Chapter 13
Terminally Ill, but It's Okay — Episode 13
The nest distorts space, so its scale is vast.
It was easily dozens of times larger than Yeouido, and the environment varied depending on which Initial Stage you entered.
Some were dense jungles. Others were barren deserts. Initial Stage 9, which we had entered, was.......
"Of all places, it's a cave. Visibility's poor, so I'll tighten our spacing."
"What shit luck. These conditions are way too favorable for them."
As Joo A-rin and Kang Cheol-min said, it was the worst possible environment.
A situation akin to jumping into a river to catch an alligator.
The only saving grace was that, for a cave, the ceiling was high and the width was broad?
If not even for that, it would have been quite a struggle for a team with three ranged types deployed.
We wouldn't have been able to fire off magic or sorcery freely.
Sniff sniff—
Min Young-ji, at the front, advanced while alternately examining the floor and walls.
Her combat ability was abysmal, so it was easy to overlook, but her detection trait was one of the rarer abilities.
But I hadn't expected even her search method to be so unique.
I doubted my eyes for a moment.
Sniff sniff—
This demure girl kept sniffing like a dog as she tracked the terrain and Monsters by scent....... No, like someone with rhinitis.
Tsk.
Still, her accuracy at least seemed reliable.
"I-it seems to be that way."
Despite her timid way of speaking, Min Young-ji guided us without hesitation.
Capturing an Initial Stage ultimately meant securing the core at its far end.
Since the task was to destroy that core power source, it seemed we could at least save on search time.
How much farther did we walk like that?
"Hold on. ...The Demonic Energy just got much denser."
Min Young-ji, who had been moving well, suddenly stopped.
"Tell me exactly. Where?"
As agreed, the front position was switched to Kang Cheol-min. I too kept my gaze fixed ahead without relaxing my tension.
Then a musty, sinister sensation washed over me, along with a stinging pain as if my skin were being sliced.
Demonic Energy.
The distinctive aura of Monsters, which I hadn't felt in a long time. As I focused my mind, a suspicious sound followed.
Krrk-krrk—
A very small dull sound, or a rough sound like scraping metal.
There was no harm in warning them, so I relayed it to my teammates.
"Don't you hear something?"
"What sound?"
"Even I, a Superhuman Track, didn't hear anything, so what......."
The reactions were thoroughly unimpressive.
Joo A-rin frowned and pricked up her ears, while Kang Cheol-min smirked and shrugged.
"Then your senses must be dull."
"......Are you saying that to me?"
Obviously.
When I shrugged the same way, Kang Cheol-min took his irritation out on the wrong place.
"Min Young-ji, are you sure?"
"......Yeah, I definitely smell something. I-I just don't know the direction."
"What bullshit. Smell again. That's your job."
What a pathetic bastard.
[Activating trait 'Heightened Senses'.]
I heightened my hearing in particular among the five senses and chased the sound lingering in my ears.
......Then.
Krrk-krrk—
Krrk-krrk—
As if a megaphone had been pressed against me, a huge volume slammed into my eardrums.
Immediately after, I sensed the approximate direction.
Could this be.......
A sudden chill ran down my spine.
They were lurking right beside us, like predators stalking prey.
The moment I realized, I shouted.
"The floor!"
BOOOOM!
The ground surface flipped over at the same time as my shout. Stone dust and debris swirled, disorienting my vision.
Krrk-krrk—
Krrk-krrk—
Like a chorus of frogs in the rainy season, the noisy dull sounds echoed from all directions.
Taking advantage of that chaos, dozens of figures revealed themselves.
They rose up as if passing through the cracked ground surface.
"I-it's them!"
"It's an ambush."
"Eek!"
Their entire bodies were black, their height was roughly that of an elementary schooler, and their appearance closely resembled humans.
So I had considered their appearance not particularly jarring.
The moment I saw their eyes, I realized that wasn't the case.
Their eyes were nothing but white, with no black pupils.......
Krrk-krrk—
They charged in, their already whitely gleaming eyes flashing.
"X—, how are mere Grade 10 Monsters setting up an ambush?!"
"Aah! They're too close!"
As nearly twenty of them charged from all directions—front, back, left, right—the team panicked.
Kang Cheol-min swung his fists wildly, and Lee Min-ha, disrupted by them, failed her casting.
Min Young-ji collapsed in fright.
"Get against the right wall! There are a lot of them, but if we form up, we can handle them."
Joo A-rin's timely order and the water divine beast she summoned.
FWOOSH!
If not for the purifying stream of water it unleashed, we would have suffered major damage from the start.
"Hae-rin, save the team members first!"
