As soon as he saw a yellow signal on the Gate Map, Hyukjin moved in that direction. When that signal turned red, Hyukjin saw it.
'That's…'
He couldn't get a proper look at it because of its long, protruding snout. He didn't see its name or description, and he couldn't read its exact information through Eye of Perception. However, that long, protruding snout, the sharp teeth, its hunting method of dragging prey into the swamp… Hyukjin was very familiar with this monster.
'A Swamp Alligator.'
This monster with the straightforward name, the Swamp Alligator, was about level 17. The monster's true abilities themselves weren't that strong. The problem was that this place was a 'swamp'.
'An alligator in a bog… has the strength of a level 25 monster at least."
No, it might even be higher than that. They were very tricky to hunt. In order to catch one within a bog, your attack had to punch through the bog. Normally, they were hunted by long-ranged Players with longspears, bows, or ammunition weapons.
'And you have to be very high-level.'
The bog protected it. Not only was the alligator not visible inside the bog, but it also took an attack with great piercing power to hit it. It was a monster with the exact opposite trait as a lycanthrope—weak on land, but in water or when it was in a bog, it became extremely strong and difficult to face.
"Sunhwa, take your time following," Hyukjin said.
The moment he saw that snout, that bloody bog, Hyukjin instinctively realized what he had to do. He still didn't have any real experience doing this, and he had never done it personally. All he knew were the countless pieces of knowledge and strategies from the future. However, he moved naturally, as if that knowledge were already engraved in his body.
[Using the special skill Flash Step.]
Flash Step. The peerless, lightness technique that the 'Sword Empress' he knew had used. Hyukjin's body instantly disappeared and reappeared directly in front of the bloody bog, right between Yeonseo and the man being sucked in. There, he swung his sword.
Crrgk–!
Something was sliced.
At the same time, Yeonseo screamed.
"Kyaaaa!"
* * *
Yeonseo didn't see Hyukjin coming. She wasn't even able to determine where or when he appeared. That was because his special skill, 'Flash Step', allowed him to move freely to any point within the skill's range without any sound or trace.
'W-What?'
The moment Hyukjin appeared, he swung his sword. Yeonseo looked down and saw it—
A severed, masterless wrist, still clutching her ankle.
'H-H-He cut it.'
Blood surged out of the severed wrist like a red fountain. That fountain of blood covered Yeonseo, and the hand that had gripped Yeonseo's ankle with desperate strength fell to the ground, twitching before falling still. The "Kyaaaa" scream that had disappeared into silence now felt like an auditory hallucination.
A lot of blood splashed onto Hyukjin's body as well. He quickly ascertained the situation.
'He was able to grab Yeonseo's ankle this hard with just one hand?'
That was impossible.
'A Guardian's ruse.'
Some Guardian probably bestowed some kind of bonus in order to see an amusing spectacle. Hyukjin bit his lips. As one might expect, he was ill at ease. He had just cut off the hand of a person who had been alive until just now. He'd made the decision quickly, but it wasn't like carrying it out was easy.
The Guardians sent messages in response to the situation.
[The 'Nameless Observer' continues to observe.]
[The 'Whispering Devil' is happy.]
[The 'True Master of the Heavenly Demonic Mountain' claps his hands.]
[The 'Lady of the Scales' is silent.]
However, Hyukjin decided not to show his emotions. He turned to Yeonseo.
"Pull it together already, will you? Why did you scream? What were you going to do if there was a monster sensitive to sound?"
"B-But…"
"If you had gotten dragged in, you would have also died."
The future Sword Empress, Yeonseo, hadn't yet shed her civilian shell. It wasn't like Hyukjin didn't understand that, but it was simply too dangerous.
Yeonseo bit her lips, thinking, 'I…'
Her mind had gone blank. She couldn't think. While she was floundering, Hyukjin had appeared and sliced off the Japanese man's hand, and thanks to that, she was able to survive. She stared at the bog, which had become a sea of blood. Even without seeing it, she knew. The Japanese Player was dead.
'Scary.'
For the briefest moment, she thought that it was scary. She bit her lips again.
'No. It's not scary.'
To be exact, it wasn't scary, but too unfamiliar. Blood. Corpses. Monsters. People dying. It was all still unfamiliar.
"…" For a long time, Yeonseo was unable to say anything. She finally opened her mouth. "…Sorry."
She was born with outstanding talent and qualities. It was just that they hadn't bloomed yet. She didn't have any thoughts of quitting Playing. Rather, she wanted to Play. Even if it was very dangerous, right now, her interest in 'Playing' in itself was growing.
"I was so shocked I couldn't think of anything."
"You have nothing to apologize for," Hyukjin grunted resolutely. "Just don't forget that if you hadn't been lucky, there wouldn't have been a next time."
His words were true. Even for the amazing Sword Empress, if her heart was pierced or her neck sliced, she would die. If she'd been dragged into the quagmire like the man just now, she would be long dead by now. If she had been unlucky, Yeonseo wouldn't be standing here.
She nodded. She understood what Hyukjin was saying. She couldn't define what he did as 'correct', but at the very least, she knew it was thanks to his actions that she survived.
'He's right.'
She learned something by looking at Hyukjin. It was hard to put into words, but it felt like she broke a wall. She learned firsthand that this was how you were supposed to Play. She felt like she learned a great deal about something she couldn't quite explain.
"…Thank you. For saving me."
The quagmire that had sucked in the Japanese Player quickly absorbed everything, even the blood the man had spilled, becoming a bog so ordinary that nothing seemed to have happened.
