Seoul had become a battlefield.
Flames crawled across broken streets, shattered towers leaned like dying giants, and the night sky above the city remained split open by the enormous wound in reality.
The Eldritch Apostle still stood in the center of the destruction.
Unmoving.
Watching.
Around it, dozens of hunters struggled to remain standing.
S-ranks.
SS-ranks.
Even the strongest among them were exhausted.
The Apostle's power simply did not diminish.
It did not breathe.
It did not tire.
It only observed.
As if the entire battle was nothing more than an experiment.
The Arrival of Humanity's Strongest
Then the air trembled.
A pressure far heavier than any S-rank aura descended onto the battlefield.
Three figures landed on the ruined highway.
Every hunter immediately recognized them.
National Rank Hunters.
Humanity's highest military power.
One of them stepped forward slowly.
He was calm, composed, and completely fearless.
His eyes studied the Apostle for several seconds.
"So this is the new enemy," he said quietly.
One of the S-rank hunters nearby spoke.
"It erased several hunters instantly… none of our attacks worked."
The National Rank hunter nodded once.
"Understood."
Then he walked forward.
A Limit Reached
The Apostle moved immediately.
A sphere of distorted space formed in its hand.
Then—
It fired.
The beam of erasure tore across the battlefield, deleting everything in its path.
But the National Rank hunter didn't dodge.
He raised his arm.
Mana erupted from his body like a storm.
The beam slowed.
Then stopped.
Frozen mid-air by sheer force.
Every hunter on the battlefield froze.
Even the Apostle tilted its head.
The hunter's aura was changing.
His mana pressure kept increasing.
Higher.
Denser.
More refined.
For years he had been stuck at the same limit.
Humanity itself had placed that ceiling on him.
But now the pressure of the Eldritch invasion…
Had shattered it.
His mana core compressed violently.
Power surged through every part of his body.Humanity's First Step Beyond
The transformation stabilized.
The hunter exhaled slowly.
The air around him trembled under his aura.
Every hunter nearby instinctively stepped backward.
Even the Apostle reacted.
It took one step back.
The S-rank hunters stared in disbelief.
"…That power…"
One of them whispered,
"It feels like a Monarch."
The National Rank hunter shook his head slightly.
"Not a Monarch."
His voice remained calm.
"But close enough to fight one."
Then he moved.
The street beneath him shattered as he launched forward.
The Apostle attacked simultaneously.
The collision created a shockwave that flattened nearby buildings.
For the first time since arriving on Earth…
The Apostle was forced backward.
Humanity had finally produced a warrior capable of standing against them.
The War Expands
But while the hunters focused on their battle…
Something worse was happening above them.
The crack in the sky continued expanding.
More figures were descending.
Not dozens anymore.
Hundreds.
Across the entire planet, the same phenomenon was occurring.
Tokyo.
London.
New York.
Cairo.
Rio.
Moscow.
Apostles continued emerging from the dimensional tear without end.
Inside the International Hunter Association headquarters, analysts watched the global mana readings climb higher and higher.
One scientist whispered in disbelief.
"…It's impossible."
Another analyst zoomed out the world map.
Red signals appeared everywhere.
Then more.
And more.
The director slowly realized the truth.
"This isn't an invasion army."
His voice shook.
"It's an infinite invasion."
The room fell silent.
Humanity wasn't fighting a war they could win by numbers.
They were fighting a force with no limit.
Stronger Servants
Back in Seoul, the Apostle suddenly stopped attacking.
Its many eyes looked upward toward the dimensional crack.
Then the familiar voice echoed inside every hunter's mind.
"Human adaptation confirmed."
The creature's gaze returned to the battlefield.
"Deployment of stronger servants authorized."
The sky darkened further.
New figures began descending.
These beings radiated far heavier mana than the first Apostles.
The hunters immediately felt the difference.
One SS-rank hunter whispered in fear,
"…Those things are stronger."
Another added quietly,
"The first ones were only scouts."
The war had just escalated.
The First Future Legend
The National Rank hunter stood tall despite the new arrivals.
His aura had stabilized.
The immense pressure surrounding him remained steady.
For the first time in human history…
A hunter had reached Low Monarch-level mana.
One of the S-rank hunters looked at him in awe.
"What do we even call someone like you now?"
The hunter looked toward the sky.
Toward the endless enemies descending from the tear in reality.
Then he answered quietly.
"Not a National Rank anymore."
He clenched his fist.
"Something new."
Something humanity had never seen before.
The first step toward a new title.
A title that would one day be spoken across the world.
Legend.
Far Beyond Earth
At the edge of the universe…
Jinyoung stood between collapsing stars and distant galaxies.
He had felt everything.
Humanity's struggle.
Their evolution.
The moment the first hunter reached Low Monarch tier.
A faint smile crossed his face.
"They're growing faster than expected."
But his gaze soon turned toward the distant void beyond his universe.
Beyond Yogaroth's creation.
Beyond the battlefield of Earth.
Countless universes waited there.
Some peaceful.
Some destroyed.
Some filled with beings far stronger than Monarchs.
And somewhere within those endless worlds…
Two survivors still lived.
The Lord of Ice.
And the Lord of Instinct.
The last first-generation Monarch Lords.
Jinyoung stepped forward.
Space folded beneath his feet.
"Time to see the rest of Yogaroth's creations."
And with that—
He vanished into the multiverse.