Ch.34Hero

“Kyaaaaa~!!”

“Waaaaa!”

Boom, boom, boom, the citizens dancing to the music spreading from the outdoor club cheered excitedly at the massive shockwave.

Pink, purple, and green lasers flickered against the smoke of gunpowder scattered across the sky.

Under the diagonal roof created by the pulsing lights, Yu Anna crouched down, breathing heavily as she amplified her special ability’s wavelength.

Hot wind, the storm created by the high-temperature flames surrounding Yu Anna’s body caused the rusty metal ball residue stuck to her body to fall to the ground, leaving red marks on her skin as she cracked her neck and glared at the rooftop across from her.

“Phew, this, damn bitch…”

“Ahah, as expected of an S-rank hero! You’re a monster~even worse than actual monsters!”

Crash! Gu Seo-ryong, who had leaped up from the opposite rooftop, lifted her head in mid-air and took a deep breath.

Then boom, boom, boom, as fireballs shot from her mouth, Yu Anna frowned and swatted them away with her hand.

But the sticky poison hidden behind the flames covered Yu Anna’s skin.

“Ugh! How disgusting!”

“Ahahaha! What’s dirty about fighting!”

Whoosh! Gu Seo-ryong landed in front of Yu Anna and swung a kick with her claws extended, then spun around and launched a rapid series of attacks with her thick tail and clawed hands.

Seeing the poison on the tips of Gu Seo-ryong’s hands and feet, Yu Anna moved quickly to avoid the attacks. Gu Seo-ryong crouched on all fours, glaring at Yu Anna with sharp eyes while flicking her tongue inside her mouth.

Tak… tak… tak… as the sound spread, a confusion ability enveloped Yu Anna.

As Yu Anna stood still watching Gu Seo-ryong with heightened vigilance, Gu Seo-ryong’s claws suddenly appeared before her eyes.

“Kuh?!”

As Yu Anna immediately threw her head back to avoid the attack, Gu Seo-ryong’s foot drove into her stomach.

The claws that appeared before her eyes were an illusion; the real attack was a kick launched from a low crouch on the ground.

Launched into the air, Yu Anna curled her body as the surrounding air suddenly grew cold.

The moment Yu Anna was pushed into the prepared ice fog, a second capacitor shell was fired with a pop sound.

Bang! Rumble! The second thunderbolt pierced through Yu Anna’s body.

“Not used to fighting humans, are you? Your vital spots are quite exposed?”

“Ugh… huff, haah…!”

“Seeing that you’re still alone, you really did come by yourself? Well, I thought as much. Starlight seems cold but has quite a hot temper and caring personality. Unlike you, an S-rank, other heroes find it difficult to ignore pressure from above. You had to come alone to handle this to prevent your fellow heroes from getting hurt.”

As the heat pain penetrated her entire body and her vision flickered, Gu Seo-ryong walked upside down from the sky.

Leisurely swishing her tail, Gu Seo-ryong rippled like she was underwater, gradually suffocating Yu Anna’s senses.

“Starlight’s ability is destructive flames, light, plasma… should I call it that? Speed, destructive power, both exceptional, difficult to land attacks on, and not many attacks work against you. However… if I can hold you in one place, or if the attack is as fast as light, I can hit you as much as I want. Even your flames that block most attacks can’t block internal shocks. Like Cage, the S-rank hero of A City, you have virtually no resistance to hallucinations.”

“Huff…! Phew… You know, quite a lot about me?”

“Of course, you’re the most dangerous enemy in W City? Hehe, how is it? Our thunder bomb? Quite a shock even for an S-rank hero, isn’t it?”

As she said, Yu Anna felt numbness in her limbs after just two lightning strikes.

The pain burning through her entire body beneath her skin was an agony she had never experienced before.

“The pain is considerable, but it’s far from fatal, isn’t it?”

“Of course, that’s why they’re called Despair-rank—because there’s no way to deal with them using conventional means.”

“Die, Starlight!”

Trrrrrrrrrr! Three villains positioned at an anti-aircraft Vulcan battery on one side of the rooftop fired three machine guns at Yu Anna.

Clang! The bullets that hit Yu Anna’s side stuck to her and formed a writhing metal plate, with more bullets hitting it and causing sparks to fly.

With the heavy impact different from a sniper rifle, Yu Anna hid behind a concrete structure on the rooftop, and Gu Seo-ryong squatted next to her, supporting her face with both hands.

“An S-rank is a human who brings despair to monsters. If you died from mere lightning, you wouldn’t be Despair-rank, would you?”

“Get lost!”

Whoosh, as Yu Anna swung her arm, Gu Seo-ryong’s illusion distorted and disappeared, sinking into the shadows.

From the shadows that sank like black oil, hundreds of tiny Gu Seo-ryongs bubbled up around Yu Anna’s feet and spoke in unison.

“””Tired?”””

“What an annoying ability!”

“Ahah! Thanks for the compliment!”

