Chapter 84: Swift Progress
Chapter 84: Swift Progress
The party stared at the magnificent laboratory that had appeared before them, all at a loss for words. Shin Sangyong and Jung Hayeon, in particular, could only stand there with their mouths agape. It seemed that even for them, accepting the current situation as reality was a bit too much to handle.
“N-No way. Even if you call it beginner’s luck… Th-This is…”
“Ha. This is… a little surprising.”
Jung Hayeon, who seemed to have regained her senses, turned her gaze to Ahn Sol, who was standing there with a blank expression. I smiled slightly, walked over to Sol, and placed my hands on her waist.
“Our Sol really is a lucky charm.”
Even though I touched her, Sol showed no signs of resistance. She simply tilted her head, turning to me with innocent eyes.
“Am I a lucky charm?”
“Yep. Of course you are. Our Sol is the best.”
Finally realizing I was praising her, a bright smile blossomed on Sol’s face. I lifted her into the air and swung her up and down a few times, playing airplane.
“Woah. Woah.”
Sol, clearly excited, raised both hands and let out a modest cheer. I set her back down on the ground for a moment and turned around. Three days after leaving Mule, we had found the Ruined Laboratory.
*
We had a simple breakfast and left the inn. Everything was fine, except for the strange looks everyone gave Ko Yeonju as she came all the way to the inn’s door to see us off. The party’s atmosphere was stable, and with the addition of two skilled mages, our combat strength had been further enhanced.
“But, unni. I’m a little worried.”
“About what?”
Yoojung had taken a great liking to Jung Hayeon. They had already dropped formal speech and begun calling each other unni and dongsaeng. I felt privately relieved, as though someone had finally placed reins on the wild, reckless Yoojung.
Yoojung glanced at my face before continuing.
“Soohyun-oppa and the rest of us have been hunting monsters outside and learning to work together. But Unni and User Shin Sangyong…”
Hearing Yoojung’s words, I felt my face flush. It only got worse when I heard Jung Hayeon chuckle behind me. I wanted to turn around and pinch her cheeks, but I figured it was better to just pretend I hadn’t heard anything.
We passed through the north gate and continued north. The Black Forest lay to the northwest, while the northern route crossed open plains and then a barren land stretching beyond sight. That was the direction I intended to take this time.
I had a plan in mind this time as well, so I called out to Vivian in a quiet tone.
“Vivian.”
Vivian was in the middle of being bombarded with questions by Shin Sangyong. She had been answering them one by one with a haughty air, but when I called her, she looked a little displeased. Lately, she’d been showing small signs of rebellion, as if she was starting to enjoy life a little too much. When I slightly raised my hand, she instantly shed her attitude and stuck to my side with a bright smile, as if nothing had happened.
“Yeah, Soohyun. You called? Hehe.”
“Haha. Sorry to call you when you were in the middle of a conversation.”
“So next time, be more caref—hohoho. What are you saying?”
Seeing Vivian break out in a cold sweat, I gave her a chilling smile before getting to the point. Vivian was currently 24 years old, the same age as me, but she had memories of living for over 100 years as a spider. Although I had done some basic research, I still had a feeling she might know something.
“By any chance, a long time ago… I mean, back before you became a spider. Wasn’t there some kind of laboratory around the northern part of Mule?”
“A laboratory? Yeah, there was.”
I felt the party’s pace falter slightly, as if everyone had heard Vivian’s clear reply. I, too, felt a surge of excitement and quickly continued.
“Then do you know where it is?”
“Of course I don’t know the exact location. It’s not like I remember everything from back then. But if you keep going in this direction, you should find it. Didn’t you already know that?”
“……”
My shoulders slumped at Vivian’s answer, which instantly turned my anticipation into disappointment. Still, it wasn’t a total loss, as I had at least confirmed that the location I had picked out wasn’t wrong.
The Ruined Laboratory was a place discovered during a time when I wasn’t in Mule, so I didn’t have many memories of it. I had only shown a brief interest when I saw a report that another caravan from Mule had succeeded in exploring it. Vivian returned to her original position in the formation with a sour look on her face.
