Charm Surge
The charm stat surged upward with a sharp clap!
“Ugh…!”
I lightly tapped the woman’s forehead with my palm as her eyes began to lose focus, then spoke again.
“Hmm… Still, Hyeon Woo-seok isn’t completely insane. He won’t try to hold you accountable for what happened inside the dungeon. Besides, A-rin already suffered something from Heo Min-sol that would justify holding a serious grudge, didn’t she?”
“......”
“Your side pulled every string you could to stop Heo Min-sol from facing criminal punishment. Yet even that invisible force still dragged her into prison. Given Hyeon Woo-seok’s personality, that must have been the most unbearable part for him. Am I right? He’s the type who lives by the law of the strong devouring the weak. Being powerless must have driven him mad with frustration.”
The woman still wore a deep frown, but the more she listened, the calmer her mind seemed to become.
“With the background Hyeon Woo-seok possesses, experiencing that kind of helplessness against an unseen power was probably a first for him. It leaves a dirty feeling that isn’t easily washed away. So I can somewhat understand why he’s obsessed with us. His methods are just too clumsy, that’s the problem.”
I continued piecing together inferences based on the constant stream of information about Hyeon Woo-seok unfolding in my head.
“He would have quickly realized that Ham Eun-yeong’s grandmother had intervened. He’s angry but can’t act immediately. He wants to use Ham Eun-yeong to strike at us for borrowing her grandmother’s power, but if the connection runs too deep, a Transcendent might step in. So he decided to observe for now.”
That explained why he’d attached this rookie instead of the more skilled woman who had monitored us at the beginning. He couldn’t afford to keep a high-level asset on constant duty.
“......”
“Sigh… What a pain.”
This guy really knew how to make things exhausting. Why not just come at us directly?
“Ultimately, his targets are probably the person who made the request, Ham Eun-yeong who granted it, and her grandmother. Hmm… We can handle that much. But does Hyeon Woo-seok seriously believe he can do something to that person from the Reverse Flow? Is he for real?”
The woman still refused to answer. At some point she had simply been staring intently at my face.
“She’s lost her mind. Even Hyeon Jung-gil can’t touch that person… I’ll give her credit for confidence, but getting entangled with Heo Min-sol has clearly broken her.”
“......”
I felt only emptiness at having wasted time on something so pointless. Still, it wasn’t trivial enough to completely ignore. I would need to share this with my comrades tomorrow.
“Anyway, I’ve gathered all the information I need. You can die now.”
“W-what! You said you’d spare me!!”
“…Yeah. Just kidding.”
“You—!”
Finding her reactions rather entertaining, I asked for her name so I wouldn’t forget it.
“W-why do you want my name…”
“Just want to remember it.”
“……?!”
After a brief hesitation, she whispered the name Miyeon in a tiny voice.
“Miyeon… Got it. Follow the oath faithfully. I’ll be watching.”
“…Understood…”
While Miyeon was released from the status ailment, I lightly treated her with Irmana’s water and a potion.
“Ugh…”
Burn marks and bruises covered her body, but she seemed more concerned about not exposing her skin to me than the pain itself.
“D-don’t look…”
“I’m not looking. Even if you told me to, I wouldn’t.”
“......”
It might seem strange to beat someone thoroughly and then heal them. But the principle is simple: treat someone terribly a hundred times and well once, and that single kindness is what sticks in their memory. Since I wasn’t going to kill her, there was no need to leave behind unnecessary malice.
Miyeon’s external injuries healed cleanly thanks to the treatment. She looked quite shocked by the effect of the water I had sprayed all over her. The synergy between the potion and Irmana’s water produced an impressive result. A potion with this kind of efficacy would be extremely expensive. It made sense that she would look up at me with confused eyes, wondering why I would use something so valuable on her.
Hmm… Should I take out some insurance?
Staring into Miyeon’s wide, round eyes, I said,
“Even if Hyeon Woo-seok is truly planning to do something to Ham Eun-yeong’s grandmother, he won’t be able to act right away. But he will make some kind of move soon. So watch carefully and bring me information. Anything at all.”
Miyeon’s face clouded with difficulty at my words.
“I’m not expecting much. The atmosphere around him feels different from normal. Even small things will do.”
“If it’s just that much…”
She might be lying just to get out of this situation. But the look in Miyeon’s eyes as she gazed at me told me she was being sincere.
I brought my face close to her neck.
“Hiiik…! W-what are you—!”
I stopped just short of her throat and whispered,
“If you do well with the tasks I assign, I might give you a reward someday.”
A reward? It was a blatant lie.
“W-what… kind of reward…?”
Miyeon’s pupils shook violently. She looked genuinely curious about what I might give her.
“Well, that depends on what you do, doesn’t it?”
“Ugh…”
I met her eyes from roughly a handspan away.
“Ha—”
She looked at me with her mouth slightly open and let out a soft gasp.
When Mimicry activates, Charm rises significantly.
I had received that reward after entering the Dark Space with Yeonhee. It was probably why this woman’s gaze had turned strange while I was deducing things earlier.
“Haa… Haa…”
The longer our eyes remained locked, the more her upper body swayed. She had gone beyond relaxed and was now practically limp. I recalled hearing somewhere that the status ailment Fascination becomes worse than useless if taken too far. What I was doing now was probably the same.
“You can go now.”
“Eh? Yes?”
“Go. Take the rest of today off. Starting tomorrow, do exactly as I said.”
