Chapter 73
Chapter 73
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: ACT.14 Disaster of Verdure (3)
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“Cough, cough!”
“Kim Se-hyeon!”
As the spores began to settle, Jun Bo-ra rushed over to me.
It was a little surprising that Jun Bo-ra had dodged the spore pattern so easily.
“You took a direct hit from those spores, didn't you!?”
“I'm fine. How did you manage?”
“Me? I just moved the air around me. Wind is just the movement of air, you know. Since I made the wind blow away from me, the spores floating in the air couldn't reach me.”
“So, you blew the spores my way to save yourself?”
“…Huh? N-No! That's not what I meant!”
Ignoring Jun Bo-ra, who had started to stammer out excuses, I checked on Jo Min-ah.
I had warned her beforehand, so she seemed to have blocked them with a flame barrier as planned, but her breathing was noticeably ragged, as if she'd gotten a real fright.
“Anyway. This is the pattern you have to be most careful with when fighting the Disaster of Verdure, so of course, I'd already thought about what to do. But more importantly, you took a direct hit. Are you really oka—”
Jun Bo-ra's words trailed off.
Her pupils slowly widened, and the tip of her finger, pointed at me, trembled slightly.
“You, you…”
“…”
I stared at Jun Bo-ra in silence.
I was grateful she was reacting exactly as I'd expected.
I deliberately shifted my gaze to Jo Min-ah.
I could see the worry in her eyes as she watched me with an anxious expression.
It was a bit cruel, but I had to use that emotion from now on.
“You've been infected by the spores!!”
Jun Bo-ra's scream echoed inside the hut.
“It's nothing. I can handle it.”
“Nothing!? You crazy bastard! This isn't a game! This is real! You're going to die!!”
With Jun Bo-ra making a fuss next to me, Jo Min-ah's lips grew progressively drier.
The truth was, I could handle it.
I could feel the spores constantly trying to penetrate and take root, but I had already blocked them with my mana, so they couldn't get through.
With a little more effort, I could even annihilate the spores completely.
But that would defeat the purpose of getting hit intentionally.
“I just let my guard down for a moment. I can slow down the rate of infection. I just need to defeat it before then.”
“That's easier said than done…!”
Jun Bo-ra, who had been fuming, suddenly whipped her head around as if she'd thought of something.
“Right! We have her!”
“Y-Yes?”
“Use your power to burn away those spores! If you get rid of them before they take root, he can live!”
“No, that won't work. Min-ah is still A-Class. To get rid of this, you'd need to be S-Class, like Han Hyeok-jun. These aren't simple spores like the ones from the monster wave; they were spread directly by the Disaster.”
“What are you talking about? Getting rid of the spores is…”
Jun Bo-ra's eyes met mine, and she fell silent.
The worried look on her face vanished without a trace. Her eyes widened, and she mumbled, speechless.
“You… don't tell me…”
“…”
“…You're insane. You're truly insane.”
Call me insane, I don't care.
I have to reach the true ending, no matter what.
To do that, I'm willing to endure whatever I must.
“Jo Min-ah.”
“Y-Yes!”
“Take this.”
Just as I had planned, I took out Ignil's Tear and handed it to her.
A crystallized gem formed from the tear of a fire dragon.
Perhaps sensing the considerable amount of flame energy it contained, Jo Min-ah looked back and forth between Ignil's Tear and me, her eyes asking why I was giving it to her.
“It's just as Jun Bo-ra said. I'm slowing the spread of the spores right now, but I can't stop it forever. If too much time passes, I'll end up like those zombies we saw at the base.”
“N-No, you can't!”
Jo Min-ah cried out instinctively.
Her hands, clutching Ignil's Tear, were trembling.
I managed a strained smile and spoke.
“The only thing I can do is defeat the Disaster as quickly as possible. But if you use this to awaken as an S-Class, you'll be able to heal me. Can you do it?”
“I'll do it! Somehow…”
Jo Min-ah nodded frantically.
