Chapter 79
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: The Hill Where Ice Flowers Bloom (4)
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"...It's coming."
The moment I muttered those words softly...
Kwajik—!
The Dragon Infant Soldier stomped the ground so fiercely that it caved in, launching itself into the air.
At the same time, Wol Ha-yeon's figure vanished from my sight in an instant.
The scene that followed was beautiful and awe-inspiring, like something out of a movie.
Kwang—! Kwang—! Kwang—!
Only the afterimages of moonlight flashed by, and the massive Dragon Infant Soldier's movements halted abruptly each time.
Wol Ha-yeon said nothing, not even letting out a battle cry.
She simply moved just enough—overwhelming her opponent appropriately while toying with it sufficiently to block the Dragon Infant Soldier.
And that meant... she had definitely taken charge of that monster.
"...We've come this far."
My attention was briefly captivated by Wol Ha-yeon's fight.
I turned my head and steadied my breathing as I faced the Necro Revenant standing before me.
Eudeuduk—!!
Black horn-like protrusions sprouted all over its body as it stiffly turned its head.
'I definitely remember the patterns. I've fought this thing hundreds of times.'
Block in the designated order—twist—slash down—pierce.
The skill tree flashed through my mind exactly as is.
The only difference from previous strategies was the superior performance of this pistol.
Of course, since it had improved for the better, I generated a mana bullet without hesitation and pulled the trigger.
Tang—!
The mana bullet infused with star mana spun toward it at a speed incomparable to before.
-Kruk...?
Confirming the undead's characteristic delayed reaction, I immediately twisted my ankle slightly, sidestepping like I was falling over.
Taang—!
I slammed a mana bullet, enhanced with a formation magic array, right into its skull.
The Revenant staggered backward.
-Krurruk!
"Hoo... It's stronger than I thought?"
The pressure I'd felt earlier had all been drawn away by the Dragon Infant Soldier, so this Revenant was exactly as it appeared in the game.
Tang—! Taang!
-Krraaaahhh!!!
I easily dodged a couple more of the Revenant's blind charges and shoved mana bullets into its heart and head.
At that moment, its body shattered with a thud.
It was a mid-boss level monster, but not a true mid-boss, so the Revenant met its end even more anticlimactically than expected.
Beside it, Sophia was facing off against the Modesspine.
Her opponent was a bizarre monster entangled with blood-red mana circuits throughout its body.
Any spell cast on it would be reversed and explode immediately.
But Sophia...
"...Got it. Analysis complete. Now I can see it all."
She muttered briefly, then triple-cast a 4-circle spell precisely into the core circuit floating at the Modesspine's center.
Peueok—!
Red smoke burst out as the Modesspine collapsed outright.
"Phew... This was just tangled circuits, so it was easy."
Sophia wiped her sweat and murmured.
On the opposite side, Amelia was battling the Void Draugr.
An upper-tier undead that wielded the power of decay.
Any ordinary lifeform would start rotting just from getting close.
But—
"Goddess!! Please grant me the power to purify this filthy corpse!!"
As Amelia clasped her hands, the surroundings lit up brilliantly in an instant.
The decay aura evaporated with a pababak— sound.
The Draugr staggered, unable to twitch a finger, and slowly crumbled within the saintess's sanctuary.
'Surprisingly, given her personality, I thought she'd fight with gloves on both hands like last time.'
"...It's over."
And finally, Yoon Seo-rin.
The Soul River was flying madly through the air, unleashing curse magic, but she blocked it all without wasting a single mana bullet.
Tang—!
Tang—!
Tang—!
Every bullet pierced the River's thoughtform.
Seeing the Soul River, riddled with penetration wounds across its body, fluttering and slowly falling from the air, Yoon Seo-rin...
Generated her final mana bullet and engraved runes on it.
"Erosion·Tracking·Scatter—Pierce."
Pajik—!!
The white ash forming the Soul River's body scattered into the air.
Kuwoong—!
As if waiting for that battle to end, the Dragon Infant Soldier—which had decomposed into dozens of pieces and collapsed to the ground—met its demise.
For all the fuss, the battle ended more blandly than expected.
'As expected of the strongest party I've assembled... This level is a piece of cake.'
It was just as we finished regrouping and were preparing to join Seol Yu-bin that it happened.
The moment each of our bosses was cleared, all the undead fighting the students halted in unison, as if on cue.
And slowly, very slowly, they raised their heads.
A bit higher than our line of sight, among the trees at the dungeon's center.
There, the energy of darkness and death, which had been gathering slowly... now surged violently as if its limit had been released.
At the same time, they uttered incomprehensible words and simultaneously crumbled back into bone dust or corpse fragments.
"......"
"......"
"I don't know what's going on... but it seems we're safe."
Everyone was bewildered by the sudden turn, but relieved at having survived, they took positions and began a brief rest.
"......"
"Hyun-sol, shouldn't you rest too? Your injuries from before probably haven't fully healed."
Wol Ha-yeon spotted me staring at the same spot the undead had gazed at until their self-destruction, and spoke in a worried voice.
I signaled to her that I was fine and sank into thought for a moment.
'...The Dullahan revival seems complete, and it looks like 10 more people have been captured... Damn it.'
It seemed the enemy was about to use Necrotic Awakening.
High Lich Cerserion's unique skill that kills living beings without slaying them outright, infuses them with its mana, turning them into undead...
And loyal knights that serve only it—the most vile and worst authority.
