episode_0149

The command came.

A vague roar comes from the snake’s snout, which opens up and down.

The air trembled and a fine poison took over.

It reminded me of death.

Feeling the fluff of hair rising, Jiyeon Lee moved without hesitation.

Pull the earth to lengthen the handle of the axe.

I pulled my entire body up to its limit and grabbed the handle tightly.

Immediately after, pour in strong energy.

A thick green river wrapped around the axe.

Especially strong energy surged from the blade area as if it were exploding.

‘Taesan.’

Taesan has a unique ability to manipulate the earth.

In the process of dealing with the earth, we deal with the vitality within it, and we also deal with the spirits through the vitality.

But the root of it all is dealing with the land.

Since ancient times, land has been the source of life and a symbol of power.

Jiyeon Lee drew on the power of the earth.

Using his feet on the ground as roots, he grabbed hold of the magic and vitality of the earth and pulled it into his body.

Kkkk! The sack I was holding so tightly vibrated as if it was falling apart.

An eerie cracking sound rang out between the handle and the grip.

Jiyeon Lee gritted her teeth and waved her arms.

The blade of the ax violently cuts through the air and falls. The ax came down on the head of the commander who attacked at once.

-Ahhh!

“Pfft…!”

The head of the snake with the ax hit it fell to the ground.

As soon as the impact occurred, gusts of wind blew in all directions.

As if there had been an explosion, piles of dirt flew down, and trees that were already very bare broke in the middle and flew away.

Jiyeon Lee had no time to pay attention to him. I threw myself away before I could control my lingering thoughts.

Kwagak! The vicious tail blade suddenly plunged into the spot where it had been just a moment ago.

‘It’s solid…!’

Both arms are numb. I can’t stay still and my trembling arms feel like they’re going to break off.

Jiyeon Lee looked at her trembling hand.

Crispy… I could see the ax with only the handle left.

As it collided, the top of the ax was completely blown off.

– Kyaaa!

Still, it caused some damage.

The scars left on the head of the snake as it lifts its head from the ground and stirs it are proof of this.

But it is not a fatal wound.

My face naturally distorted.

First blow.

The blow, which was filled with Taisan, did not inflict a proper fatal wound.

‘Around 4th rank? ‘Not until Alpha.’

Jiyeon Lee analyzed calmly. The speed at which it flew towards me, and the durability to withstand the ax blow.

The hierarchy estimated based on physical level is at the bottom of the 4th hierarchy.

Level 4 monsters are monsters that appear as alpha entities in level 2 dungeons, and are monsters that can have a small area even within the demon realm.

The difference is not enough to cause despair. It’s not that the weather doesn’t shine. If you keep beating, you will die someday.

I’ve never defeated the 4th tier on my own, but I know that I can kill them.

‘but…’

A chill covered my whole body.

The previous sense of crisis was a life crisis that seemed like child’s play.

The snake closed its mouth and puffed out its snout. It looks like it contains something.

What was in the snout was leaking out through the hole left empty due to lack of flesh.

– Chii Iik…

A black liquid with a dark green tinge… Also, smoke leaking out…

It is a poison that is incomparably more dangerous than the previous ones.

“Avoid─!”

Jiyeon Lee shouted and kicked the ground.

While Jiyeon Lee was responding, the team members who were in formation also kicked the ground.

The snake twitched its torn eyes and opened its snout.

Green waves poured down.

As the sun set, the dark space was stained with green.

The stump, which had been completely torn off and lonely, was submerged in poisonous water and melted away, leaving no shape behind.

That’s not all.

The poison continues to emit toxic gas as if vaporizing.

The poison poured out first, and then spread in all directions in the form of gas.

The ground submerged in poisonous water melted and gradually lowered. The land that was not submerged was filled with poison and then melted and rotted away.

The sky soon turned dark green, as if it was filled with poisonous gas.

-Saaa…

Even after reaching that point, the snake’s snout did not know how to close. The pouring poison showed no sign of stopping.

It seemed as if a dam had collapsed and a huge amount of water was pouring out all at once.

