By Zephyria 
“Biyendwe, isn’t there a possibility that seeds can germinate in places where there is no magical energy?”
[Death and Beauty asks back if this is not, indeed, Earth.]
“Furthermore, there were no omens. That is why it didn’t occur to me immediately, but…”
A chaos grand warrior possesses the ability to germinate seeds regardless of the presence of magical energy, and can also temporarily grant the same ability to their seed bearer.
The reason he hadn’t thought of this immediately after the incident was that the divinity of mak slecht is usually able to detect when a follower who has received the grace of chaos is newly born.
[Death and Beauty explains that they felt no abnormalities whatsoever on Earth.]
“It might have been born before we arrived on Earth, or perhaps you couldn’t detect it because you are not the complete divinity of Earth, Biyendwe.”
After a period of silence, Biyendwe spoke again through divine utterance.
[Death and Beauty asks if those fellows aren’t being a bit too petty. They add that it is merely a single Gete.]
“…That is certainly true.”
That was the second reason why Kim Si-baek hadn’t immediately suspected a chaos grand warrior. The attack was too weak for such a being. If it had been the Edokus he had experienced, the giant vines would have already spread in swarms across the entire city, shattering the dome from the inside, and magical beasts would have swarmed in so thick that the horizon would be invisible. Or, they would have germinated something far more powerful than a magical beast that takes time to exert its full power, like the giant vine.
‘Is their power weaker than it was in mak slecht? Testing the waters? Or perhaps it’s because a seed bearer who received a portion of their power did it, rather than the warrior acting personally, which is why only one could be germinated… There were definitely people on Earth with a magical beast-centric ideology, right? Those… demonic terrorists, was it?’
In any case, if a chaos grand warrior was involved, there might be a way to find the core. There must be a human who germinated the seed, and if that human is an Awakened, they can be tracked via magical power. It was a fifty-fifty chance whether they had awakened or not, but Kim Si-baek decided to gamble.
“Hyung.”
Tae-un had approached him unnoticed. His black eyes, which remained steady and unlabored despite the battle, gazed at him silently before narrowing suggestively.
The moment their eyes met, an inexplicable sense of déjà vu chilled Kim Si-baek’s spine, and his heart tightened with a sudden shudder.
Pale lips, unusually devoid of color, parted slightly.
“Looking at your expression, it seems you’ve thought of a way. Am I right?”
“Ah…”
Kim Si-baek let out a faint sound and rubbed the back of his neck. As the low bass voice, now familiar to him, escaped those lips, the momentary déjà vu vanished as if washed away.
He figured he had simply become hypersensitive due to the lack of divine power during the battle. Shaking off the thought, he answered.
“Roughly. It’s a gamble and not certain.”
“Even a gamble is better than wasting time doing nothing.”
“So, could you help me out? I need to move the hunters back, but it’s obvious my word won’t carry much weight here.”
After hearing the explanation of the method, Tae-un readily agreed without a second thought.
“Anytime, however you like, whatever it is, as much as you want, Hyung.”
In his quiet gaze, joy wavered, as if welcoming the fact that Kim Si-baek was relying on him.
“Use me. So that you don’t forget.”
“Chief.”
Yang Eun-ho, who had been analyzing the core’s location while looking at the measuring device data with a hunter from the Tobazishu Husarsky guild, looked up. The owner of the refreshing voice was Kim Si-baek.
“I heard that magical power can be detected with the measuring device.”
“That’s true, but?”
“Try detecting the magical power. There might be a possibility of finding the core.”
“What? With magical power?”
Yang Eun-ho questioned loudly, finding the suggestion absurd. Conscious of the hunter beside him, he asked again.
“Is… is this a guess based on the power of faith?”
“No. It is the result of logical inference.”
“….”
Kim Si-baek looked serious. He was a man who seemed understandable one moment and completely baffling the next. Yang Eun-ho roughly pushed back his disheveled hair.
