No.490 Winterhalt (3)

This was the second main quest I'd been handed since waking up inside this game-made-real world. Unlike the first, which had been a one-and-done affair, this one unfolded as a chain of linked quests — following one small lead after another, step by careful step, until a far larger puzzle stood complete.

And with that thing now on the scene, one thing seemed clear: on the grand scale, events were proceeding exactly as written.

The fallout from the EX-rank reincarnation quest had swapped out the cast wholesale, and the events they went on to stage had shifted in small ways as well. Even so, the flow of history hadn't strayed entirely from the original. Who knew what might come later — but at the very least, not yet.

For instance, the Bamboo Grove operative who had turned up at the Black Market, lured there by a fake coded message, had been someone I'd never heard of. Even so, he had still been a Blood Cult Elder, and the Blood Explosion Pill incident had still erupted on the island during the midterm exam. I expected no different this time around.

With my thoughts settled, I turned my gaze back to that thing.

Dark Oublek.

An undead monster of the slime lineage. Its rank ranged anywhere from D all the way to A. Given that this was a D-rank dungeon, whoever was behind it had likely fielded a C — half a step to a full step above the standard. Not a hopeless situation, but hardly one for optimism. Which meant the preparations started now.

"Hong Yeon-hwa."

"Uh, um...?"

"How much mana do you have left?"

"Not... a lot."

Hong Yeon-hwa's face darkened a little. She'd been in this dungeon for hours on end, rapid-firing spells, recovering, then rapid-firing again — an endless cycle. The fatigue had piled up to the point where even her mana restoration magic was losing efficiency by now. Still, better than nothing.

"Top it off, even if it's only a little."

"...Okay."

Hong Yeon-hwa began her incantation at once, and blue magic circles rose at her feet, feeding mana back into her.

- ...!

Meanwhile, the ice monster legion broke off its siege mid-assault and swung its attention around to the rear, all at once. It had spotted the Dark Oublek advancing on them. With a form so alien to everything else in this place, being noticed had only ever been a matter of time.

No sooner was it made than the Dark Oublek writhed into motion, charging at tremendous speed. It closed the distance fast, the Ice Witch its target. Ice orcs and a pack of trolls moved to bar its path while the shamans and the Ice Witch hurled freezing spells — but the creature slipped past them all without so much as a scratch, gliding through every attack as if it were water off its back.

In the blink of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠an eye it was in front of the Ice Witch, spreading itself wide — and then it simply swallowed her whole. The mass heaved as though something inside were kicking and struggling, but it soon went still.

So it ate her.

As if that weren't enough, the Dark Oublek sped off again and devoured a nearby Ice Golem for good measure.

- Squelch, squelch.

The Dark Oublek's bloated bulk thrashed wildly, then little by little its black filth hardened as though freezing over — until it stood there looking like the Ice Witch and the Ice Golem blended half and half.

That's what makes the thing so troublesome.

This was how the Dark Oublek operated: it devoured its victims and borrowed their appearance and their strength. And when there were multiple victims, as now, the result was a mash-up of their traits. A Dark Oublek reborn as a giant ice-witch golem. Its head swiveled, fixing the fortress wall in a dead stare — then, mimicking the Ice Witch, it loosed a piercing shriek.

- ——!

The ice monster legion, which had been thrown into confusion, regained its cohesion, and the siege resumed. The Dark Oublek took a few steps forward as well, then began to charge at a speed absurd for a body that size.

- Thud. Thud. Thud!

The ground rang out a few times, and then it reached the wall in an instant and slammed into it with its whole body.

- KWA-BOOOM—!

A concussive crash that threatened to burst my eardrums sent rubble and dust scattering in every direction. A moment later the dust settled, revealing a wall caved in deep.

It won't hold much longer. And once the wall came down, the defense would fail — and with it, the dungeon clear.

I spoke to Hong Yeon-hwa.

"Time to move. Did you recover anything?"

"...A little. But I'll manage."

There hadn't been much time, so her mana had come back only in dribs and drabs — but as of this moment, there was no choosing otherwise. Hong Yeon-hwa understood that too; it was why she'd answered the way she had.

"We're doing it exactly like the midterms."

"...Right."

