A Treasure Precious to Someone! # 5
There's no such thing as a perfect being in this world.
Everyone has a weakness.
Even Argos, the giant born to be a watchman, was no exception.
"The giant Argos is weak to singing, that is what is said…! So we shall sing him to sleep, and in that moment of slumber, we snatch Binnari and run, that is…!"
According to the nymphs, Argos had originally served as a guardian, but he fell asleep listening to the songs of the god Hermes and bungled his duty—so the story went.
As punishment for dozing off on the job, he was cast out with all his prized eyes sealed shut, apparently.
"Muh-heh-heh! The nymph sisters will all sing the Ditch Water Song together as a sing-song, that is what it is…! We begin the song on my, Illinoi's signal, that is what it is…!"
"That this Coris should sing the Ditch Water Song again after so long—her mood is exceedingly good, that is what it is…!"
The nymphs cleared their throats with a solemn ahem-ahem.
Then they began to sing, their voices soft and even.
"Ditch, ditch, little ditch water. Rainwater, honey water, stream water, gather together—"
The nymphs' song carried a power that made anyone who heard it feel warm and lighthearted.
Ari seemed to be hearing it for the first time, and she murmured in quiet wonder.
"What a strange, lovely song."
Lee Jeonghun, for his part, looked as if he doubted the whole plan. "Is this really going to work…?"
And that was when it happened.
━━──.
Argos rumbled something or other and slumped down onto a great boulder.
It was a language none of us could understand, and even Illinoi shook her head. "It is the tongue of giants, that is what it is…! Interpretation is difficult, that is…!"
Before long, Coris spoke up.
"He says, 'That singing… it is a song of my beloved homeland. Back home there were so many nymphs who sang just like that. Have I wandered so far from home that I now hear it in my dreams?'—that is what he said, that is…!"
Oh-ho.
So even our quiet, gentle Coris had this particular talent hidden up her sleeve?
Just as I was marveling at that, Argos parted his heavy lips and muttered like distant thunder.
━━─.
"He says, 'All song, in the end, is nothing without soul poured into it. A song like this will not put me to sleep. Nor will it cure my wretched insomnia. Out of one hundred points, I give it a seventy-five. Something is missing'—that is what he said, that is…!"
"Argos's scoring standards are far too strict, that is what it is…! If Honorary Nymph Yuranoi had joined us, we would surely have earned a perfect one hundred, most certainly, that is…! How disappointing, that is…!"
"To dare judge my, Illinoi's, sing and song as lacking in soul…! It is not merely his eyes that were sealed shut but his ears as well, I am quite certain, that is what it is…! I want to beat him senseless, that is what it is…!"
The nymphs clenched their tiny fists.
Evidently they had fired themselves up with the ambition of earning a good score.
So the nymphs kept on singing.
"Ditch water, stream water, pooling deep through the forest, and white butterflies and tiger swallowtails dancing over the fields—"
And yet—
Seated on his boulder, the giant Argos did nothing but nod his head slowly, as though pondering some grave dilemma.
That was when something struck me like a bolt of inspiration.
"What if Kwang-kwangi sings? Kwang-kwangi is great at singing!"
"…You want the invisible spider to sing, Senior?"
Ari looked startled by the suggestion.
But showing is faster than explaining. I lifted Kwang-kwangi from my shoulder, set her on my palm, and gave the command.
"Kwang-kwang-a—Sing!"
━Hio-ong…!
Kwang-kwangi wriggled left and right and began to sing.
━Hio-ong…! Hio-ong…!
It was a beautiful song—the kind that made my heart melt like butter on a warm griddle. Even Myeong-i, who had been clinging quietly to my bag until now, responded to the melody.
━Mi-ong…! Mi-ong…!
A gorgeous duet between Kwang-kwangi and Myeong-i.
And at that sound, the giant Argos's head and chin began to bob slowly, up and down, until at last he tipped over with a rumbling snore and started to sleep in earnest.
Anyone could see he was dozing off in place, and the nymphs rejoiced.
"Kwang-kwangi and Myeong-i did it, that is what it is…!"
"Hurry, let us take Binnari and go, that is…!"