Ting, ting, ting… after the sound of rolling metal, light burst from beneath the clustered Gu Seo-ryongs.

A modified flash grenade, and in the intense explosion of light, Yu Anna suffered from tinnitus, if only for a brief moment.

In that split-second gap, Gu Seo-ryong leaped into the saturation and pounced on Yu Anna.

“Kuh!”

“Nope, another miss~♥”

The moment Yu Anna threw a straight punch at that Gu Seo-ryong, another appeared behind her and drove her claws into Yu Anna’s neck.

Swoosh, Yu Anna immediately struck back, melting off Gu Seo-ryong’s finger joints, but gulp, gulp, the fingers remaining in her neck continued to move, injecting poison.

Is this an illusion? No, these are real fingers.

Yu Anna’s ability reacted strongly to the rapidly spreading poison, beginning to burn away the toxins.

However, Gu Seo-ryong’s poison was spreading faster than Yu Anna could burn it.

“Seems like you don’t have much experience fighting humans as rumored! You fall for every trick, it’s even cute?”

“What is this…!”

“Mmm~? Well, what should I call it? A stimulant, sensory amplifier, excitant, call it whatever you like. What’s important is… important… important… important…”

“You’re making it, you, are.”

“Increasingly difficult.”

“To fight me?”

Thump, thump, the heartbeat merges with the loud music.

The light that stretches toward the sky seems to lose direction, bending and scattering, entangling with Yu Anna’s flames.

The human form beautifully drawn by the intertwining light beams, the snow-white hair fluttering and pushing Yu Anna back.

In the midst of floundering sensations, Yu Anna was pushed off the rooftop.

The dazzling laser lights filling the night sky embrace Yu Anna.

Gradually, sharply, wrapped in soft clouds, and as ice-like gravity penetrates, the laser lights twist and tangle, taking the form of a giant snake and lunging forward.

“Ugh, huff…!”

With the sound of twisting steel, Yu Anna opened her eyes on the ground to see Gu Seo-ryong above her, backlit by moonlight, her eyes glowing.

With vertically slit pupils like a beast, Gu Seo-ryong’s two feet extended their claws as she fell with an excited expression.

Crash! The moment Gu Seo-ryong’s feet dug into Yu Anna’s stomach, the twisted steel melted, broke, and pierced through, enclosing Yu Anna in an iron cage.

“Waaaaaaah! Waaaaaaah!”

“Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!!”

Clang, clang, with the sound of falling steel hitting the ground, gulp, gulp, poison continued to be injected through Gu Seo-ryong’s claws as she stood on top of Yu Anna.

Despite being collapsed on the floor, Yu Anna felt like she was standing, making her dizzy.

Above her, Gu Seo-ryong, who had been receiving cheers from the audience with arms spread wide, squatted down on top of Yu Anna and said:

“Wake up, Starlight! You’re going to lose at this rate!”

“Don’t, mock, me!”

“Kyaaak!”

Whoosh! As the fallen Yu Anna extended her fist toward the moon, a massive pillar of fire shot up toward the sky.

Gu Seo-ryong, who had jumped backward with her head thrown back, screamed in agony while clutching her blackened arm and the hole in her stomach.

“My arm! My stomach! Aaaaargh!”

Then, with a playful smile, Gu Seo-ryong peeled off her skin with her claws as if shedding.

From inside, she pulled out a snow-white hand and removed the hand covering her stomach, revealing a firm, filled abdomen that she stroked.

“All fine~? Ahah!”

“Ahahahahahaha!”

“Gu Seo-ryong! Gu Seo-ryong! Gu Seo-ryong!”

“Huff… huff… huff…”

“I heard that just now! Or should I pretend I didn’t? Ahahahaha!”

What part of this is illusion and what is real?

Gu Seo-ryong’s overflowing confidence, the villains aiming guns and abilities, citizens rejoicing in drunken and drugged states, the moans of prostitutes, the loud club music tickling her expanded senses.

Yu Anna, with her hands on her knees, tried to calm her excessively expanded senses.

“Now! Ms. Hero? If you don’t fly again, lightning will strike among the citizens this time!”

“Waaaaaaah! Ahahahahahaha!”

“Fly now! You bitch! Hurry!”

“Damn bitch…!”

But Gu Seo-ryong didn’t give her time and sprayed mist over the citizens.

Hiss, with the sound of the sprayed mist and the lasers passing through it, the people got excited. As Yu Anna flew up into the sky through the whitish mist to avoid the citizens, concentrated fire from sniper rifles began again.

At that moment, ice fog suddenly appeared around Yu Anna.

What had descended to the ground earlier wasn’t ice fog but an excitant sprayed in mist form.

The villains with sniper rifles had successfully guided Yu Anna into the mist that had been hidden by Gu Seo-ryong’s ability.

“Jackpot♥”

Bang, as Gu Seo-ryong made a shooting gesture, a superhuman mixed among the people fired a capacitor shell.

