Chapter 229
Chapter 229
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 229
Chapter Title: 76. Seasonal Transition (5)
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The headless Minotaur's body crumbled. With its cervical nerves severed, the body lost all motor function. Its lower half stiffened as if paralyzed.
Even so, it charged forward at the speed of a car. Its flesh, dense as rock, weighed as much as one too. The collapsed upper body slammed into the ground and tumbled, spraying blood everywhere.
By a hair's breadth. Startled, Gaeul belatedly escaped with 'Blink'. The monster's massive bulk engulfed the flash of light. With Gaeul gone, it sliced through empty air and flew far off, crashing into a stone wall.
It would have been perfect up to there.
But her legs were trembling. Gaeul, emerging from the light, stepped on a rock and fell, bruising her butt.
Once down, she looked stunned by her own actions.
"...? ...???"
Gaeul's eyes widened as she alternated between her hand and the flying Minotaur in bewilderment. Then, turning her gaze to the distant mangled mountain, her body visibly shrank on screen.
Gaeul looked scared.
Yoo Ji-tae glanced at the child's hand. She had no control over her strength. The 'lightning mana', unique to the Gold tribe, still danced erratically from her palm.
Her hand must feel hot. Her wrist and elbows probably trembled uncontrollably too.
As he predicted, Gaeul clutched her hand tightly, staring blankly for a moment.
But time was not on their side.
Gaeul stood up.
She brushed off her butt.
Picked up her dropped weapons.
And headed toward the ruined village.
She met the sole survivor, a young child.
Thus, 1 minute and 20 seconds passed.
The waiting room had descended into chaos.
Faced with a situation far beyond common sense.
People are shocked.
The cadets and guardians in the waiting room had spent their lives among ordinary superhumans.
Awakening around age fifteen.
Enrolling in the Academy in their mid-to-late teens.
Undergoing military training until their early twenties.
Upon graduation, they hoped to join their nations' military organizations, guilds, or clans with favorable treatment. Thus began the adult social life of superhumans.
Strong superhumans were always visible. Yet they were like the moon. Everyone's gaze converged on them, making them seem commonplace anywhere, but they truly weren't. Amid the night sky's myriad stars, they shone exceptionally.
Those who hadn't realized it from afar keenly understood once they became stars themselves.
That the 'moon' was different from us.
In their eyes.
A star that had seemed slightly brighter.
Had now become a brilliantly shining moon.
"Wooooaaahhh―!!"
"Whoa, whoa! Insane!"
"What the hell just happened?!"
The raw reactions burst from the cadets.
RIL cadets clutched their foreheads in shock. Cadets from other affiliations were equally appalled.
The distinctions Lair cadets used to define themselves—affiliation, group, race, nation, etc.—
Crumble before an overwhelming factor surpassing any metric.
Superhumans, for whom growing stronger forms the basis of existence.
If someone saw that and stayed calm, they wouldn't understand.
Saw that and stayed calm? A superhuman? How?
A mage-position cadet whose chest had tingled since Gaeul's Blink couldn't hold back the majestic feeling as the attack magic fired and screamed.
"Kieeeek!"
"Kwaaa! Crazy! Crazy!"
The waiting room was utter pandemonium.
The guardians, who had been silently astonished with tongues clicking, finally spoke.
"...What the hell was that?"
"No idea. First time seeing that spell. Speed suggests not a light-based attack magic."
"It arced in a parabola. The trajectory looked just like 'Mana Arrow'."
"Nah, couldn't be Mana Arrow."
When an earthworm witnesses a snake for a brief moment, feeling as massive as one.
Experts feel confused.
But it was indeed Mana Arrow (C).
Mana Arrow (C)
[Overcharged output detected]
As they questioned its nature intermittently, one guardian asked another.
"Gaeul cadet learned magic recently? Who the hell taught her?"
Winter, ears perked, poked Spring's arm.
"Huh?"
Spring turned.
Winter held up two thumbs.
Spring put on an arrogant expression, then grinned mischievously and thumb-bumped Winter's.
After the thumb touch with Spring, Winter turned her head. Then looked at Summer.
Summer's gaze was fixed on the screen. Visibly surprised, her expression slightly crumpled. Lips parted a bit.
As Winter beamed, thinking it pure joy.