"Hyungnim, why are we still waiting here?" asked Yoohyun.
"We have to kill it."
"That… alligator-like monster?"
I nodded. We couldn't dive into the bog. That would maybe be possible only if there were a rather outstanding elementalist or magician here.
"How do we kill it?"
"Once it finishes its meal… it'll be drowsy."
My heart felt heavy. 'Finishing its meal' was basically the same thing as saying that it had eaten the Player. Regardless, after filling its stomach, the monster would emerge from the bog. Swamp Alligators liked to take naps on land.
Sunhwa peered doubtfully at the bog. "Does that mean the monster will take a nap or something?"
"Don't you think there's a possibility that might happen?"
It wasn't a possibility, but a sure thing. The monster would soon surface.
"It'd be great if that did happen, by some chance. I get the feeling I saw something like this in a dream. For now, let's wait."
My party members looked at me with dubious expressions, shooting me looks that clearly wondered whether the alligator would truly surface, but I didn't relieve their doubts. There was no way to explain, anyway. The Streamer who couldn't violate my exclusive contract with Senia, Celine, was observing from a distance, and Senia was also waiting in silence.
'They must think that I'm a Precognitive Dream user.'
Playing wasn't done alone, in a vacuum. I had to use the situation I was given to the utmost. I just had to give a justification for my actions.
"My Precognitive Dream isn't complete. I can't see everything. But I know its habits, at least."
That implied that I hadn't been able to foresee the Japanese Player's death.
'The Lady of the Scales should be convinced with this.'
It was fine as long as she wasn't disappointed and was just silent. The Lady of the Scales had to know that my actions were the best I could have done in that situation. She had to know that it was better for one person to die rather than two.
"Huh? Hyungnim! I see bubbles."
"Take a few steps back."
A monster with a bloodied snout came out of the water. Its name was, as expected, 'Swamp Alligator'.
Swamp Alligator LVL 18
Level 18. On land, this thing was simply a level 18 prey. As if it couldn't be bothered with the likes of us, the beast heaved itself further onto land before curling up and falling asleep.
Yoohyun raised his fists. "I will go beat it to death."
His fists glowed with a faint blue light. He was a Player who had just reached his early level 20s, but—
'He can already put mana in his fists?'
The Fist King was indeed the Fist King. Most Players would have to get through the beginner period in order to replicate the feat.
Yeonseo stopped him. "No. I'll kill it."
My Eye of Perception captured Yeonseo's state.
State: Rage / Cool-headed / Rational
She was definitely enraged, but cool-headed at the same time. Basically, she was in a state of cold rage. I could see that her eyes were filled with intense murderous intent.
'She's already grown one stage higher.'
Intense murderous intent billowed out from her. Once she surpassed this stage, she would learn how to hide her bloodlust, but she wasn't there yet. In any case, she had shed her civilian shell much more than before. Her near-death experience had pushed her growth.
"Yeonseo. You do it. The weak points of most animal-type monsters are their heads."
For most of them, the middle of the forehead was one of their vulnerable spots.
"Got it."
With her sword drawn, Yeonseo's very aura was like a well-honed blade. She gave off the feeling of a sword. I knew this state very well. She had already reached the so-called 'one with the sword' realm.
'It's said to be the basic quality of Rankers who use the sword.'
It might even be that she had grown even faster than in the past. Yeonseo composed her breathing. In just one strike. Quickly. Her movements were fast and precise, aiming unerringly for the middle of the forehead, exactly one point. She quickly and powerfully pierced that spot.
[Swamp Alligator has been killed.]
On top of EXP and Coins, an item dropped. Yeonseo picked it up and showed it to me.
[Swamp Alligator Claw – Quest Item]
The claw of a Swamp Alligator. Present it to an Intermediate Administrator to receive a quest.
"I think it would be best if you gave this to Senia," said Yeonseo, offering me the claw.
"…"
I didn't refuse. The rule was that the person who acquired the item, Yeonseo, should personally go and receive the quest. It was a fixed fact that the quest recipient would get the lion's share of the rewards. Yeonseo probably knew that as well as I did. But even so, she conceded the right to me, and I accepted it. I wasn't running a charity here.
"Senia. Here. Quest item."
Senia issued me a quest.
[You have received the 'Swamp Alligator Claw Acquisition' quest.]
The quest wasn't all that complicated. We needed to acquire 5 'Swamp Alligator Claws'. The current progress was [1/5].
'We've already got one.'
We only needed to get four more.
"Oppa," Sunhwa said. "Can we really get five of these? I can't figure out how to hunt them."
In all actuality, we had no way to hunt Swamp Alligators if they didn't come out of the bog. In the end, we had to drag them onto land somehow. Yeonseo also looked deeply troubled by the conundrum.
"Without a sacrifice… we can't drag them out."
The monsters only came onto land to nap when their bellies were full.
"Can we really… clear this quest?"
We had two quests. The first was 'Turtle Nest', and the second was 'Swamp Alligator Claw Acquisition'.
If we cleared the second, the first would be almost automatically cleared.
"We can do it," I said.
"How?"
The emotion I could feel from Yeonseo via Eye of Perception was 'fear'. It was fear towards me. I knew where that fear came from. She was likely scared that I might throw the others as sacrifices to catch the alligators.
I chuckled. Did she see me as some kind of monster?
"Like this."
[The 'Nameless Observer' and four other Guardians cannot wait to hear your response.]
I decided to show them the method.
____