-G̸̨͠r̷̠̐ǫ̶̀ȍ̵̧͇͠ȯ̵͌ͅo̴̮̕ú̵͈͓̇u̸̡̇̍ū̷̼̏u̷̬͑͐g̴͙̿ẖ̶̘̀̈́!̷̝̜̈́̕
The Ten Legs monster advanced toward us ferociously. Each step it took with its countless tentacle-like legs sent a trembling shockwave through the ground, making Old Man Scho and I bounce up and down in continuous waves.
Technically, the Ten Legs wasn't really stepping. Upon enhancing my sight and looking closely, the creature was actually walking on numerous hands.
Or something resembling human arms with hands.
With each step taken by its thousands—if not tens of thousands—of arms, chunks of red flesh and blood splattered everywhere. Bones snapped and joints broke, but it seemed to make no difference to the creature, as new arms regenerated incessantly where old ones were severed.
A long trail lay behind the Ten Legs in a red carpet of bloodstained handprints as it approached. This giant red carpet was symbolic of the Ten Legs. That's why it was referred to as the Red Carpet even abroad as well.
I muttered, "This one's a real superstar."
"Ready?" Old Man Scho asked in his awkward Korean. By then, everyone in the vanguard, including me, had already drawn their weapons.
I glanced at my adjutant, Yu Ji-won, who nodded while studying a map spread out on the table. It was a signal that all preparations were complete.
I nodded back. "Yes. Let's finish this quickly and go eat."
I was the first to step forward.
Six hundred of our squadron followed.
While not as imposing as the crawling steps of the Ten Legs, the six hundred footsteps laden with the weight of life and death vibrated the earth with considerable force.
At that moment.
"――Ah――"
A song erupted from behind us.
It came from Dang Seo-rin, the guild leader of Samcheon, the leader of the Korean guild alliance, and the one commonly known as the Witch of the Train Station due to her peculiar taste for her ceaseless roaming around train stations. And yet, beyond her role as leader, Dang Seo-rin's true nature as an Awakener on the battlefield was something else.
"――Ah――Ah―"
She was a witch who cast powerful spells by singing and reciting poems.
Cursed Song Incantation, the art of invoking spells through songs, was pioneered and solely utilized by her. She became a myth among those who had awakened magical abilities. Such was the battlefield Dang Seo-rin.
Despite her humility in claiming to be merely an imitator rather than a creator, her power was anything but modest.
"Ah―――Ah―――Ah"
Initially, Dang Seo-rin's voice began as a single thread but soon split into two, three, four strands, embroidering the devastated skies above Seoul in an a capella fugue, composed solely of her voice.
The principle behind the Cursed Song magic developed by Dang Seo-rin was simple. It began with repetition magic, which functioned like a recorder. The spell itself was basic, merely repeating and replaying the spellcaster's incantations on loop, yet it was in this unremarkable magic that Dang Seo-rin saw potential.
First, she allowed the repetition magic to resonate in echoing swells through the air. At the core of this, she would overlay a completely new enchantment. The repetition magic would then start to play black the new part as well.
First melody, repetition.
Second melody, amplification.
Third melody, reflex enhancement.
As the battle reached its sixth minute, the third melody began to envelop hundreds of our fighters.
Even those who were nearly dismembered or beheaded by the monster's tentacles managed to block them once, twice, even ten times.
"―Ah――Ah――"
"Ah―――Ah―――Ah"
"――Ah――"
Dang Seo-rin's melodies had no intention of ending there.
Just as the fourth melody was about to begin and charge the air, the Ten Legs, sensing something amiss, turned around. Realizing it had been deliberately lured here, it attempted to flee without hesitation. Its massive body twisted instantly, flinging nearby Awakeners in all directions.
"Emit!"
"O-nya!"
Old Man Scho, who had learned o-nya before any other Korean phrase, drew his sword and charged. Seeing him in action truly put the heart at ease—even I felt an involuntary sense of relief.
But it was a feint. That damn clever monster had planned ahead and planted six of its tentacles underground. As Old Man Scho charged, spikes sprouted from the ground, puncturing his body with tidy holes.
A cloud of blood poured down. Instant death.
"Damn it!"
Dang Seo-rin's magical incantation ended abruptly before reaching the fifth melody. Our squad was breached, our defensive line collapsed, and the core of our operation—Dang Seo-rin—fell to her knees, her body riddled with holes.
The last thing I saw was the Ten Legs setting up a skewer grill shop across the plain. The Red Carpet was merely a decorative piece inviting guests into its establishment.
Sixth run over.
Seventh run start. Again.
"Emit!"
"O-nya!"
