The Weight of a Hero (9)
While Choi Yongki was off chasing the Dirty Kraken, a brutal fight had broken out aboard the Lee Seong-gye.
“Explosive Spear!”
Na Sang-min’s spear burst into flame. Its tip pierced straight through a tentacle.
The public had never thought much of Na Sang-min. He was a foul-mouthed wreck, a sociopath, a mad dog, a psycho—there were plenty of ways to describe him, and none of them were kind. But no one could ever question his skill.
Through the pale fog, severed tentacle bodies rained down one after another.
“Hmph!”
Na Sang-min snorted and spun his spear in a tight circle.
Meanwhile, the Geumwi captain focused entirely on treating the wounded sailors.
“Anyone who can still walk, run! Over there!”
He pointed to the Eagle speedboat that had come as backup. The navy’s role had always been to act as bait. They had done their job beautifully, drawing out the Dirty Kraken.
Now all that remained was to get out alive.
A small detachment of sailors remained aboard the Lee Seong-gye, repairing the interior. That meant the hunters had to hold the deck and protect what was left of the navy.
They had to keep the tentacles from forcing their way inside. They had to make sure no one else got hurt.
Na Sang-min turned his head.
Another battle was raging on the opposite side.
Lee Ji-jun, the white-haired hunter, had just faced down a new enemy.
Five tentacles had twisted together like thick rope. The thing stood more than three meters tall. Supported on two tentacle “legs” as if walking upright, its upper body split into three separate branches. With a head, arms, and legs, it looked, at a glance, almost human.
A tentacle man?
Na Sang-min frowned.
This is going to be annoying.
A single branch could be broken easily enough. But bundle several together, and they became far tougher.
The tentacle man was vastly superior to a lone tentacle in both strength and destructive power.
“Kieeek!!”
From the monster’s head-like section, a mouth split open. Thick saliva dripped between rows of sharp teeth.
Lee Ji-jun’s eyes went cold. He drew blood from his own arteries and forged it into a weapon on the spot.
An offensive axe with a massive head.
A war axe.
Not a bad choice.
Na Sang-min nodded.
A thin sword wouldn’t do much against that thing. It was better to hack it apart in one blow with a heavy axe.
“Kiiiek!”
The tentacle man lunged at Lee Ji-jun with its right arm.
“Hup!”
Lee Ji-jun swung the war axe and severed the entire arm at the shoulder. Without stopping, he cleanly chopped off the left hand as well. The tentacle man standing before him was suddenly a limbless cripple.
But it had left out one detail.
Before anyone noticed, the monster’s feet had already wrapped around Lee Ji-jun’s own.
Its arms had been a feint all along.
The needle-sharp head snapped toward him.
“Ghk!”
Trapped in a dead-end snare, Lee Ji-jun thrashed helplessly.
The coiled head of the tentacle man lunged toward his face.
Then Na Sang-min’s spear sliced through the air.
“Explosive Volley!”
Like a machine gun opening fire, Na Sang-min’s spear shattered the tentacle man to pieces.
Lee Ji-jun had nearly been skinned open across the face, but Na Sang-min saved him in time.
“Hey. You sleeping on the job?”
“...Sorry.”
Na Sang-min stared at Lee Ji-jun for a moment. For some reason, the man looked deflated.
“What’s with you?”
“...”
Lee Ji-jun kept his mouth shut.
“You bastard.”
Instead of a warm word of comfort, Na Sang-min barked at him.
“You’re out here on the field and still getting distracted. You want to die or something?”
“Sorry.”
“...”
Lee Ji-jun lowered his head.
By then, Na Sang-min had realized it too. A harsh whip alone wasn’t going to lift a subordinate out of despair.
He finished off the writhing tentacle man and spoke again.
“Spit it out. What is it?”
Only after Na Sang-min softened his tone did Lee Ji-jun finally open up.
“Hunter Na. There’s someone I want to catch up to, but if there’s no hope of ever reaching him, what am I supposed to do?”
Na Sang-min hadn’t become an S-class hunter for nothing. Through years of experience, he could read Lee Ji-jun’s mental state at a glance.
Choi Yongki, huh.
Even though he was only D-class, Yongki was the hunter making the most active, most decisive moves right now.
The existence of Choi Yongki had probably crushed this rising star’s confidence.
“What do you mean, what are you supposed to do? Just leave it alone.”
“Huh?”
Na Sang-min rummaged through his pocket.
“Stop wasting your time on pointless crap and just do your own job properly. Damn it, where’d I put it? Don’t tell me I dropped it?”
He muttered as he kept searching.
“Lee Ji-jun. You know what the stupidest kind of hunter in the world is?”
“...I’m not sure. Someone who keeps making the same mistake?”
“That’s stupid too, yeah. Ah, found it.”
Na Sang-min pulled a Cuban cigar from his pocket. It was a top-shelf item, made with dried mandrake leaves.
“But even dumber than that is someone who keeps comparing himself to other hunters.”
