I Dreamed of the Phoenix of the Azure Flame
I had a dream. Of the Phoenix of the Azure Flame. The heroine I'd spent nearly half of that year-long grind just to meet. Her humanoid form, revealed on the official site, was exactly my type—and the moment I saw her, I fell head over heels.
But there she was, flying around with a dopey look on her face, picking fights with Xiao Lin like a total jerk, getting hit by a missile from China, then sneaking along with her presence suppressed only to get mistaken for a random mob by the West Sea Fog Demon and straight-up eaten alive.
What the hell? The Phoenix of the Azure Flame I knew wasn't some idiot like that.
'That's just 'cause you're the idiot.'
I turned around, and there she was—the Phoenix of the Azure Flame, glaring at me with utter disdain. Her blue eyes brimmed with contempt.
'Moron.'
"Gyaah! Nooo!"
The girl shot up with a scream. The cold sweat trickling down her forehead spoke volumes about how terrifying that brief nightmare had been.
"Wh-what... kind of dream was that...?"
Feeling like she'd taken a massive emotional hit, she pressed a hand to her chest and took a deep breath. A pale green veil clung tightly to her body like a second skin. Once out of the water, it looked just like she'd wrapped herself in seaweed, so she snapped her fingers to summon mana.
Woooong—
Mana flowed from her fingertips, enveloping the veil. What had been a long, dangling silk sheet reshaped itself around her body like a dress in response to the mana.
'Feels kinda like the Azure Flame Veil (Explosive Edition)?'
She decided that if danger approached, she'd just release the veil and bolt. 'Anyway...'
Somehow, someone had rescued her while she was out cold.
'Looks like an old countryside house.'
The walls and doors gave off the vibe of a remote rural guesthouse, but the furniture and items inside carried the fresh, girly touch of a young girl.
'...Losing consciousness in the first place is surprising enough.'
She didn't know why she'd blacked out so suddenly, but she remembered bursting out of the West Sea Fog Demon's insides and leaping above the ocean surface. After that, the beast's head had slammed into the beach, and her head had started hurting. She'd puked up a ton of seawater, spotted some old man, and then... nothing.
'So this must be that grandpa's place?'
With an awkward feeling, she cautiously opened the door. The rusty hinges screeched through the living room. A savory rice aroma wafted from the connected kitchen.
"Oh, yer awake?"
The old man, wearing a mismatched pink apron, was stirring porridge.
What should she say? The girl scratched her head for a moment before bowing her head.
"Th-thank you for saving me."
"Saving yer? What could an old geezer like me do? All I could manage was treatin' the hero who smashed that West Sea Fog Demon."
He chuckled heartily and ladled the porridge into a bowl, setting it on the table.
"Sit yer butt down and eat. I may not look it, but I've been cookin' for 30 years to feed my son and granddaughter."
"Okay."
The girl sat at the table as directed. At the old man's urging gesture, she nodded awkwardly and picked up her spoon.
"I was wonderin' when I saw yer hair color, but yer Korean, huh?"
"Y-yeah."
"Yup. Koreans run on rice power. But I ain't heard of a hero lass like you yet...."
Ah, right. The girl scooped up a spoonful of porridge and smiled.
"I haven't officially debuted yet. I got separated during a combat ability test...."
She rolled her eyes around as she continued, but anyone tuned into the industry would've spotted the holes in her story a mile away. Unfortunately for her, the old man's only link to the outside world was a beat-up radio.
"Oho! A lass who took down the West Sea Fog Demon solo. After the Snow Flower Princess, looks like Korea's got another lucky charm. Heh heh heh!"
The old man poured himself a cup of barley tea and laughed heartily. The girl just gave an embarrassed smile and kept eating.
"Ever seen the Snow Flower Princess yerself, miss? Our country's one and only two...."
"The S-rank hero, right."
'Snow Flower Princess'. The hero who'd earned her moniker for her ice powers and blooming beauty.
