Episode 711

“Damn it! Grab it!”

One of the hunters lost his grip on the chains, allowing the bound Nephilim to break free from the trap. It spread its wings, attempting to soar upward.

Screeeeech!

As the Nephilim let out a piercing cry, the hunters activated the barrier device.

The barrier dispersed the deafening sound, and the hunters lunged with their spears, piercing the Nephilim’s side.

Thud!

The vibrating spearhead lodged into its side, and the Nephilim collapsed to the ground, unable to struggle any longer.

Once the hunters confirmed the creature was completely subdued, they deactivated the barrier and re-secured the chains around the Nephilim.

“Get it together, damn it! Do you have any idea how much this thing is worth?”

The raid leader shouted, and the other hunters, looking sheepish, shoved the captured Nephilim into a cage.

With the battle inside the dungeon concluded, the hunters withdrew, and the waiting porters began collecting the byproducts.

After the Celestial War, countless dungeons appeared across the continent, filled with relics and rare materials from lost civilizations.

These treasures fetched a high price outside, so initially, adventurers flocked to the dungeons in droves.

However, the new dungeons that emerged post-war were on a completely different level from the ancient ones adventurers were used to.

One of the biggest challenges was the angels who had hidden themselves across the continent after the war.

These surviving angels infiltrated the dungeons to regain their strength, using their blood to create Nephilim as guardians.

Early adventurers who ventured into these dungeons met a brutal end at the hands of the Nephilim.

Yet, abandoning the dungeons was not an option.

The value of the relics and byproducts brought back by the few survivors was too great.

In response, adventurers reorganized themselves into ‘hunters’ to conquer the new dungeons.

Unlike the past, where they entered in small parties, hunters operated systematically, hunting Nephilim and retrieving the relics and materials inside.

This was feasible because the Nephilim themselves were valuable.

Made from the sacred blood of angels, every part of a Nephilim could be used as a magical material.

Even after splitting the profits among a large group, hunters earned more than the old adventurer parties ever did.

Hunter guilds that quickly entered this business sometimes earned as much as a small kingdom’s annual budget in a single month.

As a result, more knights from smaller kingdoms were switching careers to become hunters.

A knight of the Purple Order was highly regarded in the hunter world, and seeing Blue Order knights was becoming quite common.

Thus, the measure of strength shifted from knightly ranks to hunter grades.

The age of knights was fading, and the era of hunters had arrived.

Noah, a porter with the prestigious Gepetto Guild, was one of many aspiring to become a hunter.

Hailing from the Delphoa Kingdom, Noah was the youngest in a family known for producing wizards.

Two decades after the Celestial War, magical engineering had advanced significantly across the continent.

The Delphoa Kingdom, once proud of its magical prowess, was declining because it clung to outdated magical systems instead of embracing new changes.

In contrast, the Nirvana family, famous for its magical lineage, actively pursued and developed magical engineering.

Many declining wizard families in Delphoa were absorbed into hunter guilds, working on processing ancient relics.

But Noah’s family rejected even this trend.

Once a prestigious family that produced the kingdom’s chief wizard, they had now fallen into ruin, with barely any land left to their name.

Traditional magic required enormous costs to learn, but using magical engineering circuits allowed for effective magic at a fraction of the cost.

By refusing to adopt magical engineering, Noah’s family squandered their wealth and fell into their current state.

Rejecting his family’s stubbornness, Noah left home to become a hunter, volunteering as a porter for Gepetto.

“I’ll become a hunter and succeed, no matter what.”

Unlike other porters, Noah was ambitious.

He slept less and worked more than anyone else.

As a result, his performance in the dungeons was noticeably higher.

Though the incentives weren’t substantial, he believed that even a small difference would lead to significant success later.

Noah planned to save money as a porter and apply to the Pannotia Academy in the Southern Isles.

Unlike magic towers or knight academies, Pannotia offered practical training, making its graduates highly sought after by hunter guilds.

Noah was determined to graduate at the top and become a renowned hunter, proving his family’s elders wrong.

“I will succeed. I must succeed.”

Gritting his teeth, Noah diligently collected byproducts, stuffing them into his backpack.

Then something caught his eye.

“What is this?”

Buried in the dirt was a stone tablet.

Cautious, Noah refrained from touching it and called for a supervisor.

“Sir! I’ve found something!”

Soon, a guild supervisor arrived, examined the tablet, and quickly summoned the hunters.

Gathered around the tablet, the hunters were astonished by the overlapping inscriptions.

“This is definitely a marker for a double dungeon.”

The dungeons that appeared after the Celestial War were remnants of past civilizations summoned by the evil god Metatron. Occasionally, two civilizations would overlap, creating a double dungeon.

In such cases, the inscriptions on the tablets would overlap.

The key point was that double dungeons contained rarer relics and byproducts than regular ones.

The hunters of Gepetto eyed the discovery with greedy anticipation.

The raid leader addressed the hunters.

