S-Classes That I Raised to Devour - Chapter 105

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 105. Critical Point (3)
At the summit of Namsan, where the old tower once stood, a massive elliptical pink gemstone now rested.
I traced the surface of that enormous jewel quietly with my hand.
This was no ordinary mineral.
Inside, Lize lay sleeping with a smile on her face.
She’d extracted the jewel herself and spoken before entering it.
“With Orihalcon, you should be able to keep me sealed for about a week.”
“Only a week, then.”
“If I let go of my reason.”
The Magic Girl gave me a reassuring wink.
“I’ll be patient. Like a princess waiting for her hero to arrive. You have to come within a month, yes?”
“Should I wake you with a kiss?”
“I’ll have to decline—I’m a married woman.”
That was our last exchange.
I settled down beside her, leaning against the most beautiful prison in this world.
“Don’t misunderstand. I’m not protecting you—I’m keeping watch.”
Sure enough, uninvited guests arrived soon after.
Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump.
Two combat helicopters hovering overhead.
The doors opened, and two figures leaped out. Bare-bodied, from dozens of meters in the air.
Whoosh, soft landing.
They descended at terrifying speed, yet their landing made no more sound than a leaf underfoot.
Still seated, I looked up at them.
A figure in black, wearing a Gyeongsan mask.
A figure in white, wearing a Hahoe mask.
‘Faces I know well enough.’
The Gyeongsan mask belonged to Cheon Ihwa, the Hahoe mask to Pa Cheon Geom.
“Move aside.”
Cheon Ihwa’s voice came out cold and distorted.
No point in pretending I didn’t understand.
“That would be pointless.”
“What exactly do you mean by pointless?”
I answered by tapping the gemstone holding Lize.
“This is a metal called Orihalcon, and it cannot be broken under any circumstances. So don’t waste your strength trying.”
“That’s for me to judge. If you won’t move—”
Shing.
The Gyeongsan mask drew her blade. The presence emanating from it was far from ordinary.
Looking closely, I could see Sword Force rippling across the steel.
Sword Energy is merely a blade honed by internal power or mana.
But Sword Force carries will within it. Resolve dwells there.
Even Amantihr, which Sword Energy could barely scratch, would cleave under Sword Force.
“I understand the urge to test your newfound Sword Force, but to cut through Orihalcon, you’d need to wield the Heart Sword.”
“…The Heart Sword is merely a theoretical realm.”
“If that’s what you believe, you’ll never attain it.”
Even behind the mask, I could see Cheon Ihwa’s eyes waver.
Then the Hahoe mask stepped forward.
“Chae Mujin. We tried to resolve this civilly, out of respect for your dignity, but it seems that won’t work.”
Flash.
In the instant something gleamed, I felt a sharp pain bloom across my cheek, and warmth trickling down—blood.
Remarkable speed. So the Association President’s honor guard wasn’t chosen for his looks alone.
“Next will be your throat.”
“You don’t sound like you mean that.”
“Care to test it?”
“…There are too many eyes watching now. I suppose we should end the game here.”
The Secret Inspectors had arrived first, but soon A-Rank Official Hunters surrounded the area.
Five A-Rank Official Hunters, summoned to suppress and contain the Magic Girl’s existence.
An entire platoon of the Anti-Magic Special Task Force, deployed in support of those hunters.
“What an honor to have such distinguished visitors in this humble place.”
From among the Twelve Guilds, the masters of Iron Fist and Holy Heart Blade had come in person, and even Geol Wang, king of the Vagabond Association, was waving his hand as if asking for recognition.
More than ten A-Rank Hunters gathered here now—all of them Named-Rank, no less. Theoretically, the perfect force to take down a Named-Rank Boss.
And indeed, they all brimmed with confidence.
‘They think that if they join forces, they can easily defeat the Magic Girl.’
Naturally, they were mistaken. The Magic Girl was no Named-Rank.
The moment Lize, a Lord-class being, unleashed her full power, everyone here would be obliterated.
I stood, brushing off my pants, and began to clap.
Clap, clap!
The mana-infused applause drew every eye toward me, and I waved at them all.
“Thank you for coming so far, but you’ve arrived far too early.”
To my words, Cheol Gwon Ho Yeon Geol shouted out.
“Mujin! What kind of nonsense are you spouting?”
“The Magic Girl will awaken in one month.”
“One month, schmone month—the Magic Girl sealed herself! Isn’t this the perfect opportunity?”
At his words, the others nodded in agreement.
A sigh escaped me.
To convince them, I’d have to reveal a secret. A top-classified secret the Hunter Association had kept hidden.
Before speaking, I glanced at Cheon Ihwa in her Gyeongsan mask. Even she looked curious.
