Chapter 2
Chapter 2
0. When a Hole Was Punched in the World's Ceiling -2
Let's not get greedy. In the face of survival, every other value becomes a luxury.
We abandon Seoul. We abandon everything we built and protected. With our bodies lightened that way, we make sure of exactly one thing—our lives. I gave the order.
"Tell Minjae and Hyejin to take the shelter civilians and leave Seoul. There probably won't be anyone to take them in, so tell them to go with the mindset of building a new base."
-What about you?
"What do you mean, what about me? Someone has to tank that monster while people get out. You're holding it off with me."
Clank.
I picked up my round shield and shortsword and rose to my feet. Through the in-ear, I could hear Minsik grumbling. And the sound of him loading an anti-materiel sniper rifle.
-Shit, you talk about dying together way too easily?
"When you were a manager, I covered for you when you smashed the rental car into a telephone pole."
-How long are you gonna keep milking that, you bastard! If you'd boiled it this many times, the bone broth would be clearer than tap water. So, what's the plan?
"Just one. Hold out until the Download finishes."
I let Minsik's "Download one-trick" comment slide. In this situation, what other desperate flailing could there possibly be?
Hunters each possess a unique ability, separate from their power to wield Magic Power. Kim Minsik's is the B-rank Bullseye. Any projectile he fires is guaranteed to hit within a certain limit.
And my ability, as an A-rank hunter, is Download -2. To explain simply, it's the ability to copy a target's power. Of course, it wasn't some broken ability that let me copy without limit. If it were, I'd have earned an S-rank title myself.
There are limits. Download speed increases the closer I am, and slows the farther away. Also, I can download into two slots at once. Copied abilities are single-use. Removed upon use.
And the base download speed is inversely proportional to the gap between me and the target. I can copy the power of a passing rabbit in an instant, but for a B-rank hunter, I'd need to stay close for about an hour to complete the download. Or stare at them from nearby for about 24 hours.
In other words.
-Oh boy, so... to steal the power of an EX-grade Monster, by the time the download finishes, the evacuated Seoul citizens would've built a pyramid?
"Exactly. Let's just hold out for about a hundred years, the two of us."
Meaning that copying the power of an EX-grade Monster would require an indefinite amount of time.
To utilize my download ability to its absolute limit, I'd gone all-in on defense. I carried a shield, and every single day I honed only techniques for blocking an opponent's attacks. So I was confident I could hold out even against opponents at or above my level, but.
Sssssssk-
I don't know if I can withstand the tentacle attacks of that monster, the ones that bring down buildings. It feels like three hits would leave me unable to move.
No. This was a fight to the death whether I worried about that kind of thing or not, so what was the point of being picky? Whether I could take a few hits or not—bury that in the back of my mind for now.
Don't think about the pain. Pain is brief.
I don't particularly need a will. Even if I left one, using that time to save one more person would be more beneficial—and besides, there was no one I wanted to leave it to. The things I wanted to say publicly, I planned to show through my actions.
Instead of what I'm losing, let's think about what I'm gaining. I won't even go so far as the audacious fantasy of earning a free pass to heaven with this. Still, whatever god exists after death, if they have a conscience, they'll let me see my mom's face at least once.
My resolution was made.
Now let's go die.
KWAAAAAAAH──!!
The moment the EX-grade Monster began moving in earnest, its threat level was about three stages above what we'd imagined. Its swinging speed was too fast. As if all the tentacle attacks up until now had just been idle humming.
It's far stronger than expected.
BANG-!
There was a sound like a rice puff being popped, but the actual phenomenon was a four-story building bursting like a balloon. I flattened myself against the ground and caught the debris with my shield. Ting, ting. It was like blocking bullets.
If you're asking whether I dodged that tentacle attack just now—no. I don't have the skill to dodge a building-sized tentacle swinging at near the speed of sound. That was pure luck.
Beep. A signal came through the in-ear. A scream, too.
-I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die, Noah Won! I've got aggro!
Shit.
"Slot 1, Lightning!"
Flash. KRA-KOOM-!
Lightning shot out from my fingertips and seared the monster's shell. It was a bolt of lightning from the sky that I'd absorbed in advance with Download.
Even though a lightning strike ranks among the most destructive naturally occurring phenomena, it only slightly scorched the surface of the tentacle. It didn't deal any damage at all.
Still, it bought time.
WHOOOOOOOSH-
Along with the sound of wind being torn apart, the tentacle that had been squirming near Minsik began swinging toward me as well.
Those monsters, regardless of size, generally resembled plants. Their reactions were relatively sluggish, and their sensory organs were dull. The EX-grade one was the same. It didn't seem to have the knack for finding a tiny human scrabbling around on the ground.
Which meant that if I got lucky, I could dodge this time too. I looked at the terrain features being deleted in real time and prayed to every god I knew.
Please, just this once, let me get lucky...
Thwack. Or thud.
I don't really know. What sound my body made when it collided with the giant tree-trunk-like tentacle. It seems both my eardrums blew out at the moment of impact.
When I opened my eyes, I was embedded in rubble. The fact that I couldn't feel my body meant something had gone seriously wrong somewhere. Luck hadn't held out twice.
I'm going to die.
I quietly checked Download -2. By rough feel, I'd absorbed about the ninth decimal place of that EX-grade Monster's power.
"...Ha, shit..."
Yeah. It was an absurd victory condition to begin with. I'd have had to keep "getting lucky with dodges" for over a hundred years to have any shot at beating that thing.
It was like flipping a coin endlessly and needing it to come up heads every single time. Tails meant death. And tails had just come up.
Is this it?
