Ch.177177. Someone is Watching from Beside

The sudden incident and screams. Aerial steadied her racing heart.

‘Jonghyun will handle it himself. If it’s urgent, he’ll know what to do.’

At times like this, she needed to keep her distance. Especially if he needed to transform.

Do Jonghyun was a monster.

She had suspected it for a while. No, with everything that had happened, only a fool wouldn’t have noticed.

The decisive moment was during the Yoo Deokmin incident. That’s when suspicion turned to certainty.

She never asked why. Revealing it would be dangerous too.

‘But I believe you won’t deceive humanity or try to destroy it.’

Though he pretended to be a human monster, something seemed off.

‘Looking at it objectively, Jonghyun transforming into a monster and fighting does more good than harm.’

At least since her feelings had grown, she’d set her pride aside.

So she approached the accident site with confidence.

There, she met Yu Jia and together they rescued people and defeated enemies.

‘If it’s larvae, I’ve seen them in records. They can control or absorb human bodies.’

No matter where they came from, they didn’t trigger monster alarms.

That’s what made them such troublesome enemy weapons.

Anyway, people under their control needed to be knocked unconscious while the original larvae had to be destroyed.

‘With my power alone, such detection is impossible…’

Aerial recalled what Jonghyun would do. He always clearly identified their strengths and weaknesses.

‘What I can do is defeat the enemy decisively. That’s all.’

Her magical power ignited as she accelerated.

As her acceleration dispersed the surrounding smoke, Aerial released flames to illuminate the hazy view.

In an instant, she spotted all four figures standing there and methodically took them down one by one with her acceleration.

Her speed was precise. Aerial, known for her destructive power, now attacked enemies with newfound sharpness.

‘They’re all human! Where’s the larva’s main body?’

There was no monster. After subduing them, she burned the surroundings with her magic.

‘I need to protect myself from the larval form with magic.’

She stayed close to the burning magical energy.

Eventually, she waited until other guilds arrived and asked them to investigate.

“You might be infected by the larva monster!”

“Is it those things from the Cheonji Guild incident? There have been reports of such creatures lately.”

Just as the incident seemed to be concluding, a massive roar echoed from another location.

Aerial’s expression turned toward the sound and quickly darkened.

A dinosaur—a fully grown one at that, standing 9 meters tall—was roaring right in front of them.

‘Jonghyun? Why? Did something happen over there?’

While she didn’t know the details, she had witnessed this monster’s power several times.

‘It’s not the quadruped I saw before. It’s clearly below Mahana’s level… Is he handling it himself?’

Just as Aerial was starting to feel somewhat relieved, the dinosaur’s mouth suddenly opened toward them.

There were no other enemies nearby. Was it really aiming at them?

That couldn’t be right. She tried to convince herself, but her body moved instinctively.

“Does anyone have enhancement buffs? Focus them on me!”

“What are you saying? Hey, you!”

As Aerial concentrated all her magical power, she leapt forward.

Though she didn’t want to believe it, a laser-like force was now being discharged from the dinosaur’s mouth.

‘Why so suddenly?’

The power was too overwhelming to ponder questions. Even Aerial gritted her teeth against this force, nearly SS-rank in strength.

She had seen the power of this laser before.

Corner had analyzed the situation for her when she was unconscious.

[A massive heat energy of about 300M penetrated this forest in a straight line. If this attack had been in an urban area, it would have been catastrophic. There was also another force that could completely erase this area… You should absolutely never get hit by that.]

That’s why she jumped in to block it before anyone else could.

Her magic now clashed head-on with the laser.

As the collision began, she instantly felt the impact tearing at various parts of her body.

Left cheek, waist, shoulder, knee. It cut through every part like a blade.

The enemy clearly had the upper hand in raw power. It began pushing back her sword.

“At this rate…”

Just as she was panicking, a barrier suddenly appeared in front of her.

Simultaneously, the flow of the laser reversed.

“Are you okay?”

The guild that had responded was helping her.

“Wasn’t that the monster that helps humanity?”

“It’s showing its true colors! If we hadn’t blocked it just now, we’d have been in danger.”

Aerial’s heart raced every time she heard those words.

“No! It’s being controlled! You idiots!”

“What?”

“It wouldn’t suddenly act like this!”

Aerial rushed toward the monster. From her perspective, she wanted to calm Jonghyun up close, but this judgment proved effective.

With the adult dinosaur’s destructive power causing havoc around them, she intercepted it first, blocking further damage.

“Hey! Snap out of it!”

Aerial was slightly angered seeing it attack her immediately.

‘After I saved you before…!’

But if it was related to the larvae, this behavior made sense.

“Come to your senses!”

Though Aerial shouted, the monster’s massive tail answered for it.

As she nimbly dodged, all the surrounding windows shattered simultaneously.

In this urban area, the dinosaur caused damage just by moving.

It’s no wonder Jonghyun usually transformed into other forms in urban settings.

Only three exchanges had occurred so far.

Yet the surroundings were already in chaos. The impact was so severe that Aerial’s skin was torn and stained with blood.

Aerial concentrated her magic into her sword, aiming for a follow-up attack.

‘Otherwise…’

She felt her hands go numb as her sword trembled pathetically against the adult dinosaur’s destructive power.

The dinosaur seized the opening for a combo attack.

‘It’s just a second attack.’

A normal claw attack. But it was physical ability that even she, who could erase S-rank monsters, found overwhelming.

