Chapter 53 - Staggered (2)

Staggered (2)

It was a transparent force-field that formed in Korea.

The high-grade gate reaction that coincided with it was displayed in the Aegis’ analysis room.

“What happened?” Asked Lee Soo-Yeon, who came in a hurry to open the door.

Shin Jae-ha, the vice-chairman of the analysis team who reported and received data on the table, embarrassingly looked at her.

“It’s unusual for an A4-class gate to appear in the station without prior knowledge. The film was exactly formed right after the gate was created. Anyway, the citizens inside are imprisoned.”

“Then, let’s forcibly enter—”

“No. First of all, there shouldn’t be any forced entry. I’m analyzing it, but I’m wondering what will happen if we enter forcefully. The government’s people are on their way… but to be honest, I don’t like relying on them.”

“Sigh……”, Lee Soo-Yeon sighed as she scratched at her greasy head.

In the past 20 years, this has never been the case.

When a gate was created, there was enough time to run as fast as possible, but when space was blocked like this, no help would come.

“Do you want to do something from the inside? What’s the power of the Awakeners inside?”

“Only four B-ranked Awakened people can respond. It’s not Seoul, it’s Gyeonggi-do, so there are very few Awakened people, and most of them are already preoccupied.”

Shin Jae-ha gave her four documents.

It was a list of high-ranking Awakeners above B rank who’re currently inside the border.

Two Awakened government response teams are already on their way.

The leader was an experienced Awakener who had worked with Lee Soo-Yeon several times in the field.

However, she frowned when she turned the previous two pages.

“This……?”

“Yeah, the two are trapped inside.”

Kang Il-Hyun and Lee Tae-hee.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the two of them are the most promising in Aegis.

Both of them stopped by their parents’ house first and then seemed to be in the same location.

“Damn, what kind of guy is the Ace monster that appeared?”

“It’s a Chaser. Remember that white guy?”

“Of course, I remember. I didn’t know that well back then. It died once, and then it died again halfway. Is it that type of guy?”

When he hit the keyboard, a picture of the monster inside the station appeared on the screen.

Lee Soo-Yeon saw the face of a humanoid monster with a white, slender body with three shiny red eyes.

The place where the guy appeared was ruined all over, and it was filled with dead people’s bodies.

Chaser.

It didn’t appear that often, but Chaser was a monster that showed itself several times over the past 20 years and left a strong impression.

It was an infamous guy and also Lee Soo-Yeon’s first A-ranked monster debut opponent.

“Yeah, it’s definitely that guy.”

“It’s dangerous, this will be tough…” Lee Soo-Yeon muttered as if she was anxious.

She knew the level of the guy because she had faced the monster herself.

However, there was one strange thing about the Chaser that appeared at this gate.

“But it shouldn’t have the ability to make a shield like that?”

“We also are confused by that…… There’s no way to know right now.”

Lee Soo-Yeon bit her lips impatiently as she stepped out of the room without delay.

“Wait, where are you going?”

“To the scene.”

* * *

“This is a first-class gate disaster. Please move calmly according to the instructions.”

The announcements rang out in every corner of the city, and people were confused and trapped inside a translucent membrane.

When they heard that the gate had opened in the center of the city, the citizens were already running towards the edge.

Il-Hyun went through a large distance as he turned towards the center.

At the same time, he had a portable communicator in his ear, and he was listening to the general situation description from the headquarters.

Suddenly the voice he heard was changed to Lee Soo-Yeon.

— Il-Hyun, can you hear me?

“Manager?”

The communication status was poor, so even though it was interrupted in the middle, it was noticeable at once.

— Yes, I’m coming there too. Have you figured out the rough situation?”

“Yes, I heard about it.”

— As you already know, it’s probably a different dimension from the one you dealt with.

With her words, Il-Hyun swallowed his saliva silently.

As he continued his life as an Awakener, he knew the meaning of an A rank monster.

It was the main enemy of human survival—it was the object to fear.

There have been many Awakeners, but still, several defenses have been breached that caused tremendous damage.

Therefore, the importance of a class A high-ranking Awakeneer who could deal with these was inevitably increased, and all governments were forced.

This was Il-Hyun’s first time facing an A-ranked monster without a team leader, and it would be a lie if he said he wasn’t nervous.

But it wasn’t just for that reason that he felt intense anxiety at the moment.

Damn it… Please.

Il-Hyun looked around impatiently.

His parents’ house was in a confined part of the city.

In this situation, Il-Hyun used his communicator, but all internal communication had been made impossible.

After absorbing the cores of other mutants obtained in the UK last week, the mouse had greatly increased its detection ability, but he was still anxious.

— Are you going to the center? First, go through here before you head there.

With Lee Soo-Yeon’s words, Il-Hyun’s watch responded.

With the hologram’s GPS, detailed coordinates of the location were generated, including other Awakeners, gates, and monsters that appeared.

However, one puzzling point was that the top priority was attached in the wrong place, and it was far from the location of the other Awakeners.

“Isn’t it necessary to start joining right away?”

— Are you going, empty-handed? Fortunately, there are several research institutes affiliated with us. You can get the Ether sword there. It’s temporary, but there’s also a dull defense coat.

“Alas.”

Il-Hyun looked down at himself.

In an inconspicuous outfit, the handheld a shopping bag with gifts and Summoners instead of a sword.

Even though he was able to generate some power without equipment thanks to his superior combat ability, he had to prepare fully because he was dealing with an Ace monster.

— You’ll find a way to open and enter from the outside, but in the worst case, you might have to grab it with your own strength.

