Chapter 156 – Their Identity (Part Seven)

*Rumble!*

As the time came, the cracks filling the sky began to tremble, and from within, something colossal revealed itself.

A pitch-black torso began to descend from the Gate, slowly emerging with no sign of stopping.

He’d seen his fair share of colossal monsters on the field, so many that he’d grown tired of them and thought he was used to it. That notion had long since vanished.

*Wooooong!*

A monster of such staggering size that it wouldn’t have seemed strange if it had swallowed a city whole.

A creature of that scale was floating in the sky.

Its long, massive body had eight fins on each side and a broad tail fin, resembling a whale in its overall shape.

But the five pairs of eyes on its sides, the sparsely hanging tentacles, and the overwhelming pressure it exuded made it feel worlds apart from any ordinary monster.

Once its body had fully emerged, the red Gate vanished in an instant.

“Well… I’ve seen the data, but seeing it in person is breathtaking.”

Riding on the back of a large hawk, Il-hyeon muttered as he looked down at the monster.

From above, the creature looked like a floating city suspended in the sky.

An S-rank monster. Leviathan.

The data sent by the analysis team had been almost perfectly accurate, but the sheer scale of it was worlds apart from the numbers on a page.

*Woooong!*

As the Gate disappeared and sunlight, once blocked, shone upon the creature, the Leviathan began to move in earnest.

With a body that seemed to fill the vast sky, it glided smoothly through the air as if swimming in the sea.

And with every movement, a massive shadow moved with it, casting a pall over the city below. Yet, it showed little interest in the city or its people, displaying no immediate intention of descending.

That, at least, was a relief.

If a beast of that size started thrashing around on the ground, the problem would be far greater than worrying about one or two cities.

*Whoosh!*

Il-hyeon quickly approached the creature and landed on its back, a surface so vast the word ‘expansive’ was a perfect fit.

The hawk that had carried him dissipated into the air, and at the same moment, his team members, who had been waiting below, tore through space and emerged.

“Can we really stop something like this without any casualties?”

“We have to do our best.”

Il-hyeon said.

If there was one silver lining, it was that the Leviathan, unlike most monsters, had relatively low aggression and didn’t seem to move with the primary goal of slaughter or destruction.

Of course, that didn’t change the fact that it was still a monster, so its intentions were hardly benevolent. There was no telling when it might turn violent, so they couldn’t let their guard down.

The only way to minimize the damage was to eliminate it as quickly as possible.

*Crack!*

The sword Il-hyeon brought down with both hands dug into the monster’s back.

But before the blade could sink all the way in, it stopped, unable to cut any deeper.

Considering the creature’s size, the blow was likely less significant than a mosquito bite.

“As expected, this won’t work from out here.”

The Leviathan’s hide was made of a special material that absorbed most external impacts.

It was only because he was wielding the Peacemaker that he could even inflict such a wound; a normal attack would barely leave a scratch.

As they had planned based on prior information, the only way was to get inside the Leviathan’s body and destroy it from within.

Il-hyeon placed his palm on its back, using his ability to weaken and warp the creature’s hide, slowly creating a hole.

The depth they needed to penetrate and the creature’s natural resistance made the process time-consuming, but once the opening was large enough, he and his team immediately jumped inside.

Once inside, a quick survey revealed the creature’s interior to be a complex maze.

Normally, Il-hyeon’s method for dealing with giant monsters was straightforward: find the core inside the body and destroy it. But that wasn’t an option this time.

Unfortunately, the airspace the creature occupied was surrounded by major European cities. If a monster of this size were to simply drop from the sky, the death toll would far exceed a few hundred thousand.

With a creature measured in kilometers, there was no way to luckily steer its fall away from a city. Moreover, its altitude was so high that considering the impact and aftershock, the resulting catastrophe could be so devastating that a nuclear strike would seem like a better alternative.

“Nothing’s changed. We stick to the plan.”

At Il-hyeon’s words, the team members nodded and scattered in all directions.

According to the preliminary analysis, the Leviathan’s body contained 512 sensory organs to control its massive frame and maintain its sense of balance.

The task for Il-hyeon and his team was to strategically destroy these organs to steer the monster in the direction they wanted. Then, once it was over a location where it could fall without causing significant damage, they would destroy its core.

Based on its current position, the best place to guide it was the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Sinking it beneath the waves was the only way to resolve the situation without massive casualties.

The toxic fumes from such a massive corpse would require an enormous cleanup effort for some time, but it was far better than dropping it on people’s heads.

“But… it’s moving faster than I thought.”

Il-hyeon muttered, checking the Leviathan’s movement on his wristwatch.

The creature was moving through the sky at about three times the speed they had anticipated.

At this rate, it would head deeper inland before they could even properly adjust its direction.

