Chapter Index





    Ch.145Chapter 6. Hellfire Peninsula (2)

    At that moment, Dongbaek Island, Busan.

    “Damn it, call for backup now!”

    Officer Kim took cover behind the police car and frantically radioed for help.

    Though he was calling for someone far above his rank—someone he wouldn’t normally dare to look in the eye—he raised his voice since the person receiving the transmission was of the same rank as himself.

    “Damn it, people are dying here!”

    Correction.

    Regardless of who was on the other end, Officer Kim was desperate.

    A monster about 3 meters tall had taken over Dongbaek Island. The demon, resembling a giant dog, was chewing and swallowing something whole.

    It was a person.

    Already lifeless, quietly dying.

    Blood poured from the entire body, and the eyes had lost their light, pupils as dull as those of a frozen fish.

    Officer Kim thought to himself.

    Human death was something you encountered often when working as a police officer.

    Especially after the Great Cataclysm, when ability users went on rampages, multiple casualties were common.

    But this was different.

    Because the one being chewed up by that monster, with only the upper body visible outside its mouth, was an “ability user.”

    “Damn it, hurry! An Academy student is being eaten by a demon right now!!”

    A demon devouring a human.

    In this world, that wasn’t particularly strange.

    But the fact that an ability user was being eaten suggested the situation was more serious than expected.

    [We’ll be there soon! What would you estimate the demon’s rank to be?!]

    “How would I know—eek!”

    Officer Kim, hiding behind the police car, quickly ducked his head.

    Slash!

    The police car was split in half.

    If he had ducked even a moment later, Officer Kim’s head would have been severed along with the car.

    Hiss.

    The demon’s blade-like tail had extended to reach the police car.

    They were at least 50 meters apart, yet the demon’s attack had reached the vehicle.

    Did the demon have the ability to extend its tail?

    No.

    “Aaaagh!”

    The demon was suddenly right next to Officer Kim.

    Having now chewed the ability user up to the chest, it stared at Officer Kim with puppy-like eyes.

    “Fresssssh meeeeat…”

    Sounds began to leak from beside the ability user being devoured.

    The sound was clearly referring to Officer Kim, who reached for his waist.

    “Uh, aah…!”

    No gun.

    Even if he had one, pointing a gun at an ability user would be useless anyway.

    “P-please spare me…! What did I do wrong…!”

    Grin.

    The demon approached Officer Kim.

    After swallowing the ability user student in one gulp, the demon wagged its blade-tipped tail and approached the officer on all fours.

    The way it wagged its tail reminded Officer Kim of how dogs greet people they’re happy to see, and it sent chills down his spine.

    That happiness surely came from killing people—

    “Aaaah! Mom!!”

    As the tail rose high into the air, Officer Kim screamed without thinking.

    BOOM!

    A massive impact sound echoed.

    He felt something flying toward his entire body, and Officer Kim thought this was death.

    Thought?

    Why was he still thinking?

    If his body had been cut or killed, shouldn’t he feel pain?

    Confused, Officer Kim cautiously opened his eyes.

    Thud.

    The demon had its head smashed into the ground.

    Something like a black wedge was embedded in the back of the giant demon’s neck.

    “What… what is that…?”

    What should he call it?

    Black, grotesque, thick, heavy, a long pole.

    Too thick to be called a spear.

    Yes.

    A club.

    A club specially made to fight demons.

    The club hadn’t just fallen from the sky to hit the demon—it had pierced through the demon’s body.

    “What is this…?”

    [This place is already done for.]

    A man’s voice came from the sky.

    A man riding a bike covered with various attachments was slowly descending from the sky.

    “W-who are you…?”

    [Good thing you survived. Report this. The demon is dead. …Seems like all four here were wiped out.]

    “G-G-Goblin?!”

    [Not G-G-Goblin, just Goblin.]

    The man, Goblin, dismounted from his bike with his robe fluttering.

    [Too late to save them. I don’t let demons who kill humans live.]

    When Goblin raised one hand, the wedge embedded in the demon’s body gleamed and pulled out.

    Thud.

    The wedge instantly shrank and flew into Goblin’s hand. Goblin strapped the object—different from his usual club—to his back and got back on his bike.

    [If there are others elsewhere….]

    “Kyaaaah!”

    A woman’s scream rang out from the coast, not far from Dongbaek Island.

