There's a Limit to Everything!
“There's a limit to everything!”
“Isn't this too much?!”
“The players are all gonna die, you bastards!”
Whoooosh—!
A blizzard raged wildly inside the dungeon. Amid it all, the players' desperate wails never ceased.
And the reason why?
Oh hohoho! You fools! You should've never set foot in here!
Die! Die!
You look somewhat useful, so I'll freeze you and make you my eternal slave!
Kyahaha—!
Something resembling humans fluttered about chaotically, hurling ice spears at the players.
A soft pale blue evening dress. On her deeply exposed back, three pairs of translucent wings asserted their presence.
Ice Fairy—the fairy queen ruling the northern snowfields, and the boss monster.
The Ice Fairy let out peals of ear-splitting laughter as she unleashed long icicle-like spears nonstop.
A few players who couldn't just take it lying down fired back with ranged skills like Fireball or Lightning Bolt, but...
Such parlor tricks! They're useless!
“Argh! Just get hit already!”
“You mosquito bitch!”
“Please, just one hit...!”
The Ice Fairy glided through the air with such blinding speed that every skill fired at her missed the mark.
On top of that, the fiercely whipping snow made it hard to even keep their eyes open, drastically lowering their accuracy.
However.
These were elite players confident enough to join the assault on a blue gate. No matter how harsh the conditions, this level of disadvantage was abnormal.
Ho! Hohoho—!
Try landing a hit!
Ding! Miss!
If the Ice Fairy hadn't used her Ice Illusion skill to create dozens of clones, that is.
Even if those dozens of clones each hurled just one ice spear, it became a bombardment no different from an aerial strike.
Dodging the spears raining down like a shower, while somehow pinpointing the real body among those dozens of clones? And not one standing still, but darting every which way?
“Bullshit!”
“How the hell do we kill that?!”
“Please, just one hit...!”
“Guh...?!”
That was the decisive reason agonized cries poured from their lips.
As the one-sided battle dragged on, players pierced through vital spots by ice spears began dropping dead one after another.
The Ice Fairy accelerated her gleeful massacre, tossing spears alongside her clones like it was a game of darts.
At this rate... Party wipe?Assault failure?
Despairing words began filling the players' minds.
But right then.
Twang—!
The clear sound of a bowstring releasing and an arrow flying cut through the cacophony of noise from every direction, ringing sharply in the players' ears.
Followed by a sudden blast of searing heat that made them flinch, and boom—!
Kyaaah—?!
A rough explosion overlapped with the Ice Fairy's scream.
The boom could be shrugged off—it happened even on misses against clones.
But the Ice Fairy's scream?
Wh-why...?! How...!
It meant someone had finally landed damage on the real body.
And sure enough, the Ice Fairy that seemed to be the original was frantically patting out the flames clinging to her dress, writhing in pain.
The quick-witted players' gazes snapped toward the direction the arrow had come from.
“Who was it?! Who hit her?!”
“How'd you do it?!”
“Me too, just one hit...!”
“Huh? Wait, that guy...”
The ferocious storm blizzard rampaging as if to freeze the horizon itself.
Beyond it, a lone figure slowly walking toward them entered the players' view.
A man with an arrow wreathed in crimson flames nocked on his bowstring.
It was none other than,
“H-Hwang Jae-min!”
“Huh? Wasn't he not joining this assault?”
“No, but why'd he show up so damn late! He's not some novel protagonist.”
“Still, things should get doable now!”
Jae-min.
Explosive Ether: Enchant
Your weapon is imbued with majestic power!
With an unusually weary face, he exhaled a puff of white breath and grumbled.
“Finally made it to the boss area... Feels like walking alone took over two hours...”
The constellation 'Sung Hyun-sook' grins wickedly, saying if you don't kill the boss within 59 minutes and 42 seconds from now, breaking the record is a pipe dream!
“No, that's why I said don't get all rivalrous with your son...”
Here was a wicked mom hoping her son's record-breaking attempt would fail.
As I nocked a new arrow on the bowstring, the Ice Fairy—having swiftly extinguished the flames on her dress—shouted in outrage.
