A+ rank No. 2, Mrs. Luddite.
She was the person always mentioned alongside Sword God Lee Geuk whenever anyone discussed Asia’s strongest.
A founding member of the Korean Hunter Association and the CEO of the military-industrial giant Deus Ex Machina.
It was said that Mrs. Luddite’s personal combat ability lagged ever so slightly behind Lee Geuk’s.
But her true worth lay not in the individual, but in the collective.
Deus Ex Machina Corporation.
As the owner of Asia’s largest military-industrial complex, she commanded everything from modern weaponry to tanks, warships, fighter jets, and even transcendent technologies that fused the pinnacle of contemporary science.
What she was most famous for was the so-called “LDX Division” — over 20,000 AI-controlled robot units.
Target elimination, rescue operations, hazardous-zone exploration, and more.
Luddite’s robots, equipped with cutting-edge gear, were active in every field.
Each combat-model robot possessed strength on par with a B-rank hunter or higher.
There had even been a published statistic claiming that roughly 40 percent of the Korean Hunter Association’s — no, the entire Asian Hunter Association’s — missions were handled by Mrs. Luddite alone.
If she mobilized every single android, robot, and drone under her command, she could realistically contend for the world hunter ranking No. 1 spot.
Some even evaluated her as an S-rank hunter closer to that tier than Sword God Lee Geuk himself.
Of course, it was said she had refused the World Hunter Association’s evaluation for certain reasons.
Soon, the gun ports of the Aegis warship LDX-017 belonging to Luddite Corporation opened in unison.
Boom! Kwa-boom!
Hundreds of shells fired simultaneously from over a hundred gun ports.
Bang! Booboom! Booboobooboom— bang!
Deafening explosions erupted alongside massive mushroom clouds.
Mrs. Luddite stood tall at the bow of the Aegis ship, staring blankly ahead.
Her silver bob was trimmed neatly along her jawline.
Her expression was utterly emotionless, as if not a single feeling existed within her.
A golden luster gleamed across her silver-gray skin.
Then Mrs. Luddite spoke.
“No recorded cases exist of an S-rank-class magical beast transferring without a specific mana-field reaction.
Checking radar for errors… System, execute error-value calculation command. From now on, exclude risk parameters.”
Her tone was cold and mechanical, like an AI speaking.
Soon she moved her index finger.
Clank! Clank clank clank! Clank!
Missile batteries rose from the opened deck of the Aegis warship.
Dozens of missiles streaked toward the giant of fire.
Shweeeek— shweeeek—
At the same time, Mrs. Luddite extended her hand forward.
A transparent crystal lens embedded in her palm began gathering light.
Then.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa~!
A thick laser beam shot forward.
Seawater evaporated on contact, parting left and right.
Shells, missiles, and laser beams.
The indiscriminate bombardment swallowed the giant of fire in the blink of an eye.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-boom!
Bang! Booboobooboom!
Kwa-dudududuk~!
Soon a sound like the sky being torn apart came from above.
Twenty unmanned fighter jets approached at supersonic speed.
They simultaneously dropped crimson bombs onto the giant of fire.
Kwa-boom! Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-boom!
Black smoke and white steam billowed upward together.
Waves dozens of meters high spread in every direction, and a shower of saltwater poured from the sky.
The destructive power was enough to reshape the entire seabed.
From the moment she appeared, Mrs. Luddite had unleashed her maximum firepower — without the slightest regard for the safety of the other A+ rank hunters.
Kwa-kwa-boom! Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-boom!
Shells, missiles, hydrogen bombs, and more.
Every twitch of Mrs. Luddite’s slender fingers triggered another devastating explosion.
Then.
[Grooooooooaaaaar—!]
The giant of fire burst out through the smoke.
Crimson lava surged upward like a tidal wave.
The lava current swallowed Luddite’s Aegis warship whole.
Sssssssss—!
Black lava hardened into the shape of a tidal wave upon touching seawater.
But only for a moment.
Crack— craaaack— boom!
The hardened lava shattered as a silver figure shot upward.
Mrs. Luddite spread steel wings wide and soared into the air.
She looked down at the giant of fire with an expressionless face.
“Recovery rate, defense, and attack power confirmed as S-rank. However, when countermeasures against flames exist, it becomes extremely vulnerable.”
Silver particles flowed from Luddite’s body.
The moment the silver mist made of particles touched the surrounding flames, they rapidly died down.
“Analysis complete… Target is subjugatable.”
Mrs. Luddite pointed her index finger at the giant of fire.
At the same time.
Flash—
A blinding light burst from the sky.
A massive hole was instantly punched through the center of the clouds.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
A red pillar of light began pressing down on the Fierce God Evil Slayer.
It was Luddite Corporation’s latest weapon — an ultra-photon cannon fired directly from an artificial satellite onto the target.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
The sky, the sea, and even the atmosphere began turning red.
And when it was all over.
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzt……
The S-rank magical beast’s mana field had completely vanished.
Mrs. Luddite’s dry voice rang across the sky.
