Herrera was flustered.
‘What is going on?’
He had crossed the United States border to meet Hunter Lee Tae-sung, said to be the World’s Strongest Hunter, and was waiting on the rooftop of this building.
Getting there had not been difficult at all.
Seeing them reveling in ignorance at the party hall had even made him laugh.
Since it was a party where famous people gathered, there were security personnel, but no one noticed Herrera’s concealment.
His physical abilities were his main strength, but his concealment was by no means lacking either.
However, Lee Tae-sung was someone called the World’s Strongest, so he could have noticed, and Herrera waited on the rooftop while breathing slowly.
This allowed him to perform his concealment even better, so he waited for an opportunity that would come someday.
And his waiting bore fruit.
Lee Tae-sung had come up to get some air for a moment.
He had planned to attack at the right timing and even carry out a terror attack, but to think he would be attacked first?
Meanwhile, Lee Tae-sung was staring at Herrera with calm eyes.
‘With killing intent radiating like that, it is hard to pretend not to notice.’
Lee Tae-sung had known of Herrera’s approach for a long time.
If he had tried to do something, Lee Tae-sung would have moved long ago, but since he stayed still, he simply waited.
And that was all.
After coming up to the rooftop, an even denser killing intent poured toward him, so he moved first.
“How… did you know?”
Herrera asked.
He could not understand it at all.
Lee Tae-sung shrugged.
“You were plainly visible.”
“My concealment…? That can’t be!”
“I didn’t mean I saw it with my eyes.”
On the surface, Herrera’s concealment was not bad.
When he even lowered his breathing, it was hard to notice unless one consciously expanded their senses.
But to Lee Tae-sung, who had reached the Transcendental Realm, something else was visible.
He could observe not only his own Spiritual Will but also others’ Spiritual Will in the form of light.
‘Killing intent and hostility are an ominous dark red.’
No matter how well one concealed themselves, unless they handled their Spiritual Will and consciously hid it, the eyes of a Transcendent Expert could not be escaped.
‘In that respect, the Empty Shadow Hiding Technique is a concealment art that hides even Spiritual Will.’
A Transcendental Realm-level martial arts manual counted among the best even in Dream World.
The Empty Shadow Hiding Technique.
This martial art, learned by pouring in an enormous amount of Contribution Points, could hide one’s body even from an expert of the Flame Realm.
At that time, Lee Tae-sung did not even know the first thing about Spiritual Will, so it was possible because the Empty Shadow Hiding Technique was a great martial art that concealed even Spiritual Will.
-Bang!
At that moment, Herrera turned around and began to sprint.
His physical abilities were so great that he tore through the air and instantly disappeared from sight.
A sonic boom spread out, and the area grew noisy with a roar.
The party hall below must have had its mood ruined as well.
‘The party ends here.’
Lee Tae-sung unfolded the Flying Flower Explosive Shadow and chased after Herrera.
“Huff. Huff.”
Herrera quickly left the city center, crossed an empty plain, and entered a low mountain.
It was a terrifying speed.
His Wolf Transformation skill was superior to any Hunter in strength and speed, so he was confident he could surely shake off his pursuer.
“Damn it. What the hell is this mess?”
Some time had passed and some distance had opened, so he could somewhat collect his earlier panicked feelings.
Herrera sighed and brought the arm he had carried to his shoulder.
It was the arm he had grabbed just before fleeing.
Since Herrera could be considered nearly perfect among physical-type Hunters, he also possessed excellent regeneration ability.
He could even regenerate a missing arm, but if the arm was present, regeneration was much easier.
-Ssss…
The cut skin twitched and slowly began to reattach.
It had been cut so sharply that the cross-section was clean, and thanks to that, even just holding it roughly in place, the regeneration seemed likely to work.
Should he call that a relief?
“Phew!”
“You came far.”
“!!”
Startled by the voice that suddenly came from beside him, Herrera jumped to his feet.
At some point, Lee Tae-sung had been sitting on the trunk of a tree beside him.
“Uh, when!?”
“When you flee so openly, how could I not chase you?”
“……”
He could not chase.
In ordinary cases, that was true.
However, the Flying Flower Explosive Shadow, mastered in proficiency, was faster than Herrera, and with the Empty Shadow Hiding Technique also activated, he did not notice the pursuit at all.
“Werewolf form. Quite strong. You are Massacre Herrera, right?”
One of the former World’s Strongest Hunters.
A dictator who alone overturned Mexico, brought a nation to ruin, and ruled it.
Massacre Herrera.
And through Spiritual Will, Lee Tae-sung saw something else.
‘A faint connection visible above his head. So that is how a Corrupted Hunter looks.’
Through the crown of his head, a pitch-black strand of something extended beyond the sky.
The far side of space.
It meant he was connected to an Outer God.
Good.
To open a path for Hakseon to approach the Outer God, two things were needed.
A Stele that could be obtained by eliminating the Black Mist, and a Corrupted Hunter.
He had obtained a Stele and planned to obtain several more in the future.
But Corrupted Hunters would all be hiding somewhere, so they would be hard to find easily.
Yet meeting one so luckily was fortunate.
And a dictator like Herrera was highly likely to know other Corrupted Hunters.
Was he not the one who had built the greatest power in that field?
