Ch.152Gathered in One Place

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The monster alert that rang through the city after a long time caused citizens to evacuate a beat too late.

As a result, Sa Gu-gu responded aggressively to the heroes’ special abilities as they tried to subdue the monster more intensely.

The wavelength of power that seemed only Starlight could block, the vibration that made the surroundings tremble.

Just as the heroes’ necks were about to be severed in one go, Gu Seo-ryong unleashed her ability.

“Whoa?!”

“This is… space manipulation!”

As Sa Gu-gu, disoriented by sensory confusion, sliced through the air right above their heads, the heroes who narrowly escaped death heightened their vigilance.

“That’s the ability Bad Cats used, isn’t it?”

“Could it be the same species?”

“Did Black Cat lure it here…?”

“Wait, isn’t that Gu Seo-ryong?”

Tsk. Gu Seo-ryong’s mind grew increasingly complicated as she clicked her tongue.

The opponents were W City’s heroes, whom Black Cat particularly cherished.

If she accidentally killed them, would Black Cat spare Gu Seo-ryong and Sa Gu-gu?

Gu Seo-ryong recalled Black Cat’s warning at the cafeteria one day.

‘Don’t be mistaken. I can kill you anytime.’

Black Cat would kill without hesitation if someone needed to die, even if she had grown fond of them.

Gu Seo-ryong, who admired that quality in Black Cat, knew this for certain.

Right now, if she confused the heroes and let them all die to Sa Gu-gu’s ability, she could protect Sa Gu-gu, but… Black Cat would kill Sa Gu-gu upon her return.

But if she interferes with Sa Gu-gu, the heroes will kill Sa Gu-gu.

If she prevents them from killing Sa Gu-gu, the heroes will surely attack Gu Seo-ryong too.

Although Sa Gu-gu had become quite a powerful monster, she was at best top-tier Despair-rank.

If Starlight arrived, Sa Gu-gu would die even if Gu Seo-ryong tried to protect her.

That cunning little brat must know this, so what is she thinking?

Didn’t she like Sa Gu-gu? Is she going to let Sa Gu-gu die like this?

Glaring at Ui, who was sitting quietly on the rooftop, Gu Seo-ryong sensed the heroes preparing to use their abilities and snapped her fingers.

Visual confusion—the falling raindrops refracted light like prisms, creating angles.

The scattered light spread and continued to disperse, blinding the heroes.

The heroes’ abilities misfired in various directions, grazing trees in the park, building windows, and evacuating citizens.

“Gu Seo-ryong!”

“What the hell! Are you helping the monster?”

“This is terrorism!”

With this single use of her ability, the heroes firmly identified Gu Seo-ryong as an enemy.

At that moment, Sa Gu-gu abandoned the heroes and lunged at Gu Seo-ryong.

Pop-pop-pop! Whether trying to avoid sensory confusion or not, Sa Gu-gu jumped through space three times in an instant, twisted her body, and swung her blade-tipped tail at Gu Seo-ryong.

Too slow to dodge, Gu Seo-ryong’s leg was sliced, forcing her to backflip repeatedly using her tail instead of her leg.

Amid the flashy movements, Sa Gu-gu chased after her, swinging her front paws, but missed and clawed at empty air when Gu Seo-ryong’s whip-like tail changed her direction with a sharp crack!

In the increasingly clear rainfall, the glittering Gu Seo-ryong dispersed into smaller versions of herself and disappeared into the light.

“Nyaaang!”

Sa Gu-gu, stopping in place, resonated her core, causing the raindrops to spread outward in a circular wave.

In the distorted air, a faint human figure appeared—Sa Gu-gu spotted Gu Seo-ryong landing on a streetlight, avoiding the heroes, and sliced through space.

Chut, small droplets of blood sprayed from the cleanly severed neck.

“Ha, seriously…”

Gu Seo-ryong, whose head had been cut off, irritably grabbed her head with both hands and regenerated it in place.

She already knew, but Sa Gu-gu’s detection ability and regenerative power had become incomparably stronger than before.

Gu Seo-ryong had no way to defeat Sa Gu-gu, who was largely immune to her mental manipulation.

In other words, she had no choice but to hold out until Black Cat arrived.

Protecting the heroes from Sa Gu-gu, protecting Sa Gu-gu from the heroes, and protecting herself from both.

That’s impossible, isn’t it?

Coldly assessing the situation, Gu Seo-ryong instinctively thought of a way to protect herself.

The method was simple.

Abandon Sa Gu-gu to be attacked and flee—then either be hunted by heroes or killed by Black Cat.

Tools exist to be used and discarded like this.

