My Cute Pets Are a Bit Fierce, Huh?
Slash!SLASH!!
“Kiiieee—!”
“Kkrshaaaak—!!”
All that reached our ears were the sounds of Elysia’s sword slicing through monsters and their pitiful screams.
Fwoosh!FWOOSH!!
“Kiiieek—!!”
“Gyawoo—oo—”
And the crackling sound of bodies burning to ash.
We had cleared the E point with ease and were now moving on to the D point.
All the monsters we encountered, we dealt with them one by one.
“Both of them are amazing. Even after fighting like this, Elysia shows no sign of fatigue.”
Following the rapidly moving Elysia, I filmed her combat with my phone camera.
Elysia seemed to sense me filming and advanced with even more dazzling swordsmanship.
Slap!SLASH!!
Thud!
“Kueek!”
Elysia finished off another massive monster.
Then she posed toward me.
And stared blankly at the camera and at me.
Like a bear playing a trick, silently demanding open praise.
“It seems the monsters in this sector aren’t enough. Elysia, moving to assist another guild’s assigned area! Her skill stands out even among S-class.”
I poured on the compliments and she began waving her sword again with a pleased expression.
Praise is enough to make even S-class dance.
What about Seo-rin’s side?
I turned the camera toward the sky where Seo-rin was.
Seo-rin was also diligently summoning flames and spearing monsters down from above.
Fwoosh—FWOOSH!!
“Kkrshaaaak—!”
Monsters burned by Seo-rin’s flames and dying.
Their eerie screams were one thing, but the stench of their burning corpses filled the entire beach.
“Korea’s top A-class mage, Cha Seo-rin! All the monsters are melting in her flames.”
As the rumor of the one closest to S-class predicted, her magic flew without mercy and pierced monster heads and hearts without a drop wasted.
One shot, one monster—her precise and efficient magic use was on full display.
Normal Awakened would have trouble noticing, but I saw it all.
How much mana Seo-rin had worked to control over the years.
“Haaa… one more shot!”
Fwoosh—FWOOSH!!
Seo-rin was a bit more strained than usual.
This being her first time using magic this much, I saw her continuously sipping potions to replenish mana mid-fight.
Yet she still glanced at me filming and pretended not to show strain.
“Flame Spear!”
Kwa-kwa-thud!
She put even more heat into it.
Seo-rin, like a well-trained dog, didn’t seem to notice me but kept glancing sideways as if secretly craving praise.
“The heat of magic is felt all the way out here. Incredible. You don’t fall behind Elysia at all!”
Only then did Seo-rin show a satisfied smile.
Floating in mid-air, she struck a pose that looked convincing.
Looking down at the monsters with an elegant figure from above, she seemed to know exactly how to film it.
‘Then filming is enough, and it’s about time the D point appeared.’
Thinking that, I turned my gaze far away and surveyed the surroundings.
At one edge, far away, a group of Awakened were fighting a large number of monsters.
“Seo-rin! Elysia! That way!”
The two responded to my voice.
It felt like they were well-trained pets.
“Let’s take care of them!”
I shouted and moved!
Before my voice even hit the ground, they shot forward like arrows.
Seo-rin literally flew like an arrow through the sky.
And Elysia leaped off the ground with a powerful kick.
“You bastards—! Flame…!”
“Underwater creatures… Die!”
Good. Really good.
I had nothing to do.
Swallowing the comfortable thought that the Songdo operation might end more easily than expected, I followed them.
***
Moon Tae-rin, the guild master of the guild handling the D point, Mutae Guild.
An A-class Awakened, she had the shortest career among the guilds participating in the Songdo operation.
Her combat strength was also at the bottom of the participating guilds.
Yet she had done everything possible to join this Songdo operation.
Day after day she went to the management office and pleaded with the director to show her potential and that of her guild.
Until finally the director agreed.
‘Got it…! If I can just show a proper side in Songdo!’
Thinking that, she prepared for the operation day and night, sacrificing sleep.
However, right before the operation started she heard that the Terda Guild would also participate and a lump of dissatisfaction formed in her chest.
‘That guy said he just awakened… Then why?’
