Part 1, Chapter 8, 14

It was nothing short of a crucible of chaos.

The confusion intentionally created by Phoenix.

The Beast Tamer’s disappearance, good morning alarms ringing from various locations, Mini Phoenixes flying and covering the sky, monsters running wild, drawn by Phoenix’s mana, and the S-rank monster Black Flame Dragon crossing the sea to save its master.

And the unexpected chaos from Phoenix.

The Chaotic Phantom Dragon’s early awakening, the espers of the alumni association beginning to disappear, Unjang and Jeokto vanishing with them, the Phantom Dragon Corps formed under Bonghyo, Mao Zeping’s border blockade to eliminate them, and two Round Table Heroes soaring through the sky atop the Black Flame Dragon.

“It’s a complete mess.”

Kim Ji-hwa, who had organized the information gathered through X-roids in various regions, let out a hollow laugh. Eun Yuha, who was dispatched as a doll, also recoiled in disgust, agreeing with her.

“If they told me to do all this considering everything, I would have quit long ago.”

“What? Didn’t you help plan the operation?”

“No. I just put them in China, that’s all.”

Eun Yuha clicked her tongue with a face full of regret.

“That aircraft… it was an aircraft that could have flown for three more years.”

Phoenix had promised one S-rank core as compensation for the S-rank monster to be caught in China, but it still hurt her heart too much that an airplane had been blown up in mid-air.

“I’ll be damned if I ever sleep with my head facing China again.”

“…Chairperson-nim. Don’t you have some factories in China?”

“Yes. I do. That’s why when planning the operation, I asked Phoenix-ssi. To cause a ruckus in the inland areas as much as possible. Since the destination is west anyway.”

Eun Yuha shrugged her eyebrows, drinking coffee from a Plastine bottle.

“All the factories are on the coast, you see.”

“Ah.”

“We need to secure materials as much as possible before the factories withdraw. And shift production bases back domestically.”

“Is that okay? I heard you used to run factories there because of wage issues…”

“There are workers who will work 24 hours for no wages, you know.”

Eun Yuha pointed at Kim Ji-hwa with her pale white finger.

“Look forward to it. I’m currently discussing with the two people I met in New Seoul where to build an industrial complex in Seoul.”

“……What do you plan to pay the monstrous humans with?”

Eun Yuha pondered for a long time before answering.

“Strawberries?”

“……Regarding that matter, I will seriously discuss it with the Commander-nim later.”

Kim Ji-hwa tilted her head back towards the ceiling and took a deep breath. The Chairperson-nim in front of her was contemplating how to make money even while China was turning into a mess.

“Chairperson-nim. Aren’t you worried?”

Kim Ji-hwa was so anxious she couldn’t sleep. Like a child left in the water, Phoenix was running wild recklessly, and Kim Ji-hwa’s life was mortgaged to Phoenix. Eun Yuha, who was contemplating how to use the S-rank core they would receive as compensation for the plane, tilted her head.

“Why?”

“Well, if the Commander-nim gets hurt or something goes wrong…”

“We all die, don’t we? The Earth is going to be destroyed in 5 years anyway, right? And why worry? They are much stronger than me.”

“Strong, yes, but…”

Kim Ji-hwa swallowed her words. Eun Yuha realized what she wanted to say and let out a snicker.

“They’ll handle it well on their own. They must have a plan for everything.”

“Just because a leaky bucket is outside doesn’t mean it won’t leak, does it?”

“To stop that bucket from leaking, they took Deokbae-ssi with them, didn’t they? Kim Ji-hwa-ssi, you really worry a lot. Not even Gaeul unnie… Wait.”

Eun Yuha furrowed her brow.

“Where is Phantom?”

“……”

Kim Ji-hwa remained silent. Naturally, Eun Yuha’s brow twisted.

“Phantom. Where is Cheon Gaeul?”

“…I don’t know either.”

Kim Ji-hwa obediently answered what she knew. She was sorry to Eun Yuha, but she truly knew nothing.

“Cheon Gaeul is currently carrying out a secret mission under the Commander-nim’s special orders.”

“……Without a single word to me?”

Eun Yuha bit her lip. Kim Ji-hwa wanted to escape that spot immediately.

The chaos left by Phoenix began to spread as far as Yeouido.

***

Bang!

The scorpion’s tail grazed my cheek. The stinger, dripping with potent venom that seemed to melt anything it touched, was a deadly weapon. But its speed wasn’t very fast, and I evaded the stinger by slightly twisting my body.

Swaaek!

The scorpion monster tried to quickly change the direction of its stinger, but my hand was already gripping the middle of its tail. The armored tail, like a steel plate, thrashed like an eel in my hand.

