Trainee Day 2 (2) – Escape

“What the—where did the queen go?”

That was Sung Yu-han’s panicked voice.

He seemed so flustered that he’d forgotten the rule about only the team leader speaking.

“It’s a multi-gate! The queen went inside that gate!”

“What? So we have to go into another gate?”

“Of course not, we’re retreating! A multi-gate’s mana levels aren’t included in the gate’s overall reading! If the levels are still as high as before even without the queen, it means there are that many more spiders!”

The queen possessed an enormous amount of mana compared to the other spiders. She was weaker than a soldier in a fight, but her mana was at least 100 to 1,000 times greater.

But if the mana levels were the same without her as they were with her—

“Then we need to get back, fast!”

“We can’t go back. The soldiers have swarmed that way. Dammit, no wonder there were more spiders than the readings suggested. We’re taking the long way out through B-47! Everyone, get ready!”

Clink! Clank!

The sound of empty potion vials hitting the floor.

Lee Su-ha handed out powdered medicine.

“It’s a healing agent. Given the situation, I’m passing it out now. Just sprinkle it on your wounds. And—”

A thin film of mana enveloped my body. A barrier?

“It’s a simple shield. It should stop scratches and—”

“Han-ui in the center. Ji-an and Han-gyeol on the left. Yu-han, you’ll coordinate with me and Han-yul on the right! Ga-yoon, block the holes! Break through!”

We were surrounded by a sea of spiders.

This was no time to be conserving Essense or Mana.

‘Manifest.’

Mana drained from me as flames filled the intangible horns. A relief. So they did use mana.

The crimson flames burned brightly, condensing inside the small horns.

The fire shimmered and glowed within them.

My current Mana and Essense levels were—

[Mana: 211/1415]
[Essense: 1100/1415]

I had plenty. Time to go.

With Kang Han-ui in the lead, we ran toward B-47 on the other side. The sea of spiders parted before us like a receding tide.

To the left, Park Ji-an and I extended our hands.

Fwoosh—

A wave of fire erupted.

It crashed over the spiders, engulfing them.

To the right, the team leader and Nam Han-yul stretched out their hands.

Swoosh—

Water shot up before transforming into tiny droplets, filling the air like a dense fog.

“Now!”

A gale burst from the team leader’s hand, and lightning from Sung Yu-han’s.

They shot off to the left and right, respectively.

The gale sucked up the rolling waves of fire, sending the flames spiraling upward.

A tornado of fire spun violently, carving a path through the sea of spiders.

The lightning struck the mist, splitting into countless thin bolts that traveled through the water droplets and electrocuted the spiders.

“Kireee—” “Kireereeree—” “Kieeeeh—!”

As the worker spiders were shredded by the fire tornado and fried by the lightning shower, the massive forms of the soldier spiders became visible.

The soldiers that had withstood the initial fire wave were now slowly dying from the tornado and lightning, but they weren’t dead yet.

“They’re slowed down! Go now! It’ll be hard to kill them!”

Just then,

“Kieeeek!” “Kkieeeh—!” “Kiiiiik—!”

The soldiers shrieked in unison. The sound echoed through the cavern, filling it with their cries.

The gate began to shimmer violently.

Three giant spiders, each the size of an elephant, emerged from within.

What were they? Queens? They looked more like soldiers—

“Damn it! Royal Guards!”

Royal Guards. From what I remembered from the briefing, they were a type of spider that only appeared in massive colonies.

Since the mana levels were within the expected range, we’d assumed it wasn’t a large colony and that we wouldn’t see any. But now, they were right in front of me.

The problem was that a single colony only had one or two Royal Guards. The fact that three had appeared meant there were multiple queens—in other words, this was a compound colony.

The three Royal Guards split up and charged. One to the right, one to the center, one to the left.

They didn’t tread lightly over the workers and soldiers, but crushed them heavily underfoot as they thundered toward us. Thump— Thump—

Their speed was as overwhelming as their size.

The one on the left was blocked by the fire tornado—

The one in the center was stopped by Kim Ga-yoon’s earthen wall, and Kang Han-ui pushed it back as it tried to climb over—

The one on the right had ice spears embedded in its joints, and frost was beginning to spread—

But their path wasn’t completely blocked. They just kept coming—

CRASH—

“Aahk—!”