She had used and discarded villains like this countless times before.

She clearly knew that was the easiest way, and yet…

“Focus! Concentrate on your senses!”

“Shoot! Kill the monster first!”

For some reason, feeling frustrated with herself, Gu Seo-ryong reflexively moved her hands.

Abilities that wouldn’t significantly damage Sa Gu-gu—abilities that would only threaten Gu Seo-ryong herself—curved around and merely grazed Sa Gu-gu’s body.

Confused by this attempt to block abilities aimed at her, the ungrateful Sa Gu-gu charged at Gu Seo-ryong, baring her teeth.

“Hyaak!”

“Huu…!”

The precursors to spatial manipulation, which Gu Seo-ryong had learned to recognize after spending time with Sa Gu-gu—she knew them but couldn’t dodge.

Pibibik, as several lines appeared in the air and tore Gu Seo-ryong apart, her severed tail coiled like a spring, launching her torso—with only her head, chest, and one arm remaining—high into the air.

While spinning in midair, Gu Seo-ryong completely regenerated her body, then dug her claws into a building’s exterior wall, hanging there and beckoning to Sa Gu-gu.

“Gu-gu! Come here!”

Staying here would only increase the number of heroes; if a ring formed around them, even escape would become difficult.

Knowing the heroes’ tactics, Gu Seo-ryong called out, but Sa Gu-gu understood differently and charged at her.

Hwak, Gu Seo-ryong, now split into four, leaped onto the rooftop, and Sa Gu-gu, clearly identifying the main body, followed.

Her detection ability hadn’t suddenly improved.

The cause was the increasingly heavy rainfall—Sa Gu-gu was tracking Gu Seo-ryong’s main body through the echo reflected by the rain.

“Nya-nya-nya-nya-nya!”

Wind blades erupted from Sa Gu-gu’s continuously swinging front paws, with spatial cuts mixed between them.

Though she combined lethal strikes with feints, Gu Seo-ryong’s body—fatal regardless of where it was hit—collapsed into several pieces again.

Grimacing, Gu Seo-ryong used her petrification ability, making her eyes glow.

While Sa Gu-gu was momentarily frozen, Gu Seo-ryong took a deep breath, boldly thrust her hand into her own heart, removed her core, and threw it away.

She didn’t want to resort to this, but her body’s regenerative ability was said to be on par with CXI, or even beyond.

After throwing her heart far away, Gu Seo-ryong’s consciousness briefly faded, then returned while she was still in midair.

“Haak!”

Gu Seo-ryong regenerated her spinal cord, brain, eyes, and then lungs, taking a deep breath. She made eye contact with Sa Gu-gu, who was blankly standing on the corpse where the core had disappeared.

With her regeneration accelerated by a special ability, Gu Seo-ryong’s arms regrew, and she was seized by dizziness and a fierce hunger.

Her senses expanded at the smell of blood from fleeing humans and heroes. Flicking her tongue, Gu Seo-ryong drove her trembling fingertips into her own neck.

The newly regenerated clean brain and body filled with toxins, and after suppressing the monster’s instincts, she sighed with a numb feeling—just as Sa Gu-gu appeared before her.

“Keuut!”

Distance closing through spatial manipulation.

No matter how hard Gu Seo-ryong tried to escape elsewhere, Sa Gu-gu easily caught up.

Sa Gu-gu extended her front paws, about to pounce on Gu Seo-ryong.

“Nyaooo?!”

Hwararruk! A massive pillar of fire separated Sa Gu-gu and Gu Seo-ryong.

Starlight, who had flown to the central area after hearing the monster alert, opened her clenched fist to reveal a burning sphere in her palm and said:

“A Despair-rank monster and Gu Seo-ryong—a familiar yet strange combination.”

Kwaduk, Starlight landed between Gu Seo-ryong, who had touched down on the rooftop, and Sa Gu-gu, who had landed on the opposite building.

“Even though you’re a villain, I’ll give you time to explain since you helped before. Well, explain what’s going on here.”

Following her, other heroes arrived, attempting to form an encirclement around Sa Gu-gu.

“Is this a monster-based terror attack? What is it?”

As the heroes’ wavelengths grew stronger and Sa Gu-gu bared her teeth in wariness, growling, Starlight increased her aura to suppress it.

The flames changed from orange to blue to white, appearing savage even to Gu Seo-ryong.

Sa Gu-gu wasn’t the only one who had grown stronger.

Now Starlight had also become an opponent Gu Seo-ryong couldn’t handle.

In the increasingly heavy rainfall, Starlight, who was evaporating the rain falling on her head, flinched when she saw the rain-soaked Sa Gu-gu.

