Chapter 175

A long time ago, in a world before the Shadow Monarch Sung Jin-Woo turned back the earth's time, there were hunters who received the title of 'strongest', which was given to only five people in the world.

'National Level Hunter' The title was literally a symbol of absolute power, that one person's power equals one country. It was an honorable title given only to hunters who had tremendous power that could not be dared to be called 'S-rank'.

However, the reason why those five people were given such an honorable title was never glorious. Humanity's worst catastrophe. The first S-rank gate. A boss-class monster had jumped out of there. 'Dragon Kamish' was the worst calamity in history. A monster with tremendous power enough to blow up the entire western United States as soon as the dungeon break occurred. At the time, the United States called in the world's strongest hunters with huge rewards, and managed to hunt Kamish.

As a result, only five survived to the end. A single monster had killed all of the world's top hunters. Perhaps, without their sacrifice, the United States would have been erased from the world map. Therefore, the United States promised to treat the five who saved their own destiny as 'one nation', not as one person. This is said to be the origin of the term 'National Level Hunter'.

However, there was one curious fact here: National Level Hunters had something in common. To be more precise, except for the hunter who served as the healer in the Kamish Raid, all four had one skill in common.

Straight up telekinesis. It was a skill that applied force to an object without touching it. There were many strong people before and after the Kamish Raid, but there were only four people in history who had the same ability. So, the Hunter Management Bureau at the time, the only one who knew what they had in common, considered this 'psychopower' as a condition for becoming a hunter of National Level status.

Now, many years have passed since then. Suho knew exactly the true identity of their 'telekinesis'.

[Skill: Ruler's Touch]

That power was the result of the 'Rulers' dwelling in their bodies, which were ordinary S-rank hunters. In other words, the four hunters had borrowed the power of the Rulers at the time and became strong to achieve the power of a National Level Hunter. Those who had the capacity to accept the rulers were the ones most likely to be taken over by the Apostles of Itarim again.

Just as they had done to Thomas Andre in the Glacier Dungeon.

* * *

"Thomas Andre, I arrest you for the murder of Christopher Reed."

While Thomas Andre was on the phone with Suho, before he knew it, numerous fully armed hunters were approaching and surrounding him. United States Hunter Bureau. The agency with the most powerful authority in the United States has been dispatched to prevent Thomas Andre's rampage. But even with this numerical advantage, it was not the beleaguered Thomas Andre who was nervous.

"Ah, wait a minute. As you can see, I'm on an important call right now." Thomas Andre sent a light gesture to the hunters who surrounded him. Continuing the phone call with Suho calmly

"...."

Gulp.

On the other hand, the hunters of the Hunter Bureau who completely surrounded him were determined. The person they were about to arrest was none other than Thomas Andre. But the problem was that the person killed by him was also Christopher Reed, one of America's leading S-rank hunters.

'Why would someone like Thomas Andre suddenly do something like this?'

'There's nothing to be gained by killing an S-class hunter.'

'He can earn an astronomical amount of money if he enters the dungeon with all his strength. So why?'

From the perspective of the Hunter Management Bureau, which had no information about the Itarim, it was inevitable to be confused by Thomas Andre's sudden action. Up until now, it wasn't that there hadn't been any fights between S-rank hunters, but it was an unprecedented event that one of them fought to the death like this. That was because a system called the Hunter Point Ranking was created, and the need for hunters to compete meaninglessly no longer existed.

How many more dangerous monsters have you hunted? How many more dungeons were cleared? Because the hunter ranking, which converts these various raids into points, is the only indicator recognized worldwide, hunters began to focus more on conquering dungeons, rather than focusing on fights that give less money.

'But why?'

No matter how much they thought about it, he couldn't figure out why Thomas Andre suddenly murdered Christopher Reed. It was then.

"Thomas Andre."

Suddenly, the hunters split left and right, and there was a man who walked through the gap. An old gentleman with neatly combed hair. Surprisingly, unlike the other Hunters, he was unarmed.

"¡Chief…!"

"Wait! It's Dangerous!"

"Ah, that's fine." After he stopped his subordinates with a light gesture who were trying to stop his reckless behavior, he walked towards Thomas Andre. Even Thomas Andre had to stop talking for a moment at his appearance.

"Adam White." Upon recognizing his identity, the corner of Thomas's mouth curled up as if he was interested.

"What is the Director of the Hunter Bureau doing around here?"

"…Thomas Andre. Please kindly respond to the investigation." The corners of Thomas Andre's mouth went up even more at those words.

"And what if I don't want to?" Thomas Andre grinning and showing his teeth. Despite his provocative remarks, the director of the Hunter Bureau, Adam White, only sighed quietly rather than raising his voice. Suddenly, his gaze swept over the completely devastated land around him.

Originally, this was the place where Christopher Reed lived in a luxurious mansion. But now...

'It's as if a nuclear bomb has exploded. Is this what happens when two S-rank hunters fight?'

To say that an S-rank Hunter is a walking weapon of war was by no means an exaggeration. Adam White smiled bitterly and politely asked Thomas Andre again.