'Whoa... Isn't that stronger than Yoo Yeoreum?'
'Feels way stronger...'
A voice floated over amid the commotion.
"...?"
Winter turned. But with so much noise and movement, pinpointing the speaker was hard.
The problem was, if Yoo Winter could hear it, so could her big sister Summer.
Winter, glancing at Summer, was slightly startled.
Summer had turned to face the same direction at some point.
"...Why?"
When Winter cautiously asked, Summer, scanning obsessively as if searching, turned back.
"What?"
"...Why? Something there?"
"No. Nothing."
Summer returned her gaze to the screen.
Then tilted her head crookedly and slowly crossed her legs.
"Calm down. It ain't over yet, right?"
From behind, Mikhailov said that while pulling out a fire axe and swinging it around.
Kitty Bljenk's expression went beyond shock to something like terror.
Even amid the uproar, Yoo Ji-tae stayed quiet.
Soon, the commotion died down.
Gaeul's test wasn't over yet.
Gaeul planted the weapons of the fallen rescue team members in the village center.
The rescue team had died defending this place.
So their weapons belonged here.
Now they had found their place.
Gaeul moved.
She found a leg-injured child in the ruins.
"Uh, this is Rescue. Superhuman rescuer has secured the survivor."
― This is HQ ATT. Message received. Return after rescue.
Finishing the report, Gaeul looked down at the fallen child.
Bleeding leg. Dirt-smeared face. Smaller than her. Maybe just a bit bigger than Winter.
Following procedure, Gaeul said her line.
"A-are you okay?"
The fallen child looked up at Gaeul.
"Don't be scared. I'm here to save you. I'm the rescue team. Just follow me from now on."
The child nodded. No other reaction. Natural, since it was an artificial virtual dungeon. The child was fake too.
"My leg hurts..."
Normally, at this stage, you'd hoist the polygon human onto your shoulder and head back. Time was precious.
Approaching two years in Lair life, Gaeul knew this.
'I can't do that...'
But even knowing it was a test, Gaeul couldn't.
Doesn't something human-like hurt? How could she just leave? It was an irrational judgment born from trivial emotion.
Still, Gaeul decided to follow her judgment.
Passing or failing the test didn't matter.
"I have medicine. I'll apply it. Once it's on, we'll run away with sis."
Gaeul fumbled but pulled the first-aid kit from her rescue gear. Recalling class-taught first aid, she cleaned the wound, disinfected lightly, and applied ointment.
"Over there, um, my mom's there."
That was when.
The child suddenly muttered blankly with dazed eyes.
"Huh? Yeah?"
"Mom's... Mom's there... Mom got hurt by a monster stepping on her. Save Mom."
The direction the child pointed was beyond the ruins. Into the mountains. Going there to save someone and return would exceed rescue time.
Gaeul didn't know.
But this was also a test element.
Monster invasion zones were like hellscapes. 'Survivors' there were those who'd just seen family or friends' heads torn off by claws before their eyes.
Their minds wouldn't be intact.
Even seeing a family member's corpse, targets believe they're alive and request rescue.
In such chaos, do only survivors lose their minds?
No. Young superhumans unfamiliar with war lose theirs too.
Especially rescuers who think they've come to save someone—they get swept by emotion even more.
They suspect the request is wrong but fulfill it anyway.
Naturally, rescue misses the deadline. Everything falls apart.
"Save Mom..."
As expected of a test, Lair didn't make it too heartbreaking. To avoid traumatizing cadets.
Remaining time: [03:27]
Looking at the numbers overhead, Gaeul pondered.
On the screen's other side, people watching her dazed self wailed or panicked, but that was beyond Gaeul's concern.
Gaeul had always done only what Yoo Ji-tae told her to.
And avoided what he said not to.
But since learning magic, that stopped. Yoo Ji-tae gave no orders or restraints. Just 'build strength first, gain conviction someday'.
Gaeul wanted to help the child. Felt she must.
Is this the conviction Ajusshi mentioned?
Didn't know.
Such complex words didn't suit her.
But...
Though a test now, such moments might come for real someday.
Assuming no victim beyond the mountain here, but then? Who knows if the mom exists? Even then, for time, reject the child's plea and leave?
Gaeul didn't want that.
Someone living as guardian, protector, couldn't. Gaeul thought so.
