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Novel
The Second Coming of Gluttony
Chapter 73 - The White Ship, The Anchor
THE SECOND COMING OF GLUTTONY
C73 - The White Ship, The Anchor
Chapter 73. The White Ship, The Anchor
Experience is important – this wisdom applied to just about every imaginable area of expertise.
The extermination team's attitude went through an immediate change after they found out that the mutants now possessed the ability to camouflage as well as the ability to regenerate in almost a blink of an eye.
Mikhail and his team, an old hand in stuff like this in their own way, totally threw away any notion of underestimating their enemies. Veronika carried a far, far more somber expression than before as she guided the team forward. She kept grinding her teeth, her eyes scanning the surroundings and missing not even a tiny speck of dust. Thanks to her diligence, the team's speed of advancement had plummeted down to a turtle's walking pace. Of course, no one was dissatisfied with it.
When the ambushing tactic no longer worked, mutants changed their strategy and reverted back to simply clashing with the team head-on.
Fortunately, the team preferred to breakthrough from the front. This was because Chohong had her mace draped in divine power, Mikhail sheathed his sword in a blueish aura, while Seol Jihu had gotten himself fully ready with his magic spear. With Maria's timely assistance added to the mix, they didn't have to fear the mutants anymore, though they still proved to be slightly cumbersome opponents to handle at the end of the day.
About four hours later, the team was able to completely wipe out every single variant seemingly existing within the Night Fog Zone. They roamed around for a little while longer to make sure, but couldn't find a single one, which could only mean that they had succeeded in eradicating the enemy.
"The end!"
Mikhail sheathed his longsword and formed an expression of pure contentment. Even Gierszal and Veronika displayed obvious hints of being pleased as well. The opponents may not have been the easiest ones out there, but at the same time, they weren't too tough either. That was why the trio felt so chuffed right now.
They didn't have a lot to go before getting their much-anticipated level-ups. It was a rare thing to run into enemies that perfectly suited their current in-between status like these mutants.
Unlike them, though, Seol Jihu was dwelling on a different kind of sentiment. The eradication of the mutants was, in the end, only one of the goals he had set out to achieve. He planned to dig into the mystery and lay it bare once and for all, and at the moment, he couldn't hide the signs of confusion on his face.
'There's no color….'
The moment the last variant was taken care of, the Night Fog Zone's color changed from yellow to colorless. What did this event signify?
'…..I can't figure it out.'
Seol Jihu rubbed his face. No matter how long he walked around, he couldn't see anything suspicious at all.
One of the fundamentals in any investigation was searching for potential clues. However, he felt like he was being stonewalled by an invisible force, unable to even begin searching for clues.
His chest felt heavy and tight as if a boulder got stuck there. Was this how someone would feel after being asked to solve a mystery without any clues whatsoever?
'This sucks….'
"When we go back to Haramark, the first thing we will do is to make a pitstop by the temples."
Mikhail suddenly engaged Seol Jihu in conversation as the youth stood there burning his brain cells.
"You know, I think this is more than enough. Me, Gierszal, Veronika, all three of us might be able to get to the next stage after today."
"Is that so?"
"That's right! When I become a Level 4, I'll be able to walk around with a bit more strength in my shoulders! The 'Sword Actor'! Keuh! Tell me that doesn't sound cool!"
Mikhail laughed good-naturedly and blabbed on. Seol Jihu could only form a weak smile, instead.
"Congratulations."
"Huh…. Did I read the mood wrong?"
Mikhail grinned embarrassedly at the youth's response.
"Well, what I actually wanted to tell you was that you shouldn't be too discouraged by this."
"What do you mean?"
"The three of us are more than happy to return to Haramark with what we've achieved. From the get-go, you told us that the info you had wasn't a 100% sure thing. It was us three who made the choice to come with you anyway. Besides, it's not like this is our first time going home empty-handed. Expeditions or explorations, it's all a big gamble, really."
Seol Jihu must have looked far too worried from others' perspectives. For sure, he felt the unseen weight pressing down on his shoulders from the burden of being the leader. Mikhail's words certainly did help the youth in that regard.
"Thank you."
"Sure, sure. So, what will you do now? Going back to Ramman isn't a bad idea, but if it's too much bother going back and forth, it won't be that bad to set up a camp nearby."
Now that Seol Jihu thought about it, the sun had set a while ago and dim twilight was slowly creeping into the land. This meant the fog should be rising up soon.
It was unwise to doggedly cling to a problem with no solution in sight. Seol Jihu quickly organized his thoughts and made an announcement.
"Let's make camp here. We'll survey the zone during the night, and if we don't find anything particular, then we go home in the morning."
"Nice. Let's do that."
Mikhail coolly replied to that.
*
Evening came and went, and the time now was well into the middle of the night.
The team set up camp a bit further away from the Night Fog Zone. If it was at all possible, Seol Jihu would have preferred setting it up within the Night Fog Zone itself, but the fog thickly covered the area as the night deepened, greatly limiting one's visibility in the process. They may have swept all the mutants away, but one would never know. There was no real reason to deliberately take on any unnecessary risk when they could avoid it altogether.
Dawn was approaching silently. Seol Jihu rubbed his eyes and got up from his sleeping bag. It was his turn to stand as the lookout.
Two people would rotate in turn to serve as the lookout. That was the basics of camping outside in Paradise. When he made his way out of the tent, he found Maria sitting before the campfire, but she was already nodding off to the la-la land by then.
"M-mm, mm…."
He settled down cautiously next to her, and as if she was waiting for that, she used his lap as her pillow and laid down completely. A thin smile formed on his lips, but it dissipated soon enough.
Now that he got some much-deserved shut-eye, he no longer felt as anxious as before. Of course, that didn't mean the elusive answer had suddenly materialized in front of his face. He simply stared at the campfire burning away without saying a word, his gaze tracing the reddish arcs drawn in the air by the dancing flames.
'What did I miss?'
In all honesty, Seol Jihu had already half given up on his quest to unravel this mystery. Well, many outstanding Earthlings had tried and eventually surrendered with their hands – and even feet – raised in the air.
He wasn't the smartest person out there nor was he overflowing with wisdom built up from extensive experience. Indeed, it was wrong for him to jump headlong into this problem, loudly claiming that he would solve it when others couldn't. The only thing separating him from the rest was his 'Nine Eyes'….
That was probably why he couldn't just let this one go. Because there definitely was something here. There was no doubt about that. His suspicions had morphed into certainty after that meeting with the village head.
'Should I go back and threaten him or something?'
Seol Jihu could only wryly chuckle at his own stupid idea. Obviously, he wasn't thinking of doing that, ever. He hadn't seen any colors of danger from the village, and the village head himself showed no ill will towards him. The youth wasn't so thick-faced to force a man living in solitude into saying something that might or might not help him.
Just in case, he took a glance at the dense fog covering the zone, but he confirmed that there was no change. He slowly licked his lower lip.
'I've succeeded in carrying out the request, yet I don't feel good at all.'
He looked at Maria on his lap, her sleeping face not carrying one hint of worry and suddenly felt a bit grumpy. He then lightly pinched her cheek that still had some baby fat left. She spat out hing~! and turned her head around.
A soft chuckle escaped from his mouth. He gently patted her head, and she grinned and murmured, heh….
Her soft, steady breathing reminded him of a house cat.
"Haaaaaa…"
Argh, I don't know anymore. Seol Jihu laid down on his back as well and turned his attention to the sky above. A bright white moon was casting pale-blue light from the clear night sky.
'Huh, it's a half-moon tonight.'
When he silently gazed at it, the half-moon resembled a white ship gently floating on the endless stretch of a jet-black ocean. Absorbed by this rather beautiful sight, he stared at the sky, unmoving and wordless.
Just how much time passed by like that?
"?"
Quite suddenly, he thought that his vision had become blurred. Seol Jihu quickly blinked several times.
'….What was that?'
At first, he thought his eyes were playing a trick on him. But no – from a certain point onwards, his eyes could clearly see dozens upon dozens of black 'lines' rising up to the sky.
