Chapter 236 - We Welcome Your Visit

Despite the phrase “a deep underground where not a single ray of light reaches,” a faint glow lit up the darkness hundreds of meters beneath downtown L.A. But the darkness wasn’t easily pushed back. The light streaming along the walls didn't reach the heart of the darkness. There was something huge in the centre of the darkness, but no one could see it except for the carnivorous hornets guarding this place.

The carnivorous hornet approached an enormous object, dozens of times larger than its own body. It resembled a cocoon… or perhaps a scaled-down version of a beehive. Any hunter familiar with insect-type monsters would have recognized it: a royal cell, a structure meant to nurture a queen.

There were small holes all over the queen’s nest, and the carnivorous hornets were busy pouring something into these holes.

If these were ordinary bees, one might think they were feeding royal jelly to their queen. But what was going into those holes had nothing in common, other than being food. It was closer to a solid than a liquid. It was a chunk of meat.

“Uuuup. Uuuuup…”

The human writhed desperately. But sadly, their struggle was in vain—they couldn’t move at all. Their mind were clear, but their body refused to respond. The carnivorous hornets removed the unneeded layers from their prey. The tough leather was torn off, followed by scraps of cloth. Iron rods and sharp metal objects were removed as well. The prey was rich in nutrients, but also strong enough to pose a threat. Nothing that could endanger the queen’s successor could be tolerated. To prevent any chance of resistance, they broke its limbs.

"Kuarghhh!"

A scream escaped from the paralyzed mouth that could barely speak. The carnivorous hornets stepped on the prey, fearing that the successor would have difficulty chewing the hard bones. And so, bones across the body were crushed, and its internal organs were turned to mush.

It was the kind of injury that should have killed it instantly—yet the prey was still alive. The prey, still fresh, was tossed into the royal chamber. The inside of the royal chamber was soaked in a thick, sticky fluid. Barely able to move, the prey rolled its eyes, scanning its surroundings. Two glowing orbs appeared in a dark corner. They drew closer—it was a larva. The larva crawled up onto the prey.

‘G-Get away from me.’

The prey couldn’t even close its eyes. The nerves around its eyes were paralyzed. It could still feel pain, but its mind remained clear. Fluid dripped from the larva’s mouth, soaking the prey’s face. It had a pungent smell. The prey knew that smell all too well, human blood.

‘Damn it! A hunter, ending up as monster food… what a damn disgrace.’

Realizing that many hunters had already ended up as food in this place, the Hunter gave up on the idea of making it out alive. But that didn’t mean he was going to die quietly. Gritting his teeth, he forced every last ounce of sensation from his paralyzed body and channelled mana into his body.

‘You’re going down with me…’

Just as the Hunter was about to blow himself up, the larva drove its mouth into his heart.

Tendrils broke through his chest bone and dug deep inside. The mana he had gathered didn’t explode outward—it was sucked in through the tendrils, along with his blood and the shredded pieces of his heart.

Soon, the light faded from the prey’s eyes. Starting from the chest, the larva ate his entire body. Blood soaked the floor. Before long, there was no trace left of the Hunter. Yet, the larva still seemed hungry. It looked up at the hole where the prey had fallen from. A few moments later, a new prey dropped in. The endlessly hungry larva dragged its slow body forward. And just like that, the new heir continued to grow.

“We can’t reach the LA branch.”

“It happens sometimes.”

Ayla didn’t think much of Alex’s report from the World Hunter Federation. Given how vast the land was, it wasn’t uncommon for monsters to disrupt the power grid or communication network. She figured this was probably the case. And as always, it would be fixed soon enough. Even if repairs were delayed, they could use a backup line. If that failed, there was always satellite communication. But this time, Alex spoke more firmly than before.

“All lines are down. That kind of thing is rare in a big city like LA. In the worst-case scenario, a Gate may have opened.”

The moment Ayla saw the seriousness on Alex’s face, she finally realized how grave the situation was. But what she cared about wasn’t the safety of the city.

‘The LA guilds will take care of that. The real problem is Captain Kang Moo-hyuk.'

He had already been caught up in chaos in Russia—now in the U.S., too? This wasn’t just about the Federation’s reputation anymore; it was a direct blow to her own credibility.

It wasn’t something she could just dismiss as bad luck—that a Gate happened to open right when Kang Moo-hyuk visited the U.S.

Back in Russia, they had barely managed to appease him with the semi-permanent loan of a Unique item just to convince him to take the remaining exams. To her, Kang Moo-hyuk was the one clue she’d finally uncovered after a long pursuit of the unknown. Where else could she find another human who could understand what that unknown being was saying?

No matter what, she had to ensure his safety—and she couldn’t afford to stand by and watch like she had in Russia. Fortunately, Alex, who was also aware of the situation, immediately offered a solution.

"I’ve got a few connections in the White House. As far as I know, the federal government set up an emergency communication network a few years back. Should I contact them through that?”

"In normal times, yes. But if an entire city on the West Coast has gone dark, especially when it's one of the major ones, they’re probably in a state of emergency too. Since there’s nothing in the news yet, it looks like information is being suppressed. If we reach out carelessly, it could come back to bite us later.”

"In that case, I’ll dispatch a team from the nearest city. The branch office has probably already taken action, since we made it very clear how important Captain Kang’s safety is—but we need to know the situation there as well.”

"Go ahead and send the team. I’ll try a different approach."

“Are you saying you’ll go there yourself?”

“If I have to, then yes. But I can’t exactly move around freely in public, can I?”

