Black Badger

Chapter 19

My house....

Even as my mentor opened the driver's door and Ricardo flung open the passenger door, I couldn't snap out of my daze.

My ceiling?

I had really just said I needed somewhere to get out of the rain....

"Get a grip and come out."

Even amid the roaring storm, Yoon's low voice came through clearly.

"Rookie. You listening?"

"Just tell him to stay inside...."

As the rain soaked the smooth leather car seats without mercy, the seniors remained unfazed.

I couldn't see Ricardo's face since he already stood outside, but I saw him about to close the passenger door. "He's just going to get in the way...."

Crash!

The cabin window shattered. It was the small kitchen window that broke. Shards of glass sparkled, reflecting the rainwater. Something came pouring out along with the fragments.

This was really sad.

Yoon reached out with his wet hand and turned off the car's ignition.

"Well, yeah, I guess so. Just hunker down behind the passenger seat."

The wipers stopped, and the windshield became covered in rain.

"Even if the front window shatters, it won't hit your eyes. If the car looks like it's about to explode, get out on your own."

"Huh?"

There was no further explanation.

The seniors slammed the doors shut without even opening umbrellas—bang, bang! The overwhelming noise of the rain around us suddenly faded. The streams of rain pouring onto the premium leather vanished too.

Left alone in the car in a daze, I muttered to myself.

"...You want me to stay inside, right?"

There was no one to answer, of course.

I vaguely caught sight of the men by the driver and passenger seats moving away. Black shadows advanced forward and disappeared. Creature extermination in this weather? Could they even stand properly?

I pressed my face to the rear window, trying to see what happened.

I could barely make out silhouettes of things spilling from my house, caught in the whirlwind and flying about. It really got torn to pieces.

They said the cause of this wind was a large butterfly, but where was the butterfly?

Boom!

A massive roar echoed.

I turned my head, and my view filled with wet wood. A sharply broken tree branch had torn through the Lamborghini's roof and pierced inside.

If I hadn't been away from the window, my scalp would have been split open.

The torn Lamborghini roof, the huge piece of wood, the familiar grain of the tree.

Looking at the rain and wood that poured through the gash, I shouted.

"The ceiling's back!"

"You think that's it coming back right now?"

Ricardo yanked the door open.

He furrowed his brow, gave a strange laugh, and grabbed me by the collar.

"That's why climate shift creatures are...."

Crash!

The front windshield shattered.

Another piece of the ceiling flew in and embedded itself. If Ricardo hadn't roughly dragged me out, the incoming glass would have shredded me.

In an instant, I was drenched. A fierce gust slapped my cheek as it passed.

I staggered to my feet beside the car. The senior released my collar and spun my body forward.

Before I could even turn my head, Ricardo said coldly.

"Stay right here."

The perpetual smirk on his lips was gone.

"Don't run off anywhere."

Forget running, it was hard to even take a step.

The gale-force winds battered me. Even though I wasn't in the car anymore, it was hard to see ahead. Thick raindrops pelted my body relentlessly. My socks and shoes grew soaked. My hair clung to me.

I narrowed my eyes, shielding myself from the whipping wind and rain with my forearm, searching for the butterfly they'd been going on about.

Thud, thud, boom!

Things flew up from my house, its lid pried open. The cabin shattered into pieces and rode the whirlwind. Bagels, chocolate, beanbag chair, mattress, dishes, kitchen knife. I watched those items spin wildly in the vortex through the air.

And in the center of that spinning mass, I spotted a heavy, shadowy form.

Was that the butterfly at the heart of the tornado?

And what was that engine-flame-like streak that cut through the sky above it?

"Oppa!"

Ami's clear voice rang out from above.

As my jaw dropped, her words continued.

"I'll knock it down, so you catch it!"

"Sordi."

Yoon, who had somehow approached within range of the whirlwind, said.

"If it falls, secure it."

I didn't have time to process the words.

Boom!

A shockwave slammed into me. The Lamborghini beside me flipped over and flew backward. If Ricardo hadn't grabbed my collar again, I'd have shared its fate.

The sharp shock hit my body and passed. Flailing, I clutched the senior's arm.

For a moment, I felt the wind stop.

The fierce gale that should have followed the shockwave vanished abruptly.

Why did the raging wind die down?

Because Ami had slammed the butterfly into the asphalt.

A massive crater formed where the butterfly had been smashed.

Ami floated in the air—wearing some weird boots—peering down into the crater.

"It's still alive."

With the wind dying down, her voice carried clearly.

"Ric. Secure it."

Something squirmed in the hand gripping my collar.

Dazed, I stared at the ring on Ricardo's finger. I'd never noticed he wore one before. It was a silver snake-shaped ring.

It began to move, uncoiling smoothly and changing shape.

What the...?

I blankly watched the small silver snake ring elongate, stretching longer and longer until it formed a sharp spear.

