S-Rank Calamity (2)
“It’s been a while, Baek Soyeon.”
The unannounced visit from Kang Daecheol, Deputy Director of the Phenomenon Interpretation Bureau, made Baek Soyeon frown as she watered the flower bed.
“I didn’t expect a guest from the Bureau at this hour.”
She set down the spray bottle and folded her arms.
“What brings someone of the Deputy Director’s rank all the way out to this backwater village in Gangwon-do? There’s nothing here but a pitiful beauty driven to the brink of corruption.”
Baek Soyeon spoke lightly, yet she already had a fair idea why Kang Daecheol had rushed here. An S-rank hunter like her could hardly miss the thick miasma of negative energy riding the wind from downtown Donghae.
A high-rank Calamity has manifested near the city center. Energy release this dense means S-rank at minimum.
She had simply pretended not to notice, unwilling to involve herself while recovering. In truth she knew everything.
“Don’t play dumb, Formless Sword. You sensed the familiar power on the wind coming down from the north, didn’t you?”
“Ah… so you caught me.”
Too sharp for a sneaky old raccoon.
Soyeon’s gaze cooled as she looked at Kang Daecheol.
“Don’t tell me you’re ordering me to deploy?”
At her question the Deputy Director answered with a small nod. The casual way he treated it as someone else’s problem finally shattered Baek Soyeon’s composure.
“Deputy Director, are you joking with me right now? I’m a patient. You’re sending a hunter under serious mental pollution—someone who is supposed to be convalescing—against an S-rank Calamity? What kind of nonsense is this?”
Her anger was justified. Kang Daecheol understood it. Yet he was only a bureaucrat following orders from above.
“Tell the Lord of Gangwon-do to handle it himself.”
“You already know. The Deep Sea Prince of the Corrupted Ocean is a high-tier Calamity even among S-ranks. The Lord of Gangwon-do won’t last long. Command has decided you must deploy.”
“Then call a Kill Team from Seoul or Gyeonggi-do.”
The Bureau supported rotational deployments of A-rank and higher hunters to every province. When a Calamity exceeded even those hunters’ capacity, the rapid-response strike force composed of national exclusive hunters—the so-called Kill Team—was dispatched at once.
“Every Kill Team currently stationed in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do is unavailable for transfer.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Baek Soyeon’s aura began to rise.
“Calm yourself, Formless Sword. The situation is open to misunderstanding, but we have our own circumstances.”
“And those circumstances… you can’t tell me?”
“I’m sorry. It’s a national secret; even I don’t know the details. However, one team is already heading north from Chungcheong-do. You only need to buy time.”
Easy words, enormous risk.
“And if I corrupt while buying that time? Can you handle that?”
“Then the Kill Team from Chungcheong-do will take care of it. No need for you to worry.”
At the Deputy Director’s reply, Baek Soyeon’s expression went blank with pure disbelief.
“Your feelings show plainly on your face.”
“So I’m supposed to just endure this kind of dogshit treatment?”
When Baek Soyeon flared her aura in open defiance, Deputy Director Kang Daecheol let out a sigh and grew stern.
“You know as well as I do. Refuse the greater cause of humanity’s survival and an Enforcer from the Supreme Council will come for you. Even the government of the Republic of Korea cannot stop that. You understand, don’t you?”
It was a threat.
“Fine. I’ll deploy.”
Once the greater cause of humanity’s survival had been invoked, she had no choice. Confronting an S-rank Calamity would almost certainly push her mental pollution past the point of no return into corruption, yet Baek Soyeon had no other option left.
“I’m counting on you.”
“Go to hell, old man.”
She answered roughly and liberated her Mystery. A colossal force awakened, sending out a single shockwave of pressure; the woman who had been standing there in casual clothes was already soaring skyward in a black dress.
She closed the distance in a heartbeat, flying straight toward the source of the Calamity’s power. Soon she locked onto the battle at Donghae Central Public Health Center, where the Lord of Gangwon-do and other hunters were already engaged, and banked hard in that direction.
As she neared the clinic the scene below grew painfully clear. Hundreds of soldiers and civilians lay bleeding and dying; screams rose from every direction as people collapsed under the weight of mental pollution.
Insane… it’s worse than I thought.
The situation was grim.
What the hell is the Lord of Gangwon-do doing?
