Chapter 21
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: Gangwon-do Incident (3)
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Let's finish what I was doing first.
I came to that conclusion and turned my gaze away.
"O-oh, stay back!"
Down below, I could see Chae Seol-ah screaming as she deployed her magic.
With a gesture from Chae Seol-ah, ice spears rose from the ground.
Soon, the spears launched one by one toward the monsters.
Of course, there was no way the monsters would just take such simple attacks. They easily dodged the incoming ice spears.
Chae Seol-ah's face darkened instantly.
She soon made a tearful face and shouted.
"I-I can't do this!"
I shrugged lightly.
"Then you'll have to die."
"Wh-what?!"
Isn't that obvious?
"Did you think I'd help you if you were in danger?"
"You're too much!"
But there's no helping it. If I help her, Chae Seol-ah will never grow. If I want to raise her, I have no choice but to let her figure it out on her own.
'Well, even if she dies, it's not so bad.'
Then I could observe how the Akashic Manual reacts when its contractor dies. Nothing wrong with that.
It's just the Akashic Manual's limitations—I can dissect them later.
"H-hic...!"
Whether she sensed my thoughts or not, Chae Seol-ah sniffled and deployed her magic again. It was a spell to create flame arrows, but it looked utterly clumsy to me.
'At least the casting speed is decent.'
She does have some merits.
The moment I thought that, dozens of flame arrows shot toward the monsters. This time, with the sheer number, they couldn't dodge them all—the arrows embedded into the monsters' bodies.
"It worked!"
Chae Seol-ah's face lit up in an instant.
The next moment, she clapped her hands hard.
Right then.
Boom!
The flame arrows lodged in the monsters' bodies exploded. The monsters, engulfed in flames in an instant, let out screams.
'Hmm.'
She knows how to apply her magic better than I expected.
Probably the result of twisting her body every which way to compensate for her lacking magical skill.
Of course, that doesn't change the fact that her magic is still subpar.
Half of the flame arrows that hit didn't even explode, after all.
'Her mana reserves seem lower than other hunters of her level too. No wonder the news called her a has-been.'
I stood still, watching Chae Seol-ah's actions.
"I-I did it! Kim Hyun! I succeeded!"
Chae Seol-ah, thrilled at having taken down the monsters, suddenly whipped her head around at a growl.
"Huh?"
Her eyes widened.
One monster had survived the flame arrow explosions.
It was the one that took the least damage from the blasts, likely thanks to its beetle-like carapace.
The beetle monster, missing one leg, glared at Chae Seol-ah with flashing eyes, seething with rage.
Chae Seol-ah's body froze on the spot.
Krunch!
Taking that as the signal, the beetle monster charged.
Chae Seol-ah snapped out of it late and tried to cast her spell against the house-sized behemoth's rush.
"N-no!"
Too tense, she accidentally canceled the cast.
"Ugh...!"
Still, she didn't give up and started recasting.
But the beetle was already right in front of her.
"...!"
Her face went pale at the disaster barreling down on her.
And then.
Chae Seol-ah was struck by the beetle.
Thud!
Flung far away like she'd been hit by a car, blood gushed from Chae Seol-ah's mouth.
I nodded with arms crossed.
Well, about this level.
Not as good as I'd hoped, but as expected.
'At least she didn't die. That's something.'
The moment I raised my hand to finish off the remaining monster while thinking that.
Crackle!
The charging beetle monster's body began to freeze. In an instant, it turned into an ice block and stopped moving.
Soon after, the ice shattered into pieces.
"Hmm."
This was unexpected.
I turned to look at Chae Seol-ah. Sniffling and crying, she shakily made a V-sign toward me with her hand.
"I-I succeeded..."
"Good job."
"It hurts so much... Sob, hic."
At her words, I descended to the ground.
I went to Chae Seol-ah's side and reached out to heal her body.
The pain vanished in an instant, and her surprised face looked up at me cautiously as she stood.
"H-how did you do that?"
"Just healed you."
Her eyes went wide at my words.
"Is that even possible?"
It'd be faster to list what I can't do.
Instead of answering, I called out to Lee Hyun-sik, who was hiding far away. He approached with an awkward expression, scratching the back of his head.
"Sorry I couldn't help. Haha. I'm just too weak..."
"I wasn't expecting anything, so it's fine."
Vmmm!
I scanned for nearby presences.
No monsters within my detection range.
Leaving these two here should be safe, then.
"You two wait here."
"Huh?"
"Gonna step out for a bit."
At my words, Chae Seol-ah jumped to her feet.
"I-I'll come too!"
"It could be dangerous with your skills."
At that, as if scared, her pupils shook. But still, Chae Seol-ah answered firmly, word by word.
