Kuuung~
The sudden shaking began when I received the Edyuz from Marquis Cunningham.
‘Is it an earthquake?’
While I was puzzled, the attendant who had gone out to check the situation returned.
“Your Excellency, there’s a big problem.”
“What is it?”
“Someone has placed a barrier around the hall.”
“Mm.”
Marquis Cunningham stood up from his seat.
“Let’s go outside.”
“Right.”
I followed Marquis Cunningham to the lobby.
In the large auditorium, hunters had gathered to enjoy the festival.
Although it wasn’t the main venue, there were still quite a number of people.
They were startled by the sudden earthquake and rushed to the entrance. They muttered with confused voices.
“What, what is this?!”
“The outside is gone!”
Outside the entrance, there was nothing.
It was as if an eraser had wiped away the entire space, leaving a blank sheet.
A void.
Only empty desolation remained.
Thud, thud!
Even if they tried to leave, it was useless.
Like the glass of a zoo, the emptiness didn’t allow the hunters to escape.
“It might only be happening here.”
“Check the other entrances!”
The hunters scattered, searching for exits.
Windows, emergency exits, backdoors, underground parking, the roof…
Every exit was open.
Even places that weren’t supposed to be exits.
But…
“Crazy! We can’t even leave through the windows!”
“The roof is blocked too!”
Wherever they went, it was all just white space.
It was as if the hall existed alone, like a map in a game.
“What is going on?”
“A special gate?”
The hunters, confused, murmured among themselves.
Fear began to seep into their voices, as if they might never get out.
“Everyone, come out here.”
It was then that a calm voice reached us.
A group of people walked out from within the hall.
The one who spoke was a distinguished-looking English gentleman at the front of the group.
“It’s Marquis Cunningham!”
“Oh, that person?”
The hunters, recognizing Marquis Cunningham, whispered and cleared a path for him.
Following the cleared path, Marquis Cunningham reached out toward the empty space at the entrance.
Tap.
Marquis Cunningham’s hand was stopped at the boundary of the entrance, unable to move any further.
“Hmm, it’s a containment-type barrier.”
With his experience, Marquis Cunningham quickly grasped the situation.
“Can we get out?”
At my question, Marquis Cunningham shook his head.
“We can’t.”
He stared at the outside as he spoke.
“Someone has locked the door from the outside.”
“What do you mean by ‘locking the door’?”
“The medium of the barrier is outside.”
Marquis Cunningham described the barrier as the “door” and the core medium as the “lock.”
“As long as the lock is outside, we can’t unlock it from inside.”
“Is there no way to leave at all?”
“That’s right. We have to wait for someone to break or unlock the lock from the outside.”
Or wait for the barrier to disappear when its time runs out.
In other words, we were trapped in a prison with no way out.
‘This is a mess.’
I frowned, not imagining I would be trapped while negotiating.
According to Marquis Cunningham, the hall was completely cut off from the outside world.
The only fortunate thing was that this place was in the center of Seoul, near the headquarters of the Dawn’s Constellation guild.
If we waited, they would find a way to solve it.
‘The problem is the intention of the one who set the barrier…?’
If it wasn’t set for fun, there must be a purpose behind it.
It wasn’t hard to guess that purpose.
‘Is it targeting the essence?’
Or the magic sword Edyuz. Thinking in that direction seemed rational.
If there was anything important here, those two would be the only things that came to mind.
If that were the case, the caster wouldn’t wait for the barrier to disappear. They would act in some way before that.
Huaak!
In an instant, one side of the auditorium glowed brightly, and a group of people appeared.
They were a group of strange individuals, one in white clothing and the other in traditional armor.
“What, what is this?”
“Why are there suddenly people…?”
The hunters, shocked by the sudden appearance of these strange people, were stunned for a moment.
Boom!
A few of the strange individuals locked the door leading to the hallway.
Then, the emergency stairs were closed, and the elevator was occupied.
Their movements were quick and organized, as if they had practiced many times.
Meanwhile, the hunters could only watch, unable to move.
They had come for the festival, unarmed and unprepared.
Tap, tap.
One of the strange people in white clothing leisurely walked out.
Surveying the frozen hunters, the stranger spoke in fluent Korean.
“Now, no one here can escape.”
The calm voice reminded the hunters that they were trapped.
Outside the hall,
Many hunters had gathered before the white barrier that surrounded the hall.
The barrier around the hall was in the shape of a square rectangle.
“It’s a complete isolation-type barrier.”
It was Shin Su-a, the guild leader of Dawn’s Constellation, who spoke.
This type was tricky.
To break the barrier, they had to find and remove the ‘medium’ hidden somewhere.
There was another way to break the barrier from the outside.
If they didn’t have the key, they could break the lock with force. It was a brute-force method, but it worked.
“Can we break it?”
“Do I look like someone who can break an isolation barrier?”
“…”
Ha Jin-woo couldn’t answer.
Honestly, he thought that, but he didn’t say it out loud.
“Well, there’s nothing I can’t do…”
“What did you just say?”
“I didn’t say anything.”
