Chapter 33: 23:59:15 (1)
Chapter 33: 23:59:15 (1)
“Yumil. How’s The Sea?”
“It’s blue.”
“Well, that’s obvious.”
Yumil sprinted across the surface of the ocean beside me. After gulping down mouthfuls of saltwater a few times, she seemed to have gotten the hang of it; she didn't sink anymore, even when I struck up a conversation.
“It’s humid, and my skin stings. I want to just throw myself into the water.”
“The water is right beneath you.”
“You do realize I’m in this state because I was dunked in that water, right?”
Her reply was sharp, laced with a hint of sarcasm.
She’s more interesting than I thought.
The way she acted now made her plea for death yesterday feel like a lie. She was cold toward me, but her actions leaked a childlike innocence. Even now, while she thought I wasn't looking, her eyes were sparkling as she watched a school of fish.
Was it because these things had only existed as knowledge to her, never as experiences?
I kicked off the water, thinking she might actually get along well with my disciples.
Blue sky, Blue Sea.
Scattered debris here and there, ships floating on the surface, green islands.
It wasn't a bad view.
It wouldn't be so bad to lose myself in solitude in a quiet place like this once in a while.
Maybe I should catch some fish as a gift before I head back.
Just as I was about to enjoy my leisurely holiday with such lighthearted thoughts—
Whirrr.
An unnatural noise rang in my ears.
It was the sensation of communication magic, something I hadn't felt in a long time. There was only one person who would use communication magic on me.
“What is it, Un-ho? What’s going on?”
“Where are you right now?!”
Un-ho’s booming voice exploded right next to my eardrum.
Keep it down, will you? What’s all the fuss?
“I’m in the middle of the Pacific, on my way home.”
“Why are you there… No, that doesn't matter. Release all limiters as quickly as possible! If you don’t… static, crackle.”
Noise in communication magic?
Mana interference at a time like this? Who? And what were they thinking?
“Un-ho? Un-ho!”
Unable to use communication magic myself, I called out my comrade’s name, hoping his signal would break through again.
But no answer came.
A sense of foreboding washed over me.
“Yumil. Prepare for battle.”
And before Yumil could even react to my words, a new voice echoed.
【Public Enemy Designation Alert】
My head throbbed.
It was the voice of doom, one I hadn't heard in years. Unlike the voice of Otherworld Erosion, which delivered information dispassionately, this one had an urgent tone that signaled the end of everything.
It was the physical manifestation of ruin, heard by every Hero within the designated zone.
Public Enemy Designation.
In itself, it wasn't a problem. Many believed it was only issued when an O-Rank appeared, but that wasn't actually the case. It was issued whenever a Hero reached a level where they could no longer handle the enemies of the Story.
Because of that, Public Enemy Designations were issued endlessly in the past. Because a Hero died, because a Hero fell to corruption, or because a Hero simply lacked the strength.
The Management Bureau eventually decided to view the Public Enemy Designation differently. Not as an alarm issued out of urgency, but as a warning issued when it became impossible for a Hero to end a particular Story alone.
The Bureau made it their top priority to eliminate Public Enemy Designations. They wanted every Hero to somehow finish their Stories so that the alert would never have to be sounded.
Heroes passed their know-how down to the new generation.
Specialized teams were created to rescue new Heroes.
Free subjugations were used to thin out enemy numbers to the point where Holes wouldn't open.
They adjusted how society perceived Heroes.
They even used methods to forcibly end Stories in safe locations by surveying the concentration of Otherworldly Power across the globe.
Despite all those efforts, a Public Enemy Designation had finally dropped today.
It was the situation the Bureau feared most: the invasion from the Otherworld had intensified once again.
By now, the Bureau would have declared a state of emergency and issued a Mobilization Order for every Hero within the affected zone.
Which zone is it?
I began to pick up speed, preparing to rush toward the area.
I felt lucky to be out in the Pacific. If the designated zone was small, I might not have received the alert and would have been late to respond. But in the Pacific, where so many zones overlapped, I could rush anywhere…
【Designated Zone: The Entire Earth】
What?
Who was it? What kind of Hero could possibly create a Story on a global scale?
【The Adversary: Crimson★Hammer. Individual unable to confront the situation. To all who hear this: Exterminate The Enemy. Continue your lives.】
No.
The one thing that should never have happened, just did.
