Chapter 13
I’m setting up the chapter translation now, with the special UI text converted into styled HTML blocks and all narration kept natural and novelistic.CHAPTER_TITLE: Upgrade (3)
Whoooosh—.
The hot air slapped his face, and the dry wind seared his throat until it felt parched.
The water was stashed in the Garage, so that shouldn’t be a problem.
That was only possible because he had taken the time to learn the terrain of Abyss 2nd Floor—no, of what was now the 1st Floor—well in advance.
Scritch, scritch.
A scorpion crawled out from between the rocks.
It raised its tail to menace Du-ho and the others, then vanished just as quickly.
“……”
Even in a barren hellscape like this, life still managed to survive.
Then, at the edge of his vision.
Something shimmered beyond the heat haze.
“What is that?”
He narrowed his eyes and stared.
Isto tipped his head up to check.
-Ah! That’s the 1st Floor we cleared, hamda.
“What? I thought it had disappeared?”
-Well, the forest on the 1st Floor was liberated from the Abyss… liberated, liiiberated… and the connection point to the desert was just… keeepiiiiing on….
As he spoke, Isto’s body began to tremble.
This time, Du-ho grabbed him by the shoulders and asked, “So the old 1st Floor and this desert are separated like that?”
-Y-yes….
Question marks flickered one after another across his LED eyes.
It was as if the system itself had thrown an error.
A while later.
Whether because of Du-ho’s question or not, Isto remained thoroughly glitched out for quite some time.
This was bad….
“Did I push him too hard?”
Just as Du-ho was deep in thought, wondering if he ought to back off—
Hm?
-Du-ho nim, why are you making that face?
“You’re okay?”
-Of course, hamda.
Only then did Du-ho let out a breath and pat his chest.
And he became certain of it.
Someone’s blocked Isto’s memories.
He decided not to pry any further.
He looked up at Isto, who was staring blankly at him.
“It’s my first time seeing a desert, that’s all.”
-I see. Hehe.
That was when it happened.
Whooooosh—
A scorching sandstorm surged toward them.
Du-ho shut his eyes, but the grit still filled his mouth.
Ptui! Ptui!
He spat, but when the wind blew like that, it was useless.
I should’ve had a mask.
The thought suddenly struck him.
Wait, wait.
Could he do that?
No need to overthink it.
He could just try it now.
He drew the image in his mind at once.
Nanobots spilled out and wrapped around his nose and mouth.
In an instant, a mask formed.
Wheee….
Just then, another gust hit.
Not a single grain got through now.
Even breathing felt easy.
“Not bad.”
Oh! Ohhh~
-I didn’t know you could use it like that, imda!
As Isto marveled, Du-ho spread the nanobots farther until they covered his whole face.
In an instant, a silver mask was complete.
“This should hide my identity. What do you think?”
-How about you proudly declare your world conquest instead?
Du-ho sucked in a sharp breath and changed the subject. “Shouldn’t the quest be popping up about now?”
As if in answer, a quest window appeared.
Du-ho let out a dry laugh.
Find an oasis in a desert full of nothing but sand, and do it without a map?
And to top it off, this was forced progression with no accept button at all.
Here we go again.
It had been like this before too.
The Ratkin extermination quest had suddenly ballooned from 50 kills to 1,000, with death waiting on failure.
This was no different.
Level down by 10? Was that even normal?
He was furious, and frankly, speechless.
Still, he drew a deep breath.
Then he steadied his heart.
Hadn’t he gotten used to absurdity by now?
Rather than waste time complaining, it was better to clear the damn thing.
So…
Find a way.
The problem was how.
Wasn’t one reason hunters had suffered here the mirage?
There had been plenty of stories about people being fooled by fake oases and wasting all their stamina.
Of course, he had never seen a post about anyone suffering a level-down penalty like he would, but still.
Then Isto tugged at his collar.
-Du-ho nim, are you okay?
“Yeah. But, Isto, to find an oasis….”
-There’s a way, hamda. Monsters always gather around an oasis, so all you have to do is detect mana.
In other words:
He’d be able to tell a mirage from the real thing.
The problem was—
“How am I supposed to detect mana?”
Isto’s LED eyes blinked.
It was almost like he was saying, You still don’t know that?
-I already told you before, hamda.
“...?”
-You know, when I grabbed your hand and moved mana into Du-ho nim’s chest….
Ah! Ah!
“Metal manipulation?”
-Yep. Something like that, imda. Just focus as if you’re moving mana into your eyes. And if you want to hear it through your ears, apply the same idea.
