Chapter 56

The rain fell in shades of green. With each touch of the dense green rain, the exteriors of the monsters mercilessly began to melt away.

There was no need to ponder who did it. The protagonist was right there beside.

It was an enormously huge toad. Like it had erected a whole building, the gigantic toad looked up at the sky, continuously spitting out saliva.

The saliva rose to the sky, turning into a corrosive rain that brought disaster to the monsters.

“Whoa, where did that monster come from again?”

“Hmm!”

Kim Gap-cheol sighed deeply.

Experiencing such absurd events all in one place in his lifetime.

That’s what Kim Gap-cheol thought.

The only human maintaining silence in this vast Cheolwon Plain.

Taehyung opened his eyes slightly, gazing at the intense battlefield emitting fierce heat.

“Hmm.”

The battle had been going on for quite some time. The extermination squad and his summoned creatures diligently reduced the number of monsters.

“Something doesn’t seem right. Does this make sense?”

Despite killing so many, it seemed like the numbers weren’t decreasing at all, which was strange.

Oh, the numbers did decrease. Monster carcasses were scattered everywhere. It was truly a sea of blood.

However, despite that, the extermination squad couldn’t seem to move forward.

It seemed like a misconception, but no matter how much he thought about it, it wasn’t a misconception.

This just didn’t make sense.

It felt like monsters were being generated in real-time.

Not like monsters respawning in a game either.

And there was something that firmly reinforced his suspicion.

That was intuition.

Taehyung ‘s sensitive senses towards energy were continuously sending signals.

It was hard to explain in words, but since a while ago, he had a very uneasy feeling. Along with that, he felt like he was missing something.

“There seems to be something for sure!”

Continuing to exterminate monsters like this was good, but shouldn’t this endless war be ended soon?

“Indeed, when in doubt, trying is the answer!”

There, in the distance, a space that seemed strangely clustered with monsters caught his eye.

In Taehyung ‘s opinion, that seemed to be where the monster’s nest was.

“After all, the most dangerous place always needs to be thoroughly prepared for!”

Therefore, the place where monsters were most clustered should be the monster’s nest.

“Hmm. Karim is in battle, and Gloki is the same. Then maybe this time I should try it myself!”

Intervening directly was contrary to his temperament. However, he couldn’t just stand by and observe forever out of reluctance.

A true lord doesn’t just command subordinates ruthlessly. A true lord is someone who steps forward when needed.

A man should know when to step forward.

And that time was now.

“Alright, where!”

Taehyung closed his eyes. When he concentrated, he immediately felt a flowing sensation of mystical power.

“The most important thing in using mystic power is willpower!”

Yes, willpower. Depending on how much willpower you put into it, the results vary greatly.

Taehyung strongly wished. He wanted to transform this mystical power into a form of ‘detection.’

Since gaining mystical power, the power Taehyung felt had been boundless.

Although the physical destructive power itself might be lacking compared to mana, its utilization was unmatched.

Even the space leap used by the Celestial Albatross was ultimately just one of the uses of mystic power.

Therefore, this attempt should also be successful.

“Hmm. Let’s try a little trick.”

After linking with Gloki, he activated the ability.

Injecting mystical power into the ability, he strongly willed.

He thought and thought.

“Detect!”

Then, astonishingly, the ability infused with mystical power began to exert its strength.

“Wow!”

The power of the ability spread in a circle around him.

“Find and illuminate the monster’s nest. Discover anomalies.”

As he thought.

“……!”

Thousands of pieces of information began to rush into Taehyung ‘s mind like a torrent.

“Argh!”

Rubbing his throbbing head, Taehyung filtered out the incoming information.

There was only one important thing: information about the monster’s nest.

“There it is!”

As expected. Where it seemed like there would be a nest, there was indeed one.

But something was strange.

[Variant Monster Nest

-Gullat, Cerberus, Scapter, etc. Five nests where three types of monsters resided have merged to create a variant nest.

-Excessive spawning: Unless the nest is destroyed, it continuously generates monsters.

-Mana concentration: Unless the nest is destroyed, it continuously absorbs mana from the surroundings to create mana-dense areas.

-Special Note: Artificial traces found. The nest has been mutated by an unknown entity.]

The fact that it continuously gives birth to monsters and creates excessively mana-dense areas.

The information that artificial traces were found was incomparable.

“So, someone tampered with the monster’s nest!”

Taehyung stiffened his expression.

