Chapter 2
When Yeonwoo nodded in response to the repeated question, Chahun looked down at his own hand. Just as he thought a spear might form from his outstretched hand, it immediately split in two. Yeonwoo’s eyes widened as he saw Chahun’s shoulders droop dejectedly.
Oh my goodness.
Yeonwoo knew that the espers in Zone A were keeping Chahun’s abilities in check. The number of people who could join the subjugation team—that is, Lee Sangwon’s team—was fixed. No esper wanted to be expelled from the subjugation team, which was practically the symbol of the Center. Even if they tried to create a new subjugation team, Sangwon wouldn’t just stand by and watch it happen. But still, not even properly teaching him how to make weapons?
Chahun, who had somehow misinterpreted Yeonwoo’s widened eyes, turned his back on him with reddened ears.
“Wait. I’ll try to make one.”
After responding with a nod, Yeonwoo observed the dragon’s movements. The back of the dragon, which was prowling around the dungeon with its body lowered and head raised, was rippling.
“Huh?”
It wasn’t a ripple caused by heat. Grayish silver. It was a barrier.
“What is it?”
Chahun, who approached holding a strangely shaped piece of ice, looked in the direction of Yeonwoo’s gaze.
“There’s a survivor…”
Chahun muttered, then threw the ice away from the barrier. At the same moment the ice stuck to the cave wall, fragments exploded. After confirming that the dragon was running toward where the ice was sprouting, Chahun reached out his hand to Yeonwoo. When there was no response, he even wiggled his fingertips impatiently as if to say “what are you waiting for?”
“What are you doing? Let’s go.”
“Just a moment.”
After opening his auxiliary bag to check the number of potions, Yeonwoo swallowed a sigh and took Chahun’s hand. Chahun folded space and started running, then suddenly inhaled sharply and stepped back.
Behind the defensive esper who had deployed the barrier, someone in a miserable condition had collapsed.
Just as Yeonwoo pushed Chahun behind him, the defensive esper sensed their presence and turned her head. Unlike Chahun who would have thrown a punch without warning, the defensive esper greeted Yeonwoo with a relieved expression.
“You’re alive.”
“Esper Seo Yujin.”
Though not from the same zone, she was an esper from the common area whom he had encountered several times while preparing for subjugation. Yujin bowed her head and carefully turned her body to indicate the person behind her.
“Is there any safe place? Guide Do Minyoung has lost too much…”
Do Minyoung… an A-class guide.
Yeonwoo took a healing potion from his auxiliary bag and handed it over. Though it was just a supply-grade potion, it would be better than no treatment at all. As Yujin removed the potion’s cap and brought it to her lips, Chahun, who had been peering over, muttered in disbelief. Before his question of “Why is she drinking it?” could even finish, Yujin leaned down and pressed her lips against Minyoung’s.
As far as he knew, they weren’t in an imprinted relationship, but it seemed they had developed a strong camaraderie while on the run. Yeonwoo half-embraced Minyoung and, maintaining moderate contact with both of them, folded space. And then he regretted it.
I should have moved them one at a time.
After putting Minyoung down, Yeonwoo covered his ears with an irritated gesture. He could hear a ringing as if space was being torn apart. His mana core, dissatisfied with the lack of rest and guiding, was sending him a warning.
I’m about to die and it’s the mana core that’s the problem?
Yeonwoo took a deep breath to try to calm his raging mana core and approached Minyoung, who had regained consciousness.
“Guide Do Minyoung. I know it’s difficult, but is guiding possible?”
In response to Yeonwoo’s question, Minyoung, who had been weakly looking at his hand, nodded. The ringing subsided with the faint radial guiding. Yeonwoo, relieved, explained the strategy, causing Yujin to look at him with a pale face.
“Is that possible?”
“It has to be. It would have been better if there was even one more awakened person with flame resistance according to the original plan, but…”
“W-well, the team composition isn’t bad. Despite being in poor condition, we have a guide, an attack type, a defense type, and a support…”
“What was the original plan?”
Chahun abruptly interrupted before Minyoung could finish speaking as he gave encouraging looks to Kang Chahun, Seo Yujin, and Han Yeonwoo in turn. When Yujin looked at him with an expression that seemed to ask what this kid was talking about, Chahun kicked the ground while pretending to survey the dragon.
“I was told I didn’t need to know. That there wouldn’t be a place for me to get involved, so I shouldn’t worry about it.”
“…Who said that?”
Chahun didn’t answer, but the answer to the question was already determined. Everyone knew that Lee Sangwon was excessively checking Kang Chahun.
No, no matter what, not explaining the strategy before entering the dungeon doesn’t make any sense.
It was an unprecedented large-scale gate, and the dungeon measuring device couldn’t properly measure what level it was. When Yeonwoo mentioned that a dragon would appear, the Center and guilds had united to minimize damage. It was a situation where even one more person should add strength, but in the midst of it, they were keeping Chahun in check.
And then he ran away trying to make money on his own, and ended up wiping out his team and dying.
As soon as the situation was summed up, the atmosphere instantly turned ugly.
Chahun, who had been standing sullenly because no one would explain the strategy to him, stretched out his hand and created a smooth ice spear. The outer appearance was passable.
“Is this good enough?”
Yeonwoo got up with a sigh and gripped the spear, jabbing it into the ground a few times. It didn’t break, but there was a rupturing sound from the middle part of the spear.
“Make it stronger. Don’t make it as a single piece, but layer it.”
