Mission: Incheon in the Fog
Time remaining until complete incineration—6 hours
“Ma’am.” Sergeant Hwa was making her rounds through the village, personally trying to persuade the residents. “You really can’t stay. You have to leave now.”
“Leave me be… I’m stayin’ right here…”
While she had managed to convince some of the other residents, this one elderly woman was proving especially difficult.
“You can’t. You’ll end up eaten by those monsters. You have to go.”
“My son is alive here.” The old woman stared toward the fog with vacant eyes. “I can hear his voice…”
“…”
“My boy… I wonder when he’ll come back…”
Tagging along, Jae-hee asked cautiously, “What does she mean, she can hear a voice? Was her son… killed recently?”
“No,” the sergeant replied, shaking her head. “Her son passed away more than thirty years ago. During the Gate War.”
Jae-hee tilted his head. “I thought Foghowlers could only mimic the voices of people they’ve eaten.”
“That is generally the case.”
“Then how can it mimic the voice of someone who died thirty years ago?”
Sergeant Hwa let out a small sigh. “It’s the work of their Alpha.”
“Alpha?”
“The Phantom Tyrant.” Muttering the ominous name, Sergeant Hwa nodded. “It’s the ‘Lord’ of the Foghowlers.”
“Lord?”
Seeing Jae-hee’s complete ignorance, Status Window chimed in. “The Alpha of a monster legion is called a Gate Lord desu. They’re also called a Prime. Or a Gate Master desu.”
“Is that different from a Boss Monster?”
“If a Boss Monster is a branch manager, then the Lord is the CEO desu. It’s like the owner of every single Gate that spawns that monster legion desu.”
“Ah, I see.”
Jae-hee was suddenly lost in thought. The Gate Core he’d stolen from the bank with Brain… hadn’t they called that a Lord Core?
Could there be a connection…?
“The fuck did you say? You’re telling me the Gate that opened here was a Lord Gate?!”
Listening from behind, Razor paled. “This is some next-level fucked-up luck! We’re so unlucky we could fall flat on our backs and still shatter our fucking faces! A Boss Monster is bad enough, but now we’ve got the boss’s boss, a goddamn Lord?!”
Jae-hee asked timidly, “Boss Monsters carry a Gate Core, right? Do Lords do that, too?”
“A Gate chooses a Boss Monster to entrust its core to, but a Lord is born with one! It’s a monster that is the Gate itself!”
As Razor practically foamed at the mouth, Jae-hee stroked his chin, humming thoughtfully. “Well, anyway, if we defeat this Lord, won’t the Gate here disappear?”
“Did every word I said go in one ear and out the other? A Lord-class is way stronger than a regular Boss! You need someone on the level of the ‘Five Heroes’ to even have a prayer of raiding one!”
Sergeant Hwa interjected with a weary smile. “While it is a Lord, the Phantom Tyrant’s direct combat abilities are fortunately low. Instead, it exploits psychological weaknesses.”
Her voice trembled slightly. “It can read a target’s memories and perfectly mimic their most cherished person. It even has a mild hypnotic effect, making it almost impossible not to be deceived.”
“Dang, that’s just plain evil,” Jae-hee remarked.
“Everyone has someone they hold dear… which makes that ability fatal.” Sergeant Hwa continued bitterly, “Our platoon suffered heavy losses when we encountered the Phantom Tyrant.”
It was during their encounter with the Phantom Tyrant that her platoon leader and vice platoon leader had been killed.
“In any case, we’re out of time.”
Sergeant Hwa gazed at the old woman sitting numbly on the wooden porch. “We have to start the evacuation soon. We’ll have to take anyone who doesn’t consent by force.”
Razor spat on the ground. “Should’ve done that from the start. Good, let’s get the hell out of here. I don’t want to spend another second in this godforsaken town… You have a detailed plan, yeah?”
“Yes. I’ll explain the escape plan in the operations roo—”
Just then.
Thrum… thrum… thrum…
A distant tremor rippled through the ground.
Everyone who felt it stiffened.
“This vibration…”
“Is the Foghowler pack attacking?!”