I was confident I could find it with Third Eye. The problem troubling me was plausibility. This was no longer a one-time occurrence. If a User who had only just begun their first year suddenly discovered dungeon after dungeon—something even Users with professional exploration abilities could not do—people would obviously find it suspicious.
It would be a different story if they were fully settled in the clan, but they hadn’t completely integrated into our group yet. If they were like the kids or Shin Sangyong, who just thought positively about everything, things would be smooth, but it was unlikely to go as I hoped. In my view, Jung Hayeon, at the very least, was bound to have her doubts.
From Jung Hayeon’s perspective, joining a clan with suspicious aspects would be difficult; from mine, I had no desire to recruit a User who distrusted me. I had firmly warned the kids to keep quiet about the books and other matters, saying I would explain them later, but the future remained a problem.
Perhaps noticing my troubled expression, I heard Sol’s comforting voice beside me.
“Orabeoni. It’s okay.”
I wanted to snap back, “What’s okay about it?” but she would just start crying again, so I simply gave her a faint smile and turned my head away.
After walking for a full day, we were able to leave the plains on the second day. The farther we got from Mule, and the more we walked, the less light green earth we saw, and the more we found ourselves treading on ochre-colored ground.
Upon entering the barren land, the party, which had been so cheerful, fell silent. Jung Hayeon and Shin Sangyong were quiet, of course, but even the kids, remembering our past travels, were cautiously scanning our surroundings.
As if to meet our expectations, a battle with monsters soon broke out.
We couldn’t just march endlessly, so we were in the middle of a break. I was sitting quietly, drinking water and chewing on beef jerky, when my senses picked up a group of monsters approaching us. The strange thing was that they were closing the distance by moving underground.
“It looks like monsters will be here soon. Everyone, prepare for battle.”
At my words, the kids all looked puzzled. At that moment, I saw the ground around us begin to bulge. They were arriving faster than I expected. I frowned and got to my feet.
“Wh-What’s that? An earthquake?”
An earthquake? Impossible. Their voices carried panic, but the kids did not freeze. Ahn Hyun had already drawn his spear, Yoojung was moving into formation, and Sol had raised her staff. I spoke calmly.
“It’s not an earthquake. They’re Landmoles.”
“Landmoles?”
“Ground moles.”
I answered simply and drew my sword. For moles, they had a decent hunting instinct and were gathering in a circle around us. I could tell by the increasing number of bulging mounds of earth. In other words, we were surrounded. At a glance, there were over ten holes, but when I extended my senses, I could feel many more coming up from below.
Soon, the sealed earth split open, and a rough, hard-looking hand emerged onto the surface. As it placed its hand on the ground and pulled its body up, a Landmole revealed itself, just as I had expected.
A round, light-brown torso with arms and legs like a human. Seeing them, I quickly planned to form a defensive line.
It was then.
“—Stream of Water!”
She spoke so fast I couldn’t catch it all, but Jung Hayeon finished her incantation in just three phrases and immediately extended her staff forward. A mass of water shot out from the staff, rose into the air, then split into pieces and descended like lightning toward the ten holes that had formed around us.
Her casting speed, her response to the monsters, and her application of magic were all perfect.
Landmoles were creatures that lived underground, but as monsters, they primarily fed on human flesh. It would be a mistake to think of them as the chubby moles people usually imagine. They were tricky opponents with bodies as hard as rock, a height similar to humans, and sharp claws.
Their bodies were so hard that ordinary swords and spears couldn’t easily pierce them. The only ways to deal with them were to imbue a weapon with a large amount of magic power before striking, or to crush them with overwhelming force. However, that was only for a direct confrontation. There was one easy way to defeat a Landmole.
And that was to douse its body with water. In other words, the moment Jung Hayeon saw that the enemy was a Landmole, she executed the most appropriate response.
The Landmoles, which had burst through the ground with great vigor, were instantly soaked like drowned rats. Their bodies began to turn reddish-brown, and contrary to their initial ferocity, they hesitated.
Not missing the opportunity, Shin Sangyong also stepped forward.
“Miss Ahn Sol. I’ll begin preparing my spell now. Please ready a protection spell in case it’s needed. When I release my spell, cast yours on the Landmoles.”
“Y-Yes?”
Ahn Sol stammered at the request to cast a protection spell on the Landmoles. But seeing Jung Hayeon quickly cut off her magic and begin a new incantation, she hurriedly started chanting her own spell.