“Okay. I get it!”
Du-ho shut his eyes.
He recalled the method Isto had taught him and sharpened his concentration.
Hm?
Not far away, he sensed a tiny trace of mana. And right beside it, there was another presence with a volume so immense it was almost impossible to comprehend.
When he opened his eyes, the small mana source turned out to be the scorpion hiding in the rocks, and the monstrous mass of mana belonged to none other than….
Isto… you’re really something else.
He looked cute enough, all round and soft-looking.
But it felt like staring up at the sun hanging in the sky.
On the other hand, Isto was thrilled.
Ohhh~
-You adapted that fast? Du-ho nim really is the best, hamda!
Then the little guy made a new suggestion.
-If you’re a Mechromancer, you should go one step further and use a bird’s-eye view, hamda!
“A bird’s-eye view?”
-Exactly what it sounds like. You look down over a wide area from above.
Hmm…
“How do I do that?”
-Sense the mana around you, sketch that space in your head, and then look down on it from above.
The ridiculous explanation made Du-ho sigh.
What… nonsense was that?
And yet.
Why is it even more ridiculous that it makes sense?
-If you get it, then that’s enough. Now, let’s try it.
After scanning his surroundings once, he drew the space in his mind and lifted his gaze into the air.
The moment he imagined looking down on it, a mini-map-like bird’s-eye display spread through his mind.
Good heavens….
He found himself laughing at the sheer absurdity of it.
It actually works?
-Pretty convenient, isn’t it?
On the mini-map, the places where mana gathered were marked clearly.
Of course, the only signatures were the scorpion and Isto.
Still.
It was definitely convenient.
“It is.”
-Hehe. Told you so, hamda!
Du-ho glanced at Isto for a moment, then made up his mind. He didn’t like the idea of always leaving everything to him.
“Isto, go back into the Garage.”
-But….
“I’ve learned the method, so this time I’ll handle it myself. I’ll summon you when I need you.”
-Understood, hamda.
Once Isto returned to the Garage, Du-ho started walking again while watching the mini-map.
And then at last!
An oasis appeared before his eyes.
Du-ho stopped short.
He had nearly run toward it in delight, but after checking the mini-map again, the corner of his mouth curled upward.
Now I can see it clearly.
It was a mirage, which meant there were no monster mana signatures around it at all.
* * *
Using Assassination Arts footwork, Du-ho sprinted lightly across the desert.
He kept an eye on the mini-map in his mind.
That was when Isto spoke up.
-Du-ho nim, the Azure Heaven Clan failed again and says they’re going to try again next month.
“I heard.”
-They gathered the top hunters from the five great hunter families and even the elite hunters from major guilds, and they still failed. Honestly, that’s just incompetence.
Du-ho leaped over a sand dune and said, “There must be a reason.”
-If the difficulty got lowered and they still failed, then yeah, incompetent is the word, hamda. The U.S. already….
Thirst surged up suddenly, and Du-ho came to a stop.
“I should rest for a bit.”
As soon as he stepped into the Garage, Isto hurriedly handed him a water bottle.
“Thanks.”
He gulped down water and asked, “What about the U.S.?”
-The U.S. has already cleared Floor 82 in four of the five Abysses, hamda. Germany recently succeeded too.
“Germany did?”
-Yep. They borrowed items from the U.S., apparently. It cost them a fortune, though.
Du-ho nearly sprayed the water he’d been drinking.
Wow….
Just what kind of item was it?
-Honestly, people who rely on item power or on brute-forcing things in a group and still can’t solve one problem shouldn’t be getting close to us. They’d catch idiot disease.
“Idiot disease?”
Du-ho snorted and looked up at the ceiling.
“Still, the collapse of the 1st Floor had bought them two extra months, and they still haven’t solved it….”
He rolled the bottle in his hand and shook his head.
I’ve got my own neck on the chopping block. Who am I to worry about anyone else?
With a quiet laugh, Du-ho left the Garage and resumed his search for the oasis.
Thanks to Assassination Arts footwork, his stamina drain stayed minimal, and things were going much more smoothly—until!
Shhhhrrrrrrrr….
Suddenly, the sand beneath his feet began to wash away.
What?!
“What is this?”
A massive sinkhole opened up, and Du-ho was sucked into the sand.
Instinctively, he kicked at the grains sliding under him and clawed his way upward.
He burst free of the sand pit and slapped a hand over his chest.
Whew….
“You scared me.”
Just as he was carefully peering down into the pit to figure out what in the world it was—
How dare you!!
