Reprieve (2)
Tszzt-tszzt-tszzt….
The nanobots wrapped around Du-ho’s face, and his frozen breathing steadied at last.
He’d prepared for this in advance, and yet it was still this cold.
Hah.
“This is ridiculous.”
Then it happened.
Crack, crunch!
The sound of footsteps in the snow rang out sharply from behind him.
When he turned his head—
“Hm…?”
Isto was floundering in the snow.
Well, that made sense.
The snow had piled up to Du-ho’s thighs; for the much shorter Isto, it was practically burying him alive.
Crunch, crunch.
He was just hearing the sound of magic stones being chewed when—
Vwoooom—.
Searing heat burst out of Isto.
In an instant, the snow around him melted away.
Only then did Isto finally emerge.
A self-satisfied expression lit up on the LED screen that served as his eyes.
-Hehe! Snow is no problem at all, hamda!
A cool voice cut in at once.
-You are the very picture of inefficiency.
Swish.
Hoguai stepped into view.
Thanks to his wide, splayed feet, he stood lightly on top of the snow as if it were nothing.
Listen here.
-Iron Head, crawl through the snow like a mole. Don’t waste energy for no reason.
-Ehh?! Are you insulting moles right now, imkka!
-Don’t lose focus.
If sparks had been flying in Isto’s LED eyes, Hoguai merely shook his head.
Not cats and dogs, but the same idea.
Those two were far too different.
Du-ho looked around.
Everything was white.
This might be harder than the desert….
Just then, a system window appeared.
Eliminate 80 of the snowfield evil spirits, “Wendigo”
Reward: Parts Shop unlocked & 1,000 points awarded
Time Limit: 1 hour
Failure: Hidden quest disappears and the shop closes
Du-ho’s expression as he looked at the quest was calm.
As expected….
So it’s a Wendigo hunt.
It was the snowfield man-eating beast he’d studied in advance before coming in, a pack-hunting territorial predator that was said to be extremely sensitive to intruders….
By contrast, the two of them were making a scene over the reward.
Oh! Oh! Oh! Kiyoot!
-Du-ho nim! We absolutely have to succeed at this one, hamda! Upgrades are essential for world conquest!
-For the sake of robot liberation, I will cooperate this once!
-…Of course, hamda. Long one.
Two super-intelligences, perfectly in agreement.
The problem was….
Find eighty Wendigos in this snowfield within one hour?
How was he supposed to know where they were in this vast expanse and find them in time?
Then a memory suddenly flashed through his mind.
Du-ho remembered when he had wiped out the Ratkins.
“Isto, what if you imitate their voices like you did then and lure them in?”
At Du-ho’s suggestion, Isto blinked his LED eyes awkwardly.
-…That’s difficult, hamda.
“Why?”
-Ratkins were simple, so it worked. But Wendigos are suspicious and crafty, imda.
Hoguai added from the side.
-They may scatter and attack sporadically.
The attacks weren’t the issue. It was the quest timer.
This quest….
It’s more annoying than I thought.
How would an experienced hunter find them…?
Wait a second.
Find them?
Why was he even worrying about that?
He quickly closed his eyes.
He called up the sensation he had learned from Isto.
The skill that applied mana resonance.
Bird’s-eye View.
And with his level having gone up, a mini-map spread through his mind almost at once.
They were monsters, so as long as he sensed mana, that was enough.
Du-ho began expanding the mini-map.
Just a little more. More. More!
As he kept pushing the map wider, a tiny dot appeared at the far edge.
…Did I find one?
He opened his eyes and headed straight toward the sensed direction.
-Du-ho nim?
-Mechromancer-nim. That direction is dangerous.
Shh—.
He pushed through the snow and kept following the point.
Then more dots began appearing on the map in his head.
The dots were gathering in a pack.
Found them!
Du-ho stopped and reached out.
Nanobots flowed from his fingertips.
Scratch, scratch.
He roughly marked on the snow the direction of the dots, the distance between them and here, and the number of Wendigos.
“There’s a Wendigo pack about a kilometer away at four o’clock from here.”
Ooh!
-You used Bird’s-eye View, imkka?
“Yeah.”
As Isto stared at the location Du-ho had drawn in the snow, tactical symbols began spinning in his LED eyes.
Then—
-I’ll circle behind them and take them out, hamda!
-I’ll find a ridge and snipe from there.
At Hoguai’s words, Du-ho pointed toward the sun and offered his own opinion.
“If you keep the sun at your back, the glare should make it harder for the Wendigos to see your arrows.”
-I will take Mechromancer-nim’s suggestion into account!
Hoguai’s arrows were light itself.
That would only make things even more troublesome for the enemy.
“And I’ll handle any injured Wendigos….”
A determined expression appeared in Isto’s LED eyes.
-We’ll take care of it ourselves, hamda!
-Agreed. Mechromancer-nim can remain safely in the Garage.
“I can fight too….”
