EP.26 Lifting the Veil (2)

 

“You didn’t mishear. And we are not mistaken either.”

 

The screen that had shown the graph earlier switched.

 

It was a world map that Parang was familiar with. However, there were red dots marked all over the map.

 

“These are the last confirmed locations of the Slayers Hunters.”

 

The man pointed to various spots on the map and named them.

 

The Arctic Ocean.

 

“Kang Yuri.”

 

The South China Sea.

 

“Olivia Cloverfield.”

 

The Caribbean Sea.

 

“Anna Popov.”

 

The East Sea.

 

“Alexandra Carmen.”

 

And so on.

 

The man continued to point out the red dots on the world map, matching them with names.

 

And the last one.

 

Pointing to a red dot in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the Silo man spoke.

 

Geographically, it was Hawaii.

 

“Lastly, this is the location of Hunter Han Siwoo.”

 

In this world, Hawaii is an island floating on the sea.

 

Literally. It should be physically impossible, but a rock the size of Hawaii floats on the sea like a buoy.

 

And no one on Earth questions this fact. Not even Yu Parang.

 

This was never mentioned in the novel.

 

So, what caught Parang’s interest was the man’s words.

 

“What do you mean by Hunter Han Siwoo’s location?”

 

She had clearly seen him ascend with her own eyes, but Parang couldn’t finish her sentence.

 

“That’s right. They ascended, but at the same time, they went to the bottom of the sea.”

 

“Explain it so I can understand.”

 

“Hunter Han Siwoo’s ascension was carried out solely by Silo, excluding the World Government and the Association.”

 

Up to this point, Parang knew this. Only Silo participated in Hunter Han Siwoo’s ascension ceremony for three main reasons.

 

First. At the time of planning the ascension, neither the Hunter Association nor the World Government had the capability to perform the ceremony. Even Silo had to use most of its potential to conduct the ascension ceremony for the 15 Slayers.

 

This was also a measure to balance the power among the three organizations.

 

Second. Silo was founded directly by Hunter Han Siwoo, so the trust level was extremely high. There was no possibility of any trickery.

 

Third. The number of people who knew that Hunter Han Siwoo would disappear from Earth had to be minimized.

 

This was knowledge from the original work.

 

But the man said something entirely different.

 

“We were curious. What exactly is this ‘ascension ceremony,’ and where and how does it ascend the subject?”

 

Parang didn’t know about that either. It was simply called ‘ascension,’ but it never mentioned where they were going. Readers vaguely understood it as a higher dimension, the sky, space, another planet, etc.

 

It wasn’t an element that hindered the enjoyment of the novel.

 

Why didn’t anyone question it? Because that was the nature of the novel.

 

In a cliché-ridden power fantasy, the protagonist and their party ‘ascend.’

 

People just assumed they would become powerful and didn’t care where the ceremony led.

 

They just thought, ‘The author will explain it eventually’.

 

Even when the main story concluded with the ascension, there was no major uproar.

 

An official side story was scheduled to be serialized.

 

Who could have predicted that they would head to such an unexpected place as the ‘seabed’?

 

For the first time since coming to this world, Parang deeply regretted not having seen that ‘side story.’

 

Well, in any case, the man in front of her and Silo seemed to have taken an interest in it.

 

They viewed it from the perspective of those who didn’t know this world was a novel.

 

“So, we used every available method to see where Hunter Han Siwoo’s ascension was heading.”

 

He added quietly that this was, of course, agreed upon with the Slayers.

 

“We used helicopters, drones, planes, satellites, and even tracking devices. Surprisingly, most of them yielded significant results.”

 

“Why did you attach tracking devices? You must have known they wouldn’t stay attached during the ascension.”

 

“We implanted them inside their bodies.”

 

“…What?”

 

“According to our predictions, while the physical body changes during ascension, only one thing remains unchanged, the blood. So, we created nanometer-sized tracking devices and injected them into all the Slayers.”