【Detailed information will be transmitted. Please, survive.】
A massive influx of information poured in all at once, making my head throb with a headache. Enduring the pain, I filtered out the trivial details and extracted only what was necessary.
A Leader Entity opening a Hole single-handedly.
An invasion by a massive army.
The designated danger zone was the entire world.
The attack route was The Sea.
Their numbers were unknown.
I let out a hollow laugh.
Unknown.
That word meant that even the mysterious entity issuing the Public Enemy alert couldn't fully grasp The Enemy’s information.
The last time that word appeared, humanity lost the Atlantic Ocean.
I poured strength into my knees.
Pang—!
With a sound like a water balloon bursting, a pillar of water surged beneath my feet. This was no time to enjoy floating on The Sea. I had to contact the Bureau as quickly as possible and prepare a countermeasure…
“…I’m too late.”
A chilling sense of dread pierced my mind. It had been ten years.
The foul stench of rot. The sensation of concepts and common sense decomposing.
They were coming. The enemies of my Story, beings that transcended physical force.
I had missed the days when they were around so much that I’d thought it might be nice if they returned. But in an instant, I realized that was nothing but arrogance. Ten years had merely stripped away my fear of them. They were by no means weak.
Even their vanguards, who weren't even Executives, were nightmares capable of wiping out humanity. Their corruption and erosion were perfectly suited for invaders, and now, their Executive-class was appearing.
【The existence of The Sea shall be a single life】
【Strength shall transcend distance】
Multiple Otherworld Erosions.
A Black Shadow appeared beneath my feet. My instincts, honed on countless battlefields, screamed a warning. That was the entity that had punched a Hole in the ocean for this invasion.
“Run, Yumil!”
This wasn't something she could handle.
“Pardon?”
The Mutant girl, who had been silently following me, let out a confused voice.
“Run to Korea! Hide there and find Danger Rifle! Run, now! You’ll die!”
I had to pin down the Leader Entity here. Even if I couldn't defeat it, I had to at least stop it in its tracks. There was no Bureau branch capable of stopping a being like this. So, I had to be the one.
“I’ll stay with—”
A Red Pry Bar appeared in her hand.
Perhaps because she had inherited everything from me, she must have realized what I intended to do.
But she lacked everything.
Experience, the years built up, the blood shed.
“As Linshua’s father, I command you! Run! Now!”
I couldn't hold them back any longer.
They were coming.
Clank. Clank.
The Hammer in my hand transformed at incredible speed. A pile driver and afterburners. And an overwhelming size.
Vroooom.
The afterburners let out a scream.
A massive pillar of flame erupted.
The overwhelming heat radiating from The Hammer spread to the surroundings.
Whoosh—
The surrounding seawater evaporated, creating a sticky moisture and saltiness. I could feel that humid stickiness deep inside me. The areas touched by the heat evaporated into hollow pits, and seawater rushed in to fill the void.
Stronger. This isn't enough.
Even though this pile driver had buried countless enemies, my instincts screamed frantically that it wasn't enough.
Clank. Clank.
As if sensing my thoughts, The Hammer deployed numerous cylinders around the afterburners. These were devices designed to explode all my accumulated mana in a single instant.
A main engine and secondary strike units to deliver damage after impact.
I gripped the weapon, which now looked more like a rocket with its countless canisters attached. My hands trembled from the overwhelming power, but I couldn't fire yet.
The moment to swing was the optimal split second when I could stop the thing beneath my feet.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
All the cylinders surged at once, signaling they were overloaded. That was how much mana I was concentrating.
The shadow beneath my feet grew even darker.
It was coming up.
The sequel to the Story I had longed for so much. The monster designated as a Public Enemy.
“Die!”
A massive horn erupted through the surface of The Sea.
I slammed The Hammer down toward its base.
Pang!
The seawater in contact with The Hammer vanished. It scattered into the air, retreating sideways to avoid the impact.
Inside the hollowed-out arena carved into the ocean, the entity that had been hiding in the depths revealed itself.
A gray carapace covered in eyeballs.
A Giant Monster with limbs and fins, and a spear-sharp horn running from its head to its tail. Its form was that of a typical O-Rank Giant Monster, but the lava-colored tentacles writhing between the plates of its carapace identified it as an enemy of my Story.
Whether the monster and the tentacles were one body, a parasite, or if the tentacles were the true form, I didn't know. But that writhing was unmistakably my enemy.
Sensing me as a threat to its existence, numerous tentacles shot toward me.