"That's right! 'Bout five years ago? Saw her in action on TV before it went out. So beautiful, even. She was still a kid, not even an adult yet, but the sight of her wiping out a B-rank monster horde was somethin' else—"
"Exactly! Freezing that whole monster swarm comin' over from Gangbuk in one shot! She could call herself Korea's strongest without exaggeration—"
Seeing the girl's expression sour, the old man waved his hands.
"Ah, no, I ain't tryin' to compare her to 'Light Sword' or nothin'!"
"It's fine. I'm not really interested in who's stronger between them."
The girl shrugged and picked up her spoon again. The old man took a sip of tea and nodded.
"Fair enough. Survivin' the West Sea Fog Demon means yer at least B-rank easy. Haven't registered yet, right? Minimum B, and with some feats, A-rank's in the bag."
"You know a lot about hero ranks?"
Surprised, the girl asked, and the old man pointed to a photo at the table's end with a grin.
"My granddaughter studied to work at the Association. Used to visit a lot before Incheon turned to hell...."
Resignation flickered in the old man's eyes. After a moment's thought, the girl asked carefully,
"Why stay here, sir?"
"Wonderin' why I'm holdin' out in monster territory? My granddaughter's nagged me dozens of times to head to New Seoul."
He chuckled and continued.
"...My daughter went missin' at sea."
"Ah."
The girl's face hardened.
"The guys with her came back alive, sayin' some eel-like bastard attacked the boat. And that fool of a girl...."
The old man spoke flatly, like recounting someone else's tale.
"Her friend's leg got caught, about to get dragged under. She grabs a harpoon and dives in to save him. Crazy girl saves the friend, hauls him back aboard."
Pride tinged his voice.
"Had hero talent, but wanted to take over the family boat biz.... Anyway, boat makes it to port, but she doesn't. That was seven years ago."
He pointed to the oldest photo. It showed a young man who looked just like him, gripping the hand of his high school daughter.
"Luckily had savings, so I sent Soyeon to college and got her a job in New Seoul. Stubborn kid says she'll earn her own keep now, pack up and come get me outta this dump. Thinks she's all grown up! Haha!"
He stroked a photo of him with the college-capped girl and laughed loudly.
"Thanks to Incheon goin' to shit, I probably won't see her much anymore. She must think I'm dead! Heh heh. No more old man crampin' her style—go snag a rich guy and live it up. Cough, cough!"
The girl quickly poured tea and handed him the cup.
"Ah, thanks. Been so long talkin' to folks, I yapped too much."
"She's alive. Your daughter."
The girl spoke with conviction. The old man smiled gently and ruffled her hair.
"Know how to comfort an old man, eh? Yer folks raised ya right. Gonna be a fine hero."
"Just facts."
She pouted a bit, and he nodded knowingly.
"Thanks anyway. But don'tcha got business to handle?"
"Business?"
At her question, he pointed out the window.
"Gotta recover that core, right?"
His finger pointed to the West Sea Fog Demon's limp corpse sprawled on the white sand beach.
"Haaah!!"
The crescent blade traced an arc through the air. The blue-mana-infused slash cleaved the steel pillar like bundled straw.
"Hah!"
With a kiai, the blade carved a new path, bisecting the adjacent pillar. The top half slid diagonally with a schwick! The masked warrior slashed again, schwick! Schwick! hacking relentlessly, as if determined to grind the entire pillar to dust. The barrage ended only when the mana in the blade faded.
"Hah, hah!"
The warrior planted the blade's tip in the ground, panting heavily.
"This... isn't enough...."
Fear—the first she'd felt since donning the War God's mask. Even a day later, those blue flames danced before her eyes.
"—!!"
She swung horizontally in a flash, cleaving blue flames. But it was just remnants of the steel pillar.
"Ah...."
The warrior—Xiao Lin—gathered her remaining mana and caught her breath.
"This won't do."
Fear of the enemy. But what twisted her heart more was the laughter etched in her memory from that blue girl, codename Phoenix.
Puhuhu. Puhuhu.
'She was mocking me. Definitely.'
Dodging slashes by a hair, toying with her and Red Hare using guided fireballs. Then, as if the first attack was just a taste, the Phoenix unleashed dozens more, playing with her utterly.