The surrounding area died.

Not to mention the areas submerged in poisonous water, even areas that could easily be dozens of times larger are dying from the poison.

And, the scope is still expanding exponentially.

They barely escaped the scope of the poison and stared blankly at the tsunami of poison from the raised ground.

“…Such crazy.”

Jiyeon Lee was dumbfounded. Her complexion was as white as a dead person.

Her and other team members also had similar facial expressions.

This place is far away.

As I feel the venom in the air, my face automatically turns pale.

‘…that.’

That snake is a evil spirit.

It is a corpse doll that is forced to move by infusing a dead spirit into a corpse that has already died and lost its vitality.

No matter what, you have no choice but to become weaker than when you were alive. Power can be increased through all kinds of additional processes, but it rarely exceeds the original.

Above all, if you look at the shape of that snake, there is no trace of Chu Chu.

Rather, it is unstable.

There is no need to look at every corner.

Even if you take a quick look, you can see places where flesh, bones, scales, etc. are unnaturally empty.

The vacuum is being filled by black magic and miscellaneous spirits. Anyone can see that it is in an unstable state.

Also, from her perspective, as she was trained in necromancy, she could see that the composition of that necromancy itself was like rags.

The estimated hierarchy of such degraded corpse dolls is 4th.

then…

‘The original from when I was alive…?’

Jiyeon Lee’s complexion hardened.

‘for a moment.’

A thought suddenly occurred to me, and I looked to see a spirit pouring poison from afar.

The type is snake.

It is a gigantic species, several times larger than a typical commercial building.

Black-green scales and eerie yellow eyes.

A large weapon hanging from the tail, a neck split in two…

Above all, poisonous water pours out like crazy from the remaining spout…

Where… To be exact, it is the appearance and characteristics often seen in history books and high-ranking monster classifications.

Level 3, dark green snake, two heads, miasma pouring from one snout.

‘Two-headed poisonous dragon…’

Alpha of the third rank.

A rare monster that took the breath away from the nation of China.

That monster appeared again as a ghost.

-Saaaa…

There was no time to be confused by it.

The commander spit out a lot of poison once… The poisonous dragon shook its head left and right and turned it in the direction where Ji-yeon Lee was.

A venomous dragon soon approaches.

The distance has narrowed.

The sight of the approaching wave of poison could not have been so terrifying.

Jiyeon Lee felt fear at the sight.

I felt an intense threat to my life.

I could feel the plants being poisoned, losing their vitality and becoming dull.

The moment I touched the poison, I felt the spirit disappearing without any resistance.

The survival instinct screamed.

I guessed that the poisonous dragon’s physical level was at the low end of the 4th tier. It’s not even alpha. Ji-yeon Lee is at a level that can easily kill her.

That was the case considering only the physical level.

That unique ability… what if you think of poison?

I can’t kill you. In the first place, it is difficult to approach as long as you have poison around you.

Find the body and process it? Will the poisonous dragon stay still in the meantime?

Even if he bypasses it and finds the main body, he is a necromancer who transformed the poisonous dragon into a necromancer, albeit unstable.

It will never be an easy fight.

If you think rationally, fighting here with all your might would be suicidal.

Retreat first.

I sent a request for support to my home. Even if the magic wave was terrible, it would probably have been received.

If there had been an uproar to this point, the association would have noticed the situation.

Jiyeon Lee turned her head.

This is to give instructions to the team members who are frozen just like her.

“…Retreat─”

─Do.

The words stopped mid-sentence.

Jiyeon Lee turned her head and saw a girl lying on the floor in the arms of a teammate.

‘ah.’

This is a child who was rescued by an unknown person.

The child’s complexion is pitch black.

Even taking that into account, my skin overall is dull.

My eyes are wide open, my pupils are fluttering, and my fingertips are hardening.

It is a symptom of addiction.

Even though Lee Ji-yeon and other team members protected her with magic and unique abilities, she was poisoned by inhaling a subtle poison.

Fortunately, because of that protection, he did not die instantly.

But I was addicted.

