Chapter 117
Chapter 117
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 117
Chapter Title: Guild Master Isn't Enough with Just the Game
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As soon as Abyss charged toward the building, the guild members whipped their heads around as if they'd been waiting for him.
“Abyss-nim!”
[Combat situation ended.]
The Fullminak hunters hadn't just herded the android troops from the military's experimental building—they'd wiped them out entirely.
It was only natural, since the guild master had slipped them the strategy for taking down those android soldiers before heading out.
No reinforcements had arrived yet.
Seeing Lea, Open, and Kaisha safe meant the rescue operation had definitely succeeded.
Hellcannon asked urgently.
“Kaisha-nim—”
“Prepare rear support!”
At Abyss's command, the guild members swiftly swapped out their skill windows and followed behind him.
They moved quickly into the forest.
Hellcannon, who hadn't gotten an answer about Kaisha, trailed after Abyss while stealing glances at him, but Abyss suddenly grabbed Hellcannon by the collar and snapped.
“You—I'm warning you, stay out of it. Don't get in the way!”
“Abyss-nim, calm down!”
Maya stepped in, unable to stand it any longer.
Smack!
Abyss roughly shook off Maya's hand, his eyes flashing fiercely before he abruptly looked away, dropping his gaze to the side.
Maya watched Abyss with worried eyes.
Maya asked.
“Was the situation that bad?”
“……I was just a hindrance to Kaisha-nim. Me. Pathetic, me.”
In the end, Abyss's anger wasn't directed at Hellcannon—it was at himself for doing nothing but get in Kaisha's way.
Hellcannon bowed his head at the voice cracked with shattered pride, and the guild members along with the summoned bound heroes wore heavy expressions.
If Abyss was this worked up, it meant no one here could step up to help Kaisha directly.
Maya came up with a solution.
“What do we do now? Should we contact Dart?”
“We've got a separate chat for guild-affiliated rankers where we exchange updates now and then, but everyone's swamped fighting error codes right now.”
When one member raised his hand and spoke, the guild members' faces hardened.
Not only did the error code Kaisha was facing look nothing like the one Abyss had seen in the European Union camp,
but error codes weren't just a single entity after all.
Abyss clenched his fist tight.
“There aren't any hunters stronger than Kaisha-nim on this channel anyway.”
The guild members looked at Abyss.
Abyss stared toward the forest, where skill effects and noise kept exploding nonstop.
He turned his head and shouted.
“Buffs ready! Signal flare!”
At Abyss's order, Maya nodded and launched a firework effect skill to signal Kaisha that support was prepared.
Whoooosh—
Bang!
As the sun dipped low and the sunset began to ripple across the sky, a vivid light and sound announced the Fullminak guild members' presence.
Boom!
Kaboom!!
Right after, in a blink, the sound of skills detonating raced toward them at breakneck speed.
Kaisha was coming.
“She's here!”
“Don't provoke with ranged attacks—just buffs…….”
Abyss muttered as he watched for another opening amid the extreme tension, but as soon as he sensed the error codes' auras, his body froze solid.
Not one, but three.
An overwhelming wave—no, a tsunami of pitch-black aura crashed over them, pinning the entire group in place.
Boom! Kaboom!
Flash,
Rumble-roar-boom!!
Amid the collective held breath, the sounds of desperate combat echoed out.
In that instant.
Kwaaang!!
A massive impact rang out, followed by someone hurtling toward the building.
Green shield.
“Kaisha-nim!”
Boom!!
A few cried out and twitched to rush forward, but Kaisha had already smashed through the building wall at tremendous speed and embedded herself deep inside.
Whoosh. Whoosh whoosh.
Three streaks of purple light immediately trailed after her, tracing paths of luminescence.
Kaboom!
Thud!
Keeeng, boom—!
More shattering erupted from inside the building, along with frenzied fighting sounds.
It had all happened in a flash.
Did the building wall have some device blocking mana or auras? Suddenly able to breathe again, the guild members panted one by one, then panicked.
“Di-did anyone get a buff on her?”
“Hah, crap!”
“The pressure was so intense we totally missed the timing to cast buffs.”
“How does this even happen…….”
They'd all been overwhelmed by the unidentified, menacing aura.
Abyss, still reeling from the shock of seeing Kaisha blasted away—and sensing the error codes' auras stronger than in the forest—opened his trembling mouth.
“Bu-buffs.”
The guild members, who had frozen along with him and missed their chance, flinched and looked at Abyss.
Abyss shouted.
“Buff me—now!!”
As guild members and heroes poured every buff skill they had onto him, Abyss scaled the building wall and vanished inside.
In the heavy silence that followed, someone finally spoke.
“Ah, suddenly hitting me hard…….”
“I was totally frozen earlier, couldn't even breathe.”
“How is this possible?”
“No one successfully buffed Kaisha-nim in that situation? Does that make any sense?”
“But we were overwhelmed by the aura, just waiting for her to get close, and then we see her get launched—how do you even snap out of that?”
“This is insane.”
“Do we just wait like this?”
