Always Be Careful of Fire (2)
Always Be Careful of Fire (2)
In my original world, things were always half-difficult.
If I'd been crippled enough that I couldn't move at all, I would've given up. But I was just healthy enough to keep functioning.
If I'd been truly rotten, I would've stood by and let someone else die. But I stuck my nose in halfway and ended up with a ruined leg.
- Fwoosh
Even after coming to this world, nothing has changed.
If I had no lingering attachments, I would just drop dead, curse and all. But I have just enough attachment left that I'm crawling around pathetically, trying to survive.
It's hard. I hate getting up early every day to work my body. I hate cramming all sorts of strange knowledge into my head.
I hate gripping a weapon and swinging it through sparring after sparring while the skin on my palms tears and my fingernails break. I hate running until my legs are wrecked and my soles are covered with blisters.
I hate trudging back to train alone. I hate the lonely struggle to catch up on the theory I missed. I hate the fucking nightmares I get every time I collapse from exhaustion.
All of it disgusts me.
- Fwoosh...!
I hate it all.
The Curse of Short Life. I don't even know exactly when I'll die. I only estimate it's about ten years, based on case studies and description text from NPCs who had similar curses.
As the words "short life" imply, it wouldn't be strange if I just dropped dead a few days from now. It scares me. I hate feeling that kind of fear.
I want to taste things properly again. I want to smell vanilla when I'm stressed, the way I used to.
I want to see the world with my own eyes, not as spatial data. I want to look at the sky I can't even perceive anymore.
I hate how my throat aches like it's tearing apart over some small mistake.
It feels unfair. Why am I going through this? What did I even do wrong? I tried my best not to burden anyone.
Were those bastards right? Was I the one who was wrong? Was I someone who shouldn't have been born? Was I a harm that only caused trouble for others?
Was I...
- Fwoooosh—!
The sound of something burning. Combustion. Firewood... Emotions being consumed. The amplification of emotions to fuel them.
Strange yet familiar knowledge surfaced. In that instant, my mind snapped back to clarity.
'Why... No, no! Fuck, what's going on. Get a grip.'
What was I just thinking?
The moment I recognized my own unsightly whining, my sagging mind pulled taut.
I shook off the swamp-like negativity in a single moment. At the same time, I became aware of my surroundings.
Something was burning right next to me. No—what was burning was my own arm.
My entire right arm, the one drawing the bowstring, was engulfed in flames. A fire laden with enough mana to be unmistakably perceptible.
'What is this?'
Flames were erupting from my arm. A completely unexpected anomaly.
Inside the Tower, pain is suppressed so much that even being cut by a blade only stings.
'It's hot...!'
And yet, this was hot. The most intense sensation I'd felt since entering the Tower. The force was growing fiercer. At this rate, my arm really would be devoured.
Fortunately, so far, I hadn't taken much damage. But seeing the intensifying force, if I left it like this, I'd be burned.
- It's unfair. Why do I have to be here, doing this.
'Ngh...'
My mind wavered for a moment. The swollen emotions shook my rational judgment.
My arm trembled. I think I lost consciousness briefly, but thankfully it was only a few seconds.
The Parasitic Moth was still flying in the sky, with Baek A-rin drawing its attention.
A short distance away, Ellia and Hong Yeon-hwa were watching for an opening.
Everyone was staring at me with shock in their eyes. Hong Yeon-hwa's reaction was especially intense. Her demeanor was so severe, as though her world were crumbling right before her eyes.
I have no idea what's going on. But standing here spacing out is the worst possible move.
The violent flames still raged even at this moment.
A fire that amplifies its owner's emotions and burns with emotion as its firewood.
Hong Yeon-hwa's strangely intense reaction.
Those things brought a certain flame to mind.
I set the questions aside for now. I'll figure it out later...
...Figure it out later? Have I ever actually found an answer to any of my questions?
- Fwoosh
Surviving being beaten by my parents nearly every day as a child with such a frail body.
Surviving after having my stomach split open by a knife.
Being the only survivor of a fire that swept through my parents' home.
Surviving on the streets for almost years without eating properly.
The leg that was ruined in an accident repairing itself on its own.
Being dragged into this world.
The rampage of my Spatial Perception, the identity of that blank space I saw in the Gate, the Headmaster's true intentions for bringing me here, the disaster events that could happen at any time.
Have I figured out a single one? And could I even figure them out? Can I even do anything about them?
'For now... I have to shoot.'
