Leona's Sunday # 6
Leona's Sunday # 6
This one was the same as the rest.
"Die!"
I kicked the corpse in front of me aside and brought my two-handed sword down like a guillotine on the new arrival.
—Clang!
But this bastard seemed to have some skill with a sword too. He raised his blade as naturally as flowing water and blocked my strike. These monsterkin... I'd heard about them in class. I can't remember their name, but they said they're about E-rank monsterkin.
We were told they're a species that built a society and a civilization—vicious bastards with ambitions to invade Earth. So they know how to handle weapons.
"Looks like I handle them better, though!"
"Guak?!"
I shouted a fierce kiai!
—Boom!
I stepped in, forcing him to stumble back toward the gate, and at the same time, I pulled my left hand off the sword and drove a fist into his gut.
—Thwump!
"Guh-huk!"
He let out a huge gasp of air. The impact lifted his feet nearly twenty centimeters off the ground. Right now, I'm a superhuman. Landing a mana-reinforced punch as a superhuman must feel like getting hit by a car.
Just like that.
—Crash!
With my fist still planted in his stomach, I launched upward with a powerful jump. His head smashed hard into the ceiling. The impact made him drop his sword.
—Thud.
I landed lightly and cut horizontally across the falling bastard's waist.
—Shhk!
Purple blood sprayed fiercely. Hoo. Just like Yu-ri taught me, I controlled my breathing and readied myself for the next one. Extreme focus. I had to concentrate on the fight.
I've been through real combat plenty of times by now. I can handle it pretty well. I was thinking exactly that when—
—Too-kang!
—Too-kang!
Some god-awful noise came from inside the gate... shit!
"This son of a bitch is shooting!"
I immediately grabbed the falling monsterkin's torso, hugging it close like a shield! Poosh! Poosh! I heard his back plate bursting apart. For now, I formed a mana shield over my chest and brazed for impact.
"Kee-hee-hee-hee!"
A monsterkin holding a bizarre gun walked out, cackling nastily. I'm not letting that slide! I hurled my sword straight at him.
"Flying sword, you piece of shit!"
"Ku-shyak?!"
His forehead was pierced.
"Stupid prick, shooting at me and throwing a fit!"
I tossed aside the corpse I was holding and checked my body.
"Oh!"
The mana shield—the protective plate had blocked his bullets perfectly. The bullets were lodged beautifully in the shield, weren't they? Seeing that made me feel oddly proud. I actually use what I learned when I get into a real fight.
Did you see that! Yu-ri! And instructors! I put everything you taught me to excellent use! I cut down three monsterkin in an instant!
"Heh-heh-heh!"
Laughing, I retrieved my sword from the forehead of the fallen monsterkin.
"Gotta watch out for guns."
I stayed on guard for follow-up attacks, but the situation had entered a brief lull, and no more monsterkin came through. Right. I picked up the monsterkin's sword and the bizarre gun from the ground.
Selling monsterkin equipment to the government can net you a pretty decent amount of cash. Now this is what you call farming.
"How the hell do you fire this thing?"
The gun looks seriously freaky. If I had to describe it, it's like an ocarina covered in gray leather. I aimed it at the gate and pulled the trigger.
—Too-kang!
It actually fired.
But no reaction from inside the gate.
"Well, let's move on."
The sword the monsterkin used had no crossguard, no zweihander-style guard—basically, no hand protection at all. It was a straight-line blade. Put simply, it looked like a stretched-out kitchen knife.
Sell this?
Maybe I could keep one as a souvenir?
[...]
[...]
[...]
First, I dismissed the little windows popping up one after another in front of my eyes and checked behind me.
"H'yaaaaaap!"
Leona was literally flying around. Monsters, not monsterkin, must have been pouring out over there, because the sliced-up monster corpses were piled high on both sides.
"Insane."
There's no way I could fight like that if you asked me to.
"A D-rank monster, an Orkentorf, taken down in an instant!"
"Go, cadet!"
"Whooooa! We're alive!!!"
By that point, even the security team over there seemed to have held off their wave, because they were glancing at Leona and marveling.
"Hoo."
I scanned the interior of the department store and caught my breath. I seriously fought my ass off. Are any more gates going to pop up elsewhere?
The moment I thought that—
—Wrrrrr.
The closed escalator cover opened, and—
"Find the gate!"
"Protect the people further inside first!"
"Electronics! Watch behind the electronics! There could be kids hiding back there!"
"Wahaha! I'm going to open every washing machine lid and check! I love that!"
Heroes and soldiers came thudding up the stairs...!
"Here! Seniors! There's a gate here!"
I shouted out of sheer relief, and a veteran Hero reacted and ran this way!
"What! You're a cadet!"
"Ah, yes!"
"Whoa! Our junior was fighting here! You did damn good work! But leave this to me and get downstairs, fast!"
"Ah, understood!"
The brother who had shouted that so coolly went over and stood right next to the gate. That's it. Reinforcements arrived. This situation's as good as over.
"Leona! Let's head down!"
"Ah! Yes!"
I saw a hero had also linked up with Leona. Leona said her goodbyes and then ran over to me.
