The Returner Chapter 30

'Hey, isn't that a Braad?' (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
The Braad - a type of 'lifeform' that was created when magical energy gathered in a certain way. And, a rare monster even in Berafe.
If he were to get technical about it, this creature was actually just a wee bit closer to a 'fairy-like' being than a true monster, though.
'But, again, it's slightly different, isn't it…?' (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk tilted his head.
Even the Goblins from last time seemed quite similar to their cousins in Berafe, yet there were still some minute differences. They were far weaker than the Berafe Goblins, for instance, and certain bits of their appearances were slightly different, too.
And it was the same story for these Braads, as well.
The overall vibe they gave off was pretty similar, yet things like the colouration, and the shapes they took, were different.
'Could it be nothing more than a coincidence?' (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
While Yi Ji-Hyuk was sinking ever deeper into his thoughts, Seo Ah-Young was keeping herself busy.
"Artillery, get ready to bombard the enemy! KSF Agents, provide support from the rear! Close-quarter types stay behind, and the long distance types get ready to provide assistance when needed!" (Seo Ah-Young)
As soon as her orders dropped, everyone hurriedly shuffled to their positions in a slick, well-oiled manner.
'Oh-ho?'
Even after taking into account her rather… particular personality, her commands proved to be surprisingly logical and simple to understand.
'For a someone up the chain of command, that is.' (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
It was a common occurrence to see a big military expedition taking place to subjugate monster hordes back in Berafe.
The most dangerous thing to watch out for during one of those excursions weren't the monsters themselves, but the incompetent commanders.
If the commander in charge was the type that didn't think things through, he'd just throw powerful Knights at the monsters without a rhyme nor reason, then have sorcerers provide long-range support, while he'd order a bunch of priests to shower them with blessings, and then finally, have the common soldiers bring up the rear.
By using a tactic like that, the battle itself would end fairly quickly. But, it would also lead to severe losses of highly-trained Knights in the process. And well, it'd be really difficult to carry on fighting over and over again while the number of your best fighters kept on decreasing, wouldn't it?
So, when taking into account such things, Seo Ah-Young's commands were commendably spot-on.
Her orders were made to minimise the losses of the difficult-to-replace main combat force of the ability users by relying on the common soldiers to discover the monster's attack patterns and even the methods of killing it.
'She's still young, but I wonder, where did she learn to think like that?' (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Seeing that Colonel full of grizzled veteran's aura wordlessly follow her commands, her abilities must have been acknowledged by everyone here. How odd, Yi Ji-Hyuk thought.
"Commence firing!" (Seo Ah-Young)
BlamBlamBlamBlam!!!
As soon as Seo Ah-Young issued her order, rifles began spitting out lead in unison.
Even the MG50s located on the rooftops of nearby buildings provided support; the asphalt on the ground exploded and spun out like dried mud.
"Mm….?"
Soon, though, Seo Ah-Young frowned.
"What the?! What's going on?"
"It's not working! Guns are ineffective!"
Bullets were simply passing through the Braads' bodies.
Although there had been cases in the past, where the monster didn't get wounded from a hail of bullets, there never had been a situation like today where bullets actually entered and exited straight through the monsters without causing any visible damage whatsoever.
And so, chaos spread out like wildfire in an instant within the ranks.
Seo Ah-Young shouted out quickly.
"Artillery!!" (Seo Ah-Young)
There was no need for her to say anything further. Mortars and RPGs rained down on the monsters.
Kwaboom!! Boom!! Kaboom!
The loud noises from multiple explosions stung the listeners' eardrums.
Unfortunately, these 'Braads' only showed some traces of splitting apart, and didn't seem damaged at all.
'That's not going to work.' (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk clicked his tongue.
If those fakey-fake Braads possessed similar sorts of characteristics as the Braads he knew, then everything this group of soldiers did was a complete and utter waste of time and energy.
That's because… Braads were completely resistant towards physical attacks.
