Chapter 75
Terminally Ill, but It's Okay — Episode 75
Before [Epic of Balance] officially launched, at a shabby gukbap restaurant in Seoul.
Yoo So-young held out an unpolished draft and asked for feedback.
Back then, as a pure reader, I encountered this world for the first time, and my somewhat dissatisfied first impression had been about him.
"Hm, isn't he a little too bland for a protagonist?"
"Who? Baek Sa-young?"
"Yeah, he's nice, but he's kind of clumsy and frustrating....... These days that's not appealing. A protagonist like this."
"That's true. But see. Nom nom."
Yoo So-young, who had been working her spoon nonstop, wiped her mouth and went on, pointing back and forth between the gukbap and the cider.
"Between these two, which one feels more like the main?"
"Gukbap and cider? Obviously the gukbap."
"Baek Sa-young is a character like this gukbap. He doesn't have the fizzy kick of cider, but the more he simmers, the more his true worth comes out. And also......."
Yoo So-young paused for a moment, then gulped down water instead of cider.
After letting out a satisfied "Ahh," she rambled on about how it was too bad it wasn't soju, and how if it weren't for today's manuscript she'd crack open a bottle, and then,
"Baek Sa-young has a secret."
An idea in her head that wasn't in the draft.
Or rather, she rattled off a setting that was close to fantasy.
It was like a legend that had vanished as if erased from the setting itself.
The story of the mightiest clan, before whom even the arrogant Ten Great Families had to bow their heads.......
I listened intently because it was interesting, but I didn't know that would be the last chance.
Around the time the story entered its main arc, Yoo So-young disappeared.
.
.
The recollection faded into the background as my vision gradually brightened. Once my eyes focused, I realized deer-like eyes were looking down at me.
"Are you okay?"
I took the hand Baek Sa-young offered and pulled myself up.
The awkwardness of having been sprawled out alone melted away the moment I registered the changed environment.
Heat that seemed to choke my breath and dry wind scorched my face, and the desolate ground, where no vegetation remained, was sand in every direction.
"A desert? It's really hot."
Baek Sa-young wiped off the sweat running down his face and threw off the training top he was wearing.
I also tried to wipe off the sweat running down my face.......
[The leather coat's temperature-control function activates.]
......Ah, I'm fine.
I'd briefly mistaken things because I was distracted by the scenery.
When I touched my body, it was only dry and smooth, as if I'd just finished a shower.
"Aren't you hot?"
"Not really."
"That's amazing. How do you not shed a single drop of sweat?"
Baek Sa-young, who had been staring at my face, soon nodded as if he understood.
"Did you block the temperature with mana? I heard that's a really difficult technique."
"What are you talking about."
Before Baek Sa-young could fall into another strange misunderstanding, I took the lead and walked ahead.
Then a puzzled voice reached me from behind.
"Where are you going?"
Ah, didn't the Special Mission Taskforce tell him?
Well.
Come to think of it, they hadn't been able to. They said they'd only discovered it and hadn't gone inside.
But the structure wasn't that complicated, so it wouldn't be a problem.
"If there's something, wouldn't it be over there?"
I naturally reached out toward the far edge of the desert.
I pointed at a rocky mountain that towered endlessly into the sky.
As befitting the place where the protagonist's Armament slept, the summit, ringed by clouds, was occasionally engulfed in flashing sparks, giving off an ominous air.
Baek Sa-young stared with newly dazed eyes, then soon followed after me.
"Seems like it. Let's hurry."
We made the rocky mountain our destination and crossed the desolate land.
Thanks to the coat, I felt no different from usual, but Baek Sa-young advanced while enduring the harsh environment head-on.
Had we walked for about twenty minutes like that?
At that moment, because of an unfamiliar presence I sensed, my pace naturally slowed.
I sensed at once that they had appeared and warned Baek Sa-young.
"There's something in the ground......."
But before I could finish speaking, something burst from the ground.
Rumble—
Through the ground surface where heat haze shimmered, some boulder.......
A stone humanoid surged up and charged at us.
Chaeng—
Baek Sa-young swiftly drew his sword and thrust it forward.
The sword drew a perfect arc and pierced the creature's abdomen.
Schk—
But the opponent was a guardian of an Armament.
A combat weapon made of condensed pure mana, devoid of reason.
Creak—
The creature nonchalantly grabbed the sword piercing its abdomen.
It pulled the sword deeper into itself and advanced without hesitation.
As white light burst from its back and its mouth opened wide, sharp metal suddenly shot out and drove into Baek Sa-young's chest.
It was a blow so instantaneous that it was not easy to respond to.
Chaaaang
But I wasn't the type to just watch.
I urgently hurled my dagger and knocked it away, twisting its trajectory and piercing the creature's maw.
"What the."
Startled, Baek Sa-young slashed downward diagonally, severing the creature's body, then kicked it away.
But it wasn't over yet.
The half-destroyed creature was instantly wrapped in white light and regenerated quickly.
"You can't kill it with simple attacks."
I manifested Flame Bullet to block the creature's recovery.
Ever since I had appraised the two-star Fire-Style Sorcery, my understanding of it had exceeded 90%, and with the buff of pure mana added in, flames more intense than before swallowed the creature.
Fwoosh.
The creature stopped regenerating and collapsed as if dead.
Taking advantage of the lull, I spoke to Baek Sa-young.
"It's a golem."
"A golem?"
"Hold on."
I approached the creature and activated Appraisal.
[Name: Low-Grade White Golem]
[Attribute: Metal (100%)]
[Description: A combat weapon created by magic. Its regeneration and endurance are remarkable, making it quite troublesome, but if you fight it using its attribute, it can be caught surprisingly easily.]
