This World Needs a Hero

Chapter 101

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[A situation has arised. The enemy…]

Yussi, who was reporting, suddenly stopped.

‘What’s this?’

The employee with drugged coffee, pierced by a sharp object, was hanging on the wall.

It must not be an easy pain for a non-combatant, but there was no sound.

Empty pupils just rolled their arms and legs.

[Yussi? What’s happening?]

…No way.

Yussi frowned in unease.

[Hero, I confirmed and captured one infiltrator for now…]

But the report was cut off again this time.

“Aaaaaahh!”

It was because of the scream echoing from downstairs.

Instinctively, the gaze turned to the source, where an incomprehensible scene was unfolding.

Slish-

An employee who was simply concentrating on work pulled a dagger from the security guard’s holster on patrol and stabbed his neck.

The employee next to him, unfazed by the sudden attack, casually manipulated the control panel and activated the ’emergency quarantine sequence.’

Woooooong-!

In an instant, a dome-shaped transparent barrier was implemented, enclosing the control center.

[Yussi! What’s going on! Outside…]

Felson’s urgent shout was buried in the continued noise.

Kugugugugug-

Steel outer walls rising around the center, piercing through the ground.

In just a few seconds, the control center was completely isolated from the outside.

For a moment, Yussi was stunned, then she regained his composure.

‘I have to move for now.’

Swish-

Jumping down towards the lower floor, she shouted into the communicator.

[Multiple traitors are causing chaos inside the center. The situation is urgent; I will report back after resolving it!]

[…I will prioritize the protection of the children. Be careful.]

Felson’s communication continued.

[Yussi. It will take about 2 minutes to breach the barrier and steel walls. Can you hold on?]

[No, don’t come in. Just wait!]

[What?]

[This is under my jurisdiction!]

Since they didn’t know what was happening outside, it was right for Felson to stay put.

‘…One, two, five, damn, how many are there?’

Yussi nervously scanned the chaotic control center.

“Argh!”

“Ugh.”

“Why, why… ”

People who were attacked and had no idea what was going on were writhing on the floor.

Dozens of employees brandishing weapons and going berserk.

‘…Considering the size, it’s not just a simple betrayal.’

It wasn’t an internal breach due to bribery or threats.

No matter how much money or something important was at stake.

Ordinary people wouldn’t commit such irreparable acts.

Thud-

As Yussi thrust his fist into the jaw of an approaching employee, she pondered.

‘What could it be then?’

Yussi’s gaze shifted to the flipped eyes of a subdued employee in that moment.

“Ugh…”

Dilated pupils as if in a stupor.

Eyes unable to focus on anything.

…A familiar sensation.

A strong sense of déjà vu washed over her.

She had definitely witnessed a scene like this before.

Soon, a deep-seated memory in her mind surfaced.

‘Yeah. That’s right.’

When she was very young.

During the time when many demons ravaged human society like a scourge.

She distinctly remembered seeing similar figures.

People moving as if possessed, losing their will.

Yussi muttered in bewilderment.

“It’s mesmerization….”

Mesmerization.

It was the ability of the Monma clan.

‘Monma…’

Numerous questions raised their heads.

Was the collaborator involved with Monma?

But how?

Monma should have disappeared entirely a long time ago.

Yussi was uncommonly perplexed.

‘To cast such a large-scale mesmerization, you would need at least a high-ranking Monma.’

However, the high-ranking Monma had all perished in the past.

Heroes of the previous generation had dealt with them, enduring significant losses in the process due to the danger they posed to humans.

Even the last remaining Monma Legion Commander, Enoch, and his subordinates were eradicated after the ‘Nubes Salon Incident,’ pursued relentlessly by the enraged Felson.

Since then, there had been no sightings of Monma in human society.

‘If it’s really Monma….’

Yussi quickly shifted her gaze.

‘First, I need to find the intermediary. Where is the dream’s intermediary?’

No matter how high-ranking the Monma might be, to exert such a powerful influence on humans, they would need an intermediary to amplify their power.

If she could find and destroy it, these mesmerizations would cease.

But no matter how much she looked around, she couldn’t see the dream’s intermediary.

‘But how did they contact so many people through the intermediary?’

This is Rosenstark.

A place with more thorough measures against demons.

No suspicious item potent enough to serve as Monma’s intermediary could have passed through the strict inspections.

Her mind was a jumble of tangled questions.

Chaos spread like ripples.

Yussi slapped her cheek to make a sound.

‘…Let’s stay calm.’

One minute passed.

She needed to act before the situation became uncontrollably worse.

Yussi ran forward.

“This isn’t going to end well!”

Wheeeeng-!

With a heavy mechanical sound, the alchemy glove absorbed and amplified the elements of the wooden table, creating a suddenly enormous wooden club in mid-air.

Whoosh-!

A club of a size comparable to a pillar swiftly flew towards one of the employees.

To increase the concentration of forest magic, it was attached to the control panel.

Other employees twisted their bodies grotesquely, trying to block the path, but it was in vain.

Thud-!

The club, which easily broke through the flesh wall, struck the side of the employee.

