Part 1 Chapter 9-29

As Jilpungek Hayate severed Heuksagal’s neck, the battlefield fell into a temporary lull.

“We condemn the Jilpungek, blinded by jealousy!”

“””We condemn! We condemn!”””

“Jealousy? What are you talking about! Finders keepers!”

The Heroes and Jilpungek faced each other in a subtle standoff. The Heroes used cunning word choices to mislead Jilpungek, who was completely oblivious to their sinister desires.

“Haaah.”

Seok Harang took the opportunity to gather mana. Breathing in the middle of the lake, her mana quickly replenished, already recovering nearly half.

“Thank you, Seolhwaryeong-nim. Thanks to you, I was able to fight smoothly.”

One of the foreign Heroes approached Seok Harang and bowed deeply.

“It’s truly admirable. To possess such immense power and yet dedicate all your efforts to supporting the Heroes. You are indeed worthy of being called humanity’s new hope.”

“Haha. I just did what I had to do….”

Seok Harang scratched her cheek in embarrassment.

She was used to receiving praise as an S-rank since childhood, but she found it hard to adapt to her elevated status, from being Korea’s hope to now being the sole hope of the entire world.

“No. If Seolhwaryeong-nim hadn’t been here, the situation could have been breached.”

Executor Baek Heea also approached and bowed her head.

Perhaps because they thought they had overcome a major crisis, there wasn’t much shadow cast beneath the two of them.

“……Huhu.”

“Hehehe.”

Their points of contact weren’t many, but through this battle, a common ground had formed between them.

“Thank you very much, Seolhwaryeong-nim.”

“No, not at all. …Executor. I’m sorry I unintentionally ignored you earlier.”

Seok Harang bowed her head in apology. The Executor’s eyes widened, and Seok Harang fidgeted with her fingers, making excuses.

“Well… I was so focused on figuring out how to deal with it that I couldn’t hear you. I absolutely wasn’t trying to ignore the Executor. Please don’t misunderstand.”

“…It’s nothing.”

The Executor’s stiff face softened slightly. Turning her head, the Executor had a faint smile playing on her lips.

“Um….”

Fire Fist hesitantly approached the two. The Executor’s gaze sharpened as if she were looking at filth.

“What is it? Please go away, Fire Fist.”

The Executor called Lee Seung-hyung by his alias, keeping her distance. Fire Fist, who had unintentionally become the enemy of women, was simply at a loss.

“What did I do wrong…?”

“Not only did you harass women, but you also tarnished the national prestige. As a Hero representing a nation, you should have known better with a woman’s… ugh! Anyway, you should have been more moderate! How can someone who’s supposed to serve in a humble capacity cause such controversy?!”

“Th-this was like an unavoidable force…. No, wasn’t this something that happened while fighting that monster?”

“Monsters are one thing! If its appearance is like that, shouldn’t you at least be careful?! Be honest! You wanted to see it jiggle, didn’t you?!”

“How could that be! If I were a swordsman like Jilpungek, I would have cut it down without hesitation! I’m a fist fighter! It wasn’t an enemy weak enough to be handled with a mere estimation!”

Fire Fist and the Executor’s argument flared up heatedly. The pure, duty-bound spirit of a Hero who simply had to defeat the monster clashed with the administrator’s anxiety, concerned about various political issues and controversies.

“…For now, let’s resolve this issue later.”

Seok Harang pointed to Heuksagal, whose head had been severed, leaving only its torso.

“Executor. Do you have any data on Heuksagal? It’s strange how its neck is just staying still like that.”

“…Indeed, there’s no special reaction. As Seolhwaryeong-nim said, that makes it even stranger.”

The Executor frowned, looking at Heuksagal’s limp torso. The sagging mounds, despite its neck being severed, still maintained their shape like full water droplets.

“Is it really dead?”

“If it’s dead, we should be able to retrieve the Core…. Just a moment.”

Seok Harang subtly slipped her hand into the pocket behind her hip. As she carefully placed a blue canary-shaped hairpin in her hair, Seok Harang’s expression gradually hardened.

“Ah.”

“What’s wrong?”

“It says it’s not dead.”

“…Huh?”