Information the Association President had never shared with his own daughter—I disclosed it before everyone’s eyes.
“The Magic Girl is not Named-Rank. She is a Lord-class Boss Monster. If you fight her here, you will die.”
After a brief silence, someone shouted.
“Are we supposed to believe that?”
A reasonable objection. I threw out a line that would convince them all.
“The Association President already knows. You can ask him if you like.”
I threw the Association President under the bus.
He’d certainly torture me for this later.
‘Future me will figure something out.’
Let future me suffer for it.
* * *
The Association President’s Office.
Cheon Mujong sat with a grave expression, turning a Trump Card over and over in his hands.
On the table, a card tower rose—a hobby Cheon Mujong indulged in whenever stressed.
It looked sturdy at first glance, but the slightest misplacement would bring it crashing down.
Cheon Mujong had been concentrating for an hour, holding the final piece.
After careful deliberation, he placed the last card and was just lifting his finger away when—
Bang!
“Association President! I need to ask you something!”
Cheon Ihwa burst through the door, and the gust of wind collapsed the tower entirely.
Cheon Mujong squeezed his eyes shut, but Cheon Ihwa rushed at him and grabbed his shoulders, shaking them.
“Is it true? Is the Magic Girl Lord-class?”
“……”
“It’s true, isn’t it.”
“Sit down first.”
As Cheon Mujong poured tea, he poured silent curses on the traitor as well.
‘Who in the world leaked this?’
Fewer than ten people knew that the Magic Girl was Lord-class.
Daehan Jeil Geom, the President, and his closest aides.
Everyone except Daehan Jeil Geom was a suspect.
“Are you trying to figure out who the traitor is?”
At Cheon Ihwa’s sharp remark from behind, Cheon Mujong let out a hollow laugh.
“Ihwa. That’s……”
“You don’t need to figure it out. Chae Mujin told me.”
“…?”
Chae Mujin. Why was that name coming up now? It made no sense at all.
Of course, he’d thought about Chae Mujin recently. The man had returned alive from the Deep Dive.
But that and this were separate matters. They had no connection whatsoever.
“Chae Mujin…revealed that secret to you?”
“Not just to me. Many others heard it too.”
“Heh…heheh…hehehehe.”
Cheon Mujong pressed his forehead and massaged his temples.
The fact that Chae Mujin even knew the Magic Girl’s secret was already astounding.
But then he blurted it out to everyone? Not even sparing a soul?
“Does this ‘everyone’ include civilians?”
“No. It was the A-Rank Hunters and Anti-Magic Task Force members gathered to suppress the Magic Girl.”
“Well, that’s some comfort. They won’t act recklessly.”
“Geol Wang heard it too.”
“……”
Cheon Mujong, now cradling the back of his neck, felt a new question arise.
All right, so Chae Mujin knew the Magic Girl was Lord-class.
But why had Cheon Ihwa come to him asking questions about it?
Cheon Ihwa read his mind and spoke first.
“You said the Association President told you. I came to confirm the truth.”
“Ah, haha. Is that how it was?”
Of course, Cheon Mujong had never told Chae Mujin any such thing. They hadn’t even met about this matter.
But Cheon Mujong grabbed Cheon Ihwa’s shoulders and said:
“Yes, I told Chae Mujin.”
“I knew it…!”
Her joy at uncovering the truth was short-lived; Cheon Ihwa’s eyes turned cold as ice.
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“Ihwa. That’s complicated. Let it go.”
Just then, his secretary rushed in, paused awkwardly upon seeing Cheon Ihwa, and waited for a signal.
“Just speak.”
“About the Magic Girl……”
The secretary reported what had happened to her.
That she’d rampaged upon meeting Chae Mujin, then regained control, and suddenly sealed herself of her own accord.
“I see. So that’s how it came to be.”
Now Cheon Mujong saw the picture—what a mess Chae Mujin had caused.
And he’d dragged Cheon Mujong into it.
‘The Hunter Association would have handled it.’
Even if suppression forces arrived to stop the Magic Girl’s rampage, they would have withdrawn promptly. The Association President knew she was Lord-class, after all. There was no reason to fight an unwinnable battle and cause unnecessary casualties.
But then Chae Mujin appeared out of nowhere and complicated everything.
‘I can’t fathom what he’s trying to accomplish.’
There’s no connection between the Magic Girl and Chae Mujin. He couldn’t understand why Chae Mujin would suddenly take interest in her.
But now they were in the same boat, for better or worse.
“So Chae Mujin just told you to come find me?”
“No. He said the Magic Girl will awaken in a month, and then he’ll conduct a Raid.”
A formal Raid against a Lord-class Boss Monster.
