No Rush Against the Calamity
As soon as Gu Sang-min arrived, he immediately began demonstrating his power, and only then did the emergency personnel finally show some signs of relief. When he restored an arm crushed beneath rubble to look as good as new, gasps of awe erupted from the hunters all at once. A few, however, openly displayed their disgust.
'......'
Healing was a well-known ability that even ordinary people found approachable and friendly, yet those who actually witnessed an external wound regenerating cleanly tended to react this way. The process of a damaged body being reborn as something new triggered an instinctive revulsion. On the surface Gu Sang-min appeared perfectly fine, but in truth, these reactions had left his heart deeply scarred.
Countless people coveted his power. He had joined the White Knight Guild precisely because Jo Giman had promised to minimize such encounters. 'The ones who want to repeatedly sever and regenerate body parts to achieve rejuvenation are the most common...' It was the kind of thought that might occur to someone with plenty of money but little time left in their life, yet it was impossible to deny how repulsive the idea was.
The White Knight Guild hunters who arrived next were Park Jin-gon, an A-rank hunter and recognized master of the spear, and Seok Ryu-hwa, the S-rank mage who constantly butted heads with him.
'Those two really never change. Seeing this brings back memories.'
Watching the pair who were always busy clawing and biting at each other was usually tiresome, but seeing them again now felt welcome. The funny part was that they only ever fought with words and had never once actually come to blows.
'If they did fight, Park Jin-gon would probably have the advantage... but in a real battle, who knows?'
Park Jin-gon was a powerhouse likely to pass the S-rank promotion exam that only came around once a year, while Seok Ryu-hwa, who had risen to S-rank last year, held a favorable matchup against him with little difference in their actual capabilities. That was why she could confront him so boldly.
At any rate, the moment they reached the scene they joined a meeting with the other top-tier powerhouses already present. I lightly pierced the powerful barrier one of them had erected and eavesdropped on the discussion.
"Nice to meet you. I am Park Yong-hwan. I visited the north a month ago."
The one who spoke first was Park Yong-hwan, the Indomitable Knight who had been most active in cleaning up the accident site. 'The north' usually referred to North Korea.
"It was to assess the growth rate and damage caused by the Great Beast, the Devouring Creeper."
Seok Ryu-hwa answered with clear displeasure. "I hadn't heard anything about that. Are you saying something of that magnitude wasn't reported to the three major guilds?"
"It was merely something I got caught up in during collaboration between the Association and the Management Agency. It was an unofficial schedule, of course... and since we didn't even obtain North Korea's permission, it was quite the thrilling journey."
Dressed entirely in red, Seok Ryu-hwa kept wrinkling her lips and throwing verbal jabs at Park Yong-hwan's every statement. Her attitude was utterly devoid of courtesy, yet Park Yong-hwan continued as if he knew her temperament well, answering casually and pressing on.
"Due to an oath, I cannot speak about the Great Beast's growth or North Korea's current defensive posture. However, the aura of that monster I felt back then remains vividly imprinted on my body. If I compare it to the slime before us now... calling it close to a Great Beast would be excessive. Of course, it is still incomparably stronger than the Thorn Hippo that the Sword Star handled recently."
The three journalists attending the meeting quickly typed up his comments. The special investigation section chief from the Hunter Management Agency, Myung Se-hyeop, picked up the thread.
"Its growth has clearly slowed, but a monster possessing such immense mana won't stay like this forever. Is there truly no way to eliminate it? Since it hasn't reached Great Beast level, shouldn't we take swift action?"
Many hunters nodded at his words, but Park Yong-hwan shook his head.
"The worst disaster that struck China in the past. I recall that Necrosquall was also in a similar dormant state at first. Even then, its rank before awakening wasn't considered particularly high. We must be more cautious so as not to repeat that mistake."
"But aren't there no other cases like Necrosquall? Besides, it's clearly much lower in rank. Let's just take it down."
It was Park Jin-gon's opinion, known for his rough and crude temperament, and more people agreed with him than not. Yet hardly anyone stepped forward to roll up their sleeves and take charge.
"If only Jung-gil were here..." someone muttered to themselves. Park Jin-gon burst out in frustration.
"Ugh, that damn Hyeon Jung-gil again. How long are we going to live in that man's shadow? Is he supposed to live forever or something?"
"Hey, watch your language. 'That damn'?"
"I'm saying this because it's ridiculous how everyone's cowering like scared little dogs. What the hell are you afraid of? Let's just smash it already!"
"Ahem—"
"Hmm..."
Of course, even Park Jin-gon could sense the monster's overwhelming presence. He wasn't unaware that his claim was reckless.
'I need to wrap this up quickly and train the kids below! The guild competition schedule got moved up too. Fuck, who knew I'd waste time on something like this.'
Even with an immeasurable monster squatting right in the city center, the only thing in his head was the upcoming guild competition. He had grown noticeably more anxious lately. To seize the prime dungeon managed by Seok Ryu-hwa, his direct subordinate needed to reach the top four as the guild's representative, but the gap with her prized disciple Hwaryeon was only widening with time.
