Goblin vs Oni

The oni race.

As someone who had been sealed for 70 years, I naturally knew nothing about this race, so during the short flight to the defense city, Yeon-ah began to explain to me about the oni race.

Whirr—

“First of all, the oni race lives in the land of the former country called Japan. They are characterized by pure physical strength and different abilities for each individual, and are known to be exceptionally strong one by one.”

As Yeon-ah waves her hand, a hologram globe appears in front of me.

And Yeon-ah turns the globe and points to the long island country right next to Korea, starting her explanation like that.

Then, the average appearance of an oni floats up next to it.

The characteristics Yeon-ah just mentioned are added to the hologram of the oni, which emphasizes horns on the forehead and bizarre reddish-colored feet.

This is the oni.

I looked at it with expressionless eyes, my emotions not yet fully adjusted.

But soon I asked Yeon-ah about Ryoka, the oni who could be considered the most important at this moment.

“I roughly understand what kind of race oni are. So what about that oni who kidnapped Neon? Ryoka, was it?”

“Ah, yes. Ryoka is the leader oni of the second village in Japan. She’s an oni who lives her entire life just for fighting. Since she’s someone who abnormally enjoys fighting strong opponents, the reason she invaded Korea is… probably purely because she wants to fight you, Ancestor.”

“…Sounds like she’s gone completely mad.”

“That’s right. But although her personality and way of thinking are extremely bizarre, as she rules the second village, everyone acknowledges her strength.”

“Second village…? What does that mean?”

My head tilts at the strange title of “second village”.

It doesn’t sound like a defense city of a country if it’s divided into villages instead of districts.

Instead, what crosses my mind at the term “village” are the human villages I saw in ancient times.

I let out a small chuckle at this absurd thought, but surprisingly, Yeon-ah’s answer affirmed that absurd thought.

“‘Second village’ means exactly that. In fact, Japan cannot be called a country in its current state. It’s just called the oni race of Japan because the name of that land used to be called Japan.”

“What do you mean it can’t be called a country…?”

“Unlike other countries during the Gate Rampage incident, Japan didn’t gather in one place. And in the process, 80% of the normal population lost their lives. I don’t know what the reason was… but perhaps because of that, Japan, which didn’t build a defense city, formed groups centered around five oni with powerful strength instead of a defense city.”

“…Wait, are you saying there are really just villages there?”

Yeon-ah’s words state that unlike other countries, including Korea, which still maintain the form of a nation, there are only villages centered around five oni.

Of course, according to the subsequent explanation, although they’re called villages, they do have barriers or mana walls set up, so they’re not ordinary villages.

But anyway, the important thing is that the place is composed of only five individual villages.

And after hearing this story, I turned to Yeon-ah with a hopeful heart and asked.

“Then… are the villages completely separate? Or is there any exchange since they’re the same race?”

“No, I’m not sure about the leader oni and the oni under them within one village, but the leader oni of each village tend to not care about each other at all. The only time they interact is when they occasionally fight.”

Yeon-ah tells me that even before coming to this world through the Gates, from their previous world, the oni race hardly had any connections with each other.

Feeling my calmed emotions starting to boil again at those words, I asked another question.

“Then they don’t care about each other’s villages… is that right?”

At my words, Yeon-ah slightly widened her eyes and looked at me.

And befitting her as the one who has seen me closest, Yeon-ah gave a gentle smile and immediately voiced the answer I had been hoping for.

“Yes, whether that oni who took Neon has her head explode or her whole body ground up, the leaders of other villages won’t care at all. There’s no relationship between them in the first place other than being the same race.”

Unfortunately, because of that, it would be difficult to lay hands on them by bringing up their race, but if you wish, I will prepare for it.

Yeon-ah added while looking at me, but I immediately shook my head at that.

“I’m not interested in other oni. They’re already separate individuals… there’s nothing to gain from massacring people I didn’t even know existed.”

Even if it were the old me who had less hesitation in killing someone, I wouldn’t have killed the unrelated other oni leaders and the humans they might be protecting.

Moreover, now that I’ve become more mellow, should I say, with my personality changed in many ways, the only one I’m interested in is the one who took Neon away.

“Didn’t you say she left a message telling me to come alone?”

“Yes, because of that, all the citizens within the 15th District have already been evacuated. It seems she didn’t particularly try to stop the evacuation, perhaps because she wants to fight comfortably too.”

When I asked recalling Ryoka’s message that I had heard from Seol, Yeon-ah nodded and informed me that the evacuation was already complete.

Yeon-ah’s words that all citizens within the 15th District had been evacuated.

This meant that I could fight comfortably without needing to hide my identity with a mask or cloak, so I exhaled with a low mutter.

“Phew… alright.”

Of course, if I show my identity, there’s a possibility that they might take my information and become dangerous.

This was undoubtedly true, but originally, that possibility would disappear like dust if all witnesses were eliminated.

Moreover, looking at the defense city that was already starting to be covered by something by Yeon-ah, it seemed there was no need to worry even about that dust-like possibility.

Beep, beep beep—

“I’ve temporarily blocked all communications outside the defense city. And since I’ve completely cut off the communication network limited to the 15th District, you can fight without worrying.”