I informed him not only of the confirmed information, but also of fire, water, wind, earth, and wood.
I also told him of the possible existence of other attribute golems that had not yet appeared.
"Don't you know too much?"
Baek Sa-young asked back as if amazed, but I settled it with a single phrase.
"You know. I'm really interested in monster studies."
"Ah. Right. But this......."
Baek Sa-young's lips twitched as if he had something else to say. Since he seemed too embarrassed to say it himself, I said it for him.
"That it's a favorable opponent for you?"
"......Yeah. My trait. You know it too."
Baek Sa-young rubbed his nose awkwardly, but it was true.
Since he handled all the basic attributes, no matter what golem appeared, he could manifest the attribute that countered it.
It wasn't coincidence; it was possible because a specific intention was reflected.
The magic space itself was a kind of testing ground.......
It was a place to prove whether a pureblood of the clan possessed the qualifications worthy of the Armament.
Therefore, Baek Sa-young had to pass a total of three trials.
Through the golems, he had to prove the clan's first bloodline trait, "Attribute Conversion"—
In the worst heat, by climbing the rugged rocky mountain, he had to prove the second bloodline trait, "Martial God Physique"—
And through the final boss battle, he had to have his overall combat ability acknowledged.
Only after passing all three trials could he claim what the vanished clan had left behind.
One of their heirlooms awaited him there.
"If I hadn't come with you, I'd have been in trouble. If I'd charged in blindly, I would have been in for a brutal fight."
"You know it well."
In the original work, you wandered for quite a while too.
"From now on, I'll take the lead."
Baek Sa-young clenched his fist with a crunch and walked ahead.
That opportunity came sooner than expected.
Grrrrr—
Before long, as the ground surface vibrated, Baek Sa-young's sword shone in brilliant colors.
* * *
We encountered various golems until we climbed the rocky mountain.
Red, green, blue, yellow.......
Each time, I identified the attribute and relayed it to Baek Sa-young, and Baek Sa-young showed off his martial prowess like a fish in water.
I too could handle all the basic attributes if I borrowed the power of Manifestation, limited to sorcery, but I didn't reveal it.
Because it was exclusive to the "vanished clan," I did not want to invite unnecessary suspicion.
So fire, water, wind.
I only stepped in when those three attributes were needed.
I poured the strength I'd saved into climbing the rocky mountain.
The examinee was Baek Sa-young, but we had to climb together anyway.
"Huff, huff."
But I hadn't expected it to be this bad.
Lately I'd gained confidence in my stamina, and the coat's effect couldn't be ignored either, so I'd climbed with some confidence.
But each step felt like scaling a cliff that dropped away at nearly 90 percent, and on top of that.......
[Stamina decreases under the influence of an unknown force.]
[Strength decreases under the influence of an unknown force.]
.
.
Even the strange debuff effect engraved across the entire rocky mountain activated.
My body sagged as if soaked with water, and with every step I took, it felt as if an invisible hand was grabbing my ankle.
I squeezed out every last bit of strength and somehow climbed to the midpoint.......
But after that, it was beyond what I could handle.
So I decided to set aside my pointless stubbornness.
"This isn't working. You go first."
"Is it hard? If I push you from behind......."
"No. Go. Leaving me behind is how you can help."
I forced Baek Sa-young, who insisted on going together, to leave.
Around the time the back of his head was flickering at the edge of my vision.
Fwish.
I shot out the Cheonjam Thread in one clean motion, closed the distance in an instant, and followed behind.
"I should've gone like this from the start."
Trying to do everything the proper way had been arrogance.
When you thought about it, wasn't Baek Sa-young also wearing the cheat item called "Martial God Physique" on his body?
So each in our own way.
Baek Sa-young advanced silently like Baek Sa-young, and I took it easy like me and then caught up all at once.......
Like that, we climbed the mountain without rest for half a day.
From some point on, the golems that had attacked whenever I almost forgot about them were no longer visible, the hot beating sunlight dulled, and my vision gradually began to darken.
The end must be approaching soon.
Around the time I felt the final trial was imminent.
Baek Sa-young, walking ahead, suddenly crouched and beckoned me over.
When I got close, Baek Sa-young spoke in a deliberately serious yet puzzled voice.
"Among golems, are there giant-like ones too?"
"Giant?"
No way.
According to the original work, the final trial opponents were six mid-grade golems.
It was only natural that they were bigger and stronger than the lower-grade ones, and I remembered the one-versus-six fight lasting over two hours.
But a giant?
"Didn't you see wrong? At most they'd be about Lee Dae-ho's size."
"It's not that. Even at a glance, it looks over five meters."
"Is it riding a wooden horse or something? Or combined?"
"Huh?"
"No, you probably got confused seeing it from far away. There's no such golem."
I chuckled and crept forward.
I poked my head out and looked ahead. A Greek-style temple of white marble came into view, and at its entrance stood—
"What the."
But at that moment, I couldn't help tilting my head.
Just as Baek Sa-young had said, the six final boss brothers were nowhere to be seen, and there really was only one.
Only an overwhelmingly massive black golem stood there, looking like a wrathful god.
"No, what the."
"Why? What's wrong?"
I waved my hands in denial, then stared ahead just in case.
.
.
But there was no response.
Which meant this was an anomaly caused by me, not by 4885's intervention.
At that point, when every little thing had become an anomaly, even breathing felt burdensome.
Suddenly, a difference from the original work and a hypothesis based on it flashed through my mind.
What if.
I had only entered as a supporting role.
But what if the magic space had recognized that there were two descendants of the clan?