Chapter 33

Only the moon shone brilliantly in the starless night sky.

The moon, lying sideways as if its corners were tugged down in a frown, slowly rose higher and higher.

It wasn’t really the moon.

It was the World Tree Slash I had swung out to clear away the rubble from the collapsing building.

Rising high into the air in the shape of a sideways crescent, it had looked for all the world like the moon.

"...Hic!"

Yu Jae-i, standing beside me, stared at it and hiccuped.

Woo Yeon-hoo, too, stood there with his mouth hanging open, his head tilted back as though he were out moon-gazing.

The hideout had vanished without a trace, and the blue mana I’d flung out had floated up like a moon, lighting the surroundings before gradually dispersing. It made sense that they’d react like that.

Who could have predicted that trying to get rid of nothing more than a collapsing pile of rubble would turn into this?

We weren’t the only ones at a loss.

Even the leader mask, who had finished transforming sometime during all this, was staring up at the sky with his eyes wide.

He looked like he couldn’t quite believe I’d done that.

When he felt our gazes, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he took several steps back.

He was probably trying to get out of Arca’s range.

Seeing the power behind that strike, it was only natural.

If I were him, I would’ve backed away too.

"So you really are one of the Demon Race’s followers."

"Really? To me, you just look like a bug. Hic."

Just as she said, the leader mask looked like a bug that had somehow taken human shape.

When the mask came off during his transformation, the face underneath had been a revolting mash-up of human and insect, with antennae and teeth sprouting where they shouldn’t have been.

He had a pair of wings on his back, just like Kim Jeong-cheol, though their shape was different.

If Kim Jeong-cheol’s had looked like bat wings, the leader mask’s were transparent, like an insect’s.

"Baek Do-woon.... What the hell are you?"

There was fear in his voice when he asked.

He’d been all about overwhelming power and all that, but now he seemed to have lost the will to fight completely.

If I hadn’t used World Tree Slash, Yu Jae-i and Woo ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Yeon-hoo would probably have been feeling the same terror he was.

Anyone would be afraid of an unknown power they couldn’t make sense of.

"Just a normal D-class hunter."

"I’m not asking about your rank, you bastard! That disgustingly pure mana! I asked how the hell you got that mana!"

Disgusting?

From the way he was talking, he must have sensed the World Tree’s presence in me.

Still, it was kind of funny that he found pure mana disgusting.

He found Saessak repulsive, and Saessak found him repulsive right back.

Maybe the World Tree and the Demon Race were natural opposites after all.

"How I got it?"

"Yeah! You can’t just have mana like that! Exactly how did you-"

"From a game?"

"What?"

"You asked how I got it, so I said I got it while playing a game."

I shrugged as I spoke, watching him flounder.

Yu Jae-i and Woo Yeon-hoo, standing beside me, were also staring at me with stunned expressions.

I was telling the truth, but the people hearing it looked at me like I was spouting nonsense.

Which made sense.

Even Do-hee and Tae-cheon, who never doubted my words or actions, had thought I was crazy until I showed them Saessak inside the smartphone and they started looking up psychiatric hospitals for me.

"Why don’t you try sticking with it for a year or so? It’s pretty fun. Feels rewarding, too."

"Y-you motherfucker! Are you making fun of me?"

"You asked, so I answered. Why are you getting mad? I’m not making fun of you. I’m serious."

"You can still act all high and mighty for now!"

"Man, why’d you ask if you weren’t going to believe me?"

"Grrr!"

The leader mask belched out black smoke from his entire body.

The smoke spread out from him and melted the corpses of his dead subordinates.

That wasn’t all.

Even the concrete and steel frame of the hideout began to melt.

It was clearly poison.

I wasn’t affected by poison at all thanks to my skill, but Yu Jae-i wasn’t me.

"Get up to the surface!"

"O-okay!"

"Please take care of Yu Jae-i!"

"Yes!"

Shouting that, I charged straight at the leader mask.

