The Root Cause
I stared at the woman and the man for a moment, weighing which one would yield more information. 'The one who looks like the leader probably knows more, right?'
Of course, there was a high chance these two were under some kind of restriction, but there was nothing I could do about that.
Shunk—!
"Ugh...! You son of a...!"
The greatsword pierced through the surprisingly high-quality leather armor like it was tofu, running straight through his abdomen and emerging slick with blood to greet the outside world once more. The woman glared at me for a second before the light in her eyes began to fade.
'Ignite.'
Whoosh—!
'They only ever give me three at a time. How annoying.'
After tossing the woman's burning corpse—now wrapped in chains of flame—into my inventory, I paused to watch my summons fight for a moment.
'Hmm. I have to give them credit for their tenacity, but it's still too much for them.'
A short while later, Choi Sung-woong rose to his feet after breaking free from the sandwich attack my summons had pinned him with.
"Huff— huff— Fuck! You monster bastard!!"
I'd expected it to take longer, but in that brief window he'd already shoved aside my frenzied summons. With their Frenzy state worn off and the reflected damage they'd taken from him, they were forcibly unsummoned.
'Must be a Thorn Rune setup. The combination of [Provocative Thorns] and the Thorn Rune... It's almost a shame to kill him.'
A classic tank build: a Provoke-based tanker who sets their main rune to Thorn Rune and their sub-rune to Vitality Rune, stacking reflected damage on their opponents. If he kept growing like this, he'd become a decent tank who could contribute during the Orc Legion Commander's raid.
'Tsk— I don't give a shit.'
But he'd touched someone he should never have touched. He would have to pay the price.
"Hoo— I'll rip you to pieces!"
Having taken out my summons and regained a bit of momentum, Choi Sung-woong spat out crude words while openly radiating murderous intent. Yet it didn't feel like the resolve of someone determined to win at all costs. It was closer to the final desperate flare of a dying flame.
Clack clack—
I watched the man's posturing with bored indifference and wiggled my fingers at him in open provocation.
"Ugh?! You fucking—! War Cry—!"
Graaaaaaaaah—!
He must have been truly furious, because he immediately activated a skill that induced Fear and Confusion.
But.
Cold Reason — Never loses composure in any situation.
— Mental status ailment resistance +52%
The Cold Reason that always protected me so fiercely easily brushed off the threat.
'Does he have no learning ability, or did he already forget that provocation didn't work on me earlier?'
Mental skills against a skeleton-type undead in the first place? The efficiency would be terrible. You need a brain for those to work.
I charged straight at him, then shot into the air the moment Stealth activated.
"Huk?! You son of a bitch!"
Whoooosh—!
Choi Sung-woong's warhammer swept through the spot I'd just vacated, but it was far too late.
'Just what the hell is this monster?! Why isn't the detection barrier reacting?!'
Choi Sung-woong's inner thoughts were pure chaos. He'd bought an expensive detection-type barrier stone a few months ago and embedded it into the handle of his warhammer, using it to great effect. Whether it was a stealth-type hunter or monster, nothing had ever escaped his detection.
Yet this monster evaded detection entirely, and its movements were so fast they might as well have been lightning. He couldn't even begin to respond.
Though in a way, that was only natural.
The movement skills I used on the ground—including the newly acquired Lightning Step—totaled three. When I detonated all of them at once, my speed had already reached a level far beyond what a low-tier B-rank hunter could handle.
'I, I have to run. This isn't an opponent I can face.'
The realization that he couldn't even perceive his enemy brought the extreme terror rushing back to Choi Sung-woong, who had only just regained some momentum.
'What the hell are you thinking about?!'
Crack—!
"Ugh!"
Choi Sung-woong faltered for a brief moment, and I didn't miss the opening. My fist slammed into his jaw.
'I can't kill him yet.'
I charged again toward his staggering torso. My powerful charging attack smashed into his abdomen.
"Khehek...!"
Since I hadn't considered changing direction and had simply rammed him with everything I had, he was sent flying quite a distance. His legs caught in the wall of flames, and he hopped around frantically while screaming.
"Hiiik! Hiiik...!"
They say one of the greatest pains a person can feel is being burned alive. In that regard, fire was an incredibly useful attribute.
The man finally extinguished the flames clinging to his burning legs by rubbing them against the ground while channeling mana. He was now backed into a corner to the point where maintaining his sanity was difficult, and his lower half had grown noticeably wet from overwhelming emotion.
Thud—!
I kicked the staggering man cleanly in the jaw once more as he struggled to his feet.
"Kuhoo— kuhuuuk—"
After the blow to his jaw dropped him to his knees, I grabbed his head and drove my knee hard into his face.
Crunch—!
