Oni’s Attack(3)

The oni and Neon clash within the black mist spread over the field.

And the moment they clashed, Seol, who had been sleeping with an eye mask on in her room in the General Management Team tower in the Central District, suddenly sat up in bed.

“This, this is crazy…”

Muttering a curse she rarely used, Seol hurriedly took off her eye mask and ran to the desk in her room.

Recalling the scene she had just been watching in her sleep at Gaeam High School, Seol quickly picked up her device.

“What’s with an oni suddenly appearing…!”

If Seol hadn’t seen wrong, Neon’s opponent was none other than Ryoka, the ‘Oni Leader of the Second Village’ in Japan.

The bizarre oni from the craziest village among the five villages had begun to battle with Neon.

Most people would not know her as they rarely had a chance to see her face, but at least Seol clearly remembered Ryoka.

She didn’t know why Ryoka was in Korea or why she was fighting Neon, but there was only one thing Seol had to do now.

To relay this situation she had seen to her team leader and sister, Yeon-ah.

“Quickly… quickly…”

And Seol, as quickly as her urgent actions, turned on her device, pulled up the contacts, and made a call.

Ring– Ring–

It was the same connection tone as always, but for some reason, today that tone seemed to feel longer.

Once, twice, three times, the connection tone kept ringing without connecting immediately.

And as the call continued like that, Seol kept checking the view of Gaeam High School, waiting for the call to connect as quickly as possible, worried about what might happen in the meantime.

“Is Neon… being pushed back?”

Although the inside wasn’t clearly visible due to the black mist, from what could be faintly seen, it looked like Neon was at a disadvantage.

Well, it was a situation that could be called natural, given that there were ordinary students to worry about behind her, and her opponent was that Ryoka.

Although only a minute had passed, the flow of the fight already seemed to have turned.

Ring– Click.

And as she anxiously watched that battle while waiting for the call to connect, finally, at the end of the sixth ring, the call connected and Yeon-ah’s voice came through from the other side.

[Hello? What’s the matter, Seol?]

“Ah, sis! It’s, it’s a big problem! A big problem!”

[Why are you suddenly… First, calm down and tell me slowly what happened.]

As Seol urgently spoke upon hearing Yeon-ah’s voice, Yeon-ah asked about the situation calmly while sounding somewhat flustered.

At Yeon-ah’s solemn voice, Seol also calmed down and took a breath to avoid misspoken words.

And after composing herself like that, Seol opened her mouth again to properly explain the situation.

“Right now, at Gaeam High School where Neon went, an o…”

No, she tried to explain.

If it weren’t for the scene she saw through the Wind Eyes that was still connected, she would have explained just like that.

“Ah…”

But just before opening her mouth, a short voice burst out of Seol’s mouth involuntarily.

A deflated “Ah” escapes between Seol’s lips as her voice suddenly loses strength for a moment.

And in Seol’s view, as she uttered that sigh of exclamation, the field of Gaeam High School where the mist was just disappearing came into sight.

In addition, the figure of Ryoka escaping with the limp Neon slung over her shoulder also came into view from within the black mist that was starting to disappear as if everything was over.

Neon’s arms and legs moving abnormally as if something strange had happened.

Neon’s condition didn’t look fine at all at a glance, and this series of situations was conveyed to Seol through the Wind Eyes.

Because of this, Seol closed her mouth for a moment, at a loss for words, but soon recalled what she had to do and opened her mouth again.

“…An oni invaded Gaeam High School. And now she’s kidnapped Neon. Her life or death… is in an unconfirmable state.”

She relays to Yeon-ah every detail of the situation visible through the Wind Eyes without omission.

Since Seol was the only one in the General Management Team watching this situation right now, this was something only Seol herself could do.

Therefore, Seol persistently tracked Ryoka running across the tops of buildings with her Wind Eyes and relayed information without pause.

“…Sis.”

[Yes, I know.]

And as Seol, who had been tracking Ryoka like that, called out to Yeon-ah, Yeon-ah answered as if no more words were needed.

Although Ryoka’s appearance and her actions were still incomprehensible, at least Seol and Yeon-ah could be certain of one thing.

The fact that Ryoka would meet her end here today.

---

Tap—!

For a moment, Ryoka’s feet touch the rooftop of a building and quickly kick off the ground.

Accordingly, Ryoka’s body leaps quickly between buildings.

And Ryoka glances at Neon, who is slumped unconscious on her shoulder, and increases her speed even more.

“That still doesn’t seem to want to fall off.”

However, no matter how much Ryoka increased her speed, there was one thing that persistently followed around Ryoka, and that was none other than someone’s mana carried on the wind.

Seeing how it followed Ryoka with its own consciousness like this, it seemed to be a reconnaissance-type ability like Yun-ah’s.

She wasn’t sure whose mana it was, but considering where Neon belonged, it was probably from the General Management Team.

The wind follows without falling behind, as if determined not to lose Ryoka.

“Well… it’s good for me if it follows like this.”

