Chapter 151: Hellfire Peninsula (8)
S-class heroes fought together.
No matter how strong they were, it was problematic for heroes and villains to fight side by side.
Especially if they were the two individuals who had previously clashed in Gangwon-do.
But if the opponent was a demon.
Universally and objectively, if it was an adversary that one must loathe as a human.
“Wow…!”
The story changed.
“What is this…!”
On his way from Busan to Ulsan, Armored Taejo, driving a sports car with his powers, watched the situation in Jindo through his tablet. He was utterly stunned by the scene displayed.
“Autopilot, now!”
Taejo, who usually never trusted AI with driving, switched the car to autopilot mode and turned his attention to the tablet.
“Ah, I should have gone to Jindo myself!”
Each S-class had their own designated area.
Taejo was guarding Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam and had already subdued eight demons and locked them up.
However, they were all either D-class or C-class, weak or already subdued, leaving the academy students puzzled with no way to continue subduing the demons.
In reality, Taejo hadn’t dealt with many of them directly.
Some of the living demons or their corpses he had locked up were already ‘executed’ by someone else.
“Goblin…!”
He had felt it when they fought last time in Gangwon-do.
And even when he was watching from the airplane at Yangyang Airport.
This man.
“So cool…!”
Although he lost the fight, Taejo was a man who acknowledged things where they were due.
Look.
The sight of the Goblin riding a flying bike, wrapped in flames, protecting Baek Seol-hee.
Letting Baek Seol-hee protect the people as a hero while he directly confronted the demon and pressured it with a few words.
And the moment Baek Seol-hee secured the surroundings, he switched to offense and inflicted wounds on the demon’s body.
“That, that bike! He must have copied mine! Ah, yes! Flying in the sky with a steel object! He must have been jealous of my Iron Dragon!”
Setting aside the technical wonder of how the bike flew, Taejo felt an inexplicable chill from the Goblin’s aerial maneuvers.
And then.
“Crazy…!”
Transforming into a rider, wrapped in wings of flame, he soared into the sky.
The flames on his back started concentrating on his right foot, turning into a lance as they aimed downwards.
[Goblin Kick…!]
Whooosh????!
A pillar of fire erupted tens of meters high.
The red flames engulfed the entire demon Skullion.
Boom????!
An enormous explosion occurs.
As if the demon could no longer sustain its existence after the Goblin’s flame-wrapped kick, it caused a powerful explosion.
Crackle, pop.
Within the burning flames.
The front part of the skull was split in half.
“Wow, insane…!”
The Goblin slowly straightened up.
He lightly landed on the ground, stood up, and looked towards the tablet, his eyes shining red behind the mask.
Click.
The Goblin casually shook his right hand.
Then, the transformation was undone, and he reverted to his usual appearance in a suit.
Swish.
He fiddled with his black tie and straightened his attire just as another explosion occurred behind him.
[Demon signal…vanished….]
He seemed confident that his attack had killed the demon.
“If a demon had suddenly leaped out of the flames with its jaws wide open, wouldn’t the Goblin have been quite embarrassed?”
No.
If that had happened, the Goblin would have immediately delivered a spinning back kick.
“Wow, damn….”
All that came out was admiration.
From the perspective of someone facing this, it might be annoying, but from a distance, it was just impressive, and one couldn’t help but feel envious.
Like.
The feeling of wanting to do the same.
“…Damn it.”
Taejo scratched his head.
“I need to walk my own path, but if I copy that, people will criticize me for being a copycat.”
Already, Haeguneul was cunningly twisting patent licenses to create similar but different designs. What would people think if he changed his appearance the same way?
The appearance of a hero was directly connected to how the public perceived them.
Even more so, if it was imitating the appearance of a villain, the criticism—or rather, the condemnation—would be severe.
“…I should try it secretly sometime.”
Taejo, promising himself a future attempt, could only desperately hope for such a day.
“Ah, this is Taejo! Report the location of the remaining demons!”
[Ah, sorry! The whale demon off the coast of Ulsan that I mentioned 10 minutes ago has just been subdued!]