"Let's evacuate right away! They said it's safe downstairs!"
"You got it. Damn! Anyway, Leona, you were totally flying back there!"
"You were great too, Kim Geun-cheol! You fought way better than I imagined!"
Leona's face was absolutely lit up as she said that. Does she secretly enjoy combat? She was smiling even while slicing up all those monsters earlier.
"High five!"
"Here!"
I high-fived her as she raised her hand with that excited look.
—Pahh!
We pounded down the stopped escalator together and descended to the lower floor.
* * *
"Hoo! Now I can finally catch my breath."
When we got outside the department store, the place was a complete disaster zone. Torn-up monster corpses were scattered absolutely everywhere in all directions.
So all hell didn't just break loose inside the store—it was happening outside too. At a glance, there had to be over a hundred monster corpses in sight.
"You're telling me. My heart's still pounding."
My blood still felt hot from the excitement of battle. As Leona said, I fought way better than I'd imagined. Like I said, I really do have talent. The sword work already feels so natural—at this rate, the title of the strongest in this world is in the bag.
"Still, the situation outside is not good either. A large-scale gate like this... it's not that common an occurrence. On top of that, gates appearing inside buildings is exceptionally rare."
"Really?"
"Yes. Normally they appear in midair or something. I understand it's quite difficult for them to open into a wall's interior."
Leona said that with a serious expression, rubbing her lips. I think I've heard something like that before. Come to think of it, the Antillery had also broken into a building the same way.
"Anyway, let's leave the rest to the people on site and pull out. An official government announcement should come out in a few days, so we can look at it together."
"Yeah, let's do that. You worked hard, Leona. We came out to hang and ended up in hard labor. You okay? Aren't you tired?"
I said it while checking her face.
"Wh-wh-what! As if you've got the years of experience to be worrying about me, Kim Geun-cheol! I'm seasoned, so worry about your own condition instead!"
"Heh-heh-heh, I will."
So she's the type who gets embarrassed about being worried over. But years of experience? Where the hell did this Leona girl even learn such a rough expression?
"Let's go then. Kim Geun-cheol."
"Sure."
Leona immediately grabbed my wrist and pulled me along.
"It ended up being a pretty good day after all, don't you think? We basically wrecked ourselves with a workout at the end there."
"Wrecked ourselves, huh. But yeah, it was good. I ate good stuff. The horror movie was... scary as hell, but whatever. And I got to confirm my skills in a real fight at the end, so."
"No, seriously. Even now your mind goes to the horror movie. Good grief. It's absolutely hilarious. Really."
"Honestly it was scarier than the monsterkin..."
"No, but hey, Kim Geun-cheol?"
"Hm?"
"You scored some loot, I see?"
"Ah. Yeah, I grabbed it all."
One monsterkin gun and two monsterkin swords.
Grabbed them all.
"Take good care of them. You can sell them or use them yourself. I've actually heard that, among heroes, there are some eccentrics who love using monsterkin weapons."
"Really?"
Thrifty.
"Oh, right. Leona. This sword. I'm returning it."
"What's this about returning. Just keep it."
"How can you say that so casually? Do you know how much this thing costs?"
It might look like a regular cold weapon forged from a solid chunk of metal, but every single piece of equipment that Awakened individuals use is insanely expensive, because they're all made from special materials through inhuman manufacturing processes.
"I think it was around five hundred."
"Five hundred!"
"Oh, come on. Are you really shocked over that? When you grow up and become a hero, Kim Geun-cheol, a few hundred won't even be real money."
"It's still expensive as hell! How can I accept this!"
I shouted, and Leona, who had been walking, spun around in front of me and poked me in the solar plexus with her index finger and said,
"Just accept it, please. I saw you showed a dependable side today. And you fought hard against the monsterkin to save the people in the store, didn't you? A cadet fought like that voluntarily, so there should be compensation. If you got nothing, you'd feel hurt, and how would that be?"
"I mean, I did do some praiseworthy stuff today... but still, this is..."
"It's an inexpensive entry-level sword anyway. But it's still better than what you usually use. Think of it as an investment, and I'll give it to you. You use it to kill more monsters, and that's how I'll recoup my investment costs."
"Leona...!"
I'm about to cry!
Just how far does Leona plan on looking out for me!
"Sniffle!"
I dropped to my knees on the spot and broke down sobbing...!
"An angel...! Leona! Now all I see when I look at you is just a cluster of light or something!"
"Honestly. A grown man crying over something like this. Stop it, stop. And 'cluster of light,' what nonsense."
Leona rubbed my back and comforted me while I cried ugly tears. The hand rubbing my back is so warm. It feels like the warm energy flowing from Leona's hand is seeping straight into my body.
"Come to think of it, I'm the one who suggested the department store in the first place. So that's what led to the chaos. And Kim Geun-cheol, you followed along well when I said we should fight. So you don't need to be that thankful."
This personality, saying this so I won't feel burdened!
"Effective immediately, I'm forming Leona's Guard."
"Quit the nonsense. Anyway, let's go home!"
"Yes ma'am!"
I'm going to sleep like a log tonight.
