Chapter 71 – New Team Member (Part Five)

On an island in the South Pacific, a purple aura flowed across the ground like a low-lying mist.

Everyone on the island had been evacuated, leaving the village completely empty.

Though the island was of a considerable size, the only people remaining were the Awakened of Aegis.

Il-hyeon pushed through the undergrowth, heading toward his designated sector.

Suddenly, someone emerged from behind a tree, and their eyes met.

“Huh?”

“Il-hyeon! Long time no see!”

The woman who appeared waved at him.

Recognizing her, Il-hyeon smiled and raised his hand in return.

Pale skin and short blonde hair. It was Sera from Aegis B-Team.

Her signature bright smile was unmistakable.

“When did you get here?”

“I got here a few minutes ago. The last site wrapped up earlier than expected… But it looks like you’ve made some new friends since I last saw you?”

Sera said, gesturing to Il-hyeon’s summons.

A small fox, a wolf, and a phoenix were perched in a row on Il-hyeon’s shoulder.

“They’re so cute!”

She picked up the reddish fox and hugged it tightly.

It struggled for a moment but soon settled down, burying its face in her arms.

“Well… they’ve sort of multiplied.”

“Multiplied? I thought you only got one new one… Are there more besides this little guy?”

“No, that’s not it.”

Il-hyeon mumbled evasively.

The last time she’d seen him was before he could even summon the fox, so it was natural she wouldn’t understand what he meant by ‘multiplied’.

But Il-hyeon couldn’t bring himself to say that it wasn’t just his animal summons that had increased in number, but his human ones as well.

“By the way, what happened to your face?”

Il-hyeon asked, studying Sera’s face.

She had two special medical bands stuck across one side of her face.

It looked like she had a long cut, and upon closer inspection, he could faintly see a bruise underneath.

“Oh, this? Happened in Africa two days ago. Thankfully, it’s not a major injury, but a mutant popped out of nowhere…”

Recalling the moment, Sera frowned in displeasure and touched the bandaged area.

Il-hyeon himself had broken two ribs just yesterday, and now here was Sera with a facial injury.

It wasn’t just the two of them; the number of team members within Aegis suffering minor injuries had noticeably increased lately.

Of course, this was due to the change in the cycle, but it hadn’t been this bad even during the second danger cycle ten years ago.

This cycle had an unusually high number of Gates, and many tricky monsters were appearing.

Furthermore, contrary to initial predictions that it would soon subside, the current intensity showed no signs of letting up.

The increased workload meant more jobs for mid- to low-rank Awakened and a greater supply of cores from various sources, which helped stabilize prices. However, it also meant that the few high-rank Awakened were, knowingly or not, pushing themselves to their limits.

“Oh, right, I heard about the new team member.”

Sera said, clapping her hands as if she’d just remembered.

“How is she? Settling in well? I heard she gives off a similar vibe to when you first joined. And that her skills are already quite impressive.”

“Yeah, well… everyone’s getting along fine. And she’s very skilled.”

“Hmm, she’s quite pretty. Congratulations.”

Sera said, giving him a slight sidelong glance.

She was obviously talking about Hyeon-seo.

“Ugh, it’s not like that at all!”

Il-hyeon protested, looking aggrieved.

Seeing his reaction, Sera burst out laughing.

“Pahaha! I know, I know. What idiot would believe that? This isn’t some small-time crew; getting into Aegis through connections? Anyone with a brain wouldn’t entertain such a delusion… right?”

“…Glad to hear it.”

-Gate activation! Gate activation!

An urgent voice came through the communicator.

Il-hyeon and Sera simultaneously brought a hand to one ear, listening intently to the transmission.

The Gate had activated about five minutes earlier than expected.

This kind of situation had been rare since they’d caught the unknown party’s analysis jammer.

“Damn, it’s happened again.”

Sera said, looking around.

The purple mist blanketing the island was writhing.

The ominous purple energy swirled and coalesced, rapidly taking form.

Soon, bodies and wings materialized from the writhing mist on the ground, and three monsters appeared around them.

The monsters, called Kurokuras, had sharp beaks and bodies covered in thick brown feathers.

Kweeeek!

The moment they spotted Il-hyeon and Sera standing together, they shrieked and flew at them.

Two of the Kurokuras sliced through the air, their outstretched wings aiming to cut them down, but they only swiped at empty space, failing to reach their targets.

Having missed, the creatures shot past them, then suddenly tumbled to the ground, blood beginning to pool beneath them.

In the blink of an eye, they had each been cut down by Il-hyeon and Sera’s swords.

Just then, the phoenix on Il-hyeon’s shoulder flew up to meet the third Kurokura, which was approaching a moment later.

Naturally, the Kurokura, a monster nearly the size of a person, paid no mind to the tiny bird flying toward it.

But the phoenix’s body erupted in flames, instantly growing in size, and it engulfed the creature completely in fire as it passed through.

It was only for a brief moment, but after passing through the flames, the Kurokura fell right in front of Il-hyeon, its body charred black.

