112
Ch.112 I Didn't Do Anything
“It’s Starlight…!”
“Starlight? Did you say Starlight?”
“What are you doing standing around?! The monster’s coming! Where’s the defense line?! The ring?!”
Yoo Anna had just arrived in A-City and wanted to check on Kage’s condition, but she clenched her teeth, realizing now wasn’t the time.
The strike from Yeo Woon-jae that had pierced Kage’s heart.
Unable to comprehend the situation, Yoo Anna sensed something ominous and immediately took off, flying toward A-City while receiving updates.
Kage’s secretary, who had fainted after seeing him collapse during a broadcast, the ongoing live feed that never cut out.
The monster alert resonating throughout the city—whether by misfortune or luck, Kage had evacuated A-City’s citizens to shelters before things escalated.
But.
[Miss Anna! The citizens are trying to force open the shelters!]
The heroes’ movements reflected on the still-live broadcast screen.
Even with the emergence of a Despair-class monster, they were clashing not with the monster but with soldiers, seemingly ready to abandon the civilians.
After Kage fell, the citizens of A-City, believing the heroes wouldn’t protect them properly, were trying to leave the shelters.
Even though they knew monsters grew stronger by consuming humans.
Like a buffet, stepping right out of the shelters.
“All units, prepare for combat! Against the monster—no, against the civilians!”
“Starlight! You’re here. Help us! Deal with the villain-born trash first, then the monster…!”
“Starlight! Help us evacuate! There are five Despair-class monsters! Even you can’t handle this!”
“If Starlight’s here, we can escape safely! We’re saved!”
“What…?”
Yoo Anna, about to issue combat orders to the heroes as she had in W-City, frowned at the ensuing remarks from A-City’s heroes and superpower humans.
Baskerville wanted to execute the former villain-turned-hero on the spot. The A-ranks were already saying they couldn’t win, and those below them had no intention of fighting at all.
Seeing the heroes’ relieved expressions at Starlight’s arrival, had they mistakenly assumed they’d all flee together?
Behind them, a desperate soldier, tears streaming, pulled out an anti-tank missile.
“You—you damn bastards! Where the hell do you think you’re running?!”
Whoosh! The missile shot toward the heroes, but Yoo Anna stepped in front and blocked it.
Boom! She absorbed the explosion with controlled energy, vanishing momentarily in the smoke—then the heroes unleashed their powers in unison.
“You inferior scum, how dare you!”
“You outdated, obsolete humans!”
The murderous intent radiating from weapons that could easily wound lower-ranked heroes.
Just as their powers were about to retaliate, an overwhelming pressure erupted from Yoo Anna, freezing everyone in place.
Whoooosh! The suffocating force locked them all in place.
“Ha…”
This wasn’t the time, but she was so furious she almost laughed. Yoo Anna clenched her fist, her blazing hair whipping around her.
“All of you—lower your hands before I make you wish you were dead.”
“Ugh…”
The heroes, cowed by the bloodthirsty aura, dispelled their powers. The soldiers lowered their guns just as quickly.
A-City already had precedents of heroes killing even civilians if deemed necessary.
Yoo Anna scanned the soldiers and superpower humans, now too busy fighting each other to do their jobs.
Just like the initial state of A-City’s soldiers and heroes when they first arrived in W-City.
“Baskerville, buy us time.”
“What?”
“You can do it, right? Hide and lure them with magic bullets. Be an annoying fly and divert the Despair-class monsters attention.”
“You’re telling me to die? Impossible! How the hell am I supposed to handle five—?!”
“If it gets too dangerous, signal me. I’ll fly over immediately.”
Baskerville had once hidden far away and kept two Despair-class monsters pinned in one area for nearly ten minutes.
But five? Even for Baskerville, that was impossible.
Yet, it had to be done.
“Right now, we need every hero we can get. Just buy me a little time.”
“Tch…! Three minutes. That’s all!”
“That’s enough.”
Once Baskerville flew off toward a high-rise communications tower, Yoo Anna turned to the soldiers.
“You soldiers… I know you don’t trust heroes at all. I’ve heard enough to understand. But can you trust them—trust me—just one more time?”
“Help you? With what…?”
“Just now, after seeing the broadcast, citizens are trying to force open the shelters to escape.”