This event wasn't happening near him; he couldn't even see properly what those lines were made out of since they were so far away. However, those black lines still pierced out of the night's fog and wiggled towards the half-moon as if they were trying desperately to reach out to the night sky.
Wooooooo…..
Almost right away, an eerie call resounded out from somewhere within the fog – and, at the same time, a portion of the Night Fog Zone suddenly changed color to yellow. Goosebumps broke out all over his body in mere seconds.
"OUCH!!"
Seol Jihu hurriedly shot up to his feet, and Maria cried out in distress as her sweet slumber was interrupted by her head hitting the ground.
"W-what was that?!"
Her pain wasn't that important, though.
[It was a white ship! A white ship lowered its anchor!!]
The moment his memories reached there….
[I'm telling you, a white ship lowered dozens of anchors!!]
Seol Jihu was already running like wild wind.
"Maria!! Wake everyone up and follow me!"
After leaving behind those words, of course.
Wooooo…?
When he breached into the Night Fog Zone, that eerie wail began softening for some reason. The black lines trying to cover the half-moon slunk back into the fog too – just like a white ship lowering its anchors.
Seol Jihu arrived in his destination in the blink of an eye and crazily swept his gaze around his surroundings. However, he couldn't see anything.
But it was definitely here! Not only that, even the yellow color was beginning to disappear, reverting back to the previous colorless state.
'What the hell is going on here?'
He genuinely felt that, if he missed this chance, then he would not be able to find another one any time soon. Seol Jihu was momentarily caught in indecision, but being pressed for time, he quickly ran up a small mound right next to him. He thought that, by being somewhere higher, he might be able to see something, anything.
The mound wasn't even six meters high, and he climbed to the top in no time at all. He looked down with his Nine Eyes still active and finally discovered the strange phenomenon happening right below.
'The yellow color….'
…was disappearing? Seol Jihu narrowed his eyes. Indeed, the color was 'disappearing', but it was completely different to how the color faded away usually. It would normally fade away like paint spreading over another color and changing it, but here, he saw a big, yellow circle rapidly shrink into a far smaller dot.
It was the size of a house, then to a large boulder, then rapidly shrunk down to a size of a clenched fist, then eventually a small dot – and then, gone for good, leaving behind no color at all.
"What the hell…..?"
He muttered to himself in puzzlement, before he sucked in several cold breaths. Others would say that he suddenly had an epiphany. His comrades had arrived around at this time.
"What happened?!"
Maria's loud yell brought Seol Jihu back to his senses. Before he could forget that spot, he took another hard look down below. Although the color was gone now, he still remembered the location where that yellow was.
"What's going on?"
"It didn't disappear."
"What?"
"It realized that I was looking, and it went below. And that's why it shrunk like that."
"W-What are you even talking about?! Did you eat something you shouldn't have??"
Maria creased up her brows.
Again, Seol Jihu wasn't completely sure. But if his theory was right, a few questions would be answered straight away. Why only this place was so barren, why there were all those holes in the ground, and then….
Seol Jihu pulled out his spear almost out of reflex and smacked the hill with it. Pak!! The hardened chunk of sand crumbled and scattered dust in the air.
This was quite literally a lightning bolt out of the blue. All the team members stared at the youth busy pounding the hill with dazed faces. Only Chohong hesitantly pulled her mace out after spending a few more seconds observing the youth.
"I really wanna ask you what's up with your exercise routine in the middle of the night, but I should just hit this hill like you, right?"
"I could be wrong, but it has to be somewhere around here."
SLAM!
With Chohong added to the mix, the hill began to crumble at a far quicker pace now. And because the soil itself lacked any life whatsoever, it broke away easily, too. She continued to pound the ground but still didn't forget to throw him a sideways glance as well as a question.
"And why are we suddenly doing this now?"
"Back in the village, I heard about 'three taboos'."
"Three taboos?"
"The sound, the waving hands, and people wearing grey clothes. Ignore these three taboos, and you will end up in another world."
"The sound? You mean, that Woooo~ from just now?"
"That's right."
Seol Jihu agreed with her while still digging out the hill.
"The wavering hands was just a figurative description."
"Eh?"
"I just happened to see it. Something below here, beneath the Night Fog Zone, would sometimes reveal itself when it thinks there's nobody nearby. And when it detects danger, it quickly hides itself again. When you think about the special characteristics of the mutants, the one about them not leaving any traces behind, then it's not all that strange for the others to miss the signs."
Seol Jihu explained himself at a rapid knock.
"T-Then, what about grey clothed people or whatever?"
"No need to think too hard about that. Remember what the color of the mutants was?"
"Hey, I really can't tell head from tail what you're on about, you know?!"
Chohong frowned grandly and swung down her mace with a lot of power. And this happened.
CRACK!
Without any warning whatsoever, the sensation of something hard splitting up got transmitted to her hands. She yanked her deeply-buried mace out and blinked her eyes in sheer dumbfounded amazement.
"This…..?!"
"The thing was…."
Seol Jihu's eyes were gleaming brightly now.
"It was not 'another world' or something like that. Someone cooked up that rumor in order to hide something."
Chohong looked at him with the face of a person still failing to understand. And that was the difference between someone who simply decided to participate in the request and someone who investigated everything before coming here.
"Don't try to dig deeper there. Instead, let's try to carve down the sides now."
Four Warriors roused up their mana and began digging into the hill, and before long, the whole mound began resembling an apple with its side bitten out.
A short while later, the team was staring a certain large boulder firmly blocking 'something' with amazed eyes.
"Holy cow…. So, well, uh, why the heck is this thing here?"
"Remember that the Night Fog Zone is a hilly region. No one would find it odd to see another 'hill' here."
When Veronika asked in stupefaction, Seol Jihu replied in a soft voice.
"Someone built a small hill here disguising the entrance, all in order to hide something."
"I, well, I didn't know. For real. I didn't see any trace of artificial tampering around here."
Veronika stuttered defensively.
"That's to be expected. This place was closed up many years ago, after all. Since it's only this big, you wouldn't have needed a lot of time for something man-made to be swallowed up by nature."
"Many years ago? Closed up?!"
Seol Jihu was about to say, 'The person hiding all this was very meticulous', but decided to save his breath. They wouldn't understand it even if he explained it now.
"In any case, let's get this rock outta there first."
Chohong and her short temper stepped up forward before anybody else, her sleeves all rolled up. Gierszal, Mikhail and Seol Jihu also joined in.
Hnnnng!
The boulder eventually issued a heavy creak and was pushed to the side, revealing a rocky cavern it had been blocking up all this time.
"So…."
Mikhail nervously swallowed his saliva.
"…The secret to the mystery is sleeping within this hole, is that it?"
Seol Jihu wordlessly nodded his head. He was sure of it now. The moment this entrance was revealed, the 'hill' changed its color back to yellow. He also got to learn that being 'colorless' was the most variable out of the four directions.
"Ha! This is great! Leveling up by solving a mystery once and for all! Can there be any outcome better than that?"
Mikhail shouted out in excitement, his head already full with images of a rosy future.
"Good! Very good! Leader, let's go inside!"
The team quickly assumed their previous formation. Veronika hit the entrance a couple of times and even tossed a rock inside, before nodding her head in satisfaction and took the spot in front of the group again.
For a while, the six of them walked in the humid, damp corridor that took them lower and lower underground. By the end of this stony passageway, they spotted hints of light. The team cautiously walked further forward and found themselves inside a massive underground chamber.
The interior wasn't that dark, which was somewhat unexpected. Illuminating stones were buried in the walls here and there to provide necessary illumination. That was one of the clearest proofs that this place felt the hands of humans before.
If one had to name a problem with this place, it would be that there was absolutely nothing there, which was strange for such a large area. All they could see was the ceiling, about four meters high, as well as another passageway at the far end of the chamber. This underground tunnel felt lonesome and deserted, even.
"Mm…. There might something here, so let me take a look around first."
Veronika tilted her head slightly and carefully moved forward.
"This is not what I was expecting…."
Seol Jihu muttered to himself.