In an instant, Ricardo had a spear in his hand.

Thud!

The silver spear flew. It arced beautifully into the indented asphalt.

"You're really good at this."

Ami laughed, looking down into the hole.

"It looks just like a giant butterfly specimen."

My mentor walked to the end of the cracked, deeply gouged asphalt.

He drew a dagger. It seemed to be from the sheath on his combat uniform. Standing behind Ricardo, I watched my mentor bow his head.

"Harvest it?"

"If possible."

Yoon took a light hop forward.

In the humid air where the rain had weakened, my mentor vanished into the hole.

His dry voice echoed up.

"Keep an eye on the rookie."

Why?

Dazed, I stared at where my mentor had disappeared. The rain let up. The whirlwind that had blinded me was gone now.

The green-eyed senior stood before my eyes, half-blocking my view. Ami floated above the hole, her hair tied back.

My mentor had jumped in and was out of sight, and....

Boom!

The hole exploded.

The wind surged upward, carrying the cabin's debris with it in an eruption. Like a volcano. In a plume-like form, with tremendous explosive force.

The rain poured down again.

"Ami!"

I yelled in horror.

"Yoon!"

"He'll be fine, so stay put~."

Ricardo extended his arm to block me as I reflexively lunged forward.

He reached out, caught the flying spear cleanly, and added coldly without even looking back at me.

"Keep your body low...."

"Huh?"

Crack!

Something flew at us. A piece of wood. Probably from the shattered cabin ceiling. The incoming ceiling fragment split in two against Ricardo's silver spear.

"Are you insane?"

"More are coming."

Ricardo ignored my words and warned me.

I looked up sharply and saw countless cabin items rise into the air, carried by the wind.

"My beanbag!"

Thud.

The charging beanbag met its end on Ricardo's spear.

Dazed, I watched Ricardo elegantly deflect the flying objects with his spear. Sliced ceiling pieces. Bouncing bagels. High-end chocolates bursting pathetically.

Ricardo spun the long spear in circles. I took in the objects flying off to the side and the raindrops scattering in circular patterns.

What kind of situation was this? Were Ami and Yoon okay?

And why did these things fly at us?

Like they tried to kill me?

Rumble!

The plume-like wind grew larger, and what remained of the cabin disintegrated.

Mattress, pots, cups, blankets, pillows. The cabin fell apart, its pieces riding the whirlwind. Toaster. Clothes. Shoes. Umbrella.

Kitchen knife.

The blade reflected the rain, glinting. It spun wildly among the flying items, flashing briefly. It was so small that without that reflection, I might not have even recognized it as a kitchen knife.

Ricardo, fixated on the mattress, didn't notice.

The sharp blade flew toward Ricardo.

Thud.

Pain shot through my arm.

"You!"

Ricardo's short voice cut through the storm.

A single word laced with surprise and anger.

"I told you clearly!"

"Is that the butterfly?"

As Ricardo lunged forward and grabbed the back of my neck where the knife had struck, I looked up at the sky.

A massive butterfly hovered there. One pair of its lower wings had been neatly severed. Only two forsythia-yellow wings clung to its body.

It looked like it would plummet to its death any second.

"Sordi!"

Yoon emerged spotless from the hole and raised his voice.

"Stab the body and kill it! Don't touch the wings!"

Must be poisonous.

The moment I thought that, the butterfly grew larger. It flew toward me at a speed no insect should be capable of. As my focus locked on the butterfly, the surroundings blurred.

The yellow wings enlarged, the abdomen swelled. It flapped as if to engulf us.

The enemy before my eyes crouched to attack.

'When the target gets bigger, it's easier.'

My vision overlapped with the memory.

I shoved Ricardo, who was trying to block me, backward and yanked the kitchen knife from my arm with my good hand.

Squelch!

I stabbed the butterfly's abdomen with the knife. Thick black liquid sprayed out.

Wincing at the liquid that soaked me, I kept moving my hand. Gripping the knife tight, I raised my arm upward. With a crunch, I split the body in two.

I felt the sensation of life fading.

The butterfly split into left and right, crashing onto the asphalt. It flapped like a flat sheet of paper, sprawling on the ground.

The wind soaked in.

Only then did I feel the pain in my left arm.

"Hilde!"

Ami shot down from the air and ran toward me.

"Ugh, Hilde, blood's gushing from your arm!"

"Hildebert...."

Ricardo called my name ominously from behind.

And the stinging pain arrived in my left arm. It was covered in blood from the wound. As I looked down at my injured arm, I realized the rain had stopped.

The wind had stopped too.

The weather had cleared.

*

We were inside my mentor's house.

"Did you have trouble understanding 'don't run out'?"

Ricardo looked down at me and laughed.

His crescent-shaped green eyes gleamed with venom.

"Or did my words just seem optional?"

"...I was wrong."