Stirring (3)
Generally, the core of a dungeon can be considered its heart.
In other words, if the core is destroyed, the dungeon is also destroyed, gradually losing its form and disappearing.
Because of this, the dungeon provides itself with a guardian to protect its core.
That is the boss monster that typically exists in dungeons.
"But Erosion Dungeons are different."
Unlike regular dungeons, erosion Dungeons gradually transform a certain region into their own ecosystem.
Monsters are born, magic stones appear, and the land spews out demonic energy.
To stop this, just as with regular dungeons, the core must be destroyed.
The problem is that this core is completely different from that of a normal dungeon.
"The dungeon core first fuses with the being it touches. And it becos the 'boss monster' like in a normal dungeon. In other words, the core itself is the boss of this dungeon."
At my explanation, Soo-ah's face turned aghast.
It was clear that only a very few people in modern tis would know this.
From the beginning, except for a handful that appeared in the early days, 'Erosion Dungeons' were quickly subjugated, and their occurrence was much rarer.
The reason for this, as I ntioned before, is that Erosion Dungeons cannot form on their own unless demons are involved.
"Is that... is that even possible? Then... the core doesn't just stay in its original place?"
"Correct. Of course it moves around. And as the core-turned-boss monster moves, the region of the Erosion Dungeon expands as well. Have you heard of the Five Great Demonic Zones? The reason the entire Sahara Desert beca a massive dungeon was because the boss monster moved actively, and humanity realized it too late."
In that sense, the current situation was quite a headache.
Recalling Ah-yeon's urgent words, it seed certain that Ji Yeon-hwa was the one who ca into contact with the core.
'Why did Ji Yeon-hwa co in contact with the core?'
With that level of skill, she should know about the Erosion Dungeon... No, perhaps she didn't know about the core. After all, by the ti an Erosion Dungeon is discovered, the boss monster has already ford, so there's a good chance she never learned how a boss monster is made.
'If we can't stop this properly, the shoot is out the window, isn't it?'
In truth, putting filming aside, significant casualties could occur.
I realized now wasn't the ti to worry about the mission.
【Ah-yeon, do any of the other Hunters know about this?】
【Hunter Baek Hojun and I know. And the film crew seems to have noticed that Ji Yeon-hwa is acting differently from before. But... 】
【They haven't decided what to do yet?】
【Yeah, that's pretty much the feeling.】
At the very least, this ant that Ji Yeon-hwa, presud to have fused with the core, was heading toward the film crew.
It would have been urgent if she was going after the other Hunters, but since Ah-yeon and Baek Hojun were with the film crew, and there were other ntor-level Hunters there, surely they could handle one Ji Yeon-hwa?
'Though, this is an S-rank-level Hunter who's been eroded, so it might be a bit much.'
Those who are eroded typically beco abnormally powerful.
If Ji Yeon-hwa really was eroded, she had to possess strength surpassing S-rank.
'How much ti until the mission is over?'
According to what Baek Hojun said at the beginning, we needed to reach the destination within ten hours.
About four hours had passed so far, so there was still a fairly comfortable margin.
'... Let's think positively.'
If I could use this well, maybe I could bring forward Soo-ah's awakening.
When else would such a formidable enemy appear?
"Soo-ah-ssi, I'm sorry to ask, but could you accompany
for a mont?"
"... Is this by any chance related to the Erosion Dungeon you just ntioned?"
"Yes."
Soo-ah had to know how important this mission was.
That's why it was hard to suggest this recklessly.
If she refused, I would just go on my own...
"Alright. What do you need
to do?"
Unexpectedly, Soo-ah accepted my request readily.
"Are you really okay with this? If sothing goes wrong, you may not be able to complete the third mission properly."
"Yes, the shoot isn't the issue now, is it? Besides, even if my Super Hunter K results aren't very good, I should be able to work at Unique...that's enough for ."
She said this with a gentle smile, looking utterly unconcerned.
She still lacked confidence, but her ability to express herself had clearly improved compared to before.
"Then let's go."
"W-wait. You still haven't told
what I need to do..."
"The thing you do best, Soo-ah-ssi."
If Soo-ah's ability was what I thought it was...
"Combat."
