Floor 26, The Great Awakening (2)

Down through the open air I fell.

A ferocious wind swept past my body, but it didn't bite at my flesh — it was a warm, almost gentle breeze.

In the center of the battlefield, I caught sight of the Great Priest, chewing at his lip. His face was anxious, hollowed out; all of his earlier ferocity had drained away.

Across the crimson battlefield that had once brimmed with sticky, festering mana, the pale gloom of a blue dawn had somehow already settled. Clean, crisp air filled my lungs to bursting. The very atmosphere rippled everywhere across the field.

The grass across the plain bowed low before the wind as it came rolling in like a raging tide. The wind wrapped itself around the devotees' bodies, then reached out farther still, becoming an invisible blade.

The monsters were torn apart first, and the heretics came next.

Amid the howling gale, among the mounds of slaughtered corpses, the only one still standing unharmed was the Great Priest.

It seemed he had been left alive for my sake.

The Great Priest looked wildly back at the heretics who had been cut down in the space of a heartbeat, his face frantic.

"O Goddess... shield us with your wind."

The Pope's devout voice rang out clear and sharp, while the stunned stares of the frozen climbers burned against my back.

My landing point was right in front of the Great Priest.

I bent my knees slightly to absorb the impact, then spun the axe in a full circle and settled it across my shoulder. At the same moment, a rippling current of wind surged out from the ring on my left hand and embraced me.

So the seal on the Wind Bellows has been released.

I didn't need to check my status window to know it. A soft breeze was tracing every corner of my body.

"Been waiting long? Sounds like you made quite the fuss looking for me."

With ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a faint smile, I rotated my wrist and swung the axe in a wide arc. Good. The wind was aiding my every movement.

It felt as though air resistance had all but vanished — the difference in speed was something I could feel in my bones.

The Great Priest's expression hardened as he lowered his spear at a diagonal.

"Fool! Releasing the heretic's god changes nothing!"

"Yeah? Funny — I see it a little differently."

"TERROR!"

As if there was nothing left to say, the Great Priest cried out his god's name. A crimson light flickered along the length of his black spear — but its menace was drastically diminished from before.

In the instant I charged forward with my axe held firm, a blue radiance spilled from the ring and wrapped itself around the blade.

The Wind Bellows — the path of the wind lay vivid and clear before my eyes.

I surrendered my body to the wind's guidance and moved. The charge met almost no air resistance at all. Even without using Flash Step, I moved with the speed of a gale.

The Great Priest accelerated to meet me head-on, but the wind rippling around his body made him look heavy, sluggish.

Still, he seemed stronger than when we'd met in the swamp.

But not nearly enough.

The Great Priest's first strike was a thrust. From left to right — I swung my axe to meet it, timing it perfectly.

CLANG—! The moment we collided, a violent shockwave of wind erupted outward.

Perhaps the blue dawn wind was aiding me, but the Great Priest's spear was flung farther than I'd expected, helpless and spinning away.

I crushed the axe's rebounding impact with all the strength in my arms. With the wind lending me its strength, I drove power through both shoulders and whirled the axe around behind my head.

There was far too much distance for the flung spear to return in time.

His guard was wide open. I brought the axe crashing down with everything I had.

The wind guided the blade, and at the speed of a tempest the axe shattered the Great Priest's collarbone and buried itself deep.

"Kghak—!"

"Let's not meet again."

The wind surged in along the lightning that coursed through the axe. The Great Priest's body split apart, cleaved clean in two.

Floor 26 was over. I turned away, wrenching the axe free.

Several hundred thousand devotees were staring at me. Well, how should I put this...

I gave an awkward little smile.

"WAAAAAAH!"

"Kwon Suhyeok! Kwon Suhyeok!"

A beat later, a thunderous roar erupted across the field.

In the eastern sky, at the very edge of dawn, the sun was rising.

Soaking in the steaming Training Hot Spring, a pleasant drowsiness washed over me. At the same time, my body was being mended, and vitality seeped back into my limbs.

Mentally I was a little worn out, but my eyes just wouldn't stay heavy — a wide-awake sort of tired, if that made sense.

While I was busy shaking Dobby awake — he'd nearly slipped under the surface of the spring — a message from Ha Heijeong came flying in.

In the middle of typing my reply, a question occurred to me.

The stat gains this floor had been especially generous. Three hidden missions, and hefty boosts to my stats — which meant the hot spring's efficiency was excellent too.

