The Sea Dragon's Roar
Right after the assault began, Jang Dae-hyeon, president of the Korean Awakeners Association, felt a headache coming on. “What!? The monsters appeared near the school’s coastline?” He questioned his secretary about the report he had just received.
“Yes, sir! The Association’s Awakened have already been dispatched, but… it seems they’ll arrive a little late.”
“How many people are at the coast right now? And what is the principal doing?”
“Due to the S-class promotion ceremony, a large number of tourists have arrived, so quite a few people are still there. The principal is currently gathering his Awakened…”
“Then the response is far too slow! Are there any Awakened already on site?”
“We still don’t have a clear picture of the situation. However, the last report indicated that scouts from various guilds are heading toward the scene.”
“Is there any equipment we can use to observe the situation directly? Drones or anything else will do.”
“Since the monsters crawled out directly onto the coast due to gate erosion, drones may not function properly. And at the moment, we don’t have any drones available…”
“In that case, we have no choice but to head to the school’s situation room. Follow me.”
“Understood, Mr. President.”
At that moment, the secretary’s radio crackled to life.
“……What is it?”
—S-class Awakened Yusoha and her Guardian Star Eclipse are currently rushing toward the scene.
“What? Yusoha?”
—Yes. Other Awakened are also heading there, but the two of them are moving so fast that no one has been able to keep up.
“Understood for now.”
“Yusoha is heading to the scene?”
“Yes, that’s what we’ve been told.”
“……A stroke of luck amid misfortune. Then let’s move quickly to the situation room. We have work to do.”
“Yes, sir!”
Upon arriving at the situation room, Jang Dae-hyeon received a brief briefing from the principal before turning his gaze to the coastline filling the screens.
“……There really are a disgusting number of them. By the way, how are we able to see the current situation?”
“Well, I’m not entirely sure. We launched a drone, and strangely enough, it wasn’t affected by the mana wavelength interference.”
“Does that mean it isn’t gate erosion after all? I can’t make sense of this. Anyway, where are the Awakened?”
“They’ve already been dispatched to the coast. They need to arrive as soon as possible……”
On the screens, they could see tourists fleeing in panic along the shoreline and students trying to protect them. Of course, some students were also attempting to escape…… but that was only natural.
Suddenly, two figures leaping across the ground caught their eyes.
“……That’s—”
“It must be Yusoha. We received the report that she departed earlier.”
“At least that’s a relief. If those two are going, they should be able to handle it.”
“Indeed. Whew…… By the way, have there been any casualties so far?”
“It doesn’t seem so. The Awakened should be arriving soon as well.”
The principal looked at Jang Dae-hyeon with an expression of having aged ten years, while Jang Dae-hyeon’s own tense face relaxed slightly. Yusoha and Eclipse possessed the power to clean up that chaos.
However, just as the two men began to feel a measure of relief, a sudden roar echoed, and a massive sea dragon revealed itself.
“What……”
Discomfort once again seized them. Even at a glance, the creature was clearly dangerous. As an S-class Awakened himself, Jang Dae-hyeon immediately realized that the sea dragon’s strength could not be described with mere words like “powerful.”
When the students’ eyes filled with despair at the sea dragon’s appearance and the frenzied surge of monsters, a knight clad in steel suddenly dropped from the sky in front of the barrier.
“That……?”
The knight, golden hair streaming behind her, immediately formed a sword and handed it to Eclipse before beginning to sweep away the monsters by manipulating the earth.
“That’s Yusoha.”
“Good heavens.”
The principal could not help but wear a genuinely astonished expression. The Yusoha he had known as a student had been excellent, but the Yusoha who had become an S-class Awakened now possessed truly transcendent skill. Whether it was the influence of the North Korea expedition or the effect of her powerful Guardian Star, one fact was undeniable: she had grown immensely stronger.
Of course, the monsters were still strong enough to inflict damage on the students. Yet even so, wiping out such a massive quantity of monsters in an instant…… meant her abilities had risen to an incomparable level.
Swinging her sword, manipulating the ground, and firing golden blades…… It did not take her long to clear the coastline.
“At this rate, we won’t even need the other Awakened……”
Suddenly, the screen switched to the middle of the sea, revealing the sea dragon they had seen earlier—an overwhelmingly powerful creature at first glance. And alongside it…… Eclipse, cutting through the ocean as he ran.
Wearing a suit and gripping a greatsword, the sight of him sprinting across the water left everyone in the situation room speechless.
“Is that…… mana being used?”
“There are no traces of mana on his feet, so it doesn’t seem like it……?”
When mana was activated, it usually manifested as light in the surroundings. While atmospheric mana remained invisible, the moment it passed through a person’s power, it revealed itself. Yet…… no light lingered on Eclipse’s legs as he dashed across the sea.
In other words—
“……He’s walking on the water using nothing but pure physical ability? What on earth is the principle behind that?”
“Even if you ask me……”
“Ah, no. This isn’t the time to focus on such trivial matters. Relay orders to the Awakened immediately. Evacuate the tourists and students, and tell them not to let their guard down in case more monsters appear.”
“Yes, sir!”
Even so, their gazes, captivated by the awe-inspiring sight, remained fixed on the screen. On it, Eclipse could be seen leaping toward the sea dragon.
Eclipse leaped toward the sea dragon. In an instant, his body sprang into the air, allowing him to land on the creature’s long torso. The sea dragon continued to thrash its body, desperately trying to shake him off. Yet despite its frantic twisting, Eclipse ran along its length and leaped toward its head.
