Phoenix of the Flame – Chapter 3

〈 Episode 3 〉 Part 1 Chapter 1 (2)
The head of the evil organization Dark Legion and the root of all evil in this world, the ‘Star Lord’.
A priest of the God of Destruction, he summoned the God of Destruction to his home planet and destroyed the world, traveling to various planets and destroying them.
The world he destroyed just before coming to Earth was Tera.
The Star Lord, who summoned the God of Destruction to a world where Mana had developed instead of science and destroyed it, captured and brainwashed Tera’s seven spirits, and tracked down the faint connection Tera had with Earth to discover it.
The Star Lord immediately flew to Earth for the sake of the God of Destruction, but in accordance with the ‘prophecy’, he was severely injured in a battle with the twelve heroes waiting for him and was defeated.
The gifted.
Heroes of mankind who awakened Mana and gained superhuman abilities.
Fighting against the strongest 12 of those heroes, the Star Lord barely managed to defeat the 12, but was struck by an unexpected blow and retreated.
A deep wound that required him to be stuck in a capsule for decades, focusing solely on recovery.
Eventually, reaching a situation where he could not step forward himself, the Star Lord disguised the seven spirits he had brainwashed from Tera as executives and dispatched them to Earth. After dispatching from the first executive to the last executive—Phoenix—the Star Lord fell into a deep sleep for treatment.
‘So, the Star Lord can’t possibly detect my movements right now.’
The fact that Phoenix was already in the magma proved this. Phoenix was the ultimate weapon that the Star Lord had painstakingly brainwashed until the very end, compared to the other spirits, before sending him down to Earth.
If the Star Lord had been awake, he would have already noticed my abnormal behavior.
‘Then he would force himself to come down and brainwash me again.’
Regardless of combat power, just making eye contact would turn me into a state of ‘Hyaaang, Star Lord, you’re amazing!’ That is absolutely not an option.
‘The Star Lord finishes his treatment in the latter half of the original story.’
Ironically, the time when the Star Lord regained consciousness was the moment when the protagonist and Azure Flame Phoenix were fighting.
‘Actually, the Star Lord is also responsible for Phoenix’s awakening.’
The Star Lord regains consciousness and fires his brainwashing beam to check the status of the ultimate weapon he dispatched to Earth.
Unfortunately, he gets hit by the brainwashing beam again during the battle with the protagonist, causing a great backlash, and as a result, Phoenix goes berserk and regains himself as a ‘spirit’ rather than a Monster or an executive.
The protagonist and Phoenix fighting is in the latter half of the story. Therefore, the first thing I need to do is just one thing.
‘Check the timeline.’
Isn’t that what characters who time travel usually do? Grabbing a passerby and asking what year it is. I needed that kind of moment right now.
‘But there’s no one here.’
It’s been 10 minutes since I broke through the volcano and came outside. Even though I keep flying in one direction, all I see is the sea, the sea, the sea.
‘Should I have just looked for it on the deserted island where I was first?’
The island I scanned when I first came out was a deserted island with no trace of humans.
There were other islands nearby, but they were far away, and I couldn’t see any signs of people in my field of vision, so I decided to fly to find a city or people somewhere.
‘Judging by the distance, I think I’ve flown quite far.’
I don’t know the exact distance, but I’ve definitely flown hundreds of kilometers. A rapidly passing scene. The speed of my own flapping wings.
It felt like I was going at least as fast as a decent sports car.
“Change direction… Huh?”
Beyond the horizon, I see a color that is not the sea.
I infused Mana into my eyes to enhance my eyesight, and what I saw was a modern port city. The acrid smoke rising from the factory chimneys and the forest of asphalt were a scene that seemed to be a direct copy of a city in reality.
‘The implementation of each city in the open world was really amazing. But.’
I would have just thought so if it weren’t for the red flags fluttering all over the city.
‘China?’
I stopped flapping my wings abruptly. I had been flying in one direction without any sense of direction, and I had arrived at a coastal city in China.
‘Where did I fly from, then?’
I didn’t know where I was originally, but I just rushed out and set out to find a city anywhere.
‘China is a bit much as a starting city.’
It’s not that I dislike the country of China. I’m just worried that the ‘crazy bitch’ there might notice me. Especially since I wasn’t moving while hiding my Mana.
Swoosh–
I retracted the residual Mana emitted from my body and folded my wings. If I entered the city like this, I would definitely be caught by the ‘Great Monster Radar’.
