#33. The Witch's Calamity (4)
#33. The Witch's Calamity (4)
By the time I reached Olympic Bridge, it was clear everyone had already gone. Given the scale of the chaos, they would have evacuated to the designated shelters by now. That was exactly what should have happened.
'So.'
They were easy to find. In all this darkness, a single boat floating near the base of the bridge. Six people hiding inside. It had a motor, but there was no way they'd risk heading out to sea. They were probably just planning to hold out around Ganghwado Island.
'I have no intention of letting you go.'
I felt five presences. Once they slipped away, it was over, so I drew their attention. The plants in the landscaped park rustled, and the bastards caught on and drew their weapons.
Five of them— I let out a sigh.
'She wouldn't have been caught yet. I don't see Baek So-yul.'
While their eyes were fixed on me, my spiritual field stretched through the shadows of the plants and punched a hole into the hull below the deck. Water would slowly flood in. The boat would sink soon enough.
"The fuck... What is this now?"
"Shut your mouth and just finish the incantation."
Two of them muttered, faces stiff. Two warriors. One archer. Two mages— I lashed a tentacle out behind me, hoisted the corpse by its impaled neck, and tossed it aside carelessly.
"......!"
I sighed at their sheer stupidity. If they'd been stealthy enough to slip past my senses, their Stealth skill rank must have been fairly high. So what the hell were they doing?
'They should have approached from upwind.'
They had silenced their footsteps, but they couldn't hide their scent. Stealth dampens presence and hinders perception. It doesn't make you go invisible or mask your smell.
'.......'
What a waste of a Skill. I let out a heavy breath at the sight of them failing the basics. For a moment, I genuinely wondered if they were Prodigal Sons, but who else would anchor a boat under a bridge in the middle of a disaster like this?
'I don't see Kkori.'
Why? Instead of thinking, I bit down. The foremost warrior didn't realize his wrist had been severed until his square shield fell uselessly to the ground. The horrified archer fired, but I just swatted the arrow aside like a fly.
"Zidul pământului!"
I laughed out loud as a wall rose from the earth. In an open space like this— not a dead-end path— what difference would a wall make? If anything, it only helped: I used the shadow the wall cast to pierce his heart.
'Even for low-level grunts, this is pathetic.'
The mage died, and the wall of earth crumbled pathetically. I stirred up a gust of wind and blasted the collapsing dirt toward them. The other mage, about to finish his chant, got a mouthful of dirt and couldn't utter the final syllable. I slit the throat of the disarmed, shieldless warrior.
I burned all their wretched bodies with Ghost Flame (C). As the black flames encroached on them, the remaining three panicked. When they turned to flee, I pinned them down with Intimidation.
'Mana Bullet.'
It hadn't worked on the Earth Serpent, and I hadn't been able to use it on Agail because the black mana kept consuming it. But here, the Mana Bullet was proving quite useful. The remaining warrior raised his shield, but the bullet punched straight through and turned his body into a honeycomb. With the vanguard gone, only the backline remained. The archer threw down his bow and sprinted away, but a tentacle was faster.
"I-I survi..."
The bastard at the edge of my tentacle's range wore a warped smile right up until my tentacle pierced his stomach through the shadow on the floor and killed him instantly. The last mage kept mumbling something, but his frozen jaw kept him from finishing his chant. I dealt with him too, then turned my attention to the boat, already starting to sink.
'Kkori appears to have cleared the area.'
But looking at the ones who'd stayed behind, he would definitely come. So there was no reason for me to leave. I could just wait right here for them to come to me. Far off, I saw masses of flesh rising. I belatedly recalled those bastards mentioning something about deploying an unfinished product in Seongdong-gu and Gwangjin-gu.
After waiting a bit, I sensed a presence approaching.
'...Found you.'
A large man was carrying someone slung over his shoulder. And that someone was—
'Baek So-yul.'
There was no doubt it was her.
***
The form coalescing from the shadows was unmistakably the Wolf. Yoo Chang-baek stared blankly at the ruin of his subordinates. Even the boat had sunk. Completely useless now.
He let out a dry laugh and shook his head.
"...What a joke."
No wonder he hadn't been able to reach the other teams. Just what the hell was this Wolf? A sharp headache made him press a hand to his forehead.
"All of this... over a single monster."
Its eyes still glowed red from within the darkness. Meeting that madness-infused gaze, Yoo Chang-baek felt an unexplainable chill. Just a monster? No. This was...
'This is dangerous.'
Yoo Chang-baek swallowed hard. His mind was ice-cold, and he quickly arrived at a rational conclusion.
'Fighting it... is not a good option.'
He tried to flee, but something felt wrong. Somehow, Baek So-yul, who had been slung over his shoulder, was gone. His eyes flew open as he looked around. She was far off now, with some kind of winged snake.
'When—?'
He hadn't felt a thing. In response, the Wolf bared its teeth as if declaring the game was over. When it took a step forward, Yoo Chang-baek found himself retreating involuntarily.
Then, in the next instant, a sudden gust of wind blew and he lost sight of the Wolf. He rolled away on instinct, sensing lethal danger, and heard a sound like jaws snapping shut on empty air. —The bastard was definitely faster than him.
'Faster!'
