Chapter 99
Chapter 99
14. Sky Hole, Tearing Out the Roots -2
[Time remaining until invasion 25 : 11 : 44]
A visitor from space came to the Donghae camp. Wearing a military uniform with a slightly long jacket and a scarf wrapped around her neck, it was Sohye, who had come from a world that had survived a zombie apocalypse.
She came carrying her arms full of luggage and smiled brightly when she saw me.
"⋯⋯Noah!"
I laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of my head as I approached.
"Sohye, we've been seeing each other a lot lately. We already said our goodbyes, and this is the third time we're meeting, so⋯⋯ honestly, it's a little embarrassing."
"Oh, no, not at all. I like seeing you often. The later the goodbye, the better, right? Oh, would you like to check the items first⋯⋯?"
Sohye carefully set the items she had brought down on the ground. The motion was slow enough to frustrate anyone watching, but having heard a bit about the contents, I thought she could afford to go even slower.
After becoming aware of the C-rank Gate's existence, I immediately reached out to everyone I knew. Sohye was no exception.
I couldn't request troops. Since I was in debt and couldn't use the 『Shop』 menu, it was impossible to expand my forces through native relocation rights.
Instead, I tried to procure supplies.
"I couldn't get my hands on a nuke no matter what⋯⋯ but I was able to airlift in high-explosive ordnance. Andersen and I pooled our money and bought them at a bargain price from Colonel Oh⋯⋯"
Click, went the sound as Sohye opened the bag case. The carefully stored explosives revealed themselves. Just thinking about the lethality these small objects could unleash made my heart race.
Even though our worlds were supposedly similar, there must have been subtle differences, because Sohye's planet made explosives really well. Their firepower-to-size ratio was stronger than Earth-made products.
With these, we'd be able to land effective hits on the plants pouring out of the C-rank Gate.
I checked the contents and closed the case back up, sealing it. I'd store this somewhere safe and have it ready for use when the timer reached its final stretch.
I was about to signal the hunters to come carry the high explosives when I noticed an anachronistic box wedged among the pitch-black cases. It was small and crudely made.
"What's this wooden box?"
"Ah, that's from Andersen⋯⋯"
So Andersen sent it.
She'd said she wouldn't send holy water since it had no effect on plants, and that none of her other items would be particularly useful either, so she'd just told me to do my best. What could this be?
Click.
I slid the lock and opened the box.
Inside the wooden box was a single cigar, neatly placed. Along with a crooked, wobbly letter that looked like several children had taken turns pressing hard as they wrote, and a message left by Andersen.
'In celebration of the glorious victory of Holy Knight Noah Won, who drove out the corrupt clergy and the wicked outer gods and brought dawn to the Church of the Holy God, we present this finest-quality cigar made by our own hands.'
'Noah Won, may you triumph like the sun.'
-From all of us at the orphanage, opened in year 357 in honor of the rest and song of Saint Roynaldo-
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
If they were all going to pool their efforts to make something, there were plenty of better options. A scarf, for instance.
The fact that they'd sent a cigar of all things felt both fitting and a little strange. With complicated feelings, I took out the cigar and tucked it into my coat. I'd never smoked once in my life and never would, but⋯⋯ hmm, maybe I'd keep it as a good luck charm.
I turned around to say what was probably a real, final goodbye. There shouldn't be any more delays here, and even if something else came up—once I stopped the C-rank Gate, I was guaranteed to be promoted.
But after saying the same goodbye about three times now, I couldn't think of anything to say. As I stood there silently making eye contact with Sohye, she nodded deeply.
Then, clenching her fist tightly and striking a fighting pose, she said.
"Please succeed so brilliantly it makes me jealous, again. Noah!"
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
I'd definitely received her encouragement. I answered firmly.
"⋯⋯I will."
Definitely.
3. Resource expansion. (Complete).
4. Anti-plant offensive preparations. (Complete).
[Time remaining until invasion 10 : 04 : 00]
Whirrr— shaaaak-!!
"Are you not going to call Sergios? Noah."
Elijah asked casually as she diced plants, ground and all. I answered while keeping my own arms busy, carving up the primitive brains inside the flower petals.
"⋯⋯I'm not going to. He wouldn't come anyway."
"Hmm, he probably would, though?"
"I said he wouldn't."
"He— would— though—."
She smiled knowingly and drew out the end of her sentence. Her tone was full of teasing. Now that I looked at her, Elijah had this childish side to her.
I didn't bother engaging with it. Shouldn't I make it clear that if she kept saying weird things, people might start ignoring her?
"If you're not honest, you'll grow up to be a bad adult, you know?"
"⋯⋯Shut up."
"Hehe, Noah sometimes acts less than grown-up, you know——"
Look who's talking.
But she did seem especially playful today. I was watching her, wondering if something had changed in her mood, when Elijah brought up a rather random topic.
"You're close with the person called Kim Minsik, right? Noah."
"⋯⋯Yeah?"
"Then why do you call him 'you fucking bastard'?"
"Kgh."
I wasn't even drinking anything, but I nearly choked on my own spit. For a moment I thought I'd misheard. So⋯⋯ right, she must have overheard me bickering with Minsik from a distance earlier.
I'd cursed at him because that bastard had provoked me. But laying out this very Korean sentiment felt a bit much, so I condensed it into a suitable answer.
