Crystal Cave
The Tower's minerals are dangerous.
Radioactive elements—uranium, thorium, radium, radon. Heavy metals—arsenic, mercury, lead, chromium. Toxic minerals as well, asbestos and quartz and fluorite among them.
Substances that had lain quiet inside the Tower burst forth the instant they left an inventory for the real world, erupting as if something had detonated. Beginning with China, safety accidents broke out across nation after nation. More than a few of the disasters rivaled a nuclear blast.
The state stepped in, as it was bound to. Even Awakened who had foamed at the mouth against government control could not bring themselves to oppose it this time. There was land judged beyond any lasting restoration, and there were patients groaning where they lay. To look upon that and still demand freedom would not have been liberty. It would have been license.
"Hey, you stupid bastard!!"
Among the minerals brought under the state's control, more than a few kinds still made serious money.
"How many times do I have to tell you Snow Rock has to be kept separate from the other stone?"
The man's threatening glare had fixed on a cart piled high with rock as white as snow.
Northwest of the Labyrinth, the snow-wall country at the far edge of the open ground was swarming with people for one reason, and production-class Awakened hired bodyguards to seek the place out for the same reason. All of it came down to that Snow Rock.
"I—I'm sorry!"
"Pull that again and you're never setting foot back here, you hear me!?"
"I'll work hard, sir."
Old Man Choi's son, Choi Geon-woo, would have been no different. The ground was dangerous enough that a guard team had to be hired for the whole of the journey and the mining itself. But Snow Rock paid well enough to make the risk worth swallowing, and because the trade was done with the state, the deals were stable. Succeed at the harvest, and a man could put his hands on a fortune.
...Looked at that way, every Awakened life runs more or less the same.
You stake your life and push on toward a greater profit. Combat-class Awakened grow themselves through the hunt and supply the state with points. Production-class Awakened chase economic gain and contribute to the nation's industry. In the end, the machine called society turns on the gears of individual desire.
"What's your business?"
As I drew near the stone platform, a thick voice barred the way. The speaker was a huge man in armor that shed a faint blue light. He was not overtly threatening, but the pressure of him was real—a heavy pulse of mana registering from all over his body in real time.
A high-level Awakened.
"I'm looking for the Raymond guard team."
"The Raymond guard team..."
A thick hand rasped over a rough beard. He sank into thought for a moment, then nodded and looked at me.
"You're here about the missing."
"That's right."
"Heard it was the father looking for them. That correct?"
"Yes."
The man bellowed at once.
"Hey, Perry!"
Someone came scrambling over at a run. Eighteen, perhaps. A young boy who looked Southeast Asian, wound tight with spirit.
"Bring me the route Node Workshop and the Raymond guard team took five days ago."
"Yes, sir!"
The more dangerous the ground, the stricter the discipline.
Perry answered in a voice snapped to order and vanished at a run. The man watched him go for a moment, then turned back to me.
"Name's Han-ul. I run this worksite."
"...Transcendence."
We shook, lightly. The strength in that grip was enormous. The corner of Han-ul's mouth lifted.
"A mage, then."
"......"
"Good timing."
I was about to ask what he meant when Perry came pounding back, out of breath. Han-ul scanned the papers, and his brow tightened.
"Of all places, they went there."
His eyes came to me.
"First time here?"
"Yes."
"Then you won't have seen the Crystal Cave."
Han-ul nodded. He crooked a finger toward Perry as he spoke.
"This one will guide you to where they vanished. The state bears no direct responsibility, but something ugly happened near a place under state jurisdiction. We could hardly refuse to cooperate."
More helpful than I had expected. That mouth, though, had crept up at one corner, and he did not look like an easy mark.
"In return, a mage ought to render the state a measure of service, wouldn't you say? As it happens, there's a team heading out to mine near the site of the disappearance. Going with them wouldn't be a bad arrangement."
There it was. He wanted something too.
"No need to feel burdened. That team already has its own guards, so the team you brought would only be playing support. And without this kid, the place they vanished won't be easy to find. Fair trade for both sides, wouldn't you say?"
Out of nowhere Han-ul caught Perry by the shoulder and hauled him in like an old friend.
Perry went white. Mutual consent, clearly, had not been reached.
So was I the one taking the loss? No. I was not.
"Fine."
"There you go! Mages are smart. You can actually talk to them."
Han-ul flashed his teeth in a bright grin.
"Then would you tell me a little about your team? I'll need to give the other side a heads-up."
"...I don't have a team."
"...What? Don't tell me—"
Han-ul's eyes went round. He asked it in open bewilderment.
"You're alone?"
"Yes. Just me."
His face said he had never once considered that someone might have come all the way to the rock plateau alone. All that careful scheming, wasted. Han-ul's expression crumpled hard.
The look was so openly aggrieved that a short laugh escaped me.
"Surely a man drawing the state's pay isn't about to walk his words back?"
Perry was thoroughly delighted.
"Hah! First time I've ever seen Mr. Han-ul—sly as a fox—that rattled! You really landed one on him, hahaha."
