A Distant Plasma Cannon
It was rotten to the core.
A short sigh slipped from my lips. Maybe it was because the image of her sitting across from me at the dining table, smiling shyly, had flashed through my mind.
I hurriedly typed out a comment.
As soon as I pressed them, the heroines in the gallery pulled out their memories as if they had been waiting for it. They began explaining the situation at the time, each trying to outdo the other.
The Ganghwado rift was originally a crack that formed after the collapse of South Korea’s first Tower. Under normal circumstances, only D-class or lower monsters would emerge from it, so controlling the area wasn’t particularly difficult.
At most, orcs and high orcs would pop out.
But that day… or rather, tomorrow.
Kim Soyeon, who had been dispatched to the Ganghwado rift, suddenly came face to face with a flying S-class monster: the Drake Gargoyle.
An S-class monster didn’t mean it was something an S-class hunter could handle alone. It meant that S-class hunters had to be included in the subjugation force for it to even be possible.
And on top of that, it was a flying type.
Unlike the ground-crawling demonic beasts, flying monsters that could freely soar through the sky caused the difficulty of subjugation to skyrocket exponentially.
And if that creature ignored the hunters and turned toward the residential city area where civilians lived?
It was practically a state of emergency.
In reality, the Drake Gargoyle that Kim Soyeon had encountered had targeted the city district, and that was the beginning of the tragedy.
Everyone except Kim Soyeon had fled.
I couldn’t believe it and asked if that made any sense, but every single one of the heroines insisted that Kim Soyeon had been left alone to handle it.
As I scrolled through the comments, I unconsciously clenched my fist tightly. The pain that shot through my palm from gripping too hard was there, but… I didn’t care about that at all.
They didn’t even need to tell me. I had already planned to do exactly that.
The moment I thought about that pure innocence I had just seen being tainted, I couldn’t just sit back and watch.
They were warning me.
If I stayed on the sidelines like this, Kim Soyeon would turn dark.
That bright smile she had directed at me would be replaced by hatred for humanity.
There was no way I could just stand by and watch the walls she had worked so hard to tear down be rebuilt again.
And.
“These fucking idiots from the Association.”
In the end, they were the kind of people who only cared about their own interests down to their bones.
Parasites who were obsessed with their performance records and simply used an innocent person like Kim Soyeon.
And then, to protect their own image, they buried the fact that they had abandoned her and shamelessly played the media, claiming they hadn’t run away.
“…It’s rotten to the core.”
It really was rotten to the core.
If they were even slightly human, if they felt even the slightest bit of guilt toward Kim Soyeon, they couldn’t have done something like this.
No, they shouldn’t have.
“…Then what should I do?”
I couldn’t just watch.
But that didn’t mean I could just rush into the scene either.
I had only signed the preliminary contract. I wasn’t officially part of Aegis yet.
I was still just a civilian.
“Then there’s only one way.”
If I couldn’t enter the scene, I just had to solve it from outside the scene.
And the location of the Ganghwado rift was…
“Cheolsan-ri, north of Ganghwado.”
Luckily, there were mountains nearby. It was a spot where I could look down on the area from above.
Long-range sniping from the top of a mountain, supporting from afar.
That was the way I could help her.
The only problem was…
The only method I currently had for long-range sniping was Lightning Bolt.
“Hmm.”
Using Lightning Bolt.
If I used Lightning Bolt recklessly, someone at the scene would immediately realize that a lightning-type ability user had intervened.
That would be no different from revealing my identity.
Setting aside the fun factor, I still needed to avoid contact with Ri-en for now. That kind of situation would be the worst for me.
There was only one thing that came to mind.
“Plasma Cannon.”
A fusion skill that added the vibration of Quake to the lightning attribute to compress its form, then used Weight Control to grant it acceleration.
This was the perfect method to hide my identity and provide support from long range.
The problem was that I still hadn’t succeeded in using it yet.
“…I don’t know. If it comes down to it, I’ll just help her even if my identity gets exposed.”
Of course, avoiding having my identity revealed would be the best option.
But if push came to shove, I was fully prepared to step in directly.
It would be far better to get caught and deal with the consequences than to watch Kim Soyeon suffer and fall into corruption.
That would be a hundred, a thousand times better.
The next afternoon, I was perched on a mountain near Cheolsan-ri on the outskirts of Ganghwado.
The wind mercilessly whipped at my clothes.
But my gaze was fixed solely on the rift visible in the far distance.
A blue, shimmering rift.
And standing in front of it, among dozens of hunters blocking its path, was one woman who radiated an overwhelmingly unique presence.
‘…Kim Soyeon.’
She was unleashing her unique ability, known as Dragonis, without hesitation.
Dragonis.
A unique ability that allowed her to summon a dragon’s body parts in midair or transform parts of her own body into draconic features.
Kim Soyeon stretched her hand toward the demonic beasts pouring out of the rift.
