Preparation, Monster Wave! (1)

No one knows the cause of the Monster Wave, but its timing is always the same. “Battlefield of the Gods” opens, then Year 4, October 5. It has always been so, and it will be so this year. I’m certain—I stake my right wrist and my entire fortune on it. —The drunken, shoulder-shaking rant of the northern residential district’s drunk.

Kim Han—called “Exemplary Messenger” among the Divine Messengers. “No one starves to death in the northern residential district.” No citizen of Exorsus was unaware that the source of that saying was the massive relief supplies Kim Han distributed. When trouble struck, people turned to the magic tower elder who guarded Kim Han’s house for help.

Because of that, Kim Han was more famous in Exorsus than anyone. Continent-dwellers settled around his house; together with the magic tower elder, they acted as his eyes and ears and guarded his home. That phenomenon intensified after the Caelum invasion incident.

On the front of Kim Han’s mansion—the huge gate and the tall walls on both sides—ten writhing figures hung.

“Kraaaak—!”

“Heh heh heh—sob.”

“Uhhk.”

They writhed with agonized faces: people—more precisely, representatives. Despite their contortions, no significant sound carried outward. Pressed almost against the wall you could hear screams and cries of pain, but a sound-dampening spell had been cast; step a little away and the sound vanished. Only the sight remained—the ten representatives’ faces smeared with suffering.

They were the ones Kim Han had stripped and dragged in like dogs after going out around midday. Not long after he led the naked individuals into the mansion, they were hung on the wall. Like mounting an enemy lord’s head on a pole, five on each side of the main gate hung in midair and thrashed in pain.

Most striking was their condition: their equipment had been stripped, blood soaked the corners of their mouths, and their cries were garbled as if their tongues had been cut. To see them alone was disgusting and cruel.

Yet neither the representatives nor any Exorsus citizen felt pity for them. Had it occurred elsewhere, most would have called it an accident and flung accusations—but they couldn’t act that way at Kim Han’s house. Still, continent-dwellers began to gather where the ten representatives were clearly visible. Some glanced occasionally, others stared openly. Street vendors even sprang up selling snacks.

As people clustered in front of Kim Han’s mansion, a line of uniforms with added light armor appeared—the guard had arrived. The representatives might not recognize them, but all Exorsus citizens did.

“What?”

“Could it be they’re here to take Mr. Kim Han away?”

“No way!”

“‘No way’ my ass. They stood still when we got beaten by the representatives, and now that the representatives were hit they’re coming to confront Mr. Kim Han?”

“Then what? Stop them!”

“Stop them!”

The cry of “Stop them!” spilled hundreds—more than a hundred people—onto the street like a sudden rush, as if that many had always been there. Though they wore guard uniforms, in Exorsus everyone knew someone through a few social ties. Casual shouts and name-calling broke out naturally.

“You, you bastard. You don’t even greet your eldest uncle?”

“Huh? Who’s this. Isn’t this Robert from next door?”

“Oh my, isn’t that Downy? She’s Aunt Roa, your mom’s closest friend.”

“Huh? Junior? It’s your brother. Are you ignoring your brother right now?”

The area in front of the main gate turned noisy in an instant. The sudden crowd left the magic tower elders helpless; some even grabbed guards by the collars. “Enough!” The shout, charged with divine power, froze everyone’s movements.

Parting the guard ranks, a white-haired old man stepped forward.

“Fabrice Legrand…….”

“The captain of the guard?”

“What, even the captain’s come out to take our Mr. Kim Han?”

Murmurs swelled. Fabrice Legrand raised his voice, calm and filled with authority. “Quiet. The thing you worry about—taking away Representative Kim Han—will not happen. Don’t you know what happens in a few days?”

“What will happen?”

“Monster Wave.”

“Ah…….”

“If it’s the Monster Wave?”

“What is there to worry about. Mr. Kim Han will protect us.”

Ignoring the noisy chatter, Fabrice continued, his voice thick with divine power. “I have come to consult with Mr. Kim Han, the current sole legion representative in Exorsus, to prepare for the Monster Wave. Please step aside.”

“So you won’t be taking Mr. Kim Han away then?”

“I just told you!”

Only then did the citizens grudgingly step back, and the guard walked forward through the opening. The gate guard, having been informed when Captain Fabrice stepped forward, opened the main gate to welcome him. Even after Fabrice disappeared inside, the citizens who had blocked the guard did not retreat. They began to camp in front of Kim Han’s mansion gate, determined they wouldn’t let him go if he appeared. Vendors and restaurants handed out free food and drink; more people gathered. The wind tower elder guarding the gate reported everything inside.

Hearing that Fabrice would come, I waited with my two masters in the reception room. Just in case, I recalled yesterday’s events at the square to check for mistakes.

At the time, after I forced ten trash-like representatives to kneel and confirmed they writhed in pain, I opened my inventory.