"Hey, just how did you locate this place? I wasn't expecting something like this to exist here, you know?"
Gierszal asked with a face full of curiosity.
"Oh, that. I figured that there was a research center somewhere near Ramman, you see."
"A research center?"
"I read about it in the Empire's history book. After the Parasites invaded…."
Seol Jihu proceeded to briefly explain what he found out to the rest of the team and sighed out.
"The village of Ramman wasn't mentioned at all, but Master Ian suspected that the mutants were the results of that research."
"Hold on. Didn't you just say that the research center was in the Delphinion Duchy?"
"That's where the main research center was located, yes. But the satellite research centers were dotted around the countryside, so I thought that it was possible for one of them to be somewhere around here….."
Seol Jihu didn't finish his sentence, but Gierszal still nodded his head.
"So, that's what happened. It's a bit shoddy in here to be a research center, though. Doesn't look like there's anything of value at all."
He was right. It was nominally a place to conduct research, yet not one commonly-seen research apparatus could be seen here. Logically speaking, shouldn't there be at least a single flask or something similar to that? Even a deserted mine wouldn't be this empty. Considering the technological prowess of the Empire, reputedly at the peak of magic engineering, something like this place made no sense at all.
'Could it be that the village head wasn't lying?'
It was then, Veronika finished scouting up ahead and returned to the team.
"Damn it, I found nothing."
"Did you see anything like the footsteps of a person or something similar to that?"
"Well, I'd say this place is definitely man-made, but…."
Veronika shook her head.
"I can't see any sort of trace in this place. All I can say is that no one has stepped s foot in this space in the last three months, at the least. That's as far as I can read, though. Sorry."
Which meant that the only thing remaining would be the cavern on the other side.
"It would be nice if there's something in there."
Veronika licked her lips and took the lead of the team again. But, just as she was about to lead them forward, Seol Jihu opened his eyes extra wide and gasped out belatedly.
"Wait!!"
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Novel
The Second Coming of Gluttony
Chapter 74 - King's Wrath
THE SECOND COMING OF GLUTTONY
C74 - King's Wrath
Chapter 74. King's Wrath
Everyone's steps came to a halt. Veronika looked behind her, puzzled.
"Mm?"
"Ah…."
Seol Jihu's mouth bobbed up and down helplessly.
'The color changed again.'
To be more specific, the cavern's color shifted to orange the moment the team decided to go further in.
'Do not approach!'
Suddenly, his throat dried up. The thought that he made a mistake raced through his brain. He should have been far more cautious from the get-go back when it was still yellow. But he got blinded by the allure of solving the mystery and ended up acting in haste.
"What's the matter, leader?"
"Let's go back."
"What?!"
Veronika cried out in genuine surprise.
"Are you serious? We came this far, but you wanna go back empty-handed?"
Mikhail also displayed a similar reaction. Seol Jihu was about to say, 'This doesn't feel right', but quickly shut his mouth. He knew his gut-feeling wouldn't convince them, especially since he was talking to a capable Archer.
No, he needed a far better justification. Something that the other team members could agree on or, at least, understand the meaning behind. The problem was, he couldn't think of one on the fly.
"…If my theory is correct, then this place is definitely one of the research centers I told you about. In that case, it will not be an easy place to explore."
"But it doesn't look that way to me."
"It doesn't even look like a laboratory, you know."
He was hopeful, but sure enough, opposition was immediately raised.
"Besides, even if there are enemies in there, it'll just be more mutants. It's not like we can't fight them, right?"
"We don't know if there's a higher-ranking creature controlling the mutants."
"I wonder…. Even then, shouldn't we be able to win by combining our strengths together?"
"I don't think that will be the case."
"Look, it's great that you're being cautious, but don't look down on us that much, alright? All three of us are on the cusp of reaching Level 4. Maria and Chohong here are also just a step away from entering ranks of High Rankers. Besides all that, you also possess one heck of combat ability, don't you?"
Those words weren't wrong. In truth, this group was more than qualified to go on military expeditions. Seol Jihu formed the best team he could just in case, but never did he suspect that his diligence would come back to bite him like this.
"Hold on, hold on! Seol? So what do you want us to do?"
Chohong quickly stepped forward as a mediator when the differences in opinion were threatening to boil over into something less civilized.
"I believe there's no need to rush it. I simply wish to return to Haramark and bolster our overall combat potential before coming back."
"Bolster our combat potential?"
"Right. I think we'll need at least one High Ranker with us. If we say we've uncovered the mystery, some will definitely show interest in joining us."
"That's bull!"
Mikhail immediately opposed that idea.
"What will you do if someone else discovers this place in the meantime?? We already dug out the whole place and anyone passing by can see it now! We worked this hard, yet you want to hand over the glory to someone else??"
"It's only half a day's travel away. And it's not like there are other Earthlings in Ramman either."
"You can't be sure of what'll happen in the future. Even if we follow your suggestion, that also poses another problem! It's the msytery, THE mystery! If we get ourselves a High Ranker, who do you think will hog all the limelight?"
"Mister Mikhail."
"We got here after working our asses off, yet you're telling us to watch someone else dine at our expense? Leader, please!"
Mikhail was completely, desperately resistant to the idea and pleaded with Seol Jihu to change his mind. The youth needed a superhuman level of endurance to suppress the words "That's not something you should be saying" that nearly jumped out of his throat.
If there was one thing he learned from watching how Samuel operated back then, that would be to never lose one's cool regardless of the situation and to do your best to compromise and mediate the differing opinions. In all honesty, he already knew what kind of reactions he'd get the moment he spoke what was on his mind. It wasn't as if these guys hadn't done their part, either.
'To think he told me it'd be fine to go back not too long ago….'
Of course, there was a valid reason for the change in Mikhail's stance. If they hadn't discovered this place, fine – but now, the end goal was just within reach, so which sane Earthling would let go of this golden opportunity?
Seol Jihu's lips were itching badly. He thought hard and long, but not one useful idea popped up in his head.
'Should we just go in?'
It wasn't 'Escape Immediately' or even 'Immediate Retreat Recommended'. Perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad idea.
Such a thought entered his mind, but he quickly shook his head. A single mistake in 'Attention Required' was enough to get him killed, so there was no need to even think about taking on the higher level of danger the orange color posed.
Which meant, there was only one option left to take.
"It's still better than dying. No matter how much I think about it, this is wrong. We are going back."
…And that would be to order them with the authority of the team's leader.
"No, I disagree."
Unfortunately for him, Veronika immediately raised her objection as if she was waiting for exactly this moment. Seol Jihu squeezed his eyes shut. During expeditions or explorations, headers possessed just as much of a right as the leaders to voice their opinion.
"I can't pick up on any presence within that cave. None. Either mutants are waiting for us up ahead or there's nothing there like this place. It will be one of these two. Regardless of which, I believe it's the right decision to go further in. In fact, I don't see a reason why we shouldn't."
Veronika's recommendation carried a lot of weight since they had been ably dealing with mutants earlier in the day. And, when opinions arrived at an impasse like this…..
"Well, since the leader is so opposed to the idea…."
Veronika studied everyone's reactions and cautiously continued on.
"Why don't we decide it with a vote?"
Indeed, it was the voting time again. Seol Jihu glanced at Maria and Chohong. As long as these two supported him, the result of tie was a certainty.
"Leader wants to go back, so let's call that 'for'. Mikhail and I want to go further in, so we're 'against'."
Veronika turned her head away and looked at others.
"I'm against."
The first one to open his mouth was Gierszal, his arms crossed defensively.
"At the very least, I think we need to confirm what's inside. Let's say we did as the leader said and went back to get ourselves a High Ranker. I'd imagine we'd land in real hot waters if we do that and find absolutely nothing inside."
"He's right. That can happen."
Maria had been listening until then without saying a word, but now, she took their sides with a disinterested expression on her face. Seol Jihu felt his heart tumble down to the pit of his stomach.
"We've got to think about the possibility of things not working out too. That's why I'm also 'against'. Don't think too badly of me, okay?"
