Yuliena Awakens (2)

Good.

Good!

The voice that came drifting over me was enough to make my skin crawl, but I couldn’t help feeling relieved.

Cleaning up the mess afterward was going to be a pain, sure, but first things first: it was better to deal with the problem right in front of me before worrying about the aftermath.

Cleanup later.

That was one of my favorite lines.

“My Yuliena! At last, you have awakened! You cannot imagine how long I have waited for you.”

-Gedrick! My Gedrick, I too have long imagined being together with you.

“Yuliena!”

-Gedrick!

Watching the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sword float around me, making those bizarre noises, was a little terrifying.

I couldn’t shake the fear that she might suddenly say, “You’re not Gedrick,” and run me through the throat.

But...

Seems fine.

There was no sign of that yet.

Yuliena still thought I was Gedrick, and she was moving to protect me.

Good thing I put it on.

The ring Gedrick had left behind in the Cursed Shrine.

It had no real function to speak of, but of course I’d kept it on my pinky finger out of habit, and now I was glad I had.

Preparing for threats before they hit is one of the proper habits of a small-time citizen.

The corners of my mouth rose on their own.

“Yuliena! My Yuliena! There’s no time for this. Yuliena!”

-Gedrick... ahhh! My beloved Gedrick! Kiss me. Hold me until this body crumbles apart!

You’re a sword, damn it...

“Yuliena! I need your power. We must break the seal of those treacherous Crack Guardians who are forcibly restraining the ancient god.”

-Ahh! My beloved Gedrick! Whisper your love to me a little more. Gedrick! My beacon! My light!

Crazy bitch!

I’d already assumed there was no way to control her, but I had to admit she was even less sane than I’d expected.

I didn’t know what in the world Gedrick had seen in this woman to keep searching for her all that time, but I could safely say it might be a form of Stockholm syndrome.

Maybe he’d even been kidnapped. For some reason, that thought kept settling itself into a corner of my mind.

“Help me! Yuliena! I need your love.”

-Gedrick! My Gedrick!

“Yuliena! The world is in danger!”

-Aaaaah...

Damn it.

It went without saying that I no longer had time to drag this out.

If I stood here trading words with Yuliena, she’d only move after the party had already been wiped out.

At this point, all I could do was grab Yuliena and charge.

I had no idea how to actually use a sword, but the moment I shoved mana into it and lunged forward, something definitely changed.

-Gedrick! Your warm mana is flowing into me! Your mana is flowing into my body! Ahhh! My love, Gedrick! Ahhh!

Please, shut up.

I really wanted her to close that mouth of hers for once. Still, the effect was far beyond what I’d imagined.

Whoa?

-More! More! Give me more! Gedrick! A little more of your love!

You... crazy woman!

Nice!

Up until now, the only thing Yuliena had really done was inflict curses.

That alone already made her valuable enough. If she could curse an opponent simply by wounding them, and if she could burn through enough mana, then she could even spread those curses in an area attack.

Just listing those functions was enough to make her worthy of being called a legendary-grade item.

She even protected me on her own, so she was definitely one of those artifacts worth nodding at in approval.

But Yuliena’s functions didn’t end there.

Besides those utility-based abilities, this weapon also possessed another kind of power.

I’d already confirmed that when she and Kim Hyunsung clashed blades.

“Nice!”

Of course, I had used A.S.’s black mana before, but the mana spilling out of the sword now was on an entirely different level.

If what I’d used before had been the closed beta version, then the thing before my eyes now felt like a few rounds of upgrades had already been applied.

The black mana ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tendrils Yuliena had used before began sprouting again, this time from the sword’s center.

What worried me a little was that the tendrils kept wrapping around me, but I knew she had no intention of hurting me.

Even the black mana tendrils that burst up from the floor, constantly trying to slip under my clothes, sent a chill down my spine for reasons I couldn’t quite explain.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the tendrils weren’t restricting my movement, but it was only natural to think they could always bind me whenever they wanted.

On the surface, the tendrils right in front of me looked threatening, but they weren’t really the problem.

The real problem was...

-More... more! Ahhh! Gedrick, your love! A little more of your love!

Quit drinking it already!

Yuliena was sucking down my mana like a lunatic.

For someone like me, whose mana stat was low to begin with, that was naturally a burden.

The feeling that she was even draining my life force made my skin prickle.

And yet the result she produced was beyond anything I’d imagined.

Eat a little more!!

Without even needing to measure it, I could tell the energy within the sword wasn’t something I could generate myself.

Of course, I had no ability to control that power.

The black tendrils spreading in all directions had long since escaped my control.

But I had no intention of controlling them anyway, nor the ability to do so. All I had to do was smash this overflowing power into the chains.

“Deokgu!”

“Ah... understood!”

Park Deokgu, who’d been staring at me with an incredulous expression, reached out toward me.

Without needing any explanation, he understood what I meant, and for some reason a proud feeling welled up inside me.