“The direction is southeast… they’re coming for us!”
The fog throughout the area had grown even thicker.
With a series of sharp pops, the streetlights and lamps on the village outskirts shattered. The mist swirled, creeping into the deepening darkness.
Sergeant Hwa frantically fired a flare into the air.
FWOOSH—!
The red flare exploded, signaling the emergency.
Flicking the safety off her rifle, Sergeant Hwa yelled, “My platoon will be here soon! Until then, we need to form a temporary defensive line here. I need your help!”
“What? Us? Here? Why?” Razor yelped.
“We haven’t finished evacuating the civilians!”
Residents were still holed up in their homes. On the porch of the house next door, the old woman looking for her son was still sitting there, dozing off.
Razor exploded. “For fuck’s sake, since when did this country give a shit about some old hag? Let’s just ditch them and g—”
“They’re coming!”
THRUM-THRUM-THRUM-THRUM—!
Giant shadows charged through the dense fog, the ground trembling with their approach.
Left with no choice, Razor deployed the crossbow on his left arm and loaded a Bone Powder Bomb. Jae-hee lowered his stance, ready to run. Meanwhile, Status Window did a quick backward roll and sat down primly next to the old woman.
Flipping down the night vision goggles attached to her helmet, Sergeant Hwa commanded, “On my signal, concentrate your fire in that direction!”
“I’ll handle my own business, you just shoot straight! Dammit, I’ve never had anything good come from getting tangled up with the military…”
As Razor grumbled, Jae-hee quickly scanned his surroundings.
The fog was too thick. His Stormroad was still sputtering, unable to forge a clear path.
Jae-hee gritted his teeth. If only the Trail of Wind would just open up, I could do something…
And then, amidst the approaching footsteps, he suddenly heard voices from the thick fog.
“Boss!”
“Boss!”
It sounded like Tat Rat and Barber.
Razor was shocked—but only for a moment.
His face twisted into a vicious snarl. “You fucking monster shits…!”
He fired a Bone Powder Bomb in the direction of the voices.
“Stop mimicking my dead men—!”
The bomb flew toward the shadows that sounded like Tat Rat and Barber.
The voices, oblivious, continued their cheerful chatter.
“Wow, they say you can survive a tiger’s den if you just keep your wits about you!”
“We managed to hang on and make it ba—”
A split second later, the Bone Powder Bomb detonated with a BOOM, exploding like a grenade of razor-sharp shrapnel.
Thousands of bone fragments shredded the impact zone.
“Gah?! B…brother man?”
“Boss… why…?”
Thud. Thud.
With a pair of futile, dying gasps, the silhouettes of Tat Rat and Barber crumpled forward in the fog.
A cold sweat trickled down Jae-hee’s back. He couldn’t see clearly through the mist, but didn’t something feel… off? Their builds seemed a little small for Foghowlers…
Razor calmly loaded his next vial of bone powder. “They were Foghowlers.”
“Huh?”
“Foghowlers,” he repeated.
“No, but, what if—”
“They were really Foghowlers, idiot! Get your head straight!”
Had the monsters been using Tat Rat and Barber’s bodies to sow confusion, just as they had with the soldiers’ corpses? Or had Razor’s friendly fire just sent his two miraculously surviving men straight to the afterlife?
There was no way to know.
“It’s me! Don’t shoot! It’s me! Don’t shoot!”
“Help! Somebody help me!”
Immediately, the Foghowlers began their savage charge, bursting through the fog.
Their faces were a horrifying mix of tiger and human, their massive maws stretched open as they mimicked the voices of their victims.
“Honey, how about a drink tonight? It’s been a while.”
“Hah, ‘been a while.’ You drink like a fish every day.”
“Are the kids coming for the holidays this year?”
“They said they’re too busy. Hmph.”
The sight of those giant mouths gaping open to spew words of mundane daily life was grotesque and terrifying.
BANG! BANG-BANG-BANG! BANG—!
Sergeant Hwa calmly pulled the trigger.
The Foghowlers cackled, even as they were peppered by her bullets.
