Choi Ji-won Is Too Strong (6)
Choi Ji-won Is Too Strong (6)
"...
This is a regression point.
There's no clearer regression point than this.
Choi Ji-won was too strong, and she fought too well—enough to corner the City Master.
That was the problem.
If only Choi Ji-won's final strike had succeeded. Cornered, the City Master played her hidden card: 'Heart of Lightning'.
- Heart of Lightning [S]
Upon activation, consumes all of the user's mana and replaces it with lightning-attribute mana. All physical abilities, including reaction speed, greatly increase, and all attacks deal additional lightning-type damage. The user takes continuous damage during the duration, and 'Heart of Lightning' persists until all lightning-attribute mana is exhausted.
I don't know if the City Master's Heart of Lightning is exactly the same as my trait.
But... one thing was certain. Right now, beating that woman is impossible.
The moment Choi Ji-won's strike missed earlier, this cycle was already a failure.
By the time I'd given up and was chewing my cheek, ready to regress, I spotted Firefighter Park Cheol-jin, still deep in agonizing thought.
I saw Choi Ji-won, slowly pushing herself up from the ground on trembling arms.
"...
And suddenly, I felt ashamed.
They were giving it everything they had.
They could've simply turned their backs on Floor 2 residents and moved on to Floor 3.
For the common good, they were pouring out everything they possessed.
But what about me?
The instant I judged we'd lost, I started scheming to regress.
I'd been like this ever since reaching Floor 2.
In the Tutorial, I was forced to regress more often, but on Floor 2, the no-violence rule let me regress selectively.
"...I lost my sense of desperation."
Where was the me who'd throw risky gambles to scrape together one last piece of intel? In his place was a complacent version thinking, "I can just redo it."
A version of me ready to casually tear down everything Choi Ji-won, Park Cheol-jin, and the residents had built through their efforts.
I can't give up like this. I have to try something.
'Don't stop thinking. Don't give up.'
Think. There has to be some plausible way.
A way...
A way to change this situation...
"Ah."
There was one.
"Mr. Cheol-jin."
"Ugh... ah, what is it?"
"Please wait a moment. Baron Licht, come with me."
I turned on my heel and sprinted into the twisting alleyways.
That full-body leather armor I'd discussed with the tanner before.
The same full-body leather armor Choi Ji-won said was unnecessary—I needed it.
"Give up."
Choi Ji-won's arms were quivering faintly.
"Just run."
Her teeth were clenched so tight she tasted blood.
"..."
Choi Ji-won herself felt it in her bones—just how absurd the monster before her was.
She knew that if that being truly unleashed its power, she'd be reduced to ashes in an instant.
And still, she didn't back down.
She slowly settled into a middle-guard stance, grip tightening around Boongboong-yi.
That was who Choi Ji-won was. Once she set a goal, she never gave up.
"Hyaap!"
Like that, Choi Ji-won wrung out every last drop of strength and lunged at the City Master.
"If you insist on drinking the penalty cup."
Before she could take a single step.
Flash!
A bolt of lightning stabbed down from the sky onto Choi Ji-won's head.
"Ah."
Park Cheol-jin sucked in a breath.
Choi Ji-won was collapsing. She'd even let go of Boongboong-yi.
"I won't kill you. The Archangel dislikes it."
One hit.
One hit was all it took to subdue Choi Ji-won.
"You're next."
The City Master's gaze shifted to the players who had been watching the fight from the alley.
"Oh, you've got—"
"Uwaaaaah!"
The players who finally tried to flee were all struck by divine punishment from the sky and knocked unconscious.
"Did you think I was an animal in a zoo?"
Clear, blue sky. Clusters of clouds drifting lazily. Warm sunlight.
CRAAACK!
Lightning slamming into the square. A deafening roar that felt like it would burst eardrums. Stone shards scattering everywhere. Screaming.
A disaster. This was a disaster.
How much time passed?
The City Master stood alone in the square. Most of the players had long since lost consciousness.
"Guh, ugh..."
A few players with higher stats and levels, including Park Cheol-jin, had managed to stay conscious... but that was it.
They couldn't even lift a finger. Completely neutralized.
"...That's more like it."
The City Master savored the stillness. She'd won. Victory.
Using such an excessive technique felt a bit like overkill, but it beat losing. She was the City Master.
"Now then, how to clean up the aftermath..."
Thud. Thud.
The sound of footsteps shattering the silence made the City Master's brow furrow.
"...Is that the one who ran away earlier?"
Thick leather armor wrapped the entire body, so meticulously fitted that not a speck of skin was visible. A large hood covered the face.
A figure clad in full-body leather armor slowly walked toward the center of the square, and what few spectators remained all fixed their eyes on him.
"...Mr. Jun-ho?"
Firefighter Park Cheol-jin recognized the armor immediately.
It was an idea Kim Jun-ho had once brought up while discussing how to oppose the City Master—the notion of wrapping yourself in leather to block lightning damage.
"Right... if it's leather armor..."
"I'm not exactly a science guy, but even I know leather doesn't conduct electricity...!"
Calling it a good idea, the downed players nodded faintly.
"...
Park Cheol-jin, on the other hand, was pessimistic.
The enemy was too strong.
Against that City Master radiating the majesty of a lightning god, would leather armor even matter?
The City Master was far too powerful to face with nothing but a set of thick leather armor.
"...
But Park Cheol-jin couldn't stop the man before him. Some things you can tell without words.
The man's stride was brimming with resolve. Even if he told him to stop, he probably wouldn't listen.
