Chapter 185: Asuka 1
Translator: Moliere
Editor: SootyOwl
Junhyuk watched the novice running away from him and guessed who it might be. She had to be the one Jeffrey had referred to, a novice who had burned down an entire building.
He realized that she had already been caught. Junhyuk had heard that Doyeol had already sent R-agents for her, but hadn't expected to see her there.
He thought about running after her, but before he had the chance to move, some people exited the building. Two men ran after her. One of them was naked and had burns all over his body, but he was healing quickly.
Junhyuk guessed that they were R-agents.
The woman running away had decent firepower, but she wouldn't get rid of the R-agents with her speed. Her basic health was superior to theirs, but that only meant that her soul was stronger. She probably hadn't had the time to increase her physical strength to match her soul yet.
Junhyuk watched them move about, then he used the ladder to get to where everyone was. He went down, and Eunseo was there to relay some information.
"You may leave work now."
"It's not time yet."
"There is nothing for you to do here if you stay."
The Administrative Department was destroyed. Junhyuk looked at Elise. She checked the monitors and looked at him.
"The Administrative Department is gone. Even Zaira can't get in."
He sighed and looked at Eunseo.
"Then, I will be heading home."
"You worked hard today. There will be more work to be done tomorrow."
Junhyuk didn't hesitate further and left. He went outside and looked at the destroyed buildings. It was all in ruins, but there were people working inside some of them, and he was impressed.
"I'll have a lot to do tomorrow."
Monsters had shown up. There had only been a few casualties at the park, but there could be more victims around the world. On his way home, he checked the internet through his smartphone for news. He knew the news had already been filtered and censored, but he still wanted to check.
He didn't have to search much of the internet. The important details had made it into the news anyway. Monsters had appeared around the world, but the places where iron soldiers had been deployed did not incur high casualties. However, the places without iron soldier received massive losses. So far, there were only fifty iron soldier bases.
"If the monsters appeared more often, the iron soldiers wouldn't be effective!"
They needed mana stones to make iron soldiers. To collect the necessary mana stones, they needed more than just Jeffrey making trips to the Dimensional Battlefield. They brought mana stones back every two weeks, but they needed more. The stones weren't just used for iron soldiers.
The metal models also required mana stones, so there would be continued demand for them.
He didn't know how long it took to make an iron soldier, but it took an enormous amount of money. If things continued that way, they wouldn't be able to stop the monsters anymore.
Junhyuk looked at the sky.
"What are they playing at?"
The Dimensional Battlefield's Managers could always let more powerful monsters loose, monsters that could easily destroy the iron soldiers. But they weren't doing that.
Junhyuk realized he couldn't solve anything by worrying and walked home. Nowadays, he didn't drive and walked to and from work instead. Because both monsters had appeared in the parking lot, it was easier to walk now.
---
Doyeol was really surprised.
"Asuka escaped?! What are you talking about?"
Elise was on the screen and showed him a few more video recordings.
"While fighting the monster, there was a power outage. It looks like she used that moment to escape."
Doyeol was looking at the monitor and laughed gleefully.
"The fire is hot. How come she is not burned by it?"
"We don't know if she is immune to all fire or if it's only the one that she starts, but she is definitely immune to the fires she starts."
"So, she burned her blinds and restraints."
"Yes."
"Are you sure about her power now?"
"Firestarter, flames that induce other flames. When she escaped, her flames started at least five other fires in chain reactions."
"You mean she caused at least five fires over 3,000 degrees celsius?"
"Yes. When she burned down the building, she had also started five different fires in chain reactions."
"She burned down a building with just five fires!?"
"She is born to burn. She could burn down anything she wanted to."
"So, are you chasing after her now?"
"The enhanced R-agents and retrieval teams are after her now."
"We can't let people know that she is in South Korea. We need to quickly take care of situation. I'll also dispatch someone."
"OK."
"It's too bad we can't catch her by using iron soldiers."
"People are on the lookout for them. That could be a problem."
"Does Eunseo know about this?"
"No, not yet."
"That's good. After we retrieve her, we'll move her to a different location."
Doyeol turned the monitor off and sighed. Asuka was a human torch. He wanted to know how she started the fires, so he needed to catch her.