"Kuhuuuuk! Uuup—! Huuuuk...!"
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!!
Still not satisfied, I kicked his body several more times.
"Grrrk..."
Thump!
Once he finally lost consciousness and collapsed, I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, tossed him roughly into a corner, and released Wall of Fire before immediately running over to Yeonhee.
"Hic— I-Ilwol... hic—"
Yeonhee was sobbing so hard she could barely speak. She pointed at Cha Jin-hyeok with desperate eyes.
'Even in this situation, she's worried about someone else. But what is this barrier? It feels like it's protecting her.'
A barrier stood between Yeonhee and me. I'd check on Cha Jin-hyeok first and figure it out later.
When I approached Cha Jin-hyeok again, his condition was truly horrific.
'This... even if he recovers, the aftereffects will be severe.'
The wounds causing massive bleeding could perhaps be handled with potions and Irmana's water, but the truly fatal part was his right wrist—the final channel through which his ability activated—which had been nearly severed and left in tatters.
'Still, it's fortunate it wasn't completely cut off. What terrible people.'
"Huuuung— Jin-hyeok-ssi— huuuk—"
The moment the barrier surrounding her disappeared, Lee Yeonhee rushed over and began pouring potions onto his body. Her trembling hands looked painfully pitiful.
The one saving grace was that the moment I had been summoned, I'd already given instructions through the ring.
Gulp gulp—
My subordinate Ring was diligently pouring Irmana's lake water into Cha Jin-hyeok's slightly parted mouth.
'For a debuffer, his body is surprisingly sturdy. That's a relief.'
Even at a glance, the amount of blood he'd lost was enormous. It was a miracle he was still alive.
I pried Cha Jin-hyeok's mouth open wider and poured in a high-grade potion along with more of Irmana's water.
"Cough!"
I placed my hand on Cha Jin-hyeok's body and slowly unraveled the tangled flow of his mana.
'Good. At least he won't die.'
Cha Jin-hyeok's survival instinct was stronger than I'd expected. Even while unconscious, he accepted the healing fluids without spilling much.
"C-can he survive?"
I nodded.
At my nod, Lee Yeonhee buried her face in her knees and sobbed for a long time.
"Thank goodness... thank goodness..."
'I'll have to hear the full story, but if this incident causes Yeonhee to shrink back, it'll be a problem.'
Grab—
While I was carefully examining Cha Jin-hyeok's condition, Yeonhee suddenly hugged me tightly from behind.
"Thank you... thank you... huuuk..."
The way she kept repeating her thanks felt a little awkward to me. A summoned creature working for its master shouldn't be thanked like that. It felt strange.
Through Ran, who was using the last of her feathers to wipe away Yeonhee's tears, I conveyed my thoughts.
'Let's head inside the building first.'
"O-okay!"
*
With Yeonhee somewhat calmed down, Cha Jin-hyeok still unconscious, and the piece of trash named Choi Sung-woong slung over my shoulder, I headed to the second floor of the abandoned building.
"So... so... hic... I just... fell behind and followed them..."
I listened to Yeonhee explain what had happened while the two men were still unconscious. Even while sobbing, she recounted every detail without omission. As I listened calmly, I found her intentions admirable yet also regrettable in some ways.
'She should have been more cautious. This clearly shows her lack of experience.'
What exactly were B-rank hunters? In a world where even a single rank increase was incredibly difficult, these were people who had broken through four walls. They possessed talent that others could only envy as a baseline.
I wasn't sure if it was because she'd seen people avoid the battlefield out of fear of the Tarantara, but even the lowest B-rank hunter should never be underestimated.
'Yeonhee must have known that too. So why did she push herself so hard?'
She hadn't revealed that part, so I could only guess. Still, I couldn't exactly blame her for trying to do something—anything—on her own.
'At least thanks to this, we'll make some progress on the Evolution Stone matter.'
Especially since I'd obtained more Contaminated Elixir of Life Fragments. It meant another possibility had opened up.
'Possibility, huh... I'm going crazy too.'
I briefly chastised myself for thinking of something born from children's suffering as a "possibility," then continued my train of thought.
In truth, the root cause of this entire incident was the long time it took for me to be resummoned after dying.
'Resummon time... I need to bring that down to zero. But is there really no way to do that?'
It seemed that my strong desires were somewhat reflected by the system, so I kept repeating it to myself, searching for another method.
After finishing her story, Yeonhee collapsed in front of me, head bowed, and fell silent.
'I'll have to set some behavioral guidelines later. I never dreamed she'd move this boldly on her own.'
Judging by her current reaction, she would probably be more careful even without me saying anything. Still, it would be best to give her a firm warning.
'I want to give her as much freedom as possible, but for us, a single mistake could mean the end.'