Boom— Boom—!
“Didn’t they say we could take them out in one hit?”
“Yeah, that’s by Rion-sunbae’s standards. It’s obviously a whole different story for the rest of us.”
Grotesque monsters, twisted in bizarre shapes, erupted from the ground and swarmed the Espers in an endless onslaught.
While they were weak enough for Rion, Tae-hwan, and Hyeon-seo to obliterate in a single blow, that wasn’t the case for the others.
They weren’t impossible to fight, but they weren’t easy to deal with either. And having these mid-tier monsters endlessly clawing their way out of the earth was pure hell.
“I’ve never heard of a Gate spawning this many monsters.”
“Maybe it’s because it’s an S-rank Gate? Ugh! There’s seriously so many……”
“No, this is something else entirely. Unless these things are being produced somehow…… wait a second.”
Tae-hwan, in the middle of dispatching a monster, narrowed his eyes as something didn’t sit right. Min-hyeon, moving with him as a team, shuddered with unease.
“I think we need to get a closer look.”
“Huh?! I feel like we’re already close enough……!”
“No, no. I need to check the root area.”
Min-hyeon’s face turned to horror at the word “root,” but Tae-hwan paid no attention and marched right up to the monster.
“Up we go.”
“Eeek!”
As Tae-hwan yanked the monster up by its base, the second its root was torn from the earth, Min-hyeon shrieked and squeezed his eyes shut. Tae-hwan grunted, focusing his strength into the grip on the monster’s stalk.
“Just as I thought.”
“W-what do you mean?”
Min-hyeon, still unable to fully open his eyes, asked with a trembling voice. Tae-hwan didn’t respond, only let out a thoughtful hum as he inspected the creature.
Eventually, Min-hyeon forced his heavy eyelids open to see what it was. But the grotesque form, just as disgusting above ground as it was below, made him snap his eyes shut again.
“What’s ‘just as you thought’? That it’s disgusting?”
“Come on. Don’t you sense something strange? Look again.”
“Ugh……”
Wearing a deeply reluctant expression, Min-hyeon peeled open his eyes. What was so weird about it? Scowling, he scanned the monster—then blinked as he noticed the anomaly.
“The root……”
“Exactly. The root doesn’t end. And if I’m right about this……”
SKREEEE!
As Tae-hwan sliced the endlessly extending root in two, the monster let out a bone-chilling shriek.
BOOM—!
“Jesus—!”
“Just like I predicted.”
When the root was severed, the monster let out a final cry and slumped forward, its head drooping like a broken doll. But even after its body went limp, the part of the root still embedded in the ground kept twitching and flailing.
“That’s so gross!”
“This thing isn’t the real body. Its main body is underground.”
Tae-hwan had never seen this kind of monster in person before, but he’d studied overseas Gates and older incidents for training lectures. That’s when he came across something similar.
Though, the one he read about hadn’t been this extreme—a creature able to regenerate seemingly without limit.
“Can we even drag the main body to the surface?”
“Judging by how it only sends out its spawn like this… this thing’s got to be one hell of a shady bastard.”
Cluck, Tae-hwan clicked his tongue and kept pulling at the writhing root.
He remembered that monsters like this did exist, but frustratingly, he couldn’t recall the strategy for dealing with them.
“Dammit, I should’ve studied that part better…”
“S-sunbae! Behind you—!”
Tae-hwan, grumbling while watching the root stretch out with no end, turned sharply at Min-hyeon’s urgent shout.
“Grrrrrk……”
“Ah, crap. Guess I pulled too much—figures that’d set something off.”
The earth convulsed and rippled, rushing toward Tae-hwan at alarming speed. The moment the rumbling growl hit his ears, he released the root—and just then, the ground exploded upward as the monster’s true form burst from beneath.
“Ah! Now I remember. These monsters surface when you stimulate their roots all at once. And when they do, their bodies are massive, so you need an Esper who can fight off the ground—”
“Why are you remembering this now?! Aaaah!”
Min-hyeon stomped his feet in horror, goosebumps prickling at the feel of the ground churning beneath him. The other scattered Espers had also realized the situation and turned to Tae-hwan, awaiting his lead.
“No wonder… I thought it was weird how they just kept coming.”
“If we’d figured this out earlier, we wouldn’t have had such a rough time.”
