Ch.114Monsters and Villains

“Guk…?!”

The heavy impact from a posture that didn’t match the bear’s form—Yu Anna, who had offset part of the special ability with flames that burned away special abilities, recalled a person from the familiar pain and posture.

“No way, Teacher?!”

“You, youuu, youuuuu! How dare youuuu!”

It wasn’t that the monster was imitating Yeo Un-jae.

The special ability waves spreading throughout the body were unmistakably Yeo Un-jae himself.

Yu Anna was greatly shocked by the fact that a human had become a monster.

At the same time, an ominous premonition flashed through her mind.

If this monster was truly Yeo Un-jae, she shouldn’t have let it come this far into the street.

Yu Anna urgently gathered all her special abilities in one place.

“Ugh…!”

Boom—a fist connected with her abdomen, and a shockwave penetrated her body.

After the excruciating pain of having all her skin torn off, the sensation in her abdomen disappeared.

The special ability wavelength, the heartbeat, the strength to stand on the ground—all power condensed into impact control and released in a single concentrated strike.

Bang! Yu Anna, blown away by the pointed shockwave extending from the fist, only came to a stop after penetrating several buildings.

“Cough, hack! Gasp, haa…!”

Despite successfully predicting the target and burning the impact with her special ability, this destructive power was immense.

It seemed twice as powerful compared to Yeo Un-jae in his prime.

Yu Anna now understood why Cage’s special ability had been so hopelessly penetrated.

With the pain of crushed internal organs and bones, Yu Anna spat blood and immediately drew upon her special ability to set fire to her wounds.

The moment Yu Anna got up, relying on accelerated regeneration through an application that burned away injuries and pain—

Squish, a snow-white fingertip that suddenly appeared behind her back pierced into Yu Anna’s waist.

“Isn’t it too much to attack without warning?”

“Ugh…?!”

Another poison? Yu Anna discovered the hand that appeared without any presence and the hole opened by spatial manipulation, and sliced off Gu Seo-ryong’s arm with the edge of her hand.

As if the situation wasn’t confusing enough, now Gu Seo-ryong was here too.

When Gu Seo-ryong defensively extended her upper body from the black passage, Yu Anna stroked her pierced stomach with a strange sensation.

“What is this?”

“It’s a regeneration accelerator. I don’t just use poisons—I know how to use medicine too.”

Something like Meister’s healing solution?

Having quickly healed her injuries, Yu Anna felt uncomfortable with the fact that Gu Seo-ryong had helped heal her and said:

“Why did you help me recover? And why are you here?”

“Ah, since the questions seem to be getting lengthy, let me make one thing clear—I didn’t do anything to Yeo Un-jae. If I had done something to him, would we be fighting like this now?”

Gu Seo-ryong smiled meaningfully, half-extending her body from the black passage.

True to her words, something did seem strange.

But the speaker was Gu Seo-ryong.

Her credibility was beyond rock bottom—already in the negative.

No matter what she said, it couldn’t be trusted.

“Do you think I can believe that?”

Villains are the type who enjoy chaos, thinking they’ll remain safe themselves.

People corrupted by the superiority of becoming superhumans.

Among them, Gu Seo-ryong was an A-class villain who should be considered special-class.

A monster who had settled in W City and rotted away a corner of the city.

“I don’t know what you were after in A City, but if you’re going to attack, come at me quickly.”

“Oh my? If I start rampaging too, wouldn’t that be too much for Starlight to handle? That kind of probing isn’t good communication.”

Though she said that, she’d prefer if I didn’t attack right now, right?

When Starlight flinched at having her weak point exposed, Gu Seo-ryong raised the corner of her mouth.

“I’ve been eavesdropping on communications. Starlight, not Baskerville—incompetent superhumans who bet on the mere possibility of victory might run away if the situation worsens further, don’t you think?”

While W City’s heroes were fools who would follow even in situations where they might die, A City’s heroes would only come out to fight if there was at least a 51% chance they wouldn’t die.

In their minds, Baskerville had no chance of resolving this situation, but Yu Anna barely passed the mark.

If more negative factors were added, there would be more people wavering.

She had managed to stop them once, but Yu Anna wasn’t confident she could stop a second wavering.

“You’re still an unpleasant woman who targets and digs into the rotten parts.”

“Thanks for the compliment. So, shall we put aside our complicated circumstances for a moment and cooperate briefly?”

“What are you trying to do now?”

The chaos Gu Seo-ryong stirred up was on a different level from superhumans who were simply trying to flee out of fear.

Even her claim that she hadn’t done anything to Yeo Un-jae seemed suspicious, as she had answered before Yu Anna even asked.

But still.

By that logic, it was also strange that Gu Seo-ryong wasn’t running away right now.

Heroes always felt like they could use even a cat’s paw.

“…Convince me. Why should I trust you?”

