After D?eath (1)
After D?eath (1)
Returning Dead Mountain Spirit - Dead Mountain Revival.
A Taesan necromancy-type expansion ability. Due to its battlefield-wide area of effect and raw output, it consumes mana and heart power at an extreme rate.
But the results were undeniable.
Across the vast battlefield, undead and monsters intertwined.
A monster died.
Immediately, the earth swallowed its corpse and soul, completed a vitality injection and contract in a single breath, and spat it back out as an undead.
An undead was destroyed.
Rather than being restored, it fused with another undead to form a composite beast.
If damaged beyond any practical use, it ignited its stored vitality and self-destructed.
The entire sequence required no special manipulation.
Once within the expansion ability's range, it simply happened, automatically.
- KWAGAGAGANG!
An explosion erupted deep within the front lines.
The force sent debris soaring high into the sky. It was a detonation triggered by a fairly large composite beast.
After confirming the blast, Lee Ji-yeon assessed her own condition.
Returning Dead Mountain Spirit - Dead Mountain Revival was an expansion ability that even within the Taesan family, only a handful could deploy.
As such, manifesting and maintaining it was challenging.
The Lee Ji-yeon of the past had been the same.
But the Lee Ji-yeon of the present could handle it.
She could draw mana and vitality from the ground to meet the cost.
She could handle the manipulation of vitality that entered her domain, as well as the consumed heart power.
"I will expand the range."
"......"
Her gaze fixed on a distant point, Lee Ji-yeon spoke calmly.
Concern flickered across the faces of the Dark Evil Unit members, but in the end, they voiced no objection and followed her orders obediently.
The heir of Taesan, and acting family head. From their position, following orders was a given.
Yet beyond her station, the person Lee Ji-yeon herself commanded compliance.
The Lee Ji-yeon of this moment was that reliable.
Her unwavering presence, like a towering mountain range, naturally instilled faith in her.
'Where on earth did my junior go? And why did that bitch Baek A-rin suddenly lose her mind, talking about some tower, a Tower Master? A Tower Master is possessing her? Fuck, what the hell does that even mean?'
In truth, Lee Ji-yeon's own head was filled with nothing but chaos and question marks.
Just a moment ago.
Lee Ha-yul had unleashed a bizarre attack to annihilate a 3rd-Rank monster in a single blow and shook the unidentified Tower.
Lee Ji-yeon had seen it too.
But then, out of the blue, Baek A-rin had snapped and tried to stab Lee Ha-yul in the back.
Lee Ha-yul said that a Tower Master had possessed Baek A-rin, that he would resolve it himself, and vanished with her through a spatial leap.
'Insane.'
If it weren't for the situation, she would have buried her face in her hands.
Biting her lip internally, Lee Ji-yeon maintained a rigid expression as she manipulated the undead.
She dispatched a few undead as a special detachment towards Lee Ha-yul's location.
She herself had no means to track Lee Ha-yul's whereabouts.
But the other women shared the location data they'd wrung out of Terramor, which was linked to Lee Ha-yul.
Within the vast zone isolated by the Special-Grade Dungeon's outbreak, Lee Ha-yul was said to be at its very edge.
'What the hell is he trying to do?'
Though there had been some distance, Lee Ji-yeon had glimpsed Lee Ha-yul's expression as the spatial leap swept him away.
An expression of anger, yet calm. As if he had known this would happen.
An instinctive unease mingled with the rational unease born from Lee Ha-yul's history of actions.
'Please... don't let anything happen...'
Her heart yearned to sprint to him at once.
But behind her stood far too many people.
Among them, many were from the Taesan family.
Even so, she wanted to go to Lee Ha-yul. But the presence of those precious to Lee Ha-yul here made it impossible for her to simply leave.
'Thanks to that undead, we can breathe a little, but...'
Lee Ji-yeon glanced sideways.
KWARURURU! From the heart of a monster-packed horde, a gush of blood surged upward.
A murky blood-wave crashed over the ground, swallowing monsters, while a crimson blood-mist raged overhead.
