Chapter 72
“This is too dangerous. If that earthquake just hit, there’ll be dozens of aftershocks.”
“You think so?”
At my current level, I didn’t think an earthquake alone could kill me.
Still...
I couldn’t risk it.
If I were alone, maybe...
But we had Ms. Gyuseon, Senior Choi Kang, the captain, and the copilot here.
I couldn’t decide what to do with so many lives on my own.
So...
“Let’s just keep going...”
“... It’s too horrific.”
The images of Sicily on the news were the very picture of hell.
For a moment, I couldn’t get a word out either.
A city full of people trapped beneath collapsed buildings.
The firefighters could only stand there in despair, with no idea where to even begin rescuing people.
“Mr. Segyun.”
“......”
I didn’t need to hear the rest; the look in their eyes told me enough.
“What do you think, Senior?”
“Me? ... You think some earthquake is going to kill me?”
... Right. Even if he got buried under a building, this was the guy who’d squat with the building.
It’d be a relief if he didn’t get excited by the stimulation.
“Captain, Copilot, what do you think?”
“U-us?”
“Uh, well...”
Both were elite pilots who’d graduated from the Air Force Academy.
True to their backgrounds, they began making coolheaded assessments.
“First, we should get the ground situation from the control tower.”
“The ground situation?”
“The earthquake hit that hard. There’s no guarantee the runway is intact.”
“Ah!”
“As long as the runway is in good shape, we’ll be fine. But there’s one more problem.”
“What is it?”
“Sicily faces mainland Italy across the Strait of Messina. And if the earthquake happened in the Strait of Messina...”
Could it be...
“That means both the mainland and the island have been affected.”
“Yes. We need to decide where to land first. If the mainland is more urgent, we should land at Calabria Airport—code REG. If Sicily is in greater need, we should land at Catania Airport, CTA.”
“That’s not for us to decide.”
“Yes. It would probably be best to follow the Hunter Association’s guidance.”
I nodded and was about to press the accept button on the app when...
Almost at the same time...
[Earthquake Relief Personnel Assignment Request (Hunter Kim Segyun): 4,000,000 Points]
... Did they think I hadn’t accepted because the reward was too low?
What timing.
They might think I’m some reward-crazed bastard.
I let out a small sigh and pressed accept.
A call came in almost immediately.
“Hello.”
─Am I speaking with Hunter Kim Segyun? I’m Leonardo Romano, head of the Italian Hunter Association. First, please accept my apologies for the discourtesy. This is an emergency, and we saw that your private jet, registered in our database, was currently in Italian airspace, so we sent the request.
“No need to apologize. I understand, given the emergency.”
─I assume you’re aware of the situation, so I’ll get straight to the point.
“Yes. First, I think you need to tell us which airport to land at.”
─The damage in Calabria is still manageable. But in Sicily...
“Then should we land at Catania Airport?”
The captain shook his head before I could finish.
“The control tower has declared CTA closed to landings. All runways are damaged, so they’re telling us to divert to another airport.”
“That’s what I’m being told.”
─We’ll take care of that on our end. Land on Runway 1.
Take care of it?
What was that supposed to mean...
“Hunter Kim, the control tower keeps saying Runway 1 is half-destroyed.”
“... That’s what I’m being told.”
─It’ll be fine soon.
The runway would be fine soon, huh?
Probably...
“Oh? They say Runway 1 has been temporarily restored. We’ve been cleared to land.”
“Let’s go right away.”
I had a pretty good idea who was responsible.
Catania Airport, except for Runway 1, was a wasteland, as if it had been bombed.
Runway 1 had clearly been destroyed, too.
It had simply been restored just now by someone’s hand.
The runway, broken here and there and patched back together clumsily, was proof of that.
I saw that someone as soon as I got off the plane.
“Hunter Lucia. It’s nice to meet you.”
Lucia Della Rosa Violetta.
That was the name of this monstrous spirit summoner living in southern Italy.
How did I know? ... I was a fan.
Well, I wasn’t as obsessive as I was about Zephyros...
But I knew where she operated and how powerful her abilities were.
“Hunter Kim Segyun. Thank you for accepting the offer.”
“You were the one who repaired the runway...”
“That’s right. It was me.”
Most spirit summoners usually controlled one or two elemental spirits.
At best, they’d handle the spirits of the four elements.
But this Hunter, who had risen like a comet about ten years ago, was famous for using a whopping twelve types of spirits.
