Chapter 48
Chapter 48
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: The Flame #2
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The party made camp at the base of a hill near the Spider Forest.
While Karak, who could now be called a camping pro, started a fire and prepared their sleeping arrangements, Seira and Loven scouted the surrounding area, and Daphne prepared drinking water for the group.
Having nothing specific to do for the camp setup, Ingong sat down with Caitlin early on and immersed himself in aura training.
Just as they had at the Lycanthrope villa, Ingong and Caitlin sat facing each other, their hands clasped. Perhaps because they had already gotten the hang of it, they were able to enter the Quad Core state the moment they closed their eyes and summoned their aura.
Before, the Quad Core had merely made the flow of aura larger and stronger, but this time was different. Caitlin led Ingong, and Ingong pushed Caitlin in return. The know-how of the Beast God Fist that Caitlin possessed guided the Sura God Fist to a higher state.
Proper martial arts training required practicing both aura and techniques concurrently. That was why Ingong, too, had focused mainly on technique training when he first learned the Beast God Fist.
He should have done the same this time, but he simply couldn't stop the aura training once he started. It was partly because they were just beginning, but the sense of unity and accomplishment that arose from the changes when their two auras became one was just too great.
Once again, Ingong and Caitlin lost track of time. An hour passed, and then another. Another hour passed even after the rest of the party, who had planned to eat with them, finally gave up and ate by themselves.
The air grew cold.
Ingong, suddenly aware of the change in temperature, began to perceive his surroundings like a person just waking from sleep.
He couldn't be sure, but it felt like a significant amount of time had passed. When Ingong slowed the flow of his aura, Caitlin responded in kind. The two disengaged from the Quad Core as quickly as they had entered it and slowly opened their eyes.
Twilight was coloring the world. Instead of the orange glow of sunset, a deep purple, just shy of black, filled the air.
And then night fell. The void left by the fading purple was instantly filled by pitch-black darkness.
It was a strange feeling. Come to think of it, he couldn't recall ever witnessing the exact moment day turned into night. Did day and night always change like this?
Ingong raised his head to gaze at the night sky. His eyes naturally searched the darkness for the moonlight.
And once again, Ingong felt a sense of wrongness.
"Green?"
The distorted moonlight shone green. It was a color that brought to mind a deadly poison, and it felt as if the world might melt beneath it.
There were no stars. And in that moment, Ingong quickly lowered his gaze to look straight ahead.
Caitlin was gazing up at the night sky. But something was off. Her lips were parted blankly, and her eyes were unfocused, as if she were drugged.
Caitlin also lowered her gaze to look at Ingong. She suddenly let out a bizarre scream and tensed her arms.
"Grrrraaaargh!"
She roared like a wolf, unleashing monstrous strength. Ingong instinctively tried to restrain her, but it wasn't easy. As a half-Lycanthrope, half-Sura, she couldn't fully transform, but she had inherited the characteristic brute strength of a Lycanthrope. Moreover, as a powerful aura user, her physical abilities were exceptional.
Therefore, Ingong couldn't possibly handle Caitlin's strength—
'Huh?'
Ingong glanced down at his own arms without thinking. They were holding Caitlin's arms fast, unmoving. They were trembling from the strain, of course, but showed no sign of giving way.
Ingong applied his own strength and pushed. Caitlin seemed to resist with all her might, but she couldn't hold on and began to be pushed back.
'I'm stronger?!'
It was true. Ingong's strength was greater than Caitlin's. He hadn't realized it because his strength had increased gradually, but his continuous leveling up had already given him monstrous stats.
Now well over level 20, Ingong's strength stat was a whopping 80. It was much higher than his other stats, partly because he had invested extra points into it. A strength stat of 80 was, by simple calculation, eight times that of Villager A. It was truly terrifying power.
Ingong overpowered the struggling, groaning Caitlin and quickly climbed on top of her abdomen, taking a mounted position. Pinning her down and squeezing with his legs, he rendered her completely immobile.