    Another demon, different from the one that died on the island, was rampaging there.

    [That was quick.]

    “I-I’ll really report…!”

    Officer Kim grabbed his radio with trembling hands.

    Whether Goblin was a villain or not, he had a duty to report the situation.

    [Go ahead and report. I’m a villain executioner. I have no reason to execute the people’s staff.]

    VROOOM!

    Goblin, mounted on his bike, instantly changed direction toward the coast.

    While riding, he grabbed the middle of the long pole strapped to his back and threw it like a harpoon toward the demon on the coast.

    THWACK!

    “Ouch.”

    The pole Goblin threw pierced the demon’s groin.

    The demon collapsed onto the beach, and Goblin retrieved his pole before leaving.

    “What… what’s going on…?”

    Just as Officer Kim wondered why Goblin was leaving.

    “Make way for the king—! Huh, what?!”

    Armored Taejo, standing atop a sports car, was shocked to see the fallen demon.

    “Someone already took care of it…? Could my abilities be this far-reaching…?”

    “Report! …The demon that appeared on Dongbaek Island was eliminated by Goblin!”

    Officer Kim reported exactly what he had seen to headquarters.

    “Goblin has appeared in Busan!! Currently executing demons!!”

    * * *

    I travel along the coast of Busan, eliminating demons as they appear.

    Demons appear roughly one or two every 20km, and the situations I encounter generally fall into three categories:

    Already subdued and dead.

    Already subdued and restrained.

    Or, conversely, devouring the ability users who tried to subdue them and becoming even more violent.

    [Hello? Syndicate communication. Syndicate communication. Can you hear me?]

    [I can hear you.]

    Even in my Goblin state—no, precisely because I am Goblin—I hear the voice of the only person I respect coming through the communication device attached to my bike.

    [Reception is good on this end. Whew. What a relief. Now we can finally have a proper conversation.]

    [Thank you for making this for me… Chief.]

    [It’s been so long since someone called me Chief instead of Chairman. Hah, really.]

    The Syndicate’s private communication channel that evades Cheonrian’s eyes.

    As long as I have this special bike, I can freely communicate directly with the Syndicate’s “headquarters.”

    [Demons are appearing all over the country. Starting from the islands and gradually spreading inland along the coast. What do you think?]

    [It’s like a time bomb.]

    [A time bomb?]

    [They planted demon seeds and slightly delayed the time it takes for the seeds to germinate and turn ability users into demons.]

    [Then, is it the case that Director Do reported last time?]

    [Yes. It seems Pandemonium has succeeded in mass-producing demon seeds. And not just mass production… seeds that they can make bloom into demons at will.]

    If I had to give it a name, I’d call it a “demon ring.”

    [This is serious. Normally, the disturbance would have been suppressed more quickly.]

    [It’s hard for ability users to kill demons right away now. Because they’ve learned there’s a way to resolve it without killing.]

    A problem that arose from growing up to be good people.

    [Before, they would have immediately killed demons on sight, but now they hesitate. Even though they’re the same demons, there’s now a possibility they can return to being human.]

    [Platinum Sun’s demon purification.]

    Since they were taught to try non-lethal methods of subduing opponents when possible, now that they know such a method exists, ability users won’t easily kill demons.

    Let’s subdue them first.

    If that doesn’t work, then we’ll do it the old way.

    Probably only a tiny minority of ability users would advocate for outright killing.

    [Whether 100 ability users or 50,000 civilians die, all that matters to them is that she gets to play the hero.]

    There’s only one reason Pandemonium spread the demon rings.

    [To make Platinum Sun a hero.]

    To purify demons across the country, Pandemonium scattered demon seeds nationwide.

    [Chief. How many demons have appeared across the country so far?]

    [Including the ones that have been dealt with, exactly 70 ability users turned into demons.]

    [So we’ll see exactly two more. Or…]

    [They’ll reach 666.]

    The demon of 666.

    Or.

    72.

    [Lemegeton.]

    [Solomon’s 72 demons.]

    Across the country, 70 demons have been born.

    They had no reason to become demons originally, but were forcibly transformed by the seeds.

    And.

    [Chief. Where have demons not appeared yet?]

    [There’s only one place.]

    The place where the remaining 2 demons will be born.

    [Ulleungdo.]

    Where Ymir is.


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