Chapter 327 – The King Behind the Scenes

James and his team investigate Geelong.
This isn’t the first time they’ve investigated Geelong.
After arriving in Melbourne, the nearby city of Geelong was, of course, one of the places where we searched for survivors, and besides that, we visited several times to see if there was a king or not a new king appeared to reduce the monsters flocking to Melbourne.
And the look of Geelong that I had seen every time was a dead city occupied by monsters, and that was the case even now.
But if there is something different from then…

“… Could it be that Kang Ha-jin has been there?”
“Or even Kim Hyeon-joon or that monster named Head…”
“How the hell did you make this..?”

The team members spit out a word while looking at the scene unfolding in front of them.
There is no building as tall as Melbourne, but all the buildings built on a large site, like Australia’s land, were collapsed.
Curiously, only four large buildings located on the corner of a certain intersection.
Of course, it is very common for buildings to collapse.
Even monsters can do it even if a person with strong power doesn’t have to do it, and especially if it’s a huge guy like Demolisher, you can make a city full of low buildings like this devastated by just walking.
However, the reason they were surprised was that it was not just the building that collapsed, but that the space itself had completely disappeared, making it questionable whether the building even existed.

“James… Can you..?”
“… It is impossible now.”
“Then you were able to do it before you lost your power..?”
“Is that important?”
“It doesn’t matter! Whether it was a human or a monster… There are creatures that can do this…”

Paul looks around with puzzled eyes.
And the place where Paul is now standing is the center of the crossroads where the roads and buildings were cleaned in the past.
But now all Paul could see was a huge pit.
A pit with a radius of 100 meters and a depth of 3 meters.
It was never made with a bomb.
If so, there would have been traces of high fever or the sound and vibration would have been transmitted to Melbourne, which is only 70 kilometers away.

“Impossible.”
“What..?”
“It’s not impossible, but even if you haven’t lost your power, you can’t create something like this in a single blow.”
“Then if it’s strong… “
“This would be impossible even for this guy. If it’s a guy… “

Kwaaaaak!!!!

Suddenly, James clenched his fists and slammed the floor with all his might.

Aaaaa!!!!!
So-so-so-so!!!!!

“… “
“… “
“… “

Paul and his teammates stare at James in dismay.
Also, James was James.
No matter how weak he was, he was a man who once competed for humanity’s strongest.
The 3-meter-long pit was dug deeper, and the floor and walls inside the pit cracked randomly, turning into a precarious appearance as if it would collapse at any moment.

“If it were him, it would have been like this. Of course it will be much more destructive.”
“… What’s different..?”
“Is the floor cracked?”
“No, it’s definitely different… The shape of the pit…”

At first glance, it’s hard to spot the difference, but the existing pit and the bottom of the current pit had different shapes.
Now, the ground is formed in a concave shape centered on the impact point, but a while ago, the ground was pressed neatly to the point where it felt almost flat, as if only a certain part was pressed with a compressor.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that the walls of the pit are also formed vertically, but James wanted to say that he hit a much wider area at once.

“Then, are giants or golems like that..?”
“It is possible that another monster has appeared… “
“If that guy with the big fists I saw in America…!”

Paul carefully looked at James’ expression as he stood there without saying anything in the midst of various speculations from his teammates.

“Why are you like this? Are you not feeling well anywhere?”
“… “

James’ expression darkened as if he had come to a family home.
No, it seemed to wrap James’ whole body even to the unknown tension.
And James’ fist, still curled up.

“Pole.”
“Oh, tell me.”
“Do you remember? That day.”
“… “

Paul’s eyes trembled at James’ words.
And…

Kwak!!!
Awesome!!!

Clenched fists like James and a mouth with teeth gnashing.
It was clear anger and sadness.
But inside that feeling…

Farr-

Fear and fear, deeply imprinted in my brain, coexisted to the extent that my body trembled on its own, not because I gave it strength.
And sharing the same memories as Paul… No, James, who has more specific memories, murmured in a very low whisper.
A man’s name…

“Were you alive… Hakov…”

***

“Hakov? Who is that person?”

Minseo tilts her head and asks Amy while looking around the living room.

“I’ll go and explain that. But is Kang Ha-jin still there?”
“Ugh..!! Don’t even talk to that human! Rape now?! A child who was a child until a few months ago?!”

Seeing Minseo shouting and clenching her fists, Jooha, with a detached expression, approached and comforted her.

“Calm down, sister. It’s not the first time.”
“… Well, if you look closely, we are all similar… “
“… “
“Don’t look at me like that. I really like it now. Brother and us too.”
“All right. Then come with me first. I will go and explain.”
“Sister, can I go too?”
“No. Lia, you are at home with Camilla. Diana will be back soon too.”
“Yes~”
“Then let’s go, Juha.”
“Yes, sister.”

Minseo and Juha followed Emily to Melbourne, leaving the others at home.
And in the conference room that arrived, there were Kim Hyun-jun and Jackson, Kim Ji-hoon and Kwon Joo-hyuk, who Paul had brought along, as well as the strongest and James.
Of course, Nayeon is also contributing to the disappearance of people.

“Sisters, is that human still there?!”
“Yeah, it disappeared without even knowing the mice or birds.”
“Because it’s a player who runs away.”
“Ugh..!! I should have cut it!”
“… Don’t cut it.”
“That’s a bit…”
“You don’t mean to really cut it!”