“Wait, Bad Cats?”

“Nyaaaaaaaa…”

As Starlight clenched her fist, ready to attack at any moment, Gu Seo-ryong startled, and Sa Gu-gu fluffed up her fur, making pre-attack growls.

“I’ll deal with this monster first, then arrest you.”

As the waves emanating from the monster core pushed away raindrops, clearly revealing its form, and the fluctuations around Starlight intensified—

“What?”

Gu Seo-ryong stretched out her hand, ready to use her ability against Starlight.

It was a warning that she would disorient Starlight if she attacked Sa Gu-gu.

Seeing this, Starlight’s expression twisted as she realized Sa Gu-gu was no ordinary monster.

“That hand—are you confessing that you’re behind this monster attack?”

Just moments ago, when Starlight had asked for an explanation, if Gu Seo-ryong had pretended to be innocent and claimed she was trying to stop Sa Gu-gu, perhaps she wouldn’t have been attacked by the heroes.

Starlight was that soft-hearted—even with villains, she would believe them once more if asked, maybe even twice. A stupid woman.

If she hadn’t luckily become Black Cat’s favorite hero, who knows when she would have died—a defective product.

So, this was foolish.

“I don’t know about any monster attack, but this is my pet, so don’t touch her.”

“Not Black Cat but you… keeping a monster as a pet? What nonsense.”

Gu Seo-ryong snickered at her own words, and Starlight’s expression hardened as she extended her hand toward Sa Gu-gu.

Flames gathered in her palm, a miniature sun creating a storm of heat as it concentrated massive energy in one spot.

“Just because you resemble Black Cat a bit doesn’t mean you should act like her too. All monsters…”

Just then, Starlight, about to attack Sa Gu-gu, paused in surprise.

Her gaze shifted to Sa Gu-gu’s ears, the cat-like body, and Gu Seo-ryong’s monsterized form.

“…could it be.”

She stopped? That woman who’s obsessed with killing monsters?

Not knowing why but sensing an opportunity, Gu Seo-ryong snapped her fingers, triggering her ability.

The sound of raindrops hitting the ground overlapped, transforming into bizarrely loud noise.

The heroes grimaced, and Sa Gu-gu, who had been wary of abilities aimed at her, spotted an opening among the heroes and was about to charge when she turned her head at the sound of Gu Seo-ryong’s clap.

“Where are you looking now?”

Why do children have such poor concentration?

When Gu Seo-ryong called, Sa Gu-gu immediately changed direction and headed toward her.

To escape the heroes’ encirclement, Gu Seo-ryong kicked off the rooftop and jumped far away.

“If you think you can escape…!”

“Huh?”

Just as the heroes were about to chase after them.

They stopped, feeling a strange pressure that dulled their sharp senses, and looked in one direction.

In the increasingly heavy rain, something emitting light with a strange presence.

The figure of a child, maintaining a perfectly intact form alone amid the pouring rain.

“A child?”

The heroes, reflexively thinking they should rescue the child, were struck by an obvious question.

On a rooftop in a city under evacuation alert—why would a child be here?

“Wait, did anyone see this child here when we flew in?”

“How long has it been here?”

Unlike some heroes who were protecting themselves from the rain by evaporating it, deflecting it, or using abilities unaffected by water, the child maintained its form in a very peculiar way.

“Unus’s absence, one Despair-rank monster with an S-rank villain, Starlight’s personality trying to minimize damage, W City’s anti-monster tactics, the priority between villains and monsters…”

Each time raindrops hit the child’s body, ripples formed on its surface.

A liquid body, completely integrated with the rain.

A strange light spreading from the center of its forehead and heavy air radiating from the child.

“It’s simple. All of W City’s awakened individuals have gathered in one place.”

What stood before them was not a child.

Among the heroes, Starlight was the first to move.

The tense Starlight fired a sun, which the child’s body absorbed, filling with bubbles and rapidly boiling.

“Is it the influence of the root image? Or is it the precognitive ability of a high-rank awakened? As expected, you move first.”

From the center of the boiling body, the child tore off the part that had swallowed the sun and regenerated its body in the rain.

The boiling slime that fell aside emitted smoke and bored into the rooftop floor.

“Indeed, a special ability. It’s tempting… tsk, but there’s no food without poison.”

“What are you?”

Feeling an indescribable sense of discomfort, Starlight intensified her flames as if to shake off her anxiety.

“Who knows?”

With those words from the child’s mouth, the rainfall over W City grew even heavier.

“I’m not human.”

Starlight’s flames wavered under the pressure of the pouring rain.