Chapter 84
Chapter 84
“That is not possible!”
“Why not? In theory it is.”
Min Jaeyoon shouted and shook his head hard.
“You think I never considered that?! It is the first thing I thought of! I have to personally bury that beast in a pit, which means I have to fight it! How am I supposed to fight a Constellation and win!”
It was not an idea he had never thought of, but he had dismissed it as something that simply could not work. He looked at Kang Ihyun, who still stared at him, with an expression that asked if he had lost his mind.
“No, it makes no sense. How can I possibly do something like that.”
“But you know it yourself. This is the only way.”
Bang. In an instant, the doors of the convention center crumpled. Something was trying to force its way inside. Most likely the beast’s underlings that Jeong Suho had not been able to block.
“…They are here.”
Kang Ihyun took his hand off the wall. He ran a hand over the back of his neck, which was soaked in cold sweat, then wearily gripped the holy sword.
With a swish, he pushed aside the curtain and stepped outside, white armor wrapping around his body. Min Jaeyoon followed him out and shouted.
“Hyung, you are going out?! You can’t! You are already exhausted!”
“I told you, Jaeyoon. I have to.”
He took a deep breath, then walked toward the doors of the convention center. He opened a cut on his palm again and smeared the holy sword with blood, and the sacred flame blazed to life.
Min Jaeyoon looked at his face. His expression was set and grim, but when he saw Min Jaeyoon’s eyes, he relaxed his features and smiled. Then he spoke in the same light tone as always.
“When you become a Hunter, things like this always happen.”
He ruffled Min Jaeyoon’s hair a few times. His face carried a hint of apology, but not even a trace of fear.
“Don't decide you can't do it. Try first, and if it does not work, we find a new way. That is how we have always done it.”
He left the convention center. Soon after, bang, sounds of fierce combat echoed in from outside, sharp and unfamiliar. Min Jaeyoon ran a hand through his hair.
Lude was dealing with the beast. Jeong Suho was blocking the countless predators that the beast had summoned, and right now Hyung was blocking the underlings that Jeong Suho had not been able to stop.
He had finally made up his mind to do something, to stand on someone’s side, yet he still ended up doing nothing. Min Jaeyoon looked down at the spellbook in his hand.
‘I am throwing away the chance of a lifetime for this. So you better make sure she lives.’
That was what Lude had said. He was an amazing person. Someone who fought to overcome his trauma, and even gave up his own gain in order to save others.
Compared to that, Min Jaeyoon kept wavering over whether something was right or wrong, and in the end could not even help the Guild Master.
‘Find what you are good at.’
That was what Jeong Suho had told him. While he hesitated, Jeong Suho’s body moved first.
Very few people truly knew what they were good at and what they were not. He knew that such knowledge was built through countless attempts, failures, and successes.
Compared to that, he was a complete beginner with no real experience.
‘You have to.’
That was what Ihyun hyung had said. Ihyun hyung was strong. He had climbed past the unfairness dumped on him and forced himself to grow.
On the other hand, Min Jaeyoon had always been pushed to the back behind the gentle protection of adults. If he had insisted more strongly, he could have stepped forward, but it would be a lie to say that some part of him had not wanted the comfortable path.
“…Can I do it.”
If Ihyun hyung was right, he had to face the beast himself. He had no idea how to do that. It felt impossible. Yet he also had to do something. Min Jaeyoon took a deep breath. He knew a method he could use at a time like this.
He ran into a small room attached to the convention center. He yanked open a black door. Inside, he saw Kang Sujin and Lee Jisung, both looking flustered, and Baek Jangmi, whose body kept pushing out rose vines.
“Is it you, Jaeyoon?!”
Kang Sujin looked at him. She had been desperately applying pressure to stop the blood that oozed where the rose vines pierced Baek Jangmi’s body.
“What is this, why are you only coming now!! What is going on out there!”
Lee Jisung kept snipping with his scissors, apparently cutting off the buds before they could bloom.
Ignoring the horrific sight and the two adults’ words, Min Jaeyoon shouted at once.
“We have to save Guild Master! We need to sever her link to the Constellation, then I have to subjugate Guild Master’s Constellation as my summoned beast!”
“What? Jaeyoon, what are you talking about?”
Despite their stunned expressions, Min Jaeyoon did not stop. He took the Essence of the White Rose out of his inventory and approached them.
“This is.”
Lee Jisung’s eyes gleamed the moment he saw the item. Min Jaeyoon pressed it into his hand and spoke. He explained what had happened to Baek Jangmi, and what was happening upstairs.
Watching the adults listen quietly, he pleaded with all his heart.
“We have to save Guild Master, but I can't do it alone. Please help me! Teach me!”
He was a rookie with outstanding talent, but very little experience or skill. This was the best method he had.
He had no choice but to rely on the teaching of two people. The master of trait evolution, and the top crafting Hunter in the country.
“I will work hard, really hard, and learn right away! So please help me. I still don't really know anything, I don't know what I am doing, but I want to save her. So…”
“All right, I get it, you can stop.”
Lee Jisung grabbed his wrist firmly, cutting off his rambling. With a look that clearly told him to calm down, he took off his sunglasses and looked at Kang Sujin.
“I can do it. I will build a quick and dirty workshop, specialized for summoners. Can you do your part?”
Kang Sujin looked at Min Jaeyoon at his words. Her face still looked flustered, but once she took in the situation again, her expression hardened.
“I can.”