He had to run. But how, against an opponent that was faster? Yoo Chang-baek gritted his teeth and fired a Mana Bullet in a blind gamble. Not at the Wolf, but at Baek So-yul. The gamble paid off: as the Wolf's attention fixed on the bullet, he fled without a second thought. Fighting that thing would end horribly.
'That bastard probably...!'
It had undoubtedly killed the other teams he'd lost contact with. Kkori was surely among them, yet the beast showed not a hint of exhaustion. That meant it was strong enough to kill multiple tails and remain in perfect shape.
'......?!'
Yoo Chang-baek's eyes widened. He had definitely been looking straight ahead as he ran, but a wall had shot up in front of him.
He quickly realized it wasn't a wall that had risen— he had fallen over without even noticing. His Achilles tendon had been severed. Among the plants, dozens of shadows writhed like snakes. When they lunged for his face, a startled Yoo Chang-baek scrambled backward.
'This is...?'
The shadows faltered, just for a split second. A thought clicked in his brain, and he slammed his mana into the ground, dispersing the shadow that had been an inch from his eyes. The sound of the monster approaching pounded against his heart. Breathing roughly, he pulled a lighter from his coat.
Click, click— he threw the lighter into the brush, and soon flames engulfed the entire park. It wouldn't be able to use shadows as easily now. He couldn't run, but maybe— just maybe— he could fight. Maybe it wasn't as strong as he thought... And it was while thinking that when the anomaly began.
"......?"
At first, he thought it was just smoke from the burning plants— but it wasn't anything that mild.
"This...!"
Black flames were devouring the fire. —They spread like ink dropped into water, and soon the whole area was covered in black fire. Inside the pitch-black inferno, he felt a burning, all-consuming agony. The moisture in his eyes evaporated, and the only thought left was to get out.
"......!"
But the black flames had already spread to encircle him. He tried to leap over, channeling his mana— but it was impossible.
"Ah..."
His severed Achilles tendon. He couldn't jump over the massive, spreading wall of black fire.
"AAAAAHHHH!"
The black fire crept closer. His fingertips began to dissolve like oozing pus. He instinctively jerked back, only for the flames to sear his back. The fire closed in, eating away at the remaining space. As certain death slowly crept in, every chunk of his flesh burning to cinders, Yoo Chang-baek, in his final moment— was burned alive in total despair.
***
"Ah..."
A small sound escaped Baek So-yul as she looked up with dazed eyes. Seeing her completely lost, unable to process the situation, I let out a deep sigh.
'It's over.'
I had thwarted the Prodigal Sons' plan, rescued Baek So-yul... I knew perfectly well it couldn't be that easy. Right on cue, an 'awkward clapping sound' echoed out.
'I thought as much.'
Including the one I'd just killed, there had been far too many tails. It was only natural that someone was commanding them.
"......."
A figure stood on the bridge railing, looking down at me. Half-eaten body parts dangled from his belt like trophies.
'An executive.'
A Prodigal Sons executive. He leaped down from the bridge, landing a moderate distance away and wearing a bizarre grin. He looked like a famine victim, skin barely clinging to bone. Most telling were his grotesquely enlarged hands and the greenish tint to his nails.
'Broken Finger.'
A Prodigal Sons executive— Broken Finger.
Without warning, he made a wide circuit of the area. He saw the sunken boat, cocked his head, and then turned his back to me and crouched down in front of a dead grunt's body.
'......!'
I barely fought down the urge to vomit from sheer disgust. Thank god I already knew; if I hadn't, I might have thrown up at the horrific sight. Cadaver Consumption. With those strangely deformed hands, he separated the grunt's head from its body. He smiled at the cervical vertebrae still attached to the ripped-off neck.
"Keheh."
He unhinged his jaw like a snake and chewed into it as if it were an apple. He didn't even bother to cover his mouth, smeared with blood and brain matter, as he swallowed with evident relish. I saw it, very clearly, slide down his throat. Human flesh. The flesh of people who had been his subordinates.
Crunch. Crunch.
The sheer, unbelievable act of cannibalism was dizzying to witness. The bastard paid me no attention as he ravenously devoured the corpse, then offered a satisfied smile.
As if to say, 'Thank you for the meal.'
'.......'
Crimson blood stained his lips. He wiped his mouth with his wrist and grinned, wide and white, picking hair and fingernails from his teeth.
The sight made my chest tighten.
I hadn't just been standing there blankly. I'd been appraising him with Insight the whole time.
'...Can I win?'
I assessed myself coldly. Through all these experiences, I— a mere slime— had grown to the point where a Prodigal Sons tail didn't even register as a threat. So, could I beat this thing now?
'It'll be rough.'
That's just how a stat gap works. At best, my skills gave me an edge in firepower and numbers. No— maybe another A-Class hunter could put up a fight. But I doubt anyone below Gu Jin-ha's level could secure a victory against that thing.
'Because.'
[Broken Finger(ㅡ)]
[Height 177.9cm] [Weight 42.6kg]
[STR 515] [AGI 574] [VIT 367] [MP 545]
[Skill List]
[False Immortality (B)] [Alluring Evil Eye (C)] [Poison Claw (D)] [Weak Sight (E)] [Weak Regeneration (F)]
—Because that thing was never human to begin with.