The battle in Seoul had already lasted twelve minutes.
Twelve minutes was all it took for the city to realize the truth.
This enemy was not a gate monster.
This enemy was not a Monarch.
It was something entirely different.
And humanity was losing.
The Eldritch Apostle walked through the city like an unstoppable natural disaster. Buildings collapsed under the pressure of its existence alone, and every step it took distorted the air as if gravity itself bent around its body.
S-rank hunters surrounded it from every direction.
Flames burned across the sky.
Ice spears rained from above.
Blades of condensed mana slashed through the streets.
None of it mattered.
The Apostle moved through every attack like a god walking through rain.
Another S-rank hunter fell.
Then another.
Then another.
The Hunter Who Broke the Limit
In the center of the battlefield stood the hunter whose core had evolved.
Moments ago he had been an A-rank.
Now the air around him trembled.
His aura pressed down on the battlefield with a density no normal hunter could produce.
The other hunters could feel it.
Something inside him had changed.
His mana was no longer unstable.
It had become condensed.
Refined.
Dangerous.
The Apostle tilted its head slightly as it observed him.
For the first time since arriving on Earth…
The creature looked interested.
The hunter stepped forward.
The ground cracked beneath his feet.
His eyes burned with determination.
"I won't let you reach them."
Behind him, thousands of civilians were evacuating the city.
If the Apostle broke through…
Millions would die.
The hunter inhaled slowly.
Mana surged through his body like a storm.
Then he moved.
The First True Clash
The next moment—
The street exploded.
A shockwave blasted outward as the hunter and the Apostle collided.
Concrete shattered.
Cars flipped.
Entire buildings shook.
For the first time in the battle…
The Apostle stopped advancing.
It raised one arm and blocked the hunter's strike.
The impact created a crater twenty meters wide.
The other hunters stared in disbelief.
Someone whispered,
"…He stopped it."
Another S-rank clenched his fist.
"If he can do that… we still have a chance."
Around the World
The same battle was happening everywhere.
Tokyo.
London.
New York.
Cairo.
Moscow.
Rio.
Across the planet, Apostles had descended into the largest cities.
And everywhere…
Hunters were fighting back.
Some were dying.
Some were evolving.
Across the world, mana cores were breaking their limits.
The pressure of the Eldritch Apostles was forcing humanity to evolve faster than anyone expected.
S-ranks pushed themselves beyond exhaustion.
SS-ranks reached new thresholds.
National Rank hunters felt their power rising toward a level once thought impossible.
Something inside humanity had awakened.
The First Monarch-Class Squad
Back in Seoul, reinforcements finally arrived.
Five figures landed on the battlefield.
S-rank hunters.
Veterans of the Monarch War.
Their presence immediately changed the atmosphere.
Each of them released their full aura.
The pressure of their combined mana forced the Apostle to pause.
One of them spoke calmly.
"We hold it here."
Another cracked his knuckles.
"Long enough for evacuation."
The evolved hunter nodded.
His breathing slowed.
His mana stabilized.
Together…
They charged. The Apostles Learn
After several minutes of combat, something unexpected happened.
The Apostle stopped attacking.
It stepped back slightly.
Its many eyes studied the hunters carefully.
Then the same voice echoed in every mind again.
"Adaptation detected."
The creature raised its head toward the cracked sky.
"Subject species evolving beyond predicted parameters."
The Eldritch Gods were watching.
And humanity had just proven something important.
They were not prey.
They were a variable.
Far Beyond Earth
In the endless void between universes…
Jinyoung stood alone.
He could feel it clearly now.
Humanity was fighting.
Growing.
Surviving.
Hundreds of new mana signatures had appeared across the planet.
Some of them were already approaching Low Monarch-tier power.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"They're doing it."
But then his expression changed.
Because beyond the distant universes created by Yogaroth…
Something ancient had noticed him.
Something far greater than the Apostles.
Something watching with curiosity.
One of the Primordial Beings had begun observing the battlefield.