"Let's do it…!"
The nymphs brimmed with energy at the operation's success.
I stroked Kwang-kwangi's back as she finished her singing dance and asked her softly.
"Kwang-kwang-a. Do you think you could get close to that Argos's waistband?"
Kwang-kwangi was a master of covert hunting.
She could hide her form, but she also knew a skill called Lightfoot Prowl.
━Kwang-kwang…!
Spring, spring—
Kwang-kwangi bounded from spot to spot, closing in on the giant's waist.
The whole situation was so thick with tension that all of us had forgotten to breathe, watching with anxious yet expectant eyes when—
Kwang-kwangi picked the lock on the cage and successfully rescued the dog-squirrel Binnari!
━Keng. Keng.
Spring, spring—!
Binnari leapt nimbly between the rocks as if she had been waiting all along, then bounded straight at Lee Jeonghun with a joyful pat!
Lee Jeonghun scooped Binnari into his arms, overjoyed.
"You did it! Yes! I got you! Binnari! You're safe! You're okay!"
━Keng. Keng…!
At the dramatic rescue, my own heart warmed like a spring morning after a long frost.
For the first time, I felt like I could finally breathe easy.
But I could never let my guard down.
Getting out safely and making it all the way home—that was what mattered most.
Snore. Snore—.
Thankfully, "Guardian Argos" still seemed deep in slumber, and all we had to do was make it back to the helicopter unscathed.
And that was the exact moment it happened.
Ssss—.
Kalinoi the owl, who had been curled up meekly, was the first to sense something wrong. All the feathers along her body rose in a slow, rippling shudder.
━Hoo, hoo…!
Then she shot high into the air and beat her wings furiously, whipping up a fierce gale—a deafening commotion—and I couldn't help but panic.
"Kalinoi, what's wrong? If you keep that up you might wake the giant!"
"Poison…! Senior, it's poison…! Gas…!"
Pat!
Ari yanked gas masks from the satchel at her hip and tossed them to us in a flash.
Once we grasped the situation, we scrambled to strap the masks on—and in that same instant, someone touched down on top of the boulder with an unnervingly light step.
She was a woman in a black Chinese dress slit so high it left her thighs and legs bare to the world.
Strolling into a nightmarish T-Rank rift like this with no real armament and such a flimsy outfit could only mean one thing—
She was terrifyingly, overwhelmingly good.
"My, what sharp instincts you people have? But you're already too late. You've already been poisoned. By a colorless, odorless toxin specially brewed by me, Xiaoxiao. That paralytic should have your bodies going numb by now, shouldn't it?"
"Senior, be careful! It's China's black ops team!"
Xiaoxiao.
Even I knew that name.
China's one and only S-Rank awakener, wasn't she?
Her skill supposedly hovered somewhere between thirteenth and seventeenth among the world's S-Rankers, but there was no doubt she was far beyond what we could handle.
Naturally—an S-Ranker would be a trickier opponent than the giant Argos himself!
Tingle, tingle—.
Sure enough, my whole body had begun to prickle, like the farthest tips of limbs whose blood had stopped flowing.
Xiaoxiao, the S-Ranker—wasn't she the awakener said to wield a special "Breath"?
"You should have surrendered quietly, Ha Ildo. I will take you back to our homeland. One promising male awakener can become the seed that bears ten more."
"You're dragging Ha Ildo off to make babies with him? So the rumor about China coaxing foreign awakeners into breeding programs was actually true."
Lee Jina frowned deeply.
With it now established that the children of awakeners were almost always born with awakener potential, governments apparently couldn't resist controlling awakeners' marriages—and the sheer audacity of it seemed to shock her.
The Chinese government supposedly matched people up by DNA compatibility itself. Unbelievable.
"Poison Mist."
Fwoooooosh—.
Xiaoxiao exhaled a cloud of ominous violet vapor from her lips, the kind of haze that looked threatening at a glance.
Something told me breathing that in through the nose would be a very bad idea.
"Hieeek…! A terrifying poison cloud, that is what it is…!"
"Muh-heh-heh! Poison and the like hold no power over me, Illinoi, the Potion Nymph, that is what it is…!"