Phew! So it's you? The insolent fool who dared hurt me!
Even if by sheer luck you hit my real body, impressive! But there won't be a second time!
Whoosh—!
Newly summoned Ice Fairy clones from Ice Illusion buzzed about chaotically, concealing the original.
“What, like a shell game?”
I fully nocked the arrow, then hurled myself sideways.
Skewer-like ice spears stabbed into the spot where I'd rolled: plop, plop, plop!
After that, a barrage of spears poured down relentlessly, as if she'd declared me her sole target.
I dodged them all with near-acrobatic maneuvers and smirked.
“...By the way, you think hitting your real body was just luck?”
She's as arrogant in her delusions as in her speech. She'll learn soon enough it wasn't luck.
The moment a brief lull hit in her onslaught, I swiftly steadied my stance and released the bowstring.
Screee—!
The ether-flamed arrow flew in a straight line.
But midway, wind influence curved its trajectory slightly askew.
Ah, of course.
Bloodline Can't Be Fooled (EX) effect ongoing!
Ranged weapon accuracy (bows, guns, etc.) skyrockets!
I'd factored in the wind on purpose.
Boom—!
Urk...?!
The arrow arced perfectly through the clustered clones, striking the Ice Fairy's real body dead-on.
Again.
Whoooosh—!
The Ice Fairy sucked in the surrounding blizzard, instantly snuffing the ether flames, and cried out in shock.
I-it wasn't luck...?!
“Took you this long to figure it out?”
Y-you...! H-how...!
The Ice Fairy demanded of me.
Her evening dress was scorched and torn to rags, her snow-white skin charred black.
She looked so pitiful I almost kindly explained.
A smile that'd piss anyone off crept onto my lips.
“Not telling.”
The constellation 'Sung Hyun-sook' grumbles that her son is seriously unlucky!
Kyaaak! You annoying bastard!
What, Mom's reacting the same as the enemy now...?
The constellation 'Sung Hyun-sook' strongly scolds you, asking if you don't pity the Ice Fairy who's terrified by this unknown situation!
Is it just me, or does it feel like she's really rooting for my record attempt to fail?
Doesn't she know that just fans my competitive fire?
Fwoosh—!
I nocked an ether-flamed arrow and aimed at her.
One more hit, and I could probably finish her off.
Actually, with Kirius's Lingering Will weakening her, those two shots should've ended her already.
But gotta save the Lingering Will.
Why? Kirius's Lingering Will has two functions.
One: Lowers a target's stats by 10% for 10 minutes.
The other: Tames the killed target as a loyal familiar.
But using the second consumes the skill permanently.
In other words, use with caution.
But.
An Ice Fairy makes a fine familiar!
She's worth sacrificing the skill for.
Superior mobility, high-power ice spears, enough intelligence for conversation...
And crucially... that Ice Illusion summoning dozens of clones!
It's like getting dozens of powerful familiars at once!
If not her, then who?
I fired a shot of love toward my future tail-wagging “Master~” familiar.
Or tried to.
You think I'll die just like this?!
If the blizzard hadn't suddenly intensified.
Kwaaaa—!
“...!”
The world turned pure white in an instant. I released my aim, shielding my face with my right arm.
The gale was so ferocious that even channeling mana into my legs, I was pushed back.
If I'm struggling, the other players must be...
“Uwaaaah!”
“I'm flying away—!”
“Grab my hand! Hold on!”
The murderous wind finally died down after three minutes.
In this brief chaos, the Ice Fairy had vanished, and the surroundings lay in ruins.
“Hic, sob...”
“Shouldn't have come in...”
“S-someone heal...!”
The gruesome scene made me grimace involuntarily.
Limbs torn apart by the razor winds rolled across the blood-soaked snow.
Some clutched severed arms, sobbing; others had been swept away by the blizzard, missing.
“This is a bit much...”
The constellation 'Sung Hyun-sook' conveys the truth: This is commonplace in gates blue or higher.
The constellation 'Sung Hyun-sook' advises you to adapt quickly—harsh as the reality is.