“Do I have time to convince you right now?”

“You can make time, can’t you?”

Yu Anna extended both fists forward as the rumbling sound approached, saying:

She couldn’t understand at all why Yeo Un-jae had become a monster.

However, it was also true that the wavelength felt from the presumed Yeo Un-jae was completely that of a monster.

There was no time to think deeply now.

Small flames emerged from her two hands with open fists, overlapping in the center.

The round flame grew instantly, becoming a small, complete spherical sun.

If that monster really was Yeo Un-jae, he would know what this technique was.

One sphere was fired, and Yeo Un-jae, who had been charging, changed direction to avoid the attack.

Yu Anna’s already bad mood hit rock bottom as evidence that the monster before her was truly Yeo Un-jae continued to pile up.

“Tell me!”

“Fine. I’m currently cooperating with Black Cat.”

“What?”

“It’s not strange, is it? Monsters are closer to villains than heroes, if we’re being particular. You didn’t think you were the only woman who got along well with Black Cat, did you?”

Yu Anna recalled the Black Cat she had encountered in the air earlier, with some mental shock at hearing that her beloved cat had been going around with someone else—a villain, no less—behind her back.

Looking at the direction, it did seem like she had come from where Gu Seo-ryong was.

“If I had caused the chaos, would Black Cat have just stood by?”

No way—she would have definitely torn me to pieces.

Yu Anna, who couldn’t trust Gu Seo-ryong but could trust Black Cat, found Gu Seo-ryong’s words persuasive and clicked her tongue.

“No matter how low someone’s credibility is, if they have a guarantor, you’d believe them one more time, right? Isn’t this enough for you to trust me a bit?”

“Why are you cooperating with Black Cat?”

“We made a deal.”

“A deal?”

“The details of the deal are secret. Isn’t that enough for you to understand? Can’t you temporarily forget the past and join hands with a villain you’ve hated so much, just for a moment?”

The content of the deal was concerning, but there was no more time to listen to explanations.

Yu Anna sensed the rumbling sound approaching in a curve after shaking off her sun, and greatly drew upon her special ability.

“Who’s that girl? Did you kidnap a child who awakened special abilities from somewhere?”

“Oh my? I absolutely never touch children. Didn’t you know that?”

“Yes, I know.”

Yu Anna asked her final lingering question and felt bitter at Gu Seo-ryong’s answer.

As she said, Gu Seo-ryong was a dirty woman who committed all sorts of crimes, but she was a strange villain who maintained one sacred domain to the end.

Children—no matter how valuable their special abilities, no matter how rich their families, even if they were the children of heroes who had attacked Gu Seo-ryong.

She absolutely never attacked them.

After Gu Seo-ryong had escaped, Yu Anna thought that perhaps even that had been a disguise, pretending to be capable of rehabilitation.

But the expression and voice of Gu Seo-ryong that she had glimpsed earlier when Yu Anna’s special ability had attacked the child.

It was the first time she had seen this woman call out to someone with such concern.

Even though she must have known about the girl’s regenerative ability.

“…No matter how urgent, I don’t want to join hands with trash like Gu Seo-ryong.”

Trusting Gu Seo-ryong, a villain who would use any means necessary to achieve her goals, was no different from trusting a monster that devoured humans.

However, Gu Seo-ryong was not a monster.

“Still, I could let myself be deceived by the human Gu Seo-rate one last time.”

The name Gu Seo-ryong had before becoming notorious as a villain, which Yu Anna had learned during her investigation.

When Yu Anna spoke, believing in the humanity that remained in Black Cat and Gu Seo-ryong, Gu Seo-ryong showed complex emotions.

“A woman who knows nothing, fearlessly diving deep every time.”

“Are you going to catch it or not?”

“I’ll catch it.”

“Good, give me your hand!”

When Gu Seo-ryong unfolded her arms from the black passage and extended her hand, Yu Anna slapped it.

Gu Seo-ryong, hit by a hand without special ability, lightly clenched her stinging hand.

“What’s the meaning of this?”

“I don’t want to shake hands with you.”

“Oh my, thank you. I feel the same way.”

Boom, boom—the moment the rumbling sound that had been chasing them began approaching again in a curve after shaking off the sun,

Gu Seo-ryong waved her hand while escaping into the black passage.

“Well then, I leave Yeo Un-jae to you.”

“You’re not planning to run away right after agreeing to cooperate, are you?”

“I’d like to, but I made a promise with Black Cat. You’re the vanguard, we’re the rear. Create an opening. We’ll tear it apart with this while hiding.”

“So you’re just dumping it on me after all?”

“If we get hit by that crazy man’s attack, we’ll die too. That’s a matchup perfectly suited for a brute like you, isn’t it?”

As she said, if the opponent was truly a monster that Yeo Un-jae had transformed into, the only one who could handle it in A City right now was Yu Anna.