“Ah… Yes…”
I nodded at her, then jerked my chin to signal that she should leave.
“......”
As Miyeon left the church, she kept glancing back. The lingering reluctance in her expression told me my intentions had taken root nicely.
I confirmed the ability sooner than expected.
I had thought I might test the charm increase from Mimicry on Yeonsu first, but it had proven effective much earlier than anticipated.
Once I returned home, I lay down beside Yeonhee, who was still lost in dreamland. The remaining time on Mimicry was short. I spread my arms and gently embraced her, spending the last moments breathing in her uniquely sweet scent.
She really was a ridiculous woman.
How nice it would be if every enemy I faced was like her. I indulged in that empty fantasy for a moment.
Mimicry has been released.
Too short. Way too short.
I had already returned to my original skeletal form. I immediately climbed onto the roof and devoted myself to training until the sun rose the next day.
The following day, we learned that Bae Jua and Ham Eun-yeong would be attempting their promotion exams. I had worried the appearance of a Great Calamity might delay the tests, but the incident had ended with minimal damage and everything seemed to be proceeding normally.
We decided not to enter a dungeon today.
“Uuuu… Ilwol, my head hurts. Rub it for me.”
“Clack clack clack!”
Yeonhee had passed out immediately yesterday, and her condition still didn’t look great this morning. I gently massaged her head and asked her to check on A-rin’s condition as well.
“Haaang… Ah! Aah…! G-go a little softer… Mmm… A-rin says she’s hurting too.”
As expected, Baek A-rin was in bad shape. Having endured the energy of a Great Calamity for nearly an entire day, it must have been more painful than any dungeon.
My massage seemed to help; Yeonhee gradually recovered. Once she was well enough to move around, we began preparing to move into the house we had purchased with Kang Yeonsu’s help.
It’s not like there’s much to prepare.
I placed only the truly necessary items into my subspace, flew to our new home, unpacked, and arranged everything. The interior had already been cleaned to perfection.
“Woooow— It looks so much better than when we came last time! The garden is huge too, right Wangwang?”
“Woof woof—!!”
Wangwang had grown larger than most large dog breeds by now. He was thrilled with the spacious new house and raced around in every direction. The other summons—except for the massive Black Dragon, who couldn’t be called out indoors—were all summoned to help them adjust to their new home.
“Churrrrak!”
“Grrrr?”
Both the Lizard unit and the Orc unit wore satisfied expressions. They looked especially happy about being able to conduct small-scale training rotations.
Yeonhee then mentioned something she had forgotten.
“The Deonni unit can fuse together now too.”
“Clack clack clack!!”
Considering the powerful fused version of the Lizard unit, I was quite excited to see what the Orc unit could do in their combined state.
“Deonnis, gather over here~!”
At Yeonhee’s command, the orcs moved with perfect coordination. Their solemn expressions as they looked at her suggested they had already mentally prepared themselves for the fusion.
Yeonhee closed her eyes, reached out her hand, and began chanting. A cluster of light gathered around Deonni No. 1 and they began to merge.
“Grrrrrr…!”
Having done this several times now, Yeonhee completed the fusion quickly. An orc even larger than the fused Lizard No. 1 slowly took form before our eyes.
About ten centimeters shorter than Lizard No. 1? But the aura it gives off is far more powerful. Why?
Was it because orcs were inherently superior to lizardmen? That doesn’t seem right… The grown lizardmen’s combat power was comparable to the orcs.
The question didn’t last long. The reason became clear when I saw the unfamiliar weapon held in the enlarged Deonni No. 1’s hand.
“Uh… What is that thing in your hand?”
“Krr?!”
Even Deonni No. 1 looked startled by the weapon it was holding. A long polearm had different implements attached to each end.
One side is definitely an axe, but it has a strange shape with a jewel embedded in the center. The other side looks like only the sharp tip of a spear has been attached. It’s an incredibly large and thick spearhead.
Both ends were clearly designed for physical combat, but their appearance was far from ordinary.
“Krrk…?”
“Deonni, you can’t just use your abilities anywhere. We haven’t even moved in yet.”
“Chwik…”
The orc, who had been about to swing the weapon, quickly withdrew its strength. Then it stared quietly at the part opposite the axe blade and suddenly began chanting an unknown spell.
“Whoa! Deonni is casting magic?!”
Maybe it’s because it fused with an orc mage…
Whatever was flickering at the tip of Deonni’s weapon began spinning rapidly. It quickly gained momentum, becoming a small whirlwind that shot high into the sky.
Kwaaaaaaaa—!
“Kyaa— Sand! Ptoo— Ptoo— S-stop!”
“Krrk?!”
Deonni, who had just activated the magic, was forced to withdraw its power again at Yeonhee’s command.
Ooh… That magic is actually useful.
It looked like it had tried to cast a sandstorm. It would work well for direct attacks and was perfect for harassing multiple enemies.
Shaping, huh… That skill has endless potential.
If Yeonhee grew further and could fuse different summons together…
Could I fuse with the Black Dragon?
Having seen Jo Giman transform into a dragon form, the question naturally arose.
“Hmm… It seems difficult right now. But I’ll try my best!! Though honestly, I like Ilwol’s current appearance.”
“Clack clack clack.”
“If you two fused strangely… that would be kind of awful.”
“Clack…”
Like what happened with the teeth guy? Yeah, I don’t want that either.