“What?”
“W-wait, it’s all being broadcast?!”
“The citizens—! This is all your fault!”
“I’m not done.”
Boom! She unleashed flames above their heads, silencing them before continuing.
“If the heroes go to fight the monsters, there won’t be enough people to send the citizens back to the shelters. I need the soldiers to control the crowds. I’ll assign some heroes as escorts.”
“How can we trust superpower humans?!”
“Yeah! You’ll just ditch us and run!”
“I’m not running from the monsters.”
Yoo Anna opened her clenched fist, summoning pure white flames.
“My power is flames that burn everything. I awakened this ability wishing all monsters in this world would disappear.”
Non-combat superpower humans awaken abilities to protect themselves and escape from monsters.
And combat superpower humans—heroes—awaken abilities with the desire to defeat monsters.
Yoo Anna was among the latter, her power born from sheer hatred and the will to exterminate every last monster.
“If you can’t trust other superpower humans, let me be your proof. Proof that heroes won’t abandon citizens and will fight monsters to the end. If the heroes I send with you flee, then you flee too. I’ll keep fighting until the end.”
So trust me.
At her words, soldiers who knew Starlight spoke up.
“Starlight can be trusted. Before she became S-rank, she was infamous in A-City for protecting civilians to a stupid degree.”
“I know her too. Against villains, maybe not, but against monsters, she’s on par with Kage. No—even better.”
“But still… She's a superpower human. Wasn’t she Kage’s classmate?”
“T-that’s right! In the end, superpower humans only help their own! Even Starlight—how’s one S-rank supposed to handle all those monsters?!”
“Who said I’d fight alone?”
Yoo Anna pointed behind her at the superpower humans, provoking immediate backlash.
“Who said we’d fight?! Who decided that?!”
“Why the hell should we risk our lives?!”
“Fine. If you’re too scared to fight, go hide in the shelters. I don’t have time to coddle cowards, so don’t get in my way.”
“What?”
Yoo Anna glared coldly at the protesting superpower humans.
“Then how the hell did you awaken your powers? Did you lose family, friends, something precious to monsters?”
Every superpower human’s ability awakens amid terror and desperation.
Most had lost something to monsters. Seeing some of them flinch, Yoo Anna shouted,
“Not a single one of you felt relief after saving someone? Not one of you thought, thank god they won’t feel the fear I did? Or felt joy after killing the monster that terrified you? And now you act superior? Pathetic! Absolutely pathetic!”
“You damn—!”
Some bristled at their wounded pride; others burned with shame.
Amid the heroes’ curses, Yoo Anna didn’t bother hiding her disdain.
“If words won’t get through, I’ll speak in a way you understand.”
She unleashed a wave of condensed energy, heavy enough for every superpower human to feel.
“I’m the most superior one here.”
So follow me.
With no more time to waste, Yoo Anna flared her power and delivered her final words.
“Only follow if you’re willing to fight despite your fear. I’ll be at the front, and I’ll die first if it comes to it.”
Superpower humans have a duty to protect the weak.
If you fight with me, I won’t let you die before I do.
At that, the superpower humans stepped forward one by one, scowling.
“Fine, let’s go! Let’s do this!”
“Despair-class or whatever, they’re just monsters!”
“We grew up hunting monsters!”
“We’ve killed them just fine without Kage before!”
Unlike before, most heroes now burned with near-desperate resolve.
Now they finally look like heroes.
Yoo Anna gave orders to both soldiers and heroes.
“Soldiers, spread out and control citizens trying to leave the shelters! Close-combat and enhancement-type abilities below B-rank—form teams of three and move with the soldiers!”
“You heard her! Form up!”
“The rest—A and B-ranks, especially ranged attackers—we’re engaging the Despair-class monsters! Hit-and-run tactics! Priority is distraction—buy time for Baskerville and me! I’ll take them down one by one!”
The orders took mere seconds, but how many minutes had been wasted just to say this?
“Comm channel 003! I’m going ahead—follow me!”
Before anyone could respond, Yoo Anna kicked off the ground, praying Baskerville was holding out as she tapped her comm.
“Baskerville, you there? Alive?”
[Ah, y-yeah… Baskerville here.]
