#1

  Zing!!!!

  The siren rang to signal the alarm. As if that alarm awakened the dead silent town, countless people poured into the streets. It didn’t matter whether men and women were making love or were using the bathroom. Their hands were carrying all the things that they could carry.

  THUD…… THUD……

  As they poured out into the street and looked around, they all fixed their eyes on one place and stopped. Things they have never seen before were approaching downtown. Even though its features were identifiable, the heavy noise they made meant that they were still far away. But being able to see them even at such a distance indicates that they were all illusionary or abnormally huge.

  “It’s a wave! Run!”


  “Awkkkk!”


  Despair and fear dominated them. Literally, it’s chaos. Even if a monster appeared in this area, the siren won’t alert everyone. Since there were many monsters that were more than Tier-7 swimming from the Antarctic side, their long experience had shown that the siren blowing could attract the attention of monsters. That was why it was common for the people to take refuge in their own air-raid shelters without panicking in response to most monster waves.

  It’s a cold neighborhood, so most of the necessities were in the house — in particular, in the air-raid shelters. That’s why even if they’re isolated by monsters, they could last two to three months in the shelters.

  But there was only one reason why the siren went off.

  ‘Give up everything and just run away.’


  The sirens went off when big monsters that could wreck a private air-raid shelter swarmed their community. It’s a siren that rings only when there’s a wave like that once every five or 10 years. And now, it’s a wave of massive monsters that they’ve never seen in their lives. People have climbed up on any means of transportation nearby without recognizing who the owners were.

  ‘We have to run away.’


  The monster wave is like a tsunami. It seemed slow, but if they slowed down, they would get swept away. Hundreds of people were getting into vehicles and evacuating the area. Only the women of the two neighboring houses were shouting at each other with pale faces.

  “What……! I don’t see Simeone! Sister!”


  “I can’t see Kaka and Nicholas, either!”


  The two stamped their feet. No matter how much they looked in the house, they couldn’t find the children. The husbands of the two women worked for fairs and as hunters. The two houses, which naturally had no choice but to get close to each other, lived in the same building and took care of each other like a family. But they were having a hectic life recently. It was because the place where their husbands worked was isolated by the monsters and the whereabouts of their husbands were unknown.

  They called all the acquaintances they had, but it was in vain. The government’s announcement continued to say that they should wait because rescue operations were going on. Day by day, they were losing hope but now, it was the children that they could not see in the midst of a huge wave of monsters that they had never been seen or heard of.

  “Ah!” Simeone’s mother cried with her eyes wide open. Tears welled up in her eyes. She recalled that before dinner, Simeone was going outside with Kaka and Nicholas. She thought that the kid said that he was going to see something. She overheard it, but……

  “Airfield!”


  That was it. She remembered that a restraining order was issued to Mr. Viktor’s airfield on the outskirts of town along with a story of someone seeing a giant flying object from beyond the sea.

  “Sister! What should I do? Awkk!!! Airfield! Airfield!” She burst into tears and shouted.

  “What do you mean by that!”


  When she yelled at her neighbor’s random words, Simeone’s mother told her sister what had happened before dinner. Then, Nicholas and Kaka’s mother turned pale. The airfield was just in the direction where the monsters came from. If she’s right…… If the children went there fearlessly……

  “No!” She screamed and ran to the garage.

  Drrr…… Screeeeech……

  After a while, she pulled out an old pickup truck.

  “I’ll get him!”


  “No! I’m coming with you!” Simeone’s mother, whose face was covered with tears, got into the passenger seat.

  “Are you crazy? Wait here!”


  Frankly, the odds of them saving their children were less than half. The airfield was closer to the wave than to the city. They don’t even know if their kids were there. It’s a foreseeable conclusion that they’ll be swept away by the waves. They were afraid. But they couldn’t help going. If there were children there…… they couldn’t lose their children after losing their husbands.

  “I will go even if I die! Come on, run!” Simeone’s mother, who had always been quiet, shouted. She also turned nuts when her children’s lives were at stake.

  “Damn it!”


  Holding on to the wheel, she stamped on the accelerator vigorously while spitting out a swear word. And in the ever-growing earth reverberation, she turned the steering wheel towards the airfield.

  #2

  The hunters guarding the airfield also went wild.

  “How can you miss those huge balls!”


  The Hunters’ commander was out of his mind. He’s busy yelping at the communicator. It did not come across Antarctica. Although there were monsters that came by swimming from between the town and Antarctica, those monsters who came across the sea a thousand kilometers away were their easy prey. Therefore, this place was famous for those who wanted to earn money.

  But on the bodies of these monsters, they did not see a huge piece of ice normally attached to the monsters who have crossed the sea. That meant that there’s a massive gate around here.

  “We don’t know! All of a sudden, the Mana figure is…… ahhh! Over there already!!! We’re pulling out, too! That’s it!”


  “Hey! Hey?!”


  The bunker’s sentry, who watched the monster’s appearance, screamed and cut off their communications.

  “Darn it!” He threw the receiver nervously.

  How did this happen when he was sent here…… It’s the worst situation he could find himself in, and the sight outside the window was like a nightmare. Monsters were seen trampling on the outer limits of the airfield. It meant that they’re only two to three kilometers away from the monsters.

  He knew that while the approaching monsters seemed slow, they were much faster than what he could expect.

