Not for Nothing Am I Called Calamity
"Is that a martial art Sunbae-nim knows?"
"If I know it, then yeah, I know it well. It's from an acquaintance."
I turned back to Tenri's question.
Asirair's Fang...... That was a martial art created by an old acquaintance and duke of the beastman kingdom. The dogman, Lake Ulbaros, had devised it himself and used it exclusively.
"But this one's a lost art, you know."
That's why I'd glanced at the tower. This martial art couldn't have a manual. The dogman had no intention or preparation to pass it on to anyone until the day he died.
So for a manual of it to appear like this? What the hell was going on?
"Who knows. If it were really a martial art from the murim, maybe, but......"
The murim where Mujon lived had perished, after all. And I'd heard there were surprisingly multiple dimensions with a murim. I'd seen testimonies left by drifters from various other worlds in this one.
Of course, even among murim, being different dimensions meant subtle differences in details. But for some reason, famous martial arts were eerily similar to those spread on Earth in wuxia novels.
Therefore, even finding traces of murim in phenomena linked to dimensions—like gates spawning new races or the tower interfering with gates—wasn't strange. Plenty of murim were probably already adrift in dimensional rifts.
......But this manual was different.
"Asirair was the name of the guardian spirit protecting the western beastman kingdom."
A wolf spirit beast that had lived for thousands of years. The king of the plains, wielding power comparable to a dragon. The dogman, the kingdom's strongest warrior, had named his martial art after the guardian spirit he was close to as a duke.
And thus, Asirair's Fang. Too unique a proper noun for it to be just a coincidence. The manual's contents matched perfectly, too.
"Enough. No point dwelling on it now."
I shut down the chat spewing ominous vibes and changed the subject. No answer was coming anyway. Without a way to uncover the truth, agonizing over it would just hurt my feelings.
I trusted that world and my comrades there, too.
"Is there really no way to find out?"
"As if that'd work."
Extreme Tempering, one of my ultimate techniques. Even calling it an ultimate, it's more like a buff you wrap around your sword before serious combat.
The concept that ice grows stronger the colder it gets. You forge it into ultimate-purity attribute power and wield it as a blade. Structurally, it's akin to sword aura or qi reinforcement.
It can interfere with authorities when used. But in principle, it's interference via freezing and destruction. Investigation and analysis? Lucky if it doesn't break.
Truth be told, the Extreme Tempering I'd unleashed earlier had stressed the tower itself quite a bit. A crack in the flow of its authority, you could say. I'd swung it precisely, but some backlash was inevitable.
Fortunately, it was repairing itself for now. But it wasn't something to do often.
Why else had I left the tower alone until now? It was benefiting us, and messing with it recklessly could backfire.
"They're all similar in nature anyway."
Ultimates derive from my Extreme Ice Qi to begin with. Techniques born and bloomed on the battlefield for combat—what new directions could they take?
......No applications in other directions? Honestly, I'd tried. I had, but......
"You think I'm called Calamity for nothing?"
"So let's end this topic here for real."
Chat was dragging it out too much. The immediate task was boot camp for the juniors. Considering the goal, the manual Tenri got was a huge haul.
"That good?"
"Yeah. Peng Junior's pretty lucky, huh?"
"......"
"Pfftki pfftmeong."
Her reaction was a bit iffy, but as far as I knew, Asirair's Fang was the best martial art she could pull for herself. Had to call it luck.
"That good of a martial art?"
"It's top-tier on its own, but more importantly, it's about compatibility."
"It suits me?"
"Yeah. Its creator, the dogman, was a canine beastman, just like your transformation form."
A huge deal in martial arts. Martial arts demand precise control over the body. If your body doesn't match the 'body the art assumes,' it's hard to learn, and power suffers.
Extremely put, could a one-armed person properly wield dual swords?
"Actually, you were losing out a bit learning Earth Sword without realizing."
"Eh, really?"
"Weight distribution's off, for starters."
"Mm. Thinking about it, yeah, there was some awkwardness."
"Earth Sword's tuned for murim folk—humans."
Unaccounted body parts and racial traits. Unless you personally ascend and rework it, it'd hold you back.