Her gaze sharpened. The Lord of Gangwon-do, already soaked in blood, was hurling talismans in a desperate melee against the Deep Sea Prince.
Corpses carpeted the area around the clinic—civilians, soldiers, hunters, all reduced to ruined bodies. A handful of healers poured what little restorative power they had into the wounded.
Where did all the healers go?
Too few of them were on site. She understood the reason almost at once.
The clinic itself was hit.
Faint life signs flickered among the rubble of the collapsed building—people still dying inside.
She accelerated, eyes sweeping the battlefield for more information, and one figure entered her view: an F-rank healer who had not fled even after facing an S-rank Calamity, still holding his ground.
The sight stirred something strange in Baek Soyeon.
For an F-rank… not bad.
She found she did not want him to die.
“Formless Sword Baek Soyeon!”
“Reinforcements!”
Cheers rose as Baek Soyeon touched down. The S-rank Calamity—the Deep Sea Prince—turned its gaze upon her as well.
“You… you’re persistent. I’ve never cared for men like you.”
With a single gesture, butterflies of black-crimson light burst outward in every direction, wings beating hard.
“You already know, don’t you? This space is under my control now.”
Baek Soyeon spoke calmly. The red dust scattered by the butterflies served as a catalyst that manifested and amplified her Mystery. The Deep Sea Prince, who had clashed with her fiercely only recently and been driven back, knew the condition for her power’s activation; tension radiated from it.
“Miss Baek Soyeon!”
The blood-soaked Lord of Gangwon-do ran to join her. Still without taking her eyes from the Deep Sea Prince, Baek Soyeon spoke.
“Lord of Gangwon-do, please help evacuate the civilians and the wounded. I’ll handle this.”
“Are you sure? You’re not in any condition… and the opponent is an S-rank Calamity.”
“I’ll finish it quickly and withdraw. I’ve already seized the space; it won’t take long.”
After the brief exchange the Lord of Gangwon-do fell back.
I put on a strong front, but my condition is anything but good.
Baek Soyeon’s face hardened as she continued to face the Deep Sea Prince. In truth she had intended to unleash a barrage of formless slashes the moment she deployed the butterflies. The negative energy pouring from the S-rank Calamity, however, was so overwhelming that she had been forced to reinforce her mental barriers instead.
Years of relentless campaigning as a hunter had left her far from whole. Extreme mental pollution had driven her to the very edge of corruption. Only retirement and long rest might have preserved her personality, yet here she stood before an S-rank Calamity.
Her mind could collapse into corruption at any second. Even a momentary lapse of concentration would accelerate the pollution and risk knocking her unconscious.
“Hunter! You can do it! Please win!”
Encouragement reached her from behind. She glanced back and saw the F-rank healer shouting himself hoarse.
He could not possibly know her situation. The mental pollution status of any Awakened of S-rank or higher was classified as a national secret. He was simply cheering her on to defeat the Calamity. Intention aside, the F-rank healer’s voice moved the woman who had been hesitating for fear of corruption.
“Butterflies. Swing your blades.”
At the activation phrase and a flick of her hand, a formless slash manifested and sheared off the Deep Sea Prince’s left arm.
“Missed.”
She had aimed for the right.
“Try dodging the second one.”
Another butterfly beat its wings at her gesture; the next slash bit deep into the right thigh. Polluted blood erupted like a fountain.
“Kieeeeeek!”
The Deep Sea Prince swept its spear and raised a wave of corruption.
“You want a long-range exchange with me? Seriously?”
She flicked her hand again. Formless slashes rained down without pause.
One-sided slaughter.
With every strike, streams of rancid, water-like blood sprayed from the Deep Sea Prince’s body. The S-rank Calamity that had reduced Donghae-si to ruins in mere minutes was being butchered like minced fish under the casual gestures of the emergency-deployed S-rank hunter.
“Suppression complete.”
The moment the words left her lips, the cheers of the survivors crashed over Baek Soyeon.
“Waaaaah!”
“Long live the Formless Sword!”
“That’s our S-rank hunter! I knew she could do it!”
“You’re the best, Hunter!”
Citizens surged toward her in ecstasy. Instinctively she put distance between herself and them.
“Ah—no… don’t come near me!”
The price of facing an S-rank Calamity while already drowning in mental pollution had finally come due.
Corruption had begun.