Chapter 783: Waves and Waves (3)
It was a wave like a mountain standing upright.
A translucent mountain, blazing under the sunlight until it hurt to look at. Inside its heaving body, I could make out the wreckage of buildings, snapped trees, and all kinds of debris. With a rumble that made my ears go numb, it bent itself toward us. Blocking out the sky. Casting an enormous shadow.
“I’ll stop it!”
Yerim kicked off the railing and leapt up. Her shawl wound around her body in a long sweep, and in her hand was a spear holding the water jewel. A water spirit clung to her glittering earrings. Droplets gathered around her, clumping together, separating, and moving in a dizzying whirl.
“Yerim!”
“I’m okay!”
Before I could even finish speaking in worry, Yerim shouted back. The water pooled around Sesung Guild drained away in an instant. Swaaaaa– like footage of the tide going out sped up dozens of times, the water was dragged forward at incredible speed and formed another giant wave in front of Yerim.
Yerim’s small body still did not have nearly enough Magic to handle that much water, especially when it was no ordinary sea. But the power within the water was doing everything it could to harmonize with Yerim’s Magic. As though, even with the master of the sea asleep, it was still wrapping around the successor she had acknowledged.
Gugugugung–
The shadow cast by that distant wave covered the rooftop garden. It was water close to a dream, with almost no real weight to it, but once so much of it gathered in one place, the ground beneath it began to crack and sink.
And then.
Bang!
Wave crashed against wave. The ground shook violently, as if there had been an earthquake. At the same time, water sprayed out in every direction.
“Ugh!”
The water crashing over us blocked my sight. As I was shoved backward, someone’s hand grabbed me in a hurry. The water that had shot up overhead also fell back down as rain. Swaaaa– the sound of the fierce downpour tangled with the rumbling and filled my ears completely. I flailed for a moment before finally pulling myself together.
“Yerim! Are you okay?!”
Water ran into my eyes, making them hard to open. Through my blurred vision, I saw the two waves battering each other and letting out deep, booming sounds like enormous drums. At the very top of the towers of water soaring high enough to pierce the sky, clouds wrapped around them and soaked through.
“I can hold it! But I don’t think I can help you, Mister!”
“I’m fine, so protect yourself with water! Get inside it completely!”
I hurriedly cast the Teacher skill on Yerim and the others as I shouted. We had no idea when an attack would come. Yerim, stuck in place while holding back the opposing wave, would be safer submerged in water. It would block skills, and most ordinary attacks too.
Yerim nodded. Water flowed down like a veil and wrapped her up. I roughly wiped the water streaming down my face and the hair plastered to it out of the way. I was not the only one drenched. Everyone else was soaked through too. Peace released heat from his body and dried his fur.
“I don’t know what kind of trick they pulled, but this throws our plans off.”
They had used the Mermaid Queen’s water to pin Yerim down. Was it a dependent with a water attribute skill? But the whale from yesterday definitely had not possessed this much power. First, I sent a message to Yerim.
“Honey’s little brother is here.”
Liette said it as she climbed onto the garden railing. A swarm of black butterflies flew in between the drenched buildings. A man lightly stepped down on top of them.
It was Yuhyun.
However, the twenty one year old Yuhyun was nowhere to be seen. I could not sense the presence of any other dependents yet either.
“Park Hayul, tell me everything you can see.”
I spoke quietly. A message came in right away.
[The dependents are approaching. I don’t see Willow Leaf’s little brother. I might just not be able to see him, though!]
Yuhyun’s gaze turned toward me. The floor was still wet, and water was pooled here and there, but that much would evaporate instantly in Yuhyun’s flames. Not only that, the dependents had probably gotten stronger than yesterday too.
The situation had gotten pretty bad.
[And the thing moving that water seems beyond a dependent’s power.]
I climbed up onto the railing as well. The battle precognition passed to me by Seong Hyunjae was still quiet. I did not sense anything threatening.
“Looks like you prepared pretty thoroughly overnight. How did you do it?”
Yuhyun did not answer my question. Instead, he took out one red fruit.
A shard of autumn.
“Erase the memories of those eight years, even now. I don’t want to have to feed you the shard of winter too, hyung.”
“This hyung happens to like winter.”
No matter how many times he asked, my answer was not going to change. Yerim could not move, so on our side, including me, there were only five of us. I found myself missing not only Noah and Hyunah, but even Hwang Rim. Wasn’t the Puppeteer going to show up or something?
The fruit disappeared from Yuhyun’s hand, replaced by a long sword. I gripped the Lynx Gun as well. Without realizing it, I put strength into my toes.
“…Goodbye, hyung.”
It was a farewell.
A voice telling me he would vanish from my memories forever.
