Chapter 21
Terminally Ill, but It's Okay — Episode 21
When Kim Mi-young asked, "Pardon?" Lee Taek-jin clarified.
"I asked whether stopping it would change anything."
"The safety team could go in—"
"And when would they get there? It would take at least an hour just to reach the cave from where they’re on standby."
"......."
"Besides, suspicion alone can't serve as evidence. If we stopped the evaluation based only on what the students said, we'd just be laughed at by the other professors."
"Then what do we—"
Kim Mi-young still looked uneasy, but Lee Taek-jin continued in a calm voice.
"The evaluation goes on. You said the report was written three years ago?"
"Yes."
"Then it can't have been a mutant for long. If the team leaders gather, they should be able to handle it. First, determine its location."
"Understood."
Kim Mi-young's expression soon settled into something cold.
After quickly regaining her composure, she relayed the decision to the leaders of each team.
-Everyone. Nothing is going to change. The evaluation will continue. Team leaders, report your approximate locations and situations first.
Baek Sa-young and Lee Dae-ho had each been separated and already fought a battle, while Seol Yoon-gi and Joo A-rin were fighting swarms of Sasikju.
The other team leaders had also been reached, and their approximate locations were determined.
All except for one person.......
"What about Student Cheon Seo-yoon?"
"Both radio and video are dead. Could something have happened to her?"
"......."
Lee Taek-jin, who had been silent for a moment while organizing his thoughts, picked up the radio as if he had made up his mind about something.
—Team leaders, listen. It looks like the battle with the queen has already begun. Head down no matter what. Break through the floor if you have to.
Having said what he needed to say, Lee Taek-jin grabbed his jacket from where it hung on the chair.
"Professor?"
When Kim Mi-young looked at him questioningly, he merely answered in an indifferent tone.
"There’s always the chance of an emergency, so I’m going myself. Assistant Kim, keep a close watch on things here."
The corners of Kim Mi-young's lips rose slightly.
However, by then, thirty minutes had already passed since Joo A-rin's report.
* * *
A fire that does not go out.
The secret of hellfire lies in its horrifyingly cruel wick.
That is, the soul of the enemy.
Using that primal life force as fuel, it burns and burns again.......
It burns until every last reserve is exposed, leading its victim to death.
Whoosh—
The hellfire that left my hand slammed into the queen and the wall behind her.
Part of the hellfire that had set its wick into the creature's soul suddenly died down as if extinguished.
Rumble—
That was the beginning.
The blue flames blazed from deep within its body.
Even the Eight Hot Hells, which burn away karma and force atonement, could hardly have been worse.
SCREEEEEECH!
Unable to endure it, the queen let out a shriek.
Snatch.
In that opening, I caught the falling Cheon Seo-yoon in my arms.
I staggered for a moment, but I bit down hard on my lip and forced my legs to move.
Tap-tap-tap.
Fortunately, I managed to pick up some speed.
I was aiming for a space carved deep into the wall behind the queen.
I hadn't found it by sheer luck.
It was a result I had created deliberately.
Since I couldn't finish her in one blow anyway, I'd deliberately sent part of Hellfire wide.
I had prepared an escape space in advance.
"Hey, get a grip."
As soon as I entered the gap, I set Cheon Seo-yoon down first.
I caught my ragged breath and checked her complexion, and sure enough.......
Just like in the original work, she was poisoned.
"Ugh......."
The queen's venom paralyzed the nerves. Her face had gone past pale to bluish, and her whole body was drenched in cold sweat.
Even if I gave her a resistance enhancer, it probably wouldn't do anything.
Prevention and treatment were entirely different matters.
Trickle.
On top of that, the wound where the webbing had pierced her left shoulder looked bad.
The wound was relatively small, but bright red blood kept pouring out.
How much longer could she hold on?
I couldn't help wondering.
In the original work, Baek Sa-young had fought the queen head-on right away, so the poisoning had not lasted long.
He'd retrieved the queen's heart blood and purged the poison quickly.
But now it was different.
I wasn't the protagonist sitting at number one in the overall rankings, so I couldn't afford to face the queen head-on.
