240. People Hanging Upside Down 1

The first thing that caught Yoon Tae-ha’s eye as she teleported to the ground were the scissor-tailed salamanders destroying trees and benches with their heavy forefeet. The monsters that landed in the park on the outskirts were caught by the first line of defense created by the Espers who were on standby and were unable to move to the buildings where civilians lived. But they were continuously coming out of the sea, and the number of Espers could not increase as fast as they did.

Yoon Tae-ha, who had teleported to the rooftop of the park management office, quickly scanned the situation on the battlefield. Various attacks from the Espers poured down on the monsters’ carapaces, but few of the attacks broke through the monsters’ shells and left an effective attack. An Ark agent right below the management office building shouted loudly.

“Their shells are thicker than we thought! We have to flip the monsters over and attack their bellies!”

The scissor-tailed salamanders' bellies were much weaker and softer than their backs. Cheon Geon-young, an S-class Esper, had broken through their carapaces with the advantage of his fire attribute, but it was not an easy task for other Espers.

At that moment, a monster that jumped out of the water swung its tentacles toward the agent who had said they had to attack the belly. She quickly cut off the monster’s tentacles with her materialized object, and with her psychokinesis, she lifted the agent in danger and pulled him to where she was.

The agent, who was suddenly flying through the air, screamed briefly, and when he arrived on the rooftop and saw Yoon Tae-ha’s face, he was surprised again and shrieked.

“A-Agent Yoon Tae-ha?”

The fact that he didn’t point a gun at her first meant that he, too, had paid close attention to the video that Changcheon had prepared. Yoon Tae-ha didn’t say much.

“I’ll flip the salamanders over all at once. So you can all aim for their bellies. Tell your team leader that.”

If she, an S-class, were to brutally stab her materialized object into them, the monsters would of course die, but doing so might damage the module, where the evacuation of civilians was not yet complete. Yoon Tae-ha constantly reminded herself that this was not an ordinary city but an aquatic city with limited land to stand on.

“It will be quite difficult because their center of gravity is low.”

“I’ll try anyway.”

“Yes!”

The agent quickly said via communication that they should aim to concentrate their attacks at the moment the monsters were all flipped over. A rebuke came back asking why they would be doing what they were doing if that were possible, but the agents quickly formed a line and waited for her signal while avoiding the monsters' attacks.

“Formation is complete.”

Yoon Tae-ha, who had gone up to the railing of the rooftop, reached out her right hand and grabbed a spot in the air, then powerfully swung her arm as if scooping up virtual water. It had been a long time since she had handled such large objects that were constantly moving all at once, so she was nervous too.

But to her credit, a dozen monsters, including the scissor-tailed salamanders that had been chewing on streetlights and threatening their enemies, were all flipped over weakly to the side like leaves in a gust of wind.

And the attacks that had been waiting for the right moment were unleashed. Several anti-monster machine guns, which were particularly loud, were activated. Yoon Tae-ha’s materialized object, which had been slightly enlarged, also flew like an arrow and cut the monsters' main blood vessels and tendons. When the situation was safely resolved, Yoon Tae-ha teleported to another location without even saying a word of greeting to the agent left on the rooftop.

Hong Eun-soo quickly pointed out the location of the battlefield she had to go to through the ear piece.

• A swarm of bullfrog-headed monsters is landing on the west side of the main island. On the south side, frost-skull wolves have appeared and are moving toward the Central Hub.

“But the frost-skull wolves are monsters that live in cold places?”

• It seems they have been modified to live in hot places too.

“Then I’ll go to where the wolves are first. They are much smaller and faster.”

After answering, Yoon Tae-ha moved at full speed toward the place Hong Eun-soo had mentioned. While jumping over several modules, she asked about the status of the civilian evacuation.

• We’re currently using Gaia to separate the civilian residential area from the main island. It seems that the Chimera and small monsters are constantly coming out of the underground facilities of the main island.

“There might be secret facilities connected like an ant farm around the AMC.”

• That’s right. There were many secret passages on both sides of the research lab where you dealt with the Chimera. The Allied Forces' mobile team is going in and cleaning up the inside right now. But a considerable number of monsters and Chimera have gotten out, so we need to do a clean-up on the ground too. There are a lot of people trapped inside the Central Hub because of the monsters.

Yoon Tae-ha, who finally arrived at the Central Hub of the main island, took a moment to catch her breath on the roof of the police station.

The lights of the Central Hub were intentionally turned down low so that the monsters couldn’t find the civilians hiding. She took out the night vision goggles from her bag and put them on. Then, the figures of the wolves roaming the asphalt became much clearer.

At that moment, the sound of a child crying unsteadily came from somewhere. The wolves, who had their ears pricked up, which were the size of a grown man’s palm, started running after the sound. The frost-skull wolves had such good physical resilience that they could even jump over rugged ice valleys. The buildings in the Central Hub were mostly low-rise, five stories or less, with the exception of the department store and the main conference hall, so most of the shelters were within the wolves' range.

“Tell me the location of all the civilians hiding.”

Yoon Tae-ha ran, dealing with the wolves from the back of the pack in order with her materialized object. But as many wolves as she dealt with in the alleys and between the buildings, new ones appeared and joined the main pack. The savagely yellowish glow in the wolves' hollow eye sockets, whose heads were completely white, flickered.

A little while later, Hong Eun-soo gave her the coordinates of a shelter. Arriving at the first shelter with three teleports, Yoon Tae-ha encountered a family of four trembling inside a three-story building with all the lights off. She had arrived faster than the pack of wolves.

