Choi Ji-yeon was quite skeptical about this search operation.
She didn’t mean to imply any ill will towards the missing child.
It was just that, realistically, she thought the survival chances were pretty low.
[Team 2, communication confirmed, we’ve found them.]
“Uh?”
[Also confirmed survival. Coordinates shared.]
Contrary to her thoughts, a location was pinpointed.
Really fast, actually.
Ji-yeon’s eyes blinked in surprise at the unexpected report coming from her smartwatch.
“Association branch?”
The place they arrived at, according to the coordinates, was a modestly set up association branch.
The association sets up branches all over the world, even in gray areas.
Of course, since the gray areas don’t have much influence, they aren’t as large or numerous as those in white areas.
And it stood out among the aging facilities.
“This way, miss.”
A little way from the association building, the team leader waved at Ji-yeon.
Next to him was a little girl wrapped in a large robe, sipping soup.
It was the missing child. She looked just as she did in the photo they received beforehand. She had lost a little weight but seemed unharmed.
Feeling relieved, Ji-yeon approached her.
“How is the child’s condition?”
“Fortunately, there are no serious injuries. There are signs of malnutrition, but it’s not critical.”
“Have you conducted tests for curses or dark magic?”
“Yes, and the results show no significant curses.”
“That’s a relief.”
Only then did Ji-yeon let out a deep sigh of relief, the tension she had been holding onto crumbling away.
Seeing the child oblivious to the situation, happily slurping soup, was oddly comforting.
In many ways, they had been lucky.
“However, there was a defensive magic put in place.”
“…Defensive magic?”
“Yes, I briefly analyzed it, and it shouldn’t cause any harm, so we’ve kept it.”
Ji-yeon, who was already trying to relax, perked up at this.
‘Not a curse or dark magic, but protection?’
She squinted at the child for a moment.
The robe the child was wearing wasn’t the one the team leader had given her; it looked completely different.
Most strikingly, the simple magic circle embroidered on the robe caught her eye.
It was advanced. Even with her lack of skill in magic, Ji-yeon could grasp that immediately.
While she wasn’t adept at casting spells, she was well-versed in dismantling them.
To her, that magic would be difficult to break.
Even before its activation, the magic circles were entangled in a way that made them hard to decipher. Breaking the activated defensive magic would also be challenging.
It was a high-level magic. Also, it wasn’t based on the structure of spells her team leader used.
‘…Huh?’
As she observed the magic circle, she felt a sense of unease.
To be precise, it felt like déjà vu.
‘This seems familiar…’
The basic spell structure was neatly layered, as if meticulously drawn out with a ruler and calculated.
Ji-yeon’s eyes narrowed.
lacked the skill to accurately gauge the spell’s specifics.
Magic is a notoriously finicky discipline, and since most constructions are precise like this, it can be confusing.
“What is this?”
“Yes, I’ll explain.”
Nodding at Ji-yeon’s request for clarification, the team leader began explaining.
The explanation didn’t take long.
True to his brusque demeanor, the team leader’s explanations were succinct.
‘Mumyeon…’
Upon hearing the explanation, Ji-yeon’s expression grew complex.
Mumyeon (無面).
It wasn’t an awkward title, as she had heard it in the recent news frequently.
A figure who began operating around the same time Ji-yeon was traversing China.
Rumor had it that he wiped out dozens of inhumane groups overnight, recklessly hunting monsters left unattended near civilian areas.
Eyewitness accounts still circulated, noting his notably bizarre appearance, hence the nickname Mumyeon.
A completely black mask, blocking even eye holes and nostrils, and a baggy robe that revealed no skin.
It was said that he also utilized magic to obscure his identity, leaving no trace of himself.
According to the team leader, this child had already been rescued by Mumyeon before they even located her and was left at the association branch.
Mumyeon had freed the child who had been captured by some cult and dropped her off at the association branch.
Ji-yeon glanced at the association building.
It didn’t look like a great area, being dull and lifeless, but people were bustling around the association building for some reason.
Their common trait was that they all looked pretty worse for wear, some looking malnourished to the bone.
They were civilians rescued by Mumyeon.
“…If they’re part of the association, I’ll have to prepare a thank-you when we return.”
Ji-yeon shook her head and approached the team leaders.
“No need to waste time; let’s return immediately. What do you think?”
“I agree.”
“Yes, I agree. Finally, I can soak in some warm water.”
“Then let’s head out without delay.”
With a unanimous vote, the return was decided.
Unfortunately, the association branch they left the child at didn’t have a gate terminal.
Since it was a small branch, generally, they don’t open gates in gray areas.
So their plan was to return to the nearest gate terminal… the one Ji-yeon had used to enter China.