Not a single physical attack would affect these suckers. The only way to kill one was to hit it with a magic spell, or purify it with holy power. That was it. Well, there were some people who managed to kill one using their Mana-infused close-quarter attack skills, but such a method wasn't the most effective way either.
So, bullets or explosives not reinforced by Mana could not damage these monsters.
"They are not working!"
Hurried voices came at Seo Ah-Young from all directions, but her expression did not change.
"Continue firing! Long-range attackers, commence firing!" (Seo Ah-Young)
From the back of the tightly-packed formation, colourful bursts of light flew out.
And the Braads floating around lazily in the air began shaking violently after getting struck by the streams of light.
Choi Jung-Hoon, standing next to Seo Ah-Young, opened his mouth.
"Looks like physical types won't be able to damage them. We should stick to attacks directly utilising Ether. And the number of the enemy units are increasing as well. We need to increase the intensity of the bombardment." (Choi Jung-Hoon)
"Got it. Focus your attacks, long-range attackers! Colonel, issue a retreat to your men, quickly!" (Seo Ah-Young)
Colonel Jeong In-Soo didn't even reply to her while he ordered his men to withdraw.
Flames and lightning bolts rained down from the sky.
Meanwhile, Yi Ji-Hyuk was observing the colourful spectacle unfolding in front of the Gate with great interest.
'It's different from magic, huh. It's probably much closer to martial skills or something similar to that, I think. Hmm, in return to performing powerful attacks quickly, there must be some sort of restrictions forced on the nature of attacks itself. How interesting.' (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Ability users that spat out flames in the beginning were still firing out only the flame-type attacks, and the other one with lightning attack carried on the shooting the same thing over and over again.
Compared to the Berafe's sorcerers who were capable of utilising various attacks with Mana as the spell's foundation, the way these ability users fought looked quite 'limited' to Yi Ji-Hyuk's eyes.
'But, it's much quicker to activate, isn't it.' (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
While the said sorcerers needed some time to calculate and form magic formulas and chants, the ability users of this world could simply attack without delay.
Pros and cons, in other words.
If a low-class ability user and an equally low-class sorcerer fought against one another, the sorcerer would certainly get killed while unable to do anything. Conversely, if a high-class user and a veteran sorcerer fought, then that ability user would end up becoming a plaything of the sorcerer.
"They are increasing! The number of the enemies are increasing again!"
"Damn it!" (Seo Ah-Young)
Seo Ah-Young brushed aside the retreating soldiers and rushed forward.
"Ho-oh?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk's eyes chased after Seo Ah-Young, his eyes gleaming brightly.
She was probably the most 'powerful' ability user he had met so far. His instincts had classified her as 'substantially strong'.
So, what kind of a spectacle would a person like that show him today?
"Cover her!" (Choi Jung-Hoon)
When Seo Ah-Young entered the frontlines, Choi Jung-Hoon hurriedly shouted out.
As soon as that order was heard, several muscle-bound and rather tough looking close-quarter type ability users stopped their observation of the battle and quickly surrounded Seo Ah-Young, forming a human barrier.
She then raised her arms high up, and a small-ish ball of flames came to life above her.
Brrrrrr….
Accompanied by seriously loud vibrating noises, the ball grew larger and larger, and it soon grew large enough to rival a house in size alone. The heat coming off of it was incredible.
"Take cover!"
"Retreat!"
Yi Ji-Hyuk looked at that flame and let out an exclamation of admiration.
"Wow. That's pretty powerful, alright." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
With that much power, she'd be treated as a high class sorcerer in Berafe, for sure. If one took into consideration it had been only five years since ability users first made their appearance in this world, it was only right that she was treated as a genius among geniuses, since her ability was top tier, without a doubt.
'However…' (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Seo Ah-Young's giant fireball flew towards the floating Braads. As soon as those harmlessly floating monsters got struck by the ball, they began exploding one by one.
KWABOOM!!
The violent whirlwinds of flames swallowed up all the Braads out there and torn them to bits and pieces.
For sure, Yi Ji-Hyuk felt the need to acknowledge her strength.
The only problem was that… today's opponent was a poor match for her skill set.
