-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: The Core's Guardian
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I'd love to burst out laughing if I could.
Now, just approaching this area is enough to set the monsters ablaze with Paradox Flame.
"Hieeek... Heeeek..."
The sea of Paradox Flame spread everywhere now strips away the enemies' stamina in an instant. Just like a raging wildfire that consumes everything in seconds.
The ones whose stamina has nearly burned away can't even move properly anymore; a few steps and they're gasping for breath up to their throats.
"It's fine. I'll kill you later, so just rest up for now."
If I kill them now, the stamina they're using as fuel for the Paradox Flame would vanish.
"Then the mana density in the air wouldn't increase any further."
I stood still, absorbing the mana exhaled by the Paradox Flame without rest, steadily widening and strengthening the channels in my body.
"You idiots, did you get hit with bug spray or what?"
Twitching their limbs now and then as they lie collapsed, then even that's too much effort and they just flop around—exactly like flies sprayed with insecticide.
"Where the hell is the boss, and what the hell is it doing?"
I couldn't spot the Erosion Core's nucleus. It should be way stronger than these guys.
"You'll have to show up eventually."
I sat quietly in place, focusing my mind even more to draw in the mana. After a couple of hours passed, the blazing Paradox Flames gradually weakened as there was nothing left to burn, then flickered out entirely.
"Roughly 20% of the mana Kim Min-je had stored in his body."
Twenty percent of the mana Kim Min-je had accumulated inside himself. That was the limit of how much mana my reinforced channels—honed over time—could continuously absorb.
"Getting this much stronger all at once was nice."
I probably wouldn't get another sudden power-up like this anytime soon. I just got lucky this time.
— I... will kill... you.
Hearing the voice, I stood up from my spot.
"Well, look at that. Now it's talking."
A Bat-Headed Giant was glaring down at me. Ornaments dangling from its neck, fingers, and ears, along with sturdy-looking armor. Even a properly forged metal greatsword.
"You waited until the flames died out, huh?"
Its head seems sharper than the others, too.
Looking around, it was the only monster left alive. So that must be the Erosion Core's nucleus.
— Flames... out... all.
With those words, it leveled its greatsword at me.
— End... now.
"Yeah."
Faintly, a gentle breeze blew in from all directions toward me. A byproduct of drawing in the ambient mana.
"Your end."
A Paradox Flame the size of a basketball clung to the spear tip in my hand, roaring to life. Even after forming a flame this size, I still had plenty of mana left to reinforce my body and spear.
I channeled mana to strengthen my still-immature, untrained flesh.
With a sharp whoosh, the spear danced from my fingertips. Movements so precise and swift they couldn't even compare to when I first arrived at Gyo-dong Island.
"Come at me. If I wanted to, I could play with you for over a month."
Truth be told, if I could solve the physical fatigue issue, I could toy with you for life, not just a month. Even after burning away fatigue with Paradox Flame, plenty of ashes remain.
"Let's see. If my power's back to this level..."
I could probably pull off Fourfold Shadow Thrust. I poured more strength and mana into my spear-gripping hand, then charged at the monster before me.
"Double Shadow Spear."
The spear, infused with Paradox Flame, whipped through the air, leaving a faint blue trail as it struck the monster.
The beast before me proved it was the Erosion Core's nucleus by blocking my attack.
"And now for the real fun."
The moment I launched my second strike, the blue trail lingering in the air—tracking my movements—perfectly replicated my first blow.
— Gr... ahhh?!
It successfully blocked my attack, but at the same instant, the blue trail's strike pierced into its body.
"Nearly blew my own head off figuring out how to make this at first."
Without the blue trail mimicking my moves, this would just be a simple technique repeating the exact same four consecutive strikes over and over.
Like this.
But what if the blue trail starts imitating my attacks one beat later?
It becomes a kind of duet with the shadow spear. The four strikes pair up with different blows each time, launching coordinated assaults.
These combo attacks are structured like a shitty multiple-choice where dodging or blocking one makes the other a pain to deal with.
"For now! Since my mana is still short! I can't even do Triple, let alone Quad Shadow Spear!"
This technique is originally a spear art that corners the enemy with hellish four-way dilemmas.
Like this. But pulling that off requires maintaining three trails at once. Then the power of each blue trail I leave behind drops to a third.
At that level, the thing would just tank them with its body. Non-threatening attacks are as good as none.
— Ka-hak! Kehuk!
Besides, against a monster like this, Double Shadow Spear is plenty.
In the end, it hunkered down in defense against the onslaught of strikes, desperately trying to minimize the damage.
And it worked, to some extent—the spear grazing its body left only faint scratches.
— Gruuh... ugh...
Its eyes flashed ferociously as it defended with all its might.
Probably hoping that eventually I'd exhaust my mana and could no longer sustain the blue trails.
"This won't end until you're dead, you empty-headed freak."
I draw straight from the ambient mana. So as long as it doesn't run out—which it won't—this round-robin assault keeps going until I say stop.
