Chapter 47

〈 Chapter 47 〉 Part 1, Chapter 4

<11:20 AM, Siheung Intersection>

Ker-angh!

The monster that got hit in the head by Unsah’s spear collapsed onto the asphalt.

Already, a staggering twenty-three monsters had fallen to Unsah’s spear. When combined with the entire Team A’s elimination count, they were nearing one hundred.

“None left? Still, don’t let your guard down!”

After issuing an order to the sentries, Tempest Lady approached the fallen monster and extracted its core, holding it in her hand.

Crunch, cruncH!

Like squeezing an apple with sheer grip strength, Tempest Lady crushed the core and let the remains fall to the ground. The shattered core’s magical energy dissipated into the air.

A wise move to prevent unnecessary incidents caused by carelessly collecting cores and inviting monster attacks.

“Hmph.”

Other heroes were also destroying cores from monster corpses. Tempest Lady approached Unsah, who stood alone deep in thought.

“Director Yun? What are you thinking so deeply about?”

The ashen-haired bob swayed slightly. Unsah tapped the ground with her spear tip before replying.

“I’ve thought it was too easy until now. Up until this point.”

They had walked nearly 10km through streets, frequently battling monsters along the way. But ever since truly entering Seoul, the monsters lacked both quantity and quality.

“Could villains have hunted them already?”

“I disagree. These monsters appearing at this location are too weak.”

At minimum, B-Rank monsters should have appeared. Yet most of their attackers were C-Rank riffraff.

“I believe someone has already cleared out all B-Rank and above monsters. Someone we don’t know about.”

“…Is there a possibility that monsters eating each other due to dimensional gate occurrences?”

Unsah shook her head. Except for the battle sites, the roads remained largely undamaged.

“If that had happened, this road would be littered with corpses. And long ago, a monster that ate others to ascend would have confronted us already. Furthermore…”

Unsah twirled her spear at the center of the intersection. Other heroes raised their weapons accordingly.

Kyaaaah!!

Dozens of monsters charged from the opposite street. The sentries quickly formed ranks to prepare for the assault.

In an instant, Unsah ran forward, leaped off a hero’s shoulder with incredible agility, and thrust her spear high into the sky. White magical energy swirled around the spear like smoke.

“Haaagh!”

With a short yell, the magical energy converged at the spear tip. Unsah spun her spear mid-air and slammed it onto the road.

KOOOONG!!

Asphalt exploded, covering the charging monsters. Halting their charge with the shockwave, Unsah lightly landed and jabbed her spear.

“Fire!”

Following Unsah’s command, the snipers fired magic bullets. The monsters stopped in their tracks from Unsah’s explosion and turned into sieves from the long-range magic bullets.

Keeeiiik….

Seeing all the monsters fall, Unsah tapped her watch.

“This is Unsah, requesting confirmation of deaths.”

– HQ. No life signals detected from nearby monsters.

“Confirmed.”

Unsah gathered magical energy at her spear tip. The swirling cloud enveloped the monster corpses.

Kwajik! Kwajik!

The corpses tore apart upon contact with the cloud. Unsah’s gluttonous cloud devoured the remains and cores like a possessed demon.

“Hmph.”

The cloud that consumed every last trace of the monsters returned to the spear tip. As the magical energy flowed back into Unsah’s body, the cloud dispersed like mist. All that remained where the cloud passed were traces of destroyed roads without a single drop of monster blood.

Tempest Lady summoned a breeze to dispel the blood-stench assaulting her nose. The gentle wind carried away the revolting stench of monster blood far away.

“You’re terrifying no matter how many times I see it, Director Yun. Your Gluttonous Cloud.”

“It’s an excellent ability for recovering expended magical energy. During my deployment to Amazon, I survived a whole month alone thanks to this ability. Though I still have much to improve.”

“But you’re already A-Rank. Everyone expects the next S-Rank will be you, Director Yun.”

“Too kind of you.”

Tempest Lady scanned Unsah’s figure up and down.

The combat suit specially developed for heroes by Yu-Sung Tech resembled full-body tights, revealing every curve. Yet Unsah wore it without hesitation for purely practical reasons.

Her smooth silhouette made even another woman envious.

After devouring so many monsters with her ability, Unsah’s body remained perfectly toned without a single stretch mark.

“…Director Yun doesn’t do separate dieting, does she?”

“Please save idle chatter for after the mission, Agent Yang Seonyu. Don’t you find this situation strange?”

Unsa pointed to both sides of the road.

“After making such a commotion, shouldn’t surrounding monsters wake up normally? Since when has Seoul been quieter than the outskirts of New Seoul?”

“…That is true.”

Tempest Lady agreed with Unsah’s observation. The reason Unsah deliberately caused an explosion was to intentionally awaken nearby monsters.

Yet no monsters appeared. Not in the buildings, not on the roadside, not in the alleys.

Except for the northern direction they were heading towards.

“This is strange. It’s as if the monsters are leading us up a certain path, isn’t it?”

“Tch, aren’t you overthinking it?”

“What do you think, <Red Pine>?”

At Unsah’s question, the red-haired man turned his gaze away. A pine tree emblem was etched on his neck.

“What interest could someone like me possibly hold for someone noble like you? Or are you falling for me?”

“Do you think this phenomenon is normal? From what I know, you’re originally from Seoul. There haven’t been significant changes from the past, have there? Unless the number of monsters increased due to the dimensional gates.”

