Part 1 Chapter 6 (12)

Aaaaaaang—–!

Red warning lights flashed in the hallway. A siren, even louder than the monster alarm, blared throughout the entire cabin.

– Currently, this ship is heading towards Busan. Passengers, please remain calm….

Kwaang!

The hull shook violently. The captain’s broadcast momentarily stopped, and people, in a state of panic, gripped the hallway to steady themselves, unsure of what to do.

“W-what happened?!”

“How should I know!”

“What happened to the ship? Did a monster attack us?!”

Hikari clutched her throbbing head, trying to regain her composure. A sticky sensation met her hand as she touched her forehead.

“……Ugh.”

Red blood flowed down her hand. It seemed she had hit her forehead hard when she collided with the wall during Moby Dick’s first attack. Already feeling anemic, the blood flowing from her wound made her even more disoriented.

“No….”

But she couldn’t collapse like this. The hacked ship data showed severe damage to the stern, but it was still enough to navigate.

The distance to Busan was about 20km. Although they had been caught by Moby Dick’s abnormal speed and breath attack, fortunately, two S-rank Heroes had arrived in the nearby airspace.

Seolhwa Princess Seok Harang, and her older brother, Jilpungek Himeji Hayate. If they were Gwanggeom’s disciple and a member of the Round Table, they would surely be able to handle Moby Dick.

“But what are those two doing right now…!”

The satellite imagery showed the two arguing and bickering in mid-air.

* * *

“I told you it’s useless!”

“Shut up!”

Jilpungek’s slash cleaved the sea again. The waves surged high, but Moby Dick leisurely submerged into the water, evading the attack.

At the same time, marine monsters following Moby Dick swam towards the cruise ship. It seemed they had decided to pursue the easy prey in front of them, as they couldn’t immediately kill the Heroes in the sky.

Harang raised her arm and brought it down forcefully.

“You small fry!”

Ice spears poured down like hail. Ice spears pierced the backs of the marine monsters swimming on the water. About half of the monsters were bleeding on the sea surface, but the relatively stronger ones quickly sensed the mana fluctuations and hid underwater.

And the ice spears that had entered the water were quickly destroyed by Moby Dick’s breath attack.

“Tch!”

Because of that high-pressure water cannon, Harang leaped out of the water. No matter how much Harang possessed the power of a water-attribute Spirit, she struggled in the sea against a Water Demon Dragon born to kill such Spirits.

Paaaat-! Jilpungek’s slash again cleaved the water surface. The mana-infused slash, reaching the seabed, split a monster swimming underwater in half.

However, there were only three. Dozens of monsters were already chasing the cruise ship beside them.

“Damn it! Do something!”

“I am doing something!”

They had a common goal of saving the cruise ship, but their coordination was off. In fact, this was virtually their first encounter in this airspace.

Aside from their smartwatches automatically translating their incomprehensible languages, they had nothing in common.

Kyaaaak!

Just before monsters from both sides reached the cruise ship, Harang and Jilpungek simultaneously fired ice spears and slashes.

“I’ll take the left!”

“You take the right!”

They spoke at the same time, and the translation was briefly delayed. They realized each other’s intentions only when their attacks had already reached the left side of the cruise ship.

Kyaaaak!

Deep-sea ghouls leaped onto the right stern of the cruise ship. Harang quickly launched ice spears, piercing the monsters, but already five or six deep-sea ghouls had entered the cruise ship.

“Damn it!”

Jilpungek wanted to rush towards the cruise ship immediately, but there were too many B and A-rank monsters underwater for him to bother with small fry like deep-sea ghouls.

There were 50 B-ranks and nearly 10 A-ranks. In terms of danger level, it was equivalent to one S-rank.

He desperately hoped there was a superpowered individual on board who could deal with the deep-sea ghouls. Jilpungek quickly moved his feet, dodging the water cannon fired from the seabed.

Pwoooo-!

Moby Dick wasn’t just playing around. It ordered its subordinate monsters to chase the cruise ship, while Moby Dick itself frantically kept the two most troublesome S-rank Heroes in check from underwater.

Kwaang! A water cannon was fired, hitting Harang’s wings. Her wings weren’t pierced, but Harang’s posture was greatly destabilized.

Ice dust fell from her wings. Harang gritted her teeth and used the ice dust as a core to create a massive chunk of ice.

“Here comes a big one!”

Three chunks of ice, created by Harang, fell from the sky.

Thud, thud, thud! The massive glaciers Harang created in the cruise ship’s path fell directly into the sea. The monsters hurriedly dodged the glaciers falling like meteors. Jilpungek shouted, slashing a monster that had leaped out of the water.

“Useless!”

“It’s not over yet!”

Harang clenched and unclenched her fist. Simultaneously, the white membrane surrounding the three chunks of ice burst, and the surrounding sea began to freeze rapidly.

Peok, peokpeok! A monster trying to escape between the glaciers hit its head directly and died instantly. A monster that barely escaped found its tail frozen, unable to pull itself away from the ice wall.

