Rainbow Lake No. 294 (4)

The lake was vast to begin with, so it wasn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠long before a tidy little spot presented itself.

Dang Gyu-young scanned the surroundings and asked, "How about here?"

"Works for me."

We might have stumbled on somewhere even nicer if we kept walking, but she seemed satisfied enough, and I wasn't the picky sort about this kind of thing anyway.

Dang Gyu-young began producing her prepared items from her inventory without missing a beat. Shadow hands rose up from the ground at her feet to help. First out came a hefty camping stove, into which she piled firewood by the armful, then a magic tool to set it alight.

Fwoosh.

Next she set a grill rack over the flames and laid out an assortment of treats from a cooler. As I watched the beef, sausages, and whole shrimp sizzle away, Dang Gyu-young unfolded two camp chairs and rapped her knuckles on one of them.

"Sit yourself down here, Young Lord."

"This is the real camping deal."

"I did say it'd be simple, didn't I?"

"Simple, all right — and dead serious."

Modest as the setting was, for a single overnight trip the equipment and ingredients betrayed no small amount of preparation.

Dang Gyu-young flashed a grin. "I'm quite the enthusiast for this sort of thing."

"I did suspect you preferred the quiet life."

Come to think of it, that tracked. She'd looked happy enough roaming the rowdy commercial district at my side, but the times she'd seemed truly at peace were the midnight strolls through the deserted school grounds, or sitting shoulder to shoulder on a bench, sipping canned coffee.

Somehow, I thought I understood why.

"I live a pretty hectic life, you know."

Things had eased up noticeably of late, but the workload that came with a club presidency was still substantial. Add to that her third-year academic schedule, and she'd need hours of her own besides to keep honing her craft.

Truthfully, that last one is the hardest.

Shadow Weaver belonged to a genuinely rare class. Precedents existed, barely — for all practical purposes, she was pioneering the path herself. Which meant that merely reaching the midpoint demanded twice the effort anyone else had to spend.

For someone juggling all of that, the answer wrote itself.

"When you finally get a break, you want to spend it comfortably."

"You really do read me like an open book. Talking with you is so easy, Kim Ho."

Dang Gyu-young fished a canned drink out of the cooler and handed it to me, keeping one for herself. But she didn't crack it open right away; she fixed her gaze on the lake and spoke.

"Guess what my dream is."

"Hmm."

"Come on, guess."

I thought it over for a moment before answering. "Going by the flow of this conversation — camping, or traveling?"

"Bingo. Traveling often, wherever I please."

"That's not an easy dream."

Only being at the academy made our situation relatively comfortable. This game of a world was nowhere near safe enough to wander freely, much less to lounge about savoring the camping life. Monsters swarmed every corner and villains schemed in the shadows, and their caliber ran from C-rank to A-rank — occasionally all the way to S-rank. Dangerous, every last bit of it.

Dang Gyu-young knew ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that as well as I did, and popped her can open with breezy indifference.

Pssht.

"...It's hard. That's why it's a dream. Still, it'll come true someday, won't it?"

She was tilting the can back when something seemed to strike her. "Hey, by that logic, yours is even harder!"

"Mine's hard too."

The objective of the EX-rank reincarnation quest: halt the destruction of the world. In short — world peace. And in this neck of the woods, world peace was a dream every bit as far-fetched as world domination.

Smiling, I served her own words right back. "But it'll come true someday, won't it?"

"...Your confidence really is something else. Fine, I'll just have to help you every step of the way."

After all, once world peace arrived, there'd be no shortage of places to run off and play.

Dang Gyu-young raised her can. "Shall we toast?"

"Let's."

She pondered for a moment over what to toast to, then grinned and thrust out her can. "To world peace."

"To the dream of camping."

Clink. The cans met with a light chime.

Between the food, the drinks, and the idle chatter, two hours slipped by before we knew it. Dang Gyu-young was the first to check the time and haul herself up. "Let's start packing up."

"Right."

In truth, there wasn't much for me to do. The shadow hands bustled about handling the cleanup, stuffing every last tool — cooler included — into Dang Gyu-young's inventory.

That is absurdly convenient.

Shadow magic had a surprisingly practical side. With the cleanup finished in a blink, we retraced our steps to the spot where Kim Gap-du Fish and I had clashed — open ground, ideal for facing the thing head-on.

Standing there and looking out over the lake, I could see the ice sheet had shattered into fragments, floes bobbing aimlessly on the water. Before it got wrecked, the scene had possessed a certain charm. Such was the havoc Ice Gap-du had wrought.

Blub, blub.

Before long, bubbles came surging up furiously from the lake even as electricity crackled and spread across the surface. That settled the creature's next affinity.

Lightning.

I hadn't learned a single lightning-attribute skill, but I had prepared for exactly this moment.

E-rank buys about a minute. Long enough for a single mid-to-large-scale spell, and nothing more. Ending it in one blow would let us save a jade, but factoring in the Elemental Fish's remaining health — plus whatever it had recovered while submerged — the odds of that were slim to none.

We're using both, then. Which meant it would be most efficient for Dang Gyu-young and me to trigger them back to back. If one strike finished the job, wonderful; if not, we could chain straight into the next attack.

For those reasons, I passed one Heart Thunder Jade to Dang Gyu-young. "Here you go."

"Whoa, you still had this on you?"

"I was saving ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it for today."

"What was the Heart Thunder Jade's penalty again?"

"Your heart can stop."

Dang Gyu-young flinched, then narrowed her eyes at me. "...And you're telling ME to use that?"

"I'm not simply telling you to use it, no."