I fiddled with the in-ear. It was designed for combat, so it didn't seem to be broken yet. My eardrums were shot, so I couldn't tell if it was working properly... but for now, I pressed the connect button and left a message.
"Minsik, run. I'm done."
-......, ......... ........!!
"My eardrums are blown, I can't hear you. How much time do you think you can buy fighting alone? Huh? So... go."
-.........!!
After saying that much, I let all the strength drain from my body. I'd clearly been slammed into jagged concrete rubble, but somehow it felt as comfortable as lying on a mattress.
It had been an unfair life, right to the end.
[-]
Whenever I saw a glimmer of light, I got slammed down. Whenever things seemed to get easier, they blew up.
[Connecting...]
After scraping by like that, the ending sure is spectacular. An enemy I could never defeat suddenly appeared one day and ruined everything.
[Connection complete. Granting System connection authority to the individual with the most outstanding talent on this planet.]
Still, it wasn't so bad.
I lived by my convictions. Of course, there were times I bent or broke, but looking back, I never made a choice I'd seriously regret. That's enough.
Maybe because I was slowly dying, strange auditory hallucinations or visions were floating around even now. I...
[Healing the user's injuries.]
-Hey, Noah Won! Noah Won, answer me! Answer me-!!
"........?"
Whoosh.
My hearing returned with the sensation of jolting awake from a brief, sweet dream. My body felt light, too. With a dazed expression, I stared at the sentences floating in the air.
[A B-rank monster has been confirmed to have invaded the user's planet. As it is significantly higher than this planet's assigned danger rating, it will be designated as a Pending Stage.]
[Activating basic functions: Community / Party Matching / Stage Viewing / Status Window / Support Request / Shop...]
"Hold on, quiet. Minsik."
-Noah Won! You're aliv...
Let's think. What the hell is this?
Is it a dream or a hallucination? No. There's no way a little dreaming would fix a wrecked body back to perfect condition. I checked my physical condition. Perfectly healthy. It really had been healed.
Whatever this was, whatever kind of being, it had instantly and completely restored me, an A-rank hunter. And it was telling me it would let me use all sorts of functions.
In the current situation, what caught my eye wasn't the Status Window but the Support Request.
The moment I thought about selecting it, the Support Request tab was pressed. Then, after what seemed like a brief loading, the following message floated up.
[Match complete: S-rank hunter ■■ has responded to the Support Request. Do you accept? (Due to the extreme rank gap, a large amount of Credits may be consumed...)]
S-rank hunter, support?
"Yes!"
-?
"Yeah, yes, yes! I don't know what this is, but I agree!"
[(Reconfirmation) This Support Request may consume a large amount of Credits, and if repayment is impossible, gradually...]
I practically screamed.
"I said do it!"
[Request transmission complete. Dispatching...]
Thump. Thump. My heart was pounding like crazy. It felt like it would burst. An S-rank hunter was coming to help? I trembled with surging hope. Then I smacked my chest and tried to think rationally.
Get a grip. The enemy is an EX-grade Monster. Even if Max Owen, an S-rank hunter, showed up, it's unclear whether he could win. I don't know whether whoever comes to help can win or not.
Also, I still can't rule out the possibility that this is a hallucination. That I've gone insane. That I'm dreaming. Calm down. Calm down, Noah Won.
Calm...
How the hell am I supposed to calm down! How can I endure without hoping!
I might be able to save everyone! I might be able to save Seoul, and save my own life too!
That moment.
──────!!
A vertical line was drawn across the sky, and an infinite rift tore open, distorting day and night. And through it, something descended.
A person... a woman?
She who descended, cleaving through the heavens—that being—was a mysterious existence wrapped in a pressure I dared not look at directly. She clearly had a human form, but she was fundamentally different from a human.
Her presence was as if hundreds of billions of humans had been compressed and forged.
The moment I witnessed her, I realized. She was not some S-rank existence like Max Owen.
She was something far greater. Something close to a god.
"『■■』."
Soon, with a voice I heard but could never understand.
She raised what appeared to be a sword and swung it lightly. That was all. But the result was something I couldn't even have imagined.
Flash.
The world turned pure white.
Within the brilliance where I couldn't tell front from back, I barely managed to realize that it was white lightning. That White Lightning erased the EX-grade Monster from the world without leaving a single speck behind.
Awe.
In overwhelming awe, I held that pure white lightning in my eyes for a long time.
[Stage complete. S-rank hunter ■■ is returning.]
The light faded, and the world regained its original colors. But there was a huge difference between before and after it was dyed white. The EX-grade Monster was gone from the sky.
Erased as if it had never been there from the start.
I collapsed on the spot. A miracle had happened. Someone had helped me. It was done.
A life where unfair bullshit showed up whenever it felt like it. At the decisive moment, I'd received help I couldn't even have imagined. I survived. Joy and confusion and dazedness filled my head and rattled it around.
What came after was anxiety. I clenched and unclenched my hands in agitation. It felt like I'd fiddled with a machine I didn't know how to use and accidentally gotten a good result.
System... it had said.
Under normal circumstances, I would never have used a suspicious power like this. Who knows if it was some mind-control-type hunter's scheme? I'd used it without knowing anything because I was desperate.
If it was something that could fix my body on a whim, then conversely, it could also break my body. Sitting there, I decided I needed to investigate this System before dealing with the aftermath of a ruined Seoul.
And the moment I turned on the System interface.
I came to realize once again the eternal truth of life.
[Credits held: - 10,000,000,000 (Debt)]
[You will suffer penalties to some functions until the debt is forgiven.]
- Shop access restricted
- Skill growth via Credits impossible
- Block function disabled
- (See more)
"........Huh?"
That nothing in this world is free.