Chapter 38
Chapter 38
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Flame of the Chilling Soul
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Thud!
Min Ha-na cast her last fireball and collapsed on the spot.
“Hah... hah...”
Her whole body ached with every ragged breath.
She wanted nothing more than to lie down on the ground.
“I’ll collect the mana stones.”
Wang-sik crushed the head of the last remaining Ruby Bug with his foot and drew a dagger.
“This is stage four?”
“Yes.”
Wang-sik said as he extracted the mana stone.
“Beyond this mountain is the Black Forest, and that’s what we call stage five.”
Min Ha-na asked a question she dreaded the answer to.
“Do S-rank monsters appear there?”
“It’s a mix of particularly troublesome A-rank monsters and S-rank ones. I don’t know if you’re aware, but monsters live in packs too. Those are even trickier to deal with...”
Min Ha-na couldn’t focus, her mind filled with unsettling images.
“How far have you gone, Wang-sik?”
“I’ve been to stage six. It was tough to survive there. Anything beyond that, I’ve only heard about.”
“Heard about? From whom?”
“I caught a small demon in stage five and got it out of him. It was an errand runner. According to it, we have to assume there are at least nine stages.”
“Then what about a tenth stage?”
“There’s a dragon above that. Even the demon said it wouldn’t dare set foot in that territory.”
The explanation felt surreal to Min Ha-na. But then his next words turned her daze into a nightmare.
“These things are coming to our world one by one through gates. The problem is, they’re getting stronger. If we consider S-rank dungeons to be between stages five and six, what do you think would happen if a stage seven gate opened? A double S-rank gate? What about stage eight?”
Min Ha-na couldn’t even answer. She knew she should say something, but her mind went blank.
Wang-sik answered for her.
“The only reason we’ve survived this long is because the gates developed so far couldn’t handle the mana of the stronger ones. But the gates are evolving rapidly, and soon enough, we’ll be seeing creatures beyond S-rank in person.”
Come to think of it, the first gates were F-rank at best, and thankfully, the world’s armies managed to hold them off with their firepower. After that, E and D-rank gates naturally appeared, and Awakeners began to emerge among the soldiers and civilians who had fought.
Amid various issues, the world changed explosively, and the frequency of gate occurrences increased dramatically.
Beyond C-rank came B, A, and then S-rank.
The immense rewards gained from these gates had made people forget about the potential appearance of gates beyond S-rank.
“So you’re saying the gates are being created artificially.”
“Yes, by the mages here on Azelan.”
Min Ha-na found the answers to many of the questions she’d had for so long.
Why were gates appearing?
What was their purpose?
Learning that what she had only vaguely suspected was true made her heart feel heavy.
Watching the troubled Min Ha-na, Wang-sik asked again.
“Do you understand now how strong you need to become?”
“Hoo...”
Overwhelmed by the sheer scale of it all, Min Ha-na could only respond with a sigh.
* * *
Wang-sik fought one more battle in stage four before turning back.
Returning to the house on the deserted island through the lab, he gave half of the mana stones from his inventory to Min Ha-na.
“You don’t have to give me any.”
“The rewards of labor should be shared fairly.”
“La-labor?”
“There’s risk involved, but up to stage four, it’s basically labor. Repetitive and tedious. Once we get to stage five, we can finally call it combat.”
Not wanting to hear any more about that, Min Ha-na accepted the mana stones without a word.
Suddenly, her eyes were drawn to Wang-sik’s hands.
‘They’re so rough.’
Hands covered in scars and calluses.
Among all Awakeners, tankers held the most difficult and dangerous position, so it was no surprise he didn't have a single unblemished spot.
‘To think he’s lived this kind of life.’
She had always wondered just how strong he was.
‘But I never stopped to think about why he was so strong.’
A man captured by a chimera mage and used as a test subject.
Having barely survived, he now carried the fate of humanity on his shoulders.
The Azelan Continent she experienced today was hell itself. The training with Wang-sik, which she had previously thought of as hell, was nothing—a drop in the ocean—compared to the wall she felt in Azelan.
‘He must have had no choice but to get stronger to survive...’
There are no results without a process.
“Can I become strong too?”
“Anyone can become strong if they cross the line between life and death again and again.”
Wang-sik looked at Min Ha-na, his expression asking if she was up for it.
