Chapter 104

〈Chapter 104〉 Part 1, Chapter 6 (10)

<29 minutes past 4 PM, Over Berling Island>

“Ahhh, I can’t wait any longer, it’s driving me crazy!”

Gale Guest abruptly stood up from his seat. There was no way he could patiently sit around in such an agitating situation.

“…Hey, you, don’t even think about doing that. This is expensive, you know.”

Oracle calmly tried to persuade him. The redness had faded from Gale Guest’s previously flushed cheeks. Gale Guest stretched and loosened up his body.

“Why?”

“Do you want Raptors chasing you again?”

At Oracle’s remark, Gawein gave Gale Guest a troubled look and pressed down on his shoulder.

“That might cause another UFO incident.”

“I just want to go somewhere; they’re the ones who chased me.”

Gale Guest, as unpredictable as his nickname suggests, comes and goes like the wind. The problem is his insatiable wanderlust has caused numerous international incidents due to his world travels without a passport.

And Gawein and Oracle have always been the ones cleaning up after him. Oracle’s lips trembled.

“Have you already forgotten the trouble you caused with China two months ago?”

“Huh? That wasn’t me.”

While doing some spot jumps, Gale Guest denied Oracle’s claim. Oracle frowned.

“What are you talking about?”

“I was just walking across the sea to get home back then. Oh, I did see something flying in the sky though.”

“Hey! Why didn’t you mention that earlier?!”

“You never asked.”

As Gale Guest raised his scarf while channeling magic power, Oracle hastily opened the airplane door.

“Hey, open the door. Or I’ll cut through it.”

When Gale Guest pulled down the goggles over his head, Oracle quickly opened the plane’s door. Gawein jumped out of his chair in surprise, trying to stop him.

“Wait! Oracle!”

“If this gets wrecked again, Dad’s gonna kill me!”

The fierce wind rushed into the plane. Gawein grabbed Oracle’s shoulder and shouted at Gale Guest.

“Don’t do anything reckless!”

“We’re going to save someone, remember?”

With that, Gale Guest leaped out of the plane without a parachute — an act so reckless it was almost comical, but for the Round Table, this kind of behavior from Gale Guest was nothing new.

Boooom—

The plane door closed swiftly, defying air resistance. Thanks to the engine powered by an S-Rank Core, the aircraft quickly regained its balance.

Woooom… Woooom… Woooom!

A blue dot disappeared at supersonic speed from the radar. Gale Guest, leaving behind powerful sonic booms, was truly racing through the skies like the wind.

Oracle sneered as he looked at the satellite image.

“Is this what all wind-attribute types are capable of passively?”

“It’s because his heart is in a rush. His little sister is in mortal danger.”

Bzzt. A signal came through the public channel. Oracle smirked as he saw the face of the other party.

“Why, Ice Cube.”

[Who’s cutting across someone else’s airspace without permission right now?]

The woman who appeared on the screen, white from head to toe like she’d been dipped in snow, looked extremely irritable, as if she’d just woken up. She held a glass of vodka in her hand. Gawein hurriedly answered.

“T-That’s Gale Guest.”

[Oh really? Then why are you guys passing through here?]

“We’re helping Gale Guest return to Korea.”

Upon hearing Oracle’s reply, the woman took a sip of her vodka before nodding.

[Gale Guest went first, huh? That guy pretends not to care, but deep down, he’s worried about the situation in his own country.]

“It’s not about the country, it’s about my sister being in danger.”

[Whatever. Since Gale Guest went ahead, things probably aren’t too dangerous. It’s good timing anyway. You guys stop by Sakhalin for a bit.]

“Why?”

Oracle’s expression darkened. While highly skilled, this person was somewhat difficult to deal with.

“Of course, we would be delighted if you joined us, but will you be alright?”

[What’s the problem? I’m coming over. I’ll be there in Sakhalin within ten minutes.]

“Where are you now?”

[Moscow.]

Shaking her vodka glass, the woman disappeared from the screen. Oracle sighed in relief, while Gawein gazed out the window, lost in thought.

“Why does Team Two of the Round Table consist only of such strong-willed individuals?”

“……I don’t know.”

Soon, the flight path updated. Oracle adjusted the autopilot following the new route and pulled out a pair of glasses from his pocket.

“I’ll do some ‘observation’ now. Wake me if anything happens.”

“Why suddenly?”

