Chapter 198
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 198
Iruda wasn’t the only one driven mad with worry over his partner’s safety.
“‘Clear the sea,’ you say.”
“Yes. Even with all our Ice-type Hunters gathered, dealing with the sea is still a struggle… We’re desperate for every hand we can get. We know you’re distraught, but please, lend us your strength.”
“Then,” Yoo Seong-un asked with a smile, “will you grant me permission to enter the dungeon?”
His eyes weren’t smiling.
“…Most likely, yes.”
“Most likely?”
“It’s almost certain.”
“Almost?”
“Hunter Yoo Seong-un.” The Association employee let out a heavy sigh. “You know how it is. We can’t just send a single hunter in alone under these circumstances. We know how capable you are, Hunter Yoo, but clearing a dungeon with a humanoid boss by yourself is going to be difficult.”
“So what you’re saying is, if you just sent me in, I could grab Hunter Seo Gio and be right back out—and I’d love to do that—but the Association won’t grant permission, so I should help with the general operation first?”
“Many hunters have already been killed, injured, or are missing. If we grant special favors only to you at a time like this, how are we supposed to justify it to the others? Please, calm down…”
“Understood,” Yoo Seong-un conceded. “Then give me your word. The moment the sea is cleared, I get permission to enter.”
“…I will raise the matter with the Association again. The plan was to proceed as soon as the area is cleared enough for a diversionary operation, so it should be possible.”
“I expect a definitive answer before the clearing is finished.”
“The sea’s movements are unusual. The monsters seem to be gaining the upper hand, so please be careful.”
“I’m well aware I’m too valuable an asset to lose.”
He had no intention of dying yet. Not before he’d had the chance to properly analyze ‘Gio’s Portrait’.
“Let’s begin immediately.”
“Clearing” was easier said than done; it was hardly as simple as tidying up a room.
The hunters had to freeze massive waves that surged like living creatures, all while fending off the various marine life and monsters rampaging within them.
This is a headache.
Furthermore, the “clearing” would only be considered complete once defensive barriers were established against the entire sea.
Yoo Seong-un was dispatched to the scene at once.
“Hunter Yoo Seong-un—!!”
Many hunters recognized Yoo Seong-un, who was famous among Ice-types. Hunters always took a keen interest in those who wielded the same element as them. Yoo Seong-un spoke with his characteristic, easygoing smile.
“Where should I start?”
“Freeze everything in sight.”
“Are you crazy? How are you going to clean up that aftermath?”
“Your tone’s gotten rough. I heard you went off the deep end after Hunter Seo was kidnapped.”
“And your point is?”
“We’ll just have to throw money at it.”
Rather than holding back out of concern for the cleanup costs, it was far more cost-effective to go all out from the start, fully prepared to write an apology letter afterward.
“If we delay any longer, they’ll breach the coast and head inland. The seawater is going crazy, trying to slither inland like a snake. Not to mention the monsters that spawned from the hail…”
“So stopping them at the coastline is the top priority?”
“Pretty much. But we can’t exactly block water with our bare hands, and we can’t just divert it inland without destroying everything. Even if we build a massive wall, they just climb over it like monkeys. Freezing is our only option.”
“Are we not using Fire-type hunters?”
“They’re already in chaos over there. They’re highly inefficient against a massive tsunami like this. Stop being sarcastic and get in the sea.”
“Good grief…”
Swoosh—!
Cold air gathered at Yoo Seong-un’s feet, quickly forming into sharp blades.
“Things are a royal mess.”
Tap!
He tapped the ground with the toe of his shoe, which had transformed into an ice skate.
In an instant, Yoo Seong-un vanished. He dashed straight up the massive defensive barrier and leaped out over the sea beyond. A thick layer of smooth ice formed in his path, creating yet another barrier.
“……”
Whoosh—!
Just before plunging from the high barrier, Yoo Seong-un assessed the situation from midair.
One colossal, six large, thirty-two medium.
The miscellaneous small fry weren’t his problem.
“Sigh…”
Whoosh—!
As he plummeted toward the water, he had a single thought.
I want to clock out.
Craaaack!
