Quest (3)
“This is fucking insane!!”
If they let the line break, they die.
If they get tangled up or allow the enemy through, they die too.
The only reason this party was still holding was because the formation was still intact.
Jung Jinho’s group weren’t fools who had never been on the hunt. They would know that much, too.
So they were holding on because they had no choice.
“Damn it!”
The sight of those bastards refusing to give an inch against the searing, burning monsters was beautiful enough to bring tears to my eyes.
“S-sorry.”
A masterpiece of trash behavior, really.
The number of monsters had gone down, so the actual pressure had eased, but the sight of those idiots fighting while carrying the new burden of heat was genuinely painful to watch.
They were doing their best to push the burning monsters back, but the problem was that there was nothing they could do about the flames spreading onto them.
And their physical strain must have been brutal, too.
The heat kept chewing away at their stamina.
Hell, it was getting hot on our side right now, too.
I had no idea how much heat Jung Jinho’s group was actually feeling.
“Aaaaaaah!”
[Checking the status window of monster Burning Maw.]
[Name - None]
[Title - None. You’ll have to try harder.]
[Age - 5]
[Disposition - Burning Instinct]
[Class - Unemployed.]
[Stats]
[Strength - 12]
[Agility - 15]
[Stamina - 05]
[Durability - 15]
[Luck - 10]
[Mana - 01]
I couldn’t tell exactly what was going on, but there was definitely a change in their status windows, too.
Their life force seemed to be dropping fast, but the fact that they were still carrying mana meant they were definitely holding the flames I’d sent into them.
“Put the fire out, you son of a bitch!”
Even Buddha would get pissed in a situation like this.
“I’m sorry! Just a little longer! Please hold on just a little longer!”
It felt like watching holy warriors fighting against the army of hell.
To drive back the monsters that kept pressing in, they had to sacrifice something of their own as well.
Their stamina, or whatever card Jung Jinho had been hiding.
Since I couldn’t hear any incantations, the thing Jung Jinho had chosen was probably the former.
He’s going to keep hiding it until the very end.
That was a good call, keeping whatever he was hiding secret right to the end.
That is, if I and Kim Hyunsung hadn’t already known what it was.
What a cute little idiot.
It was dumb enough to make me want to laugh out loud.
Both I and Kim Hyunsung already knew he could use magic.
I had no idea what class he’d advanced into in the future, but it was clear enough that he’d probably ended up with a higher-tier version of Magic Swordsman.
The Magic Swordsman class listed in his info window, and the future that was going to unfold after this.
The card he thought he was still hiding was already fully known to us.
It was basically poker played with the cards face up.
It was almost funny watching him grit his teeth and strain to keep hiding a hand we already knew was a two pair.
And what we had on our side was a diamond flash named Kim Hyunsung.
Just as if it were mocking his judgment, the situation started to get worse.
“Aaaagh!”
“Shit! Ki-cheol!”
“Hold on!”
One of Jung Jinho’s lackeys, Lee Ki-cheol—an absurdly familiar-sounding name for some reason—had been caught by Burning Maw.
He was screaming because a monster had grabbed his arm, but there was obviously nothing we could do for him.
In the end, Lee Ki-cheol was dragged straight into the embrace of the Burning Maws.
Watching him get swallowed up by the monsters packed tight in the cramped space made me frown before I even realized it.
“Aaaagh! Help me! Help me!”
There was no way we could spend our precious remaining mana to protect one of Jung Jinho’s lackeys.
I was a little uneasy, but…
“Just a little more! More!”
They won’t break through.
As long as Jung Jinho was there, they wouldn’t break through.
“Aaaagh! Stop it! Stop it! You bastards! Stop!”
I had no way of telling whether they were tearing at his guts or ripping off his limbs.
One thing was certain: the sound of his voice was full of agony.
Being eaten alive and being burned at the same time had to hurt like hell, so his reaction made perfect sense.
One down.
Even as that thought drifted through my mind—realizing that I’d just caused another human being to die—I felt no guilt at all, whether because of the thrill of battle or the situation itself.
Rather, this was exactly what I wanted.
The corners of my mouth kept curling upward.
“We can do this!”
We’re in control.
We’d already had the advantage, and now we’d made it even stronger.
“Aaaagh! Aaaagh!”
“Damn it! Damn it! Ki-cheol!”
“Boss, isn’t this really dangerous?”
“Don’t worry about it. They won’t get through.”
The end was in sight.
If we just kept holding, the end would definitely come into view.
Unlike Jung Jinho, Kim Hyunsung didn’t look anxious. He believed we could see this through.
“Huuup!”
It was nothing but a simple repetition of tasks.
Block, then thrust the spear in.
Like running a long-distance race.
My hand on the spear was shaking, and my breathing had turned rough.
My whole body was slick with sweat, and it was getting hard to breathe.
I wanted to collapse face-first onto the ground and gasp for air, but the bastards charging at us gave me no time to rest.
How are we doing?
Park Deokgu was holding up fine.
Kim Hyunsung, too.
Jung Jinho, whose formation had been breached, was the same.
Yoo Seokwoo and the remaining archers seemed to be having a hard time, but not as badly as I was.
The corpses of the burning monsters piled up like a wall, and then more monsters climbed over the bodies and came at us again.
Park Deokgu blocked them, and I stabbed the spear back in.
Can we keep holding?
