Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter Title: Cerberus Encirclement
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Zone B. After fighting while darting around every which way, we'd somehow ended up a little distance from the shelter.
We were surrounded.
Well, to be precise, we weren't quite encircled yet—but it was only a matter of time.
Countless magic beasts. Probably just over a hundred.
A mere hundred or so lower magic beasts wouldn't have been much of a threat, but the problem was the two upper ones mixed in among them.
A Cerberus up front. Another one in the rear. Talk about having dogs on both hands.
The newly appeared Cerberus looked like it had bulked up on some tasty meat—fresh red blood was stuck between its teeth. I didn't even want to imagine what it had eaten.
——Krrraaa!
The Cerberus let out a massive howl, and the magic beasts charged.
This was bad. We were already feeling the strain on our stamina from the previous fights. And now more beasts were piling on.
"Break through ahead! We can't let them surround us!"
Han U-sol shouted urgently, firing off bullets at the same time. The light rounds flew straight, piercing the second head of the Cerberus in front.
Pazzzik!
——Krrraaa!!
Reisi and Yoon Na-rin attacked to take out its last remaining head, but the Cerberus dodged by leaping sideways, as if refusing to give up its final one.
"The shelter's right there if we just keep pushing forward!?"
"Just run for it! We need to pull back and thin their numbers with ranged attacks!"
"You want me to use ranged attacks right now? Are you insulting me!?"
"Anis, even in this situation, that's what you say!?"
But there were just too many magic beasts for that.
I compromised with reality. I summoned my battle axe, infused it with mana, and hurled it at the beasts. The massive axe spun through the air.
It was possible because I could recover weapons even after they left my hands. That was the one advantage of my ability, which was basically a storage space.
Chaeng!
But the Cerberus's sharp, sturdy claws swatted the incoming battle axe away with ease.
Yoon Na-rin's flames followed, but it tanked those with its body too. It would have taken out a bunch of the lower beasts behind it if they'd hit, but the flames flying through the air vanished pathetically against the Cerberus's flesh-and-blood defense.
As if knowing it had to preserve its numbers, the Cerberus shielded the other beasts from our attacks. With three heads, maybe it was smarter than it looked.
I tried sending sword beams, but it batted those away too. It couldn't block them perfectly—sometimes they slipped past to the rear—but even then, they only took out one or two lower beasts. Same with Yoon Na-rin's spells and Reisi's thrown daggers.
The only attacks the Cerberus let slip through to the back were Han U-sol's bullets. But since they weren't area attacks, they weren't enough to sweep away the lower beasts.
"Reisi! Smoke screen!"
To buy time, Reisi used her ability to scatter smoke across the beasts' path.
The magic beasts hesitated at first, confused by the sudden wall of smoke, but they quickly realized it only blocked vision and charged again.
Fuck, even here her smoke power is trash.
How long did we run? The shelter finally came into view. A quick glance back showed the one-headed Cerberus had already rejoined the pack.
"Hey! You planning to just flee all the way to the shelter!?"
"Better than getting surrounded and fighting! We can use the shelter as a wall! It's a building that withstood Cerberus attacks—no problem!"
We reached the front of the shelter building, turned to face the beasts, and confronted them. Murmurs rose from inside as people spotted the horde we'd led right to them.
——Krrrng!
——Gruk!
The magic beasts swarmed. Over a hundred of them quickly pinned us into a corner and blocked our view.
Reisi and I stepped up to the front line to hold them off.
Han U-sol and Yoon Na-rin focused from the rear on reducing their numbers.
The lower beasts' numbers dropped fast. Yoon Na-rin's flames roared, my sword beams cleaved four or five at a time, Reisi's spear spun busily, and Han U-sol's bullets fired nonstop.
Yoon Na-rin, utterly exhausted, faced minor crises now and then, but Han U-sol sensibly covered her with barriers each time.
In short order, we'd taken out about half.
As the beasts obscuring our view collapsed, our sight cleared somewhat.
And through the gaps in the remaining ones, we glimpsed the Cerberuses—mouths wide open, gathering black flames.
"Ugh, dodge!!"
Han U-sol yelled.
We had to evade. We had to...
But the surrounding beasts made movement impossible.
This one... we couldn't dodge.
It was a dead end.
Kwaaaaa!
Four heads in total.
Jet-black hellfire erupted from their maws.
Han U-sol's eyes widened.
The four approaching black flames devoured every lower beast in their path as they slowly closed in.
Reisi stabbing her spear into an ogre.
Anis firing a horizontal sword beam.
Yoon Na-rin trying to counter with her own flames.
And the orc's club slowly descending toward him.
With his focus at its absolute limit, everything felt slowed to Han U-sol.
A do-or-die moment. A desperate crisis.
Could a barrier block it? No—even the flame-wrapped headbutt had shattered his barrier before. No way it could hold.
Then what? No clever ideas came to mind. Were they just going to wait to be swallowed by those flames?
No, he couldn't accept that. He couldn't give up.
Han U-sol glanced at Anis's back ahead of him. Even facing the oncoming flames, she refused to yield, bravely swinging her sword to fight back.
He'd sworn to get stronger. Strong enough to protect that girl.