It had been over ten days since they traveled that path.
A bit of distance, indeed.
But this time they could shorten it significantly since they weren’t searching.
“Guess the rumors about the association being active were true.”
As dusk fell and night approached, Ji-yeon was shouldering on with her steps when she felt a chin drop onto her shoulder.
It was Lee Da-hee, a female team member from Team 1, following Ji-yeon.
“Nothing is certain yet.”
“Still, it’s pretty much confirmed, isn’t it? Just look at how they took in the rescued civilians. These days, they’ve been hush-hush about helping gray area civilians because of their limited resources.”
The association was quite passive regarding gray area rescue activities.
In the past, they were somewhat proactive, but lately, because of the turmoil in the African Demonic Realm, they’ve shifted their focus there.
Yet, Mumyeon’s rescued civilians were being well taken care of by the association.
“Considering they hide their identities so meticulously, isn’t it the governing body?”
“With the magic scene being busy, do you think they have a reason to come here?”
“Seems like they might’ve messed with someone significant. Our child was also affected, right? Clearly, someone stepped on a powerful toe and is now getting clobbered in return.”
One of Team 3, who had been quietly listening, chimed in with a nonchalant remark.
The teammates returning were all chatting about Mumyeon.
They had found the search target without issue, and being on their way back eased the tension.
That was a bad attitude considering their mission wasn’t over yet, and Ji-yeon debated whether to rebuke him.
However, noticing the spirits she had spread out to keep a lookout checking the surroundings, she let it slide.
She too had scattered spirits around for vigilance—disorganized spirits extracted from lower-tier monsters, perfect for a makeshift perimeter.
‘Hmm?’
Then it happened.
One of the spirits she had placed suddenly picked up something unusual.
Merging her sight with that spirit revealed a massive gorge that was unfathomably deep.
But the unusual part was different.
‘Fog?’
One side of the gorge was shrouded in fog.
Yet this fog wasn’t rising from the gorge’s bottom; it seemed to appear out of thin air.
And that fog had a strangely mystical quality to it.
Having grown up around various natural phenomena in the Taesan Clan’s territory, Ji-yeon found it mesmerizing.
‘What is that? A dungeon?’
When the environment seems off in this world, you can bet it’s typically a dungeon.
Going by that rule, she guessed the fog was likely a result of a dungeon as well.
Driven by curiosity, Ji-yeon attempted to send a spirit down below.
– Halt.
She stopped the spirit.
Instead, one of the nearby spirits vanished in an instant.
Ji-yeon stiffened her face and turned her gaze.
The other team members moving with her sensed the presence and turned their eyes to the same direction.
– Whoooo…
A chilling wail pierced through the brittle branches.
A presence was approaching.
It was more than just a material presence.
It was the ominous aura of spirits full of grudges and malice advancing toward them.
As the embodiment of Taesan’s power, Ji-yeon could feel it more keenly.
Raising her mana, she spoke.
“…If you’re just messing around, you can take one chop.”
“We differentiate between business and pleasure.”
Caught up in scanning the surroundings, one of her teammates replied sternly.
That common sense made Ji-yeon let out a hefty sigh, hoping it wouldn’t show.
The ominous presence thickened.
It wasn’t just coming from one side. Ji-yeon felt it surrounding them.
“Damn it.”
Alongside Ji-yeon’s exclamation, the spirits revealed themselves.
– Thud.
A cold, bloody hand settled on a tree trunk, a gruesome reminder of a mutilated corpse.
‘Corpse puppet.’
A technique that forces spirits into corpses for manipulation.
There were quite a few of them.
Ji-yeon scanned the surroundings to assess the situation.
The numbers were overwhelming.
While Ji-yeon could summon a fair amount of spirits herself, the sheer volume of encroaching spirits was far beyond her own.
Not to mention, they appeared quite high-quality. While there were plenty of shambling zombies and mediocre beings, there were also spirits that bore a clear level of prowess.
However, they were not out of reach to deal with.
“Protect the child first. We’ll break through the encirclement slowly while searching.”
She wasn’t sure if her mana fluctuations could be received at such distance, but she sent out danger signals.
With her command, Ji-yeon stomped her foot down onto the ground.
– Boom!
The ground they stood upon shuddered.
Like ripples in a lake, the tremors spread out.
Then
– Crash!
– Aaaaah!
From below the spirits’ feet, spikes of rock erupted.
Spirits, which approached them while maintaining their distance, were quickly skewered and ripped apart.
High-level creatures among the monsters couldn’t resist the rock spikes augmented with the earth’s power and mana, and they perished without a fight.
The ground trembled again, prompting mounds of dirt to surge up their legs.
