Chapter 210
Chapter 210
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 211
Chapter Title: The Roar of the Plague Beast
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—Kieeeek!
After passing through the tangled jungle and arriving in Tevela, a scream that tore at our ears rang out loudly.
At the same time, an overwhelming yet horrifying surge of mana swept over my entire body, something I'd never felt before.
"Crazy..."
Goosebumps erupted across my skin. My arms trembled,
and my heart pounded wildly.
Shakia, who had relatively weak resistance to mana, had already passed out and collapsed face-down on the ground.
Instinctively, I realized the source of this scream and mana.
The calamity-grade magic beast and the main boss of this episode: the "Plague Beast."
I already knew how strong the Plague Beast was from the original story, but experiencing it firsthand far exceeded my expectations.
I stared blankly up at the sky.
A massive black dragon flapped its wings, kicking up fierce gusts of wind around it.
[You have encountered a 'Calamity-Grade Magic Beast.']
[Reward: 2,000 points acquired.]
"Wow. This is no joke..."
My instincts screamed to run, that it was dangerous. But for a better outcome,
I couldn't flee.
I looked over. Lee Seo-jun met my gaze with a tense expression.
And so, we ran toward the direction of the Plague Beast.
On the outskirts of Tevela, at a high vantage point with a clear view of the Himalayan Mountains.
There were about a dozen people who looked like wizards gathered there.
"No wide-area wizards?! Where's Yoo A-yeon? Where the hell is Yoo A-yeon?!"
"She went out on recon."
"...No way we block this without Yoo A-yeon?"
The wizards, caught off guard by the sudden magic beast assault, stomped around in panic, forgetting their composure.
Ignoring them, I stepped forward and looked down at the ground.
A thousand black magic beasts were charging toward us at terrifying speed.
"What are they doing? It's dangerous here—get back!"
An unfamiliar white wizard shouted at me and Lee Seo-jun. The others behind him urged us to evacuate quickly for our safety.
"Hey? Aren't you Lee Seo-jun?"
At that moment, a handsome man spoke in Korean, acting familiar with Lee Seo-jun.
Jeong Je-won.
A wizard from the Dawn's Blade guild.
"...You're Kim Sun-woo. Why are you guys here?"
The foreigner who'd just told us to run seemed to understand Jeong Je-won's words and narrowed his eyes.
"What? These kids are those Korean prospects? They even called in rookies like them for support?"
I heard a mocking voice aimed at me, but I didn't have time to waste on it.
"Out of the way!"
Ignoring the white wizard, I positioned myself on the outskirts and looked down at the ground.
Far off, a thousand black magic beasts surged toward us.
An unimaginable number that even standard wide-area magic would struggle to stop.
Any other wizard couldn't possibly block them, but I had "Mana Rain," which rendered numbers meaningless.
I activated the Heart of Great Nature and gathered mana.
I squeezed the mana generated from my heart, concentrating it at the tips of both hands.
It was a sensation I hadn't felt in a long time.
But since it was a skill bought with traits, it didn't feel unfamiliar despite the hiatus.
Woooooong!
Magic circles began manifesting above my palms. The next step was to input the coordinates for the downpour within the circles.
I visually confirmed my distance and the positions of the incoming black magic beasts, calculating in my head.
Settings complete.
"Hup!"
With a short shout, a small magic circle appeared at the coordinates I'd set.
Soon after, a spell dropped from beneath the circle and blew apart a black magic beast's head.
—Kweeeek!
This was just the beginning of Mana Rain.
Countless magic circles appeared in the sky one after another. From each, brilliant beams of destructive light poured down to the ground below.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Just as the name implied, a rain of mana poured down.
—Kweeeeeek!
—Kwek!
"What the..."
I heard the faint mutter from the white wizard who'd tried to stop me moments ago.
He wasn't the only one murmuring in shock. Everyone behind voiced their amazement.
—Kweeeek!
With each scream of the magic beasts, the ground below blackened from their contamination effect.