'Terrifying?'
To be cold about it, it wasn't the attacks themselves. What truly terrified her was the endless mana reserves—even after conjuring that many fireballs, she had plenty left. Xiao Lin had been crushed by mana vast and blazing like the sun itself.
"...Haaaah!"
With a kiai, she poured every ounce of mana into the crescent blade. Her weapon enhancement ability shone through, bathing the entire blade in blue light.
"Hraa, haaak!"
The glow intensified as she scraped her limit, squeezing out more mana into the blade.
'It won't reach.'
Even after a full day of recovery, the mana she'd mustered fell short of half the fireballs the Phoenix had made.
Pababak!
"Guh?!"
The overloaded blade shattered. Shards bit into her hand gripping the shaft, blood trickling red.
"This won't cut it."
Even fighting alongside Red Hare, her personal mana was her own issue. Insufficient reserves had been her clear limit for years. Until now, this modest mana had sufficed against monsters, but facing that blue Phoenix made her desperately crave a breakthrough.
"Like this... it won't do...."
She needed change. But no one around her could advise on this.
Xiao Lin clenched her bloodied hand and grabbed the green robe hanging on one wall of the training room.
Monster byproducts include bones, hides, and more, but hands-down, the most useful to humanity is the 'monster core'—the heart-like organ that's actually distinct from a real heart. A trace of the ability that circulates mana through the body.
"In simple terms, it's the organ where the monster's mana accumulates."
"Who ya talkin' to?"
I brushed off the old man's jab and climbed atop the West Sea Fog Demon's head.
"Alright. Now I'll extract the 'core' from this carcass."
"Ah, that? Like them YouTube streams or whatever?"
I placed a hand on the scales and emitted a faint pulse of mana. It flowed through the corpse like a fuse, enveloping the whole thing.
"But how ya plannin' to find it? Beast this size, ya'd need pro dismantlers—can't do it solo."
"Gonna burn it all."
Whoosh!
"Wh-what?!"
The old man stumbled back in shock. Blue flames erupted across the West Sea Fog Demon's body, incinerating flesh and bone.
"H-hey, that's a waste! What're ya doin'?!"
"Just need the core."
Heroes and humanity might use the byproducts, but as a villain exec, they're just annoying trash. All I need is the core.
As scales charred and ash billowed skyward,
"Ah. Found it."
I spotted where the flames died down. I'd throttled the mana output low enough to spare the core. I dashed along the unburnt spine and stopped at the core site.
Snap.
Flicking my fingers, all remnants around the core ignited and vanished. As the floating core began to drop, I snatched it mid-air.
"Th-that's its core? That lil' thing?"
"Sizes vary. Especially for A-rank like this...."
Oops. Slip-up. I flicked the core to the old man.
"Eek?!"
He flinched, grabbed it, then flung it to the ground.
"It's fine. Just a core."
"My heart ain't fine! That's worth billions—why ya tossin' it like trash?!"
"...Billions?"
In the late game, A-rank cores were just marbles for games. The market prices suddenly made me feel awkward for tossing it.
"Yup! Catch a B-rank and yer set for life. Ya just got an A-rank core! Take it to the Association, rich folks'll line up with premium offers!"
"Oh... really."
Hard to believe something this trivial fetches billions. Not that I'm selling.
Crackle. Crackle.
A few minutes for the blue flames to reduce the remains to nothing. I straightened my clothes, picked up the core for my pocket—then paused.
'Right, no pockets.'
It's just the veil draped like a dress.
"Miss, got anything else besides that floaty getup?"
"...Yeah."
Heading to the city like this? One slip and it's public indecency. Gotta hit downtown, can't debut in this world with an obscenity charge. Above all, no way I'm letting anyone else see the Phoenix's bare skin. This David-sculpted body is mine alone.
"Grab that core and head back to my place. Got somethin' that might fit."
The old man eyed me up and down, then turned toward the house. I fixed the veil's shape with mana to keep it from slipping and followed.