The Returnee's Clearing Method (2)
The moment Seolhwa activated her skill, a stand materialized directly in front of her, ready to receive Aurora.
She mounted Aurora on the stand just as the water creatures came crashing in. She pulled the trigger, and a harpoon of light punched through the lead monster's brow at a speed unlike anything before. And hanging from the harpoon's tail was a silver chain.
Harpoon: Siege Mode
No ammunition is consumed while this mode is maintained. However, you cannot move — redirecting the shot is the only exception.
⚠ Warning: While anchored, your defense is reduced by 50%. Releasing the mode incurs a 3-second cooldown.
Duration remaining: 156 seconds
So that's all the Master of Infinite Ammo amounts to?
Still, look at that firepower — fair enough, honestly
Against mobs that double in number though, it's better to eat the risk and run infinite ammo, right?
With a bright chime of sliding chain, the harpoon buried in the water creature came flying back. Seolhwa didn't stop there — she swiveled, redirected, and hunted, harpoon launching, returning, piercing, returning, over and over.
"Ha…"
That thing is stupidly versatile lmaooooo
Legendary weapons earn their name, no kidding
Unique alone is already cracked, but Legendary is on a whole different level
"Sixteen now, is it?" Seolhwa glanced at the timer.
Remaining Time: 10 minutes
It's about time I started controlling the kill rate.
If she kept culling them at this pace, she'd soon be facing a flood no sane person could weather.
"Ammo change."
Siege Mode is being released.
For the three seconds of cooldown, the water creatures hurled themselves at Seolhwa. She had sealed Aurora — but nothing was binding her two feet.
"Not a chance."
She drove a kick straight into the face of the charging monster. Along with the satisfying crunch of a shattering jawbone, three, two, one ticked down in her head, cool and unhurried.
"Let's cool things off a bit."
The muzzle that had been hurling silver harpoons now unfolded, launching outward in the shape of a colossal net. The creature caught inside thrashed helplessly, unable to move.
Grwooor—!
Slipping past the creatures lunging at her, Seolhwa sprinted toward the ones clawing at the building instead.
Hall of Self-Reflection Integrity: 98%
Wait, why isn't she taking out the ones charging her first?
Aggro's already locked onto her, so she figures they won't touch the building
The quest is defend the building, after all
With every creature attacking the building bound and trussed, Seolhwa turned to face the ones charging her.
Seven.
She finished her aim and fired. With a shriek of split air, the silver harpoon streaked dead-on for the chest of the monster in the lead.
But.
CLANG—!
With a bright metallic ring, the harpoon bounced off. The point that should have buried itself skidded up the monster's smoothly hardened hide and soared into empty air.
Same as before — hit the same spot too many times and they adapt.
She had muscled through the early phase on Aurora's raw firepower, but that advantage was quietly running dry. Scales had hardened across the creatures' foreheads now.
What??
Did they just gain resistance?
Stop tripping lmaoooo
Kill them too fast and they multiply so you can't even kill them properly, they gain resistance, you gotta hold the building, AND you have to survive
"Haah…"
Seolhwa touched Aurora twice.
At the user's will, Aurora transforms into a new form.
Changing Aurora's mode.
The single weapon in her grip split apart into two lights.
Registered Modes: 5 / 7
In her left hand, a silver pistol steeped in cold moonlight; in her right, a dark-gold pistol glowing like the dying sun.
Dual Strike: Twilight Trail
Whoa, those colors are unreal;;
Silver and gold combo… literally looks like a sunset
But can pistols even punch through that hide?
"It's been a while… shall we dance?"
Seolhwa closed her eyes for a heartbeat. It felt as though the reek of blood and the crack of gunfire were circling her all over again.
She pulled the trigger at the creature charging in from dead ahead.
Her hands crossed at a speed the eye couldn't follow, silver and gold light spilling from the twin muzzles. And where two bullets met, a sunset brand flared into being — then detonated in a roaring blaze.
Within that dance, Seolhwa's silver hair scattered beautifully on the wind.
Now THIS is a dancer
Any random screenshot looks like a god-tier illustration
Rawr rawr
Even the voice line delivery goes so hard
lmaooooo I'm getting way too invested
Where two bullets cross, a Sunset Brand is carved. When the brand detonates, Lesser Brands transfer to nearby enemies.
And as the blast tore outward, the shards of the explosion struck other water creatures, seeding small brands across their bodies as well.
Rat-a-tat—!
To that crisp rhythm, Seolhwa dove straight into the heart of the monster horde, moving as though she were dancing to the beat of her own gunfire.
The shards flung loose by each detonating brand drifted down around her like the petals of a plum tree in its dying hour. Wherever a petal settled, one of her bullets found it — and it burst all over again.
The creatures she'd bound came free and charged her as well. Thirteen water creatures attacked her at once.
A massive claw grazed her mask. Grazed her hair. Enormous teeth scraped her leg. A hem fluttered past, torn at the edge.
But Seolhwa's finger never stopped pulling the trigger.
A silver bullet sank into the heart of the last branded creature.
A heartbeat of perfect silence.
Then came the chain of thunder.
With Seolhwa's low murmur, the sunset brands carved into the creatures' bodies all burst at once, blossoming into a single vast flower.
Through the drift of scattering crimson petals, Seolhwa touched down in an elegant landing.
Crack—!
Before the force of the explosion had even faded, a sharp splitting sound slapped against her face. The last desperate struggle of a water creature, perhaps — spiderweb veins of fracture spread across the surface of her steel mask.
Clang—!
Hard metal shards rained to the floor. A thin line of red blood welled from her slightly split cheek, a stark contrast against the pale skin. White breath escaped between lips still gulping down air, and through the slash torn along her hem by a passing claw, an angry red welt showed beneath.
