The Nymphs and the Hero of the Demon King's Castle! # 8
Stepping out of the rift, I found myself in a field of blinding white snow.
A bone-deep chill hung in the air, and the island's climate had flipped entirely, as if we'd been teleported to the Antarctic or the Arctic.
"You've got to be kidding me."
I had assumed S-Ranker Cha Yura would be among the strike team dispatched to the island. I'd trusted she'd somehow handle the bomb, which is why I'd gone to the trouble of evacuating everyone into the rift—but freezing an entire island solid? That had never crossed my mind.
"Feels like cheating, honestly."
And I was supposed to catch up to and beat these monster-grade S-Rankers fair and square?
No wonder people like Ma Wangjun turned to cheating and crime. Frankly, it made a certain amount of sense.
"I-It's over."
"We're done for."
Ma Wangjun's lackeys, having witnessed Cha Yura's overwhelming firepower up close, went limp as rag dolls, their will to resist evaporating entirely.
Watching the gangsters who terrorized ordinary citizens slump into abject defeat was, frankly, one of the most satisfying sights I'd ever seen.
"This Oinoi was born in summer, you see…! So I find winter terribly, terribly cold, that is what I think…! There were even times when this Oinoi slept through the winter entirely, that is so…!"
Shiver-shiver—
Oinoi, who had just emerged from the rift, trembled violently, snot running down her nose. The way she let out a mighty ACHOO made it abundantly clear just how cold she was.
Come to think of it, the day I first met Oinoi was Christmas. I remembered her standing outside in tattered rags, barefoot, shivering like a leaf. She must have been freezing.
"This Coris was born in spring, but I am an Ice Water Nymph, that is what I am…! So gazing upon such a cold scene makes me feel refreshed, that is what I think…!"
Coris, on the other hand, seemed delighted by the wintry landscape. And to be fair, standing at the very threshold of summer while gazing out at a field of snow did have a certain charm to it.
"But we failed to catch Moralis, that is so…! This Oinoi wanted to seize that troublemaking Muddy Water Nymph and give her a thorough thrashing, and now I am disappointed, that is so…!"
"This Coris feels the same way, that I do…! Muddy Water Nymphs are nymphs who love stirring up trouble…! We ought to beat the mud out of them and fix their filthy little hearts, that is what I think…!"
Oinoi and Coris had chased after the fleeing Moralis, but Moralis knew this island inside and out, and had escaped with practiced, impressive speed. Everything was frozen rock-solid now, yet the two nymphs seemed convinced that Moralis was hiding somewhere on this icy island.
Pop—
Just then, Ma Wangjun, who was being held in my grip, screamed out.
"Moralis! Save me! I'm your friend! We've done all sorts of things together, you and I! Moralis, hurry, save me! You're my partner nymph, aren't you!"
With his eyes wide and frenzied, Ma Wangjun looked like a raving madman.
But Oinoi, seeing him like this, frowned furiously and flew into a rage, like a man who'd just had his paycheck stolen.
"Let us beat this wicked fellow, that is what we should do…!"
"This Coris also thinks that is a fine idea, that it does…!"
Doom-doom-doom-doom-doom-doom—
The nymphs pounded on Ma Wangjun without mercy.
"AAAAGH~!"
Ma Wangjun howled for a long while, then his strength seemed to drain away, until finally he slumped over and lost consciousness entirely.
Seeing this, Oinoi clicked her tongue.
"He is far too steeped in muddy water, that he is…! I think we will need to beat him for a full hour every single day to draw it all out…! What a very wicked fellow, that he is…!"
"This Coris agrees, that she does…!"
"Ah-choo!"
Moralis sneezed.
For a spring-born nymph like her, the island's sudden climate shift was nearly lethal.
"It's far too cold, that it is…!"
Weather fit for hibernation. Moralis decided she had to get off this island by any means necessary.
If she stayed put, those cowardly nymphs with their unfair numerical advantage would come swarming back any moment, fists clenched into tight little spheres, ready to pummel her.
"It's time to throw away that useless Ma Wangjun and find myself a new partner, it is…! You who have been chosen should count yourselves very lucky, that you should…!"
Moralis had never trusted Ma Wangjun to begin with. He had a knack for wielding mysterious artifacts, but stripped of his toys, he was a hopelessly pathetic fighter. So the Muddy Water Nymph Moralis had kept a backup partner on standby, ready for the day she'd need to ditch him and run—and that backup was none other than 'Kang Dohui,' the woman currently trying to start the boat's engine.
Kang Dohui was a master of pickpocketing and intimidation, an A-Rank Awakener just like Ma Wangjun.
"Hurry up and start the engine, that you must…!"
"Well, about that... the sea's frozen solid, so even if I do get it running, escape looks... tricky?"
Kang Dohui looked utterly stumped.
Just then—click, click—the sound of high heels striking frozen earth rang out across the ground.
She turned, and in the distance, a woman in a white gown wearing a bird-beaked mask was approaching.
"And who are you supposed to be? You know I'm Rank 29 among A-Ranks, the 'Extortioner' Kang Dohui, right? Take one more step and I'll snap your legs like—huh?"
The moment Kang Dohui furrowed her brow, the white-gowned woman vanished from her field of view—
Spin, spin, spin—
She snapped her head up just in time to see the woman, airborne after a tremendous leap, rotating her body like an elite gymnast mid-routine.
THWACK—
"UGH—!"
Kang Dohui took the full force of a 1080-degree spinning kick and crumpled to the ground like a sack of laundry. Even if it was just a cheap shot—dropping an A-Rank like herself in a single blow?
