“Taeseong….”
“Oh. Alex. It’s been a while.”
“……”
Alex was flustered as he looked at Lee Tae-sung, who greeted him calmly.
It was because Erela was covered in blood in front of him.
Who was he?
He was the Slaughterer of Mexico, the person always named first when asked who the world’s worst criminal was.
Although Alex was the First Hunter and the strongest Hunter in the United States, his specialty was not combat, so he was not confident he could beat Erela.
However, if there were Hunters supporting him, the story was different, so even Erela could not recklessly covet the United States.
But now Lee Tae-sung looked far too at ease.
“Ah, Alex? H-help me. If you free me from this monster… I’ll give you everything I have….”
At that moment, Erela opened his eyes with difficulty and spoke.
Alex avoided his gaze.
Of course, he had not the slightest intention of saving him, but even if he had to, it would have been impossible.
The memory of being beaten after carelessly provoking the Flame Emperor was still vivid, and Lee Tae-sung’s skills looked far greater than back then.
‘Now, no matter how much I struggle, I doubt I could even touch a fingertip….’
He felt it instinctively.
“Oh. Now that Alex is here, this guy is slowly opening his mouth.”
Lee Tae-sung lightly tapped Erela.
“So it would have been better if you had cooperated from the start.”
Where the other Corrupted Hunters contracted with the Outer God were.
He intended to catch them and bring them to Hakseon, and the more he caught, the better the results would be.
So he had been interrogating them moderately, but perhaps because he had some tenacity, he did not open his mouth.
“Hah….”
But even that ended here.
When even Alex showed signs of faintly fearing Lee Tae-sung, Erela had no choice but to give up.
Palacio del Rey Oscuro.
It was the royal palace of Mexico where Erela resided.
This place, splendid enough to truly be called a royal palace, was a mansion of a wealthy man that he had remodeled after becoming a dictator.
A royal palace of blood and gold, built by pouring in the tax money of the Mexican people.
Erela lived there like a king, and the Hunters who followed him lived like nobles under a king.
They were people who enjoyed every kind of luxury and indulgence while freely revealing their cruel and savage nature.
No one could rebel against them, who had both power and authority, and the servants in the mansion always had to tremble in fear.
For whatever displeased them, at least one person a day would leave the mansion half-crippled or dead.
-Who are you?
“I am Lee Tae-sung.”
In front of the mansion, Lee Tae-sung introduced himself to the guard.
A high wall and a thick iron gate.
The guard, who saw Lee Tae-sung’s face on the CCTV, tilted his head.
There was no Mexican resident who did not know that this place was Erela’s royal palace.
People avoided even coming near the streets nearby and turned back in case trouble broke out, yet he had come directly?
Moreover, he was an Asian, hard to see easily in Mexico.
The guard wondered if he perhaps had a prior appointment with the mansion’s higher-ups.
-Do you have an appointment?
“No, I don’t. I’m here to take away some of the Corrupted Hunters here.”
‘He must be out of his mind, wanting to die.’
The moment the guard said a word in disbelief.
-Kwaang!
Lee Tae-sung lightly smashed the iron gate blocking the way.
The thick iron gate crumpled like a sheet of paper, and he entered inside.
After that, he looked around and made a troubled expression.
He had come to catch the Corrupted Hunters, but it was too spacious.
He had no choice but to open the Storage Pouch, and Erela, wearing handcuffs, popped out from inside.
“Is this the right place?”
“……Yes.”
The attitudes of the two had changed a little in the meantime.
Lee Tae-sung spoke politely to Erela, and Erela also showed a polite attitude.
“It’s really spacious.”
“…I will guide you.”
“Please do.”
Erela, wearing handcuffs, moved his steps with a gloomy face.
His body looked fine thanks to his insane recovery, but in truth, it had not been long since he recovered from injuries and harsh interrogation.
Not long ago, Erela finally surrendered.
Since continuing to resist would only lead to death, he decided to cooperate as much as possible.
Seeing that even Alex could not move against Lee Tae-sung, he had almost half given up.
After that, Lee Tae-sung put him in the Pouch Subspace and brought him along.
Originally, living creatures could not be placed in the subspace, but it was possible because the Transcendental Realm of handling Spiritual Will and the power of Magic combined.
With Abeson’s help, he could create a simple Magic Circle and seal Erela inside, making him like an inanimate object, and in that way, he could enter the subspace as well.
Tramp, tramp.
Erela, wearing handcuffs, moved his steps, and Lee Tae-sung followed behind him.
As they walked down a huge and splendidly decorated hallway, before long, people who heard the commotion gathered.
One Hunter with two axes at his waist, and guard forces armed with firearms.
“Why is there a commotion on my shift, of all times?”
Among them, the Hunter was scratching his head while yawning as if annoyed.
