The Disaster of Ice (1)
I stared up at the colossal turtle whose bulk rivaled an entire apartment building, lost in thought.
It’s seriously fucking huge.
Every time the Disaster of Ice took a step, the ground around it trembled—just a little, but enough to notice. A blizzard howled around the creature, and more importantly, the earth beneath its feet was freezing solid by the second.
…This is a bit of a problem. I don’t have a single scrap of information on the Disaster of Ice that appears in the west.
Even in the Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint webtoon it had been nothing more than a brief line of text—subjugated by Yoo Joonghyuk and her party—without so much as a silhouette. One of those unfortunate disasters that got wiped out off-screen.
Which meant I was flying completely blind.
I decided to start by studying its appearance and gathering whatever intel I could. From what I could see with the naked eye, it looked like this:
A face like a turtle’s. A shell of thick ice the size of a glacier on its back. And six legs.
Combine the looks with the moniker and it was obvious the thing specialized in ice skills. That shell looked ridiculously thick—definitely rock-hard. Hell, the rest of it probably was too.
Or is every part of it that tough? More importantly, that ice ability looks insanely cool.
It was basically a permanent Ice Age. Fucking badass…
“…I want it.”
Luckily, Extraction had just hit level 8, bumping my skill extraction count up by one for a total of three.
I’m definitely killing this thing and extracting that power.
I rolled my eyes toward my companions, who were already drawing their weapons and settling into combat stances. Confirming they were ready, I shot Yoo Joonghyuk a sidelong glance and said,
“I’m going in first.”
“What?”
Yoo Joonghyuk’s face twisted at my words as she turned toward me—but I was already faster.
Exclusive Skill, Flight Maneuver Lv.5 has been activated!
The moment Flight Maneuver kicked in, my body rose gently into the air. I forced myself to ignore the still-unfamiliar sensation and shot toward the Disaster of Ice.
Yoo Joonghyuk’s voice roared up from beneath me.
“Park Jinwoo!!”
She was properly pissed, but I ignored her and flew straight at the Disaster of Ice, which was still lumbering forward in the distance.
Clairvoyance.
Exclusive Skill, Clairvoyance Lv.6 has been activated.
I scanned the area around the Disaster of Ice for any remaining wanderers. Most had already fled long ago; the few who hadn’t had been frozen solid into ice statues and were already dead.
“Guess I can cut loose, then.”
Conveniently, the thing was right in the middle of the city.
“Path of Wind, activate.”
Exclusive Skill, Path of Wind Lv.8 has been activated!
The atmosphere around me bent to my will the instant Path of Wind took hold. I compressed the air into razor-thin “lines” and fired them at a nearby building.
Slash!
The refined blades of wind sheared clean through the upper floors at a diagonal. Thin cracks spiderwebbed outward from the cut—
Rumble—!
—and the severed chunk of building began plummeting straight toward the Disaster of Ice’s head.
I raised one hand, pointed at the falling debris, and continued,
“Double Enchant—Explosion attribute on the building fragment.”
Exclusive Skill, Enchant Lv.8 has been activated!
Enchant has applied a double Explosion attribute to the building fragment.
The chunk of concrete and steel instantly became a massive bomb. The moment it struck the Disaster of Ice’s head—
BOOOOM!
A colossal explosion bloomed. Debris sprayed in every direction and a thick cloud of dust swallowed the creature’s head, blotting out my view.
Damn it… my mouth is itching to yell “Did we get it?!” just for the cliché.
Landing a giant bomb right on a monster’s head made me desperately want to spam one of the most famous tropes in existence.
The Disaster of Ice just stood there after taking a direct hit from a building-sized bomb. For a second I actually wondered if it was dead.
But then—
Shrrrk.
“…What the hell?!”
In the blink of an eye, massive ice spears had completely surrounded me. My expression hardened.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
The spears launched at me in a dense volley. Still frozen-faced, I reactivated Path of Wind.
Exclusive Skill, Path of Wind Lv.8 has been activated!
Whoooosh!
Dozens—hundreds—of ice spears screamed toward me. I desperately twisted the air currents to force their trajectories off course.
But there were simply too many.
Screeech!
“Ghk…?!”
A few spears slipped through the gaps I couldn’t cover. I twisted my body and managed to dodge the worst of them, but still took deep gashes across my legs, arms, and abdomen.
Crack-crack-crack!
“…Yeah. This one’s different from every other disaster I’ve seen.”
The wounds on my limbs and stomach began freezing over at terrifying speed. My face went rigid as I locked eyes with the creature.
Even after taking a direct hit from a building-bomb, the Disaster of Ice didn’t have a single scratch. It was staring straight at me.
Grrrrrk…!
