Floor 13: Forest of Insects (1)

Dobby's skills weren't actually bad.

And I meant that literally — not bad. Which was another way of saying they weren't good, either.

Having taken the physical enhancement injection, his reaction speed was decent, but that was all there was to it. For someone who claimed to have learned swordsmanship before, his form left a lot to be desired.

I couldn't tell if it was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠because he was still young, or if my standards were simply too high. But one thing was certain: he didn't look like he had Harin's kind of talent.

Well, we're only on Floor 13... he can train up gradually from here. With me as his teacher, surely he'll grow to at least hold his own.

"Aaahh..."

Lying flat on my back, I stretched out with a long yawn. The training had been low-intensity — I hadn't even broken a sweat, so I'd skipped the bath and simply flopped back onto the bed.

Thirty minutes until Floor 13.

That was when another notification popped up.

"Ha Heijeong."

Since the system checked her choice at the same moment mine went through, it seemed both parties had to register before a two-person party was formed.

Which made sense — otherwise, anyone could just claim whichever climber they wanted. That wouldn't exactly be fair.

Anyway, I was all set...

The notifications kept chiming away, so I turned my attention to the party chat. The noise was probably Cole's doing.

Spacetransition to the floor.

Before my brightening vision could even adjust, the dry voice of a notification reached me.

As my vision brightened, towering trees began to come into view.

It was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠less a forest than a jungle — so dense and overgrown you could barely see the sky.

Insects flitted through the thick canopy. But they were far too large to be called mere bugs.

They look like wasps, but that size...

Nearly the size of pigeons. Where a stinger should have been, each one bore a sharp, pointed tentacle instead. Some were red, some were blue — split evenly between the two colors — which suggested they were different species.

I checked the notification windows that rose before me.

Burns and frostbite, huh.

At a glance, neither seemed like a huge problem — the real issue was the sheer number of insects.

Thousands upon thousands of pigeon-sized insects swarmed through the dense forest. They outnumbered the branches — no, forget that, they must have outnumbered every single leaf in this place.

And what is that wing noise...

This wasn't the thin whine of mosquitoes or flies buzzing around. This was a deafening, thunderous beat of wings.

People often compare the wingbeat of an Asian giant hornet to the sound of a drone, and it's a fair comparison — I'd seen one up close before.

But what I was hearing now was even louder. It sounded like the propeller of a small helicopter. A heavy, low rumble rolled in from every direction at once.

The other climbers would be one bite away from the afterlife if a few dozen of these got to them.

In thirty minutes, every insect in the forest would begin its assault.

The core of Floor 13 was the Key Insects and the shelters.

To endure the insects' attacks as they shifted every thirty minutes, you had to find a Key Insect first.

Not that it's likely to be much of a problem for us.

Frankly, the insects didn't feel all that threatening to me or Ha Heijeong. Better yet, she wielded fire and I wielded lightning.

As it happens, nothing kills bugs quite like fire and electricity. Just think of an electric fly swatter, or blasting a hornet's nest with a flamethrower.

While I was mulling this over, Ha Heijeong spoke up quietly.

"You can probably already feel it, but this floor's nothing special. The bugs aren't much of a threat to us either. We just need to head right."

"Right? What's over there?"

"I know the hidden mission for Floor 13. There's an insect queen on the right. We take her down."

"Ahh... that's why you wanted us to move together."

I nodded.

"It's a bit of a distance, I hear? So let's hurry, kill the queen, then farm achievement points off the bugs while we're at it."

Ha Heijeong said this and tilted her head to the right. She wanted me to take point, it seemed.

I gave a nod of acknowledgment and turned right.

"Okay. Dobby, ready?"

"Kkiik! Goblin! Ready to go!"

With Dobby's spirited reply, we set off at a brisk pace toward the right.

Seven minutes remained until the neutral insects turned on us.

Hm?

And it was right then that I noticed a peculiar insect.

I hadn't spotted it with my eyes. It hadn't even entered my field of vision.

I hadn't been searching carefully in the first place, since I'd been told there was no need to bother with the Key Insects.

And it wasn't instinct, either. This was something different — a subtle, foreign sensation.