She took her hands off Baek Jangmi and quickly pulled out a notebook as she approached Min Jaeyoon. Her brows pinched slightly. Baek Jangmi had once told him that this was her expression whenever she was completely absorbed in work.
“Mr. Min Jaeyoon? My lessons are very harsh. In the shortest possible time, I will make you strong enough to fight and defeat a completely exhausted Constellation. So hurry and open your Trait.”
[Trait :: Master of Trait Evolution activated!]
Before he realized it, the desk in front of Lee Jisung was covered in crafting tools. With quick hands, he pulled out diagrams and a pencil and began sketching a blueprint, then glanced at Min Jaeyoon and Kang Sujin.
“I will support you with everything we have. You better not whine. That’s a way to get kicked out of Wargod. Got it?”
[Trait :: Master of Item Crafting activated!]
Their cool voices cut through the air. Yet inside those voices, there was hope. Hope that this kid could succeed if they passed on their skills.
And fortunately, Min Jaeyoon was a good student.
About thirty minutes passed, just as Lude had promised. Min Jaeyoon fidgeted with his spellbook. At some point, the liquid Lee Jisung had been heating turned a pink hue. He shook the flask and spoke.
“…If she drinks this, Miss Baek Jangmi’s link to the Constellation will be completely severed. Are you confident?”
“…Even if I am not, I will do it.”
Min Jaeyoon ran his hands over the cover of his spellbook. His expression was stiff with discipline as he nodded. Wearing a grave expression, Lee Jisung raised the flask and poured the liquid into Baek Jangmi’s mouth.
A white light spread out, but the three of them did not feel anything beyond that. Kang Sujin took out her phone and nodded.
“I will contact Lude and ask him to drop the beast here. When he does, then…”
They would somehow make the beast his summoned creature.
Min Jaeyoon squeezed his jacket, trying to wipe away the sweat on his palms. When he nodded, Kang Sujin called Kang Ihyun’s second phone.
“…Hello?”
Kzzzt, kzzzt, along with screams, harsh noise burst from the speaker. The sound was sharp enough to tear eardrums. Everyone in the room clapped their hands over their ears. At last, after a sigh, a familiar voice came through.
[Hello.]
“Lude? This is Kang Sujin.”
[Ah… Haha, yes. Pleased to meet you for the first time. What is it? I was having a lot of fun.]
All three of them wore puzzled expressions at his unusually relaxed voice. But this was no time to dwell on it, so she continued.
“We found the only way to save Miss Baek Jangmi. So we would like you to drop the beast down here.”
[Ah… Really? Truly? I did mess around with them a bit, but still, you people are Avatars. You will die.]
“Yes, we are serious.”
After a thoughtful hum, Lude fell silent again. Another burst of noise like tearing eardrums roared through the phone. The atmosphere was so different from before that Min Jaeyoon tried to say something, but Lude spoke first.
[Well, I guess it does not matter. If I kill them myself, they might use it as an excuse to come again. I really don't want them to go extinct for good this time.]
“Pardon?”
[Should I drop it right now? Ah, maybe I should bleed it a bit more first? Where are you exactly?]
Giggling, Lude asked for their coordinates, and Kang Sujin stammered them out with Lee Jisung’s help.
Once again, there was a burst of noise, then the screams of beasts, and Lude spoke.
[All right~ fine. I will give you a special bus ride.]
Just land the last hit. With those words, a dimensional rift opened right on top of the table with a humming sound. Through it, the red claws of a huge predator slowly descended.
[It was nice seeing the outside again after a while. Thanks. So then~ let us see each other again soon. Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year.]
Lude’s strange stream of words cut off abruptly as the call ended. Only then did Lee Jisung grasp the situation fully and grab Baek Jangmi and Kang Sujin.
“Outside. Now!”
Bang! The moment Lee Jisung, Kang Sujin, and the unconscious Baek Jangmi rushed out, the beast dropped whole onto the table.
Ten bestial heads. Red horns rooted between them.
It was covered in wounds everywhere, and nine of its ten heads had already lost consciousness, yet its grotesque appearance had not faded at all, and Min Jaeyoon bit his lips hard.
[Kyyaaaaaaak-!]
The beast screamed. Its mental attack pierced through the mage’s psychic barrier, and Min Jaeyoon clapped his hands over his ears, then slowly lowered them. The attack felt far weaker than he expected, and he only blinked.
‘So Lude… did this to it?’
There could not be many beings who could reduce such a famous Constellation to this shredded state. Even seeing a Constellation this badly wounded, he still had trouble believing he could win.
Now that he had actually entered the Hunter world, he felt Lude’s greatness even more strongly. Even so.
“I will too.”
I will be like that too. Someday I will reach that level. Making that vow, he looked at his spellbook. Then he recalled Kang Sujin’s instructions.
“You will not take a single step forward from there.”
His red eyes gleamed as he stared straight at the beast. He squeezed red mana out of both hands and wrapped it around the area surrounding the beast.
[Basic Mage Skill :: Mana Crystal]
Clink. The red mana all changed shape at once and formed crystals. The mana crystals, one of the first skills any mage learned, clung to the beast’s body.
Min Jaeyoon opened both hands. In a low voice, he said.
“Everyone, come out.”
At his words, the seventy two demons burst forth, still unable to fully take shape. Then.
“It’s food. Go devour it!”
[Kkyeeeeeeek-!]
Bang! At that command, all seventy two demons pounced at once and began devouring the beast, whose body was covered in mana crystals. The beast let out a scream.