"…What is the point of saying no? Should we ask you to cooperate with us more earnestly? . Everyone here is someone's precious child and parent, I also have a wife and children that I need to take care of."

"Huh." At Adam White's words, Thomas Andre opened his mouth with a steamy expression. "You're still a boring bastard."

"Even if you say that, I'm usually evaluated as quite an interesting boss."

"That's just your social life. Even my subordinates laugh when I crack some jokes with them."

While a meaningless conversation was going on between the two, the hunters surrounding Thomas Andre couldn't even breathe properly. Even if Thomas Andre had a little whim here today, they would never see the sun again tomorrow.

"...."

"...."

There was a moment of silence, and the eyes of Thomas Andre and Adam White crossed in the air. For some, it was an instant, but for everyone else, it was a eon of time.

"Fine."

Thomas Andre smiled at the end and obediently raised both hands as if surrendering. At the same time, the corpse of Christopher Reed that he was holding fell to the floor.

Woosh…

Surprisingly, the moment the corpse hit the floor, it crumbled like a burnt-out piece of charcoal and shattered. Everyone who witnessed the scene widened their eyes. Then, at the same time, realizing that they didn't have to fight Thomas Andre, they all sighed in relief.

Thomas Andre spoke to Suho on his phone again.

"Did you hear? Well, that's how the atmosphere turned out. So I think it will be hard to visit the other guys from other countries for the time being."

'Other countries?'

Hearing those words from the side, Adam White's expression hardened. Seeing his surprised expression, Thomas Andre smiled and added another word to Suho. "It's okay with Chris because he's an American at least, but people from other countries have some political problems."

- Oh, that's true.

Suho also agreed and nodded through his phone. People who were national level hunters in their previous lives were still S-rank hunters after all. To say that someone the size of Thomas Andre would go to another country to deal with them was tantamount to the United States declaring war against that country.

"Then, the business ends here. I will send you more information about Christopher Reed separately."

-All right. Good job.

Peep

The call was disconnected.

"May I ask who you were talking to?"

To Adam White's question that followed, Thomas Andre smirked instead of answering and said, putting his muscular arm around his shoulder.

"Adam, since we haven't seen each other in a while, could you buy me a hamburger on the way home? I used some of my strength so now I'm hungry."

"…I'll buy you a combo."

"Nice. As expected of the director, you are such a great guy. While you are buying it, buy the subordinates behind me some too. They don't look so good."

"All right."

Adam White smiled bitterly and granted all of Thomas Andre's demands.

* * *

After Thomas Andre was obediently arrested by the Hunter Berau. As he said, his secretary, Laura, came to Korea with gifts for Suho.

"Laura, how is Thomas?"

"You don't have to worry about our boss. He is the type to eat well and live well wherever he goes." To calm Suho's worries, Laura answered as if it was not a big deal.

Anyways, from the point of view of the United States, it was too risky to keep Thomas Andre tied up for a long time. If the income earned by S-rank hunters from dungeons decreased, the corresponding taxes would also decrease. Considering the safety of their own country, the US government would have no choice but to press the Hunter Bureau to release Thomas Andre. The fact that he did not kill civilians, but the fact that he killed a hunter of the same class also played a part in his release. No, rather, as the number of S-rank Hunters decreased by one, Thomas Andre had to fill the void.

"…Besides, our boss had no intention of killing Christopher Reed from the start. Rather, it was a direct visit to present our product, the Detox Potion." A.k.a the Spring Water from the Echo Forest. The detoxification potion obtained from the holy ground of the Ice Elves was so effective that it restored the spirit of Thomas Andre, who was possessed by the Apostle of the Itarim. This was to prevent the same accident by feeding the spring water to other hunters who were at the level of national power in their previous lives. That was the way Suho and Thomas Andre had planned from the beginning.

"By the way, our boss said there was a bit of an accident in the process of delivering the detoxifying potion to Christopher Reed."

"A bit of an accident?" It was Suho who made a dumbfounded expression at those words. He couldn't imagine how 'how little' it had to be to kill an S-rank hunter.

"Ah, since I also brought information related to that, it would be quicker to see it for yourself. From here on out, all that is shown has to be kept a secret." Laura put a USB in Suho's hand. And alongside her, she had the staff bring other items that she originally intended to deliver to Suho.

After a while, two specially made hard bags appeared in front of Suho.

"Is this it?"

"Yes. This is the advanced magic crystal you requested earlier, and this one… is the object that Miss Cha Hae-In found in the Tomb of Dragons."

"...."

Suho was silent for a while in front of the large bags Laura handed him.

[Little Lord, I feel an unusual energy coming from it.]

Beru appeared next to him and was also quite cautious.

Click.

Suho first opened the bag from his mother. Of course, he already knew the identity of this content because he had been contacted by Cha Hae-In in advance.

'It's a dragon egg.'

Soon the bag was opened. Inside it was an egg the size of an ostrich egg, as previously informed. However, the problem appeared when the system's message popped up the moment the egg touched Suho's hand.

T-Ring!

[Obtained 'Item: Kamish's Egg'.]