Chapter 120 – Episode 119 – The World’s Best Hunter Tournament (2)

I narrowed my eyes and focused on the balmung floating in front of me.

The eerie sword tip leans forward.

Thinking that I was holding the knife, I gently moved Balmung’s blade.

Whiik-!

The terrifyingly shining sword light draws a line.

Before long, Balmung was trapped in the neck of the goblin scout, a monster in the third level of the battle simulation I had set up.

“Ke.. Kereuuk…!”

The goblin skirmisher struggled to free the balmung stuck in his neck, but his movement gradually stopped as the half-slit balmung glowed in a blue sword light.

The goblin skirmisher’s body disintegrates, white particles disintegrating and infiltrating Balmung’s blade.

True to Balmung’s explanation of swallowing the ‘source’, Balmung greedily sucked up even the body of that virtually embodied monster.

“If you use this in the World’s Best Hunter Tournament, you’ll be damned.”

It was terrifying to think of the horrors that would happen if Balmung was used in a one-on-one tournament-style sparring.

To think that Balmung would lock himself in the opponent’s stomach, ravenously devour his blood, and rot the flesh around him like a Death Worm…

There was no such thing as a b-grade horror movie.

“Player!”

An angel watching from the side flaps his wings and calls me.

“OK.”

I answered the angel and let Balmung float in the air again.

In order to get used to the Ego Sword, from now on I was planning to keep it floating next to me until I ran out of mana.

“In this scenario, of course, you will use the Sword Instructor job skill, right?”

The angel looks up at me with expectant amber eyes.

I nodded.

“Of course, even if I use a little bit of the spirit love swordsman I’m used to, the balance won’t collapse.”

Now I am quite strong.

With the Ego Sword, you can have the effect of ‘equipping’ one more sword, receiving the auxiliary effects of Balmung and Levatein at the same time.

It can be concluded that he has become stronger just by looking at the popped status window after clearing the scenario of the beach where something strange popped out and eating the blood of something he ate.

What I’m talking about is not ‘strong’ in that sense.

Similar to how I realized the magic of pleasure specified in the pleasure swordsman, I realized something about the sword.

That feeling when you cut down the succubus queen.

Unlike the time when I had that mysterious and curious feeling in my hands, now I only have fragments of that feeling.

Just having that piece made me stronger than I was before.

So, if I went to the Hunter Tournament and showed off the spirit swordsman’s skills and the tricks of pleasure, the tournament would end too easily.

“It’s just a contest to get used to being a sword instructor.”

I slowly let go of the tip of my sword and frowned as I watched Balmung sway.

I wasn’t used to the controls yet, so even if I let go of my focus on Balmung, the tip of the sword would sway on its own.

“Player… If it is.”

The angel cautiously clenched her hands and pursed her lips.

After a little hesitation, the angel continued.

“If you feel strange like last time, you should do your best right away. This world is a mixture of many things.”

I chuckled.

“Of course, and the fact that I became this strong in the first place was also influenced by them to some extent.”

Unlike the first time, the heavens spread something to me with a favorable attitude, and the ‘abnormalities’ that happened to the point that even Hell Mode felt strange.

I had already realized for quite some time that something beyond my perception was rolling in the distance.

“… Sorry.”

The angel lowered his head and muttered to me in a gloomy tone.

Silence and apologies.

In the silence, I noticed that the angel was trying to tell me something.

I can roughly guess what the angel was trying to say.

“Okay, you’ll find out later anyway.”

I quietly looked at the tip of Balmung’s sword and said to the angel.

Shirik.

Balmung flashed a beautiful and terrifying sword light, and the drooping sword tip flashed upward.

“No matter what happens, it’s not enough to just cut them off when strange things appear.”

I looked at the angel with a confident smile.

“Is not it?”

“As expected… Player! It’s exciting!”

An angel lifts me up with a bright smile.

I nodded his head in praise of the angel, and focused again on the balmung in front of his eyes.

One week ahead.

I was thinking of going to the Hunter Tournament and working hard enough to win with the Ego Sword.

* *

A hunter who crosses the line with the devil and closes the gate that threatens the world.

That’s why people were enthusiastic about Hunters and longed for them.

Hunter inevitably received public attention.

Fame, position, power.

The job of a hunter could have anything, and in fact, S-class hunters Kim Soo-bin and Kim Jin owned all of them.

Hunters looked at the two and tried to develop their position while being jealous or envying them.

Challenging dungeons that could not be cleared, dressing up diligently and receiving attention from the public.

But above all else, there was always one means to increase the position of the Hunters.

‘The best hunter competition in the world.’

A sparring in which golden badges, which have been handed down as a tradition since the days of the Great Devil Subjugation Academy, are hung on clothes to gauge each other’s skills.

A competition that determines the ranking by showing off the most important virtue of hunters, ‘force’ in front of the public.

People cheered for the supernatural ability to slay the demons beyond the gate and the sparring with bullets, and the hunters increased their reputation by showing the skills they had honed so far.

On the day when the hunter competition, which is receiving a lot of attention from everyone, started, people watched the competition held by the broadcasting station with high expectations.