"Noona! Snap out of it! Noona!"
Instead of answering, Caitlin howled. It wasn't just a roar; she was also sobbing her heart out, as if in deep sorrow.
Why had this sudden change occurred? Ingong reflexively turned his head. Behind him, the events he had half-expected were unfolding.
"Seira! It's me, Karak!"
Karak spoke hurriedly to Seira, who was growling in her bestial form. He approached slowly, arms spread wide to show he meant no harm.
"Calm down now, just calm down. Do ya recognize me?"
Karak even managed a clumsy smile. Seira stared blankly at his face, then promptly kicked him in the groin.
"Gahk!"
The vicious blow sent Karak crumbling to the ground. Delia, who had been trying to calm Loven—also transformed and rampaging like Seira—steeled herself and drew her sword. It was impossible to subdue a crazed Lycanthrope with brute force alone.
Ingong, too, felt a surge of urgency. At that moment, Felicia shouted.
"Close your eyes!"
Instead of trying to understand, Ingong trusted Felicia's words. He didn't question her, simply shutting his eyes.
"Flash!"
Felicia shouted again. An immense light erupted from her hands, banishing the surrounding darkness. The light was so intense that even Felicia, the caster, didn't dare to open her eyes.
"Kiiiaaak!"
Seira and Loven screamed in unison. Temporarily blinded by the overwhelming light, the two collapsed where they stood. Felicia, retracting the light, quickly cast her second spell.
"Bind!"
Ropes of mana bound Seira and Loven. But against their monstrous strength, it was only a temporary measure that wouldn't last long. Felicia frowned slightly and ordered Karak and Delia.
"Cover their eyes! It should calm them down a bit!"
For a moment, he wondered if Seira and Loven were mere animals, but considering they were transformed and had lost their reason, he supposed they were.
Karak hugged Seira from behind, covering her eyes with his palms, while Delia used a handkerchief and a cord she'd produced to blindfold Loven.
It seemed to have an effect, as their movements became somewhat calmer. Then, it was Daphne's turn to shout.
"It's spirits of madness! Everyone else, be careful not to get swept up!"
Immediately after shouting, she closed her eyes and began to chant. It was to drive out the spirits of madness rampaging inside Seira and Loven.
Ingong now had a rough grasp of the situation. He turned his gaze back to Caitlin, still pinned beneath him, and shouted.
"Green Wind!"
'I will try!'
Green Wind, understanding Ingong's intent, exerted her power on Caitlin. A gentle green breeze began to swirl around Caitlin's head.
Thankfully, it seemed to be working. Caitlin's struggles gradually weakened, and soon she stopped howling altogether. She lay still with her eyes closed, as if she had fainted.
"Is she calm now?"
Ingong asked no one in particular as he looked behind him. Seira and Loven were also lying collapsed and motionless, just like Caitlin.
"Sleep."
Felicia cast a sleep spell on the two of them before approaching Ingong. She intended to cast the same spell on Caitlin.
Whether from casting spells in quick succession or from the shock of the situation itself, Felicia was breathing heavily. Ingong watched her for a moment, then looked around. Facts he had failed to notice in the sudden chaos were now coming into view.
The party was now inside a forest. Despite having made camp at the base of a hill outside the forest, trees were now visible in every direction.
What had happened? Had some kind of spatial teleportation magic been activated?
Ingong looked up, searching for the green moon. All the strange phenomena had begun with its appearance.
The spirits who feared the night.
The anomaly that was said to occur at night.
The ground rumbled. Ingong, getting up from on top of Caitlin, steadied a staggering Felicia. Delia, who had been concentrating on the sounds with her eyes closed, shot to her feet and shouted.
"Monsters are coming!"
The rumbling was getting closer. Ingong quickly opened his mini-map. His vision was obscured, so he couldn't get an exact number, but red masses indicating enemies were swarming toward them.
"What's going on?! This wasn't a forest!"