A horde of regular monsters might've been utterly destroyed by that attack. However, a Braad was a lifeform created from the coagulation of Mana.
That kind of attack wouldn't be able to end this battle at all.
That's because, when Braads sensed danger to their existences…
"Eh? Uh? Ahhh?!"
"They are gathering? They are forming a single monster?!"
Urgent, confused responses piped up from everywhere.
About half of the gathered Braads were exterminated. The real issue was with the remaining half.
The tattered and seemingly-dead Braads began coagulating into a single large clump.
And the new Braads popping out of the Gate also joined in, creating a ginormous clump that emitted eerie bright light.
Of course, Yi Ji-Hyuk was already inching away, getting ready to bolt at the drop of a hat.
"That's not good." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
"Did you say something?" (Choi Jung-Hoon)
Choi Jung-Hoon's sharp hearing didn't miss the low muttering of Yi Ji-Hyuk.
"Oh, no. It's nothing." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk tried to pretend it was nothing, but Choi Jung-Hoon was like a predator mauling a prey to death and didn't let the matter go.
"Do you know something about that monster?" (Choi Jung-Hoon)
"No, I don't, but I can easily tell what's going to happen next." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Choi Jung-Hoon's expression was one full of question marks as he stared at Yi Ji-Hyuk.
Should he listen to what this youth had to say?
That perhaps would be for the best, but the current situation wasn't so good right now. There was no time to have a nice little chat, see.
Even while they were talking, Yi Ji-Hyuk continued to smoothly back away.
The thing was, the Braads lacked physical substance.
In return for their amazing physical damage resistance, Braads couldn't manifest anything physically, either. Well, they were a lifeform verging on being spirits, after all.
An Arch-Braad was able to cast some magic spells and thus could qualify as a genuine headache of sorts, but regular Braads, well, they couldn't really be seen as dangerous monsters.
No, if one were to get technical about the true definition of monsters, Braads shouldn't even be qualified, actually.
Yet, why were they seen as monsters?
"You guys should be careful now." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
"Eh?" (Choi Jung-Hoon)
It was right about then - the Braad clump began showing signs of movement.
Vuoong, vuoooowong!!
The giant, light-emitting clump of Braads suddenly floated up high into the sky, then it headed towards nearby buildings.
"Get ready!"
The combatants were all adopting the wait & see approach, since they had no idea what would happen next, but…
'But, that's a miscalculation.' (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
KWAREUNG!
When the Braad clump got near a building, the structure began to disintegrate and got violently sucked towards the monster.
In the blink of an eye, two buildings were sucked near the Braad, and soon, chunks of concrete as well as steel rebars circled around crazily in the air around the clump. Then, a certain shape began to manifest.
The large concrete blocks lined up in a certain manner, and that clump of light began sliding into the gaps of the blocks as if to become glue that joined all the pieces together.
"What… what the hell is this?" (Choi Jung-Hoon)
Choi Jung-Hoon's shocked gasp was heard next.
What stood before them a giant creature made entirely out of concrete and steel.
A 10-metre tall Stone Golem made out of modernity's achievements revealed itself to the world.
"Oh. My. God…"
Everyone present here became utterly speechless, as they stared at the giant.
Everyone present here had fought against countless monsters up until now, yet, this…. this still felt utterly surreal to them. Ten metres might sound small, but hell, a giant made out of stone had appeared in the middle of city, for crying out loud!
"A, attack!!" (Choi Jung-Hoon)
Choi Jung-Hoon recovered his wits quickly and shouted out an order.
Then, all manners of bullets, bombs and superpowers were poured on the Stone Golem.
But… that was all.
It only felt like they were damaging the monster somewhat, since there was a physical substance, a form they could attack at. But, the Stone Golem didn't even flinch under the barrage of attacks. Not once.
Stomp! Stomp!
The Stone Golem finally began to advance forward.
"Get out of its way!!"
Obviously, getting stepped on by that thing would result in your rather painful death.
