96. Chimera Subjugation
96.
"What... is this?"
Yu Ha-yeon's voice was hollow as she arrived at the scene.
Before her eyes lay the once-towering NAVI Building, now collapsed in on itself.
A structure that had stood intact moments ago had suddenly crumbled.
It was no wonder she sounded so bewildered.
Standing beside her at the disaster site, I thought to myself:
'In the game this was just one line of text... was it always this bad?'
The building's wreckage was scattered in every direction.
The reason was that it had split in half starting from the middle floors.
Only the lower portion remained standing; the upper section had collapsed to the ground, sending debris flying across the area.
There must have been unavoidable casualties.
Regretting those lost lives, I moved forward through the rubble.
"Hey, Han Si-jun. What do you think you're doing?!"
"There could be injured people inside."
"Since when do you care about people's lives..."
You might not know it, but I've always cared.
Yu Ha-yeon was worried about me.
Grumbling, she ultimately fell in behind me.
Trudge.
Trudge.
We climbed over the wreckage, gradually working our way toward the heart of the incident.
Could anyone still be alive in a catastrophe like this?
That question dominated my mind.
But because I knew the game's story, I held a deep-seated conviction that there would be survivors.
We were making our way smoothly toward the center without incident—
"Han Si-jun. Wait."
She stopped me in my tracks.
Her expression was dead serious.
Yu Ha-yeon pointed ahead with her finger.
"There's a mana reaction up ahead. You feel it too, right?"
"Uh...? Yeah, yeah... I felt it."
"..."
What, I really did feel it.
Yu Ha-yeon clearly did not believe me.
She let out a deep sigh and stepped forward, past me.
"Stay behind me, Han Si-jun. If you go out there, you die. Got it?"
"...Got it. I absolutely won't fight."
Would I get killed by the Episode 3 boss, Chimera, or by Yu Ha-yeon?
I wanted to ask, but given the situation, I decided to keep that question to myself.
And so I followed behind Yu Ha-yeon, moving toward the center.
The farther we went, the stronger the mana fluctuations became.
'Now I'm really feeling it.'
Four people in total.
One of them was an enormous mana signature.
Had to be Chimera.
We drew closer to the source.
Human shapes became visible through the fog that had been blocking our view.
The sounds of fierce combat reached our ears.
As we approached, the Episode 3 boss came into sight.
Na Yu-na and her family, locked in battle against the S-rank Chimera, entered our field of vision.
'...Na Yu-na. She's alive. Thank goodness.'
Normally, no one would expect survivors in devastation like this.
But Na Yu-na and her relatives were people born with the talents of Awakened Beings.
Even though the building had collapsed, they appeared to have survived by using their abilities.
People dodging Chimera's attacks with quick reflexes.
Yu Ha-yeon grabbed my arm tightly.
"Han Si-jun."
"Yeah."
"You see it too, right? That situation."
"..."
I understood what Yu Ha-yeon meant.
A three-on-one fight.
And the three were being badly overwhelmed.
"Haa... haa..."
Na Yu-na moved her body frantically, dodging attacks with desperate effort.
She was still a student. Her contribution amounted to little more than drawing Chimera's attention.
"Stop just dodging and attack...!!"
Na Jin-myeong's body was covered in wounds, having already taken numerous hits.
Frustrated at being pushed back like this, he was simply shouting loudly.
"..."
And Na Sang-cheol, the chairman of NAVI, fought on in silence.
His eyes held only fighting spirit and regret.
Witnessing the scene firsthand, I cautiously asked Yu Ha-yeon:
"Yu Ha-yeon. How does it look to you?"
"If this keeps up, the three of them are going to lose decisively. There's no teamwork. They're all moving independently."
"Hmm..."
Most of NAVI's people lived under the labels of individualist and self-righteous.
That seemed to carry over into how they fought—they battled without any coordination whatsoever.
My eye for the flow of combat might be inferior to Yu Ha-yeon's, but even I could see the three were heavily on the losing side.
"Yu Ha-yeon."
"What, Han Si-jun."
"You'll protect me, right?"
"Hey, you...!"
I won't fight under any circumstances.
I flipped the promise I'd made just moments ago.
There is no such thing as "under any circumstances."
Hopefully Yu Ha-yeon learned a lesson from that.
With Yu Ha-yeon's voice calling out behind me, I walked out onto the battlefield.
When I arrived, I shouted at the people who were enjoying their solo play:
"All of you, if you fight like that, you're guaranteed to lose, you know?"
"...Han Si-jun?"
Na Yu-na's voice rose in surprise at my sudden appearance.
"Why are you here...?"
Good question.
Why was I here?
The moment I turned my head to answer Na Yu-na—
BANG—!
"What... what happened...?"
A sound of impact, instant and sharp.
I had the sensation of something grazing right past me.
'What just happened...?'
Was my Agility stat too low to see it?
