'...A Little Sorry, Though.'
"...A little sorry about this."
"I-I didn't see anything?"
"Yeah, right."
I'd forgotten what kind of guy he was. The Greed Cloud enveloping Deok-bae was greedily devouring him from the feet up.
Just as Deok-bae was about to grab Unsa and wound her, I issued a command without thinking.
'Don't hurt her.'
Of course, the Flame Giant, Deok-bae, rebelled. What the hell was that, with the enemy right there? He was one grab away from slamming her down and killing her—why stop him now?
But this opponent couldn't be killed or even injured. One of the protagonist's initial three heroes. Betrayed by her commander, she lost her mana and became a cripple, now trying to make a comeback starting from E-rank ability user. The main heroine.
'I never thought that drunkard was such an upright person...'
She was as far from diligent or upright as it got. In the original chapter 1, she even clashed with her teammates because of it, triggering a bad ending. Like Cheon Ga-eul, she seemed like a completely different person here, five years before the original.
'Still, her core's the same. What a pain.'
Just like Cheon Ga-eul was Cheon Ga-eul, Park Ra-on was Park Ra-on. That diligence when it came to missions. That toughness to fight without hesitation, even if her clothes tore and exposed her underwear.
And Deok-bae was gleefully mocking her for it.
- Hey, that bitch has a killer body. Not even covering up? She a hooker or what?
So I yelled at Deok-bae. How dare he ogle Park Ra-on's exposed body? Look away.
- Ya crazy ★ idiot! How am I supposed to fight without looking?!
But of course, he took it as a command. Deok-bae kept trying to avert his eyes from Unsa, which pissed her off royally.
My mistake.
"Ahh. Sorry, Subordinate No. 2. ...You can look now. Command rescinded."
- It's already eaten up to his knees! What now?!
On the screen, the Flame Giant's height shrank noticeably. The Greed Cloud had diminished too, but the Flame Giant was struggling desperately to escape the cloud hell.
"...Alright. Our Jo Deok-bae. Can't let you die like this."
By now, the Greed Cloud had reached his waist. If it touched Deok-bae's core near his solar plexus, he'd be done for.
"Flame Giant. Release it. You can use your original ability now. Fight however you want until the spirit stone's mana runs dry."
- Ooo yeah!
The Flame Giant's body flashed brightly.
* * *
"......What?"
The Flame Giant vanished in an instant. Unsa, who'd squeezed her mana to the limit, arduously lifted her head.
Gone. Like it had hidden itself during the dimensional gate incident, it had vanished completely.
"Hup!"
She retracted the spread Greed Cloud back into her spear tip. She had to conserve mana, even a little.
Her fighting style relied on devouring the enemy's mana through Greed Cloud to recover, since her max mana pool was so low. In that sense, this opponent was a nightmare for Unsa.
Mana just kept draining without a single bit stolen back. Her mana was already below half.
Thud.
Footsteps echoed from somewhere. Unsa quickly gathered her mana. She didn't have much left.
Thud.
Thud.
Someone was approaching from where the Flame Giant had disappeared. A massive man over 2.5 meters tall. Unsa squinted at the bald head gleaming in the sunlight. Blue flames leaking from between rock-like skin that looked ready to burst revealed his identity.
"Is that your true form?"
"Hoo. Yeah."
Deok-bae clashed his fists together. Sand trickled down to the floor.
"No need for intros. Here I come."
Deok-bae kicked off the ground and swung at Unsa.
* * *
At that same moment, as Unsa's team got lost in the Guro maze...
In Gangnam, the air reeked of blood as Hellhounds fell one by one.
Vroooom—!
The chainsaw's roar shook the earth, making the Hellhounds flinch. But the spinning blade severed one's leg clean off.
Splat.
Blue blood splattered on the navy suit. The Hellhound split vertically by the mana-infused blade and died.
Haneulseong cut power to the chainsaw and vented the heat.
Psssh— The blade, glowing blue until moments ago, lost its light as if exhausted. Smoke rose from the motor inside, catching fire.
"Giving me cheap crap like this. Damn bastards."
Haneulseong hurled the core weapon chainsaw at an incoming Hellhound's face. The other villains were already ditching theirs on the ground or using them as throwing weapons.
"Haneulseong! What now?!"
"Run! Head to Gangdong and hide!"
Without core weapons, the non-ability villains had lost their firepower. Staying here just made them Hellhound chow.
"Damn! Why not give us good stuff?!"
"We got scammed, right?"
They performed well enough to wound and kill Hellhounds, ability users or not—but the durability sucked, breaking after one use.
"Why so scared?!"
In the end, the villains ran into their worst matchup. Green winds swept the avenue, shoving Hellhound corpses to the sidewalk as the monsters faced heroes approaching from across the street.
"Well, ain't this a treat."
Poong Baek spun his stick with a grin.
The heroes across the street were recovering mana after their own fight. Haneulseong griped, pointing at the monster corpses.