So, one vote 'for', and four votes 'against'. The democratic process was over in an instant. Seol Jihu spat out a grand sigh as he heard Chohong clicking her tongue.
All manners of thoughts raced past his brain. Should he reveal the existence of his 'Nine Eyes'? He was getting really tempted by that idea. However, he knew he should never do it. He was already under intense scrutiny by certain others, so if the word got out that he even possessed an Innate Ability, he couldn't even imagine what kind of crazy events might happen.
'Should I then just say that I….'
…won't go in there with them?
However, when that thought formed in his head….
[That won't be allowed.]
Seol Jihu sank deeper into despair, and he recalled the words of a certain man, now gone from this world.
[As long as you remain a part of this expedition, we must act as one, whether you like it or not. There are times when you'll have to do things that you don't want to, and you'll also have to back down regardless of your principles. If you continue to insist on doing whatever you want, then I can no longer recognize you as a member of the expedition.]
Those were Samuel's words.
Hmm, Veronika cleared her throat and looked at the youth.
"It's been decided, yes?"
"…."
"Leader?"
"…."
Seol Jihu remained quiet. Chohong scratched her temple in irritation, but eventually, she strode forward and put her hand on his shoulder.
"Hey."
"….Chohong."
"Nothing you can do about it."
"But…."
"I know. I know that it's the smart thing to listen to you. But these idiots don't know you all that well."
She had a point there. If these people had accompanied Seol Jihu to the Forest of Denial, then they would probably have given his suggestion far more consideration than this.
Just like what Chohong said, he truly couldn't do anything about it. He was being too greedy for wanting every single thing to act according to his whims when the world clearly didn't operate that way.
"Don't worry too much about it. This noona will protect you if shit hits the fan, okay!"
Chohong heartily pounded him on his shoulders and made that manly declaration. He eventually nodded his head, but his expression was still frozen stiff. He didn't feel like smiling right now.
*
After getting back into the formation and having checked their equipment, the team cautiously went further into the underground cavern.
Unlike his fears, though, they couldn't find anything. When they walked through that passage, they were treated to yet another large, empty dome-shaped area. Even the size of this chamber was similar to the previous one to such a degree that one could say they were copy and paste of each other. The sole difference being that the ceiling here was several times taller than the previous chamber. But that was about it.
"Wow, this sucks out your enthusiasm all by itself, doesn't it?"
Mikhail formed a bitter smile.
"I really can't tell what this place was used for. Doesn't resemble anything I can think of."
Gierszal looked deeply regretful too. However, it wasn't only them. Seol Jihu was also feeling rather flustered. Everywhere he looked, he saw an intense sea of orange, yet nothing was happening?
"Hold on."
Veronika suddenly stopped looking around and knelt down on one knee to study the ground.
"This is….'
Her eyes narrowed to a slit.
"I found some kind of a trace here."
"What?"
Almost right away, all the team members gathered around her.
"I found the footsteps of a person."
Drop.
"It's around three, four days old… Ah, that's cold!"
Veronika's eyes followed after the newly-discovered trace, only for her head to suddenly shoot upwards. Mikhail quickly asked her.
"What's wrong?"
"Uh…?"
She couldn't see anything on the ceiling. Veronika tilted her chin as much as she could to study the tall, tall darkness up above, but eventually, she lowered her gaze. While tilting her head this way and that, she touched her cheek.
"What was that? A water droplet….?"
She was about to return to tracing the footsteps on the ground, but her complexion changed in an instant. The assimilation ability! Veronika hoped for the best and hurriedly looked up again. Inevitably, it happened then.
From the ceiling's end, a massive, circular grey 'thing' slowly revealed itself….
Whish, whish, whish!
Immediately, dozens of tentacles shot out from its body and spread out all around them like an umbrella opening up suddenly. They descended on the group at a terrifying speed and shortened the distance between them in a blink.
In that split moment, Maria took out her crucifix.
Kaboom!!
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!!
…And dozens upon dozens of tentacles pounced on the team. All of these happened in the blink of an eye.
"U, uwuaahhk!"
Mikhail belatedly got frightened out of his wits and fell down hard on his butt, when tens of tentacles twice as thick as a person's arm began writhing viciously against the white barrier right in front of his nose.
Chohong looked up at the enemy that finally revealed itself and dazedly muttered out.
"…What the hell is a 'Nest' doing in here??"
She looked completely shocked.
"Fuck…. Fuck…!!"
In the meantime, Maria was spitting out cusses one after the other.
"I, I don't give a fuck if it's a Nest or whatever, just do something…!!"
Her entire body shuddered pitifully and sweat poured out in buckets. Mikhail finally recovered his wits and hurriedly pushed himself off the floor. He tried to cut a tentacle in front with his sword, but he could barely nick it with his attacks. It recovered almost instantly the moment he swung his sword to damage it. The rate of recovery was incomparably quicker than any mutants they fought so far.
"You fucking retards…!! Stop wasting time cutting at tentacles, hit the main body…!!"
Veronika quickly nocked arrows and let them loose. Her shots accurately landed on the main body of the creature but didn't even hurt it in the slightest.
"Useless bitch!!"
Maria gnashed her teeth and gripped the crucifix hard as if to crush it. She felt her heart might explode from frustration at this rate.
Crack, craaaack…!!
"….Ah…!!"
In the end, cracks began forming on the protective barrier. Her expression turned uglier and uglier. She closed her eyes shut and tried to squeeze out every drop of her energy, but then….
"?"
Wuuuuueeeehhhh!!
She heard a horrible cry coming from up above and the pressure on her lessened considerably. She opened her eyes just a sliver and spotted Seol Jihu and his raised right arm. He quickly rummaged through his bag and short throwing spears tumbled out in droves. The youth instantly picked one up and, after taking quick strides forward, threw his raised arm.
POW! The spear flew and struck the body of the creature accurately. Only then did Maria notice that there were two spears stuck there. In other words, he had thrown one before. She finally spat out a breath of relief.
The Nest let out a horrifying screech that was loud enough to shake the entire cavern after it was struck several times by the throwing spears. Disregarding that, Seol Jihu picked up yet another spear. Tentacles receded away as if they were colts scalded by a hot branding iron. He threw his spear as fast as he could, but it was deflected away by the retreating tentacles. He clicked his tongue and quickly shouted out.
"Everyone!! Get out of the ca….?!"
He couldn't finish his shout. Four of the Nest's tentacles were already blocking up the sole exit.
Huuuuooong-!
Immediately afterwards, the shadow cast by the Nest loomed larger and larger. All hair on his body stood up.
Boom!!
"Euhk!!"
"Keuheuk!!"
The ground undulated violently from the immense vibrations. The team members barely managed to regain their balance, but their expressions were not good at all. The only exit was now completely blocked up by the Nest. It was their mistake to venture deeper into the cavern, lured by the trace of someone's footsteps.
They didn't even have the leeway to blame Veronika. The grey-colored Nest filled up their view with its unimaginably huge size. Its height alone exceeded two metres, while its width was easily twice, thrice that. As if to show that it was a living, breathing entity, red and blue veins pulsed and wiggled all over its formless figure, with countless tentacles dancing all around it. Grotesque didn't even begin to describe it.
"This…. That's a mid-level Nest! Why the hell is a Parasite doing in here?"
"A mid-level Nest? A Parasite?"
Chohong muttered to herself in disbelief. Seol Jihu quickly picked up his spear up while asking her for clarification.
"A Nest is a type of 'Cerebrate'. That thing creates the Medusa, the highest evolved form of mid-ranked Parasites. A Medusa then gives birth to low-ranked Parasites…."
Chohong leaked out a helpless groan.
"B-But, this makes no sense! I've never, ever heard about a Nest with assimilation or regeneration ability before!!"
Chohong's expression morphed from one of disbelief into one of pure anger.
"You idiots! If only you listened to him…!!"
Seol Jihu quickly covered her mouth.
"Hey! Let me go! You…!"
"It'll barely be enough for us to work together to defeat that thing. Are you trying to get us killed?"
Seol Jihu rebuked her with a sharp voice. She gritted her teeth.