The young brother and sister were startled by her sudden appearance from thin air and were about to scream, but their parents quickly covered their mouths.

“You’re from the Ark!”

The people who didn’t know anything still considered the logo on Yoon Tae-ha’s chest to be a symbol of salvation. She suppressed her bitter feelings and fixed her spear to her back.

“Let’s go to the rooftop together. A rescue helicopter will be here soon.”

“There are monsters outside. Something that looks like a bat flew around and took people away.”

“If you stay here, more monsters will swarm. An evacuation order has been issued for all civilians in the Central Hub.”

“It’s not like we wanted to come in here. A sudden evacuation order was given, so we came out of our accommodation without even being able to pack, and the large helicopters only went to where the water villas were gathered, not here! There are a lot more people here!”

“Honey.”

The wife, who had been covering her children’s eyes, gave her husband, who had raised his voice, a look of rebuke. She asked in a calm and polite tone.

“Can you send our children first?”

“I can teleport with two people at a time.”

The husband, who had suddenly gotten angry, separated the children who didn’t want to be away from their mother. Yoon Tae-ha held the hands of the children who had started to cry and whispered.

“Don’t cry. Wolves have good ears.”

Then, the older sister, who had wiped her tears with her sleeve, also wiped her younger brother’s runny nose with her sleeve and nodded with a solemn look.

A message came that the Espers who would escort the civilians had arrived on the rooftop of the building across the street. Yoon Tae-ha immediately teleported to the rooftop.

“Kids, come over here.”

A female agent who was guarding a huge basket that people could get into put the children in the basket first. Yoon Tae-ha went back into the building from before and safely brought out the parents of the children as well. In the meantime, the sounds of the wolves howling and searching for prey grew louder.

Since civilians were with her, Yoon Tae-ha could no longer rashly launch a preemptive attack. It was because their location should not be exposed. At that moment, the sound of wolves climbing the outer wall of the building with their sharp claws began to be heard. Yoon Tae-ha, who had taken out her spear, stood on the railing, intending to stab the wolves to death as they came up.

• I’m providing cover around, so don't worry and go find other civilians. The basket is within my sight.

At that moment, a voice other than Hong Eun-soo’s was heard through the ear piece. It was a familiar male voice.

Yoon Tae-ha turned her head and looked for a place where Woo Joo-han might be.

• Three wolves are approaching by climbing the outer wall of the building. Firing.

Along with the sound of a sniper rifle being fired, the short screams of the monsters were heard one after another. Soon, Yoon Tae-ha also found a person lying on the rooftop of a five-story building on the right diagonal. His face was not visible, but he was the only one who could snipe from the area.

“I didn't want to borrow a kid’s hand.”

Yoon Tae-ha said with a feeling of welcome.

• Don’t be ridiculous. I graduated at the top of my class, you know?

Hong Eun-soo suddenly chimed in on their communication with a humming voice.

• Please be sure to say that you graduated at the top of the guiding class, Mr. Woo Joo-han. So that Ms. Yoon Tae-ha doesn’t misunderstand.

• Hong Eun-soo. Be quiet, you’re distracting me from my sniping.

Experiencing the side effects of multi-communication, Yoon Tae-ha visited three shelters where civilians were hiding and found nine additional survivors. The civilians huddled in the basket, trembling, and had expressions that wished to leave the place as soon as possible.

Finally, Yoon Tae-ha teleported to the building where Woo Joo-han was. He had already put his sniper rifle in a box and was ready to leave. Yoon Tae-ha tried to carry his heavy bag for him, but Woo Joo-han refused, saying that only a crazy person would entrust his gun to someone else.

Yoon Tae-ha held his hand and they returned to the rooftop where the basket was. When Woo Joo-han also got into the basket, two Espers also boarded the basket. Only Yoon Tae-ha, who had her spear fixed to her back, remained outside, closed the door of the basket, and lifted the four ropes connecting the basket and the helicopter into the air.

Soon, a helicopter appeared in the dark night sky and approached where they were. Yoon Tae-ha communicated with the agent on the helicopter and made sure the four ropes were firmly fixed to the aircraft. Since she could lift the basket with her psychokinesis, the helicopter didn’t even need to land. Woo Joo-han, who was holding the wall of the basket that had risen about 30 centimeters, asked her in an anxious tone while she was still standing on the rooftop.

“You’re not getting in?”

“Are you scared that I won’t get in?”

When Yoon Tae-ha was cheeky, Woo Joo-han frowned. Yoon Tae-ha, who had checked the surrounding buildings and roads one last time, teleported when the basket had risen about three meters in the air. And she got onto the small foothold attached to the outside of the basket.

“Huh?”

The foothold was more slippery than she had expected, and just as she was about to stagger, several arms reached out and firmly grabbed her arms, shoulders, and bag straps. Some hands were gloved, and some were bare.

Yoon Tae-ha safely grabbed the handle on the outer wall of the basket, then looked back at the people who had grabbed her. It was Woo Joo-han, the Esper who had been on guard duty on the rooftop, and the father of the children she had saved first.

The other two people let go of her when they saw that she had found her footing, but Woo Joo-han was still holding her bag strap tightly. He muttered irritably.

“You almost gave me a heart attack.”

“I’ve fallen out of a helicopter without a parachute before. I was still fine.”

“That’s a life I really don’t envy.”

Yoon Tae-ha sent a signal to the helicopter to depart. The basket floated up and began to move away from the city with its lights out.