The Only Enhancer - Chapter 108
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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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Episode 108
108 – Witch of the Deep Sea (2)
1.
Deep within the Atlantic Ocean’s abyss.
A woman observed the situation with an expression of keen interest, standing amid the darkness.
All four of her elite children had fallen.
Kraken, known among humans as Marcia, had been the first to fall, and then Jerot, Ranit, and Shana—the three who had gone to investigate that situation—had all been defeated.
Shana had fallen so instantaneously that the manner of her defeat remained a mystery, while Jerot had at least managed to endure, though calling it an “endurance” was far too ambiguous.
And finally, Ranit.
I had expected much of him, the one among my sons who most resembled my own nature.
Yet here we are.
-So he’s been captured after all.
A pathetic state indeed.
-Tsk.
I clicked my tongue briefly and shook my head.
But there’s nothing to be done about it, is there?
-I never imagined their descendants would still exist.
And.
-They themselves still remain.
I was certain they had all been annihilated in the Final War.
I thought I had succeeded in sending them all to that place they so desperately desired.
It seems that was not the case.
Otherwise, there’s no way he could have acted that way.
Above all.
A mere human could never stand against me and speak in such a manner.
It would be wise to proceed under the assumption that they still exist.
However.
-Our military strength is not in good condition either.
The three powers of the Deep Sea, Underground, and Heavens, which once gathered their strength, have scattered so thoroughly that they cannot even bring themselves to kill one another.
Of course, if we merely learn that they still live, there is a possibility we could reunite.
-The question is whether the elders will listen to us.
There’s no help for it.
If the elders won’t listen.
-Then shouldn’t we younger ones gather together? Shall we go check on how our younger sibling fares?
With an alluring smile and captivating presence, I sent my shadow toward the Indian Ocean.
To awaken the younger sibling sleeping there.
I had come to feel that my strength alone would be insufficient.
Unless the elders were present.
-The elders too have suffered wounds far too grave.
So a generational transition becomes necessary, does it not?
It seems the time has come to pass the throne.
Stagnant water rots, after all.
It must be allowed to flow away with the new currents.
The woman thought thus, drawing strength by using her mana to feed on the darkness that filled the Deep Sea.
2.
Min-jun was flying to see the creature that Ma Hyun-seok had captured.
Jung Ji-hwan, piloting the aircraft from the cockpit, and Gwen were heading there together.
Gwen looked at Min-jun with eyes tinged with worry.
Though Min-jun was said to be enjoying himself now, the burden placed upon him across the entire world was considerable.
In England this time, an entire city had come to the brink of annihilation.
Particularly, Level 6 Hunter Richard had fallen into a coma, and the elite hunters of England had been slaughtered.
Some voices quickly blamed Min-jun for not appearing sooner, but they were only a minority.
Everyone knew the truth.
Ma Hyun-seok’s arrival there had been at maximum speed.
The city was annihilated the moment the monster that attacked appeared.
There was no time to prepare, no chance to respond.
That Spain and France had fared somewhat better was nothing short of a miracle.
Gwen thought it was too much for Min-jun to bear such a burden.
It was fortunate that Min-jun didn’t think much of it now, but it could worsen as time went on.
‘Everyone is doing their best.’
Thinking this, Gwen recalled the Reinforce Guild members who were frantically hunting Disaster Level 5 creatures in the Alps Mountains.
They were all doing their utmost to reach Level 5 and then undergo enhancement to Level 6.
If only one person were Level 6, they could be rendered helpless like England’s hero Richard, but with the weapons Min-jun provided and the guild members united together, anything was possible.
And if, even though it would be difficult at first, they slowly elevated everyone to Level 7?
Incidents like the current one could decrease dramatically.
The guild members were also burning with indignation at this situation.
Watching the guild members declare their resolve to grow strong enough to hunt at least Disaster Level 5 creatures alone, Gwen too made up her mind to help.
Meanwhile, Min-jun found himself lost in thought regardless.
‘If I organize what the witch said, it seems like there isn’t just one of her.’
The Deep Sea, the Underground, the Heavens—she had said.
At minimum, there were at least three witch-like entities.
And given that she mentioned war, the possibility of there being more was far greater.
Moreover.
‘The fact that she knows something about the source of my power is ominous.’
The source of an Enchanter’s power.
Or should I say the original owner?
In any case, she seemed to be speaking of entities that stood in opposition to monsters.
And no matter how much Min-jun thought about it, he could only come up with one answer.
‘The System.’
The System must have been created by them as well.
To kill the monster.
There simply wasn’t enough information.
I wanted to gather intelligence at my destination, but that seemed unlikely to happen.
Otherwise, the Witch of the Deep Sea wouldn’t have leaked information so freely.
Arriving in England with the thought that there might not be much to gain.
I could feel a distinctly heavy atmosphere.
Well, an entire city had been annihilated—it was only natural.
An unavoidable calamity.
What mattered was ensuring this never happened again.
‘Let’s go.’
Sensing the oppressive mood, Min-jun immediately moved to the location where Ma Hyun-seok had captured the creature.
To Porthcurno, the annihilated city.
Landing at a nearby airport, and since it wasn’t far, Min-jun, Jung Ji-hwan, and Gwen all boarded the disc Min-jun had created and moved swiftly.
Before long, I could spot the devastated city.
From above, I could grasp just how horrific the situation had been.
The city had been obliterated in a single strike.
