No.88 Gathering of Villains (5)

Ghost Without Shadow was a composite skill that rolled movement, evasion, and stealth into one. With most composite skills, the individual effects tend to come out middling when you pull them apart, but this one—like Spiral Explosion—was top-grade in all three regards.

Any class could wield it to impressive effect, but since it excelled at striking into an opponent's unguarded moments, it paired best with thief- and assassin-type builds.

Its only drawbacks were that, bearing no rank, it could not grow, and that it carried a five-minute cooldown. Two or three ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠uses per battle at most meant every cast had to count. I decided to test its true performance when the opportunity arose.

Now, it's the next person's turn.

The textbook play was to return to the clearing where my party members were holding the fight and send our number-two batter into the side passage. Once batter number two cleared the Trial of the Illusion Demon and acquired Ghost Without Shadow, we'd send in number three, and so on down the lineup.

But I wasn't exactly fond of that approach.

Inefficient.

For me, a trial I'd run so many times I could practically clear it tap-dancing with my eyes closed, a single attempt had sufficed—but who knew how long it would take the others? Their aptitude wasn't bad; two or three tries at most and they'd have the hang of it. But if all four of them had to go through that process...

It would take far too long.

And all the while we'd be weathering the black-masked men's rolling assaults, burning through stamina the entire time. It would be far more efficient to pour that time and energy into recovering the remaining hidden pieces and learn Ghost Without Shadow afterward.

Which left one question: how exactly do you put off the Trial of the Illusion Demon?

The answer was remarkably simple.

Take it with us.

It sounded absurd, but for me, it was possible. To be precise, I was in possession of a positively game-breaking item that made it possible.

The Bodhidharma Statue, which I'd tucked into my inventory a short while ago. The moment I brought it out and pressed it against the dokkaebi statue—

- Shhhhrp……

The bulk that had loomed taller than a person deflated like a punctured balloon, shrinking rapidly until it was no bigger than my palm.

This was its original size, you know.

The illusion formation had made it appear enlarged; with the Bodhidharma Statue having broken through part of the formation, its true form had been revealed. I stowed the miniature dokkaebi statue into my inventory, then repeated the process—shrinking the other statues the same way and collecting them one by one.

Before long, nothing remained in the hall but the bare marble floor.

The statues were no mere sculptures; they were the principal pieces that composed the formation. Arranged properly, they could recreate the Phantom Demon's illusion formation—and with it, the trial itself.

In other words, even beyond the bamboo forest—beyond the dungeon itself—we could sit the trial and learn Ghost Without Shadow.

There is a limit on uses, granted.

The statues had genuine durability, after all. But how often do you get to walk out with the exam room under your arm?

With such thoughts, I made my way back along the side passage.

The battle was in full swing by the time I reached the clearing. The masked men in black pressed coordinated attacks like well-drilled elite warriors, and my companions met them each in their own fashion.

Dang Gyu-young had dug in as though shielding Chae Da-bin and was shouldering the lion's share of the fighting. Shadow arms erupting from the ground struck down enemies with every manner of shadow weapon.

Chae Da-bin was less about dealing damage herself and more about shoring up her allies—tiny drones darted here and there, draping shields and buffs over the party as needed.

As expected—a support type.

Go Hyeon-woo's skill improved by the day as it was, and lately his one-stone-three-birds training had honed his footwork besides. On steps as natural as flowing water, he threaded between the masked men, sword sweeping in wide arcs.

Jang Mu-geuk fought around evasion and defense, then, once every decisive opening, drove a single lethal thrust into a masked man's throat or chest.

In the middle of it all, Dang Gyu-young spotted me walking out of the side passage and asked,

"Done already?"

"Yes, I've got it."

I held up one of the dokkaebi statues for them to see, then went on,

"Let's head out now."

"Okay."

Dang Gyu-young swept a hand in a soft arc, and the shadow arms all went slack and slumped at once—then surged like a breaking wave, shoving the enemies back.

- KWAAAAAH—!

The encirclement burst open in an instant, and through the gap we slipped out of the clearing at speed.

Chae Da-bin broke off her run to glance back, then spoke as though marveling.

"……It's all gone."

At some point, the clearing had been wiped perfectly clean—as if the pitched battle of moments ago had never happened.

It made sense. Every last bit of it had been phantoms spun by the illusion formation. We were outside its range now, beyond its power to touch us.

Of course, the formation was laid along the way out as well, so I held out my hand to Dang Gyu-young.

"Grab on. Round-trip express, now boarding."

"All aboard~"

Dang Gyu-young snagged my hand with a grin. Just as on the way in, hand in hand in single file, we set off.

With the Bodhidharma Statue held out front and my veteran instincts steering, the choking fog gradually lifted, and the bamboo crowding in from every side began to thin. We had left the bamboo forest.

The moment safety was confirmed, everyone crowded in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠around me. Dang Gyu-young, Jang Mu-geuk, and Go Hyeon-woo each had their say.

"Show me that thing from before."

"You truly mean to master it with that?"

"Even I find my curiosity stirring, I confess."

Chae Da-bin said nothing, but kept hovering at my elbow, craning for a look.

I took out just one dokkaebi statue and one evil-spirit statue from my inventory.

"Eyes only, please. One scratch and your number of attempts goes down."

"……!"

"……!"

At that, everyone who had been reaching for the statue yanked their hands back as if they'd touched a hot stove.

I kept explaining.

"We'll hold the Ghost Without Shadow attempts separately, once the clear is finished. Everyone will get their fair share of chances."

"Got it."

"I shall look forward to it."