But they were just tentacles.
The Hammer, backed by overwhelming physical force, pulverized them as it drove forward.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
However, my hammer wasn't perfect, and the tentacles that escaped its path pierced into my body.
It’s hot.
They weren't simple tentacles; the flesh where they pierced began to melt. The tentacles twisted inside me, trying to force me to stop my attack. My body, unable to endure the torture, began to scream.
A scream of agony, shrieking that I had to run if I wanted to live, that I couldn't hold out.
Bullshit.
“I’ve dealt with this kind of pain my whole life. You bastards!”
If you want to stop me, you’ll have to tear my limbs off and blow them away.
Boom!
The Hammer, imbued with immense power, connected with The Enemy’s body.
A solid hit. At the very least, I could definitely neutralize this leader-class—
Pop-pop-pop-pop!
What?
Pillars of water erupted all around us.
Red streams of water, a mixture of blood and brine, surged above The Sea. The deep red was as beautiful as a water magic show, but my eyes saw the bits of flesh mixed within those streams.
Don't tell me. Is it transferring all the damage to others instead of taking it?
I realized then that my first attack had been a fatal mistake. I had been too hasty.
Crunch.
Intense pain.
In an instant, the Giant Monster’s teeth clamped down on my abdomen. The teeth that pierced through me weren't satisfied with just a puncture; the hooks on them tore away chunks of my flesh.
A penetrating wound. Loss of internal organs.
The countless eyeballs on the monster’s head stared at me. Inside each eyeball were even more eyeballs. The massive pupils were composed of countless smaller eyes, each rolling in a different direction.
But that was only until the moment I was impaled by its teeth.
The eyes within eyes, and the eyes within those, all focused on me. Eyes that felt intelligent, recognizing me as The Adversary.
Vroooooooooom.
A sound like a massive foghorn. It was the monster that had bitten me. It let out a great resonance that spread to the surroundings, signaling the start of the war.
Critically injured, I tore my gaze away from the eyeballs and turned my head toward where Yumil had been. At the edge of my vision, the black Mutant was sprinting across The Sea. Numerous gray crustacean creatures were chasing her, but they didn't seem fast enough to catch her.
She had turned away from The Enemy and was heading toward Korea as I had ordered.
It was the right thing to do. A Hero must be able to run when they need to.
I turned my gaze back to the monster.
An entity of my Story that remained completely uninjured despite being attacked. As if to finish me off, the monster clamped its jaws even tighter.
“Get lost.”
I pulled back The Hammer and placed my hand on the teeth that were trying to crush me. The hooks dug into my palm, tearing away flesh, but that was all.
I poured in my strength.
Releasing all limiters, exploding with forgotten emotions.
I was glad we were in the middle of the ocean. No matter how much power I unleashed, there was no one else to get caught in the crossfire.
The monster also seemed to realize this was a rare opportunity, as I felt it pouring massive strength into its jaws to kill me.
“You can’t beat me with pure strength, you overgrown lizard.”
Why don't you try punching a hole in a dimension with physical force yourself?
Pang!
A shockwave erupted from my braced hands, forcing the monster’s mouth open.
Vroooooooooom.
A massive resonance that was impossible to understand. Was it pain? Or anger?
Not that it mattered.
I was just here to strike down my enemy.
Whish. Whish.
As soon as I made up my mind, my clothes tore automatically and wrapped around my wounds. A substitute for bandages to stop the bleeding.
It had been a long time since I’d seen this special ability. No, had it just been a long time since I’d bled?
A bizarre special ability that had no healing effect but stopped the bleeding by applying pressure to the wounds.
Let’s see.
A hole through my stomach, joints melted here and there, and the flesh on my hand torn off.
While assessing my injuries, I looked down at my left hand, which was wrapped in white cloth and finished with a blue ribbon. The exposed bone of my index finger was particularly noticeable, as if the ability decided there was no need to stop bleeding where there was only bone left.
Still manageable.
How much time did I need to buy?
If I could contact the Bureau, I’d know exactly how long I had to hold out, but given the urgency, I’d have to block this thing alone.
Let’s see.
In a situation like this, what was the Bureau’s basic doctrine for the time required to establish a defense line?
Was it 24 hours?
I just had to hold out for a day, then.
Since I felt like I’d drop The Hammer if I opened my right hand, I reached into my coat with my left, pulled out a White Rod, and bit down on it.
Snap.
“Round two starts now.”