Ch.144Chapter 6. Hellfire Peninsula (1)

The sky above Ganghwado, near the ruins of the old Bomun Temple.

“KYAAAAH!!”

The monstrous scream of a deranged being echoed throughout the temple grounds.

The scream sounded like both a grief-stricken wail and the roar of a lonely soul.

But when such a scream carries physical destructive power, it inevitably becomes a threat to ordinary people.

“AAAAH!”

“S-save me!”

“He’s become a demon! Damn it, a student has turned into a demon!!”

The faculty members who had been inside the half-collapsed temple fled outside in terror.

Originally, the abandoned temple had been habitable enough, but once the roof was blown away by sonic attacks and the building pillars were shattered, the temple was no longer a place for people to stay.

If you couldn’t escape in time, the collapsing ceiling would simply become your tomb.

“KYAHAHA! Die, all of you die! Everyone who planned this stupid field training, just die!”

CRASH!

No sooner had the demon fired a purple magic bullet from his hand than the temple completely collapsed.

“AAAAH!!”

“Teacher Kang?! KYAAAH!”

Several faculty members who couldn’t escape were buried as the temple crumbled.

The screams of those trapped faculty members were drowned out by the sound of the collapsing building.

Drip.

Under the rafters, an outstretched hand fell limply to the ground.

“Oh no…! Were we too late…?”

“We came as fast as we could! Damn, if only we hadn’t gone on patrol for this stupid field training!”

“Damn it, why did he hide in the dorm refusing to come out, only to turn into a demon by himself!”

The academy students who had rushed up from the base of the mountain were horrified to see the demon perched atop a Buddha statue with its upper body blown off.

“Jeong-hoon!!”

“Huh? Kim Jeong-in?! Hey, good to see you!”

One student who was acquainted with the demon immediately grimaced upon seeing his friend’s form.

“What, what have you done?!”

“I killed the people who annoyed me! Why? Oh, I see, you’re the four who went to eat without me, aren’t you?!”

The demon, formerly known as Jeong-hoon, had transformed into a typical Western-style demon, resembling a gargoyle, and was perched on top of the Buddha statue.

“Hehehe, was it fun going out as four without me? Huh?”

“No, you misunderstood! That was because you—”

“Misunderstood? What misunderstanding! You guys were having a great time on your 2:2 double date! KYAAA!”

The demon, ‘Gargoyle,’ screamed as he fired magic bullets into the sky.

“If you came for field training, then do the training! Stop dating! Did you come here to date?!”

“J-Jeong-hoon! Calm down! Please!”

“Leave him. What’s there to calm down about? He went berserk and became a demon on his own. He locked himself in his room because he didn’t want to eat marinated crab, and now he’s throwing a fit.”

A female student took out a broad sword from her violin case and pointed it at the gargoyle.

“Weaklings like him deserve to be eliminated. Seriously, he locked himself in his room just because he didn’t want to eat one meal, then thought he was being ostracized, and turned into a demon? You want to protect someone like that?”

“N-no, Jeong-hoon isn’t the type to become a demon for such a trivial reason!”

“So what? He’s a demon now. Does he look like someone cosplaying as a gargoyle to you rather than an actual demon?”

“Ugh…!”

Whatever the reason might be.

There, perched on the severed head of the Buddha statue, flapping his stone-hardened wings, was a ‘demon.’

“Once someone is officially classified as a demon, we just kill them.”

“B-but…! Instead of killing…!”

“What? If we don’t kill him, do you think that Platinum Sun woman will appear and purify the demon?”

The female student mocked her teammate’s response.

“Or is Platinum Sun among us, so someone will suddenly disappear and Platinum Sun will appear to purify that demon? Interesting. It’s not me. Who could it be?”

“……”

“Judging by your hesitation, she’s not here. So we should just wait for Platinum Sun to arrive? What if his magic bullets arc through the air and hit nearby houses, killing people? Will you still wait?”

“T-that’s…!”

“Shut up and take up your weapon. That thing is an enemy humanity must defeat. A corrupted monster.”

“I-I’m not corrupted! You’re the bad ones!”

The gargoyle opened its mouth wide toward the academy students.

“I’ll ruin this whole stupid field training!!”

KWAAAAA—!

The gargoyle’s breath attack rushed toward the ground.

PAAAANG!

Just as the gray breath was about to engulf the academy students, a white veil unfurled.

“That’s…!”

“Could it be Snow White?!”

Flutter.

A white-haired woman in a suit with ice wings on her back, Snow White, landed on the ground with an expressionless face.

The gray breath froze in the shape of its explosion, and Snow White looked at the demon with trembling eyes.

“…Tch.”

A slight hesitation flashed in Snow White’s eyes.

“…First, subdue it.”

The hesitation was momentary.

Her conclusion was ‘subdual,’ not ‘elimination.’

* * *

At the same time, in the faculty conference room on Sejong Island.

“Ganghwado, Jindo, Jeju Island…! Now even Marado…! Students are turning into demons all over the country!!”

“Ugh…!”

The president clutched his head.

Silence fell over the conference room, which had essentially become a situation room, but reports were coming in rapidly from all directions.

“President, now there’s one on Baengnyeong Island!”

“Why are demons appearing even there! Damn it…!”

The president slammed his hand on the table in frustration.

“I wanted them to grow through field training, not become demons!”

