My Skillbook, My Way - Chapter 052
Chapter 52
On the train heading up to Seoul.
I threw a question to Oseyeon, who was sitting in the seat next to me.
"Think you can find the sword you used to use?"
"I have to find it."
"Do you remember where you lost it?"
"Probably."
"You don't think someone else picked it up or...?"
"It's almost impossible. Overflow has calmed down again for now. I'm the only one who can go in and out of that world."
The world of red skies and black earth.
One of the Bound Items Oseyeon possessed had an effect that allowed her to freely go to that world.
Oseyeon had said that strange world was inhabited by field monsters and field bosses that you could normally only see during raids. Having not joined a guild, Oseyeon had been freely hunting field bosses there.
So she said she had been quite surprised when she saw me and our guild members in that world.
"When we arrive in Seoul, I'm going to the spot where I lost the sword first. Going to your guild comes after I get the sword back."
"Got it."
I didn't have any particular complaints.
Having heard about the relationship between Atlas—which included Evergreen—and the Overlord Guild, Oseyeon had hesitated for a moment before answering that she would at least go and see.
'If Oseyeon joins, she'll be an incredible force for Atlas.'
She was a terrifying person when she was an enemy, but as an ally, she was an incomparably reliable Hunter.
After all, just earlier, she had cut down four SS-Rank Hunters of the Overlord Guild while wielding a cursed sword.
'If it hadn't been for that strange skill of Im Jiyeon's, I probably wouldn't have been able to calm her down.'
'But why would Im Jiyeon have such a skill yet not step up herself from the beginning?'
While I was lost in thought, a voice came from behind.
"Ihwajin, Oseyeon. I'd like to talk."
Oseyeon and I rose from our seats simultaneously. Reflexively, my hand moved toward my inventory.
"Im Jiyeon!?"
Im Jiyeon was standing alone.
"What's your scheme?"
Oseyeon spoke, already gripping a dagger in her hand.
"I said I wanted to talk."
"And I'm supposed to believe the word of someone who suddenly tried to kill us?"
"I had no intention of killing. I planned to incapacitate and take you with me."
At my words, Im Jiyeon raised both her hands to show they were empty.
"Coming here is my own decision. It has nothing to do with the guild's will. Rather, it's an action that goes against it."
Im Jiyeon looked at us with unwavering eyes.
"I want to make a deal. Won't you protect my life in exchange for information on the Overlord Guild?"
Oseyeon and I looked at each other.
"Do you believe her?"
Oseyeon asked me.
"Let's hear a bit more for now. But if I sense even the slightest suspicious sign, the conversation ends immediately."
I spoke while holding my halberd.
"Understood. That's enough."
Im Jiyeon turned toward the empty front seat and tried to sit down.
"Wait."
I grabbed Im Jiyeon's shoulder. She flinched.
"What?"
"...No, I was mistaken. Sorry."
Both Oseyeon and Im Jiyeon looked at me with puzzled eyes.
I clenched my teeth hard to suppress a smile that was trying to break out.
Sitting face-to-face with Im Jiyeon, I brought up the topic.
"You said you'd give us information on the Overlord Guild, but what exactly is it?"
"I'll answer everything I know about whatever you want to know."
"What guarantee is there that it's real?"
"There isn't one right now."
Im Jiyeon replied to Oseyeon's question in a calm voice.
"But the very fact that I came here alone means my life is in your hands. I'm not foolish enough to lie when I've come begging for my life."
"Hmph. Well. We don't know if you really came alone or not."
"Stop it and just ask what you wanted to know."
Oseyeon looked toward me at my words.
"If we believe her too easily, later... What? What's that book? When did you take it out?"
"It's a book-shaped memo pad. Im Jiyeon, first, tell us why the Overlord Guild is targeting us."
"Because they think you might know a way to break through the growth limit."
"Growth limit?"
"What's that?"
Having heard Oseyeon's and my words, Im Jiyeon stiffened rigidly.
"I know you don't trust me. But I don't want to waste time with things like this."
"No, we're saying that because we really don't know."
