The Lost Ruins (4)

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After a moment, the wreckage of the Giant Kong vanished, and the air warped once more. The first thing to emerge was a long, thick trunk. Then came enormous tusks, and a body etched edge to edge with mana circuits.

"A gorilla before, and now an elephant, huh?"

An elephant made of clockwork gears stood there, flexing its full majesty.

Drrrk—! Whooooh!

Its eyes glowed blue, and a spray of water began swirling around it.

So that's its defense system?

I wouldn't know for sure until I crashed into it head-on. I'd barked at Ah Seo-ah earlier, but the Weakened debuff was genuinely annoying. Thanks to Steel Bones, I could offset some of it, but the best option was simply not getting hit in the first place.

"I'd better gauge it from range."

Fwoosh!

I infused the Karma Flame with divine authority and launched it.

Blood Soul Arrow

A crimson bolt streaked toward Akepente. Just as it touched the creature and was about to detonate—

Whung…!

The arrow passed clean through it. The instant it made contact, the creature's form scattered, and the bolt sailed straight through empty air. It was like firing an attack at a mirage hovering in the mist.

"Hah…"

Apparently this thing had an even more complex defense system than the Giant Kong.

"What do you make of it?"

-Hmm… I have roughly a hundred and two guesses. I'll need a bit more information.

Wasn't a hundred and two a bit much? Still, it beat having no leads at all.

I guess closing in and attacking is the better play.

Ranged attacks had their limits when it came to gathering intel. Just as I sharpened my senses and readied myself to charge—

Clunk— Krrrk…!

Akepente's trunk began to move with a raucous clatter. At the same time, the mana circuits running across its entire body lit up blue and activated.

-Be careful!

Yeon-ha's voice rang urgently through my head.

-A big attack is coming…!

Before she could even finish, a jet of water blasted from the tip of its trunk.

PSHHH…!

Not mere water—a blade of water pressure, compressed and compressed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠again to its absolute limit before release. A cannon of water fired with the momentum to grind everything to dust came screaming toward me at a terrifying speed.

KWAGAGAGAGAGA—!

My instincts blared an alarm. I absolutely could not take that hit.

"Kgh…!"

I twisted my body at the last possible instant and slipped past the jet. Sharp-honed droplets spattered across my cheek, stinging as if slashed by a blade. Where the water had grazed the ground, it lay sheared flat, as if cut clean with a knife.

That's insane.

A mere mechanical elephant, wielding attacks of this caliber.

A cannon that compresses water to its extremes and fires it.

The power was one thing, but the speed at launch was monstrous too. The moment I let my guard down for even a second—

There'd be no dodging what I couldn't see coming.

I wiped the blood running down my cheek and raised my spear. In tandem, the creature began busily working itself up for its next water cannon.

-…Just once. If I can pierce that thing's mirage even once, that's all I need.

"Then you can identify its defense system. Got it."

Thank god for capable allies. Dodging one more round of its water jet was nothing.

Child's play.

I grinned with confidence—then kicked off the ground and charged straight at it head-on.

-What the—?!

Yeon-ha's flustered cry flashed past my ears. Fair enough. Charging in headfirst like this wasn't just reckless—

KWAGAGAGAGAGA—!

—it was practically begging to eat a water cannon point-blank. A jet even faster and more powerful than the last one came howling in, intent on bisecting me. The droplets were about to grind my face to a pulp when—

I resonated with Rir's divine authority. My body turned semi-translucent, letting me sprint through every obstruction for a brief window. Just as it had phased through my Blood Soul Arrow—

I pass through its water jet too.

Made us even, didn't it?

Tatadat!

Running straight through the water jet, I poured mana into my spear.

Piercing Thrust

A lightning-quick stab drove toward Akepente's torso. But sure enough, the spearhead warped and slid out the other side.

-Got it!

Yeon-ha cried out, her voice bright with sudden understanding.

-It's no simple mirage. It's imbuing every single water droplet with mana to create the illusion. High-difficulty magic, hard to sustain—but the creature stays anchored in one spot, so…

"Enough! Can you break through it or not?"

-Of course I can!

Her answer didn't sound like bravado. Sure enough, before long, a magic circle bloomed into existence above Akepente.