“Ugh, it’s still gross…”
The violent tremor knocked a few people to the ground, but the Espers recovered quickly, entering battle mode without hesitation. Tae-hwan pressed a hand to his forehead, trying to recall the rest of what he’d read.
“Okay… Espers… for these things, the outer shell is super tough, but once you peel that off, the inner part’s weak. There’s always a soft spot. If you’ve got an Esper who can find that weakness from aboveground, it’s a huge help!”
“That’s nice and all, but could you do something about that monster first?! Aaaagh!”
The moment the monster raised one of its front limbs, Min-hyeon screamed, shaking with fear.
I knew I didn’t want to come in here! I’m a healing-type Esper—they told me I’d barely ever have to go into Gates, that my life wouldn’t be in danger!
His tightly shut eyes were flooded with flashes of his life. They say time slows down when you’re about to die, and maybe it was true—he felt like whole minutes had passed, yet he still felt no pain.
Or maybe he’d died in one clean blow. Min-hyeon trembled violently, unable to even try opening his eyes.
“Alright, snap out of it already.”
“H-huh?”
“You’re not dead. If you want to stay that way, you better run.”
Only after Tae-hwan’s voice reached him did Min-hyeon slowly open his eyes and assess the situation. The monster’s main body, which looked vaguely like a giant crab, was frozen in place, one limb raised in mid-attack.
Only one person could’ve pulled that off.
“Rion-sunbae……!”
“Step aside. If you’re too close, you’ll get caught in it.”
Rion motioned for Min-hyeon to move out of the way. Grateful beyond words, Min-hyeon scrambled to safety, looking borderline thrilled.
“What about us? Shouldn’t we do something?”
“Just stay out of the way. That is helping. If we see a chance to support, we’ll take it.”
It sounded a bit irresponsible—but only because the one standing there was Rion. With Min-hyeon bolting out of the blast zone, Rion held the monster in place and scanned for its weak point.
Unlike most plant-type monsters that puppeteer their spawn, the main body wasn’t particularly strong. Of course, that was only true by Rion’s standards. For the average Esper, it would’ve required serious teamwork.
“He’s not called Korea’s top Esper for nothing.”
As the main body faltered, the plant monsters lost coordination, flailing wildly and screeching. Rion slashed through their throats with clean, precise strikes despite the deafening noise. His eyes narrowed at a certain detail.
There it is.
He spotted a crack in the monster’s rugged outer shell. If what Tae-hwan said applied to this crab-like monster too, then that crack was likely its weak spot.
SKREEE! GRRRK……
Sensing danger, the plant monsters charged at Rion. Most of them were decapitated within moments. The few that slipped past were swiftly dealt with by the teammates supporting Rion from behind.
New monsters began rising from the linked roots again, but fortunately, they seemed to require some time to regenerate.
Rion gathered his power and aimed for the crack in the shell. The monster, sensing the threat, raised its claws to protect the weak spot—but that didn’t matter.
BOOM—!
“GRRRRK!”
The monster desperately shielded its vulnerability. But the invisible force Rion slammed down, as if to pierce through its defenses, was something no monster could possibly endure.
“Keeeee…”
With sharp cracking sounds, shards began to splinter off the monster’s claws. After a prolonged standoff, a loud snap echoed—and the monster let out one final, earsplitting scream.
“SKREEEEE—!”
BOOM—!
A tremendous blast of wind ripped through the area. A few nearby trees were torn from their roots, flung into the air like twigs.
“So that’s why you told us to stay back…”
“Exactly. No point getting ourselves caught in the crossfire. Honestly, sometimes I wonder if he could just solo a whole Gate by himself.”
“Yeah, no. Just having a strong ability doesn’t mean you can do everything alone.”
As the dust cleared, what remained was Rion—and the shattered remains of the monster. Min-hyeon, unfamiliar with witnessing real combat up close, murmured in awe.
“At this point, he probably could’ve just blasted through without even needing to find a weak spot.”
“Yeah, kinda feels like that. Oh—wait.”
Just as everyone began to relax, another wave of plant monsters burst from the ground. The ones still connected to the destroyed monster’s root had already withered into dried husks, turning into piles of dirt. These newcomers were likely the same species, out for vengeance.
But none of the Espers looked remotely concerned. They simply returned to formation, ready to fight.
After all, when the strongest Esper you know is standing right there, worrying is a waste of energy.
