Kirin's Nest (3)
Kirin's Nest (3)
I led Kim Harin and Lee Ji-ah, who had been persuaded by my words, along with me.
"Then I'll cast the spell."
Lee Ji-ah chanted a spell, and I felt something like a force field spreading around us. When I lightly touched the force field, lightning crackled and sparked.
I reached my hand toward the wall. My hand passed through it. There was no strange sensation. Feeling strangely fascinated, I passed through the wall.
Once I passed through the wall, a massive passageway appeared, wide enough for five people to walk through without issue. The inside was strangely bright. I could see about 20 meters ahead without any trouble.
"So this is the hidden stage..."
Lee Ji-ah looked around the passageway with sparkling eyes. I walked behind Kim Harin.
"I explained this earlier, but... with this much mana, it's actually one of two things. Either it's on the verge of death, or it's incredibly weak."
"...No way?"
"Given the nature of this dungeon, it's likely the former. So, Harin-yang, please deploy your Mad Wings in advance and block from the front."
"......."
For a moment, Kim Harin glared at me. Then, she instantly changed her expression and nodded with an unsure look.
"Don't worry. Harin-yang's Mad Wings are more than enough to block it. Besides, if Harin-yang's Mad Wings couldn't block it, it would be a total wipeout, so why would I have come here?"
I gave her a good-natured smile and pushed her forward. She sighed and moved ahead.
Had we walked about 10 meters? I felt something catch in my senses. It wasn't just me; Kim Harin and Lee Ji-ah's expressions also stiffened.
"Harin-yang, please."
At my words, Kim Harin closed her eyes.
Paat!
A cluster of light instantly dominated my vision. Wings woven from light appeared behind Kim Harin's back.
One, two, three. Three pairs of Mad Wings were formed. That was her unique trait. It was a sight as if an angel had descended.
Flap.
The wings made of light glowed and spread wide open.
"Wow, is that the Mad Wings? I've only heard about them, but they're really as pretty as the rumors say."
Lee Ji-ah's eyes sparkled as she looked at the Mad Wings Kim Harin had spread. Kim Harin's Mad Wings were definitely pretty. They were popular enough in the game that even all the female characters showed interest in them.
"Mm-hmm."
Kim Harin answered Lee Ji-ah's comment, looking a bit embarrassed.
That was when it happened.
Flash!
"Huh?"
Lee Ji-ah muttered blankly. I, too, stared at it blankly for a moment.
At the edge of my vision.
A lizard-like creature with yellow horns was firing lightning from its horns. A flash of light erupted.
Paaaat!
In response, Kim Harin's Mad Wings began to emit light. The light shone brilliantly, creating something like a barrier. The barrier enveloped us and began to absorb the lightning directly.
"U, uwaaa... Si, Siwoo-ya, th, that just now..."
Lee Ji-ah fell into a panic. However, Lee Ji-ah had also already set up an Earth Shield to surround us.
To set up a shield of the opposing attribute even while in a panic—as expected of one of the essential characters.
I knew we were safe, but the fact that I could have died for a second almost sent me into a panic. I quickly put on the Mask of Serenity.
'That just now, it was no joke...'
The anxiety that had surged for a moment subsided in an instant.
Yet, I still felt anxious.
The Mask of Serenity forcibly pulls down negative or positive emotions to make one calm, but if those emotions are too wild, it's impossible to completely suppress them.
Above all, the moment I take off the Mask of Serenity, my emotions will run even wilder.
While wearing the Mask of Serenity, I 'layered' the Spearman's Mask on top. I was overlapping the masks.
Doing this drastically reduces the duration. It was a method I rarely used because the time would drop sharply from tens of minutes to something hard to maintain even for a minute.
...But if I just wore the Spearman's Mask like this, it was questionable whether I could keep my sanity. Strength surged, and my senses became sharper.
I took a rod out of my bag and infused it with mana.
As I infused the mana, with a click, a blade emerged from the rod, and the staff part lengthened. I poured most of my mana into the short spear and threw it.
Pook!
Accompanied by an unpleasant sound, the spear plunged into the lizard's mouth as if sucked in. The spear pierced straight through the Thunder Lizard from its mouth to its tail. Seeing that scene, Lee Ji-ah began to chant a spell. Kim Harin spread her Mad Wings and rushed toward the lizard like an arrow.
Perhaps the lizard had exhausted all its energy with that previous strike; as Kim Harin's sword came down, it couldn't even put up a fight, and its head flew into the air.
"Huff. Huff."
Kim Harin gasped for air.
I blankly recalled the situation from just a moment ago.
It was a strategy that had only been mentioned in theory within the game. It was impossible to actually use because the schedules didn't overlap, but even veteran players considered it one of the fastest growth routes if one could pull it off.