The ice spear that passed back and forth between the puzzled Chahun and the determined Yeonwoo several times gradually became sturdier. When Yeonwoo nodded as he saw the ice spear firmly embedded in the ground, Chahun smiled triumphantly.
Then he lightly jumped in place before running and throwing the spear toward the dragon…?
That bastard!
Just as Yeonwoo grabbed Chahun in shock, Yujin raised a barrier. Having moved roughly without time to set coordinates, they were close to the dragon. Holding his breath, Yeonwoo covered Chahun’s mouth as he was creating another ice spear and folded space again.
“Do you want us all to die? Do you know or not know that Guide Do Minyoung is injured? Did you completely forget our discussion about not drawing attention to ourselves as much as possible?”
When Yeonwoo calmly questioned him, Chahun, who was holding a newly made spear, made an “ah” expression. Even while nodding in understanding, his eyes didn’t leave the spear. He kept fiddling with the spear with his hands, changing its shape, just like a mischievous child excited about finding a new toy.
Can I really succeed with this thundering fool?
As Yeonwoo suppressed a sigh and observed the dragon, Chahun moved behind his back.
“After throwing it, I understand. I can’t attack from a distance. There’s a limit to how far the fragments can scatter too.”
“We’ll go close.”
Massaging his numb hand, Yeonwoo reviewed the strategy once more.
Yujin would extend a barrier to protect Minyoung, while Chahun and Yeonwoo would attack the dragon. If they ran low on mana, they would head to the barrier for guiding, then repeat the attack—a very simple and totally unreasonable strategy.
Yeonwoo took Chahun’s hand and looked around to set coordinates.
Without a flight item, they needed a place that could secure distance for a leap, a place beyond the dragon’s sight, and a place where they could avoid the dragon’s tail.
There was only one location that met all conditions.
The dragon’s back.
As Yeonwoo who had set the coordinates took a deep breath, Chahun grasped his hand. Similarly, Yeonwoo clutched Chahun’s hand, gave a signal, and folded space.
The moment he felt the dragon’s hard scales beneath his feet, he was suddenly terrified. Fear that made him want to run away immediately overwhelmed his entire body. Gritting his teeth, Yeonwoo watched Chahun’s back as he ran along the dragon’s spine.
He couldn’t count how many times he had read books to conquer this dungeon, to kill this dragon. He had studied the dungeon’s characteristics like a madman and memorized the dragon’s weaknesses, attack patterns, and features—everything.
So he was confident that even with just the two of them, they could subjugate the dragon together with Chahun.
It was fine even if the strategy seemed provocative and reckless. Just like the protagonist in the book, Chahun wouldn’t die no matter what he did, and his lifespan was so long that Yeonhwa would wake up from her sleep before seeing the end of her precognition.
So Chahun wouldn’t die here.
“Focus.”
But Yeonwoo was different.
Despite Chahun’s urging, Yeonwoo couldn’t focus. Only after exhaling labored breaths several times could he raise his head. The ringing was getting louder. It sounded like the screams of a mana core that couldn’t withstand the overload.
“What… did you say?”
Due to the ear-splitting ringing, Yeonwoo could barely read Chahun’s moving lips.
At his urging to go get guiding, Yeonwoo gritted his teeth and folded space. Minyoung, who had been waiting, reached out and grabbed Yeonwoo. His labored breathing calmed with the warmth spreading from where they touched.
“Do you need it?”
Chahun, who refused the guiding, picked up the collapsed Yeonwoo. Carrying Yeonwoo, who was sprawled like a doll soaked with water, Chahun ran until he confirmed they were far from the barrier, then relaxed his arms. Despite trying to put him down carefully, Yeonwoo’s legs gave out and he collapsed. Only after catching his breath for a while did Yeonwoo get up and grab Chahun’s hand.
“Let’s go.”
As Yeonwoo folded space, a spear formed at the fingertips of the charging Chahun. While Yeonwoo, who almost slipped because of the slick scales, put strength into his toes to hold on, Chahun ran along the dragon’s neck and jumped. He plunged the spear into the reverse scale, then twisted his body, kicked away the spear, and fell.
Yeonwoo, who had moved to the spot where Chahun was expected to fall, stretched out his hand. The moment he felt their hands firmly interlock in mid-air, he folded space again.
“Ugh!”
A cough burst out. His insides twisted. Tears fell as the pain felt like someone had inserted their hand and was squeezing his heart.
“Not here. Get up.”
At Chahun’s words, Yeonwoo staggered to his feet and folded space while clutching his chest. His heart was beating so wildly it felt like it might explode at any moment. But the moment Minyoung’s hand touched him, all the pain disappeared and his body felt lighter.
After catching his breath, Yeonwoo roughly wiped away the tears flowing down his cheeks and checked the dragon’s whereabouts.
The dragon, curled into a ball, was melting the ice spear stuck in its reverse scale. As soon as the melting ice dripped, it vaporized, causing thick steam to surround the dragon.
“Now we can’t even breathe.”
As Chahun said, the steam was tinged with purple in places, like spreading paint. It was a trace of poison flowing from the dragon’s fluid.
As if I’m not already dying, now I have to hold my breath too?
While Yeonwoo was quietly despairing, Chahun created a thicker spear than before and stretched out his hand. Despite the dangerous situation, he looked strangely, no, definitely excited.
Well, it makes sense. It’s not like he doesn’t have abilities, but he’s been pushed aside for years now due to the fight between the Center Director and Sangwon. Since his awakening, he hasn’t had a proper opportunity to showcase his abilities, so it would be fun to finally have the chance to use them.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
