By Zephyria 
There was more than one question. From the nature of Na Jeong-woo’s abilities to the suspicion of how he could have fallen under an illusion so easily, even if his sole weakness had been exposed.
Kim Si-baek’s mind, tempered on the battlefield and through long hours of hunting magical beasts, was by no means fragile. To breach his consciousness, one would need a possessor of magical power or divine power comparable to an S-class, or…
‘The illusion awakened by precisely stimulating my fear.’
Or, the very name itself implied a chaos grand warrior born from fear.
Perhaps the chaos grand warrior newly forged on Earth also symbolized fear. If not that, then…
A deep furrow formed between Kim Si-baek’s brows. Since Edokus had been swallowed by the rift the moment its core was destroyed, he couldn’t confirm if Edokus had returned to the bottom of the world. Could it be that Edokus, not having died completely, had crossed over to Earth just as Biyendwe had been swept along during the return?
However, if Edokus still possessed the power to summon a magical beast of that magnitude, he would have sensed it long ago.
[The Doomsday Clock, which was 6 minutes to midnight in 200X, was actually delayed to 14 minutes to midnight as the Great Cataclysm began, accompanied by a massive reduction in the oversaturated population. And there is one truth that neither those who seriously analyze the Doomsday Clock nor those who regard it as a joke know: the present is actually 0.00…01 seconds to midnight.]
[Shall we energetically try to stop the end of the world again today? ^_<] [Quest 09] [Conquer the Anxiety Fog (0/2)] [Time Remaining: 04 hours 00 minutes] As Kim Si-baek drew the sabre from the sword bag he had brought just in case and charged toward the magical beast, dense text appeared before his eyes. “Anxiety Fog...” It seemed that on Earth, that magical beast was called the Anxiety Fog. Kim Si-baek gazed at the beast that had appeared near the plume ride he himself had boarded only a few hours ago. The beast named Anxiety Fog possessed the attribute of fire, as its name suggested, and was a creature that mutated into the optimal form to suit its surrounding environment. Even now, it was incessantly writhing, searching for a shape. Every time the flames flickered and leaped, large and small magical beasts sprouted like sparks in all directions. Despite being a single entity, it could divide infinitely, and by Earth's standards, it was measured as a beast of the highest danger level among A-class. [Death and Beauty complains that the beasts divided from that thing cannot grant divine power even if cut down.] “It can't be helped since they don't possess cores, except for the central entity, much like a swarm.” While Kim Si-baek had been trapped in the illusion, it seemed the spectators near the site where the beast appeared had completed their evacuation. Because it was known that there were three S-class hunters from the 7777 Guild, including Tae-un, there was less civilian panic than expected. Otherwise, an Id Portal would have opened long ago. He saw hunters forming a defensive line in front of the magical beasts surging out of the blazing sea of fire. As he drew closer to the beasts, a wave of heat hit him, so intense it felt as if his chest were tightening. “Brother!” Pi Min-hyeong raised his hand high, wiping thick beads of sweat running down his forehead. Concerned for the children, Kim Si-baek asked him. “Are Seo-yeon and Seo-jun alright?” “I evacuated them to the protective magical tool over there earlier, so, uh, they'll be fine if we hunt the beast quickly.” Though the safety of the protective magical tool was guaranteed, no parent's heart could be entirely at ease. Despite his nonchalant tone, his face harbored an anxiety and tension that hadn't been seen at the Id Portal. Kim Si-baek didn't bother pointing it out and instead assessed the situation. “What happened all of a sudden?” “It's not an Id Portal... it seems a magical beast seed has germinated, but I don't know the exact cause. It doesn't make sense for magical beast seeds to germinate consecutively in the middle of the city, not even in a secluded area.” Calculating by probability, Pi Min-hyeong's view wasn't wrong—unless one considered the possibility that the seeds had been intentionally germinated. [Death and Beauty asks if research into germinating magical beast seeds is being conducted in secret on Earth.] It was a fact he had been tipped off about by Tae-un and Gwak Yun-sang, but Pi Min-hyeong seemed unaware. Kim Si-baek tactfully changed the subject. “The hunters here are...” “They're from the amusement park's security team and the Capital Defense Command Anti-Magical Beast Unit. The guild contracted for the security