Black Cat was strong but didn’t know how to deal with humans well, and only Yu Anna could somewhat offset Yeo Un-jae’s special ability.

“Just to let you know in advance, if you only use spatial manipulation, he’ll strangely lose his mind and chase after you, so please keep him from approaching this way.”

“That’s… haa… he’s coming. Fall back.”

“Oh my, you’re really protecting me right away? You’re amazing in many ways. Then I’ll give you a gift too.”

“The regeneration is enough… hey!”

Whoosh—Gu Seo-ryong, who had disappeared into the passage and appeared on the opposite side, stabbed Yu Anna’s leg with her fingernail.

Yu Anna, angry at Gu Seo-ryong for injecting something again without permission, clenched her fist feeling a surge of power.

“You’re not a physical enhancement type, are you? Try to endure well with this.”

“What is this?”

“What else? It’s a doping drug for superhumans.”

“GROOOOAR!”

Crash! The moment Yeo Un-jae broke through the building wall.

In her expanded senses, Yu Anna rotated her special ability around her entire body against the attack drilling straight toward her.

Yeo Un-jae’s special ability shouldn’t be blocked.

Don’t try to block the flow, let it flow.

Recalling Yeo Un-jae’s past lessons, Yu Anna wrapped her arm around the wrist of Yeo Un-jae’s large hand.

“Haaaaa!”

A throw using the charging force, followed by a punch that pierced into the monster’s stomach with a quiet sound—slash!

Then, Yu Anna, in the same posture as Yeo Un-jae, extended both hands forward and burst her special ability.

Boom! With a massive explosion, the giant bear monster flew away, scraping the ground.

“This is the first time I’ve succeeded with this…”

Despite the impact control special ability that strikes the opponent upon contact, Yu Anna’s body was fine.

Only Yu Anna now knew the theory of this strange technique like special ability flowing, which was only useful when facing Yeo Un-jae.

Recent superhumans build more firepower instead of developing such techniques.

That’s more effective against monsters.

Yu Anna, having blown away Yeo Un-jae, took her stance with a bitter expression and rotated the sun that had followed Yeo Un-jae around her.

“All heroes, listen carefully. Partial change to the operation. The one striking the monster will be Black Cat, not me.”

[What? Black Cat?]

[Black Cat… does that mean Black Cat has come to A City?]

[No way, you really tamed her?!]

The morale of A City’s heroes, which hadn’t been very high, rose at the news that Black Cat would join Starlight in facing the monster.

Reassured that this would be enough to leave it to them, Yu Anna focused her attention on the monster before her.

“Additionally, the black-haired girl and the white-haired woman are temporary allies. Be careful not to attack them.”

“Grrrr…”

Unlike Yeo Un-jae, he appeared excited—perhaps it was fortunate that it was monsterization rather than brainwashing.

Yeo Un-jae was a superhuman who was more frightening when facing villains than monsters.

He was a person whose human combat ability, unleashing complex techniques without pause, was more terrifying.

If it’s a straightforward attack with increased destructive power without deception, like just now, I can handle it.

“Grr… my head feels a bit clearer now.”

However, Yeo Un-jae, who had risen, was calmer than before.

Yu Anna sighed at the wavelength that was becoming sharper and more transparent, unlike the dull wavelength from earlier.

“Haa, really.”

“But, Yu Anna. Why are you here?”

The statement that he loses his mind when shown spatial manipulation means that this monster becomes rational when that’s not present.

How is it that whenever there’s trouble, the situation never improves?

“Ah, I see. You came to stop me.”

Yeo Un-jae, or rather the owl monster, who was building up momentum, pulled out feathers from below his wrist.

Yu Anna brought her hands together in front of her chest and asked one question.

“There’s just one thing I’d like to ask.”

“Speak.”

“What are humans?”

Blood that leaked from his mouth, not human blood.

The sense of dissonance in the wavelength felt by the superhuman, a clear difference like distinguishing between red and blue.

Despite this, Yu Anna had to ask this question, and the monster laughed.

“Insects.”

Words that Yeo Un-jae would never say, the excitement unique to a monster before its prey, the trembling of the monster core.

There was no room for doubt.

What stood before her was no longer Yeo Un-jae.

It was just a monster moving by disguising itself with Yeo Un-jae’s memories.

The reaction to seeing spatial manipulation was a kind of vestigial organ—a trace that couldn’t be erased despite having devoured Yeo Un-jae.

“…I see, understood.”

Yu Anna, resisting the urge to squeeze her eyes shut, created a sphere in her hand.

The psychological root of her special ability, engraved in her heart the moment she awakened it—Yu Anna’s trauma.

Kill monsters.

The countless repeated pain fueled the fire of her special ability.

“You’ve already devoured my teacher.”

She released the three suns floating around her toward the monster before her.