Chapter 42 – Seoul Station Disaster (2)

“What, you haven’t gone to school yet?”

When I walked into the living room, I saw Katrinne slurping down ramen.

Today isn’t a weekend. It’s a weekday.

“I have a practical training session today, so I go in late.”

“Practical training? What kind?”

“Didn’t you get the school notice?”

I fiddled with my phone and saw a long text message had arrived.

This was the gist of it. Like students in vocational schools, they were going on a field trip to see where they would be working in the future.

“Schools have gotten nice these days. Back in my day, if you were even a minute late, you had to stand with your hands up.”

“Coming from the king of tardiness.”

“You’ve got some nerve saying that.”

“…On behalf of the other world, I apologize.”

The school Katrinne attended was a so-called Hunter High School. Which meant she was going to hunt monsters.

“The Seoul Terminal Dungeon?”

“Yeah, it’s where the first Gate incident happened. They say it’s full of teaching material.”

When the Gate incident occurred eleven years ago, it was a living hell, but with the passage of time, it had become an abandoned ruin.

I knew the monsters that usually appeared there were all E or F-rank, so it wasn’t considered very dangerous.

It was a story I had heard this morning and paid little mind to.

‘Damn it.’

Of all the times, at this very moment.

I couldn’t understand why such a ridiculous monster had appeared now.

I stuffed the Company Man into my inventory. Then, I took out my number two sword, the Two-Handed Sword.

The bluish aura of ether glowed brilliantly, as I hadn’t used it at all today.

Even now, the Earth Dragon was on a slaughtering spree.

The vagrants who had been rummaging through the ruins for magic stones couldn’t escape in time and burst like tomatoes.

*How much do you trust the Demon King?*

I felt as if the Company Man’s words were still ringing in my ears.

I had no idea just how much this guy knew.

It’s not something to brag about, but let’s say he knew about me because I was the most famous person in the other world.

But the Demon King was different.

The image of a guy swaggering around with giant horns didn’t exactly match that of a handsome, second-generation chaebol heir.

How much did I trust that bastard?

I didn’t.

I’m no fool; I don’t have the kind of blind faith that trusts unconditionally.

We were enemies, fighting to the death. As a result, we simply acknowledged that we were formidable opponents.

It was possible because we knew each other so well. Knew that he’d be a pain in the ass as an enemy, and a reliable ally.

There are no eternal enemies. Nor are there eternal allies.

‘More importantly.’

The problem now was how to stop that ridiculous monster.

Should I take the Company Man out again and ask him how to stop it?

No, that was unlikely. A creature summoned by a sacrifice, lured by bait, would not stop until its desires were satisfied.

And the Earth Dragon’s appetite was immense.

I had to think calmly.

With my current strength, stopping that colossal monster was impossible.

If I had the power I possessed as the Hero in the other world, it might be a different story.

I called the Demon King.

“How are things going?”

“Going? They’ve gone to hell. An Earth Dragon just showed up!”

“An Earth Dragon?”

“Do you have anyone available for support?”

Im Jae-joon was silent for a moment. Then he spoke in a low voice.

“No one. By this era’s standards, an Earth Dragon is at least a 4-star monster.”

Currently, the highest-ranked boss monster in the world was 5-star. The difference of a single star was enormous.

Look at restaurants. The difference of one star was like the difference between a snack bar and a steakhouse.

“Then what are we supposed to do? Tell it to be patient?”

“We’ll have to request support from other guilds. It’s probably the same everywhere else.”

The Gate disaster the Wizard System mentioned was today.

I had heard that all the elite S-rank and A-rank hunters had been summoned for a Gate of unprecedented scale.

“Don’t tell me they’ve already entered the Gate?”

“They have.”

I’m fucked. We’re screwed.

A Gate raid usually takes at least three hours. That meant we’d have to watch this thing’s antics for at least half a day before enough people could gather to take it down.

“I’ll contact you as soon as I can coordinate with the other guilds.”

I immediately hung up on Im Jae-joon and called Katrinne.

The phone rang several times. She wasn’t picking up.

The monster would soon leave the area contaminated by the demonic miasma. And its direction was probably…

Roooaaar!

The Earth Dragon let out another Awakening roar.

What a racket.

Having only lived in the forests of another world, it seemed to have no concept of modern etiquette.

Did it want to get a noise complaint?

I raised my number two sword, the Two-Handed Sword, and poured a large amount of magic into it.

As if responding to my magic, the ether hummed and spread a blue light.

Honestly, I knew this was crazy.

But I also knew what would happen if the monster charged ahead like this.

I slowly approached the monster. I’d strike with all my might from here.

Thwack!

With a dull thud, the Two-Handed Sword bounced off.

Yeah, of course. I knew it.

My Strength stat was 42. Since the usual max for a stat is 99, that was by no means a low number.

And yet, it didn’t even leave a scratch on this monster.

Soul Breaker.

I hit it, feeding it plenty of my only attack skill. The reason I said ‘hit’ instead of ‘slashed’…

…was because the attack didn’t land properly. It was like I would have been better off using a blunt weapon.

But it seemed to have felt a slight tickle. The creature suddenly whipped its head around to look at me and opened its mouth wide.

CRUNCH!

If I’d been a moment slower, it would have been dangerous.