“Hey! You kill some too!”

“I know without you telling me!”

Jilpungek approached the water surface and swung his sword widely. The horizontal slash, made by rotating his body, annihilated the monsters near the glaciers in a single blow.

Kyaaaak!

But there were still many. Moreover, the real problem remained unsolved.

Kwaaaaaang!

Moby Dick rammed the ice wall. The ice wall shattered from Moby Dick’s headbutt, which mercilessly slammed into the corpses of its subordinates.

“Insane!”

Harang cursed and quickly chased after the cruise ship. Jilpungek also ran on the water, scanning beneath the surface.

Moby Dick’s speed underwater was much faster than the two humans.

Bbeep bbeep!

A signal came through Harang and Jilpungek’s smartwatches. Without time to check who sent the signal, they both confirmed Moby Dick’s path displayed on the screen.

“It’s going to ram us directly?!”

In about 10 seconds, Moby Dick was going to surge to the surface and ram the cruise ship. Whether it was future sight or an prediction based on behavioral analysis, there was no time to doubt it.

“Haaaaaa—“

Jilpungek stopped in place and raised his sword above his head. A vortex formed around Jilpungek, and mana enveloped his blade, creating a fierce sword wind.

Harang released her wings and unleashed her mana. Harang, who had brushed past Jilpungek and traversed the air, immediately landed on the stern of the ship.

Pwoooooo—–!

Moby Dick, which had been swimming just beneath the surface, slowly raised its head. Like a missile adjusting its angle, Moby Dick’s massive body tilted diagonally towards the surface.

■■■■■■!

Moby Dick sprayed mana from behind its body. The two holes on its back spewed mana like thrusters. Moby Dick was launched towards the cruise ship like a rocket.

Jilpungek didn’t miss his chance. Towards Moby Dick’s predicted path, which was surging straight up, Jilpungek swung his sword horizontally downwards.

“Draw!”

The sword wind, infused with all his mana without a second thought, cleaved the waves. Like the Miracle of Moses, the sword wind parted the waves and accurately struck Moby Dick’s back at the predicted location.

Seogeok! Moby Dick’s back, which hadn’t even scratched before, was split diagonally. Piercing through its scales and tearing its thick skin, a fountain of blood erupted from the severed blood vessels.

Jilpungek smiled triumphantly, then his expression immediately hardened.

■■■■■■■!!

Moby Dick didn’t stop despite its injury. Instead, it seemed even more agitated by the wound, surging fiercely towards the cruise ship.

Jilpungek’s eyes turned towards the cruise ship.

“Hmph!”

Seok Harang stood at the very stern of the cruise ship. To Jilpungek, Seok Harang facing Moby Dick, not even a member of the Round Table, seemed like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

“That idiot?!”

He tried to gather his mana again, but it was already too late. Jilpungek had to leap high into the sky to avoid the monsters targeting him.

■■■!!

At the same time, Moby Dick’s head emerged from the water. Moby Dick seemed intent on smashing the entire cruise ship with its head.

Hikari would die. The moment Jilpungek gasped.

“What?!”

Seok Harang smiled and leaped off the ship.

* * *

Beautiful but impractical.

The assessment Phoenix once gave me was not wrong. It was a judgment she had heard years ago.

The Heroes of the Round Table always sought out and evaluated Heroes who had achieved S-rank, and Harang also underwent that evaluation. Sir Gawain, who came as the Queen’s escort, immediately evaluated Harang on the spot through Gwanggeom’s introduction, and the 17-year-old high school girl poured out all her strength there.

Talent and ability overflow, but isn’t she too focused on embellishment? That was Sir Gawain’s assessment of Seolhwa Princess. The ice butterflies melted away from the sunlight reflected by Gawain’s raised sword.

Gwanggeom discovered Seok Harang and claimed to be her master, but he didn’t particularly spar with her or offer advice.

When she was young, she thought it might have been a harsh consideration for her to grow on her own, but now she wondered if he hadn’t properly faced Harang because she had directly inherited the power of his wife, Rusalka.

‘I want to become stronger.’

But no one could show Harang the way. Gwanggeom, stronger than Harang, intentionally didn’t teach Harang, and the situation in Korea was too dire for her to intentionally travel abroad to learn.

About nine years after awakening her superpower. Harang’s combat experience accumulated, but she hadn’t achieved any significant ‘growth’.

That stagnant experience exploded like a bursting dam through her sparring with Phoenix, causing Seok Harang to grow.

■■■■■■!!

Moby Dick surged out of the water. Harang came to a very simple conclusion.

She had to stop it.

However, the experience gained from nine years of combat found the means and methods, but it didn’t lead to a clear conclusion. What method could stop the charge of a beast approximately 50m long and weighing 100 tons?

‘If it were that bastard.’

If it were Phoenix, he would have unleashed firepower exceeding the force of the charge. But she didn’t have that kind of firepower.

So Harang decided to do what she did best.

‘Freeze it!’

