The Lee Man Corps – 3
Ubiquitous wasn’t merely an ability that transferred me around; at its core, it was an ability that allowed me to be wherever I wanted. It was only showing its real ability now after it had evolved past the advanced level, but it was still impossible to float infinitely in the air with it. At least for now, that it was still at the first level. I lost my strength and fell to the ground, recovering my lost mana by the time I landed. The survivors were coming out from the carnage, going after the remaining monsters. The monsters were still giving a decent fight but were slowly being overwhelmed now.
I still didn’t know what the goal of these monsters was; if they had intended to fuse and form that monster wearing the armor. Perhaps they didn’t have any goal, no shadowy figure giving out orders. ‘I’ll figure it out later.’ I swung my hand, mana gathering at my fingertips in the form of a lightning whip to lash out at the monsters within range of me. As the whip snapped, spheres of dozens of lightning bolts flared out, destroying the monsters. It didn’t take long to clean up the rest of the monsters, and Lee Chan-yu approached me as the fight was drawing to a close.
“Captain, weren’t you the one who said not to go too wild?”
“Ah, don’t worry about it.” That was something I definitely did not want to hear from Lee Chan-yu, who was being followed by three high-level hellhounds. Besides, I hadn’t shown off all of my skills.
“What the hell are you…?” As we were conversing, one of the humans walked up to us. It was one of the men leading the charge earlier, one of their strongest, although he was barely past level 100. Lee Chan-yu quickly dismissed his hellhounds with his skill as he noticed him approaching.
“I’ve been down in a dungeon for quite some time. Is Seongbuk-gu normally so popular with monsters?” I asked as I looked around, acting as if it were natural.
“It has been since two months ago when that Chaos Soul appeared.”
“Chaos Soul?”
“That’s the name the elves call those monsters.” The man grimaced.
“The elves…they didn’t come even though they promised to help. If it weren’t for you, we would’ve died here.
“Hmm.” It seemed the relationship between humans and elves, or specifically the Elakatra, was worsening. I wondered if it was because of what I had been doing that made it so much worse. If so, I couldn’t help but mentally pat myself on the back for a job well done. As I considered it, though, I wondered if I needed to be worried. My ears were pointed not unlike an elf’s, after all. ‘Although, now that I belong to this higher system, I doubt they can properly recognize what I am through my illusion anyway.’ Looking around, I noticed that the eyes of all the survivors here were focused on us.
“Would it be possible for you to tell me more about these monsters? Especially that armored one.”
“Of course. As humans with the same enemy, we should cooperate this much!” He smiled briskly at me, and I laughed in response. ‘Humans with the same enemy? Yeah, right.’ For large goals, it was easy to demand cooperation and camaraderie. But the moment a chance for profit appeared, so would they quickly turn to betrayal. After more than a year of living as a monster and seeing the ugly side of humanity, my trust in them had hit rock bottom. Ultimately, however, it didn’t matter. It was good to be vigilant, but I wasn’t really trying to build a relationship with these people. I was just playing along for now, so there was no need to worry about them betraying me.
“Follow me, leave it to the others to clean up.”
“Hey, don’t make us do it all!” One of the man’s companions complained, but the man ignored them and guided us over to a still in-tact building. Monster corpses and gore painted the outside of it, but the structure was still in good shape.
“Long time no see…”
“Hm?”
“It’s nothing.” I shook my head, smiling bitterly. A young woman, this man’s assistant most likely, greeted us inside and began to make coffee.
“So, they started to appear two months ago?”
“Yeah, not only here but in Seoul and the world as a whole.”
“The monsters in the dungeon…”
“They’re different, as you saw. If those elves had come to help, it wouldn’t have been so bad.” My ears pricked up at the mention of elves. Maybe I could get some information about the Knights of Elakatra from this man.
“They have powerful skills and artifacts, so why didn’t they arrive today? Their timing is too good sometimes…” I drank coffee as he spoke, enjoying the bittersweet taste of it. It had been too long.
“We still don’t know where the Chaos Soul came from.”
“It wasn’t from Hater.” The man nodded.
“They’re tricky to deal with too. When they gather in large quantities like before, they…”
“Fuse.”
“Yeah. It looks like there are certain conditions to it, though. They have to eat enough humans or their own kind. But they’ll make it happen.” I thought back to the fusion of the Chaos Souls, how it was a little different from that on the Rookie’s Battlefield. ‘Are the Elakatra behind it? What for? And what was that armored monster?’ I held my thoughts, waiting for the man to continue.
“And there’s the demons too.” My heart immediately began to pound.
“Demons?”
“You asked about it, that monster that appeared in the fusion. The elves call them demons. Like the Chaos Soul, they appeared two months ago as well. Wherever the Chaos Souls flock to, they appear as well.” It was almost funny, thinking about it. That figure drenched in light looked more like an angel than a demon, but I figured it would be best not to bring up my familiarity with demons.
“The only thing for sure is that they’re not from Hater. That means they’re connected to Earth somehow.” I wanted to shake my head. The Elakatra seemed to be using some sleazy means to tie themselves to the humans. The underworld the demons and Jinma belonged to was a part of Hater; that monster wearing armor also probably belonged there. Maybe not the underworld, but where? The sky? I figured I would ask Rain about it later.
“The demons aren’t much different than the Chaos Soul; they’re just stronger but still hostile to humans.”
“Why do they only appear where the fusion happens? Perhaps…” Did the fusion happen so they could swallow up the demon, or did the fusion summon them?
“The two are hostile to each other. Some people think that the demons are chasing the Chaos Souls when they fuse.” I felt as if something was tickling at my mind as he said that. The Elakatra wanted to use the Chaos Soul, but the purpose of that monster was still unclear. I was hoping to learn more about what was happening, but everything felt as if it were becoming more jumbled. I felt like a kid who knew nothing, and it frustrated me to no end.
“I’ll just have to kill them all then.” That was the conclusion I came to. All I had to do was identify the enemy; then, I could kill all of those who were my enemy. If I did that, I would be fine. I didn’t notice Lee Chan-yu and the human, who were listening to me, trembling slightly.
“I’m afraid that’s not really feasible, Captain.”
“I’m going to do it.”
“So, where are you from? You’re so strong…do you not belong to a guild?” The man hesitantly asked me, his expression carefully guarded.
“I’m going to make one now, actually.”
“Then, you could join our guild…”
“I’m alright.”
“No, thank you.” The man lowered his head, but he had already expected that would be the case. He knew our abilities were too high above his own. I stood up, a bloody smile plastered on my face.
Only
“Thank you for all the information. Let’s go grab some lunch, Lee Chan-yu.”
“You’re still hungry?” I lightly tapped him on the head and left the building. I couldn’t let anyone know that I devoured the monsters I had killed in battle. He let out a short laugh, realizing his mistake, and followed after me. It was lucky he had whispered it quietly in the first place.
“So, what do you want to eat?”
“Jajangmyeon.”
His response cut through the air, freezing my heart.
“The only Chinese restaurant in Seongbuk-gu was destroyed in the battle today.”
“…What?” Upon hearing those words, it felt as if something broke inside of me. Intense, uncontrollable anger unlike any I had ever felt before filled me.
In the end, we had to head all the way to Jongno-gu to get some jjajangmyeon for dinner.
Comments