The sea dragon looked at Eclipse. The moment its sun-like golden eyes met his, the creature realized something was terribly wrong.
—Krrk.
Was it instinct? Simply by gazing at Eclipse, the sea dragon felt its scales stand on end. The being before it was dangerous. It could not allow that thing to swing what it held in its hand.
The sea dragon convulsed violently, drawing up its mana before unleashing a powerful breath of mana from its maw.
Kwaaaaa!
Even as the merciless breath poured forth, Eclipse did not stop. A smile curved his lips.
It was far weaker than the Orc King. In that case…… there was no need for his true weapon.
Wrapping golden mana around his sword, he cleaved straight through the breath. There was no sound. The mighty breath split cleanly in half, and the sea dragon’s head, aligned along the same line, was bisected along with it.
Thwack!
In that instant, the sea dragon felt an excruciating pain…… and that agony became the final sensation it would ever experience.
“Good heavens……”
They had known he was strong. But strength, too, had its limits. The sea dragon’s head, now dangling in two halves, was certainly not a pleasant sight. Yet at this moment, everyone’s attention was focused not on the dead sea dragon, but on Eclipse, who had bisected such a powerful monster with a single strike.
The people gathered in the situation room, and the Awakened who had witnessed the scene firsthand, could only share a single thought.
“We knew he was strong, but this is strength that transcends common sense.”
When the principal spoke, Jang Dae-hyeon nodded.
“It’s something we already knew…… but it’s still astonishing every time I see it. In any case, it seems the situation is over, so check for any injured or deceased and report back.”
“Understood. Is there anything else you would like to say?”
“Ah. And we need to figure out how the drone was able to film the area affected by gate erosion. This is something we’ll have to investigate the cause of.”
“Yes. I’ll mobilize our research team to look into the cause.”
Jang Dae-hyeon patted the principal’s shoulder a few times before leaving the situation room with his secretary.
His expression was far from pleasant. An inexplicable sense of unease had crept over him.
‘……Even though it wasn’t gate erosion, monsters still invaded Earth……. This is no ordinary problem.’
With a hardened face, he could only hope that his worries would prove unfounded.
“Thank you, thank you!”
People bowed their heads one after another, expressing their gratitude to Yusoha. Maintaining a composed expression, she spoke to them.
“I’m glad you’re all safe. Well then, I’ll be on my way.”
All the way back to the hotel, people continued to thank her and Eclipse. Yusoha returned with a somewhat smug smile.
“Good work. You went through a lot.”
“You as well.”
“By the way, how did you do that? Walking on water.”
“I don’t really know. I just thought it might work and ran, and it did. Is it really that surprising?”
“……It is surprising. How can a person walk on water without using mana?”
“Who knows. Perhaps if your body becomes as strong as mine, you’ll be able to do it too.”
“That seems impossible, though?”
“It’s not impossible. Someday, you’ll reach that level as well.”
“……I’ll take your word for it.”
At that moment, Yusoha’s smartphone suddenly rang.
“Yes, Mr. President.”
—Yusoha. I’m a bit concerned about this incident…… Do you happen to have anyone in the Hwanryeong research team who knows a lot about gates?
“Yes. I believe we do. Why are you asking about gates all of a sudden?”
—We were able to observe the entire situation through drones from the school’s situation room.
“……Pardon? You could observe it with drones? Then……”
—That’s right. It means monsters emerged even though it wasn’t gate erosion.
“Isn’t that a serious problem?”
—It is. Something is changing. I’m not sure what, but I have a strange feeling of unease.
“Understood. I’ll pass it along to the research lab.”
—Good. Then I’ll give Guildmaster Yu a call. And…… thank you. Thanks to you, the citizens were able to stay safe.
“Not at all.”
—Ah, I should get moving soon, so I’ll hang up now. You should rest as well, Yusoha.
“Yes.”
“Did something happen?”
“It seems so? For now, I need to contact Hwanryeong.”
“Hmm.”
“This is strange…… I wonder what’s going on.”
With a sense of curiosity, Yusoha sent a message to the Hwanryeong research team.
The Terror that had swallowed the world recalled the human it had last fought. That human, impossibly powerful, had suddenly vanished somewhere in the final moment…… and the Terror continued to search for them. The question of how that human could have been so strong was one mystery, but more than anything, it simply wanted to kill that powerful human with its own hands.
The Terror wandered through countless dimensions. Crossing from one dimension to another, it followed the human’s traces. During its search, the Terror realized there was a dimension it could not approach and peered into it.
Yet it could not look inside. A restriction had been placed upon it.
Because the Terror’s power had grown too immense, it could not interfere with a fragile dimension. The restriction that had existed in the universe since before the Terror’s birth bound it tightly, limiting intrusion from higher dimensions into lower ones.
The Terror felt another spark of curiosity. Just how weak was that dimension, that even it could not approach it?
The Terror continued to observe the dimension. And then, at some point, it became able to peer into the dimension, however faintly. The restriction was beginning to lift little by little.
The Terror realized that the restriction preventing it from reaching that dimension…… in other words, Earth, was gradually being released. The lifting of dimensional restrictions meant that the inhabitants of the dimension called Earth were growing stronger. In short, Earth’s rank had risen, allowing the Terror to glimpse into that dimension, even if only slightly.
It was a weak world. Yet it was also a world brimming with countless possibilities. The moment that dimension could accept its existence, just how strong would those feeble beings have become? Perhaps it might even encounter an existence as powerful as the human it had missed.
With a hint of anticipation, the Terror turned away. To find a strong being from another dimension. To find the human it had lost.