Chapter 147 : Reverse Wreck (2)
Reverse Wreck (2)
- KIEEEEEEEEEEKK!!
Monsters poured out from the torn sky.
The security guards and hunters who were stationed throughout the city quickly moved to protect people.
Monsters bursting out once the rift opened was no different from a gate crisis.
However, this was not the kind of gate well known to the public.
- Those without magic power, please evacuate quickly.
- We'll handle things here.
- The shelter for evacuation is this way.
The security robots stationed at Hand were all dispatched.
They swiftly moved to the scenes where phantom spirits were falling and guided people to safety.
Some of the escaping people were even impressed by how the robots operated, just like real human rescuers.
- Kihehek!
- Eliminated one.
Since these robots also ran on magic power, they were equipped with combat capabilities.
During trial tests, their results even surpassed B-rank hunters.
Now, as complete models, they might have grown even stronger.
THUD—!
Just then, a group of phantom spirits flying in the sky began to rampage and crashed into a building.
Fortunately, the structures of Hand, which were more sturdy than regular buildings, were not easily destroyed.
Meanwhile, people evacuated outside the buildings and hid in shelters.
But perhaps the electronic signboard wasn't so solid, because it crashed to the ground after being headbutted by a pterosaur-like phantom spirit.
"Kyaaaaaaa!"
A woman below was about to be crushed under the electronic signboard.
Not being an awakened, she could do nothing but scream.
CRACK—!
Then, someone delivered a kick, sending the signboard flying.
Thanks to that, the woman was able to escape unharmed.
The one who had shown this superhuman strength was, unsurprisingly, a hunter.
"Why do we have to go save civilians? What a hassle."
"Can't be helped. It's The One's orders—we do as we're told."
There wasn't a shred of courtesy in their tone. These were hunters from the Hwasan guild.
And it wasn't just a few—there were more than a hundred of them.
"But what the heck are those monsters? Never seen them before."
"Isn't it some new kind of gate? Kind of looks special, like Golden Gate..."
They eyed the rift in the sky with suspicion.
There was a sense of unfamiliarity, since so many unfamiliar elements kept appearing.
"Huh? Hey, look at that."
"What is it?"
They saw the corpse of a monster the security robot had just killed.
Normally, monsters disappear after being defeated, leaving only loot.
But this time, the corpse remained instead of vanishing.
It looked no different from a living creature on Earth.
"What the—? Why isn't that fading away?"
"Must be something really special, right?"
"It's okay to take this corpse, right? No one's claimed it?"
In an instant, the greed burned in their eyes.
A monster that didn't vanish after death—just that made it exceptionally rare.
If they hunted them and collected the bodies, it would bring huge rewards.
"Then these are ours, right?"
"Let's move, quick!"
"Let's gooooo!!"
Once they realized there was profit, they charged in like savages.
They began hunting the phantom spirits one by one as they emerged from the rift.
Other hunters watching them commented.
"Pathetic idiots."
Those in white robes belonged to the Angel guild.
They too had over a hundred members present.
"I see now why the chairman called us in."
"Hunt begins!"
All at once, they activated the "Heaven Up" skill.
Wings unfolded from their backs as they took flight to clash with the phantom spirits.
And someone else happened to see this scene.
"Hwasan guild and Angel guild? Why are those guys here?"
Lu Huikang, watching in hiding, murmured quietly in surprise.
Hwasan guild and Angel guild—both were giant forces, known as two of Korea's four great guilds.
It wasn't all that strange for them to move in Hand, Korean territory.
But why were such massive groups concentrated here at the same time?
"Looks like there's at least a hundred of them."
Even in his own Sura guild, they never deployed that many unless it was seriously special.
Could they have foreseen this situation?
Suspicious as it was, now wasn't the time to care about them.
- KIYAAAAAAAAH!!
Just then, a giant phantom spirit appeared before him.
It was shaped like a minotaur, massive enough to crush a car beneath its feet.
After bellowing at Lu Huikang, it simply left.
- GRRRRRRR.
As if there were nothing of interest here, it ignored Lu Huikang.
"Kukuk. Looks like the effect of the perfume is working."
Feeling relieved, Lu Huikang produced a syringe.
He jabbed the sharp needle into his own neck and injected something.
Though pain followed, he actually felt more pleased.
"Kh! Juhui, I won't let your sacrifice be in vain!"
They had been struggling to uncover Sura's true identity.
Setting up at the Korea branch had made secret planning easier.
Rising among the very top executives to see Sura's true face was just one of many strategies.
He'd researched various other plans too, and, thanks to her trust within the higher-ups, had learned an important fact.
Namely, that there existed an "eye" that could identify Sura.
It was the eye of a phantom spirit.
