Chapter 553 – You should have watched your back (7)

"Cale Henituse, what is it?"

Cotton anxiously looked at Cale.

'Why is he suddenly acting like this?'

Cale was completely pale and sweating.

He didn't even seem to hear Cotton calling his name as he just stared inside the black door with a piercing gaze.

"What is inside that is making you react like this?"

Cotton slightly pulled on Cale's shoulder and tried to look inside.

Cale's gaze moved to Cotton potentially because of her action.

'Why does he look so vicious-'

Cotton couldn't help but flinch at Cale's gaze that looked ready to beat someone to death.

Cale pulled her arm.

"Hey!"

He pulled firmly enough that Cotton frowned before her eyes opened wide.

'He's shaking?'

Cale's hand that was pulling her was shaking.

Cotton finally realized that there was something else in Cale's eyes in addition to this anger to beat someone to death.

"Hurry up and look inside."

Cale sounded stoic as usual, but his tone sounded urgent.

Cotton looked inside the door at his urging.

She could see an octagonal platform, eight altars, and eight sculptures.

"Deputy Chief Priest, do you know what those sculptures are?"

Cale waited for Cotton's response with a shaking heart.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

His heart was slowly starting to beat faster.

'Why, just why?!'

Why were the monsters he saw in Korea here as sculptures?!

Cale's mind moved past complicated to chaotic.

'…Six of them.'

Cale had records of six of those sculptures, no, six of those monsters, in his mind.

They were the monsters that were evaluated to be the six strongest monsters in Korea and the world. The ones on the altar looked exactly the same as the ones recorded in his mind.

'My record is never wrong.'

When he was in Korea, the records of these unrankable monsters had been shared via video throughout the world and Cale was the person in his company who remembered the most information about these monsters.

'I memorized every single piece of information about them.'

Once Team Leader Lee Soo Hyuk, Choi Jung Soo, and his other team members had died, Kim Rok Soo had recorded every piece of information he could find about monsters.

He couldn't let something like that happen ever again.

It was his duty as the new team leader to keep his team members safe.

This was especially true because his new team all had family members waiting for them, unlike himself.

That was why Kim Rok Soo had gathered more information about monsters than anybody else.

Foreign records, research, videos… He found anything he could get his hands on and recorded them in his mind.

Monster rankings, appearances, battle patterns, attacks, he didn't even disregard the trivial information.

That was why he knew very well.

He knew how terrible these monsters were.

He also knew how many lives they had taken in Korea and the world.

'Motherfucker!'

Cale started to frown while looking down at his shaking hands.

He heard Cotton's voice at that moment.

"…I don't know. I've never seen those before."

Cotton looked toward Cale.

She started to speak.

"Those creatures do not exist in this world."

Cale clenched his shaking hands into fists. He shared the thoughts that had been on his mind since earlier once his hands stopped shaking.

"…Are they monsters from the Demon World?"

Something that Gersey and the White Star might be preparing that wasn't from this world.

Wasn't the Demon World the only explanation?

'Does that mean monsters from the Demon World appeared on Earth? Why?'

Cale's mind started to become complicated.

He could see Cotton hesitate for a moment before responding to his question.

"I don't know. There's a chance that that is the case, but I can't be sure."
"Huuuuu."

Cale subconsciously let out a deep breath.

He turned back toward the gap in the black door that was wide enough for a person to walk through.

"Deputy Chief Priest, according to what you said earlier, the White Star and Gersey brought them 'feed.' They brought feed for monsters, but I don't see any living creatures inside there."
"…That's right."

Cotton's heart started to beat with an ominous feeling.

'What if it really is a monster from the Demon World?'

That terrible thought made her stomach churn.

Cotton and Cale made eye contact. The two of them realized that they were thinking about the same thing.

She was the first to speak.

"Those sculptures are probably those monsters. This sculpture state should be the seal. The White Star and Gersey are planning on removing those seals… During the ritual on the last day of the festival."

Both of them imagined the terrible sight that would happen after that even without discussing it.

Of course, Cale imagined a much worse situation.

The disasters that had struck Earth rushed past his mind like a movie.

"By the way…"

Cale turned toward Cotton after hearing her voice.

"…The altars with the sculptures are all slightly different in height. Do you think there is a reason for that?"
"What?"

Cale looked back inside the black door.

'They're different!'

The altars were different in height as Cotton mentioned.

"…Hey. You don't look very good."

Cotton could see that Cale was starting to look even worse.

'Shit!'

However, Cale couldn't even hear Cotton's voice.

The altars were different in height as Cotton mentioned. That was why they looked so uneven.

'I missed that because I was too focused on the monsters.'

Cale focused on the parts he missed before getting the chills.

The sculpture on the lowest altar…

That monster was the unranked monster that was ranked sixth of the group.

The next lowest altar had the monster ranked fifth.

And the monster that was said to be the strongest monster in the history of Earth…was on the third highest altar.

"…Does the height of the altar show the strength of the monster?"

In that case…

'…There are two altars higher than the highest-ranked monster on Earth.'

That meant…

"…Those two are even stronger?"

Cale got the chills. The strongest monster in the history of Earth was truly a calamity. But there were two that were even stronger than that one?

"Cale Henituse. What are you planning on doing? Should we go in first?"

He could hear Cotton speaking to him.

Cotton was worried about Cale's complexion but continued to speak as they needed to take care of this problem first.