This had been agreed upon from the start, so all of them accepted it without protest. Now was the time to focus on recovering the remaining hidden pieces, and we set off once more.

The demon lords of [Gathering of Evildoers] tended to do as they pleased, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but their territories and patrol routes were more or less fixed. If we wanted to avoid clashing with them, steering clear of those zones was the best policy. So even though our next destination lay inside the city, I chose to loop around the outskirts first.

And then—

- SHWAAAAAK—!

From somewhere nearby came a ferocious crack, as though the very air were being torn apart. I turned my gaze toward the source of the sound and spotted two warriors vaulting nimbly across ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the rooftops of the great halls.

Go Hyeon-woo and Jang Mu-geuk each offered a comment.

"What astonishing lightfoot technique."

"So those are the demon lords in question. They do not look like easy opponents."

I, meanwhile, was thinking something rather different.

Why are those two out here?

Their territory lay a long way from this spot. Which meant some variable had occurred—and the odds were very good that the variable was Paeng Mi-ryeong's expedition. And the fact that those two were still alive meant—

Looks like they ran into them.

—that Paeng Mi-ryeong's side had slipped up somewhere.

Dang Gyu-young seemed to have arrived at much the same conclusion, because she asked me,

"What's the call?"

"No need to go looking for trouble. Let's leave them be for now."

The strength we fielded was close to the bare minimum for operating in a B-rank dungeon, so avoiding fights and conserving it wherever possible was the smarter play. If the pair took the peaceful road, we intended to simply let them pass.

And here they come.

Unfortunately, they didn't seem to have any such intention. Mid-flight, the two wheeled their course toward us and closed in fast. Hostility rolled off them in waves; their intent was plain.

I gave the order.

"Then we fight. Let's get ready."

"……!"

Everyone ratcheted up their guard and braced for battle. Chae Da-bin flipped open a bag like a travel suitcase and sent her drones swarming skyward; Jang Mu-geuk and Go Hyeon-woo each drew their blades. I drew out the sapling and planted it against the ground.

Then down into the clearing dropped two middle-aged masters, alike as twins. One wore dark yellow robes, the other green, and neither bore so much as a sidearm—masters of the fist and palm, clearly.

In fact, these two were masters of palm arts and poison arts both. The yellow-robed one specialized in paralysis poison—Bima, the Paralysis Demon. The green-robed one wielded acid—Sanma, the Acid Demon.

Together, the Bisan Twin Demons.

And just as I'd guessed from a distance, they had plainly come straight from a pitched battle with Paeng Mi-ryeong's party—wounds great and small covered them from head to toe. Blood at the corners of their mouths and on their noses suggested internal injuries on top of it all.

Of the two, Bima swept his gaze over us and spat,

"What remarkably cunning vermin you are. I did wonder why the pursuit broke off—so you were lying in wait in a place like this."

That told me the shape of things well enough. Paeng Mi-ryeong's party had seized the upper hand in the end, but it seemed they had pulled out of the pursuit partway for some reason—no doubt meaning to regroup their strength first. From the Bisan Twin Demons' point of view, they'd made a clean getaway—until they spotted us, judged that the chase had to be finished, and came straight for us.

Wondering whether there was still room to talk, I asked,

"Shall we simply let you go?"

"Heh heh. You take us for fools who'd swallow such a flimsy trick? You mean to wave us through, then knife us in the back."

I really was going to let you go, though.

It seemed fighting was the only option after all. In that case, I needed to seal off their escape route so that we didn't come up empty-handed too. So I changed tack slightly and began needling the pair's temper.

"Come now, your heels were on fire not two minutes ago. Why the sudden urge to fight? You'll only bolt again the moment things turn against you."

"……Fear not. It is with the likes of you that I shall see this through to the very end."

The provocation must have landed, for the Bisan Twin Demons curled their lips into smiles thick with bloodlust. As they raised their auras in unison, the plant life all around blackened and withered.

"You said something amusing, so I shall save you for last. I will play with you a while before I kill you."

I ducked behind Dang Gyu-young.

"Did you hear that? He says he'll play with me before he kills me."

"That won't do. You're playing with me."

Dang Gyu-young ran a hand lightly over my hair, once. Then her expression hardened into something serious, and she began edging sideways, unhurried. She had sensed the battle about to break and was claiming the optimal position before it did.

And so it begins……

I didn't know how Paeng Mi-ryeong's expedition had ended up facing the Bisan Twin Demons, but the strategy guide had expressly advised steering wide of a fight with them. Most of the fiends roamed singly, whereas these two traveled as a pair—a far heavier burden. Masters of poison arts on top of that, which made them trickier still.

Of course, that was the general consensus—the guide's standard.

By my standards, they're quite manageable.

For one, those two had come straight out of a brutal fight and were nowhere near full strength. If they had health bars, they'd be sitting around seventy percent. And then, decisively—

They're poison masters, aren't they.

Which made them all the more manageable.

I chained Octopus Legs into Bestow first.

I had bestowed Poison Resistance on all four of them. But on its own, the rank came out a little low, so—

Time to amplify it, too.

Amplifying the Poison Resistance granted to the four of them amplified my own skills right along with it. Casting everything back-to-back through Octopus Legs had heaped on massive penalties—Bestow's cooldown multiplied sixteenfold, and Amplification's a staggering eighty-one times. For the next few days, both skills were as good as sealed away.

Even so, it was worth every second of it.

……

……

The corners of everyone's mouths crept quietly upward. Where moments ago their eyes on the Bisan Twin Demons had been taut with tension, now they looked to be scheming exactly how to cook these two.

I smirked as well and said,

"Let's finish this in five minutes."

[242] The Support Ate it All