“President, this is no time to be angry. First, the situation…”

“Evacuate the faculty and tell the students on site to subdue the demons! Just like they’ve always done!”

“B-but…”

Neither the professors nor the staff in the situation room dared to speak freely.

“Now we can turn demons back…”

“Do you think Platinum Sun will just pop up everywhere?! Huh?! With demons appearing sporadically like this, do you think Platinum Sun can appear everywhere to purify them all?!”

“But we can’t tell students to kill them either! The students all know! They’re no longer demons… they’re people…”

“We’re killing demons!!”

Everyone fell silent at the president’s shout.

“We’re killing demons, nothing has changed! We just kill all the demons!”

“President.”

“What!”

“It’s the President of the Republic.”

“……”

The president immediately cooled down.

After clearing his throat, which had become slightly strained from his outburst, he took the smartphone handed to him by his secretary.

“Yes, Mr. President.”

The man who had been shouting with veins bulging in his neck moments ago was nowhere to be seen; the president’s voice was now extremely calm.

“No, it’s fine. Yes. Ah, of course. The academy will do its best. Yes. Thank you.”

Click.

The call ended abruptly.

The President of the Republic had said what he needed to say and hung up.

“Um, what did the President say…?”

“From now on, the NSC will oversee the current situation instead of the academy.”

This meant the situation was that urgent.

“Send all the student files. Send an emergency official document as an attachment first! Hurry!”

“Yes, sir!!”

“Professors, call your students’ team leaders immediately to check on them! First check on the team leaders, then call each student one by one!”

The president bit his fingernails.

“Damn it… Why are demons appearing simultaneously… I wanted trials, but not this kind of trial…!”

“President.”

“Ah, Professor Lisara.”

A woman with gray-dyed hair approached cautiously.

While others were busy making calls, Professor Lisara lowered her voice.

“Perhaps this is an opportunity?”

“An opportunity?”

“Yes. To weed them out. The seeds that would become demons. A large-scale purge.”

“What can we gain from that—”

“Platinum Sun.”

At Professor Lisara’s words, the president’s eyes widened as if he had just realized something.

“We can find out where Platinum Sun appears first. With just that, we can… discover clues about Platinum Sun. Yes. Unless suddenly…”

Professor Lisara twisted the corner of her mouth.

“Unless someone who kills demons suddenly appears.”

* * *

Thud thud thud.

“It’s here.”

In the distance.

A plane crosses the sky above Ulleungdo.

And from the sky, something large begins to fall directly toward this location.

It looks like a meteor, or a giant container—

WHOOSH.

The container stopped in mid-air.

Though I hadn’t reached out my hand, the container stopped in the air on its own.

“My goodness, what is that?”

The tavern owner, surprised to see the container floating in the air, was shocked when she saw the mark on it.

“Did Qiongqi send this…?”

“The Syndicate, you see, may be short on time, but they have enough budget to throw manpower at problems.”

I lightly tapped the container with my hand.

Soon, what appeared to be a metal container sublimated into red magical energy.

“Is that… Qiongqi’s magical energy?”

“Yes.”

I wrapped Qiongqi’s magical energy around my arm.

Though it was someone else’s magical energy, given the relationship between Qiongqi and me, I could fully handle Qiongqi’s power as my own.

“…That’s really amazing. Is it similar to what you showed in Gangwon Province?”

“Strictly speaking, it’s different. Back then, Qiongqi and I became one, but this is just borrowing Qiongqi’s magical energy.”

“Becoming one with Qiongqi…”

The tavern owner smiled with a suggestive, lewd grin.

“Department Head. After this is over, can you do me a favor?”

“What is it?”

“I’d like to meet Qiongqi just once.”

“…Why?”

“Well.”

The tavern owner fidgeted with her fingers like a fan about to meet a celebrity.

“Qiongqi saved my life.”

“Is that why you joined the Syndicate?”

“I joined to get revenge on Haeguneul, but the one who saved me happened to be Qiongqi. And… now we’re close enough… to ask for such favors, right?”

“…You’re being very cautious.”

I extended my pinky finger toward the tavern owner.

“I promise. Next time, I’ll invite Qiongqi and we can have a meal together.”

“R-really?!”

“Of course. But it can’t be on Sejong Island, we’ll have to go to Seoul—”

“I’ll go! I can take a plane!”

“……”

Is that what they call fan devotion?

“I’ll be going now.”

After making the promise with the tavern owner, I reached for the object inside the container.

“Oh. But it might not just be from Qiongqi.”

“…?”

“The support this time isn’t just from Qiongqi.”

The object protected by Qiongqi’s magical energy had gently landed on the ground, and I mounted it.

“…That’s not what I think it is, right?”

“It is.”

I pointed to the lower part of the bike, the circular wheel.

“With magical energy and ‘wind,’ I can go anywhere.”

From now on.

[I’ll fly through the skies of the Korean Peninsula to kill demons.]

So that Ymir won’t have to act.

Even if.

“Won’t Ymir be angry? She said demons should be saved.”

[If she can’t appear now, it’s right for me to kill the demons first.]

Even if Ymir gets angry later.

[While waiting for Platinum Sun to appear, at least ten thousand people would be killed by demons.]

For now.

[We can’t let the citizens of Yimemangryang be killed by demons, can we?]

The urgent task is to save the future inhabitants of the world that the Syndicate will rule.