Ch.82Monsterization, Want to Control It? (3)

# Arcana Spear.

The one and only, humanity’s strongest existence in the <Monster Frontline> universe.

Official Hero Ranking #1, the mightiest hero of the current era who makes even monsters tremble.

As a symbol of justice, hope to humans and terror to monsters, she had remained a mythical figure for a long time, never crossing the boundary to become a playable character.

But now, after the law revision, she has personally appeared on stage for the first hero examination with no participant limit.

Hot rumors were already spreading among the examinees.

“I heard this exam will consist of three matches in total.”

“All matches? Isn’t that basically a battlefield?”

The mixed absolute and relative evaluation methods that had been used until now were all gone, meaning all examinees must now recognize each other as both enemies and allies.

“In the first test, we will divide all examinees gathered here into ten groups to test your ‘qualities’.”

With those words, expectation, tension, and thrill rushed in all at once.

The stronger examinees cheered, anticipating the imminent battle.

Then, all eyes turned toward the sky.

A massive purple magic circle spread across the middle of the sky, and mysterious energy began to cover the earth.

At that very moment, Arcana Spear stood proudly upon it.

Her long silver hair flowed in the wind, and her tight leotard clearly revealed her perfect curves.

Her presence transcended mere appearance, quiet yet overwhelming like a goddess from mythology.

As magical light enveloped her body, her delicate yet intense presence made the examinees lose themselves in her magnificence.

With a cold yet dignified gaze, she slowly raised her hand with authority.

“Now, let the hero examination begin!”

In that moment, everything seemed to stop.

Arcana Spear’s voice spread like a cosmic incantation, shaking the hearts of all examinees at once.

The scene unfolding before my eyes was already the prelude to battle.

Song Hana’s hand beside me, along with another person’s hand, grabbed mine simultaneously as if performing a ritual.

“The first test begins.”

Snap.

The moment her finger snapped, the world turned white.

All sounds, all sensations disappeared in an instant, feeling as if being sucked into an empty void.

And I was drawn into that dazzling white light, heading toward the next world, the prelude to the next battle.

***

“Ughhhh…”

“So dizzy… urgh.”

“Hana, are you alright?”

“Ugh… I don’t know. I’m so dizzy.”

Just moments ago, I was captivated by the sensation of floating in mid-air, but that feeling disappeared in just a few seconds.

The moment my feet touched the ground, the scenery before my eyes had completely changed.

No longer an open sky and wasteland, but a high-tech space thoroughly enclosed from ceiling to floor.

The faint afterglow of magic circles trembling along the walls, gleaming metal frames above them, and the smooth texture of reinforced glass all blended together.

Detection devices blinking at regular intervals at each corner merely responded expressionlessly, as if keeping a close eye on us.

This wasn’t just a simple waiting room.

It was the stage for the first test, exuding the atmosphere of a cutting-edge simulation training ground.

“Uuuugh…!”

“Hana, do you feel like throwing up? Then let’s find a bathroom first…”

“There won’t be any bathrooms here.”

“!!”

That’s when I noticed.

There was one more person who had warped here while holding my left hand.

A homunculus with long braided silver hair, dressed like a knight princess.

Zero.

Not human, but an S-rank Hero (15th place) and a combat homunculus designed for fighting major monsters.

With an expressionless face, she pulled out a water bottle from somewhere and offered it to Hana.

“Drink this water instead. It will help settle your stomach.”

“Ah, thank you, Zero!”

Gulp, gulp.

Hana downed the water in one go.

Soon, with a pleased expression, she let out a “Phew” and gave a thumbs up, seeming much better.

“You saved me!”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

Zero put away the water bottle and subtly moved closer to us.

Behind her cold gaze and expressionless face, a fragment of a human-like smile seemed to flash by, but her appearance remained unbelievably composed.

Meanwhile, numerous questions exploded simultaneously in my head.

“Wait, Zero. Why are you… in this examination hall?”

“Me?”

“That’s right! Now that you mention it!”

Hana also seemed to notice the oddity belatedly, staring intently at Zero who had appeared in the middle of the exam site despite her S-rank Hero title.

