Floor 24, Kokari Swamp (2)

Comet had worked hard for an entire week gathering information, and he explained it to me with great diligence — but honestly, it wasn't all that useful.

The rough locations of the heathens, and the fact that a powerful guardian was among them. That was about the extent of it.

He must have realized it himself, because when he finished speaking, Comet lowered his head as if ashamed.

"That's everything I know.... I've failed the Goddess, and I've failed you, Kwon Suhyeok."

But I had no intention of blaming him. It wasn't his fault. Comet had done his best.

The wretched state of him after two weeks of hardship spoke for itself.

"No, you couldn't use the Goddess's power in that situation. You've suffered enough."

Moved by my consolation, Comet's eyes glistened with tears.

Two weeks alone in the heart of enemy territory, under miserable conditions. Even the smallest word of comfort must have been a lifeline to him.

Really, all that mattered was knowing the exact location of the heathens' main camp.

I would handle the rest. That was the whole point of the trial.

The very fact that I was meeting Comet here again was the message: fix this yourself.

"You said you knew a route without traps?"

"Yes, but after that trap triggered earlier, their surveillance will be even tighter."

"Don't worry about that. I have a solution for everything."

"Could it be... the way you appeared out of nowhere earlier...?"

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

I gave a small nod, and Comet's face brightened.

Just as he suspected — I would cast the Shadow Veil and slip deep into the heathens' territory.

And then, just like at the slave factory on the 21st floor, I would destroy the heathen horde from the center outward.

"Then let's rest a bit before we move out."

"What? Shouldn't we go right away—"

"Comet, you're in terrible shape. That food I gave you — that's the first meal you've had in days, isn't it?"

"Uh, about three days, give or take..."

Comet mumbled, avoiding my eyes.

The scenery of the swamp we'd crossed came back to me. There hadn't been so much as a patch of clean water anywhere.

Considering his flight from the desert, he'd rarely had a proper meal at all.

The Comet before my eyes looked thoroughly exhausted.

Only now, having met me, was the adrenaline keeping him going, letting him forget the fatigue and pain.

The moment combat started, that debt would come due and drag at his heels.

So a real rest was absolutely necessary.

"There's plenty of time. Get some rest. This is for the Goddess's sake — you'll move better with your body cared for. The enemy will be on high alert right now, so night is the better time to infiltrate anyway."

"...Yes. I wasn't thinking far enough ahead."

Comet leaned his head against the wall of the dugout. Less than thirty seconds after closing his eyes, soft snoring reached my ears.

It seemed sleep had come the instant his tension finally released.

Comet and I had rested in the Waiting Room, so we were in good shape — though I had forced Dobby to sleep anyway.

The heathens' main camp. There was no telling what situations might arise. I would be fine, but Dobby needed to conserve every ounce of stamina he had.

Afterwards, I used Comet's information to sketch out a rough plan for the coming battle.

First, I infiltrate as deep as possible through the Shadow Veil.

From the center, sow chaos, and bring the whole heathen force down.

Still, I couldn't be entirely optimistic.

The Shadow Veil had been dispelled once before, back at the slave factory on the 21st floor. I suspected another god's power had been at work.

This time, too, the heathens' god could render the Veil useless.

If that happens, they'll have us surrounded in an instant.

Comet, at least, I probably didn't need to worry about.

I hadn't seen him fight properly yet, but he was the Goddess's Great Warrior — he had to have some skill to speak of.

Dobby could hold his own for a while, too, and with his barrier, he could survive even a crisis.

The problem is that powerful guardian....

According to Comet's guess, it was most likely one of the heathens' Great Warriors.

It would be my job to take that one on — the trouble would be if the Great Warrior turned out to be no pushover.

If the fight didn't end quickly, Comet and Dobby would have to hold out against the assault of every other heathen present.

I can cover them with the Essence of Lightning and Shadow Lord, though.

This was an entire floor, so the guardian couldn't be as troublesome as the Overseer we'd met at the 21st floor factory.

Still, having contingency plans drawn up for every possible scenario put my mind at ease considerably.

Watching Comet and Dobby sleep, I too drifted off for a while.

Night had quietly settled over the Kokari Swamp.

Within the narrow field of vision, scraggly old branches crowded thick around the mouth of the dugout.

Between the leaves, a slice of the star-drenched sky peeked through.

Not a single cloud marred the heavens, so the moonlight was bright — but not much of it made it down through the dense jungle canopy.

A swamp soaked in shadow. A perfect night for infiltration.

Amid the strange chirring of unseen insects, Comet woke from his sleep exactly eight hours later.

"...It's already night. I must have slept too long."

"Not at all. You woke at just the right time. You haven't been able to sleep properly for a while — do you feel any better?"

This was a man who had spent a week in the heart of enemy territory. There couldn't have been a single night of true rest amid all that tension and fear.

Comet, his face looking refreshed, gave an embarrassed nod.

"Haha, yes. Thank you."

"Shall we get moving, then?"

"Let's do it."

"Dobby."

"Kkiik! Goblin! We go!"

The moment we stepped out of the dugout, I spread the Shadow Veil.

In the heart of the jungle at night, the veil looked sturdier than ever before.

The world within it, rendered in inverted white and black, fascinated Comet so much that he went wide-eyed and looked around.

"This power, too — I never saw anything like it in the desert."