“Ugh!”

But despite the sound of bones breaking, he staggered only momentarily.

He turned his body and, along with five other employees, rushed towards Yussi.

Their movements were unnatural.

Regular office workers wouldn’t have trained their bodies separately, yet they moved more agilely than an average soldier.

It seemed like they were drawing out the potential of their bodies under the influence of mesmerization.

Yussi chuckled.

“Oh, you’re tough?”

Thud-!

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Yussi seized the neck of the leading employee and slammed him directly onto the floor.

“Sitting at a desk doesn’t make your body tough!”

Followed by a splendid series of blows, Yussi’s hands and feet twisted unnaturally as she struck the employees.

They fell down in a single blow.

But Yussi’s expression subtly wrinkled.

‘I couldn’t stop them completely.’

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Red warning signals flashed on most of the screens.

While the worst-case scenario of escalating demonic energy density to its highest level was averted, it had still increased significantly from the default settings.

With the employees destroying various control panels, it was impossible to lower the density again.

TsuTsuTsuTsu…

Dense demonic energy seeped into the forest.

Keee-!

To make matters worse, faint roars of demons echoed beyond the walls.

Some creatures, previously kept in the demon repository for experimental purposes, had been unleashed.

Among them were some that the children couldn’t handle.

Leaving them alone would put the children in danger.

“Haah….”

Surprisingly, Yussi’s expression was far from panicked.

She trusted her colleagues outside.

‘Let’s test the waters a bit.’

No need to say it; she was ready.

And sure enough.

“Stand back.”

…Felson’s voice, brimming with mana, echoed thunderously.

Wheeeeng-!

Before the reverberation of the echoed command had even finished, a vast amount of mana poured into the sky.

Literally, it ‘poured.’

Woooooong-!

Mana emanating from Felson, like a reversed waterfall, created a massive flow, streaming out in a way that seemed unimaginable for an individual to control.

Ziiiiiiing-!

The mana quickly took shape.

What emerged in the air several dozen meters around was a dense mesh, so close-knit that it felt like a thin film.

Even amid the massive release of demonic energy from the artificial core, Felson’s mana presence was eerily vivid.

Thunk-!

Yussi roughly fended off the approaching employees, flexing her well-toned arms.

‘…He’s really pissed.’

She soon knew what scene would unfold.

Woooooong-!

The strongly consolidated and focused mana, defying its specifications, spread in all directions.

The threads of magic forming the mesh emitted a chilling light directly above the targets.

Felson’s technique.

Feast of the Great Army.

God’s Net.

The first stage, ‘Capture.’

‘The second stage is….’

Annihilation.

The activation of the second stage didn’t take long.

Woooooong-!

A strange force generated across the entire space covered by the net.

At the moment when the widely spread mana condensed.

A deafening noise echoed, tearing through the surroundings.

Twisting, intertwining, and entangling.

The shape of the net slowly changed.

TsuTsuTsuTsuTsu-!

Hundreds of magical swords, emitting a chilling light, embroidered the black sky, which had been engulfed by demonic energy.

The imprinting of the targets was already complete.

He never misses.

Felson declared, “Those tainted. Vanish.”

Yussi plugged her ears.

Kwaaaaa-!

Amidst the falling stars, there were no screams.

There existed only a brilliant radiance and vibrations as if the ground were being turned upside down.

Beyond the walls surrounding the control center, hundreds of columns of light soared into the sky.

Silence.

In this way, ‘God’s Net’ completed its duty, capturing all life within its range.

Feeling the slowly dispersing magical power, Yussi rose to her feet.

“Hah.”

While Felson was casting the Feast of the Great Army, she had subdued all remaining employees and completed the emergency treatment of the survivors.

Summoning an iron rope from the alchemy glove, Yussi bound the employees one by one, muttering to herself.

“You guys messed with the wrong people. Got it?”

…Monma.

Of course, it had to be Monma.

‘There’s no way to let this slide.’

With Monma involved in this matter, Felson would never overlook it.

Once again, an eerily resonant voice, as deep as before, was heard over the communication device.

[I sensed the presence of Monma.]

[Felson…]

[Starting now, I’ll begin tracking the collaborator. Please take care of my son…]

Kwaaang-!

With a sound almost like an explosion, Felson moved away.

‘Tracking.’

The immediate decision to start tracking was a rational choice.

No high-ranking Monma, no matter what, could carry out such a large-scale operation remotely without any conditions or accomplices.

There was undoubtedly a “real collaborator” within the academy, serving as a conduit to communicate with the main body.

Up until now, they might have hidden themselves well, but after conducting a large-scale ability like just now, they would inevitably leave traces.

‘I need to capture the real culprit, not just the pawns. The academy will become safe again.’

Even with Felson gone, there was the Hero in the forest.

No threat could approach the students.

“Alright.”

What she needed to do now was evident.

First and foremost, she had to restore the broken systems in the center.

This was to halt the artificial core that was spewing out demonic energy incessantly.

Standing in front of the damaged panel, Yussi clapped her hands loudly.

“Alright, everyone who’s still alive, come over here. There’s work to be done!”

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