Chapter 252: Plateau of Delusion
Chapter 252: Plateau of Delusion
“Halt.”
As Kim Soohyun, who was at the head of the march, stopped and raised his hand, Ahn Hyun, walking beside him, stopped as well. Kim Soohyun briefly scanned their surroundings before speaking in a calm voice.
“A pack of Poison Jackals is approaching. Their numbers are… quite large. Thirty-eight of them. As their name suggests, their fangs are coated in poison, so be careful not to get bitten.”
Though his voice was nonchalant, Ahn Hyun felt himself swallow nervously. He had faced Poison Jackals a couple of times in Monica. They were cunning and agile creatures, true to their jackal nature, but they were also twice the size of a normal horse-jackal.
In a previous battle, he had made the mistake of getting surrounded and was bitten several times, leaving him unconscious for nearly half a day. As the unpleasant memory surfaced, Ahn Hyun tensed his entire body.
About five minutes passed. The dense thicket ahead began to rustle. Ahn Hyun crouched slightly and began to circulate mana through his body.
“They’re here.”
Kim Soohyun uttered a single word and immediately fell back. At the same moment, a powerfully built jackal burst through the foliage.
That was only the beginning. Following the first, more jackals poured out of the bushes as if sprouting from the ground. One, two, three, four, five… By the time the count passed nine, Ahn Hyun gave up. He could only see about ten in front of him, but he could sense a similar number emerging from all sides. It was a perfect encirclement.
At first, the creatures only watched, hesitating to charge in recklessly. But the thick killing intent glistening in their dark eyes made it clear they were just biding their time, waiting for an opening.
“───. ───. ───. Petals imbued with cold shall become a shattered flash beneath the dawn storm.”
A moment later, Kim Hanbyul’s quiet voice, having prepared her spell since Kim Soohyun called the halt, echoed through the air. A jewel emitting a clear light slowly rose above her palm, and a faint gust of wind began to swirl around the clan members.
“Spread!”
With her preparations complete, she swept her cold gaze over the Poison Jackals and shouted sharply. Her cry shattered the tense standoff, serving as the signal flare that marked the beginning of the battle.
“Kkyaeng! Kkyaeng!”
“Kkyaeng! Kkyaeng!”
The navy-blue jewel dissolved into particles, mixing into the swirling gust of wind. At her incantation, the gust flattened into a disc and began to expand outward in a circle.
Ahn Hyun watched the magic as it targeted the Poison Jackals. Focusing mana into his eyes, he could see countless flashing, blade-shaped masses of mana flickering on the outer edge of the gust. It looked like a cogwheel.
Just as he was about to cheer inwardly, the Poison Jackals’ subsequent movements made him curse under his breath. Sensing the terrifying energy contained within the gust, they scattered with nimble movements. By the time the wind reached them, the few jackals that couldn't get out of the way in time leaped high into the air to evade it.
Slice! Slice! Slice! Slice!
“Kkyaeng! Kkyaeng!”
“Kkyaeng! Kkyaeng!”
The blade-filled gust tore through the surrounding foliage, and the occasional screams of jackals who failed to time their escape could be heard. Kim Hanbyul had intended the area-of-effect spell to hit all the Poison Jackals, but their swift response meant it wasn't as effective as she had hoped.
Regardless, the situation was better than before. The pack, which had numbered nearly forty, had been reduced by a third. However, there were still well over twenty of them left.
“Kyaaaaeng!”
Whether it was because they had been hit by the spell or because their packmates had been injured, the Poison Jackals let out ear-splitting howls and charged forward without hesitation. Ahn Hyun looked up at three jackals leaping more than two meters into the air toward him. He immediately raised his spear, took aim, and activated the Latent Ability he had been preparing.
“Spear Art Shot!”
Chachang! Chachachang!