[I had a bit of trouble catching you.]

It was an annoying creature that had unnecessarily high defense but used poison attacks, poisoning all its allies to death. Of course, now it’s just a slightly thick-skinned bug.

Crunch!

Kyaaak!!

Just by lightly clenching my hand, the scorpion monster screamed in agony. My fingernails dug into the hard carapace, and purple fluid oozed from between the crumpled exoskeleton.

Pshhh–

Venom flowed down my gauntlet. Thanks to the flames burning beneath my gauntlet, the venom quickly cooked, evaporating before it could even drip down. As acrid purple smoke rose, the monster Black Scorpion seemed extremely flustered.

Krrk?!

[I really like you.]

I confessed with sincerity. An annoying creature with its patterns, but its rewards were quite good, so I often hunted it in the later stages. The Black Scorpion was an S-rank monster common throughout China.

[It’s barely A-rank size, but….]

I lifted my right foot and stepped on the Black Scorpion’s pincer, pressing down. With its tail and one pincer caught by me, the Black Scorpion twisted its body, moving its many legs.

Crunch. Crunch!

Naturally, the more it resisted, the more strength I poured into my hands and feet. I grabbed the stinger, which was spraying venom everywhere, and twisted its tail as if crossing my arms, severing it. I pressed down on the pincer’s joint with my heel, crushing it.

Kyaaak!

Two of its attack methods were torn off by my hands and feet. The Black Scorpion retreated, screaming in pain, and I couldn’t let it escape.

[You’re a gift for Eun Yuha.]

I kicked off the ground and ran forward, closing the distance. The Black Scorpion retreated significantly, trying to escape into the tunnel it had dug to emerge from, but I leaped onto the Black Scorpion even faster.

[Taste your own tail.]

It would only come to its senses if it felt for itself how potent its own venom was. After pressing the Black Scorpion’s body down and toppling it onto the ground, I stabbed the tip of the bent stinger into the gap in its exoskeleton.

Kkadddeuk!

Its exoskeleton peeled off as if steel plates were being torn away. The exoskeleton, which had been firmly attached to its raw flesh, slowly began to detach from the stinger-tail I had hooked onto it like a grappling hook. The exoskeleton, peeling off with a ‘tear-tear-tear’ sound, would surely inflict pain akin to having fingernails torn off.

Kyaaak! Kyaaak!

The Black Scorpion began to thrash wildly. In addition to the pain of its exoskeleton being torn off, its flesh was melting from the venom on its own stinger touching its raw skin.

[You should have used less poison then.]

I held the stinger upside down and plunged it into the torn-off exoskeleton. It thrashed about with all its legs like a silverfish hit by insecticide, then went limp.

[Hmm.]

I pulled out the stinger and peeled off the rest of the exoskeleton. All its blood vessels were stained dark red and swollen, and its flesh had rotted away in that short time.

[The venom really is amazing, for a mere hatchling.]

I stabbed and scooped with the stinger, tearing off the exoskeleton, and soon succeeded in peeling it back to where the Black Scorpion’s core would be.

[Then.]

Thwack.

I rummaged through the Black Scorpion’s head with my hand. The Black Scorpion’s bodily fluids that seeped through its joints quickly cooked from my flames, and the Black Scorpion’s flesh began to cook red. Its eyes, cooking white, glared at me, filled with rage.

[If you’re pissed, bring your mother. I’ll take the cube with her while I’m at it.]

Thwack–

I found the core and pulled it out forcefully. The core, intertwined within nerve bundles like an antenna, was a brown, sustained S-rank core, just as I expected.

[Honestly, I don’t think this should count as an S-rank.]

It was an S-rank that barely scraped by; if you consider 90-95 as the range, this core was a 90, having just passed 89.9.

Still, Eun Yuha would be delighted. Eun Yuha had bet one S-rank core as a deposit in case the plane was destroyed, but I had no intention of giving only one to her, who had now definitively become ‘my person’.

Kyaaaak!

Behind the hole the first Black Scorpions had dug, three massive clouds of dust rose. Black Scorpions, identical in size or slightly larger than the one I had torn apart, were spewing venom with furious intensity.

[Ah, was this one the youngest?]

I poked the Black Scorpion’s head with my foot. For a mere creature, it was quite annoying to hear it growl at my provocation, considering itself a comrade and family.

[I have no intention of playing with you brats, so go bring your parents. I need to have a parent-teacher conference.]

Kyaaaak!

It didn’t even pretend to hear. I nodded and reorganized my mana.

[Kids these days, honestly.]

I picked up the tail lying at my feet and shot it like a javelin.

[Don’t monsters wake up to a morning call?]