Destroying some sensory organs to manipulate its course was one thing, but if it didn’t travel far enough within a certain time frame afterward, it could fall before reaching the sea or go on a rampage, tearing up the land.

The scale of this operation was so immense that he had to consider every variable, which made Il-hyeon a little anxious.

“We need to… hurry things up.”

***

A woman with long, braided black hair entered the building, her head bowed low.

Inside, Lee Soo-yeon, dressed in a blood-stained Defensive Coat, was waiting for her and greeted her warmly, though her own eyes were hollow.

“You’re here. Thank you so much for coming. And congratulations on your return.”

“Ah… yes, Team Leader. Hello.”

The woman who answered hesitantly was named Hong In-hwa.

She was a seven-year veteran Awakened who had just returned to Aegis A-Team after a leave of absence for personal reasons.

She had nearly caused several accidents in the past due to severe depression, but her condition had shown some improvement. With the need for reinforcements, her return was an indispensable choice.

“We’ll head out after Team Leader Jeong and the others get back from their mission. It’s been chaotic lately, but your first Gate back won’t be too demanding, just something to get you back in the swing of things, so don’t worry.”

“Um…”

“What is it? Is something wrong?”

Lee Soo-yeon asked in a kind tone when she saw Hong In-hwa’s anxious expression.

“Can someone like me really be useful to the team? It’s been a long time since I was in the field… I haven’t even held a sword. I’m better than before, but I still have some anxiety…”

“Don’t worry about that. I called you because I really need you. We worked well together for three years, didn’t we?”

Her encouraging words seemed to lift some of the gloom from Hong In-hwa’s face, which had been downcast before she even started.

Satisfied with the change, Lee Soo-yeon handed Hong In-hwa, who was in worn-out civilian clothes, her gear—a communicator, a Defensive Coat, a special watch, and other equipment—and helped her test it.

Although it felt awkward to be doing an Aegis equipment check after so long, Hong In-hwa’s body seemed to remember as she expertly went through the procedures.

“Right, besides fieldwork, there’s something else I wanted to ask you. If you don’t mind…”

“Yes… I understand what you mean.”

Before Lee Soo-yeon could even finish her sentence, Hong In-hwa replied as if she already understood.

At that, Lee Soo-yeon offered a somewhat bitter smile and said.

“Your ability is as sharp as ever.”

Most special powers could be controlled at will by the Awakened, allowing them to be used freely. However, some abilities were completely beyond the Awakened’s control.

And it was usually the latter that caused all sorts of problems.

There were many different cases: physical mutations that couldn’t be controlled, turning the person into a grotesque mutant; abilities that manifested constantly, making normal life impossible; or powers that had a severe and unceasing psychological impact.

The Eye That Sees the Past.

Hong In-hwa’s ability was one of those.

She possessed an extremely rare and valuable power that allowed her to see a person’s past, but unfortunately, she had no control over it whatsoever.

It was the worst-case scenario: a ‘constantly manifesting ability’.

Hong In-hwa could read the *entire past* of *every person* she met.

Like a flash of light, every past—even those she didn’t want to see—replayed vividly in her mind at incredible speed, inflicting severe psychological damage.

Despite Hong In-hwa’s usually healthy and resilient spirit, severe depression had consumed her.

Her awakening had granted her a powerful body, but the ability that came with it had only served to eat away at her mind.

When her symptoms worsened, she tried shutting herself in her room and cutting off all human contact, but having already seen too many pasts, severing ties with people changed nothing.

If anything, the endless replay of pasts and various hallucinations only made her condition more severe. It was only after joining Aegis and learning how to manage some of the side effects that she was able to improve.

The constant, unintentional use of her ability had even changed the color of her irises to a unique golden hue. While it was a tremendous asset for what Lee Soo-yeon needed, it was also the very power that had ravaged her mind, leaving Soo-yeon with a heavy heart.

“If there’s time… may I look around for a bit?”

“Of course. Want me to go with you?”

“No, I’ll be fine on my own.”

Not wanting to be a bother, Hong In-hwa shook her head.

She briefly looked around the building, then made her way down to the basement, an area that held many memories for her, and began to explore.

Though some time had passed, the inside of the Aegis headquarters hadn’t changed much.

It wasn’t usually so crowded with Awakened, but with the danger period and the hectic situation, she ran into a few familiar faces.

Among them was someone she hadn’t expected to see so soon.

“Team Leader Yoon In-hye…?”

“Hm? In-hwa? You really are back. I heard you were coming…”

Yoon In-hye, the leader of Aegis D-Team, said with a look of surprise.

A moment later, she approached warmly and extended her hand to Hong In-hwa.

“How have you been feeling?”

“Well… that is…”

Hong In-hwa and Yoon In-hye grasped hands, their eyes meeting.

The eye that reads an opponent’s past and the eye that reads an opponent’s thoughts.

Their gazes crossed.