Chapter 57
Chapter 57
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: The Miracle of Mana Drain
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The axe-wielder's fist, wrapped in an aura, came down toward my head in slow motion.
I raised my arm to block it, but my utterly drained arm moved far too slowly. It was clear his fist would be faster. All I could do was pray my head was tough enough to withstand it.
Bang!
The axe-wielder pulled back his descending fist and swatted away the incoming mana bullet.
"Which bastard are you?!"
"Eek!"
The axe-wielder bellowed, and behind him, Changhee—the youngest of the Oh brothers—gasped.
"Keep firing!"
Sangheon shouted to Changhee.
Changhee's shots weren't nearly powerful enough to take down the axe-wielder yet, but with the guy unarmed and seriously injured, they were enough to distract him.
"Where do you think you're... Arghhh!"
In that moment, his eyes clouded over milky white, and his skin began to corrode. It was Nayoung's Blind and Corruption.
Nayoung, riding behind Siyoon on the motorcycle, held her wand aloft. A Blind cast over the entire New North Korea region would have had little effect, but this was targeted solely at the axe-wielder, whose stamina was already rock bottom. It worked perfectly.
In the meantime, Sangheon rode up to me on the motorcycle.
"Thanks..."
I dragged my heavy body onto the back behind Sangheon.
"You bastards!! I'll skin you alive! Just wait!"
Even as his senses dulled and his skin flaked away, he thrashed his axe wildly in all directions, roaring.
The New North Korean hunters and soldiers rushed past the axe-wielder, chasing after us.
"Changhee! Tires!"
At Sangheon's command, Changhee shot out the tires of the pursuing vehicles, while Nayoung cast Nightmare on the approaching hunters, sending them crumpling to the ground. As we intercepted the cars and hunters one by one, the remaining forces seemed to give up, turning their vehicles around and retreating.
* * *
We headed straight for the area where the Korean Hunter units and military were stationed.
"Halt! Halt!"
Soldiers at the checkpoint blocked our path.
"I'm Lee Ji-seok, a Hunter. There are injured people here. Please open the gate."
Having absorbed the mana stones from the car to recover somewhat, I spoke to the checkpoint soldier.
"Huh? Hunter Lee Ji-seok? P-Please wait a moment."
The soldier who recognized me radioed his superiors, while another checked inside our vehicle.
Seeing the people in the bus who looked on the verge of death, the soldier rushed over and explained the situation to his comrade on the radio. The gate opened immediately.
"What happened here?"
A company commander who seemed to be in charge came out and asked. His uniform was slightly disheveled, as if he'd been resting.
"We found these patients nearby and brought them here. Please prepare barracks and healers for treatment."
"Nearby? Where did you bring them from? Don't tell me... from that North Korean survivor group we got reports about recently?"
The company commander's face went pale.
"We can discuss responsibility later. Treat them first."
The commander saw the skeletal adults behind me helping even thinner children off the bus.
"Damn it... Bring potions! Wake the medic, medical corpsmen, healers—everyone!"
Unable to refuse, the commander guided us in. Fortunately, he wasn't the type to turn a blind eye just to protect his position.
Dozens of soldiers and healers began treating the people.
"Mister, Hee-ah still won't wake up."
Even after drinking the potion, Hee-ah showed no response. Her face remained deathly pale, her breathing so faint it could stop at any moment.
"Hee-ah ate monster meat too, right?"
"Yes. All her friends here did. It was the only food we had."
"She ate monster meat?"
The military doctor was horrified.
"The toxin from the monster meat has spread through their bodies. Modern medicine doesn't know how to remove it yet."
"Toxin means mana, like Jae-in mentioned?"
Mana rarely evolves the body. For unawakened ordinary people, it's just poison.
That poison needed to be extracted. But the ability included in my C-rank Regeneration skill was life force absorption. It couldn't absorb mana.
I couldn't obtain an elixir right now either.
As I pondered what to do, Hee-ah's breathing grew weaker. The medical corpsman fitted her with an oxygen mask, but I had no idea how much time that would buy.
"I'll try."
Nayoung stepped forward.
"You?"
"Actually, after fighting Helen and leveling up, I acquired a skill."
"What is it?"
"Mana Drain..."
Nayoung bowed her head deeply. It was a skill I'd heard she'd used even in the future, but I hadn't known she'd acquired it this soon. With Blind to obscure the surrounding hunters' vision and Mana Drain to siphon their mana, she could use skills infinitely until the enemy collapsed.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"It's another witch-like, horrible skill. And it's only C-rank, so not very powerful."
I pulled Nayoung's head to my shoulder and hugged her.
"How much time do we have?"
When I asked the military doctor, he just shook his head silently. I wanted to catch some other monster to test Nayoung's skill, but there was no time.
"Try it on me first."
"...Okay."
Determined, Nayoung placed her hand on my arm.
She focused.
