Bend at the Gate — The Legendary Flower Udumbara (2)

The seething surface of the lake burst open as if it had exploded. Through the towering spray of water, a colossal winged monster revealed itself.

It was nothing like an ordinary butterfly. When it spread its damp wings, thousands of eyes flickered across them in real time, rippling with a grotesque, undulating motion.

"That thing is why we couldn't harvest the Udumbara."

"Good job escaping it, by the way."

"Well, this gate lets you come and go freely."

With a single beat of its wings, Mara showered the lake with countless clouds of scale dust.

"I didn't bring my goggles."

At Seolhwa's words, Hwarang shrieked in horror.

"Goggles are the least of our problems! This boss came out of a gate nobody has intel on, and you're acting all casual about it!"

"Then we just don't let it touch us."

Seolhwa pointed at the folding fan tucked at Hwarang's chest.

"All I need from you is vision and support. I'll handle the fighting myself."

Hwarang let out a long sigh.

"I may look like this, but I fight better than most damage dealers, you know!"

She drew the fan from her chest and swept away every drifting fleck of scale dust.

Seolhwa seized the opening without hesitation and shifted Aurora's form.

"Bugs should be roasted over a flame."

The flamethrower had excellent damage — and a very convenient property of dealing fixed, floor-based damage.

'Problem is, if the Udumbara burns up with it, I'm in serious trouble.'

Aurora's barrel extended into a long, slender line as an exquisitely crafted scope rose into place.

Holding her breath, Seolhwa aimed for the joints of the wings.

Crack—!

The bullet traced a silver arc through the air and punched clean through Mara's right wing. Yet the creature seemed incapable of feeling pain — instead, the thousands of eyes studding its wings began to fixate on Seolhwa.

The thousands of eyes flared with light all at once, writhing with an eerie, unnatural twitch.

In an instant, Seolhwa's vision warped. The placid lake dissolved into a battlefield where everyone was dying.

'Oh, you have got to be kidding me—'

A thick, cloying scent of blood brushed past the tip of her nose. The hollow screams of countless people slammed into her ears as if being driven in with a hammer.

And just as the illusion began to gather strength, straining to take on physical form—

"Bibi!"

"The bug's playing with its annoying little tricks!"

Hwarang roared and slammed her spiked club into the ground.

Cyan mana rippled outward from her feet in a spreading shockwave. Layer by layer, the Dokkaebi Turf overlaid itself upon the illusionary space Mara had woven.

With a deep, thrumming vibration, the blood-soaked battlefield and its stench of carnage that had swallowed Seolhwa's vision shattered like a pane of glass.

"For a while yet, this land belongs to me!"

The cyan dokkaebi fire declared with a grin.

"And here you were looking so smug, only to fall for something like this?"

Seolhwa wiped away her cold sweat and regripped Aurora.

"I let my guard down…."

Seolhwa took aim at Mara's wings once more. The authority of the Dokkaebi Turf was holding fast against the grotesque illusions the creature kept spewing out.

Hwarang swept her fan back and forth, batting away the relentless rain of scale dust.

"I saw on YewTube once that if you light a fire where there's a ton of powder in the air, it blows up — that's why I never did it. But inside the Turf, it should work, right!"

"Burn it all down!"

"Wait, if you do that, the Udumbara—!"

Before Seolhwa could stop her, the cyan dokkaebi fire erupted from the tip of Hwarang's fan, and the scale dust blanketing the lake began to detonate in a chain reaction.

"Fear not! The Udumbara does not burn at anything this mild."

The blue flames began to devour Mara's colossal wings.

"You're sure it won't burn?"

"Obviously."

"Then I can roast it with a clear conscience."

Seolhwa drew a breath and lifted Aurora in one hand. The silver body of the weapon began to shift and reshape itself — until it became a grand, beautiful firearm wreathed in white flame at its muzzle.

"Finally. The moment has come."

"Maximum output."

A massive column of fire roared from Aurora's muzzle, cutting straight across the lake. The giant butterfly's wings thrashed and fluttered, burning in waves of blue and white.

The updraft from the flames sent ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the hem of Seolhwa's jacket rippling.

