Chapter 578. The Day Nemesis Falls (6)

'Even though this world has never even had word command magic, why are there so many expressions one has to be careful with?'

I felt a lingering sense of unease. However, I was someone with a very momentous task ahead of me. Thus, I made an effort to ignore the minor anxieties flaring up before my eyes and decided to move quickly onto my next schedule.

What I had to deal with hereafter was, to put it simply, a marine lifeform that had abandoned its devastated home and begun to slither onto someone else's land. However, no matter how abundant the mana was, dry land was ultimately not a good place for an Alphaurin.

It was difficult to move.

And perhaps, because of how vibrant Earth looked, the opponent might realize with certainty that their own home was ruined, taking a mental hit. This even meant that the completion of their incantations would actually become more difficult.

'In the first place, the act of killing their own kin with their own hands already proves their nervous breakdown.'

Since this planet's environment was providing enough assistance for the fight, from now on, I, as a resident of this land, needed to physically set traps. And this process would not take long either. What I would use as material for the traps had already been decided.

***

Crackle.

As I kept my eyes wide and remained in one spot, at some point, something like the shadow of an unknown bird appeared over my human lenses. Right now, it was high noon with a bright sky. For the record, I was sitting on a long, Earth-style bench with almost all its paint peeled off, gazing at the ceiling of this planet.

'The news definitely said there would be flurries of snow, but isn't the weather too clear?'

As per that thought just now, South Korea had finally entered the depths of winter.

[Today's News Headlines]

[- Danger decreasing for several days: The population of magical beasts even in the existing dungeons is steadily decreasing...]

[- Major announcement from the Federal Gate Disaster Management Committee]

[- Snow forecast for the Seoul area]

However, after living on Earth for a few years, a midwinter like this was not particularly welcome to a marine alien. Matches the surrounding air, my skin was drying out and becoming parched.

'It's not moist, so it's hideous to look at.'

Furthermore, when the temperature drops, the activity of the ecosystem generally decreases as well. In other words, when winter—often described as “silent”—arrives, the number of things to see naturally diminishes. If things were going to be like this, it would take some kind of special weather phenomenon to make me feel a bit interested.

'Just when on earth is the heavy snow coming.'

Still sitting on the bench, I raised my gaze once more.

—Huh?

However, when only a few more seconds had passed. Suddenly, a person's voice erupted from behind me.

—Oh!

The person, presumably a woman, currently could not hide her surprised reaction. She must have recognized the back of my head and made that sound.

—Hunter-nim!

Tap, tap.

As soon as I heard the title that followed, I stood up abruptly.

"Hello."

There was no point in hiding the important part. To put it bluntly, as an S-rank hunter of Korea, I hadn't been waiting for the snow all this time, but rather had come all this way specifically to meet that woman.

Long black hair.

Thin eyebrows.

And an overly plain office look, seemingly chosen to match a conservative work environment. At this moment, I called her name briefly.

"Hunter Yeon."

To this, the other party walked a bit closer and spoke.

"Haha. Hunter Kim. I'm sorry, but if you call me that, people will always confuse me with the Yeon clan from Goksan."

Goksan...

The word was unfamiliar to an alien, but looking over what that mammal said, it was clearly just some rule regarding names. Thus, I nodded in affirmation for the time being, and this time, the woman who appeared led the conversation first.

"By the way, I'm really glad to see you like this, but how did you find your way all the way here?"

Seonwoo Yeon moved her index finger.

"Ah! Don't tell me, Giryeo-ssi, you also took time out of your busy schedule to come and get your blood drawn?"

Consequently, in the direction she pointed, a specific vehicle was naturally parked.

'Is that what they call a blood donation bus?'

For the record, information regarding the [Great Extinction] crisis had already spread to the civilian population. However, as you can see, the world was still peaceful, to the point where the silence of winter was being maintained. This was because, as I had stated in the previous meeting, once the ancient Alphaurian arrived, the entire Earth would turn into a mess all at once anyway.

'Honestly, it's hard for an alien to properly screen the regional importance of humanity.'

Furthermore, putting aside the fact that the disaster would approach equally, we had to suppress civilian chaos as much as possible, just as the leaders of Earth had said.

'What is about to unfold is not a war. To use a metaphor, it is a cleanup operation to remove pollutants that have crashed on Earth.'

Dealing with a mad Alphaurin was, for better or worse, bound to be a short-term decisive battle.

'Just exchanging spells a few times will surely result in one of us dying.'

If people were to over-prepare for a disaster because of a battle lasting only a few minutes, that would naturally become a headache in its own right. So, the politicians of Earth began trying to ensure that domestic chaos did not grow too large.

Of course, on one side, S-rank hunters were taking measures to increase the safety of the nation with all their might.

'The blood donation drive happening now is an activity of a similar nature.'

But if one day your life suddenly ended without you having properly prepared... Because you weren't given time to say goodbye to your family. Or because you weren't given the right to choose how to act for the last time before you died, and so on—non-awakened people might feel a sense of injustice.