"…Damn it!"
In the end, she picked up her mace and recited a chant. The youth understood where her anger was coming from, but there was nothing to gain from losing one's cool right now. With their escape route blocked off like this, they had to focus on fighting their way out of this place. Seol Jihu quickly issued his commands.
"Veronika!"
"H-Hm??"
"Keep shooting your arrows at the main body and distract it. Gierszal, you protect Maria no matter what happens."
Gierszal's face was stiff but he still stood before Maria, his shield at ready.
"Chohong? Mikhail and I will harass that thing from left and right, so you…."
"You want me to take that opening and destroy the main body, is that it?"
She only needed one glance. Chohong lifted up the mace now glowing white-hot and nodded her head.
"It ain't gonna be easy, but I'll give it a shot."
A short while later.
Three Warriors dashed forward in three different directions. Tentacles pounced on them as if they were waiting for the humans to come out of the protective barrier.
Whoosh!
The power behind each extended tentacle whipping down was sharp and terrifying. None of them made contact with him, yet Seol Jihu felt like blades of wind were slashing his skin.
He realized that the moment he tried to block one, either his whole body would be split in half or he'd get flung to a faraway wall and end up as ground to a meat paste.
Kwang!
Seol Jihu lightly leaped away to evade the tentacle. It left a big crater on the floor and got stuck for a second there. Using this opportunity, he struck down with his spear.
Slice!
The sensation of cutting through a hefty slab of meat was transmitted to his hands. Perhaps due to the excellent spec of his spear, the thick tentacle got separated into two in no time. The separated piece of the tentacle wriggled around violently like the torn-off tail of a gecko. He confirmed the ice forming on the cut surface and gripped his spear tighter.
'The Nest itself doesn't have any special abilities.'
If they could eliminate these tentacles, then they certainly had a chance. By concentrating on evading and cutting down the tentacles patiently one at the time, then….!
As if to mock his train of thoughts, dozen more tentacles pounced on his direction, and he could only suck in cold breath. The Nest must have split its tentacles to three different directions, yet there were well more than a dozen of them still heading his way. Seol Jihu hurriedly retreated from his current position.
Kwang, kwang!!
Noises of explosions nearly deafened his hearing. The ground beneath his feet trembled non-stop. Seol Jihu endured the vibration emanating from pretty much everywhere and searched for the nearest tentacle. He tried to take a swing at it, but as if they didn't want to let him get away with it, other tentacles shot out of the rising dust cloud and rained down on him.
Seol Jihu was taken by surprise and tried to quickly withdraw, but the tentacles suddenly came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the air.
Squirm, squirm…
They didn't budge as if something was holding them still. Seol Jihu didn't need long to realize that Maria was looking after him. He quickly danced with his spear to slice off three more tentacles. He hoped Maria would feel less pressure the more tentacles he cut down. He judged that he couldn't let this opportunity slip by, so he quickly dashed closer to the rest of the tentacles.
Unfortunately, his greed had gotten the better of him. Maria's limit to holding back dozens of tentacles came a lot sooner than he expected. The moment those things got freed again, Seol Jihu felt something sweeping him off his ankles. His view suddenly rotated 90 degrees and he caught the sight of a single tentacle sweeping on the ground as it went past him.
"Ah."
Tumble!
Seol Jihu crash-landed on the ground and rolled around for a brief while before a tentacle wrapped around his arm. He swung the spear reflexively while completely relying on nothing but pure intuition, and thankfully enough, he was able to free his captured left arm right away. Unfortunately, what waited for him the moment he regained his bearing was….
"Uwaaahh!"
…The intolerable pain of his shattered ankle. Not only that, a tentacle swelling up greatly and positioned itself in front of him to take aim at his face. Greenish liquid spewed out in a straight line towards the youth crying out in pain.
"Luxu, Lu, Luxuria!!"
His entire body sparkled in bright light. The green liquid arrived a moment later but couldn't touch his flesh and simply slid off to the ground.
Tzzzzt!
The ground coming in contact with the liquid melted down as white fumes rose up. Seol Jihu's jaws nearly dropped to the floor as he sensed a sudden warmth flooding into his body. The pain from his ankle disappeared, and vitality began filling him up again.
However, he had no time to say thanks. An almost dead prey regaining its vitality seemed to have angered the Nest as more tentacles came flying towards him.
Seol Jihu immediately retreated and confirmed the condition of the battlefield through the corners of his eyes.
He couldn't see where Mikhail was as that direction was blocked off by the Nest's body. Chohong had retreated some distance away just like he did and was panting non-stop at the moment. There were a dozen destroyed tentacles laying on the ground near her as if to prove her credentials as a grizzled combatant. However, her expression showed how desperate she was feeling inside.
"Haaa…. Haaa….!"
It was roughly the same story with Maria. She was panting madly. She had sweated so much that actual droppings of liquid were falling from the ends of her damp blond hair.
But that was to be expected – she ended up expending three spells in a row trying to save Seol Jihu just now. More importantly, she was watching three different directions at the same time, so she had to use nearly ten spells in that very short span of time.
"Why are you acting like an idiot too?!"
As soon as she locked eyes with Seol Jihu, she cried out in pure anger. In all honesty, he could be considered more than decent enough for a Level 2.
Of course, she was aware of that, too. No, the reason Maria got so incensed wasn't because of him, but something else.
"What are you trying to do, making me use up almost all of my spells already?! Do something!! Hurry!"
She was running out of the spells she had prepared in advance, yet the Nest was still in one piece. Even though Chohong's skills and Seol Jihu's battle prowess had resulted in the group reducing the number of tentacles by over a dozen, there were still over thirty of them remaining.
Wuuuooeuh!
Perhaps furious from all the hindrances during critical moments, the Nest let out an eerie, unhappy growl. Maria flinched. She felt like the Nest was glaring straight at her.
"Stop that thing!"
Chohong was the first to sense the change and cried out loudly to let the others know. Three Warriors freaked out and pounced on the monster, but one of the tentacles still managed to slip through and flew forward at a frightening pace.
"Lu…."
Maria was about to chant another spell but realized that it was too late and quickly hid behind Gierszal. At that moment, the tentacle suddenly changed its trajectory.
Thwack!
"Aaahk!"
In the blink of an eye, the tentacle slammed the side of Veronika standing not too far from them. The Archer, previously in the middle of supporting Mikhail, screamed out loudly and got flung away to the nearest wall; she crashed unceremoniously against it and stopped moving.
"Shit! Veronika!!"
She fell to the ground, blood pouring out of her. Mikhail cried out and reached out to her. Because of that, he lost his concentration for a second, and a tentacle seized this opening to smack him in the back.
"Huek…"
Mikhail fell hard to the floor, completely knocked out cold.
"You fucking idiot!"
Maria jumped up and down on her spot and pushed at Gierszal's back.
"What are you doing?! Go and bring them over here!"
They had lost two combatants in an instant. However, the real despairing thing they needed to worry about was….
Keu-duk!! Keu-dududuk!!
The tentacles they thought were taken care of now showed signs of movement again. Bubbles slowly rose up from the tentacles Chohong's mace crushed, and ice particles steadily fell off from the parts Jihu had sliced off. Its speed of regeneration was agonizingly slow, but the meaning behind that development was far, far too obvious to everyone present here.
'We're screwed.'
Seol Jihu continued to wield his spear but felt his innards twist in knots. The flow of the battle had turned to the absolute worst. They lacked two people, which meant he and Chohong had to take up the slack. They still had Gierszal, but if he stepped up, then Maria would be in danger.
"I'll be fine, so go and bring them over here!! Do you want to die??"
Maria angrily kicked Gierszal in the shin when he remained standing there like a stone statue. Only then did he step forward hesitantly, but his complexion hardened rapidly out of the blue. He raised his shield up high to his right and began running forward while hugging the nearest wall as much as possible.
Maria was about to frantically chant a new spell, but then, an expression of stupefaction formed on her face.
Gierszal actually jumped over the slouched Veronika. He even ran past the fallen Mikhail. He maintained that speed and soon disappeared behind the Nest.