The smell of burning filled the air; it seemed to have been cooked crispy on the outside and moist on the inside.

“They’re popping up everywhere.”

They had dealt with three in an instant, but they could sense the presence of more monsters continuing to multiply.

With the entire island enveloped in the Gate’s energy, they were spawning in every direction.

The individually spawned creatures began to gather according to their instincts, forming packs.

These packs, dozens strong, were destroying the forest, toppling trees with their movements alone.

Moreover, a few packs soared into the sky, attempting to fly off the island.

Seeing this, Sera looked back at Il-hyeon.

“Wait, shouldn’t we do something about them?”

“It’s fine. We can leave them for now.”

It was obvious that a catastrophe would occur if those monsters escaped the island.

But Il-hyeon was unusually relaxed.

As if to explain his calm demeanor, something soon stretched up toward the sky.

From the center of the island, a translucent barrier materialized and spread rapidly in all directions.

It formed a massive force field, like an umbrella covering the island, and the creatures trying to escape crashed into it.

No matter how hard they tried to break through, it wouldn’t budge. The monsters were now trapped on the island.

“My god…”

Sera muttered, dumbfounded by the immense spectacle unfolding above her.

An unbelievable event was happening right before her eyes.

Putting the ability itself aside, deploying a shield of this magnitude was impossible with ordinary power.

*‘No way!’*

But since no one in A-Team possessed such an ability, it had to be the mysterious newcomer she’d only heard stories about.

And yet, she was supposedly a complete unknown with no prior record.

To have hidden this level of power until now was next to impossible, and there was no reason to do so.

She wondered what strings had been pulled to suddenly recruit a team member of this caliber.

Besides, this wasn’t a one-off thing; there was also Il-hyeon’s case.

Ironically, while she was marveling at Lee Soo-yeon’s recruitment skills, the two team leaders were discussing the very same topic.

“I didn’t bring her in.”

“What?”

At Lee Soo-yeon’s words, Jo Yoon, the leader of Aegis B-Team, frowned.

If she hadn’t recruited her, then who had?

Deep within the dense woods, the two stood among dozens of monster corpses.

However, a Kurokura that had barely survived with a pierced leg got up from the ground and charged at Jo Yoon from behind.

Kweeeek!

The sharp teeth inside its wide-open beak glinted as it aimed for him.

But Jo Yoon, who was well aware of its presence, didn’t even flinch, let alone draw his sword.

A shadow that had been cast on a tree behind him simply stirred, pierced the creature’s belly, and tossed it onto the high pile of corpses.

The lifeless body of the Kurokura rolled off the top of the pile.

“Then are you saying someone that skilled just walked into your team on her own? After staying hidden all this time?”

“No. Il-hyeon found her and brought her in himself. He even handled the persuasion and contract all on his own.”

Lee Soo-yeon said triumphantly.

Of course, none of what she said was true.

Since Hyeon-seo had appeared through Il-hyeon’s ability, there had been no need to search for a skilled individual or persuade them.

But there was no need to tell the truth, and she didn’t want Hyeon-seo’s recruitment to become her own undeserved accomplishment.

“Pretty amazing, isn’t he?”

“He had that kind of talent too, huh… I have to admit, you have a good eye.”

Jo Yoon replied with a sour expression, listening to Lee Soo-yeon speak as if she were boasting about her own child.

But regardless, he had to give credit where it was due.

When Il-hyeon was first brought in, he had looked unfavorably on bringing a complete novice with no experience into the company.

Jeong Jin-seong and Lee Soo-yeon. Since they were the ones leading the team, it wasn’t his place to interfere, and while he hadn’t said anything, he couldn’t help but feel displeased.

But now, that thought seemed ridiculous.

Kang Il-hyeon, who had been merely a low-tier C-rank, had now reached the level of an average Aegis Awakened in an extremely short time.

No, perhaps he was even beyond that.

Back then, he’d only had three interesting abilities, but now, with his incredible growth rate, he had made a name for himself as one of the most watched Awakened in the world.

And on top of that, to think he could bring in a talent like her, someone who had been completely hidden and unexposed.

It seemed he had talents other than combat.

“How did he bring her in?”

“How would I know?”

Lee Soo-yeon replied to his question.

Meanwhile, she sensed a fairly large pack of monsters gathering to her right and turned her head, gripping the sword at her waist.

“This might just be the beginning.”

“The beginning?”

“Who knows, he might bring in a few more people just as skilled.”

“That’s impossible.”

Jo Yoon said firmly.

The existence of even one case like Hyeon-seo’s was absurd enough; even if another existed by some minuscule chance, the idea that Il-hyeon would be the one to find them again was even more ridiculous.

But Lee Soo-yeon simply shrugged and said,

“Well. We don’t know that yet. Neither of us.”

Having said her piece, Lee Soo-yeon immediately started walking in the direction she had turned.

Now that the Gate was open, there was no more time for conversation.

Left with her cryptic answer, Jo Yoon simply watched her back as she pushed her way through the forest.

For some reason, her steps seemed filled with conviction.