Grind— I clenched my teeth. My emotions intensified, and the flames intensified with them.
This isn't a normal state of emotion. Repeating that to myself, I aimed the bow at the Parasitic Moth.
I don't know why my arm is doing this shit, but let's shoot first and think later.
I narrow my thoughts. I fold away the excessive mental clutter and focus on a single point.
- Fwoosh!
The enchantment magic clinging to the arrow... Rather than that, my attention was pulled toward the flames raging haphazardly on my arm.
Suddenly, a thought flashed through my mind.
Flames coiling around my arm, burning wildly. I don't know the cause, but they blazed up from my own mana, even while burning the surrounding mana.
If that's the case, shouldn't the control also belong to me?
I made an attempt.
Fwoosh! The flames flared even more violently than before. Almost as if they were raising their head in defiance.
But that was only for a moment. They slowly bowed their head and, under my guidance, moved their abode to the arrowhead.
My previous arrow had a fairly threatening force, even by my own judgment. I was only going to shoot once anyway, so I'd scraped up and shoved in a ton of mana.
Now.
- Fwoooosh—!
It looks like the strongest attack I've ever launched.
I released the bowstring, which was already strained taut to the point of snapping.
A red line was drawn from the ground to the sky. The violent wind current created as the arrow tore through the air brushed against my skin.
It was fast.
I could sense the urgency in the Parasitic Moth's wingbeats. The flow of the wind became chaotic.
It hit. That thought came first.
- BOOOOM—!
The explosive roar followed right after.
* * *
My vision swam. I doubted the world I saw with my own eyes.
I would rather it have been a lie. I wished it were just a dream.
I could wake up, jolt upright, and let out a sigh of relief, even if I was momentarily angry.
I wish it were a dream. But her senses, her intuition, indicated this was reality.
'Ugh...'
A splitting headache set in. Hong Yeon-hwa panted. Blood seeped from her tightly clenched fist.
Over there, she saw a right arm cloaked in flames and an arrow of ominous mien. The loosed arrow pierced the sky at a speed that even surprised her.
- BOOOOM—!
The arrow, embedded precisely in the Parasitic Moth, set off a massive explosion of flames. The monster's scream resounded everywhere.
The ensuing gust of wind made Hong Yeon-hwa's clothes flap violently. Heaps of dirt, piled up from the aftermath of combat, scattered in all directions.
Flames. Something she was intimately familiar with. Her family's symbol was flame, and its inherited Unique Ability was also flame.
But those flames... The flames that erupted from the scar her family had inflicted...
They were as familiar as her own.
That fact gnawed at Hong Yeon-hwa's heart.
"Yeon-hwa!"
A familiar voice. Hong Yeon-hwa turned her head at Baek A-rin's shout.
"Subjugation first, for now!"
A message that got straight to the point. Hong Yeon-hwa faltered for a moment, then bit her lip hard.
That's right. That... is something I can ask about after we take down the boss first.
- Fwoosh!
Flames blossomed. The flames that always bloomed when she wished for them. The Calamity Flame, harboring her displeasure, burned darker than before.
Boom! Her Calamity Flame-clad leg kicked off the ground. The scenery rushed backward, and she launched into the sky with all her might.
- Skreeee...!
As the aftermath of the explosion subsided, the Parasitic Moth's body was revealed. The precariously swaying Parasitic Moth tilted to one side. Its left wing, where the arrow had struck, was completely shredded, making sustained flight impossible.
I thought we would create an opening together with Baek A-rin, but I never imagined she would create such a fatal opportunity for me.
The Parasitic Moth, as if sensing its imminent death, struggled frantically to get away from Hong Yeon-hwa, but Hong Yeon-hwa had already closed in right up to it.
She glared at the Parasitic Moth with bloodshot eyes.
Right now, Hong Yeon-hwa was incredibly angry. That was too pretty a word for it. She felt as if her lid was about to blow off at any second.
What the Calamity Flame feeds on best is its owner's emotions. Therefore, a wielder of the Calamity Flame must learn to utilize even their emotions.
A whirlwind of thoughts churned. She channeled it all toward a single outcome.
The source of all these emotions is that fucking monster bastard.
It didn't matter if she was just shifting the blame. She simplified her thinking. Thus, she burned her emotions efficiently.
'Not yet.'
5th Rank. She'd taken one down alone before, but this much felt insufficient. She had no certainty she could kill it.
Even if she could kill it, she didn't want to let it go peacefully.
