Chapter 54
Yeonwoo looked down at his perfectly fine foot and rested his forehead on his knee. He understood that the incident had left him with significant trauma. It would be strange if he didn’t have trauma after seeing someone die like that…
But he couldn’t keep collapsing every time those memories resurfaced. Was there a way to overcome this? As Yeonwoo stared at his fingertips, he slowly raised his head at an odd sensation.
He discovered a silvery-white spider web dangling from his wrist and tried to fold space simultaneously, but as soon as his feet touched the ground, he bounced back to his original position. Yeonwoo tried to cut the spider web stuck to his training uniform with his dagger, but the web wouldn’t break, only tangling around the blade.
“Hyung. One moment.”
Chahun warned as he created a spear and aimed it at the spider. After confirming Yeonwoo had crouched down, Chahun threw the spear at the spider.
When the spider dodged the spear, Chahun threw several more in succession, driving the spider into a corner. He raised an ice wall to block its escape route and hurled a spear toward the spider’s mouth. With nowhere to run, the spider moved its eight legs like springs and jumped to the floor.
As the spider landed, Chahun let out an unintelligible scream and looked for Yeonwoo. Even as it fled from Chahun’s attacks, the spider continued to target Yeonwoo’s wrist.
Each time, Yeonwoo used his ability, but because of the spider web attached to his training uniform, he helplessly returned to his original position. Chahun rushed over and tried to cut the web, but it only froze without breaking.
“How do we cut this thing?”
At Chahun’s question, Yeonwoo pressed his lips tightly together. Fire was needed to cut a fire spider’s web. But he would rather die than consider making fire. Yeonwoo looked at the spider web tangled on his training uniform and started unbuttoning it.
“Hyung?”
“It won’t cut.”
The spider web stuck to his forearm restricted his movement, preventing him from reaching the buttons. He pulled up the uniform and undid the lower buttons, but couldn’t reach the upper ones. After several more attempts, Yeonwoo called to Chahun, who was keeping watch for the spider.
“What is it?”
“Can you undo this for me?”
You can tear it off too. At those words, Chahun’s eyes widened. While Chahun could easily tear the training uniform, Yeonwoo, a C-rank, didn’t have the grip strength to rip it. He lifted his head to make it easier to undo, but Chahun was just scratching his ear as if he’d misheard something.
“Hurry.”
When Yeonwoo urged him, Chahun placed his hand on the buttons. Yeonwoo collapsed to the ground like a marionette with its strings cut as soon as the buttons were undone. While loosening his arms that had stiffened from being suspended, warmth touched Yeonwoo’s shoulder. It was Chahun’s training uniform.
“Hyung, the cameras, and…”
Unable to continue speaking, Chahun grabbed Yeonwoo’s hand and put it inside the sleeve. Before Yeonwoo could refuse, Chahun zipped it up and turned around, rubbing his ear.
Yeonwoo paused while adjusting the sleeve and looked up at the camera on the ceiling. What do cameras have to do with the uniform? Fidgeting with his collar out of nervousness, Yeonwoo stared at Chahun’s back. If it’s because of the camera, he should be the one wearing it, not me. Isn’t he going to get arrested for public indecency at this rate?
“Don’t take it off!”
Does he have eyes on the back of his head? As Yeonwoo was lowering his zipper, he raised it back up to his neck at Chahun’s shout and looked up at the ceiling.
“There it is.”
Chahun turned his head following Yeonwoo’s gaze and threw another spear. When the spear hit one of the legs clinging to the ceiling, a third leg fell down. Chahun tightly closed his eyes at the fluid that sprayed out.
“I think I’m going to throw up.”
Chahun muttered weakly as he created a defensive wall around Yeonwoo. Having lost a leg, the spider was now more persistently targeting Yeonwoo. Chahun shouted, asking why it was targeting Yeonwoo when he was the one attacking, and threw a spear at the spider’s rear.
It seems to be targeting this, not me.
Yeonwoo looked down at his bracelet while folding space to avoid the spider web. The spider, having lost four legs to Chahun’s attacks, continued to spray webs toward his wrist.
What he had seen earlier wasn’t a hallucination. The mysterious bracelet that had suddenly appeared was definitely the jewel snake that had been hovering around him for a while.
Just as Espers attack magical beasts to obtain Magic Stones, magical beasts also attack Espers to get their mana cores. Moreover, magical beasts also attack other magical beasts to grow.
After confirming that the fire spider’s target was the bracelet and not himself, Yeonwoo pulled at the bracelet. He tried to throw it to the fire spider, but the bracelet wouldn’t break easily. Yeonwoo wrestled with the bracelet before rolling to avoid the spider web.
“Argh!”
Chahun shouted, stomping his feet in frustration. He’d been making a fuss about how disgusting the spider was earlier, but now he seemed thoroughly annoyed that it kept dodging his spears.
Yeonwoo grabbed a rock and used his ability to target the ceiling where the spider was hanging. When the rock fell on top of the spider, it struggled to hold on with its four remaining legs before plummeting to the ground. Chahun threw a spear simultaneously.
The spider, now missing five legs, clicked its mouth toward the air. Fire began to bloom everywhere. At the same time, Yeonwoo’s lips trembled violently. Even though he clenched his fist so tightly that his nails dug into his palm and drew blood, he couldn’t stop the vision of a dragon appearing over the flames.
“Hyung!”
Chahun ran toward Yeonwoo. Yeonwoo was trembling, hands clasped together. After raising an ice wall to block the flames, Chahun stroked Yeonwoo’s cheek. Tears continued to well up in his unfocused eyes.
