Chapter 57 – Divergence (Part Six)

A colossal body erupted from the ground.

Inside its massive, circular maw were hundreds of sharp teeth, layered endlessly.

A deafening roar echoed as the worm, a massive creature stretching dozens of meters, tilted its body.

Krrrrunch!

As the worm advanced, devouring all the debris in its path, the creature hastily pulled back.

The creature’s swift movement dodged the worm’s mouth. The worm, having swallowed a mouthful of the surroundings, burrowed back into the ground.

The ground quivered and shifted, following the worm’s movement beneath.

As the creature dodged, Il-hyeon immediately charged at it.

Clang! Their swords clashed.

This time, Il-hyeon put his weight into the blow, pressing down on the creature. The ground beneath its feet caved in.

The arms of both trembled and shook.

He hadn’t overwhelmed it, but the dynamic of the fight had completely changed.

Il-hyeon changed his stance, twisting his angle to thrust his sword.

The creature dodged the blade and used its tail to leap into the air, preparing to counterattack.

But it instantly became the target of countless spikes that shot up from the ground.

They looked identical to the spikes the creature had sliced through like radishes earlier, but they were entirely different.

Even if he were to transform the same object into a single rope, its strength would vary drastically depending on Il-hyeon’s ability.

And this time, the transformation ability was wielded by an Il-hyeon temporarily overflowing with an immense amount of ether, having absorbed the core of a Chaser, an A-rank ace monster.

Instinctively realizing it couldn’t easily bat them away, the white creature drove its tail into the wall of a nearby building and pulled itself toward it.

In an instant, it changed its position from its vulnerable spot in mid-air.

After latching on, it clung to the wall with all four limbs and moved rapidly.

The tail, pulled free from the wall, once again thrust toward Il-hyeon.

Il-hyeon raised his sword, lightly deflecting the powerful attack, and then snatched the tail.

His hand was cut by the blade-like tail, but he only gripped it tighter.

Crunch!

The creature’s tail was mercilessly crushed.

The tail, far tougher than even a Chaser’s notorious arms, had been broken so easily.

The white creature, which never imagined its tail—capable of absorbing any impact—could be broken, recoiled in shock and tried to pull it back.

But Il-hyeon was a step faster.

In an instant, Il-hyeon brought his sword down on the tail.

Clang! Weakened by his transformation ability, the creature’s tail was severed.

Blood gushed out as a significant length of it fell away, leaving the creature’s tail noticeably shorter.

It was still a menacing weapon with a gleaming edge, but it was no longer as threatening as before.

The creature stared at its retracted tail in disbelief.

But the pace of this battle was on another level, far faster than a typical fight between an Awakened and a monster.

Even for a monster, there was no time to stand around in shock.

Boom!

As Il-hyeon stomped and leaped powerfully, the ground caved in.

He used a wall that suddenly protruded from a building to change direction in mid-air, then spun half a turn and swung his sword.

Another shallow wound appeared on the creature, and blood splattered.

In exchange for the wound, the creature immediately swung its arm, firing a powerful blade of energy, and closed in on Il-hyeon at a moment that was difficult to counter.

But the wolf leaped high, intercepted, and blocked the attack in one move.

Il-hyeon was unharmed, but the wolf, struck by the energy blade, suffered a large, deep gash in its body from the powerful blow.

Fragments of the wolf’s body flew off as if it were shattering stone.

It wasn’t completely severed, but the wound was severe enough that an ordinary creature would have died instantly.

But the wolf showed no signs of dying and was perfectly fine; even the wound disappeared shortly after.

The shattered fragments of the gray wolf’s body grew back immediately, restoring its original form.

Unlike other summons that would be dispelled after taking a certain amount of damage, the wolf was unharmed.

Like the other summons, the wolf had also acquired and absorbed the core of a mutated monster over the past three weeks.

As a result, it had gained two special abilities.

Incredible regeneration and defense.

