The Disaster of Ice (3)

I ushered Yoo Joonghyuk into My Room, then flung a kunai etched with the Hiraishin marking toward where Lee Hyunsung, Lee Jihye, and Lee Seolhwa were waiting, and immediately activated Hiraishin no Jutsu.

Whoosh!

"Waaah?!"

Our adorable Jihye's scream skimmed past my ears, but there was no time to react to it now.

"Everyone into My Room!"

"J-Jinwoo-ssi?"

"Wh-what the hell all of a sudden? Wait, Oppa…!"

"What's going on so suddenly…"

I let their grumbling slide in one ear and out the other as I half-forced the party into My Room, then sprinted straight toward the Disaster of Ice.

"Can you all hear my voice right now? From this moment on, we're going inside the Disaster of Ice's mouth!"

Rumble!

Right then, a window of My Room opened in midair, and Lee Jihye stuck her face out with a look of pure panic, screaming.

"Oppa, are you insane?! You want us to go into that monster turtle's mouth?!"

"A month ago I spent four days inside the belly of a ridiculously huge sea-dragon ship called the Sea Commander with Kim Dokja. It's doable!"

"No! What kind of thing are you saying to this pure, innocent high-school beauty?! I don't want to go inside a monster's body!"

Right after Jihye's shrieking, Lee Hyunsung poked his face out the My Room window and spoke.

"J-Jinwoo-ssi. This is so sudden my head can't keep up. If it's all right, could you explain a little…"

"Of course. That's nothing."

As Hyunsung requested, I decided to explain it in a way he, Jihye, and Seolhwa could easily understand.

"Right now the Disaster of Ice's scales and shell are so hard that even Joonghyuk's and my attacks only leave scratches and scorch marks."

"So you're saying we'll go inside its body and take it down from within."

Lee Seolhwa, sharper than Hyunsung or Jihye, gave a small nod as she answered. I nodded right back.

"Exactly. We can't subjugate it from the outside. Well, technically we could somehow, but it would take way too long. Whether Joonghyuk and I could last that long is uncertain, and the odds of the rest of you lasting are even lower."

Neither Yoo Joonghyuk nor I had any intention of clearing the scenario quickly by sacrificing our comrades—Lee Hyunsung, Lee Jihye, and Lee Seolhwa.

But their overall stats and skill levels were still low, so the longer the subjugation of the Disaster of Ice dragged on, the more their survival chances would plummet exponentially.

To prevent that—and to get back to Kim Dokja's group by evening—I racked my brain for a fast way to take the thing down. That was when the four-character idiom oe-gang-nae-yu floated up in my head.

An idiom that shows up all the time in novels, anime, and manga.

It means "hard on the outside, soft on the inside."

I could dig through the Dokkaebi Bag for something like Murim internal-weight techniques or penetration arts and try them on the Disaster of Ice, but…

There was no way a brand-new Level 1 skill would reach the vital organs deep inside that massive body.

"S-so you're really going to jump into that monster's mouth?"

"If you hate the mouth, there's another option."

"Another option? Where?"

The four of them had already clustered around the My Room window, all tilting their heads at me in unison.

Faced with those stares, I clamped my mouth shut, averted my eyes, and muttered under my breath.

"…Through the door."

"I can't hear a damn thing. Speak properly, Park Jinwoo."

I must have mumbled too quietly. Yoo Joonghyuk scowled and snapped at me. I opened my mouth again and muttered even softer.

"…I mean, through the an…"

"Jinwoo-ssi. Your voice is too quiet. Please speak a little louder."

Even Hyunsung looked awkward at my tiny muttering and sided with Joonghyuk, so I finally just bellowed it.

"Ah, so if you don't want to go in through that turtle's mouth, we can go in through the giant turtle's anus!"

The instant I shouted it, every sound in the world seemed to freeze.

The party's breathing, the rustle of clothes, every tiny noise vanished, and a long, long silence stretched out.

The only sound left was my own footsteps crunching through the snow piled up by the Disaster of Ice's blizzard as I kept running.

Then, in that heavy silence, the Constellations' indirect messages began to ring out.

"…Fuck."

I glanced over the Constellations' indirect messages, then flicked my eyes toward the My Room window. Inside, the party looked utterly stunned, digging at their ears as if they must have misheard.

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Then Lee Jihye asked me in a trembling voice.

"O-o-o-oppa? I misheard that just now, right? S-so if it isn't the turtle's mouth, the other option is… its anus…?"

"………………."

Jihye's pupils shook like an earthquake had hit them, and she stared at me with a desperate, teary expression. I chose silence.

Right after her, Lee Hyunsung also broke out in a cold sweat and asked again.

"J-Jinwoo-ssi? Did you just say that if it isn't the Disaster's mouth, we have to go in through its anus?"

"………………."

I had never seen that look on Hyunsung's face before. The honest, responsible, most reliable guy in the party was staring at me with such a fragile expression, watery eyes, and a face gone completely pale.

The longer you live, the more strange sights you get to see, I guess.

I next glanced at Lee Seolhwa standing beside him. She was muttering rapid-fire under her breath as if my words had hit her with massive shock.

"……Anus? Anus as in the small hole made of sphincter muscle at the end of a vertebrate's digestive tract, the organ that is both digestive and excretory…? We have to go in through there…? Ahaha… Maybe I've been under too much stress lately. My ears must be going bad…"

Watching Seolhwa wear a hollow smile and deny reality with tears in her eyes, I quietly rolled my gaze over to Yoo Joonghyuk standing next to her.

Crunch!!

Yoo Joonghyuk was glaring at me with an expression that surpassed every murderous look I had ever seen from her. That gaze clearly said that if I actually announced we were going in that way, she would cut my head off in a single stroke.