As he patted Yeonwoo’s cheek, Chahun recalled Choi Dongwon’s appearance from before. Surely this isn’t a seizure? With trembling hands, Chahun opened the auxiliary bag and poured a mana potion into Yeonwoo’s mouth. He waited for the effect to take hold, but Yeonwoo’s eyes remained hazy.
As the flames intensified, Yeonwoo curled up, breathing heavily as if he might pass out at any moment. Chahun hugged the violently trembling Yeonwoo and looked around. He noticed a button installed in the corner of the cave. Chahun immediately created ice to press the button, but there was no response.
“What? Why isn’t it working?”
He remembered being told that when the button is pressed to request a training interruption, the green light would change to yellow. Even after pressing the button directly, the color still didn’t change. Pressing other buttons yielded the same result.
“It, it hurts…”
Chahun embraced the writhing Yeonwoo and picked up a spear, smashing it down on the button. With a rumbling sound, the cave wall shook. When he struck again, the cave wall momentarily split, revealing a black space.
After confirming the exit, Chahun carefully laid Yeonwoo down and transformed Sili into an axe. When he struck down with all his strength using both hands, the cave wall collapsed with a ringing in his ears. Chahun unhesitatingly raised his axe toward the glossy black wall. Just then, noise burst from the speaker.
-Kang Cha, bzzt, Kang Chahun Esper. Wait, just a moment. Please wait a moment.
Along with the urgent voice of the staff member, a door appeared in the black wall. Chahun supported Yeonwoo and headed for the door. Beyond the door, which was barely wide enough for one person to squeeze through, the outside scenery was visible. After confirming the gathered Guides, Chahun squeezed himself through the door.
“Wait.”
Lee Sangwon, who blocked Chahun’s path, gestured behind him. As the Guide approached, Chahun embraced Yeonwoo defensively.
“I’m going out, so get out of my way.”
“Hmm? You both can’t leave. I told you earlier. Training is like the real thing.”
Lee Sangwon examined the collapsed Yeonwoo with drooping eyebrows. After confirming his pale complexion, Sangwon gestured to the Guide again.
“That’s what I said, take the Guide with you… By the way, Kang Chahun Esper, is this how you’ll handle an Esper who goes berserk in the dungeon?”
“Get out of the way.”
“You need to answer. Will Kang Chahun Esper give up when there’s an injured person in the dungeon, saying he can’t do it?”
I’ll move aside if you say yes. Lee Sangwon stepped aside with a sinister smile. Hyung predicted this. Chahun recalled Yeonwoo’s insistence that they must succeed no matter what, and without hesitation, he extended his leg.
To hell with the diploma and everything else – he didn’t want to associate with that man for even a moment. Not only Round Guild but other guilds had also promised to provide academy diplomas. Since the Muyeong Guild Master had promised to get him out even if they had to beat up the Center Director, the diploma was no longer necessary. Chahun, who had resolved not to even spit in the direction of the Center once he escaped, tried to leave the black hemisphere.
Or rather, he tried to.
There was a hand stopping Chahun from walking out. Yeonwoo, who had grabbed Chahun, tumbled out of his arms. After coughing for a while with Chahun’s support, Yeonwoo headed into the black hemisphere.
“Hyung!”
“I will continue.”
Lee Sangwon made a humming sound at Yeonwoo’s wheezing voice before looking at Chahun.
“And Kang Chahun Esper?”
There was no need to answer. Chahun strode toward Yeonwoo. Lee Sangwon, who had been watching the two from behind, retreated irritably.
As the door disappeared, the black hemisphere transformed back into the cave formation.
“Hyung… Are you in your right mind?”
Unable to directly ask if Yeonwoo had gone crazy, Chahun supported the staggering Yeonwoo. Yeonwoo pushed away Chahun’s hand and ran to the corner to dry heave.
“You’re going to continue in this condition?”
“…I told you, we need to succeed. We need to get evidence, and if we fail this time, there are too many people who will latch onto it. Besides, we’ve almost killed it, so it would be a waste to give up now.”
Yeonwoo answered in a weak voice and drank water from his bag. Chahun, who had been offering a potion instead of water, stared into space.
With a sensation of space distorting, the fire spider appeared. As Yeonwoo had said, the fire spider with spears stuck in it was foaming at the mouth, looking like it might collapse at any moment.
There was nothing wrong with what Yeonwoo had said. They needed evidence to report the Center Director, and if they gave up now, the people from Zone A, including Lee Sangwon, would mock them for not being able to clear even one virtual dungeon.
But what did that matter?
Whether they succeeded or failed, Chahun would leave the Center in two weeks. While he wanted to succeed for Yeonwoo’s sake, his mind had changed.
Lee Sangwon openly wanted Chahun to fail, and no one was stopping him. Even if they succeeded in the training, he would make up all sorts of excuses not to acknowledge it. Although it was a shame to waste all their efforts so far, continuing the training was meaningless.
“First, I need to target its mouth.”
Chahun looked down at Yeonwoo and stood askew. Yeonwoo’s shoulders were trembling incessantly. And you want to continue like this? Sighing, Chahun walked toward the button, and Yeonwoo ran over in surprise.
“I told you, we need to succeed.”
“What if I want to fail?”
At those words, Yeonwoo blinked his eyes as if asking what Chahun was talking about. As Yeonwoo continued to persuade him, Chahun released Sili and placed it in Yeonwoo’s hand.
“You do it, Hyung. You said you wanted to continue, so you kill it. If you can’t do it, then we leave right now.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