If possible, it was best to wipe out the guy spewing poison right away.

The problem was that he had seen that coming too.

Just before Arca could reach him, he lifted himself into the air with his transparent wings and fled upward into the sky.

The way he buzzed around sounded exactly like some giant mosquito.

That awful memory of sleepless summer nights flashed through my mind, and my temper spiked.

"Get down here, you mosquito bastard!"

"I’m not a mosquito, I’m a centipede!"

"You sound ridiculous. Where the hell are you a centipede?"

"Look at these red antennae!"

"Just because your antennae are red doesn’t make you a centipede. If you want to call yourself one so badly, then take off those wings and come down here!"

Centipede, my ass.

The way he dodged the blue blade Arca spat out was unmistakably that of a mosquito.

An infuriating mosquito, dodging a flyswatter many times larger than its body.

"Hahaha! Can you really afford to be so relaxed, Baek Do-woon!"

"What the hell? You’re the one running away up there, and you’ve still got plenty to say."

"Do you really think so? Then look at this!"

When I looked where his finger pointed, Yu Jae-i was in pain.

Woo Yeon-hoo, seeing her suffer, looked flustered.

The black poison smoke had spread only through the underground level.

It hadn’t reached them on the surface, and yet she was hurting.

That meant...

"Invisible poison."

"That’s right! If I let out visible poison, people don’t pay as much attention to the invisible kind!"

He’d actually put some thought into it.

I had assumed I only needed to dodge the black smoke I could see.

I hadn’t expected there to be invisible poison as well.

"And then!"

"Hhgh...!"

Woo Yeon-hoo, who had been worrying over Yu Jae-i, staggered.

I could understand her, but I hadn’t expected him to be affected by the poison too.

He’d been perfectly fine in Hongyureung Gate, where the danger rating had been set to A+ purely because of the miasma and cold.

Was that bastard’s poison stronger than Hongyureung’s miasma?

"My poison gets worse the more it builds up inside the body. Even an A-rank hunter wouldn’t be able to withstand it! You’ll be on your knees like that soon enough!"

"......"

"Now, sink into despair! Hahaha, bwahahaha!"

And then he laughed uproariously.

He was laughing so hard I half thought his red antennae might snap off.

God, how could he be more annoying than a mosquito on a summer night?

For their sake, too, I needed to put him down quickly.

As I prepared World Tree Slash, I looked up at the leader mask.

He was still cackling smugly.

Fine. Keep letting your guard down. Die already.

"World Tree Slash...!"

"Bwahaha, agh!"

The blue crescent leapt up into the sky, but unfortunately it didn’t cut through the leader mask’s body.

He had been laughing carelessly, then saw me swing Arca and dodged to the side.

The massive blade had enough power to blow away the hideout entirely, but because it was so huge, it wasn’t that hard to avoid.

Still, it did wipe the grin off that obnoxious face of his.

"How? Baek Do-woon, how the hell are you fine?"

"Because I’m immune to poison?"

"What?"

"Your poison can be as strong as it likes, it doesn’t matter. Poison itself doesn’t work on me."

"......"

"World Tree Slash!"

"Eek...!"

I used World Tree Slash again on the bastard staring down at me in confusion.

I’d ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thought it might work, since his mind had clearly stopped processing things.

Unfortunately, he dodged it with ease.

Judging by the way he freaked out, one hit from that would definitely send him to the grave.

But because he kept evading it like a mosquito, there was no way to land a clean strike.

"Khk...!"

From behind me came the sound of Woo Yeon-hoo groaning in pain and dropping to one knee.

Seeing that, the leader mask seemed to get his confidence back and started talking again.

"Fine, maybe you’re immune to poison, but what about him? Leave him like that and he’ll be dead soon."

Him? Did he mean that guy, not those two?

He wasn’t including Yu Jae-i in the people who’d die soon.

Even now, he was planning to keep her alive and take her with him.

Just as I’d thought, Crowd absolutely needed her.