One of the Royal Guards landed right in the middle of our formation. Everyone threw themselves aside to avoid the impact.

The formation shattered.

In front were the vanguards, Kang Han-ui and Kim Ga-yoon, along with the mid-rankers Park Ji-an, Lee Hyun-woo, Lee Su-ha, and Sung Yu-han.

And behind them were me and Nam Han-yul.

Shit.

The Royal Guard’s eight eyes fixed on the two of us, and it charged—

FWOOSH—!

“Kiiiiieee—!”

Without a thought for my mana, I blasted its face with fire at maximum power.

Then, a fire wall. It erupted around me, enclosing Nam Han-yul as well.

On the other side of the guard, the others were shouting something at us, but another Royal Guard was already climbing over the earthen wall behind them.

The last one was—! Still stuck in the fire tornado.

Everyone but the team leader turned to face the guard climbing the wall, preparing to fight—

The guard in front of us blocked our view of them and slowly advanced.

“Kieeee—”

Its approach was slightly off-kilter, so it seemed it didn’t know our exact location.

The frost on its joints had spread, slowing its movements.

At that moment, a breeze whispered in my ear.

“There’s a passage, number 35, behind you. It’s a longer route, but it connects to the base. The spiders are swarming this way, so get over there, fast! We’ll draw their attention a bit longer and then head for 47. See you at the base.”

A moment later, Nam Han-yul whispered.

“I’ll clear a path to the passage. You blind the Royal Guard. Our elements have poor synergy, so our attacks will be weaker if we aim in the same direction.”

Suddenly, the Royal Guard flinched and whipped its head around to look back, toward the team leader.

“Now!”

Nam Han-yul ran, and I followed close behind.

He thrust and slashed ahead of us to clear a path, while I scattered fire to our sides and rear.

A blast to the right, one for the Royal Guard behind us, one to the left, another for the guard, and one more generous blast for the Royal Guard, just so it wouldn’t feel left out…

Thankfully, there were relatively few soldier spiders here.

As I turned to blast the Royal Guard with fire again, I saw a flash beyond it—

KRA-KKOOOM—!

Dozens of lightning bolts erupted from the ground, striking the surrounding spiders.

The lightning leaped from one spider to the next, and from that one to another.

A single bolt flowed through countless spiders, decimating them even from a distance.

It even reached a soldier spider lunging at me from the side…

Wait? If it’s coming this far—

A thin tendril of lightning touched my arm. Zap.

!!!

“Aargh—!”

My entire body convulsed, and I couldn’t move.

My strength gave out and I collapsed to my knees.

“What’s wrong?!”

Nam Han-yul swung his spear, knocking spiders away as he rushed back to me.

“It’s nothing. A stray bolt just hit me…”

My whole body was still buzzing.

Buzzing?

[Sub-trait of ‘Elemental Mage’ has been unlocked: Elemental – Lightning]
[Skill acquired for ‘Elemental – Lightning’: Element Generation]
[Skill acquired for ‘Elemental – Lightning’: Element Control]
[Skill acquired for ‘Elemental – Lightning’: Element Immunity]

Huh? What? It can awaken like this?

“Are you okay? Can you run?”

“Ah, yes!”

This was no time to get distracted.

Just as Nam Han-yul reached out to help me up,

Swish—

Something white shot between us.

It was a white fiber, about as thick as my calf. A quick glance at its origin point revealed—

The Royal Guard’s maw.

“Spider web! Run!”

The web, having missed its target, slithered back to its master.

We started running again.

Ah, but my arm was still numb from the lightning, and my reaction time was—

“Watch out!”

Nam Han-yul stabbed a soldier spider that had rushed into my blind spot.

At the same time—

SWISH—! SLICE—!

“Aaaargh—!”

A web grazed Nam Han-yul’s thigh.

The web turned red as it sliced past him.

He clutched his thigh and fell.

Dammit, we’re so close to the passage!

First, I threw up a fire wall to keep the spiders at bay—

Beyond the flames, I could see the Royal Guard’s head. It tilted back slightly, as if preparing to spit something—

“No!”

There was no way to dodge it now!

