Chapter 109

〈 Episode 109 〉 Part 1, Chapter 6 (15)

<5:20 PM, Milky Way Cruise Cargo Hold.>

A steel pipe slammed into the hood of a car. Hikari rolled across the ground to dodge the steel pipe.

“Because of you! Because of you!”

“For heaven’s sake, snap out of it!”

Hikari took a big step back and shouted. Though unable to physically bring up the screen due to having turned off their smartwatch because of the emergency alert, they still had to inform the man of the truth outside and calm him down.

“The cruise ship has already entered the park, and the monster was killed by a Korean hero! We’re safe now, okay?!”

The man’s smartwatch automatically translated Hikari’s words, but it was as if his ears were blocked—he didn’t even pretend to listen.

“Grrrrr… Krrrr…”

The man growled like an animal. A purple substance resembling spirit energy flowed from the man’s eyes, and Hikari stumbled backward until their back hit a cargo container.

‘Influence from the dimensional gate affecting humans too? I’ve never heard or seen anything like that!’

“Dieeeeeee!!”

There was no time to think. Hikari bent their body to avoid the steel pipe. The pipe struck the cargo trainer forcefully, twisting the man’s wrist severely.

“Khraaaack?!?”

?

Hikari hurriedly tried to escape to the side. But the man, ignoring his twisted wrist, swung his foot violently.

POW!

The man’s kick struck Hikari’s body with great force, sending them flying into the container.

“Cough… hack?!”

Hikari coughed dryly while gripping the container. Due to Modibbok’s attack, the side of the container was badly dented, creating a small gap just large enough for Hikari’s body to squeeze through.

Hikari barely managed to stand up and squirmed into the narrow gap.

“Where do you think you’re going?!”

The sound of the man stomping toward Hikari could be heard. Hikari clenched their eyes shut and summoned magic power. Their arm muscles strengthened, and their upper body quickly slipped into the gap.

WHOOSH! The steel pipe slashed through the air. Barely managing to get their lower body inside, Hikari rolled into the container.

But the relief was short-lived. The man reached through the gap and grabbed Hikari by the hair.

“Kyaaaaaack?!”

“Hehe, gotcha!”

The man roughly grabbed Hikari’s long hair. Despite tears welling up in their eyes, Hikari quickly made a decision to survive. A black-glowing dagger appeared in Hikari’s right hand.

SWISH! Hikari cut their own hair. The long hair that once reached their waist was now chopped to shoulder length, and Hikari was thrown into a box within the container due to the recoil.

CRUNCH. The objects inside the box were crushed, emitting a sour smell.

SQUEAK! Before Hikari could even question the identity of the object, the man inserted the steel pipe through the hole, forcibly widening it. Looking around desperately for an escape route, Hikari found all sides blocked.

CLUNK, CLUNK. The container door wouldn’t open.

“KYAAAAAAAH!”

The man roared like some abyssal creature and shoved his upper body through the hole. Unmindful of the scratches on his body from the container, he grinned wickedly as he entered.

“Ooooh, don’t come any closer!”

Hikari threw a nearby box at the man. He didn’t even bother dodging it as it struck his face, yet he continued running towards Hikari. The man thrust the steel pipe straight at Hikari’s forehead, causing them to collapse without time to react.

PUFF! The steel pipe pierced the box. Red flesh burst out, and the man immediately kicked Hikari in the stomach.

“Aaaaah!”

“Kukuku!”

The man picked up the fallen Hikari by the neck. Despite the pain, Hikari analyzed the crazed look in the man’s eyes.

‘The influence of the dimensional gate…!’

This was the typical behavior of monsters driven mad by the dimensional gate’s effects. Though the man seemed to have lost his sanity, Hikari realized that his focus was entirely on killing them—like it was the sole purpose of his existence.

“Huff… huff?!”

Breathing became difficult as Hikari’s small frame was lifted off the ground by the man.