At the entrance of the large dome-shaped arena where the hunter competition is held, a girl in a fancy dress took a deep breath while holding her microphone.

The girl’s identity was ‘Illira’, an A-class hunter, her ability was ‘magic’, and her public nicknamed her magical girl.

Illira took one more deep breath before she saw the camera pushed in front of her.

“Hello everyone~! It’s all you magical girls! Keyring~ Keyring~”

Cute hand gestures and a refreshing expression with tongue sticking out of mouth, magical girl Illira’s proprietary greeting pose.

She agonized over the fact that she was a wolf in motion, saying, ‘Why do you like things like this?’, But the guild and the public wanted her to be a figure that was already decided, so she shed her tears and said that she was a wolf. She continued her actions.

“Now, everyone, do you know what day it is?!

Illya put her face to the camera and twirled the star-shaped pattern in her eyes.

When the star created by her supernatural ability returned, her vision became dizzy and her stomach groaned.

“And for this super-special competition, there is special content prepared by our XVS channel, right away~! Hunter interview!”

Illya spins the microphone in her hand.

Then, along with her pink smoke, she and her cameraman disappeared from the entrance of the arena in an instant and moved to the waiting room where the hunters were waiting.

It was her ability ‘teleportation magic’ that Irira uses.

“Okay then, let’s do an interview… Ugh!!!”

Irira teleported into the waiting room and tried to conduct her interview with a pretentious smile, but she screamed at something flying right in front of her eyes.

A cold sword that sparks terrifying anticipation.

A sword composed of a golden handle that looks luxurious at first glance and a blue jewel embedded in the center floats in the air and attacks the wolf.

“Aaaaa!!!!”

Too close, too fast.

No matter how A-class she is, it was not enough to use her abilities in her current state.

Leera, who normally played her thin voice by strangling her, responded to this danger by using her cigarette-tamped, rough vocal chords.

“Aaaaa!!!”

When she screamed in her husky, harsh voice, she seemed to have responded to the cheers, and the sword that had been attacking her stopped abruptly.

“Gulp.”

The tip of the sharp sword came to rest between the eyes of Illira.

Illya swallows her spittle, eyes closed to her sword.

A dangerous sword that shines beautifully in the light of fluorescent lamps, but gives off a terrifying feeling.

Even if this sword had only moved a centimeter, the tip of that sword of hers would dig into her own forehead.

“Huh…”

Irira seems to have relieved her tension and she falls to the floor.

The cameraman was also taken aback by this situation and tried to help her Illira, but she had a boy approaching her before him.

“No? Are you crazy? What kind of psychopath is teleporting in front of her knife?!”

A boy with an overall docile appearance, but sharp eyes.

The cameraman threw away her hand that was trying to support her wolf and hurriedly captured the boy on her camera.

A sword hanging from his waist, black hair and a black armband hanging from his right arm.

Anyone can see that it was ‘Jung Jo-jun’, a student at the hottest demon subjugation academy these days.

“Huh.. Heh..”

Jung Joon approached Ira, who was still lying face down on the ground, unable to regain her senses.

“Hey! You really almost got in trouble, no, what kind of teleport are you taking without saying anything?”

Jung Aim puts his hand in Illira’s armpit and lifts it up.

Illya put her feet on the ground, and then she cleared her throat as if she had come back to her senses.

“Ah… Ah↗”

The husky voice goes through stages and returns to the pure voice of ‘Magical Girl Illira’.

After clearing his voice, he opened his eyes to Jung Joon behind him.

“This… Did you do this? You almost died!”

“That’s what I’m going to say. Who’s going to teleport all of a sudden? You almost died.”

Jung Jo-Jun makes an absurd expression and asks Illira in return.

Illira tried to refute that statement, but after arguing, she had nothing to say.

“Who… Who’s floating the sword in the waiting room?!”

“It’s because this is my ability. Look.”

A sword floating in the waiting room.

Illira herself can also float it with mana, so she snorted and looked at it, but she felt a sense of difference for a moment and opened her eyes wide.

Mana is not connected.

There was no mana connection between Jung Joon and that sword.

“Uh… Uh uh… Is that a real ability?”

“That’s a strange person.”

Jung Aim looks at Illira suspiciously.

In Jung Jo-jun’s opinion, this woman was not normal.

Like the spinning stars embedded in her eyeballs, and how she imitates a lively voice by dressing up in a husky voice.

“Eh… Eight?! I don’t know! Let’s start the interview! Keyring~ Kiririn~!”

Illira was flustered and groaned, then quickly moved on to the original purpose of the interview, perhaps unable to find an answer in the end.

Jung Jo-jun, who was standing next to her, saw her and was convinced in his heart that she was a ‘crazy woman’.

“Here~ Jeong Aim, a first-year student at the hottest demon subjugation academy these days! I came to this competition where only hunters participate, as a special benefit~!”

Irira smiled refreshingly as she turned the stars in her eyes next to Jung Joon.

Jeong Jo-jun felt mad at the moment and took a step back.

An extraordinary interview from the start, this appearance was conveyed to the public beyond the camera and announced the first start of the unconventional hunter competition.