“If this is a double dungeon, there are treasures beyond what we’ve found so far. This could be our ticket to retirement.”

The hunters understood the raid leader’s implication.

He was suggesting they explore the double dungeon without reporting it to the higher-ups, take the relics, and cover their tracks.

Of course, this meant eliminating any witnesses, but accidents in dungeons were common, and falsifying reports wasn’t difficult.

Blinded by greed, the hunters agreed to descend into the double dungeon.

The raid leader discreetly summoned a magical engineer to locate the entrance where the tablet was found.

It didn’t take long for the engineer, using a detector, to find the entrance to the double dungeon.

The raid leader led the hunters and porters down without hesitation.

The porters, accustomed to following orders, complied without question.

But Noah was different.

“Judging by the signs, this is definitely a double dungeon. Normally, we’d report this and send in a scouting team first.”

He quickly realized the raid leader was up to something.

Noah stayed alert, ready to flee the dungeon at the first sign of trouble.

And his instincts were spot on.

“Leader! There are five Nephilim inside!”

The raid leader shouted urgently.

“A-rank hunters, take the lead! Give the mages time to charge their magic!”

As he shouted, Nephilim with wings spread charged at the hunters.

While the A-rank hunters held them off, the mages charged the vibrating spears and handed them to the spearmen.

The skilled spearmen hurled the vibrating spears at the Nephilim, striking their hearts with precision.

Thud!

With the Nephilim hit by the vibrating spears, the raid team could catch their breath. Though not completely subdued, finishing them off seemed manageable.

But then it happened.

Rumble!

Suddenly, a crack appeared in the wall, and a gate emerged.

The raid leader gritted his teeth at the sight.

“Damn it! An angel has awakened!”

Angels hidden in dungeons usually remained dormant to recover their strength, rarely showing themselves.

But occasionally, they would awaken and attack hunters.

The raid leader pointed at the gate and shouted to the mages.

“What are you waiting for? Throw all the vibrating bombs you have at it!”

If an angel emerged from the gate, their current forces wouldn’t be enough to stop it.

At the leader’s command, the mages hurriedly activated the vibrating bombs and prepared to throw them at the gate.

But then, a massive wave surged from the gate.

Rumble―

The wave swept over the entire raid team like a tidal wave.

To their shock, all the hunters’ weapons lost power and stopped functioning.

“This can’t be…”

Without their hunter weapons, even facing the Nephilim was impossible.

As the hunters panicked, something slowly emerged from the gate.

The raid leader and all the hunters turned pale.

“A… Celestial…”

What emerged was not an angel, but one of the Celestials who had survived the Celestial War.

A formidable being, clad in thick armor and surrounded by radiant wings, glared down at the humans who had dared to invade its sanctuary. Multiple arms added to its intimidating presence.

“Pathetic creatures…”

The will of the celestial being echoed in their minds.

Just hearing its voice caused the lower-ranked hunters to collapse, bleeding from their ears and noses. The porters lay sprawled, their survival uncertain.

Only the A-rank hunters, capable of wielding aura, managed to steady their breaths and raise their swords. Yet, even they couldn’t muster the courage to strike at the celestial being. In this era of hunters, they preferred investing in expensive gear over mastering aura like knights of old.

As the celestial being fully emerged from the gate and stood before them, an even greater pressure crushed their spirits. Driven mad by fear, the A-rank hunters, half-crazed, charged at the celestial being with their swords.

“Arghhh!”

With a mere wave of its hand, the celestial being obliterated the charging hunters, reducing them to nothing more than scattered remnants.

Thud!

As it took a step, a tremor rippled through the entire cavern. In that instant, the raiding party, the magic engineers, and the porters all dissolved into pools of blood, victims of their own futile greed.

Having dispatched all intruders, the celestial being turned to return to the gate but sensed something amiss.

“Is there still a worm left?”

Noah, hiding among the rocks, clamped a hand over his mouth. He had barely survived by using an artifact he had stolen before fleeing his family, casting a protective spell. His childhood training in magic had allowed him to master up to the second circle, enabling him to activate the artifact. Ironically, the old magic he had once dismissed had saved his life.

Yet, the celestial being saw through Noah’s spell.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

As the towering figure, over five meters tall, approached, the entire cave shook. Noah held his breath within the safety of his spell.

“Please, please, please…”

Suddenly, the rock he hid behind exploded with a deafening crash.

Boom!

The celestial being had found him.

“Foolish creature, playing with petty tricks.”

Noah trembled as the celestial being reached for him. Its massive hand approached, only to pause momentarily against the barrier of the protective spell.

Crackle!

The celestial being sneered, pressing down to crush both Noah and the barrier.

Rumble!

The barrier began to buckle under the pressure. Noah realized death was imminent, just a breath away. As he prepared to surrender to his fate, something sliced through the air, severing the celestial being’s arm.

In his final moments of consciousness, Noah saw a knight with glowing blue eyes wielding a sword, and the celestial being screaming in agony. Then, everything went black.