Didn’t Chae Mujin understand how much sacrifice that entailed?
‘He must understand.’
And yet he’d declared he would fight her. That they should fight together.
‘Discretion is no longer an option.’
The Hunter Association had wanted to avoid fighting the Magic Girl at all costs. They’d planned to isolate her, then release her.
That’s why they’d kept information about her so tightly classified, but Chae Mujin had destroyed it all in a day.
‘If we manage to eliminate the Magic Girl, public opinion will turn.’
Chae Mujin wants to fight, so why is the Hunter Association being cowardly? Don’t we have confidence? They’ll ask.
Hunters too will doubt the Association and the government’s competence. Is our nation really so weak that we can’t catch one Lord-class?
Truthfully, Cheon Mujong sided with Chae Mujin. He’d agreed with the Association President to handle it quietly, but……
‘That was before I knew Chae Mujin existed.’
There was no one else with the courage to stand against the Magic Girl. Until now.
Chae Mujin. In just three months, he’s made his presence felt tremendously, and now he’s announced an all-out confrontation with the Lord-class Magic Girl.
And that’s not all.
Cheon Ihwa’s growth is unpredictable. He wasn’t merely generous because she was his daughter. If anything, he judged her more coldly.
‘She learned Sword Force a full year earlier than I did.’
Moreover, the insurance he and the Association President had planted in the Secret Inspectors—she’d disposed of it without his knowledge.
Smirk.
Cheon Mujong’s lips curved up. He wasn’t displeased at all.
A new generation was calling out. We are ready now, they seemed to say. Time for you to step aside.
‘Is an era changing?’
Chae Mujin and Cheon Ihwa.
Those two will surely transform this nation—and perhaps the world.
Then Cheon Ihwa turned her head.
Daehan Jeil Geom appeared silently, garbed in black.
She didn’t even look at her disciple Cheon Ihwa before speaking.
“Get out.”
At the harsh command, Cheon Ihwa didn’t so much as blink.
“Why should I?”
“This is not your place. Cheon Mujong, you’ve heard the Magic Girl is sealed, I assume?”
Daehan Jeil Geom ignored Cheon Ihwa, addressing only Cheon Mujong.
But Cheon Mujong spoke to Cheon Ihwa instead.
“What are you still doing here?”
“I have more to say.”
“No, you don’t. What would you possibly need to tell me? Chae Mujin has declared he’ll raid the Magic Girl, and here you sit chatting idly?”
Daehan Jeil Geom’s expression twisted, having thought she’d be supported.
Though her displeasure manifested as killing intent, Cheon Mujong ignored her and continued.
“My Lady. Didn’t you say your dream was to become Association President? Then shouldn’t you be the one to slay the Magic Girl, not leave it to Chae Mujin?”
“…!”
“Hunting a Lord-class Boss Monster shouldn’t be the achievement of a Management Company representative. It should be achieved by you—the Hunter who represents this nation, becoming Association President.”
Cheon Ihwa’s heart trembled at those words. Almost without thinking, she glanced at Daehan Jeil Geom beside her.
Daehan Jeil Geom stood silent for a moment, then dropped a single word.
“You’ll die. Don’t.”
“Help me.”
“Fine. I’ll help. Now stay quiet.”
“No. Please train me so I won’t die. One month—in that time, I want to become ten times stronger than I am now.”
“You dare argue with your master’s words?”
“A master who ignores their precious disciple’s wishes isn’t much of a master.”
Daehan Jeil Geom, arms crossed, stared at Cheon Ihwa for a long time.
Cheon Ihwa met that gaze directly, and Daehan Jeil Geom clicked her tongue.
“I don’t know who you take after—this stubbornness and cunning.”
“You tell me.”
“Come with me.”
Daehan Jeil Geom, also known as Lim Hye-rin, ran—and kept running.
Soon they’d left the city behind and entered a cave hidden in the mountains.
It looked like an ordinary cavern at first, but traces of human craftsmanship became evident once inside.
“This place is……”
“Take it as an honor. Only true heirs of the True Nation Sword Technique are permitted here.”
“Will training here make a difference?”
“It will.”
Daehan Jeil Geom withdrew a bound manuscript from her robes and offered it.
Cheon Ihwa accepted it respectfully with both hands, assuming it was a Secret Manual of martial arts.
“Master, what technique is this?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“But…?”
“You’ll understand naturally.”
Daehan Jeil Geom departed with those cryptic words, leaving Cheon Ihwa to examine the Secret Manual in her hands.
The texture spoke of centuries past, and there was a palpable spiritual presence. This was no ordinary technique.
On the very first page was the name of the art. Cheon Ihwa read it aloud.
“Great Force Spirit Exchange.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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