Sudden Battle

In that instant, the first word that flashed through all four of our minds was terrorism.

Ever since Awakeners had appeared in the world, the forms terrorism could take had grown far more varied. Where the old kind had relied on guns and bombs, the new kind used Awakener abilities to unleash destruction on a far wider, more indiscriminate scale.

But any act that called down that level of ruin inevitably produced an equal and opposite backlash on the one who caused it.

"Is everyone all right?"

I had somehow managed to block the surging black storm, yet I had been so focused on that single task that I only now turned to check on the others. Textbook tank failure.

"We're fine!"

"Thanks to you stepping in front of us, Seha!"

Fortunately, because I had planted myself in the path of the blast, the party members standing behind me seemed unharmed.

"What do we do now?"

Lim Hana's voice trembled with anxiety. I answered without taking my eyes off the rift that had opened in the sky.

"That crack is almost certainly the source. But didn't you say it was a barrier earlier?"

"That's right. It's a barrier meant to cut off all contact with the outside. Even I've never seen one on this scale before."

"Which means…"

Han Sul-ye, who had been calmly assessing the situation, picked up the thread in her usual composed tone.

"No one erects a barrier this large without a purpose. So there's really only one possible goal."

"And that is?"

"A barrier of this magnitude requires an enormous amount of power just to activate. Unless the payoff is worth that cost, there's no reason to go this far."

And the only payoff large enough to justify that cost was obvious.

"They're going to use every living thing inside the barrier as a sacrifice to achieve whatever they're after."

"The real question is what that purpose actually is."

At this scale, Awakeners outside the barrier would already have noticed. The problem was whether we could hold out long enough for them to break through and reach us.

Then something icy and sharp stabbed straight into my soul.

It was pure, unmistakable killing intent—not the indiscriminate kind from before, but a focused, personal hatred locked precisely on me.

"Damn it."

I watched something slowly crawl out of the rift and gave a bitter smile.

"Everyone… I'm sorry, but I need you to get as far away from me as possible."

"What? Why?"

"You know how good I am at drawing aggro."

"And?"

"Looks like I've already pulled it."

"…"

I might be a dual-class with a handful of useful skills, but I honestly wasn't sure I could handle what was coming out of that crack.

What emerged was a gigantic spider woven entirely of black light. Calling it a spider felt almost inadequate. It looked as though every repulsive concept in existence had been melted down and reshaped into a single form—something so grotesque that the closest word I could find was simply abomination.

"Sorry, but dinner's over for tonight. I'll go first."

With that, I summoned my butterflies and shaped them into a powerful rocket thruster. Their material-conversion ability could recreate anything so long as the physics made sense and I roughly understood the structure. The rocket strapped to my back was no exception.

The thrusters roared. I shot skyward and hurtled straight at the black spider that was already slamming its way down the side of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a skyscraper.

The creature, already locked onto me, swung a foreleg the size of a giant scythe the moment its target came within reach.

Can I do this?

The thought barely formed before my body moved on its own. My fist shot out, slammed into the descending leg, and deflected it. Perfect parry. The force of the blow threw the spider off-balance for a split second. I slipped into that opening and unleashed my finishing move on the largest of the eyes ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bristling across its body.

I spun. A massive tongue of flame whipped out like a tail and crushed the eye in a single blow.

"——————!"

An inaudible wave beyond human hearing shook the air in every direction. Even with my absurd physical durability, I couldn't keep my sense of balance from lurching.

It was only a momentary stagger, but the spider did not miss it.

"Ghk!"

A massive foreleg smashed into me and sent me plummeting toward the ground. Even as my vision spun, I tried to cushion the impact with butterflies, but complete ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠nullification had never been possible.

"Khhak!"

I attempted a break-fall. It was useless. If a fall from dozens of stories could be softened by technique alone, the word "fall death" would never have existed. Compressed air exploded from my lungs at the same moment the spider's enormous bulk came crashing down like a tidal wave.

Even half-conscious, the single thought Don't get crushed drove me to roll desperately aside. The ground shook. Shattered asphalt and sidewalk fragments sprayed outward like shrapnel from a bomb. I scrambled up, batting the flying debris away with my fists, and charged into the swirling black dust.