Who? The Executor wondered if she had misheard Seok Harang. The Executor wanted to press for more details, but seeing Seok Harang’s flustered expression, she tightened her grip on the reins of tension once more.

“Ev-everyone, prepare for battle!”

At Seok Harang’s voice, which spread across the lake, the Heroes began to tense up. It was a movement that seemed to confirm that Seolhwaryeong-nim, an SS-rank ability user, wouldn’t declare battle readiness without reason.

“Everyone, prepare for battle! Seolhwaryeong-nim has spoken!”

“Jilpungek! Come down…!”

“What’s with the honorifics? Just speak informally like in Busan… H-huh?!”

*Grab!*

Heuksagal, thought to be dead, grabbed Jilpungek with its hand. Despite its neck being severed, Heuksagal’s female body slowly began to move.

“Woooooah!”

“Heuksagal has revived!”

“Don’t rejoice, you idiots! Focus on the battle!”

The Heroes fell into chaos. Some were frenzied by Heuksagal’s jiggling body, while others were infuriated by their behavior.

“Ugh, seriously!”

Seok Harang was annoyed for an entirely different reason. These were weaknesses she could have easily learned if she had just swallowed her pride and asked, but she only learned the truth after the situation had turned into a mess.

“Heroes near the head! Fall back!!”

“Huh?!”

A few Heroes were very close, busy taking pictures of the severed neck with their watches.

*Flash!*

Heuksagal’s eyes shot open. At the same time, its mouth gaped wide. And from within it, a black scorpion that looked S-rank emerged.

“Huuuh?!”

*Crumble, crumble, crumblecrumblecrumble!*

The head began to crumble. With the mana from the main body, which had maintained its form, severed, the severed neck lost its shape.

*Whoosh-!*

The head burst, and a fountain of black scorpions began to pour out.

“Ugh, fuck!”

At that moment, the Heroes realized.

“All Heroes, focus! Don’t be deceived by its appearance! That’s all fake, made of gathered black scorpions!”

Seok Harang revealed the truth.

“Th-they tricked us!”

“Aaaargh!”

“Die, monster!”

The Heroes all began to go berserk. The Executor’s ears were red, and she covered her face with both hands.

“……Executor.”

“……Could you just leave me alone for a moment?”

“We can only attack if you give the command. Please don’t mind it. Everyone probably feels the same way.”

The Executor felt Unsa’s kind heart. The Executor composed herself and pointed a trembling finger forward.

“At-attack….”

“Command received.”

Unsa calmly gripped her spear and ran forward.

“Executor, young lady, don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s your first deployment, isn’t it?”

“It’s natural to make mistakes when you’re young, tsk tsk.”

Wusa and Pungbaek ran after Unsa. The Executor felt even more embarrassed and wanted to hide somewhere.

“I support you, Executor-nim.”

Tempest Lady even gave a thumbs-up. Her face was also quite red, and the two looked at each other, blinking and smiling.

“Executor.”

“Hiccup!”

Fire Fist scratched his head. The Executor couldn’t bring herself to meet Fire Fist’s eyes.

“I will suppress the flames as much as possible. I also don’t intend to cause trouble for the country-“

“No. …Please make the flames even bigger.”

The Executor’s mind raced furiously.

“Since I misjudged, even if it’s just to prove that you were right….”

“I’m fine. Unsa said it, didn’t she? Not to mind it.”

Fire Fist clenched his fist.

“You don’t have to worry about me. I’m used to being cursed at.”

“…….”

“Then I’m going!”

Fire Fist leaped high into the sky again. After leaping dozens of meters, he unleashed a punch towards Heuksagal’s wrist, successfully rescuing the captured beauty.

“Whew.”

The Executor took a deep breath. A misjudgment was a misjudgment, and she had to make up for the mistake starting now.

“……Jilpungek, keep cutting off its arms! The black scorpions that pop out of the falling body parts will be intercepted by the Heroes below!”

“Alright!”

Jilpungek rode the wind and swung his sword. Heuksagal’s finger, which was trying to grab him again, was cleanly severed.

*Thud!*

Heuksagal’s index finger fell in front of those who were lighting torches in the distance. The human form began to crumble, and soon the clustered baby black scorpions began to scatter.

