For the Sake of Solidarity (2)
We finished setting up the IBS, the Inflatable Boat Small, so we could enter the gate floating on the river.
An inflatable small boat, in other words, a rubber dinghy.
It was the kind of transport usually used to infiltrate gates that appeared out at sea.
"One, two, three!"
At the shout, we lifted the rubber boat and carried it into the water.
The legs of my protective gear clung to my skin, and cold water quickly rose to my knees.
We scrambled aboard, each man taking an oar in his place.
"One! Two!"
"One! Two!"
We rowed forward in a steady rhythm.
The Suyeong River in Busan wasn't very deep.
Two, maybe three meters at most.
If we had just swum, it would have been faster, so why bother with a boat?
Because gates that appeared over water were usually tied to something aquatic once you got inside.
Sometimes you entered to find a tranquil mountain stream winding through the dungeon.
Other times, a waterfall would be crashing down beneath a sheer cliff.
The worst-case scenario, though—
Team Leader Mun Dal-su raised his voice.
"Stay sharp! We could end up dropped right into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean!"
Beyond the gate was an unknown world.
A dungeon specialist could only infer roughly what lay ahead and pass that on to the hunters.
No one could know for certain what place would appear on the other side.
The gate came closer and closer until it was almost within reach.
The oval ring trembled with a strange, moaning vibration.
Looking closely, I could see that its lower half was submerged in the water.
"We're going in like this! Keep the boat steady!"
Everyone swallowed hard, their throats bobbing.
It reminded me of the first time I had ever experienced a gate.
I went into a jungle-type dungeon with Nike instructor back then.
At the time, I had been so terrified I could barely keep my body from curling in on itself.
This time, though...
This is exciting.
I savored the feeling of balancing on the razor edge between life and death.
Being alive.
Maybe that meant feeling everything so vividly your hairs stood on end.
"Enter!"
Wrapped in that pleasant tension, we were sucked into a world of light.
A steep drop suddenly spread out before my eyes.
"Ack!"
"Wh-what the hell!!!"
We had prepared for anything, and yet everyone panicked at once.
It couldn't be helped.
The boat we had ridden in on wasn't floating on water.
It was more like we were riding a slide.
Without rowing at all, we kept plunging downward, and downward again.
Like a roller coaster, my body jolted in my seat.
Hot air brushed across my face.
So this is...
I snapped my head up.
I squinted against a blazing sun that seemed to be beating straight down from overhead.
Grains of sand scraped across my cheeks.
Sand?
That's right.
This place was a desert.
The rubber boat skidded down the slope and finally came to a halt beneath the desert hill.
The team members groaned as they climbed out.
"Ow, my ass."
"Wasn't this supposed to be a water dungeon?"
"What the hell is a desert doing here out of nowhere?"
I stood, stepping onto the soft sand.
North, south, east, west.
Everywhere I looked, there was nothing but an endless desert.
Mun Dal-su also climbed out of the boat, gripping a halberd in both hands.
"Don't let your guard down! We don't know when or where they'll come swarming in!"
At the team leader's order, everyone crouched low around the rubber boat.
“……”
“……”
“……”
Despite the combat stance, nothing happened for quite a while.
The wet hems of our pants dried almost immediately.
It was so arid it felt like there were two suns overhead.
Every time I breathed, hot air poured into my lungs.
"Team Leader Mun. Didn't they say there'd be aquatic monsters?"
"Exactly. In the middle of a desert, even a drop of water would be precious. What gives?"
"Could the information be wrong?"
Everyone looked at one another, clearly unable to make sense of it.
The dungeon specialist's assessment could have been wrong.
No one could know for sure until they actually entered, and gates had more variables than the weather.
But,
If I'm right...
I pulled out the mana meter.
A flicker of something appeared on the map.
"There's a life-form response at one point two five kilometers to the southeast."
It was on the opposite side of the hill we'd just descended.
The objective of the eradication team was simple and clear.
Kill the boss monster and close the gate.
Team Leader Mun took the lead.
"Move out. Get the IBS!"
Inside aquatic-type gates, waves sometimes came crashing in without warning, towering like houses.
The odds of a wave sweeping over us in a desert are probably slim, but...
We still didn't understand this gate well enough to throw the rubber boat away carelessly.
In perfect unison, we heaved the rubber boat up over our heads.
Then we climbed the sand dune.
"Ugh!"
"Ngh..."
Groans broke out all around us.
It felt as though a giant were pressing down on the tops of our heads.
On top of that, our feet kept slipping and sinking into the sand.
Under the brutal sun, hot enough to seem like it could burn everything away, we trudged forward one heavy step at a time with the boat on our shoulders.
"Haa. It's hot."
One of the team members frowned and muttered.
"Na-ik. Give me some water."
"Right here."
My mouth felt parched and chalky, and thirst came gnawing at me like a burn.
