#22 The Stirring of Evil (2)
#22 The Stirring of Evil (2)
Leaping through the endless tide of flesh, the Team Leader felt the limits of his cherished sword drawing near. The more precise the machine, the easier it is to break.
'...I can't block them all.'
Hong Yuri had told him to "handle it." Meaning, figure out how to protect them himself. Refusing would've been one thing, but once you take it on, you see it through.
"Woo-taek!"
"Yes, Team Leader!"
"Just for a moment! One moment is enough! Can you stop it?!"
The reliable subordinate answered without a shred of hesitation.
"Yes! I'll do it!"
'Good.'
When he said he'd do it, he meant it unconditionally. As Hong Yuri's incantation rang out, her mana deepened to black.
"Acoperit în foc negru—"
'Hoo. She's dead set on this.'
A four-verse incantation so far. Even at high-speed casting, it was building toward a fifth. This was great magic, the kind whose mere use was forbidden within the city. Sensing the chilling torrent of mana being unleashed, a storm churned below.
'Good.'
Woo-taek kept his promise splendidly. His iron fist half-obliterated the monster. The mass of flesh heaved and crumbled, and before it could even fully collapse, it had already regenerated every shred of the damage.
'Three seconds.'
All that effort, boiled down to three seconds. As Woo-taek pulled back, the Team Leader looked at his sword and sighed.
"...It hasn't even been a year since I had this made."
Should he just swing a greatsword like that man? No, no. Swinging an uncultured slab of iron around didn't suit him. Not that he hadn't tried...
'Nothing for it.'
The Team Leader flipped his grip on the sword. He drove the reverse-held blade straight down. Burying it deep until only the hilt remained, he murmured quietly.
"Explozie."
With that simple short-sentence incantation, the rapier's blade, still embedded in the monster, erupted into fragments. The monster's movement halting once more.
"Arzând în abis și transformându-se în cenușă—!"
At last, Hong Yuri's magic was complete.
***
"Krrr?"
The mana that had encroached on and blanketed the entire atmosphere... I'd been watching, of course.
'Crazy bitch.'
Black Spot Explosion. That was the only way I could describe it. The crimson mana that had dominated everything vanished according to the spell she invoked—no, it converged onto a single point and gave birth to a black flame. And the moment that flame erupted, everything changed.
'.......'
I could only stare blankly.
That hand gesture, that single word—everything must have held meaning. It was a realm I couldn't begin to grasp in my current state. The black mass of flesh, the Budding Evil, was hideously incinerated by Hong Yuri's magic and reduced to ash.
[Blue Mane Leaping Frog consumed. Experience Points and Satiety increase.]
[Satiety at maximum. Devouring (D) Lv.6 skill converts Satiety to Experience Points.]
[Devouring (D) Lv.6 skill proficiency at maximum. Devouring (D) Lv.6 → Devouring (D) Lv.7]
[Experience Points at maximum. Lv.8 → Lv.9]
I dismissed the messages and scanned the field.
Back when I took down the Aranea in the Cobalt Dungeon, I'd thought I'd gotten pretty strong. And honestly, it's not that I'm weak. Objectively speaking, if you lined up hunters and monsters without any bias, I think I'd rank among the strong.
'...It's just that those bastards are monsters.'
Still, I didn't despair.
The first time I saw the Black Wolf, I could only tremble in terror, but everything I'd experienced since then had proven something to me.
'I can become strong.'
I had that certainty. I knew the path to strength. Hadn't I proven it on Jirisan Mountain?
Born the weakest slime, I'd eventually brought down the monster Wolf and risen as the Tyrant of the Mountain. I, who barely survived a fight with a rat, had clawed my way all the way here.
'So.'
Getting stronger was just a matter of time anyway. Still a ways off, but I didn't feel bleak about it.
'Speaking of which, now.'
The Budding Evil, the chimera, had fallen. Hong Yuri would be rushing over in delight any second now. ...Just imagining it was horrifying.
'I did hit Level 9...'
Hastily, I opened the [Acquirable Skills List] and obtained D-rank Stealth.
[Stealth (D) Lv.1 skill acquired.]
[Stealth (D) Lv.1 integrated into Stealth (D) Lv.7.]
[Stealth (D) Lv.7 proficiency at maximum. Stealth (D) Lv.7 → Stealth (D) Lv.10]
[Stealth (D) Lv.10 at maximum level. Stealth (D) Lv.10 → Superior Stealth (C) Lv.1]
'C-rank.'
I'd achieved my original goal. D-rank Stealth to C-rank. With this, I at least had a fighting chance at escape. Yes, now I had a real shot at getting out of this dungeon.
'But...'
Maybe I was imagining it. No, I hoped I was imagining it.
'...Did that thing just twitch?'
And more than anything, Hong Yuri was falling.
"......?"
My mind couldn't keep up with the sudden shift.
***
"......."
The paladin could only stand there, aghast.
A-Class. He knew how tremendous that was. Just as B-Class was a place that gifted individuals might barely graze after a lifetime of relentless effort, A-Class was the pinnacle, reachable only by the truly chosen.
'Even so, this is too much.'
Too much. It was on a whole different order.
Enough to stir a small doubt about everything he'd been doing until now.
"...Brother."
"Say nothing. I feel the same."
If people like them existed, were the rest of us even necessary? The paladin couldn't help the question. The moment the Black Spot first erupted, the paladin had thought he was dead.