'Not just any phantom spirit, but...'
A master-class, top-tier phantom spirit.
Impossible to match with human strength, and nearly impossible to make contact with, so the plan had been shelved.
But with the rift open now, a one-time opportunity had come.
The injection in his neck would allow him to make contact with that being.
"KUAAAAAAAAH!!"
Pain wracked his whole body and he screamed.
At that moment, different scenery appeared before Lu Huikang's eyes.
In a place overflowing with all sorts of monsters, a giant beast stood alone.
A massive wolf-shaped monster with three faces—that was the master-class phantom spirit.
Soon, the phantom spirit appeared before him and swallowed Lu Huikang whole.
"UAAGHH!!"
It was as if waking from a nightmare—Lu Huikang snapped back to reality.
He wiped away cold sweat and regained his field of view; he found the world looked different.
He could still see the streets of Hand, but his field of vision seemed far wider, almost inhuman.
"It worked."
He had obtained the eye of the master-class phantom spirit.
But, as a cost, it seemed he was now forcibly contracted to that being.
Though strange fur was growing on his arm, he didn't care.
"Yes, I've waited my whole life for this day!"
At last, he could find and kill Sura.
****
The number of phantom spirits appearing was still not that great.
At most, they could only blanket a large building, and that much could be handled easily by the forces present.
But if left unchecked, it would become dangerous.
Before long, "master-class" ones would appear—far beyond what was coming now.
If a master-class popped out and killed everyone, it wouldn't be a loss for Ai Hoon.
After all, only Hand would suffer the damage.
But then—
"Kyaaaa!! What is this?!"
Ai Hoon crawled out of the wreckage of a destroyed car.
Helped to her feet by Ji Ryong-seong and Jin Rain, she still trembled in terror—because of her changed arm.
"This is... no way!"
"A rift!"
Those two, who had joined the plan as a top priority, realized it at once.
It was supposed to be a rift that manifested in Ma Seongjin's body.
But why had it appeared in Ai Hoon's body instead?
"Impossible! Wasn't it Ma Seongjin who breathed the Underworld's air?"
"That's right! He definitely did, inside the car!"
"Then why is it happening to you...?"
"I don't know! I was absolutely wearing the blocking mask then!"
Why had she gotten afflicted, when it should've been Ma Seongjin?
Shaking with fear at this impossible situation, Ai Hoon said,
"You remember what that little brat Ma Seongjin said?"
His words while grabbing the drone came to mind.
[You guys... You only see me as an ordinary student.]
The more she thought about it, the more goosebumps she got.
On that video feed, Ma Seongjin looked completely fine—while Ai Hoon was the one affected.
Only then did they realize.
"Ma Seongjin... that kid!"
Ji Ryong-seong's veins bulged in rage as he uttered that name.
The kid had already figured out their plan.
He didn't know what that boy truly was, but Ji Ryong-seong was furious.
"I suppose we have to go catch him ourselves."
"Do you know where he is?"
"Weren't there scenes just on the broadcast?"
It was the rooftop of Hand's central tower.
A radio antenna on top had appeared in the drone footage.
He knew the boy wouldn't be ordinary.
As the only SS-rank hunter here, it made sense he'd handle it himself.
"Then I'll go, miss. Jin Rain, take care of things while I'm gone."
"Leave it to me."
At that moment, Ji Ryong-seong's body transformed into gas and flew toward the tower.
The moment their strongest left, Ai Hoon's arm flared up again.
"N-no! It's happening again!"
"Stay calm—focus all your magic power into your arm!"
Following Jin Rain's instruction, she focused her magic.
The quivering rift in her arm calmed.
Compared to the gigantic rift in the sky, it was meager, easily subdued with human strength.
But as an A-rank, Ai Hoon's power was very limited.
"I don't have enough magic power. If this goes on, I won't last."
"Then use mine. If it's this, you should last much longer."
"Okay."
As they held hands, Jin Rain's magic transferred into her.
Once you reached S-rank, transferring magic like this was easy.
"But... won't this make you weaker?"
"Still, with no power left, you won't last long."
"Damn!"
"Also, don't you think something's weird about the phantom spirits?"
Jin Rain was right.
Even with people right in front of them, the phantom spirits weren't reacting.
"Huh?"
It was truly a strange sight.
Despite people fleeing for their lives, the phantom spirits weren't chasing after them.
It was as if they didn't even notice there were humans there.
BOOM—!
Still, it wasn't without casualties.
Several phantom spirits suddenly began fighting each other and smashed a building next to the stage.
Those minotaur-like spirits looked strong enough to destroy Hand's facilities.
"What is this?"
"It's as if they've been sprayed with the perfume we used."