I clenched my teeth.
Like hell he would. I was going to endure this somehow.
[Hyung! The sky!]
Just then, Park Hayul’s message came flying in. What? I don’t feel anything. I hurriedly looked up at the sky.
And the next moment.
Kiiing–
With a sound that tore through the air, a flying object came streaking toward us at incredible speed. Wait, that thing!
“A fighter jet?”
A fighter jet, moving at a speed that would be difficult for any flight skill or flying species to match, flew toward Sesung Guild and fired a missile.
No, come on, that’s not fair! Yuhyun!
Bang! Kwaang!
Before we could properly respond, explosions burst out. Part of the Sesung Guild building shattered, and flames shot up. I ran along the railing to avoid the missiles that came flying one after another. The others also dodged.
“Is this the third time now?”
Seong Hyunjae said as he watched the top of the building collapse. Once in reality, once in the Chinese dungeon, and once in the dream world. At this point, was Sesung Guild some kind of landmark that was destined to be destroyed?
“Just think of it as proof you’re famous!”
Peace spread his wings. The moment I jumped onto him, a missile slammed down into the spot where I had been standing. Bang! A shock wave swept in with heat. Seong Hyunjae, Chief Song, and Liette also leapt out of the building. Rumble. Sesung Guild came crashing down.
[Hyung! I don’t think that fighter jet is a real fighter jet!]
“What?”
[It looks like a dependent that swallowed fighter jet data? You know, like in those movies!]
I don’t know. What movie are you talking about?
The three of them landed on the road. Unable to withstand the force of their fall, the asphalt cracked apart. At the same time, the asphalt beneath them began to soften. Like a swamp, it tried to catch their ankles and suck them down.
A skill?
“Peace!”
– Grrrr.
Peace immediately descended, opening his mouth wide. Flames spread out over a vast area and evaporated the moisture from the ground. But then another warning flashed through the battle precognition.
And not just one.
This is insane.
“Run!”
Peace beat his wings low enough to skim the ground, and Seong Hyunjae, Chief Song, and Liette broke free from the hardened swamp and followed behind him. At the same time, the ground split apart.
– Kiriririk!
– Hello, Honey!
Two huge bodies burst out of the ground. One was the thorny mole I had seen in the subway. The other was a centipede with blade like legs. The two of them overturned the ground together. Except for Peace, none of us had a flight skill. The dependent who had created that swamp just now was probably hidden somewhere too. If anyone got dragged underground, it would be dangerous.
“Honey’s little brother is just watching?”
Liette said as she kicked off the ground hard with a thoom. Just as she said, Yuhyun was watching us from atop the black butterflies. Should I be grateful that he was not stepping in himself?
[There’s one black butterfly attached to each dependent!]
Butterflies? Was Yuhyun commanding them through those? The dependents probably were not used to fighting as a group either, and they did not have anything like the Teacher skill.
‘But that can’t be all. Is Yuhyun also connected to whatever’s moving that water?’
Bang, bang! From the sky, bombs kept falling one after another. Liette’s eyebrow twitched at the rubble raining down from the buildings, and she jumped into the air. Beneath her, Chief Song rushed over and locked his hands together, lifting them with all his strength. At the perfect moment, Liette’s foot stepped onto Song Taewon’s hands, and with the extra force he gave her, wheeek– she shot toward the sky like an arrow.
“Fall!”
Liette’s arm carved a wide semicircle. The sword at the end of it became an invisible blade and sliced through the fighter jet. Kagagak! The fighter jet dodged, but it could not completely avoid an unexpected close range attack. In the end, one wing was badly destroyed, and it spun unsteadily.
After swinging her sword, Liette’s body lost balance in midair and turned over. As I made Peace fly up toward Liette, who was falling, I looked at the sky.
Before I knew it, the sky had gone black.
‘Storm clouds.’
Clouds caught in the collision between wave and wave. The wind also could not escape the enormous pillars of water, and amid the wild turbulence of the air, rain clouds had begun to form. I had sent Yerim a message telling her to crash the waves together harder and pull in the clouds. Rumble. Light flashed inside the black clouds.
[I’m ready!]
Park Hayul’s message shouted, and Seong Hyunjae stopped. After snatching up Liette, I kept running forward along with Chief Song. Kwagagagak! Tearing through the ground, the two giant bodies surged toward Seong Hyunjae like a raging wave. Their spikes and armor like shells, strengthened after they had recovered all their skills, gleamed dully. Dark poison even gathered thickly in the centipede’s mouth.
That one looked a little dangerous.
“Liette! Throw me to Seong Hyunjae!”
I shouted as I put a mini cookie into my mouth. Liette’s hand grabbed my shrunken body, and the sky flashed.