Trudge. Trudge.
And so the man walked all the way up to the City Master, a single blade in hand.
Fwoosh!
He gripped a longsword tight and charged straight at the City Master.
What is courage?
It's a feeling that lets someone do what an ordinary person cannot.
Against a monster crackling madly with lightning all across its body, he challenged it with nothing but a single sword.
Simply because he believed it was right.
At that moment,
he was truly brave.
"Mr. Jun-ho...!"
The instant Park Cheol-jin reflexively reached out,
"Get lost."
CRAAACK!
A bolt of lightning fell from the sky, and Park Cheol-jin's vision went white.
"...
A short while passed.
By the time Park Cheol-jin's sight returned, it was deeply blurred.
"Ah..."
At the very center of the square lay a man sprawled ingloriously, smoke rising from him.
"You didn't actually think that would work, did you?"
That thin thread of hope had vanished.
Park Cheol-jin's head dropped. Tears dripped down, wetting the parched stone floor.
Total defeat.
"Huu..."
Regaining her composure, the City Master massaged the back of her neck. Had she ever expended this much mana before?
Maybe because she'd used such an excessive technique. The sparks that had been dancing across her armor were now gone.
'That was dangerous.'
In her moment of excitement, she'd activated 'Heart of Lightning,' and the price was a body that ached madly everywhere. If she hadn't released it early, it would've meant days—likely more—of recovery.
Normally, 'Heart of Lightning' can't be deactivated until all mana is spent.
But the City Master's mana had always been entirely lightning-attribute. By paying a sufficient amount of mana, she could calm the lightning energy and deactivate Heart of Lightning.
She'd burned through nearly all her mana, but... it was fine. She'd taught those climbers a lesson.
"You should've learned to tell the difference between courage and recklessness."
She stepped toward the fallen man. The closer she got, the stronger the stench of char. Still, she'd pulled her punch, so he should just be unconscious.
"Shall I take a look at your face?"
She wanted to confirm the face of the foolish man who'd dared oppose her, trusting in nothing but some scraps of leather.
She used her foot to flip the limp body over and pushed back the hood to check his face.
And just as she'd imagined, a pathetic man's face was revealed.
"A fine sight. That beard of yours—all singed and shriveled."
The City Master smirked.
"...Huh?"
The expression of the tearful Firefighter Park Cheol-jin twisted oddly.
Beard? Did Kim Jun-ho have a beard?
Forcing himself upright, Park Cheol-jin urgently checked the fallen man's face.
"...The tanner?"
The tanner, who'd once said he'd gladly die if it meant taking down the City Master, lay there unconscious.
It wasn't Kim Jun-ho.
Then where—?
Park Cheol-jin's eyes, busily searching, suddenly stopped.
Because everyone had been focused on the man in leather armor, no one had paid attention to the dark alley behind him.
"...
Inside the shadowy alley,
Kim Jun-ho, knees bent, poised in a stance, glaring at the City Master.
And—
"Huff, huff..."
Baron Licht, hand pressed to Kim Jun-ho's back, panting with ragged, labored breaths.
The moment he recognized the two of them, a terrifying fighting spirit finally struck Park Cheol-jin.
An aura that seemed to inhale the surrounding space. Eyes smoldering with fire.
"That's..."
The powerful players, including Park Cheol-jin, recognized that stance.
It was the same stance the City Master had used when she'd cornered Choi Ji-won.
The technique that had let her move at imperceptible speed.
"No way...!"
He'd seen it and learned the technique in that brief window? It made no sense by any common logic.
"But..."
If it was the same man from the Tutorial—the man who had beheaded the Minotaur in a single stroke, a foe who had seemed unstoppable—somehow, it felt possible.
"This is my limit. There's no point gathering any more mana."
Blood trickled from Baron Licht's nose.
"...Huh?"
By the time the City Master finally turned her gaze toward the alley's mouth...
"You let your guard down."
The poised figure of Kim Jun-ho vanished.
And a single long line carved straight across the clearing.
Stillness.
Absolute stillness descended upon the square.
"...
As if he'd forgotten how to breathe, Park Cheol-jin's mouth hung open.
Some players rubbed their eyes again and again, convinced they'd seen a phantom.
Kim Jun-ho stood a short distance past the City Master.
"Hahhh, hahhh, hahhh..."
But his legs were trembling uncontrollably, and the way he gasped for air with a pale face made his condition look terrible.
The City Master, in contrast, stood tall and dignified.
Aside from the spot Choi Ji-won had dented, her armor was pristine, and there were no outward injuries on her skin.
"Did it fail...?"
Had his attack missed?
While the players agonized in confusion, unable to grasp what had happened,
"Heh... heheh..."
Pale-faced, Kim Jun-ho managed a faint smile.
"...Huh?"
Park Cheol-jin finally noticed something different.
In Kim Jun-ho's hand was an unfamiliar brown object—a pouch with a familiar design, the same one that had hung from the City Master's waist.
Kim Jun-ho gently pried the pouch open.
"...Is this an item too? It's bigger on the inside than it looks."
After confirming the contents, he didn't hesitate—he flipped the pouch and shook it out.
Clink, clatter.
A small box, its surface glinting with diamonds, fell from inside.
Its shape was identical to the copper, silver, and gold boxes he'd seen so many times before.
"...
The City Master, who'd been staring at the box with a blank expression,
slowly knelt, and in a voice thick with tears, whispered faintly.
"Thank you..."
In the bruised, dust-strewn square reeking of char, the only sound breaking its silence was the soft sobbing of a woman.