Master of Namsan (3)
Indeed, it was worth the ridiculous 200 points. The hospital, once a five-story building, had transformed into a ten-story structure. It wasn't just taller—the footprint had expanded a bit as well. The road the construction workers had laid around the hospital was sliced clean through, as if by a knife.
"Hospital director, let's check inside the hospital first."
"Yes!"
As Lee Kyung-min and I moved to enter, the radio crackled to life.
"Tetora! Tetora has appeared!"
"What? Haa..."
It was the worst-case scenario.
"Hospital director! Check only the essential facilities for now and admit patients as they arrive! Prioritize the critically injured, and for non-urgent cases, set up tents in front of the hospital to create makeshift wards!"
"Understood! I'll follow your orders!"
I bolted straight to the command post, rushed into the office, and activated the drones again. I'd told Na Hye-won to take Seo I-rang and stay in their room—no coming out.
The soldiers, in the midst of evacuating the wounded and pulling back the defensive line, stared up at Namsan in terror. Atop the peak loomed a colossal spider with twelve legs, glaring down at us. Tetora. Its sixteen crimson eyes gleamed with chilling menace.
"My lord... forgive us."
Lee Seong-guk and the officers, along with the Union awakeners, looked at me with eyes full of atonement. They seemed to regret pushing for the Tetora subjugation, having suffered heavy casualties against their expectations and now facing the monster in this dire situation.
"Yes, my lord!"
I had no intention of blaming them. It was true they'd pressured me into the Tetora hunt, and I'd voiced skepticism about something like this happening. But ultimately, I was the one who'd made the call. Scolding them wouldn't change anything unless we survived to see it through. Right now, we had to focus on the threat at hand.
And honestly, the dancer and Silver Foam hunts had been miraculous victories. Normally, casualties like this were to be expected.
We fell back the soldiers, leaving 150 of the Union's strongest awakeners and 68 from Gangnam to prepare for the showdown. They'd arrived with 81, but 13 had died or been too wounded to continue.
I called in Nakyuan's executives.
"Yes!"
Their eyes burned with resolve, ready to face death.
"We'll stake our lives on it."
I couldn't even say "don't get hurt." Retreating now would end the Union. We had to finish Tetora here, no matter the cost.
The spiders weren't spawning anymore, so Tetora must have exhausted its brood.
I figured this hunt would be good fertilizer for the Union, which had only known shining victories. No Coating for the executives—they were heading into the meat grinder. But I trusted Nakyuan's executives. Or more precisely, my trump card.
Im Jui removed her mask and bowed her head.
—Yes, leave it to me.—
"Loyalty!"
The 216 awakeners assembled before the drone feed and saluted. Tetora loomed over us from Namsan, on high alert. We planned to approach spread out; if it moved, I'd spot it with the drones, alert everyone, and converge to intercept.
It was hardly a "plan" anymore. All we could do was trust them.
"Spread out! Report any Tetora movement immediately!"
I sent four blue drones toward the peak. Tetora began rubbing two of its forelegs together.
Bang!
I unleashed eight shots of Dissolving Liquid at Tetora.
Sizzle!
Tetora was so massive that it barely covered a fraction of its body. Thick smoke billowed, but it stood motionless on the peak, not even crying out.
Its armored exoskeleton shrugged off the corrosive fluid without a scratch. Only one option left: close-quarters decapitation.
Boom!
Tetora leaped skyward in a massive plume of dirt.
"Incoming! Get ready!"
"Converge here!"
Thud!
Tetora crashed into the forest mid-slope and swung a leg.
Splat!
"Guh...! Urk...!"
Tetora's razor-sharp foreleg impaled an awakener's gut. He was from Gangnam. It hoisted him up like a skewer.
"Fucking... monster...!"
Clang!
Blood poured from his mouth as he drew a dagger from his belt and hacked at the leg piercing his stomach. No fear of death in his eyes—only hatred for the beast.
"Attack!"
Lee Seong-guk arrived first, roaring as he leaped onto Tetora's back. Awakeners piled on one by one, turning it into a chaotic melee.
"Arghhh!"
"My arm... my arm! Shit!"
Tetora thrashed wildly to shake them off, swinging its bladed legs. They carved through flesh like tofu. Some were bisected and killed; others lost limbs.
Among Nakyuan's executives, Im Jui reached Tetora first.