Realising this fact quickly enough, everyone stopped attacking and scattered away from its path. Although the frightened soldiers tripped over each other and tumbled down all over the place, thanks to the Stone Golem's rather lethargic speed, none got flattened like pancakes.
As if it held no interest in those attacking it, the Stone Golem continued to stomp its way towards a single direction.
Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!
As the word implied, it really was walking in a straight line.
*SFX for big things getting destroyed*
When a building got in its way, the Golem smashed into the said building and demolished it, before continuing on. What a good thing it was, to have evacuated the citizens beforehand; if there happened to be people still inside those buildings, then it'd have been an absolute disaster of unimaginable proportions.
No, hang on a minute. It was already a massive disaster, right now.
Buildings were collapsing, cars were exploding and flung away…. If one were to calculate the damage to private property in real time, then tax money was literally going up in flames faster than one could punch the numbers in a calculator.
"Do, do something about that, please?!!" (Choi Jung-Hoon)
Choi Jung-Hoon clung onto Yi Ji-Hyuk and pleaded desperately.
"What the?! Why are you asking me that? You are the government official, so why is an official asking a civilian to do something here?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
"But, but, I can tell that you knew what was going on! And, can't you see the terrible disaster unfolding before you right now?!" (Choi Jung-Hoon)
"Sure, I can see it just fine. I've got eyes, you know. But what can the measly ol' me possibly do anything about that?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
"If, if we fail to stop that thing, soon that monster is going to enter the area outside the evacuation zone! We won't even be able to estimate the losses to human lives if that happens!" (Choi Jung-Hoon)
"Well, in that case, you should really try to stop it before that happens." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk brushed aside Choi Jung-Hoon's hands.
At the moment, many ability users were attacking the Stone Golem in order to block its progress with everything they had, but it was like hitting a boulder with tiny eggs.
Hell, it looked more like humans were mosquitos buzzing around the monster.
While staring at the back of that Stone Golem resolutely walking forward, Yi Ji-Hyuk simply shrugged his shoulders.
The matters of this world were for the willing guys of this world to deal with.
For Yi Ji-Hyuk, all he had to do was to solve those annoying problems that tried to prevent him from enjoying his life.
Besides, he didn't even know where to begin, if he were to bring that thing down.
So, what could he realistically do here?
That was why…
Huh?
Suddenly, Yi Ji-Hyuk's eyebrows began twitching nervously.
That thing, yeah, it's really walking nonstop to somewhere, sure…
But, that direction, isn't it where…
In that direction, can it be…. definitely… (Yi Ji-Hyuk's inner monologue)
Yi Ji-Hyuk quickly pulled his phone out and called someone.
- "What now?!"
"Mom, are you in the house right now?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
- "I'm getting ready to go to the restaurant now. By the way, where are you right now? Why aren't you coming home already?" (mom)
But, mom, you chased me out, remember?
No, wait. That's not important now, is it? (Yi Ji-Hyuk's inner monologue)
"M, mom, you gotta get out of the house right now. Please, hurry. Ah, and also, I want to ask you…" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
- "Speak up, son."
"Mom, is the apartment rented?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
- "No, we bought it with money. It's ours."
"Ahhh. So, that's how it is. So, uh, if, you know, a natural disaster or monsters happens and our building collapses. What happens then?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
- "What do you mean, what happens?" (mom)
Mom's voice sounded like a song sung by the spring flowers as it flowed out from the phone's speaker.
- "Obviously, we'll all be sleeping on the streets, that's what. There are temporary shelters for situations like that, but, hmm. I'm sure they don't have personal computers there. But, why are you asking me that, son?" (mom)
"Uhm, no, it's nothing, mom. I'm hanging up now. Don't forget to leave the house quickly, okay?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
- "If you don't come home soon, consider yourself dead meat, you got that?"
"Roger that." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
As soon as Yi Ji-Hyuk ended the call and pocketed the phone…
He pointed towards the distant Stone Golem and began shouting at the top of his lungs.
"Hey, you!!! You b*stard!!! Stop, stop right there!!" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Fin.