Today, in less than two hours, they had conquered three A-rank gates and two B-rank gates.
And they had done it with just the two of them.
“Um...”
She had something to say. Wang-sik met her gaze, waiting for her to continue.
But she couldn’t help but hesitate.
‘I’m scared.’
It was a primal fear. No one wants to walk into hell of their own free will.
Min Ha-na forced out the words that wouldn’t come.
“I want to train properly in that place.”
“I thought you’d take a few days to think about it.”
Wang-sik’s tone softened.
“If I think about it, I might say something else.”
“Then think about it. This is something you’ll have to risk your life for. If you come back here tomorrow, I’ll go with you.”
He was telling her to decide carefully.
Min Ha-na nodded. She felt it was right to follow his advice for now.
“Thank you.”
Still unable to sort through her turmoil, Min Ha-na left the deserted island.
After she left.
Wang-sik was lost in thought for a moment.
“She has courage and conviction. If we truly become a team, she’ll be a great asset.”
Wang-sik checked the amount of mana stones he had acquired today.
“Having a damage dealer certainly makes things faster.”
Even after splitting the haul, it was double the amount Wang-sik usually gathered. It was a testament to how powerful a tanker-dealer party could be.
Besides, she hadn’t even fully adapted to the Decartes Mountains yet, so their results would only improve with time.
“A teammate...”
It would be a meaningful day of waiting for Wang-sik as well.
Not that he had the luxury of lazing around at home.
“From here.”
Wang-sik’s finger pointed to a box.
“To there.”
He indicated the end of the displayed row of boxes and said.
“I’ll take them all.”
“What? All of them?”
“Yes.”
“That’s over forty boxes.”
“Please deliver them here.”
The delivery location was Yang Dong-il’s boat, docked at the pier.
He had already spoken to Yang Dong-il, who always helped him, and the supermarket was nearby, so there shouldn’t be any issues.
‘That takes care of the food supply.’
Next, he went to the Guseong Gate Exchange.
He put up all the mana stones he had acquired for sale and began looking for items that could sustain the gate.
His goal was items with high mana content, even if their value was low.
‘It’s not enough...’
With the mana stones he got today, a C-rank item was the best he could do.
Usually, Wang-sik kept an eye out for less popular B-rank items, but their market price had recently skyrocketed.
The trend was for the prices of C-rank and lower items to fall, while B-rank and higher items rose. As the level of Awakeners increased and their earnings grew, the price of items also went up.
‘I’ll have to buy this for now.’
If the mana isn’t sufficient, the gate will collapse.
There was no guarantee it would reopen just by replenishing the mana, so he had to manage it carefully before it collapsed.
Wang-sik scheduled the item transaction and returned to the deserted island.
* * *
Early in the morning.
Wang-sik woke to the sound of a warning beep, like an alarm.
When he opened the door, Min Ha-na was standing there. He could tell at a glance that she hadn’t slept a wink.
“I took an extended leave of absence.”
Her body looked exhausted, but her eyes were alive.
“Any regrets?”
“Of course, I have them. But I made my decision, so I’ll endure it.”
It was an overly honest answer.
“Let’s start after you get some sleep. You won’t be able to fight properly in your current state.”
“Should I?”
Min Ha-na entered the house without hesitation.
“Where should I sleep?”
“You can use my sister’s room. If you’re uncomfortable in a strange man’s house, I can step out.”
“Is there any danger? You said I’m not your type, right?”
“I’m saying it because I might be in danger.”
“What do you mean?”
“Once we’re on the Azelan Continent, please control your emotions well. I don’t want things to get awkward.”
With that, Wang-sik closed the door for her.
“W-wait! What do you mean by that!”
Min Ha-na raised her voice, but there was no reply.
‘That guy?’
Is he misunderstanding something?
“You’re not my type either, Wang-sik!”
She shouted with all her heart. But there was no reply.
* * *
The party hunt began. Unlike last time, Wang-sik didn’t push them into the stage four area.
“We’ll be hunting in the stage three area for a while.”
First, she needed time to get used to this land. And it wouldn’t be an easy process.
“Take this.”
Wang-sik took an item from his inventory and handed it to Min Ha-na.
It was a staff embedded with a red jewel.
“It’s the staff I got from defeating the archbishop. I was saving it for when you proved yourself qualified, Min Ha-na.”
