#234. Think Before You Cast Magic!
Jang Deok-gu swung his sword while clinging to the tower. The wasps targeted the precarious steel beam he was barely holding with one hand. Even though he had pulled their aggro, they were still gunning for Thomas.
Thomas climbed up and down the steel beams with minimal evasion maneuvers. Every time the wasps attacked, pieces of the tower crumbled away.
He dodged the onslaught by relying on the collapsing beams, performing all sorts of acrobatics to slip downward.
Only when the tower was too wrecked to serve its original purpose did the two hunters finally descend to the rooftop.
The wasps landed on the roof, surrounding them. There wasn't even a gap in the sky to escape through.
"How much longer?!"
Thomas had no room to reply. He feared even a single word might disrupt the fragile thread of mana he was barely maintaining.
Realizing Thomas wasn't in good shape, Jang Deok-gu discarded his sword. He pulled out five rods from his belt.
The rods were connected by iron chains. At a glance, they looked like a nine-section whip.
Jang Deok-gu slammed the rods into the ground and yanked them. The five rods linked together into one. He thrust his sword into the top end of the rod. It fit perfectly, as if they were designed as a set.
A spear with a long blade now rested in his hand.
"Haaaah—"
As his breathing steadied, the spear began to spin.
Whoosh!
The wasps touched by the spear blade were bisected before they even realized they'd been attacked. The one approaching Thomas had a hole punched through its forehead. Those diving from the sky had their wings sliced off and plummeted to the ground.
Carnivorous wasp corpses formed a circle around Jang Deok-gu and Thomas. It looked like a barrier had formed over the entire area the spear could reach.
'If it was just holding out, I could manage... but that one's the problem.'
Jang Deok-gu glared at the largest wasp hovering directly above his head.
Its body was at least three times bigger than the others. Its head bore a pentagonal shield, it had three pairs of wings, and its stinger looked as sharp as a longsword.
'Is that the boss around here?'
Jang Deok-gu didn't know, but it was a soldier wasp.
The queen's consort and the hive's general. A mid-boss like this usually came in packs of a dozen or so in carnivorous wasp hives.
Depending on the hive's size, there could be hundreds, but they didn't look that threatening. Still, they were on another level compared to regular worker wasps.
"Hey, the space is shrinking. I'll block what I can, but if we get pushed back any further, it'll be hard to hold. If that big one attacks..."
Jang Deok-gu warned about the growing swarm. He meant to alert them to the soldier wasp's danger too.
But before he could finish, the soldier wasp dove down. Its guard wasps followed.
"Damn, perfect timing, huh."
Jang Deok-gu surged mana through his body. He planned to unleash every skill he had.
Then.
"I know."
"Huh?"
"I've been waiting for it."
Thomas's voice came out like a held breath finally released.
And.
'I haven't named my original skill yet since it was just imagination. How about Helix Flare?'
Thomas's golden eyes flashed.
Helix Flare
Flames shot skyward, spiraling out to sweep everything around.
* * *
The street, filled with the chilling buzz of wings, was now shrouded in silence and death.
The moment Johanna stepped out of the shopping mall, she saw the sky packed with wasps.
Standing alone on the road amid monsters that had taken over the city was terrifying. It was a sight that made her instinctively avert her eyes.
She bowed her head. Her breathing quickened. Her heart pounded madly, sweat pouring like rain.
Johanna recalled the Mini-War Era.
The incident where dozens of gates opened simultaneously across the Italian peninsula.
Memories from when gates burst open worldwide, turning everywhere into hell, briefly froze her body.
"Hoo. Damn trauma's still as fresh as ever."
A hunter reacting like this to monsters might draw mockery, but she wasn't a coward.
This was a mental issue beyond her control.
That was why she'd taken a long vacation under the pretext of a sabbatical. A minor incident in a previous raid had revived those old memories.
'Get it together. Or I'll end up buried here.'
After deep breaths to relax her tensed muscles, Johanna looked up at the sky again.
The panic from moments ago had subsided.
It didn't happen every hunt. It struck randomly, without warning.
The disorientation that hit unpredictably before monsters had nearly made her kill someone once. That's why she'd gone on the trip—to regain her peace.
'But of all things, an outbreaking?'
It seemed to have exploded on a scale that paralyzed the city's functions.
'At least luring the wasps worked. They're not coming for me.'
Suddenly, the tinnitus ringing in her ears stopped.
And flames erupted from the top of the hotel across from the mall.
"Eek!"
Johanna let out an involuntary yelp.
Flames trailed the wasps clustered around the hotel, sweeping everywhere like a fiery spiral.