 

Tracking devices injected into the bloodstream. Parang felt dizzy. Surely, these guys didn’t only use them on the Slayers.

 

Parang, who usually showed her emotions on her face, was momentarily stunned. The man paused briefly, noticing her expression, but continued without further comment.

 

He wasn’t going to make excuses.

 

“Anyway, the destination of the ascension ceremony that we discovered using all these methods is right here.”

 

The red dot precisely marked on Hawaii.

 

“This is the situation at the time. Take a look.”

 

Another monitor rose beside the existing one.

 

The video playing on it was something Parang knew well.

 

It was the live broadcast footage of the Slayers’ ascension ceremony.

 

A pillar of light descended on them standing above the sea, and they ascended. Splash, crackle, and then the sky closed.

 

The live broadcast on the news had ended there. But the video on this monitor did not.

 

The perspective switched to that of a drone flying above the clouds.

 

The pillar of light soared high into the sky, and the Slayers continued to ascend.

 

The perspective switched again to footage from a satellite.

 

The pillar of light extended into space. The Slayers kept ascending. And then…

 

They disappeared along with the pillar of light.

 

It was as if the video had been intentionally cut off.

 

Just, poof.

 

Parang felt a strange sensation.

 

It felt like they had been abducted by something.

 

She couldn’t explain why she felt this way.

 

She just sensed something. Without even realizing she had ‘sensed’ it.

 

“In case you doubt it, this is the original footage.”

 

Parang didn’t doubt his words. She didn’t think they would have tampered with the video after coming this far.

 

“At this point, the location signals of all the Slayers moved to beneath Hawaii.”

 

“The depth?”

 

“6 kilometers.”

 

“6 kilometers…”

 

“There is something under Hawaii, Hunter Yu Parang.”

 

Parang furrowed her brow at that point. It was something she had been curious about since the conversation started.

 

“There’s nothing there.”

 

That’s right. Oceanos wouldn’t have missed exploring beneath the Hawaiian Islands. After all, Russell lived in Hawaii.

 

They had all gone beneath Hawaii. Recently, after Silo released underwater cameras, Russell had even posted a commemorative photo.

 

6 kilometers was indeed a deep depth, but it was a place Oceanos had definitely explored.

 

And there was nothing there. No Hive, no objects, nothing.

 

Not even monsters… just water.

 

“There’s… nothing…”

 

Parang found it strange as well.

 

Why hadn’t she found it suspicious at the time?

 

Even if there were no Hives or objects, why were there no monsters in a sea teeming with them?

 

“It seems you have some idea.”

 

“I’m not sure.”

 

It could just be a coincidence.

 

“May I continue?”

 

“…Yes.”

 

Parang took a moment. She needed time to process all the information coming in real-time.

 

“Anyway. The 15 Slayers stayed together at that point for about 5 hours. Then, one by one, they all moved to different seas around the world. Except for Hunter Han Siwoo. After that, all their location signals stopped. Most likely, no, almost certainly, they died.”

 

Parang turned her gaze to the world map from earlier.

 

The Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Arctic, the Antarctic, and even a point in the East Sea next to South Korea.

 

Parang quickly found the commonality.

 

“Hives.”

 

“I’m glad we brought you here.”

 

They had moved to Hives around the world.

 

Parang raised another question.

 

“Why here? What I mean is…”

 

The fact that they ‘moved’ from Hawaii to seas around the world didn’t surprise Parang. This was also in the original work.

 

The Slayers ascended with an emergency escape device.

 

An artifact that allowed them to teleport to a desired location once.

 

In the original work, it was simply described as something they ‘carried.’ Now she wondered if it was also injected into their blood.

 

Parang was curious why they teleported to ‘Hives under the sea.’

 

“We don’t know either. That’s why we contacted Hunter Yu Parang.”

 

Parang interrupted to summarize the conversation so far.

 

The information she had gathered from the conversation with Silo was as follows:

 

The Slayers disappeared during the ascension ceremony and reappeared 6 kilometers below Hawaii.