...Mm. I had not exactly landed anything.
I had stepped outside the calculation Han-ul made when he assumed there was a team. His intention of lending the mining crew a hand, though, had landed exactly where he wanted it. A mage who could see and sense death cores, and who was skilled even at shape-changing—in a place like this, facing the undead, such a man would envy no ordinary Awakened. In the end it was just as he had intended. Good for both sides.
...Of course. He did not seem to see it that way.
"That them?"
"Yes, that's them!"
At the far edge of the rock plateau a group broke off their talk, saw Perry and me, and waved.
"Over here!"
I was the only reinforcement, but their faces did not look particularly dark. A middle-aged man who seemed to be the leader came forward and offered his hand.
"Lee Joo-ha, master of Altheon Workshop."
"Transcendence."
"I was told you're a mage. If I might ask the school...?"
"Fire."
Their expressions brightened at once. Mouths parted, expecting something more. I knew what they were hoping for.
I nodded.
"I've learned Holy Fire."
"Oh! Of course!"
"That's all we needed...!!"
"Holy—shh!"
"One proper mage beats a whole crowd of hangers-on, doesn't he?"
The reaction ran fairly hot.
I exchanged greetings with the guard team as well. They belonged to a famous outfit called Shield—not the main company, a subcontractor. Even so, they looked like people who had been vetted.
Their leader was a young man carrying a bow. Lee Chan. Twenty-six or so? A little older than me.
"Shall we head out?"
Perry and I climbed onto a cart meant for hauling ore. Considering Perry was no combatant and I was only support, it was decent treatment. They even excused me from the fighting and told me to save my mana.
Banking points would not have been bad from where I stood, but I kept quiet and followed orders. I was not the leader. If I was not the one responsible for them, listening was the right call. Looked at kindly, it was also a chance to watch how Awakened fought.
I settled onto the cart and observed the battles as they unfolded.
They were being paid for the work, so it stood to reason, but Lee Chan's team was solidly put together. Two tanks held the front. One close fighter carried a spear built for the thrust. Lee Chan himself sent arrows from the rear.
The hunting pattern was simple and clean.
Shhhk!Thud!
Anything slow took an arrow first. They blew the head apart to paralyze its awareness, then the tanks and the strikers rushed in, found the death core, and destroyed it. Following the black veins spread like a spiderweb until they located the core and smashed it—they were plainly practiced at the work.
The fast ones had their paths cut by the tanks. Whether from some kind of taunt skill, a monster that struck a shield locked up stiff. The instant that happened, an arrow destroyed the head, and the rest cleared the death core.
Fssss...
Black light leaked from a core the spear had pierced. Perry watched, chattering happily.
"Guess not just anyone gets to carry Shield's name. The way these monsters drop, we'll be at the Crystal Cave in no time, right?"
He was right. About forty minutes after we set out, the snow wall drew close. Human footprints lay everywhere, and the corpses of undead monsters were strewn in every direction.
Beyond them gaped a great cave mouth. An ill omen wavered there, like the maw of some enormous monster.
"We go in."
At Lee Chan's signal the guard team entered first.
Tick. Tok.
A small stone dropped from the cliff above the cave mouth. The guards, moving with care, did not break stride.
"......"
No one had noticed what was over their heads at that very moment.
"Kreeeeeeek!"
A sharp glint of metal flashed. From a height of a good forty meters, something kicked off without hesitation and dropped. A zombie easily twice a man's size plunged straight down, driving a spearhead that held the sunlight.
"D-danger—"
An ambush aimed at the split second when every eye was forward. Intuitive, well-timed, and monstrous—and useless. I had not lost that red dot for a single instant, not since long before.
I seized the crimson arrow formed over my right hand and flung it, rough and hard. A faint afterimage scored the air.
Crimson Arrow
The shaft punched clean through the zombie's death core.
Unable to withstand the holy light, the body burst like a balloon.
Ragged meat rained from the empty air. I quietly pulled up the hood of my padded coat and ducked my head.
Spatter. Spat.
A brief downpour passed. When I slowly raised my head, the others were staring around them with blank eyes. Rotten scraps of flesh stained the white snowfield. A few still twitched, as if in some postmortem reflex.
"What is this...?"
"My God...!!"
The workshop people did not seem to grasp what had happened at all. Only Workshop Master Lee Joo-ha looked to Lee Chan as if to confirm it—and Lee Chan could not take his eyes off me.
"Uh..."
He seemed to be searching for words and not finding them. I spoke to his working mouth, flat.
"You told me to save my mana."
I lifted a finger.
"There's still one left."
I could have dealt with it easily enough myself. I did not.
Inside the cave, thick with gloomy dark, there was no telling what danger waited. Moving alone would have been one thing. Moving as a team like this, I had to confirm it—for my own safety.
"Be careful."
How timely their response would be. And how strong they were.
"This one's a bit bigger."
I needed to know that before I could trust them with my back.
Krooooooooh!!!!
A shriek, and a shadow fell over our heads. A huge silhouette dropped, blotting out the sun.
© Dom Hwang-cha #1ylk2