I could feel mana circulating through Nayoung's body. But the flow was so faint that I couldn't sense anything leaving my body. My Sensitive Perception skill had heightened my five senses and intuition to extremes, but I'd never needed to detect mana before, so it wasn't well-developed in that area. Nayoung was far more adept than me.
After a few seconds, I felt something draining from the muscles in my arm. It was different from the sensation of lacking life force—like the rank of my sturdy body was dropping.
"Did it work?"
Even to my question, Nayoung kept her eyes closed, concentrating.
Just then, Hee-ah's blood pressure plummeted, and her heart rate slowed. There was no more time for practice.
"Hee-chul, can your sister try?"
Nayoung approached Hee-chul and asked.
"Yes, sister. Please save Hee-ah."
Hee-chul didn't even seem to understand what Nayoung was about to do. He just wept and begged. Nayoung hugged the sobbing Hee-chul, patting his back, then placed her hand on Hee-ah's chest.
Sweat beaded on Nayoung's forehead. In the chaotic relief barracks bustling with people, silence fell around us. Everyone held their breath, watching Nayoung and Hee-ah.
"Vitals..."
The military doctor pointed to the machine. The plummeting heart rate and blood pressure ticked up slightly.
"Potion! Give her potion!"
Hee-ah lacked the strength to drink, so we dripped a few drops into her mouth for absorption. A bit of color returned to her ashen face.
"Whew..."
Nayoung wiped her sweat.
"You did great, Nayoung. Amazing."
I placed my hand on Nayoung's shoulder, and she overlaid her hand on mine, smiling.
After that, Nayoung went around, drawing out mana from the most critical patients in order. Draining the mana didn't heal them outright. It merely removed the mana poison obstructing treatment.
But that opened the door for potions and modern medicine to work. It was a way to counter mana poisoning damage.
"Thank you, Goddess."
"Thank you."
The New North Korean residents, adults and children alike, bowed deeply to Nayoung as they watched.
"Uh... um? Why are you doing this? Please get up."
Nayoung tried to help them up, but the people kept pressing their foreheads to the ground, repeating their thanks.
"It must look that way to them."
These were people treated inhumanely in North Korea. She had saved them from the supreme leader who ruled through strength and fear, and now revived the dying. What else could she be but a goddess?
Nayoung fidgeted uncomfortably at the bowing, but each time someone called her "Goddess," I noticed her lips twitch upward ever so slightly. Stressed from her job as a dispatcher all the time, she didn't hate being called Goddess.
* * *
"You were supposed to contact us first."
Bureau Chief Baek Young-shin rushed over before dawn. His sunken eyes under dark circles made me feel guilty.
"Director, I'm sorry. But the kids needed help right away—what could I do? If I hadn't gone then, Hee-ah would be dead."
I pointed to Hee-chul and Hee-ah behind me. Even the director couldn't bring himself to scold me in front of the sick children.
"If I'd told you, it would've taken forever with internal meetings, contacting New North Korea, negotiations, and all that, right?"
"Yes... Sigh... I reached out to the New North Korea side. They're furious."
"No one died on our end—it was tough holding back. Why are they mad?"
Honestly, if casualties were acceptable, extracting them would've been much easier.
"Why not just steamroll them with force?"
"Would that work? If deaths occur from their resistance, we'd face global backlash."
"So what do we do?"
"They want compensation."
"Compensation?"
"Yes. Food, items."
"What about the sick people?"
"They said handle them yourselves. But they demanded Hee-chul back."
"Hee-chul?"
"Everyone except the sick—they want the useful ones returned."
"No way. You know that."
I glared at the director, seething.
"Calm down. I didn't say it, and I have no intention of doing so. New North Korea isn't a place to send a child. Hunters are dominating North Korea right now."
"While feeding monster meat to the masses?"
"They only give that to the lowest laborers without power or influence. Capable people seem to smuggle mana stones and byproducts for what they need."
I don't oppose the strong having more. But I can't condone abusing or exploiting the weak.
"Anyway. Hunter Lee Ji-seok and your group—please, for the love of god, stay far away from that area. The country will handle negotiations."
"Understood."
Feeling some remorse, I answered obediently.
After the director left, I spent a little time with the kids.
"Hee-chul, the people here will protect you now. Be good, no trouble."
"Where are you and the Goddess going, mister?"
Nayoung whipped her head around at "Goddess," covering her mouth to hide her laugh. She really loves that.
"We have work to do. Call if you're bored or need anything."
I left our contact info.
"Take care."
* * *
We waited a few days nearby, then were redeployed for North Korean territory restoration. The Korean government negotiated with New North Korea, trading peripheral territories excluding their area. Word was, they secured massive amounts of items, money, and food in exchange for the land.
For New North Korea, it was territory they couldn't hold anyway, and they couldn't stop Korea's advance, so it wasn't a bad deal.
Marked as persons of interest, we were reassigned far from the New North Korea side.