Chapter 106

〈 Chapter 106 〉 Part 1, Chapter 6 (12)

Aaaaang—–!

The corridor is flashing with red warning lights. A siren louder than the monster alert echoes throughout the cabin.

– Currently, this ship is heading toward Busan. Please remain calm, passengers…

Kwaang!

The hull violently shakes. The captain’s announcement momentarily stops as people, confused and unsure of what to do, steady themselves by gripping the corridor walls.

“Uh, what’s going on?!”

“How should I know?!”

“What happened to the ship?! Is a monster attacking?!”

Hikari clutches her throbbing head, trying to regain focus. She feels something sticky on her forehead.

“…Ugh.”

Bright red blood trickles down her hand. It seems she hit her head hard against the wall during Mobydick’s first attack. Already suffering from mild anemia, the loss of blood makes her feel even more disoriented.

“No…!”

But she can’t collapse now. The data she hacked from the ship shows that while the rear is heavily damaged, it’s still seaworthy.

There’s only about 20km left to Busan. Though they’ve been caught up by Mobydick’s abnormal speed and breath attacks, fortunately, two S-Rank Heroes have arrived nearby in the sky.

Seok Harang, also known as Snow Princess, and her brother Gale Guest Himeji Hayate. As disciples of Light Blade and members of the Round Table, they should be able to handle Mobydick easily.

“But what are they doing now…?!”

Satellite footage shows them bickering mid-air.

* * *

“It’s useless, I tell you!”

“Shut up!”

Gale Guest’s slash cuts through the sea again. Huge waves rise but Mobydick casually dives underwater to avoid the strike.

Meanwhile, ocean monsters accompanying Mobydick swim towards the cruise ship. Unable to immediately kill the heroes in the sky, they’ve decided to chase after the easier prey right in front of them.

Harang raises her arm and slams it down.

“Minnows!”

Icicles rain down like hailstones, piercing the backs of the ocean monsters swimming on the surface. About half of the monsters bleed out on the water, but the stronger ones quickly sense the magical energy and dive underwater to hide.

And the icicles submerged underwater are soon destroyed by Mobydick’s breath.

“Tch!”

Despite having the power of the water elemental spirit, Harang struggles against the Sea Dragon born to destroy such spirits. Even with her abilities, she can’t keep up in the ocean.

Paaaaaah! Gale Guest’s slash once again cuts across the water surface. The magic-infused slash slices through three monsters swimming underwater.

But that’s just three. Dozens more are already chasing the cruise ship.

“Damn it! Can’t you do something?!”

“I’m trying, alright?!”

Though they share the common goal of saving the cruise ship, their cooperation is far from smooth. After all, this is practically their first meeting in this airspace.

Except for the automatic translation provided by their smartwatches, there’s nothing about them that syncs.

Kyaahh!

Just before the monsters reach the edge of the ship, Harang and Gale Guest simultaneously fire icicles and slashes.

“I’ll take the left!”

“You take the right!”

Both say it at the same time, though the translation lags slightly. By the time they realize the other’s intent, their attacks have already reached the left side of the cruise ship.

Kyaahh!

Deep-sea jaws leap onto the right rear of the cruise ship. Harang hastily fires more icicles, but already six or seven deep-sea jaws have invaded the ship.

“Damn!”

Gale Guest wants to rush to the cruise ship immediately, but dealing with the B and A-Rank monsters below takes precedence over worrying about small fry like deep-sea jaws.

There are fifty B-Ranks and nearly ten A-Ranks. In terms of danger level, it’s equivalent to one S-Rank.

He fervently hopes there’s someone onboard capable of handling the deep-sea jaws. Gale Guest swiftly dodges another water cannon fired from beneath the sea.

Phoooww—!

Mobydick isn’t idly standing by. After ordering its subordinates to chase the cruise ship, Mobydick furiously restrains the two S-Rank heroes lurking underwater.

Kwaang! The water cannon hits Harang’s wings. Though not pierced, her posture is severely disrupted.

Frosty powder falls from her wings. Clenching her teeth, Harang uses the frost fragments as cores to create massive chunks of ice.

“Huge scale!”

Three glaciers created by Harang fall from the sky.

Bang, bang, bang! The giant glaciers Harang made along the route the cruise ship passed crash into the sea. The monsters hurriedly evade the falling glaciers, which resemble meteors. Gale Guest shouts while slicing through the monsters leaping out of the water.

“Useless!”

“Not yet finished!”

Harang clenches and relaxes her fists. Simultaneously, the white membrane surrounding the three glaciers bursts, rapidly freezing the surrounding sea.

Puck, puck-puck! A monster trying to escape between the glaciers gets its head crushed and dies instantly. Another barely escapes but its tail freezes, preventing it from leaving the wall.

“Hey! You try killing some too!”

