Chapter 36

: Each own goal (Part 2)

Chips? I looted all of them. I hit the jackpot, you know?

Zin asked Leona how she got hold of that many chips, and she said that she looted a city that the monster swept past. The Korean peninsula south of SMCP was practically wiped out by the monsters, and Leona rode the junk wagon north while collecting all the chips from the destroyed cities.
And at the moment, all those chips became energy for Zin. Leona headed towards the fortress. She came without knowing what Zin would do to her. She brought a large number of chips and asked Zin to train her as a hunter.

I am pretty sure that you are the best hunter out there. As soon as I can defend myself, I will get lost, so don’t worry about it.

Leona did not want to live as a weakling. She had her reasons to become a hunter herself. Of course, Zin laughed loudly at her comment.

Good excuse.

Leona frowned at his words.

Can you stop laughing it off? This is a serious matter for me, you know?

In the wilderness, monsters were not the only threat. Just as the hunters did not only hunt monsters, Leona wanted to become a hunter to protect herself from other humans.

Your physical limitation cannot be overcome by gaining new skills.


But it would at least help me, no?


… Sure.

Zin sighed, and Leona smiled as she was happy that she won the argument.

But what are you exactly? Why do you gain energy by eating chips?

Leona asked Zin about how he could resuscitate after eating chips.
Zin spoke as if was not a big deal.

Half of my body is made up of a machine. And the machine requires chips to operate. Got it?


Ohh… that’s cool…

As Leona was marveling at the fact, Zin didn’t know what to do. Leona was the first person who reacted this way after hearing about the Darkborn energy.

Are all hunters like that?


No, not all of them.

It was not something easily explained, and Leona didn’t ask further. Zin’s body was built with a fortified frame, and he had far superior strength than ordinary people. However, he was not able to utilize battle skills and support skills, and he had a time-limited life.
Zin didn’t talk about that fact.
And he also didn’t talk about the fact that he needed to drink the devil’s blood.
Zin and Leona started heading north as planned.

What are you going to do?

The question had many meaning. How would they find the devil, how would they kill it, and how would Zin make Leona a hunter.
It was question about where they were headed.

Even if we find the devil, I cannot kill it.


Why not?


That devil’s got the power of an immortal. It’s relatively weak compared to other powers though.


What is an immortal?


Think of it as a devil that does not die.


What, isn’t that cheating?

It was a relief that it did not have a complete power of an immortal, but Zin had no way of hunting the devil with the weapons he carried. Zin smiled bitterly at Leona’s comments. A devil hunter would not be able to hunt something that does not die.

Back in the days, I had to seal it off.


Seal?


Yes, sealing. To be exact, that witch is a collection of devils.


I’m sorry, but I have been trying to guess what you were talking about? Can you explain it so that I can understand?


That monster is a mixture of alien, demon, immortal, witch, and a vampire. I don’t know for sure… but it might have the power of dragon and ghost as well.

What Zin had to do was pretty clear.

I will need to seal the power of the immortal that the witch possesses, and kill her with the Phantomvein.

Leona kept on nodding as if she was tired to even say ‘I don’t understand. First step was sealing the power of the immortal to remove that power from her. And second step was killing the witch with Phantomvein or with any weapon with magical power.
At the moment, Zin’s priority was to gain the power to seal, and strength the weakened Phantomvein.

So where are we going?


We have to choices. Look for a seal expert, or extract the power of seal from a seal field.


What are you going to do?


There’s a place called heavenly power castle two months away in the north.

Zin looked far north.

We’ll head there first.


So there’s a seal field there?


Yes, at the heavenly power castle, there’s an immortal sealed underground.

Zin and Leona started walking fast.
The white witch was not a complete immortal, so Zin didn’t need to draw the full power of the seal.

Am I wrong to think that this is something dangerous?


It is dangerous. The immortal might get freed up by mistake.


…

Leona shook her head at Zin’s calm voice. It was as if Zin was looking for bigger trouble.
Looking for the devil was not the priority. They had to look for the tools to hunt the devil. Leona thought of something and asked Zin.

Shouldn’t we rather look for the seal expert? That would be less dangerous.


Unfortunately, I don’t where he is. And I don’t know him either.

It was better to go to a familiar place than searching for one person around the world.

What is a seal expert? It that a magician?


Magician… you people still belief in such lies?

Zin smiled. He thought how magic or conjuring were not that different.

The seal expert is a devil hunter like myself.

At his words, Leona opened her eyes wide.