Moreover, it creates fully formed undead at minimum B+-rank, a skill whose completion could drastically shift the battle dynamics.
Of course, I couldn't be certain.
I had no way of knowing if this energy I sensed from afar was truly the aura emitted when it used Necrotic Awakening.
But since there was no possibility it wasn't, the decisions I could make boiled down to two.
Ignore the emergence of 13 far stronger entities than the ones we just fought, along with the deaths of 13 students, and join Seol Yu-bin.
Or send the 20 students, Sophia, and Amelia to Seol Yu-bin, while I, Yoon Seo-rin, and Wol Ha-yeon head to where Cerserion is.
"...Damn, what a shitty set of choices."
"...You okay?"
Sophia approached me as I swapped a new, red-glowing magic stone onto the tip of my staff from my subspace pouch.
She spotted my serious expression and asked worriedly.
"Your face looks grim... What's wrong?"
"...Nah, as the leader, I'm just pondering what to do next."
"Hmm..."
Sophia fixed her gaze on my eyes without a word even after hearing that.
But those eyes felt like they pierced straight to the depths of my heart.
"That's a lie."
"......"
"We haven't known each other long, but I can tell right away. Your face is screaming 'completely screwed.' That's exactly it."
...She's right.
I couldn't deny it.
That was precisely the state of my mind right now.
'Thanks to that, at least my thoughts are sorted.'
I took a deep breath and reached a conclusion without vain hopes or lingering attachments.
"Sophia."
"...Yeah?"
"You and Amelia. And the other 20 students here. Send them all to Seol Yu-bin noona."
Sophia's eyes shook massively for a moment.
"...What?"
Amelia also paused her healing of the injured students and asked back.
"What do you mean, Hyun-sol?"
"You guys pull back from here. It looks like me, Wol Ha-yeon, and Yoon Seo-rin need to head to the center first."
I felt the energy surging wildly from the center once more and continued.
"I judge the kids captured by the dungeon's master in the center are still alive, but if we dawdle, they'll all die."
"......"
Sophia said nothing for a moment.
Then she slowly shook her head.
"Then all the more reason we should go together—"
"No."
I cut her off decisively.
"If it were just you and Amelia, maybe, but we have to consider the remaining students' safety too."
"......"
"Seol Yu-bin noona is probably defending hundreds of students right now in a siege battle. But she'll be desperately short on combat manpower."
"...Then what about you?"
I gazed toward the center without answering.
It was already half-shrouded in darkness, with the thick aura of necromancy boiling up from its depths.
"Just like I said. Me, Wol Ha-yeon, and Yoon Seo-rin head to the center."
Amelia quietly bowed her head.
"...I see. So there's... something there after all."
I nodded.
Sophia didn't change her expression until the end.
No, it grew even fiercer.
"No way. Are you insane? Going to a place like that—"
"Sophia."
I quietly cut her off.
"The choice here... isn't about who's the better fighter."
It was a practical issue.
"It's about which choice saves the most friends."
At those words, Sophia's breath caught sharply.
"But..."
"I know you and Amelia are plenty strong, but we have no idea what happens when we encounter the dungeon boss. You can't fight while protecting the kids. That would make it hard for Wol Ha-yeon to fight freely too."
I turned to glance at Wol Ha-yeon, who stood expressionless beside me.
She gestured as if it didn't matter—or rather, as if she'd follow.
Finally, I lightly tapped my chest and said,
"Thanks to my unique trait, I have an absolute advantage against demons and undead."
"......"
"The three of us can rescue the students captured by the boss monster. If we're lucky, we might even take down the boss itself."
A brief silence.
At the end of the freezing stillness, Sophia spoke in a very small voice.
"...Then what about me? Me too..."
"You and Amelia—"
I grabbed her shoulders and met her eyes squarely.
"Especially you are the only mage who can protect the students right now."
Sophia's pupils shook violently.
"Without you... even with Seol Yu-bin noona as an ice magic master, they won't hold out against the overwhelming undead assault in the siege."
"......"
Even after saying this much, was she really just worried about me, refusing to yield?
No choice... I might hurt her feelings, but I'd have to be firm.
"If you take the trembling students back there now... there could be more casualties than just 13."
"......"
At that, Sophia bit her lip so hard that blood seeped out.
Amelia stepped back a pace and quietly said,
"That's so irrefutably correct that I have nothing more to say."
She glanced alternately at me, Wol Ha-yeon, and Yoon Seo-rin, then nodded slightly.
"Understood. I'll take Sophia and the students to join Seol Yu-bin."
Sophia wavered until the very end.
"You... come back alive."
"Of course. I'm not dying that easily."
Wol Ha-yeon quietly added,
"...Don't worry. I'll take responsibility."
Yoon Seo-rin, wanting to comfort Sophia unusually gently, stroked her back and said,
"No need to worry... We're not going to die."
Sophia clenched her teeth and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
"...I never said that. And I wasn't crying."
"Yeah. You weren't."
"Damn... You better come back alive."
They ultimately led the students and ran in the opposite direction.
Sophia turned back at the last moment and shouted in a choked voice,
"Ignoring my request again... You owe me double for this, Kang Hyun-sol!!"
I smiled faintly.
"Okay."
And turned toward the center.
Where the energy of death swirled fiercely, and ominous waves erupted just before Necrotic Awakening's completion.
"Let's go."
Wol Ha-yeon dashed ahead first, followed by Yoon Seo-rin.
And I followed them, muttering inwardly,
'Please hold on just a bit longer, captured kids.'