Ch.37Ah, I’m so tired.

# 37. 2-1

The Purification Quest for the Corrupted Spirit.

Corruption has been a profoundly significant keyword since ancient times.

Whether it’s an angel beloved by God falling from grace, a well-respected and popular prince becoming corrupt, or a hero being betrayed and turning to darkness.

So it wasn’t particularly strange for a spirit in a fantasy-based game to become corrupted, nor was it unusual to have a quest to purify that corrupted spirit.

The land of Albrant, home to elves, the race closest to spirits.

Albrant and its surrounding areas, which could be considered the optimized habitat for spirits.

Nevertheless, a spirit corrupted somewhere for some reason, and an adventurer (gamer) who happened to discover it.

Probably many people either didn’t know about this quest or skipped it. And even among those who completed it, some might have skipped the story or forgotten it.

Among them, there would be people like me who remember how far you need to progress in the main story for it to unlock, roughly where it opens, how the quest story begins and unfolds, and the best strategy to complete it.

Even someone like me…

Could never know “the exact reason why the spirit became corrupted” and what “corruption” precisely meant, as it wasn’t explained in the original story.

And even now, seeing that “corruption” in person—what the rather pained-looking spirit described as “something pointy and blackish”—I honestly don’t know how to describe it.

I don’t know, but…

“W-w-what should we do, C-captain?”

“Raid leaderrr! G-give us an order! Give us some kind of orderrr!”

“I got it, just hold on a bit—ARGH, DAMN IT!”

We’re getting royally screwed in real-time.

We definitely followed the same progression, properly tracked the spirit, and the place we arrived at was identical to what we saw in the game.

However.

The problem was the “pointy and blackish things” we actually encountered.

In the game, it was just about defeating some black monsters.

But the appearance of those things before our eyes was bizarre beyond description.

If I had to describe them most accurately… imagine enormous black pufferfish covered densely with tentacle-like spines, thrashing wildly in all directions?

What’s worse, these pufferfish bodies had multiple creepy eyes attached to them, and they weren’t simply black but rather a viscous something mixed with all kinds of murky impurities.

These nauseating things were bouncing around like ping pong balls, and worse yet, they would collide with each other and self-destruct, spreading “decomposed matter,” or devour each other, producing “residue”—making the whole scene grotesquely disturbing.

What could these bizarre things possibly represent?

I couldn’t figure it out while running away to avoid being hit by these so-called “pufferfish.”

“The strategy! Can’t we just follow the strategy?!”

“Phase 1 was just about beating them up!”

What kind of hellscape had my character gone through? Or was I perceiving things more grotesquely due to some kind of adjustment?

“Seyeon! Yuri! That corner! Let’s evacuate to that corner for now!”

Amid the chaos, I managed to spot an area with almost no pufferfish and guided my raid members there.

As soon as we arrived, an extremely agitated Saeaks shouted:

“What the hell is this insane quest?! Was this just a side quest in the Albrant region?!”

“Haa, haa. That’s not it. That’s not it, Yuri. Like the captain said, Phase 1 wasn’t particularly difficult.”

“We’re not playing a game right now!”

“Whew, calm down first. I was too frantic to notice earlier, but let’s quickly check the message that just appeared.”

[‘Resolve the “pointy and blackish things”‘]

“What, is that all?”

“No. It doesn’t say exterminate them. It says resolve them.”

“What’s the difference?”

I didn’t know when the aggro might shift to us. There was no time to verify if we’d get hit or not. I explained quickly.

“You saw how they collide with each other, break apart, and devour each other, right? Let’s induce that.”

“…What? Induce something among those things? Raid leader, are you in your right mind?”

“How do we do it?”

“Unni?”

KutJukyeora stopped Saeaks. I continued my explanation.

“Anyway, the blackish ‘corruption’ is the issue. And if we run at full speed, we can somehow avoid them.”

“And?”

“This might sound unfair to Seyeon, but… I’d like Seyeon to move around gently with holy magic as bait.”

I swallowed hard. It was a reckless request.

“That doesn’t mean the rest of us will just watch. Seyeon, you can’t do consecration, right?”

“Right. The weapon in my hand is fine, but other weapons won’t work. Still, if I infuse some magic power, it should last about 3 seconds.”

“Let’s have Seyeon lure just one of them here. Then Yuri and I will try to take it down with the temporarily consecrated weapons.”

The plan was quickly established. If we couldn’t handle one pufferfish head-on, we’d either have to stay quiet and figure out the gimmick and how to break it, or leave it entirely to Seyeon.

“But how do we deal with the temporary consecration? Even if unni casts it before leaving, you said it disappears after 3 seconds.”

“I’ll try applying it now, and when I take my hand off, immediately put it in your inventory. Now.”

“Okay!”

“Take it out again.”

“Oh, it works!”

KutJukyeora, who had once again applied temporary consecration to our weapons, prepared to dash out after casting self-buffs.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t say that.”

“…Well.”

“I’ll be right back.”