However, from Ryoka’s standpoint, there was no need to shake off this wind.

Once she entered the building Yun-ah had prepared, the wind wouldn’t be able to follow through the mana-blocking outer walls, and if it monitored her until then, the Ancestor of the General Management Team who had obtained the information would arrive faster.

Just when she was bored because there were no more strong opponents worth fighting, she had come to Korea like this upon hearing rumors of a goblin she so wanted to determine superiority against.

If such a goblin arrived even a little faster, Ryoka would be pleased too, so this kind of surveillance was almost welcome.

Therefore, Ryoka turned her gaze away from the wind following her and this time looked back at Neon slung over her shoulder.

“It seems she’s had a goblin gene mana stone implanted, and she was quite strong, wasn’t she?”

Although it had been a glancing blow in the fight earlier, her left arm that had been hit was still throbbing.

It was an injury that would heal in 1-2 minutes, but how long had it been since she had felt pain while facing an opponent?

From Ryoka’s standpoint, it was truly regrettable that Neon had almost no real combat experience and that she only had 5 minutes to fight her.

“In a few years, she might be quite fun to fight.”

Still, she was at least sufficient as a warm-up opponent as Ryoka had initially thought, so Ryoka grinned and hoisted Neon, who was slowly slipping, back onto her shoulder.

With a thud, Neon’s body is lifted once and then settled stably on her shoulder again.

And seeing the 15th District, Yun-ah’s hideout, starting to appear in the distance, Ryoka kicked off the rooftop of a building strongly once more.

“I don’t know when they’ll come, but I hope they come as soon as possible…”

Her body, which was already itching, was burning hot now that the warm-up was over too.

Tap—!

The last building she kicked off while muttering like that.

Ryoka’s body glides through the sky more than ever before, and she finally walks slowly into the hideout she has arrived at.

And now that she had arrived at the hideout, there was only one thing Ryoka could do.

Just quietly wait for the Ancestor of the General Management Team to arrive.

---

The stone mask rattles and shakes.

When I wondered about that, Yeon-ah taking out the ringing device was simultaneous.

And after checking the caller ID on the device, she tilted her head and answered the phone.

Beep–.

“Hello? What’s the matter, Seol?”

-…! …, …!

“Why are you suddenly… First, calm down and tell me slowly what happened.”

Listening to the speaker, it seemed the caller was none other than Seol.

And she was shouting so loudly that Seol’s voice could be heard even by me beyond the device.

Although I couldn’t understand exactly what she was saying, for some reason, the current situation of Seol shouting over the phone felt slightly unsettling.

Well, the Seol I knew usually had lazy behavior and a drawling voice, so I couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

Moreover, since I had entrusted Neon’s surveillance to Seol today, there was a sudden feeling of unease, wondering if perhaps…

‘…It can’t be.’

I look at Yeon-ah, who is talking with Seol, recalling the possibility of a worst-case scenario.

And I gestured to Yeon-ah with the device she was holding and conveyed my words.

‘Yeon-ah.’

‘Ah, Ancestor. Do you have something to say?’

‘Change the current call to speaker mode.’

‘Understood.’

At my words, Yeon-ah immediately takes the device away from her ear and changes it so that I can hear Seol’s voice too.

And as the phone settings were changed like that, what came through from the other side of the phone was silence.

[…]

Seol’s presence can be felt, but there is no voice, only silence.

I and Yeon-ah realized this was because Seol was watching something through the Wind Eyes, so we waited for her to speak first.

Then, after waiting about ten seconds like that, Seol’s voice is heard again.

[…An oni invaded Gaeam High School. And now she’s kidnapped Neon. Her life or death… is in an unconfirmable state.]

And Seol’s words heard at the end of the silence contained content that was seriously important.

“…What did you say?”

For a moment, I blinked my eyes several times, wondering if I had heard wrong.

But as if to prove that those words just now were correct, Seol’s voice continued.

Seol, who seemed to be chasing that oni, kept informing us of the direction and district she was heading towards.

Seol’s words ended about 3 minutes later, with the statement that the oni had entered a 3-story building in the 15th District.

Then the call ends after exchanging a few words with Yeon-ah.

This time, silence fell over this place on top of the pillar where I and Yeon-ah were standing.

“Oni… you say oni…”

I chew over Seol’s words I had just heard several times.

The oni race and the name Ryoka, the conditions she set, and the place she escaped to.

I muttered these repeatedly as if embedding them in my mind.

And at the end of that, I looked at Yeon-ah and moved my feet first with just one word.

“Yeon-ah… let’s go.”

“Yes, Ancestor.”

As I take a step with a thud, Yeon-ah follows behind me as if it were natural.

There was no hesitation in our steps as no more words were needed.

And leading Yeon-ah like that, I passed through the workers who were still working and boarded the aircraft carrier that was hovering in the air, and slowly raised my eyelids that had been gently closed.

The destination is the 15th District of the defense city that the oni had mentioned.

My only task now was to arrive there.