Yoo Seong-un’s feet touched the “ground.”
From the point of his landing, a massive, solid glacier—the kind seen only in polar regions—began to form.
The terrifying cold spread across the sea’s surface and deep into its depths, instantly freezing the surging waves. Hearing the thunderous crack, the other hunters shouted.
“Holy shit, backup is here!”
“Save me! This sea is fucking awful…!”
“Whoa, an A-Rank! Clear the way! Hurry, clear the way!”
“You idiots, clear the way if you don’t want to freeze to death!”
The hunters who recognized Yoo Seong-un quickly backed away as he sped past them, freezing the sea as he went.
High-ranking hunters skilled in manipulating cold often wore skates like the ones Yoo Seong-un was using now. If utilized properly, they not only boosted speed but also served as deadly blades. There was even a running joke that this was due to South Korea’s fame in figure skating before the Great Catastrophe.
It’s true they’re useful, though.
The cold wind whipped against his cheeks.
Tensing his legs, he executed a light single Axel. He leaped smoothly over a patch of cracked, shifting ice and, with a sharp slash!, spun to slice through a monster. After a clean landing, he went into another spin to dodge an obstacle and kept moving.
Sprinting forward, he slammed his spear into the ice with a loud thud! and launched himself upward. He struck down a monster with a vertical spin, using the recoil to propel himself back into the air. The monster’s bodily fluids, sliced by his skate blades, froze and rained down like hail.
It was a repetitive routine, with only minor variations. He used the skates for fluidity and the spear for destructive power. Advance, leap, strike, slash, land, and advance again.
This kind of work isn’t hard. It’s just manual labor.
Thud, thud!
He weaved and stepped to dodge a horde of monsters. With a sharp clang!, ice spears erupted from the frozen surface, impaling one of them. Blood splattered everywhere.
Yoo Seong-un knew his role here. Although the monsters thrashed and shattered the glaciers he created, the other hunters moved in to take care of them.
“……”
But it wasn’t enough to end the crisis.
The sea is vast.
And deep.
This isn’t something I can resolve on my own.
No matter how much Yoo Seong-un begged to draw upon the power of the Garden, he couldn’t freeze every ocean on the planet. For Earth’s sake, he shouldn’t—it would ruin the world beyond recovery.
But if it’s just a little bit…
Yoo Seong-un summoned a long ice spear once more, gripped it tightly, and slammed it into the ground with a loud crash!, launching himself high into the sky.
“…Phew.”
Suspended in midair, he aimed the ice spear at a large monster’s eye.
And thrust.
“……”
Boom!
The monster’s body exploded.
“…Ptooey.”
Screeech.
Spinning to a halt on the ice, Yoo Seong-un spat out the shards that had flown into his mouth.
“Ugh, so salty.”
The combination of monster fluids and seawater was bound to be.
Brushing off the remaining ice, Yoo Seong-un glided forward on his skates, moving swiftly across the sea’s surface once more. Massive glaciers formed and monsters froze solid wherever he went.
However, this was something other A-Rank Hunters were also continuously doing.
It’s a repetitive, vicious cycle.
Yoo Seong-un was particularly famous for creating massive, solid glaciers, like those found in the polar regions. Yet, even with all the talented Ice-type hunters gathered here, the sea kept shattering their work and surging back.
Then there’s only one answer.
He had to make enough of a nuisance of himself to force the “owner” of these waves to show its face.
“That’s my specialty.”
Crack. Splash!
Yoo Seong-un broke through the ice and dove into the sea.
What would happen if all the monsters down here absorbed my cold?
Cleaning up the aftermath would be a nightmare, but that wasn’t his concern. That was a problem for his future self to solve through overtime and pay cuts.
And if this works…
Yoo Seong-un thought of Jeong Young-won, the Gardener who had to be part of this battle.
It will make things quite troublesome for her.
He grinned at the marine monsters closing in on him. A land-dwelling human would be at a severe disadvantage underwater, but it was a different story for a Gardener of the snowfield whose very soul was frozen.
A Gardener was a worker who managed the seeds and fruits of the Garden.
“……”
If another Garden bloomed inside their bodies, wouldn’t any monster find it troublesome?