The immediate reply made her sigh in relief as she accelerated.
“Persuasion’s done. Bringing the heroes. Status?”
[Uh, well…]
Noise grew louder. Something sharp whizzed past her, slicing a nearby building diagonally.
Crash! Steel beams tumbled down. Amid the clamor, Baskerville’s voice made her frown.
[I’m alive. One monster down. And… I’m cooperating with some strange women. Fewer monsters to deal with now.]
“What?”
[Still at my limit. Hurry…]
Cooperating with monsters? And strange women?
The mystery didn’t last long.
BOOM! A deafening explosion sent shockwaves rippling out.
The familiar sensation prickling her skin made her wary—just as a black figure streaked past.
“Black Cat?!”
“Mrrow…!”
Why was this cat here? The Black Cat flashed into the distance, unleashing energy elsewhere.
CRACK! Lightning struck the ground. Trails of Magic Bullets zipped through the air.
Her shock at the Black Cat’s presence in A-City was short-lived—something even more shocking appeared.
“Mreowrrr!”
“What did you do to my daughter?! My daaaughter!”
“This is too much! You’re seriously leaving this to us while you hunt other monsters?!”
Black holes blinked in and out of existence. A black-haired girl with cat ears and a tail juggled between them, popping in and out like a circus act.
A bird-like monster chased her, vanishing and reappearing through the spatial tunnels. Each time, energy pulses erupted from afar, collapsing buildings and drawing roars from other monsters.
When a tunnel reopened, the Black Cat, the cat girl, and an owl-turned-bear emerged, followed by Magic Bullets that spiraled before flying off elsewhere.
“Uncle doesn’t know! Sagugu has no dad!”
“I’d recognize this energy anywhere!”
“Persistent bastard! Chasing a kid at your age is a crime, old man!”
And among them—a face Yoo Anna recognized.
“Gu Seo-ryong?!”
Why was this villain here too?
And fighting a monster, no less.
That monster was the second talking one after the Black Cat.
As Yoo Anna stood frozen in confusion, Gu Seo-ryong flicked her fingers.
Snap! An unpleasant sound rang out as the bear’s paw swiped through the air.
“It’s not working! Seriously! I shouldn’t have helped!”
“That uncle’s scary!”
“Get away from my daaaughter!”
“She’s my daughter!”
The bear-like body shifted, feathers sprouting from its arms as countless wind blades shot out.
Gu Seo-ryong dodged behind the black-haired girl, who opened a spatial rift.
The blades vanished into another dimension—but Gu Seo-ryong reached in, severing her own wrist and whipping it at the owl monster with her tail.
The monster dodged the venomous claws—Snap! Another finger flick.
“SCREEEECH!”
The hand exploded midair, spraying acidic blood.
For just a moment, the owl monster’s vision was obscured.
“Huh? Starl…?”
Suddenly, Yeo Woon-jae’s bizarre behavior flashed through Yoo Anna’s mind.
Gu Seo-ryong’s power—memory manipulation and brainwashing.
Had she made Yeo Woon-jae pierce Kage’s heart?
“You—!”
Whoosh! Yoo Anna swung her fist at Gu Seo-ryong—
But the girl beside her lunged forward, shoving her aside.
Boom! The girl’s upper body vaporized under the intense heat.
“MREEEOOOWWRR!”
“Sagugu!”
“Huh…?”
Stunned by what she’d done, Yoo Anna froze as the bear-like monster locked onto her.
“Ah… Ah…!”
Thump. Thump. BOOM! A heartbeat grew louder.
Energy pulsed with each throb.
“Trauma? This geezer’s emotions are all over the place.”
“Meowwr… Sagugu hurts fifteen times more than peekaboo…”
“Huh? Y-you’re fine?”
“Where’d you learn that phrase? Quit exaggerating and get up!”
“Meow! It really hurt! Not exaggerating!”
“Fine, whatever!”
“Mrow!”
Beside them, the girl Yoo Anna had hit suddenly sprang up, unharmed.
Spatial manipulation and rapid regeneration?
Before Yoo Anna could process it, relief washed over her—she hadn’t killed the child.
But then—
A crushing pressure surged as the bear-like monster charged at blinding speed.
“YOO ANNNAAAAAA!”