As its master's command fell, Hae-rin, the divine beast resembling a lion, reacted.
As a divine beast that grows bound by a lifelong contract with one person, its youthful appearance was obvious, but its innate bloodline was monstrous.
Grrrrr—
Hae-rin let out a small howl and thrashed about its surroundings. Thanks to that, we bought time to regroup.
"Little shits that aren't even worth one punch."
Kang Cheol-min belatedly raged, and Lee Min-ha also succeeded in casting and raised a pillar of fire.
The tilted balance seemed to be recovering.
Krrk-krrk—
That is, until an even larger cry shook the cave.
......It's him.
I knew it instinctively the moment I heard it.
Ten Initial Stages leading to a single Final Stage.
The master of Initial Stage 9, the most difficult of the ten—the Kkeomeoksari leader—had appeared at the decisive moment.
* * *
It rose smoothly from the ground.
It was sleek and about as tall as an adult, with pure-white light streaming from its eyes.
As that ominous light draped over the surroundings, the ordinary specimens went wild like fish meeting water.
Krrk-krrk—
Krrk-krrk—
Krrk-krrk—
Joo A-rin, who was directing Hae-rin, quickly read the shift in the situation.
"No need to tense up. Move calmly according to plan."
"Ah, got it."
"I'll support."
Kang Cheol-min, having regained his focus, charged at the leader, and Lee Min-ha followed behind him.
Meanwhile, Joo A-rin and her divine beast, Hae-rin, thrashed about the surroundings.
"We'll clear the ordinary specimens and then pincer the leader. Support us as soon as your sorcery is ready."
"Got it."
She didn't forget to give me a heads-up, but she didn't seem to expect much.
As if she intended to handle it entirely alone, a sudden chilling cold encroached upon the cave.
CRACK—
Freezing, the higher attribute that was practically the symbol of the Joo family.
The extreme attribute said to freeze even blazing fire had manifested.
TZZZZZT—
Joo A-rin did not retreat even while facing over ten of them alone.
The sky-blue mana pouring from her hands froze even the Kkeomeoksari whose bodies had blurred as they phased.
"She is impressive."
Indeed, her skill was worthy of her arrogance, but I couldn't relax completely.
"If she burns through her strength like that from the start, what's she going to do about the leader?"
What heats up quickly cools just as quickly.
She seemed to believe that Kang Cheol-min and Lee Min-ha could firmly hold the leader in place.......
Well.
I couldn't say I didn't feel uneasy, but I soon shook it off.
Well, they'd judge it properly on their own. Isn't that their area of expertise more than mine?
That wasn't what mattered right now.
[Using trait, Manifestation.]
I quietly slipped back and activated the trait.
After visualizing a new Armament, I quickly proposed a condition.
"Condition: 10% of performance, time limit: 5 minutes."
[Conditions have been met.]
[Materializing.]
A moment later, a rough, crude dagger was gripped in my hand.
[Yeon Gaesomun's First Sword]
[Grade: Special] [Performance Limit: 10%]
[Description: One of the five swords said to have been carried by Yeon Gaesomun, the Dae Magniji of Goguryeo. Excellent cutting power and durability, and light.]
[Effect: Agility +8%]
The only set-type armament among the hero-grade armaments I possessed.
The set consisted of five swords. Together they were Hero grade, but each individual sword was Special grade, so they consumed little mana and didn't draw much attention.
It was a perfect armament for using moderately without showing off.
With this, all preparations were complete.
Tap-tap-tap.
I kicked off the ground forcefully, and the speed was enough to make me stagger for a moment...... no, it wasn't.
I simply shot forward.
Anyway, the target was straight ahead!
One Kkeomeoksari had been frozen solid by the Freezing attack.
Since it was an incapacitated opponent, I drove the First Sword in without difficulty.
SHNK—
[Defeated Grade 10 Monster, Kkeomeoksari.]
[The nest's special property is applied.]
[Acquired time is reduced by half.]
[Acquired 4 hours.]
"But half?"
My expression momentarily crumpled, but there was no time to hesitate.
CRAAACK—
Even at that very moment, more than a few of them were dying pointlessly at Joo A-rin's hands.
"Damn it."
If they were going to die anyway, sacrificing themselves for me would be more beneficial for them too.
Choosing my next prey, I made a proposal to Joo A-rin.
"You're already exhausted. Just freeze them. I'll handle the finishing."
When I dashed over and drove my sword into another one's head, the flustered Joo A-rin asked.
"......Aren't you in the Sorcery Track?"
"Me? I'm in the Sorcery Track. Why?"
"I was wondering if running wild with a sword is also sorcery."