The spider itself seemed stunned by the impact of its own fall from the skyscraper; it stood frozen as if time had stopped. I launched myself into the air, brought both feet together, and shouted:

Flames engulfed my entire body. I became a living spear of fire and slammed into the spider. Still reeling from the earlier impact, the creature was caught full-on by the explosion and hurled through a display window into the building beyond.

I started to give chase—then an instinctive warning screamed through me. I threw myself aside just as a second spider plummeted from the sky and obliterated the spot where I had been standing.

"Damn it!"

One I might have managed. Two was honestly beyond me. I was still batting away debris and trying to decide what to do when a swarm of butterflies wreathed in brilliant flame streaked past me from behind and slammed into the newly arrived spider, which was still rigid from its own landing. The barrage wasn't as strong as my finishing move, but the relentless bombardment made the creature shriek in agony.

"Seha! Are you okay?"

Lim Hana's familiar voice rang out, and the throbbing, grinding pain from my fall began to fade at once.

"I told you to run! Why did you come back?!"

I shouted without looking around and knocked aside another sweeping foreleg. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠As if she had been waiting for exactly that opening, Han Sul-ye appeared swinging two steel pipes like twin swords, smashing them into the spider's joints.

"We can't lose our tank on the very first day of the fixed party, can we?"

Her calm delivery made me snort despite myself.

"Steel pipes really don't suit a dancer."

I used the butterflies' conversion ability to forge her a pair of curved blades.

"Thanks!"

Han Sul-ye spun the twin blades in a dance-like flurry. The spider, already battered, jerked and stuttered as if lagging, unable to respond properly. At the same time a strange vitality began to well up inside me.

Debuffs for the enemy, buffs for allies. The moment she attacked with the curved blades, the effect of New Moon Dance kicked into full gear.

Then a massive shadow rose behind her—the first spider I had thrown into the building.

I clasped my hands and thrust them toward the spider. A blue, meteor-like blast of ki slammed into it. The creature flinched mid-ambush, then was driven back by another wave of Lamia's butterflies.

I charged into the space Han Sul-ye had just vacated and drove a kick straight down onto the spider's head, its eyes now glowing a furious red.

The crescent-shaped kick shattered the outer shell of the spider's head and drove deep inside.

"——————————!"

Another ear-splitting shriek. This time I was ready. I punched the air in rapid succession, generating shockwaves that canceled out the sonic attack, then spun and smashed flame into the broken carapace.

Purifying fire poured into the wound. The spider staggered, disoriented. Black light sprayed from the ruptured shell like a fountain—something that looked extremely unhealthy to touch. Lamia's flame butterflies immediately homed in like guided missiles, relentlessly attacking the exposed interior. I followed with another ki blast. The spider's body began to bubble and swell in places, then detonated with a single thunderous roar.

I glanced back. Lim Hana had already raised a barrier, shielding herself and Lamia from the flying debris. Once I confirmed they were safe, I charged the second spider that Han Sul-ye had been holding at bay.

"Nice work!"

"Hah… hah…"

As the least experienced member of the fixed party, simply pinning the spider for that short time had left Han Sul-ye gasping too hard to answer.

The moment I entered the fray, the spider's aggro snapped hard onto me. It spun and swept a massive foreleg horizontally like a scythe.

"Hup!"

With a short shout I caught the incoming leg with both hands and heaved it upward. The sudden reverse force flipped the weighted limb skyward, destroying the spider's balance and exposing its chest. I slipped into the opening, kicked its jaw upward, and shouted:

My body flipped through the air like a somersault. A crescent of flame followed the arc of my foot and wrapped around the spider. A wet crack told me the outer shell had shattered. Lamia's passive was definitely making the difference—the impact felt completely different from before.

The instant my feet touched the ground I dove under the broken jaw and activated a multi-hit ultimate.

Illusory copies of myself bloomed from every direction and began mercilessly pummeling the spider. Eighteen consecutive hits landed in the blink of an eye. Forced to take every single one with its body, the creature staggered, then—just like the first—bubbled from the inside and exploded.

"Whoa—"

I scrambled clear of the blast radius. The moment both spiders fell silent I looked up at the rift that had opened above the buildings. I half-expected something else to emerge, but the instant the spiders died the crack sealed itself as though a vacuum cleaner on the other side had simply sucked it shut.