Information about demi-humans was strictly classified. The existence of elves still had to remain a secret.

"I'll go instead."

“Before that, there’s somewhere else we need to visit first.”

"Where... Wait, you don't mean the 77th floor?"

“Yes. When things are urgent, even that place is an option.”

“I don't like it, I'm afraid I'm going to have to apologize.”

"I don't like it either, but it's one of the Federation’s top-tier assets. We have to make use of it when necessary."

Alex gave a reluctant nod, though he didn’t look entirely convinced. In the meantime, Ayla walked to the door first and turned the doorknob.

“What are you doing? Hurry up! Time is critical. If it’s ‘Clairvoyance,’ we’ll get an answer right away.”

PWH (Pure White House).

On the eastern side of the flawless White House stood a separate building, commonly known as the East Wing. Beneath it lay the PEOC—the Presidential Emergency Operations Centre—an underground bunker. The President presided over National Security Council meetings here, and recently, most of those meetings had been centred around issues involving monsters.

Hence, the person who always sat next to the president in these meetings was the key figure in the White House, Alexander Hamilton, the head of the Hunter Policy Department. However, he was not present at the moment.

Coincidentally, he was in LA, the key location for this agenda. Only the President, the Chief Secretary, and a few people who were deeply connected to the Eastern Guild knew why he was in LA, so the rest of the members were completely unaware. With the person most involved in hunter and monster affairs absent, the remaining members had to figure out and resolve this situation.

"Since Director Hamilton is absent and the President is currently on a diplomatic tour in Europe, I will be presiding over this meeting.”

No one raised objections to Vice President Mike’s statement. With no experts available, the best option was to follow the legally defined hierarchy.

“We’ve lost all communication. How about the satellites?”

“The satellites are down too. There’s an unidentified jamming signal over the entire city,” replied the Minister of Defense, who was a member of the committee.

“What’s the countermeasure?”

“The military has dispatched a team from the nearest Hunter unit.”

The Minister of Defense spoke confidently. It was understandable, as the military's hunter team was a strategic move they had prepared specifically for this situation. After the Gate era, the Ministry of Defense had to focus more on combatting monsters than foreign armies.

The Ministry focused on supporting roles instead of direct combat because soldiers, who were not hunters, were ineffective against monsters. They assisted hunters and helped evacuate civilians. As the Ministry of Defense's role gradually diminished, he had to find ways to prove their worth.

With the hunter unit they had prepared for situations like this now in action, it was only natural for the minister to feel a sense of pride, regardless of the national crisis at hand. However, the Vice President poured cold water on his enthusiasm.

“Didn’t the Ministry of Defense announce a plan to set up an emergency communications network connecting major cities in North America? Why isn’t that being used?”

“T-that’s...”

"I understand it requires a huge budget. Is there some kind of issue?"

The Minister of Defense found himself at a loss for words. The reason was that the emergency communications network didn’t extend to the West Coast. Despite the ample budget, political issues and complex interests had delayed the project. Trying to explain it was a headache. The Vice President, sensing that the Minister was having a hard time, immediately changed the topic.

"I understand it's not working. So, how long will it take to send the team and check the situation in LA?"

“It’ll take about five hours.”

"Five hours? It's already been an hour since we noticed the anomaly. The communication was cut off long before that. Even if they start moving right away, it's still too slow. Are they

travelling by car?"

"They're going by military plane."

"And?"

“We still don’t have enough special teams made up of hunters. We can't deploy them across the entire mainland. The team closest to LA will take over five hours by plane."

At the end of his statement, the minister's face flushed with embarrassment. The confidence he had just moments ago had vanished. While he had succeeded in forming the hunter teams, he had not secured enough resources to deploy them quickly anywhere across the mainland.

The first word that came to the Vice President's mind was “total disaster”. Even in the United States, which is considered the world’s strongest in monster defense, they hadn’t even finished setting up basic communication networks.

If something serious happened, the entire city could be wiped out. Even though S-rank hunters were always on standby for mainland defense, deploying them after the incident had already occurred would be like closing the barn door after the cow had bolted.

‘This is why I brought Hamilton in. He hasn’t been in the position long, so he probably can't see the big picture yet.’

The Vice President had no choice but to take immediate action and wrap up the initial response.

"The media has already caught on to something unusual. For now, we've contained the situation to prevent chaos. Share the information with the guilds around LA. Communication is down, so it may take some time, but we need to prepare for any potential issues. And if any hunters contact us, connect them immediately."

After fending off several bee attacks, Kang Moo-hyuk arrived at the Gunpowder Guild building and looked for General Manager Cairon Fischer in the lobby. Whatever prior instructions there were, simply mentioning Kang Moo-hyuk's name was enough for the hunters defending the headquarters to immediately connect him with.

"I thought it would take some time before we met again, but it seems like we’re seeing each other quickly, though not under the best circumstances. What brings you here? Are you seeking refuge at our Guild?"

"The vehicle we came in, you’ve probably already been informed about. Using a Hunter Crime Bureau vehicle for evacuation is quite a privilege in a situation like this. And the reason I’m here might be for something good. At least, for the Gunpowder Guild, that is."

Fischer tried to grasp the situation, but without any information, he could not figure out Kang Moo-hyuk’s intentions at all.

‘Still, I might be able to guess from other sources. The only valuable thing Captain Kang can offer us right now is Rider Wolf.’

The problem was what he would demand in return.

‘Still, it's the Rider Wolf. Shouldn't we just grab whatever comes our way?’

Fischer opened his arms wide with a smiling face.

"Welcome to the Gunpowder Guild."