When the person recognized as the rope’s owner gives the command ‘bind’ to an incapacitated creature, it activates. Every 15 minutes the bound creature alternately feels flesh-burning pain where the rope touches, unbearable tickling, and supreme pleasure. The command ‘stop’ halts its operation, and ‘release’ frees the binding and returns the rope to normal. Up to three additional managers can be registered besides the owner. Warning: If a force exceeding divine power 161 is applied, it may break.

I took out the rope I’d made—generously, just in case. Its original purpose had been to capture and torture representatives once I reached my fifth year; I didn’t expect to use it like this. I cut it to about four meters, threw it over the convulsing men and commanded ‘bind’, throwing it again and again.

“Kk, Kraaaak!!”

“Guhk!!”

“Aaargh!”

They say a thorn under your own fingernail hurts more than someone else’s severed limb. These fools shrieked as if dying from fifteen minutes of ‘pain.’

“Strip all their equipment off.”

While the waiting mages rushed in and stripped their gear, I met the watching representatives’ eyes. As I took in the square, every representative who met my gaze hurriedly looked away.

“Morons.”

I muttered quietly to myself so no one would hear. I approached the naked representative who had first attacked me and behaved lewdly with a whip.

“Is life worth living?”

“Kraaaak!! Aaaaargh!!”

He couldn’t endure the burning agony; his face was a mess of tears and snot. Most of these pathetic types start dying as the fifth year begins. It was the end of the fourth year now, and I needed samples for the members’ first ‘absorption’, so this worked out.

I opened a bottle from my inventory containing a colorless, water-like liquid and poured it into his mouth as he screamed. A ‘Setting’ message likely flashed in his view.

I know its effects better than anyone—I had made and taken it myself when my two masters forced me to: Deicide and Destruction. Sure enough, he convulsed, rolled his eyes, fainted, and came to repeatedly. While he still screamed with his mouth wide open, I shoved my fingers in, grabbed his tongue and pulled. He shrieked as if dying again. When I put strength into the fingers holding his tongue, his face followed.

“I don’t think this is necessary.”

With a dagger from my inventory, I cut the tongue out from the root. The man who had fainted returned because of the Bondage of Love and Hate’s agony, screamed incomprehensibly, and stained his mouth bright red.

Fear, along with pain, settled on the nine remaining representatives’ faces. “Ah, don’t worry. I’ll do the same to you.”

They trembled under the Bondage’s effect and shook their heads endlessly. They were trash among trash. I had to choke down the murderous impulse swelling deep in my chest. Not that it made me a saint, but I poured the Potion of Focus for the remaining men and, rather than cutting out tongues all at once, proceeded slowly so I could vent some anger.

The ones I prevented from surrendering now hung—five on each side of the main gate. It was a notice: a warning to representatives not to cross me again and a declaration that I intended to rise from a crouch. That was what it expressed, but…….

“Hmm, was that too cruel back then……?”

“What are you muttering?”

Bioss asked with an uninterested expression. I smiled lightly and explained yesterday’s events again.

“You crazy fool. Have you trained too hard lately? Why are you saying such stupid things unlike you? Why would the guard step in for a dispute among representatives? It’s obvious.”

“Of course, it’s obvious.”

“What?”

“The Monster Wave. That thing you mentioned before. You didn’t know when it would happen after all?”

Hearing Talis start to explain proudly, I realized the current situation. Yes—the Monster Wave will occur soon.

No one knows exactly why the Monster Wave happens, but some records state that at the outermost edge of the Monster Belt, a phenomenon called Fear—an aura of terror—rises simultaneously toward Exorsus. That Fear gradually intensifies. Weak monsters appear at the start, but as it progresses, stronger, pack-living monsters arrive. At the end, you may face tens of thousands of Black Oak.

‘That crazy Black Oak bastard back then definitely used strong energy.’ There were as many as twenty Black Oak using strong energy. It was chaotic. Some transcendants stepped in to handle it, but in the process Exorsus’s city gates were nearly breached.

‘Moreover, they said there was a reward.’ Yes, there was a reward. I saw a ‘Setting’ message clearly stating individual and group rewards existed. In my previous life I wouldn’t have gone near the walls, but this time is different.

The representatives called this event-like Monster Wave the ‘final gate of the tutorial.’ It was like a game’s final stage—an opportunity to test how much you’d grown in strength and a time when famous representatives might emerge. Naturally, it became a chance to showcase the power of groups and organizations. As representatives prepared for freer movement, their activity radius widened not just within Exorsus but toward the borders of the Monster Belt.

‘Thinking about it like that, it really does feel like a tutorial.’

As that thought finished, the reception room door opened and an old man in a half-white guard uniform walked in with a broad smile.

“Long time no see, rookie.”

“Welcome.”