043 – Oinoi and the Little Stationery Store # 7
"My daughter! Seona! Seona!"
A woman clad in bone armor rushed toward Lee Jina and seized her by the cheeks with both hands. Then she swept her into a fierce embrace, and the sight of it was enough to move anyone to tears.
"Is this a dream? Meeting Seona here of all places! Seona, why have you gotten so thin!"
"Mom, I'm not Seona. I'm Jina."
"You're Jina!?"
Only then did the woman properly look at the blonde delinquent standing before her. Her narrow eyes widened, and her face ran through an extraordinary range of expressions.
"But Jina was tiny! Are you really, truly Jina?"
"…Yes! I keep telling you! Mom, I'm so glad you're alive! I came to rescue you! A lot has happened, but I don't think there's time to explain it all—we need to get out of here right now!"
A mother-daughter reunion after ten long years.
There was so much to tell, so much to catch up on, but sadly, time was the one thing we didn't have.
After all, our first priority was getting out of this Anomaly Rift.
Because it wasn't a normal rift, no one could say what might happen next.
It was then that Coris, the Ice Water Nymph, spoke up.
"The entrance of this temple is being guarded by a terrifying Troll King…! Because this Coris could not defeat the Troll King, this Coris was trapped inside the temple…."
A Troll King?
Was there such a monster?
I had devoured countless books, videos, and academic journals on the monsters that appeared in rifts and their ecologies. I figured that if I studied hard enough, maybe I'd get my chance to climb from D-Rank to C-Rank and beyond someday.
And honestly, researching the ecosystems inside rifts was just plain fun.
But even I had never heard of a being called a 'Troll King.' An undiscovered monster, perhaps? Assuming a single ordinary troll was around B-Rank, a Troll King would have to be at least B-Rank or higher.
If a creature like that was lurking somewhere in this temple, the danger was beyond enormous.
So what was the right move in a situation like this?
Needless to say, the answer was already decided.
"There's no need to fight it. We set up a rope along the top of the glacier on our way in. It's not far from here, so we just need to run for it!"
No reason to risk our lives in a fight. We could simply climb back the way we came.
And so, with that in mind, we used the rope to ascend the glacier.
"We've truly made it outside the temple…! This Coris thought she would have to fight the invasive fairy trolls in this temple for the rest of her days, but she has survived…! She is grateful…!"
Coris threw both her hands up into the air.
The wife from the moving company, too, seemed overcome with shock and wonder.
"We really are out of the temple, aren't we? You said you came to rescue us? How is everyone living? Where on earth is this place? How much time has passed!?"
"Mom, I'll explain once we're out! Haildo! Do you remember where you evacuated the people back then? Let's head there right away!"
I remembered.
Near the exit, I had spotted something tall and jagged, like a mountain peak. And that sharp, soaring peak was visible about a kilometer from where we now stood. I couldn't vouch for the exact distance, but it wasn't far.
"Let's move!"
We began running across the ice.
Everyone's footsteps were light, and spirits were high.
We had challenged the impossible to achieve the impossible—and we had actually pulled it off.
I had rescued someone who went missing ten years ago.
I was deeply moved, and frankly, pretty proud of myself too.
Once this hit the internet, wouldn't I be famous all over again? Search "Haildo" online and the latest posts might stretch on for page after page!
Maybe I'd even make the trending threads or hit posts.
Running along with those happy thoughts, we reached the jagged peak before I knew it, and beneath it we found an exit glowing with a deep, resonant hum—uuuuuum—shimmering with light.
From its oval shape, it was clearly a portal-type exit.
"Oinoi! Coris! And ma'am! Go in first!"
In a rift, the most important thing was to stay vigilant until the very last moment. We had reached that final stretch, and at last, Coris and Oinoi's figures vanished through the oval portal.
Zuuuum—.
I turned to the wife from the moving company.
"Ma'am, go! It looks suspicious, but this will send you back out in front of Alpha Stationery Store! Lee Jina! You go too, right now!"
"Got it! Mom! Let's go!"
Swuuuum—.
At last, Lee Jina pushed the woman through from behind. Watching them disappear, I let out my first sigh of relief.
"Survivor rescue: success."
Our objective was accomplished. Which meant that from here on out, the survival and escape of Lee Jina and me became the top priority. I was thinking exactly that when Jina stepped toward the portal.
Clamp—.
I felt something seize my ankle.
At the same moment, my body floated upward—fwump—and then came the sickening sensation of being slammed down at terrifying speed toward the floor of the frozen glacier.
"Gwahk!"