“……S-rank magical beast, subjugation complete.”
The A+ rank hunters watching the scene wore dumbfounded expressions.
At the spot where the giant of fire had been subjugated, nothing remained on the laser-scorched seabed.
Not the giant’s corpse, not a single item or byproduct — everything had been annihilated without a trace.
White Mage Tower Lord Yun Yeobaek muttered in disbelief.
“Mrs. Luddite’s full power really is… overwhelming.”
Of course, not every hunter was impressed by Luddite’s actions.
Mister Concrete Jo Taekyung shouted at her.
“Hey! What the hell are you doing, destroying even my masterpiece golems?! Huh?!”
Mrs. Luddite descended in front of Jo Taekyung.
“A+ rank No. 9, Mister Concrete. You need to revise your definition of a masterpiece. The concrete organic constructs you produced possessed severe structural defects — they were destroyed by a single shell.”
“What?”
Mrs. Luddite continued.
“A+ rank No. 9, Mister Concrete. If you wish, I will produce and deliver organic constructs similar to the destroyed ones. They will be close to masterpiece quality.”
“I don’t need them! Who wants that scrap metal?!”
Jo Taekyung exploded in anger and stormed off.
“Refusal acknowledged.”
This time Han Seoha stepped forward with a face full of complaints.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?! You opened fire even though I was right there! Are you crazy?!”
“A+ rank No. 8, Blue Mage Tower Lord. The bombardment against the magical beast was initiated based on precise calculations. According to those calculations, all A+ rank hunters successfully evacuated with zero casualties.”
“What… you mean you knew we’d dodge? Seriously! I can’t even… And!”
Han Seoha pointed at the drones floating on the sea.
Every single broadcasting drone camera had been destroyed during the bombardment.
“If you destroy all the cameras, how are my heroic actions supposed to reach the public?! Do you have any idea how much loss that causes? A superstar like me…”
“A+ rank No. 8, Blue Mage Tower Lord. No need to worry about that matter. Compensation for the destroyed drone cameras has already been wired to each broadcasting station, and the subjugation process was streamed live in real time through my retinal lenses.”
“R-Real-time streaming…? Then right now, too…?”
Han Seoha quickly put on a bright smile.
“Ahaha. Hello, everyone! This is Blue Mage Tower Lord Han Seoha—”
“A+ rank No. 8, Blue Mage Tower Lord. Live feed terminated immediately after the situation ended.”
“You… damn… Seriously! Get out of my way! You’re so annoying!”
Han Seoha shoved Mrs. Luddite aside and stormed into the ship’s interior.
Finally, Gray Mage Tower Lord Son Boyoung trudged over.
“You’re not seriously planning to make us clean up all that wreckage… are you…?”
Countless shell fragments, missile debris, and spent casings had clumped together like islands and were floating on the water.
Gray Mage Tower Lord Son Boyoung had gathered every metal fragment so they wouldn’t scatter.
If the A+ rank hunters hadn’t reacted quickly, the bombardment would have caused massive collateral damage.
Han Seoha had frozen the surging tidal waves, and every time the seabed cracked, Jo Taekyung had filled the gaps with reinforced concrete.
Among them, Jo Taekyung and Son Boyoung — specialists in concrete and metal — were the true cleanup experts.
“But…”
“You drop a bomb like that and then just walk away? You think we’re here to wipe your ass?”
Jo Taekyung grumbled.
Gray Mage Tower Lord Son Boyoung nodded.
“The sea… has a completely different work environment from land… There’s not enough steel or concrete…”
Mrs. Luddite looked at the two of them.
“150 units dispatched. Arrival in 329 seconds. Direct all additional requests to those units. Then…”
Mrs. Luddite shot off at supersonic speed.
Shin Sodam watched the scene from the warship deck.
She turned to White Mage Tower Lord Yun Yeobaek.
“By the way, where did you get the information that an S-rank magical beast would appear here?”
“Ah, that’s…”
Yun Yeobaek hesitated for a moment before answering.
“It’s a secret.”
A pure-white trail streaked across the sky, scattering the clouds.
Shweeeeeeeeek~!
Mrs. Luddite was returning to the Association.
Despite her emotionless face, complex calculations were running through her mind.
Magical beasts or dungeons always transferred through gates.
During that process, a large mana field was released, and the amount of mana could be used to measure the danger rank of the beast or dungeon.
But this S-rank magical beast had transferred into the middle of the East Sea without any mana field — as if someone had simply pulled it out of their pocket.
That wasn’t the only problem.
The giant of fire had not been annihilated by her ultra-photon cannon.
Right before subjugation, it had vanished from the radar without a trace.
Mrs. Luddite frowned at the ERROR displayed on her radar.
There were only two cases in which the radar failed to detect a target.
- When the magical beast had almost no mana field to detect.
- When the mana field was so overwhelmingly powerful that the radar system could not measure it.
Mrs. Luddite accessed the Deus Ex Machina system.
In her cold, mechanical tone she issued a command.
“……System. Investigate all anomalies that occurred near the East Sea.”
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