The faintly glowing KutJukyeora approached the nearest pufferfish.

A slightly smaller-than-average pufferfish was relatively calmly stuck in a corner gnawing at the ground, but when KutJukyeora came within a certain distance, it rose into the air and charged at her at high speed.

“Come back!”

KutJukyeora gritted her teeth and ran back toward us, while Saeaks and I stood waiting on either side of the end of her escape route.

“Countdown 3.”

“2.”

“1.”

“Now!”

As KutJukyeora rushed past us, Saeaks and I pulled out our weapons from our inventories and swung them with all our might.

– ■■■■■!!!

My sword broke through the spines, and Saeaks’s axe, after breaking through the spines, plunged another axe into the exposed body.

Then the pufferfish burst like a balloon, with something like sewage scattering in all directions.

I instinctively felt that we shouldn’t get hit by that.

“Dodge!”

Fortunately, both of us—me being relatively far away and Saeaks with her excellent physical abilities—were able to avoid it.

After watching for a moment to make sure no aggro was drawn, we returned to our previous position.

‘Phew. At least we’ve established the minimum insurance that Seyeon doesn’t have to struggle alone.’

After one success, I wanted to find an even safer method. The pufferfish burst rather easily, but it was still an extremely dangerous situation.

“These things may look scary, but they seem to have weak durability.”

“Maybe they just look scary but actually have pathetic attack power too? Even the spines broke easily.”

“That’s not true. I barely grazed one with my shield at the beginning, and even though I put quite a bit of force into it, my arm almost got completely lifted. Don’t let your guard down, Yuri.”

There was no need for a pointless confrontation. I actually thought our specs were overpowered, so it was a bit frustrating to be cornered like this.

But if there was an additional gimmick I didn’t know about, it could happen. And this seemed likely to be connected to the tower’s unique reward grades that weren’t in the game.

‘If we hadn’t applied the temporary consecration, those menacing thick spines probably wouldn’t have broken like twigs.’

Gimmick 1: Pufferfish are weak to holy power (probably).

Then what’s Gimmick 2?

If Gimmick 1 is related to defense (direct elimination), wouldn’t there also be a gimmick related to evasion?

An idea flashed in my mind, and my brain started working faster than ever.

“Guys. Now that we’ve proven we can defeat them, can we try one more experiment? I think there might be a safer method for ‘movement’ at least, if it works, rather than defeating each one of them.”

“What is it?”

“Moving slowly without looking directly at those eyes. And Seyeon, turn off your holy magic too.”

The throats of the two, who appeared calm on the surface, bobbed simultaneously. They seemed to have a lot to say but were holding back.

“I’ll test it first. What I suggested earlier was an order that could be executed if we maximized our capabilities, but this… this is the crazy stunt you’re both thinking about right now.”

“That’s even crazier! You’re going to approach those monsters that could skewer you instantly? I know this might sound bad, but you’re the weakest among us!”

“Captain. Let me go instead. Please reconsider! Please?!”

They exploded as soon as I revealed that I would be the subject of the second experiment.

“Enough! I don’t intend to put only you in danger. Even when I asked Seyeon earlier, I had at least some basis. I had a basis, that’s why I did it. But this time, there’s no basis at all. There’s not even a plausible reason—it’s purely my speculation. So this time, I should be the one to take responsibility.”

“Still!”

“This is how I maintain the right to give you orders in the future!”

I appreciate that they’re thinking of me and not being selfish even in this situation. But despite the urgent circumstances, I was newly reminded of how young they are.

A boss who only passes on difficult or annoying tasks and doesn’t take responsibility when it matters. A boss who takes credit for all successes but blames subordinates for failures. A boss who’s stingy with praise but nitpicks every little thing.

I’ve always promised myself I wouldn’t become that kind of boss later. I always kept my resignation letter ready, but still.

Anyway, I feel the same way now.

These two currently have a good impression of me, and besides their inherently good nature, they’ve formed a relationship of trust thanks to their experiences in the game… but if things like this accumulate without care, relationships can break down at any time.

Especially during a journey where lives could be at risk.

“I won’t die. Don’t worry. If I think I’m about to fail, I’ll run away immediately. Then Seyeon and Yuri can take it down like before. It’s no different. Just think of it as me doing what Seyeon was doing earlier. Understand?”

The two nodded. I was a bit concerned about their reddened eyes, but I composed myself and moved toward the pufferfish like a crawling turtle.

Even from a distance, whenever I thought I might make eye contact, I would slightly turn or lower my head… tiptoeing carefully.

Finally, when I reached what I judged to be the maximum aggro distance…

– ■■….

‘Oh my god’

Along with the reflexive curse I almost let out, I held my breath.

No aggro was drawn.

I cautiously took one more step closer.

Still no aggro was drawn. Of course, I was still avoiding making direct eye contact.

I exhaled my breath little by little, like letting out a silent fart.

– ■….

‘Yes!!!’

I turned around and silently raised a clenched fist to show the two.

Still no aggro was drawn.