"There was no need for it last time. But don't put too much faith in it. In a place this quiet, sound can still leak out."

Comet nodded with a tense face.

Our route forced us through thick undergrowth, so there was no hiding every last sound.

The only solution was to slow our pace.

Well, I'd pinpoint the enemies' positions before they ever made out our sounds — but there was no harm in a little caution.

"Before we go in, let's set hand signals. This one means stop, this one means advance, this one means stay alert."

"Stop, advance, alert. Understood."

Now, a richer vocabulary of signals would've been nice, but there are only three of us. We didn't need many.

Just in case, I confirmed once more that Dobby and Comet had memorized the signals before setting off.

The direction followed Comet's guidance — a path free of traps, where the heathens' patrols ran thin.

Though they couldn't see us, the Argar might catch the scent of living people, so we avoided the swamp itself as much as possible.

And so, after about thirty minutes of walking —

We found the heathen force.

The distance: two hundred meters.

Too far for the naked eye through the jungle trees, but they couldn't escape my sense.

The instant I felt the heathens' presence, I raised my right hand in the stop signal.

Comet tensed and hurriedly scanned left and right. I lowered my voice to a whisper.

"It's all right. There's still a good distance. Eleven o'clock direction, about eight of them. Keep your voices down."

"Eight... that must be a reconnaissance patrol. Usually it's around four, but the explosion earlier today must have swelled ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠their numbers."

Comet continued, drawing on his own experience.

Come to think of it, no corpses had appeared at the site of the explosion. And that had happened just this very day....

From the heathens' perspective, beefing up their patrols made perfect sense.

"What do we do? Shall we take them out and pass through?"

Comet asked in a hopeful tone.

Perhaps he wanted to repay them for all the suffering they'd put him through?

I shook my head.

"No. We go as deep inside as possible first. Leaving traces this early does us no good. The numbers are overwhelmingly against us."

"Understood. Then shall we move in the opposite direction?"

"No — they're coming this way. Looks like they patrol along a set route. When they pass, we slip in along the path they came from."

Comet nodded, agreeing it made sense.

A path that had already been traveled is always laxer in its watch.

If we went the other way, we might run into a different patrol and get boxed in.

Well, with the Veil up we wouldn't get caught anyway... but there was no need to take pointless risks.

"From now on, we stay absolutely silent until they've passed."

Before long, the heathen patrol swept past right in front of us.

Nothing about their appearance was particularly remarkable.

Human in form — but the smell radiating off them was fishy and sour.

After a moment's deliberation, I realized what it was: blood.

A thick scent of blood, sharp and unmistakable. And not old blood — fresh, still warm.

In that instant, Comet's words and the notice window's message flashed through my mind.

Human sacrifice. The heathens who reached beyond the swamp, clawing their way toward the continent itself.

Had they been out making offerings when ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠they took up patrol?

There was no way to know.

And at that moment, a gaze fixed upon me shattered my reverie.

What the—?

I turned my head to find one of the heathens staring straight at me. Our eyes met across empty air.

Hollow eyes, as if awareness had drained out of them entirely.

They were not the eyes of a sane person. Setting the man's strength aside entirely, the sight alone was enough to breed dread.

Comet noticed the stare, quietly swallowed — then startled at the sound of his own breath.

Could the creature actually see through the Shadow Veil?

No. Stay calm.

The Veil hadn't been pierced. The inverted world before my eyes proved it.

Looking again, slowly, I could see that while the heathen's eyes were aimed at me, they ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠held no focus at all.

The heathen was simply staring into dark, empty space.

Sure enough, another heathen called out to him.

"Pikante! What are you doing? What's out there?"

"Nothing. Never mind. It's nothing."

"Come on. Shift change is soon. Hurry back so we can rest — it's been a long day."

"True enough. Let's go."

Watching the heathens recede into the distance, Comet let out a rough, ragged breath.

He must have been on tenterhooks, terrified we'd been made.

"When he looked this way, I thought we were finished."

"It was pure coincidence. We all stare off into empty space sometimes, don't we? That's all it was. Don't worry about it."

Barely calming Comet down, I resumed walking — along the path the heathens had come from.

They'd been back and forth more than once or twice; along their patrol route, a narrow footpath had been worn into the ground.

The soil was damp, so footsteps would likely show if we weren't careful....

Doesn't matter. It's the middle of the night.

The moon was bright, but not bright enough to reach the ground through the undergrowth.

And when this night was over, the heathens' stronghold itself was slated to come crashing down — no real need to worry over footprints.

About twenty minutes had passed since we started walking again.

Because we were following a route the patrol had already traveled, we occasionally felt the presence of people in the far distance — but no one crossed our path.

And that was when things went wrong.

Well-built wooden structures belonging to the heathens had begun to come into view when I realized that something had gone very, very wrong.

Torches flared to life all around us, driving back the darkness in a rush.

And through the light, I could see the heathens prowling about with fire in their eyes, torches clutched in hand.

"Emergency! Emergency! We have intruders! Find them!"

What on earth was going on? None of it made sense.

How could they possibly know we were coming?

"...What is happening?"

"I don't know either."

I hedged in answer to Comet's question.

Don't tell me that heathen from earlier really had seen through the Shadow Veil?

No. That wasn't it.

He hadn't seen me.

Which left two possibilities.