but the Central Hunter Bureau had asked for help, so she’d
come to New York. If she had been contacted while in the middle of her
operation, then it would’ve been difficult to get out of it.

“There’s a lot I’d like to say, but I’ll take
care of the warp gate first,” Leia said, and immediately destroyed the crystal
maintaining the warp gate.

Idun received a report stating all the monsters that
had crossed over were being unsummoned.

“Mr. Idun. Where are the other warp
gates?”

Idun raised his map to answer Sung Joon’s question,
but then, Leia raised her hand as if to stop him and said.

“That’s not necessary.”

“The battlefield will continue to spread if we
leave the other warp gates…”

Sung Joon furrowed his brow.

“My guild will take care of this from now
on.”

The Hunters of the Witch guild (America’s rank 1
guild) had appeared in New York.

* * *

The situation in New York had been dealt with. Jennifer
visited Sung Joon in the hotel he was staying at and told him he’d be paid
normally for the raid.

Three days after the raid, Sung Joon called Anfels.

“This is Kang Sung Joon.”

“I heard you fought in the New York raid.
You’re amazing,” Anfels said.

Leia, the SSS-rank Hunter, was the one who’d dealt
the fatal blow to the boss, but it was true that Sung Joon had fought in the
raid.

“I’d like to meet with you… Are you
free?”

He wanted to know how the Empire was faring right
now. Although Zelos had some connections inside of the Empire, it was difficult
for him to access that information, as he was on the run.

However, Anfels had been appointed as a commander of
the Empire’s Special Forces (Investigation Squad) just a little while ago, so
he had access to high rank information.

“I was ‘dismissed’ a short while ago, so I have
plenty of time.”

“Is that so…?”

Sung Joon smiled bitterly. He knew what being
‘dismissed’ meant.

The fact that he was alive meant that everyone in
the base was dead. While the Empire didn’t know he was cooperating with Sung
Joon, he wouldn’t be able to escape punishment for failing his duties.

“How did you take care of the aftermath?”

“They’ll find out once they send an
investigator from the Special Forces, but until then, I’m ‘dead’.”

That meant that he wouldn’t be followed for the time
being. There wouldn’t be any problems with meeting him.

“We’ll meet tomorrow at two in the afternoon.
Once you’ve decided on a place, send me a message,” Sung Joon said.

Sung Joon wasn’t familiar with New York, so he
needed to use his smartphone’s app to get around.

“I understand.”

Once he heard Anfel’s reply, Sung Joon immediately
hung up. Eventually, he received a message regarding where they would meet. Sung
Joon used his smartphone’s map app to figure out where they would meet.

“It’s not very far from here.”

He was able to find the location with ease by using
his smartphone’s map app. However, it wasn’t what he had expected.

The next day, he confidently left the hotel, but he
ended up getting lost.

“I’ll scout out,” Rishubalt said.

“No. That’s not necessary.”

Sung Joon shook his head. He asked people passing by
for directions with his basic English and managed to find where he needed to
go.

He entered the cafe and checked his watch. Fortunately,
he wasn’t late. If he hadn’t left early, then he would’ve been late for sure.

Sung Joon didn’t like being late. After he’d gotten
some coffee, he sat down and a man wearing a brown coat sat in front of him. It
was Anfels.

“You came right on time.”

Anfels raised his coffee and said.

“I came ten minutes early and was inspecting
the area.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being
careful.”

Anfels nodded in agreement.

“Anyway, did you call me to ask about the
Empire?”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t have anyone helping you from the
Empire?”

“The more information, the better.”

Anfels asked. Sung Joon avoided answering
concretely. He still couldn’t completely trust Anfels yet, so he didn’t talk
about Zelos. For the time being, he wouldn’t tell him about Zelos.

“I agree. However, just having a lot of
information doesn’t necessary help. You need to be able to discern what’s true
and what’s not.”

“I have a question.”

“You’re going straight to the point? Then I’ll
‘block out’ our surroundings.”

Sung Joon knew what he meant, so he silently nodded
his head. Then, Anfels placed a small crystal onto the table.

It was a high rank item that would stop their
communication from being leaked to the outside. He’d seen it several times in
the past, as it would often used by the Empire’s Special Forces.