In an instant, the earth-cloaked Ji-yeon was encased in what resembled sturdy armor.
The earth didn’t cease its movement.
Ripples followed and continued as spikes thrust upwards, the land itself undulated like waves, crushing enemies beneath it.
All kinds of spirits crawled up from the fissured ground.
Taesan (泰山).
A unique ability to command the spirited earth and the skittering spirits that roam the world.
Thanks to this, the spirits, filled with earth’s wrath, faced neither resistance nor escape and met their demise in rapid succession.
The spirits that were encircling them fell apart almost immediately.
With the vacant space left behind, Ji-yeon and her party swiftly filled it with their summoned spirits, pressing back their foes.
As Ji-yeon reached out her hand, the ground writhed once more, forging a massive double-headed axe.
Tightly gripping the handle of the freshly made axe high above her head, she prepared to strike.
Crack! A chilling friction echoed between the handle and her palm, crimson veins popping under her gauntlet.
Then, she slammed the axe down before her.
The axe’s blade tore through the air, smashing down on the head of a corpse puppet.
Bang! The head burst like a ripe fruit.
Not stopping there, she swung down the axe again, cleaving through the torso of the puppet, even splitting it from the waist down, forcibly driving the axe into the ground.
Boom! The ground shook violently beneath her feet.
As she struck down, a shockwave erupted in the direction of her swing.
Several puppet corpses burst apart with a loud pop, while one that felt like a bellowing corpse lost its arms and legs, sprawling on the ground.
‘Huh…’
Ji-yeon frowned at the strange sensation she felt.
The attack had come first from their side.
Someone had singled out her, targeting her… and yet they were just throwing themselves into the fray without care.
Were they probing her power? Trying to gauge her strength? Or were they afraid of revealing their main body’s position?
For whatever reason, it felt like an intense waste of resources.
– Whoosh!
At that moment, something heavy hit her armor, sending violent shivers through her.
A sense of crisis gripped her instinctively.
Ji-yeon furrowed her brow and shifted her gaze towards the source of the tremor.
– Whoosh…
The earth split again.
Through the crack, something massive surged up along with the dirt, rising into view.
The moonlight, which had been illuminating their surroundings, was blocked out by this enormous entity.
“Holy… shit.”
A crude expletive slipped out from behind her, but Ji-yeon didn’t have the luxury of reprimanding them.
A giant snake.
It was no fully formed creature.
Its dark scales were stained with a sickly green hue, with many broken and missing pieces.
The weapon-like tail reminded her of a great sword, but it was battered and cracked, hosting jagged teeth that were scattered everywhere.
And there were two necks emerging from the midsection, but they merged into a single head which was anything but whole; instead, it exposed white bone in various spots due to the missing flesh.
None of this brought her even the slightest comfort.
– Hissss…
The serpent’s maw opened, revealing a tongue that flicked about.
With decaying flesh missing from its tongue, venom dribbled out.
Droplets of toxic saliva dripped to the ground.
– Hissssss…!
The ground began to dissolve. Its venomous saliva corroded the terrain, making an unsettling sound.
The party’s faces turned pale as they sensed the overwhelming poison emanating from the droplets.
Instinctively, they knew.
“Touch that, and you die.”
Would it be instant death?
Or would they slowly thrash in agony before passing?
Dissolving away? Hardening and dying with their eyes wide open?
She didn’t know the process.
But she was absolutely certain about the outcome.
‘Ah, crap.’
Ji-yeon silently cursed to herself.
‘Why did I come here?’
What kind of mess was she in during her vacation?
– Shhhhhaaaa!
With a belated sense of regret, the snake’s jaw widened ominously.
*
The sound of a waterfall was achingly familiar.
‘So peaceful.’
Kicking the water with a splash, the ripples grew in size.
The once calm and steady waves were swallowed up by the surge of forceful ripples.
She had been alternating between diving into and out of the lake for a while now.
She couldn’t shake off the soothing feeling.
Unlike the previous time, this trip seemed to be ending on a good note.
At this pace, she’d soak, recharge sufficiently, and head out.
Ji-yeon smiled contentedly at the core and circuitry that were gradually swelling, brushing back her damp hair.
‘…?’
Suddenly, a sense of unease washed over her.
Having paid it no mind before, the moment she became aware, the discomfort intensified.
She parted her lips slightly and tugged at a strand of hair.
Hair.
Still attached.
‘Huh.’
But the color was different.
It was white, not black.
‘Huh…’
A question mark floated over her head.
*
[Player Adjustment System: Measurement]
…
▶Mental State
｢?State｣: ?
…
[Mental State ｢?State｣ is changing.]
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