“Even if we risk our lives, the question is whether we'd help the guild master. If Abyss-nim says we're a hindrance, we can't ignore how serious this is.”
“Maybe we all head inside and try for buffs or shields at least.”
“What if they burst through from the other side?”
“Haaaah.”
Just listening, you could tell the fight inside the building was raging across wide areas, bouncing everywhere.
Kaisha's bound heroes, who'd been eyeing a chance to follow, bowed their heads.
If there was even a slim chance they'd interfere, better not to go. Especially since Kaisha was fighting with a kid on her back.
“Um, is there any way I can help Kaisha-nim?”
The voice cracked awkwardly.
The guild members, who had been pacing and sighing heavily, all turned to one person at once.
Surprisingly, the one who asked in such a clear, pure voice was none other than Lea—the mother of the forest dwellers and the so-called Forest God.
What situation was this? The guild members exchanged glances.
Lea said.
“Actually, I was fine with it.”
The guild members didn't catch Lea's words right away.
A beat later, the reaction exploded.
“Th-that was ‘fine’?! I felt like someone was churning my guts!”
“Huh? What?”
“You mean the aura?”
“What happened?”
“Seriously?”
Amid the guild members' shock, Lea looked baffled.
“You all looked so crushed by something, completely frozen—why was I the only one okay?”
Open, who like the others had been overwhelmed by the unidentified aura and couldn't breathe for a moment, furrowed his brow. Kaizen stared at Lea silently too.
Just then.
Kwaaang!!
An explosion from not too far away.
“That way!”
Maya shouted and bolted toward the sound, the guild members loading buff skills and hurrying after her.
Their guess was spot on.
The fighters inside had burst through a wall in that very building.
* * *
Fighting inside the building wasn't all that tough.
After designating teleport skill positions a couple times, the knack came alive—even in the cluttered environment, I could shift my body perfectly.
The problem was I wasn't fighting alone; I had something on my back.
It took me embarrassingly long to realize my back was soaked—not just from sweat, but drenched.
“Yugeon?!”
“Focus ahead—worry about me later!”
The moment I tried to turn and check on Yugeon, an attack came from the front.
Kwaaang!!
I missed a beat; even with a hasty front shield, the shockwave sent me flying.
“Urk!”
For the first time, Yugeon slipped off my back and tumbled across the floor.
Boom!
I scooped Yugeon up in a rush, dodged the attack with a teleport, and sprinted down a passage leading to another building.
Whoosh!
Since the wounds weren't from the error code's attacks, my healing skill quickly mended Yugeon and me.
Yugeon, cradled in my arms and breathing a bit raggedly, said.
“I can't keep going.”
“Did the error code hurt you?!”
“That's not it. I'm seriously hindering you. Drop me off anywhere once we cross—just leave me and go. I'll handle myself.”
“…….”
Yugeon, looking like a child, telling me to abandon him.
It hit hard.
Sure, his grip was strong for a kid, but what could a child possibly handle on his own? I couldn't even imagine it—didn't want to.
As we crossed the passage into the new building, Yugeon urged me.
“Hurry. I knew from the start—”
I said.
“Your previous owner abandoned you. You think I'd make you go through that again?”
The being in my arms flinched.
I remembered that bitter, nostalgic, lonely feeling from Midgard, when fighting the Demon King had left me confused.
Yugeon said to me.
“……I'm really okay. You know that. My body can just be remade anyway.”
“Don't talk nonsense.”
“You're the one with the weird stubbornness—”
“Just because you can remake your body doesn't erase the feeling of being abandoned! Die in my arms if you have to!!”
“!”
Even if Yugeon died like this and remade his body, the emotions from this moment would linger in his heart for sure.
The sadness of abandonment.
The joy of being cherished.
Those wouldn't fade from the heart.
Even as I ran with Yugeon in my arms, the error codes pursued from behind, spewing horrific auras.
Seeing myself overwhelmed from within by this mad surge of ‘fear’—an ‘emotion’—failing to give my all even in a life-or-death crisis, a thought struck me.
Maybe what matters isn't reality itself, but my ‘emotions.’
No matter the actual situation or appearance of reality, if I could control my heart, this emotion at will—what kind of life would that be? The fleeting thought crossed my mind.
For an undying Yugeon, only emotions would remain anyway.
Even if Yugeon died, as long as he died in my heart's resolve to protect him without giving up, that would hold meaning.
If heaven and hell hinge on our emotions alone, and if through my words and actions I can bring light to you amid this darkness like death itself.
Perhaps
this reality is all illusion, and that alone is real.
“I'll never abandon you.”
My voice resonated not just in my ears but through my whole body, pounding my chest.
In that instant, like gulping oasis water after deadly thirst, a cool sensation spread from my heart throughout me.
“!”
Flash!
Yugeon's body glowed.
[Name: Yugeon
Connection: 21%
Energy: 11.8%
Description: Rapidly recovers connection and energy through dense affection.]
Yugeon hugged me tight and, instead of praising my vocal talent or calling me a genius, said something I'd never heard before.
“……Thank you.”
His voice cracked with emotion.