Chapter 313: The Slope of Heaven (1)
Chapter 313: The Slope of Heaven (1)
How long had it been since we left the Martial Alliance, driving a car borrowed from the Management Bureau toward our next destination?
A thick fog had suddenly descended, leaving us wandering through the forest.
No matter how I looked at it, this fog wasn't natural; someone had clearly interfered.
After wandering through that eerie mist for some time, we reached a certain spot.
“…It’s a Fork in the Road.”
A split in the forest path had abruptly appeared before us.
Faced with the choice of going left or right, my disciples and Un-ho began to deliberate.
The topic, of course, was which way was the correct one.
I could understand why they were debating.
The two paths stretching out before us were identical in every way, both showing us the way forward.
Unkempt paths, shrouded in fog.
Aside from the fact that one went left and the other went right, there was no difference between them.
It was only natural that the choice was difficult when there was nothing to distinguish them.
And so, leaning against the steering wheel and half-listening to my disciples' chatter, I stared blankly at the left and right paths. The moment I spent about ten seconds staring at the left path…
An image flashed through my mind.
A single photograph.
A dining table I had never seen before.
Shadows sitting around it.
Every surface was engraved with countless, unreadable red characters.
And in the places where the faces of those sitting at the table should have been, there were only holes.
“…!”
Startled, I jerked away from the steering wheel and threw myself back against the seat.
“Senior?”
“Master?! Is it an enemy?!”
“What’s wrong all of a sudden? Poyo.”
Perhaps my reaction had been more extreme than I thought.
Not just my disciples, but even Un-ho rushed toward me in alarm.
“Uh, Senior? Are you okay?”
What kind of expression was I making right now?
Was my face so strange that A-bin felt the need to wave her hand in front of my eyes to check if I was conscious?
“No… it’s nothing.”
What was that just now?
After giving a brief word to my worried disciples, I looked back at the Fork in the Road.
The image that had just seared itself into my mind did not reappear.
Even so.
The image that had sprung from the left path was too deeply embedded within me.
“…Let’s go right.”
Swallowing hard, I quietly steered the car toward the right.
* * *
The unchanging forest road continued, but that stagnation didn't last long.
We had been driving for maybe twenty minutes.
The forest path suddenly ended, and a massive lake appeared before us.
Because of the fog that made it impossible to see even an inch ahead, the car almost dived straight into the water, but thanks to my quick reflexes, we avoided that disaster.
“…Hmm.”
Getting out of the car, we quietly gazed at the lake that had appeared so suddenly.
It was a serene lake that seemed one with the fog, with gentle ripples constantly crossing its surface.
I wanted to inspect the lake, but the dense fog blocked my vision entirely.
“…It feels like there’s something there.”
When I focused mana into my eyes, I could faintly see a shadow in the middle of the lake, suggesting something was there.
However, thanks to this strange fog that even blocked my senses, I couldn't tell if it was a shadow cast by an actual object in the center of the lake or a mere optical illusion.
Should we try to cross?
The fact that such a large lake appeared so suddenly seemed to imply that there was something here.
As I was pondering this, my throat tightening.
“Master! There’s a big boat here!”
Baek Si-hyun’s voice reached me faintly through the fog.
A boat? In a lake like this?
Questions raced through my mind.
But thinking can wait until after I’ve seen it with my own eyes.
With that thought, I headed toward the source of Baek Si-hyun’s voice.
The place where Baek Si-hyun had called me from wasn't as far as her small voice had suggested.
On the lakeshore where Baek Si-hyun, Han A-bin, and Un-ho were gathered…
A very expensive-looking yacht was floating there, all by itself.
It looked so out of place that anyone could see it didn't belong.
“…What is this?”
“It’s a boat! We were looking around the shore for anything suspicious like you said, Master, and we found it!”
No, did you think I asked because I didn't know it was a boat?
I was asking why an incredibly suspicious boat was floating on a lakeshore like this.
I thought that, but since Baek Si-hyun wasn't the one who brought the boat here, I didn't say it out loud and quietly examined the massive vessel.
It’s suspicious, but….
I hesitated for a moment, but the hesitation didn't last long.
Just getting on the boat shouldn't cause any major problems.
With that thought, I stepped onto the gangplank stretched between the shore and the boat to board.
Creeak. Creeak.
It wasn't a loud sound.
Just the small, natural noise that occurs when anyone puts their weight on a plank.
However, my consciousness was drawn to that sound involuntarily, and as I looked down at the gangplank, something caught my eye.
A black hole.
A small hole in the corner of the gangplank, which was made of some kind of metal.
It was an ordinary hole with no features that should have drawn attention.
Yet, strangely, that hole pulled at my gaze with an intense force.