I used the Golem Core's Green Stone—the one that raised Agility—to sharpen my vision.
Then I could perceive something moving at high speed directly in front of my eyes.
'A tail... is it?'
Chimera's tail, swinging like a whip.
And the serpent coiled around Chimera's tail couldn't even reach me, blocked as if by an invisible wall.
I'd believed in you, Yu Ha-yeon.
I gave a thumbs-up to Yu Ha-yeon, who had followed me in.
"Seriously... Han Si-jun. Do you want to die...?"
"Haha..."
I answered Yu Ha-yeon with a bitter smile.
She did not seem to appreciate me acting like I had multiple lives.
Had that continuous defense sparked its curiosity?
King of the Back Alley.
Chimera, wearing Na Jin-woo's form, murmured in our direction.
"...You there. Who are you."
To be precise, toward Yu Ha-yeon.
Apparently I looked so weak in Chimera's eyes that it held no interest in me at all.
'...That hurts.'
In that moment.
Yu Ha-yeon fixed Chimera with her obsidian-gleaming eyes.
"Before asking who I am, you should explain who you are first."
A tone laced with killing intent, distinct from her usual sharp way of speaking.
Was it because Chimera had attacked me with lethal intent?
Yu Ha-yeon seemed more emotionally charged than normal.
Chimera flinched at her bloodlust.
It directed a question at Yu Ha-yeon.
"...Why do you interfere? I am carrying out just revenge."
Just revenge.
Revenge, presumably, against Na Jin-woo, who had tormented it.
Chimera, in the most classic fashion, visiting the sins of the son upon the father, Na Sang-cheol.
At those words—just revenge—Yu Ha-yeon let out a scoff.
"Just revenge...? Haha..."
"Why do you laugh, human."
Yu Ha-yeon laughed in the face of Chimera's declaration.
The laughter, of course, was at the very idea of just revenge.
Yu Ha-yeon unfurled her unique ability, speaking through her laughter.
"Ha... a dumb Magic Beast dares to attack Han Si-jun and then spouts words like that...?"
In the same breath, her entire body wrapped in mana, Yu Ha-yeon shouted:
"Stop."
"...!"
Yu Ha-yeon's unique ability—declaring compulsion through mana.
At those words, the S-rank Magic Beast Chimera found itself unable to move.
"This... wretched body... to the very end, it drags me down..."
Na Jin-woo's body.
It was insufficient to bring Chimera's full power to bear.
Pinned down by Yu Ha-yeon's mana, Chimera could take no action.
I spoke to the Na Family in that situation.
"What are you all doing over there?"
"...?"
"Aren't you going to go hit it?"
Yu Ha-yeon had stopped it for us.
What was the point if they just stood around doing nothing?
Yu Ha-yeon's ability might be broken, but it has limits.
After roughly a minute, the compulsion would wear off.
We had to deal some damage to Chimera in the meantime.
The indiscriminate assault began.
Na Yu-na drew arcs with her long spear—her main weapon—gashing wounds into Chimera.
"..."
Chimera gave no response, even as its body was torn open.
From what I knew, Chimera's senses had gone dull from prolonged, constant pain.
It was a boss that wouldn't so much as make a sound unless you targeted its weak point or landed a critical hit.
Na Jin-myeong also attacked Chimera, rage boiling over.
"You bastard...! How dare you do this to NAVI...!!"
He had once placed in the lower ranks of A-rank heroes.
But the impact he delivered was too ambiguous to inflict fatal damage on Chimera.
'Time's almost up, too.'
Was he not going to attack?
I shifted my gaze to Na Sang-cheol, who carried an empty look in his eyes.
Even a cold-blooded man like him couldn't bring himself to strike Chimera while it wore the face of the child he had abandoned?
Unless Na Sang-cheol, once rated as an S-rank hero, joined the attack, dealing a serious blow to Chimera seemed difficult.
I couldn't understand a father's heart in that moment, so I had no words for Na Sang-cheol's inaction.
'...I guess it's on me.'
If Na Sang-cheol couldn't get a grip—
to shatter the shell that was Na Jin-woo—
in the end, I had to do it myself.
I swapped the Golem Core to the Blue Stone—
the mana-infused core.
Then from my bag I drew the gun I'd received from the chairwoman as a gate-clear reward.
"Libra. Wrap eighty percent of the mana I've accumulated into the bullet."
—Eighty percent of your mana. Do you accept this contract?
"I accept."
A storm of mana swirled around the bullet meant to clear Phase 1.
My aim: Na Jin-woo, Chimera's head.
Since Chimera currently wore human form, the weak point was the brain inside the skull.
I steadied the handgun, aimed at Chimera, and pulled the trigger.
Bang—!
"...!!"
The bullet pierced through Chimera's head.
—GYAAAHK...!!
Chimera screamed at the destructive force.
"I'm sorry... my son."
Alongside that scream,
Na Sang-cheol's hollow voice echoed through the air as well.