‘No, I shouldn’t try to win with physical ability in the first place…’

Humans can’t match monsters in physical ability. Besides, if this was the dinosaur monster she knew, the very idea of winning was… That’s where its strength lies, and she needed to target its weakness.

‘If it were you, that’s what you’d tell me, right?’

Aerial received Jia’s acceleration at that moment.

‘Great help, Jia.’

The moment Yu Jia sent the buff from a distance, she began attacking the enemy with incredible speed.

‘It’s big but slow. If pressed, it’ll swing its tail, right?’

Aerial’s sword sliced through the dinosaur’s side in one swift motion.

Blood flowed, but to the dinosaur, it seemed like just a minor wound.

‘Deeper. Stronger.’

As she burned more magic, she saw the opponent swinging its tail again.

‘So predictable. It is being controlled. Too simple!’

The real Jonghyun would have used a feint. That tail was only trying to block her agile advances.

She didn’t dodge the tail.

‘This is the second consecutive attack. Think carefully, Aerial. If you fail, you’ll get hit.’

She dove into the inner side of the widely rotating tail and instantly exploded her magic.

When the explosive force combined with the insufficient rotation on the inside, she finally succeeded in cutting off the dinosaur’s tail.

Aerial didn’t miss the opportunity and delivered a clean, magic-infused slash to the enemy.

It was larger than her height, extending from the monster’s back to where its tail had been.

“I did it…”

Aerial’s joyful expression soon disappeared as the monster turned its head and stared at her with a savage face.

‘It endured?’

The monster had withstood the magic that would normally melt an S-rank monster.

And now its steel-like claws targeted her.

‘I can’t dodge.’

She defended against the claw attack in mid-air but soon crashed to the ground.

“Ugh!”

Aerial jumped up, but the claws had already folded back, revealing the pouch inside.

‘I wasn’t enough. I should have gone deeper, stronger. I’m still…’

Despite Aerial’s frustration, she felt fear approaching.

Hadn’t Corner mentioned another destructive attack besides the linear heat energy?

“Ha…”

But in that moment, Aerial suddenly flared up.

“Why should I suffer like this! It’s all your fault!”

She blamed Jonghyun angrily. It was just pure irritation, a very Aerial-like outburst.

At that very moment, the dinosaur’s claws returned to their original state.

“Could it be?”

For a moment, she saw the eyes behind the helmet the dinosaur wore.

It was clearly looking at her.

“…”

And suddenly, it spread smoke screens.

Aerial breathed a sigh of relief.

‘But I need to become stronger. Sigurd. You must dedicate all your power to me.’

She stared intently at her summoned spirit’s sword.

*

Seo Jinwon was seething.

‘That damn Do Jonghyun. Jonghyun. Why on earth…’

Today’s test had been the worst for him. He had taken the extreme measure of subduing Ju Ara to impress Dokgo Jun, but Jun didn’t seem pleased.

Right after switching with Jonghyun, he whispered to him:

“Kid. I like your determination, but you can’t do things by calculating everything. It’s all about how you do it yourself and your skills. Let me show you why.”

Then he switched his team member with Jonghyun.

The obvious reason for switching with Jonghyun was to compare them.

‘What’s so great about him? He was struggling last time.’

What he should have learned from Dokgo Jun was that he couldn’t choose team members just for his convenience.

‘Can I manage with just Aerial? No, even with Aerial, if Ju Ara is involved…’

But the results were surprising. They performed well, smoothly.

The key point here is “well, smoothly.” With Ju Ara performing without mistakes, it was completely efficient.

The second-place team was Gold Dohyun’s team with their newly awakened power. These two teams clearly stood out.

‘This is absurd. Ju Ara not making a single mistake?’

After her insubordination, she wasn’t the timid, cautious Ju Ara he knew.

‘The difference between me and Jonghyun? As if that matters…!’

Then Sung Hochang, who had switched teams, made a comment:

[Hey, don’t try to do everything your way. Ju Ara was known among us for having good abilities. You just couldn’t utilize her properly. She performs well when she’s with us third-years.]

Utilizing Ju Ara well and gaining recognition.

Everyone at the academy acknowledged Jonghyun. Even Dokgo Jun.

‘So that’s why he made me compare with him? Am I trash?’

Those with determination have a higher chance of becoming stronger.

Dokgo Jun saw it right away. Seo Jinwon didn’t go home that day. He went straight to intense practice, including simulations.

‘Think you’re so great? Without even a summoned spirit? I’ll crush you!’

Whether jealousy or not, it was certainly a good motivator for becoming stronger.

But today, the most bizarre day of his life began.

After 6 PM, he left the academy.

Unable to calm his excitement, he thought of heading to the gate.

‘I’ll get stronger. I’ll show them I’m better.’

But by then, chaos had already erupted. People were murmuring about the smoke rising from various places.

‘Who’s fighting?’

Seeing guilds and police rushing toward it, it was clearly a monster.

‘Should I go watch?’

It was pure curiosity. As Seo Jinwon headed in that direction, smoke screens were being scattered everywhere.

“Smoke screens?”

Seo Jinwon used his summoned spirit to clear through the smoke.

There, he saw a lizard slightly larger than himself moving through the smoke.

‘….’

Seo Jinwon quickly moved toward where the monster had gone.

And there he saw it.

The sight of Do Jonghyun returning from monster to human form.