'Staying here means death! I'm taking my chances!'
He had carefully watched the developing situation and made a shrewd but drastic choice in the end. When he saw no hope, he chose to run away while using his teammates as baits. As far as he was concerned, remaining here would only lead to his death.
"That son of a bitch…!!"
Maria plopped down on her butt as if she no longer had any energy left to cuss. Chohong let out a wry chuckle.
While he desperately evaded the tentacles, Seol Jihu also saw Gierszal escaping through the now-open exit. Whether he knew that several tentacles were following him from behind or not, it was unknown. Perhaps the Nest didn't want to let anyone escape, but whatever the case may have been, Gierszal running away was a depressing sight. As the old saying went, you might know what's under the river, but you could never tell what was in a person's mind.
'He didn't look like that kind of person….'
In the end, the number of people still standing up was reduced to a mere three. The Nest must have thought that it won because after using a powerful slap with a tentacle to push away Seol Jihu and his persistently annoying attacks, the Nest remained in its spot and let its appendages wiggle around in a disgusting dance routine.
Trapped within this despairing situation, Chohong analyzed their chances quickly and quite accurately. The battle had gone beyond the point of saving, never mind overturning it to their favor. Furthermore, the time was on the Nest's side.
They couldn't see any escape route, so what would happen once all the incapacitated tentacles regained their mobility?
"Seol! Take a step back! Keep your eyes open and get ready to hit it with everything you got!"
Chohong loudly yelled out and stood upright. Her mace was lowered towards the ground.
"What are you….?!"
Maria's forehead creased up. She saw Chohong's lips rapidly bobbing up and down. As if she was reciting a chant, she didn't waste a single second and breathlessly muttered out non-stop.
Guuuoooo…. Soon, the strands of her long black hair began floating up one at a time, and….
Flash!
Blinding rays of light suddenly exploded from beneath her feet. An unthinkable amount of the latent power roused up from its slumber and the entirety of the dome-shaped interior began reverberating in resonance. The energy pulsing out of her was so great that even the Nest flinched noticeably and stopped extending its tentacles towards the fallen Mikhail and Veronika.
Wuooooo?
By the time it shifted its attention towards her, vivid curtains of light had completely enveloped Chohong in their embrace. Seol Jihu did as she said and had retreated to some distance away by then. His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets after seeing the change taking place on her.
"Chohong?"
The bright, shifting light rapidly changed to rather cool-looking armor made out of pure light wrapping around her upper and lower torso. A wing-shaped tiara settled down on her forehead next. Finally, a brilliant light shone down from the top of her head, dyeing her hair in beautiful shades of sparkling silver.
Maria's jaw almost fell to the floor. What Chohong had just activated was the most powerful Level 4 manifestation spell, one that could only be performed by a paladin personally acknowledged by the gods themselves.
The 'Valkyrie Skirt'.
"A-are you trying to kill yourself along with the enemy?!"
Maria yelled out at the top of her voice, but Chohong didn't even respond. She only icily glared at the Nest with deep silvery eyes reminiscent of the field covered in wintery snow. She raised her shining mace and silver shield.
Maria bit down on her lower lip. She wasn't a fool and knew better than anyone else why Chohong chose to activate this right now.
If that was the case….
"God damn it! Fuck!"
Maria angrily yanked her bag closer and pulled out an altar. The signs of internal struggle were clearly visible on her face, but in the end, her trembling hands placed the crucifix on top of this altar.
After that initial preparation, she chanted a spell for a protective barrier. With a gravely determined face, she reverently knelt down before the altar. She slowly prostrated and opened her mouth to speak.
"O Luxuria!"
That was the beginning of another Ceremony.
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Novel
The Second Coming of Gluttony
Chapter 75. - King's Wrath (2)
THE SECOND COMING OF GLUTTONY
C75. - King's Wrath (2)
Chapter 75. King's Wrath (2)
Chohong lightly kicked the ground. With that simple motion, she flew up and softly landed near the Nest's position.
The creature visibly panicked and withdrew its tentacles currently creeping towards the unconscious Mikhail and Veronika. It then flung three, four of them towards Chohong who flew towards it, but…
Tuh-tuh-tuh-tung!!
All of its attacks were blocked off by her inverted triangular shield shining brightly in silvery light. The Battle Maiden didn't even budge from her spot. She only had to raise her arm slightly to throw the attacks off. As she did so, silver flames seemed to burn brightly within Chohong's eyes.
The moment she swung her mace, all those tentacles exploded into pieces. The bodily fluids being scattered didn't even have time to wet the ground; they evaporated in the air from the divine conflagration burning all around her.
The Nest issued an ear-piercing scream as its lengthy appendages were gradually burned alive from the silvery flames. Realizing that its opponent had gone through some sort of a transformation, the creature withdrew all of its tentacles in a hurry, bar one still extended out beyond the exit.
However, all those hurriedly-gathered tentacles began hesitating as if they had all fallen into confusion.
Chohong had disappeared.
Seol Jihu was busy dragging the unconscious Mikhail and Veronika to where Maria was, but now, even his own jaw fell to the floor. He only blinked once, but Chohong was already floating in the air. Her dignified, unwavering eyes were glaring down at the Nest. She elegantly descended in an arc and thunderously slammed the Nest's main body with her mace.
POW!!
The tumor-like surface crumpled until it couldn't endure the force and burst open. Reddish fluids shooting out like a fountain were also swallowed up by Chohong's divine conflagration that suddenly expanded its size.
Wuuuueeehh-!!
For the first time in this battle, the Nest's main body was attacked. The Nest let out another loud scream and hurriedly backed away.
However, Chohong's speed had exceeded it. She stuck close to the creature and swung her mace one more time. Another horrifying hole exploded open on the Nest's body and was set alight in silvery flames. It wildly thrashed about in pain.
Chohong disappeared from its sight again. That was as good an evidence as any that her movement speed had greatly exceeded that of the Nest's ability to perceive movements.
The creature must have been greatly incensed. Thirty-odd tentacles shot up as if to puncture the ceiling, and began to slap, thrust, and viciously pound away in every direction.
Kwang! Kwang! Kwang! Kwang!
The ground shook around violently and spat up dust into the air. The tentacles were now accompanied by the sounds of air being torn apart as they proceeded to indiscriminately attack all of its surrounding vicinity. The frenzied attacks from the Nest after it sensed danger to its life was so shockingly powerful that Seol Jihu, sneaking closer to lend assistance, had no choice but to reflexively retreat.
'I can't interfere with this.'
What was even more unbelievable was the fact that Chohong was in the middle of that violent thrashing.
Shwing! Shwing! Just from hearing the sound coming from the battle made him nearly wet his pants, yet all those flexible whip-like tentacles storming around and sweeping everything within their vicinity still missed her by paper-thin margins.
Chohong slithered around like a flowing river. Her eyes were half-closed; the sight of her brushing aside the tentacles with her extended arms was reminiscent of a graceful figure skater. It was so much so that the description of the tentacles being sucked into her before slipping past perfectly described the current situation.
Chohong elegantly spun her body around, and her silver hair spun alongside like multiple hula-hoops. Silvery streaks of light were left behind her wake as she seemingly floated in close to her target, and eventually, she broke past the wall of tentacles and accurately landed one more mace hit on the Nest's main body. With that, a third scream broke out.
Seol Jihu gasped in excitement. The dying embers of hope were being rekindled again.
'We can win!'
He tried to look for a gap he could exploit. It was then that he realized Chohong's condition had become strange once more.
Her once-serene expression crumpled ever so slightly. Her pale cheeks were flushed red, and her breathing had become rougher as well. He thought he saw a flash of anxiety in her face too.
He wasn't sure what was going on, but regardless, he knew that the situation was beginning to change again. The powerful Nest that seemed to be undefeatable was now shaking around rather greatly. Over half of its tentacles were no longer useable, and quite a lot of its body had been scorched black. Most importantly, the biggest gain this time was its giant body shrinking to a noticeable degree.