And boom! With a massive explosion, nearby people were blown away by the shock.

The blown citizens rolled on the ground, bleeding or collapsing unconscious.

Those who remained conscious crawled on the ground laughing, while some who were only slightly pushed cheered with screams and laughter.

“Kyaaaaaaak! Ahahahahahaha!”

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

“Ugh, huff… kuh, ugh…”

After the third lightning strike, Yu Anna, barely standing above the citizens who had fallen into madness, gritted her teeth.

Beside her, Gu Seo-ryong landed on a streetlight with a thud, squatting on top of it, swishing her tail that hung down beneath the crushed, sparking streetlight, and said:

“Amazing~? How did you do that just now?”

“Huff… huff… huff…”

“Did you swallow the lightning or something? I’m curious? What did you do?”

“You, fucking, bitch… haah…”

When the capacitor shell exploded, Yu Anna had suppressed the flames covering her skin surface.

By keeping her ability as deep inside her body as possible and quickly burning away the lightning, the lightning was drawn in rather than blocked, penetrating deep into Yu Anna’s body, with only a slight electrical current extending to nearby people, resulting in just minor shocks.

Despite this, people who were blown away by the unblocked shockwave were injured, but considering they had witnessed a thunderbolt exploding right in front of them, the damage was minimal.

“Hey, but isn’t that kind of stupid? Why are you trying so hard to protect people~?”

Whip! As Gu Seo-ryong swung her tail and made a whipping sound with its tip, a blurry Gu Seo-ryong behind the one squatting on the streetlight began to fall over.

One, two, three, more and more afterimages of Gu Seo-ryong fell, glowing purple, red, and green in sync with the club’s lights.

“This tactic wouldn’t work at all if you didn’t care about humans, you know? It’s a hero-exclusive tactic of using people as shields for one-sided attacks. So if you just charged in with that eraser thing or whatever, thinking about killing some humans, I was even considering abandoning Kowloon Walled City and running away, but it’s working so well it’s almost disappointing?”

“Ha, so you’ve created a hero-exclusive tactic, as if there are monster-exclusive tactics?”

“To us, heroes and monsters are no different, you know? Just annoying things that show up and interfere when we’re having fun.”

“That’s something I can relate to, because to me, you villains look no different from monsters.”

Thud, thud, the falling afterimages of Gu Seo-ryong piled up among the people, creating the illusion that the ground was rising.

Yu Anna clenched her tingling arm tightly, and Gu Seo-ryong, who continued to fill the surroundings with afterimages, raised the corners of her mouth and said kindly:

“Wouldn’t Starlight feel cheated losing like this? How about it? Why not fight seriously now? Regardless of whether people live or die, let’s fight while destroying everything. Like when you face monsters.”

“Fight! Fight! Fight!”

“Kill! Kill! Kill!”

“This isn’t your real ability right now, is it~?”

At the drug-induced, manic voices of the citizens, Yu Anna inwardly sighed.

These inhuman things—she wanted to do exactly as Gu Seo-ryong suggested.

But Yu Anna didn’t do that.

She wouldn’t do that.

“The hero I know, no matter how annoying citizens are, silently saves people and tries to save even one more person?”

The one who appears in the most fearful moments, stops the monster that burns everything, wipes away dried tears, the light that appears in the dark smoke.

No matter how much they’re disrespected by citizens, a hero is a hero.

“So could you take your bullshit back to the doghouse?”

“Hmm~ that’s, what a stupid person.”

Tak, as Gu Seo-ryong snapped her fingers, all the afterimages that had been piling up rose like balloons, blocking Yu Anna’s view.

At that moment, Yu Anna threw a punch behind her.

“I’m saying you’re admirable, stupid!”

“Kyaaaak!”

Crash! Both arms of Gu Seo-ryong behind her melted and flew off.

As the full illusion shattered and disappeared, reality appeared before her eyes.

Yu Anna, who had been floating in the air, had somehow come down to the ground, and Gu Seo-ryong had approached behind her.

The afterimages filling the area under the streetlight and the sensory confusion were tricks to gradually bring Yu Anna down to the ground, but even in the midst of confusion, she was aware of her feet touching the ground.

Certain this was not an illusion due to the clear sensory feedback from reality, Yu Anna clenched her fist with flames flickering around it.

“Wh-what?! My, my arms! My arms! Ah, aaaah!”

“Nu-Nunim!”

“Phew…”

Gu Seo-ryong, whose arms were completely gone below the elbows, screamed and burst into tears.

As Gu Seo-ryong’s ability stopped and the confusing sensations found their place, Yu Anna sighed in relief and reached out toward Gu Seo-ryong.

She thought she would beat her until she passed out, neutralize and arrest her. That was the moment.

“Here you are?”

“…ugh, ah…?”

In an instant, Gu Seo-ryong, whose arms had regrown, thrust both hands into Yu Anna’s lower chest.