Part 1 Chapter 9 27

“You may hunt as much as you like. I merely trust in the chivalry of the heroic knights. So please come to Qinghai without worry! Ten thousand comrades will be your witnesses!”

The Emperor guaranteed it. The hunted black scorpions would completely belong to those who hunted them.

“Set fire to the black scorpions’ corpses! As soon as the darkness is illuminated, the black scorpions that smell it will flock here!”

The Praetor reported. Seeing the signal fires rising everywhere, the black scorpions would gather.

“I am watching over you. I will do my best to ensure no one gets hurt…!”

Seolhwaryeong declared. As she oversaw this battlefield, she would ensure the Heroes would not suffer serious injuries.

All the black scorpions entered the center of Qinghai, and the Heroes, who had been intercepting their mid-section from the start, succeeded in sealing the entrance by driving the surging black scorpions into the water.

Kigigigik!

The black scorpions trapped in the lake called Qinghai began to grow confused. Heuksagal, the S-class monster leading them, only then, caught in a dilemma, realized it had stepped into a death trap.

Annihilation Formation.

There was no need for further words. Thousands of black scorpions had fallen into the lake, and the number of Heroes surrounding them on all sides was far greater. The number of Chinese espers who had rushed all the way to Xinjiang, responding to the Emperor’s righteous spirit, reached a staggering 10,000.

The association’s interim count was approximately 20,000. A long encirclement was formed along the 300km long lakeside, and all that remained was to hunt the black scorpions.

Kikikik.

Heuksagal gathered the black scorpions in the center. They began to form a massive defensive formation around Heuksagal, and from juveniles to adults, they started to clump together, with Heuksagal as their core.

“What is that?”

“It looks like they’re trying to break through at one point, doesn’t it?”

“Damn it, there’s nothing we can do in the middle of the lake!”

Heroes capable of long-range attacks shot mana bullets at Heuksagal with all their mana. However, the distance was far too great to reach the center of the lake, and only the innocent juvenile black scorpions who hadn’t yet reached the center were hit by stray bullets and burst.

“Don’t we have any boats?! We need to take at least a rowboat!”

“Damn it, just run across the surface!”

“Only S-class can do that, don’t talk crazy!!”

S-class individuals dispatched from various countries began to run towards the center of the lake. At the forefront was Fire Fist Lee Seung-hyung, and countless other S-class individuals raced towards the center of the lake as if competing.

“I’m uneasy.”

Seok Harang, looking down at the battlefield from atop the ice wall, bit her lip. No matter how she looked at it, something seemed about to happen, but she didn’t know what.

[Seolhwaryeong-nim!!]

The Praetor called out to Seok Harang. The black hair that spilled out from under her beret was drenched in sweat.

[Please stop them! It’s dangerous!]

“What am I supposed to stop?”

[The S-class individuals rushing towards the black scorpions!!]

“……??”

Seok Harang couldn’t understand the Praetor’s words. The densely packed black scorpions were no different from punching bags, and it would be over if they just picked them off one by one from the outside.

“Are you worried about the distribution? Don’t worry. It will be thoroughly divided by country, so-“

[No! It’s not that, it’s just that those black scorpions over there make me uneasy! It feels like something is about to pop out from inside them….]

“Just a moment!!”

Seok Harang briefly lowered the Praetor’s screen. Hot energy burst from the hairpin tucked into her back pocket, making her feel as if her butt was on fire.

“This is just right…. Oh, wait?”

Did she contact me to warn me? Coupled with Praetor Baek Hee-ah showing signs of anxiety, Seok Harang herself grew uneasy and raised the hairpin.

[…Hello?]

[What do you mean, ‘hello’? Is this a phone call?]

Phoenix’s voice, conveyed through the Divided Spirit, was calmer than expected. Phoenix quickly got to the point without preamble.

[Second Phase is coming. Get ready.]

Seok Harang had a hunch. Phoenix seemed to know how the black scorpion swarm would change. And it was she who had unilaterally ignored that contact.

[What? What is it changing into now?! It’s not going to be parasites popping out from inside again, is it?!]

The memory of the day they caught Moby Dick was the worst. The swarm of Anisakis worms that burst from its intestines was truly disgusting, and she froze and shattered them every time she saw them. Seok Harang didn’t want to come all the way to China just to see that again.

[It’s changing, but it’s the opposite.]

[Alright. First, I need to stop the S-class, right? They won’t get caught up in the transformation and get hurt, will they?]

[You worry too much. *Pfft*.]

[Ah, just tell me quickly! Is it dangerous or not dangerous?!]

Seok Harang stamped her foot, urging for an answer. The S-class Heroes hovered above the water, radiating mana beneath their feet, and attempted to bombard the sphere formed by the black scorpions’ bodies.