At this point, the twins had no one to rely on but me.
They didn't know if their parents were alive or dead, and they had no relatives nearby.
In a situation like this, they wouldn't want to lose me too.
The desperation of not wanting to lose someone precious.
There's no greater motivator.
After confirming that Jo Min-ah had closed her eyes and begun to focus on absorbing Ignil's Tear, my expression changed completely, as if I had never been in pain.
“Jun Bo-ra. You can handle the demonic beasts in the back by yourself, right?”
“Should be fine. The Disaster's attack took out a lot of them earlier.”
“Just buy some time. It'd be even better if you can take them down.”
“You know you're a real son of a bitch, right? Did you really have to use her feelings like that?”
“…”
*Swish!*
Without answering, I cut through three or four vines at once and pushed forward.
Sensing that something about me had changed, the Disaster of Verdure frowned and attacked from all sides with even more vines.
When I created numerous spikes of darkness to pierce and destroy them, it began to glare at me.
I had to keep this up.
I had to make it focus only on me, so it wouldn't pay any attention to Jo Min-ah.
“Damn it…!”
Jun Bo-ra cursed as she busily fought off the demonic beasts.
Having seemingly run out of throwing daggers, she switched to close-quarters combat with a dagger in each hand, teleporting away whenever a beast tried to self-destruct.
This was only possible because only one or two beasts could enter through the hut's entrance at a time.
She's handling it well on her own. No need to worry about her.
I summoned only two soldiers and focused on clearing the vines.
I wanted to summon more, but I also had to concentrate on blocking the spores, making it difficult to focus on summoning more than two.
*'A lot of time has passed.'*
A sense of urgency showed on Jo Min-ah's face.
There was no sign of much progress.
Ignil's Tear remained quiet, and Jo Min-ah's power was unchanged.
I thought this would be enough of a catalyst, but it seems it wasn't.
Then again, reality isn't so easy that you can just awaken because you're facing adversity.
Reality is a game on the hardest difficulty, with no save points.
Try to clear such a difficult game easily, and you'll only be met with punishment.
“…I can do it.”
The mana I was consuming to block the spores' roots was starting to become a burden; I couldn't delay any longer.
Just as I was about to remove the spores myself, having no other choice, Jo Min-ah spoke first.
“I can't just leave everything to you forever, Oppa. I took this on, so it's my problem to solve.”
The moment I saw her face, I silently canceled the extra mana I was about to direct toward the spores.
What the hell. She was growing up just fine on her own.
I thought she was just on the verge of tears.
The tear stains proved she had been crying, but right now, Jo Min-ah's face was as determined as a soldier on the battlefield.
*Fwoosh!*
A blue flame, befitting her unique ability, 'Witch of Blue Flames,' erupted from Jo Min-ah.
Instantly, the flower on my head burned black and began to disappear.
Even though I was controlling it, her firepower was enough to not only heal me in an instant but also purify all the spores on the surrounding ground, vines, and walls.
Ignil's Tear had vanished without a trace.
This was the S-Class player Jo Min-ah, who was originally supposed to appear around the latter half of chapter 30.
*'I knew something was strange.'*
The power inherent in the White Flame Seed was definitely S-Class, yet Jo Min-ah had stopped at A-Class.
So it wasn't a structure that made you S-Class all at once, but one where you finally reached S-Class after succeeding in surpassing yourself.
“O-Oppa! It worked!”
Jo Min-ah waved, a bright smile on her face.
I responded with a smile of my own.
“If it worked, how about you give me a hand!? It's getting pretty tough over here!?”
“Oh, yes!”
With this, I had raised Jo Min-ah's power enough.
As long as her stats could back it up, she would be a force to be reckoned with anywhere.
*'With this, the conditions are met.'*
[Kim Se-hyeon! We're ready on this side!]
Just then, Hwang Chan-jin's voice came from beyond the gate.
Perfect timing.
Now, if we destroy the Disaster of Verdure's crystal—its core—from both the surface and the other side simultaneously, the Disaster will be vanquished.
