He was certain they would do it. He was ready to finish things that night, but just as he was about to stab his dagger into the helmet, he heard a girl’s voice surrendering. When he removed the helmet, it turned out to be an elf girl begging for her life. Jin-Woo wasn’t buying it—she had attacked his soldiers, and now she wanted mercy. She claimed she was only following orders to defend the area from invaders like him. As Jin-Woo turned his back to leave, she tried to pull a fast one and stab him from behind, but ended up slamming into Tusk’s shield. Jin-Woo looked at her like, Really? That’s your plan? She immediately dropped to her knees, apologizing nonstop.
Jin-Woo asked if she could get him the entry permit, and she said her family protected it. If he escorted her home, she could get him one. Could he really trust her? She swore on her life that she wasn’t lying. Jin-Woo shrugged and said that if she got him the permit, he wouldn’t have to wreck the place. Then he asked who the hell she was.
Meanwhile, on an island far away, a man was being eaten alive by a giant ant. Another man standing nearby didn’t last much longer. Things only got worse—now the ants had learned how to fly.
Back in the Demon Castle, the elf girl introduced herself as Princess Esil of the Radir Clan. But Jin-Woo didn’t care about titles—he wanted to know if she heard voices in her head telling her to wipe out humans. She said no, but she had heard a voice urging her to protect the place ever since they arrived. Apparently, her people used to live in the demon world but somehow ended up here. When Jin-Woo asked why they were preparing for war, she suddenly froze—her brain short-circuited. She barely managed to say their enemies were so powerful that the entire demon race had to unite against them. But before she could say more, a mysterious force silenced her, saying Jin-Woo was asking too many questions. Just like that, Esil collapsed.
At the Hunter Association, things weren’t looking good. They were reviewing footage of a mutant ant attack: 294 civilians wiped out, six hunters sent to help also gone. Worst of all, the island that got attacked was only 150 km from Jeju. If these ants could fly that far, it was only a matter of time before they started attacking everywhere. South Korea couldn’t handle this alone—they had no choice but to request reinforcements from other countries.
Back at Demon Castle, Esil finally woke up, apologizing for passing out. Jin-Woo just asked if they were there yet. She pointed ahead—her family’s castle was just around the corner. When they arrived, her father immediately panicked. He demanded to know who this “monster” was that she had brought home. Esil tried to explain that Jin-Woo was just a guest, but her father wasn’t having it. He didn’t trust someone who showed up with an entire army. Without hesitation, he ordered his knights to take Jin-Woo down. But Jin-Woo, calm as ever, said he just wanted the entry permit.
That’s when the king realized who he was dealing with—this was the man who had annihilated Vulcan and Midas like it was nothing. There was no way they could defeat him. With no other option, the king handed over the permit and told him to leave. But then Jin-Woo dropped a bombshell: he was taking the princess with him. Before the king could lose it, Jin-Woo clarified that he only needed her to find the other permits and promised to protect her. After a lot of hesitation, the king finally agreed.
Outside the castle, Jin-Woo kept wiping the floor with demon knights. He also noticed that Igris and Tank were getting stronger by the minute. Esil warned him that the monsters on the upper floors were way tougher than anything they’d faced so far, but Jin-Woo told her not to worry—none of these so-called noble clans stood a chance against him. That’s when Esil straight-up asked why he let her family live, and Jin-Woo, without missing a beat, hit her with the most unexpected answer: “Because I like you.”
Boom. Instant heart attack. Her brain short-circuited and her soul nearly left her body. But before she could start daydreaming about their future, Jin-Woo casually told her she could go home now—he just needed the locations of the permits. He warned her that the upcoming battles would be way more dangerous, and it was too risky for her to stick around. Just like that, her heart shattered into a million pieces. She asked if she was useless to him now, but Jin-Woo reassured her that she had already helped a lot. Still, she begged him to let her stay and watch him fight—she needed to see it with her own eyes.
Jin-Woo sighed, realizing he had no choice, and told her not to fall behind. And she wasn’t exaggerating—the fights really were 90 times harder than before. But did that stop him? Nope. He kept dragging those monsters’ faces through the dirt like they were nothing.