As I stared at it blankly…
“Ha-ram-nim!”
With a loud shout, my drifting consciousness snapped back.
I hadn't lost focus for long.
At most, two or three seconds.
However, two or three seconds was more than enough time for an Adversary, approaching with a familiar sensation, to pierce through my brow.
“Holy crap.”
Snapping to my senses, I immediately reacted to the black tentacle flying toward my forehead by leaning my upper body back.
Swish.
With the sound of cutting air, the black tentacle grazed my hair.
Phew, I managed to avoid the catastrophe of being neutralized in a single blow.
Thinking it was a stroke of luck, I didn't try to stop my upper body from falling backward; instead, I yielded to the momentum and performed a backflip.
It was a gamble of an acrobatic move to pull off the moment an enemy appeared.
There might have been an enemy behind me as I flipped.
The Enemy might have been fast enough to catch up to my tumble.
It was a gamble, but fortunately, I won, allowing me to quickly put some distance between us.
Using the brief moment I had bought, I summoned my hammer and shouted at the top of my lungs.
“Baek Si-hyun! Han A-bin! Run! This is an enemy of my Story! Un-ho! You secure the disciples' safety first!”
As I shouted, I sprinted into the forest.
“—-!”
I heard my disciples shouting something back, but I couldn't make it out clearly because my focus was entirely on The Enemy.
Ignoring the disciples and Un-ho, my enemy began to pursue me.
A hollow hole created in the world.
A tentacle formed by layers upon layers of holes that pierced through reality.
I recognized what it was at a single glance.
My Adversary.
A new enemy, following the Gray Eater.
However, I didn't feel an immense strength from The Enemy before me.
It was clearly an Executive-level, but its power felt incredibly weak.
Of course, it was strong enough that an average A-Rank monster wouldn't even be able to stand against it, but my benchmark for an Adversary had already been set by the massive tentacle in Cheongju and the Gray Eater.
Compared to those two, this thing was still pitifully weak.
But I couldn't let my guard down.
Since I didn't know what this thing "ate" yet, it might grow rapidly by absorbing something.
Didn't the giant tentacle in Cheongju also grow to a massive scale in an instant and cause a catastrophe?
A tiny tentacle that fell into the city sucked up the emotions of the countless people living there and exerted enough power to destroy an entire city.
Monsters whose consumption is directly converted into power.
My method for dealing with Adversaries with such traits is always the same.
I cut off all external variables so it doesn't matter what the thing eats.
I face it alone.
Even if something is consumed, I make sure it only consumes me to slow down its growth.
The Gray Eater was an exceptional case that led to a Public Enemy Designation, which is why such a large Allied Force was formed.
But considering how that thing feasted on a massive scale at the final moment because of that, the correct way to handle these things is to take them down with a small, elite force.
Thinking about it now, perhaps the Gray Eater led a massive army from the start specifically to block me from using that tactic.
But this one is different.
I haven't identified what it eats yet due to a lack of information, but for now, it's a weak existence.
I should be able to handle it before it eats anything.
However, to minimize the risk…
“Tch.”
I gave up on attacking and focused solely on parrying the onslaught of stabs with my hammer.
Un-ho hadn't returned yet.
In the midst of that exchange, The Hole Tentacle's stabs poured down.
I still didn't feel any strength from the tentacles before me.
The weight transmitted through The Hammer was incredibly light, the speed was slow, and there was no coordination between the tentacles.
The Gray Eater’s Lava Tentacles had shown coordination, blocking my path before swarming from all directions.
This thing, however, either swarmed with all its tentacles at once only to be swept away by a single hammer swing, or it would unleash hundreds of stabs in a second or two and then do nothing for ten seconds—it was a completely mindless attack pattern.
So, parrying was easy.
But there was a slight problem.
There were just too many of them.
I was blocking The Enemy’s attacks by striking the tentacles with my hammer, but new holes would immediately take their place like an incoming tide.
Actually, if their only advantage was numbers, it wouldn't be a big deal.
the real problem was the second point.
Are those things literally just holes?
I called them holes because flat black things were flying around.
But looking at the properties I discovered while fighting, I think I really have to call them holes.
After blocking an attack, I immediately switched to the offensive and slammed my hammer into the ground.
But the holes forming the tentacles didn't disappear.
Instead, they scattered across the ground like a pile of spilled coins, turning the surface black. Then, as soon as The Hammer left the ground, they sprang up like a compressed spring and regained the shape of a tentacle.
Are attacks on the flat side meaningless?
Thinking that, I struck the side of the tentacle.
But the sensation that returned was even more horrific.
There was no feedback at all?
Striking The Hole side—the wide surface—didn't seem to affect The Enemy, but at least there was a sensation of hitting something.