Yoo Seong-un plunged an ice blade into his own body and dragged it across. The monsters gaped their mouths at the sweet scent of blood.
Let’s see how far we can take this.
Crimson snowflakes bloomed in the sea.
*
“Hunter Yoo Seong-un is missing!”
Behind the barrier, the hunters who had retreated to the shore due to injuries began to whisper among themselves.
“What? Hunter Yoo Seong-un? Where did he…?”
“A hunter who can create that much ice wouldn’t fail to protect himself in the sea, would he?”
“But we saw him fall in! Shouldn’t we rescue him?!”
“If they’re calling him missing, it means he’s been under for a while.”
“I know you’re busy, but I thought I should let you know…”
“Look, do you know how many hunters are missing right now?”
There was simply no spare manpower for a rescue mission for a single hunter. Especially not for one who had plunged into the depths. In a situation like this, everyone had to survive on their own.
At that, the healer Jeong Young-won, who was being treated in the rear, asked, “Did he fall into the sea, or did he dive in?”
“Pardon? Well, that… I’m not sure…”
“He probably dove in.”
A Gardener does not die easily unless consumed by the Origin.
“Keep an eye on the sea. Rather than focusing on the safety of one individual named Yoo Seong-un, look at the bigger picture. If you monitor the state of the sea, it will be easier to figure out what’s happening.”
“What do you mean by that…?”
“……”
Jeong Young-won blinked and said, “…The noise is dying down.”
“It’s so loud out here, what noise are you talking about?”
“Don’t look at the small details; look at the big picture. The sound of the waves crashing is gradually fading.”
“That’s…”
“Never mind.” Jeong Young-won snorted and turned away. “You can leave that man alone. He’s doing just fine on his own.”
“B-but…! If something happens to Hunter Yoo Seong-un, it will disrupt the entire operation!”
“I told you, he’s fine.”
Soon, several other hunters also noticed the anomaly.
“…? Wait, hold on…”
“Is the sound really…?”
It happened in an instant.
“……”
“……”
A sudden silence fell, so absolute that it sent a chill down the spines of those behind the barrier.
“…What on earth is this?”
“Looks like he’s frozen most of it,” Jeong Young-won spoke, the faint wails of monsters serving as background noise. “Everyone, get back to work. Go hunt monsters.”
“Ah, yes?”
“And go fish Hunter Yoo Seong-un out while you’re at it.”
“You mean Hunter Yoo Seong-un?”
“He’s bound to be collapsed somewhere.”
Sure enough, a hunter from the front lines came running back in a panic.
“H-Healer! Healer! Healer!”
“Lay him down.”
A blood-drenched Yoo Seong-un was carried in.
It seems his Garden has grown.
Jeong Young-won understood what Yoo Seong-un had done. She checked his consciousness while treating his wounds on the cot inside the tent. Their eyes met.
Yoo Seong-un grinned. “Pretty impressive, right?”
“You’ve grown quite a bit.”
“I’ve been feeling cold lately, getting the chills…”
“Your power is much greater than when I last saw you.”
“I’ve been drinking a lot of good tea.”
And so, the Garden had grown by leaps and bounds.
“……”
“The entire sea has frozen!”
“I told you to go back to work.”
“Ah, y-yes, ma’am…!”
The sound of ice and glaciers cracking and colliding, created by the collective efforts of the hunters, was gone. Instead, there was only the heavy, dull noise of chunks of flesh thrashing and wailing from within the ice.
Even considering how much quieter it is behind the barrier, this is incredible.
At this rate, almost the entire sea within sight had to be frozen solid.
To its very depths.
Jeong Young-won knew exactly what Yoo Seong-un had done.
“Was it effective?”
“Freezing is usually like that.” Once a seed takes root, it only keeps growing. “Solidifying happens in an instant.”
Yoo Seong-un had used his own body as a “seed,” offering himself as prey to the countless monsters in the sea. The marine monsters that consumed his terrifyingly cold blood froze instantly, solidifying the sea from the inside out.
Since it was the cold of the Origin and nothing else, there was no need to elaborate on its effectiveness.
