The Weight of a Hero (7)
We raced across the water in the Chamsuri fast patrol boat without a second to spare.
We were moving so fast that everyone on board had their hair whipped into a complete mess by the wind.
Somewhere in the distance, something went off with a series of sharp, explosive booms.
The air itself trembled as if a fireworks display had erupted over the sea.
“Over there!”
A naval sergeant pointed ahead.
A savage battle was raging there.
I checked the combat zone through the binoculars.
The Yi Seong-gye was bombarding the Dirty Kraken with missiles and naval guns.
The Dirty Kraken, apparently able to use magic, nullified the hits with a barrier.
Having defended itself successfully, it immediately retaliated with its tentacles.
The helicopter landing pad on the Yi Seong-gye looked ruined, and the radar and other communications equipment seemed to have been blown away.
Lucky or unlucky, I couldn’t tell.
I couldn’t see a single naval officer on deck.
Had they all fled?
No. That wasn’t it.
The Dirty Kraken had no reason to attack an empty ship.
They’re inside.
The navy hadn’t run.
They were holding their positions and fighting the monster with everything they had.
“How much longer?”
I shouted in a hurry.
The naval sergeant estimated the distance and answered, “Ah, still... we’ve got at least another five, maybe ten minutes.”
Could they hold out that long?
Every second mattered.
The Chamsuri was Korea’s fastest patrol boat, but compared to what was happening out there, it felt as slow as a turtle.
Then it happened.
The Dirty Kraken stopped moving.
Then it spread its whole body wide and slammed itself over the Yi Seong-gye.
Its sticky, mucus-slick body wrapped around the destroyer.
When the youngest on our team, Jang Na-ik, saw it, his mouth fell open.
“...No way.”
Na Sang-min and Lee Ji-jun fell silent too.
They’d realized how serious this was.
Like a child at a pool shoving a water balloon underwater and calling it a game, the Dirty Kraken was trying to hug the Yi Seong-gye and drag it under the sea.
Damn it.
The Yi Seong-gye wasn’t a submarine.
If it went down like that, then the navy trapped inside...
They’d all be wiped out.
Screams seemed to echo through my head.
In reality, the sailors on the Yi Seong-gye were probably fighting for their lives against the seawater flooding inside.
The Dirty Kraken writhed happily, pressing down on the ship as if it were enjoying itself.
It’s already halfway under.
I could only pace in place, dread gnawing at me.
If this keeps up...
By the time we arrived, the Yi Seong-gye would already be sunk.
I have to hurry.
I reached into the hunter-grade protective gear I was wearing.
My fingertips brushed over the thin hide of a sea dragon.
It was the underwater hero suit W1, made by Karki.
“I’ll go first.”
“Ah...!”
Before anyone could even call out to me, I dove into the sea.
I threw my body forward and entered the water headfirst.
The freezing liquid wrapped around me so violently that it shocked me awake.
It was time for the hero most needed at sea to step in.
Now.
Purchased Blessing of Water from Poseidon.
Warmth flooded through my body.
Phew...
Mana transformed into oxygen, and I could breathe freely underwater.
And then.
Let’s go.
Like a sports car punching through zero to a hundred in a single heartbeat, I left the Chamsuri, which had been racing at 100 kilometers per hour, far behind and shot forward like a swordfish.
I’d used Blessing of Water with Heo Da-yeong in a swimming pool before.
Back then I’d tested Poseidon’s power, but...
This is still insane.
Blessing of Water in the ocean.
It really felt like I’d become a fish slipping through an endless blue world.
I blinked.
Far ahead, through the cobalt wash of the sea, I saw the Dirty Kraken.
It was clutching the Yi Seong-gye and slowly dragging it downward.
“Gurrrk?”
The Dirty Kraken glared at me as I closed the distance at high speed.
With three eyes on its head and a crooked mouth, it had a grotesque face.
I didn’t stop. I kept charging straight in.
First, one clean hit.
I clenched my fist.
Judgment of the Superhuman activated.
I twisted my waist and smashed my fist into the octopus-like head.
The acceleration granted by Blessing of Water combined with monstrous destructive power.
“Kreee?!“
It worked.
The impact felt like punching the thick sidewall of a tire.
The Dirty Kraken staggered and snapped its head back.
The strike was strong enough to tear away part of its flesh.
The tentacle wrapped around the Yi Seong-gye went limp.
Reeling from the blow, the Dirty Kraken spun half a turn and drifted away.
Good.
If I kept up the pressure, I could land a string of hits on it.
But then I turned my head.
The Yi Seong-gye is sinking.
There were more than three hundred people inside.
To save them...
I quickly changed course and rushed toward the Yi Seong-gye.
I went under the hull and braced it with both hands from below.
“Ghk!”
