Kutlanka Raid (3)
"Hah... hah..."
Salmu sat slumped on the ground, gasping for air. He had nearly lost his life. No matter how much he craved the thrill of death-defying situations, the moment of approaching death left him unable to shake the fear.
'Why am I still alive?'
He was relieved to be breathing, but the question of how he had survived left him bewildered.
"W-who are you?"
"....."
The question was answered the instant he lifted his head. Standing before him was a tall, muscular man with black hair. A mask hid his eyes, and in his hand he gripped a dagger as long as his forearm, black energy seeping from it like smoke.
Drip... drip... drip...
Blood dripped from the blade, the droplets already blackened by the energy.
"....."
Plasma, who had materialized without a sound like a ghost, tensed. He glanced briefly at his forearm.
Squelch...
Blood ran down his arm. The man who had appeared without warning had cut him with the dagger he swung.
'Damn it.'
Plasma bit his lip. His stomach churned and his head spun. The wound was rotting fast, and the blood flowing from it was black.
That dagger reeked of black energy—clearly a high-grade weapon infused with poison or curse.
He had been hit by the worst possible attack. For Plasma, with no recovery options, poison and curse were lethal.
Until now he had only fought Salmu’s group, but he had always planned to kill them and return to his master. Salmu’s crew might be strong, yet they were still 7-star and on the verge of breaking into 8-star superhumans.
No matter how numerous or well-prepared they were, Plasma could have slain them all.
'Impossible...'
But that certainty shattered the moment the black-haired fairy appeared. Tension replaced the vanished confidence.
A 7-star Plasma was tense. That could only mean one thing.
The fairy before him was also 7-star!
And like himself, a superhuman standing on the threshold of 8-star.
Plasma knew every famous warrior on the continent—their names, genders, ages, everything. Yet this fairy was unknown to him.
So he had either never appeared in the world or had hidden his identity.
At the same time, Plasma knew people who possessed overwhelming power yet operated only in the shadows.
'[Palos's Bird]?'
He knew the shadowy organization [Palos's Bird] lurked on the Gaia-rium continent. He had never seen them or fought them directly, but his master, the Witch Queen, had warned him they existed.
Therefore the fairy before him was almost certainly from Palos's Bird, and that thought proved correct.
The fairy who had wounded his arm was the fairy of Montblanc Kirios, the Southern Administrator known as [Crow].
Kung-! Kung-! Kung-!
[Kyoooooo-!]
'Damn it.'
The roar of Kutlanka echoed from behind, making Plasma clench his teeth. He had intended to finish Salmu’s group first, then confront the monster, but the black-haired fairy’s arrival had ruined the plan.
The masters who had joined the hunting party with Alan and Chae were buying time against the revived Kutlanka by climbing down the cliff, yet it was uncertain how long they could hold.
'Can I face all of them alone?'
The fairy with power on par with his own, Salmu’s group, and Kutlanka.
The answer came instantly.
'I never imagined this would be my grave.'
Plasma forced a bitter smile. No matter how many calculations he ran, the odds of defeating every last one of them and returning safely to Baidu were less than one percent.
'Sorry, Master.'
Plasma whispered a silent farewell to his master.
Gooooo-
Formless energy surged from his body.
If I cannot return to my master’s side,
if this truly is my grave,
I will kill here the enemies who will one day become obstacles to my master!
The 7-star superhuman abandoned all killing intent.
Mutual destruction.
I will kill as many enemies as possible—especially that one with power equal to mine.
Kung-!
"Not a single one will survive!"
Spitting out killing intent, Plasma shot forward like an arrow toward the assassin.
*****
'I guess there’s no answer here.'
Even as my party members and I poured every skill into the fight, Kutlanka kept advancing as if we were tickling it.
Fortunately, losing one leg had slowed it, but with Chae Gillard unable to join the assault, there was no way to stop its advance.
It was time to decide.
Continue the raid or abandon everything and retreat?
Retreating was acceptable. Saving my fairy and party members mattered more than catching Kutlanka.
Yet the rewards that could be obtained by defeating it were too tempting to ignore.
A 100-level monster. In Fairy Masters, dealing 10,000 damage to a raid boss still earned rewards. Most guilds deliberately sent newbies against bosses far weaker than their own specs to help them grow.
I had been counting on exactly that. In game terms, I was a newbie and Plasma was a veteran.
Yet for some reason, Plasma was not coming toward me. Had Salmu’s group been stronger than I expected?
"... Tsk! No choice."
Thirty minutes had passed since I began fighting Kutlanka. My remaining mana was nearly gone after pouring every skill into the battle.
I would die like this. There was no alternative but to retreat.
'Heh. I don’t know if that’ll work.'