“Don’t need to tell me!”

Approaching close to the water surface, Gale Guest swings his sword broadly. The spinning horizontal slash wipes out the monsters near the glaciers in one go.

Kyaahh!

But there are still so many. Moreover, the real problem remains unsolved.

Kwaaaang!

Mobydick charges into an ice wall. Indiscriminately ramming its head into the corpses of its subordinates, Mobydick’s charge shatters the ice wall.

“Insane!”

Harang curses loudly as she quickly chases after the cruise ship. Gale Guest runs across the water, scanning beneath the surface.

Underwater, Mobydick moves much faster than the two humans.

Ding Ding!

A signal comes into Harang and Gale Guest’s smartwatches. Without time to confirm who sent it, both check the projected path of Mobydick displayed on their screens.

“Is it really gonna ram straight in?!”

In about 10 seconds, Mobydick will surge above the water and collide with the cruise ship. Whether it’s precognition or predictive analysis, there’s no time to question it.

“Haaaa—”

Gale Guest stops in place, raising his sword above his head. A whirlwind forms around him, wrapping his blade in magic power to generate fierce wind blades.

Harang releases her wings and unleashes her magic power. Passing by Gale Guest, Harang crosses the air and lands directly on the rear of the ship.

Phooowww—-!

Mobydick slowly raises its head while gliding just beneath the surface. Like a missile adjusting its angle, Mobydick’s massive body tilts diagonally toward the water surface.

Bzzzzz!

Mobydick ejects magic power from its back. Two holes on its back spew magic power like thrusters. Like a rocket, Mobydick shoots straight toward the cruise ship.

Gale Guest doesn’t miss the timing. Aimed at Mobydick’s expected trajectory, Gale Guest swings his sword horizontally.

“Draw (拔)!”

Without hesitation, he channels all his magic power into the wind blade, cutting through the waves. Like Moses parting the Red Sea, the wind blade splits the waves and accurately strikes Mobydick’s back at the predicted location.

Sssshh! Not a single scratch had marred Mobydick’s back until now, but it’s now split diagonally. Cutting through the scales and thick skin, severed blood vessels spray blood high into the air.

Gale Guest smirks in satisfaction but quickly stiffens.

Bzzzzzzz!!

Ignoring the wound, Mobydick flies fiercely toward the cruise ship, seemingly more excited by the injury.

Gale Guest’s eyes dart toward the cruise ship.

“Hmph!”

At the very end of the cruise ship stands Seok Harang. Gale Guest thinks it looks exactly like Tanglang fighting a steel fortress.

“That idiot?!”

Though he tries to gather more magic power, it’s already too late. Gale Guest has no choice but to jump high into the sky to evade the monsters targeting him.

Bzzz!!

Simultaneously, Mobydick reveals its head above the water. Its head is aimed to completely demolish the entire cruise ship.

Hikari is going to die. Just as Gale Guest gasps for breath,

“What?!”

Seok Harang smiles and leaps off the ship.

* * *

Beautiful but lacking substance.

Phoenix’s evaluation of me long ago wasn’t wrong. I’d heard similar feedback years ago.

Heroes of the Round Table always reviewed S-Rank candidates, and Harang was evaluated too. Sir Gawein, who came as the queen’s guard, assessed Harang on the spot at the introduction by Light Blade. The 17-year-old high school girl poured out all the strength she could muster at that moment.

Talent and ability overflowed, but isn’t she overly focused on appearances? That was Gawein’s assessment of Snow Princess. The ice butterflies melted instantly upon reflecting the sunlight off Gawein’s raised sword.

Light Blade discovered Harang and offered to be her mentor, but didn’t actually train or advise her much beyond that.

When she was younger, Harang thought it might have been a harsh way to encourage her self-growth. But now, she suspects it might be because Light Blade couldn’t properly face Harang due to inheriting Rusalka’s powers as his wife.

‘I want to become stronger.’

But no one ever showed Harang the direction to take. Light Blade deliberately avoided teaching her and traveling abroad for training wasn’t feasible given Korea’s circumstances.

It’s been about 9 years since her special ability awakened. While Harang’s combat experience has accumulated, there hasn’t been significant ‘growth’.

That stagnant experience exploded and propelled Harang forward during her duel with Phoenix.

Bzzzzzzz!!

Mobydick surges out of the water. Harang simply concludes:

I must stop it.

However, nine years of battle experience suggest ways but don’t lead to any concrete solution. How does one stop a beast 50 meters long and weighing 100 tons?

‘That brat would…’

If it were Phoenix, she’d probably unleash firepower greater than Mobydick’s charge. But Harang doesn’t possess such firepower.

So Harang decides to do what she does best.

‘Freeze it!’

No tricks, no aesthetics, no complicated formulas needed. Simply channel all the magic power in her body and freeze Mobydick in place.