With the boat still balanced on our heads, we passed around our canteens and rehydrated as best we could.
Before long, we reached the top of the dune.
Only then could we finally see below us.
Just as I thought.
Jang Na-ik pointed downward with a finger.
"Look over there!"
Blue palm trees and a large pool of water.
An oasis.
"Hunter Choi. Is that where the life-form response is coming from?"
"Yes. Let's head down by boat."
"Good. Hurry!"
Like riding a sled, we climbed onto the rubber boat and slid quickly down the desert slope.
Before we knew it, we had reached the oasis.
"Whoa, what the hell is this?"
"It looks like CGI..."
The water pooled in the basin was so clear it looked emerald blue.
You could see all the way to the bottom, and colorful fish swam through the water.
Jang Na-ik dropped to his knees and opened his canteen.
"The water's really clear. Let's each have a drink."
The youngest member of the team filled his canteen to the brim and brought it straight to his mouth.
I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.
"Don't."
What people called a miracle in the desert was usually formed when groundwater broke through the surface.
But the source of groundwater was rain.
An oasis was, in essence, rainwater that had been sitting on the surface for a very long time.
So what would the water quality be like in a place where the heat was almost unbearable?
If you looked under a microscope, it would be crawling with all kinds of bacteria and E. coli.
"If you drink that recklessly, it'll kill you."
"...Ah, yes."
"Give it here."
Jang Na-ik snatched up the canteen and turned it upside down.
The water inside gushed out in a rush.
Oasis water was practically poison to humans.
Those scenes in movies where someone went, "Wow! An oasis!" and then gulped water down by the mouthful were pure fiction.
And inside a gate...
Focus mana in your hand.
"Watch carefully."
My palm touched the surface of the water.
As mana rippled outward, the surface trembled.
"Huh?"
Jang Na-ik stumbled backward.
From the center of the oasis, something raised its head.
A creature with a rigid shell, as if it had a red pin stuck into the top of its head.
Pin Scorpion.
In other words, a Pin Scorpion.
"Kiiing!"
The Pin Scorpion gave a piercing cry.
The red pin embedded in the crown of its head flashed.
Mana rode the wind and flew toward us.
"Tch!"
Aside from a spray of sand, there was no physical damage.
But...
The crystal-clear water was gone.
Above the surface, flies buzzed and carcasses of animals bobbed in the pool.
A sickening stench stabbed at my nose.
The liquid in the basin was less like water and more like sticky oil.
"Ugh."
Jang Na-ik clapped a hand over his mouth and gagged.
A trap-type hallucination spell.
The moment you set foot in the oasis, it forced you to witness an illusion, a form of mental control magic.
By the water's edge, a number of skulls and bone fragments were half-buried in the sand.
In my previous life, countless hunters had died after falling victim to the Pin Scorpion's trap.
And the cause of death wasn't trauma from a fierce battle.
Parasitic infection.
Some unidentified insect, never reported to the Association, was said to crawl into the brain and gnaw at it from the inside.
The Busan team was seeing a Pin Scorpion for the first time inside an aquatic gate.
It was only natural that they'd fall into the trap.
If I hadn't known about the future myself...
I would've gone swimming in the oasis with a grin on my face.
The black form slicked in oil raised its claws.
"It's coming."
Mun Dal-su spoke with a slight stutter.
"Does anybody know how to handle that black bastard?"
Despite looking like a straight-up combat monster, the Pin Scorpion used all kinds of magic.
Its attacks, especially those that used the oasis's polluted water, were a real pain in the ass.
On top of that, it was a Ruins-grade monster.
We needed a mage of at least A-class if we wanted the upper hand.
Mages were rare and valuable no matter where you went.
The mage currently in Dio Guild's Busan team was...
My gaze shifted to the side.
The youngest team member was trembling, cold sweat running down his face.
Jang Na-ik.
Though he was only E-class, he was the team's sole hunter capable of using telekinetic magic under the name Gravity.
The Pin Scorpion didn't seem frightened in the least as it came stomping toward us.
I reached for the Heoksikdo at my waist.
In my head, I ran through several possible options.
If I rushed in like lightning and targeted the seams between its armor plates, I could cut it down.
There was also the option of kicking off the air and smashing down with Judgment of the Superhuman.
Just like when I dealt with the Big Lava.
No matter how hard its exoskeleton is, I can smash it to pieces.
But I withdrew my hand from the Heoksikdo.
Right now, we had a shared goal: the Dirty Kraken.
There was no better chance than this to build solidarity while fighting an aquatic monster.
Let's do this.
I stepped up beside Mun Dal-su.
"Team Leader Mun. May I take command?"
"Be my guest."
Mun Dal-su was the kind of leader who didn't let pride get in the way when it came to his team.
That was why he trusted me completely after I had saved guild members during the Bullet Bird incident.
By then the Pin Scorpion had already reached right in front of us.
