178. Tidal Wave 4

“I remember your first dedicated guide died due to a fire, Tae-ha.”

It felt like rage was growing in her chest, piercing through it. Yoon Tae-ha struggled to not forget her objective of capturing Yeo Soo-min and Oliver alive and sending them to Changcheon. Yeo Soo-min approached the water prison. As she moved, Oliver followed.

“Before your second dedicated guide meets a similar end, just answer one question for me: were you really only inside the hotel while waiting in Cocytus?”

With her interrogation, Yeo Soo-min extended her arm into the prison. The water, which had been impenetrable no matter what, now opened a path for her.

Yeo Soo-min’s hand choked Yoon Tae-ha’s neck. Unable to resist, Yoon Tae-ha’s lips parted. Unpleasant liquid poured down her throat. The longer she was in contact with the liquid, the more strength drained from her body. Even then, Yoon Tae-ha gripped the enemy’s wrist as if to break it.

“Stubborn, aren’t you?”

Taking the woman’s voice as a signal, Yoon Tae-ha pulled down the entities floating like stars far above. Sharp blades sliced through the night sky, descending rapidly. Yeo Soo-min and Oliver were right beneath them. Seeing the blades, Yeo Soo-min hastily flung Yoon Tae-ha’s hand away.

Oliver, with incredible agility, released the water prison that had confined Yoon Tae-ha. Then he moved the liquid above their heads.

Due to the vanished water, Yoon Tae-ha tumbled on the muddy ground. But immediately, using the momentum, she sprang up and hurled her spear towards Oliver, who was defending against the blades. A white trajectory cut through the darkness.

“Gah!”

“No!”

The spear pierced the man’s abdomen. Despite the immense pain, Oliver created a spherical liquid shield around them. Yeo Soo-min bit her lip tightly and supported him.

Their positions were reversed. Now they were trapped in the water. Oliver had to maintain the shield without even stopping the bleeding. Blue blades were endlessly generated in the air, attacking the liquid dome.

“Capture is impossible. How are we supposed to contain that?”

Yeo Soo-min muttered lowly and reactivated her mud doll. A sturdy-looking shield was generated in the doll’s other hand. The doll launched continuous attacks, trying to break Yoon Tae-ha’s concentration so she couldn’t create entities.

Yoon Tae-ha ducked to avoid the club and kicked the doll’s wrist, which held the shield, causing it to crack. Seizing the opening, she leaped onto the doll’s shoulder. Sitting like she was riding piggyback, she grabbed its neck, which contained fragments of stone, and twisted it forcefully with her psychic powers. With a crunch, the doll’s head separated from its body. The headless doll collapsed to the ground.

While she was dealing with the doll, Yeo Soo-min was frantically trying to stop Oliver’s bleeding. Yoon Tae-ha, having finished off the doll, used her psychic powers to push her spear back. Oliver screamed. The surface of the shield trembled.

“Aaaargh!”

“What are you doing?!”

A furious Yeo Soo-min screamed.

“This one’s weaker. Just barely avoiding getting its neck snapped, it seems.”

Yeo Soo-min, her eyes bloodshot, stomped her foot hard. Giant mud hands burst out of the ground one after another, like fly-eating plants.

With dozens of hands appearing simultaneously, Yoon Tae-ha had no choice but to escape. But even as she dodged the hands, she taunted the enemy, who wouldn’t come out of the shield.

“Are you going to stay in there forever? You’ll have your funeral in there too, I suppose.”

“Shut up!”

“Sending just two of you to me means they’re abandoning you from above, doesn’t it? Did you come here not knowing that?”

At that moment, Yeo Soo-min’s rage exploded. Yeo Soo-min hastily broke through the shield and rushed out. She raised her fist towards the sky. Then a massive arm made of earth erupted from the ground. Yeo Soo-min swung the arm to crush Yoon Tae-ha. The arm molded from earth synchronized with her.

“You won’t need one leg, will you?!”

A murderous shout cut through the air. Yoon Tae-ha, who had been moving onto branches and fleeing from the terrifying arm, suddenly changed direction and teleported in front of Oliver.

Yeo Soo-min, who had been tracking her movements with excellent dynamic visual acuity, reached out her arm in that direction and almost crushed Oliver with her own hand. She faltered. Seizing that moment, Yoon Tae-ha teleported again, appearing like lightning behind Yeo Soo-min.

Grabbing the back of the enemy’s head, she mercilessly slammed Yeo Soo-min onto the mud arm. There was a crunching sound, perhaps her earring breaking too. Yeo Soo-min was knocked unconscious instantly. Soon after, Oliver also clutched his stomach and collapsed, falling sideways. The liquid shield disappeared with a splash.

The chaotic surroundings finally came into Yoon Tae-ha’s view. She was the only one standing perfectly on two feet.

“Caw.”

Nox’s crow leisurely flew down and landed on Yeo Soo-min’s head.

“Where were you hiding?”

“Caw!”

“Ridiculous.”

She grumbled, then checked the unconscious agents’ vital signs. Since she hadn’t intended to kill them, both were alive.

“They’re soaked.”

Yoon Tae-ha pulled the communicator from her pocket. And immediately put it to her ear, letting out an “Ah.” Then Oh Gi-cheol’s voice was heard from the other end. She transmitted her current coordinates to him and requested necessary personnel.

It didn’t take long for Changcheon’s agents to arrive. They were startled to see Yoon Tae-ha sitting on a pile of dirt, waiting. A guide capable of stopping bleeding hastily treated Oliver. Yoon Tae-ha cleanly wiped the blood-stained spear and transformed it back into a ring.