My words twisted Im Jiyeon's face.
"I already know that you went from being D-Rank Hunters to suddenly growing into S-Rank Hunters. And I also know that you are Listeners."
At that moment, Oseyeon's words that the Overlord Guild was chasing Listeners came to mind.
"How you were able to grow so strong so quickly—the Overlord Guild is looking for that method."
'Something's strange.'
Im Jiyeon's words didn't add up.
"You said you know we're Listeners, right?"
"Yes."
"Tell us what you know about Listeners."
Im Jiyeon made a puzzled expression but soon opened her mouth.
"Hunters who were once so weak that they were D-Rank or C-Rank. Hunters who suddenly begin to grow rapidly one day are called Listeners."
At that moment, Oseyeon burst into a hollow laugh.
"That's the true identity of Listeners that you heard from the higher-ups of your guild?"
Im Jiyeon's confusion was plain to see. She tapped the armrest with her fingers, click-clack.
"Ihwajin, it seems the guys who ambushed us were just small fry of the Overlord Guild. Because that bastard has no way of not knowing about Listeners."
"That bastard?"
"The Guild Leader of the Overlord Guild. The one who ordered us to be chased."
"You know the Guild Leader?"
Im Jiyeon asked.
"You could say that."
Oseyeon's expression turned ferocious.
"He's my target."
At the killing intent Oseyeon radiated, a conversation from before came to mind.
When I had asked why she was collecting Bound Items, Oseyeon had answered, "There's someone I need to kill."
'Oseyeon, this woman was lying to me.'
Oseyeon had said the reason the Overlord Guild was chasing us was because we were Listeners, and that she didn't know the specifics.
But judging by the current conversation, there was something between Oseyeon and the Overlord Guild's Guild Leader.
'Perhaps...'
I, who had been lost in thought for a moment, looked at Im Jiyeon. I could ask about this matter later. Right now, stopping Im Jiyeon was the priority.
I grabbed Im Jiyeon's wrist. At that, the sound of her fingers tapping the armrest stopped.
Im Jiyeon opened her eyes wide and looked at me.
"I told you. If you show any suspicious signs, the conversation ends."
"S-Sorry. It's a habit that comes out when I'm nervous, so..."
"[Sensory Deprivation]."
Im Jiyeon's body flinched.
"A skill that lets you temporarily reduce the opponent's Sensory stat to 0 by letting them hear a sound imbued with mana for over a minute. Right?"
Hearing my words, Oseyeon stood up holding her dagger and urgently looked around.
"H-How did you..."
Earlier, before Im Jiyeon sat down, I had placed my hand on her shoulder. It was to insert a bookmark in her.
And while pretending to talk, I scanned the information about Im Jiyeon that appeared in the book.
Im Jiyeon was an all-rounder equipped with long-range attack skills, defensive skills, buffs, and debuff skills.
Among them, the debuff skill called [Sensory Deprivation] was unique.
In exchange for having strict activation conditions, it unconditionally reduced Sensory to 0.
If the Sensory stat becomes 0, one literally cannot sense anything at all. It would be easy to do whatever they wanted with a Hunter who could neither see nor hear.
While gripping Im Jiyeon's wrist, I placed my hand on the ring she was wearing.
"Ugh!"
Im Jiyeon tried to shake my arm off, but I didn't let go.
When it came to the Strength stat, mine was higher.
"I see. It was a counter."
Im Jiyeon's ring was a Bound Item that, when an incantation was spoken, possessed the effect of reflecting all damage from close-range attacks by twofold.
'No wonder even Oseyeon of all people was blown away.'
The next moment, the train suddenly shook violently.
"Ugh!?"
Due to the sudden impact, I lost my grip on Im Jiyeon.
The impact didn't end there. The scenery before me tilted.
'Derailment!'
The train was about to overturn. I hurriedly pulled out my staff.
"[Damage Compensation]!"
After casting the skill on myself, I also cast it on Oseyeon, whose body was floating in the air.
And immediately after that, the train completely overturned.
The thunderous roar of the train and the objects inside breaking and shattering.
