Chapter 10 : A Monumental Day (4)

What exactly is the Annihilation Ceremony?

I didn’t know what it was, but I thought it was an important clue that had driven City D into the depths of destruction.

So, I wanted to learn about this Annihilation Ceremony as soon as possible.

I was sure of that…

“Princess Hoshino, hello.”

“Princess! We have freshly made, piping hot takoyaki!”

“Princess Hoshino, take a crepe too. Boys love sweet things like this.”

“R-really?! …Janghoon, do you want to try a crepe?”

“Huh? Ah, yeah… sure…”

How did things end up like this?

Miss Hoshino, holding my hand, had come down to the bustling streets of City D to prepare for the festival.

It was a place no different from downtown Seoul, and I had planned to quietly observe before getting straight to the point.

But, as expected of a lady…

The moment Miss Hoshino appeared in City D, where the festival had just begun, we became the literal stars of the event.

Getting free food and drinks was just the start.

We could also play all sorts of games for free, like shooting games and goldfish scooping.

Maybe because of that…

“…Whoa! I ended up enjoying myself without realizing it.”

No, I need to hurry and find out about the Annihilation Ceremony.

By the time I came to my senses, I had already been absorbed into the festival, wearing an animal-shaped mask and enjoying myself.

‘Is this the power of free stuff? Terrifying, truly terrifying…!’

“Huh? Janghoon, why are you spacing out? We said we’d play Whack-a-Mole next!”

“Oh, yeah. Right…”

The once-blue sky had turned red.

Soon, darkness would completely take over, and night would arrive.

Thinking about how I had spent all this time just playing around like a child, my 37-year-old mentality wavered.

So this is what it means to have a child’s body.

Even now, my body still wanted to play, setting a new record in Whack-a-Mole.

“Wow! Amazing, Janghoon! It’s a new record!”

“Oh… really?”

“Yeah! I think we’re in first place!”

“That’s correct. Here, for our amazing prince, the first-place prize is a panda plushie!”

And just like that, I ended up receiving a panda plushie.

I didn’t realize it, but according to the Whack-a-Mole stall owner, this was a super popular ‘Jjangbao Panda’ among boys lately.

“Oh, I’ve heard of it! It’s insanely popular among guys, right?”

“…Is that so?”

“Yeah! I don’t really get it as a girl, but apparently, when this panda moves to another city, guys actually come out and cry for it!”

Has the popularity of pandas reversed due to gender dynamics?

Usually, pandas are more popular with girls, but Miss Hoshino just looked at it with a blank expression, as if she were thinking, ‘It’s just a bear.’

She didn’t seem particularly interested in my plushie.

Since I didn’t really need a plushie either, but couldn’t exchange it for another prize, I decided to keep it as a souvenir.

“Ah, today was so much fun!”

“Everyone at the festival really seemed to like you, Miss.”

“Hehe. Yeah… well, technically, it’s not me they like, but my mom.”

Was it during the height of the festival?

Exhausted from all the excitement, we sat side by side on a park bench, facing the darkening sky.

“Today was truly enjoyable, Miss.”

“Yeah. Me too! This was the first time I’ve ever enjoyed a festival this much.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah… My mom, the festival’s real star, is always busy preparing for the Annihilation Ceremony, so she almost never comes to the city.

So sometimes, I came alone, but I was always by myself…”

Well, no matter how fun a place is, going alone gets boring quickly.

There’s a limit to how much you can enjoy something alone.

In that sense, even though I hadn’t planned to, I was glad I spent the day with Hoshino.

“By the way, Miss.”

“Hmm?”

“That… What exactly is the Annihilation Ceremony?”

Though it was already quite late, I decided to get back on track.

I handed Miss Hoshino a bottle of water I had bought earlier and asked about the ceremony.

“The Annihilation Ceremony?”

After taking a sip, her energy seemed to return, and she perked up her fox-like ears as she began to explain.

“Hmm… Honestly, I don’t know all the details either.”

“I see.”

“A long time ago, a terrifying monster lived here in City D.”

“A monster?”

I asked about the Annihilation Ceremony, but suddenly, we were talking about a monster.

This couldn’t be a coincidence.

I paid closer attention to what Miss Hoshino was saying.

“Before Hero City was established, a monster ruled this place, but one day, humans arrived, intending to settle here.

They sealed the monster away.”

“Sealed…?”

“Yeah. The first head of the Okami family, who defeated the monster, sealed its power within his sword.

The Annihilation Ceremony is a ritual where they slightly unsheathe the sword to check the seal’s integrity.”