Just before nightfall, they had definitely been at the foot of a hill. The only trees nearby had been a couple of scattered ones.
Though she shouted, Felicia didn't expect an answer. She hurriedly picked up the limp Caitlin and prepared for the approaching enemies. Green Wind's voice reached everyone.
'Illusion and reality are mixed. The power of the spirits is overwhelmingly strong!'
The green moon.
If the moon itself had turned green, there was no way Ingong's party wouldn't have noticed before. It was clear the moon only appeared green in this vicinity.
Spirits of madness. The suddenly changed scenery.
It was an illusion, just as Green Wind had said. But since it was mixed with reality, they couldn't simply ignore it.
Daphne shouted again.
"Our sense of direction is skewed! If we try to run, we might end up going deeper into the forest!"
Ingong quickly checked his mini-map. The compass that indicated direction was spinning wildly. The surrounding terrain had also changed, making it impossible to get his bearings.
The rumbling grew louder. It was clear that monsters would soon be upon them. A decision had to be made.
"We fight here! Felicia!"
Ingong yelled like a thunderclap as he equipped Earthquaker and White Eagle on his arms. Felicia, still holding Caitlin, moved behind Ingong and shouted.
"I've got Unni! Dig!"
The last thing she used was a magic that dug into the ground. She cast it as a test, but the ground filled back in immediately, likely due to the illusion.
Altering the terrain itself to block the enemy's attack was impossible. So, Felicia used other spells.
"Grease! O, Wind!"
Felicia made the surrounding ground slick. She then conjured a thick barrier of wind behind them to prevent attacks from the rear. She wanted to create a wall of fire, but one misstep could start a massive blaze and burn them all to death.
Karak laid Seira and Loven down beside Felicia. Delia drew her sword to protect the three fallen comrades and Felicia. Daphne hesitated for a moment before joining Delia and calling out the names of spirits.
Their melee forces had been drastically reduced, but there was nothing to be done. Instead of lamenting the absence of Karma or Chris, Ingong prepared to fight.
"Karak!"
"Got it!"
They exchanged intentions without even a glance. Ingong planned to fight as flamboyantly as possible to draw the monsters' attention. In the meantime, protecting the others was Karak's job.
Green Wind shouted.
'Master! They're coming!'
'Dragon Blood!'
Ingong awakened the power of the dragon. Simultaneously, Daphne's Spirit Bloom infused him with the power of the spirits.
"Krahng!"
The first monster appeared, leaping over the bushes. Like Caitlin and Seira, its eyes were unfocused. Ingong could also sense the spirits of madness Daphne had mentioned.
Ingong cut off his thoughts. He charged forward and struck the wolf-like monster's head with an Explosive Fist. After shattering its head in a single blow, he sensed his surroundings, unleashing a flurry of attacks against the monsters that emerged simultaneously.
"Fire Arrow!"
The arrows of fire weren't just for his Dragon Scale Greaves. Fiery arrows shot from Ingong's fingertips, striking the monsters. A section of the undergrowth caught fire.
There were a great many monsters attacking the party. Not only were there beasts that looked like wolves and bears, but there were also giant insect-like creatures. All of them had the same vacant eyes.
Ingong stuck to a one-hit, one-kill policy against these monsters. The enemies were flooding in like a tide, but he couldn't afford to conserve his aura if he wanted to protect the party.
It was a state of pure focus. After bisecting a horse-sized, ant-like monster with lightning wreathed in flames, Ingong unleashed a series of Explosive Fists. The aura exploded, making the air tremble, and the loud noise once again drew the monsters' attention.
Ingong kicked off the ground and leaped. He flew over the heads of the insectoid monsters and unleashed Mount Tai toward the ground. An immense wave of energy erupted from his palm, crushing the monsters and the earth beneath them.
With a sickening sound, several of the insectoid monsters' bodies burst open. Ingong landed in the midst of the carnage and immediately used his psychokinesis to bat away a human-head-sized poison frog that was leaping at his back. He swung his left arm wide, launching White Eagle.