Shake shake.
Isto shook his head.
Beep!
Hoguai crossed both arms into an X.
Absolutely not.
It was a little disappointing.
Still, in the end, Du-ho nodded.
If something happens to me, those two disappear too.
With no choice, Du-ho went into the Garage.
How much time had passed?
As he sat on the workbench, Du-ho heard it at his ears.
> You have gained experience.
> You have gained experience.
> You have gained experience…
The system notifications were coming in like mad.
Wow….
“So they’re just bulldozing through them.”
It could only mean one thing: an utterly one-sided slaughter.
Otherwise there was no explaining it.
But….
It’s frustrating not being able to see outside.
As if reading his mind, Isto’s voice echoed in Du-ho’s head.
-Du-ho nim! Are you bored because you can’t see outside, imkka?
I feel bad, like I’m the only one getting a taste of the good stuff.
-If the shop opens after this quest is complete, there’ll probably be monitoring equipment!
Hmm.
Now that’s welcome news.
* * *
In the middle of the snowfield, the Wendigo pack was heading somewhere.
Their bodies looked like skeletons draped in thin hides, with ribs jutting out sharply beneath the skin.
Antlers grew absurdly from the tops of their heads.
They wore the relics of hunters like trophies.
One had a dented helmet skewered on a tine, another had thrown on a breastplate that didn’t fit him at all.
The one in front dragged a rusted longsword along behind him as he walked.
Far behind them—
Vwoooom—.
Isto was approaching quickly, blasting out heat as he melted the snow in his path.
The joints replaced with amorphous alloy rotated smoothly.
His speed began to build.
Vwooooom!!
Searing heat erupted explosively.
The snow melted away in an instant, carving out a path.
Keek?
A Wendigo guarding the rear turned to look back.
The snow kept melting.
The heat was getting closer and closer.
Keek? Kieeek?
The Wendigo tilted his head.
His companions turned around one by one, too.
Then—
Thud-thud-thud-thud!!
Isto sprinted at full speed and hurled himself into the middle of the pack.
-Hehehe~ Time to purge, hamda!
CRACK!!!
One Wendigo’s torso was punched straight through by Isto’s fist.
The surprise attack sent the pack into confusion.
Keek! Kyaak! Kieeek!!
The Wendigos screamed, their panic and fury mingling together.
When one of them lunged at Isto, the others swarmed in as well.
Oh!
-Experience is flooding in all at once, hamda!
Numbers spun wildly through Isto’s LED eyes.
Crunch! Smash! Grind!
Wendigos kept getting shattered by the fists swinging from Isto’s arms.
He grabbed one by the arm and hurled it into another.
Crack!
The antlers snapped, and the two burst apart at once.
As the shocked Wendigos hesitated,
on the ridge above,
Hoguai drew his bowstring.
Fiiing—!
An arrow shot out like a flash of light with the sun at its back.
To the Wendigos’ eyes, the arrow was swallowed by the sunlight.
Thud!
The first Wendigo’s chest was blown open—
Thunk! Thwack! Thud!
and four more behind it were pierced in a row.
Kiee… thud, thud….
The Wendigos toppled helplessly.
As Hoguai adjusted his scope, he said,
-The method Mechromancer-nim taught me is efficient.
* * *
A while later,
Du-ho was walking along the snow path Isto had melted with heat.
Going a little farther, he saw Isto and Hoguai extracting magic stones and the Wendigos’ antlers.
Du-ho looked down at the Wendigo corpses.
The gear they wore had once belonged to people who had families.
“Isto. Gather these up for me.”
-You mean the monster corpses, hamka?
“No, the equipment the Wendigos were wearing.”
The two of them collected the equipment without another word.
Before long, the hunters’ keepsakes were piled high.
Du-ho shoved the equipment into the Garage.
When they got out later….
“I’ll have to leave them at Yeouido Lost and Found.”
-Ooh! As expected, Du-ho nim is a merciful lord, hamda!
But still.
Why isn’t the quest completion window showing up…?
A Wendigo that had been lying in wait on the ground suddenly sprang up and pounced at Du-ho.
But—
Plunk—!
The nanobots pouring out of Du-ho’s body pierced straight through the Wendigo’s head.
“Whoa, that startled me.”
Isto and Hoguai froze for an instant.
Just as he was about to say he was fine, the quest completion window appeared.
Reward: Parts Shop unlocked & 1,000 points
Du-ho deliberately made a fuss.
He had no intention of scolding them over something like this.
The two of them approached hesitantly.
And when they saw the reward—
Oh! Oh! Kiyoot!
-At last!
-I’ve been waiting for this!
They spun in circles around Du-ho.
The long-awaited Parts Shop!
But the joy lasted only a moment.
A new window blocked their view.
As he read the contents, Du-ho let out a sigh.
Garage entry restricted for one month?
He might have survived without the Garage back then, but now….
Now a single day would be a problem…!
How dare they!