Harang leaps off the ship. Her body plummets toward the white foam left by the passing cruise ship.

Harang extends her hand toward the water. If she fails, Mobydick will crush her against the ship, leading to death by compression.

But there’s no time to even consider failure. Harang concentrates all the magic power in her body into her fingertips, drawing it as if pulling magic power from the depths of the sea.

Suddenly, a pure white hand overlaps with hers.

“Eh?”

A delicate hand, like that of a child, covers Harang’s palm. It’s cold but warm at the same time. Before she can marvel at the contradictory sensation, a voice resonates within her.

Do it.

Is it Phoenix’s voice transmitted through the hairpin or just an auditory hallucination? Whoever it is, that voice fills Harang with sudden strength.

‘Screw it!’

Harang locks eyes with Mobydick. Confusion flashes in Mobydick’s violet pupils.

She smirks involuntarily.

“Freeze!!”

Harang’s hand touches the water.

Cherik!

The sea freezes.

* * *

“Administrator! We’ve arrived!”

Lee Seung-hyeong leaps off the building rooftop, stomping on a deep-sea jaw. He bursts the creature’s head open and leaps again, landing on the beach.

[Good! There should still be a path! Don’t let it melt, keep running!]

Through Seung-hyeong’s eyes appears an icy path extending into the sea. It must be the path Seok Harang created.

“I’m going ahead!”

While checking the map to confirm that Sam-sa is chasing from far behind, Seung-hyeong kicks off the ground and leaps onto the icy path.

“Wooh?!”

A monster resembling a mackerel jumps out. Calming his mind, Seung-hyeong immediately swings his fist.

Pang! The mackerel monster explodes. The monster rolls on the water surface before sinking.

“Already here?!”

Far away, the light of the cruise ship comes into view. However, signals from monsters are already gathering beneath the icy path.

[Go to the cruise ship first! Save the ship!]

“Understood!”

Seung-hyeong ignites flames under his feet. Causing an explosion on the water surface, Seung-hyeong leaps like performing a long jump, landing on the next point.

Kwaang! Kwaang!

Explosions occur when his feet touch the water surface as he leaps. Attacking the monsters rising near the icy path while avoiding breaking the path itself, Seung-hyeong dashes across the sea at maximum speed.

The cruise ship comes into sight in the distance. Seung-hyeong gathers magic power under his feet and detonates it while airborne.

Kwaang! Using the explosion as propulsion, he leaps toward the cruise ship. Drawing a parabolic arc in the air toward the cruise ship, an unknown signal arrives on Seung-hyeong’s smartwatch.

“Mobydick will attack the cruise ship in 10 seconds?!”

[Huh?!]

The administrator seems similarly surprised upon receiving the signal.

Thud. Seung-hyeong lands on the deck. The startled passengers briefly notice his arrival before Seung-hyeong immediately triggers another explosion and leaps onto the ship.

[You’re not thinking of doing something reckless again, are you?!]

“There’s no other way!”

As Seung-hyeong leaps onto the mast, he sees Gale Guest launching a slash into the sea.

Bzzzzz!

With Mobydick’s agonized scream, blood spurts out of the sea. Before Seung-hyeong can sigh in relief, he immediately pushes off the mast and leaps to the stern.

His dragon-slaying instincts warn him: Mobydick won’t stop its charge with just that wound.

Sure enough, Mobydick’s forehead emerges from the water.

“Haaa!”

Seung-hyeong draws magic power from his heart. Resonating with the surrounding magic power, the flame in his heart quickly ignites, and the white flame enveloping his right fist begins to glow blue.

At the stern, a maiden with flowing white hair catches his eye.

“Harang?!”

Before Seung-hyeong can call out her name, Harang leaps off the stern. An overwhelming surge of magic power radiates from her, forcing Seung-hyeong to land on the deck due to dizziness.

“Grk?!”

His heart pounds. Is it a reverse flow of magic power like in Guro again? But this pounding feels different from before.

It’s like a strong heartbeat sensing and welcoming something.

Seung-hyeong lifts his head. And he sees it.

The sea frozen in a fan shape. The S-Rank monster Mobydick, complete with its ferocious teeth, frozen solid above the water.

Thud, thud. Harang, who had been pressing her hands on the now-frozen sea, shakes them off and stands up, turning her head with a smirk.

“Auntie, you’re late.”

Seung-hyeong instinctively realizes. Harang has reached a much higher level than him. Seeing Harang perfectly fine after creating an island of ice in the sea, Seung-hyeong bursts into laughter.

Harang immediately stiffens her expression and shouts.

“I’ll deal with the whale, Auntie, please protect the inside of the cruise ship! Monsters have gotten in!”

“Eh, uh, okay!”

Seung-hyeong immediately dashes across the deck.