…Fuck.

I had no intention of going into the thing's anus either. I only mentioned it because it was one of the two holes that could actually get us inside its body.

I forced a smile onto my face and tried to soothe the party amid the frozen atmosphere.

"Ah, no. I was just mentioning another hole. The place we're actually jumping into is its mouth, so don't worry too much."

At my words, Hyunsung, Jihye, and Seolhwa's expressions eased a little—but Yoo Joonghyuk was still glaring at me.

"H-hey, Joonghyuk? I really have no plans to go in through the Disaster's back door, so could you drop that look?"

"……That had better be the truth. Otherwise I will cut your head off right here and now."

With that, silence fell between us again. I kept running toward the Disaster of Ice. Once the distance closed enough, the Disaster finally seemed to notice me; it rolled its eyes and locked onto me.

Rumble-rumble-rumble!

"……?!"

Then the Disaster of Ice's mouth yawned wide open. A massive wave of mana surged right in front of its jaws.

Wait a second. Why didn't I think of this earlier?

I skidded to a halt and stood still, looking up at the Disaster of Ice and studying it carefully.

Right. I already know its weak point.

Remembering the Disaster of Ice's vulnerability, I pulled out two kunai and activated Path of Wind.

I wrapped the wind around both kunai, then sent one flying to the Disaster of Ice's feet and the other toward its hind legs.

With the rough preparations for a proper hit finished, I lifted my head and glared up at the Disaster of Ice.

Watching through the My Room window, Lee Jihye, Lee Hyunsung, and Lee Seolhwa all stiffened and shouted at me.

"Oppa?! Why did you suddenly stop in place?! It's dangerous!"

"Jihye's right. Jinwoo-ssi! Please dodge right now!"

"Jinwoo-ssi!"

Even under their urging I kept a leisurely expression and stared the Disaster of Ice down. At last the mana charge finished, and a blue-white light glittered at the corners of its mouth.

KWAAAAAANG—!!

The same breath that had driven me to the brink of death earlier came roaring straight at me again. Watching it, I curled a small smile and muttered.

"Hiraishin no Jutsu."

Whoosh!

KWAAAAAANG!!

The Disaster's breath scoured the ground where I had just been standing and swept through the urban heart of Gangseo-gu. All that remained in its wake was pure-white ice crystals.

Confirming that, the Disaster of Ice looked around in fury when it found no corpse in the path of its breath—but I had already moved into its blind spot.

Using the kunai I had thrown to its hind legs, I activated Hiraishin no Jutsu again, then quietly lifted my head and began searching for something. And then—

I finally found it.

Found you.

Twitch! Twitch!

The Disaster of Ice's anus.

Having located the thing's rear, I bared my teeth in a mad grin and laughed thickly.

"Keheheheh…!"

Ignoring the Constellations' indirect messages, I looked up at the thing's anus and activated my skills.

Excluding my exclusive skill Der Freischütz, I combined every skill that could deal serious damage to the Disaster of Ice if it landed cleanly, took careful aim at its anus, and fired the Flames of Destruction.

"Ninjutsu! Thousand-Year Kill!! Flames of Destruction Edition!!"

KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA——!!!

The Flames of Destruction left my hand and streaked fiercely toward the Disaster of Ice's anus. And then—

KWAAAAAAAANG!!!

———!?!?!?!?!?!?!

The moment the Flames of Destruction scored a direct hit on its anus, a colossal scream the likes of which I had never heard before erupted across the entire Gangseo-gu region.

The six thick legs supporting the Disaster of Ice's enormous body collapsed without the slightest warning, and that massive bulk came crashing down at high speed toward the spot where I stood.

Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!

"Oh shit! Jesus…!!"

I confirmed the sight of its rear hole being roasted nice and brown by the dark-crimson flames, then activated Hiraishin no Jutsu and got the hell out of there.

I transferred to a kunai I had planted on a building rooftop and looked down. The Disaster of Ice was pressed flat against the ground, its whole body trembling violently.

When I examined its face more closely, I found it pouring out tears, snot, and drool, completely out of its mind. I scratched my cheek, then beamed a bright smile and lightly tapped my own head with a fist.

"Heheh! I actually did it!"

After checking the Constellations' indirect messages, I turned my head and glanced at the party.

"…………………."

Lee Hyunsung, Lee Jihye, and Lee Seolhwa were staring at me blankly with expressions that screamed How can a person do something like that?! Curious about Yoo Joonghyuk, I turned to look at her as well.

"……………."

Even the great Yoo Joonghyuk was staring at me with a dazed face, an expression that mixed "What kind of crazy bastard is this?" with the same "this guy isn't even human" feeling the rest of the party was wearing.

"…………………."

Faced with the party's stares and the Constellations' indirect messages, I quietly lowered my head and dashed toward the Disaster of Ice's mouth.

There was simply nothing I could say in this situation. Even I had to admit that what I had just done was nothing a human being should ever commit.

…Let's seal this technique.

Watching a named boss-class Disaster of Ice crumple in an instant just from getting its rear roasted and punched made my conscience sting mercilessly.

A-anyway. I arrived at the head and mouth of the Disaster of Ice, which still looked half-dead and unable to collect itself, and began preparing to enter its mouth while wading through the river of drool flowing from its jaws.

"First, the most important thing—goggles."

Then I activated the Conch Breathing I had obtained last time from the Conch Field.

With every preparation for entering its interior complete, I felt my heart weaken a little at the sight of the Disaster of Ice still trembling all over its massive body and letting out silent screams.

Tap. Tap.

I carefully patted one of the teeth lining its mouth and offered a wordless apology, then leapt into the Disaster of Ice's body to finish cutting off its life.