She watched the agents’ skillful handling for a moment, then recalled Yeo Soo-min’s ominous words and concluded that reinforcements needed to go to the Alpha Team. She asked the man who seemed to be the highest-ranking.

“Take the Titans, and send rescue personnel to the Alpha Team. It’s highly likely that a fire-wielding esper or an outsider will ambush them. There are also Changcheon members with them.”

“Understood. Shall I replace your communicator with a new one? It seems to have gotten water inside.”

The other person asked cautiously. Yoon Tae-ha, with a subtle expression, accepted the device he offered. It felt similar to when she heard Oh Gi-cheol’s voice from the communicator she thought was broken. A lukewarm sense of relief. It was unfamiliar to her.

“I’ll use it well.”

“If you need help, contact us anytime.”

She nodded and put on the new equipment. Then she climbed to the top of a tall tree. Fortunately, there was enough moonlight. Yoon Tae-ha, gauging her direction, disappeared from her spot with a teleportation.

________________________________________

The world sounded like it was crumbling.

Feeling her ears deafened by the explosions, Cheon Geon-young pushed a new magazine into his weapon. He lightly tugged the magazine to confirm it was seated, and finished his preparations.

He exchanged glances with Shim Gyu-jong, who was taking cover behind a tree opposite him. Then he began firing at a snake that entered his range. A soldier’s body, trained through repeated drills, expertly controlled the recoil.

Soon, the gray snake’s eye burst. The blinded monster opened its maw wide and thrust its head between the trees. Just then, a pile of earth controlled by Choi Bo-mi poured over the snake’s head, crushing it instantly.

Choi Bo-mi, nervously taking off her blood-stained goggles, took a deep breath beside Shim Gyu-jong.

“It feels intentional, doesn’t it?”

“It does.”

Shim Gyu-jong agreed with her. Cheon Geon-young, while the two conversed, advanced smoothly, keeping an eye on his surroundings. Soon, a spider, estimated to be 2 meters wide, approached from the left diagonal, its legs clicking.

Its crimson eyes glowed as it recognized human presence. Cheon Geon-young took aim and began firing. He focused on the yellowish fangs protruding from its mouth and shot. Then the black spider’s body twitched, and it immediately disappeared into the darkness.

“Light.”

Shim Gyu-jong said lowly. A moment later, a small light rolled to the estimated location of the spider. A cracking sound like a walnut shell breaking was heard, and a faint light appeared. The crouched monster, excited by the light, revealed itself.

Cheon Geon-young focused his fire on its face, which seemed to be its weak point. The charging spider died under the hail of bullets, unable to withstand it. At the same time, a snake that darted out from the wet leaves was dealt with by Choi Bo-mi.

“This area’s clear, right?”

Shim Gyu-jong, who had confirmed the snake’s death with a final shot, looked at Cheon Geon-young.

“It seems so. Geon-young, still no communication?”

“No, sir.”

Cheon Geon-young said, removing the communicator from his ear, which had gone silent at some point. Tinnitus began. It was a bad sign. Choi Bo-mi said with a serious expression,

“Let’s go to where the leader is. I remember the way.”

They began to advance, pushing through the corpses of dead snakes and spiders. The moment their brief peace was shattered replayed slowly in Cheon Geon-young’s mind.

Two hours after their departure, the Alpha Team encountered a massive horde of monsters. A fierce battle erupted, beginning with the roars of monsters echoing through the dark, damp forest.

The team fought with all their might. It was a team with extensive combat experience, and they worked well together, but the enemy was formidable. The team was struggling against the monsters’ attacks, which charged in an orderly fashion, as if they were an army.

“We clearly requested support. Why aren’t they here yet? How many personnel are left at the camp?”

Choi Bo-mi raised the question. Shim Gyu-jong couldn’t provide a suitable answer either.

How long had they walked? Suddenly, Shim Gyu-jong put a finger to his lips, signaling silence. Choi Bo-mi immediately prepared to deploy a defensive wall, and Cheon Geon-young took a firing stance. But the one who appeared from the opposite side was Ahn Jeong-seop.

Choi Bo-mi rushed towards him, seeing the wound on his shoulder.

“It was torn by a spider’s leg.”

Ahn Jeong-seop, pale with exhaustion, leaned on them and led them to Baek Sang-ho’s location. The main Alpha Team was maintaining their weapons inside a trench-like dugout. It was a hiding spot where the terrain was higher than the surroundings, making it easy to spot approaching monsters.

All the agents were disheveled. The cleanest ones were those only covered in mud and leaves, while some had faces completely covered in blood. The blood-stained woman was a guide, who was guiding the wound while drenched in her esper’s blood. Her fingertips trembled, but her face remained calm.

“My guiding only temporarily closes the tear. If he overexerts himself, it’ll rupture again. Leader, exclude him from attack personnel.”

“Understood.”

The groaning esper held his guide’s hand and then fainted.

“Gaia couldn’t detect hundreds of snakes until they were right on top of us.”

Shim Gyu-jong, who had been watching the rear with night vision goggles, said with an exhausted face.

“The monsters are receiving orders, just like us.”

“Yes, it seems so. Snakes and spiders usually don’t go together...”

“There were chimeras mixed in too. They were high-level entities. They walked on two legs like humans, even though their faces looked like canines.”

Baek Sang-ho gazed at the desolate darkness and then murmured the name he suspected was the main culprit behind the attack.

“Kali. That damned snake has arrived.”