Same as against the Alpha Ogre: the vanguard pinned the thing down while the rear line dealt the damage. Splitting the roles was more efficient than me handling everything solo, and it raised the odds of success besides. Especially since this thing was undead and ice-attribute both — which meant Hong Yeon-hwa, with her Aqua Flame, could deal it catastrophic damage.

One last check with Hong Yeon-hwa.

"We won't get many openings. Once — twice at most. Can you do it?"

"I can. I will."

For once, Hong Yeon-hwa answered while meeting my eyes head-on. A sliver of fear showed through, but beneath it was a gaze brimming with resolve. That was enough.

"Good. Let's go."

- KWA-BOOOM—!

The ground shuddered violently beneath us again. The Dark Oublek had rammed the wall a second time.

This has to be finished in an instant. Just as I'd told Hong Yeon-hwa — we wouldn't get many chances. With the wall ready to crumble at any moment, a prolonged fight was out of the question. And neither stamina nor mana were in any supply to wage one anyway.

So the method I chose was—

Crush it. Overwhelmingly, in a single stroke.

The Octopus Legs–Amplification chain. On its own, Amplification carried a cooldown of a full thirty minutes — but so long as I swallowed the penalty, I could cast it any number of times simultaneously.

First, I amplified Hong Yeon-hwa's signature skill and trait.

"...!"

Hong Yeon-hwa's eyes went round as saucers. Hardly a surprise — both her ranks had just leapt two tiers at once. She surely had a mountain of questions, but those could wait.

I amplified the rest of my own skills as well.

Six consecutive multi-casts of a skill with a thirty-minute cooldown meant the penalty had ballooned a staggering thirty-sixfold. The cooldown had swollen to eighteen hours.

A shame I couldn't push it further. It would have been lovely to boost everything else too, but that would have stretched the cooldown past any tolerable limit. If I couldn't use Amplification in Friday's B-rank dungeon, that would be its own heavy loss — so I had no choice but to draw the line here.

And honestly, this much was more than enough. Five minutes only — but with specs that towered far above the Dark Oublek's.

I flung myself over the wall. The snow-covered ground rushed up fast, then my speed dropped off sharply — an applied twist of Wind Force, and I touched down soft as a falling leaf.

- Fwoosh—

The flame steeped into my fist was drawn inward, and power came flooding through my whole body. Absorbing Inferno Fist had always sent my physical abilities soaring; now Overheat was A-rank on top of that. Every kick off the ground snapped the scenery forward.

- Fwish, fwish!

Even as I ran, I summoned my dark clouds and wound them around my staff, then layered the A-rank amplified Wind Barrier over myself. And the moment I crashed into the ice monster legion in that state—

- CRUNCH!

Ice orcs and trolls alike were flung aside in heaps, tumbling across the ground. For the five minutes the amplification lasted, I was nothing short of a demolition engine. Nothing in this dungeon could stop me.

Just as the Dark Oublek had done, I bored a straight line through the ice legion toward my target. It had pulled back a short distance from the wall and looked to be winding up for another full-body ram. But the instant it lunged—

- WHUMP!

Compressed wind detonated against its flank, wrenching its trajectory hard sideways. It wobbled for an instant, then quickly steadied itself and fixed its glare on me.

Aggro: drawn. Glancing around, I saw a huge circle being etched into the ground nearby. Hong Yeon-hwa's Fire Pillar magic circle. My job was to drive the thing inside that radius and pin it there.

- ——!

The Dark Oublek released a shriek eerily close to the Ice Witch's, then shot one massive fist at me with terrifying ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠speed. I didn't dodge. I swung my staff to meet it head-on.

- BAM!

The Dark Oublek skidded backward in a long scrape. The dark clouds coiled around my staff had neutralized its physical force, while my Wind Force had delivered raw kinetic power in return. I didn't stop there — I pressed in deeper and hammered its torso again.

- BAM!

A thing heavier and faster than even the Alpha Ogre, and still all it could do was give ground. The Dark Oublek's rank was, at a generous estimate, C+; I was plated head to toe in A-rank. The outcome was only natural.

Rank is king around here, after all.

- BAM! BAM!

Clash after clash, it only ever lost ground — and it seemed to realize this couldn't go on. A blizzard came surging violently around us. It was drawing out the Ice Witch's magic. And as it thrust one hand forward—

- Whiiiiir—

The blizzard converged on me. Thanks to my S-rank Elemental Resistance the effect was nearly nil, but even so, I could feel my movements dulling — just barely enough to notice.

