Chapter 87

Chapter 87: Sword Dragon of the Blue Sky (2)

Katheryn Benett looked at me as if to ask why I was here, but…

“…”

I was so bewildered to the point that I thought I should be the one sending that gaze.

I never imagined that Katheryn Benett would come from the United States, not anywhere else.

However, It looked like she was also greatly bewildered, as it was pretty evident that she seemed perplexed.

‘I thought it was intentional as she said she’d come to visit me later on in the arena.’

But it turns out that she had a face that she didn’t even know I’d be here.

It was a moment where the awkward silence passed between each other because of that.

“Finally, all the challengers have gathered.”

Following her, Arie Chika, who had guided me to the meeting room, politely bowed and introduced herself.

“I’m Arie Chika, the president of the Japanese Hunter Association.”

I opened my eyes wide at those words and looked at Arie Chika.

‘She’s the president of the Japanese Hunter Association?’

Since she came to pick me up at the airport, I thought she was simply an employee of the Association, but to find out that she’s the president of the Japanese Hunter Association, I couldn’t help but feel surprised.

I was even more surprised as I didn’t expect a president of the Association to personally come to pick up a challenger whose name wasn’t really known, too.

“Thank you very much for responding to the Japanese hunter Association’s request for support.”

Of course, I regained my composure after a while and looked at her.

And soon, Arie Chika looked at Katheryn Benett and me with a serious face and opened her mouth.

“Do you know each other?”

I pondered for a while on that question and came up with an answer immediately.

“To some extent. We met briefly at the Tower.”

Well actually, we met briefly and fought in the Colosseum close to death, but Katheryn Benett didn’t deny what I said either.

She just bowed her head and came to the left of my seat, and silently sat down.

Just then, Arie Chika nodded as if she understood it and opened her mouth again.

“I see. Well, that’s great. Since I had to introduce her to everyone anyway.”

“…?”

“Currently, no further support will come from the Japanese Hunter Association.”

Oh Choonsuk, sitting still, was the first to react to her words.

“W-Wait. Wait a second. What do you mean by that? Are you saying there are no more supporting challengers or even hunters?”

“To be honest… there’ll be no more hunters and challengers coming here. The situation has become worse than they thought, and it seems that they are restricting the support of challengers as well as the hunters.”

Oh Choonsuk kept on opening and closing his mouth as if he was speechless at that, but…

Katheryn Benett, who sat on my left side, and Kim Seunghoon showed no signs of agitation.

And that was the same for me.

“…”

All unreasonable situations in the world derive from a lack of ability.

If Japan hadn’t been a weak country in terms of hunters, other countries would’ve actively supported their hunters.

Since it would be a country that holds that much value, there won’t be much to lose since it’s a fight with a high chance of winning.

However, Japan is a country with only one S-rank hunter and 40 A-rank hunters.

Moreover, six of those 40 A-rank hunters have already died, and the S-rank hunter from China was also killed.

In this situation, no country would allow further aid to Japan, which has been labeled as a weak country in terms of hunters.

There was no reason for other countries to help Japan while bearing the huge loss.

‘That’s the reality.’

There would be no hunters or challengers who’d volunteer to go either.

To be frank, I had to say that the four challengers gathered here are abnormal.

Because normally, no one would respond to a request for support even if they were told that it wouldn’t be necessary for this situation.

“As of now, no one is willing to help Japan.”

Arie Chika revealed a little bit of gloom and continued her words.

“I understand that all of you are perplexed. Since the monster that appeared in Shinjuku-gu of Tokyo certainly has an out of standard power.”

But she soon erased the gloom and spoke with power in her voice.

“But we have a winning chance.”

As she spoke those words, she looked at Katheryn Benett and said confidently. 

“With the ability of Katheryn Benett, we can turn the tables of this fight.”

That she’s the one who could bring the initiative to our side in this fight.

***

In an instant, the gazes in the meeting room began to focus on me.

To be exact, it was towards Katheryn Benett sitting right next to me.

“…Among the powers I have, there’s a power called ‘Suppression of Fire.'”

Just then, she broke the silence and opened her mouth to explain her ability.

“If I can make the flame triggered by this power reach an opponent stronger than me, at most, the opponent’s max stats will drop by -10, and some skills will be sealed randomly.”

I could see why Arie Chika looked at her and said she could be the one to turn the tables in this fight.

“…You must have a great administrator. To acquire such an overpowered power.”

The ability that Katheryn Benett had was truly overpowered

To the extent that Kim Seunghoon, who had rarely opened his mouth so far, spit out a word as if it was ridiculous.

“I won’t deny it.”

Katheryn Benett also kept her proud face and responded so.

Then she glanced and smiled softly at me.

Should I say her eyes shone brightly like a puppy waiting for a compliment?

“That’s amazing.”

I felt burdened by the look in her eyes, hoping for a reaction, so I had no choice but to say something.

“I know, right?”

Then I made a smirk as I watched Katheryn Benett nodding her head in satisfaction.

At first glance, her outward appearance is arrogant, but I didn’t expect she’d act this way just because she heard a word of praise.

Although her behavior felt childish, I just accepted it and turned my head. 

“Anyway… with her powers, we can seize the chance to victory.”