The whole thing took less than a second.
When I came to my senses, a solid mass of ice was heaving itself upright as if triggering its own tectonic shift—and it had a head and limbs, like a person.
"Lingaan—. Kill—. Eat—!"
Kuuuaaaaaa—.
The creature's body was made of ice, but judging by its vocabulary and its shape, it was clearly something akin to a troll. It was far larger than the trolls we'd encountered inside the temple—roughly four meters tall—and its sheer presence was monstrous.
"Is this thing that Troll King?"
"Hey! Haildo!"
Lee Jina stood before the exit. And between Jina and me stood the Troll King.
By every measure, a desperate, do-or-die situation.
What was the right call here?
"If my estimate is right, this rift's gate closes in ten minutes."
The rift that had appeared in front of Alpha Stationery Store had closed after roughly forty minutes. I glanced at my watch: 17:55. The rift had opened around 17:20, which meant we had five to ten minutes left at most.
And when that time ran out?
Just like the wife from the moving company, I would remain frozen in this place.
"Hey! Haildo! Are you okay?"
"I'm fine! Jina! Go on ahead! I'll draw its attention somehow!"
"Go ahead?! Look at that thing—it's clearly an A-Rank monster! How are you going to handle it alone? If I leave you here, you'll die! Ugh, damn it—."
Shk—.
Jina stopped short of entering the portal and pressed both thumbs to her temples. I wondered what she was doing—then she started groaning, "Uuuugh—."
Soon she shouted.
"I never told you this, but! For a very short time, I can control other people's emotions! Against a monster like that, two seconds is my limit! Two seconds! I'll create an opening for two seconds, so get over here fast!"
Lee Jina could control other people's emotions?
It was an utterly bizarre and remarkable ability.
But there was no time to sort through a hundred thoughts.
"Now!"
"Guuuh—. Lingaan—."
The giant ice Troll King, mid-rampage, abruptly froze in place.
One second—.
I sprinted. I slipped right past the ice troll and made for the entrance, but just before the two seconds were up, the troll's massive ice club came swinging down with tremendous force toward the exit.
WHUMP, CRAAAAASH—!
"You can't leave—! Tasty ones—! I'll devour you—! For waking me with your racket before spring even comes to the sleep of I, Troll King Kurish—! I will eat you—!"
GOOOOOOOOO—.
The Troll King bellowed with overwhelming force.
Kurish.
So that was its name.
Had my dynamite woken it up?
The problem was that the time it had been stunned fell short of the two seconds Jina had promised. With a colossal ice stalactite club over three meters long swinging around, both Jina and I had been driven away from the exit.
"Damn it! The thing was too huge, I couldn't get a grip on it!"
Jina gritted her teeth—grind—.
Emotion control clearly demanded painstaking mana control. Which, in turn, meant the ability's potential was enormous.
"Can you do it again?"
"I wish I could, but no. It burns too much mental energy—I'd have to wait an hour or so."
An hour.
Did we have that kind of time?
No. We had less than ten minutes.
━Keong-keong…!
━Zzji…!
At that very moment, the two animals perched on my shoulders leaped forward. They threw themselves at the Troll King Kurish, ramming their bodies against its legs.
"Annoying flies—! Animals not even worth eating—!"
The Troll King Kurish swung its limbs this way and that—whish, whish—.
Taking a full body slam from the Dog-Squirrel Keong-keong-i without a scratch told me that its ice-hard body was no bluff. Its hardness might rival the glacier floor itself.
Wait—.
The glacier.
Something clicked at that word.
I still had one more stick of dynamite tucked in my belt.
If it packed enough power to punch a hole through a glacier, couldn't it wound that Troll King too?
Zuuuum—.
I drew my Beam Saber and spoke to Jina.
"I'll only explain once. Listen carefully. When I give the signal—three—you run straight for the exit without stopping. Then use your ability to hold that thing for just one second."
"That fast is—."
"You have to. If you don't, we all die. You're telling me we came this far just to die?! Jina, get it together. Rifts are always like this! It's a place where you wager your life! Okay, counting! One—two—."
Three—.
I threw everything into my sprint toward the Troll King. Its movements were fast for its bulk, but Keong-keong-i and Ang-ang-i were fighting it tooth and nail, and in the moment its attention was drawn away, I closed the distance.
"Asura Pacheoncham!"
I slashed at the Troll King's ankle with my Beam Saber, mana poured in to its limit.
An attack from a Beam Saber charged with C-Rank mana.
But the ice body was so solid that all I managed was a tiny scratch.