“Are there more like you?”
“Like me…?”
“I mean those who made contracts with Outer Gods.”
“…!! How do you…!?”
Herrera’s eyes wavered.
And even that reaction was enough for Lee Tae-sung to be certain.
It was clear that Herrera knew more Corrupted Hunters.
Pleased, Lee Tae-sung smiled broadly.
“I would like you to guide me.”
“…Don’t bullshit. Just because I was a little flustered, you are treating me like a complete pushover.”
Herrera’s eyes began to turn red as he spoke in a growling voice.
Herrera had always been a bundle of confidence.
He had experienced a few unexpected things, but since it had come to this, it was not bad.
The reason he had operated cautiously in the United States was the countless Ranker-level Hunters in the country.
No matter how much he called himself the strongest, if he was surrounded by several slightly inferior strong ones, he could lose.
But the place he was now was an unknown low mountain.
Even if it got a little noisy, it would surely take a long time for anyone to come.
“I will tear out your throat.”
“It seems you are not ready to talk.”
Lee Tae-sung drew his sword.
Flames blazed up from the blade.
The Flame Tide Wave Sword, which had reached its extreme.
If he swung it like this, a huge wave of flames would be launched.
-Pababat!
Then Herrera leaped and began circling around Lee Tae-sung.
A speed that left afterimages.
The flames of the Flame Tide Wave Sword were wide but slow.
They could not catch that kind of speed.
Of course, he could turn the surroundings into a sea of fire so there was no room to dodge, but then the entire mountain would burn completely.
There was a better method than that.
Lee Tae-sung closed his eyes and focused.
He felt the Spiritual Will contained within the Hybrid of the Flame Tide Wave Sword, which sought to reduce everything around it to ashes.
It must be the Spiritual Will the Flame Emperor had imbued when creating this Hybrid.
Lee Tae-sung altered it slightly.
Not to spread outward, but to compress it into a single point and increase its power.
From the Transcendental Realm onward, one is sometimes called a Grandmaster because one can imbue techniques with Spiritual Will and alter them.
Flame densely compressed and flowed along the tip of the blade.
Its range was only a thin covering over the blade, but the Flame Tsunami unleashed by the Flame Tide Wave Sword was sleeping within it.
The destructive power swung toward a single point would be truly overwhelming.
“Flame Tide Condensation Sword.”
He gave that name to the technique he had newly created.
“……”
Herrera also seemed to feel the power from the tip of the sword, as he flinched and stopped his feet.
But he should not have done that.
Lee Tae-sung unfolded the Shadow of the Secret Fire and approached him.
The Flying Flower Explosive Shadow, which created tiny explosions at his toes, was much faster when approaching like this.
When Spiritual Will to become faster was added to it, he arrived right in front of Herrera like a flash of lightning.
“Huff!“
What the flustered Herrera saw was a sword of dense flames.
He too responded in the final moment and swung his hand.
The body of a werewolf strengthened to the level of the World’s Strongest, and sharp claws that tore through even steel like paper.
No one had ever overcome this in close combat until now.
-Slice!
“Gwaaaah!”
The claws turned to ashes the moment they touched the blade.
The smoothly continued sword strike separated the arm from the shoulder, and Herrera’s falling right arm turned to ash and crumbled in an instant.
He had only cut the arm on purpose to capture him.
If he had cut the torso, his body would have turned to ashes.
Lee Tae-sung tilted his head.
‘How much better has the power become?’
Because the guy was so weak, objective assessment was impossible.
It seemed he would need to use it a few more times in real combat.
“Hunter Lee Tae-sung has come? I should go see him.”
Alex, who had been attacking the Black Mist in Texas, heard news of Lee Tae-sung’s visit to the United States.
Because he had been attacking the interior of the Black Mist for quite a long time before coming out, he heard the news a little late.
Since the distance from Texas to LA was over 2,000 km, he immediately took a plane and moved.
However, the city of LA he arrived in that way was chaotic.
The area was controlled by police, and even military units were operating.
Inside, Hunters were running around frantically.
“What is going on?”
Alex grabbed one of the running Hunters and asked.
He looked annoyed that someone had suddenly grabbed him while he was busy, but soon realized it was Alex and was startled.
“Ah, Alex, sir?”
“We have met once before, right?”
“I-I am honored that you remember me!”
Because he was a Ranker-level Hunter, they had once exchanged names while passing by.
Alex had also known that, which was why he had grabbed him.
“I will ask again. What is going on?”
“Massacre Herrera appeared at the party hall, and…”
“Massacre Herrera!?”
Alex was startled and cut the other person off.
If Massacre Herrera himself had come, this was a national crisis-level situation.
If that guy could produce destructive power greater than an army on his own, the entire city would be in chaos.
Moreover, he was so elusive that catching him was not easy.
To stop him, a strong person of a similar level, like Alex, was needed.
“I will go first.”
Alex urgently kicked off the ground.
There was no time.
He had to move first.
The direction was roughly toward where the Hunters and police were moving.
The Hunter left alone urgently reached out his hand and continued the words he had been cut off from saying earlier.
“No… I was trying to tell you that Massacre Herrera appeared but was subdued by Hunter Lee Tae-sung…”
But Alex had already disappeared from sight.