Sawon sliced the thing clean through. The tentacles that had been reaching in all different directions all whipped toward Ji Hayeon at once. He cut those down just as quickly, but then dozens more tentacles burst out of the Heukgu. They looked like they were about to spread in every direction, then soon all twisted and shot toward the same single point again.They’re going for Ji Hayeon.Sawon vaulted over three, four cars at once and sprinted toward Ji. Mindless Deaters were locking onto Ji Hayeon as their precise target. Just before they could reach him, Sawon beat them there.Bang!“— Who the hell do you bastards think you’re touching!”The Metena shield he formed bounced them away. Sawon immediately shaped a massive greatsword out of Metena. He drove it into the ground and sent out a huge wave.Vmm!Waves rolled out from the blade like surf.Bang!Sections of tentacle all over the place burst as if crushed by pressure. No more tentacles came out. Sawon spun around.“— Ji Hayeon. You okay?”Ji was clutching his arm.“— I’m fine. What the hell happened. It looked like it was sealed for sure.”“— I don’t know either. It blew through even with my barrier stacked on top. Let me see.”Sawon forced Ji’s hand away from where he was covering his arm. Melted fabric and flesh came into view.“— Fuck……”Sawon’s usually easygoing face crumpled in an instant. He quickly grabbed two capsules attached to his combat uniform and cracked them over Ji’s arms.“— Get inside for now. Go in and head straight to the infirmary.”As he tried to send Ji in, Ji grabbed his wrist.“— That thing definitely isn’t a normal fissure.”“— I get it. Just go to the infirmary first.”“— A Heukgu that breaks a barrier has never existed before.”“— I get it, so go to the infirmary first! I’ll handle things out here.”Practically shoving him, Sawon pushed Ji toward the entrance. But Ji’s eyes went wide as he stared at the Heukgu. It happened at the exact same time Sawon felt Metena.“— Gu Sawon… that thing…”Sawon whipped around. Dozens of Deaters were coming their way. More precisely, they were charging madly at Ji Hayeon, blowing past all the hunters and the people who hadn’t managed to evacuate. As they fought the creatures off, the hunters’ voices came through the comms.Static.Something’s wrong! The Deaters aren’t reacting to us at all!They keep heading for the Central Hunter Bureau entrance!Put a barrier over the whole building! Hurry!It’ll take about one minute to cover the whole thing!In a few strides, the Deaters would be on them. Sawon turned his body back toward the Bureau.In his field of view, staff were running for their lives and agents were frantically trying to throw up shields. He could also see hunters sprinting toward where the two of them were.For some reason, those things are targeting Ji Hayeon.The moment he was sure, Sawon wrapped an arm around Ji’s waist.“— Come here.”Ji clung tightly to him. Maybe his wound scraped against the combat uniform, because a faint groan slipped out. Sawon grit his teeth.“— Nine!”When he lifted his arm into the air, one side of his wrist guard turned into organic matter. A transparent chain shot out with a tearing sound, stretching far away.Chunks of concrete from the ground, parked car bodies, and sections of the Central Hunter Bureau’s exterior wall all ripped free like ragged scraps. Like bits sucked into a black hole, the shreds fused to the organic mass.Gripping the solidified line, Sawon leaped into the air.“— As far away as you can!”As if to say he understood, Nine grabbed the railing on the thirtieth floor of the building next to the Bureau. Sawon and Ji flew in a high arc toward it. Sawon pressed Ji’s head tight against his chest.“— Close your eyes. Hold on to me as tight as you can.”Ji obediently did as he was told.The moment they reached the thirtieth-floor railing, Sawon let go of the line and pulled Ji’s upper body under the outer jacket of his combat uniform. Rather than landing, he put power into his legs and kicked straight through the glass.Crash!The window shattered and the two of them burst into the interior.“— Kyaa!”“— Aagh! Wh-who are you people!”Ignoring them, Sawon carefully set Ji down out of his arms. He brushed off the glass fragments so they wouldn’t stick to him and pointed at the door.“— Deaters are coming. If you don’t [N O V E L I G H T] want to die, run. Now.”The people, pale as corpses, took one look at his clothes, confirmed he was a hunter, and bolted out through the exit.Sawon looked outside. Hunters below were working hard to take down the Deaters. The sealing team had arrived and were throwing barrier devices one after another, but the Heukgu ripped through the barriers and expanded yet again.A few that broke free of the chaos were sprinting madly toward this side, where Ji Hayeon would be. Sawon glanced back at him.