"Urgh...."
And with that, Kang Dohui was out cold.
Watching her fall, Moralis felt the hair on her head stand on end.
"D-Don't you dare bully this Moralis, that you won't…!"
Moralis could sense it radiating from the bird-masked woman: the aura of a nymph hunter, the one thing all nymphs were born to fear.
It was a genuinely terrifying presence.
But Moralis was a nymph who had crawled her way through treacherous muddy waters. She pulled herself together in short order, clenched her fist, and charged the bird-masked woman.
"Nymph Secret Art: Wild Beatdown!"
Doom-doom-doom-doom-doom—
Anyone struck by Moralis would find their heart muddying like a puddle of dirty water, leaving them easy prey to evil's temptations.
It was the exact opposite of the purifying clarity a ditch-water nymph's punches brought to mind and body.
"Now, hurry up and become Moralis's servant, that you will…!"
Moralis stopped her fists and peered up at the bird-masked woman.
Ma Wangjun, Kang Dohui, all the other bad people—she'd made every one of them her servant this way.
"……"
But the woman, seemingly unbothered, tilted her head slightly, then calmly plucked Moralis up by the scruff of her neck and hoisted her into the air.
It was the matter-of-fact attitude of someone scooping up a stray cat.
"HiiEEGH…!"
Ma Wangjun was hauled away by the government's awakener response team.
An A-Rank hunter, arrested mid-crime—they said we might catch the story on the nine o'clock news or in tomorrow morning's paper if we were lucky.
"Mr. Ha Ildo, good work out there."
Cha Yura boarded the helicopter, yawning all the while. She'd released enough mana to freeze an entire island, so her brain was probably nudging her toward sleep to recover. A good night's rest was how a hunter's mana replenished fastest, after all.
━Woof-woof…!
Keongkeongi bounded joyfully through the snowfield. He seemed delighted by the snowfall. They say dog-squirrels hate the cold so much they hibernate through winter, but Keongkeongi showed no such inclination, frolicking in the snow without a care in the world.
"Senior! Are you hurt anywhere? Did Ma Wangjun pull anything cowardly—did he attack you or get you hurt at all?!"
Yu Ari, who had been off the island after calling in Cha Yura, rushed over from a distance to check on me. Fortunately, I was completely unharmed, and every crisis had resolved itself cleanly. All I could say was that I'd gotten lucky.
"These rings have a nymph's aura about them, that they do…!"
Oinoi took an interest in the rings I'd confiscated from Ma Wangjun. I was curious too, so I'd tried one on—but manipulating it was harder than I expected, and I couldn't handle more than one at a time. It honestly baffled me how Ma Wangjun had juggled ten of them at once, switching between powers with such freedom.
Apparently, his ability was a talent for handling the mana imbued in objects. Where I had a knack for befriending animals, Ma Wangjun had the power to befriend things.
I handed the rings over to the national investigation team without a fuss. Everything, all told, felt resolved—and my whole body sagged with relief.
"That was way too close."
Thank goodness nothing worse had happened. And yet, some part of me felt like I'd uncovered something new.
"You're telling me you can do something with the coins the nymphs collect?"
Morning.
Thanks to the news coverage that had dominated the airwaves the night before, the internet communities were busily tearing Ma Wangjun to shreds. Curious whether there was any chatter about me, I searched my own name: "Ha Ildo."
Lying in bed, searching my own name on the forums—that's just something you have to do. It's how the last dregs of morning sleepiness finally wear off.
There it was—talk about me, just as expected.
But misinformation was spreading. I hadn't used striking arts—I'd taken Ma Wangjun down with grappling techniques, which is why he went down so effectively. Honestly, is there anything better for subduing a man than slamming him into a hard floor?
Click—
I got up and wandered out to the living room, turning on the TV. The news was still droning on about all the illegal dealings that had gone down on Geukrakdo—politicians from both parties entangled, millions changing hands—the usual boring stuff.
"I watched enough of this last night to last a lifetime."
Click-click—
I surfed around the channels looking for anything that might actually hold my interest, until I landed on a general programming channel running the headline: "Did 'Coins' Give Ma Wangjun His Power?" I stopped surfing.
"Coins…"
The program walked viewers through a timeline of how Ma Wangjun—the thuggish punk he'd once been—had entered organized crime, seized control of the Cheonhapa syndicate, and climbed his way to A-Rank. Then the presenter held up a single coin to the camera. It was a five-hundred-won coin.
━Collectors call these 'Whispering Coins.' There's a trace of fairy magic in them, and nymphs are said to seek them out above all else. Yes—nymphs. Nymphs, I said. Yes? Elves do search for them as well, mind you—
━Rifts and facilities that accept these coins have recently begun turning up all over the world. Among the items obtainable by spending them are rings like these, and—
It was a pretty startling story.
Just then, my phone began buzzing—vrrr, vrrr. When I checked the screen, messages were flooding in from every direction.
Being too famous is its own kind of problem, apparently.
The moment the story broke that nymphs were seeking out "mysterious coins," everyone and their grandmother had an excuse to reach out. Honestly, if our positions were reversed, I probably would've contacted me too.
As I scrolled through the towering pile of messages, one particular contact caught my eye.
This is AC. Mr. Ha Ildo.
If you have a moment, I would appreciate it if you could reach me through this email.
AC.
Was there a single awakener alive who didn't know that name?
The star born of Greece. World Rank 5 among S-Rankers. The man they called a hero—it was a message from Achilles Legion.