"I-I won't be a burden...!"
"Hmm."
Well, doesn't matter.
I approached Chae Seol-ah and picked her up.
"Eeeek?!"
I tucked the squirming Chae Seol-ah under my arm and turned to Lee Hyun-sik.
"Wait here. It'll be hard to find you later."
"Huh?"
I kicked off the ground and leaped into the air.
Then accelerated my body.
Left alone, Lee Hyun-sik stared blankly at the sky. Soon, he muttered in a wronged voice.
"T-take me too...!"
Lee Hyun-sik looked around.
Monster corpses littered the area. The horrific stench rising from them made his nose feel like it might rot off.
"Ugh...!"
Clutching his nose, he shed invisible tears inside.
"Damn it...!"
Why was he the only one abandoned...!
"It's scary here! So scary!"
He vented his grievances, but nothing changed.
He was left alone.
Whoosh!
Kim Hyun and Chae Seol-ah crossed the sky, traversing Gangwon-do.
Flight at least as fast as an airplane.
Chae Seol-ah, tucked under her arm, had to erect a barrier just to protect her eyes and face.
"K-Kim Hyun!"
At the scenery whipping by, Chae Seol-ah squirmed with a frightened face. Small talk wouldn't carry, so she had no choice but to shout at the top of her lungs.
"This position is uncomfortable!"
"What?"
"Change to a different position!"
Even as she said it, Chae Seol-ah panicked.
What other position? Piggyback? Princess carry?
"Just stay still. Don't fall off."
"Wh-what?!"
Kim Hyun quashed Chae Seol-ah's protests in one go and scanned the surroundings while flying swiftly.
'No people in sight.'
"I feel like we haven't seen any cars passing by either!"
Just as Chae Seol-ah said.
No people moving in the occasional villages they passed. No cars on the roads either.
Gangwon-do felt utterly deserted.
'Feels like there really are no people.'
Even deliberate sensing picked up no human presences.
As if everyone in Gangwon-do had vanished somewhere.
Kim Hyun's eyes narrowed.
'In contrast...'
The monsters her senses caught were increasing. Like heading straight into a monster nest.
"It was definitely 'that guy's' blood I sensed."
"Huh? What? I can't hear!"
Ignoring the mumbling Chae Seol-ah, Kim Hyun furrowed her brow.
'Why is the blood of a guy who should be buried at the bottom of hell on Earth?'
This needed confirming, no question.
With that thought, Kim Hyun accelerated further.
A short time later.
"Is that Sokcho over there?!"
Chae Seol-ah yelled at the distant city.
"N-no, Gangneung maybe?"
"Sokcho or Gangneung, who cares."
What mattered was that it was essentially the hive.
As Kim Hyun neared Sokcho, she slowed down.
Stopping where she could overlook the whole city, she surveyed Sokcho's streets.
"What happened? Th-there's no one... not a single person."
Chae Seol-ah muttered with a scared face.
Just like everywhere else they'd passed, no sign of people in Sokcho—not even a shadow. No moving cars, of course. The city was deathly quiet.
"O-over there, monsters...!"
Chae Seol-ah pointed somewhere.
In that direction, a massive snake-like monster coiled on the road.
Not just there—monsters filled Sokcho everywhere. Chae Seol-ah gulped dryly at the sight of hordes of them, varying in shape and size.
"Th-then Sokcho is... "
Kim Hyun shrugged.
"Totally wrecked, right?"
"Uwaaah! Th-this is bad! We have to report to the Bureau...!"
Fumbling with her smartwatch in panic, Chae Seol-ah soon turned to Kim Hyun with a flustered face.
"K-Kim Hyun..."
"What."
"No signal..."
"They're probably jamming it."
Kim Hyun muttered that and stared somewhere.
Soon, she pointed at the city center.
"See that?"
"Huh?"
Chae Seol-ah strained her eyes toward where Kim Hyun pointed.
Surprisingly, there were people there.
People in white coats, like scientists, moving around with soldiers in uniforms.
Looking closer, their spot was set up like a lab. All sorts of suspicious machinery and equipment.
"K-Kim Hyun. That's..."
Kim Hyun shrugged.
"Obviously the cause of all this."
"Wh-what do we do? No signal, can't call the Bureau for backup..."
As Chae Seol-ah floundered, Kim Hyun replied indifferently.
"I'll handle it myself."
"Huh?"
"Going in?"
"Huh? H-huh?!"
"Don't get distracted or you'll get hurt."
"W-where are you going?! W-wait...! Why bring me...!"
The next instant, Kim Hyun's body shot through the air.
Like a meteor, she plummeted into the midst of the scientists like a calamity.