Part 1 Chapter 1 (2)

The head of the evil organization Dark Legion and the root of all evil in this world, ‘Seongju’.

As the priest of the God of Destruction, he summoned the God of Destruction to his home planet, destroying the world, and traveled between various planets, shattering them.

The world he destroyed just before coming to Earth was Terra.

Seongju, who summoned the God of Destruction to a world where mana had developed instead of science, destroying it, captured and brainwashed Terra’s seven Spirits, and tracked down faint traces connecting to Terra, discovering Earth.

Seongju immediately flew to Earth for the God of Destruction, but in a battle with the twelve heroes who were awaiting him according to ‘prophecy,’ he suffered severe injuries and was defeated.

Superpowered individuals.

Heroes of humanity who awakened mana and gained superhuman abilities.

Fighting against the strongest twelve among those heroes, Seongju barely managed to defeat the twelve but was forced to retreat after suffering an unexpected blow.

A deep wound that required him to be confined to a capsule for decades, focusing solely on recovery.

Eventually, finding himself unable to act, Seongju disguised the seven Spirits he had brainwashed on Terra as executives and dispatched them to Earth. After dispatching the first executive to the last executive-Phoenix-Seongju fell into a deep slumber for treatment.

‘So there’s no way Seongju would detect my movements right now.’

The fact that Phoenix was already in the magma proved this. Phoenix was the ultimate weapon Seongju had sent to Earth after putting immense effort into brainwashing them until the very end, more so than any other Spirit.

If Seongju had been awake, he would have already noticed my unusual behavior long ago.

‘Then he would force himself to come down and brainwash me again.’

Regardless of combat power, just making eye contact would turn me into a state of ‘Hwaaang, Seongju-nim is amazinggg!’ That’s absolutely out of the question.

‘Because Seongju finishes his treatment in the latter half of the original story.’

The moment Seongju regained consciousness was, ironically, when the protagonist and Azure Flame Phoenix were clashing.

‘Actually, Phoenix’s awakening is also Seongju’s fault.’

Seongju regains consciousness and fires his brainwashing beam to check the status of the ultimate weapon he dispatched to Earth.

As luck would have it, during a fierce battle with the protagonist, Phoenix was hit by the brainwashing beam again, causing a massive backlash. As a result, Phoenix went berserk and regained their true self as a ‘Spirit,’ not a monster or an executive.

The protagonist and Phoenix clashing happens in the latter half of the story. Therefore, there’s only one thing I need to do first.

‘Check the timeline.’

Isn’t that what time-traveling characters usually do? Grabbing a passerby and asking what year it is. I needed such a moment right now.

‘But there’s no one here.’

It had already been 10 minutes since I broke through the volcano and came out. Even though I kept flying in one direction, all I could see was sea, sea, and more sea.

‘Maybe I should have just looked on the uninhabited island where I first appeared.’

The island I surveyed when I first came out was an uninhabited island with no trace of humans.

There were other islands nearby, visible in the distance, but no signs of people were in sight. In the end, I decided to fly and find a city or people somewhere.

‘Judging by the distance, I seem to have flown quite far.’

I don’t know the exact distance, but I must have flown hundreds of kilometers. The rapidly passing scenery. The speed of my own wingbeats.

It felt like I was moving at least as fast as, if not faster than, a typical sports car.

“I’ll change direction… huh?”

Beyond the horizon, I saw a color that wasn’t the sea.

When I infused mana into my eyes to enhance my vision, what appeared was a modern port city. The acrid smoke rising from factory chimneys and the forest of asphalt looked like a direct copy of a city from reality.

‘The implementation of each city in the open world was truly amazing. But.’

If it weren’t for the red national flags fluttering throughout the city, I would have just taken it as it was.

‘China?’

I abruptly stopped my wingbeats. I had flown in one direction without any sense of direction and ended up arriving at a coastal city in China.

‘So where did I fly from?’

If I had known where I originally was, it might have been different, but I just rushed out blindly, intending to find a city anywhere.

‘China as a starting city is… quite something.’

It’s not that I dislike the country China. I’m just worried that ‘that crazy bitch’ who might be in China could notice me. It’s not like I’ve been moving while hiding my mana.

Swoosh–

I gathered the residual mana being emitted from my body and folded my wings. If I entered the city like this, I would definitely be caught by the ‘Monster Radar’.

‘Should I change direction first?’