But Asirair's Fang was different. The dogman made it custom for himself. Even accounting for adult vs. girl size difference, its canine beastman specialization fit Tenri like a glove.
"It even has techniques that require using your tail."
We'd had plenty of fun watching back then. Mujon and the hero fumbling amusingly trying to adapt the dogman's art.
"Basically the endgame. Endgame."
Su-yeon might already be S-grade material, but next could be Tenri.
With that thought, Tenri and I dove into the manual. Back then, I couldn't chime in at all. But now? Maybe different.
Training with her felt more like reminiscing than teaching. Until the other juniors still in the tower returned.
Awakener Response Division. Korea's official government agency tracking and managing awakeners and gates.
Its full formal name was long, boring, and pretentious, but...... even agents didn't use it. Awakener Response Division sufficed.
"Every time I see it, it's unbelievably new."
Defense Minister and TF head Jo Min-gi muttered. Before his eyes floated a clip from a stream. Naturally starring Elice Calamity...... aka Geukbing.
"The gimmick type 'Nightmare' really vanished completely after that?"
"As of now, yes."
After gates' otherworlds strengthened into pocket dimensions, new gimmicks were top priority worldwide.
Analysis and investigation mattered more than raw combat power. Finally, a way to contribute to gates beyond brute force.
Among those, the worst: codenamed Nightmare. First domestically for Seol-hee and Su-yeon, but spotted abroad a few times—a horrific trap.
No nation tried monopolizing info on its vicious form.
Provisional S-grade, that country's top awakener died to it.
Governments worldwide panicked over this new crisis. And it vanished in one strike. Leaving the shocking phenomenon of interfering with the tower's functions.
"I'd believe she's a god."
"Similar views exist."
Of course, only a tiny minority. Her immeasurable power could spawn a cult or two, but she was too familiar. Zero mystique, so those views died fast.
"Sigh. Drop it. So, S-grades—will that pledge pan out?"
"Current trends analyze over 50% success odds. Not even halfway, yet all magical girls are upper A-grade. Especially Blade Fang......"
"If that insane growth could be shared domestically instead of abroad."
Jo Min-gi sighed wistfully. Post-ranking, awakeners clearly gauged national power. S-grades were miracle-rare. Many nations had zero; Korea only had Lee Woo-jin officially.
Then the top awakener declared she'd make five S-grades in one go. All eyes on her.
Government found it bittersweet. Seol-hee only nurtured magical girls, ignoring nationality.
Real gate threats made strong awakeners welcome regardless, but governments preferred weakening foes while strengthening home.
Utterly spoiled talk. Foreigners would flip hearing it. Over half the boot camp girls were Korean!
"Minister."
"What?"
"May I ask something? About confirming intent on questioning her will regarding—"
"Haa. I'm the Defense Minister. Cut the formalities?"
"Yes. Is Elice Calamity's rank okay without her input or separate measurement?"
"It's just our internal provisional. And measurement? Meaningless for her."
None was. Untouchable, wielding transcendent power—the tower's system couldn't even show her status window. Who on Earth could 'measure' her?
Thus, her rank was decided by full member consensus. Magical girl Elice Calamity, EX-grade. Off-spec, immeasurable. Exclusive to her.
"More importantly, outbound schedule?"
"Approved somehow. But the PM's tagging along......"
"Sigh. Blocking that maw of doom'll be rough."
Jo Min-gi rubbed his forehead at his aide's words. He grumbled behind closed doors. But the PM would spew it to faces.
"Why suddenly attend that conference?"
"Hand-in-hand with Japan, too."
"Susanoo Tempest's influence?"
January 14th, right around the corner. The conference in Japan. Why Jo Min-gi crammed his schedule for it.
Not interest in the event itself. Two magical girls, Susanoo Tempest and Elice Calamity, suddenly listed as presenters for specific Japanese researchers. Not mere attendees.
Seol-hee's first official overseas trip (amazingly, even her audited thanks were via illegal entry). Jo Min-gi couldn't ignore it.
Sensing new storm clouds, he lay down in the brief calm before.