The Drake's Shadow Leap
Anyway, we climbed onto the Drake's back. Its spine was naturally concave, as if built for carrying passengers. Three unconscious hunters lay there, watched over by Lizard No. 1 and Deonni No. 1. The captives had apparently regained consciousness a few times, judging by the fresh bruises covering them.
- Fwoooosh──! The Drake exhaled a plume of pitch-black smoke and prepared for takeoff. 'They're about to come out. Better not show the Drake's true form.'
I gestured urgently at Yeonhee. She placed her hand on the Drake's body, and dozens of black spheres swirling around it lined up in the direction we needed to go. With a single flap of the Drake's wings, we were instantly transported to the first sphere.
'What the—?! Instant movement? Teleportation?'
Whoosh──! Every time the Drake's wings beat, we jumped to the next sphere, then the next. Each leap brought an unpredictable pressure that twisted my body.
'Ugh... my body's contorting...!' I struggled to keep my balance against the strange force, but Yeonhee and the summons sat comfortably in front of me, staring back with puzzled expressions.
'......' So I was the only one affected by this bizarre movement.
'You little—Black Dragon, you're doing this on purpose...!'
- Krrrh... The Drake glanced back at me and snorted, as if to say, "What are you going to do about it?"
'You bastard. Just you wait.'
I raised a fist at it, then fell into thought. At least I'd figured out one of the Drake's abilities. 'It warps by riding those shadow spheres... This feels similar to Chaos Residue.'
Of course, the Drake's version used visible orbs with shorter intervals between them, making it look like a downgraded version of that monster's power. Still, its utility was obvious.
The sensation of leaping from one sphere to the next, watching passed orbs slide forward again, felt so mystical it was like traveling to another world. 'Great for escaping, and probably useful in combat too.'
Moreover, it was far faster than the maximum speed I could reach in the air. This alone proved the Drake's worth, even if it had other abilities.
Yeonhee looked down at the receding pension and let out a short sigh. "Phew— Ilwol, you made it just in time. How many missing people did you bring back?"
"Clack clack clack."
I tried to call Ran to answer, but for some reason there was no response. 'Ran, what's wrong with you?'
Ran was slumped limply inside my cloak, completely passed out. (Kooool...)
'Asleep? Did pulling the pocket dimension's potential wear it out?' Ran had never looked like this before. Its ability clearly wasn't ordinary.
Mimicry
In the end, I used Mimicry to assume human form so I could communicate properly with Yeonhee. The minimap showed no other hostile groups besides the ones still underground.
"Huh...? Y-you suddenly turned into a person?"
"Ran doesn't look good."
Even though it had been a while since I'd last used human form, speaking felt much easier now. I was nearly back to my original speech patterns.
"Huh? What's wrong with it? Oh no, bringing the pocket dimension's potential must not be an ordinary task."
"Yeah. The people I brought... 569 of them."
"Gasp! That many?!"
"They're dangerous..."
Yeonhee was shocked to hear the mix of awakened and non-awakened people, but quickly moved on to the next problem.
"Where should we take them? Just leaving them somewhere and reporting it feels wrong. We need to explain what happened for things to proceed properly. Should we go to the Management Bureau?"
"Hmm... The Management Bureau..."
They were likely at least complicit. Lower ranks might not know, but several high-ranking officials had to be involved.
"Yeonsu... Let's go to Kang Yeonsu."
"Yeonsu unni? Hmm... That might be better. If we show up at the Bureau claiming we rescued all these people, we'll probably get dragged into a long investigation. Plus, there's a risk your abilities get exposed."
Exactly. Rather than take that risk, it would be better to reveal part of my abilities to Yeonsu. Just as my pocket dimension's expanded capacity was running out, we landed in a wide clearing on the mountainside.
There, we discussed whether contacting Kang Yeonsu was the best move. Then I felt something scatter from my head. 'Time's up.'
As the pocket dimension's potential returned to normal, the people inside began spilling out. Hundreds of half-naked women quickly filled the surrounding space, their voices reduced to the lowest, most wretched screams.
- Hnnngh...
- Sob, sob... Kill me...
- My baby, where's my baby...?
'This really is hell.'
I still had all the tents from the hidden dungeon stored in my pocket dimension, so the summons and I set them up. Yeonhee covered the women's bodies with Big Boar hides. When she met Jin-gyeong and Jiwoo, she looked like she was barely holding back tears.
"Thank goodness... I'm so glad."
Jin-gyeong, held in Yeonhee's arms, still looked dazed and out of it, but instinctively hugged her back. It tugged at my heart a little. 'She won't be able to do hunter work for a while.'
The drug Inbam was known to be extremely difficult to quit once tried, and rehabilitation would take considerable time.
We finished dealing with the immediate situation and regrouped.
"Should I tell unni to bring support troops? Wouldn't it be better to give her at least a rough idea?"
"Yeonsu... would probably come alone first even if we asked for troops."
"You think so? Got it."
