Against the Clock: The Team Leader’s Pursuit of Glory

“Mom, what is that?”

The child pointed to the distant sky. The mother turned her head to follow his little finger.

Where buildings reached the sky, dark clouds loomed ominously in the middle of a sunny day, slowly engulfing the city. Red lightning flashed across the sky, followed by the booming sound of thunder that echoed in ears.

People’s murmurs grew louder as the dark clouds became more menacing. Anyone who saw them could tell they were nowhere near ordinary clouds. Shadows flickered between the clouds, and suddenly, they began to shake. People snapping photos with their smartphones zoomed in on the edges of the clouds.

Something massive appeared, and for a moment, everyone was blinded by a brilliant flash of light.

“R-run away.”

“Gyaaaah!”

A scream erupted from the speakers.

Then, the lights went out.

“That’s it.”

The Slayer Guild operator paused the video and looked at his superior sitting across from him. Sung Seonjae silently rested his chin on his hand and glanced toward the table.

“Is this the first analysis?”

“Yes. This is all the footage filmed in Khabarovsk at that time. We analyzed the video data from CCTV, social media, and personal broadcasts.”

Sung Seonjae read and reread the contents of the document. It was a brief report, barely filling a single sheet of A4 paper, but no matter how many times he read it, he couldn’t believe what he saw.

“Contact Guild Leader Kang Mu-hyuk. Share this information with him. We need to talk.”

***

Kang Mu-hyuk arrived to meet Sung Seonjae, accompanied by Ju Se-ah and a foreigner. Sung Seonjae's eyes were drawn to the foreigner because of his extraordinary presence.

‘An S-rank. Must be Russian if he is here. He’s not the tyrant. He must be in his 60s or 70s. An S-rank with white hair and no face…’

Sung Seonjae was the first to extend his hand for a handshake.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“I never thought I’d meet the Reaper of the frozen land here. I’m Sung Seonjae from the Slayer Guild.”

He spoke fluent English. Kang Mu-hyuk nodded to the group.

“It’s the best guild in Korea. Team Leader Sung is the head of the strategy team there. This time, he’s also leading the Korean Unified Strike Force.”

“I don’t know much about the world because I’ve been stuck in the frozen ground, but I do know about the Slayer Guild. I’m Nikolai Kamensky.”

Sung Seonjae, who shook hands with Kamensky, broke out in a sweat, trying to hide his embarrassment.

‘I knew this guy was involved, but I didn’t expect him to show up together. With his connections, Kang Mu-hyuk can be called a big shot who moved the reaper after the tyrant.’

Sung Seonjae offered a seat still a blank expression on his face.

Ju Se-ah sat down first at the corner of the long, round table. Kang Mu-hyuk took a seat to her left, and Kamensky to her right. Naturally, Sung Seonjae sat opposite them.

“Guild Leader Kang, you saw the video, right? What do you think? If this dragon heads south, it'll reach Vladivostok, and Korea is right in front of it.”

“I guess we need to prepare.”

“A city that was fine just yesterday has disappeared. We may be facing a situation worse than the Tumen River incident.”

“How much damage did it cause for you to say that the city has disappeared? Was it literally destroyed, or did that mean that many people died? Please explain in detail.”

Kamensky interrupted, his voice shaking slightly.

Before he could explain, Sung Seonjae gestured to the operator standing in the corner. As the operator activated the device, the lights in the room went out, and an image from the beam projector appeared on one wall.

The image displayed the Russian terrain, specifically a satellite view.

“This is the Amur River basin where Khabarovsk used to be. The left side shows how it looked before, and the right side is from yesterday.”

Even though the photos were taken from the same location on different dates, the differences between the left and right sides were stark.

Compared to the left, the right side appeared unnaturally empty. The river, which seemed to have been bombed in several places, was now reduced to what could only be described as a lake.

Some rivers completely changed course. If someone saw this without knowing anything, they wouldn't believe there was a city here.

“You don’t need me to explain it further.”

Kamensky took a deep breath. At first glance, his eyes were filled with shock and regret, but in reality, they were filled with anticipation and excitement. Even Sung Seonjae, who didn’t  know him well, could sense the difference.

Ju Se-ah spoke.

“I saw the video analysis report. How accurate is its content?”

“100 percent. If we’re talking about just the facts that have been revealed.”

“Are you sure it’s a dragon?”

“It’s a big one too.”

The estimated body length was 179 meters. It had four short legs on its belly, and its torso was covered in five-colored scales.

“Huh? Wait a minute. This looks a little different from what you sent us. What’s going on?”

Ju Se-ah pointed to the dragon's head.

It was clear that in the video they saw, there was only one head, but what they were seeing now had three heads.

“This data came in a little while ago. It’s footage taken by a drone and shared around the world.”

Just the words Sung Seonjae spoke at the beginning were enough to sense Russia's urgency.

The fact that they were unconditionally sharing information proved the magnitude of the threat posed by the dragon that destroyed Khabarovsk.

Sung Seonjae zoomed in on the dragon with three heads.

“I heard that the representative guild of Khabarovsk had an emergency raid. They fought with all their might and ended up beheading it, but a new head grew from the wound. And the other head was planted from the dragon head he was holding in his hand.”

“Dragon head?”

Kang Mu-hyuk asked. Sung Seonjae nodded and explained.

“To be exact, the dragon’s skull. Witness said that it had it in its hand from the beginning, but when it was cornered, it suddenly reattached it like a transplant.”