She had worked like a dog for years to accumulate results.
Even though the guild she and her colleagues were in was clearly full of potential, they had debated for a month before deciding.
Then how come this strange human Kang Si-ho suddenly joined the operation?
Tae-rin was full of ill will.
So at the final meeting before the operation began, she thought while watching Byun Gi-seok from the Mir Guild challenge Si-ho to a duel.
‘Tsk, that makes sense. No other guild would like it. They’d all be boiling with anger.’
All the other guilds would know the meaning of the Songdo operation.
On the surface it looked like they were just helping civilians, but if this operation succeeded successfully, the mana stones would be enormous.
And once it was announced publicly, it would bring tremendous support, honor, and cheers.
That was why guilds of a certain level wanted to participate.
Because of that, it was only natural that some felt displeased at the sudden appearance of Terda Guild’s Kang Si-ho.
Representing them, Byun Gi-seok stepped forward.
Tae-rin thought Terda Guild was out here.
However.
Thrust—
Contrary to her expectations.
No, contrary to everyone present’s expectations.
Si-ho’s sword pierced Byun Gi-seok’s shoulder first.
‘Is that possible?’
Ranks, experience, everything was a heaven-and-earth difference.
Yet Si-ho’s blade was dripping with Byun Gi-seok’s blood.
‘Crazy, what kind of human is this?’
Leaving only questions about Si-ho, the operation meeting concluded.
After the meeting, Tae-rin thought, ‘It’ll all be revealed in this operation anyway.’
The fact that Si-ho tricked Gi-seok must have been coincidence.
Beginner’s luck.
In real combat it would be different.
In the battlefield, where death was harsh, one could never survive by coincidence alone, and Tae-rin knew that.
She decided to watch Si-ho’s performance in this operation with her own eyes.
So the operation began.
Not even an hour after the monsters appeared, unbelievable words came over the communicator.
[This is the E point. We’ve completed the extermination.]
Si-ho’s voice.
The E point Terda Guild was responsible for had already been cleared.
‘What…?’
Impossible.
Her and her guild were still fighting monsters.
Even if the E point was the easiest, was it already finished?
‘No way, that’s not possible.’
No matter how obsessed with results, no one would lie that ridiculously in a situation like this.
Then how?
While still in the middle of fighting monsters with such thoughts in her head.
“Cough… Guild master, more are coming!”
“Huu… They’re still this many left? Organize the formation! Move the injured to the back for treatment and line up those who can fight!”
“G-guild master! From over there…”
“What is it?”
“Something… is coming!”
Terda Guild members.
Cha Seo-rin and Elysia.
The two were approaching with a terrifying momentum toward this side.
With expressions fiercer than the monsters facing them.
“Support…?”
“We heard the E point extermination was finished. Looks like the Terda Guild has come.”
“That’s good. We were about to lose anyway.”
The guild members let out a small cheer at Seo-rin and Elysia’s arrival.
Tae-rin, riding the momentum, shouted to fire up her colleagues.
“The monsters on this side won’t have much left. Don’t lose your fighting spirit until the end!”
“Woooooo!!”
So fired up were Tae-rin and her colleagues.
However.
They never faced the monsters with swords again.
“You’re all dead, bastards!!”
“I’ll make sure you underwater monsters never set foot on land again.”
Fwoosh—FWOOSH!!
Crack!
With a momentum so fierce it was embarrassing even for them to come out.
Seo-rin and Elysia rushed toward the monsters.
The two turned the monsters into chunks of meat in an instant.
“Kiiiiiie—!!”
“Kururururuk…”
The monsters who were cocky only when fighting them.
Before Seo-rin and Elysia seemed to feel their fighting spirit completely drained.
Like animals in front of a beast.
Tae-rin and her colleagues stared blankly at the scene.
“Terda Guild… was that strong?”
“Even with S-class and A-class, this is too much…”
Not a battle that defies common sense.
Thinking that, Tae-rin had been staring blankly.
Suddenly Si-ho’s voice reached her ears.
“My cute pets are a bit fierce, huh?”
It was as if he was saying the guild members were his pets.