As the mana from the magic circle draped itself over the creature, the water spray died away, revealing its true form.

It looks exactly the same.

Except it had shrunk from a house-sized bulk to something smaller than my waist. In other words, the massive size I'd been seeing all along was an illusion inflating its frame.

"So it was slipping through every attack because it's this small."

Meaning I'd been swinging at empty air the whole time. I stared hard at the shrunken mechanical elephant.

"Now that it's small, it's kind of cut—"

ZZZZZT!

The thing swung its trunk toward me, compressing water all over again.

"Retracted. Not cute."

Spraying jets like that out of that tiny body? What a monster. I recoiled and leveled my spear at Akepente's true form.

Nameless Spear Art

Falling Blossom

The descending spearhead split the creature clean in two.

Another Hall record broken. My back straightened with a small glow of pride—and then—

Another debuff rained down. As a violet haze seeped into me, my body turned leaden in an instant.

That's… rough.

Weakened, on top of Slowed. Quite possibly the worst possible combination.

-A-are you all right? Can you still fight?

"Don't worry about me."

Still, it wasn't enough to take me out of the fight. Honestly, compared to the wreck of a body I'd had before regressing, this was practically flying.

"The worse things get for me, the better I perform."

Thanks to the death-aura that made up ninety-nine percent of my soul, I'd been born cursed: the deeper the hardship, the nearer the death, the more my potential detonated.

"So I'm fine."

If my arm breaks, I kick. If my leg breaks too, I bite and tear with my teeth. I use everything I have, and I fight like a cornered animal.

"Because I'll win, no matter what."

That was the very root of how I fought.

[Stage 3 will now begin.]

As the trial wore on, wounds piled up on Lee Tae-hyun's body. It began with light scrapes, then progressed to deep gashes, torn muscle—fatigue and agony accumulating by any visible measure.

-Heok… hh…

And behind it all loomed:

Debuffs beyond counting.

"Ah… ahh…"

Ah Seo-ah clutched her chest, struggling to calm herself. But a mind already collapsing could not be salvaged. She hadn't solved a single puzzle. Not one, from any of the sages. It felt like her pride was being trampled into the dirt.

All those years she'd believed herself a genius meant nothing here—Ah Seo-ah wasn't pulling even her own weight in this place. No—she was closer to dead weight. Because every penalty born of her failures, Lee Tae-hyun was shouldering alone.

-Khh… haah…

The ease had drained from his face. Unlike at the start, his whole ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠body was drenched in blood. The debuffs crushing him might as well have been visible to the naked eye.

"I… I'm…"

Ah Seo-ah's voice shook badly. The pointed wizard's hat on her head slid off and dropped to the floor with a soft thump.

"What have I even…?"

A scene from the past flashed through her mind. The days when she and Park Sung-chan and Yoo Ji-an had treated the other academy students as bugs, stomping them underfoot at will.

'We're allowed to do this. We're the ones who've earned the right.'

She had nodded along to Park Sung-chan's words.

'Sung-chan's right. The weak getting hunted is just the law of nature.'

She had agreed with Yoo Ji-an, back in the day.

'Exactly! We're worth dozens of those pathetic, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠useless losers, aren't we?'

The Ah Seo-ah of memory had laughed without a thought, spraying fire at the fleeing students.

"St-stop it…"

The Ah Seo-ah of the present groaned in torment, clutching her head. 'Ahahaha!' The her of that day's fantasy, gleefully hunting down students. The her of reality, growing more wretched by the moment.

"Stop… it…"

The students fleeing from her. One of them glanced back, and their eyes met Ah Seo-ah's.

'H-hiik!'

Astonishingly, that face—the face of the fleeing student, scrambled into a mash of terror and confusion—was—

'P-please… spare me…'

Ah Seo-ah's own.

"STOP ITTTTT!"

Her face contorted in agony. The incompetent may be hunted. Back then, she had been the hunter. Now she was nothing but prey. In the end, Ah Seo-ah had simply been burning herself alive. She'd just never had occasion to notice until now. Even if not today, the day she'd face something beyond her power would inevitably have come—and she would have arrived at this exact same moment.

"Hnn… hnngh…!"

Ah Seo-ah staggered backward, trembling violently.

