Hekate had brought the ones she favored.
A wolf the size of a mid-sized car, its limbs grotesquely human.
A shapeshifting slime like the one Ricardo had once faced in the Colosseum.
And a mineral creature that, at a glance, only looked like an enormous rock.
They were all, in general, loyal and easy to command as a group.
The slime had hardly any will of its own, and both the wolves and the mineral beings lived collectively.
That meant they could be controlled simultaneously. During wars, the Imperial Army would march into battle leading these very Creatures.
That characteristic, orderly formation unique to controlled Creatures—
Hekate stood before them, using one shapeshifting slime as a shield, and began to walk forward.
A barrage of fire rained down.
“Do you know her?”
Yun pulled the trigger swiftly and accurately, bursting the translucent slime apart.
I nodded, impressed at how he could hit something you could barely even see.
“Yes.”
“Anything notable?”
“She was the Empire’s renowned master.”
She stopped in the middle of the road.
Then she lifted her head and looked straight at me.
Her gaze hurt.
In those pumpkin-colored eyes boiled contempt and hatred.
“She was also a knight [N O V E L I G H T] of high rank.”
“Can you kill her?”
Gunfire, explosions, the sounds of muscle tearing, bones splintering—and over it all, the screams of seniors yelling, “Damn it, they look just like humans!”
Even through the chaos, Yun’s low voice was clear.
At first, it sounded like he was asking out of concern for me.
But I heard boredom in that tone.
“Or do you want me to make you a chance to kill her yourself?”
“I’d prefer the latter.”
To be honest, I had no confidence I could beat her one-on-one right now.
“If you’re willing to give me the chance, I’d—”
“Are you certain you can win alone?”
“Uh, no.”
One of the seniors, eyes fixed on the Creatures, turned his head slightly.
Even with the visor covering his face, I could tell exactly what kind of expression he was making.
But I couldn’t lie.
“So what then?”
After a brief silence, Yun spoke.
“What do you actually want to do?”
“I’ll just contribute as best I can to our victory, like a proper rookie.”
I answered while firing hard.
No clue where my bullets were actually going.
I wanted to use my sword. To jump down and charge straight at Hekate.
But leaping into the ground drenched in bullets and bombs didn’t seem wise.
I hesitated about hiding my true feelings—but decided to be honest.
“I’m not going to lose my head and charge out just because I met someone I used to know. But I want to land the finishing blow myself.”
“I’ve spoiled you too much.”
My superior clicked his tongue.
“When we get back—”
Thud.
A heavy sound behind us.
Thud. Thud.
My eardrums, dulled by the endless bombardment, ached sharply as if torn apart.
The excited seniors froze mid-action.
Even the Creatures, who had been steadily closing in while piling up corpses, stopped their steps.
Hekate also halted her calm advance and turned her head.
I too turned, and what filled the entire background entered my eyes.
“Aaaah!”
Jerry Jones’s scream echoed.
“What is that!”
A giant.
To be precise—a necromancer possessed by a giant’s wraith. It blotted out the moonlight and cast darkness over the buildings.
It was about three stories tall.
It approached, each step making the asphalt quake.
Its massive armor clattered, tearing through the air with a sound like splitting steel. The rusted chains shrouding its helmet swung back and forth.
So it had been lying there, in the ruins of a dying city—
Covered in layers of dust, forgotten by everyone, until it was awakened by Hekate’s summons.
Such beings could be awakened, but almost no one could control them.
Yet once awakened, they always brought chaos to the battlefield.
In its right hand, the necromancer held a sword the height of a two-story building.
A blade no human could possibly lift scraped against the road.
The giant closed the distance in an instant.
The ground trembled.
Boom!
Screams erupted from the buildings.
“It’s coming!”
“What the hell is that thing?!”
“Hey.”
Yun stepped onto the rooftop railing and ordered,
“Jump.”
The moment he finished speaking, the necromancer stopped in front of the building.
Screech—
The building was sliced diagonally.
The blade’s trajectory began on the fourth floor and ended at the first. Yun and I leapt to the neighboring building at the same time. The ground dropped beneath our feet, but we weren’t too late.
We landed on the adjacent rooftop.
The previous building collapsed along the line of the cut—
Like a skull split in two, its cross-section lay exposed before us.
“Ahhhh!”
The cross-section of a human’s lower body.
“Ah! Shit! Shit!”
“Massu Sarin is dead.”
While Gale Dawson shouted in shock, Yun reported coldly,
“Zone 7, Massu Sarin killed in action.”
Massu Sarin’s body had been cleaved along with the building.
Instant death. Even for a Badger, no one could survive a wound like that. The cut surface was smooth. His upper half was nowhere to be seen.
Buried, probably, in the wreckage.
The remaining lower body collapsed to the ground.
Blood and organs spilled out.
The giant raised its sword again.
“Aaahhhh!”