However, the Nest didn't just sit by and do nothing. The remaining tentacles suddenly expanded greatly. Then, along with the sounds of air leaking out of balloons, green-colored thick liquids vomited out of them in all directions.
It wasn't just one or two tentacles spitting out the liquid, so he mistakenly thought that water was flooding out from a giant broken fountain. Even then, Chohong was nowhere to be found. To be exact, she had already pulled herself far back by the time liquid landed on the ground.
When its final trump card only managed to melt the ground around it, the Nest exploded in pure rage.
Chohong was also gritting her teeth. She raised her shield in front of her and dashed forward desperately. This must have been that opening she spoke about earlier – Seol Jihu matched his timing with her movement and, while gripping his spear tightly, he too sprinted forward.
There was only one opportunity. He was preparing to split his internal energy surging like a rising dragon into two and pour them into his spear and his earring, but then….
Chohong slapped away the tentacle angrily thrust forward by the Nest but began to unsteadily falter on her feet.
"Chohong?!"
Seol Jihu was greatly taken aback and belatedly realized that the silver light surrounding her had grown a lot fainter than before.
….No, he was wrong. The light dispersed altogether. Her armor, her shield, everything.
"Ah!"
At the same time, Chohong's expression resembled someone just waking up from a deep sleep. She could only take a couple more steps before falling down on one knee. She panted and her slack jaw dropped open, leading to the pooled sweat to dribble down her chin. As if she was overcome with bitterness, her face crumpled unsightly.
The reason for that was simple. The Valkyrie Skirt raised the combat prowess of the caster by summoning the spirit of the Battle Maiden. It allowed the caster's battle power to rise to that of a High Ranker, but it could only be maintained for 30 to 40 seconds at most. Afterwards, an extreme case of enervation would follow.
Chohong felt all of her strength seep out with every passing second as she desperately tried to control her breathing. The Nest also looked like it was in a groggy state. Just one more hit, one single hit, and it might be the end.
"I haven't….."
'…Even made a proper opening yet.'
Her calculation was off all thanks to the Nest's resistance that exceeded her imaginations.
Now that Chohong had to retire from this battle, Seol Jihu had no choice but to hesitate. The Nest and its urgently quivering, expanding body also realized her strange state as well.
Wuuuooooh?
The Nest finally decided to raise one of its tentacles, but it flinched greatly again. Chohong still showed no sign of moving, but yet another, different but still powerful energy was rising up from someplace way behind her.
"Heeuup-!"
Maria took a deep breath and slowly stood back up. Seol Jihu saw the crucifix on top of the altar scattering away into dust before her, and his eyes shone brightly in understanding.
She looked as if she'd collapse at any given moment, yet Maria somehow managed to regain her balance and raised both of her hands high up.
"Mall Te Oculorum Meorum!"
Immediately afterwards, white beams of light crackled into the sky like a current of electricity, forming a huge hammer. The cluster of light continued to expand in size, displaying power that could not be taken lightly. The Nest was visibly startled.
No one in here could wait around watching anymore. Seol Jihu immediately activated the Festina Earring. Meanwhile, the Nest freaked out and shot a tentacle out towards Maria with everything it had. Her brows rose up high as she cried out.
"Mjolnir!"
The blinding light exploded. Seol Jihu's eyes, as he was about to dash forward, opened wide. At the same time, Chohong quickly looked behind her in sheer shock. Below the hammer of light falling like a divine retribution, a lone tentacle flew out like an arrow toward the Priest. Maria was dazedly looking at the tentacle with a sweat-soaked, stupefied expression on her face.
In that split second moment….
What were the thoughts entering Seol Jihu's head when facing the single opportunity created through everyone working so incredibly hard?
He knew for sure that Maria would get killed. Even Warriors found it difficult to endure against the tentacles and tried to dodge them, so there was no chance that a Priest could survive a direct hit.
His steps previously directed towards the Nest made a 90-degree turn.
Boom!
He activated the stacking ability of the earring and summoned up every ounce of energy he could to run. He thought he heard someone call out his name but ignored it and simply dashed forward. Maria squeezed her eyes shut as the tentacle approached her position in an instant.
"Shit…!"
In the next moment, the underground cavern was filled up with a massive, blinding flash of light as well as the accompanying thunderous sound. It was so loud that the sensation of someone embracing her and even the screams of the Nest itself were all buried.
A short while later, Maria's eyes cracked open just a little, and she hurriedly sucked in her breath. Seol Jihu was tightly hugging her. She thought that he sacrificed himself for her, but against her expectations, he was completely fine.
He was also flustered by this development. He didn't even have enough time to raise his guards up. He simply pulled her in thinking that he'd be able to guard against that one hit somehow. But then, both he and Maria were completely unscathed. He blinked his eyes several times but discovered the reason soon after. Chohong was standing in front of them, with her left arm raised up.
"C-Chohong!!"
Seol Jihu was momentarily taken over by relief, but the reality dawned on him and he cried out loudly. Chohong's back was shuddering heavily. Creak, creak. She turned her head around like a puppet with its strings cut, and with an energyless face, her lips trembled slightly.
"….Hey, you… dumb… idiot…"
She roughly breathed in and out and lowered her left arm agonizingly slowly.
"I told you…. to take the chance…."
"….Cho, Chohong?"
"But… you chose to…. save her…?"
"Y-You…"
Seol Jihu sensed something was very wrong. Chohong's left arm couldn't be seen. To be exact, there was nothing below her elbow. And when he took a closer look, her back was gradually being dyed crimson. Seol Jihu's face became dazed.
"….But, then again…."
Seeing the reaction on his face, Chohong's lips arched up. It was a lonely smile of sadness.
"….That's just like you…."
With that, her long black hair wavered in the air. Slowly. Chohong slowly fell. Only after she fell did he notice a large hole in her left chest. Her broken armor, her lost arm, even her sharp nose that rose and fell with so much difficulty – they all stopped moving.
At first, there was no change in Seol Jihu's expression. However, his eyes began quaking powerfully and his face seemed to have aged by over ten years in an instant.
He couldn't do anything. He shouldn't have been waiting for a chance, no, he should have been the one making it for others. Even if that cost him his life. But he couldn't even do that.
Regret rushed in belatedly. And also, a sense of powerlessness and a realization of his feebleness.
Thump!
His heart pounded. His pulses sped up.
Maria, who had been staring at Chohong and her condition, raised her head just a tad. To her shock, the Nest was still alive.
It got pummelled by Chohong's mace, and it even got hit straight up by Mjolnir, yet it was still alive. Sure, its condition was rather wretched at the moment, but regardless, it was still drawing breath. Its tenacious vitality made her grit her teeth.
That wasn't all either. Suddenly, it issued gulping noises and began to regenerate some part of itself.
'Mjolnir' definitely inflicted a fatal wound on it. However, bubbles boiled over and the ash-colored flesh continued to rise up. Soon, it spat out a spear and a shield. Seeing this, Maria let out a bitter laugh.
"Hah."
If her eyes weren't wrong, then those armaments belonged to Gierszal. In other words, he was trying to escape all by himself and got killed in the process. The Nest with serious injuries was absorbing the dead body to recover itself. She inwardly wondered why it so desperately tried to reel in the fallen humans, but now she understood why.
'Fucking idiot. Even in death, you're utterly useless.'
On one hand, she felt remorseful. Perhaps she should have prayed for a stronger spell. Rather than wanting to reduce the backlash, she was trying to get her timing right and chose a spell that would let her end the Ceremony on time. And that decision would be her final regret.
"….I shouldn't have come."
Maria mumbled in dejection. The Nest have now recovered a few parts of itself and raised several of its tentacles to wiggle them around.
Wookikiki. It even issued a strange sound, which kind of sounded like a laugh of ridicule.
"Why didn't you just let me die?"
Maria pouted and weakly leaned her head against Seol Jihu's chest.
"If you aimed for that opening, at least you and Chohong would have…?!"
But then, her eyes grew wide.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
The rate of his heart beating was far too fast to be normal. Brrrr. She even felt his entire body shudder uncontrollably.
It happened then.
Crack… crack-….
