Chapter 41: Undercurrents, Incident & Form Change

A/N :

" " : Dialogue,

' ' : Thought,

[ ] : System, Akasha, Minerva,

"Italicized text" : Telepathy,

« » : Artificial Intelligence,

| | : Sung Jin-Woo's System Panels, Sung Jin-Woo's System Messages,

"Bold text" : Shadows & Deathborns.

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Narrator POV

Sung Jin-Woo had made it to the Hunter Association building, and he quickly went up to meet Go Gun-Hee and the others. "Okay. Now that you're here, we can get started." Dante said, then created a projection showing multiple green spots around the world.

"Hmm. What are these?" Sung Jin-Woo asked as he took a seat. "These are the locations of all active Gates around the world." After Dante said that, a single spot popped up, this one being red. "And this one is where the Carthenon Temple will show up." As Dante said that, Sung Jin-Woo narrowed his eyes with hostile intent.

"I see. But what's this got to do with the meeting?" He said, looking at Dante. "Everything, Jin-Woo." Dante said, and switched the hologram, making many of the green spots to vanish. "These were the total active Gates worldwide as of ten days ago, and this is it now." Dante said, switching between the two holograms.

"Now, this..." Dante said, switching to a hologram showing the data for the number of awakened around the world. "... is the number of awakened as of ten days ago. While this... " He switched it again. "... is the current number of awakened." The total number of awakened had almost increased by 50% in just ten days, same with the Gates.

This made Sung Jin-Woo stiffen, as the implications of such a thing occurring were not good for humanity. "So they're starting to move more blatantly." He said with a grave voice. "Yep. But since we've already put our contingencies, we don't have to worry about them. We just have to make sure that everyone else is safe." Dante said, then cleared the green spots, only to show a single spot in Japan, of all places.

It was far larger than any of the other spots that were shown, and the monsters shown to inhabit it were a fearsome enemy. They were giants, monsters that would normally be seen as dungeon bosses, but were the standard mob of this dungeon. This put a bit of alarm in everyone else, except for Shiraori. "Is that what I think it is?" Sung Jin-Woo asked, his eyes narrowed.

"An S Rank Gate will open in Japan, specifically in Shinjuku, in lesss than 48 hours, and it will break in 3 days after its opening." Dante said, causing Sung Jin-Woo to bring out the Carthenon Temple key. And on the system panel was the countdown to the reappearance of the Carthenon Temple.

|117:43:37|

Less than five days. He knew that the weight of the Carthenon Temple reappearing was greater than the Gate breaking, but he also knew that none of the Hunters in Japan would stand a chance again the monsters that would come out of that Gate.

"In as much as it may seem better for you to help them, it's better advised that you take care of the Carthenon Temple first, then go to Shinjuku." Dante's advice confused Sung Jin-Woo. And he knew this, so he elaborated on his words.

"After you clear the Carthenon Temple, you'll be far stronger, and you'll be able to save a lot more shadows. And while Japan's officials can be a bit slow at times, they won't make the mistake of not evacuating the citizens from Shinjuku as quickly as possible. So the only losses they'll get would be related to Hunters and property. Nothing for us to fuss over." Dante said, almost dismissive of Japan's plight.

"Why are you so... indifferent to them?" Go Gun-Hee asked, voicing the thoughts of everyone else in the room. "Shiro and I are tired of acting like we can't just fix anything with a snap of our fingers. So after the raid, and all that, we'll just reverse the damages." He said, then snapped his fingers.

Over on Jeju Island, the reconstruction of the city was underway, when suddenly many buildings were instantly repaired, seemingly out of nowhere.

Back in the Hunter Association building, the projection had changed to show what had just happened on Jeju Island, shocking Go Gun-Hee. He looked at Dante and Shiraori, then sighed.

"And what if they call on any of you for aid? What then?" Go Gun-Hee asked, resigned to the fact that Dante and Shiraori weren't even slightly bothered by the possibility of an S Rank Gate breaking. "Simple. We'll just send clones over." Dante said with a shrug.

"I see. So for now, do we just wait until the Monarchs begin their attack?" Sung Il-Hwan asked. "Yeah. We just continue doing what we've been doing until they're forced to come here as a result of their failures to kill the other National Rank Hunters." Dante said, and got up from his seat.

"By then, not only would you have more soldiers, but they'll also be far stronger. If they weren't already busy, I'd have used my deathborn versions of the Monarchs to train you and your soldiers to fight. So for now, you'll just have to manage with the Astartes." Dante said to Sung Jin-Woo and Sung Il-Hwan, and they nod.

...

After the meeting, apart from Go Gun-Hee, everyone else went to their homes. Sung Jin-Woo and Sung Il-Hwan headed to the training room in their house, intent on testing themselves against the Astartes.

As they were checking the different parameters that could be applied to the Astartes, they came across a preset that they hadn't seen before. It was called Regicide.

They tapped on it, and saw 6 options; Fangs, Frost, Plague, Iron Body, Transfiguration and Destruction. It was then that they understood that Dante had applied an update to the system within their training room, so as to allow them to still have some level of preparation against the Monarchs.