  From a long-horned one to the ones with dozens of eyes, each of the monsters has different shapes, but they all have huge sizes. Since he was an experienced commander in the field, he can measure the size of the monster through simple triangulation. At a glance, it was more than 300 meters in size. They were monsters as big as skyscrapers. Their tier was immeasurable. In addition, a huge number cannot be beaten even by the Master Archer.

  “Oh, my God!” He couldn’t die here. Their only means of escape would be a light aircraft owned by their VIPs. “God damn it, damn it……Ah!”


  Then he remembered the giant flying object that the VIP brought in……

  Yeah, they’d have room for themselves, or maybe they’re already ready for takeoff. After finishing his thought, he rushed out.

  “Crazy!”


  As he had expected, the maintenance teams on the aircraft were rushing to get their equipment, but their movement was somewhat relaxed. They didn’t even start the aircraft. Did they not understand the gravity of the situation? No, they must think they could get away but to him who was experienced, that was a stupid thought.

  They should not pack the equipment but start the engine quickly. The hunters had already gathered in front of his airfield office. Their number was about 50 people…… It was also uncertain whether all will be given a ride. No, he just needed a ride for himself but in his eyes, he saw the children crying at the back of the Hunters.

  “Why are they here?” His face was instantly distorted. It’s been a long time since he told them to get rid of the little rats who sneaked into the airfield.

  “We can’t leave the children behind!” Shouted the two of his men holding the child’s hand. One of them was Lionel, who was the first to report the monster wave.

  “You fucking bastards! I don’t know if they’ll give us a ride and you are going to take all these extras with you?!” He roared, but Lionel didn’t give in.

  “We have to take them!”


  This was disobedience. As he took his hand to a revolver in his waist, he shouted, “Fuck it, you’ll have to pay for that when you go back!”


  “Yes, sir!”


  “Everybody follow me!”


  “Yes, sir!”


  Leading the hunters, he rushed towards the aircraft. They have to get on that plane together somehow and get out of here. The original battle doctrine was that they have to hold out against the monsters here until the city in the rear was completely wiped out, but that’s crazy.

  Running to the plane, he touched a pistol in his waist. He should prepare for the worst situation where the engineers didn’t listen to his commands. He ran to the most senior-looking man and shouted, “Please! take us with you!”


  He frowned as he watched the hunters running along. Then, he wore a headset with a translation function in his arms.

  “Man…… is that Spanish or……”


  It was frustrating to see the guy push the button slowly on the headset. After a while, he said, wearing it on his ear,

  “What are you saying?”


  “Take us with you!”


  “Where?”


  “Oh, my God!” The other man was so calm that he suspected that he had already lost his mind due to the influx of monsters.

  “The waves are coming in now!” He pointed outside repeatedly, but a man gave a nasty look at it with his head tilted.

  “Where do I take you?”


  “Oh, my God, it’s crazy!” He struck his chest with frustration.

  “Come on and get out of here!”


  The man nodded his head as if he understood what he said.

  “Aha, you’re scared of those monsters and you want a ride on our Atlas. But too bad. We didn’t get an order for takeoff. So it’s no use riding it and don’t worry. We are protected by the Master Archer.”


  In response to that, he immediately took his pistol out of its holster and released the safety lock before he pointed it at the Asian man. He had no time anymore to argue with the one in front of him.

  “You crazy bastard! Even the Master Archer can do nothing about them! If you stay like this, we’ll die!” He pointed his weapon at him, but he still seemed at ease. He was looking at someone else over his shoulder. After a while, a cool blade fell on his shoulders.

  “What the hell is this, Commander?”


  “Ugh……!!”


  The cool feeling of the blade brought him back to reality. Turning his head, he saw a beauty with eyes that were colder than a cold wave in Antarctica. She was one of the special guests who could only be seen from afar because she was the commander of security personnel.

  ‘Irumi.’


  The world’s renowned 8-Star Hunter. She was also the secretary-general of the famous Martial Arts House and a general manager of this site. She was a woman of a position he could not look up to.

  “How dare you point a weapon at our Martial Arts House?” Her body was emanating a frosty spirit.

  “Well, that’s……” It’s the worst situation he could find himself in right now. Losing his mind for a moment was the root cause of this situation. He’s going to die before the Monster Wave hits this place. He began to sweat all over his body because of the pressure that even made the coldness in Antarctica forgettable.

  But then, his savior appeared in the form of a tall man standing behind Irumi.

  “Take off your sword.”


  “But this guy……”


  “The children are shocked. Irumi.”


  “Oh, yes. ”


  At his words Irumi pulled the sword, hiding her spirit as if nothing happened. Even the children got scared of her. He would have done something terrible to the children. Irumi did not forget to stare at the commander while stepping down, expressing an unspoken hint that things on his shoulders would have disappeared if it weren’t for those kids.

  The commander gulped down his saliva. His intuition told him that he saved his life because of the children he thought were a burden. She must have struck his neck mercilessly if the children weren’t there.

  “Everybody back off,” Jaehwang said as he stepped forward.

  His voice carried an irresistible force. As everyone around backed away, Jaehwang faced the approaching massive monsters. They were at a very short distance now. The old fences in the airfield have long been knocked down by the vibrations the monsters have caused.

  Jaehwang closed his eyes.

  At the same time, a red light rose from his body in a blaze. When everyone was surprised, Jaehwang, who was wrapped in light, quietly recited, “Did I provoke the Ruler too much? What an impatient one.”