The wasps tried to scatter too late—the blaze wouldn't let them. Even from afar, the intense heat melted their wings, sending them crashing down.
The wasps fell like embers onto the asphalt.
Boom! Thud! Splat!
Charred or pulped, the twitching masses on the ground were no longer monsters—just meat chunks.
A burnt wasp crashed onto a half-wrecked pickup truck, hitting the fuel tank and exploding. Debris flew, bursting a fire hydrant. Water sprayed like a fountain, soaking the sidewalk. A wasp writhing in agony instinctively rolled into the puddle. Steam rose. The moment it lifted its head, thinking it had a reprieve, more wasps fell on top. The one that collided headfirst became a bloody pulp, just like the others.
Johanna couldn't tear her eyes from this spectacular hunt.
'Can a mage really do this? I've never seen magic like it.'
Experienced as she was, she didn't know every spell. Gates were unknown realms—what new skills might emerge? It could even be an original skill, not from a gate.
'If it's original, what rank do you put a mage who casts something this insane? No way S-rank, right?'
As she pondered who the U.S. S-rank mages were, she too got caught in the spell's aftermath.
Falling, burning wasps struck the road like meteors. These sizable monsters had tough exoskeletons, turning their weight into weapons.
Kaboom! Crash!
"Eep!"
The phone booth beside Johanna vanished. The streetlamp next to it snapped. A manhole cover shattered, and an abandoned food truck crumpled.
She leaped aside to dodge a carnivorous wasp overhead. Brushing off one or two was easy if she tried, but she couldn't handle the hundreds of monster corpses raining from the sky.
"You Yankee mage! Think about the people below before casting your damn spells!"
Dodging the wasp meteor shower, Johanna vowed to punch whoever cast that spell right in the face.
* * *
Hamilton had handed over some authority to Kang Moo-hyuk, figuring he had nothing to lose.
He was a lobbyist for eastern interests, but first and foremost a national servant. Protecting the country and its people came before anything.
For that, representing eastern profits didn't matter. He'd pushed the eastern Dragon Horse ranches because mounts were crucial for gate security.
But sacrificing L.A.—a western megacity of millions—to protect eastern gains was backwards.
'The east won't help the west's troubles. They'd blink at losing a city.'
Last spring's L.A. gate proved it.
They'd hoarded potions and consumables, screwing over the western guilds fighting monsters.
"If you succeed, great. Even if negotiations fail, no penalty. Use me as you will, Raid Leader Kang Moo-hyuk."
"If you say that... makes my job too easy, doesn't it?"
Hamilton momentarily worried he'd said the wrong thing at Kang Moo-hyuk's bright smile.
"Comms are a mess, so we go in person. We're stretched thin defending the branch."
The Hunter Crime Unit L.A. branch chief offered a single party, hands shaking.
Kang Moo-hyuk shook his head.
"No need. I'll go with my team. Just lend us a vehicle. I hear the Crime Unit has some tough ones."
"Those are expensive..."
"Is expense the issue right now?"
"No, Mr. Hamilton. We'll provide it. Haha..."
Kang Moo-hyuk took the keys from the chief's even shakier hand and briefed No Song-rin, who had just returned.
"First stop: Call My Name Guild. Closest from here."
"I get this is priority, boss, but what about Eul-ji? The concert hall's got thousands, maybe tens of thousands still inside. If we join here, they'll be monster chow."
Kang Moo-hyuk had planned to link up with Go Eul-ji no matter what.
Wide-area attacks, unmatched mobility, pinpoint precision on targets, versatile utility for any situation.
In uncertain chaos like this, she was the strongest ally.
He revised the plan on the spot.
"Change of plans. Call My Name second. Gunpowder first."
* * *
"Hey. Dead? Huh? Still alive?"
Jang Deok-gu poked Thomas's cheek, sprawled on the ground. The skin felt like dry sand—lifeless. Fortunately, his chest rose and fell. Thomas croaked a reply.
"Kinda alive. One more spell and I'm done for sure."
"Good. Mouth works, so you won't die yet."
"If the mouth works, means I can talk, so obviously not dead... Wait, Korean humor?"
"Man, do mana addicts lack a funny bone? As oblivious as the boss... Tsk tsk!"
Jang Deok-gu laughed and offered a hand. Thomas grabbed it, hauling his upper body up with effort. Leaning on Jang Deok-gu's shoulder, he gritted his teeth and stood.
"Burned everything in range, but not sure if all..."
"Kieeeek!"
Suddenly, collapsing debris gave way as a massive shadow surged up.