Chapter 87
Terminally Ill, but It's Okay — Episode 87
As with most fantasy, spirit beasts exist in this world too.
Unlike the Monsters that crossed over from the demon realm, these were animals that once ruled this land and became special through awakening.
They have so little presence that you rarely run into them, but the point of this midterm episode is Joo A-rin's awakening.
Perhaps because it was meant to advance her summoner talent, Yoo So-young used Sangun as the medium.
A blue-furred tiger that had ruled Outer Geumgang for generations. She brought in the Azure Tiger (靑虎).
But since a tiger can't just show up out of nowhere, say "Here, have some talent," and toss it over, she added a backstory.
Not long after inheriting the sovereign's throne, the Azure Tiger, still short of adulthood, recklessly absorbed forbidden mana. She added an incident where it bloated its belly and then went completely mad.
Strictly speaking, it was a state similar to falling into qi deviation, and because of that, a real "Hey, you bastard" situation ended up unfolding.
The thing had been crouched in the forbidden zone cultivating the Way for nearly five hundred years, so how much must it have held back and held back again all that time?
On top of that, the night of the full moon had arrived, when mana density grows especially thick.
Strange things.
The ferocious wildness and wicked thoughts the Azure Tiger had struggled to suppress coalesced into strange "ghost (鬼)" forms and spread throughout Outer Geumgang.
And right now.
A portion of them was approaching Joo A-rin, trying to latch onto her.
"Hup!"
"Mmph!"
But as soon as both of us urgently held our breath, the things lost their target and milled about in confusion.
They were the weakest of the thought-form entities, the kind with two eyes. It was a shortcut made possible by the Gulgak (屈閣).
"Mmph mmph."
Joo A-rin mumbled something with her mouth and nose covered at the same time.
I guessed she was asking, "How long do we have to keep doing this?" so I kindly explained.
"Mmph mmph."
"Mmph?"
"Mmph mmph."
If she didn't understand, nothing to be done.
Heeheeheehee—
There was no need to explain, as it turned out. The things circled the area a few more times, then left without lingering.
The two of us exhaled almost at the same time.
"Hoo."
"Haa...."
Joo A-rin asked as soon as her breathing settled.
"What exactly are those things?"
I considered what to call them, and since there was no good substitute, I named them with a familiar word.
"Ghosts."
"Ghosts? That's absurd...."
"Well, not exactly absurd. Strictly speaking, they're more like thought-form entities...."
If it had been Cheon Seo-yoon, she would have gone "Whoa, really?" and that would have been the end of it. Joo A-rin was definitely particular.
I added a caveat.
That the things had a habit of latching onto anything, Monster or human, and that when it was a Monster, they drove it mad and created a creature far stronger than its original grade.
However, the two-eyed ones were duds, so if you just stopped breathing, they judged that there was no living thing nearby.
I added the explanation that you could shake them off easily.
"Anyway, that's a relief. It means they're not ghosts."
Joo A-rin let out a shallow sigh and nodded.
For some reason, she looked considerably relieved.
Was she afraid of ghosts?
Anyway, while I was at it, I got the next explanation out of the way in advance.
"I know this because I study hard normally, so don't think it's weird."
"What is?"
"I'm telling you in advance because it seems like you're going to ask how I knew."
Joo A-rin pressed her lips shut, as if she really had been about to ask.
She really was a consistent person.
"Can we rest together?"
Before waiting for an answer, I went over to the extinguished campfire and got it going first.
The brighter the surroundings, the more it deterred the things from approaching, so from now on it was best to keep a fire burning even while sleeping.
Once I tossed in the instant charcoal I'd prepared in advance, the campfire blazed up in no time.
I plopped down in front of it.
I had things to settle with Joo A-rin, so I considered pulling out some beer, but since I'd look like a lunatic, I modestly prepared only tea.
It was the black tea Joo A-rin enjoyed drinking as a coffee substitute.
"You really came prepared with all sorts of things."
