Chapter 21: The Unknown Force (1)

Whoosh!

As Ion recalled the Hahoe mask, the porter grabbed a handful of dirt and flung it at him.

Boom! Boom! The dirt and pebbles exploded in midair. Ion swung his flame sword, creating a fiery burst that engulfed the explosions and hurled them back at the porter and Park Yujik.

Kaboom!

Small shields appeared, trapping the flames within. A white glow emanated from Park Yujik’s uninjured hand.

sanctuary could block not only external attacks but also internal material leakage when cast strategically—a truly troublesome skill.

While Ion glanced at Park Yujik, the porter charged with a massive spear, one end a broad axe, the other a sharp blade. It wasn’t threatening to Ion.

He dodged fluidly, chanting a spell. Vines sprouted from the ground, ensnaring the porter’s limbs and spear. Park Yujik’s sanctuary tried to protect him, but it couldn’t stop vines growing directly beneath the porter.

Crunch.

The vines twisted the porter’s ankle and fractured his shoulder. Not an ordinary man, he swallowed a scream. Torn clothing revealed dark brown skin, not the peach tone of an East Asian.

He wasn’t local.

The porter tore off a vine leaf and threw it. Boom! It exploded like a grenade, burning the vines.

“Come here!” he shouted.

Freed, the porter retreated to Park Yujik, who tried to envelop them in sanctuary. At that moment, Ion hurled his flame sword at the porter’s chest.

“Urgh!”

The porter caught it, but too late. Clang. A pendant around his neck shattered—an S-rank disguise item, as Ion expected.

Poof!

The disguise dissolved, revealing a muscular man in a white shirt and tight black vest, even bulkier than before. A “5” tattoo marked his hand.

His face remained hidden—by a Hahoe mask.

As suspected. But this wasn’t the Hahoe mask who saved Hong Insu’s parents—that one was a woman, per Daon’s investigation.

This must be…

“Some Hunter helped. A huge foreign guy, spoke Korean well. At least B-rank, I think.”

The Hunter who saved Hong Insu’s brother—a “big foreign guy,” like this one.

The Hahoe mask wasn’t just a quirky vigilante. The woman who saved Hong Insu’s parents and this man formed a secretive group of at least two.

Ion eyed them coldly. Park Yujik trembled behind the Hahoe mask, who gripped a now-smaller spear diagonally, on guard.

Both were inside sanctuary. Ion approached the shield.

sanctuary’s hardness could be adjusted. Touching it, Ion found it solid. Only a skill like affliction’s Black Cloud Sword could pierce it. Ion dismissed his flame sword. “You bastard! I can keep this shield up all day. I won’t drop it until someone notices something’s wrong. Give up!” Park Yujik yelled.

“…”

“Let’s see who wins! Once I’m out, you’re done! I’ll hunt you to the ends of the Earth!”

Park Yujik’s shouting made him stagger. The Hahoe mask steadied him.

“You okay? You’ve lost a lot of blood—don’t get too worked up.”

“Damn it… Thanks. If that jerk hadn’t ambushed me…”

It looked like Park Yujik and the Hahoe mask were the persecuted heroes, and Ion the cruel villain.

“But… how did you know to be here? What’s with the Hahoe mask?” Park Yujik asked.

“…”

“We’ve been in dungeons together… You were just a lowly—uh, ordinary porter. Not Black…”

“Kim Junil doesn’t exist. He’s a fictional identity we created to protect you.”

“We?”

“…”

“Wait, so there’s a group like this bastard trying to kill me?”

The Hahoe mask glanced at Ion, who listened expressionlessly.

“Butterfly Mask.”

“What?”

“Like the one disguised as a porter. The group trying to kill you—we call them ‘Butterfly Mask.’”

“Butterfly Mask…” Park Yujik muttered, as if hearing it for the first time.

Ion, too, was unfamiliar with the term but showed no surprise. Park Yujik pressed on.

“Why the hell do they want me dead?”

“…”

“Or maybe not kill—kidnap? Japan? America? They want my skill, don’t they? My skill’s too valuable to kill me!”

Hunter kidnappings for valuable skills weren’t unheard of. Deluded, Park Yujik shouted at Ion.

“Hey! Butterfly Mask or whatever, if you want my skill, get on your knees and beg politely. Millions of dollars might not be enough, and you dare threaten me? Get lost! I’m not going wherever you’re from!”