“Okay. I manage to do it somehow.”

— Don’t dare to die. There are tens of thousands of lives you need to save.

He clenched his fists firmly while thinking about the people.

Il-Hyun also knew that much.

* * *

“It’s useless to go to the blocked edge! You must go to the shelter! Please follow the instructions!”

Soldiers screamed at the street where people were running away.

Individual police officers in the city, as well as military units, were evacuating citizens.

“They’re here!”

Monsters filled the streets as they flocked between cars that had been abandoned without owners.

White monsters of the same size, like a blade, raised their sharp arms and approached them.

“Prevent them from coming!”

Along with the cry, fire came out of the muzzle of a tank.

One-shot from the main gun resulted in one monster being blown backward with one arm being destroyed, but the other three narrowed the distance without regard to the rifles.

The C-rank monsters were not even scratched.

Quang!

They smashed the tank and simply blew away the heads of two or three soldiers.

Huge amounts of blood scattered everywhere, and they began to retreat in fear.

Then, among the soldiers, people in black coats appeared.

The three Awakeners walked out and slowly pulled their swords, slashing towards the monstrous monsters.

Wicked!

Each of the monsters’ bodies fell into pieces on the floors.

It was really easy for the Awakeners who looked down at their opponents.

The soldiers who almost gave up hope sighed with relief.

Those who appeared were veteran Awakeners belonging to Altena, and they’re one of the most well-known companies.

“I was on my way to handle another gate…What is this mess now?” the man sounded troubled.

The woman took her bloody sword and identified the dead monster.

“The monster is C rank… You have to be careful. It isn’t the rank we expected it to be.”

“What about the Aegis and the response team?”

“I said they’re already coming with their equipment. You have to believe in them.”

“If they fail, will we all die? We still need to destroy the target, though.”

“Be careful! One more unusual monster is coming!” the other man shouted.

It was three or four times larger than the monsters they were dealing with. The huge-looking figure was approaching from their side.

They frowned as they checked its appearance.

It wasn’t the notorious ace monster.

“It’s not a Chaser.”

“Okay, let’s stop here. There’s no going back once you’ve taken a step forward.”

Three Awakeners firmly held their swords.

Many citizens were still evacuating behind their backs.

They couldn’t take a step back, and they collided with the monster that narrowed the distance between them.

Quang!

One was attacking from the front, and the other two turned to the side to find a weakness.

But the man didn’t even survive that one attack.

He missed the sword strike and was exposed to the monster’s attack.

“Aw!”

Then it happened.

After two or three attacks, the defense coat’s defense was broken, and the man’s right arm was cut off.

Blood spilled, and he screamed and fell to the floor.

Bang!

“Gurgle!”

His colleagues rushed over, but their defensive coat was also broken, and they were thrown back when the creature swung its arm again.

The two both hung on a wall along with a vehicle that had been thrown into the air.

The white monster that had just dealt with the nuisances turned its head, eyes radiating a black glow.

The people who watched at the unbelievable sight were scared even at the thought of running away and stayed in place.

Unless they were Awakened now, their resistance was meaningless in front of the monster.

It was a helpless and desperate situation.

But then suddenly, a helicopter sound was heard, and the monster looked up.

There, a woman with a sword, Lee Tae-hee, jumped toward the man with the black coat.

The white monster reflexively reached out to her with its sharp arm.

It was going to attack the stupid opponent in its falling trajectory and kill it.

At that moment, however, the flow of time changed, and Lee Tae-hee’s body twisted.

Slash!

At that moment, before it could even make any sense of the situation it was in, the diced up monster fell down to the ground.

Lee Tae-hee, who landed on a circle, quickly approached the fallen man.

“Please help me stop the bleeding here!”

The soldiers ran to her at her shout.

She treated him with urgent first aid and raised not only the man but also the other fallen Awakeners.

“Can you move?”

“Yes. I’m okay…Thank you so much.” The survivors, who were barely alive, greeted Lee Tae-hee.

He limped a little bit, but thanks to the defensive coat, there seemed to be only a little trouble moving.

By the time the situation was cleared up, the two men in the helicopter also followed Lee Tae-hee.

Park Sang-ho and Park Sang-min from the government response team appeared before her.

They’re two awakened twins known for their excellent cooperation.

“Please help out here a little more. We’ll go first.”

“You’ll go first? I have to wait for one more person, and then we can go against the opponent.”

With what Park Sang-ho had said, Tae-hee Lee looked confused and asked a question.

Sang Park-min shook his head and opened his mouth, “The two of us can handle it. In the meantime, you help citizens evacuate and kill other monsters.”

“No! The Chaser is famous for being an A-ranked monster. And it’s dangerous—”

“You don’t believe us? Don’t worry. Even with an A rank, I have had a lot of experience dealing with it while assisting others,” Park Sang-min said soothingly, but Lee Tae-hee still couldn’t let them do it.

“In case you forgot, we cant take risks… because our people should go out of this place safely.”

“Hey, stop. There are only five remaining B-ranked monsters, but who will face them? Are you going to let people die? Don’t you have to save the citizens,” said Park Sang-ho in an angry tone.

Lee Tae-hee shrank slightly.

Park Sang-ho looked calm as he glanced at her.

“Either way, the Aegis guys are just trying to kill the monsters one by one.”

“Then we’re done. You stay, and we’ll go,” Park Sang-min said as he walked away after turning his back.

Lee Tae-hee stood still with an uncertain expression while looking back at them.

“I’m not sure if this is a good idea……?”