“Zero. Shouldn’t an S-rank Hero be among the exam supervisors?”

“Oh, so is Zero perhaps the supervisor for the first test?”

“Ah! That would make sense for someone like Zero!”

Zero is an artificial human created through the Hero Association’s top-secret science and technology and miracles.

True to her title as a “combat type for major monsters,” her combat ability was unmatched by anyone.

So the hypothesis that Zero might be the supervisor for the first test seemed somewhat plausible.

“No. I’m here to take the exam too.”

“Huh?”

“…What?”

After hearing her answer, Hana and I immediately looked at each other.

An S-rank Hero taking the hero exam again, which starts from E-rank? What could this mean?

“There was a lot of talk from higher-ups about my performance during the cockroach monster incident.”

“…!”

What Zero mentioned was the cockroach monster incident that occurred in City C not long ago.

At that time, despite being an S-rank Hero, she turned her back on the monster.

“That was…”

“B-but! You just retreated temporarily after listening to me! You lost your S-rank qualification just for that?”

“It’s not expulsion, just a temporary suspension.”

Right before the fierce battle with the cockroach monster in City C.

Instead of her usual perfectly programmed mechanical response, Zero simply followed Hana’s desperate advice to “run away.”

In that moment, a single trace of human-like wavering flashed through her cold eyes.

Zero, who had always moved precisely according to the system, listened to someone else’s words and acted autonomously for the first time.

The higher-ups interpreted that deviation as a “system error” or “reason to doubt combat ability,” and consequently, Zero became subject to re-evaluation, leading to her participation in the hero exam again.

Her action was as if a perfectly arranged line of machine code had unexpectedly been disturbed by the subtle vibration of emotion.

Standing before us was not just a simple homunculus, but a seed of new possibility that had begun to show its own will.

“I’m sorry, Zero… because of me, you were removed from S-rank.”

“Not at all. If it weren’t for you, Song Hana, I probably wouldn’t be here now.”

“Zero…”

Unlike Hana who still felt apologetic, I sensed this situation as a strange opportunity.

‘Zero,’ a character that didn’t exist in the original work, and ‘me,’ who was possessed and also not in the original.

I felt an inexplicable sense of kinship.

“By the way, I understand Hana, but… are you also taking the hero exam, Jang Hoon?”

“Huh? Oh, well… it just turned out that way.”

“…Mr. Jang Hoon. I don’t mean to disrespect you, but this exam is no joke. If a fragile man participates recklessly, his life could be in danger.”

True to the patriarchal worldview with its underlying perception that ‘men are weak,’ I could still feel that Zero was genuinely concerned about me.

Even if it was programmed goodwill, it was nice to hear.

And soon she came up with an unexpected proposal.

“So I suggest, how about the three of us form an ‘alliance’?”

“Hmm?”

“Alliance?”

Before the cockroach monster incident, Zero would have coldly said something like ‘Teaming up with you would be statistically disadvantageous’!

For her to reach out first like this, it made me feel proud in a corner of my heart.

“B-but! Compared to Zero, we… at least I would be completely useless.”

“Not at all, Song Hana. You are the savior of my life. Without you, I probably wouldn’t be here.”

Zero first encouraged Hana, who was at the level of a ‘foot soldier A-rank,’ then turned her gaze to me.

“Mr. Jang Hoon.”

“Haha… no matter what, I don’t think I’ll be much help?”

Honestly, I hadn’t had any significant connection with Zero yet.

So I expected to hear some harsh words, but…

“I want to learn from your values.”

“Huh?!”

At this unexpected answer, my eyes widened involuntarily.

“You are a man. In this world, men are supposed to be protected, naturally weak, and should never step forward.”

“Ah, yes…”

“Yet you always moved forward. Among S-rank heroes, at monster appearance sites, and now even in this hero exam.”

In Zero’s red eyes, I seemed to be reflected as something more than just an ‘unusual man.’

“I want to learn from you.”

Like a machine wanting to become human, Zero spoke with a strange passion hidden in her expressionless face.

I’m not sure of the true meaning behind her words yet…

“Anytime.”

If that’s what she wants, and if I can be of help, it might not be bad to work together in this exam.