“Qualified...?”
“Someone I can trust, who shares the same goal.”
Min Ha-na accepted the archbishop’s staff.
It was clearly far superior to the one she was using.
She wasn’t the type to care much about items, so she had never bothered to buy a good staff, but holding the archbishop’s staff, she could feel a distinct difference.
“Do whatever you can to get stronger. It’s still dangerous here.”
Wang-sik walked into the forest first.
With the thought that it was finally beginning, Min Ha-na gripped the staff tightly and followed him.
And so, their desperate hunt began.
Monsters poured out in a seemingly endless stream.
There were so many that she wouldn’t have lasted five minutes without Wang-sik tanking. The hunt was so grueling that the time spent collecting mana stones felt like a blessing.
Having steeled herself, Min Ha-na adapted quickly, and whenever unexpected variables arose, she followed Wang-sik’s instructions to the letter.
When she was too exhausted to move, they would return to the house on the deserted island to recover, and as soon as she woke up, they would cross back through the gate.
After a week of grueling days, their hunting sessions began to last longer.
This meant she was starting to get the hang of it.
‘She adapts quickly.’
Wang-sik was satisfied.
This wasn’t just about Min Ha-na’s growth.
‘The hunt is fast.’
The monster population around the lab had now noticeably decreased.
It wasn’t that there were no monsters at all, but that they were clearing them out faster than the monsters could reproduce and grow.
“Let’s go a little deeper today.”
“Are we going to the stage four area?”
Wang-sik nodded, and Min Ha-na steeled herself. The place that had given her such a shock the first time. Still, she had adapted this much to stage three, so she should be able to hold her own in stage four...
Or so she thought. The moment they entered stage four, Min Ha-na couldn’t help but curse her own foolishness.
The barrage of attacks from the high-risk monsters was life-threatening, and Min Ha-na had to cast spells relentlessly just to survive, without a moment to catch her breath.
As a result, Min Ha-na quickly became exhausted.
“You’re really a weakling.”
Min Ha-na bristled and straightened her swaying body, but she soon had to clutch her head as dizziness washed over her.
“We’ll take a short break and then continue.”
They crossed back to the stage three area and took a short rest.
* * *
Fifteen days after entering the stage four area.
Min Ha-na no longer collapsed from exhaustion. It wasn’t that her abilities had dramatically improved.
“Right...”
Bang!
Before Wang-sik could even finish his command, a flame shot out and blew up a Ruby Bug.
After hunting together for over twenty days, their synergy had improved. Now, Min Ha-na acted first without Wang-sik needing to say a word.
‘She’s gotten used to the monsters, too.’
By hunting the same monsters repeatedly, she had learned their weaknesses and behavior patterns, and most importantly, her fear of battle had vanished.
The effect was so dramatic that they could now rest in the stage four area.
“It’s time to move on to the next area.”
“Isn’t it a bit too soon? I’ve barely adapted to stage four.”
“We’re not going to stage five.”
“Then where?”
“We’re going to meet the ruler of this place.”
From then on, Wang-sik moved toward their destination. As they advanced, dealing with the monsters that charged at them, the giant boulders characteristic of the stage four area became more and more numerous.
Then, at some point, the trees disappeared, and a cliff appeared.
Below the forty-meter-high cliff was a vast, circular basin, large enough to build a sizable village.
Looking down at the seemingly peaceful basin, Min Ha-na couldn’t help but be horrified.
“Giant Munch...”
An A-rank, giant-type monster.
There were over three hundred of them by a rough count. Considering the groups entering and exiting the village and the caves below the cliff, there could be more than five hundred.
The ones she had faced before had only carried clubs at best, but among the Giant Munches here, some wore gleaming armor and wielded various menacing weapons.
Moreover, there were over fifty elites wielding huge axes that were more than ten meters long.
“This is the Giant Munches’ settlement. Look over there.”
In the center of the Munch village stood a high altar made of stone.
Atop the twenty-meter tower, a blue flame burned alone, without any support.
“That’s...”
Even from a distance, Min Ha-na could feel it.
The condensed power of fire.
Her body grew hot without her realizing it.
“The Flame of the Chilling Soul. It’s a myth-grade item by Azelan standards, or what we would call an unrated item in our world.”
Min Ha-na couldn’t tear her eyes away.