A uniqueness distinguishable from other entities. The authority to claim one's own independence in a world rampant with supernatural abilities.
That is a Unique Ability.
'Calamity Flame.'
A fire that burns the self and the world. A flame that leaves not even ash of what it detests.
It is a flame that uses mana, vitality energy, and everything as firewood, but it burns emotions particularly well. To that end, it has the characteristic of amplifying its owner's emotions.
The Calamity Flame is a Unique Ability that is difficult to categorize under a single classification.
It is an attribute-type ability that manifests flames, and it is a body-type ability that manifests within the body to strengthen it.
It is also a combat-type ability that brings various advantages in battle.
To be unique.
To be distinguishable from others.
Being unique is not enough. The first superhumans and the superhumans living in this very moment would all think the same.
Even if one is unique right now, there's no knowing if they'll remain special and unique later on.
Because standing still while everyone else advances is no different from regressing.
Therefore, one must progress. Without settling for the present, one must expand their uniqueness.
She got right up in the Parasitic Moth's face. It was a golden opportunity, unlike any since the initial ambush. Hong Yeon-hwa threw away the sword in her hand and reached out.
Calamity Flame tangled around her fist like a spool of thread.
'Expansion Ability.'
Flame Bloom.
Fizzle. The flames in her hand died down. The Calamity Flame that had been coiling around her body and raging wildly also suddenly vanished.
The physical ability boost provided by the Calamity Flame disappeared along with it.
Instead.
- Fwoooosh—!
A violent flame, of a different nature than before, erupted from her hand.
Choice and concentration.
Abandoning the minor details and focusing solely on output.
"Die."
- BOOOOOM—!!
A deep crimson light covered the sky. A tremendous heat spread out in all directions.
The body of the Parasitic Moth, swallowed head-on by the flames, was faintly visible as a shadow.
But the shadow wavered precariously like a torch before a storm, then vanished futilely without even managing a proper final scream.
.
.
.
Hong Yeon-hwa, having poured out the Calamity Flame cleanly to the very end, landed on the ground.
The ground, which had been somewhat intact before, was now melted, scorched, and a complete mess everywhere.
She had controlled it. She had deliberately released it toward the sky to minimize the impact on the ground.
But that was no reason to stop worrying. Hong Yeon-hwa urgently scanned the surroundings.
A short distance away, a hemispherical ice structure came into view. It was a countermeasure by Baek A-rin in preparation for the aftermath.
Relief washed over Hong Yeon-hwa's face as she sprinted toward it.
As she approached, craaack— the ice split open to the left and right. Inside, Baek A-rin, Ellia, and Lee Ha-yul were revealed.
"Ha-yul...!"
Hong Yeon-hwa's face became drenched with worry. Lee Ha-yul's expression looked incredibly uneasy.
His breathing was ragged, and his face was flushed red. His body swayed faintly from side to side, as if he might collapse at any moment.
She pushed past Baek A-rin and Ellia and rushed right up to Lee Ha-yul.
"Ha-yul! Are you okay?! What do I do... Ah, right! Healing! A-rin! Heal Ha-yul... No, before that! Your arm! Ha-yul, show me your other arm!"
Hong Yeon-hwa fussed about, flailing her hands. She felt dizzy after expending a massive amount of mana.
"?"
Lee Ha-yul tilted his head in confusion. After tilting his head several times, he stretched his arms forward.
- Soft
"...Huh?"
The satisfying feeling of her arms being filled. Hong Yeon-hwa let out a dumbfounded sound. Then, arms wrapped around her waist.
Her eyes, now experiencing a pupil quake, looked downward.
There was Lee Ha-yul, nestled snugly in her embrace.
"Huh...?"
Her train of thought was cleanly severed. But strangely, her cognition analyzed the current situation at tremendous speed.
She didn't know the reason, but what surged from Lee Ha-yul's arm was something similar to the Calamity Flame... no, it was the Calamity Flame.
Calamity Flame, a Unique Ability.
Its characteristic of burning wildly with emotions as firewood.
The accompanying demerit and merit of provoking its owner's emotions.
Provoking emotions...
Having run through a chain of thoughts, Hong Yeon-hwa's gaze swept over Lee Ha-yul's face.
His flushed cheeks, his roughened breathing, the faint moan escaping his lips...
It was a similar expression to just a moment ago, but once he was held in her arms, his expression became noticeably more at ease.
Having grasped the situation, another feeling abruptly surfaced alongside her worry.
"...Gulp."
Hong Yeon-hwa swallowed dryly.