Kwakwang!
The lightning Park Hayul drew down descended in a straight line toward the ground. Unlike before, it was an electric current backed by Yerim’s Magic and the Magic of some unknown person, and it held powerful force even on its own. At the same time, golden light exploded along the full length of the golden chains.
A thunderclap that split my ears. Light that completely swallowed my vision. My thrown body burrowed into that light, and Seong Hyunjae’s hand caught me with perfect accuracy.
And at that exact moment.
Puk!
With a heavy sound, vicious poison burst open. I quickly canceled the cookie effect. Then.
“Ugh–”
Kang! Kagagang! The mole’s spikes poured down like rain. Some were blocked by the chains, but even with battle precognition, it was not an attack that could be avoided completely, and Seong Hyunjae received wounds that at least grazed him. A few struck my body too, but thanks to damage nullification, I got off with only some bruising.
“I told you it doesn’t matter if dependents die.”
Then, of course, they would pour everything they had into a final attack, even at the cost of their lives. If I had not blocked it, Seong Hyunjae might have died yet again.
The thick poison scattered, and Seong Hyunjae quickly swept his gaze around. Then he turned his head. I looked in the same direction.
Two black butterflies were handing magic stones to Yuhyun.
“Oh, dear. Han Yujin’s little brother has stolen my lunch.”
“I’ll treat you instead. No, wait. They weren’t even yours to begin with!”
“I was the one who caught them, was I not?”
“Yes, yes, I’ll treat you!”
So that Yuhyun bastard was also in charge of collecting the magic stones. Well, that made sense. That way, the dependents could attack Seong Hyunjae without worrying. In that case, it was certain Yuhyun could not move from that spot for the time being.
Kwaang! An explosion rang out from Chief Song and Liette’s side. At the same time, the ground beneath our feet began to soften again.
“I don’t know who you are, but you’re annoying! Hayul!”
I took out the bombs I had and tossed them upward. Seong Hyunjae’s chains whipped around, struck the bombs, and scattered them over the ground as it turned wet. At the same time, the sky roared. Branches of lightning split apart and fell onto the bombs. The moment Seong Hyunjae kicked off the muddy ground while carrying me, kwarurung, the bombs exploded one after another, spreading intense heat over the mud.
“Support types don’t show up well in battle precognition either!”
I hurriedly sent messages to Chief Song, Liette, and Peace. The dependents’ primary target was Seong Hyunjae. It would be better for us to draw their attention while the other three took down the ones who fell behind.
‘Chief Song and Liette are both physical close combat types too.’
If they stayed near Seong Hyunjae, they might get hit by stray lightning. Kagagak! A blade flew in from somewhere. From another direction, thin arrows came raining down. As Seong Hyunjae dodged the arrows, a shadow slid toward the ground beneath his feet. The golden chain flew over it, and the light that burst out in an instant drove the darkness away. At the same time, I raised my arm and blocked another blade cutting through the air.
Ow, that hurt.
The main attack was nullified, but the indirect impact alone made my forearm throb. When I grimaced, lightning struck here and there from the sky.
Hayul, save your strength.
“There’s no end to them. Seong Hyunjae, I’m thinking of blowing them up in one shot.”
I quickly checked the phone I had placed inside Seong Hyunjae’s inner pocket so it would not be ruined by electricity, then put it back.
“Can you hold out even after drawing in most of the dependents? If you die, I’m getting kidnapped by my little brother immediately.”
If Seong Hyunjae died, the being absorbing the magic stones would also disappear. Then Yuhyun would be able to move, even if only for a moment, and I would lose my protection. Game over. Seong Hyunjae lowered his body, slid long across the ground, dodged a spear, then jumped onto a streetlight as he said,
“You said you would lose your memories.”
Pop! The streetlight, hit by high voltage electricity, burst apart, sending sharp fragments flying toward the approaching dependent.
“I suppose it might only be fair for me to forget you at least once too.”
If only Seong Hyunjae’s memories were erased, I might have been a little tempted. That human needed to experience how frustrating it was too… Though with his emotions gone right now, maybe I would be the only one frustrated again.
“That sounds amusing in its own way, but.”
Pajijik. A weak current wrapped around Seong Hyunjae’s body.
Ah, that stings.
“I have no desire to sit down with a Han Yujin who doesn’t know me and explain everything from the beginning.”
“Ah, so you don’t have enough feeling for me to put in that much effort.”
The current sank into Seong Hyunjae’s body.
Hm? Wait. What is this?
Seong Hyunjae’s body flinched for an instant.
“Huh!”
His movements suddenly accelerated. Not just his speed, but his strength had risen too, and he began running in the direction I gave him.
