CHAPTER 02

At the mage headquarters, a skyscraper kissing the clouds, on the 450th floor.

“Sir, the automatic missile didn’t hit the target and fell in the sea, but the explosion seems to have annoyed some beasts. We’ve identified a C-rank threat, Gale Shark, approaching the eastern shore!” one of the hundreds of guys working on that floor yelled while staring at a projection that showed the shark speeding toward the shore. “It’s not something the border guards can take care of. Should I send a Confronter?”

“Wait… Did you say Gale Shark? If we can extract its blood even once, we can make millions out of it!” the officer in blue ordered. “Send a Beta Squad to bring it alive if possible.”

“Yes, sir.”

[Dispatching a Beta Squad to the Eastern Shore.]

[Requesting all of our subscribers to come on live if you want to witness our Adept Beta Rabbit Squad fight a C-rank monster real-time.]

At the shore, Myles was sitting on the edge of a broken building, as cold winds whipped at his face. He could hear the broadcast even though regular humans couldn’t have. He looked up, and a drone came flying through the skies, traveling at hundreds of meters per second and floated in midair.

Seven people, dressed in eye-catching costumes of different styles, jumped out of the drone. “I could get one of their costumes,” Myles squinted his eyes for a second. “Nah, I’m not a thief. I could ask them for one,” he scratched his chin, “but this isn’t the right time, I guess.” He saw the seven men rush toward the giant bloody shark that had come onto the shore and released air through its gills so that it managed to float on top of the land.

“At this rate, it’ll fly over the walls and enter the city!” one of them screamed.

“There’s no aerial barrier around the city right now. We must stop this thing!”

“Our orders were to bring it back alive,” the leader of the group, a guy with a furry coat, bent his knees and jumped into the line of the shark and punched it from the front. “Enervating Echo!”

His gauntlet released waves of sound that shook the shark’s body and made it groan.

“It’s weakened. Throw your spells!” he roared.

The remaining six mages also rushed in and launched their own attacks using their power tools.

“Flaming Rain!”

“Emerald Bolt!”

“Misty Whirlwind!”

“Soggy Rock Slash!”

“Water Punch!”

“Grotesque Illusion Strike!”

All six attacks pierced through the rough winds shielding the shark and wounded it. The shark hissed in horrible pain and turned around.

“It’s trying to escape!” the leader howled. “Kill it!”

They surrounded it and mercilessly rained their attacks upon the shark, killed it, and froze its body so it wouldn’t lose any more blood.

A transport drone picked up the frozen shark and left. Soon, the seven mages were walking back toward their drone they had traveled in to come to the shore. Nearby, a sick man was crawling on the sand, begging, “Please help.” His body was full of boils, and watery pus was coming out of them. He was extremely ugly to look upon. “It hurts. Please… help.”

They saw him but ignored him.

“At least kill me,” he begged, but the seven mages entered the drone and left the way they came.

Myles was watching all this from a distance. “Damn…” while he wasn’t surprised by how cruelly they ganged up on the shark, he definitely felt his heart sting a little when they completely ignored the sick man. There was just now they would give him their spare clothing, he thought. “There are sick people and sicker people in this world, too. And then there are mages and monsters as well. Not surprising that I ended up transmigrating here. I can understand their language, also. But…” he looked at the sick man for a minute nonstop and shook his head. “Nah, nah, don’t be tempted to help, Myles. Did you already forget what happened the last time? You saved your world, and then got killed by your own family.”

Seconds passed. The painful voice of the sick man still reached his ears.

Myles pursed his lips together, then jumped down and walked to the sick man who noticed Myles and begged with his strength. “Help me.” His voice was weak, and his eyes were full of pain.

“Don’t touch him, mister!” a loud voice reached his ears, making him look toward the border wall. “He was bitten by a sea monster. If you touch him, you may get the disease!” The guards were gesturing to him to keep distance from the sick man. “It’s already a miracle that he managed to live so long with that disease!”

Their words made the sick man cry and sob. His body looked bloated, and his limbs seemed like they might break at any moment given how twisted they were at the swollen joints. Yes, his bones were also swollen. He was so sick even the starving dogs would avoid him. What wrong did he do for God to bring such misery upon him?

Myles looked into the sick man’s eyes. His sad eyes showed Myles his sadder past. He used to be a border guard who fought one of the intruding sea creatures bravely but got terribly wounded in the process. After that, not only did the other coast guards ignore him completely, but also his own family members never came to see how he was doing. The sick beating of this man’s heart played a melancholic music that resonated with the soft strings of Myles’ heart.

Myles lifted his hand and waved it over the sick, wounded man, uttering the word, “Heal.”