“Haha, I didn’t say anything though.”

“It’s my job to clear away anything that might worry you or interfere, Ancestor.”

“That’s reliable.”

At Yeon-ah’s incredibly reliable appearance, I gave her a simple but sincere compliment.

And with the aircraft carrier flying at an incredibly fast speed, we would soon be able to arrive at the 15th District.

At that, I took out the device from my pocket with my right hand while simultaneously creating a dokkaebi hat that I had used once before with my left hand.

“Yeon-ah, take this.”

“Ancestor, this is…?”

What I handed to Yeon-ah first were five quickly made dokkaebi hats.

Then I also placed the device displaying Esi’s contact information in Yeon-ah’s hand.

And when Yeon-ah, seeing the dokkaebi hat for the first time, looked down at it with a puzzled expression, I gave her just one concise order.

“That’s a treasure of our goblin race called a dokkaebi hat. When you wear it on your head, it makes your appearance, body temperature, scent, footsteps, voice, everything invisible.”

“Ah, so that means…”

“Yes, Esi is smart, so while I’m fighting that Ryoka, you work out a strategy with Esi and retrieve Neon.”

Yeon-ah’s eyes harden as if determined to certainly accomplish my order.

I nodded once to Yeon-ah like that and took out Hwa-gon as we approached the 15th District, now right in front of us.

“We’ve finally arrived.”

Now the time has come.

Time to see the face of that damn bastard down there.

I frowned at the emotion trying to burst out as I thought of that, but it wasn’t time to release it yet.

This was an emotion to be unleashed in the fight with the oni below who had laid hands on the human in my possession.

Therefore, I forcefully suppressed the boiling emotion and approached the bulkhead of the aircraft carrier that had stopped in midair and was starting to open.

Whirr—

The bulkhead opens at high altitude, and the fierce wind that rushes in sweeps across my entire body.

Whoosh, the wind blows so hard it makes my eardrums ache.

And entrusting my body to that wind, I slowly began to descend towards the ground.

Now it was time to face that face.

---

“…They’re coming.”

The sound of the aircraft carrier that had been heard just now.

After the sound of the aircraft carrier’s flight stopped and a moment of time passed, Ryoka muttered like that and jumped up from where she was sitting.

“Huh? What’s coming…”

“You stay here and guard that hostage Neon well. I’m going outside.”

And inside the hideout, Yun-ah, who was fiddling with the communication equipment that had gone dead, asked like that at Ryoka’s muttering, but Ryoka didn’t even listen to the end of that question and immediately came out through the window.

She opens the shutter of the window and comes out, then climbs up the wall towards the rooftop.

It was instantaneous to climb up from the third-floor window to the rooftop right above.

Finally arriving at the rooftop, Ryoka looked up at the sky where an enormous presence could be felt.

Whoosh—!!

What she sees then is a girl falling rapidly, cutting through the fierce wind.

Fluttering her white hair with a distinctive red bridge, the girl was falling vertically towards the building where Ryoka was standing.

“Kehe… she looks strong indeed.”

If she were to fall like that and try to land here, it was obvious she’d become jerky stuck to the ground, but Ryoka wasn’t worried.

After all, there was no way such a strong-looking girl would meet such a ridiculous death.

And as Ryoka expected, just before the girl’s body reached the rooftop of the hideout, a powerful wind enveloped the girl and safely placed her body on the ground.

Whoosh…

The girl steps on the ground silently in a gentle breeze like a spring wind.

Then the girl raises her head and clearly faces Ryoka standing opposite her.

A fierce gaze full of murderous intent is directed at Ryoka.

At that, Ryoka felt the expectant heart she had been holding start to ignite as if it had met a spark.

‘A strong one, a truly strong one.’

Yes, this is it. This is why Ryoka herself had run away from the boring village and come all the way to Korea.

What’s the point of being able to enjoy luxurious meals and all kinds of entertainment every day? Without such heart-pounding fights!

Her body was already sufficiently loosened up, having finished warming up with the brief fight earlier.

Ryoka moved her flexible body like that and prepared for any possible surprise attacks.

And before entering the fight, thinking of introducing herself, Ryoka turned her gaze back towards the girl, but at that moment.

Suddenly, the girl’s mouth opened.

“Is Neon alive?”

What was thrown from the opened mouth was none other than that single question.

And at the same time, it was a trivial question worrying about a mere hostage.

She knew it was someone precious, but to worry about the well-being of a human who was just taken hostage?

It felt like the excitement that had been building up was deflating at bringing up a human before a life-or-death battle.

Therefore, Ryoka was about to snort and clear away this trivial exchange, but.

“Why are you asking about that? Forget about that human and let’s hurry up and fight…”

“Hey, you fucking bitch.”

As soon as Ryoka started speaking, the girl cut off Ryoka’s words with unrestrained cursing.

“I asked you first. Is she alive?”

The girl throws the question again.

And although it was just a repeated question, even Ryoka felt a slight anger rising and burst into a bitter laugh at that alone.

It seemed like this fight was really going to be fun.