Joo A-rin stared at me with a dumbfounded expression.
"You sit too. Let's drink together."
"Why would I? You might have come aiming for points."
"You know I don't care about grades."
"......."
"If you don't want to, then don't. I'll drink alone...."
"Refusing seems impolite, so I'll have just one cup. Please keep your distance, though...."
Joo A-rin sat down far away, her face slightly flushed.
I barely managed to suppress a laugh that was about to escape with a pfft.
Only a few lines had been added to the process. She wasn't much different from Reina or Cheon Seo-yoon.
Because of the grueling schedule, Joo A-rin had been worn out too.
I handed over the black tea and returned to my spot.
"Thanks. I'll enjoy it."
Joo A-rin murmured quietly, then brought the black tea to her lips.
She held a sip in her mouth, then flinched in surprise and twitched her shoulders.
"I-it's drinkable."
That was what she said, but color rose to her face as if she was quite satisfied.
Well, that was only natural.
I'd agonized over what would be good and picked the most expensive one.
"If the professor finds out, he'd come up with some kind of countermeasure, right?"
Maybe because of the effect, Joo A-rin asked in a softer voice than before.
Ugh—
I frowned at the bitterness of the black tea I was tasting for the first time, set it down at a distance, and answered.
"Probably not. He'd think this is part of the exam too."
"No way. What if something happened?"
"Nothing's going to happen. This is also the period when most people move around in parties, and the Yosal Corps is here just in case. If anything, he might even put up extra points for the thought-forms. He pushed ahead during the final-zone occupation battle too."
"Hm."
Joo A-rin didn't hastily deny it, as if she judged I had a point.
It seemed like the right moment had arrived, so I revealed my true intention.
"So here's the thing. How about the two of us travel together?"
"Me. With you?"
"Yeah. I'm planning to go meet the owner of the thought-forms, and I'd like you to come along."
I began laying out the reasons why she should follow me.
* * *
At the same time, on the border between Area A and Area E.
"Now this is a real sleeping bag!"
Cheon Seo-yoon, buried in the gifted (?) sleeping bag, was rolling around on the ground with a newly blissful expression.
The issued sleeping bag wasn't bad either, but store-bought was definitely different.
The soft texture and the snug warmth that wrapped around her body surpassed even the dormitory bed, so she was no longer afraid of sleeping rough.
"Heehee."
Cheon Seo-yoon grinned once more, then gazed up at the night sky and suddenly thought of her generous benefactor's face.
"Why's he being so nice to me lately?"
Sure, the nice part was nice, but it really was puzzling.
Strictly speaking, she'd thought of their relationship as closer to a bad connection than a good one.
Actually, Cheon Seo-yoon herself admitted that she'd picked fights and made things difficult for various reasons.
But had the Roberte incident been the trigger?
Once the knot in her heart had loosened to some degree, what came was undeserved kindness.
An Armament, and that string of characters she'd said she roughly understood but honestly still couldn't figure out. On top of that, a sleeping bag, and even leftover meat.
It really was too much to write off as being because of the necklace.
He'd only said it was precious; he didn't know whether it was an item related to her dad.
"Is he actually nice?"
Cheon Seo-yoon arrived at a conclusion she herself found absurd, then shook her head vigorously.
When it came to being prickly, wasn't he a match for Joo A-rin?
After tossing and turning a few more times, Cheon Seo-yoon decided not to jump to conclusions any further.
She judged that agonizing over it would only give her a headache with no answer, and that if it came to that, sleeping was the better deal.
Cheon Seo-yoon was the type to do what she set out to do, so she quickly fell asleep.
Thinking of the pork belly she'd grill tomorrow morning, snore—
But her senses flared not long after.
Heehee—
Heeheehee—
As if some lunatic was imitating a ghost, a wheezing, airy sound tickled her ears.
"Hup!"
Cheon Seo-yoon, still buried in the sleeping bag, used the recoil of her waist to jerk her body upright.
She was no different from a caterpillar standing on two feet, but her movements were agile.
