Chapter 697

〈 Chapter 697 〉 Part 2, Chapter 4, 24

There isn’t a single corner of the world untouched by chaos. Following the rampages of monsters and beastly fiends, the world has become far too selfish.

Even as scientific civilization transitioned through the 21st century and into the Magical Gear Revolution, laying the groundwork for the 22nd century, humanity’s consciousness and rationality began regressing back to the medieval era where “if I eat well and live comfortably, that’s all that matters.”

“The same goes for various parts of Korea. In exchange for concentrating all of South Korea’s infrastructure in New Seoul, we abandoned everything else.”

As the calendar turned past the year 2000, people from coastal areas gradually moved inland for safety. Just like how pirates once wreaked havoc during the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties, the presence of monsters made survival impossible near the coasts.

Monsters appeared but rifles fired by soldiers were useless against them, and there weren’t enough special ability users to cover the entire coastline. Eventually, everyone except those willing to die fled inland, relocating their lives to higher ground.

So what happened to those left behind in this process? Were those usually treated worse than humans properly rescued when life itself was hard to preserve?

“Sun Icheol destroyed all the bridges in Seoul; similarly, these people abandoned others and ran away.”

The salt field owners left their workers behind, escaping by boat. Karma perhaps played its part as out of a hundred boats, only two or three made it to Mokpo Port while the rest capsized due to sea monsters lurking beneath the waves, turning their occupants into fish food. The Yellow Sea, in particular, was infested with marine monsters.

“Because of Seok Harang, marine monsters heading towards the Busan area instead diverted to the South and Yellow Seas. Consequently, island and mountainous regions bore the brunt of the damage.”

Though unintended, this wasn’t Seok Harang’s fault. It’s natural for a jackal avoiding a tiger’s territory to settle elsewhere, disturbing the rabbits living there—it’s the way of nature.

From the moment humanity encountered these monstrous beasts, our way of life reverted to the savage principles of survival of the fittest. With humanity returning to an age where one fights beasts to survive, adapting to this new lifestyle became essential.

“And the residents of the abandoned salt fields…the slaves had to make a choice.”

1. Die quietly at the hands of the monsters.

But even those deprived of freedom retained the will to live. Initially unable to die, they struggled fiercely to survive despite their oppressed circumstances.

– “I’ll kill every last one of those who abandoned me!”

Driven by vengeance against their so-called ‘masters’ who left them behind, these individuals hid in the salt fields, slowly becoming corrupted by anger and madness toward their masters and humanity in general.

“Tera cores are assimilated by such beings. Most transform into monsters, but those with strong wills become beastly fiends.”

Not forcibly corrupted by Dark Legion officers like Kim Penril, these fiends arise naturally from overwhelming emotions—fiends like the shrimp monstrosities emerging from the salt fields led by Cheongnyeon.

“Large Shrimp Monster.”

With emaciated limbs but heads and spines resembling real shrimp, their tails below the spine served as formidable blunt weapons stronger than steel, and countless tiny legs covered their abdomens like arthropods.

“All marine fiends have tentacles. Special feature.”

And the most notable characteristic of the Large Shrimp Fiend?

The whiskers around their shrimp-like heads function as terrifying tentacles that wrap around enemies’ heads, draining them dry.

“A truly horrifying fiend that sucks the life out of you with its whisker-tentacles.”

Upon being ensnared by these tentacles, which pierce the throat, even capable special ability users would likely lose consciousness and be killed by the Large Shrimp Fiend.

* * *

“KYAAAAAAH!!”

Su Ri’s scream echoes across the salt flats. Skeleton-like limbs combined with a shrimp torso and wriggling whiskers that acted more like tentacles surrounded her.

“They’ve got tentacles too.”

“At this point, it’s so normal it’s not even creepy anymore.”

The veteran team members calmly adjusted their magical powers against the Large Shrimp Fiends with tentacles. As Nuri said, we’ve seen everything under the sun thanks to dragging them everywhere.

