While running with Yeon-hee and Noh Ha-yoon on either side of me, I overtook Ma Gwang-jin, who was struggling to keep up with Yoo Min-jeong.
“I’m going to take a look first.”
I had to veer off wide so Ma Gwang-jin wouldn’t notice; I was too slow to catch up to them. It seemed the delay was mainly because of Yoo Min-jeong.
Whew—
After flying at my top speed for about ten minutes, Noh Ha-yoon, who had been noisy at first, suddenly fell silent. As soon as I stopped, a storm of questions hit me.
“What happened? Where is this? Why did you bring me and not the whole party?”
“I wasn’t planning on bringing you either…”
About twenty minutes earlier, when Ma Gwang-jin suddenly left carrying Yoo Min-jeong, I had decided on a whim to follow them without a second thought. But since we were far from the Devouring Creeper, taking Yeon-hee along was a must.
Yet the moment I picked up Yeon-hee, a faint vision flickered in my mind.
– Achievement [Foreseeer’s Step] activated!
An achievement gained during the fight against the 27th Escalon, [Foreseeer’s Step], had activated unexpectedly. What it revealed was a future I had never considered.
“Noh Ha-yoon breathing cold into the breath of the Sword Dragon…”
Could such a combination even make sense? But since it was a skill that didn’t activate easily, I figured I should take Noh Ha-yoon with me for now.
“They said it shows one of many possible futures… It’s surprising that there’s a future where I bring Noh Ha-yoon.”
Nodding, I shrugged at Noh Ha-yoon, who was staring at me expectantly for an answer.
“You… just dragged me along for no reason? What’s up with that…?”
I didn’t know what Noh Ha-yoon was thinking, but that wasn’t what mattered right now.
“Do you feel something?”
“Clap, Clap, Clap.”
Finally, the presence of Team 1 began to be detected. But there weren’t many people left to even call them a team. The bigger issue was that their situation looked like the worst-case scenario I had anticipated.
“What the hell… how did it come to this?”
* * *
“Quick, commit suicide—!”
Swoosh!
Gu Sang-min and Jo Won-jae, who instinctively tried to end their lives upon sensing the power of the Escalon, found themselves ensnared mid-air as the Escalon wrapped its tendrils around them.
“There’s one that looks delicious.”
The massive monster licked its lips at Gu Sang-min. A rare S-rank healer would surely be a feast that even the first Escalon never tasted.
Swoosh—
Crunch!
As Jo Won-jae desperately tried to snap the tendrils once he was caught, he found his sudden spell casting insufficient against the Escalon’s hardened tendrils. He only managed to cut a few and remained trapped in the monster’s grip.
He had been a prominent wind-element S-rank hunter in Korea, but his abilities felt utterly trivial against such an opponent.
Shudder, shudder—
The first Escalon seemed delighted, laughing maniacally at the sheer terror it instilled in the newly caught prey. The madness of its laughter made all four captured hunters automatically hunch their heads.
“You’ve gathered other bugs too. Well done.”
As Jo Won-jae’s skill, ‘Path of the Wind,’ released, the stunned hunters slowly descended from the air.
Eventually, as all the hunters from Team 1 were caught, Kang Yeon-su and Hyeon Il-hwan covered their eyes in despair.
“Ugh— I can’t stand this!”
Yet, contrary to its earlier promise of slow torment, the Escalon immediately seized Gu Sang-min and took him toward its gaping mouth, filled with sharp, swirling thorns.
“No, don’t! W-waah… ugh—”
Even on the brink of being devoured by the horrific monster, Gu Sang-min stifled his cries as he didn’t want to spread fear to his comrades.
“No, please!!”
“There’s nothing I can’t do, bug.”
Ignoring Kang Yeon-su’s plea, the Escalon stopped halfway, realizing…
“No, this bug has healing abilities, doesn’t it?”
Staring intently at Gu Sang-min, the Escalon took a few of its own fingers and bit them off.
Crack!
“Graaaah!!”
Gu Sang-min, whose fingers were brutally torn from index to ring fingers, let out an involuntary scream from the unbearable pain.
Though too tiny to fully relish, the Escalon bit into Gu Sang-min’s fingers as if savoring an exquisite delicacy.
“Haha— it’s indeed special. It has a refreshing taste, different from other bugs. Hm? What are you doing? Heal yourself.”
“Guhh…”
The Escalon ordered Gu Sang-min to regenerate his fingers while it chewed on another.
“Aargh!!”
Only then did Gu Sang-min realize what the monster intended to do to him.
“You’ll be my eternal finger-fed human! Hahaha!”
“Ugh…”
Lost in endless malice, Gu Sang-min uttered an exclamation. Soon he slumped, unconscious.
Miraculously, as soon as he lost consciousness, his fingers began to heal rapidly.
“Oho— so my body heals even without using abilities? The rarest bug of all I’ve seen.”
The Escalon, seemingly satisfied, settled down to feast on Gu Sang-min’s fingers and toes.
“Ughhh!!”
Gu Sang-min experienced a cycle of waking and fainting, with each lost limb regenerating anew.
“Ugh— uwahh—”
Watching this, Jo Won-jae finally retched. The horror and dread he felt was overwhelming.
“That brutal Elf was nothing compared to this…”
Jo Won-jae prayed to the gods at that moment.
“Please… kill us. Please, just kill us. Please—”
But ironically, the Escalon’s body, which had suffered serious injuries from Hyeon Il-hwan, Kang Yeon-su, and the Chinese Hunters, showed rapid recovery as it consumed a part of Gu Sang-min.
As everyone’s spirit waned to despair, the Escalon took notice of something.
“Hm? Is that food?”