One team member continued to administer antidotes and use unique healing abilities, but there was no significant improvement.

“……”

We all retreat together.

Even now, with a poisonous dragon on your tail that is closing the distance by the minute?

“Fuck.”

I don’t know how many times I’ve uttered a vulgar swear word.

My head hurt.

In my heart, I wanted to run away.

The survival instinct is screaming, who wouldn’t want to run away?

However, she undeservedly held the status of successor to the Taesan family.

He was also in charge of leading Team 1 during this search operation.

“…I will pass on instructions. All team members should retreat, taking the rescued person with them.”

“What about the lady?”

One team member asked back with an anxious look.

I glanced at him and looked at the poisonous dragon approaching this way.

scary.

Jiyeon Lee wanted to run away.

“I buy some time and retreat separately.”

As the successor to the Taishan family, she should not have been in charge.

“Lady!”

“Absolutely not!”

“It would be better if we─”

“Everyone, shut up. Before I kill you first for disobeying instructions.”

Immediately there was a backlash.

I couldn’t afford to accept it gently. Lee Ji-yeon coldly protested and turned her head.

”Team leader 2, 3. Each person coordinated their formation, broke through the siege, and retreated. Immediately decode the target of protection, send an emergency signal to the association, and evacuate civilians.”

“But…!”

The team members’ resistance continued.

“…don’t look at me like I’m really going to die.”

It was not just a simple exchange of orders, but Lee Ji-yeon, who felt the worry and sadness in their eyes, softened her tone and spoke.

“I’m doing this because I can run away too.”

Saying that, Jiyeon Lee shared the commander’s vision.

Somewhere in the middle of the canyon, the depth of which is unknown, in the vision of the commander I saw earlier.

A dreamy fog billowing in the air… I could see the entrance to the dungeon.

* * *

My hair turned white.

I checked several times, but the color did not change.

‘What again?’

I rubbed the hair that was in my hand and made a nervous expression without realizing it.

The hair, which was black until now, has turned white.

After looking back at the observed information for a while, I found out that it started to change about ten minutes ago.

Change is currently underway.

Even now, it is changing little by little.

Change is too fast to call it gray.

How many times do hair change color arbitrarily without being dyed in the first place?

‘what.’

I rubbed my hair as a thought suddenly occurred to me.

The color felt somewhat familiar.

Even within the same family of colors, each color is different.

It may be a minor difference that is difficult to distinguish with the naked eye, or it may be a big difference that can be seen at a glance.

This color was so unique that it was easy to distinguish.

‘This is almost the same color as Seoyul’s hair.’

Beautiful hair that seemed to be out of this world, shining softly with five colors on a pure white background like pure snow.

Although it does not shine in five colors right away, when observed, it actually matches.

The mysterious hair that only Seoyul, a fairy and not a human, had.

And my hair is changing color almost to match that.

– I thought Cadet Lee Ha-yul was not a human, but a fairy.

A statement that still breaks my heart…

‘I don’t know.’

After rubbing my hair for a while, I just went back into the lake.

To begin with, it was a suspicious body that healed simple injuries arbitrarily and even regenerated legs that had been crushed and amputated.

Actually, the degree to which the hair color changed was not that surprising.

I soaked my body in the lake water.

– Bubbly…

I dipped my mouth into it and made water droplets on the surface of the lake.

I’m still concentrating on receiving more magical power.

I didn’t want to devote my mental energy to something else right away.

‘It’s about time Suho’s proof comes out.’

I briefly observed a waterfall gushing in a corner of the lake.

For a subject that is quite large, the momentum is quite calm.

Thanks to this, the waves in the lake were very calm.

There is a small cave inside such a waterfall.

This is the place where proof of protection will soon be revealed.

If we compare it to the time of the original, now is the time for it to really appear.

‘I have to go to Seoyul quickly…’

It took quite some time.

If I visit now, I can spend a few days with Seoyul.

Out of my impatience, I had increased the number of bubbling water droplets.

The spirits that had spread out in all directions and enjoyed the outing began to return one by one.

‘You came back sooner than expected… huh…?’