The creature shown in the video appeared to have flesh and scales, rather than bones.

Sung Seonjae continued explaining that part before anyone could ask.

“They say that the flesh grew as soon as the skull was attached. You’ve probably seen chimera-type monsters. They say that it regenerated in an instant, just like those.”

“What happened to the Khabarovsk Guild?”

“Everyone was wiped out, except for a few people.”

“Wiped out? But ‘Amur Tiger’ Guild is the representative guild there. They were all taken out?”

Kamensky was surprised. Kang Mu-hyuk asked,

“Do you know about the Amur Tiger Guild?”

“In Russia, they aren’t considered a tier guild, but by Korean standards, you could say they have forces beyond a tiered guild. They’re a strong guild that even the top guilds in Moscow have to be careful of in their territory.”

“You know a lot for someone who was stuck in the frozen land, don’t you?”

Ju Se-ah grumbled. After realizing Kamensky's true colors, she didn't act as gently as before.

Kamensky spoke, not caring about her attitude.

“The frozen lands are vast. It is said to be my territory, but I’m not the only one hunting there. Several guilds often come out to hunt. The Amur Tiger Guild is one of them. We’ve had several exchanges.”

If he’d met the guild in person, that meant that they were certainly skilled.

Kang Mu-hyuk spoke, recalling the video analysis data provided by Sung Seonjae,

“In terms of size, it is similar to the smallest ‘Bashumu’ from the time of the Guryong Ridge.”

Bashumu.

It was the smallest of the Guryong(Gu-Nine Ryong-dragon) Ridge’s Nine Dragons. Despite its small size, the lightning it shot from its two horns was powerful enough to turn hunters into charcoal.

Its body resembled an oriental dragon, but it had wings. But, compared to its strong body, its wings were weak. That’s how it was struck down by the Dragon Slayer Guild's unique equipment, the 'Dragon Harpoon’, and met its end.

Sung Seonjae revealed additional information.

“According to additional intel, it is a dragon type that breathes fire. Its breath type is flames. There have been no reports of it using magic, and as I mentioned earlier, it has regenerative abilities.”

“That’s not enough information. It’ll be hard to focus all our gear settings on resistance stats.”

“Its size is also a problem. It is similar in size to Bashumu, the smallest of the nine dragons, but at that size, its body itself is a weapon. Any attacks using mass are actually more difficult to deal with.”

“In the end, we have to drag them down to the ground to have a chance of winning… So how did the Amur Tiger Guild cut off their heads?”

“I heard there was a mage who specialized in gravity magic. He couldn’t cut off the head in one go. That’s why it got a chance to regenerate, which was where everything went wrong.”

“Even if they had cut it down, we can’t be sure it would've died. The fact that its neck wasn’t restored through regeneration but instead created a new one is a trait that even the Malacca Hydra has never shown.”

The 'Malacca Hydra' that Kang Mu-hyuk mentioned was a dragon that appeared in Malaysia. It was a monster with nine heads, each spewing a different poison, and was known as the disaster of Malacca because it nearly annihilated the top hunters in Southeast Asia.

Fortunately, they couldn’t fly, but experts judged that if they could, Southeast Asia might’ve already disappeared.

“We don’t have enough intel, but we should at least prepare for the Dragons of Guryong Ridge(Nine Dragon Ridge). They’re still in Khabarovsk, but we don’t know where they might go next.”

“Let’s consider the worst-case scenario first. We need to form a task force and run a raid simulation.”

“And the conditions?”

“Use everything available in South Korea.”

“So risk our lives as well.”

Sung Seonjae’s expression hardened at Kang Mu-hyuk’s firm voice. Although he didn’t say it aloud, both he and Kang Mu-hyuk shared the same thoughts.

A lot of blood would've to be shed.

‘I still can’t be sure if we can catch it.’

Kang Mu-hyuk felt a sense of helplessness.

After the Demonic Realm incident, the number of incidents had increased, causing more situations beyond his control.

‘I need more power. Since I’m not a hunter, I need to gather stronger hunters and the best artifacts.’

That way, we could catch more powerful monsters.

And we could eliminate anything that stands in the way of our monster extermination.

“I'll summon all the best analysts in our guild.”

While Sung Seonjae was busy calling contacts elsewhere, Kang Mu-hyuk glared at the three-headed dragon.

***

White Phantom looked at his subordinate who had returned alive alone from Guryong Ridge(Nine Dragon Ridge).

Although his health was poor, he prioritized reporting over receiving treatment.

“It’s a shame. As comrades, we should’ve returned home together.”

Do Daecheol didn’t feel any sincerity in White Phantom’s words.

It was the use of the word ‘comrades’ rather than anything else that made him suspicious.

‘There’s no way he feels that way. He’s not the type to feel sorry for someone who sacrifices themselves for a great cause.’

The great cause Do Daecheol thought of was for the hunters and their descendants who had left their hometown to return there. It was all about living proudly in their homeland.

However, he wasn’t sure if White Phantom’s cause was the same as theirs.

They all just shared the same goal of returning to Korea.

Provoking the gate boss this time was also part of that plan.

But

“I think I woke up a monster.”

White Phantom smiled faintly, his voice full of regret.

“Do you regret it?”

“...”

“I don’t regret it. I would've done it even if I had known the consequences.”

At those words, Do Daecheol trembled.

‘I might’ve joined hands with a real phantom... .’