Looking into the man’s glaring eyes, Hikari instantly understood his condition. His rationality was concentrated solely on killing Hikari—as if it were the entirety of his life.

If they stayed still, they would die. In the moment the man raised the steel pipe with his broken wrist high into the sky…

A bright white light flashed.

* * *

“Is this it?!”

Seung-hyeong leapt down the staircase heading underground. The heat source detected by magic power, the faint sounds of voices impossible to hear, and the sporadic bloodstains on the floor all led to the underground cargo hold.

WOOOOM-!

White light spread from below. Seung-hyeong jumped down the entire staircase in haste.

Far away, human heat signatures could be felt in the direction of the cargo containers. Simultaneously, an unusual presence was also sensed.

Seung-hyeong’s heart burned fiercely. It was as if this world commanded him to erase the entity emitting that presence. His body heated up like an engine pumping furiously.

“?!”

It had been so long since he last felt this sensation. That same fullness he experienced two months ago when defeating the Fire Demon Dragon surged through Seung-hyeong as he leaped dozens of meters in one stride, tearing open the cargo container doors with ease. The tightly closed iron doors were easily ripped apart.

“Are you alright?!”

Seung-hyeong’s flames illuminated the dark interior of the container. The fresh scent of strawberries mixed with the briny stench of seawater and the sharp tang of blood filled his nose.

“Ugh.”

He nearly vomited, instinctively covering his nose. And then Seung-hyeong saw it.

“Aaah, aaa?”

A man sprawled out on the floor, his crimson eyes flickering in confusion, and a small girl who appeared to be Gale Guest’s younger sister, Himeji Hikari, trembling while holding a white glowing knife.

Seung-hyeong’s gaze naturally shifted to the man. There was a clear stab wound on the man’s chest.

Hikari’s eyes met Seung-hyeong’s. Her pupils trembled as if caught red-handed committing a crime.

“No, it’s not like that!”

Without properly explaining what wasn’t true, Hikari frantically shook her head.

“That man tried to kill me! I didn’t kill him because I wanted to!!”

Seung-hyeong closed his eyes as he read the translated message on his smartwatch.

The girl with the knife. The fallen man. The circumstances were clear enough. Seung-hyeong’s expression hardened coldly.

“Did you kill him?”

Despair settled into Hikari’s eyes.

* * *

Bugs wriggled in the sea. Parasitic worms emerged from the split guts of Modibbok, twitching as they fell into the ocean.

PLOP! Worms about 30 cm long bit into Modibbok’s corpse, trying to enter their host. However, Modibbok was dead, its life already extinguished.

The worms quickly emitted magic power to locate new hosts, spreading purple spirit-like substances around them.

The presence of spirits to destroy and living humans could be felt. The worms began swimming rapidly towards the coastline.

“EEEEEEK!”

Harang panicked and froze the sea. Before the worms from Modibbok’s corpse could scatter elsewhere, she erected a long circular wall of ice on the sea.

BOOM! BOOM BOOM!

The worms relentlessly rammed and pounded against the ice wall. Their attempts to break the ice resembled eggs hitting a rock, but their sheer numbers were the problem.

[Stay calm! First, prevent them from spreading!]

As soon as the overseer’s command rang out, one worm leapt out of the water. SWOOSH! Sand scattered as Hayate dashed across the surface.

CHOMP. The sword sliced through the worm. The blade remained clean despite being soaked in the worm’s slime and blood, but Hayate frowned at the immense vitality and magic power contained within the single worm.

“These guys are all A-rank!”

“What?!”

Despite her shock, Harang poured magic power into the ice wall. Although much weaker than Modibbok, the sheer number of these worms was overwhelming. Just how many worms had nested inside Modibbok’s body?

“Ahhh!”

Harang bit her lip and glared at Hayate. The Modibbok corpse that Hayate had sliced into dozens of pieces floated scattered across the sea.