That was why fragments, not flesh, had flown off when its body was cut by the energy blade.

The wolf’s surface had hardened like armor, granting it powerful defensive capabilities.

Summons that had absorbed the monsters’ cores.

One by one, the very monsters that had been so terrifying to face were now accumulating to become Il-hyeon’s strength.

After blocking the attack, the wolf carried Il-hyeon, who was still in the air, to create distance. Riding atop it, Il-hyeon reached out his hand toward the monster.

Krrrr!

The fallen trees lining the road began to rise one by one, growing at a tremendous speed and expanding endlessly.

The instantly enlarged plants extended their still-growing branches to seize the white creature, their swelling mass aimed to completely engulf it.

It struggled to escape, but it was impossible to completely break free from the plants that clung to it with such ferocious momentum.

And then, the worm appeared again.

KABOOM!

Erupting from the ground as if in an explosion, scattering debris everywhere, the worm swallowed one of the creature’s legs and burrowed back underground.

If it had reacted even a moment later, it would have been swallowed whole.

Thud!

Landing on the ground, the creature glared at Il-hyeon.

It managed to stand without any trouble, balancing on its one remaining leg, and even used its tail to move naturally.

Geeeeek! The white creature, its leg severed, let out a bizarre sound and convulsed.

Then it unleashed a tremendous amount of energy blades in all directions.

The plants were sliced apart, and the blades narrowly missed Il-hyeon and his summons.

Just as you’d expect from a mutant monster with a template, its behavior was similar to that of a Chaser.

Il-hyeon barely maintained his balance amidst the buildings whose outer walls were exploding.

Then, he carefully watched the rampaging monster.

It was rampaging with even more power than before, and it looked serious.

He had to subdue it quickly to prevent any more damage from its indiscriminate energy blades.

The nine-tailed fox sent the flames it had created around Il-hyeon shooting toward the creature.

At the same time, Il-hyeon touched the ground, and countless iron-shelled beetles burst through the earth beneath the monster, charging all at once.

But it was all in vain.

The white creature with blood-red eyes swung its blade, cutting through the flames, and shook off the beetles as it leaped upward.

Using the building debris it had created and its tail, it moved fiercely, closing in on Il-hyeon.

Just then, the phoenix, which had been absorbing the surrounding energy blades, swooped down and attacked the creature.

This time, the phoenix’s body, engulfed in flames, tangled with the creature, and they tumbled to the ground, rolling across the floor.

Even in that brief moment, countless attacks and defenses were exchanged while they were locked together.

The phoenix, slashed by the blade to the point of being nearly minced, went limp, and the creature stood up.

And just as the creature was about to charge Il-hyeon, a powerful flame erupted from behind it once more.

The phoenix had instantly revived and pounced on the creature.

Thus, the tense battle between Il-hyeon’s summons and the creature continued. The creature was occasionally cornered by the worm’s interventions, but even then, it managed to barely escape and keep fighting.

It was likely that for a monster with a structure similar to a Chaser, an internal doping effect would activate the moment it sensed a crisis, making it this strong.

Because of that, the picture of Il-hyeon’s consistent dominance began to fray at the edges.

As an A-rank monster, and a mutant at that, the fight couldn’t be easily decided.

So Il-hyeon decided to take a more aggressive approach.

He placed his hand on the ground, and cracks spread across the surrounding road with a sharp splitting sound.

Soon, the cracks widened, and the ground collapsed with a roar. Il-hyeon and the creature fell together.

Below was a surprisingly large space.

It was the inside of a destroyed subway station, its ceiling caved in. The moment they regained their balance, Il-hyeon and the creature clashed.

Chaeng! Sword and blade clashed fiercely dozens of times. Walls were torn apart and pillars were ripped out by Il-hyeon’s ability, flying toward the creature.

With less room to dodge than outside, Il-hyeon’s transformation ability became even more potent.

Because of this, the creature also struggled to escape the space.