“Kill them!”

The ability users swung their torches, keeping the black scorpions in check. They didn’t care about other flames, but they seemed particularly afraid of the white flame left by Fire Fist.

*Slice! Slice!*

Jilpungek’s sword didn’t stop at one strike. He sliced the wrist, cut off flesh from the forearm, and severed the side flesh. It was a grotesque sight of dismembering a human body, but the Heroes were no longer mesmerized by the scene before them.

“It’s only trying to mislead us with a human appearance! Its true nature is a monster!”

“Cut it down! Even if it looks like flesh, it’s all just gathered black scorpions!”

S-rank Heroes began to slash, stab, and carve away at Heuksagal’s female body. The black scorpions that burst out from the flesh thrown onto the ice were dealt with by Heroes, primarily A-rank, and the supporting fire from Heroes rushing from the riverside was relentless.

*Crash! Crash!*

Heuksagal swung its tail from beneath the ice to keep the S-ranks in check, but the Heroes, adapted to Heuksagal’s simple patterns, easily dodged attacks and carved away at its body. With its two arms, which were its means of attack, being the focus of the assault, Heuksagal’s female body lost any means to attack further.

*Kigigigi….*

Heuksagal’s female body became a torso. Its upper body, with severed arms hanging limply, was merely a statue modeled after a human body, no longer having any effective means to attack humans.

“Uh…. Hmm….”

The Heroes were at a loss. There were no internal organs or muscles, but no one had dared to touch Heuksagal’s front yet. They knew it was a monster, but they couldn’t bring themselves to directly lay hands on it.

*Slice!*

Two mounds fell in the trajectory of a crescent moon. Jilpungek landed on the ice, his long black hair fluttering.

“The sensation of cutting is really good….”

*Thud, thud!*

Heuksagal’s two mounds fell onto the ice. They contained more black scorpions than any other body part, allowing the Heroes to shake off their delusion and focus on hunting the monster.

*Crumble, crumble, crumble.*

Was that its weakness?

Heuksagal’s massive body slowly began to collapse. From its skin upwards, its entire upper body writhed, and the human female form crumbled into a fountain of black scorpions.

Exactly 2 AM.

Heuksagal’s female body collapsed.

* * *

Heuksagal was enraged.

Not only had its treasure, which could infinitely increase its power, been stolen, but its female body was being dismembered as if being humiliated by humans in the middle of the lake.

But it could only rage; its power was too insufficient.

Heuksagal instinctively realized that it needed more power to grow to the next stage, but it abandoned that difficult path and chose the easy one.

Mass production of subordinates-its children.

It laid hundreds of eggs a day, producing black scorpions, and when they reached S-rank, Heuksagal would devour them, slowly increasing its own power.

The act of raising and then devouring one’s children was a morally reprehensible act for both humans and beasts, but for the monster Heuksagal, nothing mattered except its own power growing stronger.

However, it lacked power.

Humans pressured it with numbers far greater than the offspring it had birthed.

Not only the flame bird that had stolen the treasure from its nest in one swoop, or the ice butterfly that had frozen the lake, but also the countless ability users encompassing the entire lake seemed intent on killing it.

Defeat. Death. Annihilation.

Heuksagal sensed its fate and used its last resort.

Escape.

Heuksagal, hidden beneath the ice, tore off the female body that had grown on its upper body, shell and all.

*Kigigigik?!*

The black scorpions, whose mana connection to the mother body was severed, shrieked in panic. The black scorpions that had barely maintained their form in the severed arms, chest, and waist began to crumble like sandcastles.

*Kikikik.*

Heuksagal, with tears in its eyes, hid deep within the lake. To survive, it had to abandon even its massive 30-meter scorpion body.

In a black scorpion’s body, it would be hunted.

Therefore, it had to escape in a human body.

They say to hide a leaf in a forest. Heuksagal instinctively understood this principle and began to flee, taking only its Core.

It gathered its strength, minimized even its Core as much as possible, and formed a body modeled after the size of a human body.

At the time when humans were distracted by the black scorpions pouring out like from a cornucopia,

Heuksagal, like a lizard shedding its tail, abandoned its main body and fled.