Chapter 56 – Divergence (Part Five)

At the entrance to the road leading to the city center, reporters had gathered in droves, a stark contrast to the usual traffic. The area was completely cordoned off, with not a single car in sight.

“We are live on the scene where an unprecedented event has occurred. It is estimated that over 100,000 citizens are trapped, and the government has yet to release any detailed information. With all means of communication severed, the lives of countless people…”

The reason for the gathering was, of course, the enormous barrier and the Gate that had opened within it.

Normally, the government would have suppressed media coverage and released a few brief articles later, but this time, the situation had grown too large to simply conceal.

The sheer scale of the area and the staggering number of trapped individuals left the government unable to act rashly.

Inside a temporary command center set up in a specialized government vehicle.

It was stationed outside the force field that had appeared with the Gate, alongside other Awakened.

The atmosphere within was like a funeral.

“Park Sang-ho, Park Sang-min, Lee Tae-hee. All three have been taken down.”

An employee monitoring a complex array of screens spoke in a somber tone.

His words plunged the command center into a heavy silence that lingered for some time.

This was no ordinary crisis.

Over a hundred thousand people were isolated in the heart of the city, on the verge of being annihilated.

No, at this point, they were as good as dead.

Just then, someone broke the tense atmosphere, continuing an argument.

“See? I told you we should have tried digging a tunnel!”

“The connected subway lines are all blocked. How far were you planning to dig? To the Earth’s core?”

Two small boys, looking no older than middle school freshmen, stood in the center of the command center.

One might have mistaken them for students on a field trip, but they were, in fact, specialists dispatched by the government.

Having awakened their abilities at fifteen, a side effect had halted their aging process, leaving them in the bodies they had at that time.

They were a constant presence at any government-handled scene involving barriers.

“You’re useless, so we should at least try everything we can. Why are you even here? You’re no help at all.”

“It’s an Absolute-type ability, what do you want me to do?!”

The boy shrieked as the other’s words started to get on his nerves.

Absolute Ability.

A special classification for abilities that worked in some way, unhindered by an opponent’s resistance or other physical forces.

As the name suggested, they were treated as exceptionally rare and valuable powers, and both of Lee Tae-hee’s abilities had belonged to this category.

Abilities that could no longer be found.

“Get out.”

Lee Soo-yeon, who had been standing with her hands on a desk, lifted her head and spoke.

“What? If anyone’s leaving, it’s you…”

“Soo-yeon, I was just standing here, and he started it…!”

The two, who had been clamoring to speak first, fell silent at the sight of Lee Soo-yeon’s gaze.

They had heard she’d softened recently, but right now, she was the spitting image of her past self from five or six years ago on the field.

The suffocatingly murderous atmosphere made them leave without another peep, even though it was their own unit’s vehicle.

“What happened?”

Lee Soo-yeon asked as she turned around.

“W-well… it seems a mutant species, one that didn’t show up in the Gate analysis, slipped in.”

A government employee answered, stammering, as he brought up a video on the main screen in the center.

The creature that appeared was indeed a monster of a kind they had never seen before.

With a disproportionately long tail and two massive blades, it looked like a crudely modified version of a Chaser.

“It appears to have been a stealth type, and based on its energy waves, we’re certain it’s the one that created the force field.”

“What’s its power level?”

“We don’t know for sure, but estimates place it above the Chaser that just appeared. And by a significant margin. This is just…”

Just then, the screen captured a blurry image of the beast cleaving a building in two.

*CRUUUMBLE!* The building, its midsection sliced away by the sword-like energy, collapsed.

The staff let out gasps at the horrifying sight.

“All that’s left is…”

Il-hyeon’s figure appeared on the screen.

He was striding alone through the ruins created by the beast, heading straight for it.

“There seems to be no hope. The opponent is too strong…”

“All we can do is pray for a miracle.”

The employees murmured.

Some closed their eyes in prayer, while others, unable to bear the impending outcome, stepped outside.

Amidst it all, Lee Soo-yeon simply watched the screen in silence.

***

*SCHLICK!*

A building was sliced clean through by a blade of energy.

The nightmarish monster was cutting down everything in its path.

Faced with this rampaging, anomalous being, the other Awakened inside the city were utterly helpless.

“Get back!”

a man shouted.

A fierce wave of sword energy was hurtling toward three Awakened, threatening to swallow them whole.

It was too late to dodge when something flew in and blocked the path.

*FWOOSH!*

A massive fireball, flying in from behind, collided with the energy wave and erupted in flames.

No, it seemed less like a collision and more like the fireball had devoured the attack.

The fireball slowly flickered and took shape, forming the body of a phoenix.

The startled Awakened looked around and spotted a man approaching.

He wore a black coat, suggesting he was another Awakened trapped with them.

With a blank expression, he walked toward the monster.

“Wait! If you go that way…”

The woman who tried to stop him trailed off as she saw his face.

It was a familiar face, one she had definitely seen a few times before.

Then, she noticed the English letters on the sleeve of his coat and recognized him completely.

An Awakened from Aegis.

He was the last hope for those trapped in this horrifying space.

“Are you going to fight it?”

asked a man whose beanie was about to slip off.

He must have been injured recently, as fresh blood trickled down from his head.

He squinted with one torn eye, and his body was covered in cuts and bruises, large and small.

Il-hyeon simply nodded in response to his question.

“Good luck.”

This time, a woman with long, disheveled hair spoke, her voice choked with tears.

She had lost her younger brother here, and even under a thick layer of dust, the tear tracks below her eyes were distinct.

“Give it one for us.”

The man sitting collapsed on the ground looked up.

He had lost a leg while fighting the monster as it tried to attack civilians.

The bleeding had stopped for now, but he had lost so much blood that his face was as pale as a corpse.