But the thin edge of The Hole, which looked almost like a line…
I didn't even get the sensation of having hit anything there.
The balance of the part of the tentacle swept by The Hammer was slightly disrupted.
But only the part directly swept by The Hammer was torn away.
Even the holes swept by The Hammer seemed to have passed right through it, merely shifting slightly to the side with their angles a bit skewed.
And before I could recover my hammer from the shock of that sight…
The tentacle reconstructed itself and stabbed at me again, faster than before.
“Tch.”
Nothing else for it.
I took my left hand off The Hammer’s handle and thrust it between the tentacles flying toward my brow.
Even if my hand got injured, it was better than having my forehead pierced….
I steeled myself to endure whatever pain might come.
Pshhh.
With an incredibly light sound.
The black tentacle reached my eyes.
Without leaving any impact on my body, to the point where I couldn't believe my hand had been pierced.
Crazy. Is this thing guaranteed to pierce anything the tip of the tentacle touches?
Seeing as my body didn't even shake from the impact, is it literally treated as 'a hole was created'?
Seeing my sturdy body pierced so easily, it definitely has that kind of special ability.
Then, what if that thing coming at me now pierces my brow?
…It’s dangerous.
Avoiding it is impossible.
If it were possible, I wouldn't have resolved to sacrifice my left hand in the first place.
The solution is….
I thought of countless methods as I watched the approaching black hole.
But there was only one conclusion.
Ah, I’m screwed.
Is this the price for relying too much on my sturdy body?
To think it would be a power that unconditionally pierces anything.
No matter how I move, my brow being pierced is a fixed outcome.
Even so, I have no intention of giving up.
I lean my body back as far as possible and twist my head to the side.
Even if my brow is pierced, I’ll minimize the amount of brain matter destroyed to survive somehow.
In any situation, I have no intention of accepting death easily.
So, I twisted my body as much as I could, taking on a pathetic, undignified posture that threw pride out the window.
But the black Hole Tentacle was faster in its flight toward my forehead.
'Well, it was a crappy life.'
Just as I was about to meet my end.
Wooooong.
Along with a flow of mana, a light appeared before my eyes.
That light rapidly grew in size, enveloping both me and the tentacle.
Bang!
It exploded.
That was a pretty strong explosion.
That was the thought that surfaced in my head, which was aching and stinging from being caught in the blast.
But thanks to that explosion, I avoided having my brow pierced by the tentacle.
Shaking off the pain from the blast, I gripped my hammer with my intact right hand.
I took my stance once more.
I wasn't dead yet.
“Ha-ram-nim?! Are you okay, sir?!”
Along with a small impact traveling through my body, a familiar voice rang in my ears.
As expected, the explosion just now was a spell used by Un-ho.
It seemed he had recognized my danger and reacted as quickly as possible.
“Thanks to you. Ah, physical force doesn't work. And be careful, my body just gets holes punched through it if the tentacles touch me.”
“I saw that and confirmed it, sir. So, what are you going to do?”
He saw and confirmed it, huh.
It seems he saw my body being pierced while he was running over, gave up on a shield, and used an explosion spell instead.
A proper choice.
Looking at my current state, it seems it would have just pierced right through a shield anyway.
Well, I’ll praise Un-ho’s nice assist later; for now, let’s gather the information needed for victory.
“The disciples' evacuation?”
“Completed, sir!”
Is that so?
Then the conditions are met.
“Did you figure out what it eats?”
“No, I have no idea at all.”
Un-ho blew up the incoming tentacles.
I slammed the tentacles that got close into the ground.
Buying time bit by bit like that, I began to weave the strategy needed to exterminate The Adversary.
“What it eats. It’s not energy or power, right?”
“Yes, there was no sign of its power increasing even when it touched the explosion earlier.”
“Light? It’s a possibility, seeing as it spread fog everywhere.”
“That’s not it either, sir. Its power is increasing in real-time even now, but there was no element among my spells that it reacted to specifically.”
Hmm.
Then, isn't it decided?
“Un-ho.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Let’s use it. If it’s not energy, power, or light, we’ll manage somehow.”
“Ugh…. Just a moment, sir.”
When I suggested throwing our joker at The Enemy in this sea of tentacles.
Un-ho reacted to my words and used a certain spell.
A translucent Magic Circle was engraved in the air.
It rotated rapidly and triggered his magic.
A force generated by mana, which could neither be seen nor felt, swept through the surroundings.
“Electromagnetic wave type. No reaction, sir. I think you can use it.”
“Right. Then.”
Whoosh.
I swung my hammer in a wide arc, cracking space to keep the tentacles from entering.
Then, I took my stance.
To buy time for the chant.
“The Guardian of the World, facing The Enemy, prays.”
To bring light down upon the world.