I gritted my teeth and forced strength into my arms, but it was useless.
Impossible weight pressed down on me.
Even if the destroyer had become lighter thanks to buoyancy, it still weighed thousands of tons.
No human strength could lift that.
Then...
Once more.
Judgment of the Superhuman activated.
It was a kind of improvisation, a flash of ingenuity even I hadn’t expected.
I’d never imagined that a skill capable of turning monsters into chunks of meat with one blow would also work as a power for lifting a ship sinking into the water.
“Nghhhh!!!”
Like Atlas holding up the heavens, I lifted the Yi Seong-gye with both hands.
Slowly, the destroyer began to rise.
It’s working.
I used Blessing of Water to gain even more propulsion.
Blessing of Water purchased.
Awakener's Balance: ₩666,040,889
Awakener's Balance: ₩665,352,157
Awakener's Balance: ₩664,134,461
The money was dropping in real time, but I had no time to worry about it.
Before long, the destroyer broke the surface.
Seawater poured from the holes torn into the Yi Seong-gye.
That should keep it afloat for a while.
“Hunter Choi!”
Only then did the Chamsuri fast patrol boat reach us.
My vision spun all at once.
Using two powers at the same time and burning through an absurd amount of mana in a short span had taken a toll on my body.
My strength drained away in a rush.
“Grab this!”
The naval sergeant threw a life ring toward me.
I caught it and climbed aboard the Chamsuri.
Team leader Mun Dal-su supported me.
It was so cold my teeth clacked together.
“Hunter Choi! Are you okay? You’re cold as ice... Captain!”
“I know what to do without being told.”
The captain used a healing skill.
Fortunately, I hadn’t suffered any external injuries, so my body recovered quickly.
“...Hah, haah.”
Once the exhaustion lifted, my breathing came back.
As I was catching my breath, S-class hunter Na Sang-min came over with a hard face.
“You crazy bastard. You jumped in alone with no plan at all?”
“...I’m sorry.”
“Save the apologies for later. What about the extermination?”
I’d dealt a fatal blow, but I hadn’t finished it off completely.
“I failed.”
“...”
Na Sang-min stared out at the sea.
The Dirty Kraken thrashed for a moment, then surfaced again.
Part of its head had been torn away, but it had already started healing itself through regeneration.
“Grrr. Grrr. Grrr!!!”
Its head turned red with rage.
Judging by its behavior, its next move was obvious.
It’s coming back.
Na Sang-min didn’t blame me.
Instead, he slapped me hard on the back.
“...Good work. Leave the rest to me.”
Na Sang-min reached for his spear.
“Wait.”
I grabbed his arm.
“Please rescue the sailors first.”
We’d barely managed to haul the Yi Seong-gye back up.
There were still injured people inside.
“...”
Na Sang-min didn’t hesitate for long.
Like the veteran he was, he made a quick decision and took command of the scene.
“Dio! Come with me and board the Yi Seong-gye. Captain, you too.”
Now was not the time for pride or debate.
The captain also moved.
“I said I knew already.”
The two S-class hunters kicked off the deck.
They practically flew as they landed on the Yi Seong-gye in a single bound.
“Na-ik! Let’s go too!”
“Yes, Team Leader Mun!”
I felt a gaze from somewhere.
Lee Ji-jun, the white-haired hunter, was looking at me.
“Choi Yongki, you...”
I’d jumped into the water, struck the Dirty Kraken, and lifted the Yi Seong-gye.
There was no way a D-class hunter could have done that, no, not even an S-class hunter.
“We’ll talk later.”
“...”
Lee Ji-jun clicked his tongue, then climbed aboard the Yi Seong-gye.
After him, the naval sergeant shouted at the sailors, “Medic! Board the Yi Seong-gye with me! Set up the ladder! The rest of you follow!”
And so the rescue operation for the Yi Seong-gye began.
Thanks to the captain’s healing, I quickly came back to my senses.
The dizziness faded, and the strength to handle mana returned to my body.
I stood up.
The Dirty Kraken’s head had nearly returned to normal.
“Grrr, grr! Y-you...!”
One of its tentacles pointed at me.
“Th-that guy! The one from before!”
It was our first full-on battle with the Dirty Kraken.
And yet it knew me.
It must have seen me through its tentacles.
On the deck of the Yi Seong-gye, hunters were laying the injured down one after another.
“There are too many!”
“Healer! This one’s in cardiac arrest! Hurry!!!”
There were only six elite hunters, myself included.
It was nowhere near enough to save hundreds of people.
I couldn’t even guess how badly the navy had been hit while the ship was sinking.
They might have been unable to breathe because their lungs were full of water.
Or their brains and organs might already have suffered severe damage from the lack of oxygen.
Smoke was even curling up from the Yi Seong-gye, as if it had caught fire somewhere.