The twin pistols in her hands had, at some point, become a single bow.
⏱ Remaining Time: 00:01
🛡 Protected Target: Building integrity maintained above 90%
🎁 Ammo Remaining: 100 rounds
What even is this??
hahahahahahahaha
At this point all I can do is laugh
But the visuals are SO pretty though
Those sunset petals match her perfectly
Seolhwa watched the petals drifting down and took a long, deep breath. Then she pulled her mask out of the inventory and put it back on.
You have defended the Hall of Self-Reflection from the water creatures.
However, the true source of the danger has not yet been eliminated.
Leave the Hall of Self-Reflection and remove the cause.
Ahh, she's covering her face again
Doesn't even give you a second to breathe
That's this game for you
Sadly true
Seolhwa stared at the system window for a moment. Then it faded away, and the great main gate of the Hall of Self-Reflection began to swing slowly open.
And with every slow step she took toward it —
Ting—!
Ting—!
Ting—!
Tingtingtingtingting—!
Bell chimes rang out.
What the???
I muted the second the bells started
The atmosphere here is insane
This is legit terrifying
The metal din that had been shrieking at the edge of tearing her ears cut off, as if it had never existed, the instant Seolhwa crossed the threshold. In its place, a cold draft breathed out from deep within the hall, stirring the hem of her coat.
Outside lay a palace steeped in thick darkness — and in the courtyard before it, a woman in red shaman's robes stood with her back turned.
Krik.
Her head bent at an unnatural angle as she looked back over her shoulder. The fan in her hand snapped open with a rustle, and between its ribs a pair of blood-red eyes glinted.
"Ah. So you've been tainted by the unclean."
Her voice was not one voice. Over a child's clear timbre lay the rasp of an old man's iron and the low growl of a beast — a discordant choir. She folded the fan shut, slowly, and took one step toward Seolhwa.
"But you. Your scent is a curious one, isn't it?"
Her nostrils twitched. Then a smile split across her face, wide enough to tear. "And you. This makes two times, doesn't it? KHAHAHAHAHA!"
What the hell is that voice now?
Nobody's ever made it this far, so…
Uuu, your girl Labui can't keep up anymore
…You know?
At the woman's words, the hand holding Aurora began to tremble.
"No wonder the ones I sent this time fell so easily."
Seolhwa spoke up to that monster wearing a woman's face.
"Not really something someone who was jealous of Her Majesty should be saying, though."
The smile clinging to the woman's mouth vanished in an instant. The grotesquely bent neck cracked back into place with a sound like snapping wood, and from within her throat, countless voices that would never merge into one boiled over, tangling like beasts.
"HOW DARE YOU CARRY THAT NAME!!!"
Along with her scream, a dark-red liquid came cascading from her mouth like a waterfall. Wherever it landed, faint smoke rose as the surface began to melt away.
"You wretch…! Did you come coveting my seat too?!"
She swept her fan through the air, and the dark-red liquid hanging there hardened into a storm of razor arrows, pouring down on Seolhwa.
Watching the flood of bloodlet arrows fall, Seolhwa simply walked forward, unhurried, on light feet.
"If you could never have the seat, you shouldn't have coveted it in the first place."
An arrow loosed from the bowstring struck the woman's fan square-on. Seolhwa kept drawing, again and again.
"Besides, there's something I heard once."
A voice flowed through the corridors of her memory.
"Do you know what happens when a shaman fails to fling her flesh?"
Seolhwa had answered idly. "Me? No idea."
"The flesh comes flying right back at you."
"Like that reverse-casting you were always going on about?"
Her companion had laughed. "Something like that. The difference is that reverse-casting only cancels the spell — the flesh can kill you."
"Weren't you a Western magic major, though? How do you even know that?"
"There's not much I don't know. The roots of all magic are the same. Besides, it's something I might have to use myself someday."
"…I suppose."
As she slipped past the falling attacks, half-lost in that memory, Sohwa's voice tore through the air.
"DIE!!"
"Sorry, but the flesh you throw always finds its way home."
Boss Monster Sohwa's stats plummet.
Sohwa's miasma is weakened.
Damage Sohwa receives is increased.
Monsters summoned by Sohwa are weakened.
"Where'd you even hear that? All karma, in the end, comes back around to the one who made it."
Aurora's form began to shift, slowly.
"No! I know nothing! Nothing!"
Screaming, Sohwa spewed her miasma, and summoned a horde of water creatures to hurl at Seolhwa.
At the user's will, Aurora transforms into a new form.
Mode Change: Bow → Assault Rifle
Registered Modes: 6 / 7
"That's why — I intend to make the karma that came back to me deliver it to you one more time."
Aurora's barrel stretched long and heavy, exhaling a deep metallic weight. Seolhwa set the stock firmly against her shoulder and took aim at the creatures charging straight for her.
BANG—!
With one clean, clear report, the creature's forehead punched through. Hide sapped by the debuff tore apart far, far too easily.
Seolhwa flipped the selector to full auto and started firing on the move — advancing as she shot, true to the name assault rifle.
Sohwa kept summoning monsters without pause.
But each summon turned to dust the instant a silver bullet touched it.
"Don't come! I said DON'T COME!"
Her fan shook violently, and poison sprayed out like hidden blades. Seolhwa turned her face aside to let it slip past —
— and her finger never left the trigger.
Wherever a bullet landed, flesh burst apart with a soft pop.
"The flesh you sent was strong. That much, I'll concede."
Seolhwa touched the selector set to full auto one more time.
Removes the delay between shots in full-auto fire.