‘Should I change direction for now?’
Assuming that the city in front of me is a city in China, if I fly along the coastline, I will eventually reach Korea. I can go and see ‘that area’ of ​​the problem on the way.
‘I can smuggle myself in to a place where there is no Monster radar.’
I can’t rashly enter the human realm until I completely hide my Mana. Then there is only one route that will not be caught by the radar.
‘The [Monster’s Road] that goes down from the old North Korea. There’s no other way.’
It’s just a setting in the game, but in this world, North Korea has collapsed. Not because of a regime or war, but because of a ‘Monster rampage’.
A Monster born from a nuclear weapon, ‘Nucleon’.
One Monster, notoriously known as a ‘hidden boss more difficult than the final boss’, wiped Pyongyang off the map and is sleeping somewhere in North Korea.
Of course, Phoenix is ​​ten times stronger and a hundred times cuter than that…
‘Let’s get a grip. That Phoenix is ​​you now.’
Whenever I think about the various elements of the game, I often forget that I have entered another world disguised as a game.
I shook my head violently and flew quietly along the coastline.
‘I’ll just keep going up and fly appropriately from where I pop out, right?’
I often dozed off during history class, so I don’t know the details, but I often played the Age of Exploration.
Thanks to that, even if I don’t know anything else, I know that if I fly east from the part that protrudes from China towards the West Sea – later found to be called the Shandong Peninsula – I will reach Korea.
Tingle, tingle.
The barrier of Mana surrounding the outside of my skin tingles. Phoenix is ​​uniquely sensitive to Mana, even among the mutants.
‘Did I get caught? …I got caught.’
The strong Mana flowing on the wind had a clear hostility mixed in. The enemy definitely noticed me.
‘I should have been careful.’
Fortunately, there is not a single cloud in this location.
Pshhhhh-
I released Mana and synchronized with the surrounding environment. Phoenix’s unique concealment technique that can hide his body anywhere the sunlight reaches. The enemy may feel the remnants of Mana that I have left behind, but they will not be able to easily find its true form.
‘Should I run away?’
I don’t know who the ‘enemy’ is yet. But what if the owner of that hostile Mana coming on the wind is a hero who can pose a threat to Phoenix – in the worst case, the protagonist or one of the 12 heroes?
‘No. Let’s think positively. This is an opportunity.’
I went through countless simulations in my head, but I needed to know how much of Phoenix’s power I had gathered in the magma.
Unlike the game, if I die in this world, I might end my life as it is.
“Hoo, hoo.”
I took a deep breath and flicked my fingers.
Phoenix is ​​definitely worthy of being called the strongest, but the person moving that Phoenix’s body right now is ‘me’.
A long-term driver with a supercar. To put it in perspective, is that exactly what it is?
‘He’s coming.’
The strong wind is now approaching, reaching my skin directly. The more I focus on my hearing, the closer the sound of hooves gets along with the sound of the wind-
“…Huh?”
The sound of hooves? Did I hear wrong? In doubt, I glared at the dot visible in the distance.
Clatter, clatter!
A red horse running through the air like a wilderness.
And a green robe on top of it. The two eyes under the red mask with a long black beard were clearly looking for me.
“Ah, damn it.”
A tutorial boss that’s too strong – no, bitch – appeared. I knew it, but I didn’t know that her Mana sensitivity would be this outstanding.
Clatter, clatter!
A warrior riding a Red Hare, wielding a glaive.
Hero name, ‘Yun Zhang’.
China’s strongest warrior and one of the 12 heroes who stopped the Star Lord’s first invasion. Later, he would also be called by another name, ‘God of War’.
That Monster is now feeling my true form hidden in the sunlight and is about to swing his glaive. Towards me.
“The tutorial boss is too strong!”
I let out a shrill scream and wrapped my whole body in blue flames.
* * *
The Hangzhou branch of the Hero Association was in a sudden state of chaos.
“Monster reaction on the radar! Moving north along the coastline!”
Everyone in the situation room was silent at the report from the employee monitoring the ‘Great Monster Radar’.
“Damn it! What kind of Monster is it?!”
“It’s a pattern I’ve never seen before!”
“Observing with satellite imagery! No Monsters are visible!”
“That can’t be! It’s a Monster above S-class! It must be at least 20m tall!”
The branch manager, Liu Yaohu, bit his nails at the answer from his panicked subordinate.