In that moment of desperation, a red arrow shot from my fingertips.

The feel of the flames coiling around the arrow shaft was good.

Whoosh— PANG!

It flew with a speed I’d never seen before and scored a direct hit in the guard’s mouth.

The coiled, compressed flames unraveled and exploded.

“Kiiiiieeee—”

The Royal Guard shrieked and thrashed its head.

I used the opening to help Nam Han-yul up and head for the passage. It was a relief that he was about my height and didn’t weigh much.

Let’s just get over there. The passage is narrow, so at least that bastard won’t be able to follow.

I scattered fire everywhere and shot fire arrows at the eyes of approaching soldier spiders.

Nam Han-yul created water in his hand, froze the tip, and shot it at a spider coming from my blind spot.

The passage was just ahead, and the Royal Guard was still shrieking.

Finally, we reached the entrance. The moment I turned around, I saw it—

A web, already shot, closing in on my face.

Just as my mind went blank,

A rock shot up from the ground—thwip—and took the web for me.

Realizing it had caught a rock, the Royal Guard immediately retracted the web and staggered toward us, dragging its frozen joints, burnt eyes, and numb body.

CRACK!

As the web retracted, the stone answered the invitation of Newton’s first law of motion—inertia—with a headbutt.

“Kieeeeek—!”

The spider seemed to express its gratitude for the response with another shriek.

The passage began to close, blocked by rising earth and rock. Through the shrinking gap, I could see Kim Ga-yoon and the team leader in the distance.

They were looking at us, too.

They smiled brightly and waved.

I tried to wave back, but—

The passage was completely sealed.

The sound faded as the last cracks were filled with dirt.

Just as it grew quiet—

RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE—

A deafening roar echoed from the queen’s chamber, and the ground shook.

If it was this loud out here, inside it must be—

Thunk—

A spear lightly struck the wall.

Frost spread out from the spear, freezing the wall and reinforcing it.

“Pant… pant… We finally made it. Good work. Now let’s hurry and, pant… call for rescue.”

Nam Han-yul didn’t look good.

In the dim light of the crystals, I could see his thigh. A straight line of flesh had been torn away, and blood was streaming out.

“Wait. Let’s treat that wound first.”

“Okay. Hold on.”

Nam Han-yul created water to wash the wound, and I sprinkled Lee Su-ha’s powdered medicine on it. Then, Nam Han-yul froze the wound shut.

“Huh? Is it okay to—”

“It’s fine. The problem is, haah, it’s hard to walk. Haah, of all places, my thigh had to get hit.”

Suddenly, Nam Han-yul swayed.

“Ah, poison. Hah, damn. The web must have been coated in it.”

The cave spider’s venom wasn’t meant to kill its prey, but to preserve it. It didn’t pose a threat to one’s life. Instead, it just made the victim groggy and drained their strength.

…Which, in the end, amounted to the same thing.

Especially in a situation like this.

Nam Han-yul’s eyes were already closing.

“Ah, this is… not good…”

His leg was injured, his strength was gone, and he couldn’t even walk.

That meant I had to carry him.

“Get on my back.”

Knowing there was no other way, he complied without a word.

“First, let’s get… away from this wall.”

I couldn’t hear any sounds of digging or breaking, but we moved away just in case, to a dark corner of the cave.

There were cobwebs here and there, but with all the chaos, the spiders had already fled.

But, damn, this is… tough.

Carrying someone when my own body was exhausted from running was hard. I couldn’t pick up any speed. At this rate—

As if sensing it, Nam Han-yul spoke.

“If it’s too hard, just leave me. Go call for rescue, and then… you can come back.”

How could I just leave a defenseless person here, not knowing what might happen?

[Mana: 172/1444]
[Essense: 200/1444]

Besides, I was out of Mana and Essense. I was just as helpless whether I went alone or with him.

“I’ll be… fine, so hurry up and… get help—”

“Be quiet. If you want to live.”

“…”

He’d told me to leave him, but he was clearly terrified.

Then again, who wouldn’t be scared, lying defenseless and alone in a monster’s den like this?

Sigh. If only I had some Essense, I could at least transform, use Body Enhancement, and run with him on my back.

Huh? Essense?

…

My eyes fell on Nam Han-yul.