Even with the tendrils wrapped around my body, there was no way I could throw myself into the aftermath of an explosion like that.

I felt a little bad, but I had no choice but to rely on Park Deokgu’s help.

Guess you’ll have to hurt in my place.

Sure enough, a faint, transparent shield formed around my body. It was Park Deokgu’s trait, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠allowing him to take the damage others received in their place.

As his crackling hands touched the ground, a dragon’s tail shot out from below and lifted me toward the spot where the chains were.

It was a little scary, but if I fell, Deokgu would be the one taking the damage anyway. Right now, swinging the sword was the top priority.

I could see the seal, holding its ground with a resilience that made it look like it could break at any moment and yet never would.

As expected, the blast’s aftermath didn’t damage me. It wasn’t hot, and my skin didn’t peel away.

Hang in there a little longer, Deokgu!

“Kiyoung-nim?”

Kim Hyunsung’s voice, as if saying, “What the hell are you doing here?” came through the chaos, but I ignored it.

I didn’t have the spare attention to answer anyway, and with the explosions continuing around us, it wasn’t easy to catch a voice over the noise.

“Break! You bastard!”

It was only natural that I focused the sword’s power on the weakest-looking section and battered it mercilessly.

The mana tendrils wrapped around my body and the ones thrusting out from every direction all dropped toward the chains in an instant, and what little mana remained was sucked away just as quickly.

-Gedrick! Gedrick! Gedriiiick! Ah! Ahh!

“Break already! Break!”

If once wasn’t enough, then twice. If twice wasn’t enough, then three times.

I was a complete novice swinging a sword with no understanding of the art at all, but there was unquestionably progress.

It looked more like I was beating it with a club than using swordsmanship, but the seal was already at its limit.

I could see cracks forming in the chains of the seal.

They were tiny, almost microscopic, but the chains were definitely breaking.

Nice!

That was when Kim Hyunsung burst through the smoke from somewhere and swung his sword at the very spot I’d been pounding.

I was startled, but relief welled up at once.

That was the limit.

Yuliena had drained too much of my mana.

With no strength left to keep attacking, it was only natural to feel grateful when he appeared at the perfect moment.

There was definitely a difference between that and the sword I’d been swinging in pure desperation.

And then, the moment that lovely regressor’s blade touched the chain now riddled with cracks, the blue chain shattered and light began pouring out.

“Nice!”

I could feel Kim Hyunsung’s hand seizing my waist. My body was dragged away from the chains without my consent, and then the fragment of the ancient god came back into view once more.

That was the right thing to do... right?

What we had broken was only one of the chains wrapped around it.

But the instant the balance of the seal restraining that mythic being was broken, I could see the other chains beginning to burst apart one after another.

No, to be precise, it was tearing the chains off on its own.

The sheer majesty of the thing, ripping apart the chains we’d broken with some unknown force of its own, was nothing short of spectacular.

It looks insanely strong...

Only then did I begin to understand what I’d actually let loose into the world.

My jaw started chattering, and my body trembled uncontrollably.

It was hard to stand, but even that much was easy enough to understand.

“Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

-Ahhh... ahhhhh... no!!!!

Manager Max’s scream and the cry of the ancient god’s fragment rang out at the same time.

Backup program?

I didn’t really know what it was, but apparently the Crack Museum did have some kind of recovery system for situations like this.

Whether that so-called backup program could actually handle this or not was another question, but the arrow had already left my hand.

Do your best to clean it up.

From this point on, responsibility belonged to Manager Max.

As expected, making someone else eat ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the bitter medicine always tasted sweeter than swallowing it yourself.

Of course, this wasn’t exactly a situation where I could laugh with satisfaction.

Even if we had succeeded in breaking the seal, the fact remained that we were still in danger.

Before worrying about the threat to the world, it looked like our own lives were about to be snuffed out first.

That fragment didn’t seem to possess any real thinking ability, so there was no point in planning to hoist it up and cheer for the ancient god, either.

Still...

“G-great ancient god! Long live!”

“......”

“The ancient god has awakened! For the sake of the ancient god’s fragment!”

For now, all I could do was shout. That was the mindset of a small-time citizen.

I had no idea whether those cheers were reaching it or not, but its thrashing was already producing huge results.

The museum’s outer walls, which should have been impossible to break, were crumbling, and the once-sturdy exhibition halls were shattering into miserable ruins.

I was right.

It could resist the system.

“Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!”

As the massive main tentacle swung, the museum began collapsing in earnest.

-N-nooo... nooooooo!!!!!!!!!

Manager Max screamed at the top of his lungs.

Meanwhile, I turned to the expedition party and said, “For now... let’s head to the broken sections and grab whatever artifacts we can. There should be at least a few exhibition halls that have been affected by the ancient god.”

*Afterword

Lee Kiyoung: You clean up the mess. We’re taking what we can... hehe.