Chapter 36

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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: The Forbidden Spell
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Inside the machine room of the Bureau's Seoul branch building, machines that supplied and controlled the building's electricity and water were packed tightly together.

A constant "Crack, crackle..." echoed through the room, and suddenly, fine cracks began to spread across the empty air.

Eventually, a portion of the space, like glass unable to withstand an impact, abruptly shattered and collapsed.

Step, step….

From beyond the collapsed space, dozens of men dressed in black robes with hoods pulled low over their faces walked out leisurely.

“Infiltration of the operation zone successful….”

As the last man to emerge took off his hood, his hidden face was completely revealed.

The last man to walk out took off the hood he was wearing, fully revealing his hidden face.

War rock.

He was the second-in-command among the twelve executives of the Anti-Bureau Alliance, a powerful figure acknowledged as the best magic-type Awakener in their ranks.

He scanned the faces of the men he had assembled—dozens of the Alliance's elite mages—before continuing.

“We will now begin the activation of the forbidden spell as planned.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the dozens of robed men moved in perfect unison, forming a circular formation….

They all placed their palms on the floor and began to chant in a bizarre language, its meaning utterly incomprehensible.

A giant magic circle, composed of thousands of large and small formulas, appeared across the entire machine room floor, emitting a reddish glow….

“How truly magnificent….”

Watching the scene from a distance, he unconsciously began to chew on his lower lip.

It was beautiful.

It felt like a perfectionist with a fanatical obsession for aesthetics admiring a work of art completed after immeasurable toil.

This was because the thousands of large and small formulas that made up the giant magic circle all adhered perfectly to the golden ratio.

‘So this is the forbidden spell that the Leader of the Alliance was personally taught by the 「Dethroned King of Death」 through an oracle...’

Activating the forbidden spell required dozens of mages to gather and maintain their concentration for a long time, chanting repeatedly.

It demanded a transcendent amount of mana, and its activation conditions were far more stringent than any high-level magic….

‘He said that the moment the forbidden spell is activated, the life force of every living being in the vicinity will be used as a holy sacrifice for His return…’

It was a tremendous forbidden spell that would instantly turn the thousands of people in the building into sacrifices upon its activation.

‘He also declared that those who become sacrifices caught in the forbidden spell will be reborn as undead, loyal soldiers moving solely under His control and according to His will….’

This meant that if they succeeded in activating the spell, they would gain thousands of ‘undead soldiers’ in one fell swoop.

Of course, most of the people currently in the building could be considered civilians….

But weren't there also Hunters gathered for the promotion exam, and even ‘S-rank Hunters’ invited as judges mixed in?

Simply put, it was a golden opportunity to expand the Alliance's power in an instant.

‘If you succeed in activating the forbidden spell, when the new world opens, the god will acknowledge your contribution and grant you eternal life.’

‘Can you do it?’

‘Yes, then thanks to you, we will be one step closer to not only the great god's return but also to a new world…’

With a smile tinged with a terrible madness, he began to mutter to himself.

“Eternal life in a new world….”

The great god, he said, would change all rules and regulations the moment he regained his lost power and succeeded in his return.

He would usher in a new, perfectly rational and natural world where the strong rule over the weak according to the logic of power….

Furthermore, he promised to bestow immense ‘power’ and ‘eternal life’ upon those who had contributed, great and small, from the very beginning of this grand undertaking.

‘I must succeed in activating the forbidden spell, no matter what….’

Recently, the status of four of the twelve executives had become uncertain.

He couldn't afford to be careless, as he might be next.

"Hoo..."

He raised his mana to its peak, transforming it into a thin, hard membrane and creating a barrier centered on his position.

First, he erected a massive barrier to seal the building itself, preventing anyone from entering or leaving from this moment on….

Swoooosh—

He then cast another barrier to ensure the activation of the forbidden spell would not be disturbed, completely sealing all entrances to the machine room.

‘Good….’

Now, all he had to do was maintain the barriers he had created until the forbidden spell did its work properly.

After all…

He had already confirmed that there was no one in this building capable of breaking through his barriers.

‘The judges for this promotion exam are mostly mid- to low-tier S-rank Hunters...’

Most of the top-tier S-rank Hunters had recently been dispatched to suppress Gates that had appeared both at home and abroad.

Only one person.

The only top-tier S-rank Hunter among the judges for this promotion exam, ‘Iron Man Go Du-yeol,’ was a slight concern….

‘Even for Go Du-yeol, it would take quite some time to break my barrier…’

He began to focus on maintaining his barriers, making them stronger and denser.

He held a deep conviction that the soon-to-be-activated forbidden spell would be the dawn of a new world.

* * *

Tap, tap, tap, tap….

A young-looking girl, who had been tapping a side table with an irritated flourish, spoke up.

“Why is that stupid bald guy always late? The promotion exam started ages ago, why hasn't he even shown his face…?”

She was ‘Ice Witch Seol Eun-bin,’ rank 15 S-rank Hunter, invited as a judge for this promotion exam.

‘Divine Spear Kang Ju-won,’ rank 23 S-rank Hunter, shrugged his shoulders and replied nonchalantly.

“Who knows, he probably got lost again. As you know, he's a bit of an idiot, but he's definitely not a bad guy…”

To that, the most recent S-rank Hunter, rank 30 Drunkard Baek Seung-jin, replied.