It seemed that in his haste to eradicate the monster’s nest quickly, he had discovered a hidden, tremendous truth.

***

In the vicinity of Cheorwon Plain, at the summit of Mt. Oryu.

A woman with long, flowing red hair down to her waist was gazing down the mountain.

“I’m not pleased.”

Due to the thick mist generated by the humid weather, nothing was visible, yet the woman kept gesturing and muttering as if she could see something, pointing downward with her finger.

“For all the effort, it’s rather disappointing, isn’t it?”

The woman shook her head in frustration.

“Even with five combined, why can’t that one just budge? It’s not like they’re just thrown together; I’ve given them enough attention, you know.”

She tapped her foot, a habit that emerged when she was in thought.

“It seems it’s because of those unwelcome guests…………. Hmm.”

Her expectation was up to the point of confronting those intruders, not the rampaging orcs, bees, frogs, and the like.

“Well, it’s my fault for not anticipating the change.”

She shrugged soon after.

“At this rate, it seems it will be stuck, so should I give it a little more push?”

The woman raised her hand. A dark red gust enveloped her, and she vanished without a trace.

***

Taehyung took a deep breath. He calmed his mind and thought calmly.

“Who on earth would meddle with the demon’s nest?”

The newly acquired skill, Exploration. The information inputted by that skill was undoubtedly clear.

It was said that the nest had been altered by some unknown entity.

So, just how much did that unidentified entity meddle with the nest?

“Was it all from the beginning, or did they just impart those bizarre two traits?”

He wondered but decided not to dwell on it.

Because it wasn’t that important.

What mattered was the fact that all of it was intentional.

“Phew. It was almost a disaster.”

Of course, the extermination team was excellent. Each individual was strong and experienced. But looking at the current situation, it was a fact that they were struggling.

Just by observing, it seemed like Karim and Gloki were doing the best.

Of course, safety was the top priority, so they couldn’t aggressively attack, but even considering that, it was the case.

In fact, for a moment, he even thought that the extermination team was more incompetent than he had thought. He quickly corrected his thinking, though.

They weren’t weak.

We were strong.

Both Karim and Gloki were initially nothing special.

One was an orc expelled from the group for being weak.

The other was just a tiny slime that could barely move or speak.

But those two had built up their power and achieved remarkable growth.

You only truly understand through comparison. Thinking like this, Taehyung truly realized how remarkable his own abilities were.

“I’ve grown just like those two!”

He looked at his body.

He might not compare to other physical hunters, but his body was still solid.

“Well, except for my left arm!”

Was that the only thing?

His ability was also steadily growing.

It was unimaginable now. Why had he lived as a loser before?

Why had he avoided reality and lived only in the community? Why had he constantly belittled others and showed inferiority?

Yeah.

At this moment, Taehyung truly believed.

He had finally reached a position where he wouldn’t be overshadowed by those famous high-ranking hunters.

With true confidence stemming not from arrogance but from self-awareness, Taehyung thought,

“If it weren’t for me, things would have gone terribly wrong.”

The extermination team wasn’t stupid. Maybe they had also noticed something strange. They would surely be preparing their own countermeasures.

But…

Taehyung wasn’t particularly impressed by them.

“So, I’ll do it!”

He would find the unidentified entity that had disturbed the nest.

[Unique Skill ‘Summoner’s Eye – Exploration’ activated.]

A mysterious power surged momentarily before being released. The power drew a circle, scanning everything within its radius.

“Find the entity that artificially disturbed that demon’s nest!”

He strongly willed it, injecting more power.

A flood of information rushed in like waves. His head throbbed, but he endured.

He only focused on one thing.

The unidentified entity that meddled with the nest.

But it wasn’t easy. The entity didn’t show up easily.

Maybe it wasn’t even within this range.

In fact, that was more likely.

If its tail was long, it wouldn’t stay at the scene of the crime, right?

But Taehyung had a feeling that the entity was nearby.

“Don’t criminals usually return to the scene of the crime?”

If I were the villain, what would I do?

Thinking like that, he found the answer.

“I’d probably want to see how things unfold!”

So, it must be here.

Nearby.

“Let’s widen the range!”

Leaving enough power for spatial leap, he directed all remaining power to adjust the Exploration.

“Reduce the density of the search, but expand the range!”

Boom!

The scope of the Exploration widened. The power gradually encompassed the entire area.

Then…

A tingling sensation, like an electric current passing through.

“Something’s caught!”