How much time passed like that?
"...Hoo."
Feeling the limit of my mana, I stopped Mana Rain.
Mana exhaustion loomed close, but I'd cut it off at the right line, so thankfully it didn't happen.
I looked down at the ground.
Not a single living black magic beast remained. They'd all been swept away and massacred by the rain.
['Magic Beast Massacre' achievement unlocked.]
[Reward: 10,000 points acquired.]
[12 characters are awestruck by you.]
[Reward: 5,000 points acquired.]
[Karma: 0.8 acquired.]
15,000 points and 0.8 karma.
The karma gain was unexpected, but the rewards were more generous than anticipated.
Arriving in Tevela only to face a magic beast ambush had thrown me off a bit,
but the outcome was good, so I was satisfied.
As I checked the messages, grumbling voices came from behind.
"...Wow. That's even crazier than A-yeon sis."
"A student not even in third year yet? Not one against a hundred, but one against a thousand...?"
Voices of admiration toward me kept coming, making me a little embarrassed, but now wasn't the time to relax.
The Plague Beast, master of the black magic beasts, was still alive.
"Kim Sun-woo. Good work."
Lee Seo-jun approached and said.
"Why talk like it's over? There's still more."
I pointed up at the "Plague Beast" in the sky.
The Plague Beast hovered silently above, gazing down at me.
I couldn't read reptilian(?) expressions, but seeing it stare so quietly, it seemed shocked in its own way.
The Plague Beast soon turned its gaze to Lee Seo-jun beside me.
[...I cannot comprehend.]
With those words, it beat its wings powerfully and flew off beyond the Himalayan Mountains.
Time passed, and we moved to a vast plain littered with the corpses of the black magic beasts.
Soon, a massive mana bird approached from afar, carrying a familiar black-haired woman—Yoo A-yeon—on its back.
As she appeared, all the wizards gathered in one spot.
About fifteen in total.
A sparse number for a national emergency, but each was A- or S-Rank, making it no weak lineup.
Yoo A-yeon dismounted the bird and immediately looked at me with curious eyes.
Her lips twitched; she clearly had a lot she wanted to ask.
Finally, she spoke to me.
"...Nice magic. It was insane. Thanks to you, we minimized the damage."
"Just doing what needed to be done."
I shrugged it off like it was nothing.
Moments later, three Association members in uniforms came running toward us from afar.
They examined the magic beast corpses before them with shocked expressions.
Then they glanced at me, realizing it was my handiwork.
The Association staff stared blankly at me before snapping to with an "Ah!" and speaking.
"We've found a way to avoid the black magic beast plague."
"Avoid? Not cure?"
Jeong Je-won asked from the side, full of doubt.
"Yes, we couldn't find a cure,
but avoidance is possible. Tests showed this plague is a 'curse.'"
"...Ah, I kinda figured it was a curse. So to lift it, we destroy the mystery that cast it, right?"
"Now you act like you knew."
Someone sneered from the side, and Jeong Je-won frowned.
"Hey. Forgot I said it seemed like a curse last night?"
As the mood heated up, Yoo A-yeon intervened and asked the Association staff.
"Is the medicine ready?"
The staff opened the rectangular case in their hands. Inside were several small pills.
"Yes, it's complete. This is the 'Black Curse' avoidance pill, made with help from Hanseong Pharmaceuticals. Lasts about four days with no side effects, so take it without worry."
The staff handed out pills to the wizards one by one.
Everyone took theirs and popped them into their mouths.
I did the same.
Tasteless.
But a black curse-like energy emanated from my body.
"...With this, the plague issue is solved. What's next?"
"We push in. Now that the black magic beasts are handled thanks to Sun-woo here, it's the perfect timing."
Yoo A-yeon said.
"Right. With the black ones cleared thanks to student Sun-woo, we take it down now."
"But we don't have enough manpower. Plus two are students. And we don't even know where the Plague Beast fled."
Jeong Je-won glanced between me and Lee Seo-jun.
