Chapter 114: A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss (Part 2)

The Hive reconnaissance mission didn’t need much preparation. Four members were on the team, and they knew the location of the entrance. Therefore, it took only four days for Taehone to prepare the weapons and organize his knowledge.

Meanwhile, Zin and Ramphil talked about the possible risks and how to mitigate them.

The hunters of the Nest were unhappy with Dominator and the fact that the Dean of the Academy was going to join the mission, but they were forced to accept it because they knew what it would bring to the Nest.

[Alternative Energy Absorption – 72,370 chips]

[Operation time extended – 72,370 hours]

[Darkborn Energy – 3.06%]

[All functions except for biological activities are deactivated. Energy remaining 3,748 days, 12 hours and 9 seconds.]

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[Need more Devil Blood]

Zin swallowed countless chips as if he was inhaling air and then heaved a deep sigh. He felt as though his dead body was being rejuvenated, although not to its full extent. Leona observed the huge amount of chips disappearing in front of her eyes as if she were confronting disaster.

“W-Wow, that is… something… I don’t even miss the chips.”

The sight of chips that could have bought the lives of hundreds of people disappearing in just a few breaths was also radical to Ramphil.

However, all those chips had only recovered about 2.46 percent of Zin’s energy. His life expectancy had increased by nearly a decade. To Zin, chips meant life, and he had always extended his life this way.

It would be safe to say that there was no living being as inefficient as him. Zin put on his coat and looked at Ramphil.

“Is everything ready?”

“Not much to do.” He shrugged, as if there wasn’t much to prepare, and Zin looked down at Leona.

“It’ll be a few days.”

“Both of you, don’t get hurt.”

Leona, who found it hard to joke around or play games at times like these, looked at Zin and Ramphil alternately with nervous eyes.

Although she tried, she could not get used to feeling miserable during times like these. The two left the room, and Leona just stood there, facing the door.

One day, she would be in a position to help, but she was sad knowing that that day wouldn’t be coming soon.

————————-

The fact that having just one arm cut his combat proficiency by half couldn’t be explained.

Once he was disfigured, he was forced to retire completely. Sometimes, Taehone envied Yoohwan, even though he knew he shouldn’t. He had lost his face, but not his abilities; whereas, Taehone had lost his ability to fight.

Because skill was everything to a hunter, he lived in a state of self-loathing.

He knew very well that his fighting days would never come again. His body was getting old, and with its concrete limitations, Taehone was barely able to survive thanks to his glorious past.

He definitely knew that his fighting days were over and had accepted that hunting was for those who came after him.

But Taehone kept up his study of fighting techniques. And not ready to let his old body go, he always tried to keep it in the best shape possible.

“Hu-h…”

In his room, Taehone was doing push-up handstands with one hans. His shirtless upper body was bulging with animal-like muscles.

The retired hunter’s body was still very much a hunter’s body. The hunter who had lost his left arm had trained his remaining right arm to the extreme. He had never given his body a chance to grow old.

He had done this knowing that he would never be able to fight again.

He knew that it came from desperation, but he did it anyway. That was the only way he could avoid feeling sorry for himself. His healthy and powerful body remained, and his muscles were getting tighter and tougher with each passing year.

He knew better than anyone that it was a pointless endeavor. He knew he could just sit in his chair and carry out his duties as the Dean, but he continued his meaningless training.

But it wasn’t all pointless.

After a long time, the devil hunter had come back, and the devil hunter had given the old hunter another chance, an opportunity to save himself from despair.

“Phew…”

After ninety push-ups, Taehone skillfully rose back up with just the one arm. Maintaining his tense body and spirit, he washed himself with cold water. Scars covered his entire body—some were from monsters and some were from humans.

The mere fact that he might add a new scar to the old scars made the old hunter smile as he splashed himself with cold water.

After he cleaned himself up and shaved, the old hunter checked the weapon placed on top of his desk.

A rifle could be used with one hand, but it would yield poor results. Just because it was possible, it didn’t mean that it should be done.

But using a pistol was a better.

In front of him, were five ink-colored revolvers. Although the large barrel revolver that used 0.500 Magnum bullets had a tremendous rebound, he had been steadily training his remaining arm and shoulders to control it.

It was only training, and not live battles however. The five revolvers bore many handprints, but they had never been used in a real hunt. Only the worn-out handles of the revolvers revealed how Taehone had been handling them.

If reloading was inconvenient during an emergency, he could use more than one gun.

One by one, he put four revolvers in the holsters around his waistband, and the last one on the holster by his left chest. He loaded different ammo in each revolver. One had a buckshot, the other had white coal pellets, another one had slugs, and another had a monster called busting shot.

Tahone had custom made the rarely manufactured .500 Magnum bullets as well as the other special bombs. And they finally had a purpose.

Taehorn looked at the black coat hanging on a hanger. He slowly took it out and put his one arm in. He was glad to feel the heavy weight of the quick loader in the sleeve.

He had not expected this moment to come.

But this was the moment he had been waiting for.

The old hunter wearing the coat started to walk with a firm expression on his face.

Suddenly, with their backs leaning against the wall, he saw Zin and Ramphil were standing in the hallway.

“Are you ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Don’t get too excited,” joked Zin, and Taehone laughed.

“If I do, please hit me in the back of the head like you used to.”

The devil hunter grinned at the old hunter’s sly response.

“Let’s go.”

The three left the Nest.