I stopped in my tracks and whipped my gaze toward that unfamiliar feeling.

When I, who'd been leading the way, abruptly halted, Ha Heijeong asked in a puzzled voice.

"Hey, what's the sudden stop? Seven minutes left, remember."

"Wait, hold on a sec..."

"Kkiik?"

I gave a vague answer and sifted through the swarming insects for that strange sensation. There were well over a hundred bugs in this area alone. Even if something did register, picking it out immediately was no easy feat.

"Didn't you say we didn't need to catch a Key Insect?"

Ha Heijeong must have read something in my demeanor, because she fell silent too.

I focused again and chased the foreign sensation. My eyes flicked rapidly as the forest scenery filtered in slowly. Fire insect — no, not that one. A branch, the base of a tree. Ice insect — not that one either. A leaf, the sky, a branch...

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

Fire insect.

Found it.

And that was when the sixth sense arrived.

A powerful conviction seized me: I had to catch that fire insect.

Drawing on the Essence of Lightning as naturally as breathing, I kicked off and bolted. In an instant, I was at the tree.

In front of it, I pushed off the ground and leapt. Then I planted a foot on the trunk and launched a second time.

Up to that moment, the fire insect hadn't so much as reacted.

Only now noticing me, it belatedly banked at a right angle — to the left of my ascending trajectory.

Clever little thing. It knew the limits of a flightless ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠predator: no way to change direction mid-air.

Not a chance.

I had Kashatum's Sky Shoes. I stepped on empty air and cut sharply to the side.

Had it relaxed completely because it never dreamed I could turn mid-flight? The insect kept going along its new path without moving again.

Only belatedly did it realize what I'd done.

Its wings went into a frantic blur. But it had been startled so badly it couldn't even pick an escape route. The insect's panic was plain to see.

In a flash, the fire insect tried to bank again — but I was faster.

I reached out and snatched it from the air.

It thrashed wildly in my grip. Thump, thump — its wings battered against my gauntlet, and I tightened my hold.

A faint wave of revulsion washed over me, though thankfully the gauntlet meant I couldn't feel the texture of the thing.

The moment I touched down safely, Ha Heijeong asked with a puzzled look.

"What's that?"

"No idea."

When I answered with equal bewilderment, she furrowed her brow. It seemed to mean are you kidding me — but there was nothing I could do about it.

How would I know? I don't have a clue either.

Instead of saying it out loud, I just raised an eyebrow. Ha Heijeong turned her gaze to the fire insect.

"If you caught it and it's not a Key Insect... was it a hunch?"

"Mm... something like that."

"What is it? It looks exactly like a regular fire insect."

She had a point. It was no different from the other fire insects at all.

The hornet-like build, the red carapace, the tentacle in place of a stinger.

Key Insects carried a key on their tails instead of a tentacle — but this one even looked identical in that respect.

If I'd sensed something, there had to be a reason...

"Want to kill it?"

"Mm, sure."

When Ha Heijeong agreed so readily, it was me who was thrown off.

I'd only been asking half-seriously...

"Really?"

"You have to kill a Key Insect to take the key anyway. If this thing's got something, it'll spit it out once it's dead."

"Hmm, now that you mention it, its belly does look a little swollen, doesn't it?"

Barely had the words left my mouth before Ha Heijeong's flames appeared atop the fire insect's head.

Well — it was the judgment of someone with plenty of experience.

I dutifully let go at the right moment. Since I'd torn off its wings during our conversation so it couldn't flee, there was nothing to worry about.

The insect plummeted toward the ground, burning. With a crackle of spitting embers, the fire insect vanished like dust before it even touched the earth.

And what remained was a small, silver key. The falling key struck the ground with a metallic ring.

"Hm'?"

"Oh?"

The same question — but slightly different.

Mine was the question of what is this? Ha Heijeong's carried the tone of someone who'd just realized something.

She let out a deep sigh, her brow creasing hard.

Hm. That's Ha Heijeong's about-to-lose-her-temper signal...

Sure enough, almost the instant I thought it, she exploded.

"Ah, those sons of bitches! They posted it to the community with the crucial info stripped out!"

"What do you mean, they left out crucial information?"