“—”
Shin Sangyong immediately began casting. The hesitant Landmoles shrieked and charged when they saw another Mage begin an incantation. They seemed to know their own weakness and chose to rush us now that they were wet. Our caravan, however, had one more Mage—and she was a terrifying Chimera Alchemist whom even hundreds of Landmoles could not scratch.
“Come! Aranea! Web of death that rules the 32nd Legion!”
As if she had been preparing from the start, a magic circle with a metaphysical pattern had already been summoned beneath Vivian’s body. As the magic circle glowed, a spider I remembered seeing before rose from it. It wasn’t an ordinary spider, but Aranea, a chimerified magical beast spider that Vivian had enhanced.
“Aranea!”
At Vivian’s cry, Aranea opened her lower jaw wide, as if she had already read her master’s mind.
“Shiiiiiiiiiiiii!”
Silver threads shot out from Aranea’s lower jaw. The threads were spiderwebs. Spreading out in all directions like dancing snakes, they skillfully avoided our party members and then wrapped around all the charging Landmoles.
“Kurik? Kurik?”
The Landmoles tried to dodge or cut the threads with their sharp claws, but it was useless. As the sticky, viscous threads tightened around their bodies, the Landmoles could only let out pitiful screams.
Shin Sangyong, having just finished his casting, aimed with his left hand and spoke.
“Miss Ahn Sol. Here it comes. I’ll be as careful as I can, but use your spell at the proper moment, just in case.”
“Eh? Y-Yes!”
“Chain Lightning!”
As Shin Sangyong’s incantation finished, a zigzagging bolt of lightning erupted in a chain reaction. The long bolt of lightning created a spectacular scene the moment it touched the Landmole at the very front.
“Kurarararararara!”
“Kuririririririri!”
“Kweeeeeeeeeeeeh!”
A chain combo of water and lightning. But Shin Sangyong’s spell wasn’t over. He kept his left hand steady and held out his right. Was he double casting?
“Hold!”
Shin Sangyong did not cast Hold on the Landmoles, but on the energy he had released himself. The instant the electricity reached every Landmole present, he arrested its spread by force. That was Sol’s cue.
“Miss Ahn Sol. Now!”
“R-Really…”
“Hurry!”
Ahn Sol was still flustered, but at Shin Sangyong’s urgent words, she bit her lip and chanted the spell.
“Protect!”
Soon, round protective barriers appeared around some, if not all, of the monsters. Then, Jung Hayeon’s clear voice, which had been waiting for the opening, echoed through the area.
“Reverse!”
“Ha.”
Only when Jung Hayeon spoke did Shin Sangyong sever the link sustaining his magic. So this was what they had planned. I looked at the two of them in admiration. And then—
The Landmoles inside the reversed protection spell were being turned into rags. Trapped by the spiderwebs, the lightning that had been spreading in all directions was now blocked by the protection spell, turning back on them and battering their bodies. Of course, the protection spell cracked a little with each strike of lightning, but it was still a pretty decent combo. Even Ahn Sol seemed unaware that her protection spell could be used this way, blinking her eyes in surprise.
Protect blocked attacks from outside while allowing attacks from within to pass outward. Reverse inverted that property. Reverse was advanced applied magic; seeing Jung Hayeon cast it so easily was impressive.
The state of the Landmoles after all the magic had dissipated was truly wretched.
The Landmoles inside the barriers had already been reduced to rags and lay on the ground. Those outside were little better: more than half twitched on the earth, while the rest could barely support their bodies and were plainly near death. It was time for the close-combat members to move.
“Ahn Hyun. Yoojung.”
When I called them in a low voice, the two, who had been watching blankly, snapped to attention and raised their heads.
“They’re as good as disarmed. Go tear through them to your hearts’ content. I’ll keep watch here.”
The two looked at each other once, then dashed forward as if flying. It seemed their competitive spirits had been ignited again. I let out a faint smile and, still holding my sword, turned my gaze to where Jung Hayeon was standing.
Jung Hayeon looked at me and smiled brightly. It was as if she were saying, “This is my level. I did well, right?” I smiled back at her.
And then I raised my sword and charged straight at her.