[It’s not dangerous at all. Ah, but it might be dangerous for the young ones.]

[What do you mean?!]

[You’ll see. It’s about to transform.]

Kyaaaaaak!!

A beast’s shriek echoed from within the black scorpions. At the sharp shriek, which sounded both like a monster and a woman, the entire lake trembled. S-class Heroes near the black scorpion swarm were thrown back by the mana fluctuations, and the torches illuminating the riverside at Pahgongseong began to go out one by one.

[Transformation…?]

[Yes. Transformation. Ah, let me correct myself. It would be more appropriate to say it’s returning to its true form.]

Tududuk. Tudududuk.

The black scorpions that had enveloped the sphere like a shell began to fall onto the water’s surface. As if a flower blooming, the black scorpions spread in all directions, and in their center, a woman with flowing black hair appeared.

“Wow.”

Seok Harang admired the woman’s beauty. And she was mesmerized by her size. The woman’s height, as she began to rise above the water, was almost identical to the height of the ice wall she was standing on.

“She’s on par with any giant monster…?”

[‘Heuksagal’. It’s a monster that boasts the highest rank even among S-class. For your information, all those black scorpions are Heuksagal’s offspring.]

“Ugh.”

Seok Harang got goosebumps.

[Then isn’t it super angry because its children were killed?]

[Of course. Roughly four hundred have died so far, haven’t they? It transformed faster than I expected.]

“Hmm…”

She didn’t know the feeling of losing a child. However, she keenly felt the emotion of having her family murdered. Although it had been resolved amicably by now, Seok Harang was burning with a desire for revenge against the culprit who had killed her father-like master (who was actually her father) at the time.

[Don’t worry. You don’t need to step forward. It’s only big; it’s weaker than Jiparyong or Muljigi. Just be careful of the juveniles it’s carrying below.]

Kiaaaak!!

Heuksagal flailed its slender arms, causing a ruckus. S-class espers kept their distance, evading its attacks, while Fire Fist, on the other hand, seized the opportunity to launch a counterattack.

Hwar-sarreuk!

Fire Fist, who was about to unleash an uppercut with white flames imbued in his fist, suddenly extinguished the flames. Even those who were watching Heuksagal doubted if what they had seen was an illusion.

“What the fuck?”

Naturally, Seok Harang also witnessed the moment the light shone, and unconsciously blurted out a curse. Phoenix, who was watching the TV broadcast, also saw it and gave a bitter laugh.

[From now on, the live broadcast will be cut. Be careful. If you get eaten, you’ll melt in its stomach acid.]

“Wow. Wow. Crazy. Wow.”

Phoenix’s advice didn’t register with Seok Harang.

“It’s disgustingly huge…!”

It was tall. It was massive. And at the same time, that was also massive. The problem was that its size was overwhelming. Seok Harang was utterly captivated by Heuksagal’s size, which would overwhelmingly defeat any woman she had ever seen around her.

“Heh heh, heh.”

At the same time, she became *extremely* uncomfortable. Even though the ice wall she was standing on was somehow almost vertically sheer, Heuksagal, despite being a monster, possessed an incredibly beautiful female body.

And audaciously, it was completely naked, without a single thread of clothing.

“Praetor.”

[Yes! You were just laughing awkwardly without a word, and now suddenly what is it?!]

The Praetor, who had been ignored until now, shouted back with tears welling in her eyes. Seok Harang felt quite sorry for a moment, but for now, making that uncomfortable ‘valley’ disappear from her sight was the top priority.

“Even if it’s a bit slippery, as long as there’s space to step, it won’t hinder combat, right?”

[Of course! So why haven’t you answered my questions until now?!]

“Then get ready to run!”

Seok Harang jumped down from the ice wall. The estimated landing point, which she adjusted by spreading and retracting her wings, fell past the land and onto the water’s surface.

“Haaaaaaah!!”

Seok Harang, with a battle cry, concentrated all her mana into her hands. Her widely spread palms stretched straight towards the water’s surface, and the moment Seok Harang’s hands touched the water-

Jjeojeok!

The entire lake froze over. A thick sheet of ice began to spread widely from Seok Harang as its center, and the ice sheet soon became a landmass extending towards Heuksagal.

“To all Heroes!”

Seok Harang took a deep breath and shouted at the top of her lungs.

“Run!!”

* * *

A broadcasting accident occurred worldwide. Gaeul was left speechless with her mouth agape, and Deokbae, with eyes burning, was searching for the recent video to clip it.

“She’s done it.”

The Second Phase, in other words, Heuksagal’s second form, was a boss battle where its true form transformed into a giant scorpion monster. The nest’s appearance was naturally modeled after its original body, and the black scorpion had now become a giant monster easily over 60 meters tall.