Knowing Yeonsu's personality, she would rush over by herself even if we requested backup. Yeonhee nodded at my words, then suddenly stopped and whipped her head toward me, glaring with cold eyes. 'W-why is she like this...?'
I instinctively stepped back at her sudden change, but my body froze and wouldn't move. Yeonhee approached the motionless me, slipped into my arms, and asked in a sweet voice, "By the way... why do you keep calling Yeonsu unni by her name? Yeonsu, Yeonsu, Yeonsu... Did you two get close already? Hm?"
Gulp- 'It's just an old habit... Damn it. But is this really important right now?'
Yeonhee's eyes looked slightly unhinged, so I frantically racked my brain. "N-no... I-I'm still not used to it. My speech isn't polished yet."
When I finally managed an excuse, Yeonhee muttered, "Right? That must be it..." while nodding. "I need to raise my dominance a bit more..."
'...What? No, I think it's already plenty high.' Yeonhee kept murmuring the same thing while pulling my waist tightly. The roughness I felt was probably just my imagination.
I made a mental note to be extremely careful whenever mentioning other people in the future. After holding me for a moment, Yeonhee pulled out a note. It was the same item I'd seen in the underground space earlier.
"If I tear this, Yeonsu unni said she'll know where I am."
"That's right. She did."
"Hehe— Ilwol, you're speaking so well now. Maybe even better than me..."
"I think so too."
"What~?"
Yeonhee made a playful face for a moment, then tore the "Note of Well-Being" she'd received from Kang Yeonsu. Surprisingly, Kang Yeonsu appeared before us in less than twenty minutes. Since Mimicry had worn off, I was back in skeleton form.
BOOM──! Kang Yeonsu descended from the sky like a falling missile, shaking the ground, and urgently called Yeonhee's name. "What is it?! Yeonhee, what's going on?!"
She rushed over with a serious expression, then realized we weren't in any immediate danger. "Oh, unni. Well... something came up that I wanted to discuss with you."
"Huh? Why call me to such a remote place? And who are all those people?"
Kang Yeonsu rarely looked surprised as she pointed at the covered tents with her thumb. 'We tried to hide them, but she noticed right away.'
"Yes... It's because of them."
Kang Yeonsu walked over and stared at the rows of pregnant women behind the tents, clutching her head. "What in the world are all these women? Nearly half of them are hunters, and most are pregnant... No, more importantly, how did you bring this many people here?"
Even Kang Yeonsu, who had seen her share of horrors, looked stunned. Then she suddenly seemed to remember something and shouted at me. "Wait—Ilwol! Was it you again? Did you bring all these people?!"
'How is her intuition getting sharper?' I shrugged at her outburst. Kang Yeonsu grabbed her head again and sighed. "Yeonhee, we have a lot to talk about, don't we?"
"Eek... Y-yes..."
The scene gave me déjà vu. We couldn't leave hundreds of people like this, so we summarized the situation as quickly as possible.
"I see... So that's how the organization was procuring children... Haah. What do we do now? Yeonhee, I'm so angry right now."
"T-take a deep breath, unni."
Kang Yeonsu's mana surged violently into the sky, making the air boil. She only calmed down after firing hundreds of massive mana bullets into the sky to vent her rage. 'She's terrifying...'
Each of those bullets was far stronger than my Fireball condensed with all my mana, sending chills down my spine.
"Whew... I need to calm down. Calm down. By the way, what the hell is happening in the lower-rank hunter world? I should suggest a full-scale inspection."
She said "suggest," but to the Association President and high-ranking Bureau officials, it would sound more like a demand with force behind it. After hearing the full explanation, Kang Yeonsu seemed to accept it, though she still looked dissatisfied. And that dissatisfaction was connected to me.
"Good grief. The ability to store hundreds of living people in a pocket dimension... It's unprecedented. You know? I can already picture the [Warehouse]-type ability users trembling. Ilwol, just what is your identity? Yeonhee, are you pouring all your power into him?"
"...It's not like that..."
Yeonhee answered diligently while carefully watching Kang Yeonsu's reactions. Her caution was because of me. 'Don't worry. Yeonsu is tighter-lipped than she seems.'
She only talked a lot when she was with us. With others, she only said what was necessary. There was no need to worry about my abilities leaking. 'Yeonsu won't cause problems. If anything, she'd be happy if someone in her faction gained power.'
She had looked dumbfounded at first, but before long Kang Yeonsu was gazing at me with satisfaction. 'It's only natural.'
Rescuing hundreds of missing people from an evil group and exposing the "Do" organization's methods to prevent further harm—these two achievements alone would cause a huge stir. And the credit would go to the White Knight Guild, specifically Vice Guild Leader Kang Yeonsu and the hunters under her command.
The guild's image would improve, and it would greatly help her goals. So of course she would feel favorably toward us. 'We'll operate from the shadows while putting Yeonsu in the spotlight. It's the ideal arrangement.'
From our previous conversations, I'd already conveyed that we preferred to avoid public exposure. Even without saying anything more, she would arrange things accordingly.