Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Incident Cleanup
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“Aaaah! Save me…!”
“Aaah! My arm, my arm!”
The sight that greeted me as I rushed to the scene with Seol A-yoon was a floor stained bright red with massive amounts of blood and countless screams filling the air.
What the hell happened? Casualties like this from an A-rank gate weren't that common, were they?
“We're from the Association. What happened here?”
I grabbed the head of the rescue team, who was frantically directing the paramedics. His face lit up as he recognized me.
“Ah! Thank goodness you're here! Zeus Guild completed the gate raid, but at the end, the boss's final struggle swept through and caused a ton of casualties. The two most critical were being handled by Hunter Chae Jeong-ah—”
“...Not Snowflower Guild? Anyway, take me there first.”
The Association must have assigned Snowflower Guild based on the gate's rank. Zeus was a mid-to-low tier guild with one A-rank hunter and mostly B-ranks.
The Federation stepped in, so they switched guilds?
We headed deeper inside, right up to the gate that still hadn't fully closed.
The metallic stench of blood grew stronger, but the severely injured had lost consciousness, so the screams died down.
And there was Chae Jeong-ah, holding onto one man.
Those two. She's got one stabilized, so he's past the worst. The problem is that guy.
His guts were spilling out, and his legs looked crushed like they'd been run over by a press. His unconscious body twitched in tiny spasms, brutally signaling that his life hung by a thread.
“Let's start with him.”
“...Saintess! Help us first!”
As I moved toward him with Seol A-yoon, Chae Jeong-ah suddenly cried out in a weary, strained voice.
She'd poured a ton of mana into her patient—her clothes were soaked with sweat and blood, and she was gasping for breath as she pointed to the man beneath her.
“...He's not urgent anymore.”
“This is an A-rank hunter! We need to treat the Zeus Guild Master first!”
“I said he's fine now. The urgent one is—”
“Don't waste your power on a B-rank. Are you deaf?! Save him first, then help the others if you have any left!”
She still had some strength left and bolted up to charge at me, but before she could even reach out, her feet lifted about ten centimeters off the ground.
“Kek—Guh!”
“Didn't I tell you last time? I spared you once because you're a healer.”
Seol A-yoon had casually extended her hand, her telekinesis gripping Chae Jeong-ah's throat and hoisting her into the air.
“What are you doing? Stop!”
“Chae Jeong-ah Hunter!”
The other hunters saw Chae Jeong-ah flailing in midair and rushed over in panic, but they hit an invisible wall and couldn't cross into the area.
Telekinesis is totally a cheat skill.
Invisible, and she could attack or defend with it freely. Its uses were endless, just like when she'd fought the sandfish before.
“Let her go, A-yoon. She's not worth the effort.”
“Understood.”
“Kehok, keluk! Cough—Hah, haah...!”
Chae Jeong-ah dropped straight to the ground and scrambled away on all fours, coughing violently and gasping for air, crawling to the opposite side from Seol A-yoon. Seol A-yoon watched her with blank indifference.
With someone like that watching my back, I could focus entirely on the man in front of me.
...It's bad.
His life force flickered weakly, on the verge of snuffing out. The silver lining was that the abdominal wound was mostly just torn muscle and skin, with minimal internal damage.
I called over the paramedic head who'd followed me and instructed him on emergency measures for the abdomen, then pulled out my brush.
“Put the spilled guts back in first. Block the wound for a moment, and I'll handle the rest from there.”
“Uh? Y-Yes! Got it!”
While the paramedic repacked the organs, I stopped the bleeding first. I pressed the abdominal wound closed with my hand, sealed it with overpainting, and focused inside.
Thanks to the paramedic roughly fitting the organs back in place, the internal ones quickly settled and were firmly held by muscle. His life force began to brighten a little.
The problem was the legs.
Crushed flat by the boss, they weren't something I could fix just by reconnecting bones, muscles, and blood vessels. The original shape was completely destroyed—unless I redrew them from scratch—
...What if I do redraw them?
My class is Artist.
Unlike other classes, there are no limits based on abilities, so I can do a lot—magic, healing, spirit arts, you name it.
The only limit to this power is my imagination.
Conversely, if I draw something with full conviction?
Clairvoyance, Drawing.
The world fills with paint, and I perceive the target as a single canvas.
Rough.
Not a reaction, but envisioning a rough sketch of this canvas and drawing its intact form. Faint lines overlay the mangled legs, tracing the original leg shape.