She heard the sounds of gritting teeth so soft yet bone chillingly-eerie that she couldn't believe it was made by another human being. Maria flinched and cautiously raised her head up.
"You…?"
In that moment….
[Innate Ability, 'Future Vision', has been activated.]
Maria definitely saw it.
She saw the youth and a thin line of blood trickling down his lips. No, she saw the youth and his face crumpled to resemble a demon king of slaughter and madness.
As if in a trance, he separated from Maria. He grasped the spear so tight that its shaft might shatter.
Suddenly.
Death – a clear and distinctly murderous intent enveloped Maria's body. The intent was so ominous that simply by being near it sent shivers down her spine.
"Don't…."
Like a beast howling, a tightly-suppressed growl leaked out of his mouth.
"Don't fuck…."
His bloodshot eyes began to emit a crimson glow. An unbelievable amount of energy rippled out, and the ground below fractured and rumbled.
The final battle.
This was the second coming of the demon of the battlefield, who used to rampage unchecked and unrivaled on countless battlefields.
"Don't fuck with me, you piece of shit!!"
The moment his enraged roar shook the entire underground cavern…
BOOM!!
The Nest's bodily fluids sprayed out. Maria formed a disbelieving expression and quickly looked to her side. There it was, one spear that blew up a part of the Nest. Even the creature itself reacted one step later. Its tentacles wiggling around in a dance of ridicule all recoiled in fright.
"B-Be caref…!"
Maria was about to cry out "Be careful!" but she couldn't as her jaws dropped to the floor. A tentacle flew towards Seol Jihu's direction, but he simply extended his hand out to it. He then roused an enormous amount of mana, grabbed the tentacle, then utterly crushed it with his bare hand!
Rip!
The tentacle flapped around as if the Nest was going on a frenzy from the intolerable pain of its flesh being ripped apart in pieces.
Seol Jihu discarded the tentacle as his spear began resonating loudly. It sounded as if it was crying. Almost right afterwards, an ice-colored blade aura about a meter-long shot out from the tip of the spear.
'No way!'
Just how many more times would she get hit on the head by surprises today? Maria saw that clear-as-day aura blazing out icily from the spear, and she screamed inside her mind in pure astonishment.
'That, isn't that the skill accessible only to Unique Rank Warriors…!?'
To be more specific, it was a skill only a small handful of Unique Rankers could use. And if her memory was correct, then she had seen it only once during her entire career as a Priest inside Paradise.
The Level 7 Highlander's Secret Art – Sword Qi Wave.
Seol Jihu swung his arm roughly. The icy-blue blade of energy flashed to left and right as if it was putting on a light show. In the blink of an eye, all the tentacles attached to the Nest's main body were chopped off, and they fell down with loud thuds. The damn things that remained so tenacious and stubborn until then were rendered completely useless.
That wasn't the end. As if to announce that he was only getting started, Seol Jihu grasped the spear tight with both of his hands and crazily slashed and pounded with his weapon. Every time Seol Jihu's sword qi touched the Nest, chunks of its flesh flew out along with its bodily fluids.
"Uwaaaahhh!!"
From a certain point in time, the Nest stopped moving altogether. However, Seol Jihu's spear didn't stop. His enraged state was so scary that Maria was busy backing off while looking frightened as well.
Just like that, he pounded and sliced away until the Nest turned into a meat paste.
Just how long went by like that?
Puck! His spear struck the ground. He had been pounding into the thing for so long that its main body had pretty much disappeared. The only thing barely remaining on the ground was finely beaten piece of darkened red flesh.
"Haaa… haaa…."
Seol Jihu collected his breath within this sea of mangled body parts and bodily fluids before finally regaining his senses. He only looked around him in a daze for a second or two. He snapped his head behind him and shouted out.
"Maria!"
He quickly ran over to where she was. Maria flinched and instinctively retreated away but stopped moving when she saw the look on his face and the way he was behaving.
His complexion had reverted back to normal. The change was so extreme that she couldn't help but think that the expression on his face only a little while ago had to be a hallucination on her part.
Maria cautiously opened her mouth, her eyes still disbelieving and distrusting.
"You…. Just what are you?"
"Huh?"
"Are you bloody kidding me?! If you possessed a power like that, then why didn't you, from the get-go…..?!"
Maria yelled out loudly, further adding, "We wouldn't have gone through this much hardship then! Do you have any idea how much I've lost today?!"
"I, I also don't know what happened. I saw Chohong falling, and my head just blanked out…."
Seol Jihu shook his head hard. Maria formed an expression of even greater disbelief. She kept spitting out bitter groans non-stop.
"Stop fucking around, will you? Isn't this the same bullshit as the dying main character suddenly jumping up full of renewed energy when a heroine sheds a couple of tears?"
"B-Besides that, please help Chohong!"
Seol Jihu quickly realized his mistake. Didn't Maria already perform a Ceremony? Was she able to perform another one?
Maria hurriedly felt for Chohong's pulse for a second, and her her brows shot up high.
"Go bring her arm. Now!"
"Huh? B-But, what about the backlash…?"
"You think Mjolnir is a high-class spell like Cure Colossal Wounds? I can take care of it somehow, so just go and fetch the damn thing already!"
That was a relief. Seol Jihu quickly located Chohong's separated arm and brought it back.
"She's not dead yet. It's faint, but I can still feel her heartbeat. Besides, it hasn't been that long, so I can still treat her."
She emphasized the word 'treat' and rolled her sleeves up like an expert. She quickly chanted the spell into life.
"Cure Massive Wounds."
A warm ray of light gently wrapped around Chohong's entire body. Maria must have thought one spell wasn't enough because she recited additional spells. The hole in Chohong's chest closed up gradually, and the separated arm was reattaching itself.
"Will she be okay? She will survive this, right?"
"I've already done what I can. The rest is up to the patient herself. Well, she's been toiling in Paradise for a long time now, so surely she wouldn't die from some simple shock like this."
Maria curtly replied and got up to leave, perhaps to examine the status of Mikhail and Veronika as well.
Did she mean to say that the odds of survival were very good? Indeed, Chohong wasn't some weakling. She was a strong woman. As long as she still drew breath, she would be treatable – that's what Maria must have meant.
Feeling relieved now, Seol Jihu let a sigh escape from his mouth.
"Ah…."
Only then did a terrible sense of enervation and fatigue come knocking on his consciousness. This was the price of rousing his mana beyond his limits just so he could utilize a high-class skill several realms higher than his current level.
He plopped down on his butt but couldn't stay upright anymore and simply laid down on his back. He glanced at Chohong's sleeping face, now looking rather serene and calm.
He couldn't quite recall what had happened. His memory cut off the moment he saw the message about 'Future Vision'.
But, regardless of what happened, they had made out of it alive. He thought he was going to die, but he was alive now.
More importantly, Chohong wasn't dead. More than anything, he wanted to be happy about that and celebrate it to his heart's content.
"Would you look at this guy?"
Maria returned to his side and bitterly chuckled after seeing him and Chohong lying side by side.
"Hey, you're not expecting me to carry four people outta here, right?"
"C-Can't we take a short break? I'm really exhausted at the moment."
Maria leered at him for a while. It was clear that she was not fully convinced. Out of the blue, though, she began rubbing her eyes rather vigorously.
Drop, drop.
Her tears fell on Seol Jihu's face, and he formed a bit of a frown.
"Okay, you can move now, right?"
Seol Jihu momentarily became speechless.
"I don't want to stay here any longer. I wanna get out of here right now."
Seol Jihu agreed with her 100 percent, but unfortunately, he was this close to falling into a deep slumber from the sense of fatigue flooding into him.
"What's the matter? Aren't you getting the second wind or something again? Aren't my tears enough for you?"
Maria sarcastically muttered out, her eyes still wet from tears.
"No, well, that's not it…."
Seol Jihu fell into a bit of contemplation before frankly speaking up what his tired mind could come up with.
"I think it's because you aren't the heroine of this story, Miss Maria."
"…."
Maria glared silently at him before powerfully kicking him in the side.
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