Thought Acceleration

Gnolls aren't that strong of a monster.

At least, not when they're alone.

The problem was that dozens of them stood right in front of us. And the numbers kept swelling from somewhere, more pouring in by the second. On top of that, they were smart for monsters. Even now they held back instead of charging, sizing us up like they were waiting for the rest of their pack.

We were surrounded on all sides. We had to break out before their numbers grew any larger.

I activated a skill at once.

I poured only as much mana into the arrow as I had used against the Sky Blowfish. The shaft left my hand with a sharp whish, splitting midair into three paths—not broken pieces, but like two perfect clones had formed. They punched clean through the snub-nosed bastards' skulls.

"Grrrr..."

A few of them stumbled back, startled by how strong the attack had been. My confidence surged. I fired again.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Three more dropped with every volley. Heads gone completely—no recovering from that. This was easier than I'd expected.

Clang!

"Yipe..."

"They're coming from behind us too!"

"Block them properly. I'm watching even if you lose. Isol, Yong—leave the bow to Donggeul and draw your swords!"

The hyena-like monsters shifted with us, keeping their encirclement intact no matter which way we moved. No matter how many I dropped, I couldn't break free. Wherever they were coming from, their numbers grew faster than I could thin them. If they were hyenas, they should've been busy chewing on the ray corpses littering the ground. Instead they were pissing me off.

"It took about ten minutes to get here from the entrance, so at this pace it'll take twenty to get back."

"We're fine, but will you be okay alone that whole time?"

"Hmm..."

The mana cost wasn't huge. At B-10 I had more than double what that Lee Daeman from the Sand Garden had carried. But burning 0.5 percent on every shot would empty me in no time. I needed to be tighter with it...

"They're coming—watch out!"

The Gnolls decided the moment had arrived and charged in earnest. I had to hold the front at minimum. Compared to Werewolves their speed was far superior, and they carried weapons on top of it. Letting my guard down was a luxury I couldn't afford.

They came at me like dogs, swinging rusted curved blades at my throat.

Whoosh—!

Too fast to dodge cleanly. I threw an arm up on pure reflex—and felt a cold jolt like the limb had been sheared clean off.

My heart slammed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into overdrive. Everything around me—the Gnolls' swings, every scrap of motion—slowed to a crawl. At the same time my energy drained at a terrifying rate.

I was borrowing a senior's skill, but I still couldn't reinforce my body with mana the way a real Awoken could. One hit had just cost me four percent. If this kept up the energy would bottom out in seconds... just thinking about it made my blood run cold.

But how the hell was I supposed to use mana to strengthen myself? No skill prompt. No YES/NO window. Nothing.

Fuck. I want to use it too!

Just let me use mana already!

The moment I willed it, a new message bloomed in front of my eyes.

Turn the shield off? Now? What kind of bullshit was that?

Another Gnoll's blade smashed into the back of my skull. Everything still moved in slow motion, but my body was locked at the same sluggish pace—I couldn't dodge. Only my thoughts ran at normal speed.

My heart hammered. I had to drop the shield in a situation like this? Leave it up and the energy would hit zero first. No choice.

I'm not going to die from this... right?

The instant a third blade scraped across my face, I killed Auto Shield.

Something flooded every inch of my body.

"Ugh—!"

It felt like my blood had started to boil. Power surged so hard I thought I might burst. What the fuck was this?!

The next swing came at me. Their movements were still molasses-slow. I needed to turn the shield back on, but—

Huh?

My body moved at normal speed. Their attacks crawled while I alone moved freely. I slipped the blade sideways without even reactivating the shield, then loosed an arrow behind me. 0.1 percent mana was plenty.

Thwack!

The arrow punched through the back of a Gnoll's skull while it was still stupidly carving empty air. The head exploded; blood droplets hung so clearly I could count every single one.

I methodically put arrows through the skull of every Gnoll charging me and every one racing toward my teammates. Their faces filled with pure shock as they watched. To them I must have looked impossibly fast.

What the hell had happened to my body? For a second I almost believed I'd become a Transcendent myself. Power overflowed. But energy kept draining steadily the whole time Thought Acceleration stayed active—so it was a short-burst ability only.

Great. Looks like I'll have to spend every night with female Awoken just to recharge this energy.

I finished popping the heads of every last snub-nosed bastard surrounding us. Another 17 percent of energy vanished in the process. Lucky I'd cleared them all before it hit zero—that had been close.

This is wasteful. Can I stop it now?

The message answered at once.

"Haa... haa... huff... huff... whoo..."

Pain crashed through my entire body. Sweat poured off me like rain. I felt like I'd just run a marathon while getting the shit beaten out of me.

Drip. Drip.

Damn it—even a nosebleed. I definitely couldn't throw this around casually...

Wasteful or not, no choice.

I wasn't about to burn extra energy just for a nosebleed. I restored only my stamina and wiped the blood off with my arm. It stopped soon enough.