Jerry Jones screamed and bolted out of the building. Isaac dashed down the stairs, leaving Dawson convulsing. Kwon Lucia and Joe Macdonald just stared blankly up at the massive sword.
And in that moment, while all eyes were drawn to the giant—Hekate ran toward the Badgers.
Sylvia and Leonard, who had jumped from the building at the same time as me, rushed toward her.
I stepped on the rooftop railing and jumped.
“Hekate!”
Sliding my hand down a pipe, I landed.
I couldn’t stop the wolves attacking the Badgers on the first floor, but at least I could turn Hekate’s attention away.
“I—”
Boom!
White swallowed everything before me.
I couldn’t breathe.
My whole body was wrapped in white-hot pain.
Ah.
It hurts.
I exhaled the breath I had been holding.
That fast—just like before.
With a cough, blood burst from my mouth. I spat it out mindlessly, laughing bitterly through it.
If I hadn’t used my dagger to deflect that sword strike, I wouldn’t have woken up again.
Panting, I opened my eyes a slit.
Through the blurred vision I saw two figures in front of me, standing where I’d crashed into the building. One glared at me as if to kill, the other had his back turned.
Hekate, readying her third strike.
Choi Yun, blocking her second.
Sensing his skill, Hekate didn’t rush in recklessly.
The sociopathic man and woman who had been about to charge her were busy killing off the Creatures in between.
“Rookie.”
My superior called me.
I forced out my blood-choked voice.
“Yes.”
“I’ll grant your wish.”
Yun held a gun of strange design in his right hand.
Pointing the muzzle at Hekate, he raised his left hand and tapped his ear.
“We’ll split.”
His voice came through my earpiece.
“Leonard, you and I will take down the giant.”
[Got it!]
Leonard’s excited voice crackled through.
[What a glorious assignment!]
“Sylvia, you go with Hilde and take down the ninth-level target.”
From beside the wrecked building, Sylvia—who had been cutting down wolves like she was dancing—turned her body.
Her silver hair scattered through the spray of blood.
Boom!
The giant’s massive sword split the asphalt in half. The other seniors fired wildly while fleeing the monster. Wolves, slimes, and the giant all mixed together in utter chaos.
Amid that confusion stood Sylvia, taking off her helmet with a white smile.
Her face was drenched in crimson.
[Good.]
She smiled as she answered.
[I prefer them the closer they are to human.]
“Thank you.”
I had to show gratitude for my orders too.
I dropped the crushed dagger and slowly got to my feet. Brushing off the cement fragments covering me, I tore off my helmet.
Sticky and soaked with blood—it felt disgusting inside.
My vision cleared.
“See you soon.”
I greeted him, but Yun barely seemed to hear, only continued speaking.
“The rest of you—wipe out the trash.”
[Request air support! Request air support now!]
[Shit, damn it!]
[When does the Portal open?!]
Lucia’s voice came through.
The voice that had always sounded blank was now thick with fear.
[I want to go back....]
The transmission cut off.
Yun lowered his left hand. Instantly, silence fell.
Barely twenty steps from the skirmish raging near the collapsed building—and yet here, it was eerily still.
Hekate unmoving.
Sylvia cutting down Creatures one by one, slipping free of the melee.
My superior, his right hand ghostly still.
Yun’s left hand moved toward his belt.
“Here.”
I caught the sword he threw at me.
“Yours.”
It was Nol’s sword.
The one I’d received from Seunghyun, used in every training session since. I hadn’t brought it, thinking I wasn’t yet allowed a personal weapon.
Apparently, I was wrong.
I gripped the hilt and smiled faintly.
“Thank you.”
“Unit 5 is moving this way,” Yun said, eyes still locked on Hekate. “Just hold out until reinforcements arrive.”
Truthfully, I wanted to finish this before they got here.
I didn’t want to watch her torn apart by lead, shredded by the hands of elite seniors. Hekate had been a master, but unlike Reina or me, she couldn’t absorb life energy.
She couldn’t come back from death.
And with the battle-hardened Badgers dispatched for this operation, once reinforcements of Yun’s caliber arrived, Hekate’s chance of survival would be zero.
So I’d have to end this before then.
Gripping Nol’s dagger tighter, I made my resolve.
I knew it was arrogance beyond my means, but I wanted to end her myself—
Just as she’d longed for, crossing blades without interference, both of us ending on our swords’ edge.
But such sentiment would never be forgiven on the battlefield.
It was a pathetically cowardly thought.
I knew that well. I knew I had no right to desire anything.
And yet—
I just...
“Go.”
My superior tossed out the word and vanished from sight.
Rat-a-tat-tat!
He cut through the Creatures with practiced ease as he moved away.
With him gone, Hekate came clearly into view again.
The former master, glaring at me with eyes brimming with hatred.
I swallowed hard, forcing down the emotion that threatened to rip my heart apart.
[It’s been a while.]
Hekate spoke in the old tongue—just like she used to.
[My captain.]
