The alert hit every console in the country at once.
City-level Overlap zone. Osaka. Hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped inside. The largest Convergence since the early days of the chaos.
Guilds mobilized immediately. Valiant Storm. White Tiger. Phoenix Dawn. Iron Blood. All sent their best hunters, their strongest teams, their most experienced veterans. The response was overwhelming, coordinated, confident.
Within twenty-four hours, that confidence turned to ash.
The guild forces were destroyed. Not defeated in a hard fight—annihilated. The perimeter defenses set up around the zone were overrun. Defenders were taken hostage, lined up along the edge like prisoners of war for all to see. The hunters who survived were scattered, broken, barely able to describe what they had faced.
No one had ever seen anything like this.
---
The NHA called an emergency meeting in the capital. All major guilds were summoned. Shield Bearers received an invitation, and Ji-hu, Yuna, and Ara made the journey without hesitation. Minjun and Soojin stayed behind to mind the store, Minjun protesting loudly until Soojin reminded him that someone had to keep the business running.
The meeting room was massive, filled with the nation's strongest hunters. Tension hung thick in the air, heavy enough to taste. At the front of the room stood Director Tanaka of the NHA, a gray-haired man with sharp eyes and a voice that carried even without raising.
Director Tanaka: Thank you all for coming. We have a situation unlike anything we've faced before. Let me begin by introducing the S-rank hunters present today.
He gestured to his left where a lean man with a sword at his hip sat motionless.
Director Tanaka: From White Tiger Guild, Ryu. Sword master who extends wind blades from his weapon. Fast, precise, deadly at any range. He's been fighting at the highest level since the second year.
Ryu nodded once. Said nothing. His eyes moved across the room, assessing everyone.
Director Tanaka: From Iron Blood, Kenji. Body hardener. Can make his skin and bones as tough as steel. Nearly unstoppable in close combat and one of the most durable hunters we have.
Kenji crossed his massive arms. His face showed nothing, but his presence filled the space around him.
Director Tanaka: From Phoenix Dawn, Mika. Support specialist. Healing, buffs, enhancement magic. Young but already proven in major operations. She's kept teams alive in situations that should have killed everyone.
Mika smiled nervously at the room, clearly uncomfortable with the attention.
Director Tanaka: From Valiant Storm, Hana. Water and lightning affinity. The youngest S-rank in history and one of our most valuable assets. Her growth rate has been exceptional since day one.
Hana sat straight and professional, but her eyes found Ji-hu in the crowd and softened just for a moment.
Director Tanaka: Also from Valiant Storm, Kang. Gravity manipulation. Can increase or decrease weight within his field of influence. One of our most experienced veterans with decades of combat experience before the Convergence even happened.
Kang sat quietly, observing everything with the calm patience of someone who had seen too much to be surprised by anything.
Director Tanaka: And from Shield Bearers, Ara. Spatial affinity. Newly ranked S-rank with demonstrated combat capability far beyond her testing period. And Ji-hu. Recently classified as Exodus rank. The first in history.
Murmurs spread through the room. Eyes turned toward Ji-hu. Some curious. Some skeptical. Some openly hostile.
Ji-hu showed nothing. He was used to being watched.
---
Director Tanaka: Now. The footage.
The lights dimmed and a screen lit up behind him. Aerial drone footage from outside the Osaka zone filled the room.
The perimeter was a nightmare. Defenders knelt in rows, hands bound, heads bowed. Monsters stood guard over them like soldiers, not mindless beasts. They changed shifts at regular intervals. Patrols moved in formation. Communication signals passed between them in ways that cameras couldn't capture but anyone could recognize.
Then the camera focused deeper inside. A group of creatures unlike any seen before stood in a circle. Armored. Armed. Gesturing and posturing in ways that could only be conversation. Planning. Commanding.
Ryu: What are those?
Kenji: Never seen anything like them.
Mika: They're organized. That's not normal. Monsters don't do that. They don't plan. They don't communicate.
Ji-hu went completely still. Ara noticed immediately, her hand finding his arm under the table.
Ara: Ji-hu?
He stood. Walked toward the screen without asking permission. Everyone watched him move, the Exodus rank, the man from nowhere.
Ji-hu: They're from Nethrar.
Silence.
Director Tanaka: You're certain?
Ji-hu: I spent a year fighting things like them. Those aren't random monsters. They're a hunting party. Organized. Trained. They have leaders, tactics, strategies. They communicate. They adapt.