It let out a low, rumbling growl.
“Not bad for a damn turtle.”
Shing.
I pulled Barisada from My Room and glared at the Disaster of Ice.
This thing was nothing like the Lesser Dragon Ignir or the Disaster of Questions, Myeong Ilsang, that I’d taken down before.
It’s huge, its defense is way tougher than either of those two, and its skill usage completely outclasses them.
If I didn’t put it down fast, Seoul Dome was going to enter a full-blown ice age.
First priority: completely strip its mobility.
Bang!
I activated Path of Wind again, wrenched every scrap of airspeed I could out of the atmosphere, and rocketed higher into the sky. Then I aimed Flame of Destruction at the ground the creature was standing on.
Exclusive Skill, Flame of Destruction Lv.6 has been activated!
Fwoooosh—!!
Crimson-black fire that burned everything it touched rained down from the sky onto the earth beneath the Disaster of Ice. I kept the skill active, scorching a perfect circle around the creature.
The moment the ring of fire closed, a massive cracking sound of collapse rolled out—and the ground the Disaster of Ice stood on began to cave in.
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
Dust billowed upward as the earth gave way, but the creature simply stared up at me floating in the air.
Just when I thought I’d completely robbed it of mobility, something went wrong.
Whoooosh—!!
A ferocious blizzard erupted around the Disaster of Ice and blasted the dust cloud away in an instant. Then its massive jaws slowly began to open.
It tilted its head upward. The direction of its maw lined up perfectly with where I was hovering.
“Shit. Did I pull too much aggro?”
4th-Class Ice Turtle Dragon, ‘Ice Nether Turtle Dragon’ activates Ghostly Cold Ice Flame Lv.10!
A massive wave of cold compressed at the edge of its mouth. Just the residual force was enough to freeze the surrounding buildings and ground solid in seconds.
Feeling that enormous surge of power, I hardened my expression and stacked every skill I had to counter it.
Exclusive Skill, Flame of Destruction Lv.6 has been activated!
I hurriedly prepared the crimson-black fire that burned everything.
Exclusive Skill, Blackening Lv.8 has been activated!
I boosted my combat power with Blackening to make up for the lacking attack strength.
Exclusive Skill, Amplification Lv.7 has been activated!
I further increased Flame of Destruction’s destructive power with Amplification.
Exclusive Skill, Enchant Lv.8 has been activated!
Thanks to Enchant hitting level 8 yesterday, my stacking limit had increased by one. I triple-stacked the Flame attribute onto Flame of Destruction, jacking its power even higher.
Exclusive Skill, Path of Wind Lv.8 has been activated!
Finally I used Path of Wind to further expand and intensify the Flame of Destruction.
Flame of Destruction already guzzled mana like a hippo; slathering every other skill on top of it made my reserves plummet at terrifying speed. The triple Enchant stack in particular ate even more mana than a double stack.
Goddamn it… just because I took down Ignir and Myeong Ilsang relatively easily, I completely underestimated this disaster…
Something felt off, though. Even if it was a disaster, hatching this early should have slapped it with heavy penalties to overall stats and skill levels. The fifth main scenario hadn’t even started yet.
It hatched early and its skill is already level 10? And it’s 4th-class…? How the hell is that even possible…
In that moment the Disaster of Ice finished gathering every scrap of power it had. The massive mana wave that had been thrashing the surroundings suddenly went still.
Then the enormous force compressed at its maw fired straight at me.
BOOOOOOM——!!!
Crazy…
As the breath screamed toward me I clenched my teeth hard and unleashed Flame of Destruction to meet it.
FWOOOOSH——!!!
A cyan-white ice breath that froze everything and a crimson-black flame breath that burned everything slammed toward each other.
In the split second before they collided, my instincts screamed the truth.
I lost.
KRA-KOOOOOM———!!!
The two breaths crashed together and a colossal wave of mana exploded outward in every direction.
Shatter!
Every remaining window in the nearby buildings exploded at once. Structures around the impact point either burst into flame or flash-froze in a spectacular display of opposing forces.
At first the two breaths seemed evenly matched—then the balance slowly, inexorably tipped.
The Disaster of Ice’s cyan-white ice breath began overpowering Flame of Destruction.
“Cough…!”
I squeezed every last drop of mana out of myself in defiance, but the collapsed balance of power was already beyond recovery.
Fwoosh…!!
After only a few dozen seconds of the clash I had burned through most of my mana. With nothing left to feed it, Flame of Destruction’s output plummeted.
Drip.
Urgh… feels like my guts are twisting.
The excessive mana expenditure had finally given me internal injuries. Blood spilled from the corner of my mouth.
……This is my limit.