She couldn't distinguish if her judgment was right or wrong.
Gaeul was young.
Just following her heart.
She hid the child behind a sturdy ruined wall and asked.
"What's your name?"
"Moon... "
"Okay, Moon. Stay hidden here until sis comes back."
"What about sis...?"
For even a single moment.
If she'd thought of it purely as a time-attack test.
Gaeul would have refused the child.
But she didn't.
"I'll go save Mom and come back."
Yet after 3 minutes, Gaeul couldn't find the child's mom.
Because she didn't exist.
Remaining time: 20 seconds. Blink or whatever, past the point of return.
The moment failure was certain. Someone off-screen laughed maniacally. Then snatched the axe from Mikhailov's hand.
The messy fiasco ended when Gaeul scooped up the child and leaped across vast space.
Teleport (S)
[Long-range spatial leap]
People off-screen screamed again.
Gaeul arrived at the rescue return point.
[00:17]
"This is Rescue... Superhuman rescuer. Survivor rescued safely."
― This is HQ ATT. Message received!
― Congratulations on successful rescue!!
Test passed.
Despite wasting 3 minutes, Gaeul successfully extracted the child.
The child showed the programmed expression. Thankful, beaming smile as it hugged Gaeul. Gaeul hugged back.
At that moment, for the first time since learning magic, Gaeul felt something stir in her chest.
Her muddled, foggy mind cleared.
Like magic.
"What? Only 20 seconds left. Won't you kneel and beg?"
The axe was snatched back.
Kitty Bljenk could confidently say she'd never been this pissed off in her life.
"Can you read that number there?"
"......"
"Try reading it. The front is 1, back is 7. No idea what that makes?"
"......"
"Understand. I suffer from a disease where I can't read numbers below 20."
Mikhailov swung the fire axe wildly. He laughed like a grizzly bear. Alarmed security rushed over asking what happened. But unless full violence erupted, they couldn't intervene aggressively. That's superhuman society.
Kitty Bljenk thought.
Can't run. Too many eyes.
Amputated wrist hurts. Even superhumans aren't exempt.
Could reattach, but pain comes first.
But pride might hurt more than the wrist.
Lose my wrist over this?
"Kneel. Instead of wrist, I'll take one finger."
Irritation surged, but no intention to grovel.
Kitty Bljenk drew up mana internally, infusing her skin. Then chanted seven formulas in sequence.
Inner Shield (A+)
[Subdermal barrier deployed]
Just below the skin. A thin membrane to block the axe.
A top-100 mage's body protection spell couldn't be broken by some retired soldier's brute force.
So sneer casually and slip away.
Ditch the fake ID. Later shove Bljenk's name and make a new one.
Bored without entertainment for a while, but take today's lesson and have more fun next time.
"Go on. Chop down."
As Kitty Bljenk leisurely offered her wrist.
No need to look. Mikhailov swung the axe down.
Clang―!
Part of her wrist skin sliced shallowly, then bounced off like hitting metal.
"...!"
Mikhailov flinched at the mana surging up his arm.
The Inner Shield's rebound sent sharp mana ravaging his body. He hastily raised mana to block, but something in his gut damaged. "Urgh..." A groan escaped.
"What's wrong? I said chop."
Is that violence? Or not? No victim yet.
As onlooker guardians and security hesitated at the odd escalation.
"Can I do that too?"
"Hm?"
A man strode over from there. Tall. Broad, developed shoulders. His hazy gaze felt unsettling, like not fully seeing.
Shocked looks rippled through the crowd.
"Ah, of course."
Mikhailov handed over the axe nonchalantly. Chuckling inwardly.
Thought it'd be no big deal. But like a familiar neighborhood dog bitten by a bug, about to get bitten more.
Not pleasant seeing the friendly dog yelp, so Yoo Ji-tae decided to squash the bug.
Standing before Kitty Bljenk, he raised the axe.
Guardian of the Yoo family.
The superhuman who overwhelmed Siladreur Leo.
Visibly startled, Kitty Bljenk slyly withdrew her hand. Then yelled at Mikhailov.
"Hey! Who makes others do their...!"
In that instant. Below Yoo Ji-tae's shoulder, his arm blurred.
Thwack― Like splitting firewood.
The swung axe severed Kitty Bljenk's wrist.
"Aaaagh!!"