Even though, rationally, she would never attack them.
A perfectly overwhelming gap in power shrinks a person all on its own.
'Was the difference this vast?'
"Damn..."
At the curse that drifted from somewhere, the paladin flinched and turned his head. There stood the comrade who had fought beside him moments ago... no, an A-Class hunter.
The paladin couldn't suppress a bitter smile. They hadn't changed at all. But if he were to shift his attitude just because of the power they held, would he be fit to face the Lord?
"What is the matter? The monster was gloriously vanqu—"
"Run! As fast as you can! I'll try to hold out somehow!"
A desperate voice. The martial artist shouted at them to flee. With hands mangled from having summoned that storm. But wasn't the battle over?
"......!"
The paladin lifted his gaze to the sky and only then understood. Her magic had unquestionably succeeded. No room for argument. The Black Spot had detonated, with force more than sufficient to kill the monster.
"Kh, hk!"
But the moment the swordsman descended, coattails fluttering, carrying her in his arms—he was forced to rethink everything.
The blade in the man's grip had no body left, and the mage in his arms had one entire flank torn away, drenched in blood.
Above all.
"Ah."
Churn! Churn! Churn!
The monster wasn't dead. The mass of flesh was writhing.
"Fuck... son of a bitch... pulling tricks at the very end."
"...I'm sorry. I couldn't hold it off properly."
At the Team Leader's self-reproach as he hung his head, Hong Yuri managed a weak snort.
"You dumbass. This much isn't going to kill me."
Was it the mental exhaustion, or the blood loss? The mage, her expression twisted, finally let her head drop. The paladin watched it all, helplessly dumbfounded.
"No way."
Had a tentacle pierced her at the final instant? Throwing her aim off? The paladin, who had just been feeling hollow, was suddenly swamped with a sense of crisis. The situation had overturned. The monster they'd thought turned to ash was twitching, pulsing.
"......!"
Of course, it wasn't regenerating fully this time. That alone offered a glimpse into what her magic had wrought.
"Ngh!"
But what was certain: with its regeneration, it would eventually recover even those wounds.
"...We're in trouble."
The martial artist's fists, which had summoned the storm, were twisted into horrific shape as the price. The swordsman's blade was shattered to pieces, nothing left but the hilt. And worst of all, the mage had a hole through her flank and was unconscious. Just a little more. Just a little more pressure and it would be over. The monster had no leeway left either. The proof was that it couldn't regenerate properly. Which meant—they had to press it now!
"......."
This was the chance. If they didn't stop it here, even the possibility would vanish. Was he going to watch Daegu become a ghost city and do nothing? Watch the home he'd protected for so long be trampled like this?
'I will not allow it!'
Even if it cost him his life, he would protect it. Steeling his resolve, the armored paladin felt strength filling the hand that held his hammer.
"Brother!"
The same situation as before. But this time the paladin, who had been able to do nothing but reach out, stood squarely beside the iron-fisted martial artist, shoulder to shoulder.
"I will fight with you."
"...It'd be wise to stay clear now."
Despite Woo-taek's dissuasion, the paladin shook his head.
"I know my strength is lacking. But! To that accursed monster! To the beasts that once trampled the Lord's domain!"
Thud! His massive hammer struck the ground hard. Using the recoil to shoulder the hammer, the paladin charged forward with powerful strides.
"I will not stand by and watch them trample our home again!"
***
'So Hong Yuri failed.'
I'd hoped she'd wipe it out clean, and now that she actually failed, it felt strange. I thought I'd feel some petty satisfaction, but I didn't. Even from a distance, I could clearly see Hong Yuri falling. Though I didn't see what exactly hit her.
'...Then it's game over.'
Who was going to stop that mass of flesh, the Budding Evil?
'No, it can be stopped.'
Yes, it could be stopped. But who would protect Daegu until they arrived? The Temple's main force?
'Even then, it'll be ugly.'
Even if it could be stopped, the city would be reduced to ruins. The creature couldn't be allowed to break free from here. And most of all.
'...Something tells me it's chasing me?'
[Lv.10 Achievement Condition: Lure the Budding Evil.]
'.......'
If the System set that condition, then probably.
'Does that mean it's chasing me right now?'
Had saving Park Yo-han earned me a grudge? No, even so, wouldn't chasing Hong Yuri come first? All I did was rescue Park Yo-han, while Hong Yuri practically beat it half to death. Aren't its priorities backwards?
'...Did Hong Yuri actually die?'
I didn't know. But the wound was the kind that wouldn't have surprised anyone if she had.
'Damnation.'
Whatever had happened, unless I planned to live without ever hitting Lv.10, it meant I had to lure the thing eventually.
'Awoooo.'
Why the hell does the System always set conditions like this? Would it break something to give me an easy mission for once? It's always missions that feel like being shoved into a trial...
[......]
The System stayed silent. No point pressing it; nothing ever comes back. Eventually I had to brace myself.
'What the hell do I do about this.'
The one silver lining was that its Agility was the lowest stat. 409... The Aranea had been 438, so maybe I could somehow dodge. But while it was staggering now, once it fully regenerated, even that would be overwhelming. And just because I lured it didn't mean some brilliant solution would magically appear.
'...I'm losing my mind. For real.'
Whatever happened, for better or worse. I had to go toward that insane mass of flesh.