O-nya was truly a mysterious Korean word. It could mean "yes," "I know, you bastard," and "stop nagging me" all at once. Old Man Scho, Swordmaster that he was, swept the ground with his sword energy while embedding all these meanings into that one word.
-G̴̗̃̀r̵͖̿o̵̡͉̔̕ò̴̳̭͆o̸͎̅͝o̴͑͜ȗ̶̫̥͋u̴̮͕͂ṵ̵̘̾̾ù̶̢̫̊g̶̻̟̍ẖ̴̗͒!̴̥̩̿͝
The spikes lurking underground were severed in an instant.
The false retreat was seen through. The Ten Legs, enraged, harvested the lives of humans with its limbs that resembled human arms with hands.
The songs in the air, however, could not be harvested.
"Ah――Ah――Ah―――Ah"
The melody continued. It layered. It resonated.
Every time her a capella symphony embraced another note, we had to sacrifice another life.
Seventh run over. Eighth run start. Eighth run over. Ninth run start.
Forever repeating this neverending da capo, Old Man Scho and I charged. We rushed in, and the Ten Legs countered our sword strikes.
In an instant, the bulk of the Ten Legs swelled up like a balloon. The tentacles it had revealed so far were merely a taste of what this monster harbored within, as thousands of spikes burst forth from its body.
The ninth run, over.
"――Ah――"
The tenth run, start.
Forever repeating this neverending da capo, Old Man Scho and I charged. We rushed in, and the Ten Legs countered our sword strikes. Before it could swell up again, we dove into the midst of the Ten Legs.
-G̷̨͠r̵̠̟̕͠õ̵͚̙o̴͈̭̿o̶̻͜͠ŏ̴̡̳ŭ̵̘̩̐ú̷̼̬͐u̶̜͔̍ȗ̷̫̇g̸͎͗͜h̵̠͋!̷̧̆͝
Old Man Scho from the left, and I from the right.
Within the repeating spiral of cycles, I lived not as the vice-guild leader of Samcheon but as a direct disciple of Old Man Scho. What might have been the repeated section for the monster was not the same for me. Every time our story advanced by a beat, so too did the series of Dang Seo-rin's song length by another novel.
First melody, repetition.
Second melody, amplification.
Third melody, reflex enhancement.
Fourth melody, weapon strength enhancement.
Fifth melody, stamina recovery.
Sixth melody, mental awakening.
An aria of soul consolation was chanted to the grey skies.
The 1st squadron swapped places with the 2nd squadron, and the injured continuously retreated. Nevertheless, neither Dang Seo-rin nor I took a single step back from the front line.
We were all sacrificing our lives.
By the time the sixth melody was repeating, her song had changed. Until then, it had been protecting us. Now, the melody suddenly sprang forward, attacking the Ten Legs.
Like red spikes.
Seventh melody, weakening curse.
Eighth melody, darkness curse.
Ninth melody, sensory inhibition curse.
The massive body of the Ten Legs numbed. As the monster swung its arms, felled buildings tumbled down. Perhaps it was a mere flinch.
"Old Man!"
"I know, damn it!"
We clung to it relentlessly.
My term of address for Old Man Scho changed, and so did the flavor of his responses in Korean. Now, without saying a word, Old Man Scho and I perfectly timed our slashes to sever the tentacles of the Ten Legs.
The Ten Legs fought back against our sword strikes, but to no avail. New tentacles sprouted more slowly, and our blades cut through the arms of the Ten Legs more swiftly.
Though the creature stepped forward with thousands of arms, it was but a single step. We always ran two steps for every one of its.
And so.
"Ah―――Ah―――Ah"
"Ah――Ah――Ah―――Ah"
"―Ah――Ah――"
"――Ah――"
Tenth melody, petrification curse.
The curse would be rendered pointless in the face of constantly regenerating tentacles, but against a Ten Legs with so few spikes remaining, it was a lethal blow.
Dozens of spikes aiming for Old Man Scho and me turned to stone all at once. Of course, it was just a momentary pause. If even three seconds, no, just five seconds passed, new tentacles would sprout and attempt to impale us.
To give us those three seconds, Dang Seo-rin kept singing.
We swung our swords.
Where all the tentacles had vanished appeared to us the Ten Legs' two eyeballs, which also served as its hearts. Destroying one heart was pointless as the other would immediately regenerate it, bestowing the Ten Legs with virtually eternal life.
"Arrrrgh!"
Old Man Scho and I screamed as we charged.
Our cries were not bizarre like the roars of the Ten Legs, nor were they as beautiful as Dang Seo-rin's chanting. The duet of the two regressors was discordant. If it were a song, it would be off-key to the extreme.
Yet somehow—and perhaps it was just a feeling—it seemed like our hoarse screams momentarily matched the aria of Dang Seo-rin.
A mere coincidence of harmonizing discord.
