Chapter 241: Episode 241

“Sham betrayed us? What are you talking about?”

“Albert offered to provide the antidote, and it seems the Lion Fleet has sided with Sky Castle in return. They’re saying they had no choice…”

I pressed a hand to my forehead and let out a long breath. I had always had a bad feeling about that old lady…

The shock actually cleared my head.

That meant the situation was now three against two.

The Magic Tower, the Gravekeepers, and the Holy Knights on one side; Sky Castle and the Lion Fleet on the other.

We had the numbers, but considering Albert was an Official Rank 1 who could wipe out everyone by himself, we could no longer claim to have the advantage.

“We can’t just sit around.”

I turned to Ea.

“At this point, we have to persuade the Ghost Corps, who are still neutral, and pull them over to our side.”

“I agree.”

“Tell Samia to prepare a warp. We need to reach the Ghost Corps before Albert does!”

“Understood.”

* * *

Yucatán, Mexico.

A sweltering region with a tropical climate, dense jungle, and heavy humidity. Once, it was the heartland of the Mayan civilization.

This was where the Ghost Corps had its base.

’First time in Mexico, huh.’

I chewed on a burrito I had bought from a street vendor and strolled along, feeling like a tourist for the first time in a while.

“Hmm, I heard it was around here…”

I had my map app open and was wandering the area, but there was hardly a soul in sight.

A fruit stand nearby was piled high like an open invitation to thieves, yet no one was around. Several shops had sturdy metal shutters rolled down tight.

’Something’s going on.’

Before I could dwell on the thought, a gunshot rang out. I shoved the rest of the burrito into my mouth and walked toward the sound.

The closer I got, the more gunfire I heard, along with horrible screams.

I was close enough to get caught in the crossfire, so I slipped behind a building and activated Deva’s Eye.

-They’re in the middle of a battle, Ea noted.

’Yeah.’

An armed group of men was attacking the village. No, to be precise, they were focusing their assault on the Ghost Corps’ headquarters rather than the village itself.

“With the Spirit King gone, this is our chance!”

“Take the ruins!”

This was no joke. These guys were draped in bullets like decorations, and some even lugged mortars on their shoulders as they charged around like madmen.

-Those are the Mexican cartels, Tower Master.

Ah.

Mexico’s drug cartels were infamous worldwide.

One of the biggest reasons the Mexican hunter scene was suffering from a manpower shortage was that awakened players weren’t becoming hunters—they were joining the cartels.

Even officially licensed hunters belonging to the Association were often poached by the cartels with offers of seven-figure salaries.

As a result, most of the players who should have been protecting Mexico from disasters ended up crossing over, and the Mexican cartels had grown into the world’s largest “armed hunter criminal organization.”

[War with the cartels is meaningless. We want peace.]

The cartels’ power was so overwhelming that even the president, who commanded Mexico’s regular army and the Hunter Association, had effectively raised the white flag.

With the brakes gone, the cartels went berserk, and in just one month, there were over five thousand recorded murders alone. The situation was dire.

’And now those bastards want to steal the Ghost Corps’ ruins, huh?’

The power of the world guilds came from otherworldly ruins.

Otherworldly ruins had the ability to completely transform players’ unique abilities. The Ghost Corps was also a hunter group that had gained special powers from such ruins.

If the cartels managed to seize the Ghost Corps’ ruins, the Mexico we knew would cease to exist. In the worst case, the country could collapse into outright anarchy.

’So what the hell is that Spirit King brat doing in a situation like this?’

At the government’s request, the Ghost Corps was currently containing a catastrophe on the westernmost edge of Mexico. With a rank-8 monster on the scene, most of their combat power was tied up there.

’So that was the reason for all that “neutrality” talk.’

It made sense. The Ghost Corps had been insanely busy.

The whole world was wrestling with the terror of the cold medicine, but that probably wasn’t as pressing in Mexico. Here, people died every single day in the war against the cartels. That was just normal life.

’Ea. Can you connect me to whoever’s in charge?’

-They are likely occupied as well. I will attempt to use your title as leverage.

’I’m counting on you.’

Just then, a metallic click echoed as someone pressed the muzzle of a gun against my forehead.

“Who the hell are you?”

I’d been spotted. A cartel member was aiming a gun at me, a vicious look in his eyes.

-Tower Master, the Ghost Corps has responded. They will contact you directly.

’Okay.’

I pulled my smartphone out of my pocket. A moment later, the call connected, and a voice came through the receiver.

—“…Who is this?”

“You crazy bastard! You got a death wish? I asked who are you?”

Two people spoke at once. I looked at the cartel member and answered the question coming from my phone.

“My name is Kim Yusin, the Master of the Magic Tower.”

—“…Excuse me?”

“Wh-what?”

I could hear the bewilderment in both their voices.

“I came to see the Spirit King, but it seems they aren’t here. Anyway, it looks like you’re under attack by some very dangerous people. Would you like my help?”

The line went silent.

“Is this lunatic day-drinking? I asked, who the hell are you?”

After a brief pause, an answer finally came from the phone’s speaker.

—“The Ghost Corps will not forget your assistance.”

“Good. That answer is more than enough.”

I hung up, then tapped the gun pressed to my temple with my finger.

“Move this.”

“You little shit…!”