-How could they threaten our home! We should hack the system and format it into dust, hamda!
-To take a strategic stronghold hostage like this... how despicable.
Du-ho looked at the two of them, both bristling with anger, and gave a small shrug.
“Enough, calm down. But….”
He turned his gaze back to the quest window.
“What was the reward again?”
The three of them naturally looked down at the bottom.
Success Reward: Evasion Ring.
The moment they confirmed that line, the attitude of the two who had just been cursing the system changed as if by magic.
Ooooh!
-Du-ho nim! With that, we can block ambushes like the one from earlier, hamda!
-For the sake of securing Mechromancer-nim’s safety, this quest must be cleared no matter what!
Watching them, Du-ho muttered inwardly.
…So they were feeling guilty.
He accepted the quest immediately.
And then—
Gugugugu…!
The ground beneath them seemed to tremble, then collapse, and blue pillars thrust up through the cracked earth.
A giant maw, lined with jagged ice crystals like serrated teeth.
At its end yawned an abyss so deep it could not be measured.
It opened its mouth as if inviting them inside.
A dungeon.
A world within the demonic realm.
But seeing that intimidating entrance, Isto’s reaction was unexpected.
Ooh!
-We can get out of the wind and snow, hamda!
At Isto’s delight, Hoguai lowered his scope and chimed in as well.
-Compared to a chase across the open snowfield, a structured dungeon is far more efficient.
-And dungeons usually have treasures, don’t they, imkka? Hehe.
Hearing the two of them, Du-ho couldn’t help laughing.
This was….
The language of the strong.
There wasn’t the slightest hesitation in their backs as they walked into the dungeon entrance.
* * *
The dungeon interior was wider than he had expected.
The ceiling was so high he couldn’t see it, and passageways stretched left and right into the darkness.
And one more thing—
It’s much warmer than outside.
So he removed the nanobot mask.
At that moment, Isto took the lead.
-I’ll take point, hamda!
With Isto’s LED eyes lighting up the front of the dungeon, Hoguai quickly moved to the rear.
They had only taken a few steps when—
Isto.
“Shine your light on the ceiling.”
-Yes, sir!
As Isto lifted his head, part of a pattern hidden in the darkness was revealed.
Intricate lines intertwined together.
Du-ho narrowed his eyes.
These are connected by mana circuits?
“Isto, shine along the lines.”
As he followed the light and traced the circuit with his eyes, the shape at the end revealed itself.
What the—.
It’s a symbol for fire.
He looked quietly down the passageway.
-Du-ho nim?
…No way.
He pulled the hunters’ relic spear out of the Garage.
Whoosh—.
The moment the spear Du-ho threw passed through the passage—
Fwooshhhhh—!!!
Flames erupted violently from the walls and ceiling all around them.
-D-Du-ho nim! It’s dangerous, hamda!
Startled, Isto tried to shield him, but Du-ho had already stepped back and wrapped his body in nanobots.
He had expected this to some extent.
Only, even after waiting, the flames kept burning.
Boom! Boom!
Eventually Isto lost all patience and began smashing the stone walls with his fists.
He must have been trying to tear them down and block the flames.
But if he destroyed that whole long corridor….
The passage could collapse on top of us and bury us alive.
“Isto, step back.”
-Hm?
“I’ll handle it.”
Saying that, Du-ho extended a hand.
Silver nanobots danced through the air.
If I can just cut off the flow of the circuit….
Scratch, scratch.
The nanobots gnawed through the connection points in the circuit drawn across the ceiling.
Fwoosh… fwoosh….
The surging flames dwindled, then died out.
Oh! Oh!
-A clever solution! That’s cool, hamda!
Hoguai, standing nearby, had his scope gleam as he added,
-An efficient method of breaking through. You are worthy of being my master.
Du-ho shrugged.
That was luck, and they’re making a fuss.
Even after that, traps kept appearing.
Whoosh, whoosh! Clang! Bang! Whack!
When spears shot out from the walls—
they struck Isto’s body and bounced off uselessly.
-Huh?!
He had no idea what was happening.
Rumble rumble rumble!
At other times, a massive boulder came rolling toward them—
Swish! Thunk—!!
and Hoguai changed its path with a light arrow.
The three of them worked pretty well together.
Meanwhile, as Du-ho studied the traps they’d dismantled—
A mana circuit that generates stone, huh….
He ended up learning several mana circuits thanks to the traps.
I should try using these later.
.
.
.
How far had they gone?
Ku—woong!
A heavy footstep rang out from far away.
The three of them stopped.
Whoooosh….
Chilly cold spread toward them like mist.
White breath spilled from Du-ho’s mouth.
Beyond the darkness—
Thud! Thud! Thud!
As the rhythmic sound drew closer, the trembling that traveled through the floor grew stronger.
Hoguai peered through the dark passage with his scope and reported,
-Mechromancer-nim. Two massive cold-energy responses ahead. I will handle them.