Oni’s Attack

Perhaps in consideration of the transfer student, the morning assembly ended quickly with a brief greeting.

And with the extra time gained from the quick assembly, the children in the class approached Neon, who was sitting in her seat, and asked her various questions.

From trivial questions like “You’re so pretty,” “Your hair color is unique,” “What mixed race are you?” to slightly more sensitive questions.

But there was no malice in those questions, so Neon, although hesitating a bit, earnestly answered everyone’s questions, and Juri watched this scene of Neon intently from her seat on the opposite side.

“She seems to have a more fragile personality than I thought…”

Of course, it might not actually be the case, but judging solely from her outward appearance, she didn’t seem to have a particularly strong personality.

And seeing this, Juri caught herself as her thoughts were about to twist into concluding that Neon probably wasn’t very strong either.

‘This isn’t the time to be thinking like this.’

This wasn’t the time to be evaluating the other’s strength, was it?

What Juri herself needed to do right now was to think about how to approach Neon, who was the clue to finding her lost memories.

If she broached the subject clumsily, she might be treated as a crazy person without getting anywhere, so Juri was currently sorting through various things to say to Neon in her mind.

Of course, even so, Juri’s situation was so unusual that it wasn’t easy to decide, but still.

‘How do I say that I lost my memory, but you’re the only one who remains in my memory, so I want to talk to you…?’

No matter how she phrased it, Juri’s current situation was almost certain to be treated as a crazy person.

Logically, it’s hard to believe that only a part of one’s memory disappeared as if someone had cut it out, but if she said that Neon was the only one remaining in her memory and asked to join the conversation, even Juri herself would probably curse first.

However, this was ultimately the truth.

So it was Juri’s job to somehow organize and convey this fact in a way that could be understood.

Therefore, this difficult contemplation continued without rest until the end of the considerably long break time, and should it be said that it was natural?

‘I can’t figure out how to say it…’

In the end, unable to come up with an answer, Juri just messed up her own hair.

“How on earth am I supposed to say this…”

No matter how much she tried to soften it or think of roundabout ways to say it, nothing normal existed.

Even after pondering for over ten minutes, the situation remained at a standstill. And it didn’t seem like it would change even if she invested several more hours or days.

She had already mobilized everything she could use in her head in this short moment, and this was the result.

Therefore, Juri had no choice but to make one final decision.

“…Haah, I might as well just confront her directly.”

If she can’t think of a better way anyway, honesty is the best weapon.

Even if it goes wrong, at worst she’ll just be treated as a crazy person once and that’s it, right?

So Juri made up her mind like that during the break time with little time left before the first period, watching the children heading to the changing room to change into their gym clothes.

Conveniently, the first period was a mock battle class held on the field.

It was the optimal class for creating a situation where they could be alone, so Juri took a deep breath as she got up, gathering her gym clothes.

“Phew… Alright.”

She is Na Juri. Daughter of Na Tae-hyun.

She never fails.

---

A plain three-story building made of mana alloy in the 15th District.

This place, which at first glance might look like just an ordinary building, was none other than the hidden villa of S-rank hunter Han Yun-ah.

Although legally registered under the name of an ordinary civilian, this villa’s purpose was essentially to serve as a hideout for Han Yun-ah to use when doing her original work.

And in the top floor of this hideout, Han Yun-ah was observing a certain place in the 14th District with her eyes closed.

‘Is she leaving now?’

Team Leader Ahn Seo-hyun, whom she had been monitoring from about 100m away using Sense Sharing.

After about ten minutes had passed, Yun-ah inwardly sighed in relief as she saw Seo-hyun finally coming out of the store.

Seo-hyun, who had stopped by an accessory shop and bought an armful of trivial items, finally gets into her car and starts to accelerate.

Yun-ah continuously moved her vision to different objects, following Seo-hyun like that, and only after Seo-hyun had completely left the 14th District did Yun-ah, exhausted to the extreme, release her Sense Sharing and collapse onto the floor.

Thud—

“Haah… This is tough, so tough…”

She was already at her limit of fatigue just from dealing with Ryoka coming to Korea, but now she had surpassed that limit by suddenly having to monitor Seo-hyun who came to the 14th District.

That’s why Yun-ah turned off the microphone on her device and muttered those words to herself as she lay down.

Then Yun-ah felt her legs go weak and shivered slightly as she still saw Seo-hyun’s image lingering in her mind.

