Heal

Red dots crowded thick across the panel. Fifteen of them, at the least.

I'd already picked them out with my detection skill. Every last one was an owlbear.

Fifteen piled on at once. No wonder they couldn't hold.

I had no idea what they'd done to draw a swarm like that, but the situation looked badly urgent. It wasn't a moment for weighing options, and I didn't need to weigh them.

I summoned flame at once and drove my fire-energy in. Kurrrrr...!! The fire-energy condensed in an instant. Flame surged forward at high speed, and the howling of beasts rolled across the ground.

Flame Burst was a skill I'd grown properly used to by now. Going by feel, I pictured a blast about twenty meters across, and when the moment felt right, I hurled the flame.

My first Flame Burst since reaching level 120. Just how much power would it actually have...?

KWA-GWAGWAGWANG!!!

"...Ugh."

Horrific explosive force, just as expected. I'd cast it lightly, and still the fire-energy detonated more fiercely than before. I seized the flames billowing out in every direction and swept them through the owlbears around me. The surroundings were scorched barren in a heartbeat. The red dots vanished. Even the black dots disappeared without a trace—the corpses nearby had burned away to the last.

Even so, the orange light on the panel hadn't changed. I walked toward it, slowly.

"...My God."

"Don't tell me—that person...?"

"W-we're alive...!!"

Three hunters, relief written all over them. An orange dot was marked behind the group. I tipped my head, and there was a woman crouched low, curled in on herself.

"Is she injured?"

"Huh? Ah... yes, Mage. She's one of our party. The wound's deep, so potions alone can only do so much."

A clean-cut young man, scratching at his head. Just as I'd thought. Orange meant someone hurt.

He laid it out simply. A single instant of bad judgment had wounded their tank. The moment the tank—the party's core—dropped out of the fight, the advance slowed on its own, and once the owlbears caught the scent of blood, their numbers swelled in a flash.

I nodded.

"Step aside."

I stepped in and looked her over. A calm face, set against limbs thick to an almost uncanny degree. Wooden splinters were driven into her clothes here and there—debris from a shattered shield, by the look of it.

The wound was on her back. Five enormous claws had torn through flesh and muscle on their way out. She'd given up her back to an owlbear pincer, it seemed.

If potions aren't taking, I'll have to try Heal.

Heal. A new holy-attribute skill, and the signature skill of holy-type Awakened.

Healing power on par with a miracle had made it the skill people mentioned most, but that wasn't why I cared. Just as I'd mended my own body with Healing Wind, couldn't Heal speed that recovery along?

If it could, nothing would be better.

But there was a problem—information I'd gathered while combing the community and the archives.

"......."

The conclusion was disappointing, but a recovery effect that climbed that steeply with level was good news for me. With my Transcendence trait, I ought to be able to leap straight to level 20.

And it happened to be a good chance for both of us. She would recover from the wound. I would raise the skill's level. Mutual ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠benefit, you might call it.

Might as well try.

I brought my hand in close to the claw marks gouged deep into her back and used Heal. The mana cost was anything ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but small. A fierce drain wrapped my whole body, the same sensation as when my cursed heart sucked mana in. I'd heard that an Awakened fueling the skill with mana rather than holy power paid a much higher cost by default. Apparently it was true.

A faint holy light seeped from my palm. Silver energy settled gently over the wound, and the torn flesh closed, just a little.

That was as far as it went.

The young man, who'd been watching me, shook his head.

"You'd know better than I do, Mage, but a wound that potions won't properly take can't be recovered with an ordinary healing item. I think getting her out of here as fast as possible is still the best option, but..."

I let his words pass through one ear. Then the message I'd been waiting for rose.

I brought my hand close again and cast the skill around the wound that had only just begun to close.

Fwoosh—!!

In that instant, a holy radiance beyond any comparison with a moment ago filled my sight. Light so bright it felt unreal. And yet, strangely, it didn't glare. If anything, some corner of my chest grew warm.

The change came all at once. Sssss... Light settled over the wound, fierce past any comparison with level 1. Every time that holy light passed, the bleeding stopped, and the wound itself closed in a flash. A miracle so immense I couldn't believe it, even from inches away.

Every Awakened watching dropped their jaws. I was no less stunned. New flesh filling that empty space was wonder itself.

A little time passed. In the end, the wound was perfectly healed. The young man shook his head in disbelief and asked.

"M-my God. That's incredible. Just how high-grade a healing item are you carrying...?"

Mm. It's a skill, not equipment.

There was a misunderstanding, but it was only natural. I'd just blown the owlbears away cleanly with Flame Burst. In their eyes, I was a fire-type mage. They couldn't even imagine I'd learned a holy-attribute skill.

Rather than explain, I asked, even-voiced.

"Are you heading to Area 1?"

"Th... that's right."

The young man barely tore his eyes from the cleanly healed wound. Then, as if he'd caught himself, he shot to his feet and bowed his head low.

"I'm late with my thanks. For helping us—really, truly, thank you!"

The rest of the party bowed with him. Polite, all of them. Kind, even.

I spoke to the young man, flat as before.

"I'll take the lead. Follow at your ease."

"GRAAAAAAAAH!!!"