“Senior Go Du-yeol isn't answering his phone. I wonder if something happened to him…”

Seol Eun-bin puffed her cheeks in displeasure and began to grumble.

“Seriously, shouldn't he be more vigilant in dangerous times like these? I heard there was even an attack from the Alliance guys at the medal ceremony two months ago, right?”

“But they managed to suppress them without any damage…”

“But they couldn't find a single clue about who actually suppressed them, right? Then there's no guarantee that the ones who took down the Alliance guys at the ceremony weren't a second Alliance, is there?”

Since every word she said was true, even Divine Spear Kang Ju-won couldn't defend Go Du-yeol any longer and fell silent.

Drunkard Baek Seung-jin, who had been cautiously observing, looked at the monitor on the conference room wall and continued in a careful tone.

“Seniors, perhaps we should focus on judging for now…”

After muttering, “I wonder if any of you have a brain…,” Seol Eun-bin was about to turn her gaze to the monitor.

“Huh…?”

Just as her eyes were about to pass the conference room window, she sensed something strange and they widened in surprise.

For some reason, the view of downtown Seoul outside the window felt off.

It was because the scenery beyond the glass looked opaque, as if covered by some giant membrane.

“A barrier…?”

At that word, not only the Ice Witch Seol Eun-bin, but the faces of the other two judges in the room instantly hardened.

If the Alliance was launching an attack, they would have had to be aware of the S-rank Hunters invited as judges.

“D-damn it—!”

She and the other judges shot up from their seats in unison.

*

Meanwhile.

Go Du-yeol was putting every last ounce of his strength into his bench press.

“Senior, you can lift it!”

“Nngh…gh!”

“I'll spot you!”

“Nngh…!”

And he was doing it with his most cherished junior, just the two of them.

Go Du-yeol lay on the bench, straining….

He looked up at Kang-jun's face looking down at him.

“Senior, you can do it!”

He had first met the guy on the day of the Hunter promotion exam.

They had sparked a friendship through a face-slapping contest right off the bat….

Now, they were indispensable workout partners to each other.

“Senior, I knew you could do it!”

His junior shouted in an excited tone and immediately handed him a water bottle….

“Haha, it's all thanks to you, my junior!”

Go Du-yeol manfully chugged the entire bottle in one go, puffed out his chest, and yelled.

“You rascal, time for a celebratory chest bump—!”

Their two large, hard chests collided with a smack, sending beads of thick sweat flying everywhere.

What’s so special about happiness?

Working out with this guy all day, then sharing a cool protein shake—that right there is happiness.

But, what was this guy's name again?

He was his most beloved junior, yet he couldn't seem to recall his name.

He must have a name manlier than anyone else's….

“Your name is….”

The junior looked at me with trembling eyes.

Ma Pal-su, Jo Deok-chul, Na Dae-mul, Yong Maeng-deok, Yuk Man-chul, Heo Cheok-sal….

A few manly names flashed by before a bolt of inspiration struck.

“Right, I remember now….”

“S-Senior?”

“Your, your name is….”

Go Du-yeol shouted, his voice overflowing with excitement.

“Your name is, ‘Gwak Du-pal’….”

Go Du-yeol hugged his junior tightly.

No, he pretended to hug him….

While groping his lats.

We'll never be apart again.

My eternal workout partner.

The reason Go Du-yeol's subconscious had suddenly renamed Kang-jun to ‘Gwak Du-pal’ was quite simple.

The two had not yet had a chance to properly introduce themselves.

To be precise, before they could even exchange names, Go Du-yeol had been slapped once and passed out.

“Alright, next up is deadlifts!”

“Wow, deadlifts…!”

“And after that, squats would be great!”

“Senior, I respect you!”

Go Du-yeol continued to wander in his dream for a long while after that.

Crabslie, with a rather serious expression, spent a moment examining the state of Go Du-yeol, who had collapsed and was foaming at the mouth.

“Jugun, thankfully, he still seems to be breathing.”

“Then that's fine.”

“Huh? But it looks like he's smiling right now?”

“Leave him be,” Kang-jun replied before turning to walk away, adding.

“He must be having a good dream.”

As Kang-jun started walking toward the testing area, he suddenly came to a halt….

He began to stare intently at the firmly shut steel door of the ‘machine room’ in the distance.

Crabslie narrowed his brow and spoke again in a cautious tone.

“Jugun, this is definitely….”

Kang-jun nodded and muttered lowly.

“Magic. No, a forbidden spell…”

Beyond the closed door, it seemed that dozens of individuals were wringing out their meager mana to chant a large-scale spell.

An unstable and impure mana, thick with thoughts and desires, was swirling.

Yet for some reason, the texture of the mana felt from beyond the door was familiar, as if he had witnessed it himself once before.

“Could it be… him?”

At those words, Crabslie tilted his head slightly and replied in a tone of disbelief.

“But ‘that man’ was definitely… after the duel with you long ago…”

Kang-jun cut him off.

“He didn't die.”

Then he added.

“He ran away like a rat.”

Kang-jun strode purposefully toward the steel door of the machine room….

Crabslie, too, followed behind Kang-jun without a moment's hesitation.