While the excited Nayeon chatted with Minseo and Juha, Amy started talking in front of the people gathered in the conference room.

“Jacob del Toro. You must have heard her name at least once.”

At Amy’s words, Minseo, Juha, Nayeon, and Kwon Juhyuk tilted their heads, but everyone else slightly frowned as if they knew the name.
And Pierre Amalric, a former GIGN member of the French special forces unit, spat out a word in a gruff voice.

“That Hakov? The drug kingpin?”
“A drug dealer?”
“Huh?”

The strongest are the elite special forces representing each country.
That’s why everyone knew Hakov’s name.
However, only the strongest people from the American country know the real weight of that name.

“That’s right. That Hakov.”
“But why are you bringing up his name now? Are drugs circulating in Melbourne?”
“No. That’s not it.”
“Then?”
“Jacob del Toro. It is assumed that he is somewhere in Australia now.”
“Under… What’s the big deal that there’s a drug addict… Hey… What’s wrong with everyone?”
“… “
“… “
“… “

The strongest people from America with hardened faces.
In particular, the face of Anton Zenegger, who is from Mexico, turned white to the point of becoming almost pale.
The face of Anton, who had the most aggressive personality among the strongest after Branton’s death.

“Hey, Anton. Why are you doing that?”
“You guys don’t know… Jacob del Toro… The power of that name…”
“What did the drug lord say?”
“Are you just a drug addict? Even if the world was fine, I wouldn’t be able to compete with someone like you. Even if you take the entire unit with you, they will be annihilated in an instant.”
“What?! Do you think our Zizen is the same as your Gape who imitated us?!”

GAFE, Mexican Special Forces.
Like Pierre’s horse, Gaffe was created based on Gigenne.
And it is also true that, unlike Zigen, who was ranked among the top five in the world, it was a special forces unit whose combat power itself was not greatly recognized.
But that’s just that, unlike powerful countries that are armed with the latest weapons every time, Mexico was not highly regarded in modern special forces, where weapons account for a large proportion of strength, because such military support was scanty.

“I might as well check it out right now.”
“Try it.”
“… “
“… “

As Anton and Pierre glared at each other and tried to kill each other, Harry Walker and Kaioblett, who were sitting next to each other, intervened to stop the fight from escalating.
And Harry and Kaio are also the best special forces members from the British SAS and Brazil’s BOPE.

“Amy, I know Harkov is a dangerous man. But things have changed now, and I don’t think we’re a high-risk person enough to gather like this?”
“I am of the same opinion. Of course, we know that after the zombies came out, they took control of the Mexican government and military. But even the United States collapsed without being able to maintain its military. Don’t you think they’re keeping the strength of the Mexican military intact?”
“That’s right. The Mexican army is clearly broken. This is a confirmed fact. But what I’m worried about is Jacob del Toro, the sheer power he has.”

Jacob del Toro, born in Mexico, is a cartel criminal who was born into one of the drug cartels.
It is unknown who his father is, and a child born while he was pregnant while being forced into sexual intercourse by a woman he had kidnapped within the organization.
Growing up in a den of criminals full of crimes such as drugs, murder, rape, kidnapping, and assault since he was born, Harcove took over the organization by killing the head of a drug organization and his boss at the age of 15 with his own hands.
And he went to war with larger-scale cartels, absorbing forces one by one, and even absorbing two giant cartels that divided Mexico, and people called him this.
King of mexico.

Even though the government was aware of his existence, they couldn’t do anything about it.
A mighty military force armed with all kinds of weapons, enough people to fight the Mexican army head-on, and a huge amount of money earned from drugs and various crimes.
Harkov’s cartel, with everything, was not just a criminal organization, but a state.
Half of the world’s drug supply was supplied by Harkov’s cartel, and his organization, not only in Mexico, spread around the world and began to establish itself in each country.
Of course, in Europe, except for the drugs supplied, they did not stand out much due to the mafia, but when Hakov stepped forward, the Russian mafia, which was said to be terrible, disappeared in an instant.
No, I swore allegiance to Hakov.

Afterwards, Harkov returned to Mexico, and just as he was trying to take over Europe centered on the Russian mafia he had absorbed, a zombie apocalypse broke out and his conquest of Europe ended in vain.

The tenacity and cruelty of chasing traitors to the ends of the earth and throwing them into boiling oil.
A brutality that is estimated to have killed more than 30,000 people from the moment Harkov took possession of the small cartel.
The boldness of breaking into an American police station and rescuing an arrested subordinate.
And a powerful force that disintegrates and puts underfoot criminal organizations that even numerous special forces have not been able to deal with.
Harkov was the most raging man in the world of weak meat even before the zombie apocalypse.
And above all…

“Phoenix Shelter. There I lost my life to Hakov.”
“… “
“… “
“… “

The shocking words that came out of James’ mouth, who was sitting in silence.
It’s not just James.
The power to defy Amy’s death.

『The Power to Defy Death (SS) – Can defy two deaths (1/2). When used, it breathes life into a dead target. Remaining number of uses (1/3)』

It was when he lost his life to Hakov that he used one of his two chances to defy death.
Then he came back to life and saved the dead James, and the other time he saved James from the dead by Ha Jin.
Paul was also in Phoenix at the time, but he couldn’t do anything either.
All I can do is look at my dying comrades with my vision obscured by red blood…