Since Kim Harin had actually withstood the Thunder Lizard's strike, the theory was correct. I had felt a crisis to my life, though... I realized that theory and reality were quite different.
'But the strategy worked.'
I let out a sigh of relief in my heart. I ran my hand through my hair, and it fell, soaked in sweat. It was cold sweat.
I approached Lee Ji-ah. She was still in a panic. I took her hand with my hand that wasn't covered in sweat. I had heard somewhere that holding the hand of someone in a panic can provide a great sense of stability.
"Are you okay?"
"Oh, yeah. Oh, I'm okay now."
Perhaps thanks to me holding her hand, Lee Ji-ah fortunately regained her senses. She then took a deep breath, steadied her breathing, and calmed her mind and body. It was a calmness unlike a high school student. Lee Ji-ah and I slowly walked to the end of the passageway.
When we reached the end of the passageway, a spacious area appeared. To exaggerate a little, it was wide enough to play soccer. In the center was an altar, and on the altar were boxes.
And below it lay the Thunder Lizard, which had just fired that strike and now had its head severed.
I checked the rewards with Lee Ji-ah and Kim Harin.
Among the rewards, there were jewels and gold coins, but these weren't very important.
I turned my gaze.
A thick book that would put most dictionaries to shame, a dagger glowing with a blue light. And a Magic Crystal the size of my fist. Judging by the density of the mana I could feel, it would be worth roughly 1 billion won.
I used Knowledge Access to examine both items.
[Mark of the Lightning Fire]
A dagger in which the power of lightning sleeps.
-Spell: Lightning Shock
-Increased lightning attribute mastery.
[Thunder Spirit Divine Art]
A martial art modeled after the Four Spirits, the Qilin.
Consists of the Lightning Flying Sword Technique, Thunder Spirit Heart Method, and Wind-Thunder Sprinting Style.
I checked just in case, and everything was the same as in the game.
They are all excellent rewards. The Mark of the Lightning Fire is a weapon that users rated as incredibly good in the early game and good in the mid-game, and the movement technique included in the Thunder Spirit Divine Art, the Wind-Thunder Sprinting Style, is a martial arts manual evaluated as the fastest movement technique in the game.
I don't need anything else. What I want is the Thunder Spirit Divine Art. Money is nice to have, but that was an item you couldn't get even if you paid billions.
"How should we split the rewards?"
"Let's split it among the three of us. Ji-ah also created an Earth Shield to block the attack."
Kim Harin spoke, and I answered. At my answer, Lee Ji-ah's eyes went wide. However, Kim Harin also nodded as if agreeing with my opinion.
"Huh? But I didn't really do anything."
Lee Ji-ah said, her eyes wide.
"If you feel sorry, you can make me a magic tool or something later."
"Yeah, make me one later."
Kim Harin nodded and affirmed my words.
"Then how do you want to split the rewards? Does everyone have something they want?"
"I'll choose the dagger."
Kim Harin said quickly at my words.
"Then I'll choose the book."
I also quickly grabbed the book. It was quite heavy. I put the book in my bag. Naturally, Lee Ji-ah picked up the Magic Crystal. We decided to set aside the gold coins and jewels to distribute later.
Having collected all the rewards, we returned to the hotel without any regrets.
Immediately upon returning to the hotel, I devoured the martial arts manual. Whether it was the influence of entering the game world, the effect of the special perks, or because I had become younger, putting the contents of one book into my head wasn't difficult.
However, given the thickness, it took a full two days. A day would have been enough, but we had moved to search for the Thunderbird in the meantime.
I asked soldiers and people around to find out the whereabouts of the Thunderbird, but they said the Thunderbird hadn't been seen for a few days.
'It seems like it was caught first.'
I thought, recalling the Thunderbird carcass at the cave entrance. I had mentioned my thoughts as we finished the search today, and Lee Ji-ah and Kim Harin also agreed.
-Right?
-I thought this mission would be the hardest of my school life, but it turned out to be the easiest and sweetest mission.
This mission felt like I was getting it for free. The Qilin's Nest, and the mission itself. The rewards were already sweet, and since it was a mission on the level of a Thunderbird subjugation, wouldn't I get something good from the principal too?
Thinking that, I opened the martial arts manual.
'It's incredibly difficult, more than I thought.'
To be honest, I did have a tendency to underestimate it. The mana cultivation method I learned from my parents was very easy, so I had taken it lightly, but the Thunder Spirit Divine Art was esoteric.
It would take quite a lot of effort to master this. But I'm not worried. Because I have the Knowledge Access perk.
I activated Knowledge Access. The strange and esoteric words were transformed into something easy for me to understand. I wrote them down one by one in the notebook I had taken out beforehand.
I don't use a computer. In an era where supernatural abilities and modern civilization are combined, there are people with unique traits related to 'hacking'. Just in case, there's no harm in being careful.