S-Class Alert! (2)
“Head.”
——!!
The sudden explosion drew everyone's gaze to one spot.
The statue with its upper body blown off, the flustered knight beside it, and the woman passing by—all captured in their eyes.
“Switch.”
Thud, thud—
The woman's footsteps carried her past the awakeners and the goblin statues.
She stopped in front of a massive gorilla statue.
For a brief moment, the woman and the statue stared at each other before the statue raised its fist.
“Danger…!”
The statue's enormous fist sliced through the air, crashing down toward the woman from above.
——!
Asphalt shattered, kicking up a cloud of dust that obscured the viewers' sight.
“…”
'Is she dead…?'
For a moment, bewilderment colored their gazes, but as the dust settled, it revealed the woman standing tall, holding up the statue's hand.
The eyes of all the onlookers widened in shock.
Judging by its presence or mana, that statue was undoubtedly a named-grade monster from a B-class gate.
'But she blocked that attack so easily…'
Sparks began to crackle from the woman's hand gripping the fist.
'A skill? No, that's…!'
The sparks were her mana.
Mana typically manifested as blue particles.
But this woman's mana resembled crackling electricity.
'…!!'
The statue recoiled in instinctive terror, staggering backward. But.
“Too late for that.”
Boom—!
The statue's upper body exploded off as it stumbled back.
With that, the woman's feet accelerated.
Ignoring the goblin monk statues entirely, she targeted the next massive statue.
The one hastily raising its arms burst apart like tofu.
Boom—!
Boom—!
Mountain-like statues detonated one by one with thunderous roars.
“…What the hell are we watching right now?”
“Is that an A-class?”
“No.”
A heavy voice cut through the stunned awakeners.
The man in dark blue knight armor was named Kim In-cheol.
The only B-class hunter here, he had collaborated with A-class hunters a few times.
The A-class hunters he remembered were impressive, but still recognizably human.
Rumble, rumble—
But 'that thing' was different.
It pulverized the statues like tofu without a shred of human presence.
So what the hell was it?
An animal?
A monster?
No. It defied such simplistic categories.
Its aura felt present yet absent, stirring unease.
Unmistakably human in form, yet its presence evoked primal fear.
'I've felt this sensation before.'
Three years ago, during the parade celebrating the successful raid of an S-class gate, his eyes had locked onto a woman in a black hood amid the crowds.
The instinctive dissonance when their gazes met.
The terror.
And the awe.
All those sensations now vividly raced up his spine.
——!
As the chilling prickle sharpened his senses, the head nestled in the statue's arms screamed.
Its five pairs of hands clapped together with dull thuds in sequence.
Commonly called “prayer hands.”
Mana compressed between the joined palms until it reached its limit, then slammed down toward the woman in the shape of a palm strike.
The woman didn't dodge. She braced herself and parried it.
Boom—!
Boom—!
Fist met palm in explosive clashes.
At a glance, it seemed evenly matched, but cracks spiderwebbed across the statue's arm.
What started as hairline fractures widened into gaps and breaks, until finally.
Boom—!
All the statue's hands shattered at once.
The victor clear, energy gathered in the woman's fist.
The swelling mass grew to a size capable of leveling buildings.
“Bet you're feeling salty now.”
Lightning-like energy blasted forth ferociously.
——!!
The statue vanished without a trace.
Simultaneously, the gate-ification spreading over the city halted.
The knight watching it all felt an indescribable emotion, his gaze fixed.
“…”
He couldn't clearly explain what that woman from back then—or this one—was.
But one thing he could say for certain.
“That's not something you classify as a living being.”
Does everyone know about that B-class gate that popped in Seoul yesterday?
It hadn't even been a week since it appeared, and it broke already—plus, a B-class that ended with no major casualties? Huge news.
I was one of the first on scene. Corpses everywhere, explosions—total chaos.
Anyway, early response was one B-class and the rest C's and D's. Obviously underpowered for a B-break.
Honestly thought we were goners.
Then this animal-eared masked chick shows up and goes full one-woman rampage.
First thought it was Lee So-yul doing some concept gimmick.
But her magic's S-class, melee's C-tier trash—common knowledge.
So I rewatched the bodycam, and caught her muttering super quietly: “Head.” And “Bet you're feeling salty now.”
Hit me like a truck, so I compared to Quickdraw's voice.
Sound exactly alike, right?
Is Quickdraw seriously an S-class awakener??
Sorry, pulled aggro just to show this.
Was the C-class mage on site. Too hyped, had to post.
Saw the sparks from her arms in the vid?
Super rare for mana to have special attributes.
Those folks manifest different effects even with same skills—prized big time.
But no reported cases in Korea till now.
Thought foreign awakener, checked abroad—no lightning-attribute mana users anywhere.
So? High chance new awakener.
Now even higher chance S-class.
The two sudden posts detonated the already blazing community.
Before the fallout even cleared.
Notice: From Ian Soft.
Hello, adventurers of Rebion Arc. I'm John, CEO of Ian Soft.
First, sincere apologies for the concern caused by this controversy.
After thorough investigation over several days, we've confirmed the user did not use unauthorized programs.
Our game is safe from all hacking tools.
Thank you.
Testimonies and announcements poured in relentlessly, hammering public opinion one after another.
Thought you'd arson, now look lololol
(Quickdraw pic.jpg)
From now on, this is Quickdraw Gallery.
We know Korea's got 4 S-classes, right?
Two ladies: Lee So-yul and Quickdraw lol
Quickdraw hacking??
You guys for real?? lololololol
The blaze engulfing public opinion flipped to festival heat in an instant.
Firepower that could've claimed a city or two in reality.
As that firepower stretched past a week.
“…This is fucked.”
The festival's star couldn't laugh.