"That this Coris finds this gas mask dreadfully stuffy, that is…!"
While the nymphs flailed about in a fuss, Kalinoi beat her wings again.
FWAP-FWAP-FWAP-FWAP!
The gale she conjured scattered Xiaoxiao's poison mist far and wide until it vanished entirely.
"Tch. A terrible matchup, isn't it. Fine, then."
Shing—.
Xiaoxiao drew something resembling a pair of chopsticks from her waistband and flicked it outward with a sharp pat!, scattering it in every direction.
RATATATATAT—!
A moment later, countless needles burst forth and came shrieking down on us—but Lee Jeonghun thrust out his hand and bellowed.
"Kinetic Shield!"
VMMMM—.
A wave of telekinetic force materialized in an instant, halting the swarm of needles and leaving them hovering harmlessly in midair.
"Projectile attacks are meaningless against a kinetic. And Xiaoxiao's poison mist—Kalinoi here will sweep every last wisp of it away!"
━Hoo, hoo…!
Every matchup has its counters.
No matter how fearsome an S-Ranker Xiaoxiao might be, she couldn't overcome a disadvantageous element and fight all of us at once.
Before long, Ari leaned in and murmured, just loud enough for me to hear.
"Senior, I think she's stalling for time. She's probably calling in the Black Serpent Sect's dark operatives—there really are a lot of presences converging on us."
Ari was practically a human radar.
And just as she said—time was not on our side.
Then something flashed through my mind like lightning.
"Lee Jina. Can you mess with that Argos guy's emotions?"
"Poking at the emotions of someone in human form is comparatively easy. And if he's fast asleep and defenseless like now, even easier. But why do you…?"
"Wake Argos up!"
"What?"
"No time to explain! Hurry!"
"I have no idea if this is the right call, but fine!"
Though she clearly couldn't make heads or tails of it, Jina pressed a hand to her temple as I'd asked.
The very next moment, Argos flinched and shuddered.
━━─!!!
The giant Argos rose from his place and unleashed a frenzied roar.
"He says he had a nightmare and now he's in a foul mood, that is…!"
Shhk—.
Argos pulled a great cudgel from his waistband.
And where that cudgel was pointing was none other than the boulder atop which Xiaoxiao stood.
━─────!!!
"He says he cannot let an intruder go unchallenged, that is…!"
WHOOOM, KRAKOOOM—!
Argos's cudgel smashed the boulder to pieces as if it were nothing more than a frosted cake.
Kuuwooom—.
The force of the blow was enough to shake the very earth, and Xiaoxiao clicked her tongue—tch!—as she fled to safety.
"Damn it all! What is with this giant! Why is he suddenly attacking me!"
Apparently the giant turning on her had come as a genuine shock.
If anything, it seemed she'd been the one lacking intel all along.
"Argos reacts to large amounts of mana! Xiaoxiao is the biggest mana reservoir in this whole area! While her attention is fixed on Argos, that's our window—let's move!"
Pat!
I ran, without so much as a backward glance.
And as I fled, Xiaoxiao called out to me.
"Ha Ildo! Have you truly forgotten me? Have you really, truly forgotten? Ha Ildo! Not once, not for a single moment, have I ever forgotten you! And you… you have forgotten me?"
"I, forgot you? What on earth are you…"
"Senior! Don't listen to her! Deception and honey traps are standard issue for female Black Serpent Sect agents!"
"Ha Ildo! Have you really forgotten? You and I once held hands, don't you remember! Have you forgotten the warmth of that spring day…? Truly…?"
Xiaoxiao kept crying out desperately after me.
How could anyone call another person's name with such aching longing?
As though some forgotten past life had suddenly come flooding back, I felt tears welling up at the corners of my eyes.
Drip, drip—.
"Huh? Why am I… why am I crying? I'm… I'm the kind of person who doesn't even know what tears are…?"
Shhk—.
Xiaoxiao drew something from her breast.
As though lifting out some precious treasure held close for a very long time.
"Ha Ildo…! Look upon this…! The thing I have treasured ever since that day… my… my precious treasure…!"
It was a round, swirling lollipop.