On Hiatus: God's Personal Reasons-Chapter 201: #Troubling Hunter War (1)

Africa, the world’s second-largest continent, had once been considered mankind’s birthplace. In modern times, the country was often seen as a symbol of poverty due to frequent civil wars, only worsened by the rise of dungeons and gates. Today, it was a land of the dead, uninhabitable except for a few countries

So, how would the Hunter War be run in this setting?

***

In Dodoma, the capital city of Tanzania, Africa.

“Grrr....”

“Woooo...”

Bizarre, ghostly wails echoed throughout all of Dodoma. They came from zombies roaming the land, endlessly hunting the living to satisfy their hunger—such was the fate of the city's once-peaceful people.

Whiiir!

Occasionally, they’d set their hollow gazes at the camera drones hovering around. Upon realizing these machines were inedible, they’d wrinkle their noses and stop paying attention.

A towering bone palace stood in the heart of Dodoma, home to the one who spread the zombie plague.

The camera drone focused on the man seated atop the bone throne. A terrifying skeletal mage with beaming red eyes, donning a rusty bronze crown. His image was then projected to the audience in the Colosseum.

[S-rank Undead-type Monster, Lich]

Assigned points: 440pt

“Eeeep!”

“S-so scary!”

The audience screamed at the sight of the terrifying skeletal mage. Those from New York City took it the worst. After all, in the past, a Lich and 100,000 undead soldiers had launched a sneak attack on them.

If a certain man hadn’t shown up, New York City would have become a city of death like Dodoma.

Annoyed, the Lich swatted the drones flying around him like mosquitoes, then pointed his skull-encrusted staff at them.

A ball of red flame burst from the staff, threatening to reduce the drone to ashes. Just then, a blond man staggered in, dragging a battered walker while drinking from a beer bottle.

Creeeak!

The Lich’s skeletal head turned eerily to the man.

-Kiehehe, a long, overdue sacrifice...! Right when I’m craving for some hot blood...!

The Lich’s voice, like rusty hinges scraping, oozed malice and bloodlust as it echoed through the camera drones. However, the audience was no longer terrified.

“It’s New York’s hero, Lightning Man!”

“Gillian! Destroy that fucking Lich!”

The young, beer-bellied drunkard was none other than Gillian, the SS-rank Hunter who stopped the zombie attack in New York City.

Flick! Splat!

He threw the empty beer bottle at the Lich's feet, then raised both hands. "All monsters suck, but you walking corpses? Easily the worst, hands down."

Pzz!

Gillian activated his innate skill, Blessing of the Lightning God, covering himself in lightning.

"Stay in your graves where you belong!"

Ruuumble! Baaam!

A storm of thunderbolts washed over Dodoma.

SS-rank Gillian Sanders, Member of the U.S. Hunter National Team

Skills: Blessing of Lightning God

Engaging in a fight with an S-rank Lich!

The banks of the Nile River in Sudan, Africa, was once the lifeline of mankind. But now, it had lost all vitality and turned into a river of death, bubbling with cyanide poison. Standing there was a middle-aged man with a tattered beanie covering most of his face.

Boooom!

Moments later, the lord of the area surfaced in the vast river.

Whiiir!

The camera drone recorded everything and projected it to the Colosseum.

S-rank Beast-type monster, Leviathan

Assigned points: 490 pt

The monster was a gigantic snake over a hundred meters long. Constantly dripping from it was the very poison that polluted the Nile River.

The Leviathan let out a roar.

-Gaaaah!

It spread its maw, threatening to swallow the invader in one fell swoop. The man removed his beanie, revealing lustrous brown hair and a strikingly handsome face. He instantly went from a hobo to an actor.

“Kyaaa! Take me, John!”

“Homeless! No one is stronger than you!”

The crowd at the Colosseum went wild.

Homeless, the New York Hero, was once a Hermit. He finally displayed his powers to save his daughter. Exuding poisonous black smoke, the man charged toward the Leviathan’s stomach.

“I challenge you, Snake. Let’s see which is stronger—your poison or mine.”

SS-rank Hunter Homeless (Real name: John Wig), Member of the U.S. Hunter National Team

Skills: Poison King, Iron Body

Hunters worldwide were deployed across Africa to exterminate the monsters. Points were awarded based on threat level, and those who amassed 10,000 within 72 hours would pass the qualifiers. And America, the world’s most powerful Hunter nation, stood out, doing particularly well in the preliminaries.

Even though their best Hunters, Elven Royce and Jack White, weren’t participating, they were still rapidly racking in points. While the Hunters from the United Kingdom, Japan, France, and other nations weren’t far behind, there was a surprising addition to the field—the team from Greece.

Reinforce-type Hunter Ares, rumored to be the reincarnation of Hercules, and Hunter Aegis, wielding the Petrifying Gaze, were the dark horses of the Hunter War.

In comparison, China’s performance was marginal. Despite being known as the world’s second-largest in terms of Hunter combat power, China had abruptly lost most of its S-rank Hunters recently. Now, they were left with Lin Xiaoming, China’s most prized S-rank Hunter, who had made it to the semi-finals in the last Hunter War. However, she’d refused to participate.