"If you're not helping clean up the front yard, get lost."
"Killing monsters is hero work—what's with the snark? Hahaha!"
The heroes were beat up from their fights too, but their mana auras still screamed power.
Grrrrr!
Surrounded by villains and heroes, the Hellhound pack bared claws on both sides. Villains, heroes, monsters. The three glared at each other in standoff.
Humanity joining hands against monsters? The rift between heroes and villains ran too deep.
"Heroes leaving monster extermination to civilians?"
The villains' eyes burned murderous intent. As Haneulseong gathered mana, Poong Baek chuckled.
"Dunno where you got those weird toys, but grown adults interfering with kids' play? Come on."
"I'll kill you, you old fart!"
Haneulseong stopped his underling from charging.
"Fine. Then don't interfere—get lost far away. Gangnam's our turf."
"You think it's the stone age? Plant a flag and it's yours? Land belongs to the nation, not private property. Wanna check the land registry in Shin Seoul?"
Usa tapped the ground with his staff.
"HQ, enemy numbers?"
- Villain count over 200! One A-rank: villain Haneulseong!
Usa raised his magigear's volume for all to hear, making the villains flinch. Even a quasi-S-rank feared a true A-rank. Most Gangnam villains were C or D.
Their side had reversal masters Usa and Poong Baek, plus eight A-ranks total. Not many heroes, but comparable to A-Team in power.
"That's the situation. What now? Surrender nicely, and I'll toss some prison chow your way."
"Refuse."
"Won't even pretend to listen, huh? Grr!"
Poong Baek gripped his stick low, coiling to pounce. Villains backed off.
"Haneulseong-nim! What do we do? Fight for real?"
"...We fight."
Haneulseong instinctively eyed the heroes' necks. Scarves, helmets, mufflers—obsessively covered. Faces above? All familiar ex-villains.
"Pine Tree Unit's here too. Get caught by them, you're dead or half-crippled. Still running?"
"Eek."
The president's execution squad. Their infamy—even monsters pissed themselves.
Villains grabbed weapons, weeping bitter tears.
"Oops. Scared 'em more with your pals. What now?"
Poong Baek sneered at the collared man.
"Who cares. I only want results."
"Ten days per villain catch? Tsk tsk. Seon Ui-cheol really slapped on that leash tight."
"...Shut up."
Heroes raised mana and weapons. Pure heroes or Pine Tree humans—same mindset against villains ahead. Kill monsters, capture villains.
Usa tapped his magigear for the commander.
"Usa here. Standoff with villains at Gangnam Station intersection. Orders."
- Villains? Those bugs hiding there? Heh, kill 'em all!
"...Commander. Villains are people too."
- Cancer eating this country! Gotta cut 'em out! Think of the taxes wasted on scum like them?!
Shin Jin-gwang kept raging.
"Minister."
What!
"Go rot on your pension, you ★ bastard."
Usa yanked off his magigear and smashed it on the ground.
Poong Baek elbowed him with a hearty laugh. "Gonna be okay like that? Piss off the commander, get disciplined later?"
"Might as well retire with you, old man. A-Team'll handle it. Post-retirement, we head to the countryside, train Unsa to S-rank."
"Hahaha! My boy's not joining ya!"
Usa stepped forward, gathering mana. Before capturing villains, first things first. His voice boomed across Gangnam Avenue.
"You have the right to remain silent—!!"
* * *
Kim Ji-hwa's dry reports continued. Battlefield too vast, too many fighters—naturally, lots to report.
"Gangnam status?"
- Villains losing badly. Outnumbered, but quality gap huge.
On screen, villains and heroes waged war on the avenue. Heroes in organized squads vs. villains' chaotic rushes. As close-range ability users clashed blades, rear villains started fleeing one by one.
"No proper command structure, no chance in a fight."
Small skirmishes favored villains, but large battles? Heroes dominated.
"Villains only care about saving their own skins anyway."
'Heroes have tons of group combat experience. Strong camaraderie.'
Haneulseong lunges with bulging muscles for Poong Baek. But Poong Baek slips free effortlessly, and Usa pierces his steel muscles with dozens of water streams.
Clang—!
The streams bounced like hitting iron plate. The 3m steel-skinned giant thrashed to grab Poong Baek.
"Tch."
Haneulseong fought valiantly, but outmatched. Poong Baek and Usa pinned his feet while the other six A-ranks smashed villains flat.
"This way, he'll get wiped."
Gangnam's top dog, Haneulseong—the leader supposed to command villains—tied up by Poong Baek and Usa, no orders given. Underlings slaughtered helplessly.
"If quality's lacking, make up with numbers, right?"
I subtly pulled back surviving Hellhounds. From intersections and alleys, they scattered into building gaps per my command.
"Path cleared."
'Just unseal now, and done.'
Luckily, one villain group still took my orders. I projected my consciousness onto the mini-Phoenix sent to Gangdong.
Time to unleash the Black Flame Dragon.