Believer (6)

When the daughter of the target died, Lee Jun-ho froze. No matter how much he had lost his mind, this was far too sudden.

"...Huh?"

When thorns erupted from the body of the child whose head had burst, his entire body went cold. His brain, which had been burning hot enough to melt, rapidly cooled down.

"What the actual fuck..."

The thorns wove into one another, rising to form an ogre-sized monstrosity, while the young child's skin shriveled up in an instant.

"GRAAAAAH—!"

The monster shrieked. Lee Jun-ho let out a hollow laugh. So it was hiding inside the kid.

Swoosh!

A spear of mana shot from afar. It pierced the thorn monster's chest in one go, but it wasn't a vital spot. The beast reached its arm toward the limousine as if nothing had happened.

Lee Jun-ho rushed forward in a hurry and swung his sword. A single flash cut through some of the thorns. However, the remaining thorns surged forward independently.

Thud!

They were blocked by the body of the limousine. It was the spellcaster Kim Woo-hyun's doing. He had already applied a reinforcement preservation formula to the limousine.

"Hup!"

Lee Jun-ho leaped high, standing between the limousine and the monster.

Whoosh— Whoosh!

He deflected every single thorn the beast lashed out like whips. Ryu Wei, Jeong Min-gi, Lee Jong-su, and other participants who had barely had any screen time so far also jumped in to assist Lee Jun-ho.

Those split seconds continued.

The remaining time was just over two minutes. The goal was to kill the beast.

However, its defense was incredibly tough. The sword wind Lee Jun-ho unleashed was blocked by the thorns and fizzled out, and even though Kate's thrown spears scored direct hits a couple of times, it didn't budge.

Bang—

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out.

A sniper shot from high ground—a magic bullet struck the monster.

"SCREEEEEECH—!"

The beast let out a scream. It staggered particularly violently. Kate quickly checked the point of impact.

"Lower back!"

It meant the lower back was its weak point.

Lee Jun-ho signaled his teammates with his eyes.

"I'll handle the front, so circle around to the back."

"Understood."

Everyone scattered to target its rear. Lee Jun-ho unleashed his sword qi at the staggering monster. A gale of intense heat rushed in, scorching the thorns.

"GRAAAAAAAH!"

Enraged, the beast raised the thorn stalks all over its body. Lee Jun-ho took a defensive stance, but the attack wasn't aimed at him.

The target was long-range.

The monster fired its thorns toward Seol Ha-woon. Shards of thorns flew out like artillery fire. Lee Jun-ho took advantage of the opening to charge at the beast.

Swoosh!

Kate's thrown spear pierced its lower back, and the other explorers tore into its rear.

"G-Grahhh..."

Hacked and slashed dozens of times, the thorn monster let out a lifeless groan and collapsed. The thorns making up its body dried up and crumbled to the ground.

"...Ah."

Now it was truly over. Lee Jun-ho staggered, leaning on his sword.

Kate asked, "Are you alright over there?"

Lee Jun-ho nodded. "I'm fine, but..."

He stopped mid-sentence and looked elsewhere. The building where Seol Ha-woon's support had just come from. It was now completely covered in thorns.

Kate tapped her earpiece and said, "Mr. Seol Ha-woon is fine. I received a radio transmission."

"...Really? Whew."

Sighing in relief, Lee Jun-ho collapsed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠flat on his back on the ground. Kate also sat down, using the remains of the thorns as a chair.

*Patter, patter.*

Belatedly, the sound of someone running over. Kate glanced in that direction.

"...Mr. Kim Du-gyeom. Where were you all this time, and why are you only showing up now?"

"Uh..."

Having wasted time running back and forth to Seol Ha-woon, he scratched the back of his neck and made an excuse.

"Well, that's... I was protecting Mr. Seol Ha-woon from above. In case an attack flew his way..."

"Oh, really?" Lee Jun-ho asked, still lying down. "So, you're the one who protected him?"

"...Pardon?"

Kim Du-gyeom had a face that showed he had absolutely no idea what had just happened. Lee Jun-ho let out a hollow laugh.

"No, then how did that guy survive?"

The monster was firing those thorns like it was trying to drag him down to hell with it.

Right then.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

—One minute ago.

A panorama of his life flashed through his mind. His perceived time felt stretched out like a rubber band, hazy and distant, while sharp thorns surged from the other side.

Crash—shhh—

To my eyes, that baptism of thorns appeared slow. However, my body wouldn't move. This was because perception and action were two different things. I lacked the physical ability to utilize this split second.

Therefore, I was practically already dead.

There was no way out.

...If it had been before I learned "that."

I channeled my mana.

The back of my hand.

The back of my hand was enough. I vibrated mana across the surface of its skin.

Sequence.

The mana vibrated the atmosphere even before my thoughts could form. The mana particles heavily compressed the air, halting the kinetic energy of the thorns.

"..."

Right in front of my eyes.

No, to be precise, right in front of the lenses of my rimless glasses, the thorns stopped and tumbled down like spent shell casings, clattering to the floor.

"Wow..."

My heart pounded like crazy.

I placed a hand on my forehead. Cold sweat had broken out. My skull felt like it was buzzing and shaking.

"Ha."

I let out a hollow laugh. I had successfully executed Sequence, something I had never managed to do properly even once during training.

It was likely due to the unique intensity of a real combat situation, combined with the glasses I was currently wearing.

I had used Nervous System Amplification to identify the thorn monster's weak point and snipe it, and the enraged beast had tried to take me down with it.

It was an incredibly nasty bastard to the very end.