Assuming the city in front of me is indeed a Chinese city, if I fly along the coastline, I’ll eventually reach Korea. It wouldn’t be bad to pass by ‘that problematic region’ on the way.

‘I can just sneak in through an area without a Monster Radar.’

Until I can completely hide my mana, I can’t rashly enter human territory. In that case, there’s only one route that won’t trigger the radar.

‘The [Monster’s Path] leading down from old North Korea. That’s the only way.’

Although it’s a game setting, North Korea in this world has collapsed. Not due to its system or war, but because of a ‘monster rampage’.

A monster born from a nuclear core, ‘Nucleon’.

A monster infamous as ‘a hidden boss harder than the final boss’ wiped Pyongyang off the map and is now sleeping somewhere in North Korea.

Of course, even so, Phoenix is ten times stronger and a hundred times cuter…

‘Snap out of it. You are that Phoenix now.’

Whenever I think about various elements of the game, I sometimes forget that I’ve entered another world disguised as a game.

I shook my head vigorously and flew quietly along the coastline.

‘If I just follow it up and fly from the protruding part, it should be fine, right?’

I often dozed off during history class, so I don’t know the details, but I played ‘Age of Discovery’ a lot.

Thanks to that, I know that if I fly east from the part of China that juts out towards the West Sea-which I later searched and found out is called the Shandong Peninsula-Korea will appear.

Sting, sting.

The mana barrier wrapped around my skin tingled. Among monstrous humans, Phoenix is particularly sensitive to mana.

‘Did I get caught? …I got caught.’

The fierce mana flowing on the wind clearly contained hostility. The enemy had definitely noticed me.

‘I should have been more careful.’

Fortunately, there isn’t a single cloud in this location.

Pshiiiii-

I released mana and assimilated with my surroundings. This was Phoenix’s unique concealment technique, allowing me to hide my body anywhere sunlight reached. The enemy would feel the residual mana I left behind, but they wouldn’t easily find my true form.

‘Should I run?’

I still don’t know who the ‘enemy’ is. But what if the owner of that hostile mana carried on the wind is a hero who can threaten Phoenix-in the worst case, the protagonist or one of the 12 heroes?

‘No. Let’s think positively. This is an opportunity.’

Countless simulations ran through my mind, but I needed to know how much power Phoenix had accumulated in the magma.

Unlike in the game, if I die in this world, I might just cease to exist.

“Hoo, hoo.”

I took a deep breath and wiggled my fingers.

Phoenix is undoubtedly strong enough to be called the strongest, but the one moving Phoenix’s body right now is ‘me’.

A driver with a dormant license driving a supercar. Is that the perfect analogy?

‘They’re coming.’

Now, a fierce wind strong enough to be felt directly on my skin approached. The more I focused on my hearing, the closer the sound of hooves grew, along with the wind-

“…Huh?”

Hoofbeats? Did I hear wrong? Puzzled, I stared intently at the dot visible in the distance.

Clop, clop!

A red horse galloping through the air as if it were a wilderness.

And a figure in a green battle robe mounted on it. The two eyes beneath the red mask with a long black beard were clearly searching for me.

“Ah, shit.”

A ridiculously strong guy-no, bitch-appeared as the tutorial boss. I knew it, but I didn’t realize their mana sensitivity would be this exceptional.

Clop, clop!

A warrior mounted on Red Hare, galloping-or flying?-while gripping a crescent blade.

Hero name, ‘Unjang’.

China’s strongest warrior and one of the 12 heroes who repelled Seongju’s initial invasion. A hero who would later also be called by another epithet, ‘God of War’.

That monster is now sensing my true form, hidden in the sunlight, and is about to swing his crescent blade. Towards me.

“The tutorial boss is too strong, isn’t it?!”

I let out a truly shrill scream and enveloped my entire body in blue flames.

* * *

5 minutes ago. China Hero Association, Hangzhou Branch.

The Hero Association, Hangzhou Branch, was in an unexpected state of chaos.

“Monster detected on radar! Moving north along the coastline!”

At the report from the staff observing the ‘Monster Radar,’ everyone in the command center fell silent.

“Damn it! Don’t you know what kind of monster it is?!”

“It’s a pattern we’ve never seen before!”

“Satellite imagery is being observed! No monster is visible!”

“That’s impossible! It’s an S-class monster or higher! It must be at least over 20 meters!”

At the panicked subordinate’s reply, Branch Manager Ryu Yoho bit his fingernails.