Take the Ocean Phantom at the Yeosu Aquarium—it was a tentacle jellyfish, and nine out of ten marine monsters in this world have tentacles. Even if there’s a rare giant whale monster without obvious tentacles, it’s bound to have wriggling parasitic worms inside acting like tentacles.

“KYAAAAAH! Hero, hero!!”

Still screaming, Su Ri swung her staff wildly. The fireballs emitted from her staff had impressive firepower but poor aim, nearly hitting allies in her chaotic barrage.

“Get out of the way!”

Using magical gear, I directed my teammates to dodge. Laon and Nuri leapt sideways to avoid the flames, while Gaon’s water droplets blocked the fireball heading toward the boat.

“Friendly fire due to mental confusion. Minus 20 points. Gaon, give her a water blast on the back of her head.”

Plock! Gaon’s water droplet accurately struck Su Ri’s nape. Drenched in seawater, Su Ri attempted to unleash another fireball before Yuna pulled her backward.

“Didn’t expect to leave the academy and hit the field so hard, huh?”

“H-H-H Huff…”

“Thoughts after dealing with cute C-Rank monsters and now seeing actual fiends?”

“It’s disgusting, huff…”

Disgust. All fiends possess horrors surpassing cockroaches. Despite knowing monsters run rampant outside, those living within the safety of New Seoul remain oblivious to the details.

Since the guardians of New Seoul handle all monsters and fiends, students rarely encounter fiends firsthand.

“Still, what can we do? We must fight! Fight as directed!”

I gave Su Ri instructions. To narrowly evade enemy attacks and thrust her staff into their mouths to incinerate them.

Slurp slurp slurp slurp.

“I-I CAN’T!!”

Su Ri screamed, eyes shut tight, horrified by the wriggling tongue emerging from the fiend’s abdomen akin to a leech.

“Freezing up in front of the enemy. Minus 40 points. Overreliance on teammates. Minus 20 points.”

“Haaaattt–!”

Laon dashed beside Su Ri, thrusting a spear into the Large Shrimp Fiend’s mouth. As the fiend tried to grab his head with its tentacles, it was impaled, dangling helplessly.

“Laon, smash it into the ground quickly! Otherwise, it’ll tail-slap us! Nuri, go cut off the tail!”

Laon slammed the fiend into the ground using the middle of his spear. Nuri returned from the front, raised her blade, and severed the fiend’s tail. The B-Rank fiend trembled violently before perishing.

Poof–

The Large Shrimp Fiend dissolved into black mist. Along with the fiend’s demise, the contaminated core scattered into the air.

“Student Su Ri, if there are other fiends nearby when a fiend dies?”

“H-H-H Huff Huff Huff…”

Still shaken, Su Ri struggled to calm herself. Turning to Yuna, who supported Su Ri,

“Do you know, Yuna?”

“Yes. When a fiend dies, other fiends go berserk, growing stronger.”

“That’s right. They grow even stronger.”

The dispersed core doesn’t vanish but settles into other fiends, enhancing their power.

KIAAAAHH!!

The Large Shrimp Fiends screeched and went berserk. While regular beast-type monsters might swell with muscles or sharper teeth, the Large Shrimp Fiends’ whiskers grew larger and more robust.

“Boss, those legs are moving too?!

“Ugh. If that’s the case, targeting the inside is futile! Gaon, can you support?!”

“I’m busy protecting the bottom of the boat!”

Worse still, the previously rigid legs below the neck started moving as if alive, flailing wildly like dozens of dildos attached to their abdomens.

“Octopus logic, man.”

“Boss, this isn’t the time for that!”

“H-H Huff Huff Huff…”

Su Ri remained traumatized despite Yuna’s reassurance, her face flushed red from hyperventilation.

“This is the reality of the enemies humanity must face.”

The higher the rank, the more grotesque their appearance. Higher-ranked terrestrial monsters often sport ribbon-like decorations that turn out to be neck-growing tentacles, and among S-Rank monsters, those without tentacles are almost exclusively fire-attribute ones.

When fighting tentacle aliens for the sake of world peace, those claiming to do so cannot escape from tentacles even if they wanted to.

