The Phantom Core

I flung both hands wide toward the earth.

"Wind Control!"

I can use six attributes — fire, water, earth, wind, light, and darkness. Light Control is only one of the abilities I possess. In front of other people I have to stick to a single attribute, but right now the only thing that can see me is that fucking Spectre.

A violent wind blasted from my palms toward the ground. A magnificent gale unfurled around me, as if freedom itself had taken shape. Those were my invisible wings. The wings of wind gave me thrust, and my plummeting body used that roaring propulsion as a foothold and climbed back into the empty air.

The Spectre King, who had been falling with me just to mock me, seemed startled by the sudden movement and failed to deploy Poltergeist. That was the plan. I'd held my power until the last possible instant, waiting for him to let his guard down as far as it would go.

"You dumb son of a bitch! You're dying by my hand today!"

I wrapped my hands in Light Control once more. A gauntlet of sacredly shining light encased my fists. This wasn't a technique I'd practiced beforehand — I'd used it on instinct. As my proficiency with Light Control climbed from beating the shit out of Spectres, this kind of application had become possible.

A new skill. Being D-Rank was a little disappointing, but it didn't matter. I was certain I could turn that freak of nature into a bloody pulp with this goddamn sacred fist. I threw a glowing punch at the Spectre King.

A heavy, meaty thud.

"Shiiiiee!"

The impact landed with satisfying weight. This bastard's invisibility was completely nullified by light-attribute skills. Now he was nothing but my invisible punching bag.

Whether that last blow had landed dead-on, his body shuddered, then started to fade the way Spectres do right before they vanish. But only part of him disappeared. I hadn't completely snuffed him out yet.

"Ssssssshk!"

As a piece of his body began to vanish, the Spectre King threw a complete shitfit. From the ground below, countless Spectres came flying up toward him like kites filling a country sky on a holiday, and they poured into the vanished parts of his form.

Then something remarkable happened. The parts of the Spectre King that had been disappearing regenerated. The bastard was using his own minions like potions to restore himself. The speed, though, was slower than I'd expected.

"Let's see who's faster, you small-fry piece of shit!"

I used Wind Control again, both hands working like a spaceship's thrusters, and flew freely through the air. Not being able to attack while moving was a drawback, but there was nothing I could do about that. I slipped to the Spectre King's flank and fed him another iron fist of light — then another, and another, and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠another. I was erasing him faster than he could regenerate.

He'd never trained to take a hit, thanks to that broken invisibility, so his durability was pathetic. Then again, a sneaky bastard like this wouldn't have been getting hit in the first place. Today, he'd picked the wrong opponent.

He was a fat man being tortured by mosquitoes on a midsummer night, and I was the vicious mosquito that treated guys like him as a favorite restaurant. The difference was that instead of itchiness and annoyance, what he felt was the threat of death. I wasn't just any mosquito. I was a malaria mosquito.

Pshhhk-pshhhk-pshhhk!

How many times had I hit him? At last, a sound like air hissing out of a soccer ball came from his body. He shuddered, and then he began to vanish completely. My strikes had already reduced him to the bulk of three or four ordinary Spectres, and now he was disappearing for good.

"Huh? What's that?"

At the center of the vanishing Spectre King, a glittering orb shone through. Wait — was that a Phantom Core? Phantom Cores dropped by Spectre, Banshee, and Wraith-type monsters were extremely rare byproducts, rare items whose floor price started at tens of millions of won, so scarce ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that maybe one would drop per ten thousand ordinary Spectres. Boss monsters usually had a high chance of dropping loot like this.

"It's a Phantom Core! That's definitely a Phantom Core!"

I closed my hand around it. With this, I'd recouped everything I'd lost today. Even subtracting the potion costs I'd spent on that other party, I was still in the black. People really ought to try living kindly.

I was smiling as I plummeted toward the ground. Great. Now all that was left was to stick the landing in style.

"Wind Control! Huh? Wind Control!"

The ability wouldn't fire. What? Wait — now that I thought about it, my vision was swimming. I hadn't noticed it in the heat of battle, but an ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠enormous fatigue crashed over me all at once. Exhaustion and a hollow sense of loss so intense I could collapse any second took over my mind.

Whoooooosh!

Fuck. I'm screwed. What kind of sloppy finish is this? I'm not even joking — I'm completely fucked. Skills won't activate. Forget skills — I can't even take a breakfall. My body won't move. Not that a breakfall would matter from this height. I'd be flattened into jerky either way.

Ah… is this where it ends? Fuck. The Phantom Core I just got was my ferry fare to the afterlife. Is this the irony of life? Right now I feel like I could write a masterpiece that would go down in human history… I'll have to write it on the other side.

Goodbye, Sujin. Yeonji. Luna, Sera — goodbye to all of you. You fucking bitches. I loved you so goddamn much.

I wanted to knock about ten kids out of each of you someday. I wanted to try a mother-daughter sandwich at least once. And even though I'd been too embarrassed to say it much, I wanted to tell you I loved you, over and over. Before I die, I just want to see Sujin's smiling face and her asshole one more time. If Yeonji's was right next to it, that would be the icing on the cake.