Then, Arie Chika cleared her throat and began to continue.

“However, the condition under which her ability activates is important.”

***

[Translator – Ramen ]

[Proofreader – DVN-L ]

***

Conditions for power activation.

I narrowed my eyes and opened my mouth at those words.

“So the fire must reach the challenger from another world.”

“That’s right. Otherwise, the ability called power won’t activate, apparently.”

“But there’s no way the challenger from another world will willingly get struck by that fire.”

“So, in short, we’ll have to create a situation where Katheryn will trigger the ‘Suppression of Fire’.”

“You’re wise. Exactly.”

Hearing that, Kim Seunghoon threw a word as if it were nothing.

“If It’s just that, I can make that as much as you want.”

After that, Oh Choonsuk hesitated as though he was worried, then soon nodded his head.

“Mm… I don’t know if it’s possible. But well, I’ll try my best.”

Unexpectedly, he didn’t seem confident in his voice, but I knew Oh Choonsuk’s capability.

He was the one who swept the army in battle, probably because he had mastered magic-based skills professionally.

Of course, he couldn’t beat me because I supplemented my mana and stamina through souls.

Even so, Oh Coonsuk was clearly a strong person to say that he’s weak because of that.

There wasn’t much to worry about.

And—

“I don’t think there’s anything more to discuss now, so let’s get going.”

I didn’t have anything else to quibble over.

Since I even learned how to properly use the Sword Ki in the waiting room.

In fact, I had concluded that there would be no situation in which I’d be a hindrance to the party.

Arie Chika also looked at me and then nodded in agreement to some extent.

“…If there’s no one who wants to come up with a more specific plan, we’ll do so.”

Of course, none of the four wanted to plan out a specific plan.

Assessing each other’s capability was a kind of trick that we acquired while climbing the Tower.

Everyone instinctively knew that none of those who came here were unskilled to strategize and fight.

“I’ll respect your decision. The helicopter is waiting on the roof right now, so let’s depart immediately.”

Arie Chika immediately led us out of the meeting room, and I followed.

It didn’t take long to get to the roof and hop on the helicopter.

As soon as I got on the helicopter, I felt it moving, accompanied by noise, and the helicopter departed for its destination.

We didn’t even talk to each other properly, and most of us just waited for the arrival without moving, with our eyes closed.

Even Oh Choonsuk, who had been nervous and perplexed earlier, had a calm face as if waiting for the upcoming battle.

Only Katheryn Benett looked outside and glanced at me from time to time.

It seemed like everyone didn’t think that this battle would be that difficult.

Would it be because they all had a history of encountering a challenger from another world many times?

It was then that I had a flood of thoughts regarding this.

“…I didn’t originally plan to meet like this.”

Katheryn Benett, who had only been glancing at me, said so out of the blue.

“Actually, I wanted to meet in a little bit more ordinary way.”

“How can we meet normally when we didn’t meet normally from the beginning.”

“That’s… well, true. Our first meeting wasn’t ordinary either, hah.”

Soon, Katheryn Benett accepted the fact and sighed.

“There’s something I want to know… Are you like a newcomer with experience?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I did a search for you on the Korean Hunter Association website, you see.”

“…”

“However, only one record appeared on the website of the Korean hunter Association.”

“I must’ve appeared as a C rank hunter there.”

Well in fact, to Katheryn, I might look like a hunter who retired and came back to the field.

Aside from getting stronger in the Tower, I became a C-rank hunter through the hunter exam.

And I didn’t have a lot of records of being active as a hunter since then, after all.

“But whatever you may think, most of it is probably wrong.”

“Because before I entered the tower, I wasn’t a hunter.”

“What do you mea…”

It was the moment when Katheryn was about to ask a question as if she was dumbfounded.

Smaaaaaaaaaash…!!

With the sight of a building collapsing down with the sound of an explosion, I got startled and, at the same time, looked at Arie Chika, who was in the same helicopter.

“…It looks like the challenger from another world is running rampant.”

She looked at the situation outside and soon said so while muttering.

“Ever since the death of Feng Zǐ Wén, who responded to the request for support from China, he’s been destroying the city like this.”

“…”

“He started running rampant at the same time when we started moving in a helicopter. Now you have to prepare for some battle.”

“I see.”

As expected from a challenger from Murim dimension, his doings were far out of the expectations.

I never imagined that he’d cause such an uproar for not having brought me.

I frowned at that fact, then made a decision, stood up, and spoke to Katheryn.

Seeing the situation was worse than I thought, I couldn’t just stay still.

“Katheryn, can you land from the air?”

“…What? What do you mean by that?”

“I’ve got a good idea. If this works, you’ll be able to cast your power on him right away.”

“Uh… I believe I’ll be able to land somehow if it’s this much height?”

“Then that should be enough.”

I immediately wrapped my arm around her waist and headed out of the helicopter.

“…!?”

“Excuse me for a second.”

“W-W-Wait, what are you planning to…!?”

“What do you mean by what?”

「Activating Power, ‘Wings of Steel’.」

“We’re gonna fly.”

And at the same time, I went out of the helicopter while controlling the wings extending from my back.

Whiiish!

Like a bird, I spread my wings and flew to the city’s center where the roars were breaking out…

At a speed that could only be called transcendental.

——