“Our cute and adorable little Sword God. Say ah~”

“Des...troy~”

“Good job. You’re such a good boy~”

Instead, she was busy feeding some refreshing sherbet to Sam-Shin.

As for the Korean team...

“What the hell are you unhappy about?!”

They hadn’t even started.

***

“Director Gal Joong-Hyuk, do you still need time to think? Please choose a monster for the raid so we can set the coordinates.”

“Please wait a moment!” Gal Joong-Hyuk yelled at Jack Violet, who was dispatched to them after Jack Blond had fainted.

Jack Violet was a beautiful elf with violet hair as her name suggested, but that wasn’t the point now. Gal Joong-Hyuk glared at me, who was wearing a black helmet.

"You just need to finish in the top 50 to clear the preliminaries. Our goal is to get through with minimal injuries and focus on the main event. This year, we’re stronger than ever—I truly believe we can reach the quarterfinals for the first time. So why are you being so stubborn?! You’re just a substitute! You don’t even have to compete in the preliminaries!"

I looked at the LED board that showed the ongoing match, then said, "I don’t like this approach. Forming teams of five and taking down monsters one by one? That’ll take forever!"

Since only a maximum of ten Hunters could compete in the preliminaries, Gal Joong-Hyuk had divided the team into two groups to kill the monsters safely.

Ridiculous! Even the American Hunters were hunting the monsters on their own!

My pride as a great malevolent god and rookie was hurt due to my team’s sloppy play.

"Well, yeah! That’s part of the strategy!”

“Keke. I refuse to lead my team with such cowardly strategies.”

“Crazy bastard! Did you forget who the director is?!”

“Senior, please calm down. Mr. Sword God must’ve had something in his mind.” Shin Yoo, my loyal fanatic, chimed in before Gal Joong-Hyuk could explode.

“I really don’t care. Can we start already? Are we gonna sit around forever?" Sung Mi-Na frowned in annoyance.

Her overwhelming confidence in dealing with those monsters alone pleased me.

I patted her head. “As expected of my follower.”

“W-what are you doing in front of everyone?!” Sung Mi-Na yelled, but she didn’t shy away from my touch.

Of course she wouldn’t! A praise from your god is the most valuable prize in the world to any followers!

When I saw the envious look Sung Mi-Ri sent our way, I patted her as well. She went from confusion to chuckling lightly. This was a reward for lending me her helmet.

I didn’t really care, but the main body did desperately beg me to hide my identity from the mass media as much as possible.

Meanwhile, Gal Joong-Hyuk was still barking like a mad dog. If he irritated me any further, I’d beat him up.

Just then, Sword Demon sneaked up from behind Gal Joong-Hyuk, then smacked the back of his head with the hilt of his sword.

“Keugh...!”

Knocked out, Gal Joong-Hyuk collapsed to the ground and foamed at his mouth.

Sword Demon turned to me and reported, “Your faithful right-hand man has dealt with the vandal, Mr. Sword God!”

“Impressive. Your sneak attack has improved.”

“I’m honored to receive your praise!”

“S-Senior! Are you alright? Kang Geom, how could you do this?! He’s still our director, you know!”

“Shut it, you traitor!”

“Haaa... What a mess.” The red-haired man, Baek Yoo-Hyun, sighed.

“...Is this a mutiny? Well, it doesn’t really matter. Can we proceed with the preliminaries now?” The elf watched with a sullen face.

I was told that the portal was managed entirely by elves. With a strength of about twenty or so of them, it’d be hard to manage, but that was none of my concern.

I pointed at Gal Joong-Hyuk, who was sprawled out on the ground like a frog. “I’m going to participate in his stead.”

“I understand. I’ll add substitute Hunter Yu Il-Shin into the list. If there are other Hunters—”

“No need.” I cut the elf off, then turned to the rest of the Korean team. “All of you can stay here and watch me in the play.”

I didn’t need to use the portal either.

“Skill Sharing. Choi Bong-Shik’s Ruler of Space.”

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“Ah, Mr. Yu! Let me—!” Sung Mi-Ri’s eyes widened as she tried to reach out to me.

Swoosh!

I traveled through space in an instant, disappearing from the Colosseum. But I wasn’t alone, of course.

“Hyiie! Aaargh! W-why meeee?!”

I had grabbed the blond bastard, Choi Bong-Shik, by the scruff of his neck.

Ah, he must be screaming with joy for being chosen among my many followers. Keke, what a sight.

“Eeeek! Sky! The skyyyyy!” Choi Bong-Shik screamed in delight, seeing the ground tens of kilometers beneath our feet. His eyes were about to pop out of their sockets. How ridiculous.

We were at an altitude that gave us a bird’s eye view of the entire African continent. None of this would have been possible without Choi Bong-Shik. I brought him along to show my great accomplishments as a god.

I smirked and threw my hands up in the air.

“Meteor Shower.”

Behold, Humans. This is how a god gets things done.