The S-Rank Champion ‘Hero.’

The codename was a final gesture of respect for the man who had sacrificed so much for the nation.

At the same time, it was a resolve to conduct the operation with nothing but reverence and mourning.

[Deploying field.]

Kiiiing—!

The pins driven into the perimeter of the subjugation zone began vibrating in unison, reshaping the environment.

The mana batteries activated, beginning to stabilize the atmospheric pressure across the area.

Why, you ask? Because while natural-type abilities are subject to supernatural forces at the moment of their eruption, once manifested, they fall under the jurisdiction of nature’s laws.

The enemy’s attribute was wind.

A stable atmosphere would diminish the destructive power of the storms he generated.

That was the first phase. The falling autumn rain cooling the ground would only double the efficiency.

Of course, if he could be subdued that easily, he would never have earned the title of S-Rank Champion.

Kwagwagwagwa!

A storm raged around Hero’s body.

It was his own sheer caliber. He forcibly drew out a gale using that vast reservoir of mana.

A tempest fierce enough to tear up the very ground beneath his feet coalesced around his two-meter frame, producing a savage roar.

He charged at his opponents.

Kwaaaaaaang—!

Now it was time to begin the battle.

[Proceeding with Pattern A.]

At Jung-woo’s words, Tae-woon stepped forward.

His signature weapon, the Elementalist, activated, coating his armor and shield in high-density liquid.

Combat was a matter of habit. When you knew whose body and abilities you were dealing with, and understood the combat data from that person’s lifetime, predicting how an attack would unfold was simple enough.

Tsgwagwagwak!

The shield rose at an angle, deflecting Hero’s fist.

Streams of water shot upward in sharp arcs, embroidering the air.

Then came a left-leg knee strike, with black wind coiling like an awl above the knee, aimed at Tae-woon—

Jjeoeeong!

Hae-seo blocked it with a javelin.

But it wasn’t over.

Kkagagagak—!

“Urgh…!”

Tae-woon went for a grapple.

He seized Hero around the waist, swelling every muscle in his body as he lifted. As though indifferent to his own flesh being torn apart by the storm, he executed a suplex.

Kwaaaaaaang—!

The moment Hero slammed into the ground, a sliver of an opening appeared.

Ho-jong drove a combat knife into Hero’s left arm.

“Precept Article One: Seal the mana of the left arm.”

Chwaaaak—!

Ho-jong’s own left arm erupted in blood, signaling that the precept targeting the designated subject had been established.

The gap in power between them meant it was not a perfect seal.

The combat knife was reduced to ash by Hero’s mana, and though his control had weakened, the storm still swirled around him.

But it was meaningful.

[Pattern A neutralized. Discarding.]

This was a hunt.

The task at hand was to erase the predator’s combat options one by one.

To corner it into desperation, then render even those struggles futile, stripping it bare.

[Phase 2 commencing. 3, 2, 1.]

At the signal, all three vanguard fighters created distance simultaneously.

The storm enveloping Hero’s body expanded into a sphere, condensed, and then detonated.

Kwaaaaang—!

It was a shockwave powerful enough to sweep the entire frontline, but it was within the anticipated range of attacks.

[Pattern B.]

Kugugung!

Soon-ae’s wooden pillars shot skyward.

The Garden of Immortals spread across them.

Yin-Water phase.

Jjeojjeojjeok!

The wooden pillars froze, transforming into pillars of ice.

The temperature converged toward zero. The storm subsided, leaving only the shockwave to topple the pillars.

Hero’s rage shook the atmosphere.

Pitch-black storm clouds gathered overhead, swirling in a vortex.

[Enemy initiating area-of-effect attack. Switching to Pattern C.]

Simultaneously, the vanguard re-engaged.

Hero began firing off storms indiscriminately.

Each one was a black pillar reminiscent of a waterspout.

At that moment, external support commenced as well.

Tadadadadang—!

The snipers opened fire in unison.

Once again, these were no ordinary rounds.

Upon reaching the target zone, the rounds deployed, detonating in brief shockwaves before scattering.