Still, since I was running anyway, I might as well try one more desperate move.
"Aquaril! Entris!"
"Master!"
"Why are you calling, Master?"
I summoned the two fairies who had been fighting alongside Chae Gillard—Aquaril and Entris.
"I’m climbing onto that monster’s body. So help me out."
"... What do you mean, Master?"
"Are you out of your mind, Master? You’ll die climbing up!"
When I announced I would climb on top of Kutlanka’s body, the two fairies froze in shock. Was it really that unbelievable?
But upon thinking about it, the statement was indeed shocking.
First, the monster was tens of meters tall. Second, it had three tail bones that could attack from every direction. Getting struck by one while climbing would mean certain death.
It would be like being stabbed deep in the tail bone or jumping from a height without a rope or parachute.
In short, the plan I had in mind required me to risk my life.
"I want to try it once. If that doesn’t work either, I’ll just retreat. So help me."
"Tell me what it is. I’ll climb instead."
Aquaril answered with a grim face. No way!
'I can revive even if I die, but Aquaril can’t.'
With over 1,000 gems, I could return to life. Aquaril had no such ability.
If a fairy died, the master could summon again. But that applied only to ordinary masters and fairies. Alan and Aquaril were not ordinary.
Aquaril was my fairy now, but she had originally belonged to Hwaryongwang. I had stolen her from that man.
If she died, ownership of her would return to the dead Hwaryongwang. I would never see her again.
'Rather than never seeing Aquaril again, it would be better if I died instead.'
Dying was still terrifying.
Just the image of a dump truck barreling toward the truck I was in, or the moment the Blood King’s axe split my body in the dungeon, made my heart squeeze and my body tremble.
Yet after experiencing death once, no, twice, the fear had dulled.
"Enough. This is something I have to do."
"Master!"
"Listen to me, Aquaril!"
"....."
Only after shouting did Aquaril fall silent. Even though I was not going to die, tears welled in her eyes.
"So what are you planning? By the way, Master, you are not my master, so no matter what I will actively help."
"....."
Entris shrugged and glared fiercely at Aquaril. It seemed she was subtly seeking revenge on the fairy who had once guarded her.
"With my agility stat I cannot climb up there in one go. So you two throw me as high as possible. Then run back and forth in front of Kutlanka to pull aggro."
"Will that even kill it?"
"It might not. But if I get hit, at least I’ll have some fun. Ah, while I’m climbing, hold back your attacks as much as possible. I need to save my mana."
"Understood. Aquaril? I’m helping Master, but what about you?"
"... You must be careful, Master."
"Don’t worry. Trust your oppa?"
Swoop-!
I kissed Aquaril’s protruding forehead to calm her.
"Are you ready?"
After a moment, Aquaril and Entris stood facing each other. Nodding to Entris’s question, I ran toward the two fairies and leaped from three steps away.
"Hic!"
"Haa!"
The fairies placed their palms on my soles and hurled me upward with all their strength. My body shot into the sky like a water rocket.
"Ucha!"
I clung to the ribs of the approaching Kutlanka. Its skeleton was hollow, so the blue sky showed clearly between the bones.
I grabbed the ribs and climbed steadily. Hya... In my previous life I was too scared to climb, but now I’m doing it amazingly well! I evolved, Park Ki-bung! No, Park Ki-woong!
Even though I was climbing on my own body, Kutlanka paid me no attention. Aquaril and Entris were jumping around in front of it exactly as I had asked, making it annoyed.
Soon I reached the top of its head.
"... This might actually work?"
On the flat crown of Kutlanka’s skull—equivalent to the top of a human head—there protruded a spot like a rock. When I touched it, it felt softer than the surrounding bone.
In Fairy Masters, players sometimes saw fairies’ skills land on the monster’s head during Kutlanka raids. Then, with extremely low probability, it fell into stun and its physical and magic defenses dropped sharply.
Because of this, many rankers focused on that spot, but the stun chance was so low that most followed the standard strategy.
I had researched whether any secret lay there, but I had never figured out why hitting the head caused stun.
Yet seeing the soft spot on the crown, I finally understood.
I had to strike that exact soft spot to stun Kutlanka.
"Hoo... Here I go."
I poured every last drop of mana into the sword. It was not a skill, so the power would not match what I wanted, but it was better than a normal attack or Wind Arrow.
"Die, you bastard!!!"
Kwang-!
I swung the sword filled with my mana down with all my strength.
"Kuk!"
Strong backlash nearly made me drop the blade. The skull was softer than usual yet harder than ordinary metal.
[.........]
"St... stopped?"
Kutlanka, struck on the crown, halted its steps.
Dudududududu-
"U, uwaa!"
And its body began to shake violently.