Buying Time
She slammed the scroll straight down onto the floor. The impact against the cold, hard surface was enough to trigger the mana-infused paper. Glowing lines spread outward from the scroll as if devouring the ground itself. The magic circle drawn in the center shifted shape, revealing a line of text in Gothic script.
[Time Remaining: 10 seconds]
The magic tower painstakingly built by the First World through sheer determination had activated a scroll worthy of a fantasy realm. The lich sensed something amiss and turned around. There I stood, scroll in hand. Its expression twisted in clear displeasure, as if someone had just invaded its new sanctuary.
I took a few steps back. The lich began to approach slowly.
Ku-rururung!!!
Dirt and dust started raining down from the ceiling. The faint tremors gradually intensified until standing upright became nearly impossible. Both the lich and I were affected. Cheon Mari somehow maintained her balance and charged toward the lich. A dark horizontal slash erupted upward and slammed into its side. There was no visible damage, but that was fine—as long as the attacks kept landing until something gave.
Even as the world shook violently around her, Cheon Mari swung her sword in rapid succession. With each dull impact, the protective barrier chipped away, scattering blue particles through the air.
“Damn it! If only I had more mana!”
She lacked the mana needed to channel aura. Though she had more than me, she was far from overflowing with it. From what I’d seen, she was only average at best. That was probably why she’d come here for the mana growth elixir in the first place. And now she was in this mess because she’d tried to help me.
While she hammered away at the disoriented lich, I pulled four more scrolls from my coat. Gripping them with both hands, I tore off the tops all at once and activated them. Just like the earthquake scroll, a timer appeared in the center of each one. I had five minutes—three hundred seconds—to attach them all to the pillars.
I crawled toward the nearest pillar with great difficulty.
“Tape, tape……”
I fished the tape out of my pocket, tore off a strip, and stuck the scroll to the wall. Then another on the opposite pillar, and the next, until only one remained. I peeled off more tape and pressed the final scroll firmly against the last pillar, hitting it several times for good measure.
But then something strange whistled past my ear. The sound of something slicing through the air—a blade.
I whipped around and saw the sight I’d been dreading.
“Haa, haa…… ugh……”
Cheon Mari was on her knees, coughing up blood. Tragically, sharp rocks were embedded all over her body. Meanwhile, the lich had its hand stretched toward us, as if preparing to cast another spell. But it simply lowered its arm and stared at me blankly.
When I turned back to the pillar, an ordinary yet horrifying scene unfolded. The lich hadn’t canceled its magic—it had already cast it. A long, jagged rock protruded from the pillar. Two fingers—half of the ring and middle fingers—had been severed and lay on the floor, sliding away from the hand.
Now only two fingers remained intact on my left hand, and three on my right.
“Damn it.”
I stared at the scene with detached calm. Around the same time, the earthquake subsided.
[Vitality: 1/5]
[Barrier: 0/5]
I hadn’t died despite the chaos. I should have been shocked, but I no longer had the will for it. My body was already covered in wounds anyway. One eye was swollen shut from being struck. The bitten areas were starting to fester. The surgical incisions had barely been sealed with elixir and metal pins. My internal organs were probably a complete mess. Losing a couple of fingers was hardly worth panicking over. It was just another small part of my body breaking down.
If the pain had been present, I might have taken it more seriously, but the lingering effects of the painkillers reduced everything to a faint sting. Still, separate from my judgment, a sliver of hope remained. I picked up the severed fingers from the floor and tucked them into my pocket, then boldly jabbed the morphine I’d received into my wrist.
Unlike what countless media portrayals suggested, there was no pleasure or hallucination. Perhaps because I was an Awakener, my already dulled senses simply grew even more numb.
I glared at the lich and drew my dagger. With only three fingers on my right hand, the only way to generate proper force was to use both hands. I awkwardly gripped the dagger, twisted it slightly, and aimed it forward.
Four minutes. I just had to hold out for four more minutes. Avoid direct confrontation and stall for time at all costs. It was an incredibly underhanded plan, but when your life was on the line, who cared about honor?
