Suhyeon stared at him blankly.
Lee Kyujin was not someone he particularly liked.
He couldn’t pinpoint a specific reason, but every time he faced the man, he felt an inexplicable sense of discomfort.
‘Of all the many Espers, why did it have to be him?’ a useless thought crossed his mind.
—Gate Open.
“Ah, it’s starting.”
Just then, a crackling sound came through the earpiece plugged into his ear.
Since they were waiting a short distance from the predicted gate opening site, Esper Lee Jeonghyeon, who stepped forward immediately, began moving Lee Kyujin and the other Espers.
Suhyeon watched the gate tear open in the distance accompanied by a violent wind.
Even though it was clearly a much smaller gate than the sites he usually visited, the distance was so much closer that he couldn’t really feel a difference in scale.
He wasn’t afraid, despite the proximity.
On the contrary, rather than fear, that sense of familiarity tried to crawl up within him again.
It was even more vivid than before, as if he could physically sense how close he was to the gate.
Suhyeon took a breath and tried to push it down.
When it came to the gates, the emotional switch inside him was definitely broken.
“Kueeeeeeeek!”
Boom!
Then, a hideous dark-purple tentacle—incomparable to the Cotton Ball’s white ones—fell out of the gate with a thunderous roar.
Suhyeon snapped back to his senses at the massive sound and looked straight ahead.
“Kyuu!”
At the same time, perhaps reacting to the gate and the monsters, the Cotton Ball popped out of his pocket even though Suhyeon hadn’t pulled it out.
—Guide-nim? Even if it’s a weak one, if you don’t do it quickly, it’ll be too late.
Catching the falling Cotton Ball, Suhyeon took a small breath at the prompting through his earpiece.
Even if he didn’t feel fear, he was a bit nervous since it was his first time handling the Cotton Ball in a real battle.
He didn’t have the feeling that anything would go wrong, but after taking a deep breath, he blew a surge of guiding wavelength into the Cotton Ball.
“Kyuu!”
Before long, the Cotton Ball’s fur glowed brilliantly.
Confirming this, Suhyeon swung his thin arm and threw the Cotton Ball toward the other side with all his might.
“Kraaaang!”
Even so, it was only the strength of a human, so it didn’t go far—but the Cotton Ball, which instantly transformed into a giant monster, flew toward the gate in a single bound.
It seemed to have locked onto its target automatically without needing to be pointed.
“Kraaaaaaaaang!”
The Cotton Ball, flying toward the gate, violently swung its tentacles at the monsters swarming out.
In a way, they were its own kind, but it didn’t seem to care about that at all.
“Kueeeeeek!”
Boom!
The dark-purple tentacles and the pure-white tentacles collided fiercely, and the vibration spread all the way to where Suhyeon stood. Suhyeon trembled involuntarily.
Of course, he had commanded the Cotton Ball to break things before and had engaged in mock battles with Espers, but this was his first real combat. He couldn’t take his eyes off it.
Boom, bang-bang, boom!
“Kueeeeeek!”
Thunderous roars echoed.
The battle unfolding before the gate was chillingly vivid.
It was natural given the distance, but it felt several times clearer than when he was at a typical guiding site.
Monster blood spurted like fountains here and there.
Even if he felt a sense of familiarity with the gate and his fear seemed excised, Suhyeon felt no kinship toward those hideously shaped monsters.
He swallowed hard at the sight of the slime occasionally splashing in the distance.
“Kueeeeeeeek!”
“Kweeeeee…”
“Kraaaaaang!”
Between the rough, horrific cries of the monsters, the clear cry of the Cotton Ball rang out.
No Esper seemed to have stepped forward yet, but the Cotton Ball fought surprisingly well alone against multiple monsters.
It had already killed and collapsed several monsters, and even though more were constantly pouring out of the gate, it hadn’t been pushed back yet.
Comparing it to the other monsters like this, the Cotton Ball seemed uniquely larger and possessed more tentacles.
Suhyeon felt his wavelength being sucked out in surges.
However, as time continued to pass, the monsters poured out endlessly.
The movements of the Cotton Ball, which had been wildly beating the monsters to death, also began to slow down slightly at some point.
“Kueeeeeeeeeek!”
“Krung!”
At that moment, the Cotton Ball was struck in the back by a monster and sent flying, crashing through about a dozen trees before rolling on the ground. Suhyeon gasped.
“Kraaaaaaaaang!”
Fortunately, it didn’t seem injured as it jumped back up.
The more the Cotton Ball moved and lashed out at the monsters, the faster the guiding wavelength was drained compared to before.
It felt like a measure of the Cotton Ball’s exhaustion, and Suhyeon narrowed his eyes.
