Chapter 21 - The Hidden Truth (2) (2/2)

“I do not know. I haven’t seen anyone who has yet.”

“Damn it.”

“Contact me if you need me!”

Without waiting for a response, Ghost disappeared heading towards the north.

Ilhyun looked around and found D-rank monsters, green in color, staring at him.

Perhaps among them, citizens who just laughed and enjoyed their daily lives were mixed, he mused.

“Hoo…”

Initially, this level could have been quite dangerous.

Ilhyun was now slowly realizing the rising strength in him after absorbing the new ether.

The result came out that he had no problem at all.

Hundreds of mice appeared as he deformed the floor.

In an instant, they scattered all over the road, and the survivors were found.

“Wow. Isn’t this convenient?”

Thick, smoky flames were rising from the building, the next door.

While he watched the flames, the monsters began to rush towards him.

Ilhyun lifted up his arms, his fingers tightly interlocking his hands. The flames that were engulfing the building suddenly poured out into the streets, the air becoming hazy from the heat. The flames, now white-hot, became stronger and stronger as Ilhyun focused his mind — now the furious inferno was devouring the surrounding monsters, the blaze’s tremendous momentum purging the dirty streets of organic life.

The fungi that had once lined the streets were burnt to cinders and the sidewalks covered in ash.

* * *

Ilhyun broke open the door and entered the basement under the building. A family of four were cowering in the corner. There were two parents, and a young brother and a young sister.

“I’m here to save you!” cried IIhyun, simultaneously placing a hand on his right ear and with his other hand tweaking his communicator.

The communicator’s built-in interpreter function translated his speech. The family stood, tears in their eyes, and looked at him as if he was their savior.

Ilhyun motioned for them to come out of the basement, and once he’d signaled to them, he summoned a pack of wolves. The family was amazed and somewhat frightened by the wolves who were suddenly appearing before them on the ground, but now IIhyun was imploring each of them to get on the backs of the wolves.

“We’ll use the wolves to get the monsters out of here, and then get out ourselves!” shouted IIhyun, and as he spoke he demonstrated how to get beasts moving by slamming the rear of his wolf. The wolf ran at the monsters, chasing them away. The family sighed with relief.

But before anybody could feel any sense of calm, a cloud of green smoke started rising from the side street.

“Look out!”, Ilhyun screamed too late, and before the family could even react, the smoke hit them.

Even on sinewy wolf-back, the family couldn’t avoid getting caught in the smoke, and they found themselves unable to move, and unable to scream out loud in the agony they now felt.

Their bodies melted and flowed to the floor.

“No!” Ilhyun shouted. Four innocent people died.

****

Thud! A giant fungus appeared. No, not quite a fungus; this was different from a fungus. This was moving around. It was an Ace Monster, a Smoker. Its large gray body was a looming 4m high, its face devilish with green smoke spewing out of its mouth as it exhaled. This monster was top of its class, the best of the C-rank: a very dangerous challenge for just Ilhyun to take on.

The monster unleashed a furious attack that would have broken IIhyun bones had he not been wearing a defensive coat. Ilhyun lifted his hands and conjured a fox enveloped in flames and cast it toward the Smoker, but the monster simply caught it and threw it back.

“Let’s go. One more time”, said Illyun.

He cast the fox once again and its flames grew redder. The fox now flew faster than before.

This time the smoker did not intend to avoid the fox itself, but he extinguished its flames with his hands.

Ilhyun, who had flanked the monster, and now behind it, put his hand out in an attempt to transform the body of the guy. A strong ether core in the Smoker’s body put a quick stop to this idea as it reacted with IIhyun’s power, halting it completely. This wasn’t an E-rank monster. Illhyun had to be smarter. He came up with a plan: he’d attack the monster’s outer layer. It worked. No sooner had he put this plan into action than the skin around the monster’s neck turned black and collapsed inwards. A gap appeared, and Ilhyun threw his sword deep into the monster’s neck.

“Kieek!”

Thud! The gigantic monster staggered and fell to the floor.

Ilhyun jumped down off the monster and landed gracefully sheathing his sword.

But what should have been a cause for celebration left Illhyun no sense of accomplishment. He felt neither elated nor remorseful.

“Damn… I just feel dirty.”