“So, defeating tentacles is the true victory for humanity!”

“But isn’t it typical for magical girls to succumb to tentacles?”

“Defeating that trope is the true symbol of humanity’s triumph! Clichés exist to be broken!”

Overcoming countless tentacle monsters leads to a happy ending. Thus, special ability users, heroes, and magical girls must grow accustomed to tentacles.

“Pull yourself together, Jung Su Ri! The main event hasn’t even arrived yet!”

“Huh…?”

“Didn’t I mention? We came here to hunt an A-Rank monster.”

C-Rank monsters overflowed, followed by appearances from B-Rank fiends. Now, only the named A-Rank monster remains.

“Everyone aboard the boat!”

Following my command, the team boarded the deck. Supporting the weakened Su Ri, Yuna and Laon helped her aboard, while Nuri barely blocked fiend attacks before leaping onto the ship. Yuha revved the engine.

Toot toot toot.

With the urgent horn blaring, we attempted to escape the “field.” Salt from the flats spread across the sea surface.

“What…is this?!”

“B-Rank fiends have territories too, but A-Rank ones create environments like this as a matter of course!”

Creating their ideal battleground. Instantly, we were trapped in a sea covered in salt.

“Ugh…”

Gaon tried moving water droplets to escape the salt flats but failed. The droplets became trapped in the salt, rendering her magic powerless in protecting the boat’s underside.

“Here they come.”

Squawk, kreeeerrrkk!

Fiends gathered toward the center of the salt flats. Zombie-like Large Shrimp Fiends began linking tails in chains.

“Truly astonishing. Humanity can’t even synthesize cores, yet fiends easily merge theirs. Incredible, the miracle of B-Rank becoming A-Rank.”

Now, the mere 1 billion won boat is irrelevant. Catching an A-Rank monster means capital exceeding hundreds of billions—what’s 1 billion worth compared to that?

“Everyone, prepare for the raid!”

Isn’t a raid the highlight of the monster world? I shouted toward the emerging giant shrimp-like eel creature. Standing over 20 meters long, it waved its tentacle-like whiskers menacingly atop the salt crust.

“<Salt Fenrir>! An A-Rank monster! Today’s ace is cool~”

Everyone’s eyes lit up. From my coat, I drew out the TAT and loaded a mana bullet.

“If I top the damage meter, I get to do whatever I want! Next 30 minutes, free-for-all!”

I relinquished command, delegating judgment to each team member. Essentially, an auto-hunt commenced as the team moved seamlessly to pressure the colossal shrimp.

“What will you do, Fire Maiden?”

Now slightly calmer, Su Ri hiccupped while raising her staff. Any embarrassment about her magical girl outfit disappeared, though her disgust for tentacles lingered but no longer hindered her.

-Fearful of cockroaches, yet you still have to kill them.

If something grotesque must be eliminated, it’s best to do so without hesitation. I aimed the TAT’s muzzle at the giant shrimp.

“Isn’t it dangerous?! This is an A-Rank monster! It’d be better to call in reinforcements!”

“People won’t come.”

I gestured to the surrounding salt barrier. Though breakable, it held little significance.

“As you can see, we’re blocked by a barrier. For an A-Rank monster to set up such a barrier…it seems this place feels like an inescapable prison to it. Heh heh.”

The salt barrier isolating the A-Rank monster contained the materialized despair and frustration of fiends that died here, manifesting as restraints against the enemy.

“If we fall to them, we’ll end up shelling shrimp eggs here forever. Do you want to spend eternity buried in salt, or fight to survive?”

Su Ri possesses strength. Beyond resolving the situation, she holds the power to defeat Salt Fenrir.

“What should I do?”

Finally ready to listen, I instructed her to aim her staff at the A-Rank shrimp.

“The shrimp is essentially grilled in salt.”

Conveniently, the surroundings consist solely of salt. Pointing at the A-Rank shrimp within the salt barrier, I signaled a throat slash with my thumb.

“Burn it down.”