As he let out a heavy breath, Hajin’s arms, which were holding him, tightened.
—Shall we go in?
The fact that the Cotton Ball was tiring must have been visible to the others on site as well, as Lee Kyujin’s crackling voice entered his ear.
It seemed like the Cotton Ball might get hurt if pushed any further.
“Yes.”
—Okey-dokey!
As soon as he answered, dozens—hundreds—of needles appeared on the battlefield.
It seemed to be one of the Espers’ abilities.
“Kraaaang!”
Suhyeon stopped focusing and slowly withdrew his guiding wavelength; soon, sensing the change, the Cotton Ball withdrew from the field and shot back toward him like an arrow.
“Kyuu!”
When the energy was completely withdrawn, the Cotton Ball became small again and landed in Suhyeon’s hands.
Its white fur was stained with dirt and dust.
“Kyu, u, uuung, u…”
As he brushed it off, the Cotton Ball wobbled and made a cute sound.
Soon, it turned pure white again and tucked itself into Suhyeon’s pocket.
When he put his hand in his pocket, the swaying fur brushed against him.
As he stroked it softly, he could hear a tiny, purring sound.
His part in the battle was over.
The tension that had been crawling up his legs unraveled.
Suhyeon slowly let out a weary breath.
Although a fair amount of guiding energy had been consumed, he was only slightly out of breath; he didn’t feel like he would collapse or that it was excessively difficult.
It seemed the Cotton Ball was stronger than he thought.
“Suhyeon, that thing is really incredible.”
Just then, Asher’s voice—who had been silently watching the scene with Hajin until now—seeped into his ear.
Looking up, he saw the man with his eyes fixed forward but a smile on his lips.
“Sorry I can’t turn my head. But as I saw earlier, that monster is really something, right? You called it ‘Cotton Ball’?”
“Eyes forward, Asher Delveron.”
“Yessir, yessir.”
Hajin’s voice, which had turned dry and sharp from guarding the perimeter, cut him off, but Suhyeon could also tell that the Cotton Ball had fought well.
Hearing the praise even before the battle was over, he looked down at the pocket where the Cotton Ball was tucked.
Having suffered through some hardships together recently, he felt a secret sense of pride.
“Kueeeeeeeek!”
At that moment, a monster’s cry pierced his ears harshly.
Suhyeon looked up at the scene.
By now, the Espers on the field, including Lee Kyujin, had begun to fight in earnest.
Since they were said to be A-rank Espers, it was only natural, but monster blood splattered at a much faster rate than when the Cotton Ball was brutally beating them to death.
Corpses crumbling into ash piled up several at a time in an instant.
The visuals were also much flashier.
The hundreds of sharp needles floating in the air earlier, the green rays of light occasionally crushing the monsters…
‘So that’s what an Esper is.’
He had seen Hajin throw blue fireballs at people or Esper Lee Jeonghyeon use movement abilities a few times, but this was his first time seeing them use their abilities so fully.
It was quite fascinating.
But at the same time, fighting barehanded like that looked incredibly dangerous.
Hajin must work like that every time.
Suhyeon glanced up at his lover.
Hajin was still staring intensely at the front.
After about fifteen minutes, the number of monsters emerging from the gate visibly decreased.
Every site Suhyeon had followed before took at least an hour to finish, so this gate must truly be a weak one.
The strength of the Espers likely played a part too.
“Kueeeeeeeeeek!”
Soon, only one monster remained on the field.
As if that were the last one, the gate behind it slowly began to close.
Since he had never seen this scene up close either, Suhyeon watched the dark-purple gate waver and shrink into itself.
“Kueeeeeeeek!”
Then, the last remaining monster slowly tilted after being hit by the pouring rays and needles.
Its tentacles went limp and sluggish, leaning downward along with its massive body.
Thump!
As the monster collapsed, a cloud of dust billowed up.
Through the hazy yellow dust, the black shadow of the monster could be seen twitching intermittently.
It didn’t seem to be dead yet.
The Espers must have seen it too, as the shadow of sharp needles appeared beyond the dust to deliver the final blow—then, ‘Bang!’
With a violent sound, something burst out through the dust.
It was a small sound, like something being driven into a sandy beach, but the reality was not small.
The base of a severed tree was uprooted and flew toward where Suhyeon, Hajin, and Asher were standing at a terrifying speed.
It was a speed that would cause instant death upon impact.
However, before Suhyeon could even perceive it and tremble, Hajin’s arm around his waist and Asher’s arm swung almost simultaneously.
A massive blue flame and violet electricity incinerated the giant tree in an instant.
The tree scattered into ash as if it had never been solid.
Thump!
Whether it knew its attack had been nullified or not, the monster’s swung tentacle went limp.