“If you compare it to a human, it’d easily be 130.”

“Wow.”

Gaeul lowered her gaze. I also averted my gaze. Even Gaeul, who was considered quite large, only reached triple digits, but she wasn’t so large that she’d exceed triple digits by a full 20. Gaeul blushed and shouted.

“Why isn’t *she* wearing any clothes?!”

“How would a monster know that? Oh my, that’s truly insane.”

Deokbae chuckled, replaying the recorded video. As if performing a Shoryuken, Lee Seung-hyung ignited his fist and threw an uppercut, and because of that light, everything from its navel to its chest was clearly revealed in the darkness.

“Look at this. He gets flustered and scrambles as soon as he passes the nipple.”

Lee Seung-hyung extinguished the flames immediately after passing the chest. Heuksagal’s face, hidden by its bangs, was a beauty that harmonized both Eastern and Western features. Gaeul threw a snack at Deokbae.

“Pervert! What are you trying to show me?!”

“What’s the big deal? It’s a monster, isn’t it? It’s not even human.”

“You crazy bastard, really.”

Deokbae was joking around, teasing Gaeul and me, but I was certain that he was replaying the video just to tease Gaeul, despite his own embarrassment.

[Uh…. Due to the unfavorable situation on site…. we will deliver breaking news as soon as it comes in.]

The announcers and panelists were all flustered and couldn’t collect themselves. Some channels hastily aired commercials, while others endlessly replayed the Heroes’ efforts in fending off the first wave of black scorpions.

“Broadcasting stations worldwide are going to get a warning, I guess.”

“…Right? Why does it look so real?”

Gaeul pointed at Heuksagal’s upper body in the video and trembled. I ignited a flame on my index finger and drew Heuksagal’s form with fire.

“The upper body, 30 meters tall, is human, and the rest below is still a black scorpion. If it had grown as a single entity, it could have easily aimed for S+ in five years, but unfortunately, Heuksagal chose to give birth to countless offspring.”

“What does that have to do with it turning into a human form?”

“…I don’t know. It must be the monster’s preference.”

More accurately, it’s the producer’s preference. Heuksagal, who, upon entering the Second Phase, possessed an incredible provocative ability that plunged everyone into a frenzy, was clearly naked, without a single thread of clothing. Perhaps because the original work was a 19+ dating sim, even in the illustrations, there was no cover, and only a few strands of hair were strategically placed.

“Lee Seung-hyung is in big trouble. It’s like he’s distributed a 19+ nude video to the whole world.”

“They’re praising him and going wild, though?”

“What?”

Deokbae read through the comments below the clip.

“Thanks to Lee Seung-hyung-nim, I saw something good. As expected of an S-class, the White Flame Great Hero, everyone’s going absolutely crazy. Even if there are guys complaining why he didn’t light it up more, there’s not a single word saying Lee Seung-hyung did anything wrong. *Heh heh*.”

I pushed aside the screen Deokbae handed over and checked the community’s reactions that Gaeul was looking at.

“Our Seung-hyung oppa, his heart is tearing up because he’s even covering the monster’s nudity…? What is this supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know. Everyone’s just commenting on the monster’s body, they’re not cursing Lee Seung-hyung. Rather, they’re cursing the monster? Saying that it, a monster, is trying to seduce men with a woman’s body.”

“Hmph.”

So it’s true that if you’re handsome, that’s all that matters. Despite having caused a nuisance worldwide, Lee Seung-hyung was receiving praise from men and comfort and sympathy from women.

“That guy, really….”

“Why? Are you scared your potential boyfriend will get cursed at?”

“He was your potential boyfriend too, wasn’t he? Honestly. Never mind.”

Gaeul kept trying to link me with Lee Seung-hyung and tease me. Deokbae connected his watch to the TV and switched to a Hero’s YouTube channel that was live-streaming the battlefield.

[Uwaaah! Everyone! Did you see that?! Just by looking, it seems like it’s over O-cup, no, P-cup!]

“So we’re weeding out guys like that, right? The ones who brazenly broadcast things like that live.”

All the Heroes shone light on Heuksagal, trying to illuminate its form. Shining light on an enemy in the dark was tactically very important for monster subjugation, but there was a different desire embedded in the actions of the men who were illuminating the darkness by attaching white flames to the black scorpion’s tail.

“That much is just playful. We need to pick out the guys who backstab others’ prey, not guys like that….”

“Actually, don’t you want to see it too? Heuksagal’s body.”

“……Not at all.”

“Your answer was slow, though? Honestly, even I think it’s just beautiful.”

“What would I do looking at that body?”

I can just look in a mirror. I clicked my tongue at Gaeul and turned my head to the TV.

The confusion was brief. Starting with Seok Harang laying ice across the entire lake, the Heuksagal raid began.