Whoosh!
Tetora instinctively sensed her as the greatest threat and swung a leg, but Jui slid under it on the ground, then thrust upward from below.
Clang!
She drove her sword into its underbelly.
Sparks flew!
The blade tip met flesh, erupting in welder-like fireworks. Soon, her sword pierced through.
"Kieeeek!"
Tetora screeched horrifically and coiled to leap again.
Clang! Clang!
Han Seol, Han Byeol, Jeong Su-hwan, and Han Eun-ji arrived, drawing swords and each claiming a leg, hacking like axes.
The other awakeners snapped to and swarmed again.
Sparks!
Underneath, Jui gripped her embedded sword, trying to slice open the belly.
"Haaah!"
Slash!
Jui roared, carving through. Black innards spilled out, drenching her.
"Kiek!"
Sizzle!
Smoke poured from Jui, accompanied by melting sounds.
From the smoke emerged Jui, drenched in black blood, staggering forward with sword in hand.
Jui nodded silently.
Her gear. The top-grade Workshop equipment protected her from the innards. Cracks spiderwebbed her mask, and her clothes were torn, but her body was unscathed. The gear had absorbed it all.
"Yes!"
"N-No... I c-can't!"
Jui shouted and rose with her sword again.
Both she and I knew: if Jui pulled out now, our morale would crumble.
Slash!
"Kieeeek!"
"We cut it! Leg severed!"
Jeong Su-hwan lopped off one leg. Off-balance, Tetora toppled, flailing wildly.
"S-Seol!"
Han Byeol's cry drew my eyes skyward: Han Seol was leaping high, aiming to drop onto Tetora's head.
"Kiek!"
Tetora swung at her, striking her mid-air in the gut.
Splat!
"Guhk...!"
Seol vomited blood and collapsed limply onto its head. Her gear hadn't fully absorbed the impact—clothes torn, blood from her mouth, but no external wounds. Ordinary equipment would've bisected her mid-air.
Clang!
Seol gripped her sword, rose spitting blood, and began stabbing Tetora's head.
"Kieeeek! Kigik!"
Sparks erupted!
Internal injuries—blood trickled from her nose now.
"Yes!"
Awakeners charged with death in their eyes.
"Kuhk!"
"Guhk!"
Using comrades' corpses as footholds, over a dozen grabbed legs to immobilize them.
Sparks!
"Kiek! Kiek!"
"Die! Die...!"
Stab!
As all staked their lives to lock it down, Seol screamed and plunged her sword deep. It pierced the armored skull.
"Kigek!"
"..."
"Hah... hah!"
Tetora went silent. Its eerie red-glowing eyes dimmed.
"Yes!"
Nakyuan's executives swarmed the head, stabbing repeatedly. Seol lost consciousness and collapsed.
We'd won. Tetora was dead—but beneath it lay dozens of awakener corpses. At least 50 gone right there. Unlike Silver Foam, no one cheered the victory.
Leaving Tetora's corpse, the strike team gathered the injured and began descending. Han Eun-ji, Jeong Su-hwan, Han Byeol, and 40 others stayed to dismember it for confirmation kill.
"Hospital director! Hospital director!"
"Yes, Excellency!"
"Clear a VIP room!"
"Yes!"
I left cleanup to the executives and raced to the hospital. It buzzed with residents and patients rushing about. We'd given Seol narcotic painkillers at the field hospital before transferring her straight to Nakyuan. Jui looked fine outwardly but had been drenched in poison, so I ordered her back immediately.
Lee Kyung-min quickly explained the reconstructed hospital: floors 1-4 had five four-bed rooms each for 80 patients; 5-6 had five two-bed rooms; 7-8 had five single rooms; 9-10 were VIP suites. Medical offices moved to B1; surgery rooms to B2-B3; pharmacy to B4; and a mysterious room on B5. Total: 15 floors from B5 to 10.
In peacetime, I'd have rejoiced. But my mind was filled with Han Seol.
Pacing the lobby, the radio announced their arrival. Seol on a stretcher. I rushed over and checked her.
Her eyes were barely open, breaths shallow. Blood crusted her mouth and nose.
"D-Do... hyun-ssi..."
I took her hand. "Don't talk. Seol, we'll treat you right now... You'll be fine, got it?"
She nodded weakly.
I laid her in a VIP bed and spent the night holding her hand by her side.