[At that moment, in Korea.]
Inside a high-end Korean traditional restaurant, where several elderly men in suits were gathered. There wasn’t even a TV, so they had installed a portable large monitor to watch the screen. The elders, visibly uncomfortable, set down their ceramic cups.
“How much longer do we have to see that traitor’s face?”
One bald man among them jeered at the young man on the screen — the EX-Rank Hunter known as [Master] — pointing aggressively.
“Watch your mouth, Representative Kim. People have suddenly dropped dead from heart attacks after saying things like that.”
“Heart attacks, my ass. If any Hunter was running around assassinating people, it’d be someone playing games in a Gaksital mask.”
“And that doesn’t scare you?”
“I’ve already written my will. If I die, I wrote down exactly who did it. Heh. I’ll just say I died because of Master.”
The old men scoffed while roughly eating the food in front of them — thinly sliced fugu sashimi, piled high on each plate.
“Ran off to the U.S. after betraying the country, and now he’s working with Japan. I’m telling you, one of his ancestors was probably a pro-Japanese collaborator.”
“And you’re saying that, Representative Lee?”
“Oh, come on. Don’t make it sound like I’m descended from Yi Wan-yong or something.”
“…How long are we going to sit here just slandering people?”
The youngest-looking man, seated at the lowest end of the table, spoke in a heavy tone.
“You people don’t say a word to the press, but the moment we gather without electronics—”
Clang!
A ceramic cup flew straight at the young representative’s head.
“You little punk. Just ‘cause you’re on TV a bit these days, don’t act like we’re equals. Coming here doesn’t make you one of us.”
“Calm down, Representative Kim. The young man just made a slip.”
“You call that a slip?”
Blood began to trickle from the young man’s head where the cup had struck, but no one said a word about it.
“If that’s a slip, then the things you’ve all said are real mistakes.”
The young representative reached into his trousers and pulled out something very small—
the smallest smartphone commercially available.
“You son of a—!”
“Are you out of your mind!? You brought that here!?”
“…Everyone, please calm down.”
An elder at the head of the table raised his hand, and the furious men cautiously took their seats.
“So, Representative Choi. What mistake are you referring to?”
“We need to acknowledge that framing Master as a traitor for going overseas no longer works, and find some way — any way — to bring him back to Korea.”
“Is that so? Then go join a party that thinks that way. I’ll make sure you’re expelled at tomorrow’s executive meeting.”
“Oh, come now, Party Leader. He’s just a young man who made one mistake—”
“It wasn’t a mistake.”
The young representative shook his smartphone.
“And it sickens me — deeply — that men like you exist in this country. I’ve decided to devote my life to changing that.”
“…What did you just say?”
“Not like it’s a secret. Most people in the know already know. But I thought it was still worth doing it properly.”
Crackle—!!
The moment blue lightning sparked from the phone, every other man in the room groaned and collapsed forward.
Over ten representatives, all at once.
In an instant, they lost consciousness as if electrocuted. The blue lightning crackled from the young representative’s phone and began to form into the shape of a person.
A man slowly descended onto a floor cushion — wearing a black hood and a mask over his face.
[…Representative Choi.]
“Ultimately, I’m the one who brought you here. That means their deaths are also on me.”
[The only surviving representative. You could spin it like that and go on living, couldn’t you?]
“You dealt the blow, but I was the one who wielded the sword. I don’t believe these old men are needed for this country’s future. Sure, this party’s future will take a massive hit all at once…”
Representative Choi filled his cup with liquor, lifted it toward the masked man, and downed it in one gulp.
“No matter who I am, killing ten people and then living like nothing happened — that’s not something I could bear.”
[Your family…]
“That’s why I’ll be going with them.”
Choi forced his trembling hands to stiffen, bowing his head deeply.
“Please make it painless. Ah, and… there are a lot of favors I’d like to ask, now that I think about it…”
He smiled at the masked man, nodding slightly.
“Please, build a country that Master will want to return to. And if my kid ever asks you for an autograph, smile and sign it for him like you used to. My boy’s a fan of yours, Teacher. Haha.”
[…I promise.]
Crackle—!!
As blue lightning arced through the air, Representative Choi’s body slumped forward, unconscious.
[…]
The masked man held his face for a long moment, then took out a small item from under his black robe.
Ssssss—
He sprayed a blood-like liquid over the plates of fugu sashimi, then personally forced the liquid into the mouths of the unconscious men.
And then—
Crack!!
The moment the lightning struck again, the ten collapsed elders began violently spasming, foaming at the mouth.
Crash—!
The elegant serving plates clattered to the floor as the old men twisted, their mouths spewing blood-mixed foam.
Only one body remained still, face-down on the table — silently maintaining death.
Crackle.
After the blue lightning vanished—
“Excuse me, I— Kyaaaaaaaaaa!!”