While repeatedly chewing on the regenerated fingers, the Escalon sensed something unusual.
“… Come out.”
A strange sensation as if being scrutinized washed over it. The Escalon had a detection range comparable to top-tier guides, yet oddly, no magical being was sensed nearby.
“Something’s there. Not a bug. Anything, come! I’ll kill you!”
The Escalon firmly secured the tendrils binding the hunters to the ground. They were effectively non-awakened and couldn’t shake off the tendrils due to the enforced [Paralysis] effect.
As they flickered their eyes, they desperately scanned their surroundings with a slight glimmer of hope.
“Uwaaaah!!”
The resounding roar of the Escalon echoed. It wasn’t merely to express anger; it was a detection skill trailing opponents.
This skill was one acquired after devouring an S-rank hunter in North Korea months ago.
“Strange. Nothing detectable.”
Of course, there was nothing to detect.
What the Escalon sensed was the wave of sensation released by Il-wol.
And in response to its roar, Il-wol covered her ears.
“Ugh, so loud. Is that lunatic eating a train’s exhaust?”
Even from 900 meters away, the monster’s roar resounded, marking its presence.
“If I go any further, it’ll likely come charging.”
Il-wol’s advance halted at this point.
“If I step within its sonic range, I’ll be instantly exposed. Even more sensitive than the Man of Stealth trailing us. Not good. Speaking of which, I don’t feel that guy’s gaze anymore.”
It seemed the Man of Stealth had lost track of us.
“This is an unforeseen bonanza. I can momentarily shake it off… but now, how do we deal with that monster? Hyeon Il-hwan has even been caught? It’s absurdly powerful. Shouldn’t an elder like Hyeon Joong-gil come by now?”
In my past life, I once asked Hyeon Joong-gil about what he would do if his son died fighting a Great Beast, why he was so harsh on his son.
He had said that it was a fate he was born to face; there was nothing he could do.
That expression filled with complex emotions as he pondered the life-and-death boundaries of his son still lingered in my mind.
“Fate or not, it’s truly life-threatening. Uncle.”
“Il-wol… can I say something?”
“Clap, Clap, Clap.”
Yeon-hee leaned closer, whispering to me.
“How about calling Castle to lure it away?”
“Clap…”
“Will it come?”
At Yeon-hee’s suggestion, Noh Ha-yoon joined in the conversation softly.
“If it comes, we’ll die, right?”
“While it’s coming for us, we can at least lead people away first…”
“No way, do you really think we can restrain it for even a second?”
Noh Ha-yoon couldn’t quite comprehend Yeon-hee’s prioritizing others over herself. What was the point if we all died? I felt the same.
“… It’s unpredictable. Hard to anticipate.”
Still, I could only think of two ways to deal with it.
“Flame Cut, five stacks. Or self-detonation.”
If I could summon the Fragments of a Great Being, killing it would be easy. But I questioned whether I could deal even a scratch to that mad monster.
In that case, self-detonation seemed the most viable option, even from a bit of distance.
But just self-detonation wouldn’t suffice. At least like that time when I drove the leader of the Do away, I would have to sacrifice more than ten lives.
“Yeon-su’s magic is weakening… and Sang-min’s hands…”
The conditions of all four captured were dire. Especially Gu Sang-min, whose magic flow was extremely unstable due to severe injuries. Something must have happened to him before I arrived.
“Ma Gwang-jin… Yoo Min-jeong… Is it possible with those two?”
Two S-rank hunters were running hard toward us from behind.
“Yoo Min-jeong only has one binding left… how long can we hold?”
[Discordant Fury]
– Attack power increases in proportion to the difference in rank with the enemy.
“I have no choice but to rely on Yoo Min-jeong’s binding and this achievement.”
– [Discordant Fury] activated.
– Damage dealt to [First Escalon] increases by 12.5 times.
An incredible ability that significantly raised attack power in proportion to enemy rank, gaining a whopping 12.5 times increase.
Hyeon Woo-seok, collapsed in the distance, had a 3-fold increase, while the Lizardman I fought during the job change quest had 3.5-fold; it’s easy to gauge the combat power of Escalon.
– I sense something ominous.
– Wait, are we really going to engage? Didn’t you hear that roar earlier? This isn’t a monster we can handle! Don’t, let’s just go back—
Finally, Ma Gwang-jin and Yoo Min-jeong approached where we were.
I took Yeon-hee and Ha-yoon, made a wide turn, and approached them.
“Hey, just a moment— I could walk on my own, you know…”
Noh Ha-yoon’s face turned red as I held her waist, but it seemed more natural to be carrying both to show Ma Gwang-jin we just arrived.
Rustle—
I made some noise so they’d notice us quickly.
“Hm? Who are you guys?”
“Wait?! Hunter Lee Yeon-hee! Hunter Noh Ha-yoon?! How did you get here?”
“Ahaha… um, hello?”
Seeing us appear suddenly, the two showed signs of wariness. It made sense; they had been running with all their might, and now we just popped up.
“Il-wol here is fast, you know. Hehe—”
“Oh? Even if I’m fast, you carried two people and didn’t have much difference from us? Hehe, that’s noteworthy…”
“Hmm… by the way, that guy used Fireball, right?”
Though the two stared at me suspiciously, they’d soon forget about it in such a tense situation.
“But what brings you all the way out here?”
“I sensed something unusual happening, so I came to have a look.”
“… I see.”
Ma Gwang-jin relaxed his previous tension and looked at us appreciatively.
“Grim Reaper— or was it Il-wol? Your detection ability seems pretty solid. Can you sense the situation over there?”
Ma Gwang-jin gestured to me, asking about the situation ahead.
“How did he know I had a detection ability…”
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.