Faster than the cartel thug could pull the trigger, I grabbed the gun, yanked it down, and drove my gauntleted fist forward.

CRAAASH!

His body flew dozens of yards through the air and slammed into a shack. The flimsy structure collapsed with a tremendous crash.

“Huh?”

“What’s going on?”

Cartel members who had heard the commotion came rushing over in a pack.

“That bastard took down Boss Hugo!”

“He must be a hunter hired by the Ghost Corps.”

Among the men aiming guns at me, an older cartel member with a rough, bristly beard rubbed his chin.

“Hey, foreigner. You don’t want to get in our way. I don’t know what kind of power you have, but everyone surrounding you right now is an awakened player.”

“Oh, really?”

I unfolded several sixth-order Mirror Shields in the air and conjured a Fire Cannon. A volley of fireballs shot up into the sky.

“That looks scary,” the man drawled sarcastically.

WHOOSH!

Dozens of fireballs dropped from above, moving even faster than they had on their ascent, and crashed down on the cartel members before they had any chance to dodge.

“Aaaaaah!”

“A f-fire ability?”

I had gone straight to live combat testing. I ricocheted the shots from the Fire Cannon, enhanced with the Acceleration Circle and the Amplification Circle, off the Mirror Shields, redirecting them precisely where I wanted them.

As cartel members went flying, their bodies engulfed in flames, I started walking toward the Ghost Corps’ headquarters.

“It’s the enemy! Fire!”

Bullets poured in from all directions, but they couldn’t penetrate the blue barrier Ea had deployed and simply clattered to the ground.

I activated the device on my wrist. There was a sharp click as the indicator lights came on.

“Time for you guys to work, too.”

I swung my arm in a wide circle, and Golem Balls shot out of my sleeve, soaring into the air.

They soon dropped to the ground, where golem blueprints and magic stones popped out and, in an instant, formed mud golems.

“What the hell is that now?!”

THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!

The mud golems charged straight on, shrugging off the hail of bullets, and smashed the cartel members’ faces in with their fists.

“Ea, control the golems. I’ll leave cleaning up the small fry to you.”

-Yes, Tower Master.

While the golems and cartel members clashed in brutal hand-to-hand combat, I strolled leisurely toward the Ghost Corps’ headquarters.

“Stop.”

Click.

A man who had been hiding behind a tree, wearing a wide-brimmed hat at a slant, leveled a rifle at me.

“Are you really the Master of the Magic Tower?”

I shifted my gaze to him. I could tell just from the flow of mana—this guy was pretty strong.

“And if I am?”

“Let’s negotiate. Why are you helping the Ghost Corps?”

’Oh, so there’s at least one person around here you can talk to.’

But the negotiation was already over before it began.

“Who the hell do you think you are to talk about negotiating with me? If you’re serious, bring me your boss.”

“A shame. I actually have a fair bit of authority myself.” The man lit a cigar and took a drag. “The boss isn’t here.”

“Then negotiations are off.”

He lowered the rifle he had been aiming at me and slung it over his shoulder with a thump.

“Are you trying to pull the Ghost Corps in as allies? Or is this groundwork for getting the Magic Tower into the World Guilds?”

I studied him with interest. For a mere criminal, he had a surprisingly good grasp of the geopolitical situation.

“If we seize the otherworldly relics, we become the next Ghost Corps. We can give you more than whatever it is you want.”

“…Hmm.”

The Ghost Corps, led by the officially recognized Rank-2 Spirit King, versus a new Ghost Corps made up of common criminals.

“Not really tempting.”

“In that case, it can’t be helped.”

He ground his cigar out against the tree. “We’ll just have to try it the hard way.”

As he spoke, he stomped his foot once and, in the blink of an eye, appeared behind me.

The rifle that had been resting on his shoulder was now aimed at my head faster than I could blink.

BANG!

I turned my head, Deva’s Eye tracking the bullet.

Ea’s precise shields unfolded one after another, but this single bullet punched through them like they were plywood and came screaming in.

After using the shields to slow the bullet, I activated Predictive Evasion and leaned my head back to avoid it.

“…What the hell? How did you do that?”

From his perspective, it must have looked like blue fragments had shattered against the bullet mid-flight, slowing it down.

He stomped hard on the ground again.

He vanished from where he stood, and I tracked him with my eyes. A shot fired from the bushes came straight for my forehead.

And that wasn’t all.

From the bushes, from behind a car, from a window, from a rooftop—he kept changing positions and stances at high speed as he fired. It felt like there were multiple snipers lying in ambush.

’A hunter of this caliber is wasting his time playing neighborhood thug?’

I ducked to avoid a bullet and wrapped Devastar around my right foot. He would move again.

’Correct. He steps, and I step.’

As he darted toward an open clearing, his face came perfectly into my reach.

“…?!”

Caught mid-movement, he stared up at me in shock as I grabbed his face. I tightened my arm and slammed his head straight into the stone wall behind him.

The brick wall shattered, and his body went limp. I shook out my hand and straightened up.

“Uggggh…!”

Even as his consciousness faded, he raised his gun at me.

“This… is not… the end…”

“Yeah, it is.”

I kicked him in the face, dropping him for good, then walked away.

I only found out an hour later that the guy I had just taken down was the leader of this assault team.

* * *

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