- KRAAAAAAH─!
An undead tearing through the battlefield like a mad fiend.
It was the undead called Aerus that Lee Ha-yul had shown before.
Just moments ago, when a corner of the front line nearly buckled and caused casualties, that undead had astoundingly ambushed and ripped apart a 3rd-Rank monster, buying us some breathing room.
Still, Lee Ji-yeon could not abandon her post.
In the end, all she could do was trust in Lee Ha-yul.
The sense of helplessness, still lingering despite her obvious growth, refused to fade.
Gritting her teeth, Lee Ji-yeon roused her mana to resolve the front lines as fast as possible.
- ...KUUUUUUUNG─!
That was the moment.
The Tower, which had been ceaselessly spewing monsters, abruptly shuddered violently.
"The monsters..."
The very ground heaved. Lee Ji-yeon, sharpening her tension, widened her eyes.
The Tower's wall.
As the tremors continued, the dark aperture that poured forth monsters gradually shrank, until it finally sealed shut completely.
Simultaneously, the biting chill that had been growing stronger began to subside.
The cold aura seeping into her skin thinned, and only then did warmth return to her stiffened body.
With that oppressive force gone, the process of mopping up the remaining monsters became comparatively easier.
"Ji-yeon!"
Hong Yeon-hwa approached Lee Ji-yeon, who had been controlling the undead until the very end.
She was panting heavily. After Lee Ha-yul vanished, she had been incinerating and carving through monsters like a woman possessed.
"Now! Hah, the location, I need to go to—!"
"There are still monsters left. It's hard for me to leave right now. Yeon-hwa, you go ahead with the detachment! I'll be right behind you!"
"R-Right!"
Before the words were even finished, Hong Yeon-hwa descended below the barrier wall. As if they had coordinated beforehand, a contingent of the Purification Unit followed after her.
* * *
Wreathed in Calamity Flame, Hong Yeon-hwa streaked across the snowfield.
"My lady! You're going too fas—!"
"I'm going ahead, so keep up!"
Even at the words from the Purification Unit member chasing behind, Hong Yeon-hwa did not slow down.
A blizzard raged around her, only to hiss into steam against the heat radiating from her Calamity Flame.
Perhaps due to the outbreak's influence, even the common monsters lurking about did not dare to cross Hong Yeon-hwa's path.
Boom! The ground shattered with her footfalls, and a monster that happened to be in her way was instantly pulverized.
The sprint was a violent one, but Hong Yeon-hwa had no heart power to waste on such trivialities right now.
'Please, please, fuck, let nothing have happened...!'
Let nothing have happened.
Hong Yeon-hwa knew herself it was a wish that wouldn't come true. But she hoped, at the very least, that he wasn't hurt badly.
- Hwareureuk...
As she drew closer to the transmitted coordinates, Hong Yeon-hwa's eyes flew wide open.
The air was cold.
A dizzying cold aura permeated her body, stiffening her limbs. Her Calamity Flame flickered unsteadily and then died down, as if faltering.
Gritting her teeth, Hong Yeon-hwa forced her Calamity Flame back up. Hwareureuk! The flame surged high and devoured the cold aura.
Her sprint regained its speed.
An unknown, dizzying cold aura remained, but it could no longer hold Hong Yeon-hwa's legs.
What did hold her legs were other traces.
What on earth had happened here?
The remnants of a fierce battle—as if the ground had been overturned hundreds of times—stretched endlessly in every direction.
Red blood was scattered all over the floor. Blood that should have retained warmth was frozen solid, stuck fast to the ground and snow.
Whose blood?
Baek A-rin's? Lee Ha-yul's? Neither possibility was good news.
As she went further, the blood splattered on the ground increased. Flecks of flesh sometimes appeared, and the cold aura thickened.
Hong Yeon-hwa's face contorted with every step. The Calamity Flame wreathed around her turned vicious, as if reclaiming its old temperament.
"...!"
At last, something came into view.