Dang Gyu-young's eyes went a little wide as she read the notification. "Elemental Resistance? Young Lord! What is this?!"

"That's my nest egg."

"As if two broken skills weren't enough — you had a broken trait stashed away too."

No wonder you just swing Inferno Fist around!

I raised an index finger to my lips. "You'll keep it secret, right?"

"Why do the secrets between us keep piling up?"

"You don't like that?"

"No, I like it."

Dang Gyu-young beamed sweetly — the more secrets shared, the better, apparently.

With Elemental Resistance bestowed, there was no need to fear the penalty. She crushed the Heart Thunder Jade in her hand at once, and—

KRAKOOM!

—the thunder sealed inside burst free and took roost in her heart. One by one, her shadow butterflies fluttered skyward, and unlike usual, each one crackled with stored electricity.

As Dang Gyu-young multiplied her butterflies, the lake — bubbling furiously until that very moment — abruptly heaved upward.

WHOOOOSH—!

The Elemental Fish revealed itself for the third time. This round, its scales shimmered somewhere between yellow and gold.

At the sight, Dang Gyu-young bit back a mischievous grin and whispered in my ear. "Say it. You're dying to say it, aren't you?"

"It is rather hard to hold back, I'll admit."

"Then just let it rip. It's not like anyone's replaying this."

"...Very well."

I drew one deep breath and opened my mouth. "It's Lightning Gap-du!"

"Pffhahahaha!"

Dang Gyu-young slapped my shoulder again and again.

"—!"

Lightning Gap-du, it seemed, did not appreciate its new nickname. Whether the aftereffects of three consecutive Hyneum Jade Demon Fingers still lingered, it was in a badly weakened state — but the hostility it aimed at us hadn't dimmed one bit.

Crackle, crackle.

Before long, current gathered above its head, swelling larger and larger, until it became a single bolt of lightning hurled straight at Dang Gyu-young. She reflexively moved to dodge — then, as if some thought had struck her, planted herself firmly right where she stood.

And took the bolt head-on.

BZZZT!

"...Incredible."

Not a scratch on her. She'd been putting Elemental Resistance through its paces. I'd done exactly the same when I first acquired mine — needlessly tanking a breath attack I could have easily dodged. Human minds really do run along the same tracks.

All the while, the butterflies had been fluttering diligently closer ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to the creature. The moment they reached the space above its head, they dropped their payloads in unison. Dozens of lightning bolts came crashing down.

KRAKOOM! KRAKAROOM!

"—!"

Lightning Gap-du let out a shrill shriek. But just as predicted, one blow wasn't enough — it clung to life by the thinnest of margins.

"That didn't finish it, huh."

"I'll handle the finisher."

I clenched my hand, the Heart Thunder Jade splintered, and a bolt of lightning drove straight into my heart.

KRAKOOM!

A tingling sensation spread from my chest through my entire body. When I stirred my mana experimentally, a faint electric crackle answered in place of mana.

I dropped to one knee and drove Deep Root into the ground. Then, from that stance, I stretched my empty hand out in front of me.

BZZZZZZT!

A faint current ran through every stream of wind converging from all directions. The wind-and-lightning gathering around the Elemental Fish soon spun itself into an enormous vortex. The whirlwind compressed, shrinking tighter and tighter, until at last it erupted in a colossal discharge.

BZZZZAAAT—!

A blinding flash swallowed my vision. When the blast finally subsided and my sight returned, Kim Gap-du Fish had vanished without a trace. It had already been at death's door, and it had just eaten an A+ Spiral Explosion laced with branching bolts — there was never any chance of it withstanding that.

Rrrrumble.

Hard on its heels, as if announcing the dungeon's clearance, the whole area shuddered and an exit yawned open. Several boxes sat waiting in front of it.

"Multicolored Scales — those were armor materials, right?"

"Yes, for armor."

Like the Elemental Fish itself, their attribute shifted constantly, and unless struck with the matching element, they boasted tremendous defensive power. Material that fine commanded a hefty price, naturally.

Dang Gyu-young, apparently fond of the "hefty price" part, wore a thoroughly satisfied look. "Really? Then let's take one each."

"And what will you do with the random box?"

Her stake in this dungeon was a sizable one — she'd helped me copy Poison Resistance off the Crow Tailor, after all, and she'd sunk hours into putting this camping trip together. Had she wanted it, I could simply have handed it over.

But Dang Gyu-young mulled it over briefly, then made a proposal. "Open it first, then decide?"

"Fine by me."

We'd crack it open, and depending on what came out, one of the two of us would keep it. A moment later, Dang Gyu-young flipped the random box open with a nonchalance that would have given Seo Ye-in a run for her money.

Flash!

"Well, can't complain."

"Split it fifty-fifty again?"

"No, just take them both."

Dang Gyu-young handed them over without a second thought, saying she'd never once tried ranking anything up with these. Her skills and traits sat on a higher level than mine overall, which meant her odds of success would be that much lower, too.

They really are hellishly reluctant to land, though. If I were Seo Ye-in — lucky mascot and certified gacha fraud — I'd have used them on the spot and watched them stick. But I was neither a lucky mascot nor a fraud, so I resolved to tuck them away for now.

With the loot divided in short order, we set off toward the teleport portal. Then Dang Gyu-young faltered mid-step and turned her head my way.

"...Now that I think about it, it's strange. This dungeon used to be such a chore, but running it with you, I never once noticed the time."

"Let's come back together sometime."

"You'll make it fun next time, too?"

"I'll do my best."

"Hehe. Good."

We smiled at each other — and then, at last, stepped through the teleport portal we had once stopped short of crossing.