And then…
“Sergeant! There’s something strange over here!”
“I swear, I’m quitting this damn job as soon as this operation is over. I’m getting out, I mean it!”
“Sergeant Hwa, you have to lead the platoon now.”
“I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die…”
They began to use the voices of her fallen platoon members.
“…”
But Sergeant Hwa didn’t falter. She simply kept pulling the trigger with chilling precision.
BANG-BANG! BANG—!
Though she sprayed bullets and tossed grenades, and Razor hurled vial after vial of bone powder, it wasn’t enough to stop the monsters’ advance.
WHOOSH—!
A swarm of Foghowlers broke through the mist and lunged at them all at once.
“You…!” Counting his few remaining vials, Razor spun around and roared, “Don’t just stand there gawking! Do something, you jumped-up rookie!”
Jae-hee took a deep breath and entered a state of hyperfocus.
Time seemed to slow as he saw them—dozens of Foghowlers leaping out of the fog.
He couldn’t see them properly while they were hidden in the mist, but out here, in the open?
This is my domain.
In the slowed world, a blue arrow—his Stormroad—shot out from the center of Jae-hee’s chest. It blazed around him, showing him the way.
The path to weave through the monsters.
“…Whew.”
He blinked, then kicked off the ground.
WHOOM!
A gale erupted.
Moving like an arrow, Jae-hee rushed the Foghowlers, dodging their swiping paws and snapping jaws while simultaneously slamming counter-kicks into them.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!
A chain of afterimages and impact sounds left a long trail in the air.
The dozens of Foghowlers that had leaped into the air were caught in the wake of his path, and in the next instant, their jaws all snapped to the side as they crashed pathetically to the ground.
THUD! CRASH! THUMP…!
The others all stared at Jae-hee, dumbfounded, not even sure what had just happened.
Already back in his original spot, Jae-hee was panting heavily.
“Hah! Hahk! Hahhhk…!”
Stunned, Razor let out a disbelieving laugh. “Holy shit. Guess there was a reason the Commander handpicked you, rookie boy. How the hell are you that fast?”
But Jae-hee couldn’t smile. He wiped the sweat from his chin with the back of his hand.
Dammit, I was so tense I used up almost all my stamina…!
He could have conserved more energy, moved just fast enough to dodge their attacks. That would have been enough.
But the sight of those massive tiger paws and teeth had terrified him, and he’d instinctively gone to near top speed.
And… it’s not enough.
The Foghowlers he’d slammed to the ground were already growling and stirring, pushing themselves up.
Jae-hee ground his teeth. I didn’t hit hard enough to take them down…!
A human would have been knocked out cold with a concussion from a counter-kick to the jaw.
But these were enormous monsters. Even if an Awakened’s attacks were effective, simply hitting them while moving fast wasn’t enough to deal decisive damage.
I managed to break the Boss Monster’s stance in the last mission, but it was Granny Ghost’s sword that dealt the final blow…
Jae-hee’s empty hand twitched in the air.
If only I had a weapon capable of doing the same…!
But… what kind of weapon? What weapon would suit him best?
For some reason, the image of Ghost’s jet-black longsword flickered in his mind.
If he had a sword like that…
THOOOM!
A deep, resounding footstep echoed.
Instantly, the Foghowlers that had been snarling at them started in surprise, then scattered to the left and right, prostrating themselves to form a living corridor with their bodies.
And again.
THOOOM!
“This is…” Watching the monsters part and hearing the earth-shaking footsteps, Razor began to sweat. “Don’t tell me…?!”
“That’s right.”
Click-clack!
Still maintaining her poker face, though it was now slick with a cold sweat, Sergeant Hwa slowly swapped the magazine in her rifle.
THOOOM!
The nearby houses all staggered at the creature’s footstep. The few remaining streetlights that had managed to hold on finally gave out, plunging the area into darkness.
Sergeant Hwa glared at the towering figure in the fog and spat out her words.
“That monster is the Lord of the Foghowler legion.”
A fortress-sized shadow loomed, parting the ever-thickening mist.
“The Phantom Tyrant.”