Of course, if that was all there was to it, I'd be some lunatic charging in yelling about beating someone to death with a spoon.
But I'm no lunatic.
"You've got fire on you."
I've got Paradox Flame.
The black flames clinging to spots all over its body were burning away its muscle power.
"Even if my attacks just graze you, time turns them fatal."
If you'd seen me in the world I already saved, you'd have felt real sorry for yourself. Of all things, trying a war of attrition against me.
With a heavy thud, its weapon dropped. No muscle power left to hold it.
"It's over. You held out pretty long, though."
I leaped up, thrusting my spear at its head. With a wet splat, the spear tip shattered its skull.
As it died, the corpses strewn across the ground crumbled to dust, swirling together in front of me to form a small box.
"What the hell is this?"
Inside the box was a pair of gloves. I eyed them suspiciously.
Mana pulsed from them. Not some cheap thing to keep your hands warm. Wonder if I can analyze them.
After inspecting the gloves for a while, I let out a small whistle of admiration.
"Whoa."
They functioned like a mana battery. Simply storing up ambient mana.
For most people, it'd just supplement their own mana usage at best.
But for me, it was more than that. Considering the maximum mana capacity of these glove-shaped batteries...
"About five minutes?"
Five whole minutes where I could fight Lee Se-eun on even terms. After that, once the stored mana depletes, I couldn't keep it up.
Looks like it'd take a full day to recharge once empty. A bit disappointing that it takes a whole day, but...
Still, being able to get way stronger than now for five minutes a day? Hell yeah, that puts me in a great mood.
"Five minutes is more than enough for what I have in mind."
A skilled person could whip up some steamed eggs in that time. And for me, it's plenty to steam most chumps alive!
"Ah, so now it really begins."
I felt an energy slowly enveloping my body.
When I opened my eyes again, I was back where Han Sang-ah said the Erosion Core had been.
"Not much time passed."
About three hours, by the feel of it.
"What the hell?"
Suddenly, my pocket smartphone buzzed. Checking it, there were tons of messages and one missed call.
I opened one of them.
[Hunter Yoo Chan-seok, continuing in that direction will bring you close to the Alpha Erosion Core. Return immediately.] [Hunter Yoo Chan-seok. Return right now.] [Return! Are you trying to die?!] [Hey!]
Messages from one of the handlers for this mission. Guess they were on duty today? I must've gone straight into the Erosion Core, cutting off contact.
"Things must be blowing up out there."
There were piles more messages beyond those. Evacuation guidance? Rally point info? What the hell happened outside while I was having a blast burning shit up in here?
After a moment's thought, I sent a message to the handler.
* * *
The civil servant in charge of the Gyo-dong Island monster and Erosion Core cleanup request was tearing at his hair with a weary expression.
"That crazy rookie bastard. Trying to ruin my career or what!"
Of course, he'd issued warnings. Not to approach Gyo-dong Island's Alpha Erosion Core. Strictly speaking, the government wasn't responsible for the disappearance of Hunter Yoo Chan-seok, who was tormenting this civil servant right now.
But just because the government wasn't liable didn't mean the handler wasn't.
One of the handler's roles was to monitor hunters via smartphone location tracking and stop them if they headed toward an Alpha Erosion Core.
And the problem rookie had indeed gone straight for the Alpha Erosion Core, after which his smartphone's location signal vanished.
"This is driving me insane."
Now even the connection was dead. Instead, his phone was blowing up with calls from reporting the situation.
— You idiot, how the hell did things end up like this!
'What do you want me to do? I can't just go drag him back.'
Thinking that inwardly, the civil servant kept apologizing out loud.
"I'm sorry. I kept sending warning messages and trying to contact him, but..."
Even as the scolding dragged on for over an hour, he stubbornly kept staring at the monitor. Then his face went pale.
"Hold on, sorry, but I have something to report."
Fortunately, even his furiously ranting boss had enough cool-headedness to prioritize.
— What is it? Spit it out.
"Signals from some of 5th Team's hunters have gone dark."
— What the hell does that mean?!
But that cool-headedness melted away like sugar in boiling water the moment he heard the report.
As he hurriedly continued reporting, a message came through on his smartphone.
The handler checked it and hardened his expression.
[This is 5th Team's Eun Sung-hyeok. We're fleeing as fast as we can. The monsters pouring out from the Erosion Core aren't normal at all.]
How urgent was it? The message was riddled with typos.
Hunter Eun Sung-hyeok. Not a celebrity, but a reliable veteran who'd steadily built up experience.
And signals from more team-affiliated hunters cut out. Then another message arrived.
[Escape successful for now. These things are moving in an organized fashion.]
Having confirmed that much, the handler immediately relayed via the receiver.
"You need to come here. It's an emergency. We'll need reinforcements, so I'll activate the emergency network and request urgent support from nearby hunters."
— I saw the texts too. On my way. Give me about 15 minutes.
This was no longer about one missing hunter. The boss who'd received the report stopped scolding and hung up right away.