The completely unprovoked Red Pine shrugged indifferently.

“Ah, you got captured by that old fart Pungbaek from your agency, didn’t you?”

“I’m not interested in your past. According to our records, you were arrested merely a year ago. Was Seoul this monster-free even back then?”

“You’re really stuck in your ways, huh? Conversations require give-and-take between-”

“Answer the question.”

Unsah’s firm words made Red Pine momentarily speechless before answering.

“No…there’s no way. You’d encounter a monster within five minutes of walking any road. It didn’t matter if it was Geumcheon District or anything else. Villains all hid in apartments around here. This area was frequented by hunters because monsters often appeared.”

“Understood. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Unsah tapped her smartwatch. Commander Shin Jin-Gwang from HQ was called.

“This is Unsah. I have an urgent report.”

– What is it?

Shin Jin-Gwang on the screen looked extremely pleased. His face constantly wore a smile from the constant incoming reports of monster eliminations.

“The frequency of monster appearances is significantly low. I suggest thoroughly searching each region by splitting the team into smaller groups, even if it takes time.”

– Stop questioning my orders. Just follow them! We must meet at Yeouido by 1 PM at the latest! The entire nation is watching this operation!

“Understood. I’ll follow the orders.”

Shin Jin-Gwang irritably dismissed the screen connection. Unsah calmly adjusted her own screen and re-routed the movement paths for the team’s heroes.

“Following the commander’s orders, we’ll proceed north along the original route. Be cautious of monster ambushes during movement.”

“Are you alright? After hearing that, aren’t you mad?”

Red Pine was more irritated at Unsah’s composed attitude. But Unsah calmly took a step forward.

“There’s no reason to be angry. The commander’s orders are absolute. Heroes in operations must follow those orders.”

“Even if the commander’s commands send heroes to their deaths?”

Though Red Pine mocked, Unsah firmly nodded.

“There are no commanders in this world who drive their subordinate heroes to death. If the commander’s command was wrong…”

Unsah raised her spear again. More monsters began charging from ahead.

“Then we just need to kill them all to prove the command was correct.”

* * *

“Haa, haa, haa!”

Deokbae arrived at the designated endpoint, panting heavily. From Seoksuh Station to Digital District, Deokbae had practically run the entire distance, gathering monsters.

Run faster, you dumb dog.

The annoying voice whispered from the blue bird perched on his shoulder. Deokbae tried to crush the mini Phoenix attached to him but made eye contact instead.

– Rockhead. You’re weaker than me, got it?

“…Grrr!”

The specially provided mini Phoenix for Deokbae was much stronger than him. It was Phoenix’s non-caring favor in case Deokbae got caught by heroes.

“I’ve run enough! I basically completed a full marathon!”

“Yes, so now rest.”

Through the mini Phoenix, Phoenix’s voice came through.

“Huh?”

“What’s Underling #2’s next mission?”

Deokbae held up the spirit stone wedged between his rock skin. The spirit stone contained more mana than when he transformed into a Flame Giant at Doksan Station.

“…You’re serious about that? This isn’t a joke, right?”

“It’s in the plan because it’s possible. Don’t worry. I’ve fully charged the spirit stone with mana, so you’ll be stronger than last time.”

Deokbae swallowed hard and reinserted the spirit stone into his rock skin. It felt like carrying around a hot pack, calming his mind and body.

“So am I really hiding? I’ll stay inside until called? Going to sleep?”

“Do as you please. Mini Phoenix will wake you up when the time comes. Even if it means smashing your skull.”

“……”

Without a word, Deokbae disappeared between the buildings.

* * *

Deokbae infiltrated the predetermined building. I swept my gaze through the path taken by the western heroes using the lighthouse.

‘This doesn’t deviate much from expectations.’

The enemy commander moved the western team up the shortest route. Although preparations were made for railways and highways, fortunately, they’re moving north along general roads.

“They’re coming up quite safely, huh?”

‘They’re considering later. Railways and highways require more attention for restoration.’

I respect the judgment to fight on general roads if a battle is inevitable anyway. Once Seoul is recovered and monsters driven away, Seoul will regain its functions. The fact that the opposing commander cares this much about Seoul’s recovery reassures me internally.

‘So they’ll never expect this.’

“How’s the east now, Lighthouse?”

– They’re not deviating much from the expected route. Looks like they’ll head north through Dongjak after passing Gwacheon.

“That’s problematic. Shall we start then?”

I transmitted orders to some of the mini phoenixes linked to the lighthouse. Members of the Blue Wind Sect waiting at designated locations started moving busily.

“Guro Team 4, Guro Team 7, commence the operation at your positions. Release the ‘Hunting Dogs’ to lure the heroes into traps.”

“Team Gangnam 1, same thing. Unleash the hounds to block mountain paths with monsters and guide them to detours.”

Members waiting at designated positions immediately followed commands upon receiving orders.

Grrrrrek.

Grrrr.

All members held leashes of hunting dogs larger than humans.

Resembling Dobermans with fiery crimson flames burning like collars around their necks, these four-legged B-Rank Fire Attribute <Hellhounds>.

Not only did I incorporate humans into my forces but also monsters that can directly receive and efficiently execute my commands, including those that originally shouldn’t exist here.

“I guess I should use all available resources, huh?”

The interdimensional spirit cube in my hand sparkled in the sunlight.