The spirits gradually gathered over the lake.

The surface of the lake was colored colorfully.

Maybe it was my mood, but the spirits seemed brighter than before.

There was nothing strange about that.

‘What are they?’

What’s strange is that the number of lights gathered in the lake has increased.

About a hundred were sent, but about three hundred were returned.

I made a dumbfounded expression and nudged the spirit that was giggling in front of my nose.

The blue water spirit blinked red as if it was tickled, and then widened its distance slightly.

For your information, this is not the spirit that made a contract with me.

I don’t know whose family this child is.

‘What are you guys?’

That’s kind of what I was thinking… Even though I thought about it, I didn’t get any answer.

It just feels good. Stroke me more. Itchy, etc… Only simple emotional waves come back.

Because lower spirits have a blurred ego. Proper communication is impossible.

‘…Shall we sign a contract?’

I quickly checked the space in my bowl.

There is plenty of time to spare.

The reason the contracted spirits stopped at 100 in the first place was not because of the limit of the vessel, but because there were no more spirits to contract with.

There is nothing bad because there are many contracted spirits.

I secretly approached the spirit to proceed with the contract.

– Ugh!

It was then.

The surface of the lake was turbulent.

As if small earthquakes occurred one after another, countless waves spread out and the lake water turned yellow.

It is the same color as the yellow leaves floating in the lake.

‘It came out.’

It is a sign of proof of protection.

A gimmick that requires the player to spend several days buried in a lake… an annoying yet easy gimmick.

Within 10 seconds, the color of the lake water returned to its original color.

However, new information was observed in a cave inside the waterfall.

I headed to the waterfall with a bright color. The waterfall was on the opposite side.

I approached the waterfall, ignoring the yellow leaves and colorful lights floating everywhere.

Crossed the center of the lake. The water got so deep that if I stood up straight, my mouth would be submerged.

– Ugh!

‘?’

The lake stirred again.

Ripples rose and the lake water hit my face.

‘what.’

The gimmick only ends once.

I stood tall and looked at the surrounding situation. I was on high alert and monitored to see if an unexpected accident had occurred.

As if reflecting my feelings, the spirits were wandering everywhere, wary of threats that might come at any moment.

– Jejeok

‘?’

An abnormality occurred in the observation.

Not only observation, but space also recognized him.

Above me.

The space in the sky shook and spit out something.

‘Intercept—no wait!’

The moment I was about to pour out the magic I had prepared in advance, I was startled and quickly stopped the magic I was about to fire.

The spirits that were about to pour out all kinds of attribute attacks along with magic were startled and shrunk down in size.

The person who spat out into space was not unfamiliar.

‘Lee Ji-yeon?’

The main character, Taesan’s successor.

The person I had planned to meet during the second semester somehow entered the magic lake.

I’ve heard that they’ve been active in China lately… but I never imagined I’d meet them here.

And that too with scars.

Jiyeon Lee was unable to control her body and fell helplessly.

It seemed like he was conscious, but he couldn’t move properly.

The magic of floating was revealed.

Lee Ji-yeon, who was about to fall into the exact center of the lake helplessly due to gravity, slowly came down.

While I was reaching out my hand to receive her.

A sudden thought occurred to me and my hand stopped.

I only have one hand, but I’m short and tall…

– Puzzle

I came to the conclusion that it was a bit awkward to receive it in person due to its short size.

He manipulated the sky’s wings with a puzzled expression.

The wings of the sky, divided into several stems, easily accepted Lee Ji-yeon.

“Ugh, uh… I don’t want to die…”

As she was getting out of the lake with the intention of putting her down on the ground, Jiyeon Lee’s body started shaking.

My eyelids fluttered as if I was having a nightmare, and my eyes slowly opened.

Dark green eyes appeared.

There was a feeling of puzzlement in his eyes.

I don’t seem to understand the current situation.

Her gaze scanned the surroundings for a moment and then landed on me.

“…Ah…”

A faint exclamation flowed from Jiyeon Lee’s mouth.

“…Angel?”

“?”

Did you hurt your head?