Na Sang-min pointed the cigar at Lee Ji-jun.
Lee Ji-jun felt as though he had just been hit in the back of the head with a hammer.
Na Sang-min’s offhand words had struck exactly where it hurt.
“You idiot. Worry about your own plate. Stop staring at everybody else’s.”
Lee Ji-jun nodded.
At that moment, the thick sea fog gradually began to lift.
“All right, enough bullshit. Take a puff.”
Na Sang-min held out the cigar.
“Smoking’s prohibited inside the ship...”
“Bullshit!”
“Mmph!”
Na Sang-min forced the cigar into Lee Ji-jun’s mouth.
“...Thank you.”
Someone approached from behind.
“Look at you two goofing off. Trying to hog the smokes for yourselves, huh?”
The Geumwi captain cut in.
“We’re all out here busting our asses together, and Dio bastards have no damn loyalty.”
Na Sang-min pouted.
“You stingy bastard.”
“Tch. Fine, I want one too! I feel like I’m gonna die here.”
“Che.”
Without another word, Na Sang-min handed over the last remaining cigar.
The Geumwi captain was panting, sweat pouring off him. He had been treating more than thirty injured people nonstop.
Na Sang-min gladly gave up a cigar to ease the burden on the man’s shoulders.
“You’ve earned it. Here.”
The Geumwi captain took the cigar in his mouth. Na Sang-min lit it with a torch lighter.
The two rough men leaned in close, face to face.
“Ugh. What the hell is this taste? It’s mandrake, isn’t it? The tea was sweet, but this is insanely bitter.”
“You don’t smoke for the taste.”
“Then why?”
“You smoke for the style.”
Na Sang-min grinned and blew a thick stream of smoke out the corner of his mouth with exaggerated swagger.
“What a load of crap. You’re such a poser.”
At their first meeting, they had only been busy glaring at each other like they wanted to kill one another. But now, before anyone realized it, the two S-class hunters were sharing an easy, familiar bond.
Na Sang-min, Lee Ji-jun, and the Geumwi captain—three men standing shoulder to shoulder, gazing out at the sea as they caught their breath.
The peace didn’t last long.
A second wave of tentacle men came slicing through the water.
Na Sang-min flicked the half-smoked cigar into the sea.
“Hey, Geumwi. Healers can fight too, right?”
“I’d say better than you.”
“Pfft. Don’t get cocky. You too, Lee Ji-jun. Get in here. Triangle formation.”
A triangle formation meant the three of them would spread out and fight in a triangular arrangement.
The tentacle men hauled themselves onto the deck.
“Go.”
Under Na Sang-min’s command, the triangle formation crashed into the tentacle men.
It was a ferocious, savage charge. Two S-class hunters and one A-class hunter. It was an overpowered lineup by any standard.
But then—
“Kuh!”
Lee Ji-jun’s war axe collided with Na Sang-min’s spear. The recoil sent the axe flying wide, where it grazed the Geumwi captain’s neck.
The captain bristled.
“What the hell, you piece of shit! You trying to kill your own side?”
It was Lee Ji-jun’s mistake. He wasn’t used to fighting in concert with others.
“...Ah, sorry...”
In truth, that was one of Lee Ji-jun’s complexes. He was confident when shining alone, but blending in with other people had always been difficult.
“They’re coming. Hold the formation.”
Na Sang-min tightened up the line.
It was useless.
“You keep stepping on my line of movement!”
“...S-sorry.”
“Damn it! Why are you stepping on my foot?”
“...Ghk.”
Lee Ji-jun’s awkwardness wasn’t only because he was bad at coordinated strikes. There was a deeper reason.
I don’t have confidence.
The strongest man in the Dio Guild and the best healer in Busan—standing before abilities far beyond his own, Lee Ji-jun felt himself shrink.
...This is a lot.
The Geumwi captain clicked his tongue.
“If this is how it’s gonna be, why the hell did we even make a formation? We might as well fight separately!”
“Lee Ji-jun, you’re out. We’re going duo.”
Na Sang-min and the Geumwi captain broke formation and shot forward.
“...”
Lee Ji-jun, left behind, felt his face darken.
With his pride, he would normally have broken off and fought alone long ago.
I’d honestly be more comfortable that way too.
But his feet wouldn’t move.
...I want that too.
The reason Lee Ji-jun hesitated was simple.
I want to become a better hunter too.
Not the selfish, unilateral kind of hunter.
He wanted to become the kind of hunter who was altruistic and respected...
Someone like Choi Yongki.
Damn it.
Lee Ji-jun bit his lip.
He had told himself not to compare them, and yet he found himself thinking of Choi Yongki again.
Before he knew it, his frustration burst out.
“This is my first time trying triangle formation in an actual fight, so of course I’m clumsy!!”
A heartbroken shout rang out across the deck.
“Just!!! Teach me, then!!”
As a tentacle man collapsed, Na Sang-min and the Geumwi captain froze in place.