She bounced away to put distance between them and first identified the enemy.
It really had a bizarre appearance.
Its whole body was black and its form hazy, but strictly speaking, it looked like a small monkey with a snake's face.
Two gleaming red eyes were sinister and cunning.
"What the hell. These bastards."
Cheon Seo-yoon shed the sleeping bag as if molting and swung her sword like lightning.
The massive sword force that shot out in an instant swallowed the things whole.
Because the attack carried her full intent, the things vanished like smoke dispersing.
Heeheehee—
Heeheehee—
But it was like pouring water into a bottomless pot.
She expelled mana a few more times and swung in all directions, but it only lasted a moment.
The things pursued Cheon Seo-yoon like leeches that had caught the scent of blood.
As if inflow and respawn were happening at the same time, their numbers kept increasing.
"These crazy things, seriously."
There was no sensation of cutting them, and making more of a commotion would be like advertising "I'm right here," so Cheon Seo-yoon decided to retreat for now.
She planned to move to Area A as scheduled and look for Baek Sa-young.
Hup.
The moment she made up her mind, a strong wave of mana surged around her.
Cheon Seo-yoon swung the Wolhwa Corps longsword, now extended to over four meters, roughly.
Pivoting on her right foot, she cut through everything around her.
Four branches of sword force slammed into the things' ranks.
Crrrrack—
A gap opened.
Cheon Seo-yoon didn't miss the opening and quickly grabbed her sleeping bag first.
Worried it might tear, she rolled it up and clutched it tightly to her chest, then dashed toward the side where the encirclement was weakest.
THOOM, thoom.
The ground shook faintly at that moment.
When she sensed demonic energy seething unlike before, Cheon Seo-yoon screeched to a halt and turned her head.
There, the Grade 8 Monster Maung was roaring.
True to the "ung" in its name, it looked like a bear, but it was all size and little combat power, so she'd thought it was just a fool throwing its weight around.
Grrrrr.
But something was off.
It was bigger than the one she'd met yesterday, its muscles bulging, and an unfamiliar madness coiled in its menacing eyes.
Not only that, one of those bizarre things was latched onto its chest, flashing red eyes.
"What the hell is this bastard."
Cheon Seo-yoon, who had been glaring at its chest, soon raised her sword again.
Wiiiiing.
And before long, several drones began circling around her.
* * *
The alliance with Joo A-rin was formed without difficulty.
First, given that the owner of the thought-forms was a spirit beast, Joo A-rin showed the curiosity unique to the Summoning Track.
On top of that, the emergency message that had arrived during the night.
[Notice regarding the sudden appearance of unknown lifeforms. First......]
Once word spread that pressing the rescue button would dispatch the Yosal Corps and that capturing the strange creatures would grant extra points, persuasion became much easier.
Cheon Seo-yoon deserved a lot of credit for this part.
Thanks to her bustling around yesterday, Professor Lee Taek-jin quickly discovered the things and established countermeasures one beat faster.
Anyway, after that, time flew by.
Day 4, day 5, day 6.
Cheon Seo-yoon met up with Baek Sa-young and dealt with the endlessly gathering thought-forms and the students who rushed in aiming for points.
Seol Yoon-gi, unlike the original work where he was a lone wolf, took Kang Cheol-min under his wing.
The other students split into three groups and threw themselves into earning points.
When thought-forms with four or more eyes appeared, So Yi-hyeon's Yosal Corps immediately deployed and intercepted them.
Joo A-rin and I advanced slowly toward the Azure Tiger's nest, hunting along the way.
Naturally, we slept separately and ate together.
The reason we deliberately dragged things out was to wait for the Azure Tiger to weaken.
And so, when the final seventh day of the midterm dawned, we were able to reach the Azure Tiger's nest—the entrance to the forbidden zone adjacent to Area B.
"Wow, we finally found it. This seems like the place."
I opened my mouth smoothly, pretending to wipe off sweat.
It was a valley where thick fog hung low and dense.