-You filthy sandworm!
Isto exploded out of the Garage in a rage.
Maybe because of the upgrade, his movements were noticeably faster.
Without hesitation, Isto hurled himself into the sand pit.
“Isto?!”
The giant sandworm gaped wide and swallowed him whole.
“…What?!”
It all happened in the blink of an eye.
Du-ho stared in stunned disbelief.
He looked helplessly down into the pit.
Isto?
“ISTO!!!”
The instant Du-ho shouted and came to his senses—
Rumble… KWOOOM-KWOOOM-KWOOOM!
A vibration rolled up from deep underground.
Thud—fsssh.
Then the sand caved inward, and—
BOOOOOM!!!
Sand exploded sky-high.
And there, in the middle of it, the sandworm was flying through the air.
Right in front of Du-ho’s dazed face—
BOOOOM!!
The giant sandworm crashed into the sand.
The creature sagged, limp and spent.
And then….
A section of its thick, long body tore apart, and Isto popped out cleanly.
Covered from head to toe in the sandworm’s bodily fluids, of course.
Thud!
Isto landed on the ground, then spun around at once.
You—!
-Who exactly do you think you’re attacking, huh?!
BOOM——!
Isto kicked the sandworm’s torso.
The section burst apart, and chunks of flesh sprayed through the air.
Then he pulled out the magic stone and tucked it into his pocket.
├─ Tier 1:[Base ability] ✓
├─ Tier 2:[Enhanced ability] ✓
└─ Tier 3:[New ability — UNLOCKED] ★
The familiar system sound rang out.
Isto shook off the fluids and lowered his head.
-Sorry, Du-ho nim! Sandworms buried deep underground are hard to detect with the mini-map… I overlooked that, hamda.
Du-ho shook his head.
“No. I should be thanking you.”
-Huh?
“Because of the assassination footwork you carved into my head, I could sense its presence and get out.”
That was the truth.
If not for that, the Du-ho of old would already have become that disgusting sandworm’s meal.
But there was that.
He checked the quest timer.
[Time Remaining: 00:15:57]
Du-ho swept his bangs back and muttered, “I may have underestimated this….”
Still, he couldn’t give up.
But he couldn’t keep wandering aimlessly either.
Just as his thoughts deepened—
A flash of insight struck him.
Could I expand the mini-map even more?
Thinking about it would only waste time!
Du-ho immediately focused harder.
He stretched the map in his mind as though he were unfolding a thin sheet of paper.
Just a little more… more!
Drip—
A line of blood ran from his nose and fell onto the sand.
-Du-ho nim!! You mustn’t push yourself, hamda!
Even Isto’s shout was beginning to fade as his concentration deepened.
And then.
Found it!
At the very edge of the expanded map, a huge mass of mana had appeared.
Du-ho immediately ran toward it.
The mana in his mind’s map drew closer and closer.
Huff… huff….
Just as his breath was about to give out—
He remembered the sandworm that had shot up into the sky.
Wouldn’t it work if I wait for the right moment?
He immediately summoned Isto from the Garage.
“Can you carry me and get me over there?”
Isto looked in the direction he pointed and answered.
-I’ll try, hamda.
With that, he scooped Du-ho up in his arms.
Thump, thump—.
With each stride, the map narrowed rapidly.
How long had it been?
He checked the status window.
[Time Remaining: 00:00:05]
We’re almost there… then—!
“Isto, launch upward like you did with the sandworm!”
Whiiiiiiir!
At Du-ho’s command, he heard the sound of power surging into Isto’s legs.
[Time Remaining: 00:00:04]
-Then I suppose I can test the joints you upgraded for me, hamda.
TUO——ANG!
The two of them shot into the sky, defying gravity.
[Time Remaining: 00:00:03]
WAAAAAAAAA!!!
OHHHHH—!
With their screams, a long parabola traced across the sky.
[Time Remaining: 00:00:02]
BOOM!
They crashed headfirst into the sand.
[Time Remaining: 00:00:01]
And then….
In front of them, a crystal-clear oasis glittered in the sunlight.
[Main Quest Complete!]
Reward: Hidden quest unlocked.
“I-I did it!”
But the joy lasted only an instant.
Beside the oasis, he spotted a giant monster beast that looked eerily like a dragon, sleeping in silence.
Hiiik…!
If Du-ho had only covered his own mouth with nanobots.
-Oasis────!!
Isto’s cry rang out for a long, piercing moment.
At that instant, the giant beast that had been sleeping slowly opened its eyes.
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