A scream echoed.
* * *
[Meanwhile, in the new Tower of Akihabara. Boss Stage.]
“Kyaaaaaaaaa!!”
A piercing scream rang out.
At first glance, it sounded like a woman pleading for her life under some grave threat.
“Don’t fall for it! It’s all an illusion!”
Japan’s A-rank Hunters shouted as they swung their weapons wildly.
They blocked the incoming attacks and countered, scattering feathers in every direction as they launched fierce strikes toward the flying beast.
“Master already softened it up for us! If we just take that one down, this Tower is cleared!”
Near the shouting Hunter, two destroyed statues lay crumbled.
The statues were shaped almost identically to the monster flying above, differing only in wing color — essentially identical triplets.
These were bosses, recently defeated.
Each had been sliced clean in half by a single blow, and the remaining one had barely extracted the mana stone from one of them’s chest, leaving only faint traces behind.
“After Master went this far for us, how can we not finish the job? Imagine how disappointed he’d be if we messed it up!”
“Yeah! This is our chance! If we show we can conquer this Tower, we’ll qualify as S-rank Hunters too — just like those American Hunters who got to ride Illinois and join him on raids!”
The A-rank Hunters of Japan had seen it.
Though they hadn’t fought together, strictly speaking — they’d mostly clung to the ship’s deck to survive the Tower’s bizarre mechanics — at the very least, the U.S. Hunters had entered an S-rank Tower and fought alongside Master onboard Illinois.
They couldn’t afford to drag Master down.
But they also couldn’t keep staring at his back forever.
“Damn it, we’re the seniors when it comes to raiding Towers in the Hunter world!”
“He’s stronger, sure — we’ll admit that! But when we go all in, we’re no pushovers either!”
“From A-rank to S-rank — one day, we’ll reach EX-rank too!”
“Kyaaaaaaaaa!!”
As the Hunters shouted their resolve, the boss monster let out a screech and attempted to flee.
It spread its wings in frustration, as if to scream “What does any of this have to do with me?!”
“Uwooooooo!!”
KA-THUNK!
A massive hammer, swung by one of the Hunters, shattered the boss’s head. It turned to stone midair and plummeted to the ground.
Fsssss.
Just like the other monsters, the final beast — possibly S-rank — was felled by A-rank Hunters.
“…Did we get it?”
A Hunter murmured the usual post-battle line, ready to strike again if the statue twitched or merged somehow—
Rumble Rumble Rumble.
“We did it!”
“The Tower’s collapsing! Everybody, out!”
The Tower began its characteristic internal collapse, and the A-rank Hunters rushed toward the exit.
Wiiiiing.
Crossing through the gate, they emerged into Shibuya.
“Everyone! We cleared the Tow—huh?”
Even though they had just conquered an A-rank Tower, the crowd’s attention wasn’t on them.
“…What the heck is that?”
Something was being broadcast across every massive screen in Shibuya.
10.
The location: Tokyo Bay.
9.
Floating where warships should be—
A single battleship.
8.
Illinois.
7.
A drone camera aimed directly at Illinois’ main gun.
6.
Inside the main gun’s barrel — someone stood with arms crossed.
5.
“…Ma…ster?”
4!!!
As the countdown fell, everyone around began shouting all at once.
3!!!!
“Wh-what?! What’s going on!?”
“Master’s inside the main cannon?!”
2!!!!!!
“Why is Master inside his own ship’s main cannon?! And at that steep of a launch angle?!”
1.
KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
Like a rocket launch, Master shot into the sky aboard Illinois’s main cannon.
Some wondered if he was somehow expelling the mana from his own body to fuel his ascent —
but no, that wasn’t it.
Master had simply launched himself from the main cannon to soar into the sky.
But why?
“Wait… no way…”
His speed wasn’t slowing.
And his trajectory — it was aimed not at Tokyo, but straight toward the skies above East Asia, where Babel loomed.
“He’s not going for an S-rank Tower…?”
“He’s trying to raid Babel?!”
“No, wait! At this speed—?”
He had launched into the sky using the cannon’s blast, sure.
But reaching Babel should’ve required something like a rocket propulsion system.
Yet Master had nothing of the sort visible.
Even if he summoned Elaine or one of the others to gain wings, it would still seem impossible to reach that height.
And then—
“Master’s…!”
“He’s pulling out his smartphone?!”
From mid-air, Master drew his smartphone and firmly pressed a button.
And then—
It appeared on the screens.
[JUUUUUUUSTIIIIIIIIIIIIICEEEEEEEEEEEE!!]
A humanoid robot — shouting with its fist raised to the sky — began to grow in size.
FLASH.
In the blink of an eye, the robot was flying toward the heavens, fist still raised, carrying Master atop its shoulder.
Toward the sky.
Toward Babel.
* * *
Humanity.
Babel Raid — Commence.