In an instant, the Pitch-Black Spear split into three, each one accurately piercing the abdomen of a jackal in mid-air. Watching them fall limply to the ground with their bellies caved in, Ahn Hyun refocused his gaze forward. In front of him, three more jackals were rushing at him, yellow saliva dripping from their bared fangs.
Ahn Hyun remained calm. This time, he activated his special ability, Master Spearman, and mana crackled along the Pitch-Black Spear. The rigid shaft of the spear became as pliable as taffy. He pulled one end back, bending it like a fully drawn bow. The moment the jackals opened their maws to attack, Ahn Hyun released the bent spear with a powerful snap.
Thwack!
“Kkyaeng! Kkyaeng!”
The recoiling spear struck all three charging jackals at once. They were sent flying in different directions, spraying fountains of blood.
Though he had taken down six of them in just two exchanges, Ahn Hyun didn't let his guard down and steeled his resolve. In the past, he had gotten cocky after a little early success and charged in recklessly, only to be immediately surrounded and bitten all over. Thankfully, his armor had prevented any deep wounds, but if they had targeted the joints or other exposed areas, the outcome would have been grim.
Finding a brief opening, Ahn Hyun glanced behind him. To his left, Lee Yoojung was struggling against five or six jackals by herself. A translucent barrier surrounded her—a protective shield cast by Ahn Sol, considering Yoojung’s armor was relatively weaker than his.
Yoojung’s daggers moved ceaselessly as she steadily took down one jackal after another, but their numbers were growing. Ko Yeonju was perfectly holding the right flank, while Kim Soohyun was focused on protecting the casters and the rear.
With the front, right, and rear blocked, the jackals naturally converged on the weakest point: the left flank. Ahn Sol was supporting her with Shackles whenever her cooldowns allowed, but the initial shield was already in tatters.
Eventually, Ahn Sol had to stop casting Shackles to recast the shield, and the jackals that had been slowed down began to move actively again.
Deciding this couldn't continue, Ahn Hyun was about to ready his Spear Art Shot to help when his eyes met Hanbyul’s, who was preparing a support spell for Yoojung. She looked startled to see him, then quickly opened her mouth, her voice urgent.
“Oppa! Behind you!”
“Huh?”
“Chain Lightning!”
“Wha-what?”
Crackle! Sizzle!
Kim Hanbyul redirected the spell she was preparing and fired it at Ahn Hyun. But before he could even finish his sentence, a dark shadow lunged at his exposed neck from behind. Just as it was about to sink its teeth into his throat, a bolt of yellow lightning shot straight into its open mouth.
“Grrrrrk!”
The Poison Jackal’s body flipped over on the spot, convulsing violently. Ahn Hyun belatedly swung his spear, but as the creature collapsed to the ground, several wisps of black smoke were already rising from its mouth.
As Ahn Hyun let out a sigh of profound relief, the situation on the right and in the rear had stabilized considerably. Kim Soohyun and Ko Yeonju were nearly finished clearing their respective areas. It was then that it happened.
“Kyaaak!”
A high-pitched scream erupted from the left, where the largest number of jackals had gathered.
Unable to handle the ever-increasing number of jackals, Lee Yoojung had been slowly retreating, but she stopped when she sensed Ahn Sol and Baek Hangyul behind her. Perhaps judging that retreating further would endanger the center, she had tried to forcibly hold her ground and regain some distance, but it seemed she had overextended herself.
The moment her barely-holding shield shattered, ten jackals that had been waiting for an opportunity lunged at her all at once. Ahn Sol, having just completed her spell, quickly cast another shield, but one jackal managed to slip through a gap and sink its molars into Lee Yoojung’s thigh.
The moment Lee Yoojung fell, the left flank instantly descended into pandemonium. The howls of the jackals seizing their chance and the screams of several Users mingled together, threatening to create massive confusion.
Just then, Kim Soohyun, who had been focused on the casters and the rear, spun around the instant he heard Lee Yoojung’s scream and charged toward the left. He casually sliced away the jackal latched onto her thigh and immediately turned the tip of the Sun and Moon Divine Sword on the surrounding enemies.
