"Twenty down."
"Twenty-one down..."
...
"Twenty-six down..."
And just like that, in just about eleven hours of arriving in Japan, Min-Jae had taken down twenty-six giants alone.
---
He teleported one more time, appearing on the outskirts of a ruined district. In the distance, he could see a group of hunters engaged in combat with another giant.
There were five of them—few of them Min-Jae already knew from their visit in South Korea before Jeju island Raid.
Min-Jae teleported directly into the fight.
The giant raised its sword for another strike—
And froze.
Min-Jae raised his hand, seizing the giant with telekinesis. It struggled against the invisible force, but it was futile.
He clenched his fist.
The giant was crushed from the inside, its body crumpling before collapsing to the ground.
The hunters stared at him, wide-eyed and breathing hard.
"Is that all the giants you've seen?" Min-Jae asked, walking over casually.
One of them, a man with short black hair and a scar across his cheek, finally found his voice. "No... there are many of them heading toward Osaka. We've been trying to hold the line here, but—"
"No, not anymore," Min-Jae interrupted. "I took them down."
The hunters exchanged confused glances.
"You... took them down?" the man repeated slowly.
"Yeah. All of them heading toward Osaka." Min-Jae gave them a small nod. "Good work. Keep doing what you're doing."
Before anyone could respond, he teleported.
"What the fuck does he mean he took those giants down all by himself?" Kanae Tawata, one of the S-Rank who visited Korea said
"Is he joking or something?" another asked, looking around as if expecting Min-Jae to reappear and clarify.
The man with the scar shook his head slowly. "That was Cha Min-Jae. The S-Rank from Korea. The one who cleared Jeju Island."
"Yeah, but still—taking down all those giants heading toward Osaka? Alone? In a few hours?"
"I don't know,"
Another hunter let out a disbelieving laugh. "We've been struggling with one giant for thirty minutes, and he just crushed it like it was nothing."
Tokyo
Min-Jae reappeared on the rooftop of a partially collapsed building, overlooking the heart of Tokyo.
The city was a wasteland. Buildings reduced to rubble, streets torn apart, entire districts leveled. Smoke rose in thick columns, and the air was heavy with dust and ash.
And there, in the center of it all, stood the gate.
It was massive—a swirling vortex of red and black energy, easily fifty meters tall. The air around it shimmered with distortion, and the ground beneath it was cracked and scorched.
But it wasn't the gate that held Min-Jae's attention.
It was the giant standing in front of it.
This one was different.
It was bigger than any of the others—easily forty meters tall, towering over the surrounding buildings. Its gray skin looked almost metallic in the light, and its armor was far more refined, almost ornate. Thick chains hung from its shoulders, and its horns were larger, more jagged.
But what really stood out was the aura.
The amount of magical energy radiating from it was exceptional. Far beyond anything Min-Jae had felt from the previous giants. It was dense, oppressive, almost suffocating.
Min-Jae narrowed his eyes behind his blindfold.
'This one's probably the boss ? It sure has S-Rank Aura and Magical Energy.'
But then he frowned.
There was something else.
Another presence. Powerful. But not from the gate.
He focused, trying to pinpoint it.
'There's another powerful presence I'm sensing. And it's definitely not a magical beast from the gate. What can that be?'
The presence felt... familiar. But distant. Like it was watching from somewhere nearby, hidden.
Min-Jae scanned the area, his senses heightened, but he couldn't locate the source.
'Whoever or whatever it is, they're deliberately concealing themselves.'
He returned his attention to the giant.
Min-Jae stood still, hands in his pockets, completely unbothered.