“What?”
Taejo paused for a moment.
“Then, the remaining demons are…”
[Two! Their location is….]
[Ulleungdo’s two demons.]
I headed to my bike, leaving the blazing Skullion behind.
Sizzle.
The power of Gunggi had purified and burned the S-class demon, using up all the energy tainted with the demon’s aura in the process.
Now, I only had the Goblin’s magic power left and one hidden trump card.
The power of the Goblin alone was naturally on the lower side.
It was not enough to confront an S-class hero alone.
But…
[You seem tired, too. Planning to chase after me?]
“…….”
[You’ve had a hard time. Sealing the demons in ice pillars. You must have used a lot of magic power. Are you thinking of catching me?]
I could definitely win against Baek Seol-hee, who had expended more magic power than me.
[You can’t beat me in your current state. I have no intention of fighting you now.]
No matter how strong an S-class was, it ultimately came down to who was in a better state. I had the advantage at the moment since I knew how to fight more efficiently with less magic power.
[There are still demons left to deal with.]
“You….”
Baek Seol-hee continued to look at me with a complex expression.
“Are you going to kill the demon?”
[Killing the demon is one thing, but preventing it from rampaging any further is more important.]
Most importantly, the remaining demon was on Ulleungdo.
[Are you in a hurry? If necessary, I can give you a ride.]
I mounted my bike.
Baek Seol-hee looked at me incredulously, but there was a moment of hesitation.
“…Sorry, but I can’t have physical contact with an unfamiliar man.”
[Interesting words. Are you from the Joseon era?]
“It’s because… over here.”
She barely speaks, mouthing the words so others might not hear.
[What?]
Even so, not wanting to be lip-read, she made no sound, though she thought she did. But it’s easy to guess that Baek Seol-hee meant she couldn’t casually come into physical contact with the Goblin because of a man named Do Ji-hwan.
[Well, fine. I have no intention of carrying an S-class hero who might try to catch me on my back anyway.]
Vroom.
The bike roared again.
I had used up all of Gunggi’s magic power, but now it was time to use someone else’s.
Just in time, she was calling.
From afar in Ulleungdo, she was waiting for me to rush to her.
[The S-class going to Ulleungdo… is it Baridegi? Indeed.]
“Are, are you really heading to Ulleungdo now?”
[Of course. Why? Trying to stop me?]
“No, no! Just that….”
Baek Seol-hee hesitated for a moment, then looked up at me with trembling eyes.
“… I’ll let this pass just this once.”
Swoosh!
Baek Seol-hee extended her hand to the side, and an ice bridge appeared in the middle of the broken Jindo Bridge.
“Go.”
[Hmm. I didn’t expect you to let me go.]
“Without you, we couldn’t have saved the people here, and dealing with the demon alone would have been difficult.”
[Good to hear you think so. But… surely someone will have something to say about this, right?]
I turned the bike towards the ice highway.
[Someone will criticize you for letting a villain go.]
“Let them. I’m in a groggy state right now. I want to fight more, but I can’t.”
[You just created a highway a moment ago.]
“That highway wasn’t for you. It was a temporary bridge for the people of Jindo. Don’t get the wrong idea, please?”
[Huh.]
“What’s so funny?”
[Nothing, just.]
I couldn’t help but laugh.
[Yeah. A villain and a hero helping each other, it’s absurd. We just had the same goal for a moment. You saved people, and I executed the demon. Just that.]
“Yes.”
[People are starting to come, so I should go.]
Might as well use the road she made.
[Transform.]
[Change, Tigris!]
Beep-beep-beep.
Green mana flowed from the bike, wrapping around my entire body, and I dashed towards the highway.
A green circle opened in front of the bike.
Invisible to others, but a long path stretched ahead of the bike for me to follow.
Ah.
I really tried to hold back on this.
‘I can’t criticize Armored Taejo either.’
I couldn’t resist.
[…Riding.]
Into the world of speed.
The eyes behind the Goblin mask turned green, and I sped along the ice path.
[I’m coming, Doul.]
Ah.
[Acceleration.]
I was content.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