———————–

Taehone, Ramphil and Zin left the Nest and headed to Dominator. The hunters were still busy with their own work, and Leona went to the Academy for her classes.

Then, someone opened the door to Zin’s empty room and walked in. He was a retired hunter who taught at the Red Dragon Nest as the academy trainer.

However, there was no reason for him to enter the room of Zin’s team. Nevertheless, he walked in as if it was the most natural thing to do, closed the door and looked around the room.

Some people in the Nest were already working for Odin Corporation. Hunters believed that only disillusioned hunters went to Dominator, but there were few who had not.

They stayed at the Nest and reported the hunters’ activities in real time.

Such proxies existed among the hunters, but few were actually instructors who lived in the Nest.

Retired hunters generally could not earn as many chips as those on active duty. Some hunters enjoyed luxury and pleasure, and when they retired, they were bored by the ascetic life in the Nest.

For them, the chips offered by Odin Corporation were wonderful and fascinating.

Soljian was one of those who had started working for Odin Corporation for that reason. He received four hundred chips a month for simply reporting on what was going on.

And this time, very simply, the task was to search the new hunters’ quarters and find out anything out of the ordinary.

There wasn’t much to find in their luggage. All parties carried their weapons, and Zin kept the most important things in the void.

So, all he could find was just some extra clothes and Leona’s toiletries.

“Well, I guess I just have to report that there’s nothing.”

He hadn’t thought that they’d leave anything out of the ordinary in a room that anyone could just walk in, in the first place. He looked around, and as he put things back in their place, the only odd thing he noticed was the soap that Leona carried around with her.

But the last thing he touched was Ramphil’s bag, and it contained something completely unexpected.

“… What is this?”

In rare cases, troops from the Fortress came into the big city, so he knew what the clothes meant.

It was a Wargrave uniform. Since he could tell by looking at the bags who the owner was, Soljian had a good feeling as to whom this uniform belonged.

“Is one of them not a hunter, but a Wargrave Soldier?”

There was no telling why he was traveling with them. However, the military uniform suggested that it was possible. With a smile of satisfaction on his face, he quickly organized the clothes, arranged them as they were, and left the room.

“This is awesome.”

It was only natural that Soljian was smiling from ear-to-ear when considering the additional payment he would receive just from reporting the information.

———————

When they met Yoohwan at Dominator office, he was already fully armed. He was a corporate-sponsored hitman, so all the equipment he had was impressive.

‘Click-clack.’

“I guess you guys are ready. I’m ready, too.”

Although it was an operation in which Dominators’ leader, Yoohwan, was directly participating, he was waiting at the entrance as if he disliked the ostentatious ceremony.

That was only possible because he was proud and confident in his ability.

Zin looked at Yoohwan and said, “What a sight to behold.”

He was wearing a metal exoskeleton suit and a combat helmet. His left and right arms even had mounted weapons.

“It’s in test phase right now, but once it’s commercialized, Dominators’ firepower will jump five times from what it is today.”

The tough looking protective suit seemed to have tremendous firepower. Taehone said to Yoohwan, “It looks like you’re going to war, not reconnaissance.”

“It doesn’t hurt to be ready for anything. Well, first of all, here’s the advance payment.”

He revealed two chip boxes containing exactly 10,000 chips each. Zin and Ramphil accepted the payment and put it away. There was little reason for headaches when dealing with corporations as they always handled the payments properly.

Only four people were to scout the Hive.

“The mission is simple. My goal is to use the built-in camera on my helmet to scan the entire Hive. Then, it will store the overall structure of the Hive, and based on it, we will be able to digitally map its structure and use that to create a detailed plan to destroy it.”

Odin Corporation’s technical expertise was considerable. Such a plan was possible because they had the technical skills to back it up. Ramphil remained still, but Taehone was surprised that this was possible.

Of course, Zin was also surprised, but it was because a system like that had to be rebuilt.

“Couldn’t we use a drone?” asked Zin. If they could use a drone, they wouldn’t need to go in the Hive.

“What’s a drone?”

“… Nevermind.”

They were developing technology in selective areas and not as a whole, so even though some areas were advanced, other parts remained completely unknown.

It didn’t seem like Odin Corporation was thinking about artificial intelligence at all.

They were only four. The fact that one was the head of a private security company and another was the leader of the Hunter’s Nest was a credible combination. The gatekeepers of Dominator were excited that the Guardian, who was the symbol of fear itself within Odin Corporation, was going on the mission and respected the Guardian for being active at that age.

One of the most ostensibly armed was the Guardian with his exoskeleton reinforcement suit. The other one was a devil hunter with a devil-hunting weapon called the Dark Born, and the other was a cyborg fighter who had undergone a cyborg procedure in Wargrave.

Things were not always what they seemed.

“Let’s go. I’ll show you to the entrance of the Hive.”

Yoohwan and Taehone took the lead. They still remembered the place where they had had to confront unforgettable fear and despair.

However, their backs did not seemed frightened for people who were returning to the abyss from which they had fled in the past.

“Hunters are strange,” said Ramphil as he walked.

Hunters worked a job after receiving payment, but Ramphil was starting to think that that was something more to it than that.

“When someone does one thing for a long time, it can mess with their minds,” said Zin.

“I don’t think someone who’s been doing the same thing for two hundred years should say something like that.”

Zin grinned when Ramphil responded as if questioning his self-deprecation.

“I have nothing to say.”

It hadn’t been self-deprecation. Rather, it was a statement from a person who had accepted such a part of himself.