GURGLE, GURGLE. As suspected. Worms began peeking out from the organs of the corpse that had fallen outside the wall. Although fewer in number compared to those inside the wall, the fact that each of these small monsters was A-rank posed a huge problem.

“Overseer! We need more people here!”

[I know! Everyone except the minimum required is already headed your way!]

The distance between the heroes rescuing the cruise ship and Modibbok’s corpse was approximately 4 km. However, the shortest route involved crossing the sea, whereas traveling via bridge and road would take at least 10 km.

“Hey! Let’s just freeze all these bastards!”

While slicing the worms emerging outside the wall, Hayate shouted. Harang, running across the water, froze the worms outside the wall and yelled back.

“Why?!”

“Just do it! I’ve faced more dragon parasites than you!”

Though reluctant, Harang knew Hayate was a seasoned Round Table Hero with far more experience. She slapped the water with her hand, freezing it completely.

“Haa, haa.”

She panted, her magic power significantly drained from freezing the entire sea without reserve. Even with the overflowing strength of spirits, recovering magic power required time.

SHIVER, SHIVER. The worms wriggled inside the ice, attempting to break it apart just like their former host Modibbok. Hayate clicked his tongue while gathering magic power.

“The real Sea Demon Dragons were these guys. Dammit.”

“What do you mean? Was Modibbok fake then?”

“We’ll know once the research results come out, but each of these worms is a Sea Demon Dragon. Whether the parasitic worms took over Modibbok or if the whale worms are Sea Demon Dragons disguised as Modibbok, I don’t know. But…”

Hayate tapped the ice with his sword. As Harang confidently claimed, a sword without magic power couldn’t easily cut through the ice.

“You’re too strong, which is why we can’t kill these. Is there any way to freeze and kill them?”

“If we smash them along with the ice, won’t that work? You could slice them with a little magic power, right?”

“With over a thousand of these guys, how long will that take?”

It was frustrating. Harang scratched her head, her fingers brushing against her hairpins.

“Ah, wait a sec.”

[Can you hear me? I have a question.]

[Kind of busy right now.]

Fortunately, communication was functioning normally. Harang briefly explained the situation. Phoenix’s sigh echoed all the way to Busan.

[Anisakis are merely A-rank beast demons. They’re numerous, but dealing with them shouldn’t be harder than Modibbok. Just exterminate them all.]

[Why are you so rushed? I’m asking how to kill them.]

[Boiling kills everything. …Sorry, gotta go.]

Mini-Phoenix dimmed. Harang was momentarily baffled before snapping back to reality and summarizing the strategy she’d heard, tweaking it slightly for her smartwatch transmission.

“Overseer. It seems I can’t handle this alone. These worms seem resistant to my magic attribute; all I can do is freeze them. I need someone with fire attributes or flame abilities.”

[That theory about elemental affinities? …Well, if that’s what you feel, I’ll trust you. So we’ll have to kill them one by one…]

“Which is why we should roast them all.”

[Who?]

Harang glanced around briefly before subtly eyeing Hayate. Hayate efficiently used his magic power to stab the worms trapped in ice.

“…Don’t Japanese love sushi? They must know about parasites pretty well, right?”

[Hayate doesn’t like fish.]

“That guy isn’t Japanese!”

[You don’t like kimchi either. Anyway, cooking? Cooking? Fence…?]

The overseer seemed to have an idea after pondering for a moment and promptly issued orders to the heroes.

[Seok Harang! Buy yourself time until we send the Flame Martial Arts expert! Mr. Gale Guest, please eliminate the ones escaping beyond the ice!]

“Got it. By the way, did you find my-”

[Regarding your sibling, Flame Expert is already looking for them! Rest assured, we’ll inform you as soon as we receive updates!]

Hayate grinned triumphantly as he crushed a worm trying to bite his ankle. Any lingering unease disappeared as magic power surged through his body, bringing his condition to peak performance.

“Great! Now I can kill them to my heart’s content!”

Hayate’s eyes gleamed with killing intent.