I gave the order.
"The two tanks, raise your shields and block the opening strike! Team Leader Mun, dump your damage in through the gap!"
"Yes, sir!"
No sooner had the words left my mouth than three people moved.
"Heon-jun, don't join the front line. Keep healing and support with potions!"
"Roger!"
The clash began at once.
Four of them threw themselves into the assault.
That left one person still hanging back.
"Hunter Choi... I..."
Jang Na-ik looked up at me, his eyes shaking.
"You are..."
I had been the key to resolving the Multi-Gate incident at Gangnam Station.
I was only F-class.
And yet the person who had trusted me enough to send me into the field was none other than Na Sang-min, the S-class commander of Dio Guild's combat unit.
If it hadn't been for Na Sang-min, the damage would have been worse and the number of casualties higher.
I placed a hand on Jang Na-ik's shoulder.
"The key man."
"...Me?"
At that moment, the Pin Scorpion unleashed its magic.
"Kiiing!!!"
The black mass of water inside the oasis exploded and sprayed outward in every direction.
"Tch!"
"Ugh!"
The team members struck by the blast dropped at once.
Those huge droplets were packed with mana, making them no different from being hit by a mace.
As expected, we still didn't have the power to go toe-to-toe with a Ruins-grade monster.
The Pin Scorpion didn't miss the opening and raised its sharp tail high.
"Dodge!"
Mun Dal-su shouted at the top of his lungs, veins standing out in his neck.
The team member barely managed to dodge the tail strike.
It hadn't pierced him through, but if this kept up, a fatal wound was only a matter of time.
I stepped in front of Jang Na-ik.
"Your turn."
"But... I..."
I knew.
The weight Jang Na-ik could control with telekinesis was 10 kilograms.
About the weight of a single light bowling ball.
It could hurt the Pin Scorpion, but the effect would be minimal.
"...I won't be much help."
Jang Na-ik's shoulders slumped.
"Someone as weak as me... is useless."
Meanwhile, the battle's momentum shifted.
"Hngh, haaah!"
"Damn it. Why is it so hard?"
"...Not a scratch on it."
Even so, the team was struggling.
I pointed at them.
"What's with the whining? You planning to let them all die, then?"
"..."
"If you were going to give up before even trying and mutter about being weak, you should've just stayed in the car."
This wasn't me forcing him with empty pressure, shoving him forward against his will.
This kid can do it.
"Jang Na-ik. You're not weak. I believe in you. Believe in yourself."
Our eyes met.
"Save them."
At the force of my voice, Jang Na-ik bit down hard on his lip and thrust both hands forward.
"I'll... I'll try."
Focusing his mind, Jang Na-ik lifted the skulls scattered around us into the air.
There was nothing else handy for him to manipulate, so he simply grabbed whatever he could.
"No, that's not it."
I muttered something into Jang Na-ik's ear.
His eyes widened as he listened.
"You can do it, right?"
"I-I'll try."
Jang Na-ik closed his eyes.
A small sandstorm began to rise from his hands.
A long ribbon of oasis water drifted up and wrapped around him.
This was my plan.
There was a tool often used at factories.
A sanding gun.
A device that mixed water and sand inside a high-pressure washer and shot it out with brutal force.
The power of a sanding gun was strong enough to strip rust right off a tank's surface.
If water and sand could be brought together in perfect harmony...
"Now!"
At my shout,
the water and sand fused together and transformed into a single black arrow.
Fshk!
The black arrow severed the Pin Scorpion's tail in one shot.
"Keep going!"
Jang Na-ik didn't stop.
As long as he had a handful of sand and a little water, he could fire the black arrows endlessly, each one stronger than a sanding gun.
Fshk! Fshk!! Fshshshk!!!
The Pin Scorpion's claws and its head were chopped apart.
"What the hell! Jang Na-ik!"
"Guys! What are you waiting for? Let's support our youngest!"
Led by Mun Dal-su, the entire team threw themselves at the Pin Scorpion.
It was like the whole team had turned into support for their youngest member.
The Busan team showed off the best teamwork possible in the worst situation imaginable.
Good. That's it.
The monster, now headless, made one last desperate attempt.
"Keeeeek!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
As if trying to imitate Jang Na-ik, it gathered up the black water and twisted it into a mass of spiny spears like a sea urchin.
They were so large that if it fired them as they were, we would all be skewered like kebabs.
That should be enough.
I leapt into the air and drew Heoksikdo.
A streak of ink-black light sliced across the space between us.
"Kieeeek!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The Pin Scorpion split cleanly down the middle and collapsed.
A flawless one-stroke, one-cut finish.
With the boss monster dead, the oval gate immediately appeared.
Success. Gate closed.
Jang Na-ik panted hard and sank to the ground where he stood.
He had probably poured every last drop of his mana into that attack.
I looked down at him and held out my hand.
“Good job.”