Meanwhile, over at the Hunter Guild, Four Eyes and Choi Jong-In had just received an urgent request from the Association. They were needed for a mission against the mutant ants. Apparently, another top-ranked guild leader was joining them as well.
Back at the Demon Castle… Jin-Woo and Esil finally reached the 100th floor—the final boss room. Just as Esil opened her mouth to say, “Huh, looks empty,” a giant dragon blasted through the ceiling. Lightning erupted everywhere, the place was being obliterated, and riding that terrifying wyvern was none other than Baran, the Demon King. Even Jin-Woo could tell this was going to be a problem, and Esil was seconds away from a full-blown panic attack. To make things worse, the guy could fly.
Before anyone could react, Baran unleashed some Naruto-level Edo Tensei magic and started summoning an army of demons. Jin-Woo hadn’t expected that many enemies, so he immediately countered by summoning his shadow army. The battlefield turned into complete chaos. Tusk nuked the field with a fire tsunami, wiping out 300 demons in one move. Esil stood in shock, torn about which side to fight for—the king of all demons or the overpowered invader who had steamrolled his way there.
Before she could decide, Baran launched a massive lightning blast from the sky, nuking everything. Shadow soldiers were being erased left and right, and Esil was about to be next—but at the last second, Jin-Woo swooped in and saved her like a superhero. That’s when he realized the lightning wasn’t ordinary—it paralyzed anyone it hit. If he didn’t find a way around it, his soldiers would be wiped out and his mana would run dry.
So he activated stealth mode, went full speed, and tried to slice off the dragon’s wings—but Baran blocked it and countered with a brutal strike that sent Jin-Woo crashing into the ground like a meteor. He barely dodged another point-blank lightning blast, knowing full well that even plot armor wouldn’t save him if he got hit. He called in Tusk, who—thanks to the Orb of Avarice—overpowered Baran’s attack. That gave Jin-Woo his shot: one clean swing, and the wyvern’s head was off.
Now that Baran was grounded, Jin-Woo cracked his neck and said, “Took you long enough. My neck was starting to hurt from looking up. Time to throw hands.”
Meanwhile, back at the Hunter Association, President Go was meeting with the Baekho Guild, led by Ryuji Goto—also known as the second strongest hunter in all of Asia. They thanked him for agreeing to help with the mutant ant invasion. One of the assistants laid out the plan: ants only live for about a year, so if they could kill the queen, the entire colony would naturally die off within that time. Ryuji then announced that 11 Rank-S hunters from his guild, including himself, would engage the ants directly, keeping them distracted while South Korea’s hunters focused on taking out the queen. Even the president was shocked by how wild that plan was. With everything agreed on, they began finalizing mission details.
Back at the Demon Castle, it looked like World War III. Tusk was blocking the Demon King’s beams while the rest of the team attacked like a pack of wild animals. Iron got stabbed right in the forehead, and Igris was tossed aside. Jin-Woo tried to ambush Baran, but got blocked and nearly had his head crushed. Then Tusk grabbed the big sword, Jin-Woo sliced Baran’s arm, and everyone jumped in—but Baran unleashed a devastating area attack that wiped out all the shadows and drained Jin-Woo’s mana.
No worries, though—he’d been fighting solo his whole life. He traded blows with the Demon King, and for the first time, Jin-Woo faced someone stronger than himself. He tried to block a strike, but his daggers flew from his hands. He was pummeled so hard he nearly lost his breath, but somehow clung to Baran’s arms and started channeling an explosive, final attack. Just then, Esil threw a sword at Baran—not enough to do real damage, but enough of a distraction.
That moment gave Jin-Woo the opening he needed. He locked Baran down with his Dominator’s Touch, tore off his arms, and finished him off with a meteor punch that literally sent the Demon King’s head to the moon. It was the first time Jin-Woo had knocked off a head with a punch instead of slicing it with a dagger. Baran went down, and Jin-Woo got the notification: he had defeated the Demon Monarch.
All enemies vanished, and Esil ran to Jin-Woo—but he told her to go home and let her father know that the Radir Clan was now the biggest clan in hell. She started crying happy tears, laughing that he even got her clan’s name wrong.
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