The teeth on the roof of its mouth were reminiscent of a shark’s. One bite, and I’d be dead in an instant, HP be damned.

‘Still.’

The fact that it reacted, even a little, was a good sign.

I ran up the Earth Dragon’s thick leg and climbed onto its back.

It’s wide. So wide.

I swung the Two-Handed Sword wildly. I flailed like a madman who had forgotten every sword technique he ever knew.

If I wanted to slow this thing down even a little, I had to do something crazy.

Clink, crack! Thud! Thwack!

A few of the scales on the Earth Dragon’s back shattered.

My frantic efforts were having an effect.

I tried to run straight for its head.

At least if I stabbed its eye, it would be in some pain.

But the beast thrashed its body around as if playing rodeo.

I barely managed to hang on by grabbing one of its scales.

But that too was short-lived.

Damn it.

The scale I was holding onto broke off. As I fell to the ground, I looked up into its fierce, slitted eyes.

It opened its mouth wide towards me. A chill ran down my spine.

No way, it’s going to use its breath attack just for me?

The most lethal attack of the dragon race. A flame, no different from a one-hit kill, spewed from its mouth.

Fwoooosh!

A wedge-shaped blast of fire incinerated and vaporized everything in its path.

A sound like an exploding bomb was followed by a wave of intense heat.

Seemingly satisfied, the beast continued on its way.

*Ring, ring. Ring, ring.*

A phone was ringing. My entire body ached.

I struggled to look at the screen and saw Katrinne’s name.

“Mister, did you call?”

“Where are you right now?”

Fortunately, it didn’t seem like Katrinne had come to any harm yet. I could see crimson flames rising from the chain-link-fenced city over there.

“I was out for my training session. It got canceled because of an emergency evacuation. Uh, Mister?”

Katrinne’s voice sounded flustered.

“Mister, I think I just heard a weird noise.”

It seemed she’d heard the Earth Dragon’s roar.

“Mister, where are you? You’re not at home, are you?”

For now, Katrinne seemed safe.

The strange turn of events I had feared hadn’t come to pass. Now, I was the problem.

Let’s see. Am I okay?

I tried moving my hand. It moved. My feet moved fine too. Where did my sword go? Ah, there it is.

I picked up the sword, which had fallen in a spot where the flames had yet to die down.

I gripped the sword and poured my magic into it. The ether was still plentiful. But the blade was severely damaged.

It wasn’t unusable, but I’d have to forget about its sharpness.

‘I’ve done all I can.’

I’ve stalled for as much time as possible.

The authorities moved faster than I expected.

KABOOM, BANG! RAT-A-TAT-TAT!

I was watching from a front-row seat as the Earth Dragon was pummeled by all sorts of firearms.

I wish I had sunglasses.

“Mister? Mister, where are you?”

“Yeah, just watching the fire.”

No matter how monstrous an Earth Dragon was, it was no match for modern weaponry. As I pondered how to suck the experience points out of the creature that was about to be torn to shreds…

Rooooooaaaar!

The Earth Dragon’s Awakening roared. Then, explosions erupted from all sides, buildings collapsed, and everything fell silent.

“Where are you watching a fire? Mister, don’t tell me…”

I hung up on Katrinne.

It had certainly looked like the Gate Countermeasure Headquarters was evacuating citizens and mobilizing the army to bombard the Earth Dragon.

I started moving again. Hurriedly.

“Ah.”

What I arrived at was, quite literally, hell.

The Earth Dragon, rampaging through the concrete jungle, had shattered all the marvels of modern civilization that stood in its way.

The few survivors were trembling, foaming at the mouth with blood.

A soldier, who had been trying to hold onto his consciousness to survive, saw his torn-off lower body, sobbed, and then quickly lost consciousness. No, he died.

I snapped back to my senses.

I searched for any remaining survivors. But it was meaningless.

They had all been torn to shreds like rags. Something welled up in my chest.

I followed the trail of destruction left by the Earth Dragon.

The ground was littered with the bodies of the dead and wounded. And there were giant insects feasting on the corpses.

Corpse Beetles. Parasites that lived on the Earth Dragon’s body.

Seeing me, hale and hearty, they leaped and bounded towards me.

Splat!

I swung the Two-Handed Sword like a flyswatter and turned them all into pulp.

“Aaargh!”

Screams erupted from everywhere. A citizen caught in the Earth Dragon’s grasp struggled. He was sucked into its mouth, and soon, even his screams were silenced.

“H-Help me. He…!”

Squish!

The Earth Dragon, hastily filling its hungry stomach, stomped on the woman screaming for help.

Her child, who had been watching, cried out, looking for the mother who had suddenly vanished.

It was a reflex.

Before I was even conscious of it, I shot forward from where I stood.

With my Two-Handed Sword, I severed the Earth Dragon’s tentacle that was about to strike the child.

A foul liquid rained down on the ground. I placed my hand on the shoulder of the child who had lost their mother and put them in my inventory.

If I had moved just a little faster, could I have saved the child’s mother?

If I hadn’t been complacent, thinking the army had it covered, would this tragedy have been avoided?

I don’t know.

I’ll never know.

-Synchronization Rate is increasing.

As I continued to save people, my inherent powers began to be restored, one by one.

-Weapon Master LV Max has been activated.

-Savior Hero function has been activated.

Crisis makes me stronger.

But this was no time to be smiling.