-G̸̢̰͂r̸̗͈͘o̶̻͚̫͊ǫ̴̰̈́̉ȯ̶̻̎̓ö̶̧͖̒ụ̴͔̆͗̕u̶̘̗͓̐ṵ̸͈̀̓̚ȕ̸̺̬͝g̶͖̉̔͗ĥ̴̡̬̳̆!̶̨̞͖͝
Until there was only one source of dissonance left in this world.
That noise, the heartbeat of the monster, the source of the vibration—we both thrust our swords toward it simultaneously.
Blood splattered.
Old Man Scho's sword tip pierced the left eyeball-heart, and my blade slashed the right eyeball-heart.
-――――――!!
A scream erupted.
Blood spurted as countless tentacles began to stretch out from the Ten Legs' body. The tips of the tentacles loomed right in front of us. Yet, I did not fear being pierced. Instead, I thrust the tip of my sword even deeper into the eye-heart.
For a beat, the world was silent.
The tentacle paused just before it reached us. The human-ish arm spread its five fingers to their limits, as if seized by a convulsion.
One second passed, then two seconds.
As the music dwindled and the last lingering notes seemed to extend indefinitely, we too stood silently, swords embedded in the monster's heart as we watched the creature.
Then suddenly, I felt an irresistible urge to utter these words.
"Did we get it?"
Old Man Scho blanched. "Hey, you fool! If you say that now—!"
The five fingers of the Ten Legs exploded. Flesh tore, bursting open to spill forth red blood. Finger after finger, arm after arm, tentacle after countless tentacles burst and oozed.
There was no turning back.
The monster that had wandered the red paths of this world for so long drowned itself in a pool of red.
"..."
Old Man Scho, newly drenched in blood, looked at the ground with a dazed stare, then at me, before finally turning to look behind us.
The moment we turned around, a roar louder than any earthquake created by the Ten Legs shook the heavens.
Hundreds had died, but still, thousands survived. With fists clenched and arms clutching the people around them in a hug, they ran toward us. They grabbed my head and tore my shirt. Laughter mingled with cries.
"We did it! We actually did it!"
Even Old Man Scho, who had never spoken such words before, threw his arms around me, sobbing.
"Ah, doc! Thank you! It's all thanks to you! I couldn't have made it this far alone!"
It was something Old Man Scho would normally never say.
I, too, was moved and blurted out something similar, but I won't describe precisely what—it's not my hobby to document my own cringey moments.
[The Saintess of National Salvation blesses your victory.]
[The Monarch of the Crimson Horse shows interest in your bravery.]
[The Conqueror of the Alps marvels at your feat.]
At that time, the identity of the Saintess was still unknown in the cycles. Just like others, I was able to receive the Constellations' congratulations with naivety.
After a round of frenzy had passed, the leading commander of this operation, Dang Seo-rin, slowly approached me at last.
"Can't believe I pulled off the tenth melody."
Perhaps because she sang too passionately, her voice was hoarse. She looked happy yet somewhat embarrassed as she smiled.
"Amazing," she marveled. "I never thought we'd actually win."
"How long did we hold out?"
"Forty-one minutes."
Dang Seo-rin's forehead was drenched with sweat. Her hair was disheveled, sticking to her face, yet it was relatively tame compared to what could have happened.
Especially considering the endings she faced in the fourth to the ninth cycles.
"We finally reclaimed Seoul."
"Well, south of the Han River, to be precise."
"Always used to be the most expensive part of town, right? Good for us. Now we're land-rich."
Despite achieving a colossal feat just then, Dang Seo-rin's tone was as casual as if she were just on a stroll. Her cheekiness made me chuckle.
"Now it's the worst land in Korea, though," I teased.
"Hmm. You hungry? Any injuries? Let's go grab some food."
That's when Old Man Scho chimed in.
"What's on the menu? Octopus sashimi? I can't eat that."
The embarrassed old man who had blurted out cheesy lines earlier was nowhere to be seen now, replaced once again by the grumpy German curmudgeon he usually was.
"Geez. I just don't get why you guys boil that horrific-looking Cthulhu kraken."
"It's okay. I was just saying, I don't really like octopus sashimi that much either."
I was surprised. "Really? Is that so?"
"Yeah." Dang Seo-rin smiled brightly. "Actually, I prefer tacos with wasabi and a highball."
Alias: Red Carpet. The Crimson Foodie.
A monster active south of the Han River. Solitary. Atypical behavior.
Civilian and military casualties estimated to be approximately 436,000. Estimated 950 Awakeners dead. Number of injured and missing unknown.
Official designation: Ten Legs.
Subjugation completed.
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By the way, the menu for that day's celebration was pork belly with soju.
There were no Japanese restaurants nearby.