"⋯⋯Because we're close. We were just joking around."
"Hmm-hmm. So Noah is the type who prefers speaking a little roughly to his friends, then."
Then?
"If you want to split hairs, I suppose you could put it that way."
"Then won't you call me 'fucking bastard' too? Ah, am I not there yet?"
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
I squeezed my eyes shut at the sensation of my breath catching in my throat.
So all that chattering earlier—she'd done it on purpose. But who in the world tries to get closer to someone by asking for this? Elijah really was terribly clumsy when it came to this kind of— interpersonal stuff.
Elijah was a cheerful, good person, so she ought to be able to make at least one friend wherever she went. I had no idea how she'd ended up like this.
Well, fine.
If she wanted a more comfortable relationship, I could oblige. For better or worse, she'd stuck around helping me all this time. She could have gone back and bragged about how much she'd done.
But no matter how much she wanted it, I didn't want to start with insults, so⋯⋯
"⋯⋯Why don't you stop muttering and get to work? Elijah."
"If we're counting kills, I seem to be working dozens of times harder than Noah, so wouldn't it be fine for me to mutter dozens of times more?"
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
"Or, since Baby White Deer is a baby, I could show a little consideration as an adult—"
"Hey!!"
One more person who could piss me off had just been added to the list. Just as I was about to snap back at her—
Shshshshsh——!!
Bushes and mounds of dirt heaved as if exploding, and the queen of flowers, 『Rose』, revealed herself one after another. Even one of them was troublesome, but three had bloomed in a single spot. If we hadn't spotted them, this could have gotten ugly.
Since they were high-risk monsters, both Elijah and I shut our mouths and focused on the hunt. The next conversation came fifteen minutes later.
As we both caught our breath, this time I spoke first.
"You can go."
"Huh?"
"I'm saying it's fine for you to head back now. I accepted your offer to help with the Donghae business because it wasn't a big burden, but this is different. This is a life-or-death job."
It was enough.
What she'd done so far was already more than I deserved. So much that I felt reluctant to accept any more.
And if Elijah died while helping me, that would be a huge loss. She was a hunter I needed for my promotion ceremony, and in the long term, a reliable ally.
Setting all that aside—without Elijah, the only person I'd have to work with in the C-rank hunter world later would be Sergios. That was practically a nightmare. What could I possibly accomplish with a guy who couldn't even manage basic team play?
So it was all a rational calculation.
"Mm, I'll stay and help."
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
Making my calculations pointless, Elijah said she would stay in Donghae. And her reason was something ambiguous—half rational, half not.
"Then you'll owe me a debt too, right? Noah."
"⋯⋯I suppose so."
"When would I ever get a chance like this? From where I stand— it doesn't seem like that risky of an investment. I thought I'd buy up the bond while it was on the market."
Looking at it this way, maybe Elijah wasn't childish but had a wild side to her. The guts to jump into a risky stock with no idea where it was headed.
From here on, it was up to me. If I did well, Elijah would become a brilliant investor. If I failed to stop the Gate, Elijah would become an idiot who'd made the world's dumbest investment.
"So put this one down under Elijah's name, Noah. I'll come collect the settlement later!"
Well⋯⋯ sure.
One more creditor had just been added to the list.
For my friend's honor, I'd better work a little harder. Right, Noah Won?
2. Encouraging the allies. (Though it seems I was the one who got encouraged instead, complete).
[Time remaining until invasion 00 : 01 : 11]
Preparations were complete. I'd done everything I could.
Positioned on the rooftop of a hastily erected five-story watchtower, I gripped the shop-issue radio and glared at the anomaly Gate. The Gate had been growing little by little over time— and now boasted a width of nearly 50 meters.
The Gate pulsed, thump, thump, as if it would spit something out at any moment. Shadows flickered past beyond the deep blue membrane. The magic power concentration was high enough to feel an ache in my shoulders.
"All units, ready. Beginning countdown."
But the corners of my mouth were turned up. I'd finished preparations thoroughly enough to have nothing to be ashamed of. Honestly, I felt like this would be easier than expected.
"Five, four, three⋯⋯"
『Earth Dragon Art』.
A skill I'd downloaded from some remnant of the Hunter Monarchy who'd been lurking around Seoul—Park Dusik or whatever his name was. I never dreamed it would play such a major role here.
The massive construction project—which, even before the collapse, would have barely made the deadline using dozens of excavators and hundreds of dump trucks—was only made possible through heavy equipment overloaded with magic power generators, hunters' skills, and earth transport using Earth Dragon Art.
"Two, one. Gate opening. All units maintain alert posture."
The pit we'd barely managed to dig beneath the Gate was— 30 meters straight down. A full ten stories of apartment building height.
Crackle-crackle, KWAAAAA-!!
The plant horde revealed itself. Monsters in numbers dizzying just to look at crossed through that dimensional rift and set foot on Earth. And they prepared to contaminate Earth's soil and make it their own—
Swish.
—They couldn't. Because what their extending roots brushed against was not the earth, but empty air.
Thud.
A single plant plummeted. That 『Erect Violet』, which had shot out like priming water, free-fell for about 2.5 seconds before slamming into the asphalt at 87 kilometers per hour.
Splat-!
And that sound—one, two—began to multiply. Thud, thud-thud, thud-thud-thud.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud——!!
Without a single scream.
Plants poured down into the pit.