I tried to act like nothing was wrong, but feeling uneasy was only natural.
By now I couldn’t even tell how many of them were left.
One thing was certain: the cries I was hearing were getting smaller and smaller.
Instead, my own loud voice kept echoing.
“Please hold on!” and
“Just a little longer!”—that kind of bullshit.
“Huuuuup!”
I thrust the spear out as if wringing out the last of my strength.
Park Deokgu let out a huge shout and shoved up his shield.
“Kieeeeeeeek!”
And when Kim Hyunsung finally lowered his arm a little, I could feel it for sure.
This hellish stretch was over.
“It’s over.”
“I-it’s over….”
It was only natural that I slumped onto the ground before I knew it.
While I was sucking in ragged breaths, Kim Hyunsung spoke.
“We’ll move out immediately.”
Damn….
“The quest we received just now still isn’t complete. We should move at once.”
“Ugh… Boss. If walking’s hard, I’ll carry you.”
“It’s fine, Deokgu. I can walk too. As for Hayan….”
“I-I’m fine too, Oppa.”
I was already ready to go.
The problem was over there.
That bastard Ki-cheol, who’d been dragged away by the monsters, was probably already beyond recovery. We might not even be able to find his body properly.
I caught sight of the man rifling through the corpses at the front.
He’d clearly seen the remains of his brutally dead comrade and lowered his head, but that didn’t mean he’d forgotten the hostility he held toward us.
Jung Jinho, too, had no expression.
Yoo Seokwoo’s face as he looked at me was hostile as well.
“You son of a bitch!”
Most of his hair had been burned off, and his body was covered in wounds. I’d already seen him grab a sword to fill the gap after the dead Ki-cheol was dragged off by the monster.
Judging by his appearance, he’d had a rough time of it.
“I-I’m sorry.”
“You think this is something you can just brush off by saying sorry? You bastard!”
“B-but… we had no choice.”
“What?”
“It was an unavoidable situation. I wasn’t familiar with any magic besides fire magic yet, and if I hadn’t used my spell, it would’ve probably become an even worse catastrophe. There wasn’t enough time for Hayan to cast magic either, and I never expected them to cling to each other and spread the flames around. It was the best choice I could make. A-and… it definitely reduced their numbers.”
The cons were there, sure, but the pros were definite.
In the first place, if it hadn’t been for me, they definitely wouldn’t have been able to hold out until now.
Of course, there might have been another option—using all of Jung Hayan’s mana, or mine, to get through this—but spending mana to save that bastard would create more losses than gains.
Jung Jinho had made the same judgment.
Of course, from Jung Jinho’s point of view, he probably hadn’t expected Ki-cheol to retire this quickly, but that was his mistake.
I’d put in a bit too much firepower, and it was true that Ki-cheol died because the flames stuck to him. But without me, he wouldn’t even be alive now.
It was true that I’d deliberately spread the fire, but…
Right.
There was no need for him to know that.
“And you call that an explanation…?”
“We had no choice. I’m sorry about Ki-cheol’s death, too, but right now….”
It was like the one who’d farted was the one getting angry.
I couldn’t exactly blame him for being this dumbfounded.
He probably wanted to point a bow or a spear at me right that instant, but…
Seeing him stride toward us with his face twisted in anger was a little frightening, to be honest.
I deliberately looked at Park Deokgu and shook my head.
He understood my signal not to вмешаться and nodded back.
“I’m really, really sorry. But… there was nothing we could do.”
“You… you….”
He looked like nothing more than a neighborhood thug. I knew exactly what kind of people those were.
Anger management issues.
They only ever showed them to people they thought were weaker than themselves.
“I really am sorry. But at least we’re all alive, aren’t we?”
I flashed a grin that showed just enough to the man standing nearby, and before he could hold himself back, he swung a fist at me.
Of course, I didn’t bother to dodge.
We needed some conflict anyway.
With a dull thud, my body was sent flying sideways, and almost instantly my mind went blank. Blood pooled in my mouth, and I could tell one of my teeth had cracked loose.
Even without acting, my feeble body crumpled to the ground with a pathetic flop.
“Boss! You little punk!”
Park Deokgu’s voice cracked in shock.
“It’s fine, Deokgu. This was my mistake.”
I didn’t forget to play the role of the victim, either, stopping him from jumping in.
“Mr. Jaejun, that’s enough.”
“B-but….”
“That’s where this ends. I understand how you feel, but any more conflict would be bad.”
That’s right. Conflict would be bad.
From Jung Jinho’s point of view, he probably didn’t want things to blow up here either.
I spat out the blood in my mouth, and with it came a tooth, dropping onto the ground with a little clink.
Ah….
“Are you all right? Kiyoung….”
“Ah. I’m fine, Hyunsung. It was my fault. There was no helping it. I’m sorry.”
For some reason, it hurt way too much.
Kim Hyunsung didn’t say much. But the fact that he was warily watching the other side made it clear I hadn’t made a mistake.
Even the gaze he turned on me, worrying about me, looked genuinely warm.
Kim Hyunsung, companion of the regressor.
Such a warm resonance.
Just that was enough to make me feel certain I was in the safest place I could be.
The problem I hadn’t expected was coming from a completely different direction.
Ah….
It was Jung Hayan, staring expressionlessly at Jung Jinho’s lackey, Kim Jaejun.
This is bad.
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