After putting on the glasses, Oracle quietly whispered something so softly that no one could hear.

“Two months ago, the unidentified flying object that appeared over the West Sea wasn’t mentioned in the ‘Prophecy.'”

* * *

<4:44 AM, Haeundae Beach, Busan>

Kiiaaaak!

Deep-sea horrors began emerging one by one onto the sandy beach. Crawling out of the water, these grotesque creatures stepped on the sand with their glowing tentacle tips proudly displayed.

Clomp, clomp. At first, their movements resembled those of a toddler learning to walk, but by the time they reached the middle of the beach, they were walking quite steadily.

One of the deep-sea horrors finally reached the end of the steps. Its glowing appendage detected an anomaly emanating from the magical energy.

Kiiaak?!

Before it could react, an icicle pierced its chest. As its companion roared in anger, it too was impaled by an icicle that drove straight through its chest.

“Princess Seol Harang?!”

Startled, the heroes, hastily donning their suits, cried out.

Seol Harang, known as Princess Snowflower, stood atop the stairs with her arms crossed, planting icicles into the chests of the deep-sea horrors on the beach.

“W-W-What are you doing right n-now?”

“Afterward, please extract the cores from these things.”

Though given as a direct order, the hero nodded in agreement at Harang’s words. Her silver-gray appearance was significantly different from what they had seen over the past few years.

“Fortunately, these are monsters whose cores can be extracted.”

Another icicle shot out, piercing the chest of yet another deep-sea horror. Harang’s icicle accurately penetrated the monster’s core and pinned it to the ground.

Kiiiaaaaak!!

The deep-sea horrors limped forward. Their numbers easily exceeded several dozen. The hero tightened his grip on his weapon, but soon found himself mesmerized by the spectacular scene unfolding before him.

Pabaabbaaat!

Without lifting a finger, Harang conjured hundreds of icicles that pierced the deep-sea horrors. The icicles formed a long wall of ice along Haeundae Beach.

The hero muttered under his breath.

“Palisade…?”

The icicles formed axes, filling the spaces between them with the corpses of the deep-sea horrors. Newly arriving horrors crawling out of the sea bumped into the icicles.

Kiiak? The glowing tip of the horror’s tentacles touched the icicles. Immediately, the cold emitted from the icicles froze the deep-sea horror solid. Harang uncrossed her arms and raised her right hand high.

Words were unnecessary. Simply closing and opening her hand was enough.

Pabaabbaaat! Icicles rained down from the sky like arrows. The deep-sea horrors crawling toward the beach met their demise, while the ones that had just stepped onto the sand instinctively fled back into the water.

“Tch.”

Harang clicked her tongue. Although she had created an approximately 1 km-long ice fence centered around the beach, the deep-sea horrors proved to be smarter than expected.

Kiiigaak!

Instead of attempting to break or climb over the ice wall, the deep-sea horrors dispersed left and right to circumvent it.

Harang’s eyes swept left and right until they landed on an island.

“Over there…?!”

D Island. The place where Light Blade died and also the resting place of Harang’s birth mother’s grave. The deep-sea horrors started climbing up the cliffs of the island.

Harang immediately shouted into her smartwatch.

“This is Princess Snowflower! I’m about to build a wall! Please take care of the monsters that cross over first!”

In the absence of a commander, the highest-ranked hero present assumed command. The heroes followed Harang’s orders and scattered left and right.

“Hmph.”

Taking a short breath to gather her magic power, Harang discharged it from her back. Like a white butterfly spreading its wings, she soared into the early morning sky above the beach.

“There are so many.”

The number of deep-sea horrors swimming underwater easily exceeded a hundred. Though handling a hundred D-Rank monsters was manageable for Harang, the problem was that these monsters weren’t appearing only at this beach.

Through her smartwatch, a small screen appeared. From Busan’s coastline stretching to Geoje Island, red dots showed up along the roughly 90km-long coast.

Harang confirmed the support from the association.

About 100 heroes stationed in the Busan branch were present, but they were insufficient to block the waves of monsters surging ashore.

“One hour?”

Heroes from New Seoul were on their way. Literally racing through the roads and over mountains in a straight line towards Busan during this crisis.

Leading the charge were Hwakwon, Seung-hyeong Lee, and Sam-sa. The estimated arrival time for the vanguard led by them was one hour.