team is, let's see... that emblem is Jeongmyeong.” Sure enough, a hunter who appeared to be an officer of the Capital Defense Command Anti-Magical Beast Unit and a hunter who appeared to be the security team leader of the Jeongmyeong Guild were conversing. “Where is Tae-un? Wasn't he with you?” “Ah, something came up behind us, so he's tidying things up.” “Well... since that guy is here, it'll work out somehow.” Pi Min-hyeong scratched the back of his neck, glancing in the direction the children had been evacuated, before biting his lip and rushing back to the defensive line. The Anxiety Fog cannot be defeated until its mutation is complete, as the core is not stable before then. It was a battle of time, enduring until the mutation finished. “I'll check if there are people who failed to evacuate beyond the flames.” [Death and Beauty hides behind your shoulder so that the fire doesn't spread to the feathers.] The hastily assembled defensive line could hardly be called perfect. They were barely holding it together, using broken amusement park rides—destroyed by the rampage of the beasts divided from the flames—as makeshift walls. The Jeongmyeong Guild hunters of the security team were not only few in number, as they had been on standby to respond to Id Portals, but they were also unprepared to defend against fire attacks. If Pi Min-hyeong and the Anti-Magical Beast Unit hadn't played their part, they wouldn't have been able to maintain the current line. That meant there was a high probability that the evacuation inside the flames had not been completed perfectly. Kim Si-baek searched the area, leaping over the collapsed rides. “Gasp. Th-thank...” He pierced the neck of a magical beast about to pounce on a hunter whose waist had given out, and he leaped away before the thanks could even be finished. How much time had passed as he processed the beasts climbing the pillars of the rides and searched for stragglers? Amidst the air vibrating with the shouts of hunters and the guttural roars of magical beasts, he heard a faint, hacking cough. It was a sound so dim that he would have missed it entirely if he hadn't been carefully filtering through the noises one by one. The area inside the defensive line was undulating with flames, as if oil had been poured everywhere. Kim Si-baek took a breath and jumped down from the pillar without hesitation. Searing heat rushed over him instantly. Coughing slightly from the acrid smoke, Kim Si-baek hopped across the ground where the fire hadn't spread and pierced the beasts leaping from the flames. Since they lacked cores, they usually required a certain amount of damage to be removed, but as the blade coated in divine power sliced through, they collapsed instantly. He spotted two sisters lying in the gap between a collapsed carousel roof and a carriage. The older girl, who looked to be around middle school age, opened her eyes in terror at the presence of someone, but upon realizing it was a hunter who had come to save her and not a beast, she burst into tears. “Hic, ugh...” “Is your sister only unconscious?” “Yes, yes... but her body is so hot.” He placed his hand on the child's cheek, which was burning as if she had suffered a thermal burn. As his hand glowed faintly and a refreshing energy seeped in, the child let out a hot breath and faintly blinked her eyebrows. “Sister...” Only then did the middle schooler realize it was Kim Si-baek, and her eyes widened. Having quelled the immediate crisis, Kim Si-baek took the limp child into his arms. He then carried the middle schooler, who had sprained her leg, on his back and quickly made his way out. He placed the sisters within the protective magic circle where the security team's paramedics were providing treatment and returned. In that manner, he was able to save nine more people. The hunters, realizing Kim Si-baek's intention to rescue lives from within the flames, built the defensive line even more desperately, but there were always those who did not. “Dammit! Instead of saving a few nobodies who don't even make a difference, we should just push the line further in!” The officer of the Anti-Magical Beast Unit muttered loudly to himself, as if he wanted everyone to hear. It was an unfair complaint. Wasn't enduring until the mutation was complete the primary strategy? Kim Si-baek didn't even feel the need to point out the fact. He had dealt with enough sneering humans in the past—especially since he had no foundation, served an unknown god, and had even come from another world. Just as he cleanly ignored the man and turned his gaze away... Tug-ga-gak! In the blink of an eye, darkness stained the ground black, and sharp black thorns, rising like blades, surged toward the direction where the officer was standing.