Then should I stab them with a fan or a bell?
"Anyway. Let's trust you."
Her words said that, but her gaze was still doubtful. Still, the fact that she went along with it was what mattered.
That was only the beginning.
Freeze them, then the head.
[Acquired 4 hours.]
Freeze another, then the head.
[Acquired 4 hours.]
[Acquired 4 hours.]
.
.
[Remaining Time: 3 days 22 hours 13 minutes]
It couldn't have gone more smoothly, so a thought suddenly occurred to me.
Is this an orchard?
It felt like harvesting ripe apples with nothing more than a light tap.
"Yeah, I deserve a day like this sometimes."
At the rare stroke of luck, the corners of my mouth rose.
If not for the scream that suddenly rang out, I probably would have even forgotten that Lee Dae-ho's team had struggled.
KRAAAASH!
"Ghk! X—, I missed."
"Aah! W-watch out!"
Kang Cheol-min, slammed into the wall like a crumpled can, and Lee Min-ha, white as a sheet, screamed.
Beyond the two of them, I saw the leader's form surging forward as if shot from a cannon.
That bastard Kang Cheol-min.
He'd been running his mouth as if he'd catch it alone.......
WHOOSH—
The leader charged without hesitation, as if it had already chosen its target.
At the end of its path was Joo A-rin, visibly exhausted.
......We're screwed.
I started to run to help, then stopped short for a moment.
.......
What could I do by approaching with a 10% First Sword that had no crowd-control effect?
Thinking about it that way, I couldn't see a way to make it work.
"Then I should run first."
I couldn't make the impossible possible.
Once I had my answer, I bolted in the opposite direction.
"Y-you......."
"What are you doing, you bastard!"
What do you mean, what am I doing? It's one step back for ten steps forward, dumbass.
Joo A-rin, who had been preparing her freezing, was flustered, and Kang Cheol-min, who had barely gotten to his feet, shouted, but I steadily widened the distance.
Once I entered the appropriate range, I stopped and activated the trait.
[Using trait, Manifestation.]
The original plan had been to aim for the last hit at the moment Joo A-rin and Kang Cheol-min joined forces to face the leader.
But things had gone wrong.
Joo A-rin was exhausted, and Kang Cheol-min and Lee Min-ha were clearly in no condition to fight.
So there was only one way.
"I'll have to catch it myself. That bastard."
Fortunately, I still had enough mana for about two more sorceries.
I quickly inscribed Flame Bullet.
CRACKLE!
At that moment, Joo A-rin's Freezing clashed with the leader's phasing.
A dreadful chill surged, but it was clearly weaker than before.
The leader was unharmed, and Joo A-rin was barely holding on with Hae-rin's help.
I was about to pour mana into the completed sorcery formula.
But.
......Will this be enough?
A sudden doubt arose.
Of course, compatibility wasn't absolute. Strong fire could burn away even shallow darkness.
But it was a bit ambiguous.
My Flame Bullet was only 1-star grade.
Even if my manifestation accuracy was high, what if two Flame Bullets couldn't kill it?
Third place, my ass.
I'd have no mana left, so from then on it would be a disaster.
I would not only have to spend my precious remaining time, but my objective would change too.
From a quest to survival.......
Just like Lee Dae-ho's team in the original work.
So I stopped the materialization and thought for a moment.
There were too many watching eyes to manifest the Seven-Branched Sword.......
"There is one way I could do it without making it look too suspicious......."
Earlier, when each of us revealed our attributes, something had flashed through my mind.
Like Joo A-rin's Freezing, my sorcerer family had a special ability of its own.
The thing commonly called the 'Art of Reversing Heaven.'
There probably wouldn't be a problem using it.
After all, I had Manifestation.
The only problem was that this would be its first manifestation.
Should I take an unnecessary risk.......
"You cowardly bastard......."
But at that moment, I heard Joo A-rin's sharp voice.
"No, I have a reason. Just wait a little."
"And that thing calls itself a teammate."
No, I'm thinking about how to help right now?
"A disgrace to a prestigious family, you damn bastard......."
"......."
Being cornered really could change a person.
That must mean she was that desperate. Thanks to that, my deliberation didn't last long.
Tzzzt, tzt.
I layered another sorcery formula on top of the Flame Bullet.
As blue pigment spread over the red formula, all my remaining mana drained out in an instant.
The difference between inscribing them one by one and all at once was bigger than I expected.
"......If this fails, I'm seriously X-ed."
My legs trembled and my vision swam, but I barely endured it.
Then, a moment later, a tiny fireball wreathed in a blue band shot out from the completed formula.
ROOOAR—