No technique, no aesthetics, no complex formulas were needed. Just draw all the mana in her body and freeze Moby Dick in place.

Harang leaped off the ship. Her body fell towards the white foam left by the cruise ship.

Harang stretched out her hand towards the water surface. If she failed, her body would be crushed to death against the ship by Moby Dick.

However, without even time to think of such failure, Harang concentrated all the mana in her body into her fingertips, as if drawing mana from deep within the sea.

Suddenly, a pure white hand was placed over Harang’s palm.

“Huh?”

A slender hand, like a child’s, covered the back of Harang’s hand. It was cold yet warm. Without a moment to be surprised by the contradictory sensation, someone’s voice echoed within Harang.

Go ahead and do it.

Was it Phoenix’s voice transmitted from the hairpin, or was it an auditory hallucination? Harang felt an surge of strength from that voice, whose owner she didn’t even know.

‘Of course I will!’

Harang’s eyes met Moby Dick’s. A hint of bewilderment flickered in Moby Dick’s purple eyes.

Harang couldn’t help but let the corners of her mouth curl into a smirk.

“Freeze!”

Harang’s hand touched the water surface.

Jjeojeok!

The sea, froze.

* * *

“Praetor! We’ve arrived!”

Lee Seung-hyung leaped from the building’s rooftop, stomping on a deep-sea ghoul. Seung-hyung, who leaped again after bursting the ghoul’s head, landed on the sandy beach.

[Good! There’s still a path! Don’t melt it, run!]

Seung-hyung saw an ice path extending into the sea. It must have been the path created by Seok Harang.

“I’m going ahead!”

Confirming Sam-sa chasing far behind him on the map, Seung-hyung pushed off the ground and leaped onto the ice path.

“Whoa?!”

A marlin-like monster leaped out. A startled Seung-hyung composed himself and immediately swung his fist.

Paang! The marlin monster exploded. The monster rolled on the water surface and then sank.

“Already here?!”

The cruise ship’s light was visible in the distance. But signals from monsters were already gathering one by one beneath the ice path.

[Go to the cruise ship first! Save the ship!]

“Understood!”

Seung-hyung ignited flames beneath his feet. Causing an explosion on the water surface, Seung-hyung leaped as if performing a long jump, landing on the next point.

Kwaang! Kwaang!

The moment his feet touched the water surface, he exploded mana and leaped. While attacking the monsters rising from the water surface near the ice path, he ran across the sea at top speed without breaking the ice path.

The cruise ship was visible far in the distance. Seung-hyung gathered his two legs in mid-air, concentrating mana beneath his feet and exploding it.

Kwaang! Using the explosion as propulsion, he leaped onto the cruise ship. The moment he flew in a parabola towards the cruise ship, an unidentified signal arrived on Seung-hyung’s smartwatch.

“Moby Dick will attack the cruise ship in 10 seconds?!”

[What?!]

The Praetor, too, seemed to have received the signal, and bewilderment flashed in his eyes.

Tak. Seung-hyung landed on the stern. The panicked people were surprised by Seung-hyung’s appearance for only a moment, as Seung-hyung immediately exploded mana again and leaped onto the ship.

[You’re not thinking of doing that again, are you?!]

“There’s no other way!”

Seung-hyung, who had climbed the mast with a jump, saw Jilpungek launching a slash into the sea.

■■■■!

Along with Moby Dick’s painful shriek, a fountain of blood surged from the sea. Without time to feel relieved, Seung-hyung immediately pushed off the mast and leaped towards the stern.

The sensation of killing a demon dragon instinctively told him. Moby Dick would never stop its charge with just that much injury.

As expected, Moby Dick revealed its forehead on the water surface.

“Haaaa!”

Seung-hyung drew mana from his heart. As if resonating with the mana spread around him, the flame in his heart rapidly blazed, and the white flame wrapped around Seung-hyung’s right fist began to turn blue.

At the stern of the ship, a girl with white hair fluttering caught his eye.

“Harang?!”

Before Seung-hyung could shout her name, Harang leaped from the stern. An immense amount of mana surged around Harang, causing Seung-hyung to feel dizzy and forcing him to land on the deck.

“Ugh?!”

His heart pounded. Was mana going to backflow again, like in Guro? But the pounding now was different from then.

It was a fierce pulsation, as if sensing and welcoming something.

Seung-hyung raised his head. And he saw.

The fan-shaped frozen sea. S-rank monster Moby Dick, completely frozen solid with its ferocious teeth raised above the water.

Tak, tak. Harang, who had been resting her hands on the water surface-now the frozen sea-brushed her hands and stood up. Then she turned her head and grinned.

“Mister, you’re late.”

Seung-hyung instinctively knew. Harang had reached a much higher realm than him. Seeing Harang perfectly fine after creating an island of ice in the sea, Seung-hyung let out a hearty laugh.

Harang immediately hardened her expression and shouted.

“I’ll take care of the whale, so you protect the inside of the cruise ship! Monsters got inside!”

“O-okay!”

Seung-hyung immediately ran across the deck.