I didn’t know why, but there was some reason she had to be the one.

Why her, and not some other blacksmith?

"I’ll let Woo Yeon-hoo live."

The words came out of nowhere.

He swept one arm and gathered up the poison smoke spread through the underground level.

Soon the smoke took the shape of a giant serpent coiled in on itself.

Well, at least the bastard wasn’t going all the way with the centipede gimmick.

"Hand over that woman instead."

"You crazy bastard."

"...You should think carefully."

With that, he swung his arm again.

The poison smoke, now shaped like a massive snake, began to slither toward Woo Yeon-hoo.

It was as if he were saying that if I didn’t watch my mouth, he’d unleash the smoke and kill him on the spot.

"Neither of us can kill each other."

That was true enough.

His attacks didn’t work on me at all, and I could evade all of his.

World Tree Slash was powerful, but if I couldn’t hit the bastard flying around overhead, it was useless.

That was because of my lack of physical ability.

No matter how good the weapon or how powerful the skill, the body using it was only on the level of a C-class hunter.

And even that was only because the fruit had improved me.

Before that, I had been a D-class hunter.

This was probably what people meant when they said pearls before swine.

"So all you have to do is hand over Yu Jae-i, and I’ll withdraw."

"Do-woon, sir! Are you really going to keep listening to that crap?"

When I turned my head, Woo Yeon-hoo was grinning.

He went on speaking clearly.

Even though he must have been in pain from the poison smoke.

"I’m fine, so please save this lady."

"Y-you ridiculous... ngh!"

"...Will you be all right?"

"Of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠course."

Without a shred of hesitation, he said he would die.

When faced with his own life and someone else’s, he had calmly chosen the other person’s life.

I shifted my gaze from him to Yu Jae-i.

She was biting her trembling lip and shaking her head from side to side.

Both of them were asking me to save the person beside them, not themselves.

What fools. They didn’t understand how precious their own lives were.

"H-hey, I’m really bad with stuff like this."

I stopped feeding mana into Arca as I rested it across my shoulder.

I also cut off the bark.

"......?"

The two people and one mosquito quietly stared at me.

They probably couldn’t understand why I was putting my weapon away all of a sudden.

Under those stares, I said in a low voice,

"World Tree Summon."

Just like at the hospital, all my mana vanished at once.

I swayed with dizziness from mana depletion.

Fortunately, I’d experienced it before, so I didn’t collapse.

"Kieeek!"

A shriek so sharp it seemed to rip the air came from above, and even through the dizziness I lifted my head.

The bastard was buzzing frantically back and forth like a mosquito that had just been hit by household insecticide.

At this point I probably could’ve cut him with Arca, but I’d already spent every last drop of mana.

I couldn’t even form the giant mana blade anymore, much less use a skill.

I didn’t think throwing Arca would help me hit him either.

"Huh, your body’s better now?"

"This skill... the one you used at the hospital last time..."

After confirming that the poison smoke had disappeared, the two of them looked at me in wonder.

More precisely, they were staring at the Saessak that must have been growing above my head.

They seemed to want an explanation, but I had no intention of giving them one in detail, so I got on with what I needed to do.

I took my smartphone out of my armor and launched the game.

Maybe because it was above my head, Saessak wasn’t visible on the screen.

I clicked into the mailbox right away.

Inside was a Leaf of the Previous World Tree.

The soil infused with the World Tree’s energy had purified the skeleton simply by existing.

If it was a leaf of the World Tree, it should be able to serve as a charm to purify that bastard’s poison.

I pressed the receive button.

The World Tree leaf popped out from the smartphone screen.

"A leaf...?"

What came out of the screen was nothing like what I’d expected.

There was precedent for something called a branch turning out to be a log, after all.

This time, the leaf coming out might be huge like a parasol leaf.

As I expected, the leaf that emerged from the screen was enormous.

Only, it wasn’t a broadleaf tree leaf at all.