158 – The Nymphs and the Demon King’s Heroes! #8
As I emerged from the rift, the world was a field of pure white snow.
It was freezing cold, and the climate of the island seemed to have shifted as if I were in the Antarctic or Arctic.
“Is this real?”
I had expected that the strike team dispatched to the island would include the S Rank Awakened, Cha Yura.
I thought that Cha Yura would somehow handle the bombs, so I evacuated the people into the rift, but I never imagined that she would freeze the entire island solid.
“This feels unfair.”
Having to catch up and defeat such monstrous S Rankers fairly made me wonder if it was natural to want to resort to underhanded tactics like Demon King Jun.
“It’s… over.”
“We’re done for.”
The subordinates of Demon King Jun, witnessing Cha Yura’s overwhelming firepower, seemed to lose the will to resist and slumped in despair.
It was a moment of great satisfaction for me to see violent thugs who instilled fear in ordinary citizens lose their spirit and become defeated.
“This Inoi was born in summer…! It thinks winter is exceedingly cold…! This Inoi has sometimes taken winter naps…!”
Chattering from the cold, the Inoi that had emerged from the rift shook violently and was dripping with snot.
It sneezed with a “Achoo!” looking downright cold.
Now that I think about it, the first time I met the Inoi was during Christmas.
I remembered that the Inoi was shivering outside in worn-out ragged clothes, barefoot.
It must have been very cold.
“This Coris is a nymph born in spring, but it is an ice water nymph…! So, looking at such coldness, it feels refreshing…!”
Coris seemed to enjoy the snowy landscape.
Standing on the threshold of the last breath of summer and gazing at the snowy scene was indeed a picturesque moment.
“However, it regrets that it couldn’t catch Morales…! This Inoi wanted to capture that muddy nymph that loves to stir trouble and give it a good beating…!”
“This Coris thinks the same…! Muddy nymphs are troublesome…! It’s best to beat them up and correct their muddy hearts…!”
Inoi and Coris chased after Morales, who had run away, but Morales swiftly escaped as it was familiar with the island.
Everything was frozen solid, yet it seemed that Coris and Inoi believed Morales was hiding somewhere on this frozen island.
At that moment, Demon King Jun, who was clinging to me, shouted.
“Morales! Save me! I’m your friend! We’ve done all sorts of things together! Morales, hurry and save me! You are my partner nymph!”
With eyes wide open, Demon King Jun looked immensely terrifying.
However, seeing that, Inoi scowled and became furious as if her paycheck had been docked.
“We must hit this wicked individual…!”
“This Coris also thinks that’s a good idea…!”
Bang bang bang bang bang…
The nymphs began to hit Demon King Jun indiscriminately.
“Aaah~!”
Demon King Jun screamed for a while but began to lose energy and eventually collapsed, going limp.
Inoi clicked her tongue at that sight.
“It seems that he is so stained with mud that it will take an hour of beating every day to cleanse him…! What a vile creature…!”
“This Coris thinks the same…!”
# # #
“Ah-choo!”
Morales sneezed.
The sudden change in the climate on the island was quite deadly for Morales, who was born in spring.
“It’s too cold…!”
The weather seemed to demand it take winter naps.
Morales thought it had to escape this island by any means possible.
If it stayed like this, the cowardly nymphs, relying on their numerical superiority, might come looking to beat it up with their fists clenched tight.
“It’s time to abandon this useless Demon King Jun and find a new partner…! You, having been chosen as a candidate, should consider yourself very lucky…!”
Morales had never trusted Demon King Jun.
Demon King Jun had the ability to manipulate mystical items effortlessly, but as a human, he was utterly incompetent.
Thus, as a muddy nymph, Morales had prepped a potential partner to escape at any moment, that being the girl ‘Kang Do Hee’ who was starting the engine on the boat.
Kang Do Hee was a master pickpocket and extortionist, also an A Rank Awakened.
“I need to start the engine quickly…!”
“That’s the problem; the sea is frozen solid. Even if we start the engine, escaping seems difficult…?”
Kang Do Hee was troubled.
At that moment, there was the sound of shoes clacking against the frozen ground.
Turning my head, I saw a woman in a white gown with a beak-like mask approaching from afar.
“Who are you? Do you know that I’m the A Rank 29th, ‘The Robber – Kang Do Hee’? If you take one more step closer, I’ll—huh?”
The moment Kang Do Hee frowned, the woman in the white gown had already disappeared from sight.
Spinning…
Gathering my senses and looking up, I saw the woman soaring high, rotating her body like an outstanding gymnast.
Thud.
“Ugh-!”
Kang Do Hee was knocked down by a 1080-degree spinning kick.
To have taken one hit and be knocked down as an A Rank is unbelievable.
“Ugh….”
Eventually losing consciousness, Kang Do Hee fell.
Seeing that, Morales felt its hair stand on end.
“Please don’t bully this Morales…!”
Morales sensed the aura of a nymph hunter from this beak-woman, one that would naturally inspire dread among nymphs.
It radiated an unmistakably terrifying energy.
However, Morales was also a nymph who has traversed plenty of muddy waters.
Soon regaining its composure, Morales clenched its fist and charged at the beak-woman.
“Nymph strikes, beat her up!”