“I figured starting from the inside would be easier than trying to tackle it from the outside.”
“It certainly seems so, considering how quiet it’s gotten.”
“There are still many places that haven’t frozen. There’s a limit to how far the Garden’s cold can spread into the deep sea…”
“I understand.”
“Still, thanks to the ice the other hunters had already laid down, the process was definitely faster.”
If Yoo Seong-un had tried to lower the sea’s temperature from scratch to create such vast glaciers, it would have taken an immense amount of time and his power alone would have been insufficient. The fact that capable hunters had already stepped up and significantly lowered the sea’s temperature was a huge help.
He had merely provided a fitting starting point for a sea that was already on the verge of freezing.
“It was quite effective, wasn’t it?”
“It was, but it must have taken a heavy toll on you.” Gardeners manage things within the Garden; taking them outside results in punishment. “Were you… that worried about Hunter Seo Gio?”
“How could I not be, in a situation like this?”
Yoo Seong-un knew the greed of the mermaids.
“If we’re not careful, the roots will be transplanted.”
The mermaids’ obsession was far beyond anything he had imagined.
They might not possess divinity, but they had achieved great feats that drew the attention of multiple Evil Gods. There was a very real possibility they could do something to Gio, who was currently far weaker, not being inside his portrait.
“So, I had to push myself a bit. How long will it take to recover?”
“Do all you damage dealers have rocks for brains? How can you say that in your state? Healers aren’t vending machines; we can’t just pop out a cure instantly.”
“Hey, I know that. I’m asking for an estimate. Just the duration.”
“Due to the aftermath of the Garden, a quick recovery is impossible. Even with extra effort, we can’t completely eliminate the aftereffects. However…” Jeong Young-won was a fairly decent healer. “Since Hunter Seo Gio is in danger, I suppose I’ll risk divine punishment as well.”
And she was a pretty good Gardener.
“I will borrow the power of the Flower Garden.”
“I appreciate it.”
“If you appreciate it, just make sure you bring Hunter Seo back safely.”
The Eye of the Origin had graciously taken root on Earth. For a Gardener serving their own Garden, it was impossible not to covet it. Jeong Young-won, in particular, was a human who revered the Origin as her own divinity.
“If he is safe, the Flower Garden will surely be pleased as well.”
A soft, balsam-pink light dyed Jeong Young-won’s fingertips.
It was the power of life, drawn from the Flower Garden.
*
“……”
“…Hello….”
“Haha.” Gio laughed. “Could you let him off?”
“Let him off? This child who clearly bears the power of the Sun?” Aria also smiled, her eyes curving into crescents. “I’m so jealous I want to tear him limb from limb, you know?”
“But he is my first believer…”
“When you put it that way, it does make it hard to kill him.” Aria stroked her chin with a thoughtful hum. “Then again, this battle isn’t yours, Teacher.”
“Is that why you kept me tucked away in a secluded place like this?”
“Of course, I intend to satisfy my own desires, but since things turned out this way, it can’t be helped.” She wore a polite smile that rivaled that of a high-society gentleman. “I suppose I can just use him as a cute hostage.”
“Please don’t hurt him.”
“Don’t worry. As long as you play along with us, Teacher, not a single hair on young Master Cha Yi-sol’s head will be harmed.”
“There you go, talking like a villain again…”
“Well, I am indeed one of the most notorious villains in the dimensions.”
Cha Yi-sol was horrified by their conversation. “Is Hyung going to get hurt because of me?!”
“Don’t worry, little gentleman. He won’t be harmed at all.”
“B-but you just said…!”
“You’ll get hurt if you know too much.”
“I-I’m sorry for barging into your house…! I’ll be good! Please don’t hurt Gio-hyung!”
“How adorable. But no.” Aria looked at Giovanni. “We should begin our work soon. The sea has started to freeze to the point where my cute children can no longer handle it. Before the person responsible for this incident leaves the temple… we must do what needs to be done.”
She caressed her teacher’s cheek. “Are you ready to return to the sea?”
“Oh, you poor things…” Gio leaned his face into her hand. “You need my mercy.”
“Of course, Teacher.”
The mermaids always craved the Sun’s mercy.