Harang extended her right hand. The waves crashing against the island froze instantly, trapping the deep-sea horrors climbing the cliffs within the frozen water.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Princess Snowflower! Please don’t overexert yourself!”

While the heroes plunged spears into the heads of deep-sea horrors peeking through the ice walls, they called out to her. They were well aware that after the failure of the Seoul recovery operation, Princess Snowflower had trained rigorously.

Could she be pushing herself too hard now? The concern of the heroes seemed justified.

“I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

Harang smiled confidently, showing no signs of fatigue. In reality, her magic power hadn’t been consumed at all.

‘Since achieving spirit awakening, my magic power is overflowing.’

It’s hard to quantify, but despite piercing the cores of hundreds of deep-sea horrors, her magic power hadn’t decreased by even 1%.

‘Then there’s only one thing to do.’

As time passed, stronger monsters than the deep-sea horrors would appear. The fastest way to resolve this chaos was clear.

“This is Princess Snowflower. Association, respond. We will handle Moby Dick.”

Soon, a screen appeared. An administrator with heavy dark circles appeared without even combing his disheveled hair.

[No way! Moby Dick is currently in Japanese waters!]

The administrator pointed to Moby Dick’s location. It was moving north, skirting the land west of Tsushima Island. Harang exclaimed in disbelief.

“What nonsense…! We’re affected by it here!”

[There’s nothing we can do! If it’s not in international waters but in Japanese waters, we can’t do anything! The association has sent a combat request, so wait!]

“Tch, then make Japan deal with it quickly!”

Suppressing her frustration, Harang flapped her wings. She wanted to fly across the sea immediately, but as a hero, she couldn’t violate international law.

‘Let’s hold them off for now.’

With the presence of Gale Guest from the Round Table, Japan’s hero force was formidable. Especially since it was an island nation, they excelled in coastal and maritime battles.

‘Following the coastline, I’ll build a wall!’

Just like at Haeundae Beach, she would create a fence of icicles and fill the gaps with monster corpses.

‘I need to conserve my magic power.’

Even with abundant magic power, she needed to prepare for unforeseen circumstances.

Moby Dick’s landing in Busan. Harang clenched her dry lips as she moved along the coastline.

The time was now five in the morning.

A massive wall of ice stretched far and wide. Flying around, Harang placed her hand on the hairpin tied in her hair.

[Busan seems like something I can handle.]

[I guess I should leave it to you. I need to head north.]

“North?”

Harang stopped flapping her wings as she showered icicles like rain along her flight path. Soon, Phoenix’s intentions were conveyed through Mini-Phoenix.

[They’re trying to awaken the monster in Pyongyang from China. If it wakes up, it’ll be a thousand times more dangerous than Moby Dick.]

[Why in Pyongyang? Wait a moment. What are you planning?]

Stunned by the fleeting thought, Harang turned pale. The low chuckle from Phoenix must have been an illusion.

[Nothing much. Just acting villainously, as discussed. Remember, south is yours, north is mine. Touching the monster in Pyongyang is still risky.]

[Are you planning to kill them all?!]

[…I considered it, but it was rejected.]

While Harang froze the sea along the Gwang’an Bridge, Phoenix paused before continuing.

[Relax. I’m just diverting attention.]

[How?]

Pu hahaha. At that moment, Harang was certain she heard Phoenix’s playful laugh.

[I’ll tell you later. For now, focus on Busan. Moby Dick is targeting you, the spirit user, and heading towards Busan.]

With that, the conversation ended. Harang attempted to reconnect but received no response.

“If she’s not lying, Moby Dick is definitely coming to Busan…”

Spotted a vast natural park near the end of Gwang’an Bridge. With this expanse, spreading her magic power wouldn’t cause any problems.

Harang flew to the center of the natural park and gathered her magic power.

“This is Princess Snowflower. Ultimate move activation at current location—”

[Stop! Sorry, but there’s no one else who can move right now besides you!]

The administrator refused Harang’s use of her ultimate move. Confused by the administrator’s words, a small screen appeared before Harang.

“A ship?!”

Approximately 30 kilometers southeast of Harang’s position, a cruise ship was speeding away desperately to escape Moby Dick.

[Flying capable personnel—you’re the only option! Can you handle it?!]

“Can I?! This isn’t about whether I can!”

Folding her wings, Harang created an ice path in the air. Skates formed beneath her slippers slid gracefully on the ice, racing across the sea.

“It’s something I have to do!”