CHAPTER 134 — Falling to Earth**
During the time when Ireland appeared in New York. They had only met briefly, but Reinhardt remembered Jinwoo well.

To be precise, he didn't remember Jinwoo so much as what Jinwoo had accomplished.

'The moment Ireland fell.'

He had watched from the sky.

Known as the Thunder Emperor, his specialty was, as his name suggested, lightning magic, so he positioned himself in the sky during battle whenever possible. The closer he was to the sky, the easier it was to control the lightning.

Of course, being too high wasn't good either, so maintaining an appropriate altitude was key. In any case, because of this, he had been able to watch from high in the sky the moment Ireland fell.

The moment the 'island' that had overwhelmed the thirty S-class Hunters gathered there and made the millions of people in New York tremble had collapsed.

It wasn't accomplished by the combined efforts of powerful Hunters, nor by the firepower of the military that had poured in its resources. It was a single Hunter.

The swordsman from Seoul, Kang Jinwoo.

"What's the situation?"

Jinwoo asked, catching his breath slightly, as if he had rushed here. Reinhardt explained the situation before offering thanks for saving him. There was no time for leisurely expressions of gratitude.

"The Hong Kong Hunters are handling the civilian evacuation. We don't even know the shelter locations, so guiding them is impossible for us. A-class Hunters and above are participating in the battle as much as possible, but they're struggling just to hold back the monsters pouring from the black smoke."

"Are all the ones hitting the main body S-class?"

Jinwoo asked, looking up at the sky. At Prycia. She was being attacked from all sides.

Attacks imbued with powerful magic, clearly palpable even from a distance. Each one was a strike that could easily blow away a building, and they were pouring down several times over, but Prycia was completely unscathed. At most, a few feathers fell.

"As you can see. Everyone's hitting her hard, but it doesn't seem to be having an effect."

"Is there a chain of command?"

"None. But they are all experienced Hunters. They're coordinating on their own by reading the situation. They have the experience from the Ireland incident, after all."

Indeed, for a gathering of S-class Hunters from all sorts of organizations, the coordination was working properly. There were no instances of two spells canceling each other out and wasting mana, nor of anyone unknowingly firing at an ally's back.

But it wasn't enough. If it had been a matter of being just barely insufficient, establishing a chain of command to strengthen coordination might have worked, but it wasn't at that level. It was simply...

'It doesn't reach.'

It was a similar feeling to when he was trapped in Belkarim's barrier. The flow of time in that barrier slowed down as it approached the boundary, trapping any attack.

In Prycia's case, the attacks were hitting her properly, and powers like magic and psionics were being fully unleashed, but the overwhelming feeling was the same. A hollow feeling, as if no matter how far he reached, he couldn't touch her.

"Do you know what that thing is?"

Reinhardt asked. Jinwoo thought for a moment before answering.

"She is the Lord of Light from the 3rd Floor. Her name is Prycia. She introduced herself as the Monarch of Twilight, who governs the Light of Creation and the Darkness of the End."

"The Light of Creation..."

Reinhardt glanced at the sky. At the dreary black smoke coiled around her brilliant wings.

"She has the nerve to use such a grandiose name. For a hideous monster."

"I wholeheartedly agree, but talking more will only please her, don't you think?"

Considering Prycia's twisted tastes and personality, she wouldn't be bothered by such insults. She might even enjoy them.

"Hup!"

As if he had been gathering his power, a bolt of lightning shot from Reinhardt's hand. It headed not for Prycia, but for the dark clouds in the sky. The seed of lightning. The small, fist-sized bolt he fired transformed the surrounding dark clouds into a thundercloud.

And then, the lightning fell.

KUU-GUGUGUGUNG—!

The sound of thunder echoed widely, piercing through the sound of the rain. Reinhardt's ability was louder than that of any other Hunter present.

An attack with destructive power befitting the sound fell upon Prycia. It mainly targeted her wings.

"I'll help too."

Jinwoo raised his sword and activated Kanok's shamanistic ritual. Perhaps because of Reinhardt's thundercloud, the ritual was activated much more easily, and much more powerfully.

It couldn't match the number of bolts Reinhardt was calling down, but a single strike was powerful enough to surpass his.

"You, you had an ability like that too? Incredible!"

"I learned it by chance."

Reinhardt didn't hide his admiration. His voice was booming enough not to be drowned out by the ear-splitting thunder. Jinwoo continuously activated the ritual, and Reinhardt did not stop the lightning.

[A bothersome light.]

After being hit this much, Prycia stirred. However, it wasn't the power of the attacks that bothered her, but the constant flashing of light. Lightning, after all, is accompanied by strong light and heat.

As she spoke, the black smoke began to spread more thickly. Reinhardt's lightning and Jinwoo's ritual were dyed dark. The blue lightning that had been striking Prycia's wings now became black bolts of electricity that fell upon the nearby Hunters.

"Dodge!"

Reinhardt shouted urgently. Fortunately, even without his shout, the Hunters were already taking their own defensive actions. The Thunder Emperor Reinhardt's lightning was powerful, but the others were all S-class too. They were capable of blocking a bolt or two.