“I don’t know what your plan is, but to track magical power without confusion, we’d have to gather all the hunters who aren’t the target in one place.”
“That is correct.”
“In the middle of a battle?”
“It might be a dangerous attempt. However, there is a fifty-percent chance of finding the core.”
“Based on what logic?”
It wasn’t a sarcastic question, but one born of genuine curiosity. Unlike before, when he had given a clear answer, Kim Si-baek now looked a bit troubled.
“It would be a long explanation…”
“If it were just our guild, it wouldn’t matter, but there are members from other guilds here. You need a logic that can convince them as well.”
The logic appeared very simply.
“Move everyone back.”
The coat draped over Tae-un’s shoulders seemed to flow and fall, and in an instant, darkness swelled greatly, engulfing the surroundings.
“Gasp!”
“Wha- what is this?!”
Even the lighting from the magical tools that had been casting artificial light against the dark night sky was instantly covered by darkness. Just as the startled hunters were about to take action, the darkness vanished in the blink of an eye, as if converging into a single point.
The hunters’ gazes naturally followed the receding darkness, and there stood Tae-un. Having captured everyone’s attention in a single moment, Tae-un flicked his finger.
“All of you, come this way.”
“What? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“Do you intend to make me say it twice?”
The monotone voice commanded coldly. The hunters looked as if they had a great deal to say, but there wasn’t a single Guild Master or anyone of equivalent rank present who could converse with him on equal footing.
As the hunters quickly retreated to the back while grumbling under their breaths, the giant vine, which had been under attack, did not miss the opening and grew in momentum. Branches and flowers sprouted rapidly from the stems, and tentacles writhed to chase down their prey.
A few hunters gripped their weapons to counterattack, thinking they’d been tricked, but Tae-un was faster. The darkness extending from beneath his feet surged up like a wall, searing the giant vine’s stems and blocking its movements.
“Hyung, what do I do next?”
The beaming smile he gave as he turned back to Kim Si-baek was his usual, bright expression.
[Death and Beauty suspects if this person truly does not have a split personality.]
“…Hmm, to track the core, just track the magical power from the area where it was wounded. Chief, I’ll leave it to you.”
“Huh? Ah, yes!”
Yang Eun-ho, who had been momentarily dazed by Tae-un’s transformation, hurriedly activated the measuring device.
“You gathered everyone just to track magical power?”
“Has the Mad Dog actually gone crazy in this situation?”
“Well, he must have some thought behind it…”
Some hunters agreed, though they didn’t know what it was, while others spat out curses. Of course, they kept their voices very low so that Tae-un wouldn’t hear them.
Knowing that someone was likely swearing behind his back even if he couldn’t hear it, Yang Eun-ho tracked the magical power with a ‘do or die’ mindset. The hunters’ cursing did not last for even two minutes.
“Uh… huh? There really is ma-magical power inside the giant vine?”
The hunter from Tobazishu Husarsky, who had been pressing his head against the LCD screen alongside Yang Eun-ho, muttered in a stunned voice. Kim Si-baek breathed a sigh of relief that the fifty-percent chance had hit, and the crowd fell silent instantly.
“Could it be that a person who was eaten hasn’t been fully digested yet?”
Before a hunter could finish muttering, Yang Eun-ho, who was walking quickly following the magical power, gestured to a spot one meter ahead.
“Here, it’s here. Right here.”
Kim Si-baek sharply sliced through the stem with his sabre coated in divine power. The cross-section, unable to regenerate, split wide open, revealing a cavity hidden deep within the body. Kim Si-baek’s eyes widened as he checked the inside, and the hunters who rushed over also fell into a heavy silence as if by agreement.
“…Fuck.”
Someone’s curse was spat out low.
What existed within the cavity that the giant vine had been cradling as if to protect it was an Id Portal.
[Bonus Quest. CLEAR]
[Praise to the Returner for not giving up and finding the very last person ^^*]
[Please receive your completion reward ↘↘]