Soo-ah could beco the key card to deal with the eroded Ji Yeon-hwa.
***
From a young age, she was called a prodigy of magic.
No one could catch up to her.
She was told she was the one who would lead the Korean magic world.
Those words beca her foundation.
Her pride.
But at so point, people stopped calling her a prodigy.
Because a girl appeared who was given the title of Great Mage before she turned twenty.
At first, it was admiration.
A sense that it was amazing for soone so young to attain the Great Mage's qualification.
Then ca desire.
From childhood until now, past thirty, she had dedicated her life to magic.
She did not want to fall behind a girl ten years her junior.
With her own pride as a prodigy, she thought she could do it.
Thus, desire beca craving.
She began to feel inadequate in the talent she'd always considered prodigious.
For the first ti, she realized she was falling behind and losing.
'And, resentnt.'
So things are simply impossible.
It didn't take long to realize that.
Resentnt turned to despair, and it was not long before society's interest, which once praised her as a prodigy, flowed entirely to Shin Ah-yeon. Admiration, desire, craving, resentnt, despair. For years, all those feelings were solely focused on one person.
Then news ca that all of Shin Ah-yeon's mana hall was destroyed.
To be honest, she felt joy.
If only Shin Ah-yeon disappeared, she could beco the best again, as in the past.
But in the three years since Shin Ah-yeon vanished, people could not forget her.
If Shin Ah-yeon were here, the Korean magic community wouldn't be ignored like this.
The pride in being one of the few countries with a Great Mage.
All that had vanished, and so people paid little attention to Ji Yeon-hwa.
'Ah, I should beco Shin Ah-yeon.'
She realized that.
So, she tried every ans to beco Shin Ah-yeon.
She learned of the ultimate magic stone in that process.
If absorbed, it was a panacea that would heighten one's sensitivity to magic power and increase the size of one's mana halls.
After absorbing it, Ji Yeon-hwa's skills improved by leaps and bounds.
Just like when she first learned magic.
Maybe that's why she beca more obsessed with it.
As if she had beco a genius again.
And so.
"Hu, hunter Yeon-hwa? W-what's going on all of a sudden?!"
At a familiar voice, she looked straight ahead.
'Who was that...'
A familiar face. But she couldn't quite recall.
Ju Ji-sang, that's what they used to call him—if she rembered right.
"Move."
"I-I'll move, S-so just, please release this!"
"Release? Release what?"
At that, she turned her eyes to where Ju Ji-sang's gaze was fixed.
There, black, branch-like things extended from her own shadow and were binding Ju Ji-sang's ankles.
'Did I do that?'
Why? For what reason?
She couldn't figure it out.
'Where was I even going in the first place?'
It felt like she had been heading toward soone.
Her instincts scread that she had to keep moving, but more than that, she wanted to et soone.
Who was it?
Who was she looking for?
"Move."
"W-wait! Why are you acting this way! I'll move right away if you just let go of this...!"
"If you don't want to move, I can't help it."
Scarlet flas began to blaze along Ji Yeon-hwa's shadow.
The flas burned the black branches holding Ju Ji-sang's ankles and spread to his feet.
Scritch!!
The mont the black flas touched his ankles, a sword strike surrounded by blue fire sliced through it.
As soon as the black fire t the blue, it sputtered out and scattered into the air.
"What the..."
Ji Yeon-hwa looked at the person who had just cut through her 'magic'.
Another familiar woman.
But, like Ju Ji-sang, she couldn't rember well.
To her, she was just a 'familiar woman'.
'Lee Soo...ah? I think that was the na.'
Nothing more, nothing less.
But.
She clearly rembered the man standing behind that woman.
"You."
Shin Ah-yeon's manager.
Yes, Shin Ah-yeon. Shin Ah-yeon's manager.
"Where is she?"
At Ji Yeon-hwa's chilly voice, the air grew heavy.
As if the surroundings' "ecosystem" was under her control, everything resonated with her emotions.
"Who do you an?"
Despite that, Jung-woo asked calmly.
"That woman."
"So, who?"
"Shin... Ah-yeon, right. Shin Ah-yeon. Where is Shin Ah-yeon? You know, don't you?"
"Of course."