“Arrogant. Why would I want you?” Ion said.

“You’re standing there like an idiot, unable to break my shield, yet you talk big.”

“Oh, this shield skill. What’s the point of such a strong skill? You let two people fall behind in two days by not shielding them. Useless.”

“Those losers were useless in battle! I’m not giving dungeon clear records to weaklings!”

Pale from blood loss, Park Yujik laughed maniacally.

Utterly despicable, but the Hahoe mask’s expression was unreadable.

“Hahoe Mask,” Ion said.

No need to waste words with a doomed man. He tilted his head at the Hahoe mask.

“So, you Hahoe Masks… are you a group saving those meant to die, opposing ‘us’?”

“What’s with the obvious question? You’ve interfered with us multiple times.”

“Interesting.”

Ion’s lips curved. On his real face, it’d be a charming smile, but in disguise, it drew no admiration.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but…”

Mana swirled around Ion. In this jungle dungeon, he drew power from both Earth and Demon Realm plants, with mana to spare.

“Park Yujik has to die here.”

“Hah!” Park Yujik sneered. “Try it! You can’t break sanctuary!”

He was right. sanctuary was impenetrable.

So, attack from within.

There’s a phenomenon called allelopathy—plants releasing chemicals to hinder nearby plants’ growth as a defense.

Demon Realm plants were no different.

Inside sanctuary was the tree Park Yujik stubbed his cigarette on, its roots within the shield. A 30-meter-tall tree—how far did its roots spread? Only herbaceous plants grew within a 10-meter radius, indicating this tree emitted potent allelopathic substances.

Rumble.

Vines grew at Ion’s feet, climbing the shield’s curve to snap a branch and bring it back. The two inside watched, confused.

Ion planted the branch 5 meters from sanctuary and infused it with mana.

Boom!

The branch grew rapidly, surpassing Ion’s height.

The dominant tree sensed another growing just 5 meters away.

Who dares invade my roots’ territory?

Whoosh!

Instantly, the tree released toxic chemicals, invisible but enveloping Park Yujik, who was on its roots.

“What… something’s wrong… Urgh, ugh!”

That was Park Yujik’s final word.

No scream, no realization of death—he vomited blood and collapsed, his body melting without a trace.

“Damn it!”

The Hahoe mask was lucky, standing near the shield’s edge, not touching the tree, giving him time to react. Without glancing at Ion, he used a return stone and vanished.

With Park Yujik’s death, the shield dissolved. Ion burned the cloned tree to eliminate the toxins, which slowly dissipated.

Sigh…

Ion summoned a breeze to clear the remaining toxins and slumped down, cold sweat on his brow.

He called it magic for convenience, but it wasn’t true magic. As “sort-of magic,” it consumed vitality alongside mana. The spell drained significant vitality, leaving him dizzy and aching.

I did my part.

He missed the Hahoe mask, but Park Yujik was dead. The story’s progression was intact. Ion pressed his temples, enduring the side effects.

While the world reeled from Park Yujik’s death, Ion and Daon met in a secluded spot in Muju to discuss another critical matter.

“Hahoe Mask and Butterfly Mask…” Daon said, turning her laptop to Ion. A document with the Association’s classified stamp appeared. She explained.

“In Gangwon, a Hahoe-masked awakened saved someone meant to die—Jeong Sowan, Lee Youngran’s daughter.”

Lee Youngran, an A-rank awakened living unregistered as a non-awakened with her daughter in the countryside, begins Hunter activities after her daughter’s death in a dungeon overflow.

“A Hahoe-masked person saved Lee Youngran’s daughter from a monster, saying, ‘You don’t need to die,’ then left. That one was an East Asian woman.”

“Must be the one who saved Hong Insu’s parents. So, Lee Youngran’s daughter is alive?”

“No need to kill her. Days later, an F-rank dungeon overflowed behind their house. A giant monster spewing toxic dust killed her. No prior gate info was reported, so the Association’s secretly investigating the sudden overflow.”

“A gate appearing behind their house, unnoticed until overflow? Suspicious. Why tell me now?”

“I got this while you were in the dungeon. I was going to tell you right after, but your info’s bigger.”

Summarizing: Hahoe Masks save those meant to die; Butterfly Masks kill them. Neither group exists in the novel.