Even while chatting with Heijeong, I had the community pulled up beside me.

Even though I'd been in the Waiting Room for quite a while now, the stream of praise for me showed no sign of drying up. Watching it put a smile on my face whether I wanted one or not, which was exactly why I'd kept the community open.

Heijeong wasn't wrong. Why I'd suddenly vanished in the middle of the battle, how I'd shattered the crimson world, why the goddess had abruptly returned — none of it made sense without me. Curiosity was pouring in from every direction.

It had even gotten to the point where Alexei and old man Hosu were sending me personal messages.

More fun than I expect, huh? If she refused to tell me, it probably meant it wasn't as critical a floor as the last one. Maybe one where you had to use your head? Or a floor like the 8th, where you fought it out with other climbers?

Well, no use guessing. I'd find out when I got there.

A floor that only admitted two. If Heijeong and I went in together, one of the other pairs would inevitably lose out. There could only be a single top performer per floor.

Unless I knew the hidden missions in advance, or it turned out to be some pivotal floor, splitting Heijeong and me apart would've been better for everyone…

But all that came flying back from Heijeong was a single question mark.

Uh... this was her sulking, wasn't it?

I scrambled to list out every reason I'd said what I did. But Heijeong's mood didn't seem to thaw in the slightest.

"Like we're still in a black-and-white film~"

I finished my combat training and stepped out of the bath, humming to myself without even thinking about it.

There wasn't any particular reason for it.

Except that, at the end of my fight against the Administrator with the difficulty cranked up, my axe skill had leveled up by one. An unexpected harvest in a stretch where my growth had been crawling along.

By the time I'd finished my shower, Dobby was already sprawled out on the bed, rolling around, and he turned his head toward me.

"Kkiik! Suyeok! Dobby feels good!"

"Happy? Well, good for you. Anything you want to eat? Name it — I'll buy it all!"

"Kkiik! Dobby knows everything costs the same anyway!"

"Whoa, sharp one, aren't you?"

"Kkiik! Dobby is not a fool!"

I traded silly banter with Dobby as I opened the shop. Not that what Dobby would eat was ever in question.

Fan-cut steak.

I hadn't seen him touch a single other food since the day he first tried it.

Now, what would I have? It had been a while — I was craving ramen…

All right, ramen it is.

Partway through breaking up the noodles with my chopsticks, my eyes drifted over to Dobby. Maybe it was because I'd just watched the battle between the Stilled Fear and the Blue Dawn Wind, but Fenrike came to mind.

Was Fenrike doing all right? Last I'd heard, he could talk with Dobby now, too…

"Dobby, how's Fenrike doing? You two still talk now and then?"

"Kkiik! Talked in the desert! Fenrike says! Working very hard! Told Dobby not to worry!"

"Not much word from him since then, huh?"

"Kkiik! No, sir!"

Working hard, so don't worry.

Fenrike was a deity who had lost his planet, after all. On top of that, he'd been sealed inside that necklace right up until I freed him.

Even liberated now, reclaiming a lost planet didn't look like an easy road for someone who'd spent so long trapped in a necklace.

But I couldn't say any of that to Dobby, beaming with hope the way he was.

I smiled and gave his head a gentle rub.

"That's a relief. If he's working hard, that's what counts."

"Kkiik! Suyeok! Don't pet while Dobby is eating!"

"Yeah, yeah. Eat up."

A gloomy hospital ward spread out before my eyes. There were no windows, and in the corner of the room stood a steel door fitted with iron bars.

Was this what she'd meant by "fun"?

It felt like an escape room.

I read the explanation calmly, but the message didn't reveal all that much.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Well, if it's an escape room, blocking spatial-movement skills goes without saying.

Tracking-related skills being sealed too meant the clues to escape were probably hidden somewhere out of sight.

And Stealth and Presence Detection being blocked — that meant there were enemies…

"All done thinking?"

The voice from beside me broke my train of thought. It was Heijeong. She was wearing a bloodstained hospital gown, but only her eyes were gleaming bright.

It had been a while since the two of us had a quiet moment like this, just the two of us.

Come to think of it, was this the first time since the Floor 20 rest area?

Things inside the floors had been too frantic for far too long.

Her light brown eyes sparkled as she looked at me. There was something expectant in her gaze.

"Roughly? But…"

I glanced around the room. Dobby was nowhere to be seen.