"We need to destroy that seal, well, this facility. We don't have much time. We have no time to hesitate. You know that too."
"…That's right. I know tha-"

Baaaaaang!

Cale turned around in shock after hearing an explosion that was loud enough to make his ears go numb.

Craaaackle, crackle.

The half-transparent gold wall was starting to shake while being hit with a grey current.

"Eruhaben-nim!"

Cale could see the bleeding Eruhaben.

He subconsciously started to move toward Eruhaben.

"Don't come here!"

However, he soon had to stop walking because of Eruhaben's shout.

Eruhaben glared to the other side of the gold wall.

Gersey was on the other side of the half-transparent wall, removing his fan that was covered in grey aura.

"You're enduring better than I expected."

One corner of Gersey's lip twisted up while looking at Eruhaben.

Oooooo- oooooong-

The grey aura was gathering above Gersey's head and forming a large orb.

Peek.

Eruhaben peeked toward the grey orb.

'…This is bad.'

Gersey had attacked the gold wall just now with about one-third of the aura from this grey orb.

He somehow managed to block it, but Eruhaben was worried about what came next.

'I can't hold on if he uses the rest of that aura to attack."

The wall would fall.

Eruhaben knew that that would be the case, which was why he started to shout.

"Why are you all standing around like idiots?!"

His voice thundered down on the others.

– Cale, why aren't you going inside? You need to hurry up and destroy it so we can teleport and run away!

He was preparing for the worst and thinking about running away.

Cale headed back to the black door after hearing that. Cale had to show decent results when Eruhaben was pushing himself so hard.

"Hurry up."

Cale put a leg through the gap in the black door. His foot touched the bottom of the large hall.

Shaaaaa-

An ominous chill immediately overwhelmed him, but Cale had to go in.

'I must know.'

He needed to know what was going on.

Cale grabbed and then let go of the golden top's whip before pushing the rest of his body through.

'I'll let them know!'

'Chaos, destruction, peace. Don't worry.'

Cale who confirmed that the Elementals who had stealthily followed them were there and then motioned to Bud with his eyes.

"I'll help you, sir."

Bud walked next to Eruhaben and pointed his aura sword at Gersey who was on the other side of the wall.

Cale heard Gersey shout behind him at that moment.

"The seal will be released if you destroy it!"

Eruhaben who had been listening to Cale and Cotton's conversation started to shout again.

"Shut up! It seems like you are trying to summon a monster from the Demon World based on their conversation, but the summoning should be impossible if we destroy the location of the summoning! How dare you try to lie!"

Smirk.

Gersey sneered at Eruhaben and opened his fan again.

Chhhhhhhh-

"Who said anything about summoning? Those sculptures are prisons with the monsters sealed inside. The moment you destroy that prison…"

The open fan started to absorb the grey orb.

"Hell will start in this world."

The fan that absorbed over half of the orb was pointed at the wall.

Gersey calmly added on.

"Tsk. It's not yet time. All that'll be left is destruction."

'He's being serious.'

Eruhaben could tell that Gersey was telling the truth.

'It's bad news for both the White Star and us if we destroy the seals!'

What could they do?

As his mind became complicated…

"Then, what if we don't destroy them?"

He heard Cale's calm voice.

Cale was looking at Gersey.

"I guess it's fine as long as we don't destroy them?"

Gersey kept his mouth shut. The corners of Cale's lips started to go up.

His body was already over halfway into the room.

He then moved completely in through the black door. He looked at Gersey through the crack in the black door and continued to speak.

"What if I don't destroy them and just steal them?"
"…What?"

Gersey's pupils started to shake.

Cale did not miss that reaction.

Smirk.

The corners of Cale's lips started to rise.

"If they are prisons holding the monsters captive, then I just need to run and take the prisons with me."
"Y, you crazy bastard-"

Ooooooong-

The fan started to shake furiously.

– Cale! That's enough provoking! I don't care if you steal it or whatever, just hurry!
"If you don't push yourself too hard, sir-"
– Sure, sure! I won't overdo it and I will get out of here alive! So hurry! We can just leave everything and run away if all else fails!
"As long as you promise, sir."

Cale leisurely responded to Eruhaben's urgent voice before he quickly started to head toward the octagonal platform.

His expression was completely different than when he had just leisurely responded.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

His heart was beating fast.

Why had the monsters suddenly appeared on Earth?
Furthermore, why were those same monsters here, and what was their relationship with the Demon World?

The truth seemed to be in front of his nose.

"Haiyah!"

Cale heard Cotton climb through the door behind him as well but did not have the time to look back.

He needed to hurry.

Tap.

Cale stepped on top of the platform.

He then quickly started to compare the sculptures' appearances with his records.

He also looked around.

"…There's nothing else here."

The sculptures were the only things in this place.

The eight sculptures were positioned in a circle on top of the platform and the center was empty without any sort of magic circle.

There were no traces of a magic circle ever being there.

'…How did they provide the feed?'

"Ah!"

A thought flew past Cale's mind like a streak of lightning.

He looked back.

Cotton.

He also looked at Gersey who looked like he would swing his fan to attack him but was instead just glaring at him.

"Did you find something? Do you think we really can't destroy these things?"

Cotton stepped on top of the platform and walked toward Cale.

Cale pushed her back.

He was using the Sound of the Wind.

It was at that moment.

Chhhh, Gersey's fan shot out grey light.

"Creatures born in the darkness, hunt down your feed!"

Ooooooong-

Black smoke started to rise from the empty center of the platform.

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Rai_Mayank]