[And what are you doing?]

Prycia taunted someone. Her words could be heard by everyone here. Even throughout all of Hong Kong. Prycia's enchanting voice spread like a whisper in the ears of the people who had evacuated to the underground shelters.

But she was addressing only one person. Kang Jinwoo. The one she wanted, from beginning to end, was him and him alone.

He didn't know why she was so obsessed with someone she had only met once on the 3rd Floor, but that was fine. If she had ignored him and flown across the sea, that would have been more troublesome.

"You don't have to rush me. I'm already prepared."

The preparations he had been making while buying time with Kanok's ritual were complete. A small, black sphere-like object formed in Jinwoo's palm.

The Seed of Erosion. One of the twelve Monarchs' seeds, within which Jerakson's soul had wandered for eons.

The method to kill Prycia was set. Just as he had cut down Jerakson, he would cut her soul and extract the Seed.

The problem was the process of getting to that point. Reinhardt's lightning had damaged her wings, but ultimately, it didn't reach her. Other S-class Hunters charged in, but at most, only a few feathers were plucked.

Jinwoo's sword also couldn't reach. The sky where Prycia was located wasn't just at a high altitude. She was like a ghost existing in a completely different phase, so she couldn't be easily cut.

'Even in this situation, she hasn't fully descended.'

There was one reason. Contrary to her appearance, Prycia had not fully descended upon Earth.

He didn't know if she was deliberately using that to protect herself or if there was another reason. But she was holding back by one step, just one step from full descension, and was unilaterally ravaging the city.

'If her descension had been completely blocked, it would be one thing, but as it is now, I have no choice but to drag her completely into this world!'

Only then would his sword reach. Not just his sword, but the lightning would reach as well, and so would fire and ice.

[...!]

Seeing Jinwoo take out the Seed, Prycia was shocked for the first time. Though their acquaintance was brief, this was truly the first time he had seen her so flustered.

[Is that... Jerakson's Seed?]

"Yes."

[Then, as I thought, it was you who drove out Jerakson, who was Eroding Earth. No, looking at you, it seems you did more than just drive him out.]

As she said, everything of Jerakson was in his hand. Its power wasn't enough to make a Monarch fully descend, but it was enough to pull down Prycia, who had almost descended already.

However.

[Can you handle it properly? That Seed, you see, all twelve of my children are quite violent.]

The center of Prycia shone black. A small flame, nothing more than a handful compared to the massive flame that constituted her. That was her Seed.

As if to prove her words about it being violent, the power began to fluctuate as soon as the Seed appeared. Space distorted around her, causing all the Hunters' attacks to miss. The missed attacks struck other Hunters, creating a battlefield where allies attacked allies.

The Seed in Jinwoo's hand resonated with it. Was it being drawn by the power of a fellow Seed? It too began to fluctuate, struggling to escape Jinwoo's grasp.

Squeeze—

He couldn't let it go. Jinwoo gripped the Seed tightly to calm it. But.

[Is calming it all you can manage?]

As she said, right now, stopping the Seed from rampaging was Jinwoo's limit. He didn't think he could possibly handle this power.

Had I more time, it might have been different, but it hadn’t been long since I killed Jerakson and obtained his Seed. It was impossible to control a Monarch’s Seed freely in such a short period.

However, Jinwoo had an ally. If it was impossible for the current Jinwoo, he could ask her for help.

“I’m counting on you.”

I hadn’t only trapped Jerakson in the Seed; I had put something else in there as well. I had planted it there to act as a sort of warden, but thanks to that, I could use it in a time like this.

Branches erupted from the Seed, soaring high and coiling around Prycia.

[This is…!]

The branches of the World Tree. My closest companion, the one who had been a great help in defeating Jerakson.

Because Prycia hadn’t fully descended, she existed in the space between Earth and the Spirit Realm. Her body was leaning mostly toward Earth, but she wasn’t completely separated from the other side.

The World Tree was in a similar state. Its main body was in the Spirit Realm, yet it was connected to the lower world. Permu’s White Tower was proof of that.

[Let go! Let me go!]

Prycia struggled frantically, horrified. Regardless, the snake-like branches wrapped around her and began dragging her down to the surface with relentless force.

Prycia’s power was formidable, so she wasn’t pulled down easily, but in a contest of pure power, my side—bolstered by the World Tree and Jerakson's Seed—was stronger.

Slowly, but surely, she was pulled closer to the ground.

“If you were going to descend, you should have committed to it from the start.”

Trying to attack comfortably while protecting your body in some ambiguous space. That’s what a coward would do. The universal truth that a price must be paid to gain something was the same on Earth as it was in the Spirit Realm.

[Kuaaaahhh!]

She was being dragged down. The angel-like monster that had been positioned high in the sky.

BOOOOOM—!

A massive cloud of dust billowed up as the angel crashed to the earth. The Hunters didn’t know the details of what had happened, but they didn’t miss the opportunity. Thinking this was their chance, they unleashed every attack they had.

However, there was only one strike that Prycia was truly wary of, the one that made her flinch in terror. Jinwoo was charging in, swinging his sword.