But as I descended and observed the results.
Most of the dead were those crushed beneath the rubble of buildings.
Sensing the monster’s twisted sense of aesthetics, I frowned and headed toward the coordinates Ma Hyun-seok had mentioned.
There it lay, its shoulders and groin pulped as if crushed by a massive spiked club, scattered like garbage with no thought of regeneration.
But the damage to its spirit seemed far greater than to its body.
“How could I how could I how could I how could I.”
It muttered to itself, its eyes devoid of focus.
Had the fact of losing to a human been such a shock?
I couldn’t comprehend it.
Min-jun clicked his tongue and shook his head.
Then he looked at the creature.
The burly Ma Hyun-seok approached Min-jun’s side and spoke.
“I only know its name so far. They call it Ranit.”
“Hmm, the ones I killed were called Jerot and Shana, weren’t they? It’s strange that monsters even have names.”
Flinch!
At Min-jun’s words, it trembled violently and focus returned to its eyes.
Ranit looked up at Min-jun and asked.
“How dare you know those names?”
Seeing Ranit, pulped and rolling about like garbage on the ground, growl and snarl viciously, Min-jun laughed softly.
“Because I killed them.”
“You? How dare you!!!!”
It drew up mana in its fury, but Min-jun scoffed dismissively.
Then he casually drew up his own mana as well.
Kuoooooooo!
“…!!!”
Ranit’s pupils trembled violently at the immense mana that transcended any human measure.
Watching such a creature, Min-jun clicked his tongue with a soft tsk, tsk.
“I’ve already finished my conversation with that strange woman through a fellow named Jerot.”
“Wh-what? You mean Mother!?”
“Hmm, it seems the shadow of that witch has vanished due to the special effect of the Star’s Core. That’s a bit unfortunate, but honestly, it works in my favor.”
The Star’s Core.
It was a Tier 7 item I had given to Ma Hyun-seok.
Its effect included the ability to remove debuffs and dispel all of the opponent’s buffs, which apparently caused the witch’s shadow to disappear.
Similarly, it seemed the regeneration effect had also become unusable as a result.
But Ranit only heard one thing from those words—that the shadow had vanished.
The fact that the shadow of his mother, who dwelled in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, had been severed meant something else entirely: she had abandoned Ranit.
This confusion was inevitable.
If things continued this way, there was nothing left but death.
“W-wait! Does this mean Mother was watching everything!? Pl-please answer me!”
Min-jun smiled faintly as he watched Ranit plead, and nodded.
It seemed this creature didn’t understand the war the witch had spoken of.
While the witch had referred to “them” upon sensing only my mana, this creature merely trembled in fear at the sight of it.
In other words, the information I could extract from him would be limited.
Still, if I could pull out the important details, that would suffice.
I organized my thoughts up to that point and began to prioritize my questions.
What should I find out first?
I carefully arranged my thoughts and smiled faintly once more.
Then I spoke.
“If you answer my questions well, I’ll answer yours too.”
“Pl-please… s-spare me.”
“Answer well, and I’ll let you live. Explain what the Deep Sea, the Underground, and the Heavens are.”
Ranit, who had been trembling at my smile, swallowed hard and carefully began to speak.
About the Deep Sea, the Underground, and the Heavens.
The information Ranit provided wasn’t particularly abundant, to be honest.
But it would be wrong to say it wasn’t useful—the details were extraordinary.
First, regarding the Deep Sea specifically, I obtained quite a bit of information: there exist beings called the Primordial Beasts.
Their numbers are not great.
In the Atlantic Ocean alone, there is only one.
Only that witch I had encountered, apparently.
In other words, the beasts that experienced the war and are the origin of Enchanters are not numerous.
And such beasts also exist in the Underground—beneath the earth—and in the Heavens—above it.
The Deep Sea was naturally beneath the sea.
And after synthesizing all this information.
“Hah, hah, hah. Unbelievable.”
Ma Hyun-seok laughed with a hollow, empty sound.
He didn’t say it aloud, but his entire body was covered in wounds from his pursuit of Ranit.
Yet there existed beings far more powerful than him.
How utterly deflating that must feel.
Creatures capable of obliterating an entire city with a single strike.
The certainty that something even stronger existed above them—that was genuinely terrifying.
“At my age, I’ve found a reason to grow stronger still.”
Though his words were measured, Ma Hyun-seok’s eyes burned with fierce determination as he spoke.
Min-jun nodded in agreement and replied.
“Then as promised, I’ll let you live.”
“Ha, haha! Th, thank you! I’ve told you everything I know! I swear it!”
Watching Ranit’s delight, Min-jun smiled faintly.
Then, observing Gwen behind him regarding Ranit with undisguised contempt, he asked.
“We’ve acquired quite an excellent test subject, haven’t we?”
“Ah, though it’s a shame about the Orb of Evolution…”
“True, but it’s still perfect for experimentation.”
“That’s certainly the case!”
“The Orbs of Evolution—the members of the Reinforce Guild are all diligently searching for them, so things should work out fine. Don’t worry and use him for your experiments.”
“Understood!”
Hearing this exchange, Ranit’s face drained of all color as he asked.
“Ex, experiments? What do you m, mean by that…?”
“Hm? Oh, it’s nothing much. We’re letting you live, after all—becoming a homunculus or something like that still counts as living, doesn’t it?”
“…What???”
Only then did Ranit comprehend the truth.
There was no paradise for demons.
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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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