*Shwwwiing!*
Pushing my ability to its limit, I severed all the existing vines.
Vines affected by Encroachment take time to regenerate.
Now, with the Disaster's defenses temporarily gone, was the chance to strike its core.
“Now!!”
A massive fireball created by Jo Min-ah slammed into the core embedded in the Disaster's main body.
At the exact same moment, on the other side, Han Hyeok-jun's Line of Scorching Heat destroyed the other core.
Normally, the Disaster of Verdure should have screamed and disintegrated into dust at this moment.
[Why is it still fine…?]
But the Disaster of Verdure remained right where it was.
The two shattered cores began to regenerate at a rapid pace.
That's impossible.
We destroyed both cores at the same time, so how is it regenerating?
“Huh!?”
Just then, Jun Bo-ra spotted something and her eyes widened.
“Kim Se-hyeon! Look closely at the Disaster's roots!”
“The roots?”
“There aren't two crystals, there are three! One was hidden!!”
All the cores must be destroyed simultaneously.
If even one remains, it will restore the others, and everything will recover as if nothing happened.
Simply put, it revives infinitely.
No wonder it didn't fall from that last attack.
*Kwwwwwaaaaa!*
Suddenly, the vines intertwined, and the Disaster of Verdure began to grow at an accelerated rate.
What was once the hut was absorbed into the Disaster's main body, and the ground where it stood suddenly surged upward.
A berserk state, or the final phase.
Once it finishes growing, it will be even harder to fight.
We have to focus our attacks on the three cores again, now.
“We're trying again! Han Hyeok-jun! Jo Min-ah! Get ready!”
“Wait! We're one flame user short!?”
“No, we're not.”
No matter how desperate, would the devil agree to a bet he thought he might lose?
That cunning bastard would never do that.
That's why I predicted the Disaster of Verdure would be strengthened or altered in some way.
The Disaster of Verdure has two cores.
Only flame-based powers can damage the Disaster's cores.
There are two flame users capable of damaging the Disaster.
From here, I could deduce a scenario where the devil would think, 'I'll win no matter what.'
That scenario would be if the cores were reinforced to three.
My unique ability, the only variable that could produce a third flame user, was currently on cooldown.
*'However.'*
If I use this item, the story changes.
[Using item, 'Chronos's Deal'.]
[Unique ability, 'Playable Character,' has its cooldown temporarily reset.]
An item that randomly resets the cooldown of one skill currently on cooldown, but doubles the cooldown applied immediately after the skill is used.
Since 'Playable Character' was the only skill of mine currently on cooldown, its reset was guaranteed.
[Attempting to connect to character 'Jo Min-ah'.]
[Analyzing past play data.]
[Calibrating sync rate….]
[41% of the target has been inherited.]
*Fwoosh!*
A pale blue flame flickered around me like a robe of wings.
The 'third' S-Class flame user, who shouldn't have existed.
I naturally wreathed my sword in flames and dashed toward the main body in a single breath.
Flowers blooming all over the vines turned toward me.
Solar Beam. A new pattern that appears in the final phase, firing absorbed sunlight like a laser.
*Kwwwwwaaaaa!*
While dodging the beams that would scorch anything they touched, I sliced through every vine in sight.
I climbed onto the body of the still-growing Disaster of Verdure and made my way straight to the main body.
Dozens of vines flew at me from all directions to try and throw me off, but I formed the flames into the shape of a sword and cut them down before they could even get close, using them as footholds to jump when necessary.
Until I neared the main body of the Disaster, which seemed to have already grown over 20 meters tall.
My eyes met with the Disaster of Verdure's.
As if in a final, desperate struggle, white flowers bloomed like mushrooms after a rain, all preparing to fire their Solar Beams at once.
“Now!”
I pushed off with all my strength, leaping toward the upper core.
*Fwoosh!*
I plunged my flame-wreathed sword deep into the core.
And then, golden spores instantly filled the inside of the hut.