“What, what is this? A self buff? It doesn’t seem like a skill!”
With a harsh stomp, his shoe crushed the ground, and he changed direction sharply. He sprinted down the road, evading the dependents’ attacks as smoothly as flowing water.
“A kind of electrical stimulation. Explaining it properly would be complicated, so in simple terms, I’m using electric currents to support and enhance my body.”
I remembered how Sigma had paralyzed me by running electricity through me before. So, what, he could run electricity through his own body and buff himself? Other Hunters would probably be blocked by the Magic protecting their own bodies once they reached mid rank, but this was his own body and his own Magic, so.
“…Why haven’t you used that before?!”
“It forcibly raises my physical ability, so there are side effects. And this, too, is a kind of control.”
So even controlling his own body made him feel unpleasant. Thud! A giant whose entire body was covered in armor blocked Seong Hyunjae’s path. Instead of a chain, a spear appeared in Seong Hyunjae’s hand.
Then he threw me upward.
Hey!
Kwaduk. Gripping the spear with both hands, he stepped forward with one foot. The hem of his white coat lifted into the air as the spear thrust straight ahead. There was no electric current. Pure strength collided with armor wrapped in a defensive skill. Kwadeudeudeuk– the spear bent as though it had been shoved into a compressor, the armor caved in, and the giant was shoved backward. Seong Hyunjae caught me as I fell, then leapt over the staggering giant’s head.
“I do miss having a close combat skill sometimes.”
His foot struck the dazed giant’s head with a puk, and he ran toward the building ahead. With that strength, if he had even one mid grade thrusting skill, he could have pierced the armor.
“Originally, you probably had one.”
He must have possessed all sorts of skills. How strong would Seong Hyunjae be once he regained every power he had lost?
“Your rank might have been higher too.”
“If it were a purely physical type skill, perhaps. However, with attributes, one’s natural disposition seems to matter.”
“Really?”
“And I already possessed the lightning attribute, so any other attribute would likely have reached mid grade at best.”
Well, yeah. It would be hard for Yuhyun to gain a water attribute, and difficult for Yerim to gain a fire attribute.
“This light must have been with me from the beginning. So even in the past, any other attribute skills were likely absent or low.”
Peong! An obstacle blocking our way was swept away together with light.
“It suits you.”
So much so that it would feel strange to imagine him with any other attribute power. Kwarurung! As if proving the point, lightning struck. The dependents swarmed after us, one after another. The shopping building ahead of us and the other buildings nearby could not hold out for long and collapsed. The clouds overhead grew even darker. They were holding tightly onto the electricity and water they had swallowed, as though compressing them again and again.
Amid the constant warnings of battle precognition, Seong Hyunjae moved. Attacks that would have carved up any ordinary S rank hundreds of times over continued without pause.
[Hyung!]
Park Hayul sent a message. At the same time, I passed the double skill effect to Seong Hyunjae. Kwarurung! Lightning struck from the sky and the ground at the same time. The storm clouds poured out all their power. Seong Hyunjae’s current exploded to the utmost limit. The light stretching outward and the light surging upward mingled, and I raised Grace’s rank even higher as I wrapped it around Seong Hyunjae.
Kwagwagwagwang–!
My body floated upward.
The items we had placed underground in advance, along with the swimming pool water, all burst at once. The ground flipped over, and everything was exposed to that overwhelming power. I could not see a thing. Soon, I could not hear anything either. There was only a low wuuung, a ringing in my ears.
It could only have been for a moment, but it felt like a terribly long time had passed.
I faintly felt myself falling, and then, thud, I hit the dirt.
[Whoa, hyung! Everything got blown away!]
A crater had formed, easily dozens of meters in radius. Or was it over a hundred meters?
Seong Hyunjae struggled to push himself up.
“My entire body aches.”
“Is that a side effect? Do you want a potion?”
“It isn’t a simple physical injury. A potion likely won’t do much. When I tested it on only one hand before, it took about three days to recover.”
“No, then–”
“If I die and come back to life, I’ll recover immediately.”
…That kind of pissed me off.
Even if he was not staying dead, wasn’t he using that a little too easily? In the past, he would not have gone this far. When the hell were those damn emotions coming back?
I quickly supported Seong Hyunjae and helped him stand.
“Not right now. If Yuhyun notices that you died, he’ll come immediately.”
But after seeing that destructive power just now, he probably would not approach carelessly. The other dependents would be the same. So we needed to hurry up and regroup with the others–
“…!”
Seong Hyunjae and I both flinched at the same time. I shoved Seong Hyunjae away with all my strength. A blade grazed the nape of my neck and buried itself in the ground.
–TL Notes–
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