Suddenly I thought I was hearing things. No — it wasn't a hallucination. Through my shaking vision, I witnessed an unbelievable sight. Yeonji, flying toward me astride a waterfall that surged upward in reverse.

I wanted to call her name, but I couldn't even get my voice out. The strength I'd used to grab the Phantom Core had been the last of it. Yeonji slammed into me and wrapped her arms around my body. The sensation of her voluptuous breasts was extremely pleasant.

"You're alive!"

Whether the waterfall's power had run out, Yeonji and I fell together. Wait — isn't this just a double-suicide show?

"Hold on tight!"

Yeonji said it with a bright smile, her voice overflowing with confidence.

In that instant, the body holding me became incredibly bouncy. Clutching me like a household shrine, Yeonji had turned herself into a human airbag. A strange relief washed through me, and right on its heels, a question. Could we actually survive like this?

I squeezed my eyes shut. All I could trust now ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was Yeonji's ability.

SHHHHHK! BOOM!

We, who had been plummeting toward the ground at tremendous speed, landed with a terrifying roar. The shock of impact rattled every bone I had. It was the kind of hit you'd take colliding head-on with a truck barreling toward you at full speed. My vision blurred from the brain-shaking jolt.

"Ghhhk…!"

I think my ribs are broken. A burning pain like touching lava shot through my right arm. At least, despite the powerful blow to my head, I didn't seem to have a concussion. Yeonji had desperately protected my skull.

"Jaeseong! Are you okay!?"

Yeonji's worried voice reached me. Honestly, I was more worried about her than myself. The fact that I'd even made it this far meant she'd absorbed all the remaining impact.

Contrary to my fears, as she checked my body, she didn't seem to have a single injury. Falling from that height with no damage at all. What a terrifying ability. So this is what a Tanker is?

"Potion…! I'll give you a potion."

Yeonji pulled a potion and a first-aid kit from her backpack. Basic first aid is taught to everyone regardless of class. Under Sujin and Yeonji's gentle hands, I drifted off. Sleep is good. Because you can be freed from pain. I couldn't fight the irresistible drowsiness, and I went under.

Thanks to the potion and my self-heal, I managed to set the broken bones for now. I still needed to go to a hospital for a proper diagnosis, though. I was still inexperienced as a healer.

Under Sujin and Yeonji's escort, after treating my injuries, I looked over the other party scattered around us. The bear-like man I'd seen earlier was awake, but the rest were unconscious. I treated them with potions and healing.

Unfortunately, one person had died. When the Spectre King had gotten him and he'd fallen, it seemed he'd landed head-first. His neck had snapped, and he'd died instantly. This was the second time I'd seen someone die in a dungeon. It felt like a silent warning.

"Hhk…! Hh-hhk…!"

"Sudal is dead!!!"

The other party members wore extremely distressed expressions. They seemed to have been companions who'd been together for quite a while. Among dungeon-raiding parties, there were ones hastily thrown together through an app, and ones that had been active together for a long time.

This was the latter. That's why the pain of losing a companion cut deeper. And maybe this wouldn't always be someone else's problem.

On those people's gloomy faces, I saw the future faces of Sujin and Yeonji overlapping. And on the face of that dead hunter, I saw myself. If we didn't become strong enough, this party would be our future.

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"Ah. Thank you for saving us. Thanks to you, at least we survived. You used a lot of potions on us — if you tell us the quantity, we'll pay you in cash once we're out."

"That's all right. Please think of it as a condolence gift."

Normally I'm not the kind of good person who gives condolence money to strangers, but I'd just been issued a VIP pass across the River Styx and had it cancelled at the last second, so I didn't feel like taking money from people mourning the dead. Let's think of it as accumulating good karma and be generous today. Besides, I'd gotten a Phantom Core. My wallet was fat.

"Then we'll gratefully accept. Sudal will thank you in the afterlife too. By the way — did you take down the Spectre King? I was so out of it I have no idea what happened."

"I got lucky and finished him. My ability happens to be Light Control."

"A light-attribute ability. You were fortunate. That's a relief. I'd heard that a party of our level would be dead for sure if we ran into a boss monster."

The truth was, Light Control alone wouldn't have been enough to kill him. The key to victory had been catching him off guard with abilities he never saw coming.

Once all the injured had come to, we exited the dungeon together. Handling the deceased would fall to that party anyway, so we just made sure to collect our own things. At the dungeon entrance we sold the byproducts, and the Phantom Core was today's main event.

"A Phantom Core! Amazing. How did you obtain it? I'd heard getting one from killing Spectres is as hard as winning the lottery."

"We ran into a Spectre King. Barely managed to take it down."

The appraiser from Sejin Logistics, who purchased byproducts, began the appraisal. It would be far more expensive than a regular Spectre's Phantom Core. He used equipment that looked like it belonged in a biology lab and spent about ten minutes on the evaluation.

"We'll buy it for one hundred million won."

I'd hit the jackpot.