A murky ice sculpture, seemingly formed from an unidentified cold aura.
In a deep, hollowed-out pit, Baek A-rin was collapsed on the ground.
Her loosened hair was scattered messily, but on the surface, she bore no visible wounds.
Baek A-rin was clutching a small child tightly in her arms.
It was Lee Ha-yul.
- Pudeudeuk─!
Her teeth ground together furiously. Her hair whipped upward amidst the violently flaring Calamity Flame. Even the lingering cold aura around her burned away into nothing.
Lee Ha-yul had grown younger.
It meant he had suffered a level of damage so severe as to force him back to this state.
"Let go, you fucking bitch."
Hong Yeon-hwa leaped down into the pit and kicked Baek A-rin away.
It was a precise kick, calculated to send only Baek A-rin flying without causing any harm to Lee Ha-yul cradled in her arms.
She might appear docile now, but considering the earlier sneak attack, the intent was to separate them first.
- Puk!
"Ugh...!"
Kicked squarely, Baek A-rin was sent flying. Yet she clutched Lee Ha-yul even tighter in her embrace and rolled with him across the ground.
"Keuk, keuk..."
Flung into the dirt, Baek A-rin trembled uncontrollably, her face twisted in pain.
Her breath was choked off from where the kick had struck deep.
It hurt.
Her revived senses fully transmitted every scrap of the pain.
- Ku-uk...
But she did not loosen her arms around Lee Ha-yul.
Instead, she held him even tighter. Face crumpling with fury, Hong Yeon-hwa seized Baek A-rin's arm.
"I said let go, fuck."
"No..."
Baek A-rin resisted, her shoulders trembling faintly. Though her resistance amounted to nothing more than clinging even more tightly to Lee Ha-yul.
Hong Yeon-hwa put strength into her hand.
- Kkwak...!
On the verge of possibly breaking the arm if needed, Hong Yeon-hwa twitched an eyebrow.
It was only natural for an Azure Sea manifester to have a low body temperature.
She knew well that Baek A-rin's body temperature was especially low.
But the arm she grabbed was exuding warmth.
Not a sudden spike in temperature due to side effects. It was a natural, ordinary body heat.
With that, her narrowed vision widened slightly, and Baek A-rin's wretched state came fully into view.
Hair in wild tangles.
Beneath it, her face was a complete mess.
Eyes riddled with streaming tears and abyssal negativity.
It was completely unlike the Baek A-rin of any ordinary moment.
'Tsk...'
Just what in the world had happened?
Why Lee Ha-yul was in this state, and why Baek A-rin had become such a wreck.
She had no idea.
First of all, it was clear Baek A-rin had taken a beating.
Still, that didn't guarantee she was safe. Hong Yeon-hwa applied more force, forcibly prying Baek A-rin's arms open.
Though Baek A-rin was a powerful superhuman, her physical strength could not match Hong Yeon-hwa's.
As her trembling arms slowly parted, Baek A-rin struggled fiercely.
"No, don't..."
"Don't, my ass. How am I supposed to know when you'll try to stab him in the back again?"
Baek A-rin flinched sharply, and the strength drained from her arms.
Not missing that opening, Hong Yeon-hwa pulled Lee Ha-yul free from Baek A-rin's grasp and cradled him in her own arms.
"......"
At that, her face hardened.
Contrary to Baek A-rin's warm body.
The body of Lee Ha-yul in her arms was chillingly cold.
Like a block of ice.
The faint breath against her chest was nothing short of frigid.
A side effect from Azure Sea? That was her first thought, but something was different.
- Hwareureuk!
Hong Yeon-hwa urgently raised her thermal energy to warm Lee Ha-yul's body.
"...What the fuck."
It didn't warm up. The thick cold aura infusing his body froze her heat and pushed it away.
It was similar to the cold aura she had sensed from the front line, but the density of the cold aura that had seeped into Lee Ha-yul's body was on a fathomlessly different level.
Hong Yeon-hwa's face froze over.
* * *