If she’d merely been able to use a lot of different types, she wouldn’t have become this famous.
Her reputation became legendary after she cleared three Gates in southern Italy that had been classified as impossible.
The reason someone with such powerful abilities never left southern Italy was...
The spirits themselves, of all things, didn’t want to leave the land where they’d been born.
Because of that, her fame was lacking compared to other Hunters who operated internationally...
But at least in southern Italy, her power was more than enough to contend for the title of strongest in the world.
“Hunter Kim Segyun, your ability is to disassemble matter, right?”
“Something like that.”
“A lot of people are trapped. Could you disassemble the rubble and get them out?”
“I’ll give it a try.”
It’s not like I’ve done this before.
If I messed around carelessly, I might bring the whole building down and kill people who were still unharmed.
“Mr. Segyun.”
“Yes?”
“I’ll make potions here.”
“Ah!”
Potions—specifically, Ms. Gyuseon’s potions, which worked on Awakened and non-Awakened alike—were exactly what this situation needed most.
Ms. Gyuseon went a step further and took out a portable alchemy workstation, setting it up right on the runway.
In any case, no planes besides ours would be landing on this runway for a while.
Lucia, who’d been watching the scene with some bemusement, suddenly widened her eyes as if she’d remembered something.
“Y-you’re not... the alchemist who created the world’s first potion?”
“That’s right. Ms. Gyuseon is making emergency potions.”
“Th-thank you! Thank you! We can work out the costs somehow...”
“Let’s talk about that later. For now, let’s save as many people as possible. Contact the Italian Association and have them send the potions Ms. Gyuseon makes to the hospitals.”
“Yes!!”
Lucia clenched her fist, her face full of determination.
“What should I do?”
“Protect Ms. Gyuseon. Just in case...”
“Understood.”
Senior Choi Kang’s strength wouldn’t be useless...
But Ms. Gyuseon was more important, no matter what.
“By the way, how do we get into the city? The roads must all be cut off.”
As if answering my question, Lucia summoned a gigantic but hazy... translucent eagle and climbed aboard.
“Hop on!”
A wind spirit, maybe...
The moment I climbed on, the translucent eagle shot up into the sky.
Startled that I might fall, I instinctively grabbed Lucia around the waist.
“It’s okay. You won’t fall. Trust Aeris.”
“Ahem, understood.”
I only did that because falling from here would probably mean a truly untimely death.
Would Sacrificial Offering protect me from fall damage, too?
We rode the spirit eagle and arrived in downtown Catania.
There... it was pure chaos.
Most of the quaint stone buildings made of volcanic rock had collapsed, and the only sounds ringing through the streets were the pained cries of people trapped in the wreckage.
Just then.
KABOOM! A tremendous explosion made me flinch and turn around.
“Is this for real...”
Mount Etna, north of the city, was erupting violently.
With one disaster after another piling on, I felt like I was about to lose it a little...
But first, let’s assess the situation.
Who should stop the volcano, and who should rescue the people?
The answer came immediately.
“Ms. Lucia, you need to stop the lava from flowing into the city.”
“B-but then...”
“I’ll take care of the people in the city.”
Lucia still seemed hesitant.
I spoke to her firmly.
“Trust me.”
“... All right. I’m counting on you.”
After watching Lucia climb back onto the eagle and disappear...
I tightened my grip on my staff.
Phew.
Looks like I’ll have to use my full power for the first time in a while.
First, I released Magnetospirillum magneticum, which showed a strong response to electromagnetic fields, into the rubble.
If I told it to look for patterns similar to human bioelectricity...
“Found them.”
I detected responses from a few hundred people in the department store building collapsed right in front of me.
Next, it was Gluttony’s turn.
It disassembled the collapsed rubble in an instant, opening a path.
Naturally, the sudden hole made the structure unstable.
Caulobacter cementus, which formed a hardening substance like cement, filled in the gap.
The ceiling hardened smoothly, as if it had been plastered with cement, and stopped collapsing.
After digging through the rubble for a while and making my way inside...
I saw a group of people crouched down in despair, relying on the light from their phones.
“L-light... light!”
“It’s the rescue team! The rescue team is here!”
Well, I’m not exactly a rescue ‘team’...
I am alone, after all.
“Is everyone all right?”
“Y-yes! We’re okay, but...”
“This person here is hurt. I think they got cut by falling debris.”