The screams of the passengers.
The vibrations and impacts that snatched one's soul.
The accident was instantaneous, but that moment felt like an eternity.
Yet that moment, too, eventually came to an end.
"Urgh!"
I clenched my teeth and tried to regain my senses.
The train derailment was undoubtedly the work of those Overlord Guild bastards. If we stayed like this, we might receive a second ambush.
I collided countless times with objects and chairs, and was cut and stabbed by shards of broken windows, but thanks to my strengthened body as a Hunter and the [Damage Compensation] skill, I could minimize my HP decrease.
"Oseyeon! You're alive, right!"
I shouted while pushing away the chair pinning me down.
"Urrgh... Yeah. I'm alive."
From where we had fallen—whether Oseyeon had flown from the impact or I had—I heard Oseyeon's voice.
"Then get up! It's not over yet!"
Since they were Hunters too, they clearly knew we wouldn't die from an accident of this degree.
"I know without you telling me. Phew."
Oseyeon was seen raising her upper body amidst the debris.
"What about that woman?"
Oseyeon looked around. Amid the chaos of the derailed train, Im Jiyeon's form couldn't be found.
"Let's get out of the train quickly. The remaining Overlord Guild bastards are probably heading this way."
After pushing the chair away with all my might, I swung my halberd in a staggering posture and made a hole in the train floor, which had now become a wall.
The next moment, something flew in through the hole.
Kwaaang!
"Ugh!"
My breath was knocked out and my mind spun. Hit by the unexpected attack, I flew backward.
'Jeong Cheonyeol's [Magic Bullet]!'
Clenching my teeth, I forced my body to move and hid behind a chair.
The attacks continued. Magic Bullets flew into our compartment relentlessly and lodged themselves. Every time a Magic Bullet exploded, the chairs were smashed to pieces.
"Are those bastards planning to kill even their own allies!?"
"Who cares! If we don't get out of here quickly, we'll be turned into a beehive!"
Oseyeon shouted in an annoyed voice.
'She's right about that!'
I aimed my halberd at the front ceiling of the train.
'[One Flash]!'
Due to my unstable posture, none of its original destructive power came out, but it was enough to make a hole in the train ceiling.
I crawled out through the hole. Magic Bullets continued flying overhead. Shortly after, Oseyeon also came out through the hole.
Swoosh!
"Ugh!?"
Accompanied by a burning pain, this time a whip coiled around my throat. Oseyeon was also struggling, grabbing the whip coiled around her own neck.
'Damn, they were on the other side too?'
Yoo Songhwa, who had multiplied into two, was holding whips.
'Where are the other two?'
I flicked my eyes and surveyed the surroundings. In the mountain, Yoo Songhwa had divided herself into four.
Sure enough, two Yoo Songhwas who had been hiding atop the overturned train were leaping down with swords.
"Oseyeon! Behind us!"
I shouted so and raised my halberd.
"Not a chance!"
"Kuk!"
Because Yoo Songhwa pulled the whip, my neck was strangled and I missed the timing to swing my spear.
And the Yoo Songhwa who leaped from the train didn't miss that and brought her sword down on my body.
"Kuhk!"
The sensation of HP disappearing spread throughout my body.
I gripped my spear tightly.
'[One Flash]!'
Kwajik!
The spear entered Yoo Songhwa's body. Since I had used it while lying down, once again, its original destructive power didn't come out.
"Aack!"
Yoo Songhwa's screams were heard from here and there.
'Do they share senses?'
It seemed clones weren't all that convenient after all.
I struck the Yoo Songhwa on top of me with [One Flash] once more.
Again, screams rang out from all directions. Immediately after, the whip tightening my neck loosened.
When I pulled the whip toward me, the Yoo Songhwa standing on the other side fell forward. Barely able to breathe, I pushed away the Yoo Songhwa on top of me and quickly got up.
'[One Flash]!'
And this time, after properly fixing my stance, I thrust my spear toward the Yoo Songhwa on the ground.
Kwaaang!
As dirt soared up, blood droplets splattered in all directions.