Overpainting, Decalcomania.
I quickly layer life force over the rough lines and cast Decalcomania to draw the opposite leg at the same time.
The man's legs were enveloped in dazzling white light. The life force I'd poured all my mana into illuminated everything around. The bursting radiance silenced the murmurs nearby.
The light gradually faded.
And the legs revealed within had returned to a startlingly perfect state.
And an upgrade to Overpainting.
It was already insanely powerful, but combined with Rough, it bordered on creation itself. Ah, but using this much power is still exhausting….
As I felt my energy drain completely and teetered on the edge of collapse, cheers and gasps of awe rose from the crowd around me.
“My God, how did she fix those legs….”
“That girl's the one from the rumors….”
“Myeong-hu survived! He made it!”
Most seemed to be Zeus Guild members; they couldn't contain their joy at seeing the man before me recover and erupted in cheers.
Running around like that when they're still injured… Ow, their wounds are reopening. I was utterly spent, but people were still bleeding, so I forced myself to stand for some more treatment.
...Huh? Why am I suddenly overflowing with energy again?
My mana had somehow refilled completely. And I wasn't the only one—others felt it too, as the site buzzed with renewed vigor and the rescue efforts picked up.
Chae Jeong-ah was back on the Zeus Guild Master.
Hmm… This happened during that S-rank gate last time too. Who's helping? I don't have buffs like this.
The Tower? No quest popped up, so probably not.
I gave silent thanks to the mystery helper and went around restoring the blood-soaked(?) cheering crowd one by one.
“Thank you! This is minor enough for the hospital, but… as expected of the Saintess!”
“No, no. Feeling okay anywhere?”
“Yes! Perfectly fine!”
It was half skill testing, so their over-the-top reactions were a bit much. But this Restoration skill… it's insane.
Regular Overpainting required stitching skin and muscle bit by bit, but Restoration was like click—just infuse life force, and it healed itself.
Now it finally feels like a proper healer skill.
After experimenting on a few more and staggering from exhaustion again, Seol A-yoon grabbed my shoulder and let me lean against her comfortably.
“This is enough. Let's head back, Iroha.”
“Yeah…? I'm pretty wiped.”
“...Of course. Especially after sharing power with that trash healer.”
“?”
What? She must mean Chae Jeong-ah, but I swear I didn't do anything.
If it's about the mana recovery earlier, that was definitely someone else. I started to protest, but then a wasp-like buzz came from the sky.
And crunch—
A drone approaching fast under Seol A-yoon's telekinesis crumpled into scrap metal and plummeted. It had some familiar broadcaster logo on it.
“The press caught wind and is swarming. We're blocking them from entering, but they brought drones too.”
“Kinda scary how aggressive they're filming… Let's go, then.”
“Yes, this way.”
Seol A-yoon mercilessly smashed every drone that buzzed in occasionally.
I ducked into the car feeling like a criminal for no reason, and only then did the tension release, leaving me utterly drained as I slumped back.
“Huu… What a mess.”
“You did great. Straight home, then?”
“Thanks, A-yoon.”
The gate was cleared, no schedule, so I didn't refuse the quick clock-out. The Association office had everything, but nothing beat home.
I dozed off in the car on the way home. Seol A-yoon awkwardly opened the back door for me again, and I thanked her. She accepted with a small smile and relayed my schedule in a subtle tone.
“Minister Jin Tae-san said he'd like you at the Association the day after tomorrow if possible… But no need to go. I'll say you're resting at home.”
“Huh? No, it's fine. Nothing else going on, so I'll head there. What's it about? Minister's been busy lately.”
“New Association Chairman inauguration. Lots of reporters, it'll be noisy. You sure?”
“Reporters don't matter—I'll stay in my office. Chairman? Wait, no way?”
Seol A-yoon nodded at my words.
She finally accepted. No wonder Jin Tae-san was swamped—he lured her to the Association somehow.
Made things easier for me with more familiar faces there.
“See you the day after tomorrow, then.”
“Good night, Iroha.”
We'd meet at the Association, so I finally made it inside. Then I noticed the indicator light on the bidirectional safe-like delivery box by the door.
Huh, did I order something?
Puzzled, I punched in the code and opened it. Inside was a large jewelry box-like case. The double-layered bottom design meant it was from the Association.
“Whoa… Look at that shine.”
A brilliantly lustrous A-rank magic stone sat nestled inside.