Shin Su-a, pretending to ignore Ha Jin-woo’s comment, changed the subject.
“Anyway, it’s impossible to break it today.”
“So, it’s possible?”
“To break the complete isolation-type barrier, someone who can interfere with mana is needed. But that’s beyond my ability.”
Shin Su-a continued speaking, pretending not to hear Ha Jin-woo’s words.
“My specialty is physical strength.”
She playfully swung her slender arms.
As she said, the most effective attack to break a barrier wasn’t physical strength but ‘mana.’
Since barriers were made of mana, the same mana would be the most effective.
First of all, I had to have the sharpness to cut off the ‘flow’ of the barrier.
It was much easier to break the barrier by cutting off its flow than by destroying it.
Mana, sharpness.
Neither of these was Shin Su-a’s specialty.
Shin Su-a turned around and asked,
“Do you think it’s possible?”
“I guess we’ll have to try to find out.”
A woman approached Shin Su-a’s side.
00…
Following her steps, a gentle breeze began to stir.
Her silver hair fluttered in the wind.
Her blue eyes, shining like a lake in the sunlight, sparkled clearly.
She was none other than Rachel Bonaparte, an S-rank Hunter from France.
Sring!
Rachel drew her golden sabre from her waist.
At the same time, the gentle breeze turned into a fierce typhoon.
[Wind King’s Armor]
It was an awakening ability representing Rachel, an S-rank wind attribute awakener.
The cutting wind, destroying everything in its path, wrapped around the golden sabre.
As the wind wrapped the golden sabre completely, the area around Rachel became completely still, with not even a breath of wind.
Then, Rachel swung her sword toward the barrier.
Kuuung!
The barrier began to shake.
Bishop Nikolai swept his gaze across the hunters gathered in the auditorium, as if searching for someone.
‘The Saint is not here.’
Marquis Cunningham had visited the hall to purify the Edyuz.
If the purifier negotiating with Marquis Cunningham had been the Saint, Bishop Nikolai would not have carried out this plan.
However, after confirming everyone entering the hall, the Saint was nowhere to be found.
Twice, three times, up until the barrier was set, he had thoroughly checked.
‘The purifier is not the Saint.’
With certainty, Bishop Nikolai smiled.
Kuuung─! Kuuung─!
In an instant, the barrier began to tremble.
It seemed that the barrier was being broken from the outside.
‘We need to finish this quickly.’
Clang, clang, clang!
In the auditorium, Chinese hunters led by Ambassador Wang Wei were facing off against Marquis Cunningham.
The essence possessed by Marquis Cunningham was the item the Chinese side was after.
However, Edyuz was not something Marquis Cunningham possessed.
‘Edyuz is…’
Bishop Nikolai’s gaze stopped at a certain point while scanning the auditorium.
In the corner of the auditorium, a young man was observing the situation while holding Edyuz.
Bishop Nikolai walked toward the young man.
‘Hmm.’
I was lost in thought.
Marquis Cunningham and his attendants were engaged in a confrontation with the strange individuals.
The ordinary hunters had been captured as hostages by the strange individuals in white clothes and were simply observing the situation.
‘I’ll need to call them.’
Handling all these strange individuals on my own was impossible.
To minimize damage, I had to summon Jeanne and Vanessa.
However, this was the auditorium, where many people had gathered.
Summoning them would draw attention.
At that moment, a strange person in a white robe walked toward me.
Pointing at the magic sword Edyuz in my hand.
“Hand over that sword.”
“Jeanne, Vanessa.”
Instead of responding to the strange person’s words, I summoned the two of them.
“Seo Jun, what’s going on?”
“The situation doesn’t look good.”
“Take this for now.”
I handed the flags and scissors, which I had previously borrowed, to the two that had appeared.
“Ugh.”
At that moment, a chilling sensation rose in my hand, causing me to drop Edyuz.
‘So this is what a magic sword feels like.’
As I was brushing my hand after dropping Edyuz,
I heard a voice of confusion.
“Wh-why are you here…”
The strange person who had demanded the sword froze, looking as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have.
His gaze remained fixed on Vanessa.
Vanessa, with her somber eyes, calmly stared at the strange person’s sword.
“T-this is a m-mistake! I-I am the S-…”
Before the strange person could finish speaking, he took a step back and tried to say something, but—
Screech!
Before he could continue, the strange person’s neck was already in the air.
“En Gong, are you alright?”
“Ah, yes. I’m fine.”
I tilted my head.
It seemed as though the strange person knew Vanessa.
But since the strange person’s neck flew off before he could say anything, I couldn’t be sure.
He had mumbled in Russian, so I couldn’t even understand it.
‘There’s no way Vanessa would know a Russian guy.’
I shook my head, clearing the thought from my mind.
It wasn’t the time for such concerns.
“Vanessa, please take care of the ones in white clothes.”
“Understood.”
Having entrusted the white-clad individuals to Vanessa, I turned my attention toward Marquis Cunningham.
‘Should I help them over there?’
The twin dragon swords were summoned into my hands.