Lee Ji-jun clenched his fists and trembled like an angry child. His stubborn pride was colliding head-on with his desire to grow.
Seeing that, Na Sang-min and the captain let out dry, helpless laughs.
“Jesus, you scared me.”
“Why the hell are you yelling like that?”
Lee Ji-jun didn’t back down.
“I reached A-class faster than anyone else in the Dio Guild. If you teach me, I’ll learn fast. So teach me!”
Na Sang-min and the Geumwi captain exchanged a glance.
Then they both smirked.
At that moment, their thoughts were exactly the same.
No matter how strong you were, you weren’t born that way.
They must have had a time like Lee Ji-jun’s too.
“Okay. Let’s rebuild the formation.”
“Come to my left. Swap positions.”
And once again, the battle resumed.
“When that happens, strike and then pull back to the right. That way Geumwi can turn with it.”
“Yes!”
“Oh? You can use your left hand too? Even better. Go in together!”
“Yes! Understood!”
It had only been a brief lesson from Na Sang-min and the captain, but Lee Ji-jun absorbed it astonishingly fast.
The trio, who had been clumsy and disjointed moments earlier, meshed together in an instant and began moving like a single body.
The tentacle men were torn apart one after another.
“That’s it! That’s the one!”
“Dio’s guys are useful after all!”
Warm pride swelled in Lee Ji-jun’s chest.
Sometimes, letting yourself sink low and bow your head...
...wasn’t so bad after all.
He realized why Choi Yongki had worked so hard to gather the scattered Busan hunters back together.
So you already knew.
A hunter wasn’t supposed to be a lone wolf all the time.
When you had comrades to fight beside, that was when you truly became a hero again.
“Hunter Na. How much longer do we have to keep fighting here?”
“If I knew that, I’d be a fortune-teller.”
The Geumwi captain ripped the head off a tentacle man and shook the blood from his hand.
“It doesn’t mean anything out here. We need to hit the main body.”
Everyone’s eyes turned toward the horizon.
For a while, the battle continued in silence.
All of them were thinking of the same person.
“Hang in there a little longer, everyone.”
Na Sang-min said,
“That fox of a wolf bastard will bring us the octopus bastard’s head before long.”
* * *
The Eagle speedboat raced ahead at full speed.
The extermination unit had only three members.
Me, Team Leader Mun Dal-su, and the youngest, Jang Na-ik.
By any normal standard, this team was far too low-ranked compared to the Lee Seong-gye’s defense squad.
Still, it’s fine.
The extermination unit I had personally selected included exactly the kind of people needed to kill the Dirty Kraken.
Especially Jang Na-ik...
White Revenge trembled faintly in my hand.
After I cut the Dirty Kraken with the three-pronged blade, I understood something.
The awakened demon bone links with a target the moment it makes contact.
Out in the middle of the open sea, that meant...
I could tell where something touched by the sword was hiding.
White Revenge vibrated violently.
“It’s here. Please stop.”
The speeding Eagle speedboat came to a halt.
I removed all the hunter-grade protective gear I was wearing.
Underneath, my W1 suit came into view. The sea dragon’s hide clung tightly to my entire body.
Mun Dal-su and Jang Na-ik both gaped.
“Whoa... what is that?”
“The fabric’s bright blue. Is that some new material?”
“It’s a special product made at my factory.”
Because I looked so different from the usual Purple Devil, there was no risk of my identity being exposed.
“I’ll be going now.”
There was only one person who could face the Dirty Kraken underwater.
“The two of you, do exactly as I told you.”
Mun Dal-su and Jang Na-ik were going to move according to the plan we’d already set.
“Understood. Hunter Choi. I wish you luck.”
“Please come back in one piece.”
I nodded and jumped into the sea.
Cold flooded over my body. Waves slapped my face hard enough to sting. The water in my mouth tasted of salt.
I dove straight down.
Lower and lower I went. The pressure made my ears feel stuffed shut. It was cold. Silent.
Was this what outer space felt like?
It should be around here.
I had a rough idea of the location, but I needed something more exact.
From here on out...
I closed my eyes and concentrated.
A rare ability that allowed me to communicate with every living thing on a planet, including Earth itself.
<Whisper of the Stars>.
I activated the second Magical Circle I had obtained.
Gather.
Standing in the blue vastness, I spread my hands as if I were weightless.
Something came toward me.
Not one or two things. Flatfish, cutlassfish, sharks, rays, jellyfish, flounder, and more.
All kinds of sea life gathered around me.
As if we were old friends reunited after a long time apart, the fish wrapped themselves around me.
Amid that fantastical sight, I asked them:
Where is it?
The fish all turned at once.
The direction they indicated was deep beneath the waves.
Into the dark abyssal sea.
That’s where the final battle will be.
Holding my breath, I pulled something from the leg of my pants.
Once I pulled the purple mask over my face, the hero suit was complete.
It was time for the Purple Devil to enter the fray.