"But I CAN wound it! If I can wound it, that means I can kill it!"
Pak—.
I kicked off the Troll King's knee, vaulted onto its shoulder, and kept hacking away at it with the Beam Saber.
Zuum, zuuum—.
Pak, pa-pak—!
Shattered ice sprayed from its body and stung my face, but there was no time to care.
"You little rat—! I'll eat you and survive this winter—! I am Kuri—sh—! The King of Trolls—!"
GOOOOO—.
An enormous hand reached out toward me.
Just as I thought I'd be caught, the hand stopped dead.
"Ughhhh, anything, just do it!"
I turned my head to see Jina standing at the exit again, hands pressed to her temples.
Blood was trickling from her nose—was the strain of the ability damaging her blood vessels?
She had put her life on the line for this, too.
"Good! Hold on!"
I kept driving the Beam Saber down into its shoulder. The tiny hole I'd barely managed to carve—it was only the size of my thumb, but it was enough.
Click—.
I wedged the special dynamite into the gap and immediately pressed the detonator.
KRAAAAAA-KOOM—!!!!
There was no time to cover my ears, no time to put distance between myself and the blast.
My body launched into the air—fwump—and fell just as fast.
Shriiiiii—.
Ringing filled my ears from every direction.
Through the blur, I could see the giant silhouette with its shoulder blown apart, collapsing in on itself.
"━──!!!"
I heard Jina shouting something at me.
Then came the sensation of Keong-keong-i and Ang-ang-i biting my arm and hauling at it.
I have to escape—.
With that thought, just as I struggled upright—.
Hissssssss—.
A fierce wind like the heart of winter swept through, and everything around us froze solid as the giant's body regenerated in the blink of an eye.
Even with a body of ice, a troll's regenerative power apparently knew no change.
"Hey, isn't that cheating?"
"Kurish—. Does not die until spring comes—! Cold winter, be gone— warm spring, come—! Until then, the Witch, I will eat—! Troublesome one—!"
The creature turned its gaze on Jina, who stood at the dimensional gate. It had clearly decided her ability was too troublesome.
Keong-keong-i and Ang-ang-i alike were paralyzed, their bodies locked by a chill that froze everything around them.
I scooped up my animal friends and hurled them toward Jina with all my strength.
"Jina! Take them and go! I'll handle this thing!"
"Th-then what about you!"
"You come back and rescue me! I don't die that easily! Besides, there's a finishing move I've been wanting to test in real combat. Hey! Troll! This time you'd better really watch out!"
Zuuuuum—.
When I scooped up the Beam Saber and it blazed to life, Kurish, too, hefted a proper chunk of colossal ice.
"Lingaan—, strong—. I heard the heroes of this land all died in the war—. Kurish, acknowledges you—. Therefore, will kill you—!"
As I drew the Troll King's attention, I saw the dimensional gate before Jina slowly, steadily closing.
Proof that the rift was fading.
Jina hurled Keong-keong-i and Ang-ang-i through the gate, then squeezed her eyes shut.
"Hey! I'm an Awakener too, you know! You really think I can just leave you behind? If I walk away now, I'll be chained to this one day for the rest of my life again!"
Pak—.
At last, Lee Jina dropped through the dimensional gate.
And that was the exact moment.
Sarurururur—.
The ice and snow across the entire area began to melt. Jorururur—. It melted so fast that the sound of it flowed together like a babbling brook.
In an instant, the air turned warm.
Everyone was thrown into confusion.
"What? What's happening! Haildo! Did you do this? Is this your finishing move?"
"No, this wasn't me. The only thing capable of this is—."
Tak—.
Troll King Kurish stood with his mouth hanging wide open, watching a colossal pillar of ice—his own kin in size—melt away. He looked around and spoke.
"Sp—spring has come—. At last, the endless cold of Himmelbert is over—. Has spring come to our lives as well—. My brethren—. Do you see it—! The coming spring—!"
Troll King Kurish rejoiced with his mouth agape. Maybe the warmer weather improved his vocabulary. Had his frozen tongue and brain thawed just enough?
But soon, the creature seemed to sense that something had gone terribly wrong.
"Huh? Ho—hot—! My body—melting—! This is not spring—! Summer—!? No, hotter than summer—! I'm dying—! Everything is melting—!"
Just as he said, everything that had been melting began to boil, hot and seething.
Kurish seemed unable to comprehend what was happening—but in the distance, I could see a figure walking toward us with a hand slipped into the pocket of its coat.
What was coming was no spring.
"Boiling Hell."