Two owlbears charged in, full of themselves. I could feel the Awakened behind me draw tight with tension. ...Not me, of course.

KRAK! I snared the owlbears by the ankles with Earth's Shackles. The sudden ambush threw them into a panic, and while they lost their balance and crashed to the ground, a lightly thrown fireball cracked one across the skull.

Fwoom—! Both owlbears went up in a clean blaze. Only then did the Awakened at my back let out sighs of relief. The young team leader came up beside me and asked, almost offhand.

"My God... I thought something was off when I saw that absurd firepower, but I never imagined you'd mastered the fire line."

...Mm. Strictly speaking, I hadn't mastered it yet.

It wasn't different enough to matter, so I didn't bother denying it.

"By the way, why are you walking to Area 1? You could just take a portal..."

His question went on, but I didn't answer. He seemed to have some tact; the conversation died quickly. We moved in silence.

After I nodded at the thanks of the woman, who'd woken along the way, only the owlbears' screams filled the Labyrinth.

The distance left shrank in no time. Before long, a massive wall appeared far ahead.

Labyrinth Area 1. The Labyrinth City of Naktaramas.

"Then I'll be going on ahead."

By this point, there didn't seem to be much danger. No red dots showed on the panel, either. Once I'd confirmed the tank had recovered, I set off on my own.

Ah. In keeping with industry tradition, I did take the card.

Once I was out of the Awakened's sight, I moved my body with the mana threads. At first their role had been to assist my movement. For covering ground quickly, though, they were far more efficient than using my body directly.

I traveled that way for a while. Before I knew it, the wall had drawn close. People swarmed the city gate, and ahead of them a huge blue gate stood open. A portal.

I approached slowly and raised a hand near it.

With the message, two lights rose in my mind. One was the portal zone by the Labyrinth entrance. The other was here.

Labyrinth Area 1, Naktaramas.

"Hoo..."

I let out a breath and lifted my head. A wall of staggering height, and beneath it, well-armed guards standing with spears in hand.

A vast Labyrinth city styled after a kind of Middle Ages. A space where Awakened and the Labyrinth's own residents mixed.

I decided to put off stopping in. By now the Zero Thread had drawn fairly taut. Today, this was enough.

Vwoooom—! I stepped into the portal. When I opened my eyes, I was in the portal zone, packed with people, same as when I'd left.

I turned at once and headed for the lobby. The male clerk bowed his head, all business.

The points I'd earned came to 3,800 in all. Less than when I'd found the mithril, or when I'd taken down the Snowwood Fiend, but about the same as when I'd swept away thousands of kobolds.

Points gained did climb sharply with the level of the monster. If I could keep growing steadily like this, there didn't seem to be much to worry about.

"Thank you for your devotion to the nation."

And so I was back in the hotel room. I checked my condition at once. Nothing had gone wrong—no senses cutting out—but I didn't feel any better, either.

I sat with my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠back against the head of the bed, laid a hand over my heart, and used Heal.

Fwoosh—!

Dazzling light burst out. Pure white holy radiance sank in beneath my skin.

"Kh—"

And at the same time, an enormous pain surged up.

"Kkh— kheuk...!!"

My eyes flew wide. Pain as if a hammer were pounding the flesh of my whole body. An agony like an awl driving into every cell, like a keen blade mincing me apart, wrapped me from head to toe.

Is this right?

I tried in a panic to pull the holy power back. Unlike the fire-energy, which moved as I willed, the holy power didn't budge. It roamed my body however it pleased.

"KYAAAAAAAH!!!!"

In the end I couldn't hold it, and a scream tore out of me. My whole body shuddered as if I'd been electrocuted—a grotesque pain, as if electricity were searing every nerve I had.

A bright yellow flame leapt up before my eyes.

Unable to endure that horrific pain, I blacked out where I lay.

Shaaaa... I opened my eyes to the wind. Blink. Blink. I could feel my eyelids moving.

What happened?

I turned my head. Wind through the slightly open window was cool. Slowly, I sat up. The feeling of muscle holding me was somehow unfamiliar.

I walked out from the bed.

Smooth tile slid cool across my soles. I went to the window and looked out, and the unruly sprawl of Daelim-dong brought the memory back, slowly.

Ah. The business hotel.

The memories connected. The car accident, and my parents' deaths. Eight years of pain, the Awakening, and the escape. The Tower and the Labyrinth. And...

"My God."

I lifted an arm and moved my fingers. The motion was still awkward.

I felt over my body and walked the room. A careful stretch, a light jump. I bent at the waist, forward and back, and slowly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠lifted the sofa table.

"......."

It had come back.

Not perfectly. But enough, it seemed, to live day to day without the mana threads.

Of course I knew full well it still wasn't perfect. Even with an Awakened body, all I'd managed was ordinary life. Strictly speaking, I was still a wreck.

Even so, the line of my mouth lifted.

So what. What I lacked right now didn't matter to me. I'd endured a stretch of time with not a single point of hope in sight, and I'd come this far. So long as I could see the possibility of getting better, a hurdle like this was one I could overcome as many times as it took.

So... how much time has passed?

I checked my phone. A text had come from Yu Seo-ha.

The cute little emoticon made me smile. I wrote back at once.