Ryu: You're the one who claims he went to another world.
Ji-hu: I don't claim. I did.
Hana: He's not lying. I know my brother.
Kenji: Even if it's true... you're calling those things mid-level? Those things destroyed our best guilds. Wiped them out like they were nothing.
Ji-hu: Because you treated them like normal monsters. They're not. They learn. They watch. They're testing us right now.
Director Tanaka: Testing?
Ji-hu: The strays they send out. The ones that escape the zone and attack random areas. You think those are accidents? They're probes. They're seeing how we react. What our capabilities are. How fast we respond. How we organize our defenses.
The room went quiet. Completely, utterly quiet.
Mika: That's not how monsters work. That's not how anything works.
Ji-hu: These aren't monsters. They're an army. And they're just the beginning.
---
Director Tanaka leaned forward, his sharp eyes fixed on Ji-hu.
Director Tanaka: You've fought them before. You know how they think. What do you suggest?
Ji-hu looked at the screen. At the creatures that reminded him of a year he'd rather forget. At the prisoners kneeling in rows. At the organized patrols moving like clockwork.
Ji-hu: We need a plan. Not an attack. A counter-attack. We need to understand their structure, their leaders, their weaknesses. We hit them where they're vulnerable, not where they're strong.
Ryu: And you know their weaknesses?
Ji-hu: Some. Enough.
Hana: Oppa... you don't have to lead this.
Ji-hu: I'm not letting more people die to those things. Not when I know what they are. Not when I know how they think.
Director Tanaka: Then speak. What's your plan?
Ji-hu turned to face the room. All those S-ranks watching him. Waiting. Some trusting. Some skeptical. All desperate for answers.
Ji-hu: First, we need to understand their command structure. The leaders aren't just stronger than the others. They're smarter. They coordinate everything. Take them out, and the rest fall into chaos.
Kenji: Easier said than done. Those leaders are surrounded by hundreds of soldiers.
Ji-hu: I know. That's why we don't do it alone.
He looked at Ara. At Hana. At Kang, who sat quietly observing. At Ryu and Kenji and Mika.
Ji-hu: We go in as teams. Small units. Each team targets a specific leader. We coordinate. We communicate. We move fast and hit hard. We don't stop until they're all down.
Director Tanaka: And the hostages?
Ji-hu: That's the hard part. They're bait. The hunting party wants us to rush in and die trying to save them. That's what they're expecting. That's what they've trained for.
Ryu: So we leave them to die?
Ji-hu: We save them. But not first. First we break their army. First we kill their leaders. First we take away their organization. Then we take back what's ours.
Silence. Heavy. Thinking.
Kang: He's right. It's what I would do.
Everyone looked at Kang. He rarely spoke, but when he did, people listened.
Director Tanaka: You have a full plan?
Ji-hu: I will. Give me tonight.
Director Tanaka: Done. Tomorrow, you present to this room. Everyone answers to you for this operation.
Murmurs spread. Some S-ranks looked uncomfortable, unhappy about taking orders from someone they barely knew. But no one objected. Not after seeing that footage. Not after hearing what Ji-hu knew.
---
Ji-hu left the meeting with the weight of everything on his shoulders. Ara walked beside him, close enough to touch but not touching. Hana caught up with them outside.
Hana: Oppa.
Ji-hu: I know.
Hana: You don't have to do this.
Ji-hu: Yes I do.
Hana: Why?
Ji-hu: Because I've seen what happens when those things win. I've seen what they do to worlds that can't stop them. I'm not letting that happen here.
Hana looked at him. At the brother who had changed so much.
Hana: Then I'm with you. All the way.
She hugged him quickly and walked away before he could respond.
---
That night, Ji-hu sat alone in his borrowed room, maps and plans spread before him. Ara found him there, as she always did.
Ara: Can't sleep?
Ji-hu: Never can.
Ara: Me neither.
She sat across from him, looking at the plans.
Ara: You're really going to lead this.
Ji-hu: I have to.
Ara: I know. That's why I'm coming with you.
Ji-hu: I wouldn't have it any other way.
They worked through the night, building a plan, preparing for what was coming.
Behind them, somewhere in Osaka, the Nethrar hunting party waited. They had won every battle so far. Destroyed every guild sent against them.
But they had never faced someone who knew them.
Tomorrow, that changed.
---
END OF CHAPTER 37