Clang-clang-clang!
Spreading its metal plates like wings, White Eagle flew through the air, striking several monsters in the head. Some couldn't withstand the impact and their heads exploded, while others collapsed, twitching on the ground.
Instead of recalling White Eagle, Ingong had it stay by Felicia's side.
Green Wind wanted to fight alongside Ingong but obediently followed his command. She knew that Ingong could fight more freely only when Felicia's safety was guaranteed.
The flow of time was always relative. A minute or a second that seemed to pass in an instant could, at other times, feel agonizingly long.
Ingong caught his breath. The ground around him was littered with monster corpses. He had clearly defeated dozens of them, at the very least.
Instead of looking back, Ingong checked the party's status on his mini-map, then took a potion from his inventory. There were still a few monsters around, but they were some distance away. He had enough time to catch his breath.
But it was at that very moment.
A tremor far more violent than anything before shook the ground. It was powerful enough to be called an earthquake.
"Kyaa!"
He heard Felicia scream from behind him. Ingong urgently turned around while simultaneously opening his mini-map again. Felicia had only fallen on her bottom from the sudden vibration; she didn't appear to be hurt. The mini-map showed no particular changes either.
And then a second tremor hit. It was clearly different from the rumbling caused by charging monsters.
"Nokba! Share vision!"
Ingong shouted, pointing at the sky. Normally, Green Wind would have complained about being called "Nokba," but given the urgency of the situation, she shot into the sky without a word and shared her vision with him.
The forest stretched out, literally without end. And from what seemed to be the center of that forest, a blue light shot up. But the blue light was not the source of the tremors.
To the right of the blue light.
Something white and colossal was standing there.
'A giant?!'
He couldn't be sure. It was humanoid, but its entire body was covered in a pure white light, so only its silhouette was visible. It seemed to want to approach the blue light, repeatedly stomping the ground and striking the empty air. It felt as if an invisible wall was blocking the giant's path.
The white giant kicked the ground again. The entire forest shook violently, and the giant's fist finally pierced the air. He had the sensation of something shattering.
"Shutora! What's happening?!"
"The monsters are coming again!"
Felicia and Delia shouted at the same time. Instead of calling Green Wind back, Ingong watched the white giant until the last possible moment.
The white giant dissolved into the darkness. It collapsed helplessly, as if it had poured all its strength into breaking the invisible wall.
That was all. There was no more time to watch. Ingong broke the vision link with Green Wind, faced forward again, and drew up his aura. Just as Delia had predicted, another wave of monsters was approaching.
This time, however, it was a little different. Instead of charging at Ingong's party, the monsters veered off in another direction just before reaching them. They continued running toward that other destination.
Watching on the mini-map made the artificiality of their movements even more apparent.
What was it? Had someone intervened?
Just then, he heard a rustling sound from behind. Ingong spun around reflexively, gesturing with his hand. White Eagle, which had been hovering in the air, shot down like a lightning bolt toward the source of the sound, but its target was also fast. The creature dodged White Eagle's strike and charged straight for Felicia.
"Wait! Don't attack!"
The words came not from Felicia, but from the creature.
Delia quickly tried to strike the creature charging Felicia, but it was no use. The creature, slightly larger than a human head, parried Delia's hand in mid-air, did a somersault, and landed on the ground. It looked up at Felicia, who had instinctively flinched and taken a step back, and shouted.
"Who are you?! Where did you come from! Are you acquaintances of the Sword Duke?!"
The one speaking in such an urgent voice was, by all appearances, an ordinary raccoon. However, unlike the monsters that had appeared so far, its eyes were full of intelligence.
"And who might you be!"
Karak shouted, pulling Felicia behind him. The raccoon glared at Karak for a moment, then turned around. It spoke to Ingong, who was watching it with White Eagle now equipped on his left arm.
"My name is Amita. I am the craftsman who guards the Final Flame."