It wasn’t just the Chaotic Phantom Dragon I wanted to wake up. I thrust my fist into the widely spread pincer in front of me.

KWA—ANG!

Flames exploded inside the Black Scorpion’s body.

* * *

Phoenix did not hide their mana. From the start, they were running wild with the intention of revealing their presence as a monstrous human, so their hot mana spread throughout China.

“Oh, they’re so damn hot! Ah! I want to kill themmm!”

Jilpungek, Himeji Hayate, licked her lips and got excited by the heat wafting from afar. If it weren’t for the black-haired beauty glaring at her right in front of her, Unjang Xiaolin, she would have jumped off the Black Flame Dragon’s back and run with the wind.

“Hey! You’ve fought them once already! Can’t I fight them first?!”

“No. You try to kill the opponent you defeat.”

Unjang argued, showing her displeasure without reservation. Regardless of nationality, the two had a rather poor relationship due to their differing values.

“If you really want to fight, fight after I’ve defeated that person.”

“You’ll get your ass kicked, you know?”

“…I am different now.”

“What’s different? You don’t look any different.”

“I am different. Because I have now transcended humanity.”

Xiaolin placed her hand on her chest and smiled proudly. Jilpungek wondered if she had become one of those ‘monstrous humans’ that her younger sister, Himeji Hikari, had told her about.

“Are you one of those ‘monstrous humans’ or whatever? I heard only dead people can become that.”

“Yes. I died.”

“Tsk. So, how good would it have been if you had died by my hand when I suggested we fight?”

“I have no intention of fighting. And even if we had fought when I was alive, I would have won. The only thing you can beat me in is beauty.”

“Hey. Do you want to die?”

Jilpungek radiated killing intent and drew her sword. Even atop the flying dragon, she maintained a proper stance, clearly intending to cut Xiaolin down. Xiaolin snorted and sneered.

“Aren’t you the official beauty of the Round Table? And I’m already dead, so dying again would be pointless. I have no intention of dying in the first place.”

“Tsk. How boring. Hey, you keep saying you died, but did you really die? It’s a lie, isn’t it?”

“I really died, that’s why I was resurrected as a monstrous human, isn’t it? Why do you keep prying so much?”

“It’s because I can’t believe it. How am I supposed to believe that someone who was my equal, or perhaps a little less than me, was murdered?”

Xiaolin shook her head with a resolute expression.

“I was ‘suicided’.”

“……? Can you explain it so I can understand?”

Jilpungek checked her translator again to understand if she had heard correctly. The meaning she understood through mana and the words translated by the translator matched exactly.

She was ‘suicided’.

“It’s as good as being murdered. But I didn’t die fighting. If I had died fighting a strong person like them, I would have readily accepted death. But no. I was ‘suicided’.”

Xiaolin gritted her teeth.

“By Director Mao Zeping.”

“……Hey, wait a minute.”

Jilpungek raised her hand to calm Xiaolin’s seething mana.

“Mao Zeping is that Chinese director I know, right? The head of the Monster Countermeasures Bureau?”

“Yes. He was. In addition, the illegitimate children he fathered number in the double digits.”

“……Crazy. No, what I mean is, putting aside issues like illegitimate children, I’m asking if he ‘suicided’ an S-rank like you.”

“Yes.”

Xiaolin gave a bitter smile.

“It seems my defeat and the revelation of my identity bothered him greatly. He tried to erase my existence.”

“No, but why an S-rank!!”

“I was curious too. So I asked him before I died. Do you know what he said?”

Xiaolin let out a hollow laugh and mimicked Mao Zeping.

“‘Among 1.3 billion people, surely another S-rank won’t fail to appear.'”

“……I’m so shocked by what I just heard, I can’t speak.”

[Me too.]

“Uwaaak?! The Black Flame Dragon spoke, Uwaaak?!”

Jilpungek was startled and slipped. He fell from the Black Flame Dragon flying in the sky and crashed in the middle of the West Sea, and Xiaolin stroked the scales of the Black Flame Dragon, which had only now opened its mouth.

“I apologize for bothering you. Jeokto needs to rest for a while.”

[Not at all. Don’t worry. I must leave now, having received a divine summons.]

“A god? Are you saying that person was a god?”

[…….]

The natural couldn’t be beaten. The Black Flame Dragon increased its speed towards Phoenix’s direction, cautiously continuing its questions about being ‘suicided’.

[How on earth did he ‘suicide’ an S-rank? It doesn’t seem like she willingly committed suicide.]

“……He did something truly terrifying to his children.”

Xiaolin pointed to her chest and gritted her teeth.

“Do you know what Gu poison is?”