Buzz-

Once Anfels infused his mana into the item, it let
out a tiny buzzing sound and activated.

“Now we can talk freely.”

“It’ll keep us safe, right?”s

“If someone with the ability to see through
this comes, you should be able to detect them.”

Anfels had seen Sung Joon take down Belloc (rank 231
of the Knight Brigade), as well as the first-class assassin from the Ghost
Squad.

So he knew that Sung Joon was much more powerful
than he was, albeit much weaker than Roukel.

“Probably.”

Sung Joon nodded his head and took a sip of his
coffee. He could taste how bitter it was, so he ripped a sugar packet on the
table and poured it in.

“Before we go to the main topic, there’s
something I’d like to ask you. Is Sir Roukel still alive?” Anfels asked.

When they’d first met, Sung Joon hadn’t confirmed
whether Roukel was alive or not.

“No, he’s not. However, I’ve inherited his
will.”

“As I thought. I ask only because I didn’t
participate in the battle of the Ridonia Great Plains. Please forgive me if I
was being rude.”

Sung Joon answered clearly, and Anfels bowed his
head, looking regretful. He hoped that Roukel was still alive.

“Is that all?”

“Yes. Please ask me whatever you wish,”
Anfels responded weakly while raising his coffee cup; he looked really lonely.

But since Sung Joon still had some questions he
needed to ask, he asked with a calm expression.

“I want to know about the Empire’s current state
of affairs.”

Anfels had expected that question and his eyes
shined.

“Well… a lot of time has passed since the
battle of the Ridonia Great Plains. The Empire has changed significantly.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The Empire’s structure or the Emperor hasn’t
changed. But internal matters have become a bit complicated. It’s become quite chaotic.”

The greatest knight that everyone in the Empire
revered was killed, and the Emperor had formed an alliance with their longstanding
enemy. Although the Emperor had power of the Empire, there was no way that people
in the Empire would remain quiet.

“Explain.”

“After Sir Roukel died in the battle of the
Ridonia Great Plains, the Emperor formed an official alliance with the Species
Alliance and began his purge.”

“Who were the targets of his purge?” Sung
Joon asked.

Even if he didn’t say anything, Sung Joon had an
idea as to who the Emperor targeted. Still, he needed to know for sure.

“Anyone associated with Roukel, as well as
those who opposed the alliance with the Species Alliance were targets of the
purge.”

As he expected. Even Roukel, known as the greatest
knight of the Empire, was labeled a traitor for opposing the alliance with the
Species Alliance.

The Emperor’s position was clear, and didn’t
hesitate with the purge.

“Were they all killed?”

Some should’ve escaped the purge like Zelos. He
wanted to know about them.

“I’m not sure since I didn’t look into it. I
believe someone from the Executive Squad would know.”

The Executive Squad, one of the squads under the
Empire’s Special Forces, was responsible for taking care of and cracking down
on rebels.

“I know where the Executive Squad’s base is. If
you launch an attack on the base, you should be able to steal the data as
well.”

“It’s been some time… Do you think I
can?”

Sung Joon didn’t really like the idea. Too much time
had passed for him to go looking for information now. According to Zelos, time
flowed similarly, but also differently between Earth and the otherworld. It
felt as though fifteen years had passed since the battle of the Ridonia Great
Plains.

“Don’t you want to learn the whereabouts of
your comrades?”

Anfels final statement caused Sung Joon to waver. He
returned to his hotel after parting ways with Anfels.

The moment he entered the lobby, he felt a powerful
magical energy. The owner of this magic was hiding themselves, but they
couldn’t fool him.

“What do you want?”

They didn’t sense any hostility, so he didn’t draw
his weapon. Then, the person pushing down on their broad-brimmed hat stood up
from their seat.

“Amazing. You truly are the ‘rising star’ of
South Korea, aren’t you?”

The young lady, whose wavy blonde hair fell to her
waist, took off her hat, revealing a quick-witted but also cute face.

Sung Joon knew who she was.

“Leia…”

“The White House wants you. Let’s go
together.”

“Why does the White House suddenly want
me…”

“Apparently, they’re going to give you an
SS-rank item.”

They had only met twice, but Sung Joon knew that that explanation was nowhere near enough.