Insufficient mana. Activation of Flame of Destruction Lv.6 has been forcibly cancelled.
For the first time ever, a skill was forcibly shut down because I didn’t have enough mana to maintain it. My eyes went wide with panic as I stared at the system window—then at what was in front of me.
The cyan-white breath was already right in my face.
I’m screwed…
I wrenched every last scrap of remaining mana out of myself, opened a door to My Room behind me, and practically threw myself through it.
Then I twisted around and shouted at the door,
“Door, dismiss…!”
Shrrrk.
BOOOOOOM——!!!
Through the window of My Room I watched the cyan-white breath tear through the empty space where the door had just been.
“Fuck… the difficulty is completely broken.”
If generating the door had taken even one second—hell, even half a second—longer, that breath would have killed me. Relief flooded me for a moment… then something felt wrong in my gut.
“U-uweeeegh…!!”
The twin realizations that I had almost died and that I was somehow still alive hit me at the same time. A reverse surge rose from deep inside. I reflexively planted my hands on the floor and vomited blood.
“Hah…! Hah…! Hah…!”
The blood I had thrown up soaked the floor of My Room, but I didn’t have time to care.
“Huff… huff… D-Dokkaebi Bag—one Advanced Stamina Recovery Potion and two Advanced Mana Recovery Potions.”
Total of 4,500 coins consumed.
I confirmed the elegant glass bottles filled with red and blue liquid, frantically twisted the caps off, and downed them one after another.
Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!
“Hoo… hoo…!”
Thankfully the potions mended my internal injuries and restored my mana. My condition improved a little.
Once I could breathe again I looked out the window of My Room. Far below, Yoo Joonghyuk and the others were charging straight at the Disaster of Ice.
“…No. Too dangerous.”
After clashing with that thing I knew for certain: everyone except Yoo Joonghyuk would be crushed by its attacks.
I hurriedly opened the door of My Room and activated Flight Maneuver.
Exclusive Skill, Flight Maneuver Lv.5 has been activated.
I dove at full speed and landed beside the party. Looking ahead, I saw the Disaster of Ice had already climbed out of the pit I created and was staring down at them.
Whoosh.
The Disaster of Ice casually lifted one massive foreleg and slammed it into the ground.
BOOOOM!!
A violent blizzard erupted from the impact, and building debris rained down on the party all at once.
“I’ll block it!”
Lee Hyunsung raised his shield to protect everyone from the flying wreckage and the howling snow.
“Uwaaaaah!”
Incarnation Lee Hyunsung uses Stigma Great Mountain Push Lv.5!
Incarnation Lee Hyunsung activates Special Skill Wide-Area Defense!
To protect the people behind him, Lee Hyunsung activated his stigma, then triggered the special skill sealed inside the Replica of Hercules’ Shield that Kim Dokja had obtained in the Theater Dungeon.
An opaque mana barrier instantly formed in front of his shield.
Crash! Bang! Crash! Bang!
The mana-laced blizzard and flying debris slammed against the barrier but could not break through. Thanks to that, none of Yoo Joonghyuk’s party took a single scratch.
Watching from right behind him, Lee Jihye smiled and praised him.
“As expected of the soldier uncle! Super reliable! But…”
She trailed off, glancing at Yoo Joonghyuk with a worried look.
“Master, is Jinwoo Oppa gonna be okay? It looked like he took that turtle’s breath head-on earlier.”
Yoo Joonghyuk’s face twisted hard. She answered in a voice dripping with murderous intent.
“Whether that idiot dies or not is none of my business.”
“O-oh… okay.”
They were chatting casually behind Lee Hyunsung’s mana barrier—until every expression on their faces suddenly froze.
Shrrrk.
Massive ice spears had materialized all around them.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
The spears launched at Yoo Joonghyuk and the others. Everyone except Yoo Joonghyuk herself looked panicked as they scrambled to block the incoming barrage.
“There are too many spears! At this rate—”
“Kyaa…!”
“Seolhwa-ssi!”
“Seolhwa Unnie!”
Lee Seolhwa was the first to go down. While desperately trying to deflect the spears she took a shaft to the body and was sent flying. Lee Hyunsung and Lee Jihye both cried out her name in shock.
Lee Jihye kept swinging her sword without pause, cutting down ice spears while shouting at Lee Hyunsung,
“Hyunsung Uncle! Master and I will hold here—go take care of Seolhwa Unnie!”
“Understood!”
Lee Hyunsung sprinted toward the fallen Lee Seolhwa and, still holding his shield, began batting away every spear that flew at the two of them.
Slowly, carefully, they whittled the dozens of ice spears down. Watching the numbers drop, Lee Jihye flashed a confident grin.
“Heh! What, that was nothin’—”
Shrrrk.