She was afraid. Terrified of the next puzzle arriving. Furious at herself for being unable to solve it—and the thought of watching Lee Tae-hyun suffer for her failure was frightening enough to kill her.

Creep.

Her steps turned away from the screen. I want to run. Escape all this dread, go somewhere where nothing exists.

Creep.

One more step away. Away from her duty, away from the Arbiter's seat.

Creep.

Drifting farther from the screen, the blood-soaked image of Lee Tae-hyun grew blurry. Run. Run and be comfortable. A sweet whisper crawled up her spine.

"Hkk… sob…"

Just before that small body slipped free of the scale's shadow—

-Ah Seo-ah!!

Lee Tae-hyun called her name, eyes fixed on the screen. Her body instantly froze rigid, her knees going weak. He's definitely furious. I couldn't solve a single puzzle, and the fight got so much harder because of it. He must be disappointed in me, ready to blame me. Cold sweat soaked the back of her neck. She squeezed her eyes shut, tears about to spill—

-What did I tell you? I said it'd be fine even without you, didn't I?

"…Huh?"

A voice thick with mischief smacked right into her ear.

-You think a few stacked debuffs are gonna make me lose? I'm your guild leader. You think a guy like that loses to this?

-And honestly? I don't feel these debuffs. At all.

-Might as well not exist. Seriously.

On the screen, he flashed that easygoing smile again, wounds and all, as if the injuries covering his body were nothing at all.

-I know you're probably not worrying about me one bit anyway… but if you are, cut it out. It's creepy, seriously.

Lee Tae-hyun waved a hand and stuck his tongue out.

"…As if that could possibly be true."

Ah Seo-ah's fists trembled. Doesn't feel the debuffs? His movements had frozen up again and again mid-battle. The accumulated wounds healed so sluggishly that even potions were useless. The arm swinging his spear had slowed to a fraction of its original speed. And still, Lee Tae-hyun treated her with the same breezy warmth. As if to say: none of this is your fault.

"You absolute idiot…"

There was no way not to worry. It was impossible. Drip. Drip. Clear droplets fell onto Ah Seo-ah's legs.

"You stupid, blockheaded IDIOT…!"

She wished he'd just curse her out outright. What kind of nerve did you have, joining my guild? You useless, incompetent mage. Because of you, I'm suffering like this right now. But Lee Tae-hyun never once pulled back the hand he always held out. Grumbling and bickering one moment—and then the instant trouble struck, he was the one who came to mind. Because Lee Tae-hyun would somehow, some way, make it work. Because even in a hopeless situation, that man would carve out an exit.

-And if, hypothetically, you're shedding tears because you're actually worried about me—

-Your tears don't help a damn thing, so dry them up.

"Y-you jerk… worrying is…"

-And do whatever you want in there. Watch, solve puzzles, whatever.

-Just never, ever run away.

Her body flinched. Because only moments ago, she had been about to do exactly that.

-Don't run. Plant your feet and hold your ground.

-Then somehow, everything works out.

It was irresponsible advice. Just hold on blindly, trusting that things will work out? What's the point of that?

-At the very least, right now there are two people carrying your share of the weight, aren't there?

"…!"

Yeon-ha, shattering the defenses at blistering speed. And Lee Tae-hyun, shrugging off a mountain of debuffs while obliterating his enemies with a flourish.

-There might come a time when running is the right call. But it's not now.

-So hold on. Quit moping!

Lee Tae-hyun grinned and raised his spear. Even as he swayed like he might collapse at any second, those eyes hadn't changed one bit from the very beginning. And within that light—

"Who's… running anywhere, you idiot…"

A new star, casting off its filth, began to be drawn in.

"A real idiot. A shameless guild leader who's always teasing me, messing with me, tormenting me…"

And yet—someone who always showed her the way forward. A signpost that, even when darkness swallowed every direction, glowed on its own and lit the path. That was the Lee Tae-hyun Ah Seo-ah saw.

"Hmph. I'm never running. Someone's gotta watch you get your teeth kicked in."

Offering up that excuse for no reason at all, Ah Seo-ah stood before the scale once more.

This time, for certain. Now that she had resolved never to look back again—

"I will be of help. I swear it."

Now was the time to face the true trial.