A type of monster they had never seen before. If they succeeded in hunting it for the first time, it could greatly contribute to the Party, but they couldn’t help but be intimidated by its size displayed on the radar.

“The satellite?! Still can’t find it?!”

“S-s-sorry! We’ve swept the entire Yellow Sea, but nothing is visible….”

“There’s no way it’s not visible with such a huge reaction! Search again!”

At the branch manager’s reprimand, those watching the satellite screen began to re-examine the footage.

Though he verbally pressured his subordinates by calling it S-class, the size of the sphere on the radar was even larger than the existing ‘S-class’ threat level.

‘…Damn it.’

The branch manager recalled.

The S-class monster ‘Black Scorpion’ that had terrified the entire branch, no, all of China, during his rookie days. Even that incarnation of disaster, which devoured millions of people and destroyed cities, didn’t possess that much mana.

‘This is a monster?’

It was literally a walking fortress. Considering the characteristic of monsters where mana generally correlates with size, there was no way it wouldn’t be visible on satellite.

‘If it’s not visible to the eye-‘

A sudden thought flashed through his mind, and the branch manager hastily shouted at his subordinates.

“The sea! What about below the surface?!”

Some of those in the command center exclaimed in admiration. If there was clearly a mana reaction but nothing visible, then naturally, the monster must be in a location where it couldn’t be seen.

Judging by the mana reaction, it would be the size of a giant island.

“Immediately check for underwater heat signatures! Contact the navy!”

“Yes!”

The branch manager bit his fingernails again, falling into thought.

‘So what are we going to do after we confirm it?’

Even an S-class monster on land is difficult to deal with, let alone an S-class-or higher-one in the sea.

‘Can we handle this with our current forces here?’

Impossible.

As China boasts the most heroes in the world, with more heroes registered in each branch than in entire other countries, the number of heroes currently registered at this branch alone is overflowing.

However, considering the special battlefield situation of naval combat, more forces are needed.

And the branch’s main forces are currently deployed inland.

‘Contact the military?’

Since the Hero Association was established, significant friction had arisen with the military-or more precisely, the Party-but to save the tens of millions of people in this region, they had to beg for help from anyone, even a cat.

If the monster were to attack the city instead of moving along the coastline at that speed-

‘According to the old plan, lure it towards the Korean Peninsula….’

Beep beep beep!!

At the sudden call, the branch manager was startled.

[This is Unjang. Respond, Hangzhou Branch.]

A dignified voice filled the command center. At the appearance of the one stroking his beard beneath a red mask, the branch manager greeted him with a bright smile.

“Ah, ‘Beautiful Beard Lord’-nim!”

[…I told you I dislike that appellation.]

Indeed, one of the 12 heroes belonging to the Round Table. He seemed full of composure even in the face of an S-class monster or higher. The branch manager quickly corrected his address and explained the situation.

“…This is the situation. Unjang-nim, where are you now?”

[Above Hangzhou. I came with Red Hare, so I will arrive at the target location soon.]

The branch manager was impressed. Truly the master of Red Hare. Although the one riding Red Hare now was not the God of Martial Arts but the God of War, his personal might could be proudly claimed as the strongest in China currently.

“Radar contact again! The target’s mana signature is rapidly decreasing!”

“What?!”

The sphere on the radar gradually shrank in size, quickly dropping below C-class before vanishing without a trace.

“Radar contact lost…?!”

“Crazy!”

There was no way the radar had a problem. The disappearance of the signature in less than a few seconds meant only two things.

It was exterminated-

“An intelligent being?!”

[This has become troublesome.]

It suddenly hid its massive S-class or higher mana. This was proof that, unlike other foolish monsters, it possessed the ‘intelligence’ to conceal its mana signature.

He didn’t know why it had revealed its mana from the moment it appeared in Shanghai only to hide it now, but the important thing was that it had vanished from the radar.

“The satellite?!”

“S-still nothing visible!”

“There should at least be a shadow in the sea, shouldn’t there?! Find it!”

“We’ll search!”

At the branch manager’s reprimand, his subordinates turned their eyes back to the satellite screen, but the masked warrior quietly shook his head.

[…I will intercept it first.]

“Huh?! Yes?!”

[Don’t worry.]

Unjang’s gentle voice clearly overflowed with composure.

[I will soon bring back the enemy’s head.]

Crack. With the communication unilaterally cut off, the branch manager could only stare blankly at the black screen.