Because of my insufficient mana, manifesting an Armament was also out of the question.
If I scraped together every last bit of mana, I might be able to use Roots of Greed, but the odds of success were slim.
The conditions were too different from what I had expected.
Approaching her alone without anyone to draw her attention, then inscribing a sorcery formula on top of that, would be like trying to bell a cat.
"Damn it."
In the end, no matter how much I thought about it, there was only one answer.
Hide and wait.......
Since the hellfire was burning the creature's soul, the best option was to wait until support arrived and then fight together.
I had to save the option of converting time into mana in case I was discovered midway.
Once I had made up my mind, I spoke to Cheon Seo-yoon.
"Someone will come, so just hold on a little longer......."
But my throat seemed to close up, and I couldn't bring myself to finish the sentence.
"Ugh."
That face, which already resembled hers, twisted in pain, and for a moment a strange emotion rose up.
Damn.
Probably because seeing her like this reminded me of Yoo So-young waiting for me.
"Why did you have to go off on your own and make such a mess of things?"
There wasn't a single thing about her I liked.
"You could at least not have that damn pretty face look so much like hers......."
After that, I stayed silent for quite a long time.
Honestly, I wasn't trying so much to find another way as to convince myself that I'd thought this decision through.
......But then.
"Wait!"
It was exactly then that a thought flashed through my mind.
I looked at Cheon Seo-yoon, still lying down.
The protagonist with a historic level of mana capacity, the heir of the Cheon Family who would one day wield the lightning attribute more freely than anyone.
Or one of the main heroines of Epic of Salvation.......
But from the moment an alternative occurred to me, she looked different.
Fully charged.......
"...A spare battery?"
In this situation, could there be a better source of mana?
Side effects and all that crap weren't what mattered right now.
"Sorry, but I need you to cooperate. This is the only way to deal with the queen."
I grabbed Cheon Seo-yoon's hand.
[Activating trait, Manifestation.]
[Consuming 2 hours to supplement insufficient mana.]
After making up the mana shortfall with time, I manifested Roots of Greed and transferred it to the back of Cheon Seo-yoon’s hand.
Sixty-four strokes, 2-star Wood-Style Sorcery, Roots of Greed.
[Manifestation Accuracy: 81%]
Then a single thin line emerged from the green sorcery formula inscribed on the back of her hand.
The line crawled up the back of my hand like a living thread snake, followed by a piercing sensation.
Stab.
Immediately after, a system message appeared.
[The host's level exceeds yours.]
[Under normal circumstances, this target cannot be connected to.]
[Conditions are met due to a status ailment.]
[Activating the effect of the sorcery art, Roots of Greed.]
[Up to 20% of the target's mana can be borrowed.]
So there were limits on the target.......
Then the plan to make the queen my host had been impossible from the start.
"Well, would you look at that."
Now that I saw this as the best option, I felt considerably more at ease.
In contrast, my mana rapidly filled.
Even with just 20% of Cheon Seo-yoon's mana, my empty mana reserves felt more than half full.
"With this much......."
Even if I couldn't kill the queen, I could at least cripple her.
I immediately leaped out and shouted.
"Hey, how's your insides doing?"
I had deliberately revealed myself to provoke her.
The effect was immediate.
Thud-thud-thud.
The moment the queen spotted me, she shrieked and scurried her eight legs frantically.
Chitter-chitter-chitter—
Even with a sword lodged in her chest and her insides burning away from hellfire, the queen still displayed her formidable presence.
But that kind of stupid charge was exactly what I had been hoping for.
[Using trait, Manifestation.]
I quickly visualized a sword and materialized it.
Then a small sword with the familiar rough-hewn look, now overlaid with elegant patterns, settled into my grip.
Squeeze—
It was the First Sword once again.
But unlike before, its performance was a full 40%.
[Yeon Gaesomun's First Sword (Replica)]
[Performance Limit: 40%]
[Description: One of the five swords said to have been carried by Yeon Gaesomun, the Dae Magniji of Goguryeo. It was used for flying-sword arts, and as long as it has enough power to reach its designated target, it will always pierce it.]