“I need to deal with this quickly and go back to sleep more… Boss!?”
However, his sleepy eyes widened upon seeing Erela.
He alternated looking at Erela walking in handcuffs and Lee Tae-sung behind him.
It was clearly the appearance of a prisoner being walked along.
Could he be seeing things because he hadn’t fully woken up?
No. This is reality, isn’t it?
“No… Why is the boss…?”
Whether Hunter or guard, they all had shocked faces.
Who was Erela?
He was a man with a great worldwide notoriety, but within Mexico, he was no different from a Demon King.
A person who showed power, ability, and charisma that would not be an exaggeration to call divine.
Therefore, the Corrupted Hunters voluntarily swore loyalty to him, and they believed without a doubt that one day Erela would conquer the world.
All.
All.
For that Erela to be dragged in while tied in handcuffs?
At that moment, Erela pointed forward with his bound hands and spoke.
“That man is also a Hunter contracted with the Outer God.”
“Okay. Caught one.”
Lee Tae-sung moved fast enough to create afterimages and subdued the guard forces and the Hunter.
Even the Hunter, who was no different from a superhuman, could not react.
Lee Tae-sung took out another pair of handcuffs and put them on him as he spoke.
“There are more, right? Please guide me to all of them.”
“…Yes.”
“Moving in!”
CIA Hunter Operation Team.
Led by Team Leader Jake, all members consisting of Hunters crossed the Mexican border and entered the capital.
They were the Vanguard.
Their job was to grasp the situation in Mexico.
-I have use for the Mexican dictator and his subordinates, so I will take them.
Jake, who had exchanged numbers with Lee Tae-sung after attacking the Black Mist together, received the first contact.
He asked again, wondering what that meant, but if it had not been Lee Tae-sung who said he had dealt with all the Hunters occupying Mexico, he would have dismissed it as a lie.
However, shortly after, an agent operating in Mexico sent a report.
It said that Palacio del Rey Oscuro had actually been half-destroyed and was in chaos.
“My God. So it was true…”
Jake and his team members, who moved quickly, let out exclamations as they looked at the half-collapsed mansion.
The place where the worst Hunter who seized an entire country stayed.
They thought they could not catch that werewolf unless they fired a nuclear missile or something.
No.
The Department of Defense strategists judged that if it were the monster-like Erela, he would run like mad from the moment of nuclear detection and escape the center, so he would somehow survive and recover.
That Erela became Lee Tae-sung’s prisoner, and not long after, his den in Mexico completely collapsed.
They could not let this opportunity pass.
Since it borders the United States, there would also be a justification to help Mexico, which had become ownerless.
The troops to be deployed after Jake’s team members grasped the situation were also prepared.
Jake spoke into the radio.
“This is Alpha. The situation is as reported, and you may move immediately.”
-Is that true?
“It’s certain.”
-Jesus… Understood. We will begin the operation immediately.
Mexico, having become ownerless, was as good as taken by whoever knew the information first and seized it.
The United States is not a country that would miss such an opportunity.
Of course, in modern society, they cannot create a colony, so they would have to withdraw after taking many interests, but in the process, the United States would become rich.
However, in that process, there was naturally a reward for the Taesung Guild as well.
The construction of a new Megafactory was handled entirely by the US side, and additionally, Taesung Guild’s elixirs sold to the US in Mexico were exempt from taxes.
Although it was an absurd gain for the United States, since Lee Tae-sung could not run a country anyway, he ended this matter by making the United States owe him a debt.
After finishing his work in Mexico, Lee Tae-sung boarded a private jet and got on a flight heading back to the Republic of Korea.
‘I need to go to Hakseon quickly.’
There were various gains from this trip to the United States.
Several Corrupted Hunters including Erela, and two Steles that create Black Mist.
The reason there were two was that before boarding the plane, he had also destroyed the Texas Black Mist that Alex had been attacking, together with Alex.
Although he said ‘together,’ in truth Lee Tae-sung had destroyed it alone.
It was a place Alex had been attacking for a long time, but Lee Tae-sung moved as if taking a walk and broke through to the center in an instant, retrieving the Stele.
All.
-Th-thank you for helping me this much.
-No problem. If something like this happens again, please contact me.
The more Steles and Corrupted Hunters there were, the closer one could get to the Outer God.
Since he also had things to do in the Dream World, Lee Tae-sung decided to end this business trip here for now.
Once he arrived in Korea, he would give Hakseon what he had obtained this time and ask him to help so they could strike back against the Outer God.
‘I should check the Dream World now.’
Lee Tae-sung lay down in the capsule inside the private jet.
The first thing to do in the Dream World was decided.
Now that he had also surpassed the wall of the Transcendental Realm, as the Flame Emperor’s disciple, he had to go to the Second Spirit Realm of Light’s Great War to obtain the Ultimate Technique he had left behind.