A type of Monster he had never seen before. If he succeeded in hunting it for the first time, he could contribute greatly to the Party, but he couldn’t help but be frightened by the size displayed on the radar.
“The satellite?! Still can’t find it?!”
“I’m, I’m sorry! I’ve scanned the entire Yellow Sea, but I can’t see anything…”
“There’s no way you can’t see it when the reaction is so big! Look again!”
At the branch manager’s roar, those watching the satellite screen began to scan the video again.
He verbally pressured his subordinates by calling it S-class, but the size of the sphere marked on the radar was even larger than the existing danger level ‘S-class’.
‘…Damn it.’
The branch manager recalled.
The S-class Monster ‘Black Scorpion’ that terrified the entire branch, no, the entire China, when he was a rookie. Even that incarnation of disaster, which devoured a million people and destroyed cities, did not have that much Mana.
‘Is this a Monster?’
A walking castle, so to speak. Considering the characteristics of Monsters, where Mana and size are generally proportional, there was no way it would not be visible on the satellite.
‘If it’s invisible-‘
A thought flashed through his mind, and the branch manager hurriedly shouted to his subordinates.
“The sea! What about below the surface of the water?!”
Some of those in the situation room were impressed. If there is a Mana reaction but it is invisible, then of course the Monster would be in a position where it is invisible.
Judging from the Mana reaction, it would be about the size of a huge island.
“Check the submarine thermal source reaction right away! Contact the Navy!”
“Yes!”
The branch manager bit his nails again and fell into thought.
‘So, what are you going to do after you confirm it?’
It’s difficult to deal with an S-class Monster on land, let alone an S-class – or higher – in the sea.
‘Can we handle it with the current forces here?’
Impossible.
As a Chinese person who boasts that China has the most heroes in the world and that the heroes registered in each branch are more than the heroes in the entire other countries, there are more than enough heroes registered in this branch alone.
However, considering the special battlefield situation of naval combat, more forces are needed.
And the main forces of the branch are currently being dispatched inland.
‘Contact the military?’
The Hero Association was created and there was a lot of friction with the military – or rather, the Party – but to save the tens of millions of people in this area, he had to borrow even a cat’s paw.
If the Monster is not moving along the coastline at that speed, but attacking the city-
‘Guide it towards the Korean Peninsula as planned…’
Beep beep beep!!
The branch manager was startled by the sudden call.
[This is . Respond, Hangzhou branch.]
A heavy voice filled the situation room. With the appearance of the person stroking his beard under the red mask, the branch manager greeted him with a bright smile.
“Ah, ‘Lord Mei Ran’, sir!”
[…I told you I don’t like that title.]
Indeed, one of the 12 heroes – belonging to the heroes. He seemed full of composure even in the face of a Monster above S-class. The branch manager quickly corrected the title and explained the situation.
“…This is the situation. Yun Zhang, where are you now?”
[Hangzhou sky. I came with , so I will arrive at the target point soon.]
The branch manager was impressed. As expected of the owner of Red Hare. Although the person riding Red Hare now is not the God of War but the God of the Army, his individual martial power could be boasted as the strongest in China today.
“Reaction on the radar again! The target’s Mana reaction is starting to decrease rapidly!”
“What?!”

The sphere on the radar shrank rapidly, quickly dropping below C-grade before disappearing completely.
“Radar signal lost…?!”
“Crazy!”
There was no way there was a problem with the radar. The signal disappearing in a matter of seconds meant only two things.
It had been defeated—
“Intelligent being?!”
[This is troublesome.]
It had suddenly concealed that massive Mana, which was above S-grade. Unlike other stupid Monsters, it was proof that it had the ‘intelligence’ to hide its Mana signature.
He didn’t know why it had revealed its Mana from the moment it appeared in Shanghai, only to hide it now, but the important thing was that it had disappeared from the radar.
“The satellite?!”
“S, still nothing is visible!”
“There should at least be a shadow in the sea, right?! Find it!”
“We’ll search!”
At the Head of department’s roar, the subordinates turned their eyes back to the satellite screen, but the Masked Warrior quietly shook his head.
[…I’ll intercept it first.]
“Huh?! Yes?!”
[Don’t worry.]
Yun Zhang’s voice, speaking gently, was clearly overflowing with confidence.
[I’ll be back soon with the enemy’s head.]
Static. The Head of department could only stare blankly at the black screen as the communication was unilaterally cut off.