Every time the Sun and Moon Divine Sword, glowing with an eerie light, swung, a Poison Jackal was sent flying into the air without fail. He calmly watched the pack of jackals rushing him from all four directions before striking them down one by one with lightning-fast movements.
The jackals had been the first to leap. But before any of their attacks could reach Kim Soohyun, they were already raining down to the ground, one after another.
After finishing off one more Poison Jackal that had been charging him, Ahn Hyun stared at Kim Soohyun with a dazed expression.
Kim Soohyun’s movements were serene, but his surroundings were anything but. The jackals were being swept away like autumn leaves in a storm.
Finally, he drove his sword down into the last remaining jackal groaning beneath his feet, bringing the battle with the Poison Jackals to an end.
*
“Hey, aren’t you going to turn around?”
“Agh. I came over because I was worried. I’m not looking, I’m not looking. What’s so great about seeing your thigh anyway?”
Ahn Hyun, who had tried to peek over at where Lee Yoojung was taking off her pants, got an earful from her and turned away. I let out a short sigh as I watched him grumble while clearing away the jackal corpses.
“What did you think?”
“Pardon?”
“About this battle. Are you dissatisfied?”
“Hmm. Considering how many there were, it was fine.”
I shook my head at Ko Yeonju’s question. My mind wasn’t on evaluating the recent battle; it was filled with other thoughts. As I sorted through them, I turned my gaze back to her. She had been staring at me ever since she first spoke.
“Finally looking at me. Tell me. Don’t just worry about it by yourself.”
“Did you happen to feel anything strange about that last battle?”
“I’m not sure. Honestly, Yoojung getting injured was unexpected. These things usually run with their tails between their legs after taking some damage, but they were strangely persistent this time.”
“I felt the same way. I can understand them swarming Yoojung, as that’s their nature, but not running away at the end is different from how they usually behave.”
I finished speaking and fell into thought for a moment. We were already on the eighth day of our expedition. For eight days, we had left the Plains of Wailing, passed through the Fold of Blade Winds, and were now in the middle of a dense forest just before the Plateau of Delusion.
Including the one just now… was that the eleventh battle?
Encountering monsters in a dense forest wasn't particularly strange. However, the fact that most of those eleven battles had taken place in the Plains of Wailing and the Fold of Blade Winds—areas that were supposed to be relatively stable—was certainly questionable.
Of course, this was the Hall Plain, where one had to account for all variables, so it was possible for monsters to migrate. But the strange behavior of the monsters, starting with the Rhinoceroses, was lending weight to one of the several possibilities I had been considering.
I lifted my head and looked around. The area was quiet now that the battle was over. Ahn Sol was busy healing Yoojung, and Baek Hangyul was diligently cleaning up the battlefield with a frozen expression. When I looked at Ahn Hyun, he was forlornly scratching at the ground by himself before spotting Kim Hanbyul and muttering a word.
“Ah, Kim Hanbyul. Thanks for earlier. You saved my life.”
“It’s nothing. I’m just glad I saw it.”
“But that spell. Ah, the Chain Lightning. That was originally meant to support Yoojung, right?”
“…Yes.”
“Fuck. Then that means it was partly my fault. I still have a long way to go…”
Except for Ko Yeonju, the clan members’ attention was scattered. After listening silently to Ahn Hyun beat himself up, I lowered my voice and spoke.
“User Ko Yeonju.”
“Yes.”
“This is just my thought, but it seems…”
“……”
Even though I hadn't finished, I could see Ko Yeonju’s expression harden slightly. Perhaps she had also noticed something. The reason she hadn't brought it up first was likely due to the ambiguity of not having any solid clues, a frustration for her as the ‘Shadow Queen.’ And I was in the same boat.
I paused for a moment before continuing.
“I think we’ve been herded. No, I think we are being herded.”