Ai Hoon and Jin Rain were not attacked by the phantom spirits either.
At least, for them, there was a clear reason.
But the scene unfolding before them was bewildering.
"Right, it's that perfume."
Just then, a young girl approached them.
A middle-schooler-looking girl with pink hair and fox ears.
Jin Rain raised her guard upon seeing her, but Ai Hoon didn't seem to recognize her.
"Who's that?"
No wonder—
She was a figure kept strictly hidden within the Sura guild.
"That's Sura."
"What?"
Seeing Sura's face for the first time, Ai Hoon was stunned.
But the real surprise would come later; for now, Jin Rain went straight to the point.
"What did you mean just now?"
"It's as I said. The entire Hand is covered in the perfume."
"That's impossible!"
"Remember the rain that just fell? Ever think why that happened?"
"No way!"
It didn't take long to realize.
A sudden rain that defied the weather forecast.
Some might pass it off as capricious weather, but in fact, it was artificially induced.
"The rainwater was made with the same perfume you used."
"You couldn't have done all that alone...!"
"You're right. I didn't do it alone."
There was a helper behind Ah-rin.
Same for Ma Seongjin; the more they tried to dig, the more secrets came up.
"Looks like everyone's evacuated now. There should be no more casualties."
"Ugh!"
"And what's up with the woman next to you? She looks ridiculous—puhuhu!"
At Ah-rin's mocking tone, a vein popped up on Jin Rain's head.
There was no one else visible nearby, only countless phantom spirits.
Still, with no risk of attack, they could be at ease.
WEEEENG—
Just then, Jin Rain's phone rang.
"What?!"
― It's me. Lu Huikang.
"What's the matter?"
― I just realized I forgot to tell you something.
As if she wasn't angry enough already—what could he have forgotten?
― The perfume our guild members spread. It's Type B.
"What?"
Jin Rain's face was filled with disbelief.
Why was he bringing up a joke now?
Did he mean that Type B, which only lasted sixty minutes?
― It's almost been an hour now, right?
"Don't joke. Why are you saying this now?"
As Jin Rain was thrown into confusion, laughter burst out from Lu Huikang on the other side of the line.
― Hahahahahaha!! All for the sake of the Heaven and Earth Society!
And the call was disconnected.
Utterly shocked, Jin Rain dropped her phone.
If what he said was true, and the hour was up...
― GRRRRRRRK!
A phantom spirit walking by locked eyes with her.
It began to gaze at Jin Rain, Ai Hoon, and Kang Ah-rin as if they were prey.
****
The rain that had just fallen was the phantom spirit repellent perfume made liquid.
Only one who had mastered weather-control magic could create a cloud containing those components.
Vern's magic power hadn't dulled from before, so it was an easy feat.
If he wanted, he could probably make it rain cola.
"So this is the recipe for that perfume?"
"Yes. It was included in the plan document they devised."
I looked over the documents Karen had shown me.
Inside were instructions for brewing potions mixed in with everything else.
Karen was the only one among us who could infiltrate their group undetected.
Having Karen steal the plan was why we could react at all like this.
"Thank you. You really worked hard."
"You're too kind."
"But you're sure this was the only recipe?"
"I checked repeatedly. This was the only perfume those guys had."
Perfume to keep one hidden from phantom spirits for twenty-four hours.
That was specified in the recipe.
So, based on the recipe Karen stole, we created our own perfume and made it rain.
"In other words, we got doused in the same stuff as they did."
Vern chimed in from the side.
Not quite accurate, so I corrected him.
"No, not just us—all the citizens have been doused."
This way, even innocent civilians wouldn't become targets for the phantom spirits.
That's why we could relax for now.
"Still, it's a pity. If we just had more recipes, it would've been easier."
"It's not that we don't have them. It's just, the ones we use are different from theirs."
He was right.
If we wanted, we could also create something like the Underworld Formation.
But there were many kinds of Underworld Formations.
To be effective, the perfume had to match the kind.
There should be at least five types.
We needed to know precisely which of the ten types theirs was.
"Phantom spirits crossing through the Underworld Formation are bound by that Formation. You could call it a kind of restriction."
"As long as you use the matching type of perfume for the Formation, you're guaranteed safety. Of course, the other types aren't completely ineffective, but the effect only lasts for sixty minutes..."
So, if they weren't switched out for another type, the weather operation was a success.
VRRRRRRR—
Suddenly, my pocket began vibrating.
It was a call from Ah-rin, so I had to take it.
"What is it?"
The moment I heard Ah-rin's words over the phone... I stiffened in shock.
"Karen. Vern."
Looking at my two subordinates, I spoke with a rigid tone.
"Looks like our weather operation failed."