Pabababang!

They were disrupting the air currents.

Rotation in a consistent direction was the driving force behind that storm.

Rounds engineered for maximum efficacy in this environment, based on analysis of the Erosion Zone, began dismantling the scattered storm pillars.

[Proceeding to follow-up pattern. Spear retreat, shield advance, initiate seal, retreat, spear engage.]

Kwagwagwagwang—!

Every step was executed with seamless precision, mechanical and flawless.

It had to be.

Each phase had been thoroughly analyzed beforehand, with response patterns drilled in advance.

Jung-woo pursued perfectionist hunting; he considered the need for real-time feedback through on-the-fly judgment corrections to be a sin.

His philosophy held that a perfect plan required no real-time feedback.

So far, so good.

Even compared to the Three-legged Crow encounter, they were depleting the enemy’s forces more smoothly, and Hero’s offensive options were being sealed one by one.

Under normal circumstances, they could have consolidated this advantage and won.

Had this been anywhere but Pyongyang, that would certainly have been the case.

[Gate Resonance initiating.]

Kiiiiiiing—!

The gates of Pyongyang, resonating freely for decades, cried out in unison.

The overwhelming mana accumulated over time strengthened the magical beasts within the space.

[Subordinate magical beasts incoming.]

Kugugugu—!

Hordes of magical beasts surged in.

All at once.

[■■■■■—!]

Hero screamed.

…No.

[It’s the Parasite. Do not waver.]

It was merely a parasite that had violated the hero’s flesh.

He steadied his wavering emotions.

Knowing better than anyone how horrific those creatures were, what surged within Jung-woo was rage.

They were the ones who turned innocent, unknowing children into calamities.

Cowards who hid behind children trembling from loneliness, simply because they hated being alone, and committed slaughter.

[Entering Phase 3.]

Grinding his teeth against the rage that seeped through despite his suppression, he spoke.

[Responding to the situation on the ground.]

Poong—

Poong—

Poong—

Hundreds of black fins rose from the ground.

Kwon-seung seized the falling autumn rain. A massive lake formed in the sky.

Hero’s mana ran wild, generating turbulence within the lake.

It was as though heaven and earth had been inverted—a sea of vortexes suspended in the sky.

What kind of catastrophe would unfold if that descended to the ground was self-evident.

[Shark, engage.]

Taaaaang—!

Shark’s shadows shot simultaneously toward the swirling lake in the sky.

Cheon Jun-ho’s storm rotated counterclockwise.

An ability that had become a phenomenon was subject to the laws of nature.

Suaaaaa—!

The sharks swam against the convection, creating a clockwise current.

With the convection disrupted, the hurricane cycled between formation and dissolution, losing its aggression.

It was the infinite delay of the Extinction Cycle.

[Ma’am, raise the barrier. Sea Otter, intercept the incoming.]

Kwagwagwagwa!

Ppok!

The Wooden Palisade shot high into the sky, blocking the path of the magical beast horde.

The magical beasts that tried to break through and surge past were slaughtered by the thunder Sea Otter summoned.

Kwarrreung!

Maintaining the equilibrium of the battlefield.

These were the measures prepared for exactly that purpose.

Each had their assigned role.

Vanguard: Jin Hae-seo, Park Tae-woon, Jin Ho-jong.

Overall support: Ha Kwon-seung. Rear support: Park Soon-ae, Sea Otter.

And Shark as the anti-carry measure.

Ppok!

By Jung-woo’s side, who oversaw command, stood Teddy Bear.

“It’s not your turn yet.”

He spoke while glaring at Hero, who was healing his wounds with mana, regaining control of his body piece by piece, and grappling with the vanguard fighters as though in a frenzy.

Every exchange was catastrophic.

As a battle between an S-Rank Champion and S-Rank hunters, the entire expansive field heaved, creating the illusion of an earthquake.

Without proper footing, even standing upright was a struggle.

Without the transcendent cognition of L-Class, merely perceiving the state of battle amid the swirling ash and shockwaves would have been an ordeal.

His head burned.

