The Emperor spun his body 180°, narrowly blocking the monster with his sword as it snapped its teeth to drive away the uninvited guest perched on its back, before leaping off the shell.
However, the infection from the poison had already begun during that brief interval, as the tips of his fingers holding the sword had turned black.
Griting his teeth through a curse, the Emperor switched the sword to his other hand and began striking down upon the monster once more.
This time, something was different.
From the golden aura draped over the sword, sparks began to fly with a sharp crackle.
This was an entirely different, foreign energy—not the Aura of a Sword Master.
This was undeniably the Emperor’s ‘magic.’
“Kieeeek!”
The centipede-like monster writhed its body in agony, thrashing violently.
Because it was spitting fireballs in all directions out of sheer pain, the attack became a tier more difficult to manage.
‘The affinity is terrible.’
His sword Aura was deflected by the rigid carapace, which itself was heavily coated in venom.
To make matters worse, a Lightning-system Hunter possessed a terrible affinity against a Pyro-system monster.
Yet, for some reason, the Emperor’s expression remained entirely calm.
Biting his lip, he bent his knees against the ground, launched himself upward, and bellowed:
“Ian!! Fall back!!”
Dark, ominous clouds began to creep in rapidly from afar.
I felt the sharp, sudden shift in the air currents—exactly the same phenomenon that had occurred when he used his ability on the defensive line.
‘The pre-activation sign of an awakening ability!!’
I hurriedly whipped around and threw myself flat behind a massive boulder.
By the time the dark clouds completely blanketed the area, transforming the white snowscape into a pitch-black land devoid of a single ray of sunlight, a sound like a growling beast rumbled through the clouds, roaring out the omen of a miracle.
“Close your eyes!!!”
At the Emperor’s shout, I tightly shut my eyes while remaining prone.
Even with my eyes closed, I felt as though I could sense the immense light filling every inch of space—the ground, the air, the wind—with my entire body.
And then,
The whole world
Was flooded in gold.
I had never witnessed an S-Rank Awakener using their ability live on-site before.
Even when I did see them back home, it was always through a screen broadcasting a live Gate raid.
After all, they were Hunters who slaughtered monsters inside the Gates, and I was merely a normal human civil servant supporting them from the outside.
In other words, this was the first time I was directly seeing an Awakener unleash their full power.
The Hunters I used to see were always suffering.
I remembered them crawling out of the Gates after a successful raid, crying out for help with unfocused pupils, screaming while clutching their heads, or weeping as they begged people to run away because they couldn’t control their abilities.
Yet, their core essence was that of a predator.
Even if the aftermath was agonizing, they faced the present.
Just like he was doing now.
Leonel stood at the center of a world dyed completely in gold.
As golden lightning ruthlessly struck the monster from all directions and scattered, the form of the beast was revealed, its movements instantly paralyzed.
I stared intently at the S-Rank Hunter who displayed a power transcending human boundaries.
He stood atop the charred shell of the S-Rank monster, panting heavily.
“Huff… huff…”
“Are you alright!!”
It might look cowardly, but I was currently observing the situation from a very safe distance.
The moment I saw the Emperor offer a brief nod from afar, I let out a massive sigh of relief.
I had temporarily forgotten, but I possessed that skill.
The skill that allowed me to visually check the overload levels of Awakeners.
Silently shouting the skill activation in my mind, I couldn’t help but let out a gasp.
Name: Leonel de Valquia
Fatigue: 70 / 100
Overload: 89 / 100 (Rank S)
Matchmaker: Search for a match using the keyword ‘Match Activate.’
Overall Evaluation: Danger! Immediate guiding required!
‘My god, how is he even retaining his sanity?’
First, I had to find a way to get the Emperor back to the Margrave’s mansion.
After that, I would have to use the matchmaking skill, grab anyone who possessed the qualities of a Guide, and attempt guiding.
‘Crack…’
‘Huh?’
I distinctly saw it—a fracture opening across the pitch-black, charred shell.
‘Could this be…?’
A fragment of a distant past flashed through my mind, gouging at my heart.
It was my ironclad rule never to repeat a past mistake.
According to the database of the Supernatural Management Bureau, if a monster of A-Rank or higher did not dissolve into ash without leaving a magic stone behind,
It did not mean death.
Squeezing out every ounce of vocal volume my fragile body could muster, I screamed:
“Your Majesty, it’s not over! It looks like something is about to come out of the shell, so prepare yourself!!”
“What? How do you—”
I prayed desperately in my heart.
Occasionally, there were such entities among insectoid monsters: special variants that carried a swarm of offspring inside their abdomens.
These variants were easy to miss if the Gate management team failed to identify the hidden hazard beforehand.
Thus, just when the Hunters thought they had completely subdued the target, a swarm of monsters would burst out from within, inflicting fatal damage on the unprepared raid team.
Countless Hunters had fallen victim to that exact tactic.
Riiip—
But this time was different.
Instead of a swarming horde of offspring, the monster’s shell split open, and a faceless, humanoid, white entity shrieked into the air.
It possessed no eyes, nose, or ears, but the solitary organ attached to its face—its maw—split wide open, fully exposing rows of razor-sharp fangs.
“Kieeeek—”
I took in the horrific sight from a distance, analyzing every detail.
Accurate analysis is the ultimate lifeline for Hunters and Guides.
Therefore, any negligence of duty by the civil servants of the Supernatural Management Bureau was synonymous with taking someone’s life.
All of the monster’s organs had degenerated; its only remaining means of attack were those teeth.
If that was the case, it wasn’t a close-range attacker—it meant it was concealing a hidden trump card.
“Watch out! It’s likely going to use a ranged attack!”
Whether the Emperor heard my words, he leaped upward into the air to distance himself.
Though the humanoid creature lacked eyes, it tilted its head up to track the Emperor.
And Leonel, while suspended mid-leap, fired his Aura straight downward.
Perhaps because the golden blade of light cleanly impaled its chest, the creature twisted its torso in sheer agony.
Seizing that opening, Leonel unleashed consecutive waves of golden blade light, hacking away at the creature as if mincing it with a knife.
The entity’s flesh was sliced into tiny, shredded pieces.
‘We did it. As long as we don’t let our guard down now—’
“Kieek— Kieeeek—”
However, an S-Rank monster was still an S-Rank monster.
The shredded chunks of flesh that I thought were dead began to fuse back together like sticky mucus.
The white, gelatinous flesh intertwined like woven threads, restructuring back into the humanoid creature.
The sheer incomprehensibility of the regeneration phenomenon made nausea well up in my throat.
‘Ugh— what is this, a slime? A humanoid, regenerating type… No wonder it’s an S-Rank.’