“Ugh, why do I feel so dirty every time I see her…”

Was it because she had the innate ability of Sense Sharing, or was it just something she was born with, but Yun-ah’s intuition was far superior to other people’s.

And with that superior intuition, Yun-ah had been evaluating people until now, but her evaluation of Seo-hyun whenever she saw her had not changed at all from the beginning until now.

A creepy person.

Although Seo-hyun was undoubtedly normal on the outside, when Yun-ah looked at her, Seo-hyun’s appearance was somehow unsettling.

It was like seeing a madman who had fallen just short of being normal by a hair’s breadth.

“…Let’s not think about it anymore unnecessarily.”

But for now, since Seo-hyun had left the 14th District, there was no more problem, so Yun-ah erased unnecessary thoughts from her mind.

What Yun-ah herself had to do now was to inform Ryoka, who would still be drinking alcohol, that Seo-hyun had left, and to open the door of this hideout where Ryoka would rush to.

And to prepare to escape to the oni under the first village, the defense city of Japan, in case Ryoka were to be defeated in this upcoming fight.

“Honestly, I don’t know how this fight will end either…”

The oni race was undoubtedly strong, and Ryoka was an exceptional oni even among the oni race, but the stories about the goblin race were not to be taken lightly either.

Of course, those were like historical stories passed down as legends, so for now, it could be said that Ryoka had a slight advantage, but…

“It’s not bad to prepare for the worst-case scenario.”

Yun-ah had already received several overtures from the oni ruling the first village.

Therefore, Yun-ah, who had started digging an escape tunnel in advance, got up from her seat and turned on the microphone of the device she had turned off.

Beep—

“Lady Ryoka, Team Leader Ahn Seo-hyun has left. You can move now without any problems.”

[Kaha, finally!]

Ryoka gets up from her seat with an exclamation that scratches her throat with alcohol, having drunk who knows how many bottles in the meantime.

Then Ryoka loosens her stiff neck a few times, and before jumping off the rooftop of the building, she throws a final question at Yun-ah.

[You said it doesn’t matter what happens to anything else as long as that Neon or whatever human is okay, right?]

“Yes, it’s no problem if surrounding buildings collapse or people die.”

[Great~! Then shall we give it a go?]

[KWAAANG—!!!]

As soon as the words ended, the sound of kicking off the ground comes through from the other side of the device.

Crackle–!

“Haah… I told her to handle things carefully.”

And as the communication was cut off, perhaps due to the device being damaged by the aftershock, Yun-ah sighed and closed her tired eyes.

Since it’s Ryoka, she would probably handle things decisively, but still, you never know.

Yun-ah activated her Sense Sharing and extended her vision, worrying about what might happen.

Hoping that Ryoka would handle things perfectly.

---

The Third Field, which Neon arrived at after changing into gym clothes in the changing room and being guided by other children.

And currently standing in rows and columns with everyone else as predetermined, Neon was in a very good mood.

After all, she had successfully finished her self-introduction and established temporary but smooth relationships with the other children, so she couldn’t help but feel good about her school life that was progressing so well.

Although it’s difficult to compare, Neon was currently feeling about half of half the joy she felt when she was saved by Shin-yeon.

However, Neon didn’t let her guard down.

As mentioned just now, the current smooth relationships were only temporary.

Because Neon had to work hard to maintain them and solidify her position, she pulled herself together from her relaxing mind.

“But when is the teacher coming…?”

And how long had she been standing in her spot thinking like that inwardly?

“They’re quite late…”

Neon glanced towards the main building as the teacher hadn’t appeared yet even though 5 minutes had passed since the class was supposed to start.

A few minutes ago, the class president had gone inside saying they would bring the teacher, but there was still no sign or appearance of them.

Because of this, several children had already left their spots and started chattering long ago.

Neon also briefly considered joining those groups of children to engage in conversation, but before she could leave her spot, someone called out to her first.

“Hey, you’re Neon, right?”

“Huh?”

Turning her head at the voice calling her, Neon saw none other than a female student with long black hair reaching her waist.

“Ah, you’re…”

At the same time, Neon inadvertently muttered like that at the face of the female student, with whom she already had an acquaintance.

And at this muttering, she tilted her head.

“I’m Na Juri… Do you know me by any chance?”

More precisely, the girl who introduced herself as Na Juri tilted her head like that in response to Neon’s muttering.

And at that head tilt, the thought that she had made a mistake flashed through Neon’s mind.