Most of the sailors aboard the destroyer were hanging between life and death.
I frowned.
...No.
Suddenly, a bad feeling came over me.
I had successfully hauled the destroyer up.
But the navy...
Settlement is beginning.
Murder count: 3 / 100
Murder count: 11 / 100
Murder count: 37 / 100
Murder count: 72 / 100
Murder count: 89 / 100
Murder count: 100 / 100
“No... no!”
My voice came out as a ragged cry, but the alarm wouldn’t stop.
The count was climbing at a terrifying speed.
Murder.
People were dying.
The sailors who had come out to sea and risked their lives after my relentless urging were dying.
“No!!!”
Even my tearing scream couldn’t stop the alarm.
Settlement is beginning.
Murder count: 72 / 100
Murder count: 89 / 100
Murder count: 100 / 100
It had already reached 100 long ago.
And still the alarm kept ringing.
“...”
At last—
Congratulations on meeting the condition.
Reward granted: Control of Water.
The world went dark in front of my eyes.
...No. This can’t be happening.
I had completed the mission and received the reward, but I didn’t feel happy in the slightest.
This wasn’t what I wanted.
Far away, Na Sang-min stood on the Yi Seong-gye and looked down at me.
Without a word, he shook his head.
It meant it was too late to do anything now.
I sank to my knees as if collapsing.
I had only wanted to become a hero.
I had only wanted to do good.
I just wanted to...
Save people.
Defeat evil.
Make the world a little better.
Was all of it just hypocrisy for my own satisfaction?
I knew it wasn’t true that I’d killed them with my own hands.
But still.
It felt like I had.
The navy...
I killed them.
The bodies floated on the surface of the sea.
They were the sailors who had struggled to escape when the Dirty Kraken pressed down on the Yi Seong-gye, fighting desperately for their lives.
Their faces seared themselves into my pupils, one by one, then another, and another, like tattoos burned into my eyes.
“...”
Sticky guilt clung to my entire body.
From the start, a hero had been nothing more than a concept, a costume.
The purple mask, the Zin Shark imitation, the Purple Devil...
They had all just been tools to rationalize my actions, as if I were pretending to be an agent of justice.
When had it started?
Somewhere along the way, I’d begun to mistake myself for an actual hero.
And the result was...
It’s because of me.
Right.
Everything was...
Because of me.
Because of me.
Because of me.
Because of me...
Among the corpses floating on the sea, I saw a face I knew.
At the same time, something caught on the pocket of my pants.
I opened the button flap and took out what was inside.
A bronze coin engraved with an anchor.
It was the keepsake of the father handed to me by Navy Captain Eom Il-seop.
“I’ll leave this in Hunter Choi’s care. Please make sure you return it someday.”
Eom Il-seop was floating in the water with blue lips and a body swollen all over.
Hot tears spilled from my eyes in a rush.
Something inside my head snapped.
“Aaaagh!!!!”
I lost my reason, and mana went berserk.
For the first time in my life.
A madness I couldn’t control.
The recovered Dirty Kraken came charging in.
“You. Die. I’m. Going. To. Kill. You.”
The enemy was making a spectacle of its own rage.
“Really. I’m. Going. To. Kill. You. I’m. Telling. You!”
It was quiet.
When my rage reached its peak, I only grew calmer.
No matter how many hero abilities I acquired.
No matter if my Awakener's Balance became 1 billion, 10 billion...
Or even trillions.
I can’t bring the dead back to life.
I steeled myself.
What I have to do is...
I drew Heoksikdo in my right hand and White Revenge in my left.
I gripped White Revenge with the reverse edge and poured mana into it.
The yo-to made from a demon’s bones was called Demon’s Bone.
Demon’s Bone held the four elements.
Terra, Ignis, Aqua, Ventus.
With Heoksikdo, which carried fire attribute, I brought White Revenge down hard.
Crack!
With the sound of bone shattering...
Fresh sprouts shot out of White Revenge like the branches of a tree.
Once more.
Reward granted: Control of Water.
Crack-crack!
As the water attribute was added, another branch shot out from White Revenge.
“I’m. Gonna. Kill. You! Tear. You. Apart!!”
The Dirty Kraken gaped wide, as if it meant to swallow me whole.
I didn’t retreat. I lifted White Revenge high.
The sword had split into three branches.
Gripping the weapon that now resembled Poseidon’s trident, I brought it crashing down.
“Hah!”
A storm tore through the sea.
A wave as large as a house tilted the Yi Seong-gye to one side.
“Aaaagh!!!”
“Wh-what the hell!”
“L-look over there...”
Hunters and sailors alike pointed in my direction.
At the same moment the Dirty Kraken split cleanly in half, the sea itself parted to the left and right like a miracle from the age of Moses.