It tried to escape outside through the collapsed ceiling, but Il-hyeon and his summons, waiting above, wouldn’t just stand by and watch.

They tenaciously clung to it, preventing its escape.

Thwack!

The creature’s severed arm flew high into the air before falling to the ground.

Just as he had with the tail, Il-hyeon had succeeded in weakening its arm and then cutting it off with his sword.

But Il-hyeon wasn’t the only one looking for an opening.

Struck from below without a hint of its presence, Il-hyeon’s face burst with blood from the creature’s tail.

The tail grazed his neck, and the area below his face was pierced through, leaving a deep gash.

“Kuhk…”

Il-hyeon staggered.

Fortunately, he had avoided a deep, fatal wound, but his left jawbone had been completely severed.

He couldn’t suppress the groan that escaped him from the intense pain he’d never experienced before.

But the pain didn’t last long and soon subsided.

The awakening effect of his Predation ability reached its peak, and Il-hyeon’s head spun.

And Il-hyeon, who quickly regained his senses, made the first move.

Thwump! He kicked out with a powerful push. The creature, which reflexively raised its arm to block, was sent flying backward.

Standing at the edge of the platform, it teetered and fell onto the tracks.

The steel rails bent like whips, tightly binding the creature’s arms and legs, immobilizing it.

He had transformed them to be much harder, so even this creature couldn’t easily break free.

And that was its end.

KABOOM!

The worm burst through the trackbed.

This giant worm, filling the view of one side of the station, left none of the creature’s body behind, devouring it all greedily.

The worm filtered the core from the creature’s now-dead body, spat it out in front of Il-hyeon, and then dragged the creature down into the depths, its meal secured in its belly.

The seemingly pure core of the monster that had claimed thousands of lives shone brightly on the dark, filthy subway floor.

Il-hyeon stood frozen in place, staring blankly up at the sky.

Bright sunlight poured through the collapsed ceiling of the subway station.

The unsettling field that had faintly obscured the sky and the city was completely gone.

“Hoo…”

The battle was over.

Complex emotions began to stir again in Il-hyeon’s mind, which had been ice-cold.

As Il-hyeon took slow, deep breaths, he felt his breathing become uncontrollably ragged, and soon he lost consciousness and collapsed.

The comrades who would have rushed to his side during a joint operation were no longer here. Only his summons gathered around him with worried gazes.

* * *

“The barrier is gone!”

A government official rushed in, breathless, and announced.

But even before that, the people inside the temporary command center were already staring at the screen in utter shock.

The video feed had been cut for a long time due to the increasing interference from the field surrounding the city, but a miracle had occurred.

With the field gone, the isolated people began to evacuate, one by one.

“No way…”

Lee Soo-yeon muttered, her eyes fixed on the screen.

“How…?”

“What just happened?”

Those who only knew Il-hyeon as a noteworthy rookie couldn’t immediately grasp the situation.

But the questions that had arisen from all corners soon turned into cheers.

“Waaaaah!”

“We’re alive!”

The cheers of the escaping survivors could be heard from outside, even inside the vehicle.

Soon, applause began to spread throughout the command center, followed by laughter.

Tens of thousands of lives, as good as dead, had been miraculously saved.

Just then, the screen showing the sky above the city displayed Il-hyeon, being carried on the back of the phoenix.

The phoenix flew to the outskirts of the city where the most people were gathered and gently set down the unconscious Il-hyeon.

The people immediately recognized Il-hyeon in his Awakened gear.

Over ten medics rushed toward him, while the fox, its tails hidden, anxiously licked the back of his hand.

Even for an Awakened, the bleeding was severe, but fortunately, the wound was not life-threatening.

Lee Soo-yeon, who had run out the moment she saw Il-hyeon on the screen, approached him.

Among the crowd of people, the summons, who clearly recognized Lee Soo-yeon’s face, greeted her warmly.

Amidst the approaching summons, Lee Soo-yeon looked down at the fallen Il-hyeon’s face.

“You did it…”