'These pathetic bastards! All that money invested and nothing to show for it! If it comes down to it, do I really have to feed them that stuff? If it gets discovered, it'll come back on me too...'
Park Jin-gon inwardly boiled with rage, even considering tricks he shouldn't. His anxiety had grown so intense that he wanted to leave immediately and hammer his disciples harder, but Jo Giman's remote orders left him no choice.
'Fuck that bastard Jo Giman. Always just running his mouth while making us do all the work. Wherever he's wandering off to, he comes back stronger every time. Now I can't even raise a hand against him. Did he find some hidden field of spiritual herbs or something?'
At any rate, since the instruction had been to organize and report any special matters from this subjugation, he intended to follow through faithfully. Therefore, the best course was to quickly eliminate this slime-like idiot monster and return.
The meeting quickly grew heated. Kang Yeonsu remained completely silent, staring at them blankly as she fell deep into thought.
'This is the first time a Great Beast-level monster has appeared so quickly. It didn't even take ten minutes to form a complete shape. This doesn't make sense... there has to be something more.'
Yet exactly as I had predicted, the conclusion reached one hour later was to stand by until the first-generation awakened arrived.
'Not bad. Even from my perspective, hitting it right now seems rather dangerous.'
I nodded and watched Kang Yeonsu emerge from the temporary situation control tent. She wore a somewhat dazed expression as she turned her gaze toward the monster, which had grown so massive it completely blocked the view in one direction.
'...... Still, she held back well.'
Given her usual temperament, she would have wanted to challenge the monster immediately, but perhaps her animal-like intuition had sensed something unpleasant. Even after the meeting, she maintained a cautious attitude.
Yeonsu walked over to us with calm steps.
"Yeonhee."
"Hello."
"I'm truly sorry about the contract. That damn bastard. I never imagined he'd pull something like that. When he comes back, I'll give him a proper piece of my mind."
"Ah, no, you really don't have to go that far..."
"This is my problem too. What kind of world do we live in that someone would damage the guild's reputation like that? It's utterly ridiculous."
Kang Yeonsu exploded with indignation over the fraud Lee Yeonhee had suffered. But from what I could see, she looked like she'd found a perfect excuse to strike at Jo Giman.
'She's probably stacking these up one by one, waiting for the right moment to let them all explode.'
At any rate, at the Management Agency's earnest request, we had no choice but to wait endlessly until the first-generation awakened arrived. By the time three hours had passed and not a single living creature besides awakened beings remained in the area...
"Hey— at this point, this isn't a place for C-rank hunters. Shouldn't we send them home quickly?"
Seok Ryu-hwa approached Kang Yeonsu, who had been conversing with Yeonhee, and suggested removing us from the scene.
"Uh... well..."
Only then did Yeonhee and A-rin realize that every hunter still remaining on site was on a completely different level from them. To prepare for the large-scale battle that would soon erupt, those with lesser capabilities had wisely withdrawn.
'I held on because I wanted to be part of this somehow.'
It was certainly a risky position. There was no telling when Jo Giman might appear, and we had no grasp of what abilities that monster might display. Still, we couldn't watch an event of this magnitude through a phone screen. Besides, the delayed contact with Jo Giman was becoming burdensome.
'Showing ourselves around this point would be good.'
With that thought, I looked at Kang Yeonsu with pitiful eyes. After receiving my gaze for a moment, she spoke to Seok Ryu-hwa.
"Hm? These kids are mine. You're not already trying to keep the competition in check, are you?"
Kang Yeonsu pulled both Yeonhee and A-rin closer by their shoulders as she spoke. Seok Ryu-hwa's eyebrows twitched subtly at the sight.
"... Everyone knows that Lee Yeonhee is a hunter on the vice guild leader's faction. But that has nothing to do with the current situation."
"I'm not sending these kids away. If it gets dangerous, I'll protect them myself, so don't worry about it."
"If you keep acting like this, should I call Hwaryeon over?"
"Go ahead. Why haven't you called her yet? I'd like to see her face after so long too. Just what are you doing, hiding our guild's next ace away so tightly?"
'Hwaryeon being the next ace... at this point, that's accurate.'
There were several powerful entities known among fire-related deities. Among them was the girl named Hwaryeon who had formed a contract with Rivisenax.
"It's because you don't come to the training observatory that you can't see her... It's an open space, so everyone comes to watch. It's been a long time since the guild leader and vice guild leader last visited."
"Ah, is that so? Hahaha—"
"......"
Though she had let her words trail off vaguely, Kang Yeonsu had flatly rejected Seok Ryu-hwa's rather firm opinion. She carried the important responsibility of managing the guild's finances and controlling its members, yet she wasn't the type to indulge them unconditionally. This was especially true for those like Seok Ryu-hwa and Park Jin-gon, who each occupied their own territory. Even though those two constantly bickered, they were the ones more loyal to Jo Giman's commands.