Neon recalled what Seol had told her last week as Juri looked at her with suspicious eyes, and racked her brain.

‘She said she removed only the incident from this one’s memory but left my appearance, right?’

Seol had said that if Juri still acted rudely even with the memory of the incident gone, Neon should just trample her to establish her position in the class.

However, if that wasn’t the case, Seol had said she left only Neon’s appearance in Juri’s memory for the sake of Neon, who wanted to maintain an appropriate relationship.

In other words, Juri had seen Neon’s face but didn’t know what had happened.

And recalling this, Neon looked at Juri, who still had suspicious eyes, and acted her voice with all her sincerity.

“Um… no? This is my first time seeing you…?”

“But your reaction just now looked exactly like you knew me… Are you sure you’ve never seen me before?”

“Of course. It’s true.”

Juri made a whistling sound as if doubting Neon’s desperate excuse.

But eventually, as if she believed Neon’s words, Juri nodded once and offered a small apology.

“If that’s the case, I’m sorry. I had something to tell you, and it was kind of important… I ended up doubting you without realizing it.”

“No, it’s okay. So what did you want to say…?”

Although Neon could already guess what Juri wanted to say, given that Juri, who had been rude to Neon that day, approached her like this, Neon deliberately put on an unknowing face and asked like that.

And at Neon’s question, Juri briefly glanced at the gazes of the surrounding children and then spoke in a careful face, almost whispering.

“Ho-Honestly, I think it’s an unbelievable story too, but please listen without laughing.”

“Okay.”

Perhaps gaining confidence from Neon’s face that seemed to say she would believe anything, Juri’s appearance seemed to gather her thoughts while taking a deep breath for a moment.

Then Juri slowly moved her lips and began to speak.

“It’s about what happened last Friday…”

“…?!”

At the point when Juri started speaking, Neon suddenly raised her head.

‘…What is this?’

Someone’s piercing gaze like thorns started to prick Neon’s skin. It wasn’t a gaze coming from nearby children or from the school direction.

Rather, a gaze that made her skin crawl was reaching her from a bit further away, directed only at Neon herself.

At that, Neon widened her eyes and raised her head towards the source of that gaze.

“I saw you at the uniform store…”

Before Juri could finish her sentence, Neon had no choice but to grab her shoulder and throw her behind herself.

With a thud, Juri who was thrown backward rolled on the ground.

Then Juri, who had suddenly stood up from her spot, seemed to be shouting something, but Neon cut off her attention from those words that barely reached her ears and focused her gaze in the direction she had raised her head.

Whooooosh——

The place Neon was looking at was none other than the blue sky above.

Something was undoubtedly flying towards where Neon was from there.

Wondering what it could be, as she focused her gaze, a small dot began to appear.

And as that dot’s shape began to grow larger not long after, as if approaching this direction, Neon instantly adjusted her posture and pulled out the club handle that she had tucked at her waist.

“Everyone run away!!!”

At the something in the sky flying with clear malice, Neon reflexively shouted like that, raising her voice.

Neon’s shout echoed loudly.

“Wh-What? What’s going on?”

“Why are you suddenly like this, Neon?”

“Is there something there?”

However, the children who hadn’t properly sensed the danger yet still reacted to Neon’s shout with a leisurely attitude, and at such carefree responses, Neon bit her lip hard.

But there was no time to evacuate each of these children one by one.

In the brief moment she had turned her head, the dot in the sky had already flown close enough to be clearly visible.

And what entered Neon’s eyes was the figure of a different race with a pair of long horns protruding from their forehead and vermilion twin-tails.

Moreover, the place where this different race with clenched fists was falling was undoubtedly this field where Neon herself and the children were.

When that thought occurred to her, Neon quickly raised the handle and imagined the form it would take next.

‘Sword, spear, bow, none of them are needed… What I need now is…’

A huge shield to block that fist.

Neon immediately imagined the form of a huge shield in her mind, and in response, mana extended from the handle Neon was holding to form a shield blocking the front.

But this wasn’t the end.

To block that level of power, what Neon herself needed to do was to draw out her full strength without even needing to adjust it.

Neon completely released the consciousness she always maintained throughout her entire body.

Crack—!!

In an instant, Neon’s muscles that had been suppressed and under control were released to exert full power.

And Neon tightly gripped the handle she was holding in preparation for the impact that would soon come.

And in the next moment after completing all preparations like that.

KWAAAAAAANG—–!!!!!

With an ear-splitting roar, a massive impact shook the field.