[Effect: Agility +30%, activates Absolute Accuracy effect]
Materialization time was only 10 seconds.
Since even its original effect had been manifested, there would be no problem dealing with the queen.
Flick—
With a light extension of my hand, the First Sword shot forward.
Whoooosh—
Not to be outdone, the queen spat out dozens of strands of webbing.
They came rushing toward me with an edge sharper than any blade.
Facing that huge, dense net of lines, the First Sword flew on without wavering.
───────────!
Soon, dozens of straight lines crossed paths.
The spiderwebs clung desperately to block the First Sword.
But the First Sword's effect was Absolute Accuracy.
Slither—
Suddenly, it avoided the spiderwebs and glided through the air in a graceful curve.
The spiderwebs transformed to stop it, bending sideways and chasing after it.
The swift lines traced paths through the air, their trajectories crossing, tangling, and intertwining.
Swish-swoosh-swoosh-swoosh-swoosh.
The dizzying barrage of lines danced irregularly enough to make it look as though space itself were being divided.
"Where do you think you're going?"
But "absolute" was not a word that could be thwarted so easily.
It was an absolute rule that held until it met a greater power.
So what could I do?
"If you're weak, you die."
Stab—
The First Sword, which had been flying like a ray of light, ultimately spun fiercely and pierced through the queen's abdomen.
Rumble-rumble.
The queen, whose mouth had half melted away, could not even let out a groan and thrashed about this way and that.
[All available mana has been exhausted.]
[The connection is terminated.]
I did not let my guard down.
Barely supporting my trembling legs, I prepared for any contingency.
I, too, had reached my limit.
If by some miracle the creature got back up or summoned its remaining army to attack again, I would have no way to respond.
Rumble—
It was at that moment that I felt a strong vibration.
What?
My mouth was already dry as dust.
Boom—
The underground sky split open. And a single ray of light fell.
The moment I confirmed its identity, I collapsed to the ground without realizing it.
"Ah....... That took everything out of me."
The protagonist really was in a league of his own.
His entrance timing would put most heroes to shame.
Thud.
A prince on a white horse, right down to the perfect landing.
No—Baek Sa-young looked around, then asked me, his face tense.
"Are you okay?"
But couldn't he tell just by looking?
"Do I look okay? I'm right about to pass out, you idiot."
"Huh? ......Oh."
If I'd known he would come this fast, I would have just stayed hidden.......
I was full of regret, but I quickly pointed toward the wall and spoke.
"Never mind that. First we need the heart blood. Cheon Seo-yoon's been poisoned."
"Got it. I'll hurry."
Baek Sa-young nodded with a resolute expression, then leaped toward the queen.
As an attribute infused his sword, a rueful sigh escaped me.
"Damn, I should be the one landing the last hit......."
But the situation didn't allow it.
Because the sky spun before my eyes.
It seemed that even if mana could be borrowed, the burden placed on the body remained the same.
Ah, my precious time.......
Just as I was about to at least reach out a hand, darkness descended on all sides.
* * *
Blink—
I forced my impossibly heavy eyelids open, and the world was entirely white.
The glare was the least of it. Confusion hit me, and my body reacted automatically.
I was about to bolt upright and look around when a calm voice came from right beside me.
"You're awake already? This is the infirmary."
It was Baek Sa-young.
......I see.
Just from the single word "infirmary," I could picture the general situation.
After passing out pathetically, I must have been carried here.
"They said it’s mana exhaustion. You’ll be fine if you get some rest. But didn’t you wake up too fast? They definitely said it would take half a day......."
Baek Sa-young looked at me with worried eyes.
He must have been keeping watch the whole time; he had a thick book tucked under his arm.
"Well, that's......."
[Activating trait, Enhanced Recovery.]
The answer to that mystery hovered before my eyes, but I didn't bother telling him.
"More importantly, the messages......."
By now, the quest completion messages that should have filled my vision were nowhere to be seen, and a sudden unease crept over me.
I swallowed against the cottony dryness in my mouth and spoke quickly.