“— Right now those bastards are coming for you.”“— Are you sure?”“— Yeah. Completely. Think about why.”Ji bit his nails.“— …They’re coming for me. The Deaters that came from the mutated fissure.”Deaters had no intelligence. That was the data they had on these things so far. That consistent fact had never once been contradicted.They simply craved light and devoured humans at random. But the fact that had held for decades was now breaking for the first time. And of all people, it was Ji Hayeon they were driving into danger. Sawon spoke.“— If the fissure at the burger place is the cause, they should be going for both you and me. But they’re completely ignoring me.”“— …”“— Think about what you did that neither I nor anyone else did. I can’t think of a single thing.”Sawon stepped up onto the railing and called out.“— Nine!”The little monkey dropped lightly onto the broken railing. Sawon gauged the height of the ceiling. Then he checked the length of the railing to either side.“— With this much space, you can stand here, right?”Nine tilted his head.“— I’m asking you. Watch over Ji Hayeon from here.”Nine puffed out his cheeks. Sawon pressed a quick kiss to his small forehead.“— Help me out, okay?”He asked with real earnestness. Nine nodded as if to say he understood. Standing on the railing, Sawon said:“— I’ll hold off those bastards. If you think of something, call me. If the Deaters break in, call me.”Before Ji could stop him, he jumped straight down. Ji grabbed the railing in shock and looked over the edge.“— Gu Sawon!”A solidified board was under Sawon’s feet when he landed. The board that had brought him safely down turned into something like transparent jelly. Naturally, all the fragments stuck to its surface clattered down to the ground.As Sawon drew his sword and moved forward, the organic masses on the first floor flowed back toward Ji like they were being sucked into a vacuum. Fused with Nine, the organic matter swelled larger and larger.Ji stepped back, and the expanded mass turned into a gibbon-type Deater. Nine let out a roar and planted himself in front of the railing.“— Nine……”The monkey Deater’s eyes gleamed as he looked back at Ji. Then, like a guard standing post at an entrance, he blocked off the window. Nine stayed there, unmoving, staring down below.Sawon was already a highly capable hunter on his own, but when he used Nine, he unleashed overwhelming power. And in a situation like this, using Nine’s power would’ve been advantageous. Ji bit his nails even harder.“— It’s because of me… Because of me, he can’t use Nine.”The fact that every Deater was converging on Ji meant Sawon had to deal with all of them himself. And if he couldn’t use Nine, and the Heukgu still wasn’t being sealed, it meant Sawon would have to keep fighting the endless tide of creatures alone.Ji paced inside, unable to keep calm. His terrified eyes darted left and right without rest.“— What is this. What’s causing it.”As he paced anxiously, his gaze landed on a white board. Ji hurriedly snatched up a board marker lying next to it. Clinging to what was left of his focus, he started scribbling down everything that came to mind with shaking hands.“— It’s because of me. Only me… I’m the cause. The thing only I did, that Gu Sawon didn’t.”Ji started scrawling madly across the white glass wall.Gu SawonMeHeukguMutated fissureMetena attraction reactionHinari leaf collectionHe tapped the board with the pen and wracked his brain.“— Together… We were together at the site of the mutated fissure that day. But if there’s something only I did, that Gu Sawon didn’t…”He stared at the lower part of what he’d written. One action related to the mutated fissure that only Ji, not Sawon, had taken: he had poked a specific point at the site of the fissure with his finger. At that tiny spot, he’d felt an attraction tugging at his fingertip.“— And…”And when they’d gone to the same coordinates in Hinari, he’d found a leaf stuck in midair where there’d been a reaction, assumed it was the cause, and brought it back.“— No way that’s the cause…?”Ji fumbled in his pocket and pulled out his communicator. With trembling hands, he pressed the button.[Connecting to dedicated line.]Static.Oh, Chief.Kkieeeeek!Over Sawon’s voice, a Deater’s roar blasted through. Ji’s eyes flushed red in an instant. Even in this situation, Sawon’s voice over the comm was calm.Those Deater bastards reach you too?“— No. No. They haven’t.”What? Then why does your voice sound like that? Is the wound hurting that bad?Kkikikikikikik!Tears welled up in Ji’s eyes. His sunken voice sounded drowned.“— This isn’t the time to worry about that. I think I know why this is happening.”What is it. You figured it out… ugh!Kkikikikigik!“— Gu Sawon! Are you okay?”

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