His comrades hadn’t been able to abandon him, which had nearly cost them their lives when the energy wave struck.

Il-hyeon walked past them in silence.

This wasn’t the first time.

He had encountered such tragic scenes multiple times in the span of just a few blocks.

They were everywhere he stepped.

And now, it was time to put an end to these tragedies.

His chest churned, and his heart pounded.

But the more it did, the colder his mind became.

*SHING!*

Il-hyeon drew his sword.

He faced the white beast, which was twirling a tail that looked as if it were forged from dozens of well-honed blades.

The creature let out a bizarre sound, its eyes flashing, and it dragged its arms as it approached.

If the Chaser was a humanoid monster, this one was unequivocally a vicious beast.

There was a sound like a sharpened greatsword being dragged, and then, the sound vanished.

*CLANG!*

The beast leaped forward in an instant, and its blade clashed with his sword. A heavy weight pressed down on Il-hyeon’s arm.

He twisted the angle of his sword to block the beast’s two arms, but the danger wasn’t over.

The long tail aimed for his back.

The creature’s tail moved swiftly, without any sound or presence.

Just like when it had struck Lee Tae-hee.

But now that he was fully aware of its existence, he wouldn’t be caught so easily.

While Il-hyeon and the monster were locked in a struggle of strength, a gray puppy, which had been peeking out from his right pocket, shot out.

Its body swelled, transforming into a wolf, and it lunged, clamping its jaws on the beast’s tail.

*CRUNCH!*

The wolf’s fangs clashed with the bladed tail, but neither gave way easily.

However, thanks to the wolf, the tail—arguably the most dangerous variable—was now neutralized.

Now, it was the phoenix’s turn, hovering in the sky.

Il-hyeon swung his sword wide, momentarily pushing the beast’s arms away, then leaped backward to retreat.

*KABOOM!*

The phoenix dove straight toward the ground, engulfing the beast below it and triggering an explosion.

*CRACK!*

Instead of the powerful flames they expected, a frigid cold spread out, freezing the surroundings.

The phoenix shot out from within the ice.

The red flames that had enveloped its body had turned a brilliant blue, shimmering with beautiful ice crystals.

The white monster was frozen solid.

But the end was still far off.

*CRACK!*

The ice began to fracture, and one of its arms was the first to break through.

Unfazed, Il-hyeon calmly turned his head to look at his shoulder.

A fox with nine tails of shimmering crimson flame had already climbed up to his shoulder.

Receiving Il-hyeon’s glance, the nine-tailed fox immediately used its ability.

Its body glowed, and flames erupted around Il-hyeon.

Unlike Il-hyeon’s transformation ability, which drew from existing sources like a lighter, these flames materialized from thin air and rapidly grew in size.

The flames, created in the blink of an eye, split into several strands and coiled around Il-hyeon like living snakes.

After absorbing the core of the mutant monster from Portugal, the fox had gained its telekinetic ability. Now, combining its innate flame manipulation with this new power, it could control flames and telekinesis with complete freedom.

The flames circling Il-hyeon surged toward the beast.

The creature, firmly bound by the ice, quickly shattered it and tried to flee, but wherever the fox’s gaze landed, flames materialized, relentlessly pursuing the white target.

As expected of an A-rank, and a mutant at that, it created distance with incredible speed.

But no matter how fast it was, it couldn’t escape its line of sight.

Eventually, it was caught and engulfed in flames, emerging with its body half-scorched.

Now thoroughly enraged, it unleashed a murderous aura and charged at Il-hyeon with tremendous force.

Il-hyeon used his transformation ability to block the approaching creature.

The road buckled, sending countless spikes shooting up, and he tilted a building with a heavily damaged facade, causing it to fall and crush the beast.

Not stopping there, a wall erupted from below, and cars were flung toward the monster.

But it was not enough to stop the beast before him.

Lowering its stance, the beast pulverized everything in its path and swung its arm at Il-hyeon.

*CRASH!* A massive impact struck Il-hyeon’s side. The coat’s defensive function shattered, and he was sent flying a considerable distance.

Wincing, Il-hyeon immediately pushed himself up, planting a hand on his knee.

The Defensive Coat hadn’t been powerful enough, and a significant amount of the impact had gotten through.

He spat out the blood that had pooled in his mouth and reached into his coat’s inner pocket.

“That’s enough probing.”

In Il-hyeon’s hand was a brilliantly shining cube.

It was the A-rank core from the Chaser that Lee Tae-hee had killed.

Il-hyeon clenched his fist, tightening his grip on the core.

Cracks appeared on its surface, and it began to break apart.

*SHATTER!*

The core, which was essentially the last thing the deceased woman had given him, disintegrated into pieces.

A tremendous amount of radiant light poured out in all directions, and streams of light wrapped around Il-hyeon’s body.

It was the usual process of absorbing Ether into his body.

But this time, he didn’t fully absorb it.

He simply let the Ether swirl around the outside of his body, creating a volatile energy that pulsed within.

“Hooooo…”

Overflowing with an excessive amount of Ether, Il-hyeon took a deep breath to calm himself.

Then, he slowly turned his gaze to the white monster glaring at him.

Il-hyeon closed his eyes for a moment and reached a hand down to the ground.

Then, something extraordinary began to happen.

*RUMBLE!*

The exact moment Il-hyeon’s hand touched the ground, the earth began to crack and shake violently.

Buildings danced, and the road around Il-hyeon buckled and rose.

*KRA-KOOOOM!*

A massive, hulking body of unknown origin emerged from within, swallowing everything on the surface.

Skyscrapers, bridges, pillars—all were sucked into its enormous mouth and long body.

Debris rained down from all sides like a fierce hailstorm, and a colossal something appeared, looking down at the white beast.

The ‘Worm’ had revealed itself.