#51 Contact
#51 Contact
"Alpha (Jirisan Warg)."
The moment that name left his lips, every face in the gathering hardened. No newspaper had printed it yet, but the hunters who'd joined the Neverland Raid Force couldn't help but know.
The name of the jet-black demon wolf who'd brought down Crimson itself. As the tension deepened, the Dawn Lord, Sword Saint Kang Tae-jun, shifted his snapped blade. Mana began slowly gathering at the broken tip.
Then, from the ominously writhing shadows, something began to emerge. Fur blacker than the shadow itself. Chilling red eyes that seemed to seize the soul.
"......!"
Murmuring swelled. When Alpha (Jirisan Warg) stood fully revealed, the hunters realized they'd already drawn their weapons without thinking. Five meters from nose to tail and taller at the shoulder than a grown man—no mere monster. Demon Wolf was the only word for it.
"......."
Someone's breathing grew louder. Hunters glanced around at the grating sound only to realize it was their own. Bodies trembling, hearts hammering though no one had moved. Blades bristled from every angle, yet not a flicker of disturbance crossed Alpha (Jirisan Warg).
The disturbance belonged entirely to the hunters. Someone swallowed hard. Several hunters with Appraisal skills lit up their eyes, then either sank down hiccuping or clapped both hands over their faces and cried out in pain. The chamber had been darkening for a while now. Mist seeped around the Demon Wolf like an embrace, and flames flickered—or perhaps it was an illusion, but for a moment the black fire had looked exactly like a demon's face.
The markings encircling the Demon Wolf's body began to glow faintly. In a world that had somehow been dyed black, Kang Tae-jun bit down on his own lip.
'Do we have...'
A chance? Sector 1 boss or not, a creature that'd soloed Executioner was at minimum a section-boss-level monster. One whose intelligence ran deep enough to understand human speech. If he were in peak condition, maybe. As he was now, even a victory would cost them more than he could measure.
'Was this a mistake...'
Would it have been better to pretend he'd seen nothing? Kang Tae-jun's brow furrowed. He wasn't a fool. He knew perfectly well that fighting Alpha—who was hunting the Prodigal Sons—brought him no benefit. If one of the turncoats Alpha was chasing turned out to be his own father, Kang Hoon, then Alpha's help wasn't just welcome; it was indispensable. Without the Demon Wolf, there was no other way to track those bastards down.
And yet he was still being stubborn. Because he was a hunter. For fifty years, to a humanity staring down extinction, monsters were invaders who'd appeared without warning. Slimes and fairy dragons aside—a handful of special exceptions excluded—they were loathsome enemies to be exterminated on sight. Compromising with such existences didn't come easily. Even knowing the Demon Wolf was free of Malice. Even knowing he'd been helpful.
—It wasn't that he refused to talk. He just believed he needed to secure the upper hand first. The way Hong Yuri had put it before—dialogue could only happen once they'd captured Alpha alive and subdued.
'...Should I back down?'
Kang Tae-jun's eyes narrowed. While he wrestled with the question, Alpha made his stance clear: he was not taking a single step back. The Wolf of before wouldn't have done this. Two things had changed.
One was his perspective—his thinking. Until now, the Wolf's gaze had always been that of the weak scrabbling to survive. But after evolving, after fighting the Mountain Goat, something had shifted. He couldn't keep retreating and bowing his head the way he'd always done. To make his position heard clearly, he had to stand as an equal. And so the Wolf resolved not to yield.
—Because now, he had the strength to back it up.
"———."
A low growl rippled outward. Hunters dropped unconscious. The demon energy and killing intent, the kind that bored into the soul and stirred primal terror, bled into the mist and diffused. Everyone who met those red eyes pictured their own death without exception.
But the biggest reason the Wolf wouldn't back down—couldn't back down—was that Perry still hadn't returned. However faint the possibility, if there was any chance they'd try to use Perry as a hostage, he would not budge. To the Wolf, the young dragon's existence was his reverse scale. Compromise was off the table.
"......."
Kang Tae-jun felt the weight of that will and sighed. Looking around, he could count on one hand the hunters who hadn't lost their nerve. And not by much. Sector 1 or not, the Demon Wolf in front of them was a monster among monsters who'd felled a section boss alone. No mere Warg or Skull Wolf they'd heard about...
'The Swallower.'
Even Square's masterpiece had barely managed to catch a glimpse of its name—an unidentified Demon Wolf. Kang Tae-jun realized his sword-hand was trembling at the fingertips. He couldn't guarantee victory even at full strength. In his current state...
'...It was a mistake.'
The Neverland operation had just barely ended. Exhaustion had piled on exhaustion; injuries were severe. The creature facing him, on the other hand, showed no trace of fatigue or wounds whatsoever. If they fought now, the odds were grim. ...But what if the Demon Wolf turned on them later? Grew stronger and changed his behavior? What guarantee was there he'd keep refusing to antagonize humanity?
'—If he becomes untouchable, like the Purple Black Tiger.'
Wouldn't it be better to see this through now, even at great risk? Rather than leave behind the seed of regret... Cold light kindled in Kang Tae-jun's eyes. His thoughts were hardening in one direction when sudden footsteps rang out. Someone strode unflinchingly into the space between the Demon Wolf and the Sword Saint.