Blue mana coalesced above her, then transformed into the shape of a massive dragon’s tail that lashed through the air.
BOOOOOOM!!
With a single strike, dozens of monsters exploded.
I had heard she could even summon a dragon’s head and use Ice Breath.
‘…An S-class really is an S-class.’
For now, I held my breath and watched Kim Soyeon’s display of power.
How much time had passed?
Along with a roar that shook the entire area, a massive shadow surged upward.
A giant mutated gargoyle flapping enormous wings and scattering poisonous energy.
The Drake Gargoyle.
The scene instantly turned into chaos, and the hunters began to flee.
Just as the heroines in the gallery had said.
The hunters started running away, and in the middle of the collapsing defensive line, Kim Soyeon stood completely alone, fighting a desperate, brutal battle.
“…I didn’t doubt it, but still.”
As expected.
No matter what, I had thought it couldn’t possibly be true.
But the people were too busy abandoning Kim Soyeon and running for their lives.
“…”
I bit my lip and hurriedly pulled Yarn Grayf out of my bag, slipping it onto my right arm.
Click. Clatter.
I stomped both feet firmly into the ground, anchoring my lower body.
“Huuuup…”
I drew lightning from my mana core and channeled the power into Yarn Grayf.
Crackle! Bzzzzt!
High-voltage sparks wrapped around my right arm and surged wildly.
Then, to compress this lightning into energy, I activated the Quake skill.
“Quake.”
The moment I spoke the activation word, the Quake skill triggered and began to vibrate.
“Compress… push the vibration inward… even more…!”
It was the exact same point where I had failed in the Tower yesterday.
The repulsive force generated by the collision of two incompatible powers began to assault my right arm.
The pain felt like my muscles were about to burst.
“Ugh…!”
I clenched my teeth so hard they felt like they would shatter, but the groans still leaked out uncontrollably.
The uncontrollable energy was on the verge of going berserk and breaking free from my control.
If things continued like this, it was obvious I would fail again.
In the distance, I saw Kim Soyeon get flung by the gargoyle’s wing and slam into a wall.
“Please…!”
I poured every ounce of my mental strength into the mana, eyes burning with intensity.
“Please, just this once…!”
I squeezed my core desperately and let out a scream mixed with a cry.
The moment I finally felt like I was gaining control—
“Weight Control…!”
I forcibly overlaid the Weight Control skill onto the rampaging mixture of lightning and Quake energy in my palm.
And the instant that energy condensed into a dazzling blue sphere—
“Die, you bastard.”
I locked onto the Drake Gargoyle’s forehead as it charged toward Kim Soyeon, released the compressed mana all at once, and fired it forward.
KWOOOOOO—!!
With a thunderous roar I had never heard before, the plasma energy shot forward.
The ground couldn’t withstand the recoil and shattered, collapsing beneath me. My own body was pushed back several meters.
The plasma energy that had left my fingertips.
That blue lightning drew a single line across the sky above Ganghwado.
Bzzzzzt! Flash!
Soon, a blinding flash of light and a crackling sound followed.
When my vision recovered, there was only one thing I saw.
The Drake Gargoyle that had been threatening Kim Soyeon just moments ago was now falling from the sky.
As if all its strength had been drained.
“Haa… haa…”
I sat down on the ground, clutching my right arm and breathing raggedly.
In the distance, Kim Soyeon, who had been blankly staring at the sky after the sudden attack brought down the Drake Gargoyle, was visible.
Still embedded in the wall.
Only after confirming that she was safe did I finally let out the laugh of relief I had been holding back.
“Thank god. Really…”
That was the moment I flopped down completely.
I had the strange feeling that Kim Soyeon’s gaze had fixed exactly on where I was.
It was an immense distance of several kilometers.
A distance that should have been impossible to see with the naked eye.
Yet a peculiar sensation washed over me, as if our eyes had met.
“…Let’s get out of here for now.”
If I lingered any longer, I might get my identity exposed.
Forcing my trembling body to stand, I hurriedly left the scene.
That night, I was sprawled on the living room sofa, massaging my still-throbbing right arm.
Even though I had slathered it with pain relief patches, the spasms wouldn’t settle down easily.
“Ugh, it hurts like hell.”
The complaint slipped out naturally, but I didn’t regret it one bit.
The news and articles were reporting that the Ganghwado rift had been suppressed early due to an unidentified strike.
They were speculating about its identity, but as long as Kim Soyeon was safe, that was enough for me.
I was blankly staring at the ceiling, resting, when—
“Woof! Woof woof!”
Suddenly, Neukgu started barking loudly toward the front door, wagging his tail wildly.
And then came the sound.
Beep, beep, beep, click.
The electronic door lock beeped as the passcode was entered, and the front door opened.
The sensor light in the entryway turned on, and Kim Soyeon, breathing heavily, stepped briskly into the house.