"All because the monsters appeared."
Doyeol clicked his tongue and looked back at Jeffrey, who had been standing there the whole time.
"I have a favor to ask."
---
Asuka stole a motorcycle and looked back at the people chasing her. They had been engulfed in flames, but healed quickly.
While escaping, Asuka had encountered those people with the fast healing ability. Without hitting their weak spots, she couldn't kill them. They turned away whenever a fire started, so they weren't hit directly and healed themselves while chasing after her.
They had fought her a few times before and knew things about her, so they kept up while keeping a few inches out of her range. At first, there had only been two men, but now there were six cars coming after her.
Asuka gritted her teeth and looked back.
They were keeping a thirty-meter distance because they knew about her power, but they didn't know everything about her.
"Don't blame me for it," she said and looked back. A car coming toward her was engulfed in flames. The flames arched up to the sky hitting the cars that were following her.
Five chain reaction flames
That was Asuka's power. She knew it instinctively how to use it the most effective way. The chain reaction induced fires among four cars that had been chasing her. Four of the six cars were on fire, and the others stopped.
Asuka stopped the motorcycle and looked back.
"Don't chase after me anymore," she said and zoomed off.
She had regained her consciousness after completely burning down a building. She had been scared of what she had done and went into hiding, but soon, there were people coming after her.
To escape them, she created another fire. She had learned how to survive at the Dimensional Battlefield. Many people had died because of her fire, but she no longer cared and just wanted to escape. However, people continued to come after her, and eventually, they got her.
When she regained consciousness, she couldn't see or move even a finger. She couldn't even use her power. But there was an earthquake where she was being held. She thought she would die, but she decided to take a chance. She burned the blinds over he eyes and her restraints.
While escaping, she learned that she could control her power more precisely. Not only could she start a fire, but she could concentrate that fire in one spot.
She escaped without burning down the place where she was being held.
Now, she had stopped the people chasing after her. She was riding her motorcycle when she saw cars appearing in front of her. There were five of them.
She could have lit them all on fire, but that would block the road, so she weaved left and bit her lip. Because of the shock of returning from the Dimensional Battlefield, she had burned down an entire building, and people were still chasing after her.
"If you want to die!"
At the Dimensional Battlefield, she had learned to kill others to survive, and she knew what would happen to her if they captured her. Asuka looked back.
They were keeping a thirty-meter distance, but they also didn't really know about her power. A fire started on the road and a chain reaction took over the cars chasing after her.
When the fire appeared on the road, the cars turned, but by that point, they were already on fire. Three cars stopped suddenly.
Asuka sighed because she had killed again, but continued on on her motorcycle. Then, someone burst through the flames.
She looked back and her expression hardened. A huge wolf was heading toward her. The flames burned up and disappeared, and what remained were the fires that she hadn't started, the ones caused by burning the cars' gas.
The wolf wasn't hurt by the fire and kept running. It closed in quickly while Asuka kept on the motorcycle.
She had stolen a motorcycle used for deliveries, and there wasn't any more speed to it. The wolf was catching up.
It jumped. A shadow loomed over her head, and she slammed the break and turned. She stepped on the ground with her left foot, using it for leverage, and the motorcycle left skid marks on the road.
The wolf jumped over her, coming for her again, and Asuka felt like the wolf was familiar to her somehow.
"A monster from the Dimensional Battlefield?"
The wolf didn't scare her. Asuka looked at it and her eyes flashed.
"I can kill you anytime."
Asuka's power had a twenty-second cooldown. A fire started on the middle of the wolf's forehead, and it chained to its chest and legs.
Fwoosh!
She had wanted to kill the wolf, so the wolf was engulfed in flames and died. Asuka felt the danger had passed and turned the motorcycle away. However, a shadow appeared in front of her.
She tried to escape, but the motorcycle wasn't moving even with the wheels turning. She turned her head and saw a gorilla lifting the back of her motorcycle. It was three meters tall and was only using one hand to keep her in place. The other hand was heading toward her, and the gorilla flicked her forehead hard.
"Tack!"
After that attack, Asuka lost consciousness.