I sat on the ground, staring at the dirt and gasping, when the others came over. A warm cluster of light brushed across my body—Donggeul's heal. Good thing I'd saved the energy. I'd been so busy slaughtering Gnolls I'd completely forgotten we even had a healer.

"Team Leader... are you okay?"

"Hyung-nim, that was incredible. What even was that? A monster... no, you really are a Transcendent after all."

I lifted my head and looked at them. Two of them crowding close with concern, one watching me calmly—and Kim Isol standing with both hands on her hips, glaring down at me.

Thankfully no one was hurt.

Thankfully?

When had I started worrying about these people...?

Ah. Right. Because I planned to borrow their abilities later. That had to be it.

"I'm fine."

"You didn't overdo it? You're bleeding from the nose."

"Is that what happened, Hyung-nim? Then we should get out of here fast. Look—a few of them are still watching us."

The Gnolls we'd killed were almost certainly only a fraction of what lived in this dungeon. We needed to leave before more arrived. Both energy and mana were already down by nearly half.

But first there was something to do.

"What are you all standing around for? Pick them up."

"Huh?"

"Pick up... what?"

"What do you think? Those bent swords they were carrying."

"These are all rusted..."

"They're just rusty—they're still expensive. Grab them before more show up and then we run!"

Things had gone sideways, but this haul looked pretty lucrative. Those curved blades were loot from C-rank dungeon monsters. Poison sacs from the hard-to-handle blowfish ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could wait.

We each scooped up more than ten swords and sprinted for the gate. Auto Shield was back up, yet I could still use mana. Right now I was basically a 99.9 percent Awoken—and a high-tier one at that.

"What is all this? How did you even get these inside the dungeon...?"

We emerged carrying the male ray's stinger we'd left near the gate plus nearly sixty curved swords, then headed straight for the management office. A young civil servant made a fuss the moment he saw us. He hadn't heard the real shocker yet.

"This is an emergency. Notify the government immediately."

"Excuse me?"

"There's another gate that appeared inside this dungeon. We confirmed C-rank dungeon Gnolls in there. These swords are the proof."

"A gate appearing inside a dungeon?"

This guy wasn't doing his job. He talked like he'd never heard of it—though with the whole "classified" thing, maybe that made sense. Still, he wasn't some old man. The internet had been exploding over the Cheonji-dong incident just days ago. How could he not know?

"You know the Cheonji-dong incident, right? Same situation. Report it now. We don't know when the gate might reverse-flow. If they don't send a large force of Awoken to clear it..."

"W-wait ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a second. Is that true?"

"Would rays be walking around with swords like these?"

"Th-that's..."

Only then did he start making calls. Once I confirmed he was on it, I immediately contacted a contractor. Ray stingers and curved swords. The reverse-flow risk was worrying, but personally this was a massive jackpot. A coward like me only felt at ease once anything valuable was safely handed over to a company.

"Um, Kang Junghyeok-ssi? Someone wants to speak with you."

"Me? Who?"

"The management headquarters director..."

Director? Was that a high-ranking person? I knew nothing about civil-service hierarchy, so how was I supposed to tell?

I took the phone anyway.

He clearly had no idea about the recent string of incidents. Since it was classified, only the higher-ups inside the government probably knew. Which meant this guy might not actually be that high up.

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

"Feel free to check it yourself. If it really reverse-flows, you'll be the one taking responsibility."

"I've already reported it. It's not my responsibility anymore."

Sorry, but we hadn't filmed any of that. I'd planned to record only on the last day...

"We don't have any."

"I do have evidence. Loot we obtained from hunting the Gnolls... one piece of it."

I lied and said "one" in case they tried to confiscate every expensive curved sword as evidence. Even I had to admit my quick thinking was impressive.

"Then don't believe me. I'm hanging up. If the gate reverse-flows, you might be the first one to lose your head. That's all."

He kept ranting, so I just hung up. The management official beside me was trembling and fretting. From the way the guy had talked about city budgets, he was probably the Daejeon regional gate management headquarters director. Honestly...

If he'd just been polite I would have rented recording gear, gone back in, and filmed proof for him. No manners at all.

"Um..."

"You heard all of that, right? If anything goes wrong, you'll be the first to die. When a gate reverse-flows, the monsters hit the management office first. So either convince that director or contact the military yourself—hurry. Unless you want a dog's death."

"......"

My words were harsh, but something that blunt was needed to snap him out of it. Ignoring this when the city was right next door was suicide either way. In the end the official's face hardened with resolve and he started making frantic calls all over the place.

We watched for a moment, then loaded the loot onto the truck the equipment contractor had brought and left together.

But what about tomorrow?

They'd probably seal this dungeon to F-Teams for a while. So was this expedition over after only two days?

We had no video for the company, but we had the loot. That should be proof enough. And since it was extremely high-value, they'd probably be thrilled.

I wondered exactly how the company would react.