“I've seen far worse countless times.”
Telling Mom made me feel like a cocoon wrinkling up, but facts are facts.
When the Demon Legion descended, entire cities were drenched in blood.
But adaptation aside...
Watching players fighting for their lives die pisses me off.
As I swallowed my anger and scanned for the Ice Fairy,
“O-over there...”
A ragged voice called out.
Turning, a man with his shoulder gruesomely severed limped toward me.
“H-help... H-healing skill or... potion, anything... p-please...”
The man faltered mid-sentence, collapsing.
I dashed toward him.
But not to help.
“Where'd you get the balls?”
Crack—!
My elbow slammed into his back.
“Guhk...?!”
The man bent like a shrimp, gasping his death rattle.
Or not a man anymore?
Wh-what the—!
“Your disguise is busted, so why keep flapping your gums?”
Only after kneeing his gut and pummeling him with fists did he finally spill.
H-how'd you know!?
The Ice Fairy disguised as an injured player spat blood in panic.
Of course, I didn't answer her question this time either.
How'd I know?
Throw Eye showed me everything from the start.
Your core's position glowing like a target right by your heart.
Finding the real body among clones? Spotting the disguise? All thanks to that blatant red dot.
No need to tell a soon-to-be-dead fool, though.
Damn! Damn! You'll pay for this!
She dropped the disguise, eyes teary, trying to fly off, but...
“No 'later' for you.”
Crunch!
Kyul?!
I swiftly grabbed her wing-like blades with both hands.
Then yanked back.
Riiiip—!
Guhk...?!
Like a bug with wings torn off, the Ice Fairy screamed and tumbled.
“Don't worry.”
Fwoosh—.
I gripped an ether-enchanted fire arrow and leaned toward her.
“I'll specially make you my familiar.”
Th-then you'll spare me...?
“Oh right. Forgot to say after killing you.”
What?! Wai—!
Stab—!
Without hesitation, I plunged the fire arrow deep into the glowing red dot on her chest.
Boss monster has been defeated!
The gate will close shortly!
That was visible to everyone in the gate.
And then,
You have defeated the boss monster 'Ice Fairy'!
You gain a massive amount of experience!
Level up!
Level up!
You randomly acquire one skill from those possessed by the 'Ice Fairy'!
That was just for me.
But it didn't end there.
The constellation 'Sung Hyun-sook' checks the timer!
The constellation 'Sung Hyun-sook' is shocked!
The constellation 'Sung Hyun-sook' desperately suggests a draw!
Pathetic, Mom.
“A draw? Come on, be honest. How much time left?”
The constellation 'Sung Hyun-sook' groans!
The constellation 'Sung Hyun-sook' honestly confesses: 26 minutes 14 seconds!
Needed to kill the boss within 59:42 for a new record, right?
So this means?
“I beat you, Mom!”
The constellation 'Sung Hyun-sook' laments!
The constellation 'Sung Hyun-sook' can't hide her regret, saying parent-child propriety has hit rock bottom!
The truly pitiful one is Mom, whining about parent-child propriety despite this totally fair win.
The constellation 'Sung Hyun-sook' accepts the result.
The constellation 'Sung Hyun-sook' goes to find a commemorative gift to sponsor her 'our son♡'!
I wasn't even expecting a gift.
“Complain all you want, Mom's still the best.”
If she heard, she'd snap, “Best only now?”
Anyway.
While Mom hunted for a gift, I looked down at the Ice Fairy, arrow embedded in her chest, lifeless.
Two level-ups, at least rare-grade skill...
All top-tier rewards.
But the best reward is this one.
As I prepared to activate Kirius's Lingering Will to turn the dead Ice Fairy into my familiar,
You have acquired the skill 'Ice Mask'!
“...Huh?”
I froze at the skill name.
Wait. Could this be...?
Recalling one of the Ice Fairy's skills, I checked Ice Mask's info.
Bingo. My guess was right.
“If I play this right...?”
This could be my golden chance for a familiar even better than the Ice Fairy.