"The side effects are pretty severe, but..."

It was certainly worth its Unique grade.

As a reminder, Unique meant "exclusive," so it was bound to the wearer. No one else would get any effect from wearing these glasses.

Drip. Blood trickled from his nose.

"Ugh."

I wiped the blood with my sleeve.

The pleasant chime of system alerts rang out.

"Whoa... that was spectacular."

The other teams also watched the development unfold from their respective waiting rooms.

"But why is it so difficult?"

Seo Ji-woo let out a hollow laugh. It was certainly entertaining to watch. Almost excessively so.

Seol Ha-woon's sudden trolling, an enraged Kate's thrown spear, Lee Jun-ho's rampage, and the 'right choice' made at the end of the chaos.

"It seems Explorer Seol Ha-woon noticed something suspicious amidst the confusion."

It was Jo Woon who spoke. Seo Ji-woo glanced at him.

"...But to wear the guise of a child. As expected of the labyrinth. It is utterly atrocious. I am worried about Explorer Seol Ha-woon, who shot the child."

Just as he said, Seol Ha-woon had shot the child. Of course, it was a monster wearing a child's skin, but he had made a decision that humans instinctively shrink from and that society as a whole taboos.

"Spellcaster Seol Ha-woon revised his plan in a brief moment and calmly executed a cruel judgment."

Jo Woon was surprisingly talkative. Was he some kind of commentator?

"But... will the next labyrinth be like this as well? I am concerned. What do you think, Ms. Seo Ji-woo?"

Suddenly, Jo Woon asked Seo Ji-woo.

"I'm not sure."

Seo Ji-woo was naturally worried as well.

If a situation like that happened to me, how would I act?

Could I show the aspect of a calm, unwavering spellcaster like Seol Ha-woon?

"I don't know..."

Seo Ji-woo clasped her hands behind her head, thinking of Seol Ha-woon.

Honestly, these days, whenever she thought of Seol Ha-woon, only that interview video came to mind. The shy smile he wore when talking about her, as if he somehow had feelings for her...

"Ah, whatever. I should warm up."

Seo Ji-woo shook her head and stood up.

The infirmary. I was examined by a doctor and had a cast put on.

"For now, keeping it still is your best option."

The problem was, as expected, my left leg. A limb that didn't even move properly to begin with, yet creaked terribly whenever it got injured.

"I've administered a painkiller, so it should feel a bit better soon."

"...Yes. Thank you."

"Please rest comfortably."

As soon as the doctor left, I lay down on the hospital bed. The dull pain that felt like being struck by a hammer quickly subsided.

Painkillers have an incredibly strong effect on me.

It was thanks to this trait, which was quite useful despite being Low-Grade.

This was also the reason why I went out of my way to bring and drink coffee. The beneficial effects, such as caffeine's nervous system stimulation and focus enhancement, were amplified, while the side effects remained the same. There was no reason not to make use of it.

*Knock, knock—*

A knock on the door.

The infirmary door opened, and an unexpected guest appeared.

"..."

Kate stared at me in silence. In her hand, she held a flower. A rose.

"Are you feeling alright?"

With that, she thrust the rose forward. It was almost like she was playing rock-paper-scissors.

"What's with the sudden flower?"

"...Don't you like flowers?"

I wondered what kind of nonsense she was talking about, but then it hit me that Kate had been in my room before.

She, with her needlessly sharp observational skills, must have spotted the Snowflake flowerpot and deduced from that information that I liked flowers.

"Yes. I accept it with gratitude."

"If you had explained it to me beforehand, I would have believed you," Kate added quietly. "In the fourth attempt, before you killed the security chief."

"Well..."

Rationally, she was right. If I had conveyed my suspicions with enough persuasiveness, she was someone who would have willingly listened.

However.

"I have a habit of always assuming the absolute worst-case scenario."

Kate tilted her head. "What kind of worst-case scenario did you imagine?"

I tapped my ear. "The worst-case scenario where our radio transmissions were being wiretapped."

If I had shared all the information under a situation where the radio was being intercepted, the final boss would have maintained its poker face even amidst the chaos. It was an intelligent and cunning creature, enough to utilize a child's appearance.

Personally, I believed the probability of wiretapping was over ninety percent. Electronic devices utilizing frequencies are the easiest communication tools to hijack.

"Wiretapping..."

Kate's eyes widened slightly. She muttered softly and nodded.

"You're right. Radios are vulnerable. High-ranking rankers use Sound Transmission in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the labyrinth."

Sound Transmission was a formula of particularly high difficulty even among standard spellcasting, but it could be roughly substituted by using artifacts.

"Mr. Seol Ha-woon."

Kate looked into my eyes.

"Are you alright?"

"About what?"

"Even if it wasn't a child, it still had the appearance of one."

She seemed to be asking about the emotional distress of shooting a child.

For me, it wasn't the first time, but Kate wouldn't be used to it.

"If it's something that must be done, it must be done. You look at what comes after, not the immediate moment."

If you don't kill the target, you die. Or your comrades die, and furthermore, you lose the battle.

Once that rationality is established, it doesn't matter if the target is a child, a dog, a cat, a cardinal, or the president. You simply shoot them dead.

"Perhaps I misunderstood you, Mr. Seol Ha-woon," Kate said, looking at me.

It seemed to be her own way of apologizing, but there was no need for that.

"It might not be a misunderstanding."

"...Please rest well."

She quietly stood up and left the infirmary. I picked up the rose she had left behind. The scent was quite nice.

Suddenly, I was curious.

Where did she get this flower?