"Where do you think you're running!"

Hwarang began hurling potions like a pitcher throwing baseballs. Each one burst apart, unfurling into flames of every color.

The countless debuff potions Hwarang had conjured moved in perfect formation, swarming onto Mara.

"Now!"

Aurora spewed forth an overwhelming torrent of flame, carving away at Mara's health. The wings that had flapped so grandly were consumed by the inferno, losing function bit by bit.

The viewers' grim premonitions were not wrong.

"See? It never lets things end nice and easy."

Saying that, Seolhwa stowed Aurora and reshaped it into the form of a bow.

"The wings are burned through well enough. Now for the main body."

It was then that Hwarang spoke up.

"We should probably clear out of the Turf soon. That okay with you?"

Seolhwa gave a silent nod.

"You know what they say — break enough body parts and the attack patterns get simpler."

And true to Seolhwa's words, Mara came hurtling straight at her, burning wings and all.

'I'm the aggro, then.'

Seolhwa shifted lightly aside to dodge the charge and began loosing arrows. Silver arrows started embedding themselves in the massive bulk.

When the body slam failed to land, Mara took to the air and began shaking off the flames like so much dust from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠its wings.

Seolhwa's white flames clung stubbornly, but the dokkaebi fire Hwarang had scattered peeled away from the wings in beautiful cascades of color.

"The second it leaves the Turf, it all shakes right off."

Clicking her tongue, Hwarang began whirling her club in wide circles.

Hwarang brought her club crashing down on the ground. A door rose up from the earth, and with a thunderous boom, something burst forth from within.

Hwarang folded her arms with a confident smile.

"What kind of alchemist wouldn't have at least one golem on hand?"

Seolhwa glanced sidelong at the freshly summoned creature.

"Isn't that an oni?"

At that, Hwarang rounded on her in fury.

"It's a Dueokshini! And now is NOT the time to be gawking!"

The Dueokshini Hwarang had summoned let out a roar and lunged at Mara. Despite its massive frame, it moved with startling speed, swinging its dokkaebi club in a great sweeping arc.

The Dueokshini brought the club down on Mara's airborne head.

In the instant Mara wobbled, Seolhwa drew back her bowstring and pressed her attack on the wing joints she had already exposed.

"That thing's wings just will not come off."

Seolhwa began gathering mana at her fingertips. Blue mana coiled around the silver arrow.

'Less piercing, more sheer destruction.'

The arrow left Seolhwa's fingertips and cut through the air. Tracing its silver arc, it slammed full-force into Mara's wing joint. With a dull, resounding crack, one enormous wing bent at a grotesque angle and hung limp.

"KYAAAAAAAH!!"

And then, for the first time, the creature that had made no sound at all let out a hideous shriek.

Hwarang clapped her hands over her ears; Seolhwa blocked hers as well, scanning the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠situation.

When the scream died away, Mara dragged its massive body around and charged at Seolhwa, howling as it came.

"How is a bug this hard to kill."

Hwarang grumbled irritably, fishing out something else from her pouch — and just then, Seolhwa pulled off her mask.

"Because it's time for the curtain call."

"The heck is that supposed to mean?"

Hwarang tilted her head, puzzled by the remark.

From the tip of Aurora's muzzle erupted a flame almost indistinguishable from a laser. The smell of burning insect that had been drifting in the air since earlier grew far, far stronger.

Hwarang seemed to sense it too, and shouted toward the distant Dueokshini.

"Dueokshini!"

A colossal harpoon buried itself in Mara's torso. Coiling in the tethered line, Seolhwa used the pull to dart forward, closing the distance in a flash.

And just as she had with the High Orc, she jammed the muzzle against Mara's eyes and began blasting point-blank buckshot into them — utterly unmoved by the creature's hideous screaming.

"It's over."

The last hundred rounds began converging, fusing into a single arrow. The arrow glowed above the darkened lake like a full moon hanging on the water.

The instant Seolhwa released the string, a silver flash split the lake in two. The power was on a wholly different order from the High Orc fight — Mara's massive body crumbled into dust without so much as a final scream.