His eyeballs felt ready to burst.

His breath grew short.

The mana generated by the Gate Resonance was gradually accumulating damage.

If he, merely overseeing command, was affected this much, the combatants had it worse.

He tried to endure.

‘Almost there. Just a little more…!’

It was a desperate pattern.

With the battlefield itself transcending the realm of the mortal world, Jung-woo’s concentration was heightened beyond any previous point.

That was when it happened.

His eyes met Hero’s, and

[■■■■!!!]

Within that cry, suddenly.

【[Skill: ■■■■] conditions met.】

【[Skill: ■■■■] activating.】

An unexpected skill activated on its own.

Ppajijijik—!

“Kuh!?”

A sensation like being struck by lightning.

Pain tore through his entire body, and an anomaly occurred.

[■■◆ga!!!]

Jung-woo’s eyes widened as if they would tear apart.

‘The magical beast’s language…’

Like shattered fragments, it was entering the realm of comprehension, piece by piece.

His head felt like it would split open.

His heartbeat accelerated beyond the range of human homeostasis.

His blood flow was too rapid.

His entire body felt like it would swell and burst.

“Urgh…!”

He was slipping from rational control.

It was an anomaly that should never occur during combat.

The sensation of someone carving information into his mind was horrifying.

It felt as though countless unknown data points were being hammered in at once, draining his brain’s resources beyond their limits.

Jung-woo gripped his head, wrapping it tightly.

At that moment, Ho-jong’s scream, laced with blood and phlegm, struck Jung-woo’s ears.

“Shin Jung-woo!!!”

Hwak!

The moment his consciousness snapped back was already too late.

Hero, whom the vanguard had been holding, was charging toward Jung-woo.

A momentary gap in the airtight command had flipped the situation.

In that split-second crisis, Teddy Bear struck.

Paaaaaang—!

A certain-kill strike.

Struck head-on, Hero’s body was pushed back by the impact, but the power of Gate Resonance prevented critical damage.

Jung-woo swiftly retreated.

In the chaos, his eyes met Hero’s again.

[Ne■i eo■■…!]

It wasn’t just language—the emotions within were readable.

Shock, fury, hostility.

His head began to throb madly once more.

His breathing grew ragged.

The resources required to interpret that language were terrifyingly vast.

‘Don’t think about it.’

This was not the time for such thoughts.

A gap had opened in the command.

It needed to be filled.

He had to pin down Hero.

He had to kill the parasite.

At the center of chaos, the axis of his thought wavered.

The interface began to ring frantically.

【[Skill: ■■■■] activating.】

【[Skill: ■■■■] activating.】

【[Skill: ■■■■] activating.】

【[Skill: ■■■■] activating.】

【[Skill: ■■■■] activating.】

It was like a siren with red warning lights.

He even felt as though the system was forcing him to interpret this data.

Why? How?

Even as he wondered, Jung-woo realized something inadvertently.

Within his cognition, the parasite and Cheon Jun-ho were beginning to separate.

‘…No.’

It wasn’t Cheon Jun-ho.

The one speaking was the parasite.

Therefore, that body and mind could not be treated as one and the same.

Then what was it?

What was he facing?

It escalated into doubt.

He kept feeling as though his thoughts were blurring at the boundary between reality and imagination.

Moments overlapped, and his chest seethed.

The breath escaping his lips carried the warmth of boiling water.

He felt like he would vomit.

His thoughts gradually converged into one.

And then.

‘Ah.’

He had to crush that wretched parasite.

His thoughts had reached that point, and hatred alone flooded his mind.

【[Skill: ■■■■] revising target.】

It coincided with the alarm.

Kwarrreung—!

Black lightning crashed down onto Hero’s head.

Jung-woo’s vision began to blur.

In a world where reality itself warped, Hero screamed.

His body distorted, and something massive flailed as it burst from his back.

Jung-woo understood, in a form close to instinct.

That was the true body of the parasite that had coveted the hero’s flesh.

“Kill… it…!”

Only those words managed to slip from his lips.

Jung-woo’s body began to slowly fall backward.