"......!"
Reckless didn't begin to cover it. At that range, if Alpha had felt like it, she'd be dead, no question. But she'd slipped through without a flicker of hesitation and extended her hands.
"Eun Gong is here."
The Wolf's red eyes swept over her for a brief moment, then he slowly extended a tentacle and accepted the young dragon. As though handling something precious, he settled the young dragon atop his head. Only then did the pressure in the room ease, if only a little. The demon energy still thrummed, but the killing intent had unmistakably receded.
"...Disciple of the Spear Saint."
At the reproachful voice calling her name, Disciple of the Spear Saint Eun Ja-rim smiled bitterly. Barely a few hours ago she'd told Dawn's Girl not to do exactly this. And here she was doing it herself. She turned and answered the Sword Saint's summons.
"Yes."
"...What do you think you've just done?"
"What needed to be done."
"......That act could easily be read as a betrayal of humanity. You understand that?"
At the question, Eun Ja-rim nodded, almost relieved.
"Yes. I understand."
She had plenty of justifications. But she didn't bother. The Sword Saint—the Dawn Lord—would already know everything she could possibly say.
The reasons Alpha (Jirisan Warg) shouldn't be treated as an enemy. The fact that the Fairy Dragon and Alpha had aided the Raid Force and placed humanity in their debt.
He knew all of it. And if all of that could still be buried beneath a single word—monster—wasn't that an irrational way to treat someone? To antagonize Alpha over something so petty—wasn't that the height of foolishness?
'This time, it's our turn.'
When she'd asked if they could fight together, the Wolf had answered: wait. That time was now. Eun Ja-rim had demonstrated good faith with action. She'd acted on conviction; whatever judgment came, she wouldn't regret it. Instead of arguing her case, she closed her eyes and waited for the decision.
"Well, she's not wrong."
The voice that broke the silence wasn't the Sword Saint's. It belonged to the Swordmaster. He scratched the side of his head, looking vaguely sheepish, and met Kang Tae-jun's eyes.
"Without him, we'd all be trapped in there dead anyway. Let's just hear him out."
"...You think so too?"
"Nothing to lose."
Kang Tae-jun's gaze swept further. Baek Gun-tae stood with arms crossed, nodding.
"If we were going to fight, we should've done it already. Honestly, I don't know the full story here, but..."
What Baek Gun-tae felt was simple: if they fought in their current state, they'd have to prepare for annihilation. Who could promise victory against a Demon Wolf that seemed to embody calamity itself? If the fight could be avoided, that was the best outcome.
"...Understood."
The situation itself was already tantamount to admitting defeat. Kang Tae-jun sheathed his blade on a short sigh. The Wolf withdrew his killing intent in turn. Only then did the hunters who'd collapsed from sheer tension become visible. Kang Tae-ho. Baek Gun-tae. Eun Ja-rim. The captains of the Advance Unit, the Raid Force, and the Rear Unit each gave a nod of agreement.
"—Here and now! The blockade of Neverland is lifted!"
Baek Gun-tae shouted toward the closed gates, and they began working through the necessary procedures—tending to the wounded and the rest. And the Wolf, having reclaimed the young dragon...
"...Follow me."
He followed the Sword Saint without resistance. Slowly, reeling in the mist and wind, the shadows and flame. The gathered hunters' eyes never left him, and the murmuring only grew louder once he passed out of sight.
"Is this really okay?"
What if something went wrong? The hunters watched them go with barely concealed agitation, but with the Sword Saint and the Swordmaster both present, they figured nothing too serious could happen. On the flip side, there were those who couldn't sit still for entirely different reasons.
'Hoo...'
She'd been terrified it might come to blows. It didn't look like it would, and Lee Eun-ha let out the breath she'd been holding.
'...Thank god they can talk it out.'
The worst hadn't happened. Eun Ja-rim was standing in the spot she'd wanted to stand in herself. But she knew she didn't have the standing for that. She couldn't repeat the same mistake... Lee Eun-ha sighed and dropped to the ground. Now that the tension was gone, exhaustion came crashing in.
***
Yongin City was, at this moment, the ideal place for a conversation—and for preparing for contingencies. Neverland had opened, every resident had evacuated. A ghost city. The only people left in Yongin were hunters.
"This'll do."
Not too far from the Raid Force, not too close—they stepped inside a building that had once been a shop. It looked cramped, but the Wolf entered without the slightest difficulty.
"Well, I'll be... That's something."
He was clearly far larger than the doorframe, yet he'd slipped through without even ducking. Looking closer, shadows darkened every edge of the entrance. Calling it a forced expansion of space wouldn't be an exaggeration. Inside was something like a diner. The Wolf spread his detection outward just in case—no presences registering.
'No ambush, looks like.'
He'd half-expected the Gowon Clan to be waiting as a blockade squad. The absence was surprising. Had they really not even participated? At that moment, Kang Tae-jun turned, one hand resting on his sword's pommel, and spoke.
"...Then let's talk."
Kang Tae-ho leaned against one wall; Eun Ja-rim stood across from him. The building's interior was not large. The moment dialogue between humanity and a monster was established.