Which made sense. It was quite a fine skill.

Chillwind. A spell carrying frost and wind attributes in equal measure. High-tier magic, and a genuinely rare find at that. It was the very reason I'd chosen this dungeon over all the other ice-themed ones. By rights it was a spell the Ice Witch cast only under specific conditions — and when the Oublek devoured her, I'd half-feared I'd lost my chance to claim it.

Much appreciated. Thanks for casting it for me.

Apparently convinced it had slowed me down, the Dark Oublek swung its arm again — laughably insufficient. I met it with my staff, casual as anything.

- BAM!

Knocked back against its will yet again, it chained dark magic into the Chillwind this time. Jet-black ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠crystals came streaking through the blizzard.

Still not enough.

The barrier of wind wrapped me without a seam and swatted every black crystal aside. Still sheathed in it, I closed on the thing again and hammered it.

- BAM!

Shoved back and back, the Dark Oublek at last planted both feet atop the magic circle. What had begun as a bare, wide ring was steadily filling in with intricate script.

"Stay right there. Don't you go anywhere else."

- ——!

It answered with a defiant, razor-edged shriek and twisted its body, reaching for a sideways step. But before that next step could land, I was already in front of it.

"Ah-ah."

- BAM!

- ——!

For the Dark Oublek, it must have been maddening. The ice monster legion toppled in heaps at a single flick of my hand. Every close exchange ended with it crushed. Its magic didn't work. And whenever it tried to slip away, I sealed off its retreat like a ghost. With nothing working, the thing finally chose its last resort.

The solidified giant ice-witch golem sloughed apart in a limp melt, reverting to its original reeking sludge. In that form it made to scatter in every direction—

"I told you. No."

- Whiiiiir—!

Wind howled in from all sides, coiling around it in the shape of a vortex. The A+ amplified Spiral Explosion. The colossal maelstrom dragged the surrounding ice monster legion in along with it.

Presently the magic circle drank in a red more brilliant than any before, and raised an enormous pillar of flame.

- KWAAAAAA—!

The Fire Pillar spiraled upward without end, looking ready to clear the wall and stab into the sky itself. Then the air compressed by the Spiral Explosion burst free—

- KWA-BOOOOM—!

—unleashing a fire explosion vaster still. In its wake, the Dark Oublek — and every ice monster for acres around — was vaporized outright.

Well, that's that.

I retraced my path and climbed back up the wall. A few kicks off the stone and a few casts of Wind Force, and I was at the top in no time.

"Clean finish, not a single mistake. Nicely done."

"..."

I offered the praise, but Hong Yeon-hwa's response was bone-dry. She'd slumped down right where she was, utterly spent — and now that the tension had drained away, all the piled-up fatigue seemed to hit her at once. On top of that, she'd wrung out mana she barely had. Her Core was still mired at C-rank, yet Fire Pillar had been pushed to A — and she'd fired it at maximum output. Her mana had to be scraping bedrock by now.

But the dungeon would be closing soon; even to rest, we'd have to rest outside.

I held out my hand to Hong Yeon-hwa.

"It's over. Let's head out."

"..."

Hong Yeon-hwa stared at my hand through a half-daze, then laid hers on top of it. ...And then stayed like that for a long while. Apparently she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠couldn't get her fingers to close.

"Can't get up?"

"...Yeah."

Out of options, I stepped over, crouched down, and offered her my back.

"Hop on."

"..."

Ordinarily she would have gone wary or shrunk away — instead, Hong Yeon-hwa meekly stretched out her arms and looped them around my neck. Her head clearly wasn't running at full capacity.

Somewhere along the walk to the exit, Hong Yeon-hwa — face buried against my back — mumbled like someone three drinks deep.

"Unni... you liar..."

Why would 'Unni' come up out of nowhere? Had a thought she'd only been turning over in her head slipped out unguarded? If so, the odds were good it ran close to her true feelings.

So I tossed out a careful probe.

"Why?"

"You know... the effect..."

"..."

"It's so... cozy..."

Hong Yeon-hwa's words blurred at the edges. Before long, the only sound at my back was the soft, even rhythm of her breathing.

[235] The Support Ate it All