Bang bang bang bang bang…
Anyone struck by Morales became muddled like muddy water, easily falling for wicked temptations.
It was the complete opposite effect of how ditch-water nymphs would clarify a person’s spirit when they struck.
“Now, hurry and become this Morales’s servant…!”
Morales stopped punching and looked at the beak-woman.
Demon King Jun, Kang Do Hee, and other bad people had all made others their servants in this manner.
“……”
But the woman tilted her head as if unfazed and gripped Morales by the nape, lifting it into the air.
Her demeanor was akin to someone carelessly picking up a stray cat.
“Yikes…!”
# # #
Demon King Jun was dragged away by an Awakener response team dispatched by the government.
It was an arrest stemming from an A Ranker trying to commit a crime, and if all went well, I would hear this news on the 9 o’clock report or in tomorrow’s morning papers.
“Il-Do, you’ve worked hard.”
Cha Yura, yawning continuously, boarded the helicopter.
She had released such intense mana that it froze the entire island, which must have induced sleepiness in her brain.
Sleeping would greatly recover her mana.
“Bark bark…!”
The Squirrel Beast, Kkungkkungi, was hopping around the snowy field.
It seemed delighted that it had finally snowed.
Squirrel Beasts hate the cold and even hibernate, yet Kkungkkungi was frolicking joyfully in the snow.
“Senior, are you hurt? Did Demon King Jun attack or injure you in a cowardly manner?”
Yu Ara, who had contacted Cha Yura and was outside the island, came up from afar to check on me.
Fortunately, I wasn’t hurt, and the serious situation had resolved well.
I had nothing much to say other than I was lucky.
“This is a ring that feels the presence of nymphs…!”
Inoi was showing interest in the rings taken from Demon King Jun.
I too became intrigued and tried wearing the rings, but manipulating them was not as easy as I thought, and I couldn’t handle more than one at a time.
It was fascinating to ponder how Demon King Jun managed to wear ten rings and control various abilities freely.
Demon King Jun’s ability was said to be the skill of managing the mana imbued in items.
While I was close to animals, it seemed Demon King Jun had the power to connect with objects.
I handed over the rings taken from Demon King Jun to the national investigation team.
It felt like a completion of a major task, and I was drained of all energy.
“I really thought it was going to be a big deal.”
I was relieved that nothing serious occurred.
On the other hand, I felt a sense of having learned a new fact.
“What can be done with the coins that nymphs gather?”
# # #
“ㅇㅇ: Speaking frankly, I’ve never liked Demon King Jun since a long time ago.
┗ For real lol, isn’t it absurd for a thug to act so arrogantly despite being an Awakened?
┗ He needs to be arrested.
Morning.
Thanks to the extensively reported news article from last night, online communities were actively criticizing Demon King Jun.
Wondering if there was any mention of me, I searched my name “Haildo.”
Lying in bed, searching for my name in the community.
I felt that doing this would make the morning fog of sleep lift a little.
“Demon King Jun got his rear handed to him by Haildo, for real?”
┗ It seems he was knocked down with two body blows and a huge punch lol.
┗ Must be he can’t fight well despite being a thug.
┗ Losing to Haildo, who doesn’t even have a Squirrel Beast, seems pretty shameful for an A Rank.
┗ Isn’t it time to re-evaluate the rankings of A Rankers?
There it was, the talk about me.
But misleading information was spreading.
I had actually used grappling techniques, not striking to effectively subdue Demon King Jun.
Is there anything better than slamming someone onto the hard floor to effectively subdue them?
Tick.
I stepped into the living room and turned on the TV.
The news droned on about various illegal activities that had occurred on “Paradise Island,” with politicians from both sides embroiled and discussing how much money had exchanged hands—boring stuff.
“I’ve seen enough of this last night.”
Scanning channels to find something that piqued my interest, I spotted the phrase “Did Demon King Jun gain his power from a ‘coin’?” on one of the channels and fixed it there.
“Coin….”
People on the broadcast described how Demon King Jun, who had been a nerd, entered the criminal organization, took over the underworld, and rose to A Rank.
Then he pulled out a coin—a 500 won coin.
━ These coins are referred to by some as ‘whispering coins.’ They supposedly contain traces of fairies and are primarily sought after by nymphs. Yes, nymphs. Yes? Elves also look for them to some extent.
━ Places and rifts where these coins can be used are beginning to be discovered worldwide. Items that can be obtained using these coins include rings like these…
It was quite an astonishing narrative.
Just then, my phone began to vibrate and ring loudly.
Looking at my phone, I saw numerous messages flooding in.
“Il-Do, do you remember me? It’s Kim Lee Hyun, who went with you to the D Rank rift long ago─”
“Haildo, how have you been? It’s Yoo In Na, your middle school classmate….”
Being too famous is also a troubling matter.
The stories surrounding the “mystical coins” that nymphs could find must have brought all sorts of people contacting me.
I would probably reach out as well if it were me.
While going through the mountain of piled-up messages, a unique contact caught my eye.
“This is AC. Haildo, if you have time, please contact me through this email.”
AC.
While living the Awakened life, who wouldn’t know this name?
A star born from Greece.
S Rank 5th.
It was a contact from the hero known as the Achilles Legion.