So he'd promised himself.
He planted his feet and lunged forward. The orc's club grazed his hair.
A barrier hardened by simply coating it in mana couldn't maintain its shape. Mana didn't transmit evenly, weakening its strength. Infusing it afterward scattered quickly and was inefficient to sustain.
Paat! Han U-sol thrust his palm upward.
A simple spray of mana like before wouldn't hold.
He needed a perfect barrier. Only then could he block those flames.
Yes—like the city's barrier. A perfect form.
Stamp mana to enclose all four of them.
Firmly, like inking with a pen—condense into points and densely place them.
Then connect those dense mana points into lines. Without missing a single one.
The meticulously linked mana became lines, then planes.
Mana formed a rectangular shape.
Harden the formed mana. Then circulate more mana over it.
Mana fed as points flows into lines; lines into planes, endlessly circulating across the surface.
Finally, coat the mana-flowing plane with his authority. In the hue that repels evil.
Tzupaat!
The barrier unfolded.
A perfect one, like a miniaturized city barrier.
Kwaaang!
The flames incinerated all surrounding beasts before slamming into the barrier. The jet-black fire briefly engulfed it before fizzling out.
Chaeng!
The barrier, having fulfilled its purpose, shattered with a clear ring. Even if perfectly formed, a hastily made one couldn't last. Blocking the flames completely was already a huge success.
The surrounding beasts had long since burned to ash, not even leaving corpses.
Now, only the two Cerberuses remained.
Han U-sol glanced at Anis. As if she hadn't just nearly died, she stared straight ahead with a resolute, brave expression.
Seeing her like that, Han U-sol steeled his own resolve and faced forward.
Whoa. I really thought I was dead.
No, fuck. Not kidding.
A little embarrassing, but I nearly pissed myself.
It was fucking terrifying.
My face froze in fear.
I snuck a peek at Han U-sol—he looked stiff too. Kid. You were scared shitless too. Knowing I wasn't the only one made it a bit less humiliating.
As the terror faded, rising anger toward the bastards who'd made me feel this shame took over. I glared sharply at the dogs ahead.
Still at a disadvantage.
One was down to a single head and near death, but the other was way too intact. For our exhausted group of four, it was grim.
I clicked my tongue. That flame aura cloaking their bodies was the issue. Honestly, without it, I was confident I could take one 1v1. My boosted mana had made my physical abilities strong and fast.
But those body flames... yeah, that was the problem. If only they were gone...
"......Huh?"
"What's wrong, Anis?"
"No, why'd the flames around their bodies go out?"
"Huh? You're right."
"Can't maintain it after firing from their mouths?"
"Some ultimate with backlash?"
......Oh ho.
I took a step forward. The Cerberuses retreated a step.
......Look at these fuckers.
I smirked faintly. For a moment, I imagined them breaking a sweat.
Another step. Still no flames.
I was certain. These bastards couldn't use fire right now.
"Fuck. You're dead."
I summoned my hammer and charged the three-headed Cerberus. Han U-sol followed behind me. Yoon Na-rin and Reisi went for the one-headed one.
The bastards turned tail and bolted.
"Where you going, you fucking mutts!"
These dogs... I'm killing them for sure...!
We chased the fleeing Cerberuses in a fury.
Buwoong! I swung the massive hammer sideways. It smashed perfectly into the side of the three-headed one hovering midair to dodge Han U-sol's bullets.
Wooduk! The sensation of ribs shattering traveled through the hammer.
——Kkaegaeng!
The Cerberus was flung to the ground. I approached the sprawled beast.
"You shit-eating dogs."
You need a good beating.
Heavenly Punishment
Massive hammer strike. Critical damage to grounded foes.
I raised the hefty hammer high... then brought it down.
Kwajik! The Cerberus merged seamlessly with the concrete.
"Eugh..."
Yoon Na-rin, having finished the other one, grimaced at the pancaked floor.
"It's over..."
We caught our breaths and took a moment to recover.
"This is really the end, right? No more popping out of nowhere?"
"Don't jinx it, Reisi."
"...Let's head back to the shelter."
Chasing the runners had taken us away again. As we walked back, I scanned the surroundings.
Bloodstains. Sword marks. Claw gouges. And corpses.
As the battle high faded and the carnage sank in, the elation from slaying two upper beasts turned ice-cold.
Human bodies. Beast corpses. Indistinguishable chunks of meat.
Every form of death filled my vision.
Death is negative. I've never heard of a positive one. Walking through a place thick with it naturally bred dark thoughts.
How many had died? Was the rest of Zone B the same?
How many civilians? How many heroes? Just counting the bodies we'd passed needed more than my fingers.
"......"
I wasn't the only one—all of us walked in silence.
Ah, another body. A man's vacant eyes, drifting in the air, met mine.
Ah, more over there.
Ah, here too.
Ah, again.
Again.
Again, I...
[You can't save anyone like that.]
[Become a hero. Save people.]
[Pray to the go...]
"Anis."
Yoon Na-rin's call snapped me out of it.
I stared at her back as she walked ahead.
Without turning, Yoon Na-rin said,
"It's not your fault."
"...Yeah."
We kept walking toward the shelter.