To be exact, he’s an Immortal hunter. Ah… you must be learning about this for the first time.

Leona did not know about the devil hunter, and she didn’t understand what it meant.

Devil hunters are asked to take care of specific devils professionally. Immortal hunters have such seal power for those reasons.


Ah… is that so? Then what are you in charge of?

Zin watched Leona for a while.

Well I didn’t specialize in a one thing. If I were to pick one, I’d be a witch hunter


Are you joking? It’s not funny.

At Zin’s words, Leona’s face became pale.

I’m not kidding.

And Zin was not kidding as well. Zin kept walking forward without looking at the face of Leona. And Zin added.

The exception on you is therefore a special one.

In fact, Zin was a witch hunter.
And it was hard for Zin that he was making exception for Leona. As Leona looked at Zin, she felt this strange feeling swirling in her.

I feel like I have gotten a weird confession.

As Leona spoke with slight disgust, Zin laughed.
A witch was accompanying a witch hunter. And the witch wanted to become a hunter.
The unexplainable team continued to walk up north through the wilderness.

Ugh… uh…

The prototype, white witch, woke up somewhere deep in the mountain bed. The witch crawled out of the soft feathers that were covering her.
The black hawk was vigilant, and made sure that the witch was safe. And it was covering the witch with its feathers until the witch woke up.
Kiiiiiii…
The black hawk cuddled in front of the witch, and the witch gently stroked the head of the big black hawk.

If it weren’t for you…

The battle against the Wargrave soldier was fierce, but the attack from the devil hunter was especially deadly as it brought soul crushing pain to the witch. And in fact, if took away some power from the witch. And if the witch didn’t have the power surge, she might have been killed on the spot.
The witch kept on gently stroking the black hawk as she was very thankful.
I was too cocky.
She thought that she could take down the Wargrave fortress by herself, but she was stopped by a single soldier. On top of that, the devil hunter appeared to kill her.
She thought it was just a legend. She thought that people who feared the devils created such myth, and even if the devil hunters existed, they should have been disappeared in a devil-less world.
But as soon as she engaged on the first battle, the devil hunter appeared. And even though the devil hunter had his chest pierced, the white witch could not forget the murderous eyes of the slaughterer.
A true devil hunter would not have died so easily.
The witch felt goosebumps all over her body. Her body was blown up by a single gunshot, and she felt her soul getting shredded as she was slashed by the weird sword.
And the witch was freaking out by the thought that such hunter was coming after her. The witch thought that her power was dominating. But as she experienced her first defeat, she realized that things were not as easy as it seemed.
And the witch thought that she was fortunate to be defeated early on. She was lucky to have encountered a strong foe like the devil hunter.
The witch spoke as she gently stroked the black hawk.

I can’t do this by myself.

She was able to survive the battle because she quickly summoned the black hawk. She was strong, but she was alone.
It was clear what she had to do. If she was alone, she had to recruit more powerful monsters. The monsters in the Korean peninsula were weak, but she could gather more powerful monsters from different areas. As soon as she could gather an army of powerful monsters, she would be able to wipe out fortresses without a sweat.
And the devil hunter would be vulnerable in front of the army of monsters.
The revenge would have to be postponed, but the world would be facing a true destruction when the witch would reappear.

Let’s go.

Kiiiiiiehhhh
The witch rode on the back of the black hawk, and the black hawk started to flap its giant wings.
The black hawk rose up high in the sky and started flying away.
Nobody knew where they were heading.
Zin and Leona were heading towards north. They were not off the Korean peninsula yet, but they hoped that they would be out of the peninsula in about a week.
Although the civilization was extinct, there were still four seasons. Nobody tracked dates anymore, but Zin was able to know the date based on the clock on the Darkborn.
The month was August past July.

Crap…

Leona was walking and huffing under the scorching sun.

It’s hot… I’m dying of thirst…

It was a scorching hot weather that was unbearable for Leona who usually didn’t complain about pain. The sun was strong, and under the burning sun, Leona was sweating like a pig even though she rolled up her sleeves and pants.
However, Zin still had his coat on, but he was walking without a sweat.

Any way I look at it, I don’t think I’m a devil at all.


…


You do think so, right? What kind of devil suffers under the hot sun? Crap! This is not fair!

Leona was cursing at the sun, but nothing happened as the sun kept shining with heat. It seemed unfair for Leona. She was identified as a witch and mistreated by Zin, but she did not have any power or benefit for being a witch.