After seeing this, they quickly put the parameters for each Monarch into 6 Astartes, and began facing each of them with all of their individual might, hoping to see how likely they are to defeat each of them.

...

The next day

Seoul Technical High School

Three male students were walking down a hallway, complaining about the task that their art teacher had entrusted to them. They soon got to a classroom and opened its door, making small talk as they moved to attend to the task.

But as they entered the dusty room, they saw something that surprised them, a blue portal hovering over the ground, 3 meters in width and 2 meters high. An active Gate was in their school building, and unknown to them, it was about to break.

One of them walked close to it, telling the other two not to be worried, thinking that the Gate was a closed Gate. Only for the mana barrier on the surface of the Gate to shatter, and a large green forearm with monster hide wrapped around it emerges from the Gate, aiming to grab the boy's head.

But right before it grabbed his head, a sturdy mana barrier enveloped all three boys, and a wave of energy pulsed throughout the entire school.

30 seconds prior

In Sung Jin-Ah's classroom, a clawed hand emerged from Sung Jin-Ah's shadow, but unlike Sung Jin-Woo's shadows, this one let off a golden glow, with green and purple undertones mixing with the gold.

To the shock of all the students in the classroom, a minotaur emerges from Sung Jin-Ah's shadow, its entire body a mass of darkness, glowing with mystical lights.

Its body was marked with magical symbols and it held a massive one handed axe in its left hand. It wore a necklace with two large beads on both ends, with three skulls in the middle of these beads.

This was one of Dante's deathborns, the leader of the Abyss Minotaurs, Mammon. Much like the stereotypical image of minotaurs, Mammon was highly muscle-bound, but he was also unlike that image, in that he was also highly proficient in magic.

He had taken a vehement interest in black magic, specifically in curses and hexes, as well as blood magic, which he learnt under the tutelage of one of Dante's clones.

"Foolish creatures. You dare trespass on the land my master has chosen to protect?!" His voice boomed throughout the school, his intent being spread by mana. "Such insolence will be punished severely. Your deaths will be torturous." He said, then turned to the door and walked out of the classroom.

His mere appearance brought fear to the students, and his words sent terror rushing through their bodies. His departure brought a mix of relief and trepidation to them, while Sung Jin-Ah looked at it curiously, wondering who or what he was talking to before he left.

Back in the dusty classroom with the three boys, a set of orcs had come out of the Gate, the pressure of Mammon's anger and energy bearing on them heavily as their bodies quaked in fear. They didn't expect anyone of such power to be present, let alone present and serving under someone else.

A minute passed, and Mammon opened the door gently, taking care not to damage any of the school's property. "Humans. Leave." With those two words, the three boys ran out of the classroom, leaving Mammon in the room with the orcs, who were having difficulty moving.

"Insolent fools. It seems that whoever leads you is truly idiotic. But don't worry. As I have said, your bodies will feel and embrace the punishment for your actions." Mammon said and activated a curse that bombarded the entirety of their bodies with pure agony, and used blood magic to seal their mouths shut, keeping them from screaming.

While they writhed in pain, Mammon looked into the Gate, then showed off an evil grin that would have terrified any human that saw it. Turning to the orcs, he cast a hex on them, Puppeteer, then sent them running back into the Gate at breakneck speed.

As they ran into the Gate, he cast three blood magic spells on them. The first spell was Blood Poison, which turned their blood into a highly toxic substance, and the second was a delayed Blood Burst, while the third was a spell that would activate at the same time as the Blood Burst, Blood Fog.

After a minute passed, Mammon walked into the Gate, and placed a barrier on the surface, making sure that nothing would enter or leave before he came out.

As he entered the dungeon, the sound of orcs coughing and choking in pain rang out from all corners of the dungeon, while a crimson fog wafted all around.

He walked straight down to the boss chamber, using blood magic to create chains that he used to drag every other orc behind him on the ground. He soon reached the boss chamber, where the chief of this orc tribe was coughing up blood.

His body had multiple tattoos, that were now being marred by the multitude of black veins as a result of the Blood Poison. "Why are you doing this?" The orc chief asked Mammon, while still coughing up blood.

"I told you why already. My master has chosen to protect this land and the people on it, yet you were foolish enough to come here with hostile intent. It is clear that your fate is only to be extinguished." Mammon replied calmly, then brandished his axe.

"Don't bother speaking. Just be grateful that I'll allow you to die to a blade rather than my magic." He said, then swung down, bifurcating the orc chief without mercy.

After killing the orc chief, he looked around, noticing the many magic stones that could be mined from the dungeon. "Although my master has no need for them, the people of this land do, and my master will use them to help the people." He said to himself.

Deciding to mine the magic stones, he takes his axe and begins skinning all of the orcs as quickly as he could, then uses their blood to stitch the skins together, until he had a sack of orc hide.

Over the next half hour, Mammon speedily mined out all of the magic stones from the dungeon, putting them in his sack. And when he finished, he headed out of the Gate, before it would permanently close.

Outside the school, multiple ambulances and Hunters had gathered, mainly because a student who had heard the boys from earlier raving about the appearance of the orcs had chosen to make a emergency call, saying that a Gate had broken in their school.

