Episode 21

I left through the western exit of the trading market to continue the rest of the quest. Since it was a road mainly used by the Jeoba race, most of the users I ran into were Jeoba, but there were also quite a few Bia users like me who had crossed over for quests.

Just like when I had first investigated, I marked the roads I had already traveled on the map and ran around for a good while before finally discovering the last quest item. Unlike my assumption that I would find it quickly, six minutes had already passed.

Unless they were trying to screw the users over, there was no way they would have placed an item this deep inside… Cursing inwardly, I clicked the item.

[(It is the corpse of a creature you have never seen before.)]

[(Its entire body is covered thickly in fur that looks similar to that of the Eunseo race, and on the part presumed to be its wings, long, oval-shaped stiff hairs grow densely along the grain. On the other hand, its two feet have no fur, with four toes, and its claws are hard and sharp.)]

▷ Take the corpse.

▷ It might be a somewhat rare creature I don’t know about. Let’s not touch it for no reason.

When I picked up the leaves earlier, and every time I picked something up, the description had included “never seen before,” and now it was outright telling me this was a corpse I had never seen before.

Without hesitation, I chose the former option.

[(Though it feels a little unpleasant, you took the corpse of the creature you have never seen before.)]

[System] You have obtained 1 <Corpse of an Unknown Creature>.

When I opened the quest-only inventory, the item newly marked with an N had a dead bird drawn on it. The thing described earlier as “on the wing part, long, oval-shaped stiff hairs…” must have been a bird’s wing.

There hadn’t been any races or monsters in the form of birds until now, so why had one suddenly appeared? The most likely hypothesis was the opening of a new region. When a new map opens, new monsters naturally tend to appear as well. They said last time that they were developing a new continent, so the timing matched perfectly.

I closed the inventory and checked the quest. Once I had investigated all four objects, the quest changed back to an instruction to return to Abrea. I assumed Abrea’s location would be the trading market like before, but when I opened the map, it was not at the market but somewhere near here. I immediately ran toward the quest location.

Before long, I reached the quest location and approached Abrea, who was looking around while holding the mineral, then spoke to him.

[- Abrea: Ah, are you done investigating? Perfect timing. Take a look at this.]

Abrea showed me the mineral. The light coming from the mineral was swaying only in one direction, as if pointing somewhere.

[- Abrea: I don’t know what that bastard Adam did or how, but ever since we talked earlier, the light’s been showing the way. Will you come with me?]

[- Abrea: Even if I follow this light and see something unbelievable, no one will listen if it’s me saying it, since I’m already marked as a troublemaker by the temple. So I need someone who can prove I’m not spouting nonsense. And if Adam pulled some shady trick, a dangerous situation might unfold.]

[(You nod to show that you understand.)]

[- Abrea: Good. Then I’ll move while watching the light, so follow me closely.]

Once the conversation ended, Abrea stared at the mineral and began moving at a brisk pace. In his own mind, he was probably walking fast by widening his stride, but from the perspective of a user who ran everywhere using Sprint, it was a frustrating speed.

At first, I trailed after him, but I got bored and pushed ahead. Then, among the three-way fork I encountered, I guessed the far-right path was the correct one and headed that way, but when I checked the map, Abrea was going down the middle path.

I hurriedly turned back and went to Abrea’s side, and saw him pop up a speech bubble, clicking his tongue as he said, “Tsk, always so impatient.”

But… as a hot-spicy-kimchi Korean gamer, wasn’t it only natural for my body to itch in this kind of situation? If they just told me the destination in advance, I could run there first and wait. Walking like this as if we had all the time in the world made me feel like I was going to burst.

I performed all sorts of tricks, circling around Abrea, using Sprint to run ahead and come back, and jumping over his head. Then Abrea scolded me, saying I was making him dizzy. His reaction felt so much like a real person’s that I tried acting even more restless, but unfortunately, perhaps an NPC was still an NPC, because he only sighed a few times and said nothing more.

After walking for about forty seconds like that, the atmosphere of the cave grew eerier than before. It seemed to be because the candles lighting the path had gone out here and there. In some places, perhaps because of the earthquake, candlesticks that should have been hanging on the walls lay broken on the floor.

[- Abrea: …I think it’s here.]

Abrea finally stopped, as if we had arrived. In the place he was looking at, there was a small passage that looked as though someone had just dug their way in.

When the quest mark appeared above his head, I immediately spoke to him.

[- Abrea: The light is pointing to that passage. The problem is whether it’s all right to go in there or not…]

[- Abrea: What do you think? Do you think it’ll be okay to enter?]

▷ Even if it’s a trap, I’ll save you, so let’s go in.

▷ I don’t think Adam would have lied in that situation. It’ll be fine, so let’s go in.

Both choices were telling us to go in. Well, if we didn’t go in, the story wouldn’t progress, so of course they would be.

Like the tank I was, I chose the first option.

[- Even if it’s a trap, I’ll save you, so let’s go in.]

[- Abrea: Oh? And what if it’s a trap even you can’t handle? Well, I suppose with all the Calamity-grade monsters you’ve subjugated so far, it makes sense for you to be overflowing with confidence. Then I’ll go in first, so help me when I give the signal.]

With those words, Abrea approached the passage first, crouched down, and began crawling inside. After that, white light swirled around the passage, indicating that interaction was now possible, urging me to hurry inside.

When I approached the passage and pressed the F key, a line of text appeared saying that an extremely chilly and uneasy current seemed to flow through it, and the area changed.

* * *

TIP -  The Jeoba race and the Bia race are called the Sina race, meaning “children of God.” Both races take pride in this, but they are quite displeased that they have to share the title with a hostile race.

* * *

When the loading finished, a story cutscene played automatically.

My character arrived with Abrea in a pure-white place surrounded by mirrors and glass. It was so white and clean that it was hard to believe we had arrived there through a passage inside a cave.

From the high ceiling, chandeliers and mobiles crafted from glass hung elegantly, and spotless mirrors and panes of glass without a single speck of dust formed the walls. And when I followed the walls with my gaze, I saw a massive castle gate, too large to take in at a glance, firmly shut.

The castle gate, curving along graceful patterns, was incredibly transparent, so at a glance it seemed as though it might have been made of ice or glass. Perhaps it really was.

Abrea, who had been admiring its majestic appearance, noticed something strange before he even had time to look around further and looked down at the mineral in his hand. At that moment, the light dropped cleanly out of the mineral, shrank to the size of a tiny grain of millet, and floated in the air.

The startled Kkulppang and Abrea were busy following the light with their wide-open eyes. The glowing grain of millet circled once around Abrea, then, trilling in an eerily high tone like the voice of a fairy, flew toward the castle gate blocking the path in front of Kkulppang and Abrea.

The screen, zoomed in on the grain of millet, moved swiftly along its flight path. Then, just before the grain reached the castle gate and collided with it, the video slowed down, and at the same time a small human figure with close-up angel wings was reflected in the gate and disappeared, ending the cutscene.

I moved the screen, which had gone black and then returned, this way and that to look around. This area seemed to be a one-person instanced dungeon, because there was no one here except me and the NPC Abrea. I had secretly hoped Jaesugang might be here…

Putting aside my disappointment and checking the quest, I saw it had changed to a reward-claimable mark along with the message, [Speak with Holy Knight Officer “Abrea Shediana” to complete the quest.] Since the quest ended without entering the dungeon, it seemed that a new quest would appear when the dungeon opened next week.

I approached Abrea, who was now standing in front of the castle gate, and started a conversation.