An ominous sound from behind made her whip her head around. Her eyes went wide as she saw more than a dozen ice spears materializing right at her back.
Ah… I got careless.
Whoosh-whoosh!
Lee Jihye squeezed her eyes shut as the spears flew straight at her.
Yoo Joonghyuk had been dodging and blocking spears with her, so the distance between them had opened up. Lee Hyunsung had moved away to protect Lee Seolhwa.
In other words, right now, in this exact moment, there was no one who could save Lee Jihye. Knowing that, she clenched her eyes shut and waited for the pain—
Whoosh!
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
“Cough…!!”
Huh…?
Something wrapped around her. Then came the sickening sound of ice spears punching through flesh, followed by the wet noise of someone coughing up blood right beside her ear. Lee Jihye’s tightly shut eyes snapped open.
With trembling pupils she stared at Park Jinwoo, who had wrapped his arms around her and taken every single ice spear in her place.
“O-Oppa…?”
“…Ji-hye. You’re not hurt anywhere, right?”
Park Jinwoo smiled at the girl looking up at him with shaking eyes. But the smile was painfully forced.
His lips trembled. Bright red blood spilled from the corner of his mouth. Blood sprayed from the holes the ice spears had punched through him, painting Lee Jihye’s face and clothes crimson.
Realizing what had happened, Lee Jihye spoke in a voice that shook violently.
“N-no…. O-Oppa, just hang on a little! If we get to Seolhwa Unnie you’ll be fine…!!”
Grab.
Park Jinwoo caught the arm of the panicking girl who was trying to drag him away and shook his head. Lee Jihye’s face crumpled in despair. She hung her head, and tiny tears welled at the corners of her eyes.
“B-because of me… Oppa got…. I really am just….”
“Jihye…. This Oppa is fine, okay?”
Startled by the sudden tears and the look of utter despair on her face, Park Jinwoo gently wiped her tears away with the back of his hand.
“You got skewered! How the hell is that fine…!!”
Lee Jihye started to raise her voice—then froze mid-shout, staring blankly ahead.
The ice spears that had pierced Park Jinwoo’s body slid free with a soft shrrrk, and the gaping holes they left behind began closing at high speed.
Park Jinwoo scratched his cheek awkwardly, avoiding the eyes of the girl who was still standing there with her mouth half-open.
“I mean, I really am fine, so I said I was fine….”
“……………….”
Tremble-tremble!
Lee Jihye’s entire body started shaking as she watched the man who had been on the verge of death mere seconds ago now looking at her with a completely casual, slightly embarrassed expression.
Then, in a tearful voice and with eyes blazing with pure rage, she glared at him and said,
“…Oppa, do you seriously want me to kill you? Do you have any idea how scared I was…?”
“S-sorry, Jihye. The shock and pain of getting skewered just now was so bad I couldn’t explain fast enough….”
Looking genuinely apologetic, Park Jinwoo quietly stroked her hair.
At that moment someone landed silently beside them.
Lee Jihye and Park Jinwoo both turned toward the sound. Yoo Joonghyuk stood there.
She shot Park Jinwoo a sideways glance and said,
“So you lived.”
“Yeah. Almost died, though.”
Park Jinwoo stopped petting Lee Jihye’s head, drew Barisada, and stepped up beside Yoo Joonghyuk.
“Joonghyuk. Was the western disaster this same thing in your last regression?”
Twitch.
Yoo Joonghyuk’s body flinched the instant the word “regression” left Park Jinwoo’s mouth. She quickly recovered, however, and answered slowly.
“No. Last regression it was a different one. Last time the Disaster of Ice was something called a ‘Frost Giant.’ For some reason, this regression it’s this thing.”
“…Is that so?”
Park Jinwoo’s expression twisted. He let out a short sigh.
“You already know, but this thing is no joke. Neither Myeong Ilsang nor Ignir could hold a candle to it.”
“…………….”
Yoo Joonghyuk remained silent, clearly agreeing with him deep down.
“From now on I’ll pull its aggro. When I do, you cut its head off or smash that shell—whatever works.”
“Fine.”
Park Jinwoo then turned to Lee Jihye, who was still staring at him blankly.
“Jihye, go regroup with Hyunsung-ssi and Seolhwa-ssi and catch your breath for a bit. And later, when that turtle starts making ice spears again, make sure none of them fly at Yoo Joonghyuk—support her.”
“A-alright!”
Finished speaking, Park Jinwoo locked eyes with the western Disaster of Ice—the Ice Nether Turtle Dragon.
“Then from this moment on, the subjugation of the Disaster of Ice begins. Go wild to your heart’s content, Joonghyuk.”
“Just make sure you support me properly.”