Many of the students had been evacuated from the school, with all Hunters and emergency service workers being on high alert. A few Hunters made their way to the classroom, only to be met with one o the most confusing sights they had ever come across.

Mammon had just stepped out of the Gate, with the magic stones in his orc hide sack. He noticed the presence of the multitude of Hunters in and around the school , and the closest Hunters had just gotten to the classroom.

Safe to say, a massive black minotaur with clearly magical markings holding a green bag filled to the brim with magic stones wasn't something they had ever expected to see.

They would have attacked, if it wasn't for the fact that most, if not all Korean Hunters had made sure to prepare themselves for the possibility of encountering one of Sung Jin-Woo's or Dante's soldiers.

"Ehem. Hello. May we know if you're Sung Jin-Woo-nim's soldier or Dante-nim's soldier?" One of them asked shakily, after clearing his throat. "My master is Dante Invictus." Mammon responded calmly, then walked out of the room, not paying them any mind.

The both of them sighed in relief after Mammon left. "Man, I thought that they were just big. I didn't think they'd be so powerful." One of them said. "You said it. I was lucky enough to meet Baek Yoon-Ho-nim, but even then, he didn't feel like anything close to that." The female mage said, not fully understanding the implications of what she just said.

Mammon soon walked outside the school building, where Hunter Association employees were waiting. He walked up to them, then dropped the sack of magic stones.

"I have cleared the dungeon and stripped it for the resources that you humans use." He said, then walked towards the students, specifically towards Sung Jin-Ah. The students, parents, guardians and Hunters in the way moved, clearing a path for him. And as soon as he reached Sung Jin-Ah, he quickly returned to her shadow.

...

Sung Jin-Woo had just gotten the report of the Gate, as he wasn't in that area of Seoul when Mammon was busy, nor did he receive any alerts from the few shadows that he had placed in that area, despite the influx of Hunters.

When he saw that Mammon had taken care of it, he just nodded, and headed down to the training center of the Dominion Guild's building, where much to his surprise, he saw Dante.

He had only seen Dante come down here by himself a total of three times, and each time, Dante created some skill that was beyond the capabilities of anyone in the world.

However, as he got here, Dante turned to him and called him into the main training area. Raising a brow, he wondered why Dante would call him for training, but he still went in to meet Dante.

"Hey, thanks for taking care of Jin-Ah, by the way." Sung Jin-Woo said as he reached Dante. "No problem. But that's not why I called you here." Dante said, intent on getting to the point.

"It's about time you learned another skill that you should be able to use, as the Shadow Monarch." Hearing this surprised Sung Jin-Woo, as he had no idea that there was a way for him to utilize class specific skills without first getting a runestone.

"Summon any of your shadows, then we'll begin." Dante said, and Sung Jin-Woo summoned an ant. "Good. Now, to explain the ability." Dante said, then snapped his fingers.

"The Shadow Monarch isn't given that name for show. Yes, you can bring back the dead as shadows and use shadows to move around, but you've missed what might be one of the more basic powers that you should've gotten by now. That being the ability to change the form of a shadow." Dante said, and touched the shadow ant, altering its form into a weapon.

Sung Jin-Woo watched with rapt attention as the ant's body changed into a one handed axe. "When I saw you do it, I had no idea that I could do it too." Sung Jin-Woo said, looking at the axe and seeing how it still remained somewhat reminiscent to its original form.

"You can, and the good news is that you only need to try once." Dante said, and reverted the axe to its ant form. "Keep this in mind, you can alter them however you choose, but weapons are a good start to help you get used to it." Sung Jin-Woo nodded, then brought out one each of his shadow elves, high orcs, bears and mages.

He touched the bear with the intention to alter its form into a fitting weapon, and for a few seconds nothing happened. Until suddenly, the bear's form started to shift, then it unraveled, before reforming as a giant maul with the insignia of a bear's head on both faces of the head, and the claws of the bear seemingly framing the entire head.

|Skill: 'Form Change' has been learned.|

|Skill: Form Change

Type: Active

Can change the form of shadow soldiers.

Consumes no mana.|

Sung Jin-Woo almost couldn't believe that such a skill cost nothing, but he did, due to his other class specific skills being similar. He released the skill's effect on the maul, and it reverted to its bear form once more.

Sung Jin-Woo smiled, then tested the skill on other soldiers, turning them to different weapons, and testing out the weapons, trying to see how they compared to the ones he had.

He eventually came to the conclusion that most of his current soldiers wouldn't be able to make weapons that strong, but they could work very well if he needed an emergency weapon, as unlikely as such a situation seemed. In all that time, he didn't notice that Dante had left the training room a considerable while ago.

...

The next day

Tokyo Shinjuku, Japan

The day was going normally for the many citizens of Japan that lived in Tokyo, but suddenly, something seemingly blotted out the sky. All the people looked up, wondering what could do such a thing.

What they saw was a Gate of monstrously massive proportions. Facing such a thing, everyone and everything became silent. And at that point, all of Tokyo stood still.

Chapter End.

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Word Count: 3,143