 

During the 5 hours they stayed there, they encountered a situation where they had to use their emergency escape devices, and all but Hunter Han Siwoo used them.

 

For some reason, they teleported to Hives in seas around the world and died.

 

She had a rough idea of why they sought her out and why they wanted to protect her and Oceanos.

 

Silo was currently dealing with something that killed the Slayers underwater, checking the World Government’s efforts to lead people into the sea, and trying to uncover why the Slayers died.

 

And what did Oceanos have?

 

Unparalleled combat power underwater, a will to protect the world, and Xiao’s ‘Dive.’

 

Parang and Oceanos could solve all the problems Silo was facing.

 

So that’s the situation, Parang thought.

 

“It seems you have a rough understanding. Then I’ll get straight to the point.”

 

The man nodded slightly.

 

“First. Find the Slayers’ bodies and view their memories. Second. Continue your broadcasts to prevent people from going underwater. Third. Discover what is beneath Hawaii and eliminate it from the Earth.”

 

The second condition was something she was already doing, and the third was something she would do even without being asked. The monster that killed the Slayers…

 

Whether it was a monster or something else, if it was underwater, it was right to deal with it.

 

Some might ask, “In this situation, you’re going to broadcast?”

 

But isn’t it true? Parang’s broadcasts were actually preventing people from diving.

 

If Silo tried to prevent diving by sealing off coastlines worldwide, the World Government might start a war that very day.

 

For Parang, broadcasting wasn’t a difficult task.

 

To defeat whatever was under Hawaii that slaughtered the Slayers, she first needed information about it.

 

To get that information, she needed to see the Slayers’ memories.

 

To see the Slayers’ memories? She had to search the Hives around the world.

 

Turning on the broadcast a bit during that process wouldn’t delay things much.

 

Ultimately, Parang was confident.

 

No matter what had attacked the Slayers, she was sure she could win.

 

Why?

 

It stemmed from her knowledge of the original work.

 

Among the Slayers’ members, there was someone with the ability to have absolute superiority over ‘inanimate objects.’

 

Therefore, the Slayers weren’t defeated by inanimate objects.

 

So, what killed them was ‘living beings.’

 

And all ‘living beings’ underwater were beneath Parang.

 

[Daughter of the Kraken (S)]

 

[You cannot use this skill unless your entire body is submerged in water.]

 

[You have overwhelming superiority over all marine life.]

 

This was the description she saw when she first chose the ‘Daughter of the Kraken’ skill.

 

Although it didn’t appear in the original work, she chose the skill based on this description.

 

How did she create a spear of air if she couldn’t use the skill outside of water?

 

It was a function built into her suit.

 

Well, that’s not the important part.

 

Silo probably knew this to some extent and set the conditions accordingly.

 

They must have concluded among themselves that Parang could do it and then contacted her.

 

And they showed meticulousness by presenting ‘conditions that aren’t really conditions.’ This made the request to ‘view the Slayers’ memories’ seem like an additional condition.

 

Of course, this wasn’t all. They would need to share information occasionally, and sometimes her actions might be restricted.

 

But even considering all that, there was a lot Parang could gain from Silo.

 

“What can you offer me?”

 

In a way, it might seem like she was being bold, but Silo desperately needed Parang.

 

They couldn’t easily harm her. After all, Silo needed her in perfect condition.

 

And ultimately, they needed Parang in the water. Who knew what she might face once she was in the water?

 

Her prediction seemed to be correct, as Silo didn’t mention ‘final warnings’ or ‘last resorts.’

 

“We will provide everything Silo can offer. Funds, information, technology, protection on land, artifacts, skill scrolls, anything.”

 

Parang grinned. It was more generous than she had expected.

 

“Alright. Let’s cooperate.”

 

The Silo man also grinned.

 

“We’re glad to have such a reliable ally.”

 

And so,

 

Atop the skyscrapers of Hong Kong, the city of endless festivities, an alliance that would shake the world was born.