Jung-woo nodded lightly.
Ji Yeon-hwa didn't like Jung-woo's attitude, but she didn't care, so she continued.
"Where."
"Behind you."
"...?!"
KWAANG!!
A furious explosion struck Ji Yeon-hwa's back.
Even so, Ji Yeon-hwa only staggered back a few steps, without much damage.
"Haaa!!"
At the sa ti, dozens of blades enveloped in pure white light fell vertically.
They slashed through the black shadows encasing Ji Yeon-hwa, but didn't even leave a scratch.
'... Oh.'
That was the highest firepower Shin Ah-yeon could unleash for now.
And even with the sword strike of S-rank Hunter Baek Hojun, all he could do was destroy so of the shadows encasing Ji Yeon-hwa—no significant damage was dealt.
'This is really tough.'
Clearly, Ji Yeon-hwa's power was the real thing.
She truly was a mage approaching S-rank.
Given more ti, she probably had enough strength to reach S-rank several tis over, and now, fused with the core, that strength had increased several levels.
S-rank over—the phrase wasn't just a guess, it was a fact.
"Hunter Ju Ji-sang! What are you doing? Are you just going to stand there?!"
"N-no!"
Since Ji Yeon-hwa was heading toward where the film crew was, Jung-woo, with Ah-yeon and Baek Hojun's help, imdiately blocked Ji Yeon-hwa's path before any harm could occur.
He hadn't expected Ju Ji-sang to run into Ji Yeon-hwa in the process, but since there was no damage, that was fine.
"Oppa, but I don't think I can handle this. That was a spell filled with all my recent annoyance and it didn't even leave a scratch."
"What circle are you at now?"
"Still 6th-circle."
If she had reached 7th-circle, she'd have more powerful attack magic, but it was clear that at 6th-circle, she couldn't inflict any real damage to Ji Yeon-hwa in this state.
"Shin, Ah-yeon. Yeah, Shin Ah-yeon. It is you. So you did co here."
Ji Yeon-hwa was now half-insane.
Out of her mouth now ca only words related to Ah-yeon.
"W-why is she like that? She always started fights herself, so why is she acting like this?"
"How should I know?"
From the first ti he'd seen her, Ji Yeon-hwa was strangely obsessed with Ah-yeon.
Jung-woo could only guess that obsession had beco even bigger through fusion with the core.
"What should we do?!"
Hojun held his sword upright, wary of Ji Yeon-hwa, and asked Jung-woo.
Jung-woo, on the other hand, was dumbfounded.
"Hunter Baek Hojun, you could easily handle her, couldn't you?"
"Yes, I can fight her, but I can't save her."
"Save her? That thing?"
"Huh?"
Only then did Hojun turn to Jung-woo with a puzzled look, as if he'd caught the odd nuance in Jung-woo's words.
"... Shin Ah-yeon-nim said Manager Park would know a way to save her."
"Huh?"
Jung-woo had only co to block Ji Yeon-hwa—not to save her.
At Jung-woo's reaction, Ah-yeon grabbed Jung-woo's sleeve in dismay.
"Huh? You don't know? I thought you'd obviously know this!"
I hadn't expected the downside of always pretending to know everything to catch up to
like this.
"... Well, it's not that I don't know at all."
"R-really? See, I knew you'd know."
"There's no way to save her."
"?"
I pointed at Ji Yeon-hwa.
If you ant dealing with soone in that state, I could say I had an answer.
But it wasn't a thod to 'save' Ji Yeon-hwa, as Baek Hojun had just ntioned.
"A being fused with the core loses reason and becos a demon."
Why can Erosion Dungeons only arise when demons are involved?
The answer is simple.
The dungeon core is the 'heart of a demon'.
In other words, absorbing the dungeon core ans becoming one with a demon's heart.
Simply put, it's the sa as becoming a demon.
But the human body and mind cannot withstand a demon's power.
So, a person who accepts the heart becos a massacre-driven monster, endlessly expanding its territory as an invasion weapon.
"To separate it from the dungeon core and return them to being human—there is no way to do that, as far as I know."
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Damn, even Jung-woo doesn't know. Hmm.
【(??_?? )】
Reviews
All reviews (0)