However, there was no need to worry about such things.

'Either way, if I lose, the remaining Earthlings will be smashed to pieces within minutes.'

There was truly no need for agony. Since the enemy I had to face was such an exceptionally strong individual, my options were inevitably narrowed.

'But since I plan to deal with that ruler fellow as quickly as possible, conversely, the pain of the Earthlings might also end quickly—like the sting of a single injection—.'

Vaccinations. Or needles and so on. As I associated those words, my eyes naturally turned in a specific direction again. The blood donation vehicle Seonwoo Yeon had shown me earlier was still operating successfully.

But unfortunately, since it was difficult for this Great Archmage to share bodily fluids with humanity.

"I can't donate blood."

“As expected of an S-rank, even the awakening phenomenon dampening needle won’t go in, I see.”

“The reason is... uh, yes. That is actually correct.”

No matter how well I maintained it, the body I was using was ultimately a revived corpse. I didn’t particularly want to put the blood of this body into someone else.

Swish, swish.

I shook my head once and continued.

“And actually, I just came to see you, Seonwoo Yeon-ssi.”

“To see... me?”

“I’ve somehow finished preparing for the [Great Extinction] crisis, but it felt wrong to just play around simply because I had time left.”

“Hmm.”

“To summarize my movements, I was planning to wander around outside in a state of alert from now on. While doing that, I found a familiar internal mana nearby and decided to come by.”

“Kim Giryeo-ssi.”

“Yes?”

“I’ve told you this before, but it’s illegal to use your awakening abilities to follow someone without permission.”

You’ve done that before too, so please give me a break. For a moment, those words rose up. However, I did not bother to voice the sentence that came to mind. The other party had just finished donating blood. Thus, the mark of stopping the bleeding still remained on one of her forearms...

‘To think she is doing something no different from volunteer work even in a situation where a terrifying monster is approaching!’

What an admirable fellow! This, specifically, I would not find fault with her. I breathed expressionlessly, keeping that series of thoughts to myself. However, keeping one's gaze on a single point for a long time was considered quite strange in this world.

—Blink, blink.

So now, the black-haired mammal began asking, ‘What are you thinking about right now?’

“Thinking?”

It seemed there was no need to repeatedly mention with my mouth that this civil servant's character was excellent. Therefore, I brought out a different sentence instead of the evaluation I had originally conceived.

“Ah, just... seeing you exchange blood with each other, it makes me feel once again what a truly fascinating world this is.”

“I see.”

“And how a person like me somehow ended up making up my mind to even work on the weekend for an inferior race. Honestly, those kinds of thoughts too.”

These were stories I brought up without any ill intent. However, a certain civil servant froze for a few seconds after hearing the sentence given, and then suddenly furrowed her brow.

“Ah, excuse me.”

“Yes?”

“Hunter Kim Giryeo.”

First, a rather long introduction. And what followed next was the advice of a B-rank hunter, heavily laden with seriousness.

“For starters, um... I definitely know very well that you are doing a good thing for us with a great heart, Hunter-nim.”

“Is that so? Thank you.”

“This might be... pouring cold water on things at such a critical time, but still, carelessly describing another species as inferior like you just didn’t seem right.”

“Mm?”

“You shouldn’t pick out factors that people couldn’t choose for themselves and speak so crudely. Kim Giryeo-ssi.”

“It’s not a criticism, it’s a fact though?”

“Even if it’s a fact. For example, how would you feel if I suddenly described your origins negatively?”

In front of a mage who could kill a living creature with the flick of a finger, and moreover, in front of an alien, the native did not bend her convictions and offered her advice.

“Furthermore, to be very honest, um, there doesn’t seem to be any particular evidence that the people from your original home are clearly superior to us...”

“Oh.”

“Since you just explained that, as of now, they’ve even gone as far as to self-destruct as they pleased.”

Leaving aside the fact that I liked her attitude, it was difficult to just let the subsequent remark slide.

‘Now that I hear it, she has a point.’

Certainly, as per Seonwoo Yeon’s declaration, Alphaurians were merely creatures good at acting superior. In reality, they were no different from hollow gourds lacking substance.

However, it was difficult to admit that one’s own soul belonged to a lacking creature.

“Th-that might be true, but our race was able to build muscular, strong bodies without even exercising.”

To be honest, I didn’t spit these words out with great confidence either.

“Muscles?”

“Yes.”

“Can you produce such permanent effects with a single skill?”

“It’s called a superpower in your terms, but magic originally creates real miracles.”

However, it was felt awkward to just stay silent, so I hurriedly picked out a strength of the Alphaurins, and fortunately, it seemed to have worked quite well on the native.

“Wait. Am I actually... inferior...?”

“Since it seems to be considered rude to say it that way, I’ll change the expression to ‘inefficient’ now.”

She covered her mouth and fell silent. Seonwoo Yeon’s face turned slightly pale, as if she were in shock.