To summarize, the monster sealed by the Okami family generations ago—

The one that would soon resurrect and turn City D into a wasteland—

Was currently trapped inside the former head’s sword in the Okami family’s estate.

And the Annihilation Ceremony was a ritual to ensure the seal was intact.

‘Hmm… So far, it doesn’t seem like there’s a problem.’

The ceremony only happens once a year, at the beginning of the year, as a symbolic gesture for City D’s safety.

That means… some incident might soon ruin the ceremony.

There’s no way a seal that’s held for so long would suddenly break on its own.

If it did, there must be an external force at play.

I shot up from my seat.

“The Annihilation Ceremony should be starting soon. We should hurry back to the estate.”

Everything made sense now.

I finally understood how this once-thriving City D ended up as an abandoned wasteland in the original story.

So, I needed to move fast.

I had enjoyed the festival enough—

Now, I had to prevent the ceremony from being sabotaged.

Even just to put away my panda plushie, I needed to return to the Okami estate quickly.

Thud.

“?!?”

At that moment, Miss Hoshino pushed me over.

And right after—

Boom!

The bench we had been sitting on exploded.

“Janghoon, stay still.”

“Miss?”

“It’s dangerous. Don’t move recklessly.”

Between the ever-innocent golden eyes, the slit pupils of a beast cast their shadow.

The young lady reached down to her waist, gripping the hilt of the sword she always carried.

“…!”

Indeed, even if the era has changed, Hoshino is still Hoshino.

Watching her swiftly assess the situation and shift into battle stance, I realized that the lake incident had truly been the result of letting my guard down.

But more importantly, the entity standing directly in front of both of us…

Where the hell did that ‘monster’ come from this time?

“Huff, huff, wheeze… huff, huff, wheeze!”

Its appearance closely resembled a ‘gargoyle’ from a fantasy game.
The difference was that it wore a white bone helmet over its face, and despite having wings, it crawled along the ground instead of flying.

One thing was certain: its hostility was directed at us.

Then—

“I… am…”

“…!”

“It can speak?”

“A loyal servant of ‘that one’—the ‘Stone Beast’…”

“Servant? More than that, did it just call itself the Stone Beast?”

The monster in front of me, identifying itself as the Stone Beast…

Stone? That’s just something you step on or throw around, hardly a fearsome title for a monster.

Perhaps that’s why—

At first, just judging by its appearance, I had broken into a cold sweat thinking it could be a ‘Bat Beast’ or a ‘Bone Beast.’

But the moment I heard its identity, I let out a sigh of relief.

‘A stone beast…? If I go by the veteran rankings in <Kaiju Frontline>, this thing should be around a low-tier 4th rank at best, maybe just 4th rank.’

Still, a monster was a monster, so there was no reason to let my guard down completely.

The biggest issue right now was Hoshino. She was still just a kid—about the age of an elementary school student.

If it were the future S-rank hero Hoshino, there would be nothing to worry about.

But could this young Hoshino really take that thing down? That was the real question.

‘Damn it, why couldn’t this thing just appear when I was alone?!’

The fact that no kaiju-related sirens had gone off yet meant that even City D hadn’t noticed the Stone Beast’s appearance.

In other words, there was no backup from heroes coming anytime soon.

“…Breath of the Wolf.”

“Hoshino?”

“First Form.”

Even as a child, Hoshino was still Hoshino, huh?

That ‘strike first, win first’ mentality from the original story must have been ingrained in her from an early age, because she had already drawn her sword.

“Illustrious Pursuit (一日千秋).”

Like a hunting wolf coiling its hind legs before bursting forward with explosive momentum—

The moment she unsheathed her blade, Hoshino became a black flash of lightning, and in the blink of an eye, she had already landed behind the monster.

‘Fast!’

No, more than that—she could already use the Breath of the Wolf sword style at this age?

That was some unexpected TMI that never even appeared in the original work.

At the same time, the sheer speed of her strike must have been matched by its power.

“Ghh… grrk…!”

A monster of around 4th rank should be at least on par with a C-rank hero.

Yet, the Stone Beast’s head separated from its body in an instant, falling to the ground like a shattered rock.

A flawless victory…

“Impressive, Miss Hoshino!”

“Heheh. What do you think? Falling for me yet…?!”

“Huh?”

…That’s what should have happened.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

Holy shit.

It’s moving without a head?

And it wasn’t even targeting Hoshino, the one who cut off its head.

It was coming straight for me.

“Janghoon!!”

Just before its body crumbled into dust, as if determined to take me down with it—

“The time is near! He shall return soon!”

With its failing body, it leaped toward me, shouting with what remained of its strength.

“My lord! The ‘Sword Beast’ shall soon descend upon this land once more!!”

CRASH.