"Didn't you see earlier? He's already pro-level. Everyone knows Lee Seo-jun. In an emergency like this, student or not doesn't matter. It'll show itself once we head to its lair."
Then, a quiet, unknown wizard spoke up.
"Hey. Still, dragging kids into this will get us hell from the press and Association."
"Is that important now? This is our only shot."
Silenced by the retort from another wizard, he shut his mouth.
In the end, Yoo A-yeon asked me and Lee Seo-jun.
"What do you two want? Your opinions matter most here."
Lee Seo-jun glanced at me. I nodded, signaling I'd follow his choice.
"We'll help too."
Yoo A-yeon nodded at our answer.
"Settled then. Alright, I'll explain the plan."
Yoo A-yeon looked around at everyone and outlined the plan.
Time passed, and the plan was set.
To lift the black curse on the people, we'd destroy the Plague Mystery presumed hidden in the lair.
But there were four lairs total.
Unsure which held the Plague Mystery, we split into four teams.
For reference, my team was Yoo A-yeon, me,
and Lee Seo-jun.
Our team was the smallest, but with Yoo A-yeon the strongest among us and only fifteen total, it shook out that way.
My involvement had diverged the plot from the original quite a bit.
But no need to worry. It was heading in a better direction anyway.
"Ugh. Getting colder the higher we go."
This was the Himalayas. The entire mountain was blanketed in snow, with a blizzard raging from the sky.
I had traits, so it wasn't too bad for me, but Lee Seo-jun and Yoo A-yeon huddled in thick clothes, shivering in the cold.
Then Lee Seo-jun whispered to me, as if remembering something.
—Didn't you have something to ask her?
Yoo A-yeon, noticing his whispering, glanced at me.
Our eyes met.
Jewel-like black irises. Up close, she really resembled Yoo A-ra.
Honestly, she looked like Yoo A-ra a few years older, not sisters.
"...I have a question."
"What?"
"I heard you investigated the Seonhyeon family before."
Yoo A-yeon's expression stiffened briefly at my words. She stopped walking and asked me.
"...Seonhyeon family? Why ask about that?"
"It's just..."
As I started to reply, Yoo A-yeon glanced at Lee Seo-jun. She raised a hand, cutting me off.
"Later. After everything's done."
"...Sure."
How much farther did we go before our path was blocked by a high cliff in the snowy mountains?
We needed to go up, but it was too tall for normal means.
"...Stuck here?"
Lee Seo-jun muttered, looking up at the cliff.
Even as an enhancement wizard, the icy slipperiness and steep incline made it tough for Lee Seo-jun.
Yoo A-yeon couldn't handle enhancement properly, so impossible for her.
"...Can't just blast the cliff with magic either."
Yoo A-yeon looked up at the cliff with regret.
"No telling what monsters are in the lair. Can't waste mana recklessly."
"...I know."
That's when I quietly stepped in front of them.
"Step back. I'll go up."
"...You're climbing this?"
Yoo A-yeon eyed me skeptically.
I nodded confidently.
"Yeah, I can climb it."
"Forget it. It's slippery from the snow; don't push yourself..."
Before Yoo A-yeon finished, I activated Air Walk on my shoes.
Then, using mana, I stepped forward boldly.
Hop, hop.
With light steps as if treading on walls, I ascended the air.
It took less than three seconds to reach the top.
"Whew."
Piece of cake.
From atop the cliff, I looked down.
Yoo A-yeon gaped up at me in disbelief.
I waved to them.
Infusing mana into the communication magic tool I'd received earlier, I spoke.
"I'll scout for a good path."
I surveyed the surroundings. From this height, the whole area was visible.
"The air's different up here."
That's when it happened. Voices came from somewhere.
I quickly ducked behind a massive boulder.
"The lair should be around here."
"Huh? Isn't that it?"
Multiple voices.
I peeked from behind the rock.
Six people total.
All unfamiliar faces, but I instantly knew who they were.
Jaunida.