I tried to maintain the standoff, but the lich brought its hands together and conjured multiple magic circles in the empty air. Sharp rocks protruded slightly from the edges of each circle. Taking a direct hit would shatter bones and tear massive holes through flesh.
I couldn’t let that happen.
I exhaled roughly and pulled out my senses. If I got through this, I probably wouldn’t need to use them again for a while. So please—just once more. I crushed the worry that my senses might have worn thin. Gritting my teeth, I braced myself as the lich flicked its palm.
Sharp rocks tore through the magic circles and flew toward me. A faint light seemed to bend, and everything began moving in slow motion—just like when I’d fought the skeletons earlier. The only difference was that this time, everything felt even slower.
The sensation of defying reality filled me with extreme dissonance. It was clearly the morphine’s doing. At the same time, it gave me the confidence that I could do this. The rocks were nothing more than ordinary stones.
I ducked to dodge. I twisted my body to dodge. I stepped forward to dodge. I lunged ahead to dodge. I knocked them away with my dagger to dodge. I evaded the incoming rocks countless times.
But there was no end to them. The lich refused to let up, and if I stopped, I would die—so I kept moving. It would only end when one of us faltered. At a glance, it seemed like I had the advantage since I only needed to endure, but reality was far from that.
Even after all that dodging, the scroll timer had only advanced by ten seconds. Whether my senses were malfunctioning or I’d gone mad from the morphine, I couldn’t tell. Just as that endless nightmare was about to begin, Cheon Mari rose unsteadily behind the lich, blood still dripping from her mouth. She looked at me with a somewhat puzzled expression, then furrowed her brows in clear displeasure.
She gripped her sword tightly and charged forward once more.
“!!!”
The lich belatedly noticed her presence and redirected some of its magic circles. The rocks that had been aimed at me now rained down on her instead. Cheon Mari knocked them aside with her sword, enduring the pain of those that struck her, and rushed straight ahead. Blood scattered as her blade slammed into the lich’s head once again.
Its movements faltered, but the magic circles remained steady. She dodged with minimal motion, carving endless arcs through the air.
“Just die already! My mana’s almost—”
She groaned in pain mid-sentence. As long as she was fighting the lich, I couldn’t stand idle either. I stepped forward, dodging the sharp rocks raining from above. Following the training and teachings I’d received, I forced mana into my dagger. The faint trace I’d felt earlier vanished completely, leaving only an emptiness where mana should have been.
All in. It was reckless, but if I didn’t push through now, there might never be another chance. This was essentially the best—and only—option available. With the boss distracted and its attacks split, this was the sole opening.
Unfortunately, the boss wasn’t content to simply watch. Sensing the crisis from our relentless assault, it moved its hands in a hurry. It seemed to be casting something different from its previous spells. Cheon Mari tried to stop it, but the energy forming in its palm was faster.
A red aura swirled around the lich’s hand. It was dangerous. We had to avoid it. Yet Cheon Mari changed her stance and swung her sword again. She wasn’t backing down? Was she seriously trying to clash head-on? Waiting for something to happen looked incredibly reckless—more than reckless. It looked insane.
And sure enough, the lich struck her swinging sword with its fist. A tremendous shockwave slammed directly into the blade. The sound of a musical string snapping violently echoed in all directions. At the same time, the sword’s edge gleamed with a dark blue light before flying backward. She had lost her weapon. It was a desperate situation.
But the regressor didn’t panic at losing her weapon. Calm, as if she’d experienced this countless times before, she reached for her waist. There, a sharp tool—an ice axe or ice pick used for rock climbing—was strapped. She yanked it free, tearing the connecting ring from her belt. Blue particles immediately enveloped the entire metal head as she poured every last bit of mana into it with maximum speed and power.
It was the image of an athlete witnessing their final moment. Cheon Mari let out a battle cry and smashed the ice axe mercilessly into the lich’s head. Instead of a dull thud, it sounded like an ice pick striking frozen ground. Either way, the attack had clearly landed—and I was closing in as well.
Then it happened.
With a sharp crack, the lich’s head was pierced through. Its protective barrier had finally shattered. Cheon Mari shouted triumphantly.
“This bastard’s finally—”
But her joy didn’t last. A sickening crunch echoed through the air.