“Let me take a look.”
I’m not a healer, but... cuts are my specialty.
Caulobacter crescentus infiltrated the laceration and sealed the wound itself with an adhesive substance.
You think it needs disinfecting?
As if any bacteria could run rampant in front of me.
Gluttony had already eaten every last bacterium.
Every bacterium that could cause tetanus was devoured and killed by Gluttony in an instant.
The injured person stared wide-eyed in surprise as the bleeding stopped in an instant.
“H-how...”
“Don’t waste time asking how. Get out of here.”
You aren’t the only people I need to save.
Catania had a population of 300,000.
Not all 300,000 were buried, but even 10 percent would be 30,000.
That meant I had to rescue around 30,000 people.
It took only ten minutes to rescue the several hundred people from the department store.
Fortunately, it helped a lot that the victims had been gathered in a group.
The paramedics appeared belatedly through the hole I’d opened.
I left the critically injured, who couldn’t walk out on their own, in their care and headed straight for the next building.
This... would take ages, even if I worked all day.
At this rate, people I could save would die, too.
Was there some way...?”
As I was thinking, I heard the paramedics murmuring.
“Th-this is an incredible pace.”
“As expected of a Hunter...!”
“And they’re no ordinary Hunter... They’re considered one of the strongest active Hunters in the world.”
I’m already frustrated because I can’t go any faster, and here they are making such carefree remarks.
I sighed and walked outside, when...
“Huh?”
The ground shook again.
Someone’s shout slammed into my ears, too.
“Aftershock!!”
“Get down! Everyone, get down!”
The ground swayed like a wave, but I was fine.
I’d attached the soles of my shoes to the ground.
Still, I grew anxious.
The unstable buildings seemed to be collapsing even more severely.
After a brief moment of thought...
(1) Gluttony(Gluttony)
─Enhancement Effect: Each individual can use the skill ‘Predatory Evolution.’
[Predatory Evolution]
─Description: By devouring a different microorganism with similar genetic traits, it temporarily absorbs those traits. There is a high chance it will mutate into a form with traits more powerful than the original species.
As Unit 1 had transformed into Gluttony, its enhancement effect, Predatory Evolution, had been strengthened as well.
Gluttony’s own abilities were so powerful that I hadn’t had any need to use it until now...
“Gluttony, use Predatory Evolution to absorb Unit 4, Magnetospirillum magneticum.”
When I ordered it to devour Unit 4, which detected magnetic fields, and evolve...
The Gluttony horde began devouring Unit 4 in an instant.
[Gluttony (Evolved State)]
─Description: A form Gluttony evolved into after absorbing Magnetospirillum magneticum. Its traits mutated through Predatory Evolution, granting it an even more powerful ability to detect magnetic fields.
This wasn’t enough.
I needed one more thing.
“Imperial Edict. Gluttony acts independently.”
[Issuing an Imperial Edict to all Gluttony individuals.]
[Imperial Edict: Each individual shares the caster’s perception and judgment, enabling autonomous activity.]
[Edict duration: 30 minutes (Control 250% applied)]
Thirty minutes.
Should be enough, right?
There was no way I could save everyone.
But even if I only saved the people I could reach right now, I could prevent further casualties from the second and third waves of damage caused by the aftershocks.
So...
After waiting for the aftershocks to die down...
“All Gluttony individuals, use your own judgment to open paths for the people buried throughout this city to get outside.”
I issued the command to my horde, numbering in the trillions.
At the same time...
Huh?
“Aaaaagh!”
An unbearable headache slammed into me.
Blood trickled from my nose.
It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts.
My brain was screaming.
Drool dribbled from my open mouth.
How long had passed like that?
Only then did I finally take in the Imperial Edict’s contents.
Bacteria alone couldn’t make their own judgments.
They were merely ‘borrowing’ that ability from a being capable of judgment.
And that being was... obviously me, the caster.
For a horde numbering in the trillions to possess even the most rudimentary judgment...
It was only natural that my brain would overload.
But... why could I think like this now?
At first, all I could feel was pain.
But now...
How should I put it? It felt as if my vision were clearing